Dodgers News: Dangerous stretch looms for Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — As the Dodgers slink out of San Francisco after a disappointing series, things won’t get any easier to chase down the Giants in this next week, as the two teams face very different opponents.

Cardinals and Padres both vying for wildcard

The Dodgers’ opponents this week are both in the thick of the race for the final wildcard spot in the National League. First, the St. Louis Cardinals, with whom the Dodgers play four games starting on Labor Day afternoon. The Cardinals have sort of been written off this year, but they keep hanging around, winning just enough to stay relevant in the wildcard race.

As I write this on Monday morning, the Redbirds have a record of 69-66, three games out of the final wildcard spot. They are bunched up with a couple of teams: Philadelphia and the Mets are both within a half game of the Cards. However, all three teams trail both San Diego and Cincinnati, who will probably be battling for the rest of the season. This all means that in order to stay in the race, the Cardinals will need to win almost every series they have the rest of the way, which makes them a very dangerous opponent for the Dodgers.

After the Cards, the Dodgers come home for a weekend series with San Diego, the one team that has had the most success against the Dodgers all year, winning seven of thirteen games. However, as we have reported on this site the Padres have been beset by all sorts of issues over the last six weeks, and are clinging to a half game lead in the wild card standings. They can ill-afford to be losing any series, either. So, like the Cardinals, the Padres should figure to be brining their A-game to Dodger stadium this weekend.

Giants face Rockies and Cubs

On the other hand, the Giants match up against two teams that are playing out the string. First, they have a three-game set against the Rockies in Denver, and then a weekend three-gamer against the Cubs in Chicago. Obviously, these two teams aren’t going anywhere this season, and might not pose much competition to the high-flying Giants, who still possess MLB’s best record.

However, the Giants would be foolish to look past them. The Rockies are really good at home, and they just took a series from the Dodgers last weekend. Plus, CJ Cron is still mashing the baseball for the Rox, so it figures to be a pretty good series, especially with the Giants having such a depleted rotation right now (a fact that didn’t seem to bother them against the Dodgers, but that is another story).

And even the Cubs are no cakewalk. After the big selloff at the trade deadline, the Cubbies went into a bit of a tailspin, but they seem to have righted the ship a little bit and are playing better baseball, thanks to young players like Frank Schwindel, who are getting their chance to shine in the absence of the Cubs’ core of big stars. The Cubs are heading into Labor Day on the heels of a six-game winning streak, and have a pretty decent home record as well, so the Giants might have their hands full with them this weekend.

Strength of Schedule almost even

With no more games between the two teams the rest of the way, the final twenty-five games of the schedule will be a lot of scoreboard watching, and hoping for help from other clubs. According to FanGraphs, the Giants have a slightly more difficult schedule remaining than the Dodgers. The Giants’ opponents have a collective winning percentage of .481, while the Dodgers’ foes come in at .479. Still, it’s pretty much the same, and the difference will be made on the field.

Right now, FanGraphs is projecting the Dodgers to finish the season with 102 victories, two games ahead of the Giants. It would be nice, but the Dodgers have to do their part as well. They need to stop sleepwalking through big games and bring some intensity and urgency to this last month of the season. Otherwise, they might end up hosting that dang wildcard game, and who know what could happen then?