Dodgers fans overreacting to Julio Urias’ bad start is bush league

Sometimes it’s valid to wonder if fans are really “fans” anymore. Do they just exist to be frustrated and unreasonably displeased? Same goes for the media. Does everything need to be a hot take?

We guess so! Because Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Julio Urías happened to put forth a bad outing on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, which has resulted in concerns about his velocity and the overall status of the team’s rotation moving forward.

Yup, the guy who led Major League Baseball with 20 wins, finished with a 2.96 ERA and placed seventh in the Cy Young voting last year. All of a sudden a subpar start — that ended up being a lot worse because of a misplay by Chris Taylor in the first inning — after a career-high in innings pitched last year (185.2, and over 100 more than his next career high) is a reason to fill the timeline with doomsday content.

Who at the Los Angeles Times sports desk approved this Bill Plaschke take? “Dodgers in big trouble if one of team’s best players is all of a sudden very bad.” Groundbreaking stuff.

Panicking over Julio Urías bad start is childish Dodgers fan behavior

OK, on the one hand, his decrease in velocity is a reason to keep your eyes peeled. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything yet, but it could. He was 2.5 MPH down on his fastball, 2.6 MPH down on his sinker, 2.1 MPH down on his changeup and 1.1 MPH down on his curveball.

Then again, Urías pitched just eight innings in spring training after the offseason was ruined by a 99-day lockout that undoubtedly affected players’ preparedness. He wasn’t effective in those outings either, allowing eight earned runs on 11 hits and three walks. But the left-hander has a career 3.14 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 107 games (71 starts) for the Dodgers.

How are we possibly going to have these kinds of overreactions after that kind of a track record AND a career campaign from a 25-year-old? The only overreaction at this point should be about potential health issues that might be holding him back — not about his actual capabilities as a player.

Then again, many pitchers experience velocity issues from the jump as they work their way back to an extensive workload. This is very much not a rare occurrence.

The Dodgers won 106 games last year and have been in the playoffs for eight straight seasons. This type of whining and “the sky is falling” discourse after three games is truly out of this world for people who just watched this team sign Freddie Freeman and trade for Craig Kimbrel.

Save the lunacy for June/July so we can actually get to a point in the season where this kind of stuff might actually matter.

Dodgers’ reason for giving Andrew Heaney a rotation spot is ridiculous

Andrew Heaney is in the Los Angeles Dodgers' rotation and the reason for his inclusion is fairly ridiculous. Come on now.