All in the Spectacle

 

Remember a couple years ago when Anthony Rizzo was in a terrible slump for months on end and it was only after it had gone on for a bit that the Yankees' trainers realized he had concussed at the beginning of the season and none of them had noticed? The Dodgers thought 'well, what if we had a GOOD version of that?'

Hence, Max Muncy, whose numbers fell off for a couple years, then went and got his eyes checked, got new specs, and once again is a tremendous contact hitter. Muncy's hitting .279 with 9 homers and 13 RBIs, hitting more accurately than he has in years. At 35 he's become one of the elder statesmen of the team, whose reliable output is still a crucial part of the team's success. I have to tell you, when Muncy came up in 2018 I did not predict that he'd mature into a Justin Turner-type figure. But that's pretty much what's happened, except Muncy is a better power hitter, hitting 35+ homers four times in his career.

I think the expectation was for Muncy to play more of a minor role in this team's success, but with Betts out, Ohtani hitting .278, Tucker with 4 homers and 20 RBI, and Freeman teetering over his peak, it's a welcome development. I think now you're beginning to see the next stage of the Dodgers experiment, because if Betts and Freeman are getting old, there's gonna need to be new working pieces. Tucker's definitely one of them, even if he's been okay at best so far. Alex Freeland's been surprisingly nice as a 2B replacement, he's hitting .253 and playing great defense. Andy Pages is the man, the myth and the legend even if I can't see him carrying the team much on his own. Dalton Rushing, uhh....I dunno, man. He hits a ton of home runs but he's got this attitude issue that I'm not sure about. We'll have to see.

I think this team has happened upon a working rotation schematic for the most part. Ohtani's pitching Cy Young caliber numbers every sixth day, Justin Wrobleski's become the best compromise money isn't buying, Yamamoto's still elite, Emmet Sheehan's doing alright, Sasaki still hasn't figured the majors out and Snell's gonna swap in for Glasnow perfectly. As it stands it's a durable model, and there's still River Ryan and a host of to-be-activated guys if things turn out similar to last June. Also, suddenly Tanner Scott can close games again. I dunno what happened back there but he seems to have figured it out again. Good for him.

The Dodgers are still ahead of the Padres for the division by 2 games, meaning for the first time this season, they have staved off being lapped. Let's see if this goes any differently from last year.

Coming Tomorrow- The Yankees don't get Carlos Rodon back for another few days, and they don't get Gerrit Cole back for another couple months, yet they still have a guy leading the league in wins, ERA and WHIP. Magic.