USA TODAY International Edition
Streaky Dodgers hang on as NL’s best
They’ve already made history, though not the kind they envisioned just weeks ago.
The Los Angeles Dodgers — once threats to win a record 117 games — instead will go down as the first team to pair a 15-1 stretch with a 1-15 stretch. That the latter comes weeks before the playoffs raises a bevy of questions about the Dodgers and raises doubt over whether they remain the team to beat in October.
While it’s folly to make too much of one isolated stretch — particularly when the club has been resting its regulars and allowing liberal time for injury recovery — it’s reasonable to accept that the Dodgers have been exposed on some level, that their overall résumé more resembles that of a rank-and-file playoff squad rather than an indomitable juggernaut.
They led the National League West by 21 games on Aug. 25, but after a four-game sweep by the Colorado Rockies extended their losing streak to 10, the Dodgers’ division lead is down to nine over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Their lead over the Washington Nationals for best NL record is four games, with a three-game set at Washington next weekend.
And when you consider the relative merits of both those teams — to say nothing of the still-dangerous Chicago Cubs and the Dodgers’ most recent nightmare, the Diamondbacks — is your money best spent on L.A.?
Consider that entering Monday the Dodgers’ run differential is down to more mortal +168 — not much better than the Nationals’ +157.
Consider that the Nationals, who have been ravaged by injury and might not have Bryce Harper for their playoff run, haven’t lost more than four consecutive games this season despite nearconstant lineup disruption.
And once you get past a Clayton Kershaw-Max Scherzer Game 1 coin flip, who do you like beyond that?
The Nationals’ No. 2 starter, Stephen Strasburg, is rumbling toward the playoffs, with a major league-best 34-inning scoreless streak.
The Dodgers’ No. 2 man … well, just who is their No. 2?
Is it trade-deadline darling Yu Darvish? He has a 5.34 ERA in a half-dozen starts for L.A. and hasn’t made it into the sixth inning since Aug. 16.
Is it first-half breakout star Alex Wood? He started 11-0 with a 1.56 ERA but has a 4.53 secondhalf ERA and has seen his strikeout-to-walk ratio nearly cut in half (4.41 to 2.79).
Is it lefty Rich Hill? Arguably the steadiest of this group, Hill is still striking out more than a batter per inning. But he was erratic a year ago in the postseason, turning in one solid outing against the Cubs but misfiring in two starts against the Nationals.
That’s not unlike the postseason résumé of the Nationals’ No. 3 starter Gio Gonzalez, who has never reached the sixth inning in four postseason starts. But 2017 has brought the world Peak Gio — he’s going to set career bests in ERA (currently 2.50) and WAR (6.9).
Offense? The Nationals have outscored the Dodgers by 67 runs this season, and while most of that advantage was earned as Harper produced MVP-caliber numbers, they’ve nonetheless gone 19-10 since he suffered a severe bone bruise to his left knee in August.
Despite their significant depth, the Dodgers have been largely out of sorts offensively since young sluggers Cody Bellinger and Corey Seager have been felled by ankle and elbow injuries late last month.
Should the Dodgers retain the NL’s best record, they’ll have to beat the Rockies-Diamondbacks wild-card survivor in the NL Division Series. In this 1-15 death march, the Dodgers lost all nine games to Arizona and Colorado; they won’t see either until a season-ending series at Coors Field.
Until then, the conditions are ripe to right themselves: 13 of the Dodgers’ next 16 games are against the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies.
You could argue that even this stretch doesn’t matter. That maybe the Dodgers would be better served to slip behind the Nationals and avoid Arizona’s Zack Greinke and Robbie Ray and take their chances with the defending champion Cubs’ uncertain pitching in the NLDS.
Fair enough. But 1-15 is a stretch that’s too ugly to ignore. An aberration, maybe, but also an undeniable piece of the Dodgers’ body of work. As Justin Turner put it after Sunday’s loss, “Right now, we’re the worst team in baseball.”
A World Series run would render all of it a footnote. But as the season-long numbers settle in, that run is looking a lot more complicated.