Feel like people are underselling the loss of bryant here. That's an MVP caliber bat who's only played in 76 of 123 games this year. Honestly, if you look at this logistically they are a worse team arguably talent wise because of injuries/ineffectiveness than last year but they still have a better record. Last year you had Arrieta who was replaced by Darvish. Last year you had Davis who was replaced by Morrow. Last year you had Lackey instead of I guess Chatwood. And last year Bryant was healthy.
So, I get frustrated when I see people talk about the team being shit. I suppose it's addressing a different point than I am. In other words, I'm saying they are playing well despite some heavy hurdles while others are just saying they want the team to win. But I mean you take close to 10 war off any good team because of injuries and they will look sort of like the cubs.
Honestly, if anything the last few games have made me more hopeful. My biggest playoff worry right now is how the starting pitching is going to hold up if Darvish isn't back and good. But really the starters have looked good recently. The offense has obviously died. But even if Bryant isn't 100% I think there's a chance he is back and 85-90% of Bryant is a big boost. Maddon also seems to think Russell is playing through a finger injury. If they can get in a position to rest him some he was hitting really well before it(.333/.396/.481 135 wRC+ the month prior to getting hurt in detroit). Plus at some point you have to figure Rizzo gets hot.
If you look at the line up, the biggest issue is they have a lot of good players but no one really "carrying" the team. For example if you look at guys between 100-120 wRC+ you have Contreras(112), Schwarber(116), Heyward(104), Rizzo(113), Almora(100), and Happ(108). Baez has cooled some after his scorching hot start at 128. Zobrist has been fantastic at 130. Bryant pre being hurt was 129 and the injury probably sapped some of his value. And Bote has been fantastic in a fill in role at 124. Only guys under 100 are Russell(see injury), La Stella(hitting .279/.355/.316 just doesn't have much power) and Caratini who's your back up C.
