The Price is Right

Here’s an interesting question: How many different pitchers will have saves for the Dodgers this season? The Dodgers already have three different pitchers with saves after Dave Roberts elected to use David Price in a save situation last night. It looked like a bad choice for a minute as Daza and Trejo both singled to start the inning. Then Trevor Story pinch hit and Price fell behind 2-0 only to strike Story out on the next three pitches! Next, he struck out Garrett Hampson on four pitches and induced Raimel Tapia to ground out to the second baseman, Max Muncy. Yes, Max Muncy played 2B last night. Justin Turner and Will Smith were the only position players to start in their normal positions, and I have no problem with that. I keeps you on your toes and makes the game fun. 162 games is a grind and if you can play musical chairs and win with bench players, then by all means, do it.

But, I digress, this is about closers. So far, Kenley Jansen, Corey Knebel, and David Price have saves, but I think there are more! I think Victor Gonzalez, Jimmy Nelson (who has been pitching very well), Brusdar Graterol, Tony Gonsolin, and maybe even Dustin May, might all have saves. I did a quick search and could not find out what the highest number of pitchers on a team to have saves might be. Maybe someone smarter than me can figure that one out. What we do know is that Kenley Jansen is now “a closer” not “the closer!”

The Dodgers are not the best in any single category right about now, except for two things: Wins and Run Differential… and I guess I will take those stats any day over BA, OPS, Runs Scored. Well, they are tied with the Reds for most runs scored, but you get my drift! The Dodgers are actually on pace to win 137 games, but I will take the under. It’s a long season and after a short season last year, Doc is wise to rest his players a lot. The boys in blue have won the majority of their games without Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger, which speaks volumes as to how deep they are.

Speaking of Cody Bellinger, I know he has had two Superstar Years and two “so-so” years, but I do not worry about a guy who has a career .909 OPS. He will be fine and in the running for MVP by the season’s end. Mookie Betts has a career OPS of .896. Over .900 is considered to be a superstar. So, if you use that metric, Cody Bellinger and Will Smith (career OPS .944) are superstars, and Mookie (.896 OPS), Max Muncy (.854 OPS), Justin Turner (.844 OPS), and Corey Seager (.866 OPS) are near superstars. Mookie could creep back over .900 this season. Zach McKinstry is OPS’ing .974 and CT3 is at .987. This really is The Big Blue Wrecking Crew!

Jackie Robinson Day

To understand what a moron Rob Manfred is, you only have to look at yesterday’s games. Yesterday, MLB honored Jackie Robinson, but not every team was scheduled to play. Six teams did not have games scheduled. When MLB honors the man who broke the color barrier, every team in every MLB ballpark should have played in his honor, but Manfred is dumber than a bag of hammers!

Photo Credit: LA DODGERS

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