Here we are, the first Monday after the first weekend of the 2020 season. Some teams are in first place, other teams are in last. For the first time since 1954, no baseball team has gone 3-0 to start their season.
Missed opportunities kept the Dodgers from going 3-1 or even a perfect 4-0.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants split their four game series with each winning two games and losing two games. For both teams, two games were good and two games were not so good.
The Dodgers managed to score 17 combined runs in the first two games while holding the Giants to just TWO combined runs. Stellar pitching from Dustin May and Ross Stripling led the Dodgers to their first two wins.
Then, abysmal pitching from Alex Wood and Julio Urias sank the team as they struggled to put away hitters in their respective outings. Mental errors and bad base running are what cost the Dodgers the game on Saturday and Sunday’s game was lackluster as the Dodgers couldn’t score with RISP.
On top of this, 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger and 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts have yet to break out and produce the way we are used to seeing.
Neither of them have hit a home run and other than their great defense in the outfield, they haven’t done much. Does this worry me at all or should it worry you? Not at all, these guys are professionals and they clearly have what it takes to be key players.
I just hope they get their momentum going sooner rather than later.
For those of you that don’t know, Clayton Kershaw was placed on the 10 day Injured List just hours before making his ninth Opening Day start. His chronic back that seems to land him on the Injured List every season has struck once again.
Good news is that Kershaw has been throwing off of flat ground and a mound already which means he could be ready to return this weekend against Arizona. There is one slight problem, though, the season may or may not be cancelled due to new information that has been reported today.
It has been reported that 11 out of 13 players of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19. Their home opener tonight has been cancelled as well as the Yankees and Phillies game.
As of right now, there is no immediate answers for what MLB will do to combat this issue or how they will work around it. However, the MLB had to have known that something like this could possibly happen and I’m sure they have a back up plan in place.
The Dodgers are off today and will fly to Houston to play the Astros for a quick two game series. Luckily for the Dodgers, they won’t have to face Justin Verlander as his season is being cut short due to an elbow injury.
There was a report yesterday that Verlander would miss the rest of the season but Verlander took to Twitter to verify the report:
“The report that I’m currently missing the rest of the season is not accurate. There is a forearm strain…I’m hopeful that with some rest it will heal and I’ll be able to return soon. Thank you all for the well wishes.”
So, as of now, Verlander doesn’t think he will miss the rest of the season. Is this just a message to fans to make sure they don’t start panicking, or is he being serious and optimistic? Only time will tell.
Walker Buehler and Dustin May are scheduled to face the Houston Astros and I can’t wait to see how they perform. For Buehler, it will be his season debut and May will take Kershaw’s place in the rotation once more.
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