Dodgers Dugout: Dodgers are struggling against good teams

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. In the last newsletter, I said the Dodgers should go 5-1 against Colorado and Kansas City, who were in last place in their respective divisions. Instead, they went 3-3.

Despite the results of the last week, the Dodgers are doing well against poor teams. It’s the good teams that they are struggling against. Let’s take a look at how they have done against teams this season. The team’s overall record is in parentheses after its name:

Teams .500 or better:

Arizona (50-35): 3-5

Atlanta (56-27): 2-1

Cincinnati (45-39): 1-2

Houston (46-38): 2-1

Angels (45-41): 2-0

Milwaukee (45-39): 2-1

New York Yankees (46-38): 1-2

Philadelphia (44-39): 4-2

San Francisco (46-38): 2-4

Tampa Bay (57-30): 1-2

Record against over .500 teams: 20-20

Teams below .500

Chicago Cubs (38-43): 4-3

Chicago White Sox (37-49): 2-1

Colorado (33-53): 4-1

Kansas City (25-59): 1-2

Minnesota (42-43): 2-1

New York Mets (38-46): 1-2

Pittsburgh (39-44): 1-2

San Diego (38-46): 5-1

St. Louis (35-48): 4-3

Washington (34-49): 2-1

Record against below .500: 26-17

Last season, the Dodgers were 48-25 against teams that were .500 or better, so they’d have to go 28-5 the rest of the way against those teams to match last season’s record. Seems unlikely.

Why are the Dodgers struggling against good teams? Checking the runs scored, they are averaging 5.7 runs per game against teams .500 or better, compared to their overall average of 5.5. So, we can’t really blame the offense. Sure, they have had games where the offense has struggled, but overall they have been pretty good (5.5 runs per game is fourth in the majors).

The picture becomes more clear when you look at pitching. Against the good teams, the Dodgers have given up 4.9 runs per game, compared to 4.7 runs per game overall.

So they hit better against good teams, but pitch worse. It has been a terrible season for Dodger pitching. I won’t go any further on that, because I’ve written about it more than once but it would be surprising if the Dodgers don’t acquire some pitching help at the trade deadline.

One-run games

A look at the Dodger record in one-run games since their postseason streak began:

2013: 25-21
2014: 25-20
2015: 23-26
2016: 22-20
2017: 25-19
2018: 22-22
2019: 27-22
2020: 7-5
2021: 24-24
2022: 16-15
2023: 9-10

The Dodgers have had a losing record only once in this span, though they came close a couple of times.

Blowout losses

Number of times Dodgers have lost by at least five runs since postseason streak began:

2013: 13
2014: 18
2015: 15
2016: 19
2017: 13
2018: 10
2019: 12
2020: 1
2021: 11
2022: 8
2023: 11

The Dodgers are barely past the midway point of the season, and have matched or surpassed their number of blowout losses from four other seasons. And, this also shows how great that 2020 team really was. They lost by five or more runs only once in their short 60-games season. That projects to three losses over a full season. Speaking of the 2020 season...

Was 2020 a real World Series title?

One former Dodger might not think so. In a recent Fox Sports story on Corey Seager, a current Texas Ranger teammate of Seager is quoted as saying, “He wants to win a ‘real’ World Series. And he wants to do it over and over and over again.”

Of course, that could just be his teammate saying “real” and not Seager, but this has been the bane of the Dodgers’ 2020 title. Is it a legitimate title? Let us know what you think. My feeling is, under the rules of the 2020 season, it was a legitimate World Series title. Just like the 1981 title was legit under the rules of the 1981 season. But is it the same as winning a title during a normal season? No, of course not. That doesn’t make it an illegitimate title though.

What do you think? Vote in our poll and let us know by clicking here.

Will the Dodgers make the postseason?

When the season began, I predicted the Dodgers would win 90 games and make the postseason as a wild-card team. Right now, they are on pace to win 90 games and make the postseason as a wild-card team, so I am sticking with that prediction. But what do you think? Will the Dodgers make the postseason this year? Click here to vote.

All-Stars

Five Dodgers made the All-Star team: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and J.D. Martinez were voted as starters and Will Smith and Clayton Kershaw also made the team. It will be Kershaw’s 10th time on the All-Star team. A look at the Dodgers on the most All-Star teams:

10 times
Clayton Kershaw
Pee Wee Reese

Nine times
Don Drysdale

Eight times
Roy Campanella
Steve Garvey
Gil Hodges

Seven times
Sandy Koufax
Duke Snider
Maury Wills

Six times
Ron Cey
Jackie Robinson
Fernando Valenzuela

Alex Cora says he’s sorry

Former Dodger Alex Cora was a key figure in the Houston Astros’ sign-stealing scandal during the 2017 season. He was the Astros’ bench coach at the time. After the season, the Boston Red Sox hired him as their manager. He managed them to the 2018 World Series title (where they defeated the Dodgers), and it eventually came out that the Red Sox had used illegal methods during the 2018 season to detect the opposing catcher’s signs. MLB announced an investigation into this after the 2019 season and on Jan. 13, 2020, it was determined Cora, when he was with the Astros, was the only non-player involved in the subterfuge. The Red Sox parted ways with Cora the next day and he was eventually suspended for the 2020 season.

Cora was re-hired as Red Sox manager after the 2020 season, and remains manager to this day. He has three former 2017 Dodgers on his team: Kiké Hernandez, Justin Turner and Kenley Jansen.

At spring training this season, Cora apologized to the three of them.

“I’m going to be 100% honest with you — I just felt like I wanted to cry at that moment when he said that,” Jansen told WEEI-FM (93.7) in Boston. “I felt like a weight came off, by him stepping up and saying we f— up as the whole group.

“I feel like that was my best season that I ever had in my career. I dominated the whole year, I dominated the playoffs and the Houston Astros were the only ones who put the ball in play. And it’s over with, you know, you can’t change stuff, but what we can do is appreciate when someone steps up and comes forward and is accountable for what they did.

“To me, it’s respect. I will respect AC forever for that and I will appreciate him forever for that. ... We all make mistakes in this world. You learn from it and get better, and he learned from it and got better. I learned from it, too.”

Turner’s response: “I think it meant a lot,” Turner told WEEI. “It was good to hear and good to wipe our hands clean and move forward.”

There is no word on what Hernandez’s response was.

You have to wonder if Cora had already apologized to Hernandez. Let’s hope so. Now all he has to do is apologize to Dodger fans.

Who is the greatest Dodger of all time?

We haven’t had much fun this season. With the recent skid, off-field issues and everything seeming heavier this year for some reason, it’s time to inject some fun back into this newsletter by bringing back something we haven’t done since 2018.

Who is the greatest Dodger of all time? Jackie Robinson? Sandy Koufax? Vin Scully? Clayton Kershaw? Lance Rautzhan? The list is endless. So, I am asking for your help.

I want you to send me your list of the 10 greatest Dodgers of all time. They can be L.A. Dodgers or Brooklyn Dodgers. Managers count, as do general managers, owners and announcers. In short, anyone who has been connected with the Dodgers in some way is eligible. You and the rest of the readers of this newsletter will decide who is the greatest.

So, I need you to email me your list of whom you consider to be the 10 greatest. Please list them in order from 1-10. Points will be assigned based on their place in the ballot, with 12 points going to your No. 1 choice, nine points for No. 2, eight points for No. 3, seven points for No. 4, all the way down to one point for No. 10. And please, please, please don’t say “this is just in any order.” Give it some thought. Travel down memory lane and enjoy it. If you have already sent me your list, I have it, so no need to vote again.

Voting will remain open through July 15, and we will count down the top 20 vote-getters soon after that. So, send me your list! Send to houston.mitchell@latimes.com and please make sure the subject line says 10 greatest Dodgers.

What Vin Scully meant to me

Last season, after Vin Scully died, I asked readers to send in what he meant to them. I ran them the rest of the season and wanted to circle back and run the rest, which will take a few weeks at least. If you wish to contribute (if you sent it to me last season, I still have it, so no need to send again), please email it to houston.mitchell@latimes.com and put Vin Scully in the subject line.

From Bill Baron of Montara, Calif.: The first year I followed the Dodgers was 1965. Starting that year, my Dad worked in downtown L.A. for a couple of years, and he would occasionally get tickets to games during the magical 1965 and ‘66 seasons, which both ended with the Dodgers in the World Series. But mostly I listened to Vin Scully call the Dodgers’ games — especially their games against the Giants — on my little transistor radio. Filled with dread when Willie Mays or Willie McCovey came up to bat, I’d turn the radio down, with my head under the covers, so my Mom didn’t hear the game and make me turn the radio off. Inevitably I’d fall asleep before the game ended, and wake up in the middle of the night with no way to find out if the Dodgers had won until the next morning.

A half-century later, when Vin Scully was set to retire at the end of the 2016 season, I subscribed to MLB.com so I could watch — well, listen to — his last couple months’ worth of games. Memories came flooding back of listening to my radio under the covers, of hearing that voice calling out from garage radios up and down the street, and it occurred to me that in a way it seemed as though Vin Scully was the narrator of my childhood.

I’m reminded of something Vin said during his final broadcast: Don’t be sad that it’s over, smile because it happened.

From Sam Culotta of Covina: I was in the Air Force in the early sixties stationed in the northwest. I was an Air Police Security guard and spent many lonely nights guarding bombers and re-fuelers. My cheap transistor radio could bring in “clear channel” KFI on most nights. If reception was bad, we would wrap the plane’s ground wire around the radio thus turning the plane itself into a huge antenna.

Words can’t describe the effect of Vin’s warm voice on this homesick young man. I could, for a while, imagine myself back home with my dad or uncle listening to the game.

Up next

Monday: Pittsburgh (Mitch Keller, 9-3, 3.34 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Monday: Pittsburgh (Luis Ortiz, 2-3, 4.11 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Pittsburgh (Osvaldo Bido, 0-1, 4.74 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Thursday: Pittsburgh (Johan Oviedo, 3-9, 4.61 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers catcher Will Smith finally makes his first All-Star team

Clayton Kershaw’s throwing session ‘was just OK’ as Dodgers mull placing him on IL

Clayton Kershaw has inflammation in shoulder, hopes to make another start before All-Star break

And finally

Members of the Dodgers sing on “The Joey Bishop Show.” Watch and listen here.