3 Dodgers starters to worry about limping into playoffs ice cold

2. Trea Turner

The Dodgers made the blockbuster trade for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner last season and the pair of former Nationals did not have the kind of postseason impact the team had hoped for.

Scherzer pitched well in the NLDS but did not pitch well in the NLCS, later blaming his dead arm on the Dodgers for being cautious with his workload. Turner, meanwhile, hit .216 with a .500 OPS in 51 postseason plate appearances. He recorded just two extra-base hits.

With Scherzer gone and potentially matching up against the Dodgers in the NLDS, the team is hoping to get better results from Turner this time around. The only problem is that the star shortstop is starting to show signs of cooling down, which is concerning, to say the least.

In Turner’s last 15 games, he’s hitting just .228 with a .554 OPS. Like last October, the power has diminished as he has two extra-base hits in 62 plate appearances in that span. In fact, Turner has hit just four home runs since the start of August.

The Dodgers do not need Turner to rack up the extra-base hits and home runs for him to have an impact in the postseason, but they certainly need him to reach base at a better rate than .290. If he struggles again, it could impact his free-agent market and the Dodgers’ aggressiveness in pursuing him.