The Dodgers are where they were expected to be through the first weekend of the season, unbeaten heading into their three-game series against the Guardians that starts on Monday.
The part that is a surprise, and the part that should have the league’s other teams concerned, is how they did it without Shohei Ohtani hitting.
Ohtani singled to right field in his first at-bat of the season, but went hitless in his other seven at-bats in the Dodgers’ three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks made a concerted effort to take the four-time MVP out of the series, and they managed to do that for the most part.
Which doesn’t mean Ohtani was a complete non-factor.
He walked four times. He was hit by a pitch. And in the second game of the series, with the score tied in the eighth inning, he hit a grounder that advanced Alex Freeland from second base to third. Freeland went on to score the winning run.
The next day, Mookie Betts drew a walk to set up Will Smith’s two-run, eighth-inning homer that won the Dodgers the series finale.
“That’s the key,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “That’s why we’re 3-0.”
Talent alone would make the Dodgers formidable.
Eight of their hitters have played in All-Star Games, and any one of them could be the hero of any particular night.
But what they showed in the Diamondbacks series was that they won’t force something that isn’t there. If the opposing pitchers aren’t throwing them anything to hit, they’ll take their groundout or walk and pass on the responsibility to the hitter behind them.
“Those are the things that aren’t going to go in the box score, that people aren’t going to talk about, but that’s how you win baseball games throughout the course of the season,” Freeman said. “It’s team baseball, and you’ve seen it the last couple days.”
The lineup wasn’t at its best against the Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers trailed in each of the three games. Their offense went into a slumber after their 8-2 win on Opening Day, collecting only four hits on Friday and six on Saturday.
They still found a path to victory every night.
“We’re not always going to throw out 15 hits a night or hit a bunch of homers, but we still hang in there, take good at-bats,” manager Dave Roberts said. “As long as we have out, they’re gonna keep fighting.
“You’re going to hear this word a lot: Grinding. Just really trying to grind at-bats and wait for these guys to make a mistake and not get yourself out. That’s what we did. That’s what we’ll do.”
Their pitching bought them time.
The relievers in particular were lights out, contributing 11 ⅔ scoreless innings in the three games against the Diamondbacks. Their performance alleviated concerns about the bullpen, which was a major problem last season.
When Emmet Sheehan lasted only 3 ⅓ innings in his start on Friday night, Jack Dryer, Ben Casparius, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Edwin Diaz combined for 5 ⅔ innings.
The addition of Diaz as the closer has transformed the bullpen, allowing Roberts to deploy the other relievers in more favorable situations because he doesn’t have to worry about saving any of them for the ninth inning.
Sheehan’s form should be a concern, especially if Roki Sasaki lays an egg in his scheduled start on Monday. One starter unable to pitch deep into games can strain a bullpen. Two of them can destroy it, which could be what happened last year.
But on the whole, the Dodgers had to be pleased with how the weekend unfolded.
Their offense was just so-so. Their star player didn’t hit. And they won every game.
“Obviously, we’d love to get more hits than we had the last couple days, but I think with our lineup, no one’s going to worry about that,” Freeman said. “It’s going to happen.”
