With 12 games left to go in their season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in prime position to secure a bye in the first round of the postseason. The club is currently 91-59, holding the National League’s No. 2 seed at three and a half games over the Atlanta Braves.
They will almost certainly claim the NL West this week, as they are nine games up on the second-place challenger San Diego Padres. If they can pull it off, it will be the Dodgers’ fifth year in a row winning the West.
Los Angeles has done a lot of this winning without the full abilities of their two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. He last pitched on July 3 before being sidelined from the mound (not from hitting) due to knee and bicep issues.
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More on Ohtani’s injury and impact
The 32-year-old landed on the 15-day injured list Friday. The official causes are labeled as left knee soreness and right bicep discomfort. By this framework, Ohtani can be activated no sooner than Sept. 26.
Judging by the time Ohtani was put on the IL, the team expects him to at least be able to return to hitting by the time of their first playoff game. For the time being, it has been their top prospect Josue De Paula taking the reps at designated hitter.
De Paula has got off to a red-hot start to his MLB career at just 21 years old. He has yet to strike out through 14 plate appearances. Ahead of Tuesday’s game at the Cincinnati Reds, he was promoted to the lead-off spot in the lineup.
De Paula once Ohtani returns
The top prospect is slashing .222/.500/.667 (1.167 OPS) with one home run, three RBIs, five walks and one double. De Paula caught some good attention on Sunday after producing an 85 MPH bat speed on a 416-foot home run.
It will depend how De Paula plays the rest of the regular season, but the Dodgers trusting him to lead off in his fifth career game speaks volumes about how they view his role on a prospective postseason roster.
Ohtani should be back for whenever their first playoff game is (Sept. 29 if they are the No. 3 seed or lower and Oct. 3 if No. 2 or higher). That means if De Paula is to stay he will have to move to the outfield, where the team has a couple of veterans on big contracts.
It would be difficult for the Dodgers to bench either Teoscar Hernández or Kyle Tucker in the corner outfield seeing how much they are getting paid. However, with the way De Paula is playing, that might become a possibility.
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