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Entering the weekend, the four best records in baseball belonged to the Yankees, Phillies, Guardians and Orioles. The Dodgers had the fifth-best record in MLB, and they were a full six games behind the Yankees. For many people back in the spring, hearing such a thing would’ve qualified as an upset, perhaps even a major upset.
Interestingly, they were still the betting favorites to win the World Series, just as they are Monday morning at +300.
It isn’t shocking that they would have shorter odds than the Orioles or Guardians, but the Yankees and Phillies are both pretty well built for the postseason and play in large markets — the Yankees a mega-market. This might be a good illustration of the Dodgers brand at this point. They’ve been in the playoffs so many times in a row and are such a juggernaut that they sit above the Yankees in the minds of the betting public.
Also, it’s entirely possible the books and bettors are looking forward at the Dodgers’ playoff potential. There isn’t much doubt that they’ll be there. Most projection systems have them in the 99-100% range for making the postseason. If you look at some areas where they’ve stumbled at times this season, we’d get into lineup depth and the banged-up rotation.
In the playoffs, depth doesn’t much matter. You’re going to play the best players every day and the Dodgers have Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman in addition to a solid supporting cast with Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith. That’s five huge bats that few other teams could match. By the end of the year, the rotation could house a fully functional Clayton Kershaw along with Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Maybe Walker Buehler finally gets back to looking like his old self by then, too.
The potential is there for a stellar postseason run. That’s why the odds were the way they were before the Dodgers went into Yankee Stadium for a possible World Series preview this past weekend.
And they went into Yankee Stadium and showed everyone how they can flex their muscles on the big stage. Yamamoto dominated on Friday and the Dodgers outlasted the Yankees in a pitchers duel. Saturday, behind a Hernández explosion, they put up 11 runs in a rout. They pushed the hell out of the Yankees Sunday night, falling just short, but taking two of three in the Bronx is a great series.
Of course, it still isn’t enough to put the Dodgers on top of the Power Rankings this week. They are five games worse than the best record in baseball while the Yankees, Phillies and Orioles all have a better run differential. Before they won the series in New York, they lost one in Pittsburgh. They’ve lost more than they’ve won in their last 17 (8-9). I’m not going to be put them over the Yankees just because they won a series over them, especially since Juan Soto was out for the Yanks (and the Yankees likely win Friday if Soto wasn’t out, since it was a scoreless tie going to the 11th).
This is definitely an elite team, but it is not — at this specific moment — the best team in baseball, even if it might be the one most likely to win the World Series.
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I fear that my man Anthony Rizzo is cooked, meaning first base is the weak spot for the Yanks. | — | 46-21 |
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The loss on Sunday was their 20th of the season. They lost their 20th game May 14 last year and May 19 in 2022. | — | 45-20 |
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Adley Rutschman is 4 for 6 with two grand slams with the bases loaded this season. Sunday, he drove home six runs. That was the 16th time in franchise history a catcher had a 6-RBI game, with the most recent pre-Adley being Pedro Severino in 2021. | 1 | 42-22 |
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Remember Yamamoto’s first start? He coughed up five runs in an inning and I’m sure there were rubes somewhere overreacting. In his 12 starts since, he’s 6-1 with a 2.41 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 71 innings. | 1 | 41-26 |
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The Guardians are on pace to win 106 games now. Only once in franchise history has this ballclub won more than 102 games and that was in 1954 with 111. The second-highest total was 102, which we just saw in 2017. | — | 42-22 |
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The all-category season Bobby Witt Jr. is having is pretty ridiculous. He’s on pace for 209 hits, 39 doubles, 17 triples, 27 home runs, 115 RBI, 137 runs and 47 steals. Holy smokes. | 1 | 39-27 |
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For nearly the last decade, the Brewers always felt like they were playing better than their roster said they should be, punching above their weight, if you will. I often credited Craig Counsell’s managerial skills as part of the reason. He’s gone now and they continue to appear as overachievers. Maybe it wasn’t him at all. Kudos to these Brewers. | 1 | 38-27 |
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It’s only six starts, but Bryan Woo has a 1.07 ERA and 0.54 WHIP. If only they could generate some offense for this pitching staff. | 2 | 37-30 |
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Doesn’t it feel like they are way worse than last season? Well, at this point last year, they were 39-24, so while they are a bit behind the pace, they aren’t far off. I think the feeling is different because of their best pitcher and best position player being done for the season, and also how good the Phillies have been so far. | 1 | 35-28 |
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On May 14, the Twins had won 17 of 20. They were then swept by the Yankees and went into a temporary tailspin. Last week at this time, they had won nine of 12. Then they got swept by the Yankees and lost their two following games for a five-game losing streak. I guess the good news is they don’t play the Yankees again this year. At least not in the regular season… | 1 | 34-31 |
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Jarren Duran tripled for the 10th time this season on Sunday. Could he get to 20? We aren’t halfway into the season. There have only been three 20-triple seasons in the 2000s (Cristian Guzman, 20, 2000; Jimmy Rollins, 20, 2007; Curtis Granderson, 23, 2007). For those curious, the single-season record is 36 (Owen Wilson, 1912). | 1 | 33-33 |
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Bo Bichette’s season-long stat line still looks terrible compared to his established standard, but he’s mostly been his old self in the last 20 games or so. It’s a decent sign for an offense in desperate need of internal improvement. | 7 | 32-33 |
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The Padres still haven’t swept a series this season. They have been swept by the Angels and Rockies, though. It’s certainly sub-optimal for a contender to operate in such a manner. I’d like to drop them further, but no one else is good. There are only 10 teams above .500! | 2 | 34-35 |
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The State of the National League: The Giants broke a six-game losing streak this past week and still sit below .500, which is good for the thick of the playoff race. | — | 32-34 |
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The loss Sunday ended a seven-game winning streak for the Reds. They had gotten into playoff position during the run. | 7 | 32-34 |
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In 1972, Steve Carlton went 27-10 for a team that finished 59-97. This won’t be nearly as extreme, but the Tigers are now 10-3 when Tarik Skubal pitches and 22-30 when he doesn’t. | 2 | 32-33 |
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The champs haven’t been above .500 since May 18. There’s still plenty of time, especially in the AL West and with three wild-card spots available, but it bears mention that we haven’t seen a repeat champion since 2000. | 4 | 31-34 |
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That’s a 4-2 week and they remain 5.5 games out in the AL West. I remain steadfast in my belief that they’ll find a way to win it, but they likely need starting pitching help in front of the trade deadline now. | 1 | 30-36 |
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Aroldis Chapman has had a few recent outings where he was working back up well over 100 miles per hour. He’s also now strung together six straight scoreless outings with eight strikeouts in six innings. | 2 | 31-34 |
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Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado are on pace to hit a combined 33 home runs this season. That’s just not gonna cut it, especially with Willson Contreras hurt. | 5 | 31-33 |
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The Rays are now 5-13 against teams above .500. The upcoming schedule is relatively difficult, too, with the Rays facing the Braves, Twins and Mariners in the next few weeks. | 5 | 31-34 |
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Are they starting to wake up? The defending NL champs are now 6-3 in June. | 2 | 31-35 |
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Thanks to taking three of four from the Braves, the Nats are only 1.5 games out of playoff position. Everyone between 11 and 24 here is just so bunched up. | 3 | 30-35 |
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Look, not everyone can be Batman. It’s becoming more and more clear that Jed Hoyer was simply Theo Epstein’s Robin. | 1 | 32-34 |
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Jeff McNeil went 2 for 4 on Sunday, raising his slash line to .232/.300/.324. The batting title, All-Star trip, Silver Slugger and down-ballot MVP candidacy sure seem like ages ago. Those happened in 2022. | — | 28-36 |
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That’s a 4-2 week against two playoff hopefuls. Not too shabby, especially that comeback on Sunday. | 3 | 25-40 |
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Shea Langeliers has 12 homers. No A’s catcher has topped 25 home runs since Terry Steinbach hit 35 in 1996. | 1 | 26-41 |
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Off the top of your head, can you name the 2023 All-Star Game MVP? It’s a tough one. It was Elias Díaz. He might get to defend his title, too, as he’s hitting .305/.353/.442 this season. | 1 | 23-42 |
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This past week, the Marlins finally designated Avisaíl García for assignment, putting an end to his time with the team in his third year of a four-year, $53 million deal. He posted -1.7 WAR in his time with the Marlins. | 1 | 22-43 |
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They are on pace to go 42-120. Prior to 2018, the White Sox had only three 100-loss seasons in franchise history. This year they’ll make it three times in the last six full seasons. | — | 17-49 |