GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Dodgers’ last two steps to a championship were eliminating the New York teams last October, and it is hard to miss how much of a better February and March Los Angeles is having as well.
If the Fall Classic goes through Chavez Ravine, then spring training has not been kind to the Yankees and Mets in comparison with the other coastal superpower. No team has incurred more worrisome injuries in quantity and quality this spring than the Yankees. Several paces back are the Mets, ahead of clubs such as the Orioles and Red Sox.
The Dodgers leave Wednesday for Tokyo to begin their season March 18-19 vs. the Cubs. They likely will begin the year with the most players on the injured list, as they have 10 players, all pitchers, already certain for the IL. But they spent the offseason pretty much knowing that would be the case.
Thus, with their internal pitching machine and their external signings of Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, they still will have the majors’ best pitching staff to open the season. And to be at their camp and see, for example, Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw being ramped up is to know that the Dodgers have in-season alternatives near.
