Despite seeing notable contributors Yasmani Grandal, Manny Machado and Yasiel Puig depart over the winter, the Los Angeles Dodgers entered the 2019 season with one of the deepest teams in all of baseball.
The club returned the majority of its World Series core and supplemented their losses with reinforcements from the farm system. Los Angeles also added to its talented group in free agency and trades, bringing aboard the likes of A.J. Pollock, Russell Martin and Joe Kelly.
To no surprise, the Dodgers were pegged as heavy favorites to win their seventh consecutive National League West division title. Through the first eight weeks of the regular season, those projections have been backed up by the club’s relentless attack on opposing pitching.
Los Angeles has slugged their way to an NL-best 33 wins on the season entering play Saturday, receiving contributions all across the board. Cody Bellinger has emerged as an early favorite for NL MVP honors with his bat while rookie Alex Verdugo has thrived with an increase in playing time.
In addition to the Dodgers’ deep pool of position players, the club has additionally excelled in the starting pitching department. So much so that manager Dave Roberts deemed the group the biggest strength of his club, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I think we all know this,” Roberts said. “We have a very dynamic, athletic position-player group. But the strength of our team is our starting pitching – the depth and the quality. And it’s showing true right now.”
Despite not making any additions to the starting rotation over the offseason, the Dodgers’ staff has statistically been one of the best units in the Majors through the first two months of the 2019 campaign.
As a group, Los Angeles’ starting pitchers rank third in FanGraphs’ WAR (6.0), trailing only the Tampa Bay Rays (6.2) and Washington Nationals (6.2). Moreover, the unit currently places second in ERA (2.93), FIP (3.47) and xFIP (3.56), as well as eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.6).
As Roberts noted, the Dodgers’ starting pitching depth has proved vital in the early going with both Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill beginning the regular season on the 10-day injured list.
A total of eight pitchers have already logged at least one start for Los Angeles this year, and all but one have accumulated an ERA+ of over 100 to date.
Hyun-Jin Ryu stands out most among the Dodgers’ stacked starting rotation, having built on an impressive 2018 campaign. The left-hander is 6-1 with a minuscule 1.52 ERA, 2.62 FIP and 0.74 WHIP over 59.1 innings pitched (nine starts).
