After winning two of 6 games in their home stand, the Dodgers flew to the windy city to face the Cubs in a four game series. During the series against the Cubs in LA, the Dodgers dropped two against them. Their offense looked horrible and the pitching staff couldn’t carry the team on their backs.
In Chicago, the Dodgers took 3 of 4 games and put on display every aspect that makes this team hopeful to repeat their divisional championship.
During the series, Muncy and Outman flexed their power and hit a combined 8 home runs. Muncy now leads the majors with 11 homers. Mookie made his move to shortstop as a starter and reminded us he’s one of the most athletic athletes this world has seen. His defensive skills at shortstop were so smooth he proved to be the right answer for the shortstop position.
Winning two games in a row for only the second time this season, the Dodgers are now 1 game above .500 and are headed to Pittsburgh where they don't know how to win.
But for now, let’s dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of the series.
The Good
Developing Rookies of the Year has always been the Dodgers forte. Letting go of Bellinger and having him hit homer after homer against the Dodgers hurts. The feeling is quickly forgotten when Outman continues to hit above .300 and dinger after dinger.
James Outman is starting the season as the Rookie of the Year favorite, following the Dodgers long lineage of rookies. His defense is a work in progress, but nothing to worry about. During the third game of the series, Muncy and Outman were battling to see who could hit more home runs and Outman also hit his first grand slam of his professional career.
The decision to allow Bellinger to walk is paying off and Outman is just getting started. Can’t wait to see him not hit in the playoffs.
The Bad
In the last week, the Dodgers have had 4 players go on paternity leave: Max Muncy, Mookie Betts, Evan Phillips and Brusdal Graterol. Cody Bellinger was also recently put on paternity leave. Sounds like last year’s team was being bad last July.
Because of Muncy's absence, the Dodgers have called up their number 3 prospect, Michael Busch and have him in the DH position to open the series vs the Pirates. Bush is currently hitting .337 in Oklahoma. Because of the departure of some of the veterans of the team, the Dodgers are unloading the prospects they were hoarding.
Hopefully, Michael Busch takes advantage of the action as well as the Dodgers did during last year’s All Star break.
The Ugly
Drew Smyly pitched a perfect game up until the 8th inning of the second game of the series. At the top of the 8th, David Peralta hit a nibbler down the third base line. Both Drew and Yan Gomes went for the ball and crashed while trying to save the perfect game.
It was an ugly end to Smyly’s perfect bid.
As a fan of baseball, I always root for a perfect game. Perfect games have become a rarity in the league. There have been 23 perfect games in the history of this old game. The last one happened 11 years ago by Felix Hernandez. It would have been dope to see one, but instead we got a hilarious ending. I feel for you, Drew. The Baseball Gods have a sense of humor.