L.A. believes surge is sustainable
Dodgers have won 29 of last 33 games, on pace for 125 wins this season
MIAMI — Clayton Kershaw’s notion that the past five extraordinary weeks are the new norm for the Los Angeles Dodgers seems to be taking hold.
Going into the All-Star break, Kershaw suggested the Dodgers’ surge might not be a surge at all, but a sustainable pace. Then his team began the second half of the season with a threegame sweep at Miami last weekend.
The NL West leaders start a two-game series at the White Sox on Tuesday with a nine-game winning streak and baseball’s best record at 64-29 (.688). They have won 29 of their past 33 games (.879).
That’s some surge. Or not.
“We’ve been pretty good all year,” third baseman Justin Turner said. “To say it’s a five-week thing I don’t think is fair to the team.”
If the Dodgers play .879 ball the rest of the year, they would finish with 125 wins. Don’t tell them they won’t.
“Clayton’s quote about, ‘Are we on a hot streak, or is this just who we are?’ — I never really thought about it that way, but I’m starting to think maybe this is just who we are,” unbeaten left-hander Alex Wood said with a laugh. “We have a different guy doing it every night, whether it’s pitching or one of the guys in the lineup. It has been incredible.”
The Dodgers’ record merits comparisons to their teams in 1977 and 1955, both World Series clubs. They’re 35 games above .500 for the first time since ‘77, and the record at the 93-game mark is their best since ‘55.
Why all the winning? Among the many reasons are Kershaw, Wood, Kenley Jansen, Yasiel Puig and