Baseball season is finally here. Spring training is in full swing and teams are getting ready for the rigors of the regular season. This year with the added wild card spot in each league, more teams will have hope of making the playoffs. Do the Dodgers have what it takes to be one of these playoff teams?
After two seasons of mediocrity, something will have to change. In 2010, the Dodgers finished under .500 for the second time since 2000. Last season they at least finished over .500, but still just barely. But there was a glimmer of hope from the end of the season. The Dodgers finished the season extremely strong with a 45-27 record. They will have to be more like the team that finished the season, than the team that had them 15 games under .500. The biggest thing that changed was that the team went from being only Kemp and Kershaw, to them finally have players step up. James Loney had a horrific first half of the season, but finished the season great. One of the reasons for this was that he changed his swing and his approach. He found a new swing which helped keep him from opening up prematurely. He also started to pull the ball more, which led to his increase in power numbers. While this only brought his numbers up to around his career, even this was an accomplishment given how bad he was hitting previously. Besides Loney, Ted Lilly also started to pitch better. He finished the season with a sub 3-era in his final 11. Over these 11 starts, he brought era down from 5.08 to 3.97. He never gave up more than 3 runs, and gave up 2 or less earned runs in 9 of those 11 starts.
Juan Rivera was another helpful addition. In 62 games with the Dodgers, he hit .274 with 48 rbis. The Dodgers finally found some sort of protection for Kemp, and finally had someone who could actually hit behind him. Ethier had a very down year. Aside from the 30 game hit streak at the beginning of the season, he did not produce. I’m hoping it was because of his knee, which was bothersome enough to shut him down at the end of the season. He is also only signed a one year contract this offseason and has a lot to prove if he wants to get a big contract. Ethier wasn’t the only one having a down year. Juan Uribe had a horrific year. He hit .204 with 4 homeruns and 28 rbis in close to half a season. He was disrupted by injuries all season and never hit his stride. He is capable of hitting .250 and banging in 20+ homers in a season, and that’s what we need out of him. He came back into spring training this year in great shape and that can hopefully help his production. Dee Gordon’s arrival in the big leagues for his second stint was another factor in the Dodgers push at the end of the season. He hit .304 from the leadoff spot, and stole 24 bases, at a success rate of 77%, in only 56 games. He may not have any power, but a shortstop, leadoff hitter capable of hitting over .300 and stealing 50+ bases makes for a very valuable player.
Judging from the end of the season last year, the Dodgers are fully capable of making a run into the playoffs. They have the reigning NL Cy Young winner and the MVP runner-up to set the tone for the rest of the team. The Dodgers need their underachievers to step up, especially offensively. The Dodgers were in the top 5 in runs allowed last year, but 9th in runs scored. They need Loney, Uribe, and Ethier to step up this season. They need to get the same production from Kemp, Rivera and Gordon, and they need to find production from the catcher and second baseman. I believe this season will once again rest on how the offense produces. They may have lost Kuroda to free agency, and Rubby De La Rosa to injury, from their last years starting pitching staff but the addition of Harang and Capuano, should be enough to make up for this. Their bull-pen should once again be dominant. Jansen and Guerra are an extremely dominant setup and closer duo. Macdougal and Gurrier should be able to hold the fort in the innings leading up to the 8th. The Dodgers have more good pitchers than most teams, and many of them are still very young and make for a bright future. It’s their offensive that needs help.
There are a lot of ifs that need to happen for the Dodgers to win the World Series, but they should be able to challenge for a playoff spot and finally get out of their lull in mediocrity if even half of these ifs are satisfied.
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