The Dodgers haven't gotten off to a great start in July. They lost a three-game series to the Diamondbacks to kick off the month, but followed that up by taking two out of three from the Brewers. After six games they're sitting at 3-3 on the month and they still hold a 7.5-game lead in the National League West. However, their rocky start to July has put Los Angeles in a rare position.
While LA has split their first six games of the month, they've been outscored 43-28 in those contests. Their three wins were a 6-5 victory over the Diamondbacks, and 8-5 and 5-3 wins over the Brewers. Their three losses were 12-4 and 9-3 defeats against Arizona, and a 9-2 drubbing at the hands of Milwaukee on Sunday.
If this pattern holds up through the rest of the month, in which there are 18 games left, it would mark the first time the Dodgers have been outscored over a full month since September of 2017.
In that September the Dodgers went 12-17, and were outscored 130-108. The only other time they were close was in October of 2022 when they went 2-3 for the month and tied 16-16 on the scoreboard.
Their run of 45 consecutive months without being outscored by an opponent isn't in jeopardy just yet since they're only six games in, but their schedule the rest of the month isn't easy. LA's next three games are against the NL-best Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia. Then they're on the road at Detroit for three games heading into the All-Star break.
After the break they open up with three games against the Red Sox, a wild card team, followed by four against the Giants who just took two-of-three from the Dodgers to close out the month of June. Then they head to Houston for three at the Astros before heading to San Diego for a midweek, two-game bout to finish July.
All of those teams, save for the Giants, are above .500 at press time.
LA is going to be one of the World Series favorites in the NL regardless of how the month of July goes. If they can climb out of their minus-15 run differential hole though and finish the month strong through a tough schedule, it might be hard to not make them the favorite to represent the National League in the Fall Classic.