Let’s be completely clear, every team in Major League Baseball would be thrilled to face the issues the Los Angeles Dodgers have right now. The team brought in baseball’s best player (Shohei Ohtani) and the top two free-agent pitchers (Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto) in the offseason.
The Dodgers have MVPs hitting one, two, and three in their lineup. Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman have done what everyone thought they would do. Betts and Ohtani are the top two hitters in baseball and the best one-two hitters in the game.
Tuesday the Dodgers started the middle third of the season on a 99-win pace. So, you ask, what problems could this team possibly have? They have three: The bottom three in the order, injuries (lots of them) and what will the Dodgers do with Mookie Betts?
What Will Los Angeles Do With The Bottom Three?
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The top six in the Dodgers lineup carry this team, but the seventh, eighth and ninth spots are bad. Those three spots in the order are hitting a combined .194 with a .560 OPS.
“I think it’s a lack of consistency of approach,” Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re trying to cover too many parts of the zone, in my opinion, and we’re missing the fastball. I think that’s the crux. The execution part of it is harder. But having a plan and being consistent, that’s easy. It is. It really is.”
The one man who stands out is utility man Chris Taylor, who’s in the third year of a four-year $60 million dollar contract for Los Angeles. He’s hitting .101 with a .338 OPS. His days in Dodger Blue are numbered. Gavin Lux hits down there. He’s coming back after a year off with an ACL tear and hitting just .206 with a .542 OPS.
Can The Injured Dodgers Come Back Strong?
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Los Angeles has 13 players on the injured list, six starting pitchers, including Clayton Kershaw, and six relievers. The Dodgers have to wait to see who comes back and who is able to play well enough to fit into the active roster.
Some names in the bullpen at the end of May are Nabil Crismatt and Dinelson Lamet, they have both been up and designated for assignment twice. Crismatt has signed with the Texas Rangers since being DFA’d by Los Angeles.
Eduardo Salazar made a couple of appearances for Los Angeles before being designated for assignment, and Yohan Ramirez has been DFA’d three times by teams in the first 60 days of the season.
Los Angeles is waiting for Joe Kelley, Evan Phillips, Ryan Brasier, Conor Brogdon—and Brusdar Graterol to get their seats back in the bullpen.
Mookie Betts Hits First, But Will He Play Second?
Mookie Betts made a lot of news coming into spring training. He was moving to second base full-time for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He said he wanted to move to second. That changed a few days into the spring when shortstop Gavin Lux couldn’t consistently throw the ball to first base.
Betts moved over to short and Lux moved closer to the first base bag to make the throws easier. It worked. Lux has been flawless on defense and Betts is working every day with teammate Miguel Rojas to improve at short. He’s got seven errors in 47 games at short, that’s more than he’s had in any year in his career.
About The Author
Bradley Tachco is a career journalist. I spent 12+ years at CNN as a writer and producer. My sports are the NHL, MLB, and NFL. My goal: unique content. And my teams are the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bills (yes, I’m a masochist), and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have been a Dodgers fan since I was old enough to think. I have gone through decades of despair with all three franchises. You can follow Bradley on X @p09691
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