Since July 4, the Los Angeles Dodgers have taken a complete nosedive in terms of overall play, and that all came to a head on Wednesday afternoon after the Angels completed the sweep of the Dodgers in the Freeway Series, making the 69-52 San Diego Padres the new first-place team in the NL West.
Despite what the last 30 or so games have shown, the Dodgers’ two-way star is still holding out hope that the team can pull it together by any means necessary.
“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good to fall into second place and to lose a lot of these games,” Ohtani said after the Angels’ victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday night, per ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez. “We’re doing everything in our power, having close meetings, doing everything that we can to try to right the ship. We just have to do a better job.”
After the loss on Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts looked at the positives of the game despite the outcome, and what is next to come.
“This was tough obviously because of the result, but I thought tonight, I liked the way we played,” Roberts told the media in the postgame scrum. “I thought the at-bats were good and that’s baseball, and it just seems that right now that’s the way things are going and that’s part of it.
The Dodgers have a scheduled off day on Thursday as they prep to host the Padres for a highly anticipated weekend series at Dodger Stadium that could set the tone for the rest of the season for either club.
As a bonus, the two teams are scheduled to face off 6 times over the next 10 games, so get that popcorn ready, as it is anyone’s NL West to win.