The Los Angeles Dodgers sit atop the National League standings and are tied for the best record in baseball at 33-15, but despite that, it still sometimes feels like they have yet to hit their stride.
Although the Dodgers’ +118 run differential leads all teams by at least 47 runs, mostly thanks to Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman playing like MVP candidates and a lot of strong performances from their pitching staff, they still have many players capable of playing better.
Among those players is Walker Buehler, who has yet to find consistency this season as he struggles with his fastball. After allowing four runs to the Pirates on Monday, Buehler said some people in the clubhouse have been disappointed in him, but Betts doesn’t want to put all the blame on the Dodgers’ ace.
“I think we haven’t really played that great,” Betts said. “I know we’re winning games and finding ways, but we haven’t really for a stretch put together all four facets — baserunning, defense, hitting and pitching.
“I think we do it all well, but we slack in certain areas when we don’t need to. It comes back to hurt us, but luckily we’re a good team and have managed. To his point, we do need to play better baseball just in general.”
After April, Betts said the lineup needed to play better and they responded by scoring an MLB-best 171 runs over the month of May while finishing second in wOBA (.353) and wRC+ (130). Their production in the month took them from seventh in runs scored and wRC+ to first in each category.
It remains to be seen if Betts’ recent comments will have a similar effect, but expectations remain high in the clubhouse as they look to prove their status as the World Series favorites is legit.
Betts breaks Dodgers record for extra-base hits in May
After a slow start in April where he sometimes looked lost at the plate, Betts responded with a record-setting May.
The 29-year-old had 22 extra-base hits during the month, which broke a tie with Jackie Robinson for the franchise record. Of those 22 extra-base hits, 12 are home runs, which tied Roy Campanella’s club record for most homers in May.
Betts has one more game to break that record on Tuesday night against Mitch Keller and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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