18 and Life

 

The Dodgers, this week, are gonna become the first team in history to start 3 Japanese pitchers in a row. Roki Sasaki tonight, Shohei tomorrow, and Yamamoto Wednesday. It's genuinely amazing to see a team go all-in on Japanese pitching, and it's cool that it's the Dodgers, who technically re-started the trend in '95 by bringing over Hideo Nomo, and later Kasuhisa Ishii, doing it. This, in combination with the use of Hyeseong Kim as an infield piece, have made the Dodgers one of the most internationally-friendly teams out there.

And it might be an exciting narrative if the Dodgers weren't already the far-and-away favorite to win the World Series. 

Look, as it's the third year of this, I've tried to get my feelings on this to atrophy a bit, because I feel bad. I don't HATE the Dodgers, they develop great teams and their heroes are hard to hate. It's the wealth disparity thing I dislike. This offseason the Mets spent a great deal to try and catch LA, and other teams like the Cubs and Yankees still put the money up for things like this. But the Dodgers still have one of the best teams, and used the offseason to get Edwin Diaz, one of the best closers in the bigs, and Kyle Tucker, one of the best outfield bats out there. All the things that are leaving the Dodgers are things they no longer have a use for, all the main pieces are still in their prime, and all the people joining the team are excellent. Generally, if the best team wins it all, it's not the most exciting outcome, especially when they're already spending more than anyone else. 

Now again, it's not just spending, it's the rubber hitting the road. And so far, the Dodgers, given a series against an easy team like Arizona, are undefeated. They've done this, strangely, without much offensive production from Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez. That's...the bulk of the power. And they're still winning games, just off contact and some of the other stars. Alex Freeland's already making waves coming in on Miguel Rojas's position, the bullpen has yet to give up an earned run, and Will Smith leads the team in RBIs with 5. 

And they've held it down with some great starting performances so far. Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have held up the top of the rotation well, both going 6 with 6 Ks. Yoshi is gonna be relied upon as the ace this year, and I think he's fully able to take that on. Honestly, Blake Snell might settle into that 3 spot when he come back, and Emmet Sheehan, unless he recovers, might be relegated to a swingman role. There's much worse guys to hand the ball to in a big game than Yamamoto, and I'm so glad he's become a great MLB option after a strong Japanese career. 

I think the Dodgers are already proving that they can build a competitor even if it's not the ways you're thinking they will. I think they can afford some slow starts provided everything comes together by September. I think it'll be great for history if they can win a third. Maybe not for me specifically, or for people that like interesting developments, but it's been years since the Yankees dynasty, or the Giants', and maybe it's just needed now. 

Coming Tomorrow- He throws smoke, he gets the job done, and he leaves teams right at the moment they stop winning games.