The Los Angeles Dodgers were expected to be among the World Series favorites heading into the season. They were at 12/1 to start the year, according to BetDSI Sportsbook. Things have gone so poorly for them in the first couple of months of the season that the loss of Rich Hill – who is expected to be out a month – won’t impact their World Series futures.
On Sunday, it was announced that Hill will be placed on the 10-day disabled list with a blister on his left middle finger. That’s relevant because he’s a left-handed pitcher. Manager Dave Roberts said that Hill will be out for at least four weeks as the team wants to give him ample time to heal up. He’s dealt with blisters in the past, so the team has a gauge on how long this will hamper him. One thing that’s clear, though, is that the oddsmakers won’t be dropping the Dodgers much lower in terms of the odds to win the World Series just yet.
Hill had been one of the better pitchers in the game over the last couple of seasons, posting a 2.12 ERA in 2016 and a 3.32 ERA in 2017. However, he’s fallen off this year and currently has a 6.20 ERA. He’s thrown 24.2 innings of work while giving up 30 hits and 13 walks in that span (1.78 WHIP). He still has a two-to-one strikeout to walk ratio (25:13_ but he was better than 3:1 last year (166:49).
The Dodgers are currently 19-26 and six games out of first place in the National League West. While that’s not a huge mountain to overcome, they just haven’t looked crisp at all. They’ll enter Sunday’s contest on a three-game winning streak and they are hoping to put together some momentum. But if things continue like this, they are going to fall much further from the 20/1 they are at currently.
