Chris Taylor's best night of 2024 saved himself from Dodgers embarrassment

Chris Taylor had a really bad season. The worst season, in fact, of any in his career when he's played more than 50 games. He batted a season-low .045 in April, then continued to hit .200 or lower until June, when his performance actually managed to improve to the tune of a .278 average over the month. It quickly dipped again over July and August, and he missed about a month with a groin strain.

Even without the injury, Taylor was getting fewer starts and fewer at-bats as he continued to drag down lineups. He survived multiple roster crunches, which probably has a lot to do with the $26 million the Dodgers still owe him this year and through 2025, and started to get more play through the last month of the season.

Through 17 September games, he batted .333 with an .822 OPS, which sent his batting average on the year up by tiny ticks. He started all three of the Dodgers' last games against the Rockies in what would turn out to be his best series of the year. He had two hits in the opener, including a double that was just his second extra-base hit of the month. The next day, he went 3-for-3 — his only 3+ hit night of the entire season.

And in the finale, the Dodgers' last game of the regular season, Taylor did what felt like the impossible: he got his batting average on the year higher than .200, finally landing above the Mendoza Line.

Chris Taylor finally came through in the Dodgers' last series of the season

Not only did Taylor get his average above .200, but he also hit a crucial homer — only his fourth of the season — against the Rockies in the finale to tie the game at one run apiece. The Dodgers got lucky with their winning run, which Austin Barnes came in to score on a balk by reliever Seth Halvorsen. Both the Dodgers and Rockies seemed to give up after that, because neither team got a hit through the rest of the game.

It's probably good for Taylor, both mentally and spiritually, that he got just above the baseline of mediocrity and rounded out a good month with a homer before heading to the postseason. If he's getting hot, now's the perfect time.

Even if Taylor ends up being a dud in October, it still probably wouldn't spell the end of his time with the Dodgers. It's likely they'll see his tenure out until they hit his club option year in 2026, because of the money but also because — as much as we like to rag on him — he has given the Dodgers some great years. We'll need to see more of 2021 All-Star Chris Taylor in the postseason if we're going to get back on that bandwagon, though.