30 Teams in 30 Days 2018 02 Los Angeles Dodgers

I'd like to continue my (perhaps overly) ambitious 30 Teams in 30 Days feature with the only MLB team in Los Angeles (geographically speaking), the Dodgers! This is my hometown team, so I'm inundated with coverage about them in the local media, plus they were the National League's representative in last year's World Series, so they're nationally relevant too. Here's their projected lineup as laid out by Sports Illustrated, with information from my patented baseball database:

Luxury Tax Implications

Like yesterday's team, the New York Yankees, the 2018 Dodgers made a conscious effort to keep their payroll under the $197 million luxury tax line heading into the season, despite both of these teams having two of the deepest-pocketed ownership groups in the game. To accomplish this goal, the team made a curious-on-paper trade with the Braves where Los Angeles sent several players who had large 2018 salaries to Atlanta in exchange for one player whose large contract has more significant future implications: old Dodgers favorite Matt Kemp. That's not to say LA didn't then try to flip Kemp's contract elsewhere before the season, but the fact that that they were unable to do so, coupled with Kemp's strong Spring Training performance (five home runs and an .879 OPS in 21 games), assured him a spot in the Opening Day lineup.

This section also covers the "All-Acquired Factor," as LA's only other major addition aside from Kemp - controllable lefty Scott Alexander - was acquired from the Royals via a trade that also saw more expensive lefty Luis Avilan shipped from the Dodgers to Chicago's AL franchise. UPDATE: I'm just seeing that my database does not contain a typo when it says that waiver claim from the Twins JT Chargois made LA's Opening Day roster. Oh, also there was spot starter type Tom Koehler, who was injured, injured bad during the offseason.

Rankings Changes

Unlike yesterday's team, these Dodgers have a handful of players whose MLB.com fantasy rankings improved between the start of Spring Training and Opening Day. The most notable of which is Kemp, who won his camp battle, causing the rankings of Joc Pederson (589, the projected starter according to FanGraphs, but now Kemp's likely platoon mate) and Andrew Toles (607, optioned to the minors) to drop accordingly.

Star third basemin and launch angle pioneer Justin Turner also saw his ranking take a tumble after he was hit by a pitch that fractured his wrist, although even with the injury it's still impressive that he fell within the top 200. And since every crisis is also an opportunity, we see some lesser-ranked players on the roster jump up a few spots to pick up the slack: not just 2B-turned-3B Logan Forsythe, but also Chase Utley (up to 592) and Enrique Hernandez (616) who are now engaged in somewhat of a platoon at the keystone.

Fifth Starter and Bullpen

Unless you're the Tampa Bay Rays, teams don't usually employ a four-pitcher rotation until the playoffs. And yet, Sports Illustrated has seen fit to only project four starters per team in their 2018 Baseball Preview. This is the last time I'll specifically mention this topic, and in all other posts I'll just jump to the player analysis. There is a rather large drop-off in quality between LA's SP4 and SP5 - after four pitchers ranked within the top 120, tonight's starter Hyun-Jin Ryu clocks in at a whopping 362. His inclusion gives the dodgers a rotation that's 80% left-handed. The only other relievers to receive rankings from MLB.com were Pedro Baez (455) and Josh Fields (488), which means that so far my prediction about the Yankees bullpen being the only one with five top-400 relievers on the roster is spot on.

Fantasy Astrology Relevance

Those of you who follow the Fantasy Astrology feature of this blog will know of Libra's utter dominance over the last five years - the team of Dodgers star closer Kenley Jansen - but they haven't won EVERY championship in that span. One of those honors went to Pisces, the sign of this team's top two starting pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill. Add Justin Verlander, Luis Severino, and Jake Arrieta to those two, and you have a formidable rotation indeed. In news for other astrology contenders, Kenta Maeda should be in the rotation of last year's champion Aries, 2017 NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger will play first for my home sign of Cancer, and Chris Taylor's 2B eligibility will make him a very versatile piece for Virgo.

Song

I Love LA - Randy Newman

Even if they didn't play this song after every Dodgers win, it still epitomizes so much about the city of Los Angeles that it's a perfect fit for this team. Not only that, but Randy Newman has a strong baseball pedigree, having composed the music for MY favorite baseball movie of all time, The Natural. Yes, this famous refrain is currently my ringtone, and will likely remain so until the end of the baseball season...

Colossus

With its star-studded roster, resource-rich ownership group (luxury tax notwithstanding), and five straight playoff appearances, the Dodgers franchise has the feel of an unstoppable behemoth ready to trample anything in its path. This is the same feeling evoked by Quadratus, the mammoth-like second Colossus from Team Ico's masterpiece Shadow of the Colossus. It seems like this team deals with a rash of injuries every year, similar to how this Colossus falls to its knees when you shoot the bottom of its hooves with an arrow. But they both always manage to stand back up and shake like hell to frustrate their enemies (opponents) trying to cling on for dear life (to a place near them in the standings).