For the first time in three years, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in unfamiliar territory, struggling to pull away from the pack. For nearly a decade, they’ve enjoyed the luxury of coasting through the stretch run, using September as a mere rehearsal—with only a one-game playoff in 2018 and a nail-biting NL West showdown with the Giants in 2021 offering any real drama. But this season has been different. The Dodgers have stumbled at times, with Dave Roberts maintaining his calm demeanor. Now, as they head into the final stretch, Roberts is shifting gears and “going to the whip,” ready to push his team to the finish line.
Cruise control has its advantages, but it’s hard not to think about how a month of low-stakes baseball might have derailed the last two Dodgers teams, which together amassed 211 regular-season wins but managed just one in the postseason.
“Last September felt like there was nothing to play for,” Miguel Rojas remarked, recalling how last year’s Dodgers, who had secured a double-digit division lead by August 16, spent September focusing on patching up their pitching staff—only to be swept in the NLDS.
This year, the Dodgers don’t have the luxury of waiting for things to fall into place. As of Tuesday, they held the most wins in the majors but they also have two of the hottest teams in baseball, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, right on their heels in the same division.
The Dodgers, however, are framing this as a positive. They believe that having real stakes will keep them sharp, ensuring they stay competitive rather than trying to manufacture intensity as the postseason approaches.
Those high stakes were on full display Tuesday night. Despite an early deficit, the Dodgers stayed in the fight. Jason Heyward, battling to hold onto his roster spot with another crunch looming this week, stepped off the bench and smashed a 99-mph fastball from Andrés Muñoz for a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning.
“Man, that was probably the highlight of the season for me so far,” said manager Dave Roberts.
The 6-3 win over the Seattle Mariners kept the Dodgers’ lead at three games, preserving their cushion for another day and securing the best record in baseball. This $%#%&*&%$# just got serious, and Doc is going to the whip. Hang on, this is going to be a Wild Ride.
News & Notes
- Walker Buehler is still struggling as is Bobby Miller. Walker said, “I need to go do it.“That’s all there is to it.” Yes, he does, and he might get two or three more starts to do it… then the Dodgers will have to make a tough decision. Many times, the changes needed are not that big. I root for him and he is a Junkyard Dog, so there is that! Sometimes it’s just a small tweek!
- One roster decision that is going to be tough (unless there is another injury) is whether to keep Heyward or Kiermaier. That’s a tough one, but I suspect the LH bat will prevail.
- Flaherty tonight!
- I will probably post more in this stretch run, and I am thinking this may be my final year, but enjoy it while you can.We have a World Series to win.
- Jeff Dominique and Michael Norris at www.LAdodgerChronicles.com put out some really good stuff. It’s the morons there who bother me. Here’s a sample: “Let’s tell it like it is. This is the weakest roster the Dodgers have had in several years. The neglect, arrogance, short sightedness of management has resulted in many losses this season. The misguided and boring obsessions with load management, lefty-righty matchups and .200 hitting utility players is a huge reason the Dodgers are struggling to stay in first place. Management is sad, predictable and weak. If they get swept out of the playoffs again, heads need to roll, along with pink slips.” Insane and delusional!
Discussion (10)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Think they all went to the Spectrum site Mark, just a bunch of haters and doomsday fans , even when we win.. after a cocktail or so I drift over there and screw with their minds for some kicks, but man those boys are wound tight!! Every thing is straight up personal and to a man and woman it’s all about Fire Roberts. Win or lose. Myself, that is my cutoff for any kind of intellect, you say those words and we are done, you have no Fing clue about the pressures that Roberts deals with day in and day out. Dodgers lead the league with players on the IL , yet still have the best record in the league. And by the way, that was Docs call to have J- Hay pinch hit last night, he had previous success against that pitcher. And of course you don’t hear crap about it. Feel like Doc is just in a lose lose situation with a lot of spoiled Bitch Ass Entitled under 30 or 40 Dodger fans who didn’t live through the dark seasons that us old dogs did , who were just thankful if we made the playoffs every 3 or 4 years.
This is a FANtastic dodger blog. The commenters are…let me put it this way. I’ll take quality over quantity any day of the week. The takes are insightful and knowledgeable. I thank you all. I’m not quite sure why Bear is ‘offended ‘. And it’s funny how the tolerant don’t tolerate you, Mark. Ha ha . Oh well. You’ve got the clientele you want now. Let’s go get that ring!
Book em
Dominican Summer League
“The regular season concluded in the Dominican Republic, and neither of the two Dodgers teams in the league made the playoffs. But, 17-year-old shortstop Emil Morales homered and doubled on Tuesday, part of a three-hit, five-RBI day that was a fitting coda to his excellent first professional season.
Morales hit .342/.478/.691 with a league-leading 14 home runs to go with 11 doubles, 46 RBI, and 48 runs scored in 46 games, and also stole 12 bases. His wRC+ was 187 before Tuesday’s big day at the plate.
Signed by the Dodgers in January for $1.9 million, Morales was ranked the team’s No. 8 prospect in MLB Pipeline’s midseason update”,
Rojas was scratched from the lineup ahead of Wednesday’s game versus Seattle, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
“It’s unclear exactly why Rojas was taken out of the starting nine, but the Dodgers should provide more information relatively soon. In the meantime, Tommy Edman will move to shortstop while Kevin Kiermaier starts in center field”.
10:10 PM ET
Mariners (64-63)
Dodgers (75-52)
SP Logan Gilbert R
7-9 2.96 ERA
SP Jack Flaherty R
9-5 3.06 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
RF Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
LF T. Hernandez R
2B Gavin Lux L
C Will Smith R
3B Max Muncy L
SS Tommy Edman S
CF K. Kiermaier L
77° Wind 8 mph Out
That’s a tough one, but I suspect the LH bat will prevail…….. You mean since they both bat Lefty?
As always – your daily readers really appreciate the effort and passion that you put into this site.
All of us will miss this site and the insights from you and the other main contributors if this is your last year. So what better way to go out then with a World Series win!
While I have been a supporter of Lux, I along with the rest of you on this site was ready for him to be replaced! So glad that none of us are the FO or manager making the decisions. I am really happy for Lux and hope this is the start of awesome 5-6 year run for him.
I wonder if there’s any interest in signing Elias Diaz with Barnes on the IL. He may not want to come here if it’s only short term however.
Tough call on who stays and who goes. My guess (only a guess), is one of the utility players, Kike or Taylor provide the same skill set and both are right handed hitters. It seems as though there isn’t as many good left handed pitching in the contending teams in either the starters or in the pen. Whatever the front office decides will be okay with me. I’m goad I don’t have to make the decision or have the conversation with the player that has to go.
We like to make predictions here. I feel 100% the choice is Heyward