Minutes before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded for one of the best pitchers in baseball in Yu Darvish. You know, because having the No. 6 (Clayton Kershaw), No. 10 (Alex Wood) and No. 29 (Brandon McCarthy) starters in the National League, per Fangraphs WAR, wasn’t enough. Not to mention July’s NL Pitcher of the Month in Rich Hill.
As soon as the trade was completed, you could almost hear the wheels turning in the minds of Dodgers fans everywhere — “our playoff rotation is going to be WHAT?!”
The excitement was palpable, and it was all for good reason. For a second you could almost forget that the Dodgers actually DID have more than four starters already on the team. And, well, if you ask Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu, they’re pretty darn good ones too.
As MLB.com’s Mike Petriello and Jon Weisman, formerly of Dodger Insider, noted over recent games, Ryu and Maeda each turned in seven shutout innings in their last starts. Yet, that somehow flew under the radar, and both are on the periphery of the starting rotation.
Then, Ryu threw seven more scoreless innings against the New York Mets in another game that was broadcast on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.
Reading their tweets caused a double-take. Not because I assumed anything otherwise, but simply because it’s becoming difficult to keep track of the various accomplishments and streaks associated with the Dodgers right now. Turns out, ‘unreal’ is the right descriptor here.
Maeda has quietly been fantastic of late. In his last four starts (22 innings pitched), he has allowed just three earned runs and 22 baserunners while striking out 18. But it’s not even just the last month that has been impressive, either.
Since April 22, Maeda has just one start in which he allowed more than three earned runs; he’s allowed two earned or less in nine of his last 10 starts.
And then there’s Ryu, whose season has been noticeably more rocky, but who has been almost equally fantastic of late.
In his last six starts (34.2 innings), Ryu has struck out 38 while posting a 2.08 ERA. That’s led to Ryu lowering his season ERA to 3.53.
All of this is from the Dodgers’ fifth and sixth-best starting pitchers.
While many would say that it’s impossible to have too much starting pitching, it’s highly likely that the Dodgers are going to put that theory to the test when Kershaw and McCarthy return from their respective injuries.
As for what manager Dave Roberts and Co. will do in that situation, it remains to be seen. But here’s to hoping that Maeda and Ryu keep making that decision all the more difficult.
