With a 98-44 record, the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers already secured the NL West division.
They hold a 20.5-game advantage over the San Diego Padres, the second-ranked team in the division, and have a 5.5-game cushion over the Houston Astros, the next-best club in the overall standings.
In short, they look and behave like the best team in baseball.
But the standings don’t tell the whole story about how dominant they truly are.
To have a better idea of the gap there is between the Dodgers and the rest of the league, we have to look at run differential.
The Dodgers have scored 318 more runs than they have allowed: you probably don’t need us to tell you that it’s the best mark in baseball.
Not only that, but the next-best team, the New York Yankees, is still miles away from Los Angeles, with a +209 run differential.
Run Differential Confirms The Dodgers Are Astonishingly Good
Here is a mind-blowing stat, courtesy of Codify Baseball: The Dodgers have allowed 446 runs this season: they scored their 446th run two full months ago.
The Dodgers have allowed 446 runs this season.
They scored their 446th run two full months ago. 😮
cc: @Dodgers @DodgersNation @DodgerInsider— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 14, 2022
That was before Wednesday’s game, and the number of runs allowed is now 451.
It doesn’t matter: the Dodgers scored that many runs several weeks ago.
They have reached a point in which actual names don’t matter as much as the contingent of people they have working to make sure each of the members of their active roster is performing to the top of their abilities.
Yes, they have “bought” stars (they signed Freddie Freeman and traded for Mookie Betts, for example), but they also made Andrew Heaney, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Anderson, Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Will Smith, and a boatload of relievers much better than they were before joining the club.
The Dodgers, like a good car, are built to last.
It will be very hard to beat them during the offseason.
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