Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak selections — April 10
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers open a two-game set with the Oakland Athletics tonight, April 10. With the start of a new Dodgers series comes the start of a new series here at LA Sports Hub.
One thing I have wanted to do more of here at LA Sports Hub is creating engaging series that get an audience involved. Sometimes, it is hard to do that in writing. Our roundtables have been a great way of getting every voice heard. However, we want to start something that will continue on for weeks. Today I introduce you to our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series.
This series solely revolves around the yearly Beat the Streak competition that the MLB has created. The rules are simple: get a 57-game hit streak with various different players in baseball and win $5.6 million. 2018 marks the 18th year in existence; no player has ever won.
While ours will not win us any money, it will be a fun competition for the readers to keep up on. Not only that, you can tweet us @LA_SportsHub with the hashtag #DodgersBTS with a screenshot of your Beat the Streak app to be included in our articles for the next game.
This will go out the day of games, sometime before noon (earlier if it is an afternoon game). Hopefully, this picks up some steam and we can get a collective group of participants.
Without further ado, let’s get into the picks:
Jason’s pick: Yasiel Puig
WHY:
For the inaugural article of this series, I am going with the guy who had one of the hottest starts in baseball history; the Wild Horse, Yasiel Puig.
The Dodgers are set to square off against southpaw Sean Manaea, who is making his third start of the season. Manaea has been great, tossing 15.2 innings while allowing just one run and striking out 11. He has faced the Angels and Rangers this season, while not elite competition, the Angels have been a great offensive team.
The simple reason for why Yasiel Puig is the southpaw vs. righty matchup. I am not entirely sold on Enrique Hernandez getting a hit, with Puig being the next best option. He has been squaring up the baseball but has been hitting it right at guys. Eventually, that kind of hard contract will lead to hits.
Current streak: Zero
Sarah’s pick: Cody Bellinger
WHY:
My pick for tomorrow is Cody Bellinger, and I think he’s going to get a hit because he’s long overdue for a strong game. Sean Manaea will be on the mound for the A’s and though his ERA is stellar this season so far (1.15).
I believe that finally being back at Dodger Stadium will be the driving force that Bellinger needs to hit. I have a feeling the hit could be either a homer or a clutch double (I’d prefer the latter, to be honest) and it may even be the kind of performance the entire offense needs to get going again.
Current streak: Zero
Next: Who is going to save the Dodgers?
Hopefully, those of you reading are interested in participating season-long in our Dodgers Beat the Streak series! May the best man, or woman, win!