This is the one we’ve been waiting all season for – the Dodgers single-longest homestand of 2016. It’s a 10-gamer that begins tonight with three games against the NL West third-place Colorado Rockies, followed by three games against the red-hot AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles and concludes with a four-game set with the NL West last place San Diego Padres; and to be brutally honest, the Dodgers must, absolutely must take at least seven of the 10.

Why, you ask?

Because you can bet the farm that the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants are going to do everything within their power to exploit the Dodgers while they are without their ace Clayton Kershaw for all 10 of those pre-All-Star break games and undoubtedly well beyond.

As every Dodger (and baseball) fan on the planet knows by now, Kershaw was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Thursday morning after receiving an epidural to relieve the pain in his lower back caused by a “mild disc herniation.” That’s the bad news. The good news – great news actually – is that the 28-year-old Dallas, Texas native will not require surgery. That being said and although the three-time NL Cy Young award winner and 2014 NL MVP is eligible to come off of the DL on July 15 – the first day back from the All-Star break – the chances of that actually happening are somewhere between slim and none, and slim just left town.

For only the second time in his brilliant eight-year MLB career, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw finds himself on the DL. During his rehab in 2014, he appeared in one game with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and one with (then) Double-A Chattanooga. (Photo credit – Jennifer Cappuccio)

Although every back injury is different and affects different people in different ways, it’s hard not to take a quick glance at Dodgers utility outfielder / first baseman Scott Van Slyke‘s recent back issues. The soon-to-be 30-year-old Chesterfield, Missouri native went on the disabled list on April 12 (retroactive to April 10) for “lower back irritation” – not “mild disc herniation” – and did not return to the Dodgers until June 3. That’s was a total of 53 days not counting the two retroactive days. And though Van Slyke also received an epidural and in his own words was ready to return after only two weeks, the Dodgers weren’t willing to gamble on an earlier return or one without an eight-game rehab assignment – one with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and seven with the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers.

During his rehab assignment for lower back irritation, Van Slyke needed eight rehab games before he was deemed healthy enough to return to the Dodgers 25-man roster. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Granted, Kershaw is a starting pitcher and not a position player and would (optimally) appear only once every five days instead of every day, but he will more than like require a minimum of three or four rehab starts before being reactivated from the DL, and those rehab starts wouldn’t even begin until he is deemed to be 100 percent healthy. In other words, the Giants are going to be attempting to exploit the Kershaw-less Dodgers well beyond his 15-day DL stint.

Are the Dodgers – who just returned from a 3-4 road trip that took them through Pittsburgh and Milwaukee – up to the challenge? You would be hard-pressed to find anyone within the Dodgers organization who would tell you otherwise. But keep in mind that although the Dodgers are currently a very impressive 23-15 (.605) at Dodger Stadium, they began the season with a rather dismal 4-8 home record in April – and that was with Kershaw going every five days.

This homestand is the longest of the season for the Dodgers. They would be best advised to take full advantage of it.
(Photo credit – Jake Roth)

With a revised starting rotation of Bud Norris (who will be making his Dodgers debut tonight), Scott Kazmir, Julio Urias, Brock Steward and Kenta Maeda, the Dodgers are absolutely going to need rookie sensation Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Yasiel Puig and Howie Kendrick to stay hot at the plate and Adrian Gonzalez, Yasmani Grandal, A.J. Ellis, Trayce Thompson and Chase Utley to get hot at the plate if the Dodgers hope to dispatch the Rockies, Orioles and Padres and gain ground on the Giants. That being said, the Dodgers hit a collective .253 (60 for 237) with five home runs during their just-concluded road trip; including a powerful .546 (14 for 39) / three-home-run affair on Thursday afternoon, thus suggesting – albeit presumptively – that their (near) team-wide, season-long offensive slump may finally be coming to an end.

Any way you slice it, anything less than a 7-3 homestand could prove disastrous for the Kershaw-less Dodgers heading into next week’s All-Star break.