One team sold the future and went all-in on the present, and one team didn’t step on the gas. The results are polar opposites.

The Major League Baseball (MLB) Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-2, on Saturday (April 16) at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, USA, in the 2023 MLB regular season. With the win, their ninth straight, the Dodgers improved their season winning percentage to .610 (72-46) and remained in first place in the National League West. They have a nine-game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants.

MLB teams have been scrambling to make last-minute moves ahead of the trade deadline on February 2. The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are among the favorites to win a championship. Texas acquired top prospect Luis Angel Acuña from the Mets in exchange for Max Scherzer, and Houston acquired Justin Verlander from the Mets in exchange for Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clippard.

The Dodgers, who were also in the postseason hunt this year, were also looking for a big pitcher. The Dodgers were also linked to Verlander and were eager to trade Detroit Tigers ace Eduardo Rodriguez, but the deal fell through after Rodriguez used a no-trade clause. The Dodgers were in the running for a number of starting pitching prospects, but all they ended up with was Lance Lynn, who had an ERA in the high sixes.

In the end, the Dodgers only acquired a handful of pieces over the summer. They traded troubled starter Noah Syndergaard to the Cleveland Indians for infielder Ahmed Rosario. They acquired Kike Hernandez, a member of the Dodgers’ championship team, from the Boston Red Sox for two prospects. Both hitters were more of a backup. The Dodgers spent very little and acquired very few prospects, with Nick Nastrini for Lynn being the only major expense.

But the Dodgers were the team with the biggest smile after the trade deadline. The Dodgers are 13-1 in 14 games since the deadline, which ended with a win over Milwaukee on June 16. That’s the best winning percentage in that span, surpassed only by the Texas Rangers (12-2). It’s a remarkable result, even if the schedule is heavy on weak opponents like the Oakland Athletics and Colorado Rockies.

In particular, all of our traded resources have been performing above expectations. Hernandez was the star of the show against Milwaukee on April 16. In the bottom of the sixth inning, when the team was down 2-1, Hernandez hit a grounder up the middle of the infield to drive in two more runs and give the team the win. With this performance, Hernandez is now batting .321 with an OPS of .861 since the trade. That’s a 180-degree turnaround from his time in Boston, where he hit .222 with a .599 OPS.

Aside from Hernandez, most of the other acquisitions have performed well. Lin has been an ace, going 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 18 innings over three games. Joe Kelly, who’s ERA has been in the low 4s, was briefly placed on the disabled list after throwing three and two-thirds scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. Long reliever Ryan Yarbrough has also pitched 10 and one-third innings in three games, going 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA. Rosario has also been a solid platoon option at second base, batting .277 with an OPS of .824.

While the Dodgers are on a roll, some teams are doing the opposite. Unlike the Dodgers, the division rival Los Angeles Angels went all-in on their fall baseball prospects by spending their top prospects. They gave up catching prospect Edgar Cuero and left-handed pitching prospect Kai Bush to acquire starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and reliever Reynaldo Lopez from the Chicago White Sox.

Cuero was the Angels’ best resource after de facto prospect Logan O’Hoffman, and giving him up was a statement of intent to get to fall ball before Shohei Ohtani’s approaching free agency.온라인바카

But the Angels are just 3-11 since the deadline. Giolito, a high-profile acquisition, has struggled, going 1-3 with an 8.14 ERA. This is the opposite of the Dodgers, who have been having fun with Lean. While Lopez has started well with a 1.29 ERA in six games since his arrival, the team has fallen off a cliff with Giolito out of form and the rest of the rotation struggling.

At the time of the all-in, the Angels had a 14.8% chance of making the postseason according to FanGraphs. That’s low, but there was still a chance if you went all-in, but just over a month later, the odds are down to just 0.5%. Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ odds of winning the district, which were 76.2% at the time, have jumped to 98.8%. Their chances of making the postseason are 100 percent. Ohtani’s fall is far from over, and the Dodgers are ready for it this year, as they always are.