By Matt McConnell

The beginning of law school season is among us. But, more importantly, with more than half of the baseball season over, the Dodgers have an 8-game lead in the National League West. That means our boys in blue should just coast into the playoffs, right? That way we can all just focus on school and not stress about our favorite baseball team, correct?

At the time of this writing, the website coolstandings.com projected the Dodgers likelihood of making the playoffs at 92 percent, by far the highest of any Major League Baseball team. Ask any law school veteran, and they can tell you how stressful law school can be; the long hours, moments of confusion, sprouting gray hair and more, etc. The last thing we need is to worry about the Dodgers during our already long nights in the library. Therefore, the baseball gods have done us all a favor this year, and no matter how well the Giants or Rockies play the rest of the way, it looks like the Dodgers will easily make the playoffs. As a direct consequence, I predict that SW students will have the highest test scores in the school’s history.

However, making the playoffs is only winning one battle. Every baseball fan knows that if you want to win the war, you win the World Series! Seeing that the Cardinals traded for Matt Holliday and the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee, it looks like the Dodgers will have serious competition for the National League Championship. In the American League, as always, the Yankees and Red Sox look like real contenders. Therefore, Dodger fans must prepare for an intense and stressful October as we juggle our scholastic duties with questioning every umpires’ call, gasping at each long fly ball, and second-guessing all of Joe Torre’s unsuccessful decisions. Dodger fans get excited for October because after baseball season, it turns into finals season.

While we were taking final exams and enjoying winter break, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti was attempting to improve the 2009 Dodgers roster. Let’s see how he did: Read the full story

While we were taking final exams and enjoying winter break, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti was attempting to improve the 2009 Dodgers roster. Let’s see how he did: Read the full story

The arrival of the holiday season marks the height of baseball’s free agency period. While consumers are endlessly searching for the best bargains and deals, major league baseball’s general managers are in the midst of complicated and intricate negotiations with baseball’s free agents. Read the full story

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel was quoted earlier this season: “You always hear baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.”  Remarkably, after this marathon-like 162-game season, the Dodgers found themselves in first place ahead of their National League West rivals. Seeing that last year the National League West was extremely competitive, with four of the five teams having winning records and the Colorado Rockies representing the National League in the World Series, it was widely believed that the National League West would be baseball’s toughest division this year.  However, it was as if all five teams forgot to stretch, hydrate, and load up on carbohydrates.  This allowed the Dodgers to suffer injuries, make unwise lineup decisions, and eventually catch a second wind to capture the division title.

Throughout 2008, the Dodgers experienced injuries to several key players, including second baseman Jeff Kent, closer Takashi Saito, and starting pitcher Brad Penny.  However, none were as critical as when All-Star shortstop Rafael Furcal strained his back in the beginning of May. At the time, Furcal was the Dodgers most valuable player as he led the team in on-base (.448 OBP) and slugging percentages (.597 SLG).  Granted, it was highly unlikely that Furcal would keep producing these superstar statistics, his unique skill combination of getting on base, hitting for power, and running at high speed was surely missed. Making matters worse, Furcal’s replacements were an offensive black hole in his absence.  Angel Berroa (.314 OBP, .335 SLG), Nomar Garciappara (.306 OBP, .419 SLG) and Chin-lung Hu (.231 OBP, .207 SLG) spent most of the season being automatic outs in the Dodgers lineup.  While Furcal’s injury was a serious setback (no pun intended), the Dodgers were able to stay with the pack and eventually win the division. Read the full story