Being in first place 15 games into the new season is nice, but it is certainly not indicative of how the 2024 regular season will ultimately play out. However, this week’s nine-game home stand with three against the NL West second-place San Diego Padres, three against the NL East fourth-place Washington Nationals, and three against the NL East third-place New York Mets respectively provides the Dodgers with a golden opportunity to create even more distance over San Diego and further live up to the hype of not only being the best team in the National League West, but the best team in all of baseball.

What’s more, although the Dodgers ‘The Big Three’ (as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts calls Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman) went a combined 21-for-70 (.300) on the just-concluded six-game road trip through Chicago and Minnesota, and return home having split those six games, Betts went an uncharacteristic 4-for-22 (.182) without an extra base hit.

Needless to say, Betts – and the Dodgers – could definitely use some home cooking.

Play ball!

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