By SBRForum.com
It’s one thing to have an All-Star at nearly every position; it’s another thing to blend that talent into a winning combination. Many teams in many sports have had problems over the years doing that; the LA Dodgers are going through a similar situation right now.
Spinning Wheels
LA just salvaged a split of a four-game series with the Diamondbacks over the weekend, losing the first two games but taking the last two. Sunday, in a big spot, LA got some results from its recent trading spree, a game-winning two-run double from Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 victory.
So heading into this week’s play the Dodgers, at 72-63, sit in second place in the NL West, 4.5 games behind first-place San Francisco. But LA is also right in the NL Wild-Card race, just a half-game back of St. Louis, which owns the second National League WC spot at the moment.
On Tap
The Dodgers begin this week with three games at home with the Padres. LA leads the season series with San Diego eight games to four, so one might expect the Dodgers to at least take two of three in this series, and maybe even pull off a sweep. 5Dimes online sportsbook is chalking Los Angeles at -250 to win the series vs. the Padres.
The Dodgers then get a chance to make up ground on the Giants when they visit San Francisco for three games this weekend at AT&T Park.
The Enemy
The Giants are slowly but surely pulling away from LA in the West. They just took two of three from the Cubs in Chicago, and before that they swept three games in Houston.
Back at the All-Star break San Francisco sat at 46-40 and in second place in the West behind the Dodgers; since then the Giants have gone 30-18 and made five games on LA.
The Future
As of Monday morning on Bovada’s MLB odds pages the Dodgers are getting 11/2 to win the National League pennant and 12/1 to win the World Series, while the Giants are getting 5/1 to win the pennant and 10/1 to win the Series.
San Fran and LA meet once more this year, for the last three games of the season Oct. 1-3 at Chavez Ravine.
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