The All-Star break is right around the corner, and as of this writing, the Dodgers just won their 60th game of the season and sit a comfortable 14.0 games up in the NL West. A few months ago, the talk of the town was the Atlanta Braves and how they were running away with their division, but now they only sit 3.0 games up on a Philadelphia Phillies team that was pronounced dead just a few short months ago. The Mets’ ship has sunk, and they’re looking forward to next season once Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor calm their on-again, off-again relationship. The Milwaukee Brewers seem to be running away with the NL Central, but the Chicago Cubs and surprising St. Louis Cardinals are within arm’s reach. The National League this season has just been fun to watch. The American League, on the other hand, has been a little lopsided. For the longest time, the division leaders were barely above .500, and the Yankees were the AL favorite. Now it’s the Tampa Bay Rays leading the East with the Yankees playing catch-up. The miracle White Sox continue to play good baseball and sit atop the AL Central, and the AL West seems to be a slugfest of who can stay above .500. Right now, the Seattle Mariners take that honor at 47-44, 1.5 games up on the Texas Rangers. Baseball is such an exciting sport that what happens in April rarely carries over into the dog days of summer, and this year is no exception.
As for the team we care about most, the Dodgers, they have played exceptionally well so far this season. Sure, there have been games they should have won or blown leads, etc. This is the nature of 162 games, and not everything can be sunshine and rainbows all the time. Being up 14 games, possibly more once this week ends before the break, is something all 29 other teams would love to accomplish. Sure, there is some wiggle room, and I can’t believe we lost this series to this team. A four- or five-game losing streak is certainly gonna happen before this season is all said and done. It sure is a lot better to have that wiggle room than not to have it in those situations. Don’t forget this has happened with a who’s-who of important pieces on the disabled list. Blake Snell, Edwin Diaz, Ben Casparius, Tyler Glasnow, and Gavin Stone. In the absence of all these pitchers, we have gotten to witness the rise of Justin Wrobleski, who is looking more and more like an ace, and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, watch Roki Sasaki struggle for a second straight season. The pitching is only going to get stronger as the later months of the season come into play, and then this team could really take off right in time for another World Series push. All these injuries, and yet, in all of MLB, the Dodgers sit in sixth place in total pitching stats. Not too shabby.
The offense has been outstanding as well, ranking fifth in MLB and second in the National League behind the surprising Washington Nationals. No surprise that Shohei Ohtani leads the team with 19 home runs. The ageless wonder Max Muncy is not far behind with 17 long balls. Freddie Freeman keeps doing his thing, hitting for almost a .300 average, and has 15 home runs at the moment. Andy Pages seems to be breaking out into a superstar and showing that last year was just the start of his rise. Mookie Betts has been injured, but when he is on the field, he is still Mookie Betts. Dalton Rushing, when given the opportunity, has shown he can hit at this level. His defense needs some work, but most young catchers do. The one disappointment on offense has been Kyle Tucker. He seems to be struggling a lot more than he’s used to, but if he can turn it around after the break, that could elevate this offense not only to the top five but maybe even the top two in the league before it’s all said and done. It is always fun to watch home runs land in the bleachers at Dodger Stadium, but hitting with runners in scoring position has been pretty amazing so far, and to me, that’s where the true art of the game comes into play.
This season has brought me happy moments, sad moments, angry moments, and the always How in the heck did they lose two out of three to this team? Happens every year, and yet the boys in blue still go out there and awe you with a pitching shutout or an offensive barrage. A nail-biter you stay up late for to see them come back and win, so work the next day doesn’t feel so bad after a night with less sleep. It has felt like an inferno outside where I live, and for the Dodgers in the National League West, it has felt the same way against all four other teams. With a more-than-likely lockout after this season, and a new landscape of who knows for next season, now is the time to cherish every game and every moment. Remember when you were a kid, and you loved summer, being out of school and playing baseball with friends or having a catch with dad and heading to the beach or lake to play in the water to get out of the hot sun and come home to watch or listen to Dodger baseball. Simple times they sure seemed to be. In a world full of chaos, one thing has remained a constant: the Dodgers are playing at an elite level. We are blessed to get to see this dynasty rise together. If the Dodgers are bad for baseball, then Santa is bad for Christmas. Before this lockout, let’s give all of baseball one more notice about who the best team is and win a third straight World Series championship, to show them. Let’s enjoy the upcoming All-Star Break, which, by the way, seems to be the Dodgers versus the American League, and who doesn’t just love that? Enjoy your summer, everyone, and let’s go Dodgers.
