Cody Bellinger may or may not win the National League MVP award this year but he is on pace to become the Dodgers newest all-time single season home run king. Bellinger smacked his MLB leading 42nd home run of the season on Sunday afternoon during the first inning of the Dodger’s 5-3 loss in Atlanta. Brave’s center fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. nearly robbed him, but the ball popped out of his glove and landed over the wall. Bellinger now has 42 home runs and 97 runs batted in this year.
The record for the most home runs in a single season in Dodger’s franchise history is Shawn Green’s 49 home runs in 2001. The tall lanky left handed hitting outfielder played for five seasons in Los Angeles and smashed 162 home runs while driving home 509 runs. Green was one of the best and it seemed like nobody would ever eclipse his 49-homer mark.
Yet here comes Cody. Bellinger has been not only the Dodger’s best all-around hitter but one of the most dangerous hitters in all of baseball this season. Currently Bellinger’s 42 home runs rank the ninth highest in Dodger’s history. Hitting number 43 moves him into a tie for third place with Duke Snider (1956) and Gary Sheffield (2000). Only Adrian Beltre and Green have hit more home runs in franchise history.
Is Bellinger on pace to break any other Dodger single season offensive records? Possibly he could be in the conversation to place in the top ten in runs scored, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS. Bellinger’s .416 OBP would put him just outside the top ten. It would be pretty difficult for him to top Mike Griffin’s .466 mark from the 1894 season. However Bellinger’s 1.085 OPS currently ranks him second. He would have to overtake Babe Herman’s incredible 1.132 mark set in 1930.
Conceivably Bellinger could top Babe Herman’s .678 slugging percentage from the 1930 season. Right now Bellinger is sitting in second place with a .668 clip. Right now Bellinger is hitting home runs at one of the fastest paces for a Dodger ever. Bellinger is hitting a home run every 10.6 trips to the plate which puts him first ahead of 2018 Max Muncy’s 11.3. Bellinger’s 2017 campaign ranks fourth with a homer in every 12.3 plate appearances. Whether Bellinger breaks records, or doesn’t this is going to go down as one of the greatest offensive seasons for a Dodger hitter in the last fifty years.
One thing I will say about Bellinger is that he has re-invented himself as a hitter. No one expected him to be as hot as he was the first 2 months of the season all year. He has slumped some, but never gone into a full blown tail spin. Over the last 28 games, 100 at bats, he is hitting .258. He has 8 homers in that span. But over the last 7 days, he has heated up. 4 of those 8 HR’s have been hit in that time. The good news is that they are home. Cody hits 20 points higher at LA than on the road. 24 of his HR’s have come at Dodger Stadium. And the Jays pitching staff is pretty mediocre. The Yankees starters are not all that good either. Dodgers pitching for the Jays , Kersh, Buehler and Maeda, which lines up Ryu, Gonsolin and Kersh for the Yankees. I doubt May makes another start as they are thinking of using him as a reliever for now. I think Cody can get to 50 and be the first Dodger ever to do that. Hard to believe that he would be the first, but for many years Dodger Stadium was just a hard place to hit HR’s. No game tonight……also I doubt they add Lux to the roster come September. They would need to get someone off of the roster to do that since he is not on the 40 man. I also think they will bring Barnes back for the September run and also Rios. Taylor and Kike back tomorrow, so 2 have to go down, my picks are Garlick and Negron since Kike and Taylor bring more RH pop than those two and play more positions.
It’s for articles like this that I wish we still had Badger here.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-dodgers-aaron-bates-talks-hitting/
Hey Bluto, I talk to Badger almost every day. I will pass this on to him. He is on a different blog now under a different name. He moved back to So-Cal and is living in Orange county. I just read the article. Pretty interesting stuff, and I had never heard of Bates. But what he says jibes with what we see from the guys coming up from AAA.
Thanks Michael, very nice of you.
Does the other blog have a strong community? IF so, can you share that blog but not Badger’s new nom-de-plum.
send me an email at [email protected] attn Mike, and I will email you all the info.
I passed on the your message to Badger, and he read the article. He really liked it and asked me to say hi to you. Kike and Taylor back today. We won’t find out who goes down until later this afternoon. Braves claimed Billy Hamilton off of waivers from the Royals. Sale out for the year as is Rockies reliever Scott Oberg. This weekend series against the Yankees coincides with players weekend, so they will be wearing those Halloween jersey’s they have come up with. Would rather see the Yanks in their road grey’s.
Thanks. I’m oddly very protective of personal privacy so I’m not sure I’ll email you (not an indictment of your trustworthiness) so I quite appreciate what you’ve done
Correction, they will be wearing tacky softball uniforms, lol.
Yankees will be a good test to see how we really might stack up in the post season. AS you know, it is going to come down to pitching, both starters and bullpen, me not liking our chances. Unless a few guys get shuffled around in there.
I have to admit, BOZO got lit up the other day, but I like that Bert decided to do some experimenting with his bullpen. Now is the time to sort that shat out, not a month from now, as you know.
No problem Bluto… I have Badgers email addy and a few others too and I never divulge any private information but my own.
The coolest thing about that clip of Green going yard in the 04 NLDS is seeing Arnold in the stands. Then you look at what it looked like behind home compared to how the stadium looks now. Hard to believe it has changed so much in 15 years. It will change once again this winter as they will be upgrading the pavilion area for next year’s hosting of the all star game. I am really interested to see how close to the artists renderings the stadium actually becomes. It has always been a great place to watch a game, and even though it is the 3rd oldest park in the majors, it still plays fairer than most. Both teams have an equal chance. They should handle the Jays this week. They are without their young stud, Guerrero. But Bichette and Biggio will be playing no doubt and both have been impressive.
Michael
Speaking of people have you heard anything from MJ? Have not heard a peep in a long time. Hopefully the Dodgers will have a good series with the Jays.
She never had my email, and I doubt she would ever want it. We argued a lot as you know. I always respected her, but I thought some of her opinions were way off base. There were too many things I did not think she knew enough about to make intelligent arguments. From what I have heard she posts on Timmons site now. I hold her no ill will, we just were of very different minds where the Dodgers are concerned.
MJ was a very genuine person and she liked posting, she seemed to be likable, but did lack some basic understanding of the game. However she had more going for her than another poster, of which I just skip over every one of his uninspired post, as you know, I hope MJ didn’t have to return to the referenced Pedro Files and found a place to land.
Rumor has it that MJ is working on her Chicken Biscotti.
She passed away
Bluto
I am sorry to hear that. Thanks
Are you talking about MJ?
Yes Scott. From what I understand it happened 3-4 weeks ago.
Thanks for the info Jimbo. This is so sad. Really miss her over here.
MJ messaged me frequently. We talked privately about many things. She loved the Dodgers and was very upset over all that Trump was getting away with. I asked her why, after knowing what she knew about he who shall not be named, she continued to post there and she couldn’t tell me. I miss our online conversations.
I check in here on occasion and see that many still just cannot accept success. I agree we need to finish it, but this organization is strong.
Peace be upon you.
What a crazy game last night, in game 1 of Blue Jay series.
When Kershaw served up a dinger to Danté’s son on the second pitch of the game, I said, “Here we go again…. “. Kershaw has definitely been pitching under the radar. I find it hard to believe he has had a commendable record and ERA, this season. Clayton ended up serving up a total of three dingers, two to Bichetté. Bo may be following in the footsteps of his Dad, as a Dodger Killer. But no need to panic, as the Dodger offense exploded again, and bailed out Kershaw, for another gift win.
Pollock has really come through, after all. I like him leading off…. better than Peddie. Pederson had a slow start, but came through in the eighth, after the game had already been decided. CT3 has returned with a vengeance. Another powerful lineup concocted by DR. Will we see this lineup again? Probably not.
Bellie needs some Dodger Blue Suspenders. He gave his female followers a free show! I have never seen that happen before. Kudos for his hustling effort.
I think that it is about time to get Will Smith more playing time. The platooning with Martin needs to end. Martin should be relegated to strictly a back-up catcher role, and pinch-hitter.
One game at a time. Go Blue!
I have no problem with them platooning Smith, and it is not really a platoon. Smith is getting a bulk of the time anyway, and they want the kid fresh for the playoffs. I remember what happened to Seager the first time he played late into the year. He slumped pretty bad. As long as they are doing what they are doing now, I do not see the problem. Pollock has a lot more experience leading off than Joc, and yes, I think he is a better option there. When he is healthy, he should be there. The entire team got the job done last night. Kersh and the pen. MLB.com had a list of the top 10 managers of the decade. Bochy was # 1. Roberts was #9 just ahead of Dusty Baker.
Smith has not played much in the “bigs”, this season…. not like Seager had, so I do not believe the fatigue factor is in play, with “Fresh Prince”. Smith is “Fresh” and eager.
Your man, Pollock has come through strong, and has earned my respect. I sure hope he can avoid further aggravation of his injury. Pollock is, right now, their best option at leadoff, heading into the playoffs.
Michael, perhaps you have info on this but I know Dodgers will put in those ‘Home Run’ seats in the pavilions for next year. But my issue is if they are then so close to the OF fences that fans would thus be able to interfere with balls that may still be in play by reaching over to try and grab the baseball, thereby making fan interference an on going issue. I am glad however that they won’t fool with the OF dimensions because if they like the Dodgers to ‘slug’ ya don’t make it more difficult to do so by raising the fence or moving them back, which I would not think they would consider. I know the players would not like that if they did that.
We have to see what the configuration looks like after the construction is finished. A lot of fans are in position to interfere at a lot of stadiums. Cincy comes to mind, and ST. Louis too. The Cubs, Reds have a basket like structure along the OF walls. Surprisingly, fan interference is not all that common. Once in a while you see some overzealous fan do that, but not much. I believe if I saw right, those seats are going to be right in front of the pavilions. It is strange that in this age of baseball the Dodgers have become a HR monster. In the early years, having a player hit 30 was an anomaly. Now they have had 4 30 HR guys twice. They had 7 players with 20 or more last year. They have 3 over that number and 1 more within striking distance, Kike. They also have three more hitters who could end up with double digit HR’s. Taylor, Pollock Beaty. Right now it is Bellinger 42, Muncy 32, Pederson 25, Turner 22, Kike 16, Seager and Verdugo 12, Smith 11, Pollock, Taylor and Freese all have 9, and Beaty sits at 7. They could end up conceivably with 12 players in double figures. Martin is too far away and won’t play that much.
Interesting and yet, even though Dodgers won’t have as many players with 20+ HR’s they should break last year’s franchise setting total of 235 of them.
Sorry to hear that MJ passed. She was a true and passionate Dodger fan. It is sad that if they do finally accomplish what they are trying to do that she will not be able to witness it. As for Smith, he has played in 89 total games this year. He has never been in more than 98. So like I said, I see no problem with giving the kid a blow every couple of games. It sure has not affected his batting eye at all.
Makes ya think, don’t it? Or at least it should, don’t ya know.
Will Smith needs to be sent down, he just ain’t ready yet! (LMAO)
Definitely not ready. Also do not want to wear out that young stud’s legs. He definitely will need limited playing time….. Yeah right.?????
RIP, MJ. I am sure she will be cheering on the Blue from the heavens above. Yeah, Really makes me wonder if I will ever see another WS Title.
Some people deserve the shitty treatment that others give them, MJ definitely didn’t deserve shitty treatment. You could tell she was a genuine Dodger lover and loved to express her passion for the team. I hope that MJ has actually been allowed to RIP. I actually miss her being around this part of the Blue Kingdom.
Nobody deserves poor treatment, especially on an inconsequential fan message board.
Let’s aspire to be better than that.
Yeesh Bluto, I would like to think this site is still consequential
All fan boards are inconsequential Scott. They do nothing but offer a bunch of ill-informed fans to share opinions and facts.
They do nothing of consequence.
I do not dwell on it True. I know I have fewer in front of me than I do behind. I just want to be in full control of my faculties and not a burden to anyone. I take care of myself and get regular checkups, but I have seen enough sudden deaths in my life to know that it could be tomorrow, or it could be a long way down the road. Smith is ready, we all know that. But they are doing what they fell is right for the team no matter what the fan base might believe.
Don’t respond to me, this was food for thought for everyone. We all take ourselves way to seriously and get wound up about some of the stupidest things. Sheesh, it’s a fucking baseball team for God’s sake, as you fucking know!
RIP MJ.
No matter what happens this year we need to extend our batting coaches. I appreciate what they’ve been doing, and in context of the entire league’s HR happy trends I see this team much improved in situational hitting and getting runners in with less than two outs. I see much more variation in swings, as that Bates article states, than for example the McGwire/Mattingly years.
McRoid…. a terrible Batting Coach. Should have never been allowed to make a living in baseball.
Mattingley …. a terrible Manager. Miami is the best place for that loser. He is lucky he can still earn a living, and should be thankful for the opportunity.
Dodgers’ big mistakes.