Five reasons for Dodger fans to be really excited about this year

Clayton Kershaw is the ace of a much-improved Dodgers pitching staff. By Owen Main

It seems like such a long time. It was only a year though. Twelve months, and a lifetime ago.

Last April, the Dodgers were in limbo. Frank McCourt was on his way out, but nobody knew who was coming in. The Dodger organization was one year removed from the ownership tipping point — the Brian Stow beating — and months away from the beginning of what Dodger fans hope is the great turnaround — Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim group leading the way.

This year, the Dodgers’ spring training was the first under their new ownership and the outlook is actually bright for the first time in a few years Here are five reasons why Dodger fans are justified to have a sunny outlook on 2013.

* Dodger Stadium has been renovated: For fans, this should be a nice change. I, for one, was not excited about the sometimes-compromised sightlines created by the previous renovation of the lower level.

But this renovation has been a little more complete. It’s about as much as a team can do to an existing facility like Dodger Stadium in a single offseason. New state-of-the-art scoreboards have been installed that, while brand new, keep the Dodger Stadium aesthetic that those fans who are more sentimental will appreciate. All initial signs point to a better fan experience — something Frank McCourt promised, but new ownership has actually delivered in less than a year.

The thing that may be the most fun about the renovations will be what team president Stan Kasten called “the most elaborate and the most extensive Wi-Fi network anywhere in baseball.”

“Pretty good for a 50-year old stadium,” said Kasten.

Have you ever been somewhere and there were so many people that it overloaded the wireless network? Dodger Stadium will be a place where that probably won’t happen anymore. Again, good news for the fan experience.

Magic Johnson and the new ownership group deserves a lot more than a high-5 from Dodger fans. By Owen Main

* Veteran Leadership: One of the best things about this Dodgers team is that they actually have had a whole spring to mesh. In the end, production, wins and losses, etc… are all that matters. But it’s interesting how often “chemistry” gets brought into the conversation. By all accounts, the Dodgers are generally getting along and fans should take heart that now that the season is starting, the team should be comfortable and have no excuses not to perform to their potential.

I’m as excited about Opening Day as anyone else, but the baseball season is a grind. This Dodgers team is filled with players who know how to get through that grind both mentally and physically. There aren’t a lot of rookies on this year’s team. It’s built to win now and there are veterans who have been through this before. If ever there was a team designed to withstand the scrutiny the Dodgers will go through this year, it’s this team.

* Depth: It’s a simple concept, but when you have a veteran team, guys will end up on the disabled list. Guys will need days off. When you sign a team with a lot of players who have some chance of injury (due to age or past history), you have to bring depth along with it. The Dodgers don’t have just anyone as their utility players without some bona-fides. Jerry Hairston, Nick Punto, Skip Schumaker, and Juan Uribe have all been on winning teams. Justin Sellars looks like he’ll get a real chance to play a lot in Hanley Ramirez‘ absence. Hairston and Schumaker both can play infield and outfield positions, giving Don Mattingly a little extra versatility in filling out his lineup card or making late-inning substitutions on any given day.

Uribe and Sellars might not be the best choices in the world, but keep in mind that the Dodgers have players with Major League experience like Dee Gordon, Elian Herera, and Alfredo Amezaga. The most important minor league player, though, might be Yasiel Puig. Puig has yet to see any major league time, but hit over .500 in spring training and could be the answer should an outfielder like Carl Crawford get hurt.

* Grienke: The impact of a second ace is not one to be taken lightly. Zach Grienke had a weird year last season, but should be well-settled in the new Dodger Stadium. Having a second top-of-the-line pitcher should take some pressure off Clayton Kershaw and the rest of the team. With Grienke, the Dodgers have two Cy Young Award winners and Josh Beckett, who has been a World Series MVP in 2003 and finished second in American League Cy Young voting in 2007.

Hitting and fielding isn’t the only place the Dodgers have depth. Having Kershaw and now Grienke at the top of the rotation makes experienced pitchers like Beckett, Chad Billingsley, and Chris Capuano bottom-of-the-rotation guys.

* Puig: Yasiel Puig will start the season in Chattanooga, Tennessee with the Dodgers’ AA team, the Lookouts. After a spring training where he hit .526 (with zero walks in almost 60 plate appearances), Puig injected additional hope for the Dodgers’ future. He is 22 and has some seasoning ahead of him, but if this year’s spring training is any indication, Puig may give the team trade and roster flexibility sooner than later. Also in Chattanooga is Zach Lee, the other top Dodgers prospect. Lee, only 21 years old, is the Dodgers’ top pitching prospect. In the quest to win now, the Dodgers have also not given up all their prospect talent, allowing them to avoid mortgaging the future for a chance to win now.

Scores of empty seats at weekend games in Chavez Ravine will become distant memories, the stain of the McCourt ownership already starting to be washed away by the solvent of the cash-infused new ownership group. For Dodgers fans, this opening day truly should be a new beginning.