Dodgers 2022 season in thirds: The middle 54 games

Sunday’s win over San Diego was the 108th game of 2022 for the Dodgers, meaning the season is two-thirds complete.

We already looked at the first third of the season in June, and you’ll notice some improvements during the second third. Specifically that the Dodgers entered play heading into Game No. 55, on June 7, with a 2½-game lead in the National League West.

Now, that lead is 15½ games.

Forty wins is tied for third-most in any Dodgers third of the season — broken down as beginning, middle, and end; not just any 54-game stretch — since the team moved to Los Angeles. Only the middle portion of 2017 (43-11) and last stretch of 2021 (42-12) were better.

Getting into the individual performance, let’s look at the catchers first, which included Will Smith becoming such an indispensable part of the lineup — batting cleanup or third in 46 of his 50 starts — that he started nearly every game in the middle third of the season, including 14 starts as designated hitter. Smith was third on the team in plate appearances during the middle 54 games.

For good reason, too, since Smith had a .902 OPS with 24 extra-base hits. He did get some rest though, getting four days off in mid-July when he wasn’t named to the All-Star team, again.

Up next is the position players, which included Freddie Freeman going supernova, and just superb stretches from Gavin Lux and both Turners.

Chris Taylor, Mookie Betts, and Justin Turner all missed time in the middle portion of the season. The team got a nice infusion from Jake Lamb before he was shipped to his hometown of Seattle, but the biggest surprise came from Trayce Thompson, who looks as good as ever in his second time around in Los Angeles. Thompson filled in capably all over the outfield, and tattooed the ball at the plate just often enough.

A late hot streak got Max Muncy to basically league average at the plate for the middle part of the season, a remarkable achievement given how poorly he started. And most importantly, his power has returned.

Starting pitching was once again the rock for the Dodgers, even as the cast of characters changed. Walker Buehler went down right after the one-third mark of the season, and Andrew Heaney missed more time with shoulder woes.

But Mitch White filled in admirably then got traded to Toronto, entering Phase 2 of his Ross Stripling Experience.

Julio Urías was dominant during the middle part of the season, while Tyler Anderson and Tony Gonsolin led the team in innings, steading the rotation even further.

Clayton Kershaw was also effective, though another back injury in his final start of this section of the season puts his final third of the year very much in question.

In the bullpen, Evan Phillips and Yency Almonte have emerged as late-inning weapons, and Alex Vesia continues to impress. Brusdar Graterol is due back soon and hasn’t walked a batter since May 24. Caleb Ferguson is back and healthy, and hasn’t allowed a run this season.

For clarification, I only count blown saves that came in actual save situations, ones in which said pitcher would have finished the game had he not blown the lead. Not a lead change in a seventh inning, which technically counts as a blown save but not for anyone who was actually expected to finish the game.

Relievers were burdened with less of the load over the middle third, pitching 181 innings compared to 189⅔ over the first third. But that’s to be expected since roster limits went from 14 pitchers to 13 pitchers on June 20, meaning a smaller bullpen for the last 43 games.

Game No. 109 is Tuesday, when the Twins are in town to play the Dodgers. Let the final third of the season commence.