Lux Turned Up

I think what's kind of funny is that when the Yankees were going for an incredible record-breaking winning season, everyone turned their heads and marveled. And right now the Dodgers are 12 games away from 100 wins at the end of August and you don't really hear about it much. 

I guess it's cause people just expect the Dodgers to do well every year, and now that they are, there's really not much to write about. Then again, you always hear about it whenever they're on a losing streak, don't you?

Anyway, the Dodgers, as per usual, are great this year. You'd think a lot of it would come from their spending, locking up Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman during their prime and keeping Kershaw around, but this team's farm system is still insane. Not only can this team produce people who can perform to MLB quality right off the bat, like Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Will Smith, but they have so many sneaker-uppers, so many people who take a bit longer to develop but once they get there, they're incredible. Julio Urias, Tony Gonsolin, I suppose eventually Ryan Pepiot, are all examples of this.

The biggest one of these this year, though Gonsolin has had the more eye-popping season, might be from Gavin Lux. The Dodgers got some championship-caliber teams out of the infield of Muncy-Taylor-Seager-Turner, but the trouble with that is they're all getting old. Seager's in Texas, but Turner's showing his age, Taylor been injured, and Muncy only recently figured out how to hit again. And so this team has needed a younger infield, and this season they've had incredible infield pieces like Freddie Freeman, Trea Turner and, I suppose, Muncy, making this infield pretty strong across the board. All it needed was a full effort from Gavin Lux, one this team has been waiting for since his call-up in 2019.

This has been Gavin Lux's best season to date, and it was about time. The 24-year-old is hitting .297 with 105 hits and 39 RBIs, plus some excellent defensive play, and makes for an epic double-play combo with Trea Turner. Lux has a 3.0 WAR, which contributes to the infield's combined 14.1 WAR, which is pretty damn impressive if you ask me. Only the Braves can really compete with that right now.

And you're seeing so many piece of this team, like Joey Gallo, Trayce Thompson and now Dustin May, make this team stronger and more intimidating going into the playoffs. There's a month of regular season play left, and it's only a matter of how much of a flex the Dodgers want heading into October. They can go for a 110 win year if they want, all that matters is how the expand upon it in the playoffs. And I'm pretty sure these Roberts Dodgers teams want more than one ring to show for themselves.

Coming Tonight: Outfield veteran of a team intent on never keeping anyone around.