Rookie Bellinger spurs Dodgers to MLB’s best mark
Players say offseason decisions are key
In closing out the first half of the season on an unfathomable 26-4 run, the Los Angeles Dodgers got a major boost from a rookie, just like they did in three of the previous four years.
As much as they appreciate Cody Bellinger’s power output, though, Dodgers players point to the decisions made by the club’s executives as a major reason they’re in prime position to claim their fifth consecutive National League West crown, having entered the All-Star break with baseball’s best record at 61-29.
After again falling short of the World Series last October, extending the club’s championship drought to 28 years, the Dodgers faced the option of retaining free agents Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, Rich Hill and Chase Utley or letting at least some of them go.
Every one came back, at a total cost of $194 million.
“This offseason was huge for us. We brought back our core,” said shortstop Corey Seager, who finished third in the NL MVP race as a rookie. “You’ve played with these guys for two years. You know what to expect from them. You can’t say enough about that. That is a big gamechanger for us.”
The stability provided by the return of
those veterans, combined with savvy additions and the consistent excellence of mainstays such as Clayton Kershaw and Seager propelled the Dodgers to the best first-half record in their Los Angeles history, with 23 of those victories requiring a comeback.
Only four other clubs have won 60 games before the break — the Houston Astros joined L.A. in accomplishing that feat this year — and the previous three reached the playoffs. The 1998 New York Yankees were the only ones to win the World Series.
That elusive prize remains the goal for the Dodgers, who hold a 71⁄ 2- game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks, raising the question of whether this year’s team is any better suited to achieve it after getting knocked off by the eventual champion Chicago Cubs in six games in the 2016 NL Championship Series.
In its postseason incursions from 2013 to 2015, Los Angeles got bounced out in the division series twice and in the NLCS one other time.
“I feel like we were pretty wellsuited last year,” said Turner, a third baseman who took a .377 batting average into the break. “We felt two games short of making it to the World Series, and I think the front office would agree with that. Seeing what they did this offseason would probably reflect on that. For all of us, that says they thought that core group was good enough to win a World Series, and that’s why they brought us all back.”
Still, the Dodgers were languishing at 9-11 when Bellinger arrived from the minors April 25, highly regarded as the club’s top prospect but only 21 and expected to merely fill in while center fielder Joc Pederson nursed an injury.
Bellinger’s stunning power surge — he reached 24 home runs in 57 games, faster than any other player ever, and leads the club with 58 RBI — has put a charge into an offense that has missed first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, second baseman Logan Forsythe and outfielders Andrew Toles and Andre Ethier for extended stretches because of injuries.
Bellinger, athletic enough to excel defensively at first base and in the outfield, has provided a lift reminiscent of Yasiel Puig ’s impact upon his arrival in 2013 — minus the headaches — and his play has been even more impressive than the flashy rookie seasons turned in by Pederson in 2015 and Seager in 2016.
“What he’s done for us has been huge,” Seager said. “Not even his performance, but the excitement. He brought the energy back in the clubhouse. You see a guy like that going out and succeeding, having fun, a big smile on his face all the time, that rubs off on people.”
The Dodgers are 52-18 since April 25, and their closing rush before the break left them more than 30 games above .500 at this stage of the season for just the second time since moving west in 1958.
That doesn’t happen merely with one hitter heating up, even as scorching as Bellinger was in blasting 12 homers in a 15-game stretch before cooling off.
Kershaw (14-2, 2.18 ERA) has launched his case for a fourth Cy Young Award. Fellow All- Star Alex Wood, who went 1-4 last season, is 10-0 with a 1.67 ERA, the first Dodger to go undefeated in his first 10 decisions since Don Newcombe in 1955. Brandon McCarthy (6-3, 3.12 ERA) has stabilized the back end of the rotation.
And the bullpen boasts the best ERA (2.99) in the NL, with Jansen converting all 21 of his save chances and racking up 57 strikeouts against two walks.
“They’ve got really good pitching, and they’ve got a lot of it,” Colorado Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon said. “They have a lot of guys hiding on that roster — I guess that’s the term I’ll use — and they do a really good job of keeping guys rested and sharp. That’s a challenge going forth. I think that’s an interesting formula, and it’s really paying off for them right now.”
Blackmon also noted the Dodgers have several interchangeable pieces, with unheralded players such as Chris Taylor filling in wherever there’s a need without any drop-off from the regulars. Taylor, a career .257 hitter, is batting .285 and has hit three grand slams while starting at five positions.
Considering the expected second-half return of Gonzalez and pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Scott Kazmir, it’s hard to poke many holes in the Dodgers’ armor. They even seem to have combustible Puig relatively under control and productive, delivering a .941 onbase plus slugging percentage in the last month.
That doesn’t mean president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his coterie of experienced executives — four have served as general managers — will stand pat, not with that World Series drought looming large over one of the game’s marquee franchises.
“Every year I’ve been with the Dodgers, they’ve done something to make us better at the trade deadline,” said Kershaw, a 10-year veteran. “I wouldn’t expect anything different this time.”