With a 6-1 annihilation of the downtrodden Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, the Dodgers extended their advantage in the National League West to eight games.
Eight games, despite slumps by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Eight games, despite injuries to Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.
Eight games, despite being less than three weeks removed from sharing the division lead with the San Francisco Giants.
Almost everything that could go wrong this season for the Dodgers has gone wrong, and they are ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres by eight games and the third-place Giants by nine. The Dodgers have looked nothing like the 120-win juggernaut they were expected to be, and they have the best record in the major leagues.
“I still believe our best baseball is ahead of us,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Three months remain in the regular season, more than enough time for the Dodgers to become whole, more than enough time for them to transform into baseball’s version of the Mongol army.
Roberts said the Dodgers are “not really playing our best baseball,” and he’s right. They haven’t steamrolled their opponents as much as they have outgutted them.
“We haven’t been at full strength all year,” Roberts said. “A lot of teams can say the same thing. But to our credit, no one has made any excuses about that.”
The Dodgers and Giants were even in the standings on June 13. The Dodgers won 13 of their next 16 games. The Giants lost 12 of their next 16, their blockbuster trade for Rafael Devers shaking up the division but not in the way they wanted.
From mid-May to mid-June, the Dodgers played 26 consecutive games against teams with winning records, but the Giants and Padres failed to take advantage of that. Roberts’ team emerged from that stretch in first place and has continued to increase its division lead since.
What should be disconcerting for the Giants and Padres — as well as the New York Yankees and Mets, and any other aspiring contender — is that the Dodgers have managed to distance themselves from the competition without looking particularly imposing.
Their win over the White Sox on Tuesday night marked the rare game in which they dominated every aspect of the game, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto giving up just one run in seven innings, the offense scoring four runs in the first inning, Shohei Ohtani launching his 30th homer in the fourth, and Jack Dreyer and Anthony Banda each pitching a scoreless inning in relief.
They need more games like this but not just to win the division or secure a first-round bye in the playoffs. They need them to create the momentum required to make another championship run.
“One thing I’ve learned,” Roberts said, “is the most important thing is once you’re [in the playoffs], you’ve got to be playing your best baseball because anything can happen.”
Ohtani has resumed pitching, albeit in a limited capacity. As much talk as there was about how his mound return affected his hitting, Ohtani still homered seven times last month.
The Dodgers aren’t counting on Ohtani to make seven- or eight-inning starts in the postseason, but they think he could contribute four or five innings at a time without compromising his offensive production.
Betts was kept out of the lineup on Tuesday, Roberts categorizing the day off as “more of a mental day.” Betts hasn’t found much of an offensive rhythm this season, but his track record indicates he is bound to break out of his slump.
“He’s an easy guy to bet on,” Roberts said of the eight-time All-Star.
The same could be said of Freeman.
The Dodgers also received uplifting news on the injury front.
Roki Sasaki played catch on Tuesday and was clocked at 91 mph, a sign that his season might not be over.
Snell and reliever Blake Treinen will pitch live batting practice sessions on Wednesday, marking their first time facing hitters since landing on the injured list. A day later, Glasnow is scheduled to make what could be his final start of a minor league rehabilitation assignment, with the Dodgers hopeful he can throw about 75 pitches over five innings. If management continues to have doubts whether Snell or Glasnow will be available in October, it can always make a move before the July 31 trade deadline.
As the team with the best record in baseball, the Dodgers technically have nowhere to go but down. In reality, they can only improve from here. This is their floor. By the time the playoffs come around, they should be a better team than they are now.
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