The Los Angeles Dodgers are playing their best baseball of the season, having won seven consecutive games and 14 of 16 since April 21.
The Dodgers completed a perfect 6-0 homestand with their 3-1 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday and are now set to begin a six-game road trip against the San Diego Padres the San Francisco Giants.
Before they continue play at Petco Park this weekend, the Dodgers have a somewhat unfortunate break in their schedule on Thursday. “I think that the last day off after the 10-0 win was more welcomed,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“I think our guys are feeling pretty good. Like I said, no one is going to turn down an off day, but because our starters have done so well, we’re in a good spot. So whatever the schedule kind of lays out, we’re good with. But yeah, any off day is a good day.”
After Thursday’s off day, the Dodgers won’t have another one until May 23. “That’s something we’ve got to be ready for,” Roberts said of the team’s upcoming stretch of 13 consecutive games.
“That’s going to be a lot, we play some really good teams, so we’re going to need the starters. We might drop somebody in at some point just to give guys a blow and get a starter an extra day, but yeah the bullpen management is going to be huge and having guys like Yarborough’s length is going to come up big.”
In addition to their matchups against the Padres and Giants, the Dodgers are scheduled to play the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks over the next two weeks.
As Roberts noted, the team may rely on more starting pitchers than usual during this stretch to give others some extra rest. Luckily for the club, they recently welcomed back Walker Buehler and could always turn to someone like Landon Knack for a spot start if needed.
Max Muncy: Dodgers’ last two weeks have been ‘pretty special’
Since April 21, the Dodgers are outscoring opponents, 100-31, and have hit a National League-best 28 home runs over the 16-game stretch.
Max Muncy believes the last two weeks are an indicator of what the Dodgers are capable of.
