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As the defending two-time champions, the Dodgers don’t exactly need litmus tests.

Still, this weekend gave them a chance to size up one of their biggest fellow National League contenders — and reaffirm their own status as MLB’s foremost World Series threat once again.

After dropping a Friday night series opener to the Cubs that ran Chicago’s win streak to 10 games, the Dodgers bounced back the way title-winning teams are supposed to, cruising to back-to-back victories at Dodger Stadium to rally and take the three-game set.

The series was decided Sunday, in a 6-0 Dodgers win keyed by another pitching gem from Justin Wrobleski and another resurgent day from the club’s relentless lineup.

Wrobleski spun six scoreless innings in his start, despite battling poor command, heavy traffic and a high pitch count early.

The Dodgers (19-9) gave him plenty of support by striking for three runs in the first (including two on a Miguel Rojas double), two more after Wrobleski left the mound in the sixth (which was keyed by a double from Andy Pages and RBI single from Dalton Rushing), then another in the seventh when Shohei Ohtani snapped his two-week home run drought with an insurance blast to the opposite field.

“I think it’s so important when you get good starting pitching, good defense,” Rojas said. “And the last couple games have been good for the offense. We’ve gotten an opportunity to work on the things we need to work on.”

Indeed, it remains early days of the season. Even the Dodgers (and some of their superstar hitters, in particular) are still working through some kinks.

But come October, it’s already looking likely that the Dodgers and Cubs could wind up crossing paths again. Earlier this week, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts predicted the Cubs to “be in the mix” as his team goes for a third straight championship.

“They can really defend,” he said. “And they can really hit.”

For now, however, the Dodgers’ supremacy remains undisputed. Even the hottest team in the majors couldn’t temporarily knock them from their perch.

“[We have a] really good way of manufacturing runs,” Ohtani told SportsNet LA after the game through interpreter Will Ireton. “And we have a really good pitching staff.”

Both were good enough this week for them to come back and take a series from the Cubs.

What it means

For starters, that there was once again a postgame toast in the Dodgers’ clubhouse to celebrate a series win — their first since sweeping the Mets during their previous homestand.

Before these last two games, the Dodgers had lost five of seven, failing to win either series during their recent road trip to Denver and San Francisco. For the first time, there were fears they might enter their first true skid of the season, especially in the wake of Edwin Díaz’s injury.

Two days later, so much for all that.

The Dodgers are now one win behind the Braves for most in the majors. They are also 11-4 on their home field, having won four of the five series they’ve played at Chavez Ravine this year.

Who’s hot

For the first time in a little while, Ohtani.

Entering Sunday, the two-way star was 1-for-his-last-15, had gone six games without an extra-base hit and was mired in a two-week home run drought –– his longest since joining the Dodgers three years ago.

Then, he turned in one of his best offensive games of the season, going 3-for-3 with a walk, a double, a stolen base and his solo home run in the seventh.

“I talked to him a couple days ago, and he said his setup was a little bit off,” Roberts said.

So, on Saturday, he made an adjustment with his batting stance and saw the results immediately reappear.

“The at-bat quality over the last couple days has been fantastic,” Roberts said. “He got his setup, his direction better.”

It will take more such performances for the four-time MVP to get back to his typically atmospheric standards, of course. Even after Sunday, he is batting .262 with an .876 OPS.

However, once Ohtani finds his swing, it usually doesn’t take long for him to heat up. The last couple weeks, the Dodgers have been waiting for it. Sunday, they will hope, is a sign that plenty more is soon to come.

Who’s not

Now that Ohtani has turned a corner, the Dodgers will count on their other superstar sluggers to do the same.

So far, it hasn’t happened for Freddie Freeman. 

Freeman went 0-for-4 Sunday and is now 4-for-23 in his last six games. The last four of those contests have been with Freeman batting second –– continuing the Dodgers’ season-long production problems from that spot in the lineup (which was previously occupied by Kyle Tucker, who has three doubles in four games since dropping down to the middle of the order).

Up next

The Dodgers open a three-game set against the Marlins on Monday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2-2, 2.48 ERA) facing Chris Paddack (0-4, 6.38 ERA). Ohtani will also start as a pitcher in the series on Tuesday — notable, because the Dodgers decided against pushing his outing back to Wednesday so he could pitch ahead of Thursday’s off day.

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This series wasn’t going to be easy, we all knew that before it began.

And when Shōta Imanaga had a 32-pitch first inning in which he allowed a pair of walks and three runs, that made the Cubs’ task that much more difficult.

That, and the fact that the Cubs again had RISP issues, going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 men on base, led to a 6-0 loss to the Dodgers, and the home-standing L.A. team took the series.

The first two Cubs got on base, Nico Hoerner on a single and Alex Bregman by walk, but they were stranded when Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki struck out and Carson Kelly grounded out.

Then the Dodgers worked those three runs off Imanaga in the bottom of the inning, the key hit a two-run double by Miguel Rojas.

The Cubs again had a chance in the second inning, when Michael Busch led off with a double. One out later, Matt Shaw walked. The runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch, an excellent scoring opportunity with just one out, and Pete Crow-Armstrong then walked to load the bases.

But Nico Hoerner then struck out, losing an ABS challenge in doing so. Nico thought he had walked, and look how close this pitch was for strike 2 [VIDEO].

The Cubs would have had a run if Nico had just laid off the next pitch, which would have been ball 4, but he swung and missed:

Sigh. Alex Bregman then grounded out to end the inning.

The Cubs did play some good defense in this game. Here’s PCA taking an extra-base hit away from Teoscar Hernández in the third [VIDEO].

Imanaga settled down through the fifth inning, keeping the score at 3-0. Suzuki gave Imanaga some defensive help [VIDEO].

Suzuki also made a nice sliding catch in the fifth [VIDEO].

The Dodgers extended the lead to 4-0 in the sixth on an RBI single by Dalton Rushing, and that was it for Imanaga, who threw 100 pitches, striking out six. He also walked three, which is unusual for him. More from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was only the fifth of Imanaga’s 60 career starts in which he walked at least three batters. The last was April 15 of last year. He walked four only once, on Opening Day of last season vs. the Dodgers in Tokyo. This was his 29th start since then.

Here’s more on Imanaga’s outing [VIDEO].

The Dodgers scored a fifth run in that sixth inning, charged to Imanaga, on a throwing error by Kelly. And they added a sixth run, in the seventh, on a solo homer by Shohei Ohtani.

Yacksel Rios, another of Jed Hoyer’s minor-league signings over the winter, threw two scoreless innings of relief, his first MLB appearance since he posted a 37.80 (!) ERA for the A’s in 2023. At this point the Cubs will take any sort of relief help they can get. Rios likely gets DFA when Phil Maton is ready to return, I’d think.

Here’s a second nice grab by Suzuki [VIDEO].

PCA also made a second good catch in this game, in the eighth [VIDEO].

So at least the Cubs outfield defense is still doing its job.

All told, the pitching wasn’t great, but the Cubs also missed several good scoring opportunities in leaving those 12 runners on base. Beyond that I don’t have much more to say about this one — just hoping the Cubs can start taking better advantage of the scoring opportunities that they have actually had. One last note on all those runners from John:

The Cubs had played only 17 previous games since 1901 in which they were shut out and left at least 12 runners on base in a nine-inning game.

The most recent of those had been Aug. 22, 2011, in a 3-0 loss to the Braves at home. The Cubs left 15, tying the record for their most in such a game, set in the first of its kind, at Boston on May 11, 1905.

The last on the road before Sunday had been vs. the Braves, too, by 2-0 at Atlanta on June 22, 2009. They had a dozen LOB that day.

Until Sunday, the Cubs never had been blanked by the Dodgers, home or road, while stranding at least 12.
Besides the two games with 15, there had been six with 13 and nine with 12.

The Reds also lost Sunday (as did the Cardinals and Pirates, the latter of whom lost to the Brewers), so the Cubs remain one game out of first place in the NL Central.

The Cubs head to San Diego to play a three-game series against the Padres beginning Monday evening. Matthew Boyd will start the series opener for the Cubs and Randy Vasquez will go for San Diego. Game time Monday is 8:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

There was a time on Sunday afternoon where the fates seemed to be doing just about everything they could to push the Cincinnati Reds to yet another improbable victory.

That wasn’t true of the Top of the 1st. Reds starter Rhett Lowder was tagged for three hits and a walk in a 30 pitch inning to begin his day, the big swing being a 2-run double off the bat of Kerry Carpenter that nearly cleared the bases. Cincinnati, despite coming into this one with a chance for a series sweep, was immediately in a hole.

Trailing, though, is something that just seems to be part of what this team has become in 2026. Falling behind early and working their way back in gradual fashion is now just part of their ethos. And, once again, Sunday saw them grind their way back with single runs in the Bottom of the 2nd, Bottom of the 4th, and Bottom of the 5th to eventually claim a 5-2 lead as Lowder settled in and once again looked like the budding rotation cog that we know he can be.

Problem was, though, that Lowder’s early grind meant he reached 94 pitches after clearing 5 IP, and that turned things over to the Cincinnati Reds bullpen. Despite their brilliant work to begin this season, Sunday simply was not their day.

Brock Burke managed to scatter a trio of Tigers on the bases without allowing a run in the 6th, though Sam Moll wasn’t quite so lucky when he was tagged for a homer by Hao-Yu Lee that flipped the scoreboard. It was Lee’s first career dinger, but wasn’t the final big blast of the day for the Tigers by any stretch of the imagination. Spencer Torkelson homered for the fifth straight game with a blast off Pierce Johnson in the 7th only for Gleyber Torres to put the game completely on ice wit his 2-run blast off Jose Franco in the Top of the 8th.

That put the Reds in an 8-3 hole that they would not climb out of on the day.

Other Notes

• Nick Lodolo breezed through 5 scoreless frames on his first rehab start with High-A Dayton on Sunday. He was originally slated to only through 4 IP, but was so pitch efficient that they rolled him back out there for another breeze of an inning. If his blistered finger can hold up for another five days, methinks he’ll potentially only need one more rehab start before returning to the Cincinnati rotation.
• Nate Lowe homered again, his fourth of the three-game series. He’s good, the Reds are better off when he’s in the lineup, and I suppose that’s a good problem to have.
• JJ Bleday made his Reds debut in this one with a start in LF. He homered and walked before being platooned with Dane Myers, but his efforts were good enough to take home today’s Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. Welcome to Cincinnati, JJ!
• The Reds have a day-off at home in Cincinnati on Monday before opening a three-game series in GABP against the Colorado Rockies. Chase Burns will start the series opener, which is set for 6:40 PM ET.

Home plate umpire Ryan Blakney seemed to be in his feels after Brett Baty didn’t appear to like a call that ended the fourth inning.

The Mets’ third baseman was called out on strikes on a pitch that caught the bottom of the strike zone and tossed his bat in frustration as he walked out of the batter’s box. 

After he took off his batting gloves and helmet, Batty looked back in the direction of the plate and appeared to shake his head, prompting the umpire to shout at Baty. 

“Then challenge it,” Blakney said. 

"Don't look at me"

Brett Baty has a back-and-forth with the home plate umpire following a strikeout pic.twitter.com/naRGIg5Fyl

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 26, 2026

That comment prompted Baty to turn and tell Blakney that “I didn’t say anything to you,” which would appear to be supported by the mics that picked up the sequence of events. 

Blakney then shouted back to Baty, “you didn’t need to.” 

“Don’t look at me,” the testy ump barked back at Baty. 

Baty repeated that he didn’t say anything to the umpire and added that it was the umpire who instigated the situation, which Blakney denied despite the fact that the mics picked up him being the first person to say something after the strikeout call.

Eventually,  Mets third base coach Tim Leiper moved Baty away from the area and back into the field for the start of the fifth inning. 

It was certainly an odd moment for Blakney to instigate the argument, though he could have been frustrated after three of his calls were challenged in the first inning alone, including the first pitch of the bottom of the first. Two were overturned.

The introduction of the automated ball-strike system has largely been praised since MLB instituted it during this year’s regular season, but it has also led to some embarrassing moments for MLB umpires. 

C.B. Bucknor has found himself on the wrong end of a number of challenges, and on Saturday, he had six of eight calls that had been challenged by players overturned. 

In an article published last month by the Associated Press, former major league umpire Richie Garcia complained that it was “embarrassing to the umpires that are calling the game.”

“Nobody likes to be humiliated in front of 30,000, 40,000 people,” he said. “What Major League Baseball is saying is: I don’t trust the umpire’s strike zone, so I’m going to use something that’s going to be operated by some computer geek that knows nothing about baseball, and he’s the one that’s going to measure this and measure that because he’s got a Ph.D. in physics or whatever the hell he’s got a degree in.”

The Dodgers took the three-game series from the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, as Justin Wrobleski and the bullpen held the Cubs silent in a 6-0 shutout win.

For a second straight game, Nico Hoerner led off the game with a base hit, and the Cubs put two men on with only one out against Wrobleski. The left-hander got Seiya Suzuki to strike out swinging and induced a ground ball out from Carson Kelly to get out of the two-on, two-out jam.

The Dodgers had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the first inning after Shota Imanaga walked both Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, setting up an RBI opportunity for Andy Pages. A sacrifice fly gave him his 25th RBI of the season before Kyle Tucker and Miguel Rojas both connected for a pair of two-out doubles to plate a pair of runs and give the Dodgers a three-spot in the first.

Quick work from the Boys in Blue! pic.twitter.com/k6c7bZvChS

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2026

Chicago responded with a leadoff double from Michael Busch in the top of the second inning, followed by a pair of walks to Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong to load the bases with only one out and bring up the potential go-ahead run in the form of Hoerner. Wrobleski got him chasing at a high fastball on a full count for the second out and got Alex Bregman swinging to leave the bases loaded and keep the Cubs scoreless.

It was a laborious start for Wrobleski compared to his other starts in April, as he had a pitch count at 51 over his first two innings. He settled down over his next two innings, only allowing a two-out baserunner in each while tossing a combined 21 pitches. Wrobleski had just five strikeouts over his last two starts, yet managed to strike out five over his first seven outs on Sunday.

Wrobleski later put the leadoff man on in both the fifth and sixth innings, but managed to work around both baserunners to complete another six shutout innings. His four walks on the game are his most in a start since his first of the year against Toronto, but he registered a season-high six strikeouts on a career-high 109 pitches, the most by any Dodgers starter this season.

Craig Counsell decided that he wanted Imanaga back out for the bottom of the sixth inning after keeping the Dodgers silent since the three-run first inning. The decision backfired as Pages and Tucker reached on a double and a walk respectively, and Dalton Rushing picked up his second RBI single in as many games on pitch no. 100 from Imanaga to make it a four-run game and knock the Cubs southpaw out of the game.

Left-hander Hoby Milner took over for Imanaga, and his very first pitch got away from Carson Kelly. Kelly tried to get Tucker napping off of third base, but he sent the ball into the left field allowing him to score and make it a five-run game.

Shohei Ohtani added a sixth run for the Dodgers with an opposite field home run against Miller to begin the bottom of the seventh inning. It was his first extra-base hit in six games and his first home run since he took Jacob deGrom deep on April 12. After having recorded two hits over his last 19 at-bats dating back to Tuesday, Ohtani’s three-hit game marked his first multi-hit game since Monday as well.

Sho 'em how it's done! pic.twitter.com/lMfKkICaE6

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2026

Edgardo Henríquez and Jack Dreyer made their second appearances of the series, both working around a leadoff baserunner while keeping the Cubs off the scoreboard. Kyle Hurt came in for his second consecutive appearance, and he needed all of five pitches to send the Cubs to their 13th consecutive scoreless inning at the plate and give the Dodgers their second shut out win over their last four games.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (6)
• WP— Justin Wrobleski (4-0): 6 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts
• LP— Shota Imanaga (2-2): 5 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks, 6 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers welcome in the Miami Marlins as they begin a three-game series at home on Monday (7:10 p.m. PT). While the Dodgers have yet to announce their starter, Chris Paddack goes for Miami.

SAN FRANCISCO — Casey Schmitt did it again.

The day after giving the Giants the lead with a late blast to left field, Schmitt showed off his clutch gene to the Marlins’ bullpen for a second time in as many games.

Schmitt launched a three-run shot to left in the seventh inning that broke a tie and gave the Giants their first lead in an eventual 6-3 win to secure the three-game series.

The heroics ensured the longest start of Landen Roupp’s career didn’t go to waste.

Roupp took the mound to start the eighth inning for the first time in his career and was serenaded by a standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout with two outs.

The walk that ended his outing was only the fourth Marlins batter to reach base against him and snapped a streak of 18 retired in a row.

The only blip on Roupp’s pitching line came in a 29-pitch second inning, when he allowed the first two batters to reach. It looked like he was going to work out of the jam, but after getting Graham Pauley down 0-2 with two outs, the Marlins’ No. 8 hitter punished a curveball over the brick wall in right field that cashed in their only baserunners until the eighth inning.

It appeared the early 3-0 lead would hold up as the Giants stranded runners in scoring position twice in the first five innings. But Rafael Devers woke up with an RBI double to get them on the board in the sixth, and Schmitt did the rest the following inning.

What it means

The Giants earned their second come-from-behind win in as many games to finish the homestand 4-2 and win their third series in a row. San Francisco had been 2-13 when its opponent scored first before prevailing the past two games.

Who’s hot

Roupp put himself in position to win his fourth straight start — tied for the second-longest active streak in the majors — by breezing through all but two of his innings on 10 pitches or fewer.

The 27-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.55, the best mark in the Giants’ rotation and tied for 12th among National League starters.

Jung Hoo Lee moved into the leadoff spot for the first time since the opening series of the season and kept on raking with his fourth multi-hit effort of the six-game homestand.

The Giants weren’t able to capitalize on his triple off the brick wall in right field to begin the game, but Lee came around to score — the 100th run of his career — after an opposite-field single in the third inning. He led off the seventh with his fourth hit and watched Schmitt’s home run leave the yard as he rounded the bases.

Altogether, the Giants outfielders combined to bat .367 over the course of the homestand, with seven extra-base hits, including home runs from Lee, Heliot Ramos and Drew Gilbert.

Entering the homestand, San Francisco’s outfielders had been the third-worst group in the majors, measured by FanGraphs WAR.

Who’s not

Willy Adames got his first day off this season. Together with Monday’s day off in Philadelphia, manager Tony Vitello is hopeful the downtime can snap Adames out of an 0-for-21 funk.

San Francisco managed to take four of six games on the homestanddespite getting almost nothing from the three bats expected to anchor the middle of its lineup. Devers’ double that drove in Schmitt and made it 3-2 in the sixth was the first RBI of the entire homestand from himself, Adames or Matt Chapman, who combined to go 8-for-61 (.131) with 23 strikeouts.

Up next

The Giants are off Monday before beginning a six-game road trip against the Phillies and Rays. They took two of three from the Phils when they visited San Francisco earlier this month, kicking off a 10-game losing streak that Philadelphia just snapped out of this weekend.

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