Los Angeles Dodgers: The Keys to Win it All in 2017
By Jason Reed
Stay Healthy
I know, you can’t really tell a team not to get injuries. Most of the time they happen out of the blue and are hard to prevent. However, the Dodgers have had an insane amount of injuries. Although some of these injuries opened doors to other contributors, the amount of times the Dodgers need to make adjustments is ridiculous. In 2016, the Dodgers broke the record for the most players put on the DL with 28. That is more than an entire MLB ball club, and that is just way too much.
Yes, the injuries are merely bad luck and the Dodgers can’t just wave a wand to make them stop. Yet the amount of injuries was way too high, at that magnitude it has to show that there must be some cracks in the system.
Despite this, the Dodgers did very well and managed to nearly take out the Cubs in the playoffs. The team whose record they broke, the 2012 Red Sox, had a 93 loss season. Compare that to the Dodgers 91 win season and Dave Roberts‘ Manager of the Year and it is evident the Dodgers did fantastic in overcoming these obstacles.
This shows that if the Dodgers can manage to stay healthy, at least in key spots, they can reach that upper level. If they can manage to maintain Kershaw’s health, along with key contributors such as Trayce Thompson, Andre Either, and Hyun-Jin Ryu they may be able to secure their first pennant in 28 years.