The Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers finished the 2011 season with a record of 82-79. In 2011 they had a Cy Young award winner and a runner up in the MVP voting.

The Dodgers have a definite force in Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw has been a dominant pitcher his past 3 seasons in the MLB. Since 2009 Kershaw has only pitched to sub 3.00 ERA's and over 9 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. In 2011 he earned himself the National league Cy Young award with the following stats: 21 wins, 2.28 ERA, 233 IP, and 248 strikeouts. He won the pitching triple crown tied in one category with Ian Kennedy with 21 wins. Chad Billingsly used to be the ace pitcher for The Dodgers before Kershaw came on the scene. He had a 4.21 ERA in 2011 which is much higher than it should be. In 2008 he pitched to a 3.14 ERA over 200 innings. Billingsly is now 27, if he can return to the pitcher he should be The Dodgers will have a nice 1-2 combo.

The Dodgers also lost Hiroki Kuroda due to free agency. Kuroda signed with The Yankees after his best season. Kuroda pitched 202 innings with a 3.07 ERA and 161 strikeouts. He was the cap on The Dodgers rotation making the 1-2-3 combo of Kershaw, Billingsly and Kuroda, but now it looks like the Dodgers will have to do without.

After Ryan Braun being accused of performence enhancing drug usage I think Matt Kemp should have won the MVP. Kemp was 1 home run away from being into the 40-40 club. The 40-40 club is an elite list of players who have hit 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in as single season. Matt Kemp finished with 39 home runs, 126 RBI's, 40 stolen bases, a .399 on base percentage, and an 171 OPS+.

The Dodgers don't have many other notable offensive players. So you can see why they didn't make the playoffs. One notable player is Andre Ethier. Ethier gets injured often not playing more than 140 games  in 2010 and 2011. One thing he is good at is facing right handed pitching. In 2011 there was a right handed pitcher on the mound 74% of the time. Ethier had a .410 on base percentage vs right handed pitching and a .468 slugging percentage vs right handed pitching. Although he is neutralized by left handed pitching Ethier can bring a wallop to the offense 74% of time.  

Since The Dodgers have only 2 offensively dangerous players and 1 pitcher you can take for granted The Dodgers will have a rough time in 2012. It is highly unlikely that Kerhsaw or Kemp will repeat the great seasons they had in 2011, but if they do it; it won't bring The Dodgers to the playoffs.