Located in a city populated with about four million people, the Dodgers owe Los Angeles a World Series title. I, being the lifelong Dodger fan that I am, think they will win it this year, with plenty of reason to believe so.
My primary reason in believing this is the team’s roster depth and experience. They added 36 year old former all star and most valuable player Jimmy Rollins, 31 year old all star Howie Kendrick, and catcher Yasmani Grandal. Not only those position players were added, many pitchers as well; Mike Bolsinger, Zach Lee, and Adam Liberatore, just to name a few.
“The Dodgers will win the world series because of their great new players,” said junior Edwin Ramirez. They have two rookies that are smoking the ball, Joc Pederson and Alex Guerrero. Pederson hit 33 home runs with 30 stolen bases last season in the minor leagues, and his offensive presence is showing in his first full year in the majors. Guerrero defected from Cuba in 2013 to pursue a major league baseball career here in the states, and the Dodgers are definitely glad he did. Not only can Guerrero hit for a good average with extra base hit power, he is very defensively versatile, able to play third base and left field. These two additions this year added flare and great bats to the roster.
Los Angeles has one of the best one-two punches in baseball, that being Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke. Kershaw is the former most valuable player and had the lowest earned run average (ERA) in each of the last three years. Greinke is a former cy young award winner and finished the 2014 season with a 2.71 ERA.
Their bullpen is outstanding. By getting rid of the trash that was Brian Wilson and Chris Perez, they made room for consistent pitchers like Juan Nicasio and Joel Peralta.
Andrew Friedman, the president of baseball operations for the Dodgers, is one of the best in the MLB. He was on a strict payroll restriction in Tampa Bay, and they won over ninety games in five seasons. LA has the biggest payroll in baseball, which will likely result in him making great roster moves.
Overall, the Dodgers are having a great season and it will continue in the playoffs. With the roster depth and great team management, this is their year.
