As September arrives, the Dodgers are still searching for the version of their offense that looked so familiar in past years. The slump they’ve been stuck in has dragged long enough to raise a bigger question than just when the bats wake up again: is this just what the Dodgers are now?
Bill Plunkett of the OC Register framed it as more than a temporary dip, noting that this is the third straight year the club has gone through a stretch like this. This season has been the harshest version of it. Since July 1, the Dodgers were last among NL teams in runs scored, and they went 13-14 in August.
With the Dodgers carrying the highest average age for position players, Plunkett wondered whether expectations for the lineup are simply too high. Freddie Freeman didn’t flinch at that idea.
“No. I don’t think you can expect too much of us.
And we like that. We like that you think we should be scoring more,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said to that.
“If you were content with us scoring three, four runs then we wouldn’t have a very good offense. I’m okay with you guys expecting more out of us.
We expect more out of ourselves.”
Mookie Betts offered a different angle, suggesting fans may be holding onto an older standard for what this group can do at the plate. He pointed to how different the league looks now compared with the years when the Dodgers’ stars were younger.
“That was when guys were throwing 92, 93 when we did that. And we were younger, yes,” Betts said of the prime years of the Dodgers’ stars, exaggerating how quickly velocity has jumped in MLB.
“I don’t care who you are. You can be Shohei or anybody, the best player in the league.
You’re not hitting 100 (mph) consistently every day. Nobody is doing that.
We’re facing 97, 98 every day. Then the guys who are 92, 93 - there’s something to it.
Sometimes we hit it. Sometimes we don’t.
That’s part of the human element of the game. But I think that part is getting missed.
Y’all expect us to score six or seven (runs) every day, you know what I’m saying?”
The bigger issue for Los Angeles is simple: if the Dodgers are going to three-peat, they need the offense to do more than drift along. Last year, the lineup did just enough. That may not be enough this time.
The pitching has been excellent, as it so often is, and that leaves the bats as the obvious pressure point. In the postseason, though, offense gets even harder to come by. Whether the Dodgers can still grind their way to another title is the question hanging over the final stretch.
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Blake Treinen was activated to take Kleins spot, giving the Dodgers another familiar late-inning arm as they sort through October planning. The bigger question now is whether Klein will be available for the postseason at all, and for a team that has leaned on unexpected contributors before, his health suddenly matters just as much as his emergence did. [Read more 🡒]
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Dodgers Left A Rising Outfielder Waiting For One Frustrating Reason
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For a prospect with Tibbs profile, the delay is more frustrating than alarming. He remains one of the organizations more intriguing young outfielders and is still viewed as a player who should get to the majors in the next couple of years, but this first opening never materialized. For now, the Dodgers are prioritizing flexibility over a longer look at a bat that had at least put itself firmly in the discussion. [Read more 🡒]