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The Dodgers try to get their offense back in gear in their homestand finale against the Rockies on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers have scored just 25 runs in their last eight games, and they face Tyler Anderson on Wednesday, another lefty, but one of the two they have beaten in eight tries this season. The Dodgers tagged Anderson for five runs in five innings on Apr. 9 at Coors Field in a 10-6 win.
One of the issues in the early going for the Dodgers has been their inability to do much with the fastball. Per PITCH f/x data at FanGraphs, the Dodgers are 20th in the majors, producing -0.17 weighted runs created below average per 100 plate appearances.
They have been above average in hitting the fastball, and in the top 14 in MLB in each of the previous three seasons.
Dodgers hitting fastballs
| Year | wRC/100 | MLB rank |
|---|---|---|
| Year | wRC/100 | MLB rank |
| 2014 | 0.22 | 9th |
| 2015 | 0.18 | 11th |
| 2016 | 0.17 | 14th |
| 2017 | -0.17 | 20th |
To give you an idea of the range on this, from 2014-2016, there were only two seasons better than 0.63 (the 2015 Blue Jays at 0.92, and the 2016 Orioles at 0.76), and on the low end are the 2016 Padres (-0.31) and 2015 Braves (-0.44).
But this is just on fastballs that are put into play. It doesn’t measure fastballs fouled back, or middle-middle fastballs taken.
The Rockies didn’t miss on three very hittable fastballs from Hyun-jin Ryu on Tuesday, depositing all three over the fence in left field for home runs. Colorado ranks 10th in MLB at 0.61 wRC per 100 PA on the fastball this season.
Seems familiar
Yes, the Dodgers scored five runs and beat Anderson 10 days ago, but they are still 2-6 against left-handed starting pitchers this season, and have hit just .216/.310/.330 against lefties.
They rank 21st in the majors in batting average against southpaws, 16th in on-base percentage, 20th in slugging percentage, 19th in OPS, 19th in wOBA (.286), and 20th in wRC+ (81).
Amazingly enough, those are all improvements over last year, when the Dodgers were 30th out of 30 in every category. But they were also fifth in plate appearances against lefties in 2016.
This year, the Dodgers have 256 PA vs. southpaws, by far the most in the majors to date, which has exacerbated their struggles. Only one other team has more than 196 such PA.
The Dodgers are hitting .271/.369/.446 against right-handed pitchers, tops in the majors in on-base percentage, OPS, wOBA (.356) and wRC+ (129). Their 316 plate appearances against righties ranks 29th in the majors.
Game info
Time: 7:10 p.m. PT
TV: SportsNet LA, KTLA