The early throes of the baseball season are generally a time for overreaction. The World Champion Boston Red Sox are 3-8 after starting the season on a West Coast road trip, so surely the curse of Babe Ruth is back, right?
Unlikely.
While some things you can rightly predict and will remain true all season — the Baltimore Orioles being bad, for example — other early season trends are entertaining but probably not sustainable. One of those is the start the Los Angeles Dodgers are currently on. They are, quite frankly, demolishing their opponents to start the 2019 campaign.
Los Angeles sits at 8-2 to start the season, a hot start that somehow underscores just how badly they are beating the opposition. Perhaps this tweet about run differential can explain it better.
https://twitter.com/MLBStats/status/1115338640786325504
Cody Bellinger has seven home runs, 18 RBI and is slugging over 1.000 right now, which is about as hot as you can get when you consider the season is barely into the double digits in games played. He’s already got his own highlight mixtape the Dodgers proudly shared on Twitter on Monday.
I got that fire come and try me. pic.twitter.com/PTgjcCGQfM
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 8, 2019
He’s not the only one going off for the Los Angeles team named after Brooklyn light rail, of course, but he’s the one that’s already on pace to set team records all over the place.
🚀 SEE YA! 🚀
That's Cody Bellinger's 7th HR of the season, the most by any @Dodgers batter through the team's first 10 games. pic.twitter.com/mWEUeYFnqh
— ESPN (@espn) April 8, 2019
The historic offensive output can’t possibly last over 162 games. Every season has its struggles and slumps. But the Dodgers look incredibly dangerous this season, and their hitting prowess is likely for real. The reigning NL champions are going to be a tough out all year, and though the run differential may equalize a bit, it’s going to be a long season for pitchers in the National League when they head to Chavez Ravine.
