Baseball futures sure don’t list the Los Angeles Dodgers as the favorites in the NL West any more. The Dodgers started very slowly this season and were not getting as much respect vs. the baseball betting odds. They will face on of their main rivals on Sunday as they host the Colorado Rockies. Baseball futures have lowered a little bit on the Rockies. Colorado is considered a contender in the NL West. This game on Sunday is the finale of a ten-game homestand for the Dodgers. It is the last game of a nine-game road trip for the Rockies. Normally the Dodgers dominate the Rockies. Before this three-game series began, the Dodgers had won 15 of the last 20 against the Rockies. Last year the Dodgers won seven of the nine home games against Colorado. Repeating that success this season may be more difficult as the Dodgers simply are not as good as they were last year.
The Dodgers started slowly vs. the baseball betting odds and manager Joe Torre was trying to keep the team focused. “There’s plenty of blame to go around when you don’t play well, that’s no secret,” Torre said. “We need to improve in a lot of areas, and that’s my responsibility. We have to find a way to make things happen.” The Dodgers seemed to enter this season overconfident and it has hurt them. “I don’t know about arrogance,” said Torre, “but sometimes when young players have success, there’s a tendency to think it’s easier than it really is. This game has a way of catching up to you and humbling you.”
The Rockies have been hurt a little bit recently by injuries but they have not affected their baseball futures odds. They lost pitchers Jorge De La Rose and Jason Hammel. Manager Tim Tracy is hopiong that when Hammel comes back he will be more consistent. “It will certainly give him an opportunity to dwell on some of the things that have, for lack of a better term, stalled him a little bit,” Tracy said. “I don’t know that you can name another starter other than [Jorge] De La Rosa who had a better spring than he had, and who looked like he was ready to take another step beyond where he was at last year. Where we’re at with him at this point in time is it’s the same pitcher that gave us 10 wins a year ago.”