The Los Angeles Dodgers positioned themselves atop of the National League West during their recent road trip, getting back on track with winning ways.
A 7-2 record that included series wins over the Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays and Arizona Diamondbacks saw them play complimentary baseball. Being led by Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, the Dodgers’ offense came to life, along with some solid pitching.
In that stretch, the Dodgers’ offense ranked second in Major League Baseball in fWAR, posting a team on-base plus slugging of .864 since April 23.
Prior to that run of good play, they endured a rough patch, something that is likely to happen over the rigors of a 162-game schedule, Austin Barnes noted per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Everybody just expects us to dominate, dominate, dominate,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said of the swing from a 3-6 homestand to a 7-2 road trip. “Baseball’s hard. It’s a tough game. I feel like we came on the road and played some good baseball together and hopefully we’ll just keep carrying on.”
A stabilization of the outfield because of Dodgers rookie Andy Pages, and the early output from some newly-added arms is a boost to their overall production. Their worries of a few weeks ago have been relegated to the backseat, with other areas of the roster getting their legs under them:
“You look back 11 days ago and we were in a tough spot, weren’t playing good baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “To go on the road, East Coast trip, to go north of the border and then come back here and play a division rival and end up 7-2, it was a nice feat, a lot of good baseball.
“Offensively, I thought outside of last night (a 4-3 loss in extra innings) we were really good the entire road trip and then the pitching, the defense, has been the best we’ve had all year.”
The Dodgers enter play on May 3 with a 20-13 record, and a handful of games lead over their next division opponent.
Where do the Dodgers stack up offensively from Opening Day?
Aside from the success during their high-octane road trip, the Dodgers stack up at the very top of offensive production since Opening Day.
The top four in their lineup in Betts, Ohtani, Freeman, and Smith, have them on all cylinders. Their 129 wRC+ as a complete unit is the best in Major League Baseball.
They’ve done an exceptional job of getting on base, posting a .354 on-base percentage. The team batting average (.271) is indeed carried by the top four in the order, but that’s a signal of overwhelming offensive outbursts.
Their pitching is several steps behind in fWAR, but their team 3.53 ERA ranks 10th in MLB. They are trending up, thankfully, but the dip in length from their starting pitching in the early part of April pulled that ranking back just a bit.
