Needless to say, the month of April wasn’t kind to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They finished the month under .500 and well behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West.
To make matters worse has been the Dodgers’ lackluster performance against the Diamondbacks in the early going. They’ve already lost seven of 10 games to their rival this season, and included in that was a streak of 11 consecutive regular-season defeats.
Despite the early struggles, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently declared that his club will win its sixth consecutive NL West title when it’s all said and done.
That garnered a response David Peralta, who shrugged off the claim and expressed his own confidence in the Diamondbacks’ ability to dethrone the Dodgers atop the NL West, per Katherine Fitzgerald of The Arizona Republic:
“Everybody can say whatever they want,” Peralta said. “I feel pretty confident about our team, so I can say the same thing about us. I can guarantee the same thing – everybody is free to say what they want. I think it’s all about what’s happening on the field.”
Meanwhile, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo can see why Roberts voiced that type of confidence but understandably has a different opinion:
“I didn’t see that. I don’t follow social media,” Lovullo said. “I know he said the same thing last year, and he wound up in the World Series, so he knew his team, and it worked. Obviously, I have a different belief.
“I’m the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and I believe in my guys wholeheartedly. I feel like he’s doing the best he possibly can to manage his team, so if he believes that, that’s his opinion, and I respect that.”
While Roberts is staying optimistic about the Dodgers’ chances of overcoming their struggles and climbing back into the standings, the path of doing so became more difficult with the news that Corey Seager will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the remainder of the 2018 season.
Even with an injury of that magnitude, the season is still young enough for the Dodgers to make a quick turnaround. Justin Turner is inching closer to returning to the field, while the front office may look to bring in reinforcements as well.
Moreover, Los Angeles managed to split a four-game series at Chase Field to keep the distance between them and Arizona in the standings at a much more palpable seven games.
