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2021 Dodgers season in thirds: The middle 54 games

San Francisco Giants v Los Angeles Dodgers Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images

Tuesday’s game was the 108th of the season for the Dodgers, which means we are two-thirds through the very long season.

Some might even say unfathomably long after not covering a team full-time for year and a half, followed by a pandemic-truncated 60-game sprint year, but that’s another story for another time.

What we have in 2021 is a Dodgers team that, despite some changes, have performed incredibly similar in the first third and second third of the season. They were 32-22 in the first 54 games, and 32-22 again in the second 54.

Dodgers 2021 season in thirds

2021 W-L Runs for Runs against Run differential BA/OBP/SLG wRC+ ERA ERA-
2021 W-L Runs for Runs against Run differential BA/OBP/SLG wRC+ ERA ERA-
1st 54 games 32-22 282 209 +73 .242/.338/.414 112 3.25 86
2nd 54 games 32-22 278 189 +89 .247/.331/.428 109 3.17 80

First up, let’s look at the catchers, which saw Will Smith start behind the plate a little more often in the second third of the season.

Second 54 games: catchers

Player GS AB R H 2B HR RBI BB PA BA OBP SLG OPS wRC+
Player GS AB R H 2B HR RBI BB PA BA OBP SLG OPS wRC+
Smith - 1st 54 37 140 27 38 9 5 18 21 168 0.271 0.375 0.457 0.832 132
Smith - 2nd 54 38 136 19 34 5 9 30 16 162 0.250 0.358 0.500 0.858 134
Barnes - 1st 54 21 79 9 20 5 2 14 12 93 0.253 0.359 0.392 0.751 117
Barnes - 2nd 54 16 68 12 13 2 2 3 7 78 0.191 0.295 0.309 0.604 71
Ruiz - 1st 54 0 7 1 1 0 1 1 0 7 0.143 0.143 0.571 0.714 90
Totals - 1st 54 226 37 59 14 8 33 33 268 0.261 0.363 0.438 0.801
Totals - 2nd 54 204 31 47 7 11 33 23 240 0.230 0.338 0.436 0.774

The first 54 games include three starts at designated hitter for Smith and one for Barnes. Behind the plate, the split was 34-20 for Barnes in the first third and 38-16 in the second third.

Second 54 games: position players

Player GS AB R H 2B HR RBI SB-CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS wRC+
Player GS AB R H 2B HR RBI SB-CS BB BA/OBP/SLG OPS wRC+
Turner - 1st 54 44-0-4 188 33 51 9 9 28 0-0 25 .271/.356/.463 0.819 131
Turner - 2nd 54 48-0-0 180 28 58 7 11 37 0-0 19 .322/.411/.544 0.956 162
Taylor - 1st 54 9-35-0 164 40 46 7 7 28 6-0 27 .280/.401/.488 0.889 151
Taylor - 2nd 54 45-6-0 201 38 57 12 10 32 4-1 20 .284/.353/.502 0.855 133
Muncy - 1st 54 50-0-1 172 38 48 7 13 30 1-0 43 .279/.436/.558 0.995 175
Muncy - 2nd 54 36-0-0 137 23 37 10 9 32 1-0 21 .270/.371/.540 0.911 147
Betts - 1st 54 0-42-0 174 27 43 16 5 18 5-3 27 .247/.365/.437 0.802 128
Betts - 2nd 54 2-36-0 150 38 44 9 10 23 2-0 22 .293/.384/.580 0.964 156
Pollock - 1st 54 0-24-0 94 13 26 5 4 17 2-0 8 .277/.333/.457 0.791 118
Pollock - 2nd 54 0-42-0 170 22 54 15 9 23 3-0 10 .318/.368/.565 0.932 151
Lux - 1st 54 41-0-0 154 20 38 5 5 25 1-1 11 .247/.298/.403 0.700 95
Lux - 2nd 54 34-0-0 124 19 25 5 1 12 2-0 20 .202/.317/.282 0.599 76
Bellinger - 1st 54 0-7-0 29 5 4 1 0 2 0-0 5 .138/.265/.241 0.506 53
Bellinger - 2nd 54 2-36-0 147 23 25 1 5 19 2-0 19 .170/.262/.293 0.554 56
Seager - 1st 54 36-0-0 147 20 39 7 4 22 1-0 19 .265/.361/.422 0.783 123
Seager - 2nd 54 3-0-0 13 2 3 1 0 0 0-0 2 .231/.375/.308 0.683 103
Beaty - 1st 54 4-16-1 85 15 24 3 2 23 0-1 10 .282/.378/.388 0.766 123
Beaty - 2nd 54 11-10-0 83 13 18 0 2 7 1-0 9 .217/.330/.313 0.643 87
McKinstry - 1st 54 4-12-0 63 7 16 5 3 14 0-0 3 .254/.294/.476 0.770 109
McKinstry - 2nd 54 12-11-0 94 12 18 4 4 15 1-1 7 .191/.245/.382 0.607 66
Pujols - 1st 54 9-0-0 38 3 9 2 3 10 0-0 1 .237/.275/.526 0.801 121
Pujols - 2nd 54 20-0-0 100 11 28 1 5 19 1-0 6 .280/.324/.440 0.764 107
Raley - 1st 54 0-9-0 44 3 8 1 1 2 0-0 2 .182/.280/.273 0.553 60
Raley - 2nd 54 0-4-0 15 0 2 0 0 0 0-0 0 .133/.133/.133 0.267 -28
Neuse - 1st 54 9-3-0 58 6 10 1 3 4 0-1 1 .172/.186/.345 0.531 47
Neuse - 2nd 54 1-0-0 7 0 1 0 0 0 1-0 0 .143/.143/.143 0.286 -22
Tsutsugo - 1st 54 0-6-0 23 2 3 0 0 2 0-0 3 .130/.231/.130 0.361 16
Tsutsugo - 2nd 54 0-0-0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0-0 3 .000/.600/.000 0.600 165
McKinney - 2nd 54 0-10-0 36 3 7 1 0 3 0-0 6 .194/.310/.222 0.532 61
Reks - 2nd 54 0-2-0 10 2 0 0 0 0 0-0 0 .000/.000/.000 0.000 -100
Souza - 2nd 54 0-5-0 24 2 4 0 1 2 0-0 2 .160/.250/.360 0.610 69
Burns - 2nd 54 2-0-0 11 2 3 1 0 0 0-0 3 .273/.467/.364 0.830 147
Ríos - 1st 54 10-1-0 51 4 4 0 1 1 0-0 7 .078/.217/.137 0.354 17
Peters - 1st 54 0-7-0 26 5 5 2 1 4 0-0 8 .192/.382/.385 0.767 96
Totals - 1st 54 1510 241 374 71 61 230 16-6 200 .248/.347/.429 0.776
Totals - 2nd 54 1505 238 384 67 67 224 18-2 169 .255/.339/.443 0.782

The Dodgers finished up all 10 games in American League ballparks in the first 54 games, leaving no DH starts for the rest of the year. Because of the many players who vacillate between the infield and outfield, I decided to group the position players all together as a group, denoting their starts in each general area.

Chris Taylor made nearly all his starts in the outfield in the first third of the year, and almost every start in the infield in the second third. He’s hit well in each third.

You can also see the improvement of Mookie Betts, Justin Turner, and AJ Pollock as the season wore on, as well as the struggles of Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux.

Second 54 games: starting pitching

Pitcher GS Record QS IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP FIP
Pitcher GS Record QS IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP FIP
Buehler - 1st 54 10 3-0 8 64.3 47 20 19 11 62 2.66 0.902 3.56
Buehler - 2nd 54 12 8-2 11 77.3 49 17 15 23 82 1.75 0.931 2.67
Urías - 1st 54 11 7-2 6 67.3 55 29 27 9 75 3.61 0.950 2.97
Urías - 2nd 54 11 6-1 4 62.3 56 25 22 16 64 3.18 1.155 3.83
Kershaw - 1st 54 12 7-4 7 70.3 55 27 26 13 77 3.33 0.967 3.04
Kershaw - 2nd 54 6 2-3 4 36.0 30 15 14 6 50 3.50 1.000 2.80
Gonsolin - 2nd 54 10 2-1 0 35.7 26 11 11 26 42 2.78 1.458 4.48
Price - 2nd 54 4 0-1 0 17.0 14 8 7 6 13 3.71 1.176 4.43
Gray - 2nd 54 2 0-0 0 8.0 7 6 6 5 13 6.75 1.500 7.94
May - 1st 54 5 1-1 2 23.0 16 8 7 6 35 2.74 0.957 3.24
Bauer - 1st 54 12 6-3 10 76.3 40 22 19 23 96 2.24 0.825 3.83
Bauer - 2nd 54 5 2-2 4 31.3 31 14 12 14 41 3.45 1.436 4.31
Starters - 1st 54 50 24-10 33 301.3 213 106 98 62 345 2.93 0.913 3.32
Starters - 2nd 54 50 20-10 23 267.7 213 96 87 96 305 2.93 1.154 3.66

Walker Buehler’s really been on one for a little over two months.

For pitchers, I didn’t count starts that were just the beginning of a bullpen game, but included a pair of planned bulk outings from Tony Gonsolin and Josiah Gray as starts despite them entering in relief. In the real starts, the Dodgers averaged about two-thirds of an inning less per start in the second 54 games than in the first 54.

Second 54 games: bullpen

Pitcher G Record Sv-BS IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP FIP
Pitcher G Record Sv-BS IP H R ER BB SO ERA WHIP FIP
Jansen - 1st 54 21 0-2 12-2 22.3 7 8 5 16 27 2.01 1.030 3.43
Jansen - 2nd 54 20 1-2 10-3 18.0 19 8 8 12 21 4.00 1.722 3.75
Treinen - 1st 54 22 1-1 2-0 20.7 19 9 7 6 25 3.05 1.210 3.11
Treinen - 2nd 54 24 1-4 1-0 25.0 14 6 4 6 25 1.44 0.800 2.43
Nelson - 1st 54 16 1-1 0-1 18.7 11 6 5 11 30 2.41 1.179 1.83
Nelson - 2nd 54 12 0-1 0-0 10.3 3 2 1 2 14 0.87 0.484 1.93
Gonzalez - 1st 54 23 2-0 1-0 18.7 13 5 5 9 18 2.41 1.179 3.65
Gonzalez - 2nd 54 19 1-1 0-0 14.3 18 9 9 10 14 5.65 1.953 4.93
Kelly - 1st 54 8 1-0 0-0 7.0 10 7 7 2 6 9.00 1.714 5.97
Kelly - 2nd 54 21 1-0 1-0 21.0 11 5 3 5 26 1.29 0.762 1.86
Bickford - 1st 54 5 0-0 0-0 4.0 3 1 0 1 6 0.00 1.000 1.61
Bickford - 2nd 54 26 1-1 1-1 24.7 18 9 8 10 28 2.92 1.135 2.83
Price - 1st 54 11 1-0 1-0 16.3 18 7 6 4 19 3.31 1.347 3.91
Price - 2nd 54 13 3-0 0-0 12.3 20 5 5 4 10 3.65 1.946 3.27
Vesia - 1st 54 9 0-1 0-1 9.7 4 9 7 11 13 6.52 1.552 8.18
Vesia - 2nd 54 10 1-0 0-0 11.0 4 1 1 2 11 0.82 0.545 1.74
Cleavinger - 1st 54 8 1-3 0-1 6.0 8 6 3 4 9 4.50 2.000 6.45
Cleavinger - 2nd 54 13 1-0 0-0 11.7 11 3 2 7 12 1.54 1.543 5.42
Alexander - 1st 54 12 0-2 0-0 11.7 7 4 3 1 5 2.31 0.686 3.89
Alexander - 2nd 54 5 0-0 0-0 3.7 8 2 2 3 3 4.91 3.000 6.74
White - 1st 54 8 0-0 0-2 9.3 10 10 3 5 7 2.89 1.607 4.61
White - 2nd 54 7 0-0 0-0 14.7 12 9 7 5 18 4.30 1.159 3.53
Graterol - 1st 54 3 0-0 0-0 1.3 3 3 3 2 1 20.25 3.750 6.11
Graterol - 2nd 54 7 1-0 0-0 7.7 6 4 3 1 5 3.52 0.913 2.28
Uceta - 1st 54 6 0-2 0-0 10.7 11 8 5 4 12 4.22 1.406 4.43
Uceta - 2nd 54 6 0-1 0-0 7.0 7 10 10 7 8 12.86 2.000 5.33
Knebel - 1st 54 8 1-0 2-0 6.0 3 3 3 3 9 4.50 1.000 1.61
Reed - 2nd 54 6 0-0 0-0 5.3 5 3 2 2 5 3.38 1.313 4.32
Núñez - 2nd 54 5 0-1 0-0 7.3 7 6 5 2 8 6.14 1.227 7.14
Sherfy - 2nd 54 4 1-1 0-0 4.3 3 3 2 0 3 4.15 0.692 5.50
Ramírez - 2nd 54 1 0-0 0-0 2.0 0 0 0 1 2 0.00 0.500 2.69
Burns - 2nd 54 1 0-0 0-0 1.0 3 2 2 0 1 18.00 3.000 14.19
Jones - 1st 54 4 0-0 0-0 4.3 2 3 2 0 2 4.15 0.462 5.19
Jones - 2nd 54 4 0-0 0-0 4.3 6 6 6 2 5 12.46 1.846 11.27
Santana - 1st 54 16 0-0 0-0 15.0 18 11 10 11 8 6.00 1.933 4.85
Kickham - 1st 54 1 0-0 0-0 2.0 5 3 3 1 2 13.50 3.000 10.61
Starters - 1st 54 181 8-12 18-7 183.7 152 103 74 91 199 3.63 1.323 3.89
Starters - 2nd 54 202 12-12 13-4 206.7 176 93 80 82 220 3.48 1.248 3.63

Despite getting used more often, the many faces of the Dodgers bullpen improved in the second third of the season.

Through 108 games, the Dodgers are on pace for 96 wins. Let’s see how the final third of the season plays out.