yoshi so relatable tbh

Pretty cool to see Freeland & Rushing show up in this Padres series 🔥

The people's champ. A true ambassador to the game of baseball. What a class act.

nice, pitching has been really solid this weekend and that makes me more confident against the padres.

• Dave Roberts can’t put his finger on what’s wrong. He’s said as much quite a few times, and if Dave can’t even identify how to turn the corner, it’s the biggest problem. Most recently, he’s said he wants a “different level of trying,” which is not something Dave would typically say publicly. He’s frustrated, and it’s showing. That’s not a bad thing, but if we’re seeing it, things aren’t good.
• Michael Conforto is not the problem. You don’t like him, I don’t like him - fine. He sucks. Great. But he’s not THE problem. His wOBACON (weighted on-base average on contact) is 296; Mookie Betts’ wOBACON is 292. Conforto’s OBP is .292; Betts’s is .314. I’m much more concerned that Mookie is having a terrible year than I am some washed-up journeyman not giving us the Teo-level performance we want in a one-year, make-good contract.
• Team stats are pretty mid. The Dodgers rank in the top ten in a few key offensive categories, but are very mediocre elsewhere, and overall. League average OBP is .316; Dodgers are .330. When it comes to plate discipline, the Dodgers are VERY average across the board, which signals they’re just not as engaged at the plate as a championship-caliber team should be. This is the most talented team in the league, and they’re playing very average baseball overall.
• The star relievers aren’t working out so well. Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates both have ERAs over 4. Banda, Vesia, and Wrobleski have pitched a similar volume of innings and have sub-3.50 ERAs. Vesia and Wrobo have sub-3 ERAs. Overall, Dodgers relievers have a higher ERA than starters, which is not desirable. It’s a banged-up squad, but the two guys they spent a LOT to acquire are not helping.
• Starting pitching has been good, sometimes great. Team average ERA is 4.13, but there are 10 teams in MLB better than the Dodgers - yes, including the Padres. Yamamoto and Kershaw are having incredible seasons, and other notables like Glassnow and Snell have been banged up all year, but the results are - again - fairly mid-league.

There’s a lot more we could go over, but I’m a stats junkie, and the stats just aren’t great. Rather than “yeah-but” through the ups and downs and random speculations, it’s best to look at overall stats. Yes, the stats support Teo being yanked from RF (-10 outs above average). Yes, the overall stats suggest Conforto (who, btw, is having a very similar year to Chris Taylor, statistically) should be escorted off premises (OP gestures broadly at all his stats). Yes, this is Mookie’s worst year ever (he is actually worse than he was in his rookie season).

It’s frustrating. It seems to be a combination of fatigue, injuries, and big-name players not pulling their weight. It’s hard to win a World Series, and it’s insanely tough to repeat - especially when you’re the oldest team in the league and have been plagued by significant injuries.

Comparing 2024 to 2025, the real issue becomes apparent, and it’s exactly what you think it is: the offense. Pitching has actually improved compared to the rest of the league (pitching is “worse” across MLB), but the offense has gone from 3rd to 7th, overall. And when pitching is worse, overall, your offense can’t fall off like that. The overall WAR (wins against replacement) for the Dodgers is 10 games worse in 2025.

We know what the problems are, but nobody knows what the solution is. I hope they can turn a corner, but that would mean everyone on the team would need to improve dramatically and keep that level of performance through the playoffs. I’m no doomsayer, but it might be best to temper expectations for 2025 and look forward to 2026 unless we get the “different level of trying” we so desperately need.

The 2025 Dodgers are a playoff team, but aren't playing like the World Series team they are designed to be.

That's it. That's the post. Win or lose I love this team with all my heart, have since I was 4 years old. Hope I get to go to another game soon

Line Score - Game Over

Box Score

Scoring Plays

Highlights

Decisions

Game ended at 3:52 PM.

Yall I feel like a little kid right now, but I am so excited about our rookies! That Dalton Rushing homerun was absolutely awesome, and Freelands 2 homeruns had me jumping in my living room. I feel like this sub has had a lot of negativity (and understandably so in the way we’ve been playing for a few weeks now) but to highlight something more positive our rookies just had a great series against the Padres, truly showing out in one of the biggest games of the season.

Jeans joke stolen from a postgame thread.

I am attending tomorrow’s game and was wondering what time V from BTS will throw out the first pitch? What time do these ceremonial first pitches happen usually?

Hopefully the boys win for Kobe today!!! We been down bad for almost a month, let’s get this W gang!!!

I’m going to be attending the Dodgers vs Reds game tomorrow and Ive never been to the stadium before I’m going because I wanted to make sure my girlfriend didn’t go alone with her little sister the thing is we have separate seats. I’m 31RS row K and she’s 37FD row P. I was wondering how far apart are we and what are we able to do together before going to our seats? If anyone can help me out it would mean the world to me.