Let’s continue our series exploring the three reasons why you should start worrying about the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Dodgers IL/Other Updates:
- Teoscar Hernandez got hit with a foot injury in the game vs the Cleveland Guardians and is most likely heading to the IL. With the playoffs coming very soon, this is a huge worry. More on that in today’s article.
- Shohei Ohtani is now a 45/45 player! He hit his 45th HR on Friday versus the Guardians.
- Landon Knack did amazing, pitching for eight strikeouts in six innings versus one of the AL’s best teams in the Guardians
- Gavin Stone is heading to the IL. However much the Dodgers improved their team this year, they still have an immense amount of pitchers now on the injured list.
Why It’s Time to Start Worrying About the Dodgers (Part 2)
Reason 2: Injuries
I wasn’t even planning on doing this, but because of the recent injuries the Dodgers have had to battle, I have to talk about this.
This is a 162-game season, so everybody is tired, especially in the home stretch. I’m writing this article on September 7th, when most teams have played about 142 games. 142 games multiplied by 9 innings is equaled to 1278 innings of baseball. That’s a lot of innings.
To this day, I just don’t see how baseball players can play every single game in the MLB season. Even if they don’t, some players don’t get injured at all during the whole year. How is that possible? That’s the question the Dodgers are asking because their players just can’t stop getting injured. These are the starting pitchers on the IL for the Dodgers right now.
- Tyler Glasnow
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Clayton Kershaw
- Gavin Stone
- Dustin May
- Tony Gonsolin
- Emmet Sheehan
- River Ryan
According to sources, Andrew Friedman did say he’s going to start thinking about how to limit these pitching injuries. This is a team that gives life to pitchers, and they’ve proved that by reviving so many. An example would be Ryan Brasier. The problem in the last 2 seasons is that they’re also killing pitchers. You see, pitchers begin training from a young age, meaning that if they’ve been throwing the ball with an I shape (just an example) for a while when they become older and someone asks them to pitch with an L shape, the body doesn’t get used to it. Back to the Dodgers, because they add new pitch repertoires and help the pitchers by asking them to tweak their forms in some way, even if the pitcher dominates, they aren’t used to the change which causes them to injure themselves. (And by the way, if you would like to read more about Dodgers injuries, you can read this article right here. (Check it out at https://lwosports.com/the-main-reason-the-2024-dodgers-are-cursed/.)
This is a huge loss, but let’s forget about this. Now, we move on to injured role players.
Max Muncy is back. Tommy Edman is back. Mookie Betts is back. Freddie Freeman is back.
But, the most underrated signing in this 2023-24 offseason? The home run derby champion? He’s injured.
In Friday’s game between the Guardians and Dodgers, first thing, the Dodgers lost, but second and most important thing, Teoscra Hernandez got hit in the foot by a baseball and could be on for an IL stint.
This comes at the worst time for the Dodgers. In the next 20 days or so, they’re going to be playing 4 series against teams in the race for a playoff spot. Plus, the Dodgers are now only 4 games ahead of the Diamondbacks for first place. Just so you know, Hernandez has been one of the Dodgers best players this season, playing 138 games with 140 hits, 87 RBIs, and a .266 average. He’s having one of the best seasons if not the best season of his career. If he isn’t going to play in the playoffs with the Dodgers, oh that’s a BIG worry.
The Dodgers might survive with all these injuries because they do have good depth, but it’s still something to be incredibly worried about. Especially as a Dodgers fan.
Other MLB Updates:
- The Mets’ Jeff McNeil is out for the season with a broken right wrist.
- Speaking of the Mets, in one of my other articles, I predicted that they were going to be the biggest surprise of the postseason. Check it out here.
Main Image: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images
