The Los Angeles Dodgers are once again one of the best teams in baseball with an MLB-best 26 wins, which has them tied for first place with the San Diego Padres in the National League West.
But since their 8-0 start, they have gone just 18-14. Part of the issue has been their play against teams with records above .500 as they are just 8-8 overall on the season against winning clubs.
In their previous 11 games against teams with records over .500, they are just 3-8 with losses to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies.
Dodgers manager Dave Robets has taken note of the club’s poor play early against winning teams, but he isn’t ready to sound the alarm yet, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“We probably do got to play better against teams with winning records,” Roberts said, “but I’m not carrying too much weight into that one right now.”
The Dodgers have yet to play their best baseball this season and currently have multiple key players on the injured list, including Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Michael Kopech and Evan Phillips. Despite that, the team is still in a strong spot overall, so Roberts likely expects his club to improve as the season goes on.
But one of the strengths of Roberts as a manager, and one that reflects on the club each season, is his ability to stay even-keeled during the ups and downs of a baseball season that consists of 162 games.
Quick overreactions to small sample sizes do nothing to benefit anyone, and the season is still in its early stages with more than 120 games left to play.
The Dodgers also typically start out slow early in the season before picking things up later, partly due to their lack of roster optimization early on, instead choosing to focus on making sure players stay rested for late in the season.
If these issues continue to plague the Dodgers late in the year, it could be something they look to address, but a 16-game sample against other good teams is not worth the worry.
Dave Roberts enjoying matchups of Dodgers’ roadtrip
The Dodgers are nearing the end of their longest road trip of the season with 10 games comprised with series against the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins and Diamondbacks.
The current stretch is particularly tough as the Dodgers won’t have another off day until returning to Southern California on May 12. While long road trips can be challenging for teams, Roberts took a positive view as the Dodgers continue their schedule.
“We’re used to it,” he said of being away from home.
“It’s always fun to play the Braves, so just going into Atlanta, that’s going to be a really fun series. We’ve got some guys that live in that Miami area, so there’s going to be some guys that are looking forward to going home.
“And then we finish up the road trip with four versus the Diamondbacks, it’s within the division, meaningful games, so we’ll be ready for that as well. So I think this one is going to fly by because of what we’re up against. It’s going to be a fun one.”
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