As the 2018 regular season wore on, it became readily apparent the Los Angeles Dodgers would not approach their MLB-best 104 wins from a year ago. But how much the team continued to struggle was somewhat of a surprise.
A loss to the Cincinnati Reds on May 13 meant the Dodgers suffered a four-game sweep at home and at 16-24 were off to their worst 40-game start since 1958 — their first season in Los Angeles. They fell to 10 games under .500 three days later because of consecutive losses to the Miami Marlins.
But Los Angeles managed to salvage that road series with a win. Avoiding the sweep and Justin Turner’s return from the disabled list seemingly lit a spark. The Dodgers went on to sweep the Washington Nationals, defeating Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in the process.
They’re 14-4 since May 17, good for one of the best records in baseball during that period. The Dodgers’ latest win was a 5-0 shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates, which got them back to .500.
While typically not a notable accomplishment for a team with the Dodgers’ talent and expectations, manager Dave Roberts believes it’s indicative of where his club is, per Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
“We’re back in the mix,” Roberts said. “Now the goal is to keep playing good baseball.”
In addition to winning 14 of their last 18 games, the Dodgers enter play Wednesday with a four-game winning streak and having won eight consecutive road games. Included in that was a series sweep at Coors Field for the first time since 2010.
The hot stretch of play only has the Dodgers in third place in the National League West, but they trail the Arizona Diamondbacks by two games and are a mere one game back of the Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers fell to as many as nine games out of first place in early May.
A win on Wednesday will put them above .500 for only a second time this season. They improved to 11-10 on April 23 by defeating the Marlins at Dodger Stadium.
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