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The Dodgers lost their 4th straight game in a row on Sunday to move their record to 56-36 on the season, still with a fairly comfortable cushion in the NL West. The Dodgers enter play on Tuesday having gone 5-5 in their last 10 games, but the Giants haven’t been any better at 5-5 in their last 10, and the Padres & DBacks have been worse at 4-6. So, despite the 4-game losing streak, the Dodgers have either held ground or gained in the last 10.
Offense
The offense has scored just 6 runs in this 4-game patch, which in the middle of a season can happen, but there are reasons for concerns beyond just the run totals. Shohei Ohtani, despite his 2 hits on Sunday, is hitting just .192 in his last 7 games, and just .218 in his last 15.
Mookie Betts is hitting just .249 on the year, with an OPS of just .713, and he’s hitting just .214 in his last 7.
Freddie Freeman is still hitting over .330, .307 to be exact, but has hit just .207 in his last 15 games, and has hit 0 home runs so far in July. In fact, he’s hit just 1 home run since May 11th, which spans 187 at-bats.
Teoscar Hernandez is hitting just .188 in his last 30 games, and just .125 in his last 7, and add to that Tommy Edman either hasn’t been able to stay healthy, or hasn’t been the same player he was last year when he was healthy. Michael Conforto has picked it up some in the last week or so, but not by leaps and bounds. He’s hitting .227 in his last 7 games, but just .196 over his last 15.
And now Max Muncy, who was easily the hottest hitter, is on the IL, and we’ve seen the ramifications of that; it’s been tough sledding.
Pitching
The pitching has sent back mixed results as Yoshinbu Yamamoto turned in a big-time clunker on Monday, but has been very good for the entirety of the season. On the vice versa, Dustin May turned in his longest and may best start of 2025 in the midst of a season that has been up and down, coming off his injuries.
We all celebrated the last outing for Clayton Kershaw, as he made history with his 300oth strikeout, but otherwise turned in a pretty average start.
Emmet Sheehan has looked great in his limited action, and Tyler Glasnow is starting this week, but has struggled a touch in his rehab outings, so there is, at least some, uncertainty on his front as he gets ramped back.
Finding a Way
You never want to make to much out of any small window of wins and losses, but there are reasons for concern, and they’re real. The offense has to find a replacement for Muncy, the superstars at the top need to return to their superstar form, the Dodgers have to figure out what to do with Michael Conforto, and the pitching not only needs to get healthy, it needs its starters to be healthy and good enough to pitch deeper into games.
Despite all of that, the Dodgers have a 56-36 record, which is the best record in the NL, and 2nd best record overall in baseball, and have a 6-game lead in the NL West. And, they have pitching reinforcements coming, and you know the top 3 won’t continue like they have. So, the exciting part is that when all those pieces do get put together, this team gets even better, and that’s a scary thought for the rest of the MLB.
