Dodgers Rumors: 2017 could easily end without a World Series
By Keith Rivas
The latest Dodgers rumors are about the championship that may never come.
It’s been a long time since the Los Angeles Dodgers have been World Series champions. You have to go back to 1988 for the last time that we saw the boys in blue raise baseball’s biggest trophy.
This season has given hope to the fan base that has wanted a return to the top for long enough. Whether or not they’re able to make the most of the best record in baseball is yet to be determined.
Clayton Kershaw has been incredible, but his health remains a question mark. Also, while their offense has been hot, the postseason tells a much different story.
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Los Angeles has another rookie phenom in their midst in slugger Cody Bellinger. Like Corey Seager last season, Bellinger has emerged out of nowhere as a top producer at the plate. The Dodgers need all the hits and runs they can get, but the inexperience may be what catches up with them.
It seems as though their great batting will carry them to another NL West title and prime playoff position. But with that comes an almost too heavy expectation of winning it all.
There are plenty of teams in the NL that could catch fire and give the Dodgers some problems in the playoff picture. Chicago and Washington are both leading the other NL divisions, but they are 18 and 11 games behind Los Angeles in the win column, respectively.
That much of a gap only makes the pressure that much more intense. If Los Angeles falls short of a World Series, one has to wonder if they have the same type of problem that haunted the Los Angeles Clippers.
With so much hype put into what’s accomplished in the regular season, producing in the playoffs isn’t given enough thought to be put into action. Los Angeles struggled against the Cubs when it mattered in last year’s NLCS. That will be the kind of baseball they’ll have to fight against in order to win it all.
Lastly, a major determining factor is how the Dodgers handle the MLB trade deadline. There are plenty of rumors out there, including names like Yu Darvish and Justin Verlander. But it doesn’t seem like the Dodgers are leaning towards any of those guys.
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Los Angeles is on pace to win the fourth most games in league history (113), but they can’t let that get to their head. The only way for us to know if the Dodgers can handle the storm is to actually see how they do in the chase for October.