Category: MLB

Go Rays!

LOS ANGELES — For the first time since April 4, the Dodgers have Mookie Betts back after he missed 32 games with a strained oblique. To make room on the active roster, Alex Freeland was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Betts is batting second for the Dodgers on Friday night.

Betts played two rehab games with Oklahoma City, which was news in and of itself because he hadn’t previously played in the minors since 2015 despite a handful of other injured-list stints. Betts singled in each of his games with the Comets and also added a walk, and played 11 total innings at shortstop on Friday and Saturday.

Freeland in spring training won the heavy side of a platoon second base, which shifted into more regular playing time once Betts was injured, in total starting 31 of the Dodgers’ 40 games at second base, where he totaled three outs above average (tied for fifth in the majors) and three defensive runs saved (tied for eighth).

Freeland hit .235/.309/.337 with an 86 wRC+, two home runs, and four doubles, and the second-highest strikeout rate (28.6 percent) on the team.

This means more playing time at second base for Hyeseong Kim, an excellent defender in his own right who started 24 of the 32 games at shortstop with Betts on the injured list. Kim since returning from Triple-A in April hit .289/.353/.395 with a 114 wRC+, three doubles, a home run, and a triple.

“What it came down to is Hyeseong performed better. Alex did everything we asked as far as playing defense and being a pro, learning and taking good at-bats. The last 10 days has been really good as far as getting on base,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But at that point, given Hyeseong some runway given the way he’s performed since he’s been here, we felt that was fair.”

Santiago Espinal is still around as the right-handed-hitting option off the bench, for at least the two weeks until Kiké Hernández is eligible to return from the injured list, when another roster decision will need to be made.

“It’s more overall infield coverage. Having Hyeseong and Alex on the roster at the same time then trying to play both sides as far as playing time, versus letting them both play an ample amount of time, that’s kind of how we looked at it,” Roberts said. “Espinal can give Max [Muncy] a day versus a left-handed pitcher, he can pop over to short or second base if we need him.

“Putting it all together, letting Alex go play every day [in Triple-A], letting Hyeseong get the lion’s share at second base, that’s what we thought was best.”

The San Francisco Giants are kicking off a road trip tonight when they visit the Los Angeles Dodgers. And, as expected, there are some reinforcements meeting them in Southern California. On Monday afternoon, a few hours before the start of their four-game set with their hated rivals, the Giants announced that center fielder Harrison Bader had been activated off of the 10-Day Injured List, while right-handed reliever Tristan Beck had been called up. To make space for that pair, right-hander Dylan Smith and catcher Logan Porter were optioned to AAA Sacramento.

Beck, who has a 5.40 ERA and a 3.15 FIP in AAA this year, is called up for the first time this season, after appearing in 31 Major League games a year ago. The move is primarily about getting a fresh arm after a taxing weekend series: during Saturday’s blowout loss, the Giants used five relievers (not counting infielder Christian Koss), who threw 119 pitches; during Sunday’s 12-inning affair, they called on six relief arms (including Smith) to throw 98 pitches. Now they at least get a rested arm up against a deadly Dodgers lineup.

As for Bader, he returns after six rehab games with Sacramento. Bader hit 4-18 during his rehab, with two home runs, three walks, five strikeouts, and one stolen base. The Giants are hoping that full health mixed with his time in AAA will fix Bader’s offense, as he hit just 6-52 with one home run, one double, two walks, and 17 strikeouts before landing on the IL. Watch out, Harrison: that kind of offense will get you shipped out to Cleveland, no matter how good your defense is!

Smith and Porter return to Sacramento after very brief stays with the Giants. Smith pitched in one game, and recorded two outs (while walking a batter), while Porter only appeared as a pinch runner. The Giants are back down to two catchers (Jesús Rodríguez and Eric Haase), though they might go back to three when Daniel Susac is done with his rehab.

It was an ugly weekend in Milwaukee for the Yankees, as they suffered their second series sweep of the season at the hands of a stout Brewers team that overwhelmed them with some sensational pitching and out-executed them late in games. Let’s chalk it up to revenge from Torpedo-gate.

A new series begins today in Baltimore, as the Yankees look to keep beating on the subpar teams that populate the American League, as they did to the Orioles in a historic four-game sweep last week in the Bronx.

Ryan Weathers makes his return to the mound for the Yankees after being scratched from his last start against the Texas Rangers due to an illness. In his first seven starts as a Yankee, he’s 2-2 with a 3.03 ERA (140 ERA+) and 3.58 FIP with 45 strikeouts in 38.2 innings. Weathers will get another crack at an Orioles lineup that he dominated for five innings in his last start before unraveling with a five-run lead in the sixth (although two runs were unearned due to an error). He’s already thrown more innings than he did last year!

The merry-go-round of the Orioles’ rotation continues with Brandon Young making his fifth start of the season tonight at Camden Yards. He’s improved considerably from his disastrous 12 starts in 2025, pitching to a 4.35 ERA and 4.81 FIP in 20.2 innings with just 14 strikeouts to eight walks. Three of his four starts have been perfectly adequate for the O’s, but he does have a late April blowup against the Astros on his ledger.

Young’s peripherals are mostly below average, particularly his strikeout and whiff rates. He does a good job getting hitters to chase and is solid at limiting barrels, but he gives up too much hard contact for him to be an effective starter. Against lefties, the 27-year-old is a pretty even two-pitch pitcher with fastballs and splitters, but he mixes in considerably more sliders and sinkers against righties with the occasional curveball. The splitter has gotten absolutely hammered in the early going, which doesn’t serve him well against a lefty-heavy lineup.

Trent Grisham leads off for the Yankees in front of Ben Rice, Aaron Judge, and Cody Bellinger. Ryan McMahon has been swinging a hot bat lately and slides up to sixth, as Spencer Jones DHs and bats seventh. Max Schuemann is in for José Caballero, who suffered a finger injury and is due to be evaluated tomorrow.

Taylor Ward leads off for Baltimore, followed by the slumping Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, and the warming Pete Alonso. They’d love to get Tyler O’Neill going in the five-hole, while continuing to get production from Samuel Basallo and Leody Taveras behind him. Weston Wilson and Blaze Alexander round out the lineup.

How to watch

Location: Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, MD

First pitch: 6:35 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, MASN

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), 98 Rock 97.9 FM, WBAL 1090 AM (BA. L) n

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only), Gotham Sports App

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

René Cárdenas, a broadcasting pioneer who became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster for domestic audiences in MLB history when he began working for the Dodgers in 1958, has died at 96 years old.

According to the Astros, one of three teams Cárdenas worked for during his decades-long career, he passed away at his home in Houston on Sunday.

A native of Nicaragua –– where one of his grandfathers was not only president of the country in the late 19th century, but also introduced baseball to the nation –– Cárdenas was hired by the Dodgers shortly after they moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, calling games on AM radio during their years playing at the Coliseum. 

In 1962, he moved to Houston to work for the Astros (then known as the Colt .45s), becoming their director of Spanish broadcasting. In that role, he organized and produced the first international radio network in MLB history, which reached 13 countries in Central and South America, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In 1981, Cárdenas was hired by the Texas Rangers as the first Spanish broadcaster in their club’s history.

Then, in 1982, he returned to the Dodgers, where he would remain through 1998 while working alongside Jaime Jarrín –– another Spanish-language broadcasting legend who originally joined the Dodgers a year after Cárdenas in 1959.

Among his many career highlights, Cárdenas was part of several other Spanish-language broadcasting firsts, including the 1959 World Series and 1961 All-Star Game.

He also returned to the Astros in 2008 to call games on TV in the United States for the first time in his career.

“We mourn the passing of René Cárdenas, who in 1958 with the Dodgers became the first full-time Spanish-language broadcaster in MLB history and would ultimately spend 21 years behind the mic for Los Angeles,” the Dodgers said in a statement. “We send our condolences to his loved ones.”

The Orioles will look to pick up their first win over the Yankees tonight. Baltimore found itself on the wrong end of a four-game sweep at the beginning of May.

Taylor Ward will leadoff and play left field. Adley Rutschman will handle the catching duties, but Samuel Basallo will still start as the DH against LHP Ryan Weathers. The lefty opponent will lead to Weston Wilson at third base and Blaze Alexander at second.

Gunnar Henderson and Pete Alonso will complete the infield. Tyler O’Neill will get a chance in right, and Leody Taveras will play up the middle.

Brandon Young will get the start for Baltimore.

There’s absolutely no benefit to dropping a fifth consecutive game to the Yankees. The Orioles will need their struggling offense to backup Young as he faces Aaron Judge and a talented New York lineup.

You can check out more about the three-game set against the Yankees here.

Edit: Samuel Basallo was scratched with left knee discomfort. MASN’s Roch Kubatko reported that the discomfort was a product of yesterday’s collision at the plate. Additionally, the Orioles selected the contract of LHP Josh Walker. The team optioned RHP Trey Gibson.

Orioles lineup:

1. Taylor Ward LF
2. Gunnar Henderson SS
3. Adley Rutschman C
4. Pete Alonso 1B
5. Tyler O’Neill RF
6. Coby Mayo DH
7. Leody Taveras CF
8. Weston Wilson 3B
9. Blaze Alexander 2B

Starter: RHP Brandon Young

The latest cult sandwich spot in Los Angeles isn’t tucked inside a trendy strip mall or an influencer trap — it’s hiding in an industrial corner of Santa Clarita, next to warehouses and storage units.

Chef James Dalton — the longtime private chef to Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts — quietly opened Table 504 last week, a low-key sandwich shop that’s already generating quite the buzz.

The star of the menu is the 12-day pastrami sandwich, which, you guessed it, takes 12 days to prep. The process involves a 10-day brine followed by eight hours in the smoker, on bread baked fresh in-house.

Locals are also raving about the 504 Italian, another $20 must-order, made with prosciutto, imported mortadella, sweet soppressata, burrata, red-wine vinaigrette, house-pickled pepper spread and served on house focaccia.

Dalton’s culinary résumé is a far cry from your average sandwich slinger. The Florida-born chef has spent 26 years in hospitality and eventually transitioned into private cheffing for Betts after the MLB superstar moved from Boston to Los Angeles.

After years of working together, Dalton and Betts launched the Table 504 brand.

“Ive been a Dodgers fan all my life and came to try the 504 Italian sandwich but also hoping to bump into Mookie!” Jesse Mark, 30, told The Post while grabbing a bite Monday.

Social media videos showcasing the shop describe it as “hidden in an industrial area behind Public Storage” in a minimalist space serving up items that look more like they’re coming out of a high-end tasting kitchen than a warehouse-district lunch spot.

Betts, one of the most decorated active players in today’s game, is scheduled to return to the Dodgers lineup Monday. He suffered an oblique strain during LA’s 10–5 victory over the Nationals on April 4 and immediately went on the injured list. 

His return couldn’t come at a better time as the vaunted Dodgers offense has been ranked among the worst in the major leagues over the past three weeks. 

Although Betts struggled to start the season, hitting just .179 in eight games, his mere presence in the lineup balances everything out. 

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BALTIMORE — José Caballero’s hopes of remaining the Yankees starting shortstop hinge on a Tuesday morning MRI.

For now, a right middle finger injury was enough to keep Caballero out of the Yankees lineup for Monday’s series opener against the Orioles at Camden Yards, sustained while diving back into first base in the ninth inning of Sunday’s loss to the Brewers.

After Monday’s game, Caballero will travel to New York to undergo an MRI and see team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad and a hand specialist to determine the severity.

“I don’t think it’s a fracture,” Caballero said before pinch-running in the ninth inning and getting thrown out trying to steal second to end a 3-2 loss. “Not worried [about going on the injured list]. I’m just not happy that I have to be out of the lineup today.”

But Aaron Boone, who generally downplays any worries about potential injuries, sounded more concerned than Caballero.

“There’s definitely some concern because Cabby, he’s as tough as they come,” Boone said. “Just had a little hard time when he went to throw today. The good thing is hitting was good. So we’ll see. He’s going to get some tests [Tuesday] morning. See what we have over the next day or two.”

Max Schuemann started at shortstop Monday night, and Boone indicated he would be comfortable with him (and perhaps Ryan McMahon in spot duty) filling the void if Caballero just needs a few days.

If Caballero has to go on the injured list, the recently demoted Anthony Volpe and Oswaldo Cabrera would be candidates for a call-up from Triple-A.

But first comes the MRI for Caballero, whose strong play on both sides of the ball over the first month-plus of the season forced the Yankees to change their plans for Volpe, whom they initially planned to reinsert at shortstop once he came off the IL last week.

“[Caballero] has been great,” Boone said. “He’s been such a good performer for us here to start the year, on both sides of the ball. He’s been a key part of our team to this point, but again, hopefully it’s just a day-to-day situation. We’ll have a better idea of that [Tuesday].”

Caballero dodged an injury concern last week after he was hit on the left elbow by a pitch, needing only a day out of the lineup Thursday to deal with some swelling before playing all three games over the weekend in Milwaukee.

He is still wearing tape on that left elbow Monday, but now has his right middle finger taped up as well.

The speedy Caballero was trying to steal second base in the ninth inning of a tie game Sunday when he dove back into first base, and while he was wearing a sliding glove on his right hand, it did not fully protect him.

“Didn’t work,” he said. “It’s just the part that is covering that part of the finger, it’s kind of soft, so it doesn’t really help much.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

And so the shortstop with a 1.6 bWAR — the fifth-highest mark on the Yankees entering Monday — was put on hold.

If Caballero does need to go on the IL, it would set up an interesting decision for the Yankees.

Volpe did not exactly set the world on fire in his first week at Triple-A following his activation off the IL and demotion to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

In five games, he hit 4-for-24 (.167) with a .472 OPS.

Cabrera, who offers more positional flexibility, had a rough start to the season but has hit better of late, going 14-for-36 (.389) with a 1.032 OPS over his last nine games.

Boone said he had not spoken to Volpe since giving him the news last Sunday that he was being optioned to Triple-A, but has maintained that the 25-year-old is equipped to handle it well.

“Definitely it’s challenging to deal with that, but everyone has challenges they’ve got to deal with and some adversity they’ve got to deal with,” Boone said. “He’s mentally a very tough kid and that’ll serve him well as he navigates this.”

BALTIMORE - New York Yankees shortstop José Caballero will be sent back to New York for tests on his right middle finger after he injured it diving back into a base, manager Aaron Boone said Monday, May 11.

Caballero, who seized the starting shortstop job from Anthony Volpe with his early season play this year, hurt his finger diving into first base on a pickoff attempt in the ninth inning of the Yankees' loss at Milwaukee Sunday. He will need an MRI to determine the extent of the damage, but said he doesn't believe the finger was broken.

"There’s definitely some concern. He’s as tough as they come," says Boone. "So, just had a little hard time when he went to throw today. His hitting was good.

"He’s going to get some tests tomorrow morning. We’ll see what we have the next day or two."

Texas Rangers lineup for May 11, 2026 against the Arizona Diamondbacks: starting pitchers are Jakob Junis for the Rangers and Michael Soroka for the D-Backs.

The Rangers, who haven’t allowed a run since the seventh inning of Friday’s game, find their scoreless streak in greater jeopardy now that Nathan Eovaldi has been scratched. Texas is going with a bullpen game fronted by Jakob Junis. Cal Quantrill, the long man — and also the last Ranger pitcher to give up a run — threw 70 pitches on Friday, so he’s likely unavailable.

The lineup:

Nimmo — RF

Duran — 2B

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Carter — CF

Pederson — DH

Osuna — 1B

Higashioka — C

7:05 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -126 favorites.

René Cárdenas, the first radio announcer to broadcast major league baseball games in Spanish to a domestic audience while with the Dodgers and who helped start Spanish-language broadcasts for two other teams, died Sunday in Houston. He was 96.

The Dodgers announced his death Sunday night, noting his 21 years — over two stints — with the team starting in 1958. The broadcasting pioneer also served as the Houston Astros' first Spanish-language announcer starting in 1962.

Cárdenas called games for 38 seasons with the Dodgers, Astros and Texas Rangers and paved the way for Jaime Jarrín, who joined the broadcast team in 1959 and served as the Dodgers' broadcaster for 64 seasons.

"He was indisputably one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball radio broadcasting, and he opened the door for other broadcasters to reach the major leagues," Jarrín told The Times in Spanish on Monday morning. "He was a total professional, truly."

Read more:Dodgers muster only two hits, drop series to MLB-leading Braves: 'We're struggling'

Cárdenas was born on Feb. 6, 1930, in Managua, Nicaragua. His grandfather, Adan Cárdenas, was president of the country from 1883 to1887 and is recognized for introducing baseball to Nicaragua in the late 19th century while his uncle, Adolfo, played on the first national team.

But Cárdenas became more adept at describing the action and before he left high school, he was not only writing for La Prensa, Nicaragua’s leading newspaper, but also broadcasting games for Radio Mundial, the capital city’s top-ranked station.

“He had a very original style,” Edgard Tijerino, a Nicaraguan sports journalist, told The Times' Kevin Baxter in 1995. “It was a way of broadcasting that nobody here in Nicaragua had. The people of my generation remember him with fondness and still value the work he did.”

When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn ahead of the 1958 season, they partnered with KWKW-AM (1330), the only Spanish-language radio station in L.A. at the time, to broadcast the games in Spanish. Cárdenas was hired as the lead play-by-play announcer while Jarrín shadowed him that first season before settling in as the No. 2 announcer. During that time, Cárdenas was part of the first Spanish broadcast of the World Series in 1959 and the All-Star Game in 1961.

Before the 1962 season, Cárdenas moved on to serve as the lead play-by-play announcer for Houston's new team, then known as the Colt .45s. He chronicled the team's first 14 seasons, during which the team moved into the Astrodome and were renamed the Astros in 1965.

Cárdenas returned to Nicaragua in the late 1970s to live in semi-retirement, but political unrest in the country, in the form of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, forced him to flee and eventually return to the United States. The rebels’ final push to victory would take them right past the front door of Cardenas’ three-quarter-acre hacienda.

“They were fighting around my house every night. We used to go under the bed every single night for months,” Cárdenas told The Times in 1995. “We were in a war without being soldiers.”

Cárdenas, who became a U.S. citizen in 1963, had his house, life savings and many priceless mementos from his broadcasting career seized.

After working with Texas Rangers, Cárdenas returned to the Dodgers for the 1982 season. By this point, Jarrín was firmly in place as the team's lead Spanish-language play-by-play announcer — particularly in the wake of Fernandomania the season before, when Jarrín's profile was raised as Fernando Valenzuela's interpreter during his media interviews.

"It was explained to him by our producer, 'You can't come back as the No. 1 announcer because Jaime is established, he has many years as the lead announcer and he is beloved by the community,'" Jarrín said Monday. "René said, 'I don't care, I'll come back as the No. 2 with Jaime. I just want to come back to the game of baseball.' He was determined to return to the Dodgers.

"It was during that time that we established a close-knit friendship and we were well-received by the community as a broadcast duo."

Cárdenas worked with the Dodgers through the 1998 season and moved back to Houston, where he wrote for multiple outlets and then broadcast Astros games on the radio in 2007 and on TV in 2008, setting another first at the time: the only MLB team with a standalone Spanish-language broadcast featuring dedicated cameras and Spanish-language graphics separate from the English-language broadcast.

Read more:Dodgers star Fernando Valenzuela, who changed MLB by sparking Fernandomania, dies at 63

Fifty years after his first broadcast with the Dodgers, Cárdenas remained a pioneer.

He was nominated several times for the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award, including last year, but did not receive enough votes for induction. He is in the Nicaragua Baseball Hall of Fame, the Broadcasters Wing of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame and in the Astros' team hall of fame.

"I think what hindered him was that he didn't fully establish himself with the Dodgers," Jarrín, one of three Latino broadcasters in the Baseball Hall of Fame, said of Cárdenas' chances of enshrinement. "He was away for many years. So that lack of continuity may have hindered him, possibly. Because professionally, he is deserving of being in the Hall. I would love it if he got inducted posthumously because he was a broadcasting pioneer and a true professional."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Season Record: 19-21

Week Record: 3-3

Series Record: 5-7, 1 split

GAME 35: 4-7 LOSS @ NEW YORK YANKEES
GAME 36: 6-1 WIN @ NEW YORK YANKEES
GAME 37: 2-9LOSS @ NEW YORK YANKEES

GAME 38: 1-7 LOSS vs CHICAGO CUBS
GAME 39: 6-0 WIN vs CHICAGO CUBS
GAME 40: 3-0 WIN vs CHICAGO CUBS

So the Rangers pitched 20 innings (and counting) of shoutout innings this weekend. And managed to get some hits with runners in scoring position. All good things that hopefully continue and get the Rangers on a roll.

However, something that has been proven over the last few seasons, something both myself and the Rangers broadcast has pointed out, once Corey Seager gets out of his funk, the rest of the lineup will follow. And his funk is bad.

I believe he had a similar start last year, he turned it around in May and then stayed hot but right now he’s looking lost in most plate appearances.

In the seventh inning of Sunday’s game, the At Bat app popped up a surprising stat for Seager, his wiff rate last season was 27.9% and this year its up to 35.9%. League average is 25.3%. So if you feel like he’s swinging and missing a lot more, you are not wrong. Its especially frustrating and prevalent considering Texas has the lowest chase rate in Spring Training.

Offensive upside? Both Josh Jung and Ezequiel Duran have both figured it out at the plate and have been the most reliable and consistent bats in the lineup.

And maybe playing the Arizona Diamondbacks will trigger some of that magic from the World Series and the team can start turning it around? Here’s hoping at least!

This morning, our head Tom reported that Yariel Rodriguez was coming up and speculated that Eric Lauer might be the roster casualty. He was right, as Lauer caught a DFA this morning and his roster spot has gone to Rodriguez.

It’s been a rough season for Lauer. As Tom noted, his velocity is down. for a while that could be attributed to the stomch flu he suffered in early April, but that was a month ago and in his most recent outing he was still a mile per hour off his average from last year. For a guy who didn’t have great stuff at his best, losing a little edge is a problem. It’s been confounded by some location issues. If he makes it through waivers, hopefully he’s able to work in Buffalo and rediscover his form from last season, but I suspect we’ve seen the last of him in a Blue Jays uniform.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, was DFA’d back in the winter. He’s been effective as a 1-2 inning reliever for the Bisons, with a few more walks than you’d like but an excellent strikeout rate. He’s de-emphasized his fastballs and leaned harder on his splitter, throwing either that or the slider 70% of the time. Hopefully that translates to the majors, as Rodrigez has been a pretty disappointing singing after a lot of hope when he came over from Japan.

In other news, Addison Barger is officially on the IL. That’s hardly a surprise after it was announced this morning that he was getting an MRI on his elbow. No actual new information on the injury has been reported. Coming up in his place is Yohendrick Piñango. The Venezuelan rookie made an impression in his first call up this season, striking out just three times in 27 PA and posting excellent contact numbers and strong exit velocities. The latter haven’t translated into MLB power yet as he struggles to get the ball in the air with authority, but all the tools are there to hope that he can replace most of what Barger would offer offensively even if he can’t match his defense.

Yankees shortstopJose Caballero is out of Monday night’s lineup against the Baltimore Orioles due to a right middle finger injury. 

Caballero told reporters in Baltimore that he hurt the finger diving back into first base in Sunday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. While Caballero will undergo an MRI, he does not believe the finger is fractured and doesn’t believe he’ll need to go on the IL. 

Manager Aaron Boone later said that Caballero will return to New York after Monday's game to meet with team doctors, saying that that while Caballero has hit, he has not yet thrown a ball.

Max Scheumann will start at shortstop for the Yankees on Monday, hitting eighth in the order. 

The 29-year-old Caballero is slashing .259/.320/.400 this season with four home runs and 13 RBI. 

While it doesn’t sound like Caballero will need to hit the IL, that scenario would certainly make things interesting with fellow shortstop Anthony Volpe, who was optioned to Triple-A at the end of his rehab assignment for offseason shoulder surgery.

Before I left for St. Louis and Houston, Eric Stephen posed a question that we as a staff had previously asked at the beginning of the season: How many games will the Dodgers win this season?

At the conclusion of play on April 28th, the day of the follow-up question, the Dodgers dropped to 20-10 over their first 30 games, representing a 108-win pace that exceeded the most optimistic projections from the entire staff.

However, in our staff prediction article, I said 92 wins, which was by far the most conservative prediction.

Truthfully, my final answer was a bit different from what I was originally thinking. When mapping out the year, I was originally thinking 90 wins and potentially finishing second in the division, but didn’t think that amount would be good enough for the 2-seed, hence the slight bump.

At no point did I consider a “I’m going to eat duck mea culpa,” because I saw this team at the conclusion of last year, what it had done during the offseason, and what it was doing to start the year. Long offseasons to old clubs eventually write a check that eventually comes due.

Let’s revisit what I said:

This team could go 116-46 and romp to 11-0 in the postseason as the top seed. But that outcome would require both everything going right and the naysayers being right about the competitive balance of the sport. When this team coasted last year, it was rough to watch – until October. Assuming good health, I expect more of the same. The Dodgers will romp in October beating the Seattle Mariners in five largely uncompetitive games to the enraged howls of the league. (Emphasis added.)

Therefore, I figured there would be a correction in the overall record at some point. At the conclusion of play on May 10, the Dodgers are now 24-16 and are now on a 97.2-win pace. Ouch.

After all, losing two of three to the lowly San Francisco Giants, who are now slinking back to town for the last games until September 18th, was as giant (ha!) a red flag as one would wave this season. The Rockies and Cardinals have pluck. The Giants are turning into a soap opera, which would be funny under different circumstances.

In 2025, I thought there was virtually no reason apart from being lost on a three-hour tour or everyone ending up in a hospital after an ill-fated caper that the Dodgers would win fewer than 100 games in the regular season. And lo and behold, they did with aplomb. It ultimately worked out in the end, by the skin of everyone’s teeth, a bunch of overmanaging by the Blue Jays (Game 3), and a bunch of baserunning blunders by the Blue Jays (Games 3, 6, 7), but a win is a win. But fool me twice? Never.

Pigs to slaughter?

In my view, the Dodgers needed to get younger, hungrier…and they signed the most expensive reliever and hitter available. Never mind that said reliever is now on the 60-day injured list. As for said hitter…well, here is what the Dodgers were saying around the time of the signing:

“Anytime you can add a guy to your lineup that is arguably better against same-side pitching — there’s really no holes in what he does offensively. Really balanced splits, versus right, versus left, incredible decision making, really good bat-to-ball skills,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Wednesday. “Just the way that will kind of complement and help further round out our offense, something we thought that would be significant in terms of the odds increasing on our championship quest.”

I keep waiting for the person described to show up, because I am getting the oddest and most ironic sense of deja vu so far in 2026. Eric Stephen added that “[s]ince the start of 2021, Tucker is one of only four major league hitters with an isolated power — slugging percentage minus batting average — .200 or above combined with a strikeout rate of 16 percent or lower, along with fellow star players Mookie Betts, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and José Ramírez.“

Tucker has not come close to his statistical pedigree in his first 40 games with the team. In fact, Tucker was essentially signed to replace Michael Conforto, who has since signed as a fourth outfielder with the Chicago Cubs. Those with weak constitutions should look away from the following comparison:

• Tucker (39 games) .6 WAR, 36 for 145, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 3 SB, .248/.343/.393
• Michael Conforto (23 games) .6 WAR, 16 for 55, 2 HR, 8 RBI, .364/.473/.659

Yes, the Dodgers were pigs, but the team seemed to forget that pigs are usually the first things slaughtered when winter comes. Ask the Phillies and the Mets about what happens when one does not plan for winter. But it’s not time to panic yet.

We don’t have a time machine (and if we did, unlimited rice pudding, among other things, would be the order of the day), so one can just look over the archives for the source of the Dodgers’ current woes.

“Play like the back of your baseball card.”

At times, the current Dodgers look less like a team and more like a collection of geriatric mercenaries, riding high on their own success. I remember the dark days of September 2025, and I am seeing some awful similarities. I am unsure how a team can look this gassed in May, but age catches up with everyone, and this topic will likely be revisited in the coming months.

Perhaps I’m being too subtle. So let’s rip the bandage off using one of my favorite films of the past fifteen years: 2013’s Rush with Daniel Brühl as the late racing legend Niki Lauda. Replace the word “Ferrari” with “Dodgers offense,” and I think you get 99% of the way there.

The Dodgers’ 2026 offense was sold as an offensive juggernaut. The rotation has been dynamite so far in 2026, but like the 2024 NLDS San Diego Padres, if you don’t score, you cannot win.

Unlike the Mets, who seem hellbent on proving that money does not buy victory, and the Phillies, who somehow ran it back after trying not to, failing to the point their most recent manager was fired, only for Don Mattingly to somehow be put in charge, and time is a flat circle, I can understand why everyone was hyping the Dodgers to romp in 2026 based on the names assembled.

Admittedly, some days, yes, the offense lives up to the hype. However, lately, the offense has been more fickle than an Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifogli — spends more time in the shop than on the road. But the time for roster construction is long past.

To paraphrase Dodgers’ color man Orel Hershiser, a majority of the Dodgers are not hitting like the back of their baseball cards either due to injury or ineffectiveness, using stats as current as of the start of play on May 10th to demonstrate the point:

• Shohei Ohtani: .8 WAR, 37 games, 34 for 141, 25 R, 7 2B, 6 HR, 16 RBI, 5 SB, 27 BB, 41 K, .241/.374/.418, 127 OPS+
• Freddie Freeman: .5 WAR, 38 games, 40 for 150, 14 R, 10 2B, 3B, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 14 BB, 21 K, .267/.333/.427, 116 OPS+
• Will Smith: .3 WAR, 33 games, 29 for 111, 12 R, 3 2B, 3 HR, 3 2B, 16 RBI, 12 BB, 21 K, .261/.331/.369, 100 OPS+
• Teoscar Hernandez: 0.0 WAR, 35 games, 30 for 126, 18 R, 4 2B, 4 HR, 17 RBI, SB, 14 BB, 42 K, .238/.317/.365, 95 OPS+
• Kyle Tucker: .6 WAR, 39 games, 36 for 145, 27 R, 9 2B, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 3 SB, 22 BB, 34 K, .248/.343/.393, 110 OPS+
• Andy Pages: 2.8 WAR, 40 games, 49 for 147, 23 R, 8 2B, 9 HR, 35 RBI, 6 SB, 10 BB, 33 K, .333/.375/.571, 167 OPS+
• Max Muncy: 2.1 WAR, 38 games, 35 for 128, 26 R, 5 2B, 10 HR, 15 RBI, 20 BB, 36 K, .273/.372/.547, 159 OPS+
• Alex Freeland: .6 WAR, 33 games, 23 for 98, 11 R, 4 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 5 SB, 11 BB, 32 K, .235/.309/.337, 85 OPS+
• Hyeseong Kim: .7 WAR, 29 games, 22 for 76, 10 R, 3 2B, 3B, HR, 8 RBI, 5 SB, 8 BB, 18 K, .289/.353/.395, 114 OPS+
• Dalton Rushing: 1.1 WAR, 21 games, 19 for 63, 14 R, 2 2B, 7 HR, 17 RBI, 4 BB, 18 K, .302/.371/.667, 190 OPS+
• Miguel Rojas: .2 WAR, 24 games, 15 for 58, 5 R, 3 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 4 BB, 8 K, .259/.302/.362, 89 OPS+
• Alex Call: .7 WAR, 18 games, 12 for 39, 8 R, 4 2B, 4 RBI, 8 BB, 6 K, .308/.438/.410, 145 OPS+
• Santiago Espinal: -.3 WAR, 20 games, 3 R, 6 for 32, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 5 K, .188/.188/.250, 24 OPS+

So far, Ohtani (181 OPS+ in 2025), Freeman (143 OPS+), Smith (153 OPS+), Tucker (144 OPS+), Rojas (101 OPS+), and T. Hernandez (104 OPS+) have not matched their production from last year. Expecting the superhuman from Ohtani and Freeman may be unfair, but remember that 100 OPS+ is average, and the 2026 Dodgers were not built to be average.

To play Devil’s Advocate for a moment, Mookie Betts has only played in eight games so far in 2026. Also, Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández have yet to play in 2026. Maybe the time has come to find more at-bats for Alex Call and Dalton Rushing and maybe give Ohtani more rest, which is a subject for another day. Now that Freeland has been optioned, Kim will need to continue to produce.

When your offensive attack is being led by Andy Pages and a soon-to-be-36-year-old Max Muncy, either the pair is playing out of their minds (admittedly, Pages is), some of the usual suspects need to step it up, or maybe the orthodoxy of the lineup needs to be tossed aside in lieu of the available personnel.

Twin killings

Eric Stephen pointed out around the time of the Tucker signing that the Dodgers in 2025 had a 21.9 percent strikeout rate as a team, the 12th-lowest in the majors. So far, in 2026, the team’s strikeout rate has improved, currently sitting at 20.9% on May 11, which is good enough for eighth-best in baseball.

If the team is not striking out as much, why is the offense misfiring as much as it is? In part, too many double plays.

Watching the Dodgers in St. Louis gave me a sobering thought: how is a team that is trying to hit the ball into the air hitting so many weak ground balls? In the two games I was present for, the Dodgers hit into eight mind-numbing double plays over 18 innings. While it might not be time to call for the culling of the hitting coaches, it does beg the question of what is going on.

The Dodgers hit into only 108 double plays in 2025 (slightly worse than the league average of 104), slightly up from the 99 double plays they hit into in 2024 (slightly better than the league average of 108).

So far, the Dodgers’ offense in 2026 might as well be sponsored by Doublemint Gum, because they are hitting into twin killings at an alarming rate. Only the Anaheim Angels, Texas Rangers, and Pittsburgh Pirates have hit into more double plays than the Dodgers in 2026.

In 40 games so far, the Dodgers have hit into 34 double plays, in 40 games with Freeman (6) and Teoscar (5) leading the way. If trends hold, the 2026 Dodgers are on pace to hit into 138 double plays (rounded up from 137.7), which would easily be the worst mark of the championship run.

The Dodgers now face a floundering opponent, without their best starter, at home, while in another stretch of consecutive games without a day off until a week from Thursday. In theory, the Dodgers should romp, but theory only gets you so far.