Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani Making Baseball History in Early Going
The Los Angeles Dodgers, the presumptive National League pennant winners, are out to a roaring 10-5 start this season. While there has been some spectacular pitching for LA, the offense is driving the ship at a historic rate in the early going.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, faced with the weight of massive expectations this season, are off to a historic start offensively.
The team is 10-5 and is being carried by a group of sluggers that includes Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. Both the team, and Ohtani, are out to some historic starts, as evidenced by Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
DODGERS TOP 4 SPOTS IN THE ORDER
thru 15 games
.353 BA
.436 OBP
1.032 OPS
that is the 2nd-highest OPS (2006 TOR 1.116) by a team’s top 4 thru 15 g [since at least 1906]
And with regards to Ohtani...
Shohei Ohtani’s 12 extra-base hits are the most by a player in his first 15 games with the Dodgers (since at least 1901)
Ohtani is hitting .333 this season and has posted a 1.012 OPS thus far. He's situated in the second spot in the order. At leadoff, Betts is hitting .364 with a 1.234 OPS. Freeman is hitting .333 and Hernandez is hitting .298 with an OPS of .916.
Ohtani was signed this offseason to a 10-year, $700 million deal while Hernandez signed a one-year deal after spending 2023 with the Seattle Mariners.
Because of all the moves, plus the trade for Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series this season. They were eliminated in the NLDS last season by the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers will take on the San Diego Padres this weekend at Dodger Stadium. The series begins on Friday night with Michael King (2-0, 3.14 ERA) pitching against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 4.09 ERA). First pitch is 10:10 p.m. ET.
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