Three Things to Look for From the Dodgers in the Second Half

Jul 10, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson (31) catches a foul ball with his arm after hitting against the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

3. Consistency at the plate.

Offensively speaking, the Dodgers are above average at every position, with the possible exception of Jimmy Rollins at short. The only moves I can think of to upgrade the Dodgers offensively is to get Carlos Gomez in left field or to put Corey Seager at short, but Seager isn’t a guaranteed improvement over Rollins (yet).

Instead, the Dodgers really just need to find their mojo at the plate again. They still rank near the top of the NL in on-base percentage and lead all of baseball in home runs, but it seems like once one player slumps, everyone else follows suit. Joc Pederson‘s batting average dropped more than 30 points from June 6 until the all-star break, and his OBP dropped by 20. Agone saw his average drop nearly 20 points in 13 games since June 28, and Yasiel Puig slumped while recovering from a blister on his hand, as Stacie Wheeler pointed out about a week ago.

If the Dodgers are going to threaten in the postseason, they’ll need to show the ability to put together consistent offensive performances, regardless of who is on the hill. Lack of run support for Kershaw and Greinke is annoying now, but it becomes a huge problem if it continues in October, where every game counts.