Questions as we enter the second half
The second half kicks off tonight
Wasn’t it spring training just like, a few weeks ago? You blink and we’re already more than halfway through the season. Next thing you know, you’re gonna go out to grab some dinner and come home to a playoff game on your TV.
The Dodgers finished the first half with the best record in baseball. Surprise, surprise. They finished with the highest OPS (.777) in the sport. They had the third best ERA in baseball. They were pretty damn good!
Despite being the best team, a lot didn’t go their way. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow made a combined eight starts. Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan were pretty bad. The bullpen was missing a lot of their expected key pieces (Edwin Diaz, Brock Stewart, Evan Phillips). Kyle Tucker has been underwhelming. Will Smith has missed nearly two months. It really is amazing the Dodgers have the best record in all of baseball, but we shouldn’t be surprised at this point.
With the second half of the season kicking off tonight, here are a few of my questions on what to expect from the final two months of the season.
Will Kyle Tucker turn things around?
There’s no sugar-coating things. Kyle Tucker has been a massive disappointment. I’ve said this numerous times this year, but he was never going to perform up to his contract. It would be impossible. He’d have to post a 1.100 OPS. At this point, I’d gladly take an .800 OPS.
Sadly, I’m not sure if we’re ever going to get there. Through 91 games, Tucker owns a .716 OPS. That is his lowest since 2022, which was nearly 100 points higher at .808. I wish I had an answer as to why Tucker has been so bad. There’s no injury (that we know of) and there’s nothing he’s publicly said about something being wrong. When he’s on the field, Tucker has been arguably a top 10 player in the sport dating back to 2020. Now, he’s an average player at best.
Sure, you can make the case there is a lot of season left. With that said, Tucker has done nothing to give me any sort of belief he’s going to turn things around. His hottest stretch at the plate has been like five games. Luckily for the Dodgers, they have the best offense in baseball while Tucker has been this bad. They lukcily can afford him to post these numbers.
At the end of the day, what matters is if Tucker shows up in October. If he hits above .300 and hits a few home runs, his regular season will be forgotten about. He could be a postseason hero and pay off his contract immediately. That could happen. Still, I would like to see SOME production that validates his $60M a year contract. Maybe he’ll surprise us all in the second half.
State of the starting rotation
No Blake Snell. No Tyler Glasnow. Emmet Sheehan and Roki Sasaki would have ERA’s of 5.00. Imagine if I told you that in March. You’d likely think the Dodgers’ rotation would be in pretty bad shape. Well, quite the opposite.
LA has the third best ERA among starters in all of baseball. Now, it does help when you have Ohtani and Yamamoto, along with Wrobleski having a breakout season. Despite the great numbers, I am a little worried about the rotation for the second half/October.
The good news is that Blake Snell is going to return (hopefully) soon. It sounds like he’ll be going on a rehab assignment in the coming weeks, which means we could see him return in August at some point. While getting Snell back will be huge, I’m still holding my breath with him. One more setback and that could derail his season.
Tyler Glasnow sounds like he’s making progress, but I’ll believe it when I see it with him. We still have 2.5 months until the playoffs begin, but we’re slowly running out of time for him to get enough rehab starts under his belt and be healthy to pitch impactful innings for LA in October.
Shohei Ohtani was shut down to end the first half with his knee issue. It sounds like the Dodgers and Ohtani expect him to be fine in the second half, but I will admit I’m a bit worried. Ever since this knee issue popped up, Ohtani has posted a 4.38 ERA on the mound. He hasn’t been the same pitcher. It’s no coincidence that his production really declined once this injury happened.
Hopefully the draining of his knee helps and he’s ready to go, but I’m a little worried for Ohtani the pitcher in the second half. His bat is just far too valuable, and I don’t think it’s worth risking at all in order for him to continue pitching.
The Dodgers should be fine. They should have all these options once October rolls around. The postseason is still more than two months away. I’m just not feeling 100 percent comfortable that we can bank on all of these options being healthy by then.
Do the Dodgers make a swing for Tarik Skubal?
I’ll try to have a more in-depth article on this in the coming weeks, but the previous question leads me to my final one. I have my questions with the state of the rotation. The Dodgers know how important starting pitching is in October. Despite potentially having a plethora of weapons, do they make a push at acquiring arguably the best starter in baseball.
With the Tigers’ recent surge, the idea of trading Skubal seems to be diminishing. A lot can still happen over the next two weeks. If the Tigers fall out of contention, they’d be fools not to trade him. That’s where the Dodgers come in.
They have the best farm system in all of baseball. They have far too many outfield prospects. They have young pitching prospects. There is a lot they could offer Detroit.
With uncertainty for the 2027 season, could Friedman believe now is the time to truly go all-in? Get a guy you don’t really need, but would significantly improve your chances. Not to mention, keep him away from other contending NL teams.
Me, personally, I think he does it. The only way I don’t see Skubal in Dodger blue in August is if Detroit somehow convinces themselves they’re a World Series caliber team. Spoiler alert, they’re not!
Final thoughts
The NL West race is over. The Dodgers will be playing baseball in October once again. Barring a collapse, they should have a first round bye. The only question at this point seemingly is whether or not they’ll be the No. 1 or the No. 2 seed. As things currently stand, I believe this team is the best team in baseball. I believe they have everything is takes to win their third consecutive World Series.
Just please……. Stay healthy.
1. What do you think about Roki’s last couple games? He is showing some promise. Throwing 21 pitches over 100mph.
2. Do you think Will Smith will return soon? What actually happened to him? Maybe just in time for the PS.
I think Glasnow is a wash this season...and I am afraid, so might Will Smith. Having said that, my biggest concern is how Dave Roberts handles this team getting complacent with a big lead.
My wish for him would be to come out playing fast and furious baseball in the second half. Lots of hit and run, stolen bases and going for wins. I hate it when he starts pulling players when the team is down five runs...