The San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers matched up on Friday with first place in the NL West on the line. San Francisco scored a run before the Dodgers even stepped up to the plate, took a commanding lead with a third-inning grand slam, and got a great outing from Logan Webb, leading to a 6-2 win. Now, the standings are tied in the NL West.
The NL West being tied in mid-June might not be a huge deal. With more than half of the regular season remaining, there's a lot of time for either of these teams, and even the San Diego Padres, to pull away.
Still, this win in particular showed why the Giants cannot be slept on. They have a strength that the Dodgers just cannot match right now.
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Giants might have the best pitching staff in the game right now
Webb allowed just two runs on two hits in seven innings against a Dodgers team that has averaged over six runs per game at home this season. He was in complete command, as has been customary for him, really all season. The bullpen then chipped in with two scoreless innings to nail down an impressive victory.
San Francisco now has a 3.15 staff ERA, good for second in the majors. Their 3.56 starting pitching ERA is seventh in the majors, and their 2.49 bullpen ERA leads the majors by over half a run. Their pitching, particularly in games Webb starts and in which their bullpen plays a big role, has been unbelievable.
For the Dodgers, the pitching has been another story. Yoshinobu Yamamoto had an unusually rough night on Friday, but the Dodgers have a 4.13 staff ERA, good for 23rd in the majors. The non-Yamamoto arms have mostly struggled. Of the seven teams below them, only the Arizona Diamondbacks are over .500 right now. The pitching is a mess, and injuries are a huge reason why.
Injuries have made the Dodgers' pitching staff unrecognizable
A whopping 14 pitchers are on the Injured List right now for the Dodgers, which is unfathomable. Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell, and Gavin Stone, five really solid starters, are among those sidelined. Even high-end relievers like Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips, and Brusdar Graterol are out.
Because of all of the injuries, the Dodgers only have two starters, Yamamoto and Dustin May, who have made more than eight starts. The Dodgers built a roster full of depth, expecting to have to use some of it, but they didn't expect to be as beaten up as they have been.
Los Angeles' ability to put up runs in bunches has kept them in the race for the division, but their pitching is a liability right now.
Elite pitching will always keep teams in games
Ultimately, the Giants are in the hunt solely because of their pitching. Their offense has been mostly underwhelming, ranking 14th in the majors in runs scored and 22nd in OPS. Even on Friday, they scored six runs, but four of them came on one swing. They were mostly shut down the rest of the night.
Their pitching, though, has been ridiculously good. Elite pitching always has a chance to shut down elite offense, as Logan Webb did on Friday. By limiting the opposition to two or three runs consistently, the Giants' offense doesn't need to do much to win games. On the flip side, the Dodgers offense consistently has to score five or more runs to win games.
Ultimately, the Dodgers should still be considered the favorites to win the division, given their exceptional talent. However, the longer their pitching struggles, the wider the door will open for a team like the Giants that gets exceptional pitching nightly to steal the crown.