Dodgers: USA Today Projects LA for 99 Wins… Before Betts Trade
The Dodgers are the only team in the league to have made the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons running. They will likely win another division title in 2020 and could win even more into the future.
USA Today recently released their projected standings for the 2020 MLB season and to no surprise, the Dodgers are projected to win the NL West once again.
But that was before the club’s reported acquisition of Red Sox star Mookie Betts and pitcher David Price.
Suffice it to say that if this exercise was done after all the paperwork was completed on these trades, it would likely be a different story for Los Angeles. Still, at the time, the Dodgers were tabbed for a 99-63 record, the second-best in the league behind the 103-59 projection for the New York Yankees. It almost feels like an inevitable occurrence that the Yankees and Dodgers face off in the 2020 Fall Classic.
Alanna Rizzo of Sports Net LA posted the USA Today’s panel predictions:
NL West
The landscape of the National League West division is certainly changing every season, it seems. For a long while, the Diamondbacks and Padres were the bottom feeders of the division with the Giants, Rockies, and Dodgers balancing out the top of it. Now, the only constant is the Dodgers. The Padres are surely creeping up and could be legit contenders in a matter of a year or two. The D’Backs even made some moves to maintain relevance. The Giants and Rockies…not much hope for awhile.
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By the projections, the teams that will head into the playoffs with the Dodgers are the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves as division winners. The wild card spot, though, is at a four-way tie. There are many National League teams that are ‘close’ in terms of talent.
But none as powerful on paper as the Dodgers.
PODCAST: Reactions to Dodgers Trade Day
I had the Dodgers at 88 to 94 wins before this trade. Now I have them at 96 to 102 wins. The bigger difference though is postseason chances. They are are now in very good position to win it all.