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Welcome to the California Post’s weekly Dodgers recap, where we review the week that was, hand out very official awards and take stock of the state of the season.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-inning, 3-run start this week; 11-7 record, 2.76 ERA on season)
There haven’t been many heroic performances during the Dodgers’ six-game losing streak. But Yamamoto’s outing against the Red Sox last Saturday was an exception.
It wasn’t that he halted the Dodgers’ skid, instead taking the loss after giving up the decisive run in the eighth inning. Or that he was particularly dominant, striking out only three batters in a performance that actually saw his ERA slightly rise from 2.72 to 2.76.
But that Yamamoto was pitching at all –– much less effectively enough to complete eight innings –– was nonetheless a feat.
In the days leading up to the start, the already diminutive right-hander lost roughly eight pounds after getting sick at the end of the team’s previous road trip in New York. He spent the week slowly recovering, and had his rotation turn pushed back a day (after a bullpen game on Friday) to regain some extra strength.
It didn’t stop him from making his fourth eight-plus-inning start this year, which is tied with Sandy Alcantara for most in the majors. He also remains in the thick of the Cy Young race, ranking sixth in the NL in ERA, fifth in innings pitched and second in WHIP.
This week, Yamamoto stayed back in Los Angeles during the Chicago portion of the team’s road trip to keep recuperating. He rejoined them in Arizona ahead of his next scheduled start on Saturday.
DODGERS’ PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Shohei Ohtani (10-for-24, 3 home runs, 5 RBIs this week; .297 average, .954 OPS, 26 home runs, 70 RBIs this season)
How much Ohtani’s day off from the Dodgers’ lineup last Thursday helped his knee still isn’t clear.
But it certainly didn’t seem to hamper his scorching hot swing.
Though the Dodgers’ two-way star has still not resumed a throwing program amid his ongoing knee injury, now more than a month removed from his last pitching start, Ohtani is in the midst of perhaps his most productive stretch at the plate all season.
Entering Friday, he had hits in nine straight games, five of which were multi-hit efforts. He had four home runs in his last eight, including his first multi-homer performance of the year on Wednesday. And, after the questions that were raised last week when lingering knee soreness forced him to miss a game, he offered a reminder that –– as a hitter, at least –– his injury still isn’t having a notable impact; ensuring his most valuable tool, his bat, isn’t being diminished.
Where things stand with Ohtani’s arm, of course, is less clear.
He did not resume catch play in Chicago this week, though manager Dave Roberts continues to insist that will happen “soon.”
The urgency to get him built all the way back up (at least, as fast as possible with two months still left before the playoffs) isn’t as pressing as it once was, either, thanks to the arrival of Tarik Skubal.
The Dodgers still expect to get something out of him on the mound again this year. But for now, while Ohtani’s two-way status grows more uncertain, there aren’t any worries about his hitting. That remains the most important thing.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
How worried should Dodgers be about the standings?
So much for the two-time defending champions having no meaningful baseball left to play this season.
Their recent losing streak might not be jeopardizing their playoff chances (Fangraphs still gives them a, *checks notes*, 100% probability of reaching October) or endangering their division lead (they enter this weekend’s series in Arizona 8 ½ games clear of the second-place Diamondbacks), but it has created unexpected competition for a pivotal playoff seeding.
While the Dodgers have dropped six in a row, the Atlanta Braves have won eight-straight, helping them leapfrog the Dodgers for the No. 2 seed in the National League. The Dodgers are also now three games back of the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL’s best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Securing a first-round bye and home-field advantage will undoubtedly be goals for the Dodgers over the rest of the season.
But, even amid the more condensed standings now, there is still probably a limit to how urgently they will push for them.
Last year, after all, the Dodgers defended their title even as the NL’s No. 3 seed, which required them to play a best-of-three wild card round and open all three of their subsequent series on the road.
And while they’d like an easier playoff path this October, they’re also unlikely to start pushing their aging roster any extra, or riding their banged-up pitching staff any harder, for the sake of seeding alone.
Instead, they’ll trust that if they simply play better down the stretch, the rest will take care of itself.
DODGERS PROSPECT OF THE WEEK
Josue De Paula (9-for-22, 5 home runs this week; .314 average, .972 OPS, 21 home runs, 82 RBIs this year)
The Dodgers’ top-ranked prospect was never going anywhere in the Skubal sweepstakes. This week, the 21-year-old slugger offered a resounding reminder why.
As deadline rumors swirled, De Paula mashed four home runs and collected nine RBIs in a torrid four-game stretch, setting a new high point in a season that has seen him unlock much more of his tantalizing potential at the plate.
Now, the question is how soon he could be promoted to triple-A.
The Dodgers did clear a pathway in the outfield with their Oklahoma City affiliate, after trading Jack Suwinski to Tampa Bay at the deadline for Hunter Feduccia. The expectation has been that either De Paula or Mike Sirota (the team’s next-best outfield prospect, who has also been tearing it up with double-A Tulsa) will thus take another step up the minor-league ladder.
For now, neither have gotten the call. Still, many more weeks like this, and De Paula won’t be stuck in double-A for much longer.
FUTURE DODGER OF THE WEEK
Usually, we dedicate this section to identifying a player the Dodgers could potentially acquire in the future (sometimes far-fetched, other times not).
But this week, we decided we’d review the past, and see how many of our predictions so far this season came true at the deadline.
Skubal, of course, has been a common name in this section. We picked him early in the season as an obvious deadline candidate, and again after his May elbow procedure as a potential offseason signing. We then went back to the well again in last week’s weekly recap, as it became clear the Dodgers would make a real effort to get him.
In late June, we also highlighted Ben Rortvedt’s name as a possible target, as the team’s need at catcher became impossible to ignore.
As for the dozen or so other players featured in this space this year (from Mason Miller to Jacob Misiorowski to Nolan McLean to Munetaka Murakami)? Well, we’re either wrong –– or perhaps simply early.
After all, as the Dodgers showed once again at this trade deadline, whenever there is a star player potentially available in some form or fashion, they’ll almost always be in the hunt for them; no matter how far-fetched it once might have seemed.
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