On the Dodgers last road trip, they first went to Colorado, a team with the worst record in the majors. They got a stellar starting performance from Tyler Glasnow who went 7 innings and allowed just one run on two hits and two walked. Dreyer then came in and pitched two innings striking out 3 and walking just one. Glasnow struck out 7.
On the offensive side, in extreme cold in Denver, (the field had to be cleared of snow, and it took 5 hours), they managed to get 13 hits and 7 runs, Muncy hit 2 solo homers on a 3-4 night and drove in 3 runs. Smith was 2-4 driving in 2, Pages and Freeland drove in the other 2. Ohtani and Freeman had 2 hits each.
In game 2, Tucker gave LA a 2-0 lead with his 3rd homer. Colorado got one back in the bottom of the frame. LA scored in the 2nd to take a 3-1 lead. Rushing’s 5th homer bringing the run home. They would not score again. Sheehan allowed a 2nd run in the bottom of the 2nd and left after 5 innings with a 3-2 lead.
Feltner left in the top of the 6th with 2 outs, the Rockies pen would shut down LA on just 3 hits and 1 walk the rest of the way. In the bottom of the 6th, Klein came in and allowed 2 runs on 3 hits. LA’s offense was 0-7 with RISP, a familiar problem that they also had last year.
Game 3, LA again jumped out to a 3-0 lead going into the bottom of the 4th. Sasaki gave up a single, hit batter, he struck out Freeman, and then Rumfield singled making it 3-1, a double play got him out of the inning. In the bottom of the 5th, he gave up a homer to Karros, then a double to McCarthy and Julien singled to tie the game. He got Moniak to fly out, then uncorked a wild pitch, he struck out Goodman and walked Freeman. Vesia relieved him and got the last out.
LA got a run back in the top of the 6th. They had a 4-3 lead. Klein made up for his bad outing in the bottom of the 6th. LA was held scoreless in the 7th. Treinen came in and had his worst outing of the year. Double-homer-double-single and Colorado was up 6-4. Dreyer relieved and got out without any more damage. Diaz came in for the 8th and just like Treinen, he did not record an out. Rockies scored 3 more to make it 9-4. LA scored 2 in the 9th for the final 9-6. LA was 4-14 with RISP.
On Monday, LA found its offense again with a 12-3 drubbing of the Rockies. Muncy and Rushing hit 2 homers each, Rojas added a fifth LA homer, and they got a split of a series against a really bad team. Even at that, they were just 3-15 with RISP. Not very good.
So now they go to SF and score just 1 run in the first two games. Ohtani was 1-8 in those first two games with 3 Ks. He pitched brilliantly in game 2, but Dreyer gave up a 3-run homer to a guy hitting .140. LA lost 3-0. Glasnow righted the ship with a solid 3-0 win on getaway day, and the Dodgers headed home after a 3-4 road trip against two of the NL’s bottom dwellers.
So, what went wrong? First off, neither Tucker, Ohtani, nor Teo are hitting right now. Ohtani’s BA is down to .237. His OPS is under .800 at .794. He struck out 3 more times last night bringing his season total to 31 in 97 at bats. Even by his standards, that is not going to cut it. He is hitting just .207 in his last 15 games with just 2 homers and 4 driven in.
Age is not his problem. According to Doc, he has not felt comfortable at the plate, and he is also swinging wildly again, going after that low and away pitch way too often. Freeman is hitting right at .290. He was hitting the ball really hard early in the year, and the problem was many were atem balls. Now he has been getting hits on a lot of dunkers. Once again, his hard-h balls are being tracked down by the fielders.
All of this is heightened by Tucker not hitting his stride yet, Pages cooling off, Betts missing out of the lineup, and Teo going ice cold. Teo is back to his old habits too. He has been chasing a lot of bad pitches, and like many of the Dodgers, taking balls right down Broadway for strikes and putting himself in a hole. Ohtani has done the same thing. He had several pitches thrown by Talion that were center cut and he missed them totally.
Many posters here, and other places, believe Betts will never be Mookie again. One never knows, but, except for Freeland, Pages, Kim, Rushing and Tucker, the entire Dodgers starting 8 is 30 or older. When Betts, Edman and Kike return, the roster will get older. My guess, Freeland, Kim and Espinal hit the road.
I am not big on Kike during the season since he has never been great in that role except his first year in Boston. He has had some success with LA in that role, but never as a starter. Edman is a gamer; his grit and hard-nosed play make the team better. With Mookie, we will have to wait and see how his time on the IL has affected him.
Don’t get me wrong, age is going to be a factor for this team, now and for the next several years. They are in a win-now mode. With a work stoppage highly likely in 27, they want that third title. Unless several key players come out of the funk they are in, that is not likely to happen. Just being realistic. The starting pitching is the strongest part of this team, along with the power the lineup has. They can bludgeon the opposition when they get hot, and maybe, just maybe, this is nothing but a glitch in the season.
But remember, 2025 had a stretch where they were absolutely brutal, and lost a ton of games they should have won. And this year, their main competition comes from down south, and lately, the boys over in Arizona. The Phillies and Mets are having their own problems. The NL Central right now is the best division in baseball. Hopefully, the Dodgers will become a more consistent offensive force. Unless that happens, the three-peat is much less likely to happen.
MiLB GAME SUMMARY REPORT
Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle) 8 – OKC Comets 6
LHRP Garrett McDaniels started in what figured to be a bullpen game. He got the first two outs of the inning, but then a double, BB, RBI single, and a 2 run double gave Seattle an early 3-0 lead.
OKC got two back in the 2nd. 1B James Tibbs III drew a BB, stole 2nd, and RF Jack Suwinski walked. SS Noah Miller singled home Tibbs III and Suwinski moved to 3rd. Suwinski then scored on a C Eliézer Alfonzo sac fly.
RHRP Griff McGarry loaded the bases in the 2nd but none crossed the plate.
RHRP Brock Stewart looks to be getting closer, retired the side in order in the 3rd with 2 Ks.
RHRP Nick Frasso pitched a scoreless 4th with a BB.
In the bottom of the 4th, Tibbs III hit his PCL leading 11th HR to tie the score. After one out, Suwinski slugged his 5th HR to take the lead.
Frasso came back out in the 5th. He walked the first batter, and followed that with a strike out. LHRP Antoine Kelly relieved Frasso. After getting a force out, he allowed a game tying double.
OKC took the lead back in the 5th. CF Mike Siani drew a BB. He was balked to 2nd, and moved to 3rd on a WP. DH Zach Ehrhard hit a sac fly and the lead.
RHRP Wyatt Mills surrendered the tying run in the 7th after 2 doubles.
OKC got the run back in the bottom of the 7th. Siani drew a leadoff BB. With 2 outs, Siani moved to 2nd on a WP and scored on double (7) by LF Ryan Ward.
Keynen Middleton gave up a game tying HR in the 9th. OKC did not score in the 9th, and the game went into extra innings.
With a runner at 2nd, RHRP Jordan Weems gave up a run scoring double. A sac bunt, put the runner on 3rd. The runner scored on a sac fly for a 2 run lead.
OKC was in a position to tie it back up. With Ward the placed runner at 2nd, Tibbs III reached on a BB. Austin Gauthier sacrificed the runners to 2nd and 3rd with one out. Suwinski struck out. With 2 outs, Miller walked to load the bases. Alfonzo grounded out to 1B to end the game.
Frisco RoughRiders (Texas) 8 – Tulsa Drillers 0
LHSP Christian Suarez gave up a single to the leadoff hitter. He promptly stole 2nd and 3rd, and scored on a second single.
Suarez and three other relievers kept Frisco off the board through 6.0 innings.
RHRP Kelvin Ramirez surrendered 3 runs (1 earned) on 1 triple, 1 BB, and 2 errors.
Frisco blew it open with 4 in the 8th off RHRP Carson Hobbs and :LHRP Evan Shaw. They issued 3 BB and allowed 4 hitters to plate 4.
Meanwhile, Tulsa was held scoreless for 8 innings on 3 hits. They got a BB and single in the 9th, but the “threat” ended with a ground ball DP. This was the first game Tulsa has been shutout in 2026.
Tulsa got four hits, two by LF Zyhir Hope, and a double (4) by CF Kendall George. Okay, the other single came from SS Sean McLain.
Beloit Sky Carp (Miami) 7 – Great Lakes Loons 6
That will teach me to talk effusively about pitcher. After speaking about RHSP Christian Zazueta in glowing terms, he went out and put up a stinker. He was hit hard his first two innings. He gave up a HR, double, and triple in the first inning for 2 runs. A HBP, double, and single put up 2 more in the 2nd.
Great Lakes began their climb back into the game in the 2nd. SS Eduardo Guerrero hit a 2-out single followed by a BB to CF Mike Sirota. Both runners pulled off a double steal putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. 2B Nico Perez singled home 2 to tie the score.
After Beloit scored a pair in the bottom of the 2nd, Great Lakes went back to work in the 3rd. 3B Logan Wagner led off with a single. C Victor Rodrigues drew a 1 out BB. LF Samuel Munoz then had a 2-out run scoring double (2).
The Loons tied it up in the 4th on Wagner’s 6th HR of the year.
With Zazueta still on the mound in the 5th, he retired the first batter, but surrendered a single and BB to the next two batters. RHRP Accimias Morales relieved Zazueta after 83 pitches (56 strikes). Morales walked two batters to force in a run.
In the 6th, the first two batters, Guerrero and Sirota, reached via BB. They pulled off a double steal, and both runners scored on an errant throw by the catcher to take the lead.
The lead was short lived. After Morales retired the first two batters, he gave up a single, BB, and 2-run double.
RHRP Alex Makarewich and RHRP Davis Chastain shut down the Sky Carp in the 7th and 8th. However, they could not take advantage with a lot of traffic in the final three innings.
Logan Wagner was the sole Loons batter with 2 hits. DH Eduardo Quintero walked 3 times, while Sirota and Guerrero walked twice.
Ontario Tower Buzzers 18 – San Jose Giants 9
Quite the pitching contest in this one. 27 runs on 28 hits, 13 BB, and 5 HBP. There were 9 XBH, including 3 HRs.
There really was not a lot of quality pitching here. I would still like to focus on RHP Brady Smith. He was a 3rd round pick in 2023, but did not pitch until June 19, 2025, due to injuries. He amassed 21.0 IP last year, so this was supposed to be his breakout year. He allowed 3 hits in his 3.0 IP. Unfortunately they all were hit in the 2nd inning. A single, double, and single scored 2. He went back out and struck out the side in the 3rd. He did not walk a batter, and struck out 6. He turned 21 in January. There is still a lot of time for Smith to develop.
Every Ontario hitter had at least 1 hit, and only 1 Tower Buzzer did not score. The big bat for Ontario was catcher Anson Aroz. He grew up and went to high school in Auburn, CA, about 10 miles from my home. He went to Oregon and was the 19th round pick by LAD last year as a 5th year senior.
Aroz is a switch hitting catcher. He went 4-4, including his 1st double, and was HBP twice. He scored 4 runs. He is now hitting .412 with a 1.061 OPS. He is not a prospect. He is 23 in the California League, and was a 5th year senior. Because I love underdogs, he will be a favorite for me, but I will not expect to see him in MLB.
- SS Emil Morales – 2-5, 1 BB, 2 runs, 2 RBI, HR (3)
- LF AJ Soldra – 2-4, 1 BB, 0 runs, 2 RBI, double (1)
- RF Ching-Hsein Ko – 2-5, 1 BB, 3 runs, 0 RBI, double (3)
- 1B Jose D. Hernandez – 1-3, 3 BB, 3 runs, 4 RBI, double (2)
- DH Easton Shelton – 1-5, 1BB, 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR (2)
- CF Jaron Elkins – 1-5, 2 BB, 1 run, 5 RBI, HR (5)
- 2B Joendry Vargas – 2-7, 1 run, 2 RBI, double (8)
Just my view, but Freddie seems to be pressing a little. He is also missing fastballs he normally crushes. But it is still just April, and they have played 28 games. Let’s see what he looks like by the end of May. Bottom of the order nails again today.
New baby at home too
John, in answer to your question about pitching impacting Ohtani’s hitting, Dave Roberts said exactly that the other day. Mark, you should probably delete the link to ThinkbluePC. Dennis shut down the site.
I have several changes to make, that included. I’ll get it soon.
Roger-Dodger
Today’s MiLB Game Summary Report has been added above.
It’s still early, of course… but Wrobleski is pitching like an all-star.
With six shutout innings, he just improved his record to 4-0–best on the Dodgers–and lowered his ERA to 1.50. His WHIP is .097 and BAA is .183.
With Sasaki as the conspicuous exception, the starting pitching has emerged as the primary strength of the ’26 Dodgers.
A few weeks ago, I think a lot of people assumed Wrobo would move to the bullpen once Snell returned. But he seems determined to stay in the rotation.
I don’t see any reason to be pessimistic. Snell, Betts, Edman & Keekay are returning, not to mention Stewart, Ryan & Stone.
Tibbs is essentially our best prospect and can be flipped for a king’s ransom this deadline or kept for future use.
Three aces & three youngsters is keeping our rotation afloat while Hurt, Henriquez & Klein show signs of progress in the pen. We have LHRPs aplenty.
The core hasn’t even played that well. Ohtani/Freeman/Tucker all should improve while the real MVPs–Smith, Muncy& Pages–hold the fort.
Yankees, Braves, Padres . . . These are the teams I take seriously. Mariners, Cubs . . . Prove it to me. Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, Blue Jays . . . Wait til next year
There is still plenty of time before the roster changes. But it will be interesting to see who’s moved whenWhen Betts, Edman and Kike return. I doubt Kim continues to hit above .300 with a +.900 OPS. But do you send him down if he’s hitting ~.260 and playing good defense? And does Freeland have anything else to prove in AAA?
Kim earned a spot.
Freeland has a clear runway to 2027 playing time.
Champ shit only.
Therein lies the dilemma. Kike, Edman and Betts are going to be on the roster and play. That means three players who are currently on the roster are going to be moved somewhere. Of the bench guys, Rojas and Call are safe. So is Rushing. Espinal will be victim #1. He will most likely be DFAd. Freeland and Kim both have options, and although Freeland has little to prove in AAA, he is obviously not replacing Edman, who is more versatile and also a switch hitter. Betts will be the starting SS when he returns. Kike will take Kim’s spot. Simple math. There are only 26 active spots on a roster. Now, Kike and Rojas will be gone next year. That is when Freeland and Kim will get their real shot.
Interesting that Worbs is doing exactly what Roki is incapable of doing right now; mixing it up, throwing strikes, and staying out of the middle of the zone. He doesn’t nibble. He pitches to contacting, missing barrels. It’s fun to watch him navigate through an order. He seems to throw it where he’s looking. Very refreshing approach.
He had more walks and more K’s than usual, but made big pitches when he had to.
Pitching versus throwing,a tale of two pitchers.
Yes, opposites
As of today, the Dodgers lead all of MLB in OPS, OB%, HRs, and batting average. They are second in Runs scored behind the Braves… and Mookie has barely played, while Shohei and Freddie are struggling.
The Dodgers are 3rd in all of baseball in TEAM ERA. Atlanta leads with 3.13, while the Dodgers are close at 3.28.
With injured players set to return next month, the best is yet to come.
The choice of who goes and who stays has been partially made: Espinal is the odd man out, but who stays, between Kim and Freeland, will be decided in the next couple of weeks. Freeland started slowly, but in his last 7 games, he is hitting .295/.316 in jos last 7 games.
Kim is evidently the better SS, but unlike last year, he is not hitting LHP. Neither player has anything to prove at OKC, but if Freeland keeps hitting, the deciding factor may be that he is a switch-hitter. It will play out…
I just realized the Dodgers are in Miami starting tonight. I get there at 5:30. The game is at 7:10, and it’s a 13-minute Uber ride to the stadium. Tonight is the only night I have free, as I will arrive ahead of our contingent. We have dinner reservations at 7:00 with large groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, so my plan is to go to the game tonight. Boo-Yah!
Game is in LA tonight not Miami. Marlins are scrappy young team and our old first base coach is managing them Clayton McCullough.
I figured it out about 10 min later. I forgot my dumbass vaccine today.
Of course we don’t know the answer. But Kim was clearly better in Spring training and they chose to go with Freeland. So now that he is hitting better and Kim about the same , what would make them change their mind now?
Wasn’t clear. Freeland’s defense looked as good and his ability to draw walks was superior.
The problem is when Edman,Mookie and Kiki are healthy and all return from the IL, there is NO room for Espinal,Freeland and Kim on the 26 man active roster unless a regular position player goes on the IL.Kim and Freeland’s time will come next year when Rojas retires and Kiki doesn’t return.
Mark, you can have any seat you’d like tonight in Miami. Bring a picnic tho!
The Padres will hang around because of their bullpen,but will eventually fade because of their starting pitching, The wild card is what will Prellier trade away in his already bare farm system to obtain starting pitching ,now that he has the new ownership money to deal with.. Arizona is no threat because of their weak starting pitching and bullpen. San Fran has really no offense to speak of and the Rockies are the Rockies. Should be an easy road to the NL West title. That really doesn’t matter but what is important is to be ready and healthy for the October tournament. that is the ultimate goal. When HEALTHY, our starting pitching is superior to all teams in the NL West and the National League. The Yankees are the only team close.
I would like to see them pushed a little. It worked last year. When they have cruised, they have not played as well in the postseason.
Causation or correlation?
I think the answer to the question of who gets sent down to the minors (Kim or Freeland) is likely neither. The age of the roster will produce somewhat of a revolving door of injuries. I expect Max, Rojas, Teo, et al to spend time on the IL, even if the injury is minor. That, combined with slow playing Kike’s return should create plenty of opportunity for Kim and Freeland to play.