Week one is in the books. This time last week the entire league was undefeated if you don’t count the game played in Japan, and each team had all the hope in the world. New faces in new places highlighted the action, as well as Cy Young award winners going up against runner-ups from 2018 on opening day. It was an exciting time.
Fast forward to today and we have many different questions and accolades that have come our way. First, it appears as if the Los Angeles Dodgers are on pace to break the record for home runs in the National League for the second straight season. Eight home runs on opening day, EIGHT, set them on a blazing pace, and have continued being on fire by hitting at least one in the first seven games. Cody Bellinger is the Cody Bellinger of 2017 and leading the league in hits, home runs, RBI’s and runs. A.J. Pollock earned his Dodger blue by helping brush aside the Arizona Diamondbacks while hitting his first home run, not in a Diamondback uniform, and the starting pitching has been superb.
All of this, and the hottest Dodger, not named Cody, might be Joc Pederson. All the talk of a platoon with him has lit a fire in this young man. He is giving Dave Roberts a lot to think about on how that platoon split will be shared.
The offense has been rolling. The starting pitching has been incredible. The only blemish on the team so far has been the bullpen. If not for Joe Kelly’s two disastrous outings, the Dodgers could still have a perfect record. The problems so far, are clearly with the bullpen. Pedro Baez hasn’t lived up to how he looked in 2018, and Yimi Garcia has struggled to give any clear reason he was selected for the 25-man roster.
Needless to say, there is room for improvement on a team that is off to a 5-2 start and has set the franchise record for most home runs through the first seven games of a season. If the first seven games of the series is an indicator of how the rest of the year will go, we are going to have a wild ride for the next 155.
Feature Photo: Tim Clayton/Corbis/Getty Images
