There is no need to panic in L.A. The Dodgers are off to a stellar start, currently sitting in first place in a competitive National League West. The franchise is coming off a dominant World Series run and is looking to become the first team since the New York Yankees 25 years ago to repeat as champions.
This year’s group has shown plenty of encouraging signs so far. Shohei Ohtani is playing like the all-time great he is and will make his pitching debut for the franchise later this season. In addition, key contributors like Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, and Will Smith are well on their way toward making another All-Star team.
Meanwhile, from a starting pitching perspective, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is holding down the fort as the team ace while Ohtani and star offseason acquisition Blake Snell eventually return to the mound. This team is in good shape and still the favorite to win it all in 2025.
Still, Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller shockingly has the Dodgers as the second-best starting 9 in Major League Baseball through two months, behind the Chicago Cubs. The National League Central contender leads the league in runs so far, with manager Dave Roberts’ team slightly trailing them.
Miller unsurprisingly named Ohtani the team MVP while pointing out the potential main culprit behind why the Dodgers are not first on this list: Michael Conforto. The veteran left fielder has gotten off to a very slow start with his new team, and Miller does not hold back on what he thinks about Roberts’ decision to continue starting him.
“Dating back to April 6, Conforto has made 154 plate appearances, good for sixth-most among Dodgers,” Miller states. “He has one RBI to show for it, and even that came on a groundout. How they can continue penciling him into the lineup while benching two productive bats like Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, or Kiké Hernández is baffling.”
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Overall, Conforto can be a very valuable player should he regain the form he had on the San Francisco Giants a year ago. The 32-year-old is a talented player who may not be able to recover the glory days of his New York Mets’ tenure, but can still contribute to a championship team.
As Miller states, the Dodgers have enough depth to cover for this weakness should Conforto’s struggles continue. However, as of now, Dave Roberts’ patience with the former All-Star is understandable.
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