On paper, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 3.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the National League West seems pretty safe.
There are two weeks left in the season. Aside from Monday night’s series finale at Atlanta and a three-game home series against San Diego next week, Los Angeles will be playing some of the weaker teams in the National League for the rest of the season.
Three games in Miami and six games against Colorado could help the Dodgers not only clinch their 12th National League West title in 13 years, but also secure home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
With a shiny, billion-dollar top line-up of Ohtani, Betts and Freeman, Los Angeles should easily win the World Series, right?
Well, they still need pitchers, and unless Jack Flaherty has the best postseason of his life and Japanese rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto is healthy and able to back him up as the No. 2 starter, that’s going to be a big problem for this team come October.
Beyond that, the options are rapidly dwindling. With Tyler Glasnow sitting out the year after another flash of his porcelain quality, what’s left? Clayton Kershaw, nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career and getting a little worse with every outing? Walker Buehler, who suddenly can’t control his pitches?
And the bullpen hasn’t been great lately, either. Just this week they collapsed in two straight losses to the Chicago Cubs before ripping off a tough 10-1 win in Atlanta on Saturday night.
Manager Dave Roberts gave a rousing clubhouse speech to his team before a 9-2 win over the Braves on Sunday night, after a seven-run ninth inning that restored order for the night.
“There’s a good time during the season for guys to realize what they’re capable of,” Roberts said, “but they have to play accordingly… I’m glad we played some really good baseball overall.”
The next two weeks see the Marlins and Rockies match up and could see some more great baseball that could help Los Angeles secure a first-round exemption, but how do you get 27 outs to win 11 games in the postseason when you’ve only done it once in the past two years with a healthier pitching staff?
Unless the answer is the return of Sandy Koufax in his prime or the 1988 version of Orel Hershiser, the Dodgers may be booking their October tee time sooner than they (or the broadcasters) would like.
