Time to Panic?

Two very different teams with two very different problems. Both residing in the competitive NL West, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks have finished the first quarter of the season on complete opposite sides of the spectrum. One sits at first place in the division with a 24-16 record and the other sits in fourth place with a 16-24 record. Most of us would think that the first-place team would of course be the Dodgers. Wrong. In fact, the Dodgers look the complete opposite of a division leader. But, both teams are experiencing a major problem in my mind. So, is it time to panic?

Dodgers

Yes, it is definitely time to panic in LA. Not only are 3 of the Dodgers’ best players on the DL in Clayton Kershaw, Corey Seager, and Justin Turner, but they just got swept in a four-game series, at home, by the 14-27 Cincinnati Reds. They were outscored 20-9 in those games. Of course, one could say injuries have played a major role, though this is true, the rest of the team isn’t performing well at all. After a standout 2017 (.288/.354/.850), Chris Taylor has struggled (.232/.301/.718). Cody Bellinger has seen his OPS of .933 last year drop to .788 so far, this season. Also, closer, Kenley Jansen has a 3.78 ERA after having a 1.32 ERA last year and long with him the rest of the bullpen has been struggling as well with a 4.51 ERA. It has been a nightmare start for the Dodgers and with the injuries continuing to pile up, are the Dodger’s playoff hopes already diminished, or do they still have hope? Don’t count them out just yet as I could see them making a big move come the trade deadline in order to insure contention.

Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks have dominated the NL West and practically dominated baseball until as of late, when they were swept in a 4-game set with the Nationals. That doesn’t bother me too much as the Nationals are a great team and have been playing very good baseball as of late. The problem with the Dbacks is their slugging, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. He has had a horrendous season and is in one of the deepest slumps I have ever seen. He is missing pitches he normally crushes and has absolutely been terrible against pitchers throwing over 96 this year. From 2015-2017 Goldy swung and missed at fastballs in the strike zone only 12.2 percent of the time. So far this year, that has gone up to 19.6 percent. His batting average has dropped to .218 and his strikeout rate is at 30.7 percent, which hasn’t approached 30 percent since his rookie season. What could possibly be the problem? His timing has been off, it doesn’t look like he is seeing pitches well and he has been chasing pitches out of the zone. Paul Goldschmidt is one of the best hitters in baseball. It’s going to be okay Diamondbacks fans. Every hitter will have a slump at some point, some worse than others, but I fully believe that Goldy will bounce back to have another good season and possibly contribute to a playoff push by the Dbacks.

Written by Justin Raley