To Live and Die (About 10 Minutes Outside of) LA

(Music Pun #9. Because you just figure Wang Chung would wanna know where, in relation to LA proper where they shot most of the movie, Chavez Ravine would be located)

In the absence of Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager, the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the more star-based rosters in the MLB, have resorted to giving the spotlight to fringe players. For instance, Ross Stripling is leading the team in WAR, and he was barely in the picture last year. Plus, tied with Cody Bellinger for the highest number of home runs so far, at 13...is the guy above. Max Muncy. Who nobody had ever heard of before this season.

Max Muncy, like current starter Chris Taylor, is one of those guys who can play anywhere and make good defensive strides. He's currently taking most of his games at third, filling in for Justin Turner, as well as at first, so Cody Bellinger can play centerfield instead of Enrique Hernandez. He not only allows for the crafty sort of defensive flexibility, but, as already discussed in the home runs stat, the guy can hit. He's currently batting .260, which isn't bad, and hitting modestly, but on a roster where even the bigger guns aren't their usual selves, modestly works.

You look at guys like Bellinger, Turner, Taylor, Yasiel Puig and Yasmani Grandal and you see just a sea of mediocre averages. Nobody's doing terrific in that bunch, which is a shame, as they were all truly on last year. Hence the NL Championship. The only guys surging so far are the ones who really didn't have a ton to do with last season, like Muncy, Matt Kemp, and Joc Pederson, who's FINALLY hitting for average after all this time.

Kenta Maeda, Ross Stripling and Rich Hill are doing their absolute best to keep the pitching end up, and as the Dodgers are still in second place, it seems to be working. It's looking like Kershaw will be back the soonest of the injured pitchers (which means Buehler and Ryu will be a tad bit longer), so the stragglers in the bullpen won't be relied on much more after this, but...the Dodgers should be thankful they're the Dodgers, and they can rebound from things like this without completely losing everything.

The Dodgers are lucky to be where they are, but once they get a few more pieces in places, they could get back to where they were for most of 2017.

Coming Tonight: His team's a mess, but at least he can still hit home runs every now and then.