Dodgers 2023 season in thirds: The middle 54 games

With their win in San Diego on Friday, the Dodgers’ 2023 regular season is now two-thirds complete. We already looked at the first third of the season in late May, so now let’s look at how that compares to the middle 54 games of the year for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers were slightly worse in the middle third of the season than the first third, winning one fewer game, but they still played at a 93-win pace over the last 54 games, and had a better run differential than the first third.

Shifting to the individual players, at catcher we can see Will Smith assuming the reins at the position, starting 42 of the middle 54 games behind the plate, limiting the exposure of backup Austin Barnes, who has been one of the worst hitters in baseball this season.

Smith also saw a dip in performance offensively in the middle 54 games.

The majority of Smith’s jump in playing time was by avoiding the injured list, after missing 13 games with a concussion. But there were also more off days in the middle third, including the All-Star break. The first 54 games of the season were played in 60 days, while the second 54 games were played over 68 days. It’s easier to play more when more off days are built into the schedule.

Counting Smith’s starts at designated hitter, he started 33 games in the 48 days he was active in the first third of the season (68.8 percent). In the middle third, he started 46 games in 68 days (67.6 percent), a slightly lower rate.

Mapping ahead, the final 54 games of the season will be played in 58 days (they have five off days, plus a doubleheader in Denver on September 26), so expect Smith to get more days off.

Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were on another level, each slugging well over .600 and Betts hitting a whopping 18 home runs. Betts increased his versatility so much by playing second base and the occasional shortstop that in the middle third of the season made more starts in the infield (28) than outfield (24).

Freeman is on an especially hot streak recently, with 31 hits in 62 at-bats in a 15-game stretch through Thursday, but his consistency is also remarkable. Freeman in the first third of the season had 72 hits and 32 extra-base hits, and in the middle third had 74 hits and 32 extra-base hits.

On the season, Freeman’s 64 extra-base hits are most in the National League and one behind Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead. Freeman is on pace for 96. The Dodgers’ record for extra-base hit in a season is 94, by Babe Herman for Brooklyn in the hitting bacchanalia of the 1930 National League. The Los Angeles Dodgers record for extra-base hits is 84, by Shawn Green in 2001 and Cody Bellinger in his 2019 MVP season.

J.D. Martinez hit 15 home runs in the middle third of this season alone, one shy of his total for all of 22 with Boston, and he drove in 43 runs in 48 games in the middle third of the season.

Jason Heyward and David Peralta kept the outfield afloat offensively, especially against right-handed pitching. Both of James Outman’s look similar, but they’ve been mirror images of each other, with a red-hot April followed by a slump in May and June, then a strong July (and the first few days of August).

Starting pitching has been a sore spot all season for the Dodgers, and things took a turn for the worse once Clayton Kershaw left his June 27 start with left shoulder soreness. He hasn’t pitched since, but could be back as early as next week.

Julio Urías was injured for the bulk of this middle third of the season, then has been uneven since his return. Tony Gonsolin has struggled mightily. Both rotation anchors had ERAs over beginning with a five during the middle 54 games.

Bobby Miller got an extended look in the rotation and has held his own, leading the team in innings, strikeouts and wins in the middle third of the season. His four quality starts in this period trailed only Kershaw.

While the starters struggled, the Dodgers bullpen helped keep things afloat with a resurgent middle third of the season. Yency Almonte and Alex Vesia have turned things around, and Ryan Brasier has been effective after signing a minor league deal with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers bullpen shaved more than a run off their ERA compared to the first 54 games of the season, though the FIPs are similar.

This was an American League-heavy middle part of the season, with the Dodgers playing more interleague games (28) than against the National League (26). To finish out the season, the Dodgers over the final 54 games play 26 games against their own division, plus 12 more interleague games.

The final third of the year is split evenly with 27 games at home, and 27 on the road.