3 keys for the Dodgers to return to form ahead of MLB playoffs

The Dodgers' recent struggles have been well-documented. The Dodgers stumbled into the All-Star break, which included losing six of seven games heading into the season's "midway point". After sweeping the Red Sox and taking three of four from the Giants coming out of the break, it looked like the Dodgers had turned the corner, but the struggles came back quickly. L.A. went on to lose two of three games to the Astros in Houston before playing uninspired baseball in the most important series of the season to date against the Padres. After losing a pair of games in San Diego, L.A. hit rock bottom with a loss to Oakland, making it three straight losses heading into the weekend.

Luckily for Dodgers' fans, trade deadline acquisition and L.A. native Jack Flaherty came in clutch, and his strong Dodgers debut allowed L.A. to take one game from the A's before the Dodgers barely won the series rubber match 3-2 on Sunday. But even after winning the final two games of the series against the Oakland A's (and the opener over the Phillies on Monday night), it still didn't feel like everything was clicking for Los Angeles. Tuesday night's loss only further emphasized that reality.

That series win in Oakland was the first road series win for the Dodgers since sweeping the White Sox in late June. Even including the weekend series against the A's, the Dodgers have gone 10-12 since July 7. In that same span, the Padres have gone 12-8 and the Diamondbacks have gone 16-7, allowing both teams to pull within five games of the Dodgers. But there are a few fixes to L.A.'s problems that will have the Dodgers playing like a World Series contender again.

1. Get Healthy

This one feels like the most obvious key to the Dodgers playing like a true contender again. Even though L.A. has gotten major contributions from Gavin Lux (more on him later) and Teoscar Hernández, they are not the players who should be carrying this team. Unfortunately for Dodgers fans, the players who are expected to carry the team haven't been on the field in the first place.

Max Muncy has not played since May 15, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has not pitched since June 15, Mookie Betts has not played since June 16, and Freddie Freeman just returned from a family emergency, but it's not all doom and gloom for the Dodgers' absent stars. According to various reports, all four of those players have made strides towards coming back, highlighted by the most important news of all: Freddie Freeman's son, Max, is out of the hospital.

Freeman's return to the lineup has already paid dividends, while many other Dodgers have made significant strides in their recoveries and appear to be nearing returns to the field. Yamamoto threw a 20-pitch bullpen session Saturday, according to Jack Harris; Betts could return as soon as the start of the Dodgers' next road trip (August 12), according to David Vassegh; and Muncy, Miguel Rojas, and new acquisition Tommy Edman are all scheduled to play in a simulated game on Thursday.

Throw Michael Grove, who has been making rehab appearances in Triple-A, into the mix, and L.A. could potentially get 6-7 players back in the span of the next week or week and a half (though losing both Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen represents another hurdle to clear).

2. Get contributions from the bottom of the order

Without having the stars at the top of the order, L.A. has relied on contributions from odd places to manufacture runs. But even with Nick Ahmed's go-ahead homer against the Giants, Cavan Biggio's home runs and other RBI on L.A.'s recent road trip, or Kiké Hernández's two-run double that gave the Dodgers the lead on Sunday, those contributions have been few and far between, with one notable exception: Gavin Lux.

Gavin Lux won NL Player of the Week immediately after the All-Star Break and hasn't slowed down since. Since the All-Star Break, Lux is top seven in the majors in AVG (.400), OBP (.481) and OPS (1.192), and has eight XBH and 12 RBI in just 15 games. Lux has been shifted up in the lineup following all the Dodgers' injuries, and he has continued to perform in that role, but Lux is not going to continue to hit third in the lineup for the rest of the season. When Betts rejoins Freeman, L.A. will be back to a top five in the lineup (in some order) of Shohei Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Will Smith, and Teoscar Hernández.

There is pretty much no chance Lux will hit higher in the lineup than any of those five players, and when Muncy comes back, he may move down even more. But the Dodgers have been lacking depth in the lineup all season long, so Lux's positive presence at the bottom of the order will be essential for L.A. to start playing better as a unit.

It's not only up to Lux. But if the Dodgers want to win the World Series, they will need contributions from players other than the top five in the lineup. And a red-hot emerging talent certainly helps.

L.A. has a ton of experienced options between Jason Heyward, Kevin Kiermaier, Amed Rosario and Kiké Hernández, and eventually Chris Taylor, Miguel Rojas and Tommy Edman, when they are healthy. The Dodgers need to use the final two months of the season to decide who they can trust in big spots, including deadline acquisitions, based on who actually produces from the bottom of the order. If L.A. can find consistent quality at-bats from even two of those seven players, it will go a long way.

3. Stick to a consistent pitching plan

In the sense that the lineup has felt unorganized and out of sync for a month or two, the pitching staff has arguably been worse. At the very least, there are major consistency issues that the Dodgers have been grappling with, and have not yet solved. After the All-Star Break, Daniel Hudson racked up three consecutive saves for L.A., but since then (although the Dodgers have only won 5 games), three saves have gone to three different pitchers: Evan Phillips, Brent Honeywell, and, most recently, Anthony Banda.

If L.A. was winning games during that time period, having the bullpen switch roles occasionally wouldn't be an issue. But the issue lies within the fact that L.A. has been losing games because of the bullpen's inconsistency. During L.A.'s 10-12 stretch, the Dodgers (with the bullpen as the main culprit) have blown the following leads: 5-0 in the first (and 5-3 in the ninth) against the Padres, 5-0 in the sixth against the Astros, 3-0 in the fourth against the Tigers, and 9-4 in the ninth against the Tigers.

By only flipping the results of the five-run leads that L.A. has blown in the last month, the Dodgers would end up with a 13-9 record in that stretch, and a 68-44 overall record. That would leave L.A. with the best overall record in MLB, and would give the Dodgers a comfortable 7.5-game lead over Arizona and an eight-game lead over the Padres. Five-run leads should be secure, no matter who is in the bullpen, but with the big-name arms L.A. has, there is no excuse to lose as often as the Dodgers have in very winnable games.

Even though the bullpen has been a sore spot overall, the pitching staff seems to be turning the corner. Regardless of their varying levels of recent struggles, Phillips, Hudson, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, and Joe Kelly are all arms the Dodgers should be able to rely on when they aren't being overworked. The most important additions to the Dodgers at the deadline, as a result, are Michael Kopech and Flaherty. Flaherty should provide a lot more length as a starter than players making spot starts like Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski did, while Kopech, along with breakouts Banda and Honeywell, can become a reliable option for the Dodgers when the typical high-leverage relievers are fatigued.

With Clayton Kershaw continuing to get built up, and healthy versions of Tyler Glasnow and Jack Flaherty joining solid rookies River Ryan and Gavin Stone (notwithstanding his recent struggles), the Dodgers should now have more than enough rotation arms to keep the bullpen fresh going forward. If the arms in the rotation can stay healthy, the Dodgers' biggest problem with the pitching staff will be deciding who to get rid of on the active roster. That being said, having too many reliable options is a great problem to have, and L.A. seems on the verge of an upcoming surge once every player on the roster can get back to more normal workloads.