Dodgers 2022 season in thirds: The first 54 games

Believer it or not, the 2022 season is one-third complete, with Sunday the Dodgers’ 54th game of the season.

Following last year’s 106 wins, the Dodgers are on pace to win just one fewer game this season, but believe it or not its’ only their third-best record after 54 games over the last four campaigns.

Outscoring opponents by 113 runs, the Dodgers are a little behind of their breakneck 2020 pace. The only other Los Angeles Dodgers team ahead of this year was the 1974 pennant winners, who scored 134 more runs than they allowed through the first third of the season.

Now, let’s look at individual players, broken down in groups.

This includes numbers for both Will Smith and Austin Barnes as designated hitter as well. Behind the plate, Smith started 35 games and Barnes 19.

Outside of injuries to Max Muncy and Edwin Ríos in the last week and a half, this was an incredibly healthy stretch for the position players, and the most regular lineup the Dodgers have had under the current regime.

Mookie Betts is tied for the National League lead with 16 home runs, tied for the ninth-most by a Dodger through 54 team games. He leads the majors with 52 runs scored; the only Dodgers to score more often through 54 games are Willie Keeler (1901), Babe Herman (1930), and Johnny Frederick (1930).

Freddie Freeman’s 20 doubles are tied for fourth-most by a Dodger through 54 games.

The Dodgers lead the majors in runs scored per game. They rank second in fewest runs allowed, so let’s look at the pitching.

I cheated a bit here, including Tyler Anderson’s two relief appearances among the starters, since both were four-inning bulk affairs. But the relief outings for Mitch White and Michael Grove were more typical shorter outings, so they get counted separately among the relievers.

For the bullpen, I only counted blown saves that could have reasonably been actual saves with a successful outing. So neither David Price (April 14) surrendering a lead in the seventh inning nor Evan Phillips (May 13) doing the same in the sixth inning aren’t included in the table above, nor is Brusdar Graterol’s fateful eighth inning Sunday. But even counting those three outings, the Dodgers rank in the bottom third of the league in fewest blown saves (six).

Dodgers relievers have been used a little more often this year (189⅔ innings) then last (183⅔ innings), though that is largely a function of a lockout-shortened spring training leaving starters not built up to start the season, and expanded rosters plus pitcher limits relaxed to begin this season. Hard to argue with the results though, with a 3.37 ERA and 3.35 FIP from the bullpen.

The next third of the season starts Tuesday.