It’s a critical time for the Dodgers.
There’s a lot going on, and it feels like they’re in a bit of a crisis, even if ownership issues weren’t complicating things.
As the regular season winds down—less than a month to go—the Dodgers have serious challenges to address, and it’s uncertain if they’ll be ready for the playoffs.
The team isn’t performing well offensively or defensively, and after losing two games to the Atlanta Braves, postseason placement could soon become a concern.
The situation has prompted manager Dave Roberts to soften his coaching approach. Maintaining a tough exterior might just create a negative vibe, which isn’t what they need right now.
“We had opportunities,” Roberts stated after their recent loss, indicating that chances were there to do better.
The struggles have been exacerbated by injuries; center fielder Andy Pages is out with a broken hand. Losing him creates even more challenges as the team fights to break out of a slump.
Without Pages and catcher Will Smith, the team is missing key offensive players in vital positions. Pages’ absence has forced Alek Thomas to step in, and Smith is being replaced by Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt, both of whom are, well, a downgrade offensively.
Smith is on a rehab assignment and might return just in time to get back into shape for the playoffs, but Pages might not have that luxury as he could be sidelined for the rest of the regular season.
Both Pages, 25, and Smith, 31, are crucial for the Dodgers, especially considering that some veteran players aren’t performing at their usual level. Mookie Betts has been inconsistent, Freddie Freeman hasn’t hit a home run in over a month, and Teoscar Hernández’s performance has been lackluster lately. Even Kyle Tucker hasn’t quite found his groove.
In the past 30 games, they’ve managed to win by more than two runs only three times, and their scoring has dropped significantly—from an average of 5.3 runs per game earlier in the season to just 4.2 in the last month.
This offensive decline has been magnified by defensive errors—issues that started to surface before the All-Star break. With Hernández and Tucker in the outfield, the Dodgers’ defense has been below average, which showed during a game when a mistake by Hernández allowed the Braves to flip a deficit into a lead.
They’ve played solid defense at times, but closing out games effectively seems to be a growing issue.
After closer Edwin Diaz was put on the injured list last week, it seemed like the Dodgers might cope just fine. There were alternatives to fill the gap. Back when Diaz was injured earlier, Tanner Scott stepped up well. Plus, they had Roki Sasaki, who took on the role of ninth-inning pitcher in the playoffs before.
But that hasn’t exactly worked out.
Scott has struggled in this series, losing both games, mirroring his difficult performance from last season. On top of this, Sasaki is now going on the injured list, too, dealing with a ruptured blister on his pitching hand.
It’s no surprise that, given all these factors, the Dodgers have faltered, losing 13 out of their last 15 matches against teams with winning records. The only victories recently came against weaker opponents like the Royals, Rockies, and Pirates.
Now, the Braves are closing in on the Dodgers, just two games behind for the crucial No. 2 playoff seed, which is significant since the top two seeds in each league get a bye in the first round.
Regardless of whether the Dodgers can fend off the Braves, they should still have a competitive edge come October.
The main reason? Their starting pitching looks promising.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell, plus either Shohei Ohtani or Tyler Glasnow could form a formidable postseason rotation.
But if they don’t perform well, who knows? This season might end with another alarm: Code blue.
