Clayton Kershaw (9-2, 3.06) vs. Carmen Mlodzinski (3-7, 3.86).
The Dodgers now have a 2.5 game lead on the Padres in the NL West, but if they want to extend that lead (as well as try and make up ground against the red-hot Phillies for the #2 seed in the National League), they'd better start getting Bizet, starting with tonight's game in PNC Park.
Not to spoil Act IV, but if the Dodgers can slay Carmen, that would be a good start.
Look, you can revel in the majesty of Will Smith's walk-off pinch hit home run to lead off the ninth (his fourth PH HR of his career). It was pretty awesome, and just what the Dodgers needed after blowing the three-run lead late.
But don't let that take your eye off of how bad we looked all weekend long against a fourth-place, sub-.500 team after we narrowly avoided the sweep today. The offense was horrible for the first two games of this series, compounding yet another non-quality start from Blake Snell (5.1 IP, 3 ER) and as well as a mediocre start from Tyler Glasnow (7.0 IP, but also 3 ER).
The Dodgers' relief additions to the squad this year, which looked good on paper, continued to underperform. Kirby Yates came in yesterday to give up a three-run jack to Arizona's nine-hole, Ildemaro Vargas; and then Tanner Scott came in today to give up the lead on a three-run jack to Corbin Carroll. Scott, who has been awful for us all year, has already ceded three times the number of home runs this year than he did last year--and this year isn't over yet.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a solid seven innings of one-run ball today (1 ER, 10 Ks with 0 BBs), and we couldn't even hold on to give him a win. Unacceptable.
Let's also talk about the drop off in offense beyond our top four hitters, and that's even with Teoscar Hernandez benched today. Michael Conforto was 0-for-1 and batting .190 on the year before being removed for Kiké Hernandez in the fifth; Kiké promptly GIDPd on the first pitch to end a threat. Alex Call went 0-for-4 and has cooled off, as has Alex Freeland (he went 2-for-4 today but is bating .208). Both Alexs had two Ks each. Dalton Rushing is lost, 0-for-3 with 2 Ks. And Miguel Rojas had a nice day, 2-for-3 with a RBI, providing some hope from the depths of our lineup.
The losses of Max Muncy, Tommy Edman, and even Hyeseong Kim, coupled with the year-long impotence of Conforto, are just glaring holes in this lineup. We've got a day off Monday to think about this further, but honestly, do we really think this team, with this lineup, has legs in the postseason?
Smith can't save us every time.
Yamamoto vs. Pfaadt.
One day after the Snakes broke (Tyler) Glass-now, the Dodgers will try to salvage a game of this series and hopefully maintain their narrow one-game lead over the Padres in the NL West. The Dodgers are now two games behind the Phillies for a first-round bye in the playoffs. That's right, everybody won yesterday: Brewers, Phillies, Padres...even the Angels, for pete's sake.
But not the Dodgers.
Tyler Glasnow (1-2, 3.36) vs. Eduardo Rodriguez (5-8, 5.67).
Any excitement we might have from starting pitchers, who have spent most of the year sitting on their asses (and earning money all the same), will be nullified if they are basically impotent on the mound. Witness Blake Snell, who only lasted 5.1 IP in yesterday's loss.
And today, we've got the always-fragile Tyler Glasnow starting.
Yay.
The Boston Red Sox just released Walker Buehler, whom they gave a one-year, $21M deal this off-season, after a horrible 2025 in which he went 7-7 over 22 starts, sporting a 5.45 ERA.
How far Buehler has fallen, so quickly. I would not have expected that outcome this year, and I actually feel bad for the guy.
It should be noted that Dustin May, whom we traded to the Red Sox at the deadline, is 1-3 in four starts with a 4.50 ERA with Boston (his Boston ERA is a bit better than his 4.85 ERA with us). Yikes.
Fenway Park appears to be where Dodger starters go to die.
Let's get Buehler for the bullpen!
Blake Snell (3-2, 1.97) vs. Zac Gallen (9-13, 5.13).
Zac Gallen has been one of Arizona's stalwarts since joining the Diamondbacks in 2019, his rookie year: 61-47 record with a 3.62 career ERA. That has not been the case for Gallen this year, but at least he has made 27 starts this year, which is 21 more than Blake Snell.
That said, Snell has a 2025 WAR of 0.6, while Gallen's is 0.5. So there you have it. I suppose you can take more than half the season off and still contribute a bit.
The Padres are playing the cream-puff Twins this weekend, so we'd better win this series.
Shohei Ohtani (0-1, 4.60) vs. Nick Lodolo (8-6, 3.05).
29 games to go, and it's still not comfortable: a one-game lead on the Padres in the NL West, and a half-game deficit to the Phillies for the #2 slot in the playoffs (which would allow the Dodgers to skip the first round).
We're throwing the leading candidate for NL MVP, Shohei Ohtani, out there this evening. But his last outing, in Colorado on August 20, was clearly Ohtani's worst start of the year: 4.0 IP, 9 H and 5 ER, with only 3 Ks. There's no hiding tonight, Shohei (not even behind a tube of Advanced Repair Facial Moisturizer!).
Clayton Kershaw (8-2, 3.13) vs. Nick Martinez (10-0, 4.59).
Andy Pages singlehandedly beat the Reds last night. Let's hope someone else can Nick the Reds' starting pitcher today, give Clayton Kershaw some runs with which to work, and extend our divisional lead on the Padres beyond one measly game.
Emmet Sheehan (4-2. 4.17) vs. Hunter Greene (5-3, 2.63).
The Dodgers and Padres are tied atop the NL West with 31 games to go, and it doesn't look any easier from here for the Dodgers. Now that we're don playing the Padres this season, we have to focus on contenders like the Cincinnati Reds, 1.5 games out of the final wild card slot and hungry to overtake the Mets. Not the best team for us to host, starting off by facing local phenom Hunter Greene (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High School), whose fastball can top 100 mph.
Meanwhile, the Padres have the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the majors, with a winning percentage of .474, featuring cream-puff opponents like the Twins, Rockies, Orioles, and White Sox. The Padres also finish the season with six games at home, while the Dodgers finish on the road.
This doesn't stack up well for the good guys. I'm pretty freaked out.
Yamamoto vs. Pivetta.
Five hits, and two runs, across two games against a division rival. That is not going to get it done.
The Dodgers slipped back into second place with yesterday's 5-1 loss, and look to slip further if we drop today's game. We are looking up at the Padres now. What a train wreck.
Teoscar Hernandez is 0-for-7 with 5 Ks in this series, and playing defense like an old man out there in right field. He's hurt. But there's no time for sympathy.
Glasnow vs. Cortes.
Let's start with the worst-case scenario for today's game: Nestor Cortes gets his sweet revenge on Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers by pitching an excellent game tonight, shutting the Dodgers down and ushering the Padres back into sole possession of first place.
It's entirely plausible, especially with the always-fragile Tyler Glasnow on the mound as our starter, not to mention a high likelihood we will continue to trot Michael "Black Hole" Conforto out there hoping for a different outcome despite four and a half months of evidence to the contrary.
My god.
Blake Snell (3-1, 1.80) vs. Yu Darvish (2-3, 5.97).
Sounds familiar: home team comes into a three-game series one game behind in the standings, with a visiting rival squad that has something to prove. And though this worked out well for the Dodgers last weekend, the Dodgers' pathetic series split in Denver against the Rockies demonstrates that we are far from firing on all cylinders (not to mention, Teoscar Hernandez' defense in right field sometimes looks like he's up on cinder blocks in the driveway).
And don't get me started on why the hell Michael Conforto keeps playing (he is 0-for-his-last-13 and sports a .186 batting average and .612 OPS this year, with 63 hits on the year and 93 Ks). We keep trotting out lineups like this, and we're expecting to lose.
Kershaw vs. Dollander.
The best we can hope for is a series split with the Rockies. But there's a good chance that we lose our one-game lead in the NL West and enter this weekend's series at Petco Park tied with a very hungry Padres team. I don't like the sound of this, not at all.
Ohtani vs. Gordon.
Continuing with the Two-Face theme, the Dodgers have split the first two games of this series so far, with one really bad loss folowed by one really good romp. I have no idea which team will show up tonight in Denver. Hopefully at least Teoscar Hernandez will have some wheels.
Sheehan vs. Gomber.
The Dodgers seem to be back to their ways of letting games slip away late, like last night's debacle in Denver. Thankfully, the Padres lost at home as well, but we can't rely on that to keep our divisional lead.
Sack up, Dodgers!
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Kyle Freeland.
Which Dodgers team is going to show up here in Denver? The one that got swept in not one series, but BOTH series, to a Anaheim Angels team with a losing record? Or the one that just swept the San Diego Padres this past weekend, allowing the Dodgers to re-ascend back into first place in the division?
Let's flip a coin.
Tyler Glasnow vs. Yu Darvish.
We actually have a chance to sweep the Padres? No way I thought that was possible. Clearly, we're working in an alternate universe here.
Blake Snell vs. Dylan Cease.
We're tied up in the NL West, after yesterday's white-knuckle 3-2 win over the Padres. Clayton Kershaw was gutty...something I haven't seen much of with Blake Snell, especially if he lasts into a third time through the lineup. Can Snell (or Snell-glazer David Vassegh) shut me up?
Clayton Kershaw vs. some Padre who will undoubtedly have the game of his life.
The Dodgers are now in second place, looking up at the Padres, thanks to a woeful run since the All-Star Break juxtaposed with a peaking San Diego team (8-2 over their last ten). With our loss Wednesday, yet another game in which we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and got season-swept by the lowly Angels, the Dodgers look completely hopeless in the bullpen and mostly impotent from the plate.
Reinforcements aren't coming in these last ~40 games. Either we step up, or we're done.
Ohtani vs. Hendricks.
This is the sixth and final game against the Angels, and the Dodgers haven't won one yet. As a result of this and other incompetencies, they are now tied for first place in the NL West thanks to the surging Padres (7-3 in their last 10). And we look hopeless against these very inspired and angry Angels. Hendricks for the sweep.
