Man, a lot of stuff happened today. And LA was at the center of a good amount of it. First, they officially agreed to a deal to host the 2028 Olympics (which we all knew was going to happen). Then the Dodgers, who were already the best team in baseball, got a whole lot better. They're going to be playing in October. We already knew that. That's not enough for the Dodgers. Their trades for Yu Darvish and two relievers today made it perfectly clear that they expect to be playing until the end of October.
Last season, we saw the Cubs go all-in as they attempted to break their 108-year curse. It worked, as Aroldis Chapman's left arm carried them to their first World Series title since 1908. The Dodgers' wait hasn't been quite that long. But for a team that's accustomed to winning, 29 years without even playing in the World Series is a long time. As one of their players said last week, "We're tired of seeing highlights from 1988 on the scoreboard." Well, the chances of 2017 highlights being played on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard, which were already good, have gone up exponentially.
Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher on the planet. LA hasn't lost a game that he started since early May. But, Kershaw's way of proving that he actually is human is to go on the DL with back problems. That's where he currently is. The Dodgers insist he'll be fine for the playoffs, and they have no reason to rush him back before he's ready. But, unless you're the 2014 Giants, you can't win the World Series with one pitcher. Especially not one who isn't 100 percent.
Did the Dodgers need to get insurance behind Kershaw? Maybe. Their offense is so ridiculous that their starting pitching just needed to be good enough. But there are injury concerns with the other guys, too. Enter Yu Darvish. He was expected to be one of the highest-profile starters on the move, but I don't think anyone saw the Dodgers coming. Yet they swooped in at the 11th hour, giving themselves a solid No. 2 behind Kershaw and proving to everyone that they're all-in to win this year.
If this team had one flaw, it was the bullpen. The Dodgers' pitching between the starters and Kenley Jansen was suspect at best. So they took care of that problem, too. In fact, they took care of it twice. They got a pair of lefty set up guys--Tony Watson from Pittsburgh and Tony Cigriani from Cincinnati. Suddenly that bullpen just got a lot more formidable. And now they have the lefties to counter Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy for a potential NLCS matchup against Washington.
Speaking of the Nationals, they, like the Dodgers, have had nothing but playoff disappointment in recent seasons. And like the Dodgers, their biggest area of need was the bullpen. They knew it, which is why they struck early to get Oakland's Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle. And today they made their bullpen that much better by getting Twins All-Star closer Brandon Kintzler.
I'm not saying the Dodgers and Nationals are on a collision course for the NLCS. Playoff baseball is too unpredictable to make that claim. But they're head-and-shoulders above the rest of the National League (sorry, Cubs), and the only team I can see beating one is the other.
Meanwhile, in the American League, it's hard not to like what the Yankees have done. That trade with the White Sox improved an already solid bullpen. But as good as that bullpen is, they weren't going to do any winning in October with the starting rotation the way it was. You can't say that anymore. Sure, Gray to the Yankees had seemed inevitable for weeks. That doesn't change the fact that this trade (and the trade for Jaime Garcia, which now gives them six starters) has made the Yankees, who haven't won a playoff game in five years, the favorites in the AL East.
In fact, I'd even venture to say that they're the favorites in the entire American League. Yes, Houston has been the best team in the AL all season. But the Astros didn't really do anything to improve themselves, and their starting pitching is a major question mark. And, as we've seen time and again, it's hard to outslug everybody in the playoffs.
Which brings me back to the Dodgers. They can easily outscore you (their run differential of +185 is easily the largest in baseball). But pitching is what wins in October. Their pitching was already good (they're the only team that's allowed fewer than 400 runs this season). Now it's a whole lot better. And, it's more than just Kershaw.
Like the 2009 Yankees, last year's Cubs were so much better than everybody else that it would've been a shock if they didn't win the World Series. The 2017 Dodgers have entered that territory. They can go 26-31 the rest of the way and still win 100 games!
The World Series is more than two months away, but the Dodgers fully expect to be there. And who can blame them? They were already the best team in baseball. Now they're even better.
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