When the Dodgers opened the 2015 season at home on Monday, April 6, 2015, this is what their 25-man roster looked like:

April 6, 2015 Dodgers 25-Man Roster

When they begin play tonight against the NL East-leading Washington Nationals in our nation’s capital, their 25-man roster will probably look like this:

July 17, 2015 Dodgers 25-Man Roster

At first glance, the two rosters appear pretty much the same, but when you consider what the team went through to get to this current roster, it makes your head spin.

Between April 6 and July 12 the Dodgers used a total of 12 different starting pitchers and 18 different relievers (including Carlos Frias, Yimi Garcia, David Huff and Juan Nicasio, who did both). They also used:

• Four first basemen (Gonzalez, Van Slyke, Turner and Grandal)
• Three second basemen (Kendrick, Turner, and Hernandez)
• Four shortstops (Rollins, Hernandez, Barney and Turner)
• Five third basemen (Turner, Uribe, Callaspo, Guerrero and Barney)
• Seven left fielders (Guerrero, Ethier, Van Slyke, Crawford, Hernandez, Heisey and Schebler)
• Four center fielders (Pederson, Hernandez, Heisey and Ethier)
• Five right fielders (Ethier, Puig, Van Slyke, Heisey and Hernandez)
• Three catchers (Grandal, Ellis and Barnes).

They lost one starting pitchers for the season due to Tommy John surgery (McCarthy) and another who never even made it to Opening Day and eventually was lost for the season due to shoulder surgery (Ryu).

They currently have six guys on either the 15-day or the 60-day disabled list:

• Frias (15)
• Hatcher (15)
• Crawford (60)
• Rodriguez (60)
• McCarthy (60)
• Ryu (60)

But unlike Opening Day-1, the Dodgers enter Opening Day-2 in first place in the NL West with a record of 51-39 (.567) and are 12 games over .500. They have a 4.5-game lead over the hated Giants, 7.5 over the Dbacks, 10 over the Padres and 11 over the Rockies. They also own an outstanding home record of 33-15 (.687).

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that the Dodgers enter the second half with an 18-22 road record (.450) and will start the second half on a 10-game road trip against the Nationals, Braves and Mets, with both the Nationals and Mets having records above .500. In fact, the Mets (.528) trail the first place Nationals (.552) by only one game in the NL East. That being said, the Dodgers have won a total of 51 games on the season while the Nationals and Mets have won 48 and 47 respectively.

Prior to the break, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he was going to adjust his starting rotation to start the second half. On Thursday it was announced that Mike Bolsinger would pitch on Friday and Kershaw on Saturday. Presumably, they will be followed by Greinke, Anderson and Beachy.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they enter the second half with an 8-18 record against teams over .500. And while this may not be a big deal for the likes of ESPNLA’s Mark Saxon or Dodgers Digest’s Mike Petriello, the bottom line is that 35 of the Dodgers remaining 72 games are against teams that are currently above .500, with currently being the operative word. It’s safe to say that several of the current .500+ teams will drop below .500 and vice versa for several of the teams that are currently under .500 over the next two and a half months.

Breaking the first-half numbers down even further, the Dodgers went 8-10 against NL Central teams but were 10-6 against NL East teams and a very good 29-20 against the most important NL West teams. They are also 4-3 in interleague play, although nine of their 13 remaining interleague games are against AL teams that are above .500. That being said, the Dodgers are a dismal 3-9 against the Giants – the only other NL West team with a .500+ record (.517). Fortunately, the Dodgers only face the Giants seven more times this season and the rest of the NL West a combined 20 times. But here again, the standings as of this morning absolutely will change between now and October 4 – the final day of the regular season for the Dodgers.

So here we go. It’s time to sit down, strap in and hang on for what will undoubtedly be an exciting second half.

PLAY BALL!