Head Stone

 

Look, for a plan-B rotation, the Dodgers' current grouping has been pretty damn impressive. You hear about so many teams with a solid rotation plan that, once the injuries hit, struggle to put up anybody remotely ready or good. But the Dodgers not only have a strong enough farm system, but already had several contingency plans in place knowing that May, Kershaw and Buehler were gonna take some time. Buehler, and Yamamoto, landing back on the IL could have stopped them as well. And yet they're still in first, and still not even remotely ailing in the pitching department.

Keeping that in mind, considering that this rotation has James Paxton and Tyler Glasnow in it, it's still surprising to me that the Dodgers starter with the best record, currently, is Gavin Stone, a guy who struggled with a similar fill-in role last year. Considering that Bobby Miller and Emmett Sheehan, the guys that LA favored last year, were injured, I suppose it's understandable that Stone got the edge, but he's been practically unbeatable since being given the starting role earlier this year. He's 9-2 with a 2.72 ERA and 70 Ks. Now, clearly the flashy starter on this team is going to be Tyler Glasnow, as he's been striking out everybody. But Stone has been more efficient, and more consistent than anyone else on this team. So far Landon Knack's been pretty consistent as well, and Bobby Miller...at the very least is healthy.

Here's the way I think about it. If Kershaw, Gonsolin, May and Sheehan were all healthy right now, then Stone, Miller and Knack would be stuck in Oklahoma City with no real opportunities to break into the majors. In fact, I am 100% sure that if the rotation wasn't as injury-logged right now, one of, if not all of, those three would be key pieces in trades being discussed right now. The only thing keeping Stone, Knack and Miller from having to pitch for some low-level bottom feeder is the Dodgers' terrible luck with starters. Which is why it's also very funny that two of the Dodgers' best bullpen assets at the moment, Daniel Hudson and Ryan Yarbrough, are themselves former starters for low-market teams. 

It's honestly been a good year for impromptu Dodger fill-ins. Stone filling in for the majority of the rotation, Miguel Rojas sliding into Betts' SS spot and having a nice year, Andy Pages filling in for James Outman and essentially rendering him obsolete. The single best player on the team is a guy currently rehabbing from Tommy John surgery who also happens to be the frontrunner in the MVP race and the starting DH for the NL All Star Team. Even if this is a very injury-plagued Dodgers squad, it's not weighing them down, and they're still undoubtedly a first place team.

Ohtani, for the record, just hit his 500th career RBI, and will very shortly hit his 200th career homer. It's so wild to me that he wasn't really a home run guy in Japan, and now he can just hit 40+ every year. Incredible. And still, thanks to people like Stone, Teoscar Hernandez and Evan Phillips, the Dodgers aren't just The Ohtani Show. It'll be interesting to see how they persist.

Coming Tomorrow- I've seen him pitch twice this year, and I'm about to see him a third time.