While it wasn’t pretty, the Dodgers did manage to get their first sweep this month, against the Kansas City Royals. All games were won by close margins, with two just being one-run games and one going to extras to earn the win.
The Dodgers have shown an unusual number of missteps in their games in the second half, with multiple errors leading to runs for the other team. Leaving runners on base continues to be a persisting problem. Pitching hasn’t been its sharpest either, even with newly acquired Tarik Skubal. But the Dodgers also have another ‘new guy’ to help, as Blake Snell has returned to the rotation, and, as Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic writes, just in time.
Snell looked the Cy Young winner that he was, snapping off pitches and racking up strikeouts. And maybe it will just take another pitcher stepping up to fire up the rest of the pitching staff.
“It’s an incredible collection of talent. As Snell snapped off a changeup in the first inning Tuesday, Skubal — who himself has a magnificent changeup — sat on the dugout bench and admired his peer’s handiwork. To Skubal’s left, Tyler Glasnow chatted up his new teammate. Yoshinobu Yamamoto listened in, too.”
Eric Lauer also seemed to take up the challenge, going into the seventh inning allowing only two runs in Wednesday night’s win to secure the sweep.
The starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors but also has been marred by injuries. Snell missed months – Tyler Glasnow is finally on his way back after also missing months. Shohei Ohtani is just starting to throw again after dealing with injuries of his own. But none of that will matter if all of those pitchers are healthy in the postseason.
“It is a collection of Cy Young winners, MVPs, All-Stars and World Series MVPs who, on any given night, possess the ability to pitch like the best in the world. Snell proved that last October, when he dominated for stretches despite a shoulder that ached all season long and never got better until late this winter.
Now, he feels as good as he has at any point in recent memory.“
“I mean I’m not worried when I pitch about other things,” Snell said. “I can just pitch and focus on pitching. That’s pretty cool. I like where I’m at.”
It is a luxury to have pitchers that can only worry about where they’re at mentally and physically, and not all the other facets of the game. With this rotation and all the other star supporting cast the Dodgers have on their team, the Dodgers should have a pretty good chance to be the first NL team that has won three World Championships in a row.
They will be tested starting on Thursday, as the NL leading Milwaukee Brewers come to town for a four-game set, where they can see what some of these elite starters can do.