Lifelong Dodger fan. Went to many games as a kid growing up in the foothills of California. There's nothing like Chavez Ravine and Dodger Stadium. I'm a bred and born Texan (Lubbock) and die-hard Dodger Blue fan to the end.
Baseball can be a funny game. A slump in April doesn't feel the same as a slump in July, which both feel different than a slump in September.
But when a team with the highest expectations comes out of the gate flat, people take notice. The terms "overrated" and "choke artists" get thrown around liberally. There's even an old baseball adage that says no one can win a World Series in April, but they can lose one.
Which is why people took notice as to what was happening in Chavez Ravine in late April.
The Los Angeles Dodgers had two of the five best players in all of baseball and a stacked roster top to bottom. Anything short of winning the World Series would be a loss. But after losing to the Mets on April 20, the Dodgers fell to just a game over .500 at 12-11.
Then, well, things got better. Over the next two and a half weeks the Dodgers went on a ridiculous 13-2 run, including two streaks of winning six in a row.
So now, the jokes have mostly gone away. Left instead is a realization that the Dodgers are likely the best team in all of baseball. When asked, nearly half of fans said the Dodgers have the best offense in the game.
But plenty of teams have an explosive offense, that doesn't necessarily mean anything. The San Diego Padres, for instance, sit a game under .500 despite their big numbers at the plate, a true champion needs pitching that can match.
Check.
Nearly a third of fans give that honor to the Dodgers as well, only edged out by the Philadelphia Phillies – the only other team in baseball that has an argument as to being the best right now.
To repeat that old baseball-ism, no championship has been won. There is a lot that can happen between now and November. But it sure seems like the Dodgers have decided to start acting like the team everyone expected to see. Which is a really bad sign for the rest of baseball.
