It’s certainly understandable that nearly all of the buzz among Dodger fans over the past month and a half has been about Max Muncy, Matt Kemp, Cody Bellinger, Joc Pederson, and the rest of the homer-happy Dodgers offense. Add to that the fact that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, and Alex Wood are all finally healthy, with Walker Buehler, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and perhaps even Julio Urias soon to follow, and it easy to see why Dodger fans are excited, with their beloved team on the very cusp of taking over first place in the National League West.

But there’s another team within the Dodgers organization which, quite frankly, is even better than the parent team – their Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past three months, you’re probably aware – or at least should be – that the Quakes, under the leadership of third-year manager Drew Saylor, recently won the California League South Division first-half title in what was literally a down-to-the-wire battle with the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), whom they finished exactly one game ahead of in the first half. In fact, the Cal League South first half was so tight that all four teams finished within 2.0 games of one another. But in the end, it will be the Quakes who will enjoy the guaranteed berth in the 2018 Cal League postseason, with the entire second half left to play.

But along with the good that winning the first half brings, it also brings a little not so good (so to speak).

Exactly as it is designed to do, a number of the Quakes best pitchers and position players who helped Saylor’s team win that first half title will soon be (or already have been) promoted to the Dodgers Double-A affiliate Tulsa Drillers. This, of course, means that the Quakes team that won the Cal League South first half title will not be the same team that will play in the second half or in the postseason; at least not in its entirety.

Pitchers Andrew Sopko (3-4 / 3.22), Dean Kremer (5-3 / 3.30) and Parker Curry (5-1 / 3.61) have already been promoted to the Drillers, with 2016 third-round draft pick and Dodgers top pitching prospect Dustin May (4-3 / 3.18) expected to soon follow.

Dodger fans wanting to get an up-close-and personal look at top pitching prospect Dustin May while he is still in Southern California might want to do so real soon, because he won’t be here much longer … and it’s a very long drive to Tulsa. (Photo credit – Steve Saenz)

And then there’s current Cal League home run leader Rylan Bannon with his 19 home runs thus far this season, and Dodgers 2016 first-round draft pick Gavin Lux who, even at only 20 years old, also figures to soon be on a plane to Tulsa. In fact, Lux could very well make his MLB debut with the Dodgers as early as next season as the heir apparent to become the team’s everyday second baseman.

Although still only 20 years old, Dodgers 2016 first round draft pick Gavin Lux has a legitimate shot of making it the major leagues during the 2019 season. Like Dustin May, he will undoubtedly also soon receive a promotion to Double-A Tulsa. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But wait, there’s more!

“I think there’s a lot of guys,” Quakes manager Drew Saylor recently told ThinkBlueLA. “I mean, you look at our pitching staff, Tony Gonsolin has done really really well, especially transitioning from a reliever to a starter. You look at Dustin May, you look at Nolan Long, you look at a lot of different guys that are on our pitching staff that have taken down some pretty strong and challenging innings here. I think those are a couple guys who stick out

“Obviously Bannon’s doing really well, Gavin’s done really well, [Quakes catcher Hamlet] Marte, you look at a lot of different guys that have produced … [outfielders] Logan Landon, Cody Thomas. There’s just a lot of guys that are putting together quality at-bats and playing solid defense. Yeah, there’s a lot of guys that have an opportunity to move up,” added Saylor.

With 15 first half home runs and another four only one week into the second half, Rylan Bannon will also soon be heading to Tulsa. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But here again, although losing guys like these to promotion is most certainly what it’s all about, it is bittersweet for Saylor, his staff and, of course, their teammates come the postseason.

“As much as sometimes you wish you could keep the team together, our job is to develop baseball players that are going to impact us at the major league level and compete for a world championship,” Saylor said. “I look at it almost like a parent watching your kid graduate and move on to college, or from college to getting a job and that type of stuff. You’re sad to see them go but there’s so much joy in your heart to see them continue to flourish and earn opportunities.”

But don’t feel too bad for Saylor and his team about having already lost several of his best pitchers to promotion. Since second half play began on June 21, the Quakes are 12-2 and find themselves once again atop the Cal League South standings by a hefty 4.0 games over the 8-6 Lancaster JetHawks.

But of greater interest is that the Rancho squad has won nine games in a row, just two shy of the franchise record of 11 consecutive wins set in 1999 as a San Diego Padres affiliate. The last time the Quakes won nine straight was in 2014 when some guy named Corey Seager was playing shortstop under (then) Quakes manager P.J. Forbes.

Now granted, nearly all of the aforementioned likely-to-be-promoted guys have yet to be promoted and, as such, Saylor’s second half team is still pretty much his first half team … for now.

The big question, of course, is how does Saylor and his staff keep his remaining players – and the inevitable influx of new players coming in – fired up heading into the second half and into the postseason?

“One is to be able to have joy in what we were able to accomplished in that first half,” Saylor answered. “I know you and I have talked about it, May 15th we were seven games under .500, six games back of first, and to be able to see our guys really come together on so many different levels – not even just on the field, but just as teammates, as human beings – and to be able to go through that final two weeks, which was an incredibly stressful but also exhilarating experience.

“I think that there’s a lot of celebration that needs to be done with that first half, but there’s also a lot of work that needs to be done, because Game-5 in the Division Series goes to best overall record,” Saylor added. “So I think there’s a lot of things we’re still competing for.

“In addition to that, like what you’re seeing a little bit within our organization, there’s guys that are still competing for opportunities in the upper levels,” he added. “So I think that looking at all those different … I don’t want to say carrots-at-the-end-of-the-stick type stuff, but all those different goals, it’s just like life; you achieve a goal, you enjoy the process that got to that goal, now you set new ones, or look at maybe what that first half championship was and know that this is on our journey as we try to summit that mountain of winning a California League Championship.

“I think that that’s the job of us as a staff. I think that our support staff, our coordinator group and front office group has been really good in being able to support us and share that same message: ‘Hey, incredible first half, let’s celebrate it, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done,'” Saylor concluded.

If this doesn’t sound like a guy who has the confidence and conviction of leading his team to a new consecutive-wins record or leading them to that summit of winning a California League Championship, I’m not sure that there is one.

Go Quakes!