Editorials

Dodgers 2019 First Half Numbers and Stats Leaders

With the All-Star break upon us, I thought it best to take a look at the overall numbers posted in the first half of the Dodgers season. They paint a picture of a productive, and baseball-leading 60 win team.

Team Statistics

  • W/L: 60-32 (.652) (tops in MLB)
  • Runs Scored/Runs Allowed: 480 / 351
  • Run Differential: +129 (tops in MLB)
  • Home Record: 37-12 (tops in MLB)
  • Away Record: 23-20

While ending the first half on a 3 game losing streak is less than ideal, the Dodgers more than impressed by leading baseball in wins — being the first team to both the 50 and 60 win plateau — and outpacing the next best team in run differential by 13 runs.



Next, let’s take a look at individual batting stats leaders.

Batting Leaders

  • AVG: Bellinger, .336
  • OBP: Bellinger, .432
  • SLG: Bellinger, .692
  • OPS: Bellinger, 1.124
  • HR: Bellinger, 30
  • 2B: Seager, 21
  • 3B: Taylor/Pederson, 3
  • RBI: Bellinger, 71
  • R: Bellinger, 70
  • BB: Bellinger, 54
  • BB%: Bellinger, 14.5%
  • K%: Verdugo, 9.7% (tops in NL)
  • bWAR: Bellinger, 6.7 (tops in MLB)
  • fWAR: Bellinger, 5.8
  • wRC+: Bellinger, 187 (tops in MLB)

As just about anyone could have imagined, Cody Bellinger paced the way in most offensive categories for the best team in baseball. While he’s come back down to earth since a record-setting April, he remains one of the top players in the game.

Finally, we dive into the pitching staff statistical leaders.

Pitching Leaders

  • W: Ryu, 10 (t-1 in NL)
  • ERA: Ryu, 1.73 (tops in MLB)
  • FIP: Buehler, 2.84
  • G: Baez, 41
  • GS: Ryu/Buehler/Maeda, 17
  • IP: Ryu, 109.0
  • SV: Jansen, 23 (t-2 in NL)
  • K: Buehler, 113
  • BB: Maeda (high) 31
  • K/BB%: Ryu, 9.9
  • fWAR: Ryu, 3.7
  • bWAR: Ryu/Buehler, 3.1 (tie)

Numbers Into Context

Pretty easy to see that Cody Bellinger and Hyun-Jin Ryu lead the charge for offense and defense, respectively. Those should come as a surprise to no one. Some of the stats did yield some surprises, though. In almost 20 games less than the rest of his teammates, Corey Seager lead the team in doubles. Despite a recent mini-slump, Justin Turner came in 2nd in OBP at an elite .377 mark, and Max Muncy came just shy of a .900 ops, posting an .892 mark. Not to be overlooked, if David Freese had enough plate appearances to qualify, he’d also be just behind Bellinger on AVG/OBP/SLG.

As for pitching, Walker Buehler’s numbers have some things to look closer at. He leads the pitching staff in FIP. Without getting too convoluted in the sabermetric details, FIP basically levels the playing field of league bias, and gives a more accurate picture of how well a pitcher has been throwing. It focuses on the events the pitcher has the most control over, strikeouts, HBP, unintentional walks, and home runs. It means Walker Buehler has been even better than the basic numbers tell us, and that’s pretty impressive.

Final Thoughts

The Dodgers have been more well-rounded than they were in 2018. I wrote an article at the end of last year where I said that the Dodgers were going to be better than the talking heads and fans were giving them credit for. There are times where prescience isn’t a wild guess, it’s just seeing the numbers for what they are. The Dodgers were good last year, and they’re even better this year.

AJ Gonzalez

AJ is a lifelong Dodgers and Lakers fan who grew up in California. His whole family is also lifelong Dodgers fans. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, two kids, his guitars, and beagle Kobe.

3 Comments

  1. While there have been some good games and good results over the last 2-3 weeks, it seems like the Dodgers consistency has been falling over that period. They struggled on their Arizona/Colorado road trip, and then on their last home stand. Watching the last 3 Padres home games, was difficult. It seems like the middle of the order has been leaving too many runners on base and producing few hits. Part of this could have been fatigue, and I am sure that part of it may have related to injuries and juggling of the lineup and pitching staff.

    Things get hot and heavy come Friday with the Eastern road trip and rematch with the Red Sox. I hope the slump is over when they come back after the All Star break and that they dominate a Red Sox team that humiliated the Dodgers in last years world series in pretty much EVERY category. If indeed the 2019 Dodgers are vastly improved as their 1st half record indicates vs 2018, they will have success .

  2. Juggling of the lineup on a daily basis makes being consistent difficult for many players and it takes place depending upon the handiness of the opposing pitcher. Stripling on Sunday displayed the one significant issue as far as the pitching goes and that is serving up the HR’s, which have prevented team from even a better 1st half record. Take away 2 of the 3 HR’s allowed yesterday and Dodgers perhaps win that game. When Maeda pitches, it appears Dodgers must score at least 5 or 6 runs to have a chance because it looks like Maeda will potentially serve up at least 2 HR’s per outing and when runners are on base, that is when winning those games is difficult to do.

  3. Uh AJ they play one half of their games in the national league west. Thats like playing against triple A teams. 4 really bad teams!!! There are probably 4 teams that would win 110/115 games in that division. You really think they would make the playoffs in the American league east? Dont think so.

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