Mike Salas
As the Los Angeles Dodgers prepare to take on the San Diego Padres in game one of the NLDS Saturday night, there are three players that could make the difference in the Dodgers moving onto the NLCS.
The mid and bottom of the starting lineup is going to be key in the success over the Padres. The Dodgers will need to score runs and how do you do that? You get runners on base, move those runners with effective hitting, and put runners in scoring positions for the top of the lineup to do damage.
Max Muncy, Will Smith, and Gavin Lux will need to do exactly that. Gavin Lux has looked like the number one prospect the Dodger fans were expecting to see after the All-Star break. Max Muncy has been getting key hits in games when needed since returning from the IL and Will Smith is starting to show his hitting skills once again.
Gavin Lux has shown signs of regressing back to per-All-Star break numbers. Before the All-Star break, Lux’s line was 258AB / 55H / 3HR / 24RBI / 19BB / 57SO / .213AVG / .267OBP / .295SLG / .562OPS. After the break, his line was 181AB / 55H / 7HR / 26RBI / 25BB / 53SO / .304AVG / .390OBP / .508SLG / .898OPS. The month of July was his most productive in the 2024 season. Lux will need to get back to slash hitting like he did in the months of July and August with runners on to put them in a position to score.
Will Smith is the complete opposite of Gavin Lux; he started off good pre-All-Star break and has regressed post-All-Start Break. Before the All-Star break, Smith’s line was 301AB / 82H / 15HR / 55RBI / 33BB / 63SO / .272AVG / .346OBP / .492SLG / .838OPS. After the All-Star break, his line was 175AB / 36H / 5HR / 20RBI / 18BB / 42SO / .206AVG / .295OBP / .331SLG / .626OPS. In September Will’s bat has shown signs of life, but the Dodgers will need him to be more consistent and disciplined at the plate. I’m hoping to see Smith be selected with his home run hitting and concentrate more hitting to the gaps and getting doubles like shown in the past.
Max Muncy has been pretty consistent pre/post All-Star break and coming back from the IL. Max’s line before the AL-Star break, 139AB / 31H / 9HR / 28RBI / 21BB / 50SO / .223AVG / .323OBP / .475SLG / .798OPS. His line after the break, 98AB / 24H / 20HR / 24BB / 27SO / .245AVG / .405OBP / .520SLG / .925OPS. August has been Muncy’s most productive for the 2024 season and that productivity will be needed. If Muncy can keep his strikeout’s down and on base walks, that will help the team move runners and score. With his bat, Muncy his demonstrated the ability to move runners around with key hits in the outfield gaps and infield holes. His power hitting will be key if Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman struggle.
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