Early season schedule demands quick start for Dodgers
OK, that’s enough of that. Enough of messing around with completely outmanned teams. With letting them think they can compete.
You know when the Dodgers need to step up and act like a championship team?
Right now.
Yeah, I know. It’s Game 2 of 162. A baseball season is full of ups and downs, streaks good and bad. Useless to get too excited about any single period or stretch.
Except . . . for a team that has undergone precious little upgrade, this early part of the season could prove significant. Maybe even pivotal.
The Dodgers’ early schedule appears very favorable. And they need to take advantage of that.
Eleven of their first 14 series will be against teams that had losing records last year . . . only nine of their first 41 games against teams that were over .500 . . . and just one series against a playoff team (Colorado)
That’s over six weeks of highly winnable baseball. Games they need to excel at, because it’s only going to become more challenging after that.
Later come games against the Cubs, Phillies and Cardinals, against the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees.
By then, the Dodgers need to have established themselves as a championship-caliber team. Which means these April games are key. Game 2 of the season is Wednesday, and it’s time to get after it.
--Steve Dilbeck
You know when the Dodgers need to step up and act like a championship team?
Right now.
Yeah, I know. It’s Game 2 of 162. A baseball season is full of ups and downs, streaks good and bad. Useless to get too excited about any single period or stretch.
Except . . . for a team that has undergone precious little upgrade, this early part of the season could prove significant. Maybe even pivotal.
The Dodgers’ early schedule appears very favorable. And they need to take advantage of that.
Eleven of their first 14 series will be against teams that had losing records last year . . . only nine of their first 41 games against teams that were over .500 . . . and just one series against a playoff team (Colorado)
That’s over six weeks of highly winnable baseball. Games they need to excel at, because it’s only going to become more challenging after that.
Later come games against the Cubs, Phillies and Cardinals, against the Angels, Red Sox and Yankees.
By then, the Dodgers need to have established themselves as a championship-caliber team. Which means these April games are key. Game 2 of the season is Wednesday, and it’s time to get after it.
--Steve Dilbeck
Good point about the schedule... it could tell a lot about the total package. Are any of those teams significantly upgraded?
Posted by: LABits | 04/05/2010 at 08:37 PM
A sense of urgency starts with Torre & staff.
He has enough horses and horse sense to win.
Posted by: Zen | 04/06/2010 at 07:45 AM
I just glanced at the schedule and the first month includes PIT, FLA, ARI, SF, CIN, WAS, NYM, PIT again. The only team that could be considered "significantly upgraded" is New York if they manage to stay healthy by then. But Reyes is already on the shelf so who knows if he'll play that series. The D'Backs added Edwin Jackson but B-Webb still isn't ready so they're not much of a threat at this point. I'd say Dilbeck is spot on--this is the time for the Dodgers to assert themselves and put this stagnant offseason behind us.
Posted by: Kevin B (Viña del Mar, Chile) | 04/06/2010 at 11:26 AM