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While it may be fully premature to make this statement, it appears as if the Los Angeles Dodgers have found their offense.
Over the last six ballgames — three versus the lowly Colorado Rockies and three in San Francisco against the hated Giants — the Dodgers scored a combined 43 runs (an average of 7.2 runs per contest). After long stretches of inconsistent hitting, the team is hopeful that they’ve turned a major corner.
Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic delved into the recent offensive explosion over the last six ballgames. While getting healthy across the board is likely a major reason for the production, Ardaya notes that the team has employed a tactic often used by college and professional teams in another sport.
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“The club has been stuck in neutral offensively for months. They’ve been harping on it, including holding what fellow hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc has called “NFL-style” film sessions during daily hitters meetings to improve the quality of team at-bats in key situations.
“At around 2:30 p.m. Friday, Aaron Bates was barking out instructions during an early batting practice session. The fellow hitting coach was employing what the organization hopes is a useful exercise during the season’s most critical games — calling out different situations to hitters taking part in early batting practice in hopes of training a stagnant Dodgers lineup to take more collective at-bats and generate consistent offense.”
Van Scoyoc further elaborated on the importance of these sessions, and why the ‘team first’ approach is so vital to success for the Dodgers as a whole.
“The truth is that’s something we try to emphasize the whole season,” Van Scoyoc said on Friday. “Obviously, players want to get their numbers, but when players play just to win the game, it always goes better for them individually, too.”
Getting Max Muncy and Tommy Edman back healthy completely changes the alignment of the lineup. Now that the team has its full assortment of players, mixing-and-matching — a Dave Roberts speciality — can fully be utilized moving forward. The recent emergences of Teoscar Hernandez and Mookie Betts also play a huge role in the offensive explosion.
The Dodgers are hoping it can continue versus the Philadelphia Phillies in what appears to be a massive homestand.
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Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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