Gallo joins the party as Dodgers win 10th straight
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LOS ANGELES -- After acquiring Freddie Freeman in March, there was genuine curiosity when it came to finding out whether the 2022 Dodgers could ultimately become one of the most dominant teams of all time.
Over the first few months of the regular season, the Dodgers held steady atop the National League West. During that time, they warned everyone that they weren’t yet clicking on all cylinders. The hype wore down a bit.
Well, it might be time to start having that conversation again.
With an 8-5 win over the Twins on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers have reeled off 10 consecutive victories. During that stretch, they have dominated the competition, winning all 10 games by multiple runs. They’ve outscored opponents 70-25 during the streak and have completed three consecutive sweeps.
“We like winning. It’s a lot of fun for all the guys right now,” said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy. “It’s one thing after another for us. We know we can win. It doesn’t matter what the score is. We can go out there and put up runs, and we have the pitching to stop it. It’s been a fun stretch.”
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What has made Los Angeles so dangerous over the last month and a half is their ability to win in a variety of ways. Over the weekend, Muncy and Cody Bellinger played hero on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. On Tuesday, the Dodgers suffocated the Twins with a season-high eight doubles.
On Wednesday, the Dodgers fell behind early as rookie right-hander Ryan Pepiot didn’t have his best stuff, allowing four runs in his fifth Major League start. It was a rare bad outing for a Dodgers starter. But the offense wasn’t going to let the Dodgers go down quietly.
Muncy continued to demolish pitches, smashing his fourth homer of the month in the second inning. In the fifth, Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Will Smith strung hits together to tie the game at 4. Then the Dodgers turned to the long ball.
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Chris Taylor smashed his first homer since coming off the injured list, a solo blast off right-hander Michael Fulmer to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead. In the eighth, the Dodgers saw a glimpse of Joey Gallo’s raw power. The lefty slugger, who had a disastrous year at the plate while with the Yankees, gave the Dodgers much-needed separation, smacking a three-run homer in the seventh for his first homer since joining L.A. at the Trade Deadline.
Over the last week, Bellinger and Muncy have shown signs of life at the plate, a scary sight for opposing pitchers. If Taylor and Gallo can tap into their strengths, the Dodgers’ lineup will only get that much deeper.
“This is an unbelievably talented group of guys,” Gallo said. “And the way everybody goes about their business is very special. Everybody cares. Everybody wants to win, no matter what, and I don’t think we’re ever out of any game. I don’t see a lot of outs in that lineup. … That’s a special group of guys, special lineup. And obviously the pitching has been light-outs as well.”
Thanks to a current 30-5 stretch, the Dodgers improved to 77-33 this season. That puts them on pace to win roughly 113 games, which would blow past the franchise record of 106. To find a similar stretch, you’d have to look back to the '17 team that started the year 78-32 through 110 games.
That team, however, stumbled to the finish line, losing 16 of 17 games at one point in August and September. They finished with 104 wins and came one game away from winning the World Series.
“That '17 run was special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a smile. “But we’re on our way.”
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Baseball is a weird game. This Dodgers team could run into similar issues over the next seven weeks. Success in the postseason is also not guaranteed. But the dominance this '22 team has displayed is unlike any in franchise history.
Through 110 games, the Dodgers have a run differential of +237 runs. That’s the sixth-best mark since 1900, behind the 1939 Yankees (+298), 1902 Pirates (+276), 1944 Cardinals (+275), 1927 Yankees (+272) and 1929 A’s (+252). Four of those five teams went on to win the World Series.
In a lot of ways, the Dodgers are looking like the team they warned people they could become. What will that mean in October? That remains to be seen. But right now, the Dodgers are on a historic pace.
“A lot of good players. A lot of good players,” Roberts said. “We’re doing a lot of things well.”