The season reached a new low for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night when they dropped their series-opener to the Cincinnati Reds, falling 4-1 to the National League’s worst team at Dodger Stadium.
The loss dropped the Dodgers to 16-21 on the season, which is eight games out of first place in the NL West. They are only 8-10 at the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine, which manager Dave Roberts feels is simply not good enough.
Coming off a season in which the Dodgers won 104 games and advanced to their first World Series since 1988, they certainly have not met expectations so far this year.
Part of that is because of key players being out with injuries. But another factor is players just not performing as well as they are capable of. That’s what led Roberts to call on his team to improve in all aspects, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“We talk about it in the clubhouse: This isn’t a ‘try’ league,” Roberts said. “Everyone is trying. You’ve got to get production. When you can’t get separation, it stresses everyone. We’ve got to be better at all facets of the game, to be honest.”
Statistically, the Dodgers have been exactly what their record shows so far this season: a middle of the road team. Their biggest strength so far has been the starting rotation, which ranks fifth out of 30 teams 3.45 ERA despite three of their key starters, Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Hyun-Jin Ryu, all missing time due to injury.
The starting rotation ranks 16th in innings pitched though, so unlike years past, Roberts may need to start pushing his starters to go deeper into games because of a struggling bullpen, which ranks 22nd with a 4.49 ERA.
The bullpen was a strength of the Dodgers in recents seasons, but that hasn’t carried over into 2018. A primary reason being their 62 walks, which is the sixth-most in baseball.
Hitting has also been a problem for the Dodgers as of late. They rank 13th with 163 runs scored on the season, but their .250 team batting average with runners in scoring position, and even worse, their .213 team average with runners in scoring position with two outs aren’t a recipe for success.
The return of Justin Turner should certainly help raise those clutch stats, as he hit .300 with runners in scoring position in 2017.
