Five thoughts from the week in baseball:
It was around this time last year that the Dodgers went on a hot streak that put them on pace to break the all-time record of 116 wins in a season.
They were 35-25 on June 7 before going 46-11 over their next 57 games, virtually wrapping up the National League West by August. The Dodgers beat the Cubs 4-1 in the NL Championship Series with Clayton Kershaw, Yu Darvish and Rich Hill limiting the Cubs to five earned runs in a combined 22 1/3 innings over their four starts.
The Cubs simply lost to a better team, most of the experts said.
But then the Dodgers lost a wild seven-game World Series to the Astros in which Darvish was pounded early in Game 7 at Dodger Stadium.
Darvish and Brandon Morrow signed with the Cubs, and the Dodgers started 2018 looking nothing like the team that cruised to the World Series.
Gasping for air on May 8, the Dodgers were nine games under .500 with a boatload of injuries, including shortstop Corey Seager, who was lost for the season. The outlook looked bleaker than Roseanne Barr's career prospects.
As the Dodgers arrive at Wrigley Field on Monday for their rematch against the Cubs, Kershaw and Hill are on the disabled list (and Darvish, of course is on the Cubs' DL).
But somehow they're still the favorites in the NL West, having won 21 of their last 28 games to move 1 { games behind the first-place Diamondbacks. They're 11-3 in June with a major-league-high 34 home runs in the month, and their two big starters are on their way back.
Hill is set to return to the rotation this week after two stints on the DL with a blister on his middle left finger. He has been out since May 20 and had laser treatment on the blister to speed up the healing process. Kershaw, who made one start after coming off the DL before going back on with a lower back strain, is expected to throw a simulated game this week and perhaps return to the rotation by the end of June.
So we're probably right back where we started, and the Cubs could face the Dodgers in the postseason for the third straight year.
Go figure.
