Dodgers: Biggest Storylines to Look at in the Second-Half

Can Cody Bellinger continue to break records?

Mark McGwire set the rookie record for home runs in a season as a member of the Oakland A’s back in 1987 with 49. Mike Piazza set the Dodger rookie record in 1993 with 35 long balls, and Shawn Green set the franchise record with 49 back in 2001.

So far, in 70 games and 257 at-bats, Bellinger has already hit 25 home runs. He is the fastest hitter to reach 21 home runs and six multi-home runs games and is looking to break some more impressive records.

Barring anything catastrophic, Bellinger will soon surpass Mike Piazza for the most home runs as a Dodger rookie. The more intriguing storyline is whether he can break both McGwire’s and Green’s records. These will be much tougher to touch.

He is hitting a home run at a ridiculous rate of once every 10.3 at-bats. He has 257 official at-bats in 70 games, which comes out to 3.67 ABs per game. The Dodgers have 70 games remaining, so if we were to duplicate Bellinger’s numbers, he would just break both records and hit the 50 home run plateau as a rookie.

But that is if he was to play every single game from here on out, which is highly unlikely. It would be much more attainable if he did not spend the first three weeks in Triple-A.

And when considering he is in a slump at the moment, the task looks even tougher. However, the last time he was in a slump in his young career was his first ever one, and he responded with ten home runs in ten games and 13 for the month of June.

He has that kind of special ability, and you can expect him to adjust to the adjustments pitchers have made to him and improve as a hitter as the season goes on. Hitting Coach Turner Ward has worked wonders with many Dodgers this season, so don’t be surprised if he can do it with one of LA’s most talented hitters.