Dodgers Turning on After Burners

Dodgers Turning on After Burners in September and MLB News

By David A. Avila

Withering heat follows the Los Angeles Dodgers that began a blistering hot pace following the All-Star break into September with a 19-game lead over the San Diego Padres and reaching the “magic number of nine” to clinch the NL West Division.

Behind a hitting attack at the top of the order that features Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman the Dodgers have bludgeoned their way to an insurmountable lead over every team in the Major Leagues for the most wins. It will guarantee home field advantage every step of the way during the playoffs.

The Dodgers lead the Majors in runs scored with 716 so far, ahead of Atlanta’s 666 and NY Yankees 660.

The rival New York Mets have the second best wins record while the New York Yankees have sunken further and further down after a horrible August that has not improved so far into September.

For the Dodgers it has been the pitching staff that allows them to compete with any team.

Led by Julio Urias the Dodger starters such as Tyler Anderson, Tony Gonsolin, Andrew Heaney and the return of Clayton Kershaw allows the Dodger hitters a chance every game to do their thing.

Urias, in particular, would be the talk of the town if he pitched for a New York team. He leads NL pitchers with a 2.29 ERA yet is overshadowed by New York-dominated media who clamor more about Jacob DeGrom and former Dodger pitcher Max Scherzer now pitching for the Mets.

Last year Urias, 26, was the only pitcher to win 20 games yet barely caused a ripple of media attention. So much for metrics and stats. The Mexican southpaw continues to consistently provide innings and win games. This year he has won 15 with a 0.95 WHIP. Urias is the real ace of the Dodgers now.

One weakness for the Dodgers has been their relief corps that lost Kenley Jansen to the Atlanta Braves through free agency. Jansen leads the NL in games saved 37. Though the Dodgers closer Craig Kimbrel has not been able to successfully replace Jansen, the team has several capable relievers able to close games come playoff time.

The return of Blake Treinen and Chris Martin should add major stopping power to one of the top relief corps in the NL. One seldom mentioned strongpoint is this year’s southpaw additions of Alex Vesia and Caleb Ferguson. Its always a plus to have southpaws who can compete.

Despite the loss of Walker Buehler and Kershaw for long stretches this year the Dodgers lead all teams in ERA 2.85 and WHIP 1.06. In second place is Houston with 2.98 ERA and 1.11 WHIP.

September is the month to add minor league players to the squad but don’t expect the Dodgers to slow down too much. They intend to keep their momentum.

“We don’t want to slow down,” said Dodger skipper Dave Roberts.

Judge ties Yanks record for homers by a righty

Despite the horrible slump by the New York Yankees whose once seemingly gargantuan lead has shrunk to a mere five-game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, the power of Aaron Judge remains the Bronx team’s most powerful weapon.

Judge hit a Major League leading 54^th homer which tied him for the most ever by a Yankee right-hander with Alex Rodriguez who accomplished it in 2007. The homer by Judge allowed the Yankee team to defeat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Sunday.

Now Judge heads toward lofty Yankee territory where Babe Ruth hit 60 and Roger Maris hit 61 homers. Both were left-handed hitters. It seems Judge has more than a good chance to catch or surpass both numbers with more than two dozen games remaining in the 2022 season.

Arizona pitcher ties Dodger records

Under the radar Arizona pitcher Zac Gallen pitched his sixth consecutive game without allowing a run to score. Only three other pitchers, all former Dodgers, have accomplished the feat.

Gallen has a little ways to go for longest innings pitched. Number one was Orel Hershiser with 59 innings set in 1988 and Don Drysdale’s 58 innings set in 1968. Bob Gibson, a St. Louis Cardinal had 47 consecutive scoreless innings also in 1968. That season was called the Year of the Pitcher and forced the pitching mound to be reduced in height by Major League Baseball. Zack Greinke, then with the Dodgers in 2015, fired 45 and 2/3 scoreless innings. Carl Hubbell 45 1/3 innings in 1933 for NY Giants, Sal Maglie 45 innings for 1950 NY Giants, Brandon Webb 42 Innings 2007 Arizona D’Backs, and now Gallen with 41 1/3 innings.

Meanwhile, the D-Backs remain second to last place in the NL West which has become the toughest division this year. Many expected the NL East to be the toughest but if Arizona or Colorado were in the NL East they would be right behind Philadelphia.

Gallen has been a mild surprise and flaunts a 2.42 ERA with a 0.92 WHIP and 11 wins and only two losses in 152 innings this year for Arizona.

Races in Perspective

Only the L.A. Dodgers have a clamp on their division race in the National League. All other division are up for grabs.

New York Mets are in a tight race with Atlanta Braves who always seem to get in gear late in the season. Last year they raced by the other teams after a horrendous start to win the World Series. This year they weren’t so bad but still have ground to make up against the front-running Mets.

One big question has been the Mets pitching staff with oft injured Jacob DeGrom and Max Scherzer a liability late in the season. Can their starting rotation hold up under the heat of the race.

St. Louis Cardinals are ramping it up at the right time and have slowly built a lead over the Milwaukee Brewers behind solid pitching and a two-prong hitting attack behind Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. They have also added incentive with three legends Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina possibly having their last year in uniform. Pujols also is trying to pass the 700 homer mark and has 695. Only five to go.

In the American League the Yanks are hanging by the bat of Aaron Judge. Otherwise they face the embarrassing prospect of being caught by Tampa, Toronto or even Baltimore. What happened to the powerful Yankees?

Houston has a fairly solid lead of 10 games over Seattle in the AL West but the Mariners do have a spot on the Wild Card race.

The AL Central remains a toss-up between three times Cleveland, Chicago and Minnesota. Anybody can win this division.