fourth pinch-hit, walk-off home run of his career<\/a>, but you couldn\u2019t help but feel that the entire series against the Snakes was a microcosm of the Dodgers season up to this point.\u00a0<\/p>\nInconsistency. A lackluster offense. Mistakes aplenty. Blown leads by the bullpen. More losses than wins, but punctuating it with a dramatic finish to salvage a game and their lead in the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last couple nights, that urgency and fighting like it\u2019s the last game, we\u2019re just not seeing that,” said Roberts. “We\u2019re in a pennant race, and you should be seeing that, but one-through-nine we\u2019re just not seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite their struggles, the Dodgers still hold a two-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West division heading into the final month of the season. A fact that veteran infielder Miguel Rojas made sure to point out after the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t played the best baseball this season, but we\u2019re still in first place,\u201d said Rojas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s right of course. But despite holding onto first place in the NL West, the Dodgers have played with a looseness that isn\u2019t flattering.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The age old adage is that you are what your record says you are. That might be true in this case. The Dodgers are a playoff team, but they are far from the best team in baseball. They currently have the sixth best record in baseball heading into September, and that feels about right considering their season so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ordinarily, leading your division heading into September is a privilege any team in the Majors would die for, but the expectations for the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers were lofty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dodgers had the best record in baseball last season, and went on to win the Fall Classic. Their first full-season World Series championship since 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They improved upon that team in the offseason. Adding two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to an already prolific starting rotation. Not two mention two former All-Star closers in the process, and some of the best international free agents on the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before the season began, oddsmakers had the Dodgers as the favorites to win the World Series and winning the most games in the regular season with their over\/under win total set at 106.5 wins for the 2025 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With 25 games left, the Dodgers would have to win all of them just to surpass 100 wins, an impossibility to say the least.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, the Dodgers have been besieged by injuries this season, but the numbers paint a troubling picture: a 4.13 ERA, 13th worst in the majors, anchored by a bullpen that has logged more innings than any other staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Scott, their former All-Star closer, has already blown eight saves, second-most in baseball. The walks pile up (3.4 per game, 25th in the league). The extra-base hits allowed stack higher than they should.<\/p>\n
On defense, the Dodgers are far from elite. They\u2019ve turned among the fewest double plays in baseball while grounding into among the most. They commit an error nearly every other game. But the statistics don\u2019t even capture the full scope\u2014missed cutoff men, throws to the wrong base, sloppy routes in the outfield, booted balls that lead to extra bases for their opponents, and outs handed away on the bases have become the soundtrack of their season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an unusual tune for a Roberts-led team, especially considering what got them to the top of the mountain last October. The 2024 World Series wasn\u2019t won just by the Dodgers\u2019 talent. It was lost by the Yankees\u2019 mistakes\u2014mental miscues, sloppy defense, and untimely errors that the Dodgers exploited. In fact, their scouting report on the Yankees said they could exploit those things! This season, the roles have been reversed.<\/p>\n
“This is an unrecognizable ball club,” Roberts said of his 2025 team as a whole compared to his previous teams. “We still have a lot of talent. We\u2019re still in a decent spot, but we have to play better.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, after another pair of uninspired losses marked by more of the same issues, veteran infielder Miguel Rojas gave voice to what many in the clubhouse and fan base have been feeling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get better at the little things,\u201d said Rojas, voicing publicly what the entire Dodgers fan base has been feeling for the last five months. \u201cDodgers baseball has always been about paying attention to detail, doing the little things, throwing to the right bases, being on the right bases, and not making mistakes that give your opponent extra chances. We can be better if we focus on the little things.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t a rant, but it was an honest reckoning. Rojas, now in his 12th season, understands how thin the margins are when September and October roll around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe only have 25 games left, it\u2019s going to take every little ounce of us to be able to do what we want to do,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cWe should be playing much better baseball than we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
That call for accountability has landed at a critical time. September baseball is unforgiving, and the postseason\u2014no matter how much talent resides in a clubhouse\u2014has a way of exposing weaknesses.<\/p>\n
But he also acknowledged the human side of it. After a season that stretched longer than anyone else\u2019s in 2024 and an early start to this campaign, fatigue\u2014particularly mental fatigue\u2014has been a quiet shadow over this team. \u201cSometimes you get tired, especially mentally,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all have a lot of things going on in our lives, in our season, and it\u2019s not easy to be locked in every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thankfully, Rojas says the Dodgers have drawn a line in the sand after this weekend: 25 games left, plus the postseason. That\u2019s the commitment. \u201cWe can\u2019t take pitches off,\u201d Rojas said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s on defense, at the plate, or on the mound. You have to take it one pitch at a time. It takes a lot of sacrifice and energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The path forward is simple to say, but difficult to execute. Eliminate the miscues. Lock in on the details. Play Dodgers baseball again. Do that, and Rojas says they can become the first team to repeat as World Series Champions since the Yankees in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re going to be pretty dangerous in the playoffs,\u201d Rojas said.<\/p>\n
Because this October, unlike last year, the Dodgers may not be gifted extra outs from their opponent. This time, the responsibility\u2014and the opportunity\u2014lies entirely in their own hands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baseball, at its core, is a game of details. The little things\u2014a crisp relay throw, a clean turn…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":190565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,2502,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-190564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115126677630424611","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}