A Quick Look at the Remainder of the 2019 Regular-Season Schedule

Published on by Dennis Schlossman

gallery_medium

Entering this weekend’s series against the Giants, the Dodgers have exactly 20 games remaining. As far as the race with the Braves for home-field advantage in the NL playoffs goes, perhaps the most advantageous thing for Los Angeles is that just five of those 20 contests are against teams with winning records.

The Giants come to town this weekend with a 67-72 record, sitting in third place in the West. The good news for the Dodgers is that San Fran will tentatively be throwing three right-handers—Jeff Samardzija, Tyler Beede and Dereck Rodriguez—so, Los Angeles should be able to roll out a few decent, optimized lineups.

Following a day off on September 9, the Boys in Blue will invade Camden Yards where they will face the hapless Orioles for three games, who currently possess a 46-93 record, trailing the Yankees in the AL East by a whopping 45 games. From the looks of things, the Dodgers might be facing old foe Ty Blach in the opener. Baltimore isn’t playing for much except pride. Further, there really isn’t much rivalry behind the two clubs, so the Dodgers are hoping to pad their record with at least two convincing wins, if not a series sweep.

After the Baltimore series, the Dodgers will prepare for their most difficult stage of the stretch-run, as they will face the Mets and the Rays, both of whom have winning records. The Mets series will be a three-game set in New York. After an off-day on September 16, they’ll host the Rays for two quick games at Dodger Stadium. New York is hanging by a thread in the NL Wild Card race while the Rays appear poised to capture the top Wild Card spot in the American League.

The Dodgers are afforded another day off on September 19 in the middle of the home stand before they take on the Rockies (again) for three games. Following yet another off-day on September 23, Los Angeles will finished their regular-season on the road, facing the Padres for three in San Diego, then ending the schedule with a three-game series against the Giants in San Francisco.

The Braves, on the other hand, have a much more difficult road ahead. 17 of Atlanta’s 22 remaining games are against clubs with winning records. Seven of those contests are against the Nationals, who are currently leading the charge for the top spot in the NL Wild Card race. The Braves will also face the Phillies (who are also in contention) seven times and finish their regular season on the road with a three-games series against the Mets.

 

26 thoughts on “A Quick Look at the Remainder of the 2019 Regular-Season Schedule”

  1. I said a month ago that the Dodgers had an easy September. It got a little harder when they lost 3 of 4 to the D-Backs, but they are finished with them. 11-8 against that team. The Rockies have lost 10 straight decisions in LA. The Dodgers are 13-3 against the Rocks, 8-5 against SF, 10-6 against the Pads. They are 1-1 against Tampa and 3-1 against the Mets. Mets will be a lot tougher this time. Especially if they are fighting for their playoff lives. The Dodgers could clinch this weekend if all goes right. The D-Backs have 4 left with the Mets and a series with the Cardinals sandwiched between a couple of series with the Pads, who although they have a losing record against them, have not just laid down in those games. Their other games are 6 with Cincinnati and 3 with Miami. They are currently on a 7 game trip to Cincy and New York. LA needs to keep winning because the Braves are hot. LA is 1/2 game behind the Yankees for best record over all and tied with Houston.

    Like

    Reply

  2. It would appear we can likely cruise to NL home field by simply taking care of business. All those games are of course winnable. However, NY has the pitching to beat us and the Rays are good. We do look set up to beat them with days off before and after the 2 game series.

    Colorado probably won’t much give a damm, but I hope Atlanta isn’t close enough to catch us in the last week as all 6 closing games are on the road against Division rivals that would love nothing better than to knock the living home field bejeezus out of us.

    To continue a thought on the last thread – I don’t want to trade Ruiz or Gray either but heading into the stretch without knowing what late inning reliever is going to step up is nerve racking. It doesn’t matter in the Division, it may not matter in the NL home field race but it most certainly will matter in the post season. At this moment in time I would rather have Felipe Vazquez than Ruiz and Gray. I admit it’s quite possible I would be sorry about that later, but …… this bullpen against the better teams in the playoffs just does not fill me with confidence. For me its about NOW.

    Like

    Reply

  4. Dodgers just a catching factory right now. I’d give up Ruiz and Gray in a heartbeat right now for Vazquez. He would have been the missing link for us this post season. But Pirates wanted too much at deadline. Maybe they’re more reasonable this winter. But this team as is can still win a championship. It’s all about who steps up in October. Price did against us ladtbuear

    Like

    Reply

    1. I think Kelly can do it. Just not so sure he will. I liked the idea of Hill in the roll, but we may need him to start. I don’t know. With Baez, Urias and… it’s actually a long list of maybe’s… we might could be just fine. Frankly I’m hopin we average 7.5 runs through the playoffs. We do that, the bullpen will matter less and we will win more than we lose.

      Like

      Reply

    2. Well Rich, they beat Strasburg tonight. Fried got the win. So throw that theory out the window. But it won’t be easy for the Bravos. The thing is that the Dodgers just need to take care of their own business. The Astros lost to Seattle. LA just needs to keep on truckin!

      Like

      Reply

  7. Well Scoop ol buddy, it all boils down to ya gotta get there first. For all we know some wild card team catches fire and beats the pants off of every body. It has happened before and can happen again. On any given day a mediocre or bad team can rise up and beat you. Bill Terry, famous NY Giants manager and 1st basemen, once said,” Is Brooklyn still in the league?” Giants went into Brooklyn, lost 3 games and the pennant and what a sweet moment for the Dodger fans of the day. 63 was my take that year when we swept the Yankees. We got shut down last year by the best team in the majors, no shame there. We should have beaten Houston in 17, but our stars fell on their collective butts. Who can predict the outcome? Nobody! Oh yeah, they make odds and all sorts of predictions, but they rarely come true. The Astros have not been playing that well since Springer went down a few days ago, The Yankee rotation is very suspect as is our bullpen. The Mets have fallen off of the pace a little. Philly is floundering badly, how do ya like that Harper signing now Phillies fans? Cleveland was supposed to own the AL Central, but Minnesota has just bludgeoned the entire league. So, predictions by anybody do not mean spit. Ya have to play the games. Injury’s and bad luck can jump up and bite you in the ass anytime. Cubs just had to put Kimbrel on the IL. They are no lock to make it into the playoffs either, and they were supposed to cruise past Milwaukee and St Louis. One thing is sure, The Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, Astros, will all be in the playoffs. Probably Minnesota too. But other than that, throw all the other hats in the ring and see who is left standing. AZ is only 3 games out of the wild card. Let the games begin…going to be an interesting 2 weeks.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Well, all that is true Bear. So I guess you aren’t going to make any predictions? No chance of being wrong if you don’t. I still think we win the West. How’s that for going out on a limb.

      I like making predictions. On a Dodger blog in the past, and I’m sure you remember this, I used to make push up bets with the blog owner over predictions. He still owes me about a thousand cuz the guy was nuts with his predictions. Bets with him were fun. Obviously I don’t know what will happen but I wouldn’t bet much on this team winning the World Series. I do believe we are good enough to win the pennant again. I said a couple months ago Washington would make the playoffs. A couple weeks after that I said I thought the Cubs would too. Still do. In a one game playoff I like Washington over Chicago. I like the Braves over St Louis, the Dodgers over Washington, then the Dodgers over the Braves. In the AL I don’t like anybody but I’ll take Houston over the Yankees.

      All that said….. who is going to go 16-4 down the stretch, and 9-1 in the last 10? I don’t know but hope it’s us.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I do remember you doing that. I would crack up because I couldn’t do one now if I tried. My shoulder would certainly buckle under the strain. I am not much of a prognosticator. Sometimes I feel pretty confident that something will come true. I actually thought the Dodgers would at the very least would have stiffer competition in the league than they have this year. But after watching the way they have rolled almost all season, that idea melted quickly away. I really thought the Phillies would be better than they have been and not just because of Harper. I knew DC would be a good team. Their biggest flaw is pretty much the same as LA, the BP has not been good and even though they are on a hot streak, it is still suspect. But their starters are top drawer. They suffered another injury set back to a reliever yesterday. They are head to head with Atlanta this weekend so that will be a series to keep your eyes on. We do not get to face the Mad Bum this go around. I read yesterday that Ryu has been working on some mechanical flaws and a new arm slot. That might explain his recent struggles. Have a great weekend my friend.

        Like

      2. Weekend off to a good start. Just perused the Farmers Market and got oranges, avocados, & scones. Soon I’ll be heading up to Corona Del Mar to visit the wife’s old stomping grounds. Probably run out of gas by noon thirty.

        I usta could drop and do 100. Then it was 50. Now it’s 25 and those are modified. I say modified cuz I don’t do girls pushups. I got shoulder issues too.

        I don’t see a perfect team but Houston comes close. Like you said, what team will be peaking October the 1th. Hope it’s us. I think the world would embrace a NY LA World Series. I could live with that … IF we had home field.

        Ok, gotta juice some oranges for my mother-in-law and embark on my adventure. You all have a productive Friday. And about that, remember what the mystics tell us …. “nothing is a worthy goal”. It’s more difficult than you think.

        Like

  8. Ned Colletti has a new job. He was just hired by the San Jose Sharks as a scout. Wow, never knew he knew anything about Hockey.,

    Like

    Reply

      2. I wonder if this means he’ll be giving up his gig on the pre and post game Dodger broadcasts. Not sure how everyone else felt about him but I thought he really had something to add to those shows.

        Like

      4. Looks like he’s moving back up north and that will end his appearances on the Dodger broadcasts. Good for him if this is really what he wants to do. I’ve never been into hockey so can’t imagine giving up any baseball job for a hockey job, but to each his own.

        Like

      5. Back in 2010, I was exploring the possibility of becoming a baseball scout. It would have involved me moving to the midwest and accepting a ridiculously low annual salary of around $28K. Obviously, I never accepted. After that, i never even re-explored other opportunities.

        Like

      6. Not taking that job was a good decision Dennis, considering that this blog has probably made you millions. 🙂
        I can’t imagine the life of a scout is an easy one but if you love the sport and money isn’t everything to you I guess it can be rewarding.

        Like

      7. Good scouts are becoming obsolete anymore. Organizations are employing less and less of them. Most of today’s research is dependent upon the almighty stat and the computer, even at the high school and college levels. If they do send a rep out to visit a youngster, they mostly just want to see if the kid has the personality it takes to handle the rigors of being a professional.

        Like

      9. Still requires an eye test. The program at my JC in Nebraska had me listed at 6’ 185. At the time I was actually a skosh under 5’10” and weighed 170. I made All Conference as an outside linebacker and Nebraska was interested but lost interest when they actually measured me. Scout told me they could recruit pretty much anybody in the Midwest who actually was 6’ 185. So the numbers on paper will get the attention but you have to go watch, meet and measure personally.

        It can’t be that difficult to scout hockey. Who’s the best skater out there? Who handles the puck well? Is he 6’ 185? (Probably more like 6’3” 225 now). Sign him. I could do that.

        Like

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.