Los Angeles Dodgers: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season
A shortened season could prove to be just what the Los Angeles Dodgers ordered. Could the most consistent franchise finally break through and win it all?
It was an untimely departure from the 2019 postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers after a terrific 106-win season as they ran into an unstoppable force in the eventual world champion Washington Nationals in the NLDS.
It was one of many recent failures for the Dodgers to secure a world championship on the back of a great regular season, but nevertheless, this has been one of, if not the most consistent franchise in baseball the last five-to-ten years and I would expect nothing less out of them in 2020 than another World Series run.
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The Dodgers come into 2020 with seven-straight 90+ win seasons and seven-straight NL West titles as a result. And on top of that, they’ve won the NL West nine times in the last twelve years.
So, you could make an argument that (without the championships of course), the Dodgers are the biggest dynasty in baseball currently with the amount of winning they do on a consistent yearly basis.
And by the looks of it, this franchise doesn’t seem to be slowing down, which is why 2020 could indeed be their year. This is a team that not only has one of the best (probably the best) roster in the game right now, but it also has a pretty large ax to grind since both of their World Series losses in 2017 and 2018 are under dispute for actions taken by both the Astros and Red Sox en route to those championships.
This is a team that is going to be playing with a humongous chip on its shoulder, to say the least, and as far as narrative is concerned, they have the best story behind them.
Looking at their stacked roster, it’s hard not to think they have the best one in all of baseball. They lost quite a bit in the offseason on the pitching side, but they also gained a tremendous amount on the offensive side including former AL MVP Mookie Betts.
The Dodgers are now one of a small handful of teams with two MVPs in their lineup with Cody Bellinger‘s MVP performance last year. Bellinger and Betts will be one of the best 1-2 combos in all of baseball and the rest of the Dodgers lineup will most likely follow suit with both guys contending strongly for NL MVP.
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On top of those two superstars, their lineup is littered with great secondary stars like Max Muncy, Justin Turner, and Corey Seager. They’ll also be trotting out Gavin Lux, the number two prospect in all of baseball, to a starting second base role, as well as Will Smith at the catcher position after a strong 2019 rookie campaign.
And through the debacle which was the initial Mookie Betts trade, they managed to hold on to Joc Pederson after originally shipping him off to the Angels. 1-8 in the Dodger lineup is about as good as you can ask for. And they have a great bench with two super-utility guys in Chris Taylor and Kike’ Hernandez and a very underrated left-handed power bat in Matt Beaty.
After that, the Dodgers also have some very nice prospects on the come-up such as DJ Peters, Zach McKinstry, Luke Raley, and Keibert Ruiz, so this Dodgers offense is juiced to the gills.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 2020 Preview, Prediction
What may be for a bit of concern is the Dodgers’ pitching rotation. They lose three big pitchers for them in the offseason in Hyun-Jin Ryu, Rich Hill, and Kenta Maeda and bring in David Price, via the Mookie Betts trade, and Alex Wood who was dumped by the Reds.
Aside from a top two of Walker Buehler and the great Clayton Kershaw, the Dodger rotation is going to be predicated on youth and the banking on that youth being able to step up to the plate. David Price is a solid number three who was fantastic just two years ago for the Red Sox in their World Series run, but after him, there lies some serious questions and uncertainty.
Dustin May, Mitchell White, Josiah Gray, Tony Gonsolin, Julio Urias, and the newly-acquired Brusdar Graterol are all going to be seeing a lot of time this season trying to round out this Dodger rotation. All of them have fairly high ceilings, but we won’t know exactly how they’ll fare until everything plays out.
In the cases of May and Urias, both guys have a good amount of big-league experience under their belts, so I would say those two are the main ones to watch. 2020, though, is a big year for Urias because he’s had a lot of time in the big leagues and he has yet to really establish himself.
Don’t get me wrong, I like this Dodger rotation and I like all these young guys coming u, but I think they’re going to need to another veteran arm in their rotation if they want to finally break through and win a title.
As for their bullpen……look, it’s solid. I know Kenley Jansen has been trending downward these last couple of seasons, but look at what the Dodgers still have around him in power arms like Pedro Baez and Joe Kelly. Now they bring in Blake Treinen from Oakland, so that’s another power right-hander who may also be able to slide into that closer role if Kenley is indeed struggling again.
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They have good lefties in Scott Alexander and Adam Kolarek, plus they also have long relief help in Ross Stripling, Caleb Ferguson, Dennis Santana, and Jimmy Nelson who they brought over from Milwaukee.
Their pitching staff has definitely been stronger in the past, but it’s still very strong. I think we’re going to see a lot of these younger guys come up and make big impacts. Dustin May is going to have a big year and Brusdar Graterol is going to come up and slide into a major bull[pen role.
All in all, the strength of the Dodgers is their lineup, but their pitching staff isn’t by any means a hindrance.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 2020 Preview, Prediction
Where will the Los Angeles Dodgers fall in 2020? I think they win the NL West and get to the World Series. Before the Coronavirus took over, I had them finishing with a record of 104-58. Now, who knows how many games will be played, but I still contend that this is one of, if not the best team in all of baseball (certainly the National League) and they’re once again going to have a huge year.
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As I look around the National League, who is really going to stop them with the roster and the story they have? Other teams around the NL definitely have better pitching staffs (Mets, Cardinals, etc.), but nobody stacks up to what the Dodgers have on the offensive side that’s tailor-made for a postseason run, and nobody has the culture set in place that the Dodgers have right now.
Cultures and organizations are major factors in baseball, and on a consistent yearly basis, no matter what the makeup of the team may look like, the Dodgers find ways to win their division and try their hand at a World Series. It’s happened like clockwork for the past near-decade and I don’t see it stopping now.
Another major part of their culture is the fact that they consistently revitalize players’ careers. Look at Max Muncy and the success he’s had since he got dropped by the A’s. Look at Justin Turner and his dramatic turnaround after the Mets dumped him. Or even Chris Taylor coming over from Seattle a few years ago. These were players struggling to stay in the league until the Dodgers got a hold of them and now (in the case of Muncy and Turner) they’re stars.
What about the development we’ve seen out of Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson? Bellinger had that dreadful 2017 World series performance striking out like crazy. Now he’s the reigning NL MVP and he cut down his strikeouts by around 40. Pederson had a similar problem with strikeouts as he punched out 300 times between 2015 and 2016. Since then, he’s struck out 264 times over three seasons.
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The Dodgers fix and develop players better than any other team in baseball. They’re going to get theirs one of these days, and a shortened 2020 MLB season may very well be their ticket to a long-awaited championship.