Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Coming off a three game sweep in San Francisco (35-27), the Dodgers (38-23) had really solidified being in the middle of a rough stretch, resulting in a 4-9 record in their last 13 games. Better than the Angels (29-34) who had lost 14 games in a row which seems impossible, but very poor results for a team that has the talent that they do. The Dodgers’ offense provided just two runs of support in total, but Tony Gonsolin, the ace of the staff and the MLB ERA leader (1.42) threw 6.1 scoreless innings, improving to 8-0 and once again snapped the team out of a losing streak. The Dodgers are currently tied for the lead in the NL West with the Padres (39-24), but are in first via tiebreak.
Just a quick primer on what the playoff picture would look like as it stands today. No reason in particular, just something that I’m not sure any of us have touched on in regards to the new CBA. The New York Mets (41-22) hold a two game lead over the Dodgers for the best record in the National League. With the new playoff format, the main goal is to either have the best record in the league or to be the second-best division winner. Obviously every team is going to try and win as many games as possible, but both of those teams earn the top two seeds in the playoffs and receive a bye in the first round, taking them straight to the NLDS. For example, the 2021 standings with the new format would’ve resulted in the following — the Giants would’ve been the #1 seed and received a bye into the NLDS, while the second seed would’ve been the Brewers (second best division winner). The third division winner (Braves) would’ve played a three game series against the Reds who missed the playoffs last year, while the Dodgers would’ve still played the Cardinals, but in a three game series. Either way, you want that bye. This won’t be worth looking into for another 60 games at least, but still will be interesting to see how it shakes out.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| RF | Ward | RF | Betts |
| CF | Trout | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| DH | Ohtani (L) | SS | T. Turner |
| 3B | Duffy | C | Smith |
| 1B | Walsh (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| LF | Lagares | DH | J. Turner |
| C | Suzuki | CF | Bellinger (L) |
| 2B | Rengifo (S) | LF | Taylor |
| SS | Velasquez (S) | 2B | Lux (L) |
| P | Detmers (L) | P | Anderson (L) |
Nothing exciting to say here. One of the only productive hitters over the last few weeks has been Chris Taylor who added a double last night, one of three total hits the team generated. Over his last twenty games and 78 plate appearances dating back to 5/23, he is slashing .286/.359/.571, good for a 159 wRC+. Pretty similar to the entirety of the season for Mookie Betts, slashing .278/.354/.544 (152 wRC+) on the year. Betts hit his 17th home run of the season last night, giving Craig Kimbrel some much needed cushion for the save. That home run puts him one back of the NL leader Pete Alonso with 18, and eight back of the MLB lead held by Aaron Judge with….25. Judge has 25 home runs and the Detroit Tigers have 31. Crazy stuff going on over there in New York…. and Detroit in very different capacities.
The Angels didn’t do anything offensively, while the Dodgers did just enough. Two pretty uninspiring teams offensively at the moment, especially considering there are a total of 5 MVP award winning position players and seven total awards in the lineups. Cody Bellinger (2019 NL MVP), Betts (2018 AL MVP), Freddie Freeman (2020 NL MVP), Shohei Ohtani (2021 AL MVP), and Mike Trout (2014, 2016, and 2019 AL MVP). If you included Clayton Kershaw you’d have six MVP Winners and eight total awards, and additionally future Hall of Famer in Kimbrel (384 saves), who is six saves away from passing Dennis Eckersley (390), for the seventh most all-time.
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Anyways, here’s how Detmers and Anderson matchup and rank amongst 108 pitchers with at least 49 innings thrown.
Anderson allowed four earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out two across three innings in his last outing against the White Sox. Of his eleven outings and nine starts this year, it was his second worst outing, topped only by his seven earned run start against the Phillies. That previous outing on Thursday was a wild and hectic game in which the Dodgers came out on top by a score of 11-9. The team has gone 1-3 since then, scoring a total of six runs over four games. He didn’t allow a home run, but was wild considering he had allowed just six walks over 55.2 innings and proceeded to walk three in three innings. He also had a twenty inning scoreless streak going which was obviously snapped. He still owns just a 3.07 ERA on the year and has been extremely reliable, with his 7-0 record. His 3.21 FIP is tied with Shohei Ohtani, and his 3.8% walk rate is the sixth lowest in baseball. He isn’t a strikeout fiend, but 55 in 58.2 innings with just nine walks allowed while generating weak contact is what has allowed him to be so effective this season.
Reid Detmers is a 22 year-old rookie lefty having a decent season for the Angels, as their 2020 first round pick shot up to the majors. He has significant room for growth, but even in his current state of development, he’s a fifth starter in almost all rotations. He threw a no-hitter just a month ago against the Rays, who also seem to be no-hit frequently despite how good they are. Last time out, he went 4.1 scoreless innings against Boston on Wednesday, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out one. It was his second straight scoreless start, going 4.1 innings against the red-hot Yankees in his previous outing. Regardless of outing length and efficiency, it’s not easy to have scoreless outings against those two offenses. Over his last eight starts he has just a 3.00 ERA total, but having a no-hitter sandwiched in there sways those numbers.
He hasn’t been able to generate many strikeouts in the majors thus far, with just 32 in 49.1 innings this season (16.2% strikeout rate). You figure eventually he’d figure that out as he had 97 in 54.0 innings in AA (43.1% strikeout rate), and 11 in 8.0 innings in AAA. He’s been relatively “lucky” this season, as while his batting average allowed of .192 is the eighth lowest just ahead of studs like Nestor Cortes (.193) and Joe Musgrove (.196), his BABIP against him has been just .194, the fourth lowest in baseball. Either way, he’s a lefty in a good stretch against a Dodgers’ offense in a bad stretch.
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For the upcoming series against the Cleveland Guardians (30-27), it looks like Clayton Kershaw will make his first second start since returning from the IL, while Andrew Heaney lines up well to make his return on Sunday.
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Not much else going on as of right now. The Dodgers will try to win another baseball game at 7:10 PM PDT tonight on SNLA and on MLB Network.
