The Dodgers Are in Full Meltdown Mode, and It's Not Hard to See Why
Nine losses in their last eleven games. A division lead that was comfortable back in June has shrunk to 7.5 games. And if you've been watching, none of this is really coming out of nowhere.
The bullpen is the biggest culprit, by far. Since the All-Star break, it's been one of the worst in baseball — 24th in ERA, 22nd in win probability. Twice during this skid, the Dodgers had a lead or a tie game in the seventh inning or later and just couldn't hold it. Díaz, who they signed specifically to lock down the ninth, hasn't looked right since coming back from elbow surgery — his slider just doesn't have the same bite, and he's given up four earned runs in his last four appearances. Evan Phillips has already allowed four homers in under nine innings since his own return from Tommy John. Alex Vesia's been scored on in three of his last six outings. Will Klein got hit in six straight appearances and walked eight guys before landing on the IL. Dave Roberts himself has admitted the coaching staff isn't totally sure what's going on with some of these guys — whether it's mechanics, an arm issue, or pitches just moving differently than they used to.
Then there's the rotation, which is basically running on duct tape right now. Ohtani's not pitching because of knee soreness. Blake Snell's been out since mid-May with an elbow issue and only just got back. Tyler Glasnow's been sidelined since early May with a bad back. Emmet Sheehan pitched his way down to Triple-A. Roki Sasaki has been up and down. That's forced the Dodgers to throw Cole Irvin out there for a bullpen game — a guy who hadn't pitched in the majors since 2024 — and lean hard on Eric Lauer, who's been solid, but he's not supposed to be the guy anchoring a rotation for a team built like this.
And the offense picked a brutal time to go cold. Just 22 runs across this six-going-on-seven-game stretch. Ohtani and Freddie Freeman have carried what little offense there's been; almost nobody else in the lineup has strung together consistent at-bats. Friday was a perfect example — hitless through five innings against Arizona before they finally scratched a few runs together, too little too late.
So is this a crisis, or just a rough couple of weeks? The Dodgers themselves seem to be leaning toward the latter. Snell's expected back any day now. Glasnow's already rehabbing. And for what it's worth, this same bullpen was shaky for a lot of last season before it figured things out in October. Roberts hasn't hinted at any drastic changes — his message has mostly been about getting guys back into rhythm.
Still, seven straight is seven straight, and a division lead that felt untouchable in June is starting to feel a little thinner. The next couple of series — especially once Snell and Glasnow are actually back — should tell us a lot about whether this was just a bad stretch or the start of something more concerning.
Sources: MLB.com, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, DodgersNation, The Washington Post, ESPN
