May’s tough slate of games could tell us a lot about the Dodgers

The Dodgers are currently a .500 club at 13-13, which is not what most expected when the season started, but people usually shouldn’t panic until sometime in the middle of June. That said, while they got their May off on the right foot yesterday, the slate of games left in May will likely prove to be the toughest month of the year for the Dodgers, and it could tell us a lot about the team if they manage to make it through unbroken.

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To start things off, after a travel day today, they go away on an East Coast road trip to the Rays and Blue Jays, both of whom project to be around .500 or better. Then they travel back across the country to play at home but will find the Mets waiting, who project to win 95+ games, and the Cardinals, who project to win about 90 games but will somehow likely end up winning more against all odds.

The Dodgers then get the Angels, who also project as about a .500 team, in a home and away Freeway Series for four games before getting some relief away against the Padres and at home against the Reds (you know, relief like this past seven-game homestand was supposed to be).

To finish the month, they get the wonderful gift of flying back across the country to go play the Mets again, this time on the road, and then to finish out the month they head over to Wrigley Field and face the Cubs, who are a potential 100-win team and are currently on pace to win 120.

So yeah.

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I’m not one to go into hysterics about make-or-break games or months or whatever else just one day into May, but given the team’s recent struggles, it should be interesting to see whether they’re able to weather this storm or if they end up collapsing entirely under what appears to be rather prominent adversity lining up to face them.