With nearly one-quarter of the regular season in the books, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves a whopping eight games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West.
Injuries have certainly hindered the club in the early going, but unanticipated regression has also played a role thus far. Specifically, a pair of key cogs in Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor have vastly struggled this year after enjoying respective resurgent 2017 campaigns.
Making matters worse has been the Dodgers’ sloppy play as of late, which attributed to a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds over the weekend. They have also dropped recent series to the rebuilding Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres.
In the wake of all the negativity, closer Kenley Jansen is remaining confident and believes the Dodgers will eventually snap out of their funk, per Rowan Kavner of Dodger Insider:
“At some point, it’s going to go our way,” said Kenley Jansen, who tossed his fourth straight scoreless appearance Sunday. “That’s how the game is.”
As the Dodgers face an uphill battle to climb back into contention, the club is slated to receive some key reinforcements in the near future.
The Dodgers are expected to activate both Logan Forsythe and Justin Turner off the disabled list this week, further bolstering a lineup that lost Corey Seager for the remainder of the 2018 season.
Not only that, but Clayton Kershaw could very well return to the starting rotation in the coming weeks as well. After being shut down with left biceps tendinitis earlier this month, he has already resumed baseball-related activities, including recently playing catch.
The Dodgers look to finally get back on track this week during an East Coast road trip that includes stops against the Marlins and Washington Nationals.
