is this what insanity looks like?

I completely agree with you, but I doubt Betts will bat ninth; Freeman will almost certainly get another contract with the Dodgers, just like Muncy, and Teo will remain in left field next season. I just don't see how, when, or where the Dodgers will begin that much-discussed "getting younger" process.

I would hit Mookie 8th until Will Smith returns. At that point 9th. I don’t think Doc has the balls to do it.

“Dave Roberts says that Tyler Glasnow hopefully needs 3 more rehab starts before he re-joins the Dodgers.”

What Mookie has done as a Dodger can not be overstated. He's been a great teammate, represented the team and the city of LA well and has brought three WS championships.... but oh that contract. Six more years! I think we all knew it would age poorly and would be OK if maybe the last two years were bad, but 6-7 years of poor performance is what it looks like. Perhaps AF should have tried the "Tucker" model. Fewer years with a higher AAV.

AF has recognized the team needs to get younger and has tried. Miguel Vargas didn't perform well, Kim and Freeland were given "runways"but to this point haven't played to a level that warrants a big league roster spot. Bobby Miller was a failure. Sheehan = meh. Daulton Rushing has graduated to the big leagues and will stay along with Wrobo.

Tucker wasn't needed and Teo never deserved the third year when he re-signed two years ago. Win the WS or naught this year AF will go young(er) next year.... he has to. I think he should trade Teo and open the LF and 2B positions to an "open competition." Let the likes of Edman, Davalan, Sirota, JDP, Kim, Tibbs, Ehrhard and maybe others compete in ST and the top two performers get the job at either position. Young, exciting athleticism must be inserted into the line-up. Purge the roster with the likes of Keekay and Miggy Ro retiring/not re-signed and commit to getting younger through attrition and trades. When you watch Corbin Carroll, Bobby Witt Jr, you can plainly see the Dodgers have to get faster.

The last two years have been a fantastic time to be a Dodger fan. I still think we can turn this around (just two weeks ago we had the best record in baseball) but whatever happens this year whether it's a parade down Figeroua Ave or an early and unceremonious exit from the post season, the team will be different next year, assuming there is baseball next year.

Go Dodgers!!!

Nick Perez at #18 seems high

Lets keep things in perspective.

We have a BETTER record at this point this year than we did the previous 2.

Ill take my chances with this group.

Snellzilla tonight!

Could this be a possibility:

C - Smith/Feduccia 1B - Freeman 2B - Edman SS - Betts 3B - Muncy LF - Tucker/Teoscar CF - Pages RF - Ohtani DH - Rushing

Ohtani has already played RF... just not a lot!

Heart of a champion last night.

Could have folded the tent when we went down 3-0.

Solid win for the fellas.

Good win last night. Good come back. Good job by Diaz to man up and figure things out.

I believe we'll be fine. I look forward to welcoming the naysayers back on the bandwagon. Matt, you keep driving, I'll check their tickets and let them on the bus when they're ready.

Now let's see how Snell's stuff looks tonight!

Mark, I interpreted this articles title about insanity of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result this way: Each year writers, blog posters etc keep saying that the team is finished and expect a different result (meaning they fold). And each year they are wrong and we get the SAME result ---WINNING, The insanity is underestimating the team

Question for those who are experienced as players and coaches--- We often see pitchers who were hard 'throwers' in the beginning of their careers, change and become 'pitchers' later on to adjust to their diminished physical ability. So what about hitters? Ok I don't see someone like Max ever being able to change, but what about a really athletic guy like Mookie? He was able to 'slug' when younger even though he is a 'little' guy. So is is attitude that I am just a 'little' off, and if I am healthy I will be back as good as new, or can he change his approach and try to be a 'contact' hitter guy. He already doesn't strike out a lot. I don't want to compare anyone to Freddie but he just had a 15 game hitting streak without any home runs. As if he is adjusting to age/injuries/ aches and pains!!

Two consecutive Cy Young awards. New team and new ballpark. Record against Royals while with the Tigers was 4-9 with a 4.06 ERA in 18 appearances. They know him. Given some time I think he will be all we hoped he would be.

After looking deeper into the team's stats, here's what jumps out:

1. Mookie is the biggest problem. This isn't just a mild slump:

.214 AVG / .241 OBP / .250 SLG / .491 OPS 0 HR, 2 RBI in 58 PA

And perhaps the most shocking number: only two extra-base hits, both doubles, in 15 games.

For a player occupying a premium lineup spot, a .491 OPS is a giant anchor.

2. Tommy Edman has actually been worse offensively. He's at .170/.214/.245/.460 across 56 PA. So Mookie isn't alone.

3. Muncy has cratered too. He's hitting only .152, with a .540 OPS and an eye-popping 23 strikeouts in 51 PA. That's a 45% strikeout rate. He has driven in eight runs, but there's a lot of empty air surrounding them.

4. Ohtani absolutely is NOT the problem. He's hitting:

.345/.419/.655/1.074 4 HR 11 RBI 9 runs

He's basically carrying a flamethrower while portions of the lineup are carrying pool noodles.

5. Tucker has been very good. The batting average doesn't scream dominance, but .389 OBP, .511 SLG and .900 OPS certainly do. He's also scored 10 runs, most on the team during this stretch.

6. Freddie is fascinating. He's hitting an absurd .397, but has zero home runs and only one extra-base hit in 58 AB. So he's getting on base constantly without doing much damage. His .821 OPS is good, but a .397 hitter slugging only .414 tells you the story.

The real offensive culprit

If I boil the Dodgers' problem down to their regulars:

GOOD: Ohtani 1.074, Tucker .900, Freeman .821, Pages .787 OK: Teoscar .754 DISASTER ZONE: Muncy .540, Betts .491, Edman .460... and then add in the catchers.

That's three major everyday pieces simultaneously producing at replacement-level-or-worse offensive rates for more than two weeks.

And here's the stat I'd put in 48-point type:

Betts + Muncy + Edman since July 25: 155 AB, 28 hits, and roughly a .500 collective OPS neighborhood.

That's where a huge chunk of the missing offense has gone. Ohtani isn't the mystery. The middle of the lineup has sprung three leaks at once.

I totally disagree about Betts. I think most of his problems at the plate are really mental right now. Lack of confidence and the fact that he has hit a lot of balls right at people. Diminished skills, maybe some, but you do not forget how to hit overnight. I think his mechanics are not in sync. As for the teams hitting, they won the last two World Series not by outhitting their opponents but by outpitching a defending them. Dodger pitching right now does have an Achilles heel. They have given up almost as many homers as the team has hit, 151-143. Saski leads the team with 21 bombs. Sheehan had 20 before he went down. Wrobo all of a sudden has 17. Dreyer's 7 leads the pen.

Thanks Mark for the look at Mookie's decline in the past three years. I wanted to take a look at Mookie's contract and see if the Dodgers made a good decision. Baseball Reference has Mookie making $202.5M in the next six years. So I'm going to go with that figure.

Including this season, Mookie will have been paid $190M in seven years. His WAR for those seven years is 34.3. Badger has expressed in the past that each WAR point is worth approximately $8M. Jeff, I believe, has mentioned between $8-10M. I'll go with the $8M figure. In that case the WAR of 34.3 times $8M comes to $274.4M. But, Mookie received $190M. Using the WAR analysis the Dodgers have underpaid Mookie by $84.4M so far.

So, what is the prognosis for the remaining six years? So far in 2026 Mookie has a 1.5 WAR. I'm going to be generous and project a 2 WAR average for the remaining six years. That will be a total of 12 WAR at $8M per WAR and a value of $96M. Mookie will be paid $202.5M. Therefore, an overpayment of $106.5M.

The first seven years the Dodgers underpaid Mookie $84.4M. The next six years the Dodgers will overpay Mookie by approximately $106.5M. So, over the 13 year contract the Dodgers will have overpaid by $22M. To most of us that's a lot of money. For Guggenheim, it's a rounding error. I'd say, for a 13 year contract, the FO will have done a good job in establishing Mookie's value to the team. However, it could be a painful and frustrating six years to watch.

With an average WAR of 4.9 so far with the Dodgers Mookie as a player has been worth the expense. As mentioned yesterday he has had some bad luck with injuries and illness. I believe the move to the infield was a factor in his offensive decline. The chances are high that his decline will continue, but at what degree? Mookie has a lot of pride and in 3-4 years may just retire with a settlement. He will have made over $400M in his career.

Mookie Betts arrived as a true "superstar" position player for the Dodgers and their fans. After so many postseason failures and disappointments his arrival brought a World Series championship right out of the gate in his first season with the Dodgers. Although he didn't prominently excel in the past two WS victories he was still a valuable veteran presence. It's hard to put a value on that.

Carry on.

As of today,the Dodgers are tied with the Braves for the second seed and a bye with the exact same records of 71-48. The one problem is the Braves are 2-1 against us with three games remaining in Atlanta. If overall records are the same at season's end,the determining factor will be head to head matchup. Being the 3 seed is another round of games like last year against the Reds,the best of 3 with ALL games at the number 3's home field. I prefer the bye and less games with this older roster.

Mark you're turning into a negative Nelly. Let's look at the big picture. Oh, that's what you said you were doing. Well here's mine. Every year they have a swoon or two. A swoon is a small sample size for the Dodgers. Just for reference, small sample size is sss. 1. They are looking old...sss 2. They aren't hitting...sss 3. Any cherry picked stat...sss When the season is over we will have a full body of work. Then the FO will analyze and construct a game plan. I'm with George, David, Bobby and Matt. I'm gonna ride this mutha until it dies. You know, like the aging superstars. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny really? Coming from you that's funny. Being a fan is not whining about stats from the last 20 games. It about pining hard for your Boys in Blue. For God's sake, we're on the cusp of a 3peat. Oh well. If we lay an egg the choir will complain. If we win it all the choir will complain. That's life. IT'S TIME FOR DODGER BASEBALL! Book em

Oh by the way...I'm passionate! I hope that's realistic enough for you.

I think Mookie is such a perfectionist that he would retire before his performance declines become "permanent" --i.e., batting avg in low .200's and loss of power resulting in below avg OPS. I just can not see him on the team for another 6 years in decline mode -- he takes too much pride.

The Dodgers are constructed for slug (HR's), and it seems like the team is experiencing a seasonal power outage which is supported by the data:

HR Every X At-Bats Player 2024 2025 2026 Max Muncy 1 HR / 15.8 AB 1 / 16.5 AB 1 / 16.3 AB Mookie Betts 1 / 23.7 AB 1 / 29.5 AB 1 / 24.5 AB Freddie Freeman 1 / 24.6 AB 1 / 23.2 AB 1 / 29.2 AB Teoscar Hernández 1 / 17.8 AB 1 / 20.4 AB 1 / 26.8 AB

Kiley M's top 10 list:

Top 10 Prospects PLAYER PREVIOUS TRENDING 1. Josue De Paula, LF 1 2. Mike Sirota, CF 2 3. Eduardo Quintero, CF 3 4. Emil Morales, SS 4 5. Charles Davalan, CF 6

6. Christian Zazueta, RHP 7

7. Chase Harlan, 3B 9

8. James Tibbs III, RF 10

9. Zach Root, LHP NR

10. Bo Lowrance, 3B NR

One thing to know: The Dodgers traded their No. 5, No. 8 and No. 15 prospects to land Tarik Skubal and still have a top-five system, despite having limited picks/bonus pools in the draft for years now. Any team could use their revenue on good coaches, scouts and tech, but many don't.

As a fan, I enjoy pulling for young players like Freeland. I can see myself rooting for Sirota. I pull for Stone, Sheehan, and Wrobleski.

Putting on a GM hat, I probably want as many proven players as I can get.

As an owner, I want attendance.

Fans generally like Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Hernandez(s), Ohtani, Yamamoto. Whoever replaces them better get fan love quickly or the Dodgers better keep winning.

Excellent column? essay? post? by Eric Stephen that touches on what Phil (or Mushers?) wrote about the Dodgers and FB (I still don't understand why the team would ignore the FB and anticipate a change when the FB is the most thrown pitch, but that's probably my naivety)

Nice win.

• Yesterday someone mentioned the quirkiness of baseball scoring system. It happened again last night with Dreyer blowing a save and getting a win.
• We manufactured the winning run! In the 7th, Ohtani stole second after his base hit and Freddie singled him in. Yippie,
• Nice to see Diaz look good.
• Skubal didn’t have his best night but great pitchers like he and Yamamoto, find a way. They compete. After Gaglianone’s to go 3 runs down, he did what he had to; hold it at 3 and keep your team in the game. He’ll have better days than 95 pitches in 5 innings but I’m glad he’s with us.
• Jac Caglianone is a dude. He was drafted by the by the Royals with the sixth overall pick in the 2024 and raced through their system. I loved him at Florida where he as a 2-way guy with a 96 mph heater. He plays outfield but I love his actions at first base. Only 23, the Royals have struck gold with this guy.
• Now get off my lawn!
• I listened to the Dodger radio crew again and Rick Monday just doesn’t like Pages. He, just like me, get gets so exasperated over his bone head play. When is he going to figure out basic stuff? To his credit, he did a nice job of tagging up and advancing to 2nd on Freddie’s fly ball in the first. But than he turns around and runs into a tag at 3rd on a ground ball to Loftin. That seems like no biggie but it’s an example of little mistakes that can add up. I must have reminded to a runner at 2nd with 2 outs “don’t run into a tag. Make him throw the ball”, a million times. I bet Dino says that. Make the infielder throw the ball to first. You never know what may happen.
• Then Pages wastes a pitch challenge bottom 3 only to strike out on ball 4. After Miggy oddly wasted our last challenge in the 4th. I thought John Bacon, the HPU was pretty good all night but in the 7th he blew a strike call to Pages and guess what? We had no challenges left so Pages couldn’t challenge. Just little shit like that drives me nuts with the guy.
• I previously mentioned that hitters need to have an approach when hitting with runners on to avoid hitting into a double play. Early in the count you need to swing at something you and lift. You need to lay off pitches low and especially low breaking balls that you can rollover. Well Teo was an example of how not to do it. After Mookie’s double and Miggy’s walk in the 2nd, ahead in the count, Teo hit a low and inside pitch to short. starting a double play. Spit on that pitch. Muncy struck out to end what started as a promising inning. It’s just not smart professional baseball that we have been displaying way too much.
• In a tie game in the 7th, Dreyer walked Lofton and made no attempt to hold him at first. Lofton got a first movement, running start to get the go-ahead run to 2nd. Fortunately Jack got the final 2 outs to end the inning.
• Sorry to be Debbie Downer today but we are better than this and this is a factor in why we lose games. As my dad harped to me as a kid, physical errors are part of the game. It’s the mental errors that kill you.

I forgot to mention how much I have become a fan of Tommy Edman. The catch he made in left was spectacular. Teo would have no shot at catching that ball. He went a mile for that sure double and maybe triple. (oh yeah, Monday was quick to point out that Pages was not backing up the play and it was a sure triple if the ball got to the wall. I think that comment was bullshit, as I'm not sure Pages can be expected to be backing up a left fielder on that ball down the line - but Monday doesn't like Pages) I like Edman at the bottom of the order to set up Ohtani but back in the day, he was a perfect 2 hole hitter.

Hi guys, Been watching more games the last couple of weeks as time has allowed me and I do agree with Mark on the issue of the Dodgers rolling out slumping and unproductive players night after night expecting magically changed results. But in my opinion, the problems the Dodgers have had over the last 3 years or so have not changed. Here are some of the issues, and I will also list some of the good things about the club too. For what it's worth I do think the Dodgers will be fine and still make a deep playoff run even if they don't win the World Series again this year.

1. aging and unproductive hitters.

The Dodgers are clearly showing their age. The most shocking and obvious decline has been Mookie. His bat has disappearred since having that last great season in 2023. I think it's not a surprise that it coincides right around the time of his switch to shortstop full time. I know alot of people disagree with me and that's fine, but in my opinion shortstop is a much more physically demanding position than right field. You're constatly making throws across the diamond, constaly moving, constantly diving for balls to your left or right. Way more action and movement then playing right field. That combined with age and decreased bat speed and Mookie is no longer the same hitter he was. Bat him ninth, or maybe it's time to sit him. I still think the Dodgers should move him back to right field, and find someone else to play short. Then they could move Teo to left and send Tucker home (he's been unproductive the entire season outside of the last 2 weeks) for the rest of the season. Everyone else is old and in decline. Even Ohtani himself is not putting up the usual numbers he has the last three seasons. usually around this time he would have hit 40 home runs and driven in 100.

2. No left fielder Goes along with the decline of many of the regulars, but Kyle Tucker has been a bust, just like Conforto was a bust last year. Absolutely anyone else can come up and bat .240 and OPS 100 while playing below average defense. 3. No closer.

The Dodgers still don't have a closer. Trumpet man Edwin Diaz has been injured and innefective the entire season and there really isn't any clear closer on the roster. Best bet is too let Tanner Scott close games the rest of the way.

1. Below average bullpen

The Dodgers are going to have to lean very heavily on their starting rotation again down the stretch and into the postseason. There just is very little to no talent in that bullpen. I like Vesia who pitches with a lot of passion and Dryer and Kyle Hurt can be competent, but otherwise there are no relievers that strike any fear into the opposing hitters. Nobody that can give different looks to the hitters, nobody that can consistently throw strikes. Nobody that can blow guys away in the late innings. At times the relievers look ok and come in and get outs, other times they get lit up like christmas trees. Scott has been the most consistent reliever all season, but the Dodgers are going to have to find new relievers.

Here are the things the Dodgers have done well.

1. Top hitting team with runners in scoring position

They are one of the best at getting clutch hits when it counts. They are hitting .268 with RISP, with 39 home runs and over 400 runs drive in. They've played a lot of close games this year and been able to get the balls to drop in.

1. Top offensive club despite recent slump

They've ranked in the top 5 in almost every offensive category. They are leading all of baseball in batting. Top 5 in HRs BB, OPS, OBP, SLG. Mainly home runs, walks and hitting with RISP. 3. Deep and talented starting rotation The rotation has pitched the most innings, which has allowed the Dodgers to keep that mediocre bullpen off the mound as much as possible. The relievers willl be well rested this year, but the rotation will be a strength again. It also would be nice if both of their catchers didnt get injured at the same time.