No small-sample problems (yet) for dominant Dodgers

Even in this shortened season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have stood out with their dominance.

And Clayton Kershaw is still a big part of it.

Kershaw has won his last three starts, allowing just two runs in that span. For the season, the 32-year-old left-hander is 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA. He's struck out 33 batters with just four walks.

Kershaw pitched like that while winning three Cy Young Awards from 2011-14, but he declined ever so slightly the last couple seasons. His 3.03 ERA last year was his worst since his rookie season of 2008, for example.

He began this season battling a back issue that caused him to miss his customary opening day start, and with the schedule shortened to 60 games, even a talented team like the Dodgers was vulnerable to the vagaries of a small sample size. But Los Angeles can start making postseason plans after a 26-10 start that has the Dodgers five games up in the NL West.

Los Angeles has a run differential of plus-90 — the Chicago White Sox have the next-best mark at plus-42 — and the Dodgers just set a National League record for home runs in a month with 57 in August. Mookie Betts entered Sunday's action ranked second in the majors in wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Los Angeles has not lost a series all season.

Of course, the series that matter won't come until later. The expanded postseason this year has been a nice safety net for some other highly regarded teams. The Yankees and Astros have had some issues but are still in good shape, and even the last-place Nationals aren't out of contention by any means.

But for the Dodgers, the extra teams in the postseason just represent more potential pitfalls for a Los Angeles team that has done just about everything in recent years except win it all.

ON THE RISE?

The...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/No-small-sample-problems-yet-for-dominant-15526523.php