Cody Bellinger's 5 most unforgettable moments with the Dodgers

2. Cody Bellinger's historic start to MVP season

Many fans will remember the extreme lows of Cody Bellinger at the end of his Dodgers tenure. There's no way around it: Bellinger was downright awful in his last two years with the team and was one of the worst hitters in the entire league. If James Outman comes in and hits well, fans are quickly going to forget about their former beloved center fielder. 

That's not completely fair to Bellinger, who had some of the highest highs with the Dodgers as well. In 2017 he set the record for the most home runs by a rookie in National League history. That record would quickly be broken by Pete Alonso, but it was a sign of things to come for Bellinger in the future. 

That future was the 2019 season, which is legitimately one of the most impressive MVP seasons in recent MLB history. Bellinger slugged 47 home runs, drove in 115 RBIs, and hit .305 on the year. Only 42 players in MLB history have had a season in which they hit 45+ home runs, drove in 115+ RBIs and hit .300 or better. Only 13 have done it while stealing 15 bases. Bellinger is one of them. 

His season as a whole was on a historic level, but even more historic was his first month of the season. Bellinger started to fade towards the end of the 2019 season but was held up by one of the hottest starts to a season in MLB history. 

In his first 30 games in 2019, Bellinger hit 14 home runs, drove in 37 RBIs, and was hitting .434 with a 1.414 OPS. At that point, Bellinger was on a 162-game pace of 75 home runs, 200 RBIs and 248 hits. Nobody thought he would hit those paces, obviously, but that's absolutely incredible in hindsight. 

Only three other players in MLB history started a season with 14+ home runs and a .400+ batting average through 30 games: Josh Hamilton (2012), Mickey Mantle (1956) and Willie Mays (1964). Bellinger had a higher OPS than all three of those players after 30 games.