Los Angeles Dodgers Research Paper

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been nothing but great since the end of the first half of the season. Even with a depleted team lacking verified pitching and consistent offense, they were able to overtake the best team in the first half of season, the San Francisco Giants and continue to strive to become one of the best teams in the major leagues. A number of Dodger starters are finally coming off the DL including Clayton Kershaw, Andre Etheir, and Rich Hill but there are a number of sporadic players like Enrique Hernandez, and Bud Norris, who are also coming off of it. The Dodgers seem to finally becoming a postseason team with all the players that are coming back from the DL, but they still aren’t ready for October. Even though players like
Julio Urias, Jose De Leon, Ross Stripling, Andrew Toles, Rob Segedin, Brock Stewart, Josh Ravin, and even Charlie Culberson have shined, most teams won’t last long with a team made up of mostly rookies in the postseason. The players said above have been nothing but great in the regular season, but when it comes down to a NLDS, most teams won’t want to have these players lead off against a pitcher like Matt Scherzer or Jake Arrieta. With that said, the Dodgers will most likely have a pretty stout team going into October if they can get some pitchers back.
The offense will be fine with players like Corey Seager, Chase Utley, Justin Turner, Adrian Gonzalez, and even Yasmani Grandal leading off. The starting rotation will most likely be Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, and Kenta Maeda, and then a string of the best relief pitchers in the league. It might seem like that starting rotation won’t be too bad, but Kershaw has never really fared well in the postseason, Rich Hill is 36 and has played one game in the postseason, and Kenta Maeda is a rookie. I might be completely wrong and the Dodgers starting pitching won’t allow a run in their first two games, but it does open up a lot of question. Players like Hyun-Jin Ryu, Alex Wood, Scott Kazmir, and Brett Anderson have all played at least three games in the postseason. For the exception of Clayton Kershaw, the presumptive starting rotation is lacking postseason experience. If any of these players that are now on DL come off the DL and get some games in before the postseason, they might take over, but that will fall onto the shoulders of Dave Roberts. Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, and Kenta Maeda have been great this year and might continue that run into the postseason, but it is important to point out the lack of experience in these players. With that said, ever starting pitcher needs to get their first postseason game out of the way and this might be that time for
Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill can show off his dominance in the postseason for the first time. The Dodgers will most likely fare well in the postseason this year because of their depth and epic pitching.
I know I just said that their pitching might be lacking experience, but as a team, the pitching is great compared to other teams. The Dodgers will most likely face off against the Washington Nationals come October, and the pitching matches will be nothing, but spectacular. In game 1, the presumptive pitchers would be Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer, game 2, would be Rich Hill and Tanner Roark, and game 3, if there is a game 3, the Dodgers would start Kenta Maeda, but the Nats starting pitcher would be unknown. Just to let some people know, Stephen Strasburg has an injury and his timetable is unknown and that is why I don’t have him starting in October. Besides the starting pitching, these two teams relief pitching is #1 and #2. The Nats being #1 and Dodgers being #2, by a .08 differential in ERA. On the offensive side, the Dodgers have depth and the presumptive NL RoY and contender for NL MVP in Corey Seager and the Nats have solid veteran consistency and a NL MVP contender in Daniel Murphy. Even though both teams have pretty solid offensives, the game will be decided on the mound. In conclusion, by the time October rolls around, the Dodgers will be ready to go up against any team if the starting pitching can stay solid or a few pitchers come off the DL. The most likely team the Dodgers will face first will be 0the Washington Nationals and might give the Dodgers a
bump in the round, but won’t stop them in their run for a World Series victory. I think the Dodgers have a good enough team to defy the odds and win the World Series, after beating the best team in the league being the Chicago Cubs, of course.