Game 85 Thread: June 29 @ Royals, 11a

TBD vs. Kris Bubic (6-5, 2.18).

After yesterday's pounding, the Dodgers have a shot at a series split over breakfast baseball today. Except we don't have a starting pitcher.

(cries)

Game 84 Thread: June 28 @ Royals, 1p

Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 4.50) vs. Seth Lugo (4-5, 2.93).

I'm sorry I've been out of pocket this week. Let's get Ohtani north of one inning pitched today!

Game 83 Thread: June 27 @ Royals, 5p

Dustin May (4-5, 4.46) vs. Noah Cameron (2-3, 2.08).

The Dodgers have opened up a six-game lead on the Padres and a 6.5-game lead on the Giants, the largest divisional lead in the National League. And yet it still doesn't feel as secure as it should. We roll into Kansas City with the Royals having lost their last six games.

Game 82 Thread: June 26 @ Rockies, 12p

Clayton Kershaw (3-0, 3.31) vs. Austin Gomber (0-1, 8.38).

Clayton Kershaw is only eight strikeouts away from 3,000 strikeouts. Let's get this done, Clayton!

Game 81 Thread: June 25 @ Rockies, 5.40p

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-6, 2.76) vs. Dollander (2-7, 6.19).

Maybe in Coors Field, at the halfway point of the season, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the run support from the Dodgers offense which has been absent for most of his starts. It's in Denver, right? And Shohei seems to be banging long balls again (like his HR in yesterday's 9-7 victory)?

Let's go!

Game 80 Thread: June 24 @ Rockies, 5.40p

TBD vs. German Marquez (3-8, 6.11).

With Max Muncy swinging a hot bat (two HR, 7 RBI) in Sunday's homestand finale--can he bring it again tonight against the German(s)?

Okay, I know that one was a stretch.

2025 Dodgers WAR (Through June 23, 2025)

I just peeked at this and found it pretty surprising:

• Shohei Ohtani 3.6
• Will Smith 3.3
• Andy Pages 3.0
• Mookie Betts 2.7
• Max Muncy 2.3
• Freddie Freeman 1.9
• Teoscar Hernandez 1.6
• Tommy Edman 1.5
• Michael Conforto -1.1

For substitutes, Hyeseong Kim leads with a 1.1 WAR. Kiké Hernandez has a 0.6 (better than I expected!), and Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing each have 0.3.

Austin Barnes was -0.3 and Chris Taylor was -0.6.

From a pitching perspective, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a 1.9 WAR, and Clayton Kershwaw has a 0.4 WAR. Roki Sasaki is 0.1, as is Tyler Glasnow. Blake Snell has a -0.2 WAR, worse than even Dustin May (-0.1) and Tony Gonsolin (-0.1). Landon Knack has a -0.3 WAR.

Within the relief corps: Ben Casparius has a 0.7 WAR, Alex Vesia is at 0.5, Jack Dreyer is at 0.4, and Anthony Banda is at 0.3. New pickups Tanner Scott is at 0.1 and Kirby Yates is at 0.0.

Game 79 Thread: June 22 vs. Nationals, 1p

Shohei Ohtani (0-0, 9.00) vs. Michael Soroka (3-5, 5.06)

It's the end of a ten-game homestand, the Dodgers going a very respectable 6-3 over their first nine games. Last night's loss to a sub-.500 team was a bummer. But this afternoon, we've got Shohei Ohtani on the mound for the second time this season (and the second time in his Dodgers career).

Game 78 Thread: June 21 vs. Nationals, 7p

Dustin May (4-4, 4.46) vs. Jake Irvin (5-3, 4.23).

WIll Dustin pitch the Dodgers to their seventh win in their last eight games tonight?

Dustin May.

Game 77 Thread: June 20 vs. Nationals, 7p

I was pretty surprised by Ohtani's cool demeanor after getting hit in the ninth inning yesterday.

Clayton Kershaw (2-0, 3.25) vs. Mackenzie Gore (3-6, 2.89).

Both staring pitchers today have win-loss records that belie their talent: Kershaw, whose season started late due to injury; and Gore, whose ERA is a better reflection of his skill given the Nationals' woeful 31-44 record. I'm just hoping for a game where every batter isn't living in fear of getting plunked.

Game 76 Thread: June 19 vs. Padres, 7p

Will Smith saves us, for the second straight night.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-5, 2.64) vs. Ryan Bergert (1-0, 2.33).

Normally I'd feel pretty good about Yoshi starting in the final game of a four-game series, with the Dodgers poised for a sweep. But given the breaks have fallen our way with two straight bullpen-game victories, not to mention Yamamoto's last seven starts (2-3 with a 4.46 ERA) have been mortal, I'm not so sure.

And some people say I'm too negative.

Game 75 Thread: June 18 vs. Padres, 7p

Emmet Sheehan vs. Stephen Kolek (3-2, 3.50).

I didn't expect to win yesterday's bullpen game against the Padres, but we did (8-6), thanks to our bats. At the center of this was Will Smith, who slapped his way through a long 12-pitch AB against Jeremiah Estrada, culminating in a two-run HR that put the Dodgers up 5-3 and opening up the floodgates in that five-run frame.

But it's not like we didn't know how to win a bullpen game against the Padres, right?

So tonight, we run back what is basically another bullpen game, starting fresh call-up Emmet Sheehan (4-1, 4.92 ERA over his career). Let's see how this goes!

Game 74 Thread: June 17 vs. Padres, 7p

TBD vs. Randy Vasquez (3-4, 3.57).

Dylan Cease was mowing us down in the first two innings: five straight swinging Ks, followed by a Max Muncy weak tapper to the mound. But then the fourth inning came around, and seven of eight consecutive Dodgers reached base, and suddenly the Dodgers were up 6-2 on the Padres. Cease ended up lasting only five innings, and although the Dodgers used seven pitchers to secure the victory (the day before another spot-start and/or bullpen game), it seemed like a pretty big win in the opener of this four-game series.

Oh yeah, and that Ohtani guy pitched as well. He gave up a run and lasted only one inning, so his ERA is 9.00.

I hope that guy makes it in the bigs.

Anyway, today is game #2 and who knows what we'll see on the mound, so I hope the Dodgers are ready to (yet again) bat their way out of trouble.

Game 73 Thread: June 16 vs. Padres, 7p

SHOHEI OHTANI vs. some other guy.

Shohei Ohtani makes his Dodgers pitching debut tonight at the Stadium.

What more needs to be said?

Game 72 Thread: June 15 vs. Giants, 4p

Dustin May vs. Kyle Harrison.

One more rivalry game for this series, and then it's right back to work against the Padres. Yikes.

Game 71 Thread: June 14 vs. Giants, 7p

Clayton Kershaw (1-0, 4.35) vs. Landen Roupp (4-4, 3.29).

Landen Roupp is only 2,873 strikeouts behind his opposing starting pitcher tonight. But the Roupp is on fire, winning his last start vs. Atlanta with a six-inning, 3 ER performance.

Clayton Kershaw was not too shabby in his last start either, with 7 Ks in a five-inning start vs. St. Louis. My money's on #22.

Tonight, WE ARE YOUNG.

Game 70 Thread: June 13 vs. Giants, 7p

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4, 2.20) vs. Logan Webb (5-5, 2.58).

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is only two starts removed from a bad loss against the Yankees, but still has a 2.2 WAR this year and a 176 ERA+. Logan Webb hasn't had a win in his last four starts (two losses, two no decisions), and has a 148 ERA+ though only a 1.7 WAR.

Both clubs' aces go to battle tonight in the Ravine, with the Giants a full game back of the first-place Dodgers, having dropped a heartbreaker to the woeful Colorado Rockies on Thursday, giving up three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lose the game. We'll see if the Dodgers can break Webb tonight.

Game 69 Thread: June 11 @ Padres, 1p

Ben Casparius (4-1, 2.93) vs. Randy Vasquez (3-4, 3.69).

We shouldn't be reading too much into this first series with the Padres, right? I mean, the fact that we're doing two bullpen games in the three matches shouldn't concern us about getting absolutely shellacked last night 11-1? And we still have a chance to win the series with a victory this afternoon, even though we're starting Ben Casparius, for only the second time this season?

Casparius has been great this season (0.7 WAR; 133 ERA+), but...do we really have a shot here?

(cries)

Game 68 Thread: June 10 @ Padres, 6.40p

TBD vs. Dylan Cease (1-5, 4.72).

The Dodgers (as of 9am) don't have a starter! And arguably, neither do the Padres, in that San Diego has turned former ace Dylan Cease, who led the AL in WAR in 2022 (runner up to the Cy Young!), into a completely pedestrian pitcher in 2025. This year, Cease boasts a 0.1 WAR, not to mention a 86 ERA+.

Can the Dodgers get to Cease early, and cease Cease? Or, said another way, can we take some bites out of See's? That would be a sweet result indeed.

Game 67 Thread: June 9 @ Padres, 6.40p

Dustin May (3-4, 4.09) vs. Jake Pivetta (6-2, 3.16).

First game against the Padres all season, with San Diego tied with the Giants, trailing the Dodgers in the division by a scant game. This is actually the first of seven games against the Padres which will only be separated by a short three-game weekend series against the Giants. Talk about testing one's mettle!

Game 66 Thread: June 8 @ Cards, 11a

Clayton Kershaw vs. Michael McGreevey.

The Dodgers have scored one run in two games against the Cardinals, leaving ducks on the pond all over the goddamn place. I'm depressed.

Game 65 Thread: June 7 @ Cardinals, 11a

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-4, 2.39) vs. Erick Fedde (3-5, 3.82).

Last night was going to be a loss, anyway.

This morning? Let's at least put up a little bit of a fight, Dodger offense!

Keeping a Promise to Vin, 2025 Edition

Vin Scully, from 2008:

Normally on the telecast we talk about "This Day in Baseball." I don't mean to sound grumpy or grouchy, but I can't believe what I didn't hear. I listened to the news on the radio for about an hour and fifteen minutes today—did not hear one word about what this day really means. June the 6th, 1944. Do the names Omaha, or Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword, do they mean anything? They're the beaches at Normandy. Sure, today was D-Day, the invasion of Europe, when thousands of soldiers gave their lives so that we could be free. I'll be darned if I saw any real publicity about it at all. Please don't let that happen again next year. Please? Yeah, this day.

♦

Vin Scully, from 2009:

It's about quarter of nine in Los Angeles. That makes it about quarter of six on the beaches at Normandy, in France. And 1944, June the sixth, tomorrow, that was the invasion of Europe.

We heard the names: Sword, Gold, Juno, Utah and Omaha. Those were the names of the beaches as the British, Canadians and the United States invaded Europe.

Let's go back to this one.

At quarter of six on the beaches of Normandy sixty-five years ago, something like forty thousand fell in the invasion that was called Operation Overlord. The bloodiest beach was Omaha.

And then of course there was that area called Pointe du Hoc. You probably saw that in the movie The Guns of Navarone, where the GIs had to try and climb thirty-foot cliffs and the Germans were on top of the cliffs shooting down at them.

So, do us older guys a favor. If you have children, would you please take time out tomorrow and tell them the sacrifice that was made sixty-five years ago?

Freedom is not free. Boy, a lot of fellas gave their lives so that we could be sitting here watching a baseball game.

Please don't forget it.

♦

Vin Scully, from 2010:

...but I think we've been friends long enough, you'll understand.

Today, to me, is a far more important day than a baseball game. It is extremely important for those of us who have lived through it to make sure the kids in the country are extremely aware of it. And what took place on this day, June the sixth, 1944.

Oh yeah, you could just sum it up and say oh sure, Allied forces invaded Normandy. There is so much more, as Troy Glaus checks in. Ely's pitch, fastball inside, ball one.

First of all, "D-Day." The "D" in front of "Day" doesn't mean anything. It just meant the day of a military operation.

The one-oh pitch on the way, outside.

And it used to be D-Day for any military operation, but as the years have gone by, when you say "D-Day," they're talking about this day in 1944.

The two-oh pitch, fouled away.

It actually had two names. It was Operation Overlord and Operation Neptune. Overlord was the complete plan. Neptune was the assault phase.

The two-one pitch to Troy Glaus, waved at and missed, two and two.

Now before they could invade, they had to supposedly soften up the area. In April and May, Allied air forces lost twelve thousand men and over two thousand airplanes just trying to get things ready for the invasion.

Two-two, Glaus takes inside, ball three.

And then the day came, June the sixth, 1944. There were five beaches involved, in the, I think it was the Cotentin Peninsula.

Here's the three-two pitch and Glaus swings and misses and strikes out. One away.

Basically the Canadians had three beaches. They had Sword, Gold and Juno. And the United States forces had two beaches, Utah and Omaha. And of all five beaches, without a doubt, the bloodiest was Omaha.

Now, while the ground forces were going on, again, there were huge battles in the air. And there were over fifteen thousand killed, Allied, in the battle in the air.

The one-oh pitch, inside to Eric Hinske, who is hitting .323. Two and oh the count.

When D-Day finally concluded, when you include all of the people involved, the enemy, the Germans, and the Allied forces — and the pitch to Hinske inside — 425,000 men were killed.

As far as casualties are concerned — well, I shouldn't say just killed. The three-oh pitch, that's high, ball four. That included dead, wounded and missing in action.

For the United States, on D-Day, there were twenty-five hundred Americans killed, about several thousand seriously wounded and MIA.

And what is left of that gray day if we don't talk about it, if we don't convince the kids to take a moment and realize the unbelievable sacrifice that was made on this day? We would be really guilty.

The pitch at the plate is whacked to center. Kemp has a play and Matt makes the catch, and Hinske goes back to first base.

Well, I tell you what, until...you make the trip over to Normandy, there are twenty-seven cemeteries, from Normandy straight up towards Belgium. There are 77,000 Germans buried along the way. Ninety-three hundred Americans have left themselves over there. Seventeen thousand Britons, over five thousand Canadians and another 650 Polish soldiers.

That's what they did and that's what happened on this day.

The pitch at the plate, ground ball by the diving Carroll into left field, so Melky Cabrera a single and that'll bring up Tim Hudson.

So anyway, I realize it's an intrusion, maybe you don't want to hear about something negative, but that's not negative. Any time we talk about a sacrifice in baseball, you can just about break down and laugh. The sacrifices that were made on this day in 1944, heartbreaking but at the same time inspirational.

So if you have children, please don't let the day go by. 1944, D-Day. The invasion of Western Europe.

Okay, let's get to the ballgame. Here's Hudson, two out, two on, no score, second inning....

Game 64 Thread: June 6 @ Cardinals, 5p

Not the first time we've used this pun...but always good to feature Robin Wright Penn

Justin Wrobleski (1-1, 8.00) vs. Sonny Gray (6-1, 3.65).

Before the 2025 season began, all the talk about the St. Louis Cardinals was how they botched not trading Nolan Arenado and didn't make any other moves of note this offseason, in a totally winnable NL Central division. Well, they at least got the second half right--the Cardinals (34-28) are in second place in the NL Central, ahead of the Brewers and Reds (and behind the Cubs by five games), and only a half-game out of the last wild card spot.

This weekend's slate with the Dodgers features two early games following a tough-fought 4-3 homestand against division leaders, followed by an evening flight to St. Louis yesterday. I'm guessing we show up today a little gassed.

Game 63 Thread: June 5 vs. Mets, 1p

Last night's game recap.

Landon Knack vs. David Peterson.

With yesterday's pathetic outing (Tony "Catman" Gonsolin giving up an early lead again, and an offense that forgot to show up, in a 6-1 loss), the Dodgers now have dropped the season series to the Mets, an outcome that might have implications this postseason.

That, of course, assumes we actually limp our way through the next four months and actually make the postseason, something that should happen but doesn't look assured, watching last night's debacle.

Landon Knack is on the mound for today's afternoon delight.

(cries)

Game 62 Thread: June 4 vs. Mets, 7p

Will the Dodgers can Griffin today?

Tony Gonsolin (3-1, 5.23) vs. Griffin Canning (5-2, 3.23).

The Dodgers tied the series yesterday, after losing in extras on Monday to the Mets. With the Mets taking two of three from us in New York last month, we'll need to win these last two games (starting today) in order to wield the home-field advantage over the Mets.

(And we have no starter named for Thursday.)

(cries)

Post-Game 61 Thread: Surprise!

DODGERS 6, METS 5 (10)

Max Muncy with a two-run HR in the first, and then a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth? Then Tanner Scott in for the tenth, and he strikes out Juan Soto and Pete Alonso, en route to a scoreless inning?

Maybe I wasn't surprised to see Freddie Freeman walk it off with a double to left field, scoring Tommy Edman as the winning run, for the Dodgers' fifth walkoff win of the season.

But what a victory! I'll take it.

Game 61 Thread: June 3 vs. Mets, 7p

Clayton Kershaw (0-0, 4.91) vs. Tyler Megill (4-4, 3.52).

I'm telling you, we can't compete against these big-spending teams.

Game 60 Thread: June 2 vs Mets, 7p

Dustin May vs. Paul Blackburn.

After a disappointing start by Yoshinobu Yamamoto yesterday, which effectively thwarted the Dodgers' plans for a series sweep against the Yankees, we go right up against the best team in the National League (to be fair, tied with the Cubs, and ahead of us by a game). The big-spending Mets are going to be a tough opponent for a scrappy team like the Dodgers. Let's hope Dustin May brings his A-game for the opener.

Game 59 Thread: June 1 vs. Yankees, 4p

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-3, 1.97) vs. Ryan Yarbrough (2-0, 3.06).

The Yankees have only made one error in the first two games of this series.

But there's still one more game to play.