The Los Angeles Dodgers have been on a tear lately, being the first team in the MLB to clinch a postseason berth after defeating the San Diego Padres 7-5 last Wednesday night. With how hot they’ve been running, the Dodgers have the entire league on alert and have every baseball fan wondering whether or not this would be the year that they win it all.
They currently lead the entire league in wins, holding a 37-15 record in the 2020 season that has been unfortunately abridged by the pandemic. That’s an astounding .712 winning percentage for the Los Angeles squad. The team has also won 22 of their first 30 games, despite early struggles from Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy. There was also a stretch where Walker Buehler spent some time getting back into his groove. With all three looking better lately, the Dodgers look primed to make a deep run into the postseason.
After clinching their eighth straight consecutive berth in the playoffs, they now hold the third-longest streak for most consecutive postseason berths for a team. Only the 1991-2005 Atlanta Braves (14 years) and the 1995-2007 New York Yankees (13 years) have had longer playoff streaks than the Dodgers.
What’s more impressive is that they’re on pace to win the National League West division title for the eighth time in eight seasons. Yes, you’ve read that right, the Dodgers have led the National League in wins for every season since 2013, and they’re on their way to doing it again for the eighth straight time.
Indeed, it may seem like it’s only a matter of time before the Los Angeles Dodgers breaks the organization’s title drought, which is now at 31 years. There have been some close calls during their prolific stretch for the majority of the past decade, though. Los Angeles has been in two World Series during this eight-year stretch, making back-to-back appearances in 2017 and 2018 and suffering heartbreaking losses at the hands of the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, respectively.
How great the Dodgers are doing and their record book-worthy performance throughout the past seasons isn’t something that should astonish even the most casual of sports fans, though. The Los Angeles squad has consistently shown its acumen not only on the field but also behind the scenes. The organization has done an outstanding job in constructing its roster, creating a perfect mix of superbly developed homegrown talent supplemented with high-quality veterans.
Los Angeles has one of the deepest rosters in major league baseball. Their squad is highlighted by three different winners of the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award in Cody Bellinger, Clayton Kershaw, and Mookie Betts.
Perhaps more importantly than the star power though, is the team as a whole is composed of players who have been in the trenches of postseason baseball. Most of their guys have been part of the consecutive heartbreaks of the 2017 and 2018 Fall Classics, and they’re definitely hungry to finally get ahold of that elusive title. They have also acquired players with championship pedigree in Mookie Betts and Joe Kelly, both of whom were World Series champions with the 2018 Boston Red Sox.
After their heater of a stretch as of late, the Los Angeles Dodgers have overtaken the New York Yankees as the favorites to win the 2020 World Series. Sports Illustrated currently has the Dodgers at +250 odds to win the 2020 Fall Classic, followed by the Tampa Bay Rays at +700 and the Yankees at +800.
Will this be the year that Los Angeles finally gets through the hump? It’s one thing to say that they’re due a title, but it’s another thing to put money behind it. With the hot streak that they’re on, though, betting on the Dodgers seems like easy money.
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