The 2018 season has been an injury-plagued one for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but as the second half of the season gets underway, players are finally starting to get healthy.
The starting rotation has welcomed back Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill, Kenta Maeda and Walker Buehler after they all missed time due to injury in the first half. And reinforcements in the bullpen are on the way with Pedro Baez, Josh Fields and Tony Cingrani all expected to return in the coming weeks.
As far as position players, the Dodgers are relatively healthy at the moment, except for Justin Turner, who remains on the active roster despite dealing with an adductor injury, and Yasiel Puig, who is on the disabled list due to a strained right oblique.
Puig suffered the injury during a Freeway Series game at Angel Stadium. Two weeks after getting hurt, it appears that Puig is making strides in his rehab.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts envisions Puig returning during next weekend’s series against the Atlanta Braves, via Stephen Cohn of MLB.com:
“Our goal is the Atlanta series,” Roberts said. “That’s the plan. Whether that stays the course depends on how he feels.”
Puig was one of the Dodgers hottest hitters before landing on the disabled list, homering in each of the last two games that he played. In 52 games since coming off a previous injury in April, Puig was one of the best hitters in all of baseball, hitting .303/.365/.576 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI during that stretch.
With the recent addition of Manny Machado, the Dodgers have one of the deepest lineups in all of baseball and that will only get deeper when Puig returns and like bats eighth for Los Angeles.
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