Los Angeles Dodgers: Rolling into division series vs. DBacks

The Los Angeles Dodgers have not played the Arizona Diamondbacks since March and are rolling into this series red-hot.

The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2019 season in March with a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The season started on the right foot as well as the Dodgers won three of four games, scoring a combined 42 runs in the process.

Although the team had a setback two weeks later with a six-game losing streak, the Dodgers have otherwise been spectacular this season. The Boys in Blue are entering this series with a 41-19 record, the best record in the NL, and have won nine of their last 10.

These are not pushover teams that the Dodgers are beating, either. The team just got done sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies and took three out of four against the New York Mets, who were red-hot entering the series and had both Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard pitch.

Heck, the team has not lost a series since a the team’s three-game set in San Francisco at the beginning of May.

The offense has been clicking, the starting pitching has been phenomenal and all in all, these Dodgers feel much more like the 2017 Dodgers than the 2018 Dodgers.

Taking the mound for the Dodgers is Walker Buehler, who was great in the month of May up until his last start, in which the Mets scored five runs in five innings against him.

Going for the Diamondbacks is someone that gives the Dodgers’ fits: Robbie Ray. Los Angeles is really good at making Ray leave the game early due to pitch count but has not hit him well. The Dodgers have just a .223 batting average against Ray in 159 at-bats.

As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can get at least one base hit on Monday.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 10): Justin Turner

My longest streak in the existence of this series (which started last year) is in the hands of Justin Turner on Monday. Everything should be pointing me in the direction of not picking Turner but that is exactly why I am picking him.

First and foremost, Turner has just a .188 batting average against Ray despite being the Dodgers’ best right-handed hitter. Not only that, but Turner was not in the starting lineup at all against the Philadelphia Phillies after injuring his hamstring on Thursday.

While he was out longer than expected, it looks like Turner is going to start on Monday after pinch hitting on Sunday. Dave Roberts said that Turner even could have started on Saturday, so there is no real reason to worry.

However, it might not seem like the smartest thing to do considering he might be rusty. It will be that small break from action that leads to Turner exploding back into the lineup and extending my streak to 11.