-At 40-22, the Dodgers have now played 38% of their games this season. One hundred games to go, and they’ve built a 7 1/2 game lead in the NL West.
-I figure the Dodgers need to win at least 93 games to win the division. They’ll do it if they go 53-47 the rest of the way.
-I try not to bore you guys with all the “Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player to ever live,” stuff, because you can get that anywhere. But, Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player to ever live.
-What he’s done in his career is unprecedented and what he’s doing this year is… I don’t know what to call it. Extraordinary? Phenomenal? Sick? As of today he’s hitting over .300 and leads the league in on base percentage. He’s also 5-2 with a 0.74 ERA, one inning short of qualifying among the league leaders.
-He’s on his way to his fourth consecutive MVP award, the Dodgers have won two championships in the two years he’s been on the club. He’s kind to opposing players and loves his dog.
-Sure, things can change quickly. Baseball is finicky. He could nosedive into a season-long slump or suffer a freak injury. How many guys miss six weeks because they slice a finger cutting an orange (happens every Spring training) or slip getting in the shower (Freddie Freeman last year)?
-But the $700 million contract he signed two years ago, most of which will be paid out after the contract expires, seems like a pretty good deal for the Dodgers at this point.
-Of course, any single player on any roster is only as good as the players around him. The Dodgers have made sure to surround Ohtani with the best players available, allowing him to thrive on the mound and at the plate.
-Still, he was an MVP with the Angels, when he wasn’t always surrounded by the best players available, aside from Mr. Trout.
-Speaking of the Angels, the Dodgers get to play them for three games at home this weekend. The last time the Dodgers and Angels played a weekend series, the Dodgers modified their season run differential by +30.
-Angel fans want owner Arte Moreno to sell the team. But to be fair, the position the Angels find themselves in is not all Arte’s doing.
-It’s not as if the Angels haven’t spent money on players. They’ve spent on the wrong players. And they’ve had some of the worst luck of any franchise in North American sports.
-The Angels have endured horrific tragedies with the passing of Nick Adenheart and Tyler Skaggs, while playing in the shadow of Donnie Moore. It’s dark and horrible and unthinkable that any of that happened. Young people, especially professional athletes, are not supposed to leave us that way.
-Then the bad signings. Everybody points to Anthony Rendon, who is the polar opposite of Shohei Ohtani, below average on the field (when he’s on the field) and generally grumpy, going so far as to suggest there should be fewer games. Ernie Banks (“Let’s play two!”), he ain’t.
-But don’t forget these other misguided spending splurges, in rank order from worst to barely tolerable, with Rendon holding the top spot: 2. Josh Hamilton: 5 years, $125 million in 2012; 3. Justin Upton: 5 years, $106 million in 2017; and as much as I like the guy, 4. Albert Pujols: 10 years, $240 million in 2011. All yielded zero playoff wins for the Halos.
-The latest and perhaps greatest offense is Arte Moreno’s claim that Angel fans don’t care about winning. Earlier this year he quoted an “internal fan poll” that revealed winning isn’t in the top five things that fans care about, allegedly.
-It probably doesn’t help that the other team in the Angel’s geographic region is the Dodgers, who have been run so successfully for so many years, now with eight world championship banners and seeming unlimited resources.
-Of course now that I’ve written this, watch the Angels go out and smoke the Dodgers three games in a row this weekend.
-I’d be very disappointed if that happens, but I wouldn’t be shocked. Because that is how baseball works sometimes.
-Dodgers v. Angels at Chavez Ravine this weekend, start times: Friday, 7:10, Saturday 7:10, Sunday 1:10 pacific.
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