Dodgers: 3 players you can’t blame for LA’s cold streak

The Los Angeles Dodgers have come close to engaging their full potential over the past several days, though they obviously haven’t reached the peak of their powers yet since the team’s 13-2 start.

Remember…remember that? That was really nice.

Since then, LA has fallen to the middle of the pack thanks to a lethal combination of key injuries, bullpen depth issues, and slumping batters. Triple-A arms like Mitch White and Alex Vesia have had to carry an unfair load. The ire has even fallen on Mookie Betts and a rehabbing Cody Bellinger, who haven’t been able to fulfill their expected roles.

When teams struggle, things get dark in the discourse.

Even Bill Plaschke’s starting to doubt this team’s ability to set records. That’s how you know it’s really going down.

Though it’s only natural to be angry at all 26 men on the roster, we feel like fans should take a step away from the rubble and appreciate the contributions of these players, who’ve been both consistent throughout the recent stretch and have elevated their play lately in an attempt to dig the Dodgers out of disaster.

Sometimes, it’s the players you least suspect who are responsible for the most impressive turnarounds.

These 3 Dodgers deserve credit amid the team’s recent losing streak.

3. Kenley Jansen

When you’ve got opposing managers gushing over your resurgence, you’re probably doing something right, and in his final season under contract with the Dodgers, it’s very clear (thus far!) that Kenley Jansen has been “the old Kenley”.

In many ways…he’s been even better, showing off jaw-dropping horizontal movement on his reborn cutter.

Thus far, Jansen’s ERA+ is approaching 2017 levels, checking in at an astronomical 216, dwarfing his totals from the intervening years (128, 112, 129 from 2020 back through 2018). 2017, by the way? 315. How…does that even happen?

Now, there is some room for baked-in regression here. Jansen’s WHIP is a bit more elevated than you’d like to see (1.174, which would be a career high), leading to a surprisingly high FIP (4.47), proving that the closer is creating more traffic than would be ideal, and is doing a good job of escaping disaster.

No matter what occurs from this point forward, though, it’s clear that Jansen has not been “the bullpen problem” during this recent stretch when Corey Knebel, Brusdar Graterol, David Price and Tony Gonsolin have all been unavailable. With a subpar closer entrenched at the back end, this stretch full of meltdowns could’ve gone nuclear.

Jansen wasn’t the reason Mitch White ended up protecting so many late leads last week; his passing of the baton to the offense was too often returned with the ending still unwritten. Whatever regression comes, we have to give Jansen credit for the profile he’s already posted.

1. Max Muncy

You can’t stop Max Muncy. You can only hope to contain him.

Unfortunately, for most MLB pitchers, that hasn’t happened lately, either. Walls can only go so far and so high.

Thus far in 2021, Muncy has already been worth 2.0 WAR, starring defensively as always and flashing his immense power. It’s so easy to forget Los Angeles plucked him directly off the Oakland A’s scrap heap. It truly is.

In the past week, though, Muncy has specifically picked his power stroke up just when the Dodgers discourse was starting to reach its highest and most dire point. In a seven-game, 24-at-bat stretch, Muncy has cracked four homers, hit .333, walked eight times and paced the offense, seemingly willing Mookie Betts and Corey Seager to join him.

We expected Betts to be this team’s linchpin — and yes, our expectations for him are so high that his .364 OBP in the team’s last seven-game stretch doesn’t register as particularly exceptional. Oops. His back injury has continued to linger through the early part of the season, though, which he readily admits has thrown him off or sapped power.

Muncy’s power, on the other hand, has been especially prodigious lately. The only sap in his game has been dripping off the freshly-sliced tree trunks he’s been using to destroy baseballs deep into the night.

Some players are simply fun to root for, and Muncy’s energy — especially during these dark times — has not gone unnoticed.

After all, he faced darker times before the Dodgers took a flyer on him.

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