Justin Turner, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager, Logan Forsythe and Adrian Gonzalez are all hitting. Clayton Kershaw, Brandon McCarthy and Alex Wood are all pitching well. The team, generally, is in pretty good shape...yet the Dodgers are still in third place.
It's thanks in part to two factors- the most prominent of which being injuries. Forsythe and Turner are with smaller injuries, Rich Hill's got a blister, and Andre Ethier and Scott Kazmir have been reeling since the start of the season. These aren't even sensible injuries, they're silly injuries that popped up randomly and now are costing players substantial time on the field. Plus, injuries that didn't even happen this season are affecting players- Hyun-Jin Ryu can't find the strike zone, and his surgery was 2 years ago!
Even worse, the Diamondbacks and Rockies have caught up, and are volleying for the division. Sure, the Rox have a few injuries to deal with (like, gee, I dunno, one of the few dominant strikeout artists on the team, Jon Gray?), but they're not especially hurting the team.
The Dodgers need to reclaim their core, and engineer a roster that either can withstand injuries, or win despite them. It may take more than a season to pull this off, but it needs to happen- too many World Series opportunities have been squandered.
Coming Tonight: A pitcher for a team that is FINALLY staying in last place.
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