When the Los Angeles Dodgers would sputter in past seasons, I never really worried. Ever the eternal Dodgers optimist, I always knew they had enough talent to get through whatever team slump was happening and show what a strong team they were.

(This applied to the regular season only, obviously).

But this season is the first where I have seriously doubts about the team overall.

Sure, the main core of really good players is still there. But like my son’s high school baseball team, once you get past the top five batters and the first two or three starting pitchers, it starts to get iffy pretty quick.

This is the most uneven start to a season I can remember, aside from 2018. And that team had just come off a powerful World Series run that ended in terrible fashion, and that hangover was real.

Maybe that’s the same with this team. Best season ever in Dodgers history and out of the playoffs in just four games to the division rivals down the coast. A lot of long time players gone, and more turnover in the offseason in recent memory.

To be fair, there have been a lot of things to deal with early in this season. Ace Walker Buehler had to get Tommy John surgery and will miss the whole season. In addition to that, two more starters went down to injury before the season started, and the guy who replaced them had two starts where he pitched while under the weather.

Gavin Lux tore his ACL in a meaningless Spring Training game, and his replacement Miguel Rojas also is out with an injury. The shortstop position was so depleted that Mookie Betts has made a few starts there. And in the last week, five players have gone on the paternity list and the carousel of replacement players goes on.

But, now, as the Dodgers start a new home stand, most of the band is back together. Max Muncy has returned from his time on the paternity list. Perhaps more importantly, Will Smith is returning from his two week long stint on the IL under concussion protocol. Brusdar Graterol also has returned from the paternity list.

In those corresponding moves, Luke Williams and Justin Bruihl were optioned, and J.D. Martinez was placed on the IL with lower back tightness.

One hopes that now that the Boys in Blue are back at home, and the lineup is pretty much back to normal, the team will start to figure things out. As the old adage goes, you can’t win the division in April, but you can’t lose it. And it would be nice if the team started trending upward instead of just merely treading water.