The more the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to dominate Major League Baseball this season, the more it confirms to me how much they were affected by the drama that was the ownership of Frank McCourt. Now that the team has a new ownership in place and only has one thing to focus on, winning games, they seem to be doing quite well at it. It's a great time to be a Dodgers fan and I'm quite confident we will see a Los Angeles Dodgers World Series victory parade, which will be a great follow up to the Los Angeles Kings' victory parade we just had. As we get midway into the third month of the 2012 MLB season, the Dodgers remain on top of the NL West with the best record in all of baseball, 41-24.
Home vs. Away
We have seen a change in this statistic over the past month or so. When I summarized the Dodgers schedule at the beginning of May, the team was 10-2 at home, an amazing record, and 7-5 on the road, a much more average number. Now, the numbers have come closer to the center, with the team still winning most games of course. As of June 15, the team is now 23-11 at home and 18-13 on the road.
Scoring
The team continues to score consistently while also delivering strong defense, an obvious key to winning games and World Series'. As of June 15, the team has outscored their opponents, 283-230 runs. If you average those runs across the 65 games the team has played so far, they have an average of 4.35 runs per game. It's a great average and it's why the team is in first place. It's not the highest in the NL, that is 5.10 runs per game, held by the Colorado Rockies. The lowest average is 3.29, held by the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the AL, the Texas Rangers have the highest at 5.23 and the Oakland A's have the lowest at 3.70.
Future games
The Dodgers have two more games against the Chicago White Sox before a California road trip north to play the Oakland A's for three games, then back down south of Los Angeles to play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for three games, then back up north to play the San Francisco Giants for three games.
On June 28, the team returns to Dodger Stadium for a three-game homestand against the New York Mets, followed by a three-game homestand against the Cincinnati Reds. With no break, it's off to Arizona to play the Diamondbacks before finally getting a four-day break for the All-Star Game. July 9 will be their first day-off since June 18, which is a long stretch without a break.
I hope they can maintain their level of intensity and keep winning games through the All-Star break. I do have concerns with these inter-league games, the A's, Angels and White Sox, as they're teams the Dodgers don't face frequently.
Freddy Sherman grew up in Philadelphia, which didn't make being a Los Angeles Dodgers fan easy. He has lived in Los Angeles for twenty years, now able to follow the Dodgers openly and attends games frequently. You can follow him on Twitter -@thefredsherman.
More from this contributor:
Los Angeles Dodgers' First Month of the 2012 Season: Fan's Look
Will Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Play in Farmers Field? Fan's Take
