Dodgers need the return of the four horsemen

♦ September 15, 2017 ♦ 2 Comments

300px-Apocalypse_vasnetsov

Sure, this is obvious.

One of the horsemen was back but hardly anyone noticed because the team kept losing. The second one joined him this week and it directly resulted in two victories for the Dodgers. If they hope to have any chance in October it would behoove the other two horsemen to join Bellinger/Turner and make a charge to break through the thorny walls of October that have eluded many other stacked Dodger teams in the 21st century.

For most of this summer, the Dodgers had four qualified MVP candidates.  They were so good it was ridiculous out productive the first four hitters were night after night. That all ended on August 27th, but for the Dodgers to have a shot in October they need the four horsemen to provide something close to the kind of production they had provided from April 1st – August 27th.

This is what the four have done in Sept.

Player              Split Year HR PA   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS
Cody Bellinger   Sept/Oct 2017  3 56 .286 .375 .612  .987
Justin Turner    Sept/Oct 2017  2 51 .318 .412 .591 1.003
Chris Taylor     Sept/Oct 2017  1 53 .226 .226 .321  .547
Corey Seager     Sept/Oct 2017  0 31 .222 .290 .296  .587

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/15/2017.

Turner has been quietly hitting, and I say quietly because he was doing this while the team was losing, while the Bellinger break out this week resulted in the only two wins since the Dreamers were put on a see-saw.

The Dodgers can probably beat bad teams with just two of the horsemen making hay, but to beat the October teams, I think they will need the Chris Taylor engine to reignite and Corey Seager to overcome his elbow issues and provide the production he has provided for most of his major league career.

We should be legitimately worried about Chris Taylor, not because he’s hitting .226 in Sept but because his OBP is also .226 which means he still hasn’t taken a walk in Sept. Maybe my wishing for Lorenzo Cain wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

 

 

2 Comments

  1. 68elcamino427
    September 15, 2017 – 11:55 am

    Focus on the post season now for the remainder of regular season.

    Show the Nationals nothing. Limit the starters PT against these guys.

    Pace the starters for the other games.
    Keep their feet wet, like 2 PA per game.
    Use the long bench to fill in.

    OPS vs RHP, 2017
    .974 Bellinger
    .954 Puig
    .910 Barnes
    .859 Taylor
    .842 Turner
    .839 Seager
    .772 Grandal
    .771 Pederson
    .719 Utley
    .688 Gonzalez
    .576 Forsythe
    .508 Hernandez
    .505 Granderson (66 AB with Dodgers)

    If Grandal is healthy and swinging the bat well by Oct 6
    Then he plays C and Barnes plays 2B.
    If Grandal is still hindered then Barnes plays C and Utley plays 2B.

    OPS vs LHP
    1.192 Turner
    .950 Seager
    .928 Bellinger
    .921 Hernandez
    .888 Taylor
    .880 Forsythe
    .821 Barnes
    .717 Utley
    .677 Grandal
    .667 Farmer (3 AB)
    .644 Granderson (9 AB with Dodgers)
    .585 Puig
    .569 Pederson
    .462 Gonzalez.

    .778 Farmer (9 AB)
    1.000 Culberson (2 AB)
    .833 Ethier (14 AB)

    Forsythe bats in the 8 spot

    If everyone is rested and healthy
    Puig has the ability to be a big difference maker vs LHP.

    If Barnes is not going to play 2B then he should be the starting catcher throughout the playoffs.
    Utley gives me pause because he muffed a couple of routine plays in the 2016 playoffs. Old Man River.

    This is gonna be a lot of fun.

    Or

    “The suspense is terrible!
    I hope it lasts!”

    Like

    Reply
    • Phil Gurnee
      September 15, 2017 – 1:55 pm

      I have to admit, at this point, I don’t think it is going to be fun. We keep thinking Nationals but Cubs have also gotten hot, their offense has taken off. Five times since Aug 26th they have scored at least 14 runs in a game. 39 runs in their last three games.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment