The Dodgers have baseball’s best record, with room for improvement

With a 6-1 annihilation of the White Sox of the oppressed Chicago on Tuesday evening, the Dodgers extended their advantage in the West National League to eight games.

Eight games, despite the crises of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

Eight games, despite the injuries to Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.

Eight games, despite less than three weeks of division of the division head with the Giants of San Francisco.

Almost everything that could go wrong this season for the Dodgers has been wrong, and they are ahead of the second place in San Diego Padres by eight games and the giants of the third place of nine years. The Dodgers did not resemble the mastodon of 120 victories to win, and they have the best record in the major leagues.

“I still believe that our best baseball is in front of us,” said manager Dave Roberts.

Three months remain in the regular season, more than enough time for the Dodgers to become whole, more than enough time for them to transform into a baseball version of the Mongolian army.

Roberts said the dodgers “don’t really play our best baseball”, and he’s right. They did not ride their opponents as much as they have surpassed them.

“We were not at full power all year round,” said Roberts. “Many teams can say the same thing. But on our credit, no one has excused on this subject.”

The Dodgers and the Giants were even in the ranking on June 13. The Dodgers have won 13 of their next 16 games. The giants have lost 12 of their next 16, their exchange of superproductions for Rafael Devers shaking the division but not as they wanted.

From mid-May to mid-June, the Dodgers played 26 consecutive games against teams with winning records, but the Giants and Padres failed to take advantage of it. The Roberts team emerged from this section in first place and has continued to increase its division lead since.

This should be disconcerting for the giants and the paadres – as well as for the New York Yankees and Mets, and any other budding candidate – is that the Dodgers have managed to distance themselves from the competition without looking particularly imposing.

Their victory over the White Sox on Tuesday evening marked the rare game in which they dominated all aspects of the game, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto abandoning a single round in seven rounds, the offensive marking four points in the first round, Shohei Ohtani launching his 30th Homer in relief in fourth, and Jack Dreyer and Anthony Banda by launching an innume.

They need more games like this, but not only to win the division or secure a bye in the first round in the playoffs. They need it to create the momentum necessary to make another championship.

“One thing I learned,” said Roberts, “is the most important thing once you are [in the playoffs]You have to play your best baseball because anything can happen. “”

Ohtani has resumed pitching, although limited. So many discussions as there were how his mound return affected his shot, Ohtani was still brought up seven times last month.

Dodgers do not count on Ohtani to make seven or eight heats in playoffs, but they think that it could contribute four or five heats both without compromising its offensive production.

Betts was kept away from the alignment on Tuesday, Roberts ranking the day off as “more mental day”. Betts has not found much offensive rhythm this season, but its history indicates that it has necessarily come out of its crisis.

“He’s an easy guy to bet,” said Roberts about the eight stars.

The same could be said of Freeman.

The Dodgers also received edifying news on the injury front.

Roki Sasaki played the catches on Tuesday and was timed at 91 MPH, a sign that his season may not be over.

Snell and the Blake Treinen lift organize the live stick training sessions on Wednesday, marking their first time for the strikers since their landing on the injured list. A day later, Glasnow should make what could be his last start of a minor league rehabilitation mission, the dodgers hoping to be able to launch about 75 throws in five rounds. If management continues to doubt that Snell or Glasnow are available in October, it can still take a step before the commercial deadline of July 31.

As a team with the best baseball record, the dodgers have technically nowhere to go. In reality, they can only improve from here. It is their floor. As the playoffs arrive, they should be a better team than they are now.