The Dodgers rumors are churning right now that Opening Day is only a week away. The Los Angeles Dodgers came up short in the World Series last year, but have a strong team entering 2018. The Dodgers do have a good team, but who is the leader in the locker room? Will this season spark a memory like Kirk Gibson's legendary home run in 1988? If the Dodgers do want to make a run in the playoffs they will need a fully healthy team since the regular season is 162 games. Here are the latest Dodgers news and rumors you need to know:
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Chase Utley Most Powerful Voice On Dodgers?
Any team in the MLB needs a leader that all the players can look to when things get tough. That player according to Dodgers outfielder Trayce Thompson is Chase Utley.
“With all due respect to everyone in this clubhouse,’’ said Thompson. “He has the most powerful voice of anyone in this building. For us players, his word goes further than anybody else’s. You don’t even have to talk to him. You just watch what he does. He’s seriously one of a kind."
“He’s a guy I’ll be able to tell my kids one day that I got to play with this guy named Chase Utley, and he represents what it means to be a professional baseball player.’’
Utley is 39 years-old and the second oldest position player in the MLB. He isn't the MVP candidate he once was, but he plays an important role as the vocal leader in the Dodgers clubhouse.
You Can Now Sit Where Kirk Gibson's Home Run Landed?
There are certain moments in sports where everyone who watches remembers for the rest of their lives what they were doing at that exact moment. For baseball fans, especially Dodgers fans one of those moments was when Kirk Gibson hit a walk-off home run in Game one of the World Series against the Oakland Athletics.
Now fans can watch current Dodger games from the "Kirk Gibson seat."
“Every time I walk into Dodger Stadium I always look at the seat where the ball landed. I personally call it Seat 88,” Gibson said.
The seat is in Section 302, Row D, Seat 1, but the Dodgers have renamed the seat number 88.
The Gibson seat can only be purchased in a pair, which may not always be available. The seats normally run for about $45 each, plus you can purchase a commemorative t-shirt for $300 total, with $200 going to the Kirk Gibson Foundation. The foundation is to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's Disease, which Gibson was diagnosed with in 2015.
Cody Bellinger Injury Update
Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger fouled a ball off his foot in his first at-bat in Tuesday's Cactus League game. He was then forced to leave the game in the fourth inning.
According to Andy McCullough, Bellinger was removed by "manager's decision."
The move seems to be precautionary and the 22-year-old should be ready to go by Opening Day. Last season Bellinger hit .267 with 39 home runs, 97 RBIs in 132 games.
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