Via Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer
The first half of 2022 has demonstrated in great detail the extent of Los Angeles Dodgers‘advantage over their National League colleagues.
More than half of this season, their run difference is better than double that of any opponent. Of course, the only team near them is the New York Yankees, the team running away with the sport’s most talented division.
Part of the story is the downfall of last season’s biggest surprise, San Francisco Giants. They now sit far enough away from the Dodgers to make a National League West comeback in the second half almost unthinkable. The Padreseight games left after playing on Sunday and welcome back soon Fernando Tatis Jr., is still a threat. But the Dodgers don’t have to fear the Giants like they did a year ago.
A larger part of the Dodgers story, in the absence of a trump is expected Walker Buehler and others, was the sudden development of a number of pitchers who suddenly became top-quality starters. The Dodgers have long valued Tony Gonsolin. In fact, they appreciated him more than any other team, as they found him shortly after he was rendered useless in 2015 and gave him a chance to kick-start his professional career. your business on the spot.
Back then he was a midfielder and just a part-time pain reliever. They saw his athletic ability and potential early on, but even they didn’t see him as the type of starting pitcher who could consistently go deep into games.
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This season, that has changed unnecessarily. Are from Clayton Kershaw On the injury list in mid-May, Gonsolin has averaged 90 pitches and more than six innings in his 10 starts. Not once in 2021 did the Dodgers let him reach that number of yards. Not once in 2020 have they allowed him past that number of innings.
At 28, Gonsolin has become the kind of pitcher that can start a game after the season – rather than the opener, as he did in 2020. A 11-0 and 1 record, His 62 ERA reflects that. Gonsolin starts off the season as left-handed Tyler Anderson in a rare piggyback arrangement. That also ends with more and more injuries.
Anderson has established himself as a solid starter, almost All-Star caliber. If he’s the Dodgers’ fourth starter to the National League Division Series, that shouldn’t be a problem. Anderson is a veteran cruiser who signed on after St. Patrick’s Day.
It’s a unique, unexpected kind of success the Dodgers are experiencing in 2022.
Consider their situation this way. Gonsolin, Anderson, Julio Urias and finally, Kershaw has been productive this season. Buehler is still out due to a flexor muscle strain and surgery to remove the bone in his elbow, but he could return in September. Dustin May will return from 2021. Tommy John has surgery in August. Should either of those pitchers re-emerge at or near his past highs, the Dodgers will have the rotation to face off against the group’s deep start. San Diego.
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Consider their situation this way. Traditionally, the All-Star Game host team sends its top power player to the First Leg Derby at home. Who will represent the Dodgers in that competition next week at Dodger Stadium?
Mookie Betting, who is starting the All-Star game, leads the team in home points, but he is not a traditional power player. He also just recovered from a significant injury. Trea Turnerstarted the game at the stop, even less than one person beat the power and told reporters that he would not participate.
Freddie Freeman tried this before, and it didn’t go well. Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy they have done it before, but their stats this season are not really impressive.
Will Smith may make the most sense. The Dodgers’ SportsNet LA broadcast reported Saturday that he’s open to joining. He’s an excellent player for a catcher, but he’s also never made it past 25 home runs in a season and isn’t up to the pace to do so in 2022.
Again, it’s a unique, unexpected kind of success that the Dodgers are experiencing. Betts, Turner and Freeman have met their professional standards. Former Top Potential Customers Gavin Lux is resetting what his professional standards can be. But a lot of others – namely Bellinger, Muncy and Justin Turner – struggled to live up to expectations.
Because of injury to Chris TaylorDodgers are now journeymen Jake Lamb and Trayce Thompson in the field on the left. No player was on the 40-man list three weeks ago. Not that it was important. The two have come together to create four host sets and OPS more than 1,000 in their first 66 disc appearances.
Yes, the Dodgers want a few of their struggling stars back to form before October. But they’re far ahead in the group, and they’ll do well at the All-Star Game.
Their way has worked so far.
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. Before that, he covered the Dodgers for three seasons for The Athletic and before that, Angels and Dodgers for five seasons for the Orange County Register and LA Times. Previously, he covered his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up in a Southern California suburb. His first book, “How to Beat a Broken Game,” came out this spring. Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.
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