3 reasons why the Dodgers are still World Series contenders and 2 why they're not

Still contending No. 2: Extensive postseason success on offense

For as long as you're a member of the Dodgers, you're going to get a ton of opportunities to play in the postseason. I mean, just look at some of the numbers the offensive regulars have posted in their playoff career.

• Mookie Betts: 55 G, 17 2B, 4 HR, 18 RBI, .741 OPS
• JD Martinez: 30 G, 9 HR, 30 RBI, .303 AVG, .987 OPS
• Freddie Freeman: 46 G, 10 HR, 23 RBI, .296 AVG, .947 OPS
• Chris Taylor: 64 G, 9 HR, 25 RBI, .250 AVG, .815 OPS
• Max Muncy: 43 G, 10 HR, 29 RBI, .238 AVG, .887 OPS

There's no doubt that the offensive guys on this roster have what it takes to hit in the clutch. With the amount of former MVPs and All-Stars in this group, this is to be expected.

Betts and Freeman alone both have an OPS+ over 130 as well as OPS' over .870. They are steady presences in this offensive core and will be vital to the march to the postseason as well as their attempts to go deep into October.

To kick off the 2023 season, each of the aforementioned postseason studs, along with Will Smith and James Outman, have combined to put together one of the best hitting teams in the league. Heck, even David Peralta, who we've called for to be released multiple times now, has seen his stock skyrocket and currently sports a .276 average and 92 OPS+.

Entering the Tuesday, this Dodgers squad ranks third in the majors in home runs, fourth in runs scored, first in walks, and fourth in OPS. What's a bit concerning, however, is the fact that they currently sit 20th in the league in hits. The team has done an excellent job at manufacturing runs and getting on base, but the amount of base hits will surely have to go up if they want to continue applying pressure.

Still contending No. 3: A promise of an active trade deadline

In the past decade-plus, we've never seen the Dodgers have a silent trade deadline, and the 2023 installment does not figure to be any different. There are a few places on the active roster that the front office could look to upgrade, and Andrew Friedman is already planning on doing just that.

With left-hander Julio Urías due back from a hamstring strain in the beginning of July, he will represent some reinforcements to a starting rotation that has been "just okay" so far this season. Beyond him and Clayton Kershaw, some rookies have stepped up nicely, but Noah Syndergaard has been awful and there's a clear need for improvement there.

Looking around the league, pitchers like Lucas Giolito, Jack Flaherty, Eduardo Rodriguez, Shane Bieber and Marcus Stroman are all expected to be available to an extent, and that's just among starters. The Dodgers bullpen has not looked any better (it's actually been worse), so look for someone like Scott Barlow, Aroldis Chapman, Liam Hendriks or Alex Lange to be possible targets.

With seemingly unlimited resources in both the cash and organizational depth departments, the Dodgers are sitting pretty to make a splash or two (or three!) at this year's deadline. With Friedman already promising to make some moves, the rest of league should be prepared to be outbid by the ultra-aggressive Boys in Blue.

Not contending No. 1: The starting rotation's sketchy postseason record

Certain members of the Dodgers' rotation have gotten some well-documented flak over the years as they continue to underperform in the postseason. From top to bottom, nearly every single one of the hurlers earning the majority of the starts for the club this year have sketchy postseason pasts.

Starting at the top, Clayton Kershaw, a surefire Hall of Famer, has never really been able to get it done in the playoffs. By this point, he's made a whopping 38 appearances in the postseason and has a 4.22 ERA in 194 innings of work. For whatever reason, he experiences a slight dip in strikeouts and a slight spike in hits, walks and home runs allowed. Just last year, he made one start against the Padres in the NLDS in which he earned the loss after going five innings and surrendering three earned runs on six hits.

The currently-injured Urías has a 3.68 ERA across 23 outings (six starts) in his postseason career. Most of his experience in these games has been positive, but even he has not been immune to the occasional rough outing. After dominating in the NLDS in 2021, he surrendered seven runs on 11 hits in six innings in the NLCS against the Braves. Last year, he made one start against the same Padres team that beat Kershaw and didn't really get the job done, although the offense behind him carried the team to a win.

Noah Syndergaard has been decent in his playoff career, but there's an ever-increasing chance that he doesn't even finish the current campaign on the Dodgers. His last postseason outing came last year in the World Series and he made it through just three innings before being pulled in a game that his team ultimately lost.

Both Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May have also struggled at times in the postseason. The former has a career 9.20 ERA across eight outings thanks to 15 earned runs in just 14.2 innings of work, while the latter surrendered three runs in as many innings in his last postseason appearances all the way back in 2020.

This concerning trend is, well ... concerning. If the current pitching staff can't get it done in the playoffs, the entire grind throughout the regular season is for nothing. Hopefully the Dodgers can swing a trade to bring aboard a pitcher with a better record on the big stage.

Not contending No. 2: The bullpen is awful this year

Entering Tuesday, the Dodgers bullpen currently has the second-worst ERA (5.04) in all of baseball, above only the Oakland A's, who only just recently started to look like an actual professional baseball team.

For any club with postseason and World Series aspirations, such a horrendous earned run average can't possibly fly. Dodgers relievers have allowed the opposition to post a league-leading .257 batting average, third-worst .319 BABIP, and are currently the owners of the fifth-worst HR/9 rate in the league.

For what it's worth, it's not that the entire unit has been awful this year. Evan Phillips, Brusdar Graterol and Caleb Ferguson have all begun to see high-leverage situations and have all earned save chances as of late. The three hurlers all have ERA+'s over 129, with Phillips at 197 and Graterol at 186.

Outside of that trio, Shelby Miller (of all people) has been respectable on the mound, if not a bit too lucky. His 2.40 ERA and 186 ERA+ look nice on paper, but his 4.51 FIP suggests that he may be due for a regression in the near future.

Beyond this group, things have not been pretty. At all. The currently-injured Phil Bickford has made 23 appearances (for some reason) and has a 7.33 ERA thanks to 22 earned runs in just 27 innings of work. He has been striking out guys at a rapid pace, but he can't for the life of him keep the opposition off the scoreboard. Ditto for other relievers like Alex Vesia, who has also been lit up like a Christmas tree in 22 outings this year.

Fortunately for the Dodgers, there's plenty of room for improvement and plenty of potential trade chips out there for them to bring aboard at the deadline. In case players like Bickford and Vesia don't bounce back, look for this relief pitching corps to look much, much different post-deadline.