2015 MLB Team Previews – Dodgers
The L.A. Dodgers have all the pieces to be one of the league’s best teams and barring a slew of catastrophic injuries or misfortune this team should clean up in the NL West for a third straight season.
MLB Lines & Matchup Insight
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2015 MLB Team Previews – LA Dodgers
For whatever reason, this super talented group that always looks amazing on paper can not seem to put it together in the post season however and have not won a National League Pennant since 1988.
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Kind of hard to believe, especially with the teams that they have put on the field the last couple of years.
Let’s take a look at this team by position and see how they stack up for the 2015 campaign.
Starting Pitching
The Dodgers are set in their starting rotation and other than the Washington Nationals, they have one of the best rotations in the NL. Los Angeles is led by the best pitcher in baseball in Clayton Kershaw who is backed by Zack Greinke who would likely be a number one on most any other team in the majors.
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Hyun Jin Ryu is a solid number three but will start the season on the DL with a nagging shoulder injury. When Ryu is healthy that top three will win a lot of games.
Bullpen
If there’s one chink in the Dodgers’ armour it would appear to be their bullpen. The Dodgers were weak out of the pen last year and had just the 12th best ERA in the National League from their relief pitchers.
The team will be starting the season without the services of closer Kenley Jansen and the rest of the squad is a slapped together unit that includes former Blue Jays Sergio Santos and Dustin McGowan, along with Joel Peralta, David Aardsma and J.P. Howell, none of whom really jump off the page.
Outfield
Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford and potential rookie of the year candidate Joc Pederson make up an outfield that has a nice mix of speed and power.
Puig will lead the way in terms of production on this team and this team has the luxury of some nice depthand can mix in the likes of Andre Ethier and Chris Heisey where they see fit.
Infield
This will be a much different looking infield, especially up the middle with the additions of both Howie Kendrick and Jimmy Rollins who will both be productive and bring in a wealth of experience.
Behind the plate Yasmani Grandal is a solid every day catcher who has the ability to chip in offensively at the bottom of the line up and has the ability to provide 15 home runs and 50 RBI. Adrian Gonzalex and Juan Uribe will be manning the corners and you know what you’re going to get out of them year in and year out.
Final thoughts:
There’s almost no way that this team shouldn’t win their division this year, making it three straight.
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The additions of Kendrick and Rollins to a group that is already rife with veteran talent like Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Andre Ethier makes for a very solid team.
The pitching is very good at the top end and if the new look bullpen can be better than last year then this team will be flirting with 100 wins.
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