Return To Action, the OKP Blog is BACK!

After what amounts to almost a four year hiatus, the Opinion of Kingman’s Performance blog is resurfacing. My overseas assignments and vocational time constraints forced me to cease writing with any form of consistency.  Periodically I’d provide a guest post at Ron Cervenka's Think BlueLA blog, but for the most part I have been inactive with regards to Dodger opinions and posts.  Now that I’m back stateside and have formed a more consistent routine, I’d like to start this up again.   I definitely cannot post at the daily consistency that I once did, but once or twice a week shouldn't be out of the ordinary.  All I ask for is a little bit of patience.  Getting back into the swing of things, self-editing, remembering how to link photos and articles and upgrading the site may take some time. 

With that said, I must say that with the 2018 season a mere 5 games away from its midpoint, the Dodgers are in good shape.  Once again in the midst of a winning run (with 25 victories in their last 34 games), it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves in the division lead.  This is a team snakebit by decimating injuries.  Yet they are so loaded on the 40 man roster, that they are able to overcome decimation.  It is hard to imagine that this team could overcome the loss of both Corey Seager and Clayton Kershaw, but they have as they find themselves rolling and only 2.5 games back.

The second half will see the return of Walker Buehler, Hyun-Jin Ryu and ultimately Julio Urias.  Combine them with Rich Hill, Alex Wood, surprising ace Ross Stripling and Kershaw, all Dodger faithful should be feeling real good about their chances in the stretch run.  That’s a lot of pitching and plenty of arms to keep the club strong in the stretch run. 

The power surge of the offense has been nothing beat short of amazing.  This is a ball club that will have eight players with over 20 homers.  46 home runs in the month of June, and a league leading 102 homers for the season.  There is Comeback Player of the Year Matt Kemp who may win a batting title and MVP.  Five guys will have OPS over .850.  And we haven’t even seen Justin Turner get started, meaning he’ll probably be heating up right around  the right time in September.

As bad as things looked when the club found themselves ten games under .500 at 16-26 on May 16th, the resurgence with this club will likely put them at over 95 wins by season’s end.  This has been a remarkable turnaround and the front office needs to be recognized for finding that annual surprise impact player that makes a big difference.  2018’s version is Max Muncy.

(USA Today Sports, photo by Brad Mills)

Muncy has been a journeyman AAAA player that never was expected to be more than a possible September call up to give guys some needed once the division was clinched.  Now he’s a vital offensive force who has pretty much replaced the impact bat of Corey Seager.

Weaknesses? There are some.  Everything isn’t positive.  The bullpen has some holes.  The offense still lacks when hitting with runners on base.  Dave Roberts has a tendency to rely too much on the pen, something that could come back to haunt him when the stretch drive hits and too many arms are tired.  But there may be relief coming at the trade deadline.  With all things considered, the positive far outweighs the negative.  This Dodger club is in a good position to repeat as NL Pennant winners. You can’t ask for much more than that.