With the first month of the MLB season officially in the books, the Los Angeles Dodgers once again look like a team that is on the fast track for another NL West title. The most redundant phrase in sports "it's still early" aside, the Dodgers find themselves in first place in the division through the first 21 games of the season.
The Dodgers have been dominant offensively as they rank in the top five in nearly every offensive category in the national league. The team has been flexing their muscles as well as they top the NL in home runs (32), slugging percentage (.486), and on base percentage (.345).
First baseman Adrian Gonzalez seized the NL Player of the Month Award for April. The 32-year-old leads the National League in home runs (8), slugging percentage (.790) and OPS (1.222). His .383 batting average ranks third in the league behind only Colorado Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu and former teammate Dee Gordon who now plays for the Miami Marlins.
"El Titan" as he is aptly called has been the driving force in the rekindled rivalry between the Dodgers and revamped San Diego Padres. Gonzalez has hit six of his eight homers against his former team with three coming off of Padres starter Andrew Cashner.
Second baseman Howie Kendrick is looking like a great acquisition so far, hitting .314 on the season. Don Mattingly's secret weapon has been utility man Alex Guerrero. In 26 at-bats, Guerrero has five home runs and 13 RBI while hitting .423. Rookie Joc Pederson is also making Dodger fans quickly forget about the departure of Matt Kemp by hitting .298 with 17 walks and four long balls.
While the brazen bats of the Dodgers have been scorching of late, the team's future problems could be their pitching staff. The royal arms are currently rank in the top five in the NL in ERA and strikeouts, but, early injuries to Kenley Jansen, Brandon League and Hyun Jin-Ryu have led to a patchwork pitching rotation and plug-and-play out of the pen.
To make matters worse, on Monday, the Dodgers announced that free agent acquisition Brandon McCarthy will be out until the Summer of 2016 with a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery. McCarthy (3-0) was second in the NL in strikeouts with 29 despite posting an unusually high ERA of 5.87.
In the absence of many of their stars on the mound, the Dodgers will have to rely heavily on 2009 Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke (4-0) who is off to an out-of-this-world start to the season with a 1.93 ERA and 27 strikeouts and reigning NL Cy Young/MVP winner Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw (1-2) has been slow out of the gate with a 3.73 ERA, but leads the majors in strikeouts with 43.
The bullpen which many expected to be the teams' Achilles heel is off to a fast start as well as the young guns selected by Mattingly at the end of spring training are fourth in the majors in ERA (2.25), first in FIP (2.13), first in xFIP (2.95) and second in strikeouts (79).
The Dodgers enter into the month of May with a 13-8 record and an impressive 10-2 record at Dodger Stadium. Only three of the Dodgers next nine series in May are against teams with a record of .500 or better meaning that the month of May could be the time Los Angeles separates themselves from the pack in the crowded NL West.
