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Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here’s a bonus edition of the newsletter as we continue to look at the top 10 Dodgers at each position.

Top 10 relief pitchers

Here are my picks for the top 10 relief pitchers in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.

1. Kenley Jansen (2010-21, 37-36, 2.37 ERA, 350 saves, 164 ERA+, 3-time All Star)

Really, it’s hard to find anyone else who should be named the best Dodgers reliever. Let’s look at his 2017 season: 68.1 innings, 41 saves, 5-0, 44 hits, only seven walks, 109 strikeouts. He finished fifth in Cy Young voting and 15th in MVP voting. He pitched in 701 games in relief for the Dodgers; the next closest is 250 games behind him.

I wrote a lot about Jansen when he was with the Dodgers. Suffice to say he had an incredible career with the team and it’s nice to see him having a good season with the Angels this season. He has pitched in 928 games and has 473 career saves, Hall of Fame numbers.

2. Ron Perranoski (1961-67, 54-41, 2.56 ERA, 100 saves, 132 ERA+)

For all the praise (much deserved as it is), Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale get for pitching the Dodgers to three World Series appearances and two titles in the 1960s, people sometimes overlook the fact that waiting in the wings in case one of them, or some other starter, faltered late was Perranoski. He finished fourth in MVP voting in 1963 after going 16-3 with a 1.67 ERA and 21 saves in a league-leading 69 games and led the league in games pitched three times, often pitching more than 100 innings. When the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the 1963 World Series, they used only four pitchers: starters Koufax, Drysdale and Johnny Podres, and Perranoski in relief.

He later served as Dodger pitching coach from 1981-94. He died in 2020 at 84.

3. Jim Brewer (1964-75, 61-51, 2.62 ERA, 126 saves, 127 ERA+, 1-time All Star)

Brewer became the closer in 1968 and remained in the job through the 1973 season.

Brewer had four terrible seasons for the Cubs before the Dodgers acquired him before the 1964 season. He wasn’t expected to make the team, but had such a good spring training that the Dodgers traded reliever Larry Sherry to make room for him

He had a good season, but didn’t pitch in too many games where the Dodgers were leading. He had two pitches, a fastball and curve, neither of which set the world on fire. In spring training in 1965, he was experimenting with a screwball, but couldn’t make it work. The Dodgers played the Braves in an exhibition game, and Brewer asked legendary Braves left-hander Warren Spahn how he threw the screwball.

“I had been working on a screwball but never felt confident enough to use it in a game. I approached Spahn and asked him for some advice,” Brewer told the Sporting News in 1968. “He never said a word. He just took a baseball out of his pocket, showed me his grip and how he released it. I had been releasing the ball off my middle finger, but he showed me how he let the ball go off his index finger which gave much more velocity to the pitch.”

Elbow pain, perhaps from his new pitch, limited him in 1965 and 1966, but in 1967 he was a new pitcher. Used as a setup man, he pitched 100 innings and had a 2.68 ERA. The next season he became the closer and had sub-two ERAs in 1971 and 1972.

Despite a strong 1973 season, when he made the All-Star team, injuries were beginning to pile up for Brewer. So, before the 1974 season the Dodgers acquired Mike Marshall and named him the new closer. After the season, Brewer asked to be traded. In July 1975 the Dodgers sent him to the Angels for reliever Dave Sells. He retired after the 1976 season because of a torn elbow ligament.

Brewer died two days after his 50th birthday, when, on Nov. 14, 1987, he was killed in a head-on collision.

4. Eric Gagné (1999-2006, 25-21, 3.27 ERA, 161 saves, 125 ERA+, 3-time All Star, 2003 Cy Young Award)

The numbers above are a little misleading, because they include his time as a poor starting pitcher. If you limit it to just his seasons as a reliever, his ERA drops to an amazing 1.82, a 221 ERA+.

In 1999, Gagné was the top pitching prospect in the Dodgers organization as a starting pitcher. He looked like he would be a solid No. 2 or 3 man in the rotation for many years. However, he struggled in the majors, going 4-6 with a 5.15 ERA in 19 starts in 2000 and 6-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 24 starts in 2001. He gave up a hit an inning and his strikeout rate was 7.7 per nine innings. A far cry from what he eventually would do.

Jeff Shaw retired before the 2002 season, leaving the Dodgers without a closer. Manager Jim Tracy had an idea: What about Gagné? People often forget what a controversial move it was at the time. Take one of your top starting pitcher prospects and make him the closer?

Then Gagné immediately became the best closer in the game. He dominated in spring training. He started the season with 10 consecutive saves. He was named to the All-Star team. He finished the year with 52 saves.

And he captured the imagination of Dodgers fans, because he was the first closer the team ever had who could come in and just dominate batters, blowing the ball by them. He struck out 114 in 82 1/3 innings.

When Gagné was in his prime, no one left the game early because they wanted to see him close it out. If the Dodgers had a narrow lead, people would stand as soon as the eighth inning ended, anticipating his arrival. As soon as Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” started playing, the stadium would erupt in cheers and whistles. Very few Dodgers in history received that type of reception every time. Gagné became known as “Game Over,” with Game Over T-shirts worn throughout the stadium.

In 2003, Gagné finished with a 1.20 ERA, 55 saves (no blown saves), 137 strikeouts and only 20 walks in 82.2 innings. He gave up only 37 hits. He was named the NL Cy Young winner. It is still the greatest season by a closer in history. From 2002-04, Gagné had 84 consecutive saves, still the record.

Gagné’s career quickly unraveled though. He hurt a knee in spring training before the 2005 season. He came back, hurt his arm and had season-ending Tommy John surgery. He pitched in only two games in 2006 and then hurt his back, needing season-ending surgery for two herniated disks.

After the season he became a free agent and bounced around to three teams. His last season was in 2008 with Milwaukee. He made a comeback attempt with the Dodgers in 2010, but after six runs in two spring training innings, he retired.

Some shine of the streak was dulled when he was named in the Mitchell Report as a player who had used performance-enhancing drugs. He said he used human growth hormone and apologized to the fans, saying he started using it when he was injured in 2005, after the streak. Gagné talked about it in 2010.

“It changed it a lot for a couple of years,’’ Gagné said. “But now, you come to grips, where you know what, it is what it is. You have to accept it and just go on. You have to keep going and enjoy baseball, get people out and get back to basics. There are a lot of regrets. But the whole time I was with the Dodgers, it was an unbelievable time. The Mitchell Report and everything is negative. It’s always going to be on my resume for the rest of my life.”

5. Hugh Casey (1939-42, 1946-48, 70-41, 3.34 ERA, 49 saves, 115 ERA+)

It’s hard to compare relievers before the modern era of closer to relievers since that era began. Back then, saves weren’t even a stat (they were rewarded retroactively) and relievers would regularly pitch multiple innings.

Which brings us to Casey, who was the first real “closer” in Dodger history. He led the NL with 13 saves in 1942 before losing three seasons to World War II. He came back to go 11-5 with five saves in 1946 and then led the NL with 18 saves in 1946. Casey was a starter until manager Leo Durocher switched him to relief midway through the 1941 season. It made all the difference in the world for Casey, who thrived in the role. In 1942, the Dodgers were training in Cuba and author Ernest Hemingway was there. Some team members and Hemingway were having some drinks when Hemingway challenged Casey to a fight. Casey refused, so Hemingway sucker punched him. Casey then pretty much beat up Hemingway until the author punched Casey in the groin and declared the fight a draw.

Casey had a difficult life after baseball, and died at 37 in 1951. For a great bio of Casey, click here.

6. Jay Howell (1988-92, 22-19, 2.07 ERA, 85 saves, 170 ERA+, 1-time All Star)

Howell, who had been Oakland’s closer for two seasons, had a terrible 1987, going 3-4 with a 5.89 ERA. After the season, he was part of the three-team deal in which the Dodgers traded Bob Welch, Matt Young and Jack Savage and received Howell, Alfredo Griffin and Jesse Orosco.

Those who followed the pitchers and “sticky substances” controversy a couple of season ago and were fans of the 1988 Dodgers had to be reminded of Howell, who was suspended during the NLCS for using pine tar on his glove. It had been cold and rainy in New York, and Howell did it to get a better grip on the ball. He was suspended for three games (it was reduced to two the next day), an event that seemed to anger the team rather than make them fall apart. He had 21 saves that season. He pitched in Game 3 of the World Series in Oakland, and after retiring the first batter in the bottom of the ninth, gave up the game-winning homer to Mark McGwire. Afterward, some of the A’s said how happy they were to see Howell and his “Little League curveball” come into the game. That was bulletin board material from Tommy Lasorda, who didn’t hesitate to bring in Howell the next day. He was brought in with the Dodgers leading, 4-3 with two out in the seventh inning. The A’s had runners on first and second. Griffin made an error on a ball hit to short, loading the bases, bringing up McGwire, who popped to first on the first pitch. Howell finished out the 2-1/3 inning save. Can you imagine a closer pitching that long today?

Howell put together five good-to-great seasons with the Dodgers, then pitched a season with Atlanta and a season with Texas before retiring.

7. Clem Labine (1950-60, 70-52, 3.63 ERA, 81 saves, 113 ERA+, 2-time All Star)

Labine relied on a sinker as his main pitch, telling Peter Golenbock in the book “Bums,” “They go to swing at it, and it drops on you, and you get the top of the ball. So, you’re not gonna hit a lot of line drives off of me, just a lot of groundballs. And don’t forget who we had scooping them up: Gilly, Robinson, Reese and Cox.” Labine pitched in four games in the 1955 World Series, winning one and saving one.

Sadness seemed to be a constant in Labine’s life after he retired. He once told Roger Kahn, “You heard about Jay? My son Clement Walter Labine Jr. He stepped on a mine in Vietnam and blew his leg off. The Marines sent a car to our house. Barbara [Clem Sr.’s wife] was away. I was out playing golf. My brother-in-law saw this Marine car and went over and said, ‘Is this about Jay, Clem Labine, Jr.?’ The Marine officer was very polite. He asked who was he talking to and my brother-in-law said he was Jay’s uncle and the Marine said that under the rules he couldn’t say anything. Next of kin only. So when they came and got me off the golf course, the first thing they said was, ‘Jay’s been hurt, but he’s alive’. He wrote me a letter from the hospital. It was so calm and matter-of-fact. If I hadn’t been a ballplayer, I wouldn’t have been away all the time. But the traveling cost me all of it, Jay growing up. If I hadn’t been a ballplayer, I could have developed a real relationship with my son. The years, the headlines, the victories, they’re not worth what they cost us. Jay’s leg.”

“Clem Labine was one of the main reasons the Dodgers won it all in 1955,” Vin Scully said after Labine died at age 80 in 2007. “He had the heart of a lion and the intelligence of a wily fox. And he was a nice guy, too.”

8. Tom Niedenfuer (1981-87, 30-28, 2.76 ERA, 64 saves, 128 ERA+)

Some Dodger fans just remember Niedenfuer as the guy who gave up that home run to Jack Clark. But they are missing the big picture. Niedenfuer was a quality relief pitcher and threw 106 innings that year. He also gave up a game-winning homer to Ozzie Smith earlier in the series. “Looking back on it,” Niedenfuer said in a 2010 interview, “it’s a very proud feeling that your manager had enough confidence in you to be the guy he put in that situation. I wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world because I loved being out there. But when it happened, all I can remember is … you let the team down.”

Niedenfuer was also a key reliever on the 1981 World Series champs, pitching five innings in the World Series, giving up three hits and no earned runs. Niedenfuer lives in Florida with his wife, actress Judy Landers. They have two daughters.

The one thing I remember most about Niedenfuer: After he gave up Clark’s homer, he answered every question from the media after the game. He didn’t hide or go home before reporters arrived. As he said, “Just because I didn’t do my job doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to do yours.”

The Dodgers traded Niedenfuer to the Baltimore Orioles on May 22, 1987, for outfielder John Shelby and pitcher Brad Havens.

Niedenfuer took part in our “Ask….” series. You can read that here.

9. Mike Marshall (1974-76, 28-29, 3.01 ERA, 42 saves, 114 ERA+, 2-time All Star, 1974 Cy Young Award)

Marshall was a man of strong opinions. He felt he could pitch pretty much every day, but most of his managers thought he was a nut. Until he hooked up with Walter Alston, who trusted Marshall and told him to just tell him if he couldn’t pitch, otherwise he’d use him as much as possible. And that set the stage for an incredible 1974 season, where Marshall appeared in 106 games, pitching an amazing 208.1 innings in relief, going 15-12 with a 2.42 ERA and 31 saves. He won the Cy Young Award, becoming the first reliever to do so. But because Marshall was so outspoken, and a big proponent for the burgeoning union, he was usually sent packing quickly by teams. The Dodgers traded him in 1976. In all, Marshall spent 14 seasons in the majors, playing for nine teams. He is also a key background character in Jim Bouton’s book, “Ball Four.”

10. Steve Howe (1980-85, 2.35 ERA, 59 saves, 150 ERA+, 1-time All Star, 1980 NL Rookie of the Year)

The tragic story of Steve Howe in 10 sentences:

1. Won Rookie of the Year award in 1980, then developed a major drug problem when given cocaine at the new conference to announce his award.
2. Was on the mound for the final out of the Dodgers’ 1981 World Series title.
3. Had his best season in 1983, when he had 18 saves and a 1.44 ERA in 68.2 innings.
4. Was suspended for the entire 1984 season.
5. Dodgers finally gave up on him midway through the 1985 season.
6. He bounced in and out of baseball for the rest of the 80s before finally appearing to clean himself up.
7. Pitched for six seasons for the Yankees from 1991-96.
8. Was suspended seven times in his career for substance abuse.
9. In 2006, he was killed in a single-car accident when his truck rolled over in Coachella.
10. An autopsy report found meth in his system.

The next 10: Takashi Saito, Larry Sherry, Phil Regan, Joe Black, Alejandro Peña, Jonathan Broxton, Jeff Shaw, Todd Worrell, Ed Roebuck, Vito Tamulis.

The readers’ top 10

There were 2,302 ballots sent in. Thirty-six relievers received at least one vote, the most diverse ballot of all the positions. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. For those of you who were wondering, I make my choices before I tally your results. Here are your choices:

1. Kenley Jansen, 1,088 first-place votes, 22,027 points
2. Eric Gagné, 953 first-place votes, 21,575 points
3. Ron Perranoski, 153 first-place votes, 14,579 points
4. Mike Marshall, 90 first-place votes, 12,052 points
5. Jim Brewer, 9,659 points
6. Steve Howe, 5,868 points
7. Larry Sherry, 10 first-place votes, 5,732 points
8. Clem Labine, 4,017 points
9. Charlie Hough, 3,972 points
10. Jay Howell, 5 first-place votes, 3,965 points

The next 10: Phil Regan, Tom Niedenfuer, Blake Treinen, Todd Worrell, Jeff Shaw, Jonathan Broxton, Takashi Saito, Alejandro Peña, Joe Black, Evan Phillips.

Top 5 managers

Who are your top five Dodgers managers of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list, in order from 1 (your selection as the best) to 5 (the fifth best) to [email protected] and let me know. Remember, we are considering only what they did with the Dodgers.

Many of you have asked for a list of people to consider for each position. Here is every person who managed the Dodgers for at least 81 games:

Walter Alston, Billy Barnie, Charlie Byrne, Max Carey, Bill Dahlen, Chuck Dressen, Patsy Donovan, Leo Durocher, Charlie Ebbets, Dave Foutz, Burleigh Grimes, Ned Hanlon, Glenn Hoffman, Davey Johnson, Tommy Lasorda, Grady Little, Harry Lumley, Don Mattingly, Bill McGunnigle, Dave Roberts, Wilbert Robinson, Bill Russell, Burt Shotton, Casey Stengel, George Taylor, Joe Torre, Jim Tracy, John Ward.

And finally

Steve Howe gets the final out of the 1981 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Terry Reid, the bombastic British singer who famously passed on fronting both Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, has died. He was 75.

Reid’s representatives confirmed his death in a statement to the Guardian. He had been treated for cancer just before his death, and a GoFundMe had been set up for donations.

Reid, born in Cambridgeshire, England, had a uniquely resonant and soulful voice with an enormous range that earned him the nickname “Superlungs.” He was a coveted figure among the arena-rock titans of the era — even vocal powerhouse Aretha Franklin once claimed in 1968 that “There are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.”

Reid first found local success in the teen rock group the Redbeats, and soon joined the band Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers. After a performance at London’s Marquee club, where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards caught Reid’s set with the Jaywalkers, the Rolling Stones brought the group on a support tour. Also on that package — Ike & Tina Turner and the Yardbirds, then the main project of guitarist Jimmy Page.

Reid, who had also become close friends with Jimi Hendrix then, left the Jaywalkers to become a solo act. The Stones asked him to support them on a U.S. tour. Citing those tour obligations, he declined Page’s offer to front a new group he was forming. Reid instead recommended vocalist Robert Plant and drummer John Bonham of Band of Joy, and that group soon debuted as Led Zeppelin.

“Lots of people asked me to join their bands,” Reid told the Guardian. “I was intent on doing my own thing. I contributed half the band — that’s enough on my part!”

Led Zeppelin wasn’t only the massive act Reid nearly fronted. He also turned down Ritchie Blackmore’s pitch to front Deep Purple, after Rod Evans left the band in 1969. Ian Gillan took the job instead.

As a solo artist, Reid signed a deal with the influential talent manager Mickie Most, and his debut 1968 LP, “Bang Bang, You’re Terry Reid,” included a song, “Without Expression,” he wrote at 14. That song would become a popular cover of the era — John Mellencamp, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and REO Speedwagon all took a crack at it.

He supported Cream, Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull on tour (and nearly opened for the Stones at the infamous Altamont festival, but skipped that date), but he never achieved chart success commensurate with his proximity to fame. Yet exquisitely performed albums like 1973’s ‘River” remain cult classics in the ’70s rock canon, and in the ’80s he turned to session work with Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley and Jackson Browne. Reid befriended Brazilian musicians Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso after they moved to the U.K. during Brazil’s military coup, and he played both the first Isle of Wight festival and opened the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury’s 1971 festival, with David Bowie side stage.

Reid later moved to California and lived outside Palm Springs in his later years. His musical reputation was revived by both the crate-digger era of DJs (the virtuoso turntablist DJ Shadow collaborated with him) and the ’90s and 2000s rockers enamored with his vocal prowess. Chris Cornell, Marianne Faithfull and Jack White’s band the Raconteurs covered his songs. He reportedly recorded a number of unreleased tracks with Dr Dre. Reid told the Guardian the rap mogul “became fascinated with [Reid’s album] ‘Seed of Memory’ and invited me into his studio where we reworked it alongside his rappers, a fascinating experience.”

Reid is survived by his wife, Annette, and daughters Kelly and Holly.

Roki Sasaki topped 100 mph a half-dozen times in four shutout innings of a rehab start for triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, pushing himself back into the conversation for a spot on the Dodgers’ postseason pitching staff.

“We’ve all got to huddle up and figure out what’s the next plan,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I personally don’t know Roki’s plan after tonight.”

Sasaki struggled through four rehab appearances and seemed to have dropped off the Dodgers’ radar. But he gave up just a hit through the first four innings Tuesday before tiring in the fifth, when he gave up three runs, two walks, two hits and a hit batter.

He threw 90 pitches, 52 for strikes, striking out eight and walking four.

It’s unlikely Sasaki, 23, will be considered for a spot in the rotation but he could pitch out of the bullpen.

“Anything’s possible,” Roberts said. “I know he wants to contribute. So we’ve just got to see where he fits in. And we’ll have that conversation as an organization.”

Sasaki went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts before going on the injured list with a shoulder impingement in mid-May. In his first four rehab starts for Oklahoma City, he gave up 17 hits and 11 earned runs in 14 innings.

The Dodgers’ bullpen is starting to get crowded, however, with left-hander Alex Vesia returning from the injured list Tuesday. Vesia was 3-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 59 games before going to the sidelines on Aug. 23 with a right oblique strain. Right-hander Ben Casparius was optioned to Oklahoma City to create a roster spot for Vesia. Casparius was 7-5 with a 4.64 ERA in 46 games.

Roberts said as the postseason roster begins to come together the decisions on who stays and who goes with 2 ½ weeks left in the regular season become harder.

“The conversation with Ben yesterday wasn’t fun for anyone,” he said. “It starts to get tougher.”

He’ll have to have another one of those talks Wednesday before activating utility player Tommy Edman from the injury list. Outfielder Justin Dean, who has appeared mostly as a defensive replacement, batting just twice in 18 games entering Tuesday, is the most likely to be sent down.

It was like Orel Hershiser could hear what Dodger fans were screaming at their TV.

Because, as slumping closer Tanner Scott came trotting into a nightmare ninth inning in Baltimore on Saturday night, the club’s color analyst on SportsNet LA immediately tried to offer a rationalization for his entrance.

“You might be asking, why Tanner Scott tonight?” Hershiser said, moments after the SNLA broadcast showed a clip of the left-hander getting walked off the night before, and moments before he’d get walked off again on a bases-loaded single to end Saturday’s disastrous loss to the Orioles.

Well, Hershiser continued, “If the Dodgers are going to go deep into October, and go back-to-back as world champions, the people Dave Roberts is bringing in have to get it right.”

An unsatisfying answer, perhaps. But one that reflects the precarious reality of the Dodgers’ bullpen situation — with the team feeling little choice but to rely on the high-profile relievers this year’s team was built around.

Granted, Saturday’s collapse epitomized just how difficult that faith has been to maintain.

It starts with Scott, the $72-million offseason signing who was supposed to cement the back end of the unit — not require an explanation from team broadcasters upon entering games in key situations.

It’s been compounded by inconsistencies elsewhere, from similarly scuffling offseason signing Kirby Yates; to Blake Treinen and the unreliable form he has shown since returning from an elbow injury, including a meltdown earlier in Saturday’s ninth inning that forced Scott into an unforgiving situation.

Injuries have also hampered the continuity of the bullpen time and again this season. Hard-throwing right-hander Michael Kopech has been limited to 10 appearances because of arm and knee troubles. Left-handed stalwart Alex Vesia has missed the last two weeks with an oblique strain (though he was set to be activated for this week’s homestand). The team’s only notable trade deadline reliever acquisition, Brock Stewart, made just four outings before going down with a shoulder injury. Evan Phillips is already out for the year with Tommy John surgery. It’s unclear if Brusdar Graterol will return from a shoulder procedure in time to pitch at all this year.

All of those names were supposed to make up the core of this year’s relief unit — the high-leverage pieces that the front office decided to invest in, and Roberts expected he’d be able to trust.

Instead, they’ve been the biggest culprits behind the bullpen’s 4.21 ERA on the season (which ranks 19th in the majors) and a spate of recent painful late-game losses that have kept the Dodgers mired in a two-month slump.

Moving forward, it has left Roberts and his club facing a difficult decision: Continue to trust that underperforming crop of supposed lockdown arms, or look for alternatives from less proven options elsewhere?

For now, the former appears to remain their preferred choice.

If the bullpen is to turn things around, they’ve decided, it will require their biggest names to simply start pitching better.

“These are the guys we signed off on, we believe in,” Roberts said Sunday. “Not to say that you’ve got to have blind faith forever. I understand that. But … I’m going to keep giving [opportunities] to them, until I don’t.”

Pitching coach Mark Prior echoed that same message, reiterating that “those are our guys, and we believe in them,” even as the team searches for late-season improvements.

“The results haven’t been there. It hasn’t been good,” Prior added. “[But we have to] move forward with the three weeks we have left in the season and get on a run. Things happen very fast in this game.”

Prior pointed to last season, when the Dodgers faced other — though much less alarming — bullpen questions leading up to the playoffs. At that time, they didn’t have a set closer in the ninth inning. Several key pieces were either hurt or scuffling in the second half.

Treinen, in particular, was one of the bigger uncertainties, after missing two weeks in August with a hip injury that also doubled as a reset amid a midseason slump. Once he returned, however, the right-hander transformed into the Dodgers’ most trusted late-game option. “Next thing you know, he’s the MVP of our team in the playoffs,” Prior said.

The stability he provided also helped the rest of the bullpen, which effectively carried the Dodgers to their World Series title, flourish around him.

“If they see a guy having some success, things just snowball,” Prior said, describing how successes (and failures) can often feel contagious among a bullpen at large.

That’s the kind of dynamic the Dodgers are trying to rediscover again this year.

It’s why Scott (despite his 4.56 ERA and 12 combined blown saves and losing decisions) keeps getting late-game opportunities. And why Treinen (4.26 ERA), Yates (4.71 ERA) and other disappointments in the Dodgers’ beleaguered relief corps have been given continued leash to work to get back to the best version of themselves.

On paper, those are the most veteran, most experienced, and most trustworthy options on this year’s team. They have, as Roberts has repeatedly reiterated of late, the kind of “track record” the club is still willing to bet on. If just a couple of them can figure things out and get on a dominant run, more unit-wide success might follow in their wake.

“When you’re talking about winning 11 games in October, getting there [requires] guys that you can trust in that hot box of moments,” Roberts said.

“[This] is who we have, it’s not like that’s changing,” Prior added. “So we just gotta keep getting there.”

That doesn’t mean the team will endure more struggles forever. The clock is ticking on the Dodgers’ expected leverage group to finally find a way to realize their potential.

On Sunday morning, for example, Roberts said Scott could be shifted out of his ninth-inning role as he tries to iron out command problems that have led him to consistently miss down the middle. Later that day, the manager entrusted a late-game lead to three rookies in Edgardo Henriquez (who escaped a jam but had shaky command), Justin Wrobleski (who struck out five over two scoreless innings in one of his best outings this year) and Jack Dreyer (a steady left-hander this season who now has three saves to go along with his sub-3.00 ERA) to close out a skid-snapping win against the Orioles.

Come the playoffs, there could be another wild card. Two-way star Shohei Ohtani will likely be needed in the starting rotation, but Roberts acknowledged there have been “thoughts about” whether he could factor into some kind of potential ninth-inning role as well.

“I can’t answer that question right now,” Roberts said. “But I think that we’re going to do whatever we feel is the best chance to give us a chance to win. And I know Shohei would be open to whatever. We certainly haven’t made that decision yet, though.”

But before they get there, much will depend on the actual relievers they expected to be able to count on this season. For as ugly as the performances have been to this point, the Dodgers haven’t yet abandoned all hope for a turnaround.

“I live in a world of, what’s the alternative?” Roberts said. “I just don’t feel that Edgardo Henriquez, for example” — who has 17 career major-league innings — “is now the savior.”

“It’s not a knock on Edgardo, because he’s throwing the heck out of the baseball,” Roberts added. “But you look at our ‘pen, there’s a confidence thing right now that [other guys have] got to get over.”

Over the final three weeks of the regular season, the Dodgers feel their best bet is banking on them to do just that.

“Look, it can turn really quick,” Prior said. “This game is so much about feeling confident … Getting, and being able to stack good outings or quality at-bats. When you’re able to start stacking those things, you feel good. And like anything, if you feel good, you feel better about your stuff. You have more confidence. You feel that you can get anybody out in any situation.”

The Dodgers’ top relievers, of course, appear to be a long way from that at the moment.

But “at the core of it,” Prior insisted, even after the frustrations of the bullpen’s continued failures, “we believe in who we have.”

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. That beeping sound you hear is the Dodgers and Padres trying to back into the NL West title.

If you believe in foreshadowing, then the Dodgers’ loss on Saturday against the Orioles in not a good sign.

Here was my thought process as the game unfolded:

“Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a no-hitter in the ninth. He could be the true ace of the team. I hope he gets the no-no.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, losing the no-hitter and shutout on one pitch. Why didn’t Andy Pages make more of an attempt to catch that ball? It’s a no-hitter, you have to try harder than that.”

“With how bad the Dodgers’ bullpen has been, I’m not sure I’d take Yamamoto out. Give him one more batter.”

“At least they are bringing in Blake Treinen, not Tanner Scott. This game is well in hand.”

“Treinen doesn’t have it tonight. Maybe bring in Edgardo Henriquez or Jack Dreyer. Give Scott a mental rest from tough situations. Maybe Henriquez or Dreyer can give them a big boost psychologically by getting out of this.”

“Oh no, they are bringing in Scott.”

“Wow, one of the worst losses in recent memory. I’m afraid to look at my emails.”

By the way, to be fair to Pages, different angles showed there was no way he would have caught the ball unless he became Mr. Fantastic and could stretch his arms a few feet. Orioles staff working the area said it first landed about 18 inches higher that it appeared on TV. But at the time, you want to see the effort, don’t you? Dave Roberts had this to say to reporters: “I’d like to think that if there was any chance to make a play on a no-hitter play that you would just exhaust every effort. But again, I couldn’t tell, and I refuse to go back and look at it.” (I’m not so sure, “I refuse to go back and look at it,” is the best response from a manager.)

I remember a game where Shawn Green was in right field. I forget who the pitcher was, but he had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, and the batter hit a liner to shallow right. Green came in and instead of diving, pulled up and played it on the bounce. Fans were irate with Green for not diving for the ball, even though he wouldn’t have caught it. But sometimes players and management forget that the fan at home lives vicariously through the players. Many fans watching had a dreams of playing pro baseball. And in the mind of the fan, we would dive for every ball. We would give 100% on every play! Whether that is realistic or not doesn’t matter. Players and management sometimes need to put themselves in the position of the fan.

You know, for the last few seasons, everything has seemingly gone right for the Dodgers. Most of the breaks went their way. They got a lot of key hits and great relief. This year, not so much. Is the magic gone?

But the most frustrating thing to me, is the lack of urgency, and a growing lack of hustle. Mookie Betts, who is the king of hustle, hit a ball off the wall in the ninth inning Sunday, and was held to a single when he didn’t run hard right out of the box. And this is the guy whose hustle put him on first base in the infamous fifth-inning Yankees meltdown, when pitcher Gerrit Cole failed to cover first. And I don’t mean to pick on just Betts. There is a lack of apparent hustle in the outfield going after balls. I get the sense, but don’t know, that Teoscar Hernández is still hurting from the bruised bone is his foot and strained groin he had earlier this season, because he built his career on hustle and it stopped happening soon after those injuries. But the lack of hustle is team wide. You don’t know what is in the heart or mind of a person, so to say they don’t care this year is unfair. You don’t reach the majors by not caring. But something is off.

Remember after the Dodgers won the World Series last season, and players said afterward that they knew they could beat the Yankees because of their weaknesses, lack of positioning and bad defense? Well, that’s how the Dodgers are playing right now. There are a lot of things to clean up.

So now what? Max Muncy should be back in the lineup today against Oakland. If he is still hitting like he did, then that is huge. He is the one Dodger to consistently work the count and make the pitcher put in a little extra effort. That has a cascading effect throughout the lineup. It should also remove one of the weaker hitters from the lineup.

Will Smith should be back in the lineup soon after bruising a bone in his hand when taking a foul tip off it. Hands are a key part of hitting, so a bone bruise (and it’s bad enough that the Dodgers said he will have to manage it the rest of the season) could hamper his swing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Tyler Glasnow seems to have recovered from the tight back that caused him to miss his scheduled start Friday. Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia should be back to help, with Vesia perhaps coming back today. Tommy Edman should be back soon. All this should help.

People still tell me the Dodgers have no chance of winning the World Series this year. I tell those people they should be headed to Vegas and placing bets since they know what’s going to happen. If you asked me today, “Will the Dodgers win the World Series?” I’d say it looks unlikely the way they are playing. But, the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2006 World Series after finishing the season 83-78. The 1987 Minnesota Twins were 85-77. If we knew who was going to win, there’s be no reason the play the postseason at all.

Shohei Ohtani, closer?

Could Ohtani be moved to the bullpen?

Roberts: “There’s obviously thoughts about that. I can’t answer that question right now. But we’re going to do whatever we feel gives us the best chance to give us a chance to win. And I know Shohei would be open to whatever. We haven’t certainly made that decision.”

Wait, I figured it out

Last season, the Dodgers weren’t supposed to be champions because, while they had a great bullpen and a good offense, they had no starting pitching. They won anyway. This year, they want to prove that you can win with great starting pitcher, but no bullpen and an inconsistent offense.

The postseason

Here’s how the postseason race pans out after Monday’s games:

NL
1. Milwaukee, 89-55
2. Philadelphia, 83-60
3. Dodgers, 79-64

Wild-cards
4. Chicago, 81-62
5. San Diego, 78-65
6. New York, 76-67

7. San Francisco, 72-71
8. Cincinnati, 72-71

AL
1. Toronto, 82-61
2. Detroit, 82-62
3. Houston, 78-66

Wild-cards
4. New York, 80-63
5. Boston, 79-65
6. Seattle, 75-68

7. Texas, 74-70
8. Kansas City, 73-70
9. Cleveland, 72-70

The Dodgers have three games remaining with Philadelphia, which could be crucial in determining the No. 2 seed. Right now, the Phillies lead the season series, 2-1. Whoever wins the season series has the tiebreaker advantage. If they tie, 3-3, in games, then the second tiebreaker is record within their own division. Right now, the Dodgers are 26-13 against the West and the Phillies are 23-19 against the East.

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

Up next

Monday: Colorado (Chase Dollander, 2-12, 6.77 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Colorado (Germán Márquez, 3-12, 6.19 ERA) at Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 3-4, 3.19 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Colorado (*Kyle Freeland, 4-14, 5.10 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 3.75 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Davey Johnson, former Dodgers manager who also guided Mets to title, dies at 82

Does anyone want to win the NL West? | Dodgers Debate

And finally

Mike Scioscia hits a key two-run homer during Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Chatbot builder Anthropic agreed to pay $1.5 billion to authors in a landmark copyright settlement that could redefine how artificial intelligence companies compensate creators.

The San Francisco-based startup is ready to pay authors and publishers to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally using their work to train its chatbot.

Anthropic developed an AI assistant named Claude that can generate text, images, code and more. Writers, artists and other creative professionals have raised concerns that Anthropic and other tech companies are using their work to train their AI systems without their permission and not fairly compensating them.

As part of the settlement, which the judge still needs to be approve, Anthropic agreed to pay authors $3,000 per work for an estimated 500,000 books. It’s the largest settlement known for a copyright case, signaling to other tech companies facing copyright infringement allegations that they might have to pay rights holders eventually as well.

Meta and OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, have also been sued over alleged copyright infringement. Walt Disney Co. and Universal Pictures have sued AI company Midjourney, which the studios allege trained its image generation models on their copyrighted materials.

“It will provide meaningful compensation for each class work and sets a precedent requiring AI companies to pay copyright owners,” said Justin Nelson, a lawyer for the authors, in a statement. “This settlement sends a powerful message to AI companies and creators alike that taking copyrighted works from these pirate websites is wrong.”

Last year, authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic, alleging that the company committed “large-scale theft” and trained its chatbot on pirated copies of copyrighted books.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco ruled in June that Anthropic’s use of the books to train the AI models constituted “fair use,” so it wasn’t illegal. But the judge also ruled that the startup had improperly downloaded millions of books through online libraries.

Fair use is a legal doctrine in U.S. copyright law that allows for the limited use of copyrighted materials without permission in certain cases, such as teaching, criticism and news reporting. AI companies have pointed to that doctrine as a defense when sued over alleged copyright violations.

Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI employees and backed by Amazon, pirated at least 7 million books from Books3, Library Genesis and Pirate Library Mirror, online libraries containing unauthorized copies of copyrighted books, to train its software, according to the judge.

It also bought millions of print copies in bulk and stripped the books’ bindings, cut their pages and scanned them into digital and machine-readable forms, which Alsup found to be in the bounds of fair use, according to the judge’s ruling.

In a subsequent order, Alsup pointed to potential damages for the copyright owners of books downloaded from the shadow libraries LibGen and PiLiMi by Anthropic.

Although the award was massive and unprecedented, it could have been much worse, according to some calculations. If Anthropic were charged a maximum penalty for each of the millions of works it used to train its AI, the bill could have been more than $1 trillion, some calculations suggest.

Anthropic disagreed with the ruling and didn’t admit wrongdoing.

“Today’s settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs’ remaining legacy claims,” said Aparna Sridhar, deputy general counsel for Anthropic, in a statement. “We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.”

The Anthropic dispute with authors is one of many cases where artists and other content creators are challenging the companies behind generative AI to compensate for the use of online content to train their AI systems.

Training involves feeding enormous quantities of data — including social media posts, photos, music, computer code, video and more — to train AI bots to discern patterns of language, images, sound and conversation that they can mimic.

Some tech companies have prevailed in copyright lawsuits filed against them.

In June, a judge dismissed a lawsuit authors filed against Facebook parent company Meta, which also developed an AI assistant, alleging that the company stole their work to train its AI systems. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria noted that the lawsuit was tossed because the plaintiffs “made the wrong arguments,” but the ruling didn’t “stand for the proposition that Meta’s use of copyrighted materials to train its language models is lawful.”

Trade groups representing publishers praised the Anthropic settlement on Friday, noting it sends a big signal to tech companies that are developing powerful artificial intelligence tools.

“Beyond the monetary terms, the proposed settlement provides enormous value in sending the message that Artificial Intelligence companies cannot unlawfully acquire content from shadow libraries or other pirate sources as the building blocks for their models,” said Maria Pallante, president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The IAEA has urged Syria to cooperate fully over allegations it had been building a covert nuclear reactor at the site – allegations Syria denies.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has said its inspectors discovered uranium particles at a site in Syria it suspects was once used as part of a clandestine nuclear programme run by the former government of Bashar al-Assad.

Last year, inspectors visited and took environmental samples at “three locations that were allegedly functionally related” to the remote desert site Deir el-Zour, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Fredrik Dahl said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Analysis revealed a significant number of anthropogenic natural uranium particles in samples taken at one of the three locations. Some of these uranium particles are consistent with the conversion of uranium ore concentrate to uranium oxide,” said Dahl. This would be typical of a nuclear power reactor.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi reported these findings to the agency’s board of directors on Monday in a report on developments in Syria.

The report also stated that “the current Syrian authorities indicated that they had no information that might explain the presence of such uranium particles.”

The IAEA urged Syria on Tuesday to cooperate fully over allegations that it had been building a covert nuclear reactor at Deir Az Zor.

Syria has repeatedly denied these allegations.

The Deir Az Zor site only became public knowledge after Israel – which is the Middle East’s only state with nuclear weapons, although it has not declared its own programme – launched air strikes in 2007, destroying the facility. Syria later levelled the site and never responded fully to the IAEA’s questions.

An IAEA team visited some sites of interest last year while al-Assad was still in power. After al-Assad’s fall last December in a rebel offensive on the capital Damascus, the new government led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa agreed to cooperate with the agency and again provided inspectors access to the site where the uranium particles had been found.

They took more samples there and “will evaluate the results of all of the environmental samples taken at this location and the information acquired from the planned visit to the site, and may conduct follow-up activities, as necessary”, Dahl said on Tuesday.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency in June during a visit to Damascus, Grossi said al-Sharaa had expressed an interest in pursuing nuclear energy for Syria in the future. The IAEA said Syria granted its inspectors access to the location for a second time to gather more samples.

A number of other countries in the region are pursuing nuclear energy in some form. Grossi said Syria would most likely be looking into small modular reactors, which are cheaper and easier to deploy than traditional large ones.

He also said the IAEA is prepared to help Syria rebuild the radiotherapy, nuclear medicine and oncology infrastructure in a health system severely weakened by nearly 14 years of civil war.

San Diego Padres pitcher Jason Adam is out for the season after he ruptured a quad tendon Monday when planting his left foot while trying to field a comebacker.

Now we know what can tilt a pennant race between two teams whose performance has been roughly even with a month to go before the playoffs.

An injury is never celebrated, but it can prompt a feeling of relief, which is probably the Dodgers’ unspoken reaction.

Adam, you see, is untouchable when pitching against the Dodgers. He has never given up a run to them in 15 appearances dating back to 2019.

A 6-foot-3, right-handed reliever with a funky, short-armed delivery, Adam hasn’t been scored on in six appearances against the Dodgers this season, five appearances last season — including three in the National League Division Series — two more in 2023 and two in 2019.

Dodgers hitters are seven for 51 (.137) with one double, two walks and 16 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings against Adam, who usually pitches the seventh or eighth inning, although he does have 24 career saves.

Adam is tough for anyone to hit, despite being particularly dominant against Los Angeles. Acquired by the Padres from the Tampa Bay Rays at the 2024 trade deadline, he is 11-4 with a 1.37 earned-run average in 92 appearances since then.

Now, though, he is sidelined until 2026, and the Padres recognize that the loss is profound.

“When that happens, you focus on the big picture, his health, what it means to the team,” Padres outfielder Gavin Sheets told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It definitely puts a dark cloud over the day for all of us.”

The Padres — like the Dodgers — have lost key players to injury. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts is on the injured list with a fracture in his left foot. All-Star right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. pulled his right hamstring Sunday and did not play Monday.

General manager A.J. Preller fortified the roster at the trading deadline, and Adam told him after the injury Monday that he was grateful for the addition of dynamic reliever Mason Miller.

“I told A.J., I’m really glad he went out and got Mason,” Adam told reporters. “I’m excited to cheer those guys on.

“Knowing this group, the mental toughness they have, the skill, there is everything in this clubhouse to win the World Series. You want to be a part of that…. That’s the hardest part.”

The Dodgers figured they had tilted the bullpen balance in their direction when they signed Padres closer Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72-million free-agent contract during the offseason.

But Scott has been disappointing, posting a 4.44 ERA with eight blown saves for the Dodgers, including giving up a three-run home run Sunday.

Miller, meanwhile, has a 1.64 ERA in 11 appearances with the Padres. All he could think about Monday was his teammate Adam.

“Really heartbreaking…. obviously, it sucks losing him, not only for what he does on the mound but the type of person he is,” Miller said.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The way I see it, the Dodgers needed to go 21-10 in their final 31 games to guarantee that they win the NL West (remember, they only have to tie the Padres), which means the Padres would have to go 22-9. Right now the Dodgers are 4-2, the Padres are 2-5.

Random thoughts

—The most frustrating thing about this year’s team is they seem to defeat themselves much more frequently than last year’s team. Baserunning mistakes. Fielding problems, with balls that seem to be catchable dropping. Going two or three games seemingly forgetting what makes them a great offense: working the count and tiring the pitcher. So, while I do believe in the importance of not taking any one loss too hard, the frustration can be understandable.

—Case in point, the Dodgers sweep Cincinnati, which is battling for a postseason spot, then almost get swept by Arizona, which is on the fringe of battling for a spot at best.

—The other thing to keep in mind: The Dodgers are defending World Series champions. For some teams, playing the Dodgers is their postseason. If they can play spoiler, they can hold their heads up just a little bit higher. Should the Dodgers respond? Sure. But the narrative that this is an underachieving franchise went away after last season’s title.

—Those of you hoping that the Dodgers would move Mookie Betts back to right field can stop rubbing your lucky rabbit’s foot. It didn’t work. “Mookie,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters, “will not go to right field…. When you’re talking about shortstop play, you’re looking for consistency, and I’ve just loved the consistency. He’s made every play he’s supposed to make, and then the last couple weeks, he’s made spectacular plays. He’s been a big part of preventing runs.“

—By the way, since Aug. 8, when a certain newsletter writer said Betts should move down in the order, he has hit .321/.398/.444.

—The Dodgers play Pittsburgh next. The Pirates have the third-worst record in the NL, so another trap series for the Dodgers.

—I still miss the Cool-a-Coo.

—The Dodgers were cruising along Sunday behind one of Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s best starts in the majors (seven innings, one run, four hits, no walks, 10 strikeouts) when Tanner Scott came in and lost the entire three-run lead in the eighth inning.

Scott was signed to a four-year, $72-million deal during the offseason after he went 9-6 with a 1.75 ERA and 22 saves for the Marlins and Padres last season. It was his second strong season in a row and the signing was heralded as another example of the Dodgers outspending their opponents and ruining the game of baseball. Andrew Friedman had rarely shown a willingness to give a long, large deal to a reliever (and he probably will think twice before doing it again). Scott signed two days after the Dodgers landed Roki Sasaki and before they signed reliever Kirby Yates, sort of a triumvirate of sadness for the team this season.

“He’s someone that we have watched and admired from afar over the years and have tried to acquire multiple times,” general manager Brandon Gomes said at Scott’s introductory news conference. “Tanner possesses all of the qualities we value as an organization when looking to bring on a free agent.”

Roberts told Jack Harris just before the season began: “The fear in the batter’s box against him is certainly real,” he said of Scott, who pitched three scoreless innings in the NLDS and struck out Shohei Ohtani all four times he faced him. “I’m happy he’s on our side 1756824254,” Roberts added, comparing the quiet, bearded pitcher to an “assassin” on the mound.

So far, less like an “assassin” and more like Maxwell Smart.

This season, Scott is 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA. Last season, Scott blew only two saves. This season? Eight, which is second in the majors. Last season, he came in with 19 runners on base…. and none of them scored. That’s amazing! This season, two of nine runners he inherited have scored. Last season, he allowed 5.6 hits per nine innings. This season, 8.5.

So, what’s going to happen? Based on Dodgers history, nothing. The Dodgers don’t give up on players. They keep trotting them out there, hoping it will turn around. Sometimes it doesn’t work: Chris Taylor. Sometimes it works: Max Muncy.

So don’t be surprised if nothing happens. If they keep sending him out there, hoping he turns things around. This is how the Dodgers operate. Let’s not be surprised about it.

However, Roberts did say recently, “I just think that we’ve got to play the best players and that’s just the way it should be, right?… “Obviously Shohei is going to be playing. Mookie is going to be playing. But the point being is, we’ve got to ramp it up and we’ve got to be better. If some other guys deserve more opportunities, then they’re going to get them. That’s just the way it should be.”

By the way, Scott is one of the rare left-handed closers in history. There have been many great right-handed closers, but comparatively few left-handed. The best left-handed closers of all time were Billy Wagner, John Franco, Sparky Lyle and Randy Myers. Only seven of the top 50 all-time in saves were left-handed. That’s 14%. Historically, around 25% of pitchers in MLB history each year are left-handed.

Walker Buehler

Some fans were unhappy when the Dodgers didn’t make a real attempt to re-sign Walker Buehler after his postseason heroics. And while it’s true that Buehler does have that swagger that has been missing often this season with the team, it appears they made the right decision. The Boston Red Sox gave him a one-year, $21.05-million deal. Buehler went 7-7 with a 5.38 ERA and the Red Sox released him last week. After he cleared waivers, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and will join their rotation after making a start in the minors. Which leads me to my new nightmare: Game 7 of the NLCS, the Dodgers trail by one in the ninth inning. Bases loaded, one out. And who comes in to shut the Dodgers down and save the game?

By the way, if the Dodgers do tie the Padres for first in the NL West this season, you can thank Buehler for the Padres not getting that one extra win they needed. Buehler’s best start this season came on Aug. 8 at San Diego when he pitched six shutout innings against the Padres. It was Buehler’s last win this season.

It’s never fun to see a storied Dodger fail, no matter where he goes. Hopefully Buehler can recapture his old magic at some point and have a long, good career. Just not against the Dodgers.

Notes

—The Dodgers activated Hyeseong Kim and Michael Kopech from the IL on Monday, bringing their roster to the 28 allowed in September.

—The Dodgers signed pitcher Andrew Heaney, who had been released by Pittsburgh. Heaney, a left-hander, is 5-10 with a 5.39 ERA this season. He was signed in time to be postseason eligible if need be. He was sent to triple-A Oklahoma City. Heaney had one of the best seasons of his career in 2022 with the Dodgers, when he went 4-4 with a 3.10 ERA in 14 starts. It’s hard to see exactly where he fits in on this team, but if injuries crop up, he could contribute.

—Max Muncy’s return was delayed after he came down with some sort of cold or flu. He should be back during the next homestand.

—Since moving to the bullpen at Oklahoma City, Bobby Miller has given up eight hits in 12.2 innings, walking seven and striking out 14 with an ERA of 3.68.

—The Padres were dealt a tough injury Sunday when reliever Jason Adam suffered a ruptured tendon in his left quadriceps and will be out for the season. Adam was their primary setup man and was 8-3 with a 1.81 ERA this season.

A different race

The race for the NL batting title is going to be interesting to follow. Here are the top seven after Monday’s games:

Trea Turner, Philadelphia, .301 (.300 over last week)
Freddie Freeman, .300 (.235)
Sal Frelick, Milwaukee, .298 (.269)
Will Smith, .293 (.167)
Ketel Marte, Arizona, .290 (.316)
Brice Turang, Milwaukee, .2888 (.300)
Nico Hoerner, Chicago, .2886 (.263)

Dropping out of the top seven since we last checked: Geraldo Perdomo. Joining the list: Turang.

The postseason

Here’s how the postseason race pans out after Monday’s games:

NL
1. Milwaukee, 85-54
2. Philadelphia, 80-58
3. Dodgers, 78-59

Wild-cards
4. Chicago, 79-59
5. San Diego, 76-62
6. New York, 74-64

7. Cincinnati, 70-68
8. San Francisco, 69-69

AL
1. Detroit, 80-59
2. Toronto, 79-59
3. Houston, 76-62

Wild-cards
4. New York, 76-61
5. Boston, 77-62
6. Seattle, 73-65

7. Texas, 72-67
8. Kansas City, 70-67
9. Cleveland, 68-68

The Dodgers have three games remaining with Philadelphia, which could be crucial in determining the No. 2 seed. Right now, the Phillies lead the season series, 2-1. Whoever wins the season series has the tiebreaker advantage. If they tie, 3-3, in games, then the second tiebreaker is record within their own division. Right now, the Dodgers are 26-13 against the West and the Phillies are 23-19 against the East.

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

Up next

Tuesday: Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 9-2, 3.06 ERA) at Pittsburgh (Carmen Mlodzinski, 3-2, 1.97 ERA), 3:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 4.18 ERA) at Pittsburgh (Braxton Ashcroft, 3-7, 3.86 ERA), 3:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Thursday: Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 3-3, 2.41 ERA) at Pittsburgh (Paul Skenes, 9-9, 2.05 ERA), 3:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Hernández: Everyone can stop wondering. Mookie Betts isn’t moving back to right field

State legislators heed L.A. mayor and council, spurn McCourt on gondola legislation

Bookie linked to Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter sentenced to prison

And finally

Steve Yeager hits a three-run homer during the 1977 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The way I see it, the Dodgers needed to go 21-10 in their final 31 games to win the NL West (remember, they only have to tie the Padres), which meant the Padres would have to go 22-9. Right now the Dodgers are 3-0, the Padres are 1-2.

The Dodgers made a couple of changes since the last newsletter. Kiké Hernández was activated from the IL, which brings to an end the Buddy Kennedy era of the Dodgers. He was designated for assignment.

The Dodgers also activated relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates from the IL. If they return and pitch like they did last season, then it’s like the Dodgers acquired two great relievers at the trade deadline. We’ll have to wait and see. To make room for Scott and Yates, reliever Matt Sauer was sent to the minors and Blake Snell was added to the paternity list.

Snell spent a couple of days on the paternity list then was activated when the Dodgers put reliever Alex Vesia on the IL. Vesia has a strained right oblique, which is the same thing sidelining Max Muncy. The external oblique muscle is one of the outer abdominal muscles, extending from the lower half of the ribs around and down to the pelvis. These guys wouldn’t strain their obliques if they would insulate them in a nice layer or two of fat like I have.

Freddie Freeman is dealing with a neck issue, Alex Call has a sore back.

Right now, the Dodgers 26-man roster is:

Pitchers
*Anthony Banda
Ben Casparius
*Jack Dreyer
Tyler Glasnow
Edgardo Henriquez
*Clayton Kershaw
*Tanner Scott
Emmet Sheehan
*Blake Snell
Blake Treinen
*Justin Wrobleski
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Kirby Yates

*-left-handed

Two-way players
Shohei Ohtani

Catchers
Dalton Rushing
Will Smith

Infielders
Mookie Betts
Alex Freeland
Freddie Freeman
Kiké Hernández
Miguel Rojas

Outfielders
Alex Call
Michael Conforto
Justin Dean
Teoscar Hernández
Andy Pages

Beginning Monday, clubs can expand their rosters to 28, with no more than 14 pitchers. The Dodgers have the following players who could be coming off the IL in September: Vesia, Muncy, reliever Michael Kopech, pitcher Roki Sasaki, utility players Hyeseong Kim and Tommy Edman.

If all six of them are activated, which four players from the current roster go bye bye? Wrobelski, Dean. Who else? Or will there be an injury or two to open a spot? (Knowing the Dodgers, probably.) Which 26 players will make the postseason roster? Who will be the starting pitchers in the postseason?

It will be interesting to watch.

A different view

Once again, in the quest to give you some different voices to hear from during the season, I have reached out to Clint Pasillas, the host and creator of “All Dodgers,” a (mostly) daily YouTube live podcast (you can watch it here), and co-host of “Dodgers Territory” with Alanna Rizzo on the Foul Territory Network (you can watch it here). He’s been writing about, talking about, tweeting about the Dodgers online since 2008.

This interview was conducted via email.

Q. How did you become a Dodger fan?

Pasillas: Simply put, I became a diehard fan by going to my first game. It wasn’t an important game by any stretch of the imagination — Dodgers vs Marlins in some mostly meaningless late-August game in 2002. Up to that point, I had watched the team off and on when games were on KTLA 5 for years. But going to that first game… showing up late (like a true Dodger fan) and hearing this insane roar of the crowd from the stadium through my rolled down window in my car while looking to find spot in the parking lot. In that moment, I was hooked.

That crowd roar, by the way, was a Dodger homer off the bat of Mike Kinkade. The Dodgers won it on a walk-off that night. Shawn Green doubled home Adrian Beltré. Good times!

Q. How important do you think it is for the Dodgers to win the NL West this season?

Pasillas: I feel like it’s massive. Avoiding a short wild-card series will do wonders for my heart, for one. Of course, it’ll also be beneficial to get some rest after the grind of 162. At least now that the Dodgers have seemingly cracked the code to surviving those five days off. Plus, lining up the rotation the way they want never hurts.

Quieting Padres fans is a fun reason to win the division as well.

Q. A genie grants your wish and says you are the owner of the Dodgers and can make three immediate changes. What changes do you make? And keep in mind it doesn’t have to be player changes.

Pasillas: If I have a genie, I’m assuming I’m already immensely wealthy (having used a wish on mad cash). So, making money to me wouldn’t be as critical in this hypothetical. With that set up out of the way, as the magic, genie-wielding owner of the Dodgers, I would make the ballpark experience affordable for fans again. Parking prices down. Ticket prices reasonable. Concessions not insane. Is that three wishes or four?

Q. If the postseason started tomorrow, and assuming all the players who are expected back from the IL do come back from the IL, what would be your 26-man postseason roster?

Pasillas:

Pitchers
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (rotation)
Blake Snell (rotation)
Shohei Ohtani (rotation)
Clayton Kershaw (rotation)
Anthony Banda
Ben Casparius
Jack Dreyer
Tyler Glasnow
Edgardo Henriquez
Michael Kopech
Tanner Scott
Emmet Sheehan
Blake Treinen
Alex Vesia
(Sorry, Kirby)

Position Players
DH Shohei Ohtani
C Will Smith
1B Freddie Freeman
2B Kiké Hernandez
3B Max Muncy
SS Mookie Betts
LF Teoscar Hernandez
CF Tommy Edman
RF Andy Pages
Bench Dalton Rushing
Bench Miguel Rojas
Bench Hyeseong Kim
Bench Alex Call

Q. When would you have given up on Michael Conforto?

Pasillas: January 26, 1986, when the Bears won the Super Bowl (shout out Chris Farley for that one). My real answer… likely June?

Q. Who are your three favorites to win the World Series?

Pasillas: Dodgers in 5, Dodgers in 4, Dodgers in 6.

A different race

The race for the NL batting title is going to be interesting to follow. Here are the top seven after Thursday’s games:

Freddie Freeman, .302 (.292 over last seven days)
Trea Turner, Philadelphia, .299 (.185)
Sal Frelick, Milwaukee, .298 (.280)
Will Smith, .295 (.118)
Nico Hoerner, Chicago, .290 (.318)
Geraldo Perdomo, Arizona, .290 (.429)
Ketel Marte, Arizona, .289 (.238)

Dropping out of the top seven since we last checked: Manny Machado, Xavier Edwards. Joining the list: Perdomo and Marte.

The postseason

Here’s how the postseason race pans out after Thursday’s games.

NL
1. Milwaukee, 83-52
2. Philadelphia, 77-57
3. Dodgers, 77-57

wild-cards
4. Chicago, 76-58
5. San Diego, 75-59
6. New York, 72-62

7. Cincinnati, 68-66
8. San Francisco, 66-68

AL
1. Toronto, 78-56
2. Detroit, 78-57
3. Houston, 74-60

wild-cards
4. Boston, 75-60
5. New York, 74-60
6. Seattle, 72-62

7. Kansas City, 69-65
8. Texas, 68-67
9. Cleveland, 66-66

The Dodgers have three games remaining with Philadelphia, which could be crucial in determining the No. 2 seed. Right now, the Phillies lead the season series, 2-1. Whoever wins the season series has the tiebreaker advantage. If they tie, 3-3, in games, then the second tiebreaker is record within their own division. Right now, the Dodgers are 25-11 against the West and the Phillies are 21-18 against the East.

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

Comparing the innings

Just to show you how much baseball can change even in a period as short as 10 years, let’s look at the Dodgers innings-pitched leaders every 10 years starting in 1965:

1965
Sandy Koufax, 335.2 (8.14 innings per start)
Don Drysdale, 308.1 (7.32)
Claude Osteen, 287 (7.18)

Dodgers used 12 pitchers and had 58 complete games.

1975
Andy Messersmith, 321.2 (7.98)
Doug Rau, 257.2 (6.78)
Don Sutton, 254.1 (7.27)

Dodgers used 14 pitchers and had 51 complete games.

1985
Fernando Valenzuela, 272.1 (7.78)
Orel Hershiser, 239.2 (6.90)
Jerry Reuss, 212.2 (6.38)

Dodgers used 14 pitchers and had 37 complete games.

1995
Ramón Martínez, 206.1 (6.88)
Ismael Valdéz, 197.2 (6.96)
Hideo Nomo, 191.1 (6.83)

Dodgers used 21 pitchers and had 16 complete games

2005
Jeff Weaver, 224 (6.59)
Derek Lowe, 222 (6.34)
Brad Penny, 175.1 (6.05)

Dodgers used 20 pitchers and had six complete games

2015
Clayton Kershaw, 232.2 (7.1 innings per start)
Zack Greinke, 222.2 (6.94)
Brett Anderson, 180.1 (5.81

Dodgers used 31 pitchers and had six complete games.

2025
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 139.2 (5.59)
Dustin May, 104 (5.52)
Clayton Kershaw, 88.1 (5.2)

Dodgers have used 39 pitchers and have no complete games.

Odd stat alert

Will Smith has more sacrifice flies since 2020 than any other player in the majors.

1. Smith, 41
2. Eugenio Suarez, 40
3. Xander Bogaerts, 35
4. Cody Bellinger, 33
4. Ryan Mountcastle, 33

The next highest Dodger is Freddie Freeman, tied for 18th place with 27

The new schedule is here!

You hopefully read that headline for this topic in the same manner as Steve Martin when the new phone book arrived in “The Jerk.”

The 2026 Dodgers schedule was released earlier this week. They open at home on March 26 against Arizona and their final game is Sept. 24 against San Diego before they close the season with three games at San Francisco. No game times have been announced, but you can check out the schedule by clicking here.

Up next

Friday: Arizona (Zac Gallen, 9-13, 5.13 ERA) at Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 3-2, 1.97 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Arizona (*Eduardo Rodriguez, 5-8, 5.67 ERA) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-2, 3.36 ERA), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Arizona (Brandon Pfaadt, 12-8, 5.24 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 11-8, 2.90 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers draft pick Sam Horn is also competing for Missouri’s starting quarterback job

Shaikin: How Shohei Ohtani turned the Dodgers into a global entertainment gateway

Shaikin: The National League has one .300 hitter. What’s up with that?

BTS singer V surprises broadcasters at Dodger Stadium by being athletic

10 things to know about the Dodgers’ 2026 schedule. When do they play the Padres?

MLB relief pitcher of the year award to honor an essential role — just ask the Dodgers

And finally

Rick Monday hits a clutch home run against Montreal in Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here’s a bonus edition of the newsletter as we continue to look at the top 10 Dodgers at each position.

Top 10 right fielders

Here are my picks for the top 10 right fielders in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.

1. Carl Furillo (1946-60, .299/.355/.458, 112 OPS+, two-time All-Star)

“The Reading Rifle” led the NL in batting average at .344 in 1953, the second of his two All-Star seasons with the Dodgers. He finished sixth in MVP voting in 1949 when he hit .322 with 27 doubles, 10 triples, 18 homers and 106 RBIs. He was a good fielder with a great arm, racking up 24 assists in 1951, more than earning his nickname.

Nobody knew how to play the right-field wall at Ebbets Field like Furillo. The wall was 19 feet high, with a 19-foot screen on top. The screen was vertical, the wall was slightly angled, so balls would ricochet off in strange directions.

Furillo described how he played the wall. “Will it hit above the cement and hit the screen? Then you run like hell toward the wall, because it’s gonna drop dead. Will it hit the cement? Then you gotta run like hell to the infield, because it’s gonna come shooting out. The angles were crazy.”

He was a steady player for the Dodgers for years and played in seven World Series with the team, including the 1955 and 1959 title teams. Years later, in the book “Bums” by Peter Golenbock, Furillo talked about what it meant to win that 1955 World Series: “Oh God, that was the thrill of all thrills. I never in my life seen a town go so wild. You did it for yourself, too, but you did it for the people.” The Dodgers released Furillo during the 1960 season and he moved back east. He helped install the elevators in the World Trade Center buildings. On Jan. 21, 1989, he died of heart failure at the age of 75.

2. Mookie Betts (2020-current, .278/.363/.503, 136 OPS+, four-time All-Star, two Gold Gloves)

You could make an argument for Betts to be No. 1. I went with the longer Dodger career. Moving him to shortstop remains a mistake for now. Maybe at some point it pays off, but not yet.

3. Babe Herman (1926-31, 1945, .339/.396/.557, 144 OPS+)

Babe Herman was a great hitter and a lousy fielder who will always be remembered for doubling into a double play. On Aug. 15, 1926, the Dodgers were playing the Boston Braves. With one out and the bases loaded, Herman launched a flyball to right that looked like it would be caught, but it hit the wall. The runner on third scored, but the runner on second, Dazzy Vance, rounded third and stopped, unsure if the ball had been caught. The runner on first, Chick Fewster, saw Vance round third and assumed he was going to score, so Fewster rounded second and continued to third, where he met the confused Vance. Meanwhile Herman, head down all the way, came sliding into third with what he thought was a triple. The base belonged to Vance, so Fewster and Herman were tagged out, inning over. What often gets overlooked, the run Herman did knock in turned out to be the winning run in the game. It also led to a story, possibly apocryphal, of a Brooklyn man hailing a cab. The driver has the Dodgers game on the radio and the passenger asks “What’s going on with the Dodgers?” the driver answers “they have three men on” and the passenger responds, “Oh yeah? Which base?”

Also, Herman played so well that season that the Dodgers released aging future Hall of Famer Zack Wheat, convinced Herman could replace him.

Herman’s best season came in 1930, when he hit .393 with 48 doubles, 11 triples, 35 homers and 130 RBIs. Tempering those numbers a bit is the fact the entire league hit .303 in 1930 and despite those lofty numbers, Herman amazingly didn’t lead the league in anything. Herman led the team in homers in RBIs in 1931 and hit for the cycle twice. He got into a salary dispute after the season and the Dodgers traded him to Cincinnati. He left the majors after the 1937 season but in 1945, with the Dodgers in a pennant race and players scarce because of the war, general manager Branch Rickey asked Herman, who had been playing in the Pacific Coast League, if he would like to return to the Dodgers. Herman, 42, said sure and hit .265 with a double, homer and nine RBIs in 34 at-bats. He retired for good and became a long-time scout for various teams. Babe Herman died in Glendale on Nov. 27, 1987 at age 84.

4. Reggie Smith (1976-81, .297/.387/.528, 152 OPS+, three-time All-Star)

Reggie Jackson got the headlines, but the best Reggie in right field from 1977-78 was Reggie Smith. Which seems appropriate, because Steve Garvey got the headlines on the Dodgers even though Smith was a better player those two years, finishing fourth in MVP voting both seasons and leading the league in OB% in 1977 with an amazing .427 mark. That season, he hit .307 with 32 homers and 87 RBIs and scored 104 runs. And you didn’t mess with Smith or one of his teammates while he was with the Dodgers. In 1981, the Dodgers were playing the Pittsburgh Pirates when their pitcher, Pascaul Perez, hit Bill Russell with a pitch. The Dodgers demanded that Perez, who had a reputation of throwing at batters, be warned. The umpires refused. A couple of batters later, Perez hit Dusty Baker. Smith leveled a series of threats and profanities at Perez. After the inning, Perez motioned to Smith that he would meet him under the stands. The two players raced up their respective dugout tunnels and met behind home plate, under the stands. On TV, all we saw was both dugouts emptied as players from both teams also raced up the tunnels. It looked as if everyone had vanished. Amazingly, no one was ejected, and Perez even pitched the next inning. The Dodgers won the game. Smith left the majors after the 1982 season and played two years in Japan. He worked for the Dodgers as a coach, was the hitting coach for the 2000 gold-medal winning U.S. baseball team and is probably best known for his youth baseball camp and the Reggie Smith Baseball Center in Encino.

5. Dixie Walker (1939-47, .311/.386/.441, 129 OPS+, four-time All-Star)

Walker played for 18 seasons in the majors but had his greatest success with Brooklyn, leading the league in hitting in 1944 (.357) and in RBIs in 1945 (124). Nicknamed “The People’s Choice,” he was extremely popular among Brooklyn fans, but now is mostly remembered for trying to keep Jackie Robinson from joining the team. He was among a group of Dodgers in spring training of 1947 who petitioned the team not to put Robinson on the team and, when they did, Walker asked Rickey for a trade. Walker and Robinson did their best to avoid each other during the season, and after the season, Walker credited Robinson for much of the team’s success. Robinson also credited Walker for giving him a batting tip early in the season. Years later, in an interview with Roger Kahn, Walker said “I organized that petition in 1947, not because I had anything against Robinson personally. … I had a wholesale business in Birmingham and people told me I’d lose my business if I played ball with a Black man.” Walker apologized and added “A person learns, and you begin to change with the times.” After the 1947 season, the Dodgers traded Walker to Pittsburgh for Billy Cox, Gene Mauch and Preacher Roe. Walker was a batting coach for the Dodgers from 1968 to 1974 and died of colon cancer in 1982 at age 71.

6. Shawn Green (2000-04, .280/.366/.510, 130 OPS+, one-time All-Star)

Green played in only five seasons with the team, but one of those years included perhaps the greatest offensive game by a Dodger. On May 23, 2002 in Milwaukee, Green hit four home runs, a double and a single, drove in seven runs and scored six runs. Green became a hero to many in the Jewish community the season before, when he ended his consecutive games played streak at 415 games in order to observe Yom Kippur. “I felt like it was the right thing to do. … I didn’t do this to gain approval. I thought it was the right example to set for Jewish kids, a lot of whom don’t like to go to synagogue,” Green said. Green was also known for giving away his batting gloves to a kid in the stands after every home run. He talked about how Vin Scully was the impetus for that when Green took part on our “Ask…” series. You can read that here. The Dodgers traded Green to Arizona before the 2005 season for Dioner Navarro and three minor leaguers. He played three more seasons in the majors and retired at age 34.

7. Andre Ethier (2006-17, .285/.359/.463, 122 OPS+, two-time All-Star, one Gold Glove)

On Dec. 13, 2005, the Dodgers made one of their best trades ever when they sent Milton Bradley and Antonio Perez to Oakland for Ethier, who became their starting right fielder for the next 10 seasons and put himself on many all-time top 10 lists in L.A. Dodger history. You knew what you were going to get from Ethier every season: A .280-.290 average with about 20 homers and 80 RBIs. He was the first Dodger to have at least 30 doubles in seven consecutive seasons. It was 2009 when Ethier became a fan favorite. He had six walk-off hits that season, four of them home runs. He played in a then-franchise record 51 postseason games and drove in the Dodgers’ only run in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. It was his final appearance as a Dodger, as he retired before the 2018 season after two injury-marred seasons.

8. Raúl Mondesi (1993-99, .288/.334/.504, 122 OPS+, one-time All-Star, two Gold Gloves, 1994 NL rookie of the year)

Mondesi is sort of the original Yasiel Puig. He was an exciting player to watch who played Gold Glove-level defense in right, but also made a lot of baserunning mistakes and wasn’t always popular with his teammates. He was named NL rookie of the year in 1994 after hitting .306 with 16 home runs and 56 RBIs and in 1997 became the first Dodger to join the 30-30 club when he hit 30 homers and stole 32 bases. He was traded to Toronto after the 1999 season along with Pedro Borbon for Shawn Green and bounced around the majors after that, with his career ending in 2005. He was elected mayor of his hometown, San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, in 2010 and in 2017 was sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and mishandling of public funds while mayor. His son played seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals.

9. Willie Crawford (1964-75, .268/.351/.413, 118 OPS+)

Crawford is one of those guys who was good at a lot of things but not great at anything, and those types of players tend to be overlooked. But you need players like that every year in order to win. Crawford first played for L.A. as a 17-year-old in 1964 and had his best season in 1973, when he hit .295/.396/.453 with 14 homers and 66 RBIs. He was solid defensively, playing more shallow than most right fielders to cut down on bloop singles and relying on his speed to catch any balls hit over him. “He was big and powerful, and he could hit a ball as far as anybody. Boy, was he something,” Tommy Lasorda once said of Crawford, who the Dodgers signed out of Fremont High. Crawford was signed out of high school for $100,000, and the rules at the time said if you signed for at least that much, you had to stay on the major league roster for a season, which hampered his development. In 1965, the 19-year-old Crawford got a World Series ring for being on the Dodgers roster, but he batted only 27 times in the regular season. In his first four seasons as a Dodger, he played in 72 games. He was a productive player for many years and retired after the 1977 season. Crawford died of kidney disease at age 57 in 2004. You can read more about him here.

10. Willie Keeler (1893, 1899-1902, .352/.389/.425, 130 OPS+)

How long ago did Keeler play? He retired 115 years ago. He died 102 years ago. He was one of the biggest stars of 19th-century baseball, known for his hitting philosophy of “I hit ‘em where they ain’t,” referring to fielders. He holds the Dodger record for career batting average, a record that seems unlikely to be broken. He was starring with Baltimore when, in essence, the two teams fell under the same ownership group and decided to put all the best players, including Keeler, on Brooklyn. Keeler was born in Brooklyn, so he was elated, as it also allowed him to live with his mother, who was very ill. Brooklyn was the best team in the National League in 1899 and 1900, but there was no World Series, so that’s about as far as it went. He signed with the New York Highlanders (who eventually became the Yankees) in 1903 for $11,000, becoming the first player to be paid at least $10,000.

He retired after the 1910 season. He was well off financially, but a series of bad investments led to him becoming virtually penniless. He was so popular, players in both leagues donated money, and he was presented with a check for $5,000 in 1921. He died of endocarditis (inflammation of the lining of the heart) in 1923.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

The readers’ top 10

1,317 ballots were sent in. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. For those of you who were wondering, I make my choices before I tally your results. Here are your choices:

1. Mookie Betts, 659 first-place votes, 12,143 points
2. Carl Furillo, 421 first-place votes, 9,719 points
3. Reggie Smith, 53 first-place votes, 7,481 points
4. Shawn Green, 7,006 points
5. Andre Ethier, 12 first-place votes, 5,900 points
6. Babe Herman, 47 first-place votes, 5,479 points
7. Raúl Mondesi, 4,978 points
8. Dixie Walker, 10 first-place votes, 4,636 points
9. Frank Howard, 7 first-place votes, 3,108 points
10. Ron Fairly, 2,529 points

The next five: Willie Keeler, Frank Robinson, Yasiel Puig, Hack Wilson, Mike Marshall.

Top 10 starting pitchers

Who are your top 10 Dodgers right fielders of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [email protected] and let me know. Remember, we are considering only what they did with the Dodgers.

Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the strongest starting pitcher candidates, in alphabetical order.

Tim Belcher, Chad Billingsley, Ralph Branca, Kevin Brown, Bob Caruthers, Watty Clark, Al Downing, Don Drysdale, Carl Erskine, Zack Greinke, Burleigh Grimes, Orel Hershiser, Burt Hooton, Tommy John, Brickyard Kennedy, Clayton Kershaw, Sandy Koufax, Tim Leary, Ramón Martínez, Rube Marquard, Andy Messersmith, Van Lingle Mungo, Don Newcombe, Hideo Nomo, Claude Osteen, Chan Ho Park, Jeff Pfeffer, Johnny Podres, Doug Rau, Jerry Reuss, Preacher Roe, Nap Rucker, Bill Singer, Sherry Smith, Ed Stein, Don Sutton, Adonis Terry, Fernando Valenzuela, Dazzy Vance, Bob Welch, Whit Wyatt.

And finally

Reggie Smith homers in the 1977 World Series. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The Dodgers might be sprinting toward the finish line this year, trying to edge out the San Diego Padres in a tight National League West race.

But on Tuesday night, they made a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds feel more like a nice, leisurely stroll.

Clayton Kershaw continued his renaissance season, pitching five innings of one-run ball to earn a fifth-consecutive victory (his longest such streak since the end of the 2022 season). The offense steadily wore the Reds’ pitching staff down, answering a first-inning Cincinnati run with one of their own before taking the lead for good in the fourth.

And it all added up to a third-straight win for the Dodgers (76-57), keeping them alone in first place atop the division.

Kershaw provided the bedrock for Tuesday’s victory.

The left-hander was pitching on four days’ rest for the third time this season (more than anyone else on the team), so that Shohei Ohtani could be lined up to start ahead of an off day on Wednesday. And early on, the Reds (68-65) tagged him with a quick run, after Spencer Steer led off with a double and later scored on Miguel Andújar’s groundout.

Starting with that grounder, however, Kershaw proceeded to retire the last 14 batters he faced. Six came via strikeout, marking his second-highest strikeout total this season. And of balls put in play, only four were “hard hit” (with an exit velocity greater than 95 mph). Not one left the bat at more than 100 mph.

It was the latest example of the 37-year-old left-hander’s newfound recipe for success: Once again hitting his spots with an 88-mph fastball, leaning heavily on a slider that generated five whiffs and four outs, and mixing in his trademark curveball and newfangled splitter to keep an entirely right-handed Reds lineup off-balance in a 72-pitch outing.

Given the low pitch count, Kershaw might have been able to go past the fifth. He and manager Dave Roberts appeared to have a brief conversation in the dugout before shaking hands, a sign his night was over. But between his quick (by modern-day standards, at least) four-day turnaround, and the team’s careful management of his workload overall this season, Kershaw’s five innings were plenty.

On the season, Kershaw is 9-2 with a 3.06 ERA, third-best among Dodgers starters this year. He also finishes August with a 1.88 ERA in five starts, third-best among National League starters for the month.

While Kershaw cruised, the Dodgers’ offense also found a groove.

They erased the early 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the first, when Mookie Betts walked, Freddie Freeman doubled and Betts scored on a throwing error by Reds left fielder Austin Hays.

They took a 2-1 lead in the fourth, after a leadoff double from Teoscar Hernández, an infield single from Michael Conforto on a scorching comebacker that ripped the glove right off the hand of Reds pitcher Nick Martinez, and a sacrifice fly from Kiké Hernández (who returned to the lineup for the first time since early July after being out with an elbow injury).

Then, in the sixth, they broke the game open with a four-run rally.

Will Smith turned around a center-cut fastball for an opposite-field, leadoff home run, a positive sign for the slumping catcher who entered the night with a .150 batting average in August and only one long ball in his previous 25 games.

Miguel Rojas came off the bench for a two-run double later in the inning, smoking a flyball to deep center that got Noelvi Marte (who was making his first career MLB start in the middle of the outfield) turned around at the warning track.

Ohtani followed that with an RBI single to right, helping him break a one-for-16 skid.

The only bad news for the Dodgers on Tuesday came pregame, when left-handed reliever Alex Vesia was placed on the injured list with a right oblique strain. The severity of his injury was not immediately known.

But even without him, the Dodgers’ bullpen largely coasted in relief of Kershaw. Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, both having recently returned from the IL, pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth (giving Scott his first save since returning). And though Hays hit a two-run home run in the seventh off Ben Casparius, it did little to make Tuesday feel like anything more than a late-season cakewalk — even amid a mad dash down the season’s closing stretch.

Sasaki’s latest rehab start

In triple-A Oklahoma City, rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki made the third start of his minor-league rehab stint, giving up three runs in 3 ⅔ innings on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts. The most encouraging takeaway from the outing was Sasaki’s fastball velocity, which averaged 96 mph for a second-straight outing and topped out at 98.8 mph — the hardest he has thrown in his recovery from a shoulder injury. Sasaki is expected to make at least one more rehab start before being ready to be activated.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Here we are, right back where we started.

You play 131 games only to end up where you were before Game 1 began: tied with the Padres. OK, technically, the Dodgers are in first place right now because they hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Padres. But it feels like a tie.

Before we get to the main topic here, there are a couple of points worth mentioning, with all due respect to the players involved:

Unless there is an injury involved, Buddy Kennedy should not be starting any games over Alex Freeland or Miguel Rojas. Let’s look at those numbers, shall we?

Kennedy: .069/.156/.103, -26 OPS+
Freeland: .226/.342/.387, 104 OPS+
Rojas: .252/.313/.388, 95 OPS+

And, in case you are a big Kennedy fan and are hollering “small sample size” right now, let’s take a look at those career numbers

Kennedy: .178/.271/.274, 54 OPS+
Freeland: .226/.342/.387, 104 OPS+
Rojas: .259/.313/.361, 85 OPS+

And it’s not like Kennedy is Ozzie Smith with the glove out there, while Rojas makes plays like this one from last week. Freeland hasn’t played much, but he was ranked as their No. 3 prospect, so there’s little reason to play Kennedy over him.

—Michael Conforto has gotten plenty of runway now. Time for him to hit the bench and for Alex Call to play every day. There are 161 players who have at least 400 plate appearances this season. Where does Conforto rank among those players? Let’s look:

Batting average
158. Ryan McMahon, NYY, .216
159. Anthony Volpe, NYY, .208
160. Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh, .207
161. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .183

Not only is Conforto last, he is 24 points behind the next-worst player.

On-base%
151. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .293
158. Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers, .277
159. Anthony Volpe, NYY, .274
160. Michael Harris II, Atlanta, .273
161. Adolis Garcia, Texas, .270

Gee, two Dodgers in the bottom 10. Perhaps Hernández didn’t want Conforto to feel so bad.

Slugging %
158. Joey Ortiz, Milwaukee, .328
159. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati, .317
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, .314
161. Victor Scott II, St. Louis, .312

Last. 151st. Next to last. That’s not good.

OPS+
158. Joey Ortiz, Milwaukee, 72
159. Matt McLain, Cincinnati, 71
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, 70
161. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Cincinnati, 70

WAR (which also factors in defense)
158. Agustín Ramírez, Miami, -0.2
159. Eric Wagaman, Miami, -0.6
160. Michael Conforto, Dodgers, -0.9
161. Nick Castellanos, Philadelphia, -1.1

So, please, he might be the nicest guy in the history of the universe and I know he’s getting paid $17 million, but it’s not like you have to pay him more if you don’t play him. Until Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández get back, let’s send Call out. I don’t care what hand the pitcher throws with.

With the two teams tied with 31 games remaining, let’s do a few more comparisons:

Longest winning streak
Dodgers, 8
Padres, 7

Longest losing streak
Dodgers, 7
Padres, 6

Most runs scored
Dodgers, 19
Padres, 21

Most runs allowed
Dodgers, 18
Padres, 14

Times shut out
Dodgers, 6
Padres, 8

Times opponent was shut out
Dodgers, 6
Padres, 15

Comeback wins
Dodgers, 40
Padres, 33

Walkoff wins
Dodgers, 8
Padres, 6

Walkoff losses
Dodgers, 7
Padres, 6

Run differential
Dodgers, +94
Padres, +57

Home
Dodgers, 41-24, .631
Padres, 43-22, .662

Road
Dodgers, 33-33, .500
Padres, 31-35, .470

Before the All-Star break
Dodgers, 58-39, .598
Padres, 52-44, .542

After the All-Star break
Dodgers, 16-18, .471
Padres, 22-13, .629

Extra-inning games
Dodgers, 7-5, .583
Padres, 6-4, .600

One-run games
Dodgers, 21-20, .512
Padres, 26-19, .578

Games decided by 5+ runs
Dodgers, 21-9, .700
Padres, 18-14, .563

Interleague
Dodgers, 23-19, .548
Padres, 16-20, .444

vs. NL West
Dodgers, 25-11, .694
Padres, 24-18, .571

So what’s going to happen? No idea. Will the Dodgers’ offense remain erratic? Will the bullpen improve? Will the Padres get even better (because they have holes too)? I don’t what’s going to happen over the next 31 games. No one does. So don’t give in to pessimism or false hope. Enjoy each game as it happens. Get frustrated at times, sure. But these next 31 games will be exciting. A division race that comes down to the wire. It doesn’t get any better than that.

An interesting race

The race for the NL batting title is going to be interesting to follow. Here are the leaders after Sunday’s games:

Freddie Freeman, .302
Trea Turner, Philadelphia, .300
Sal Frelick, Milwaukee, .298
Will Smith, .297
Manny Machado, San Diego, .292
Xavier Edwards, Miami, .291
Nico Hoerner, Chicago, .291

Smith was leading the NL for quite a while this season, but the rigors of playing catcher have caught up to him, as he is hitting just .158 in August (9 for 57). That’s not meant as a criticism. Playing catcher is taxing, especially in the heat, and we’ve had a lot of warm nights in Los Angeles this month. The hope was that by releasing Austin Barnes and bringing up Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers could give Smith more days off, which they have, but it hasn’t helped.

In major league history, a catcher has won the batting title only seven times (Bubbles Hargrave in 1926, Ernie Lombardi in 1938 and 1942, Buster Posey in 2012 and Joe Mauer in 2006, 2008 and 2009.) All the foul balls you take off your body also take a tremendous toll.

Will Freeman hold on to win? Will Turner win another batting title? Tune in next week to find the answers, same Bat-time, same Bat-… wait wrong show.

And isn’t it amazing that only two players who qualify for the title are hitting .300?

Up next

Monday: Cincinnati (Hunter Greene, 5-3, 2.63 ERA) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 4-2, 4.17 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Cincinnati (Nick Martinez, 10-9, 4.59 ERA) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 8-2, 3.13 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Cincinnati (Zack Littell, 9-8, 3.62 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-1, 4.61 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shaikin: The Padres aren’t dead, and the Dodgers have plenty to lose in baseball’s best rivalry

News Analysis: The Dodgers have an outfield problem. But do they have the options to fix it?

Dalton Rushing knows ‘main focus is catching,’ but first base also on his mind

And finally

Lou Johnson homers in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series to give the Dodgers the lead. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres’ bullpen is considered one of the best in baseball. Their lineup, revamped by a couple of key trade deadline acquisitions, at least rivals the recently inconsistent version the Dodgers have gotten out of theirs.

But this weekend, with first place on the line in the teams’ final meeting this season, the Dodgers were supposed to have one distinct advantage.

Their starting rotation was healthy, fresh and lined up to throw three of its best arms at Petco Park.

The Padres, on the other hand, were banged up and starting three veterans with a collective earned-run average north of 5.00.

Yeah … so much for all that.

For the second-straight night on Saturday, in San Diego’s 5-1 win, a Padres starter unexpectedly dominated the Dodgers, while a Dodgers starter disappointingly stumbled in the fourth inning. This time, it was Nestor Cortes who was in cruise control, spinning six scoreless innings while retiring his first 16 batters. On the other side, it was Tyler Glasnow who ran into trouble, yielding three runs in the fourth to leave the Dodgers for dead.

Just like that, what was a two-game division lead for the Dodgers (73-57) at the start of this week, coming off their sweep of the Padres in Los Angeles last weekend, is a one-game advantage for San Diego in the National League West standings, with the Padres (74-56) primed to sweep the Dodgers right back.

A night after managing just one run and one hit off Yu Darvish on Friday (after he entered the game with an ERA close to 6.00), the Dodgers looked even more overmatched by the left-handed Cortes — who was out for redemption after giving up Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in the World Series while playing for the New York Yankees last season.

Since that fateful October night, Cortes has switched teams twice. In the offseason, he was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers, where he made two early starts before suffering an elbow injury. At the deadline, he was one of seven players the Padres acquired to bolster their roster for the stretch run.

San Diego Padres starting pitcher Nestor Cortes delivers against the Dodgers in the third inning Saturday.

(Derrick Tuskan / Associated Press)

Cortes had offered minimal help in his first three Padres outings, giving up seven runs in 15 innings while averaging barely 90 mph with his fastball.

But on Saturday, he found a rhythm with his trademark cutter, throwing it more than any other pitch while recording at least one out with it in all six innings he pitched.

The Dodgers hardly threatened in the first, with Shohei Ohtani leading off with a strikeout and Mookie Betts rolling over a center-cut cutter to third base. In the second, Cortes won his rematch with Freeman; throwing a down-and-in fastball all so similar to the one that landed in the right-field pavilion of Dodger Stadium last year — only to turn and watch another deep drive die at the warning track, this time to straightaway center field at Petco Park.

From there, the outs kept coming.

In the sixth inning, Miguel Rojas finally broke up the no-no, adjusting to yet another cutter for a line-drive single to right.

But by then, Glasnow had already dug a hole too deep for the Dodgers’ slumping lineup to climb out of.

After retiring his first six batters, Glasnow started losing his command in the third. He issued a leadoff walk to Ramón Laureano, another to Fernando Tatis Jr., and only escaped the jam after a 10-pitch at-bat against Luis Arraez ended in a grounder.

In the fourth, the Padres wouldn’t come away empty-handed again.

Walks to Manny Machado (on four pitches to lead off the inning) and Xander Bogaerts (on a string of fastballs that missed the zone) were sandwiched around a single from Ryan O’Hearn. Then, with the bases loaded, Laureano lined a two-run single to right. Jake Cronenworth tacked on a sacrifice fly. And just like on Friday, the Dodgers stared down the deficit — and found no way to erase it.

Cortes stranded Rojas, with the inning ending on a fly out from Ohtani. After that, the Padres’ talent-rich bullpen kept things at an arm’s length, with a pinch-hit home run from Alex Freeland (his second in as many nights) representing the Dodgers’ only scoring for a second-straight night.

Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow delivers against the Padres in the fifth inning Saturday.

(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

To do some quick math so far this weekend…

The Padres’ two starters have combined for 12 innings, one run and two hits compared to the 12 innings and five runs the Dodgers’ rotation has allowed.

The Dodgers have totaled five hits, three walks and 14 strikeouts. The Padres have 10 hits, eight walks and only 10 Ks against Dodger pitching.

And, most critically, the Padres have two wins — putting them back alone in first place by one game, and on the verge of a sweep that (at least based on the pitching matchups) few would have seen coming.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The Dodgers play an important series against the Padres this weekend. It seems like that just happened.

Well, here we are again. The Dodgers vs. the Padres. Last time, the Padres had a one-game lead on the Dodgers. This time, the Dodgers have a one-game lead on the Padres after splitting the series against the Rockies, while the Padres won three of four against the Giants.

Last time, the games were at Dodger Stadium. This time, Petco Park. Expect Padres fans to be loud and waving towels in support of their team. How will the Dodgers respond?

These are also the final three times the teams play each other this regular season. The Dodgers are 8-2 against the Padres, so no matter what happens, the Dodgers will hold the tiebreaker if the two finish with the same record.

Watching the Dodgers sweep the Padres last weekend, then lose two to the lowly Rockies, brings up the question: How have the Dodgers fared against teams with winning and losing records this season? We did this just before the All-Star break, but let’s update it with a twist: How have the Padres done in those situations? Let’s look.

The Dodgers’ overall winning percentage is .570

Dodgers against winning teams (.500+)
29-28, .509

against losing teams
44-27, .620

How does that compare to the Padres?

The Padres’ overall winning percentage is .563

Padres against winning teams
33-34, .493

Padres against losing teams
39-22, .639

Last season, the Dodgers were 51-41 (.554) against winning teams and 47-23 (.671) against losing teams. They won 98 games. This season, they are on pace to win 92.

So, what is the schedule like the rest of the way for the two teams after this Sunday? Let’s take a look

Dodgers
against winning teams
vs. Cincinnati, 3
vs. Colorado, 3
vs. Philadelphia, 3
at Seattle, 3

against losing teams
vs. Arizona, 3
at Arizona, 3
at Pittsburgh, 3
at Baltimore, 3
at San Francisco, 3
vs. San Francisco, 4

Padres
against winning teams
at Seattle, 3
vs. Cincinnati, 3
at NY Mets, 3
vs. Milwaukee, 3

against losing teams
at Minnesota, 3
vs. Baltimore, 3
at Colorado, 3
vs. Colorado, 4
at Chicago White Sox, 3
vs. Arizona, 3

Both teams have 12 games left against teams that currently have a winning record and 19 against teams with a losing record. However, the Padres have 10 games left against the two worst teams in baseball, the Rockies and the White Sox. And the Dodgers have seven games with the Giants, who would love to play spoiler.

It’s going to be an interesting ride to the end of the season. Being a wild-card in the postseason is not fun, so the Dodgers need to avoid that.

That’s it?

You’ve gotten a lot of long newsletters the last couple of weeks, so we’ll keep this one short. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. A couple of things to clean up though: Buddy Kennedy was born in 1998, not 1988 (why do they put the 8 and 9 key right next to each other?). And Duke Snider hit 40+ homers in five consecutive seasons (because I can be dumb sometimes).

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 3-1, 1.80 ERA) at San Diego (Yu Darvish, 2-3, 5.97 ERA), 6:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-1, 3.12 ERA) at San Diego (*Nestor Cortes, 0-1, 4.20 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 10-8, 2.90 ERA) at San Diego (Nick Pivetta, 13-4, 2.81 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

‘He looks much more confident.’ Hard-throwing Edgardo Henriquez settling in with Dodgers

Dave Roberts says Dodgers haven’t discussed moving Mookie Betts to right field

Shaikin: Can L.A. decide on the Dodger Stadium gondola, or anything, in a timely manner?

Doing away with traditional leagues could be in MLB’s not-too-distant future, Rob Manfred says

And finally

Andrew Toles hits a go-ahead grand slam in the ninth inning. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. On Friday, we’ll see how they did in the four games against the Rockies and look at the final Padres series of the season. But until then, here’s a bonus edition of the newsletter.

Top 10 center fielders

Here are my picks for the top 10 center fielders in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.

1. Duke Snider (1947-62, .300/.384/.553, 142 OPS+, seven-time All Star)

Snider is known primarily as a power hitter, but he also led the NL in runs three times, in walks once and in OB% once. He also led the league in homers in 1956 with 43 and in RBIs in 1955 with 136. He hit 40 or more homers in five consecutive seasons and it can be argued that he is the greatest player in Dodgers history. He also hit four home runs in the 1955 World Series and 11 World Series homers overall. Snider grew up in Compton and went to Compton High, where the Dodgers discovered him and signed him for $750 after he graduated before the 1943 season. He was assigned to the minors and developed a reputation as a bit of a crybaby, once demanding he be sent to another team after a manager flashed him the take sign. He joined the Dodgers in 1947 and was a part-time player for a couple of seasons. Branch Rickey took him under his wing in 1948 and helped him improve his plate discipline and his footwork in center field. He became the starting center fielder in 1949 and quickly became one of the better players in the league. When the Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958, injuries and the Coliseum, with its’ 430-foot distance to right-center, hurt his power somewhat. Snider hit only 15 homers in 1958 and 23 in 1959. He then became a part-time player again, but is the first Dodger to get a hit in Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers sold him to the New York Mets in 1963 and he retired after a season with the San Francisco Giants in 1964. It took him several tries to be elected to the Hall of Fame, finally breaking through with 86% of the votes in 1980. Snider died in Escondido on Feb. 27, 2011.

2. Willie Davis (1960-73, .279/.312/.413, 107 OPS+,two-time All Star, 3 Gold Gloves)

Davis was an outstanding defensive player who led the NL in triples twice (1962 with 10 and 1970 with 16) and whose offensive numbers don’t look as impressive as they should because he played during one of the biggest pitchers eras in baseball history. His best season was probably 1969, when he hit .311 with 23 doubles, eight triples and 11 homers, or it could have been 1962, when he hit .285 with 18 doubles, 10 triples and 21 homers, or 1971, when he hit .309 with 33 doubles, 10 triples and 10 homers. He didn’t walk much and had moderate power, but he caught everything hit to him (except for that one game in the 1966 World Series, but let’s not get into that). He is still the L.A. Dodgers’ career leader in runs (1,004), hits (2,091) and triples (110). He was traded to the Montreal Expos after the 1973 season for reliever Mike Marshall and retired after the 1979 season. Davis played in the majors for 18 seasons and had over 2,500 hits, but strangely never appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot. Not that he would have made it, but he certainly deserved to be up for consideration. He died in Burbank on March 9, 2010.

3. Pete Reiser (1940-42, 1946-48, .306/.384/.460, 132 OPS+, three-time All Star)

Pete Reiser never met an outfield fence he didn’t like crashing into and it may have cost him a Hall of Fame career. After playing in 58 games with the Dodgers in 1940, Reiser came into his own in 1941 when he hit a league-leading .343 to go with 117 runs, 39 doubles, 17 triples, 14 homers and 76 RBIs. He also played great defense in center. That got him second place in NL MVP voting behind teammate Dolph Camilli (Reiser should have won). Reiser led the league in nine categories. He followed that by hitting .310 with 33 doubles and 10 homers in 1942, leading the league with 20 steals and making his second straight All-Star team. However, on July 18 of that year, he crashed full speed into the center field fence while chasing a fly ball. He ended up with a separated shoulder and fractured skull. In those days though, you didn’t let little things like a fractured skull slow you down. He returned to the lineup a week later, but he wasn’t the same. He hit .244 the rest of the season. He then enlisted in the Army and spent three years there. Reiser returned to the majors in 1946 and broke his leg while stealing second. He crashed into the fence in St. Louis and missed some time. But he still led the league with 34 steals, though his batting average dropped to .277. In 1947, he was chasing another fly ball when he crashed into the wall face-first. This caused another fractured skull. He was given the Last Rites by a priest in the hospital before making a miraculous recovery. He ended up playing 110 games that season. He was a bench player the following season, as he had put on a little weight and had been slowed tremendously by his numerous injuries. The Dodgers traded him to the Boston Braves after the season for Nanny Fernandez and Mike McCormick. He retired after the 1952 season and came back to the Dodger organization as a roving minor-league hitting instructor. He joined Walter Alston’s coaching staff in L.A. in 1960 and helped tutor Maury Wills on how to steal bases. Reiser had a heart attack in 1965, went on as an assistant coach for other teams. Reiser, who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day throughout his adult life, died of emphysema in Palm Springs in 1981. He was only 62.

4. Matt Kemp (2006-14, 2018, .292/.348/.494, 127 OPS+, three-time All Star, two Gold Gloves)

I won’t write too much on Kemp since I assume everyone knows a lot about him. His arthritic hips robbed him of his speed, so if you only know him from his 2018 return, keep in mind that he stole 40 bases in 2011, 35 in 2008 and 34 in 2009. He never really had a bad season with the team, it’s just that his best seasons were so good that his other seasons looked bad in comparison. He was robbed of the MVP award in 2011, finishing second to Ryan Braun of Milwaukee, who was later suspended for 65 games for violating baseball’s drug policy. Kemp had a better season than Braun.

5. Mike Griffin (1891-98, .305/.399/.416, 125 OPS+)

It’s really hard to compare players from the 19th century to players much later, because it was such a different game. But Griffin was great and deserves a spot in the top 10.

Griffin score 100 or more runs in six of his eight season in Brooklyn, stole 264 bases and was considered the finest fielding center fielder of his day. In 1894, he hit a career-high .357. He was named team captain in 1895. But his career ended strangely.

Brooklyn fired manager Bill Barnie during the 1898 season and named Griffin as player-manager. He had that position for four games, decided he didn’t like it and asked to be just a player again. Team president Charles Ebbets became the manager.

After much cajoling, Ebbets convinced Griffin to try and become player-manager again for the 1899 season. He signed a contract for $3,500. What Griffin didn’t know was that Brooklyn was having financial problems, as was Baltimore, so Ebbets (who was wealthy) bought the Baltimore club and merged it with Brooklyn. Baltimore was managed by Ned Hanlon, considered a top manager. Ebbets no longer needed Griffin as a manager, and sent him a new contract for $2,800 as just a player. Griffin refused, saying he had a signed contract for $3,500. In March, 1899, Ebbets sent Griffin a telegram that stated: “You have been released to the Cleveland club. They wish you to report to Cleveland on Monday, to go with team to Hot Springs. Personally I wish you the best of luck in your new position.”

Griffin said he wouldn’t play for Cleveland. After two weeks of fighting over it, with various lawyers involved, Cleveland sold his contract to St. Louis. He never reported there, instead announcing his retirement and suing Ebbets for breach of contract. The New York State Supreme Court ruled in Griffin’s favor. But Griffin never played in the majors again. He died in 1908 of pneumonia. He was 47.

6. Cody Bellinger (2017-22, .248/.332/.487, 118 OPS+, two-time All Star, 2017 Rookie of the Year, 2019 NL MVP, one Gold Glove)

After his first four seasons, it seemed possible that Bellinger was going to be the best position player in Dodgers history and a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Then, while celebrating a home run in the 2020 World Series, he and Kiké Hernández high-fived so strongly that Bellinger separated his shoulder. He was never the same after that, hitting .165 in 2021 and .210 in 2022. The Dodgers had little interest in re-signing him as a free agent, and he has since played for the Cubs and Yankees, putting together solid seasons for both teams. But he has never again reached the heights he once reached.

7. Johnny Frederick (1929-34, .308/.357/.477, 117 OPS+)

There’s not a lot out there about Frederick. What is known was dug up by baseball historian Graham Womack: Frederick came into the league as a 27-year-old rookie in 1929 and led the league with 52 doubles (to go with 24 homers). He followed it up by hitting .334 with 44 doubles, 11 triples and 17 homers. Then Rawlings introduced a cork-cushioned baseball to the majors and Frederick’s power slowly began to slip. He was out of the majors for good when the Dodgers traded him to a minor-league team in 1934 for Frenchy Bordagaray. In 1935, he hit .363 for Sacramento. He then hit .322 over five years with the Portland Beavers, who made him player manager for his 19th and final professional season in 1940. Frederick finished his minor league career with 2,467 hits. Add that to his major league total, and Frederick had 3,421 hits in his pro career. He died in 1977 in Tigard, Ore., at the age of 75. You can read much more about Frederick here.

8. Jim Wynn (1974-75, .261/.394/.463, 144 OPS+, two-time All Star)

Wynn might be a little too high here, but he was my first favorite player on the Dodgers, so here he is.

The Dodgers acquired Wynn from the Astros before the 1974 season for Claude Osteen. Wynn got off to a fast start and became a fan favorite, with the bleachers in left center being dubbed “Cannon Country,” after Wynn’s nickname, “The Toy Cannon.”

Wynn hit .271 with 32 homers and 108 RBIs in 1974 while leading the Dodgers to the World Series. Honestly, he should have won the MVP award that season, but he finished fifth to Steve Garvey,

He got off to a good start in 1975, hitting .270 with 14 homers at the All-Star break, but slumped after that. The Dodgers, always ones at that time to trade a player a season too soon rather than a season too late, sent him to Atlanta for Dusty Baker.

Strangely, Wynn is probably best remembered by Dodgers fans for a play in the 1974 World Series.

Usually a standout defender, Wynn hurt his right shoulder making a diving catch near the end of the season, and his throwing arm after that had all the strength of a wet paper towel.

Knowing this, right fielder Joe Ferguson and Wynn had a deal. If a ball was hit between them and a runner was on third, Ferguson would make the catch with the hope his stronger arm would hold the runner, or that he could throw them out trying to score.

Game 1 of the World Series reached the eighth inning, with Oakland leading, 3-1. With Sal Bando on third for the A’s, Reggie Jackson hit a fly ball to right center. With a left-hander up, Wynn was playing toward right-center, and Ferguson was closer to the right-field line, so it looked like Wynn’s ball all the way.

Wynn set himself for the catch, when at the last second Ferguson, who started racing over as soon as the ball was hit, cut in front of him, made the catch, and threw a perfect strike to catcher Steve Yeager 300 feet away. Bando barreled over Yeager, who held on to the ball for the out.

Some Dodger fans, even now, think Ferguson was just trying to show up Wynn, which isn’t true.

“I called to him that I could take it and he said ‘Go ahead,’ ” Ferguson said.

Asked if that was true, Wynn responded “Yep. Wasn’t that one tremendous throw? It hurt my arm just to look at it.”

You can watch that play here.

9. Brett Butler (.298/.392/.368, 112 OPS+, one-time All Star)

Butler was a pest. He seemed to be on base all the time, ran the bases with reckless abandon and scored 80-100 runs every season. Signed as a free agent, Butler made the All-Star team in his first season with the Dodgers and led the league with 112 runs and 108 walks. His on-base percentage topped .400 three times with L.A. and he played solid defense. He was caught stealing a little too often (28 times in 1991 compared to 38 stolen bases), but he’s the type of player you don’t see too often in the game today. In May of 1996, Butler was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils. He underwent treatment and returned to the lineup in September. He played one more season with the team and retired.

10. Kiké Hernández (2015-20, 2023-current, .236/.303/.413, 93 OPS+)

I’ve written tons about Hernández. With the Dodgers, he has played at least 50 games at every position for the Dodgers, except pitcher (where he has appeared 10 times) and catcher (zero). One of the biggest fan favorites in Dodger history, he becomes an entirely different hitter in the postseason, where he has hit .278/.353/.522 in 75 postseason games with the Dodgers, including 10 homers and 26 RBIs.

The readers’ top 10

1,302 ballots were sent in. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. For those of you who were wondering, I make my choices before I tally your results. Here are your choices:

1. Duke Snider, 1,193 first-place votes, 15,125 points
2. Willie Davis, 107 first-place votes, 10,610 points
3. Matt Kemp, 8,394 points
4. Cody Bellinger, 6,731 points
5. Pete Reiser, 5,706 points
6. Rick Monday, 1 first-place vote, 5,651 points
7. Brett Butler, 5,374 points
8. Jim Wynn, 1 first-place vote, 4,266 points
9. Ken Landreaux, 1,911 points
10. Kiké Hernández, 1,579 points

The next five: Johnny Frederick, Joc Pederson, Juan Pierre, Mike Griffin, Don Demeter.

Top 10 right fielders

Who are your top 10 Dodgers right fielders of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [email protected] and let me know. Remember, we are considering only what they did with the Dodgers.

Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the strongest right fielder candidates, in alphabetical order.

Mookie Betts, Buzz Boyle, Hubie Brooks, Thomas Burns, Dick Cox, Willie Crawford, Mike Davis, J.D. Drew, Andre Ethier, Ron Fairly, Al Ferrara, Carl Furillo, Shawn Green, Tommy Griffith, Babe Herman, Teoscar Hernández, Frank Howard, Jay Johnstone, Fielder Jones, Willie Keeler, Harry Lumley, Mike Marshall, Raúl Mondesi, Yasiel Puig, Frank Robinson, Reggie Smith, Casey Stengel, Darryl Strawberry, Ed Swartwood, Dixie Walker, Paul Waner and Hack Wilson.

A reminder that players are listed at the position in which they played the most games for the Dodgers, which is why Frank Howard and Ron Fairly are listed here, for example.

And finally

Willie Davis homers off of Nolan Ryan in the 1973 All-Star Game. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Hello everyone, my name is Houston Mitchell, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. It’s amazing how three games can change things, isn’t it?

Random thoughts

—To be honest, I would not have bet on the Dodgers sweeping the Padres. Winning two of three? Yes. But not a sweep. It was a good sign, as championship teams need to rise to the occasion. The question now is, will the Padres rise back next weekend at San Diego? Heck, with the way baseball goes, the Dodgers could be back in second place before that series. But I doubt it.

—Mookie Betts. People like, oh, newsletter writers, have been pointing out his flaws all season. He shouldn’t be playing short. He’s playing terrible. But you know what? He came to the park early most days and put the work in. Worked to find what happened to his swing. Worked to become a better shortstop. So it had to be sweet redemption on Sunday when he hit that home run.

—Since I said Betts should be moved down in the order, he has hit .306/.366/.472 with nine runs scored and nine RBIs in nine games.

—Last time we talked about some concerns on the Dodgers. One area that wasn’t mentioned was the defense. The defense has been much worse than last season, and not always in ways that show up in the fielding numbers. Teoscar Hernández is not playing well in right. He looks like he’s running uphill all the time. Ryan O’Hearn of the Padres hit a fly ball hit into the right-field corner Sunday that seemed to hang up in the air forever, but Hernández couldn’t get there in time and it dropped for an RBI double. Those are the types of plays the Dodgers took advantage of against the Yankees during the World Series, and then later said they knew the Yankees had weaknesses defensively. Well, the Dodgers are in that boat this season.

—The Dodgers were the team not getting any breaks this season, but they seemed to get them all in the Padres series. Manny Machado dives for and misses a ball he would probably catch 99 times out of 100 on Friday, eventually leading to two runs. Jackson Merrill drops a fly ball in center field Saturday, scoring two runs. With a runner on second, Blake Treinen benefits from a very generous strike call from the umpire with Machado at the plate, avoiding a walk and then getting out of the inning.

—And what can you say about Clayton Kershaw? The guy can barely reach 90 on his fastball. Analytics would tell you this guy could not possible be successful in the majors. But there he is, working the corners and, you know, pitching. Not just throwing. The man is 7-2 with a 3.01 ERA. In some ways, this is the most impressive season of his career. And now I’ve probably jinxed him.

—Will Smith threw out three baserunners trying to steal Saturday, and has thrown out 27.9% of attempted base stealers this season. That’s 12th in the majors among catcher who have had 25 chances to throw out a stealer. Salvador Perez leads the majors at 48%. In case you were wondering, Johnny Bench, considered by many to be the best defensive catcher ever, was at 43.5% for his career. Steve Yeager was 38% and Mike Scioscia 34.4%. Mike Piazza was 23.2%. Smith’s career number is 25.5%. His best season was last year, 33.3% (32 of 96).

—The Dodgers head to Denver next to play the Rockies, who are the worst team in baseball, on pace to finish 46-116. Prime spot for a letdown. The Dodgers are 6-0 against the Rockies this season, 10-3 against them last season.

—I get many emails from readers saying the Dodgers leave too many men on base. This is something we’ve talked about in seasons past, so you veteran subscribers out there, forgive me for a moment. The teams with the best offenses are frequently the teams with the most runners left on base, because they have more runners on base. A game ends 6-2. The team that scored six had nine hits and three walks and left six on base. The team with two got both runs on homers and drew no walks. They left no one one base. But which team had the best offense?

Since 1950, the team that has left the most runs on base in a season is the 1976 Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds, who are in the conversation for best team in history. They averaged 5.29 runs per game and averaged 8.19 LOB. Next are the 1993 Detroit Tigers, who averaged 5.55 runs per game and 8.10 LOB.

The Dodgers are averaging 5.16 runs per game and are 6.82 LOB. Runners left on base is not a big problem.

But, I hear you saying, this could mean they lack clutch hitting, stranding all these runners. No.

Batting average with runners in scoring position this season:

1. Milwaukee, .288
2. Toronto, .286
3. Dodgers, .283
4. Miami, .275
5. Tampa Bay, .270
21. San Diego, .243
30. Chicago White Sox, .221

Batting average with two out and runners in scoring position this season:

1. Detroit, .273
2. Miami, .270
3. Milwaukee, .268
4. Dodgers, .265
5. Tampa Bay, .259
12. Padres, .234
30. Pittsburgh, .190

Individual Dodgers

Batting average with runners in scoring position (minimum 20 at bats)

1. Hyeseong Kim, .387 (31 at bats)
2. Freddie Freeman, .354 (96)
3. Will Smith, .341 (82)
4. Andy Pages, .336 (107)
5. Max Muncy, .329 (76)
6. Tommy Edman, .303 (66)
7. Teoscar Hernández, .300 (110)
8. Dalton Rushing, .280 (25)
9. Mookie Betts, .276 (98)
10. Kiké Hernández, .233 (43)
11. Shohei Ohtani, .230 (76)
12. Michael Conforto, .167 (78)
13. Miguel Rojas, .163 (43)

Batting average with two out and runners in scoring position (minimum 10 at-bats):

1. Hyeseong Kim, .462 (13 at bats)
2. Andy Pages, .373 (51)
3. Max Muncy, .371 (35)
4. Will Smith, .333 (39)
5. Teoscar Hernández, .327 (52)
6. Freddie Freeman, .310 (42)
7. Shohei Ohtani, .281 (32)
8. Kiké Hernández, .200 (20)
9. Mookie Betts, .196 (46)
10. Tommy Edman, .188 (32)
11. Michael Conforto, .156 (45)
12. Miguel Rojas, .125 (24)

Shohei Ohtani

Ohtani made his first pitching start of the season on June 16. Let’s look at his batting numbers before and after:

Before June 16
.297/.393/.642, 83 for 279, 11 doubles, 5 triples, 25 homers (one every 11.1 at bats), 41 RBIs, 11 steals, 44 walks, 79 K’s

Since June 16
.262/.390/.595, 51 for 195, 5 doubles, 3 triples, 18 homers (one every 10.8 at bats), 39 RBIs, 6 steals, 39 walks, 71 K’s

His batting average is down but the home runs are up. His steals are down, while his walks and strikeouts are up. Really, it’s sort of what you would expect.

Newest Dodger

The Dodgers added Buddy Kennedy, a utility infielder, to the roster last week when Max Muncy went on the IL. (They hope Muncy, who has a strained oblique, is back in September.)

Kennedy was born Clifton Lewis Kennedy on Oct. 5, 1988, just 12 days before the Dodgers won the World Series that year. He was drafted out of Millville (N.J.) High by Arizona in the fifth round of the 2017 draft. He was in triple-A by 2022, and the Diamondbacks brought him to the majors that year. He hit .217 in 30 games, then .167 in 10 games the next season and was put on waivers. Oakland picked him up in September, but put him on waivers in October and he was picked up by St. Louis, who put him on waivers in Sept. 2024. Detroit signed him and he hit .182 in eight games before Philadelphia purchased his contract. He played in 12 games over two seasons for them, was released, and Toronto signed him. He went one for five for them this season and they released him, and now he’s with the Dodgers.

So, four seasons in the majors, seven teams.

He trains with Mike Trout in the offseason. Trout also went to Millville High. “Mike has been great to me,” Kennedy told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2024. “He slowly started … not getting on me, but holding me accountable. And to this day, I can call him, or text him, and ask him about a pitcher I’m facing, or how to handle myself in the big leagues.

“He’s very open and honest. And that’s helped me a lot.”

Kennedy’s grandfather is Don Money, who was a really good player for the Phillies and Brewers in the ’70s and ’80s.

Why is it so hot with all these fans?

Why do the Dodgers keep raising prices on tickets? What about the family of four who want to go to a game? Well, this is why. They have no incentive to lower prices. Average home attendance this year:

1. Dodgers, 49,961
2. San Diego, 42,567
3. NY Yankees, 41,995
4. Philadelphia, 41,836
5. NY Mets, 39,765
8. San Francisco, 36,225
12. Angels, 32,317
16. Arizona, 29,689
17. Colorado, 29,345
30. Athletics, 9,590

Postseason

If the postseason started today, these would be the 12 teams to qualify:

NL
1. Milwaukee
2. Philadelphia
3. Dodgers
4. Chicago
5. San Diego
6. New York

AL
1. Toronto
2. Detroit
3. Houston
4. Boston
5. Seattle
6. New York

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

These names seem familiar

A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Saturday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats.

Batters

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .264/.318/.481, 487 plate appearances, 20 doubles, 5 triples, 22 homers, 71 RBIs, 119 OPS+

Michael Busch, Cubs: .260/.342/.500, 442 PA’s, 16 doubles, 3 triples, 24 homers, 68 RBIs, 142 OPS+

Hunter Feduccia, Rays: 4 for 25 (.160), 2 doubles, 47 OPS+ (numbers with Rays only)

Gavin Lux, Reds: .280/.359/.378, 390 PA’s, 20 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 45 RBIs, 101 OPS+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .258/.336/.432, 4181 PA’s, 18 doubles, 8 triples, 10 homers, 40 RBIs, 112 OPS+

James Outman, Twins: 1 for 8, 1 triple, 29 OPS+ (numbers with Twins only)

Joc Pederson, Rangers, .145/.277/.267, 196 PA’s, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 9 RBIs, 61 OPS+

Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, .247/.277/.318, 267 PA’s, 12 doubles, 2 homers, 25 RBIs, 70 OPS+

Corey Seager, Rangers: .258/.361/.464, 404 PA’s, 17 doubles, 18 homers, 44 RBIs, 140 OPS+

Chris Taylor, Angels: .189/.302/.396, 42 PA’s, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 82 OPS+ (numbers with Angels only)

Justin Turner, Cubs: .219/.288/.328, 156 PA’s, 6 doubles, 3 homers, 15 RBIs, 80 OPS+

Trea Turner, Phillies: .291/.348/.432, 552 PA’s, 27 doubles, 4 triples, 12 homers, 52 RBIs, 112 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .229/.307/.394, 460 PA’s, 25 doubles, 2 triples, 13 homers, 44 RBIs, 96 OPS+

Alex Verdugo, Braves: .239/.296/.289, 213 PA’s, 10 doubles, 12 RBIs, 66 OPS+, released by Braves

Pitching

Ryan Brasier, Cubs: 0-1, 4.13 ERA, 24 IP, 24 hits, 4 walks, 19 K’s, 93 ERA+

Walker Buehler, Red Sox: 7-7, 5.43 ERA, 106 IP, 114 hits, 50 walks, 78 K’s, 75 ERA+

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 6-12, 4.76 ERA, 124.2 IP, 114 hits, 49 walks, 153 K’s, 88 ERA+

Kenley Jansen, Angels: 5-2, 2.68 ERA, 23 saves, 47 IP, 34 hits, 15 walks, 47 K’s, 158 ERA+

Dustin May, Red Sox: 1-1, 2.79 ERA, 9.2 IP, 11 hits, 2 walks, 12 K’s, 152 ERA+ (numbers with Red Sox only)

Ryan Pepiot, Rays: 8-10, 3.95 ERA, 148 IP, 125 hits, 51 walks, 146 K’s, 103 ERA+

Max Scherzer, Blue Jays: 3-2, 3.83 ERA, 54 IP, 46 hits, 12 walks, 52 K’s, 110 ERA+

Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees: 3-1, 3.90 ERA, 55.1 IP, 48 hits, 17 walks, 49 K’s, 104 ERA+

Up next

Monday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 10-8, 2.84 ERA) at Colorado (*Kyle Freeland, 3-12, 5.18 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 3-2, 3.86 ERA) at Colorado (*Austin Gomber, 0-6, 6.75 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-0, 3.47 ERA) at Colorado (Tanner Gordon, 3-5, 7.98 ERA) 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Thursday: Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 7-2, 3.01 ERA) at Colorado (Chase Dollander, 2-9, 6.43 ERA) 12:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shaikin: Max Muncy’s absence creates major matchup challenges for Dodgers hitters

Plaschke: The ‘legend’ Clayton Kershaw is legendary again for Dodgers

‘We wanted to throw a twist on it’: Why an iconic Kobe Bryant image was altered for a Dodger-themed mural

Dodgers’ Max Muncy to miss several weeks because of oblique strain

Two arrests made after violent brawl between Angels and Dodgers fans at Angel Stadium

And finally

Steve Garvey and Jim Wynn hit consecutive home runs in the 1975 All-Star game. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

WEST SACRAMENTO — Jo Adell hit a three-run homer in the first inning and kicked off a six-run tenth with an RBI single as the Angels beat the Athletics 11-5 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep.

Kenley Jansen (5-2) struck out two in a scoreless ninth to give him 1,268 for his career, the fourth-most strikeouts by a reliever in major league history.

In the 10th, automatic runner Mike Trout advanced to third on a passed ball, Taylor Ward walked and Adell lined a single to center against Michael Kelly (2-2) to make it 6-5. Christian Moore drove in his third run of the game with a grounder and Luis Rengifo followed with a two-run triple off Ben Bowden. Bryce Tedosio added a sacrifice fly and Zach Neto capped the scoring with a 436-foot homer to left-center, his 21st.

Adell’s homer in the first off Jeffrey Springs was his 26th, extending his career best.

Rookie Nick Kurtz hit his 25th homer in the third inning and the A’s went back-to-back when Shea Langeliers hit his 26th. Lawrence Butler’s 17th homer got the A’s within 5-4 in the sixth, and Luis Urías tied it with a two-out RBI single.

Jansen loaded the bases with two out in the ninth but got Butler to pop out in foul territory on a first-pitch cutter. The 37-year-old Jansen broke a tie with Craig Kimbrel for strikeouts by a reliever. Ahead of him are Hoyt Wilhelm (1,363), Rich Gossage (1,340) and Aroldis Chapman (1,312).

Angels recall José Fermin

The Angels recalled right-hander José Fermin from triple-A Salt Lake and designated righty Connor Brogdon for assignment.

The 23-year-old Fermin was 2-2 with a 6.63 ERA in 23 games, entering the series finale against the Athletics. He was previously optioned to the minors after giving up three runs without retiring a batter in a game last month.

The 30-year-old Brodgon gave up two runs on two hits and two walks after retiring just two batters in the Angels’ loss on Saturday.

Brogdon is 3-1 with a 5.30 ERA in 37 games this season. His career record is 13-9 with a 4.24 ERA in 180 games with the Angels, Dodgers and Philadelphia.

Up next

The Angels host Cincinnati for a three-game series starting Monday, with Victor Mederos (0-0, 5.63 ERA) slated to start.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. For some reason, I’ve been wanting to listen to “Free Fallin’ ” by Tom Petty a lot lately. I wonder why?

So, here we are.

After the games of July 3, the NL West standings looked like this:

Dodgers, 56-32, .636
San Diego, 46-40, .535, 9 GB
San Francisco, 47-41, .534, 9 GB
Arizona, 43-44, .494, 12.5 GB
Colorado, 20-67, .230, 35.5 GB

Here are the NL West standing for the games after July 3:

San Diego, 23-12, .657
Arizona, 17-18, .486
San Francisco, 12-21, .364
Dodgers, 12-21, .364
Colorado, 12-22, .353

The NL West standings today:

San Diego, 69-52, .570
Dodgers, 68-53, .562, 1 GB
Arizona, 60-62, .492, 9.5 GB
San Francisco, 59-62, .488, 10 GB
Colorado, 32-89, .264, 37 GB

When you have basically the same record as the Rockies over a 33-game stretch, well, that’s not ideal.

So what happened? For a while it was starting pitching, but the return of Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have stabilized that. For a while it was the offense, but Mookie Betts and company are hitting better now, stabilizing that.

The Dodgers caught all the breaks last season, this season it seems none of them go their way (for example, Edgardo Henriquez trying to field that double-play grounder in the eighth inning Wednesday, tipping the ball away for an infield single, loading the bases). There’s not much that can be done if the baseball gods are frowning upon you.

Let’s take a look at a couple of things:

Dodgers runs per game, 2024: 5.20
Dodgers runs per game, 2025: 5.17

Dodgers rotation ERA, 2024: 4.23
Dodgers rotation ERA, 2025: 4.13

Dodgers bullpen ERA, 2024: 3.53
Dodgers bullpen ERA, 2025: 4.22

So really, it’s the bullpen. It’s terrible. Let’s look at the Dodger bullpen at this moment:

Anthony Banda, 3.38 ERA
Ben Casparius, 4.78
Alexis Díaz, 7.71
Jack Dreyer, 2.90
Edgardo Henriquez, 0.00 (only 4.2 IP)
Blake Treinen, 4.26
Alex Vesia, 2.76
Justin Wrobelski, 4.09

Now, let’s look at the Dodger bullpen through much of the postseason last year:

Anthony Banda, 3.08 ERA last season
Ryan Brasier, 3.54
Ben Casparius, 2.16
Brusdar Graterol, 2.45
Brent Honeywell, 2.62
Daniel Hudson, 3.00
Landon Knack, 3.65
Michael Kopech, 1.13
Evan Phillips, 3.62
Blake Treinen, 1.93
Alex Vesia, 1.76

The Dodgers had anywhere from 6-8 shut-down guys in their bullpen last season. Right now, they have zero. The guy they acquired to help out, Brock Stewart, is on the IL with a bad shoulder. Hard to believe that you could acquire a guy with a history of shoulder problems and he gets sideline by … a shoulder problem. Alex Vesia, so strong last season, seems gassed from overuse.

Kirby Yates, signed to a one-year, $13-million deal, is on the IL.

Tanner Scott, signed to be the new closer for four years, $72 million, is on the IL.

Michael Kopech is on the IL.

Brusdar Graterol is on the IL, and it looks more and more unlikely that he will return this season.

Evan Phillips is on the IL, out for the year.

Ryan Brasier is pitching for the Cubs.

Daniel Hudson retired. (Hey, maybe the Dodgers can give him a call).

Remember Antonio Osuna? He pitched for the Dodgers in the mid- and late-90s and had electric stuff. Threw near 100 mph, and struck out more than a batter an inning back when it wasn’t as common as it is now. But every time they tried to make him a closer, he fell apart. Couldn’t do it. The whole bullpen right now reminds me of Osuna. From the fourth to seventh innings, they pitch fine, but when it comes down to the final two innings, especially when the Dodgers have a narrow lead, they fall apart.

So, what’s the solution? Well, there won’t be any trades, because the deadline has past. What the Dodgers will do is wait, and hope that Scott, Yates and Kopech can come back at some point and pitch like they are capable of doing. And that Treinen rediscovers his form from last season.

So, it’s going to be frustrating. The offense is going to have to provide some bigger leads. They have had chances to do it recently but have failed. The starting pitching will have to remain consistent. And someone will need to step up in the bullpen. They need Vesia to pitch like the old Vesia, not the one from the last three games. They need someone to say “OK men, follow me.”

A lot of people are down on Dave Roberts, saying he has mismanaged the bullpen. Managing the bullpen has always been his biggest weakness, but he hasn’t had much to work with this year. It’s like playing BeanBoozled. You reach into the pile and hope you get the lime flavored jelly bean, not the garbage flavored.

I still believe the Dodgers will make the postseason, where anything can happen. Last season at this time, they had only a two-game lead of the Padres and Diamondbacks. Some Dodger fans were convinced this team didn’t have what it takes. They then won 11 of their next 14.

This weekend and next weekend against the Padres will be a real test. The Padres and their fans will be fired up. They’d love to stomp on the Dodgers right now. Will they? Time will tell. But the season isn’t over. Don’t give in to pessimism, be a realist. A lot can still happen, we don’t know how things will play out. That’s what makes it fun to watch.

Michael Conforto

Why is Michael Conforto still playing? Why isn’t Alex Call out there? Or Dalton Rushing?

That’s the question I get most frequently. We’ve talked about this subject before, but rather than hear me talk about it again, I asked Jack Harris, our Dodgers beat writer who is with the team almost every day, for his thoughts:

“Ah yes, the Michael Conforto discourse has returned. After a decent July (.273 average, .827 OPS), the $17-million offseason signing has indeed gone back into a deep freeze in August (three for 30). His struggles reached the point on Wednesday that manager Dave Roberts sat him against the Angels — in part because Angels right-hander Kyle Hendricks has reverse splits, but also, Roberts acknowledged, because of Conforto’s latest slump.

“ ‘I gotta try to find some combinations to get some production, some consistent production,’ Roberts said. ‘That’s just kind of where we’re at in this time of season. I’ve gotta do that.’

“Despite that, Conforto will still get regular at-bats for the time being (starting with Friday’s series opener against the Padres). Why?

“Well, for one, the Dodgers still don’t have many obviously better options. Alex Call is batting .150 since coming over from the Nationals. The team has closed the door on last year’s experiment with Dalton Rushing in the outfield (he is also hitting just .202 this season). And until Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández return, the club’s outfield depth is frankly too thin (yes, Ryan Ward is tearing it up in triple-A, but the team has already bypassed him multiple times when calling up outfielders, which probably tells you how much they think he could impact the big-league lineup).

“Also, the Dodgers were encouraged by Conforto’s performance in July. To at least some degree, it factored into their decision not to make a bigger addition to the lineup. The last couple of weeks have been bad, but they continue to believe he’ll be at least somewhat more productive down the stretch. I know many fans will disagree, but that remains the team’s stance.

“All that said, and as Wednesday epitomized, Conforto will have to heat up again at some point to remain a fixture in the lineup.”

“The guess here: You’ll start to see his playing time gradually decrease the rest of the way if he doesn’t turn things around, and as others on the roster get healthy. For now, however, the team’s lack of alternatives means he’ll continue to play.”

Thanks Jack. So there you have it. Learn to live with Conforto, at least for a little while longer.

The Padres

The Padres are up next, and they are playing very well. The Dodgers could be four games out of first by Monday, or two games ahead, or somewhere in between. That’s why they play the games and don’t just give the win to the hot team.

It would be a mistake to think the Padres are invincible. They had their own points in the season where they slumped. The went 5-11 at one point in June and had a losing record that month. They went 3-10 at one point in May. That’s how they fell nine games back. So, keep in mind that every team has had problems this season.

Let’s compare the two teams and where they rank among the 30 MLB teams:

Runs per game
1. Dodgers, 5.17
22. Padres, 4.21

Batting average
4. Dodgers, .255
10. Padres, .252

OB%
3. Dodgers, .332
8. Padres, .323

SLG%
2. Dodgers, .441
25. Padres, .383

Batting avg. with 2 out/RISP
4. Dodgers, .267
11. Padres, .238

Doubles
14. Dodgers, 195
17. Padres, 190

Triples
T12. Dodgers, 16
T12. Padres, 16

Home runs
2. Dodgers, 180
29. Padres, 103

Stolen bases
T16. Padres, 81
20. Dodgers, 72

Batter walks
2. Dodgers, 450
11. Padres, 399

Batter Strikeouts
13. Dodgers, 1,027
28. Padres, 840

Pitching

ERA
2. Padres, 3.55
19. Dodgers, 4.17

Home runs allowed
10. Dodgers, 146
28. Padres, 116

Fewest walks per 9 IP
17. Padres, 3.30
23. Dodgers, 3.53

Strikeouts per 9 IP
5. Dodgers, 9.02
8. Padres, 8.71

Saves
1. Padres, 40
T3. Dodgers, 35

Blown saves
T6. Dodgers, 20
T24. Padres, 15

Inherited runners who scored %
2. Dodgers, 25.6%
6. Padres, 28.2%

Rotation ERA
13. Padres, 3.99
18. Dodgers, 4.13

Bullpen ERA
1. Padres, 2.97
20. Dodgers, 4.22

By the way

Scott is expected to throw to hitters this week and hopefully go to the minors for some rehab work after that.

Yates is a step ahead of Scott, having thrown to hitters already this week.

Kopech was set to begin a minor-league rehab assignment Thursday at triple-A Oklahoma City.

Tony Gonsolin had surgery and will not return this season.

This feels more like a MASH unit than a baseball team at times.

How does this compare?

Where were the Dodgers in the standings each Aug. 15 since they started their postseason streak in 2013? Let’s look:

2013
70-50, First place, 7.5 games ahead of Arizona

2014
70-54, First place, five games ahead of San Francisco

2015
66-51, First place, 2.5 games ahead of San Diego

2016
65-52, Second place, 0.5 game behind San Francisco

2017
84-54, First place, 18.5 games ahead of Colorado and Arizona

2018
65-57, Tied for second, 1.5 games behind Arizona

2019
81-42, First place, 19.5 games ahead of Arizona and San Francisco

2020
COVID shortened year

2021
72-46, Second place, four games behind San Francisco

2022
80-34, First place, 17 games ahead of San Diego

2023
72-46, First place, nine games ahead of San Francisco

2024
71-51, First place, two games ahead of San Diego and Arizona

So this isn’t even the most they’ve trailed at this point. In 2021, they ended up 106-56, one game behind the Giants. They beat St. Louis in the wild-card game, beat the Giants in the NLDS, before losing to Atlanta in the NLCS.

Up next

Friday: San Diego (TBD) at Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 6-2, 3.14 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: San Diego (Dylan Cease, 5-10, 4.52 ERA) at Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 2-1, 2.37 ERA), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: San Diego (Yu Darvish, 2-3, 5.61 ERA) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-1, 3.08 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Mookie Betts has a playoff soundtrack infused with ‘the relaxing vibe of the beach’

Shohei Ohtani focused ‘on the field,’ not distraction of Hawaii real estate lawsuit

Hernández: Dodgers’ failure to improve their bullpen spurred free fall with no end in sight

Shaikin: Will Smith could win a batting title. Could the Dodgers stop him?

More bad news for Dodgers’ bullpen: Brock Stewart goes on the IL

After one year, this MLB postseason schedule innovation is no longer

Shohei Ohtani and his agent accused of sabotaging $240-million real estate project

And finally

Wally Moon discusses the origin and the art of hitting a “Moon Shot.” Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

“They can’t just go all foreign and bring in a host of Kiwis and South Africans, so they’re going to make sure that they’re clever,” says Noon.

“I think they’re conscious of trying to get enough quality guys to get through the season, but with a view that actually there’s a long-term project. With a bit more time and patience they can get the guys they want, as opposed to who is available.”

Red Bull’s entry into the Prem marks the end of a year-long search for a buyer for Newcastle.

Early last autumn, long-time club owner Semore Kurdi brought in A&W Capital, specialists in the sale of sports teams, to find someone to take the club on.

It was a pressing concern not just for Kurdi, who has put many millions of his own money into the club since becoming owner in 2011, or Newcastle, but the league as a whole.

After the demise of Worcester Warriors, Wasps and London Irish, another club going under would have reduced the Prem to nine clubs. Each round would involve only four fixtures and the gate receipts and product for broadcasters and sponsors would shrink.

The situation was so stark that earlier this year Sky News reported, external the other Premiership clubs, along with CVC Partners who part-own the league, were prepared to loan Newcastle £4m to keep them upright.

Red Bull’s investment is a vastly preferable option for all involved.

Newcastle’s dire circumstances and Kurdi’s desire to see the club in good hands meant Red Bull could cut a deal with little initial cost beyond taking on responsibility for the club’s £39m debts.

Prem Rugby has been understandably eager to facilitate an acquisition that solves a short-term problem and fits long-term goals.

The league has rebranded from the Premiership to target a younger demographic, one that ties in well with Red Bull’s consumer base.

It also hopes to switch to a franchise model, perhaps as soon as 2026-27, doing away with on-pitch relegation. Such a move would reduce the risk of investing in distressed assets such as Newcastle, something that can spook potential owners.

Even the plan to rename Newcastle Falcons as Newcastle Red Bulls was simple and supported.

Red Bull ran into stiff opposition from the German football federation over their renaming of RB Leipzig in 2009. The RB officially stands for RasenBallsport, rather than the energy drink that bankrolled the team’s rise up the leagues, as a concession to officialdom.

English rugby, which has seen plenty of rebrands and title sponsors since the dawn of professionalism, has no such qualms.