The Major League Baseball season is unlike any other in professional sports. Playing 162 games allows teams to struggle early in the season and still have an opportunity to compete for a playoff berth. The reality of that fact is amplified when we have not even reached the All-Star break in the 2013 season. With that being said, we have to be realistic when looking at current last place teams that could potentially turn their season around.
The Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, and Chicago Cubs are all at least 16 games back of their respective division leaders. The Marlins unloaded most of their talent during the offseason, leaving them with a young and inexperienced squad; the Cubs’ offense has been less than satisfactory and probably won’t get any better this year (not to mention they are in the best division in baseball, the National League Central); and the Astros are, well, the Astros.
The Chicago White Sox have been able to hang around so far, trailing by only eight games, but the Detroit Tigers have started to pick and speed and are distancing themselves from the pack. It’s hard to rule out the Toronto Blue Jays because of the amount of raw talent on their ball club, but with their stars continuing to struggle and the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox playing very well, they’ve got a long and arduous road ahead of them.
By now you’ve almost certainly determined that the only last place team left is the Los Angeles Dodgers, and are frantically scrolling your mouse wheel up to see if you’ve missed where I said they don’t have a chance. However, you obviously did not find what you were looking for. The Dodgers (27-36) are only 8.5 games back of the first place Arizona Diamondbacks (36-28) in the National League West, which is the second smallest margin among last place teams. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks have the lowest winning percentage (.563) among all first place teams, which plays right into the Dodgers’ hands at this point in the season.
The Dodgers’ run production is very last-luster, ranking 28th in the majors with only 221 total runs scored. However, rookie sparkplug Yasel Puig is doing all he can to ignite their offense. Puig is batting .500 in the eight games he has been in the big leagues (16-for-32). Dodgers’ ace, Clayton Kershaw, is pitching extremely well, which doesn’t surprise anyone. He’s already thrown over 100 innings this year, and has a 1.88 earned run average despite going only 5-4 so far. South Korean born Hyun-Jin Ryu is also pitching to critical acclaim. In his first year in American baseball, Ryu is 6-2 with a 2.72 earned run average, including a complete game, two-hit shutout in his last start of May.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a lot of talent on their roster, but it hasn’t translated into success so far this season. Keep in mind that Matt Kemp, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Ted Lilly are all on the 15-day disabled list as of June 11th. Things could start to come together for the Dodgers once the two veteran pitchers return and the dynamic outfielders get back on the base paths to give Puig some help. I think the Dodgers are the only last place team that has a realistic chance to make a run for a wild card spot, or even a division title.