NEW YORK — No quick dispatching of disease investigators. No televised news conference to inform the public. No timely health alerts to doctors.
In the midst of a hantavirus outbreak that involves Americans and is making headlines around the world, the U.S. government’s top public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been uncharacteristically missing in action, according to a number of experts.
To President Trump, “we seem to have things under very good control,” as he told reporters Friday evening.
To experts, the situation aboard a cruise ship has not spiraled because, unlike COVID-19 or measles or the flu, hantavirus does not spread easily. It has been health experts in other countries, not the United States, who have been dealing primarily with the outbreak in the last week.
“The CDC is not even a player,” said Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Not until late Friday did CDC actions accelerate.
Health officials confirmed the deployment of a team to Spain’s Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday local time, to meet the Americans onboard. They said a second team will go to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska as part of a plan to evacuate U.S. passengers from the ship to a University of Nebraska quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. Also, the CDC issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them of the possibility of imported cases.
At their first briefing, held Saturday by telephone only for invited reporters, officials pledged to be transparent in updating the public but said the media could not cite the speakers by name under rules set by aides to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They did not directly answer a question about whether the U.S. passengers could leave the university medical facility when they wanted.
The CDC’s diminished role in this outbreak is an indicator the agency is no longer the force in international health or the protector of domestic health that it once was, some experts said.
The hantavirus outbreak is “a sentinel event” that speaks to “how well the country is prepared for a disease threat. And right now, I’m very sorry to say that we are not prepared,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, chief executive officer of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
How the outbreak unfolded
Early last month, a 70-year-old Dutch man developed a feverish illness on a cruise ship traveling from Argentina to Antarctica and some islands in the South Atlantic. He died less than a week later. More people became sick, including the man’s wife and a German woman who both died.
Hantavirus was first identified as a cause of sickness of one of the cases on May 2. The World Health Organization swung into action and by Monday was calling it an outbreak. About two dozen Americans were on the ship, including about seven who disembarked last month and 17 who remained on board.
It’s WHO taking center stage
For decades, the CDC partnered with the WHO in such situations. The CDC acted as a mainstay of any international investigation, providing staff and expertise to help unravel any outbreak mystery, develop ways to control it and communicate to the public what they should know and how they should worry.
Such actions were a large reason why the CDC developed a reputation as the world’s premier public health agency.
But this time, the WHO has been center stage. It made the risk assessment that has told people the outbreak is not a pandemic threat.
“I don’t think this is a giant threat to the United States,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown University’s Pandemic Center. But how this situation has played out “just shows how empty and vapid the CDC is right now,” she said.
Tumult under Trump
The current situation comes after 16 tumultuous months during which the Trump administration withdrew from the WHO, has restricted CDC scientists from talking to international counterparts at times and embarked on a plan to build its own international public health network through one-on-one agreements with individual countries.
The administration has laid off thousands of CDC scientists and public health professionals, including members of the agency’s ship sanitation program.
As this was playing out, Kennedy said he was working to “restore the CDC’s focus on infectious disease, invest in innovation, and rebuild trust through integrity and transparency.”
Waiting to hear from the CDC
The CDC has not been completely silent on hantavirus.
The agency on Wednesday issued a short statement that said the risk to the American public is “extremely low,” and described the U.S. government as “the world’s leader in global health security.”
Said Nuzzo: “Not only was that not helpful, it actually does damage because a core principle of public health communications is humility.”
The CDC’s acting director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, posted a message on social media that the agency was lending its expertise in coordinating with other federal agencies and international authorities. Arizona officials this week said they learned from the CDC that one of the Americans who left the ship — a person with no symptoms and not considered contagious — had already returned to the state. WHO officials said the CDC has been sharing technical information.
The CDC also is “monitoring the health status and preparing medical support for all of the American passengers on the cruise,” Bhattacharya wrote.
But federal health officials have mostly been tight-lipped, declining interview requests.
COVID-19 comparison
In interviews this week, some experts made a comparison with a 2020 incident involving the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship docked in Japan that became the setting of one of the first large COVID-19 outbreaks outside China.
The CDC sent personnel to the port, helped evacuate American passengers, ran quarantines, shared genetic data on the virus, coordinated with the WHO and Japan, held public briefings and rapidly published reports “that became the world’s reference data on cruise ship COVID transmission,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director.
Some aspects of the international response to the Diamond Princess were criticized, and it did not halt the outbreak or stop COVID-19’s spread across the world. But some experts say it was not for the CDC’s lack of trying.
“The CDC was right on top of it, very visible, very active in trying to manage and contain it,” Gostin said, while the agency’s work now is delayed and subdued.
Instead of working with nearly all of the world’s nations through the WHO, the Trump administration has pursued bilateral health agreements with individual nations for information sharing, public health support, and what it describes as “the introduction of innovative American technologies.” Roughly 30 agreements are currently in place.
That’s not sufficient, Gostin said. “You can’t possibly cover a global health crisis by doing one-on-one deals with countries here and there,” he said.
Stobbe writes for the Associated Press. AP writers Ali Swenson in New York, Darlene Superville in Washington and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque contributed to this report.
Walt Disney Co.’s ABC is forcefully resisting Federal Communications Commission efforts to soften the network’s programming, accusing the federal agency of an overreach that violates 1st Amendment freedoms.
Last week, the FCC took the unusual step of calling in the licenses of eight Disney-owned television stations for early review. The move — widely interpreted as an effort to chill the network’s speech — came a day after President Trump demanded that ABC fire late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel over a joke about First Lady Melania Trump.
The FCC separately has taken aim at ABC’s daytime discussion show, “The View,” which delves deeply into politics.
The FCC has questioned whether the show, which prominently features Trump critics Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, could continue toclaim an exemption to rules that require broadcasters to provide equal time for opponents of political candidates.
In its filing this week with the FCC, Disney’s Houston television station raised the stakes in the dispute over “The View,” calling the commission’s actions “unprecedented” and “beyond the Commission’s authority.” The ABC station’s petition for a declaratory ruling said “The View,” has long qualified as a “bona fide” news interview program with freedom to conduct interviews of legally qualified political candidates.
“The Commission’s actions threaten to upend decades of settled law and practice and chill critical protected speech, both with respect to The View and more broadly,” the Houston station KTRK-TV said in the filing.
The network’s firm stance sets up a clash with the Trump administration, including the president’s hand-picked FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has made no secret of his disdain for Kimmel and other ABC programming. Earlier this year, Carr announced that decades-old exemptions from the so-called “equal time rule” for news programs, including “The View,” were no longer valid.
ABC’s strenuous arguments mark a departure for the Disney-owned outlet.
In December 2024, a month after Trump was elected to a second term, the network quickly settled a lawsuit over statements made by news anchor George Stephanopoulos that Trump found offensive. ABC agreed to pay Trump $15 million to end his legal fight — sparking an outcry among free speech advocates, who accused the network of caving on a case it could have won.
“Some may dislike certain—or even most—of the viewpoints expressed on The View or similar shows,” the station said in its filing. “Such dislike, however, cannot justify using regulatory processes to restrict those views. The government does not get to decide ‘what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.’”
The station noted that, while the FCC has questioned the exemption for “The View,” which dates back to 2002, the FCC hasn’t showed interest in regulating programs on other networks, “including the many voices — conservative and liberal — on broadcast radio.”
“The danger is that the government will simply decide which perspectives to regulate and which to leave undisturbed,” ABC said.
On April 28, Carr called for a review of Disney’s broadcast licenses two years before any of them were set to expire, citing the agency’s year-old inquiry into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies and whether they violated federal anti-discrimination rules.
HOUSTON — It was the perfect time for Shohei Ohtani to step up to the plate. The Dodgers’ offense was rolling again, ready to make a statement with a third-inning rally against the Astros. They loaded the bases and turned over the batting order.
Then Ohtani chased a sinker off the plate and chopped a slow bouncer to Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes, giving him an easy play at second. A far departure from the eye-popping exit velocities that Ohtani’s swing usually produces, the run-scoring grounder was soft enough to avoid a double play.
In the Dodgers’ 8-3 win Monday against the Astros, Ohtani’s hitless streak stretched to five games, his longest such skid since 2022, when he also went five games without a hit (May 24-28).
“I do feel like over the course of my career it’s just a reality that I’m not exactly hitting at the best of my ability at this time of year,” Ohtani said last week through interpreter Will Ireton. “At the same time, as a player, I do want to be better and get to that position where I’m feeling really good. It’s a balancing act of the two.”
The rest of the Dodgers’ offense finally broke out on Monday, against a snakebitten Astros pitching staff.
Alex Freeland ended the Dodgers’ homerless streak at six games with an opposite-field shot into the Crawford boxes in the second inning. Leading off the third, Kyle Tucker hit a solo home run of his own, giving the Dodgers their first multi-homer game in two weeks.
Seven Dodgers combined for 13 hits, with Freeland and Will Smith leading the pack with three apiece. Tucker and Freddie Freeman each contributed a pair of RBIs.
The offensive surge just didn’t extend to Ohtani.
Kyle Tucker hits a solo home run for the Dodgers in the third inning against the Astros on Monday.
(Tim Warner / Getty Images)
In contrast to his offensive struggles, Ohtani has been dominant on the mound. He earned a pitcher of the month award for the first time in his career Monday after recording a 0.60 ERA in five starts in March and April.
Unhappy with just one-sided success, however, Ohtani shook up his routine with early on-field batting practice Monday.
“Most of the times when he does this, it works,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Ohtani took on-field batting practice before Game 3 of the 2025 NL Championship Series and then hit three home runs in Game 4. He usually prefers the batting cages for his pregame BP. But Monday marked the second time this season that he moved his session to the field.
“If you hit a ball down the line the other way in the cage, it kind of looks like it’s a foul ball,” hitting coach Aaron Bates said. “Whereas on the field you can see it’s fair, you can kind of see the spin of the ball a little better. It just kind of changes up the environment a little bit. The depth perception, too, helps a lot.”
Hitting the ball the other way was one of Ohtani’s goals.
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during the first inning Monday against the Astros.
(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
Amid his slow offensive start, Ohtani’s swing has become pull-happy. He’s been hitting the ball to the right side at 53.4% entering Monday, compared to 43.2% last season, according to Statcast.
“It’s more about timing and feel for him, backing up the baseball,” Bates said. “When he gathers correctly and hits through the baseball, obviously we’ve seen what he’s capable of doing. But just kind of managing his at-bats right now, trying to get to the big part of the park.”
For the first time since 2023, Ohtani is also balancing a full starting pitcher’s workload with his offensive responsibilities.
“It is easier to maintain something good when things are going well,” Ohtani said. “But when things are not going well, it’s not easy, in the sense that I have to make sure that I’m healthy and not overdoing it in terms of repetition. So while I’m working on certain things, it’s also a balancing act of making sure I’m not overdoing it physically and making sure that I’m healthy.”
No matter what, it’s going to take a greater physical toll. Case in point: after hitting on the field Monday, Ohtani also threw a bullpen session.
The Dodgers have tried to help him manage his workload by giving him days off from hitting on some of his pitching days. Those pitching-only days weren’t a regular occurrence when Ohtani was with the Angels, but now Ohtani is also preparing for what’s expected to be a deep postseason run.
The Dodgers have given Ohtani two pitching-only days already this season, but Roberts said he plans to have Ohtani hit when he pitches against the Astros on Tuesday.
“It’s doable,” Roberts said when asked about Ohtani trying to fix his swing while pitching. “The bottom line is, there’s no other alternative. He’s going to DH a lot. He’s going to pitch a lot. Now, how best we preserve him and keep him strong and healthy is the question.”
Ohtani’s search for his usual offensive production will continue at least another day. He drew two walks Monday. And the best contact he made was on a fly out to center field (91.2 mph exit velocity) in the seventh inning.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Ron DeSantis was once the future of the Republican Party, a battle-tested conservative twice elected as governor of Florida. Then Donald Trump steamrolled him on his way back to the White House.
Now, more than two years after DeSantis ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, the governor has called a special legislative session on redistricting and other issues that will put him back in the national spotlight and maybe remind Republicans that he could lead the party one day.
But there are also plenty of risks involved for the 47-year-old governor, and they became immediately apparent after lawmakers convened Tuesday.
DeSantis is pushing state lawmakers to redraw Florida’s congressional map as part of a coast-to-coast redistricting battle ahead of November’s midterm elections. His proposal, released the day before the session began, would make it easier for Republicans to win up to four more seats, equivalent to Democrats’ potential gains from last week’s referendum in Virginia.
The governor also wanted lawmakers to adopt new regulations for artificial intelligence and loosen vaccine requirements. However, his proposals quickly hit a roadblock when House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican but not a DeSantis acolyte, told members that he would not advance any legislation on those issues.
Perez said the governor’s maps are on a fast track, with a House vote expected Wednesday, but some Republicans are worried that a gerrymandered map will backfire and make it easier for Democrats to pick up seats, something that would be a black eye for DeSantis.
He already faces tough prospects on the national stage, even with Trump constitutionally barred from running for a third term in 2028. DeSantis has had a relatively low profile during Trump’s second presidency and would likely have Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, another Floridian, to contend with in a Republican primary.
“The window for Ron looks reasonably narrow at this point,” said Whit Ayres, who served as DeSantis’ pollster in his first campaign for governor in 2018.
DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. But the governor has at least embraced the national redistricting fight. When House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) last week dared Florida Republicans to go ahead with their special session, the governor punched back with the kind of aggressiveness he showed in the early days of his failed White House bid.
“I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign,” DeSantis said of Jeffries. “I’ll put you up in the Florida governor’s mansion. We’ll take you fishing.”
DeSantis wants four more Republican seats
DeSantis unveiled his proposed congressional map to Fox News on Monday even before it had been widely circulated among lawmakers. He argued that the 2020 census shortchanged the state’s population, making it necessary to redraw the lines.
The governor’s map, if approved, would reshape districts in Democratic areas around Orlando, Tampa Bay, Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The changes could cost Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others, their seats.
The current maps yielded a 20 to 8 Republican tilt in 2024. DeSantis’ version would aim for an advantage of 24 to 4.
DeSantis first announced the special session in January, months after Trump started pushing Republican-run states to redraw their congressional boundaries. What followed has been a tit-for-tat battle, with each party looking for an edge in the midterms.
The Virginia referendum celebrated by Democrats is facing a court challenge. Another legal battle is playing out in Wisconsin, where Democrats also hope to pick up another seat or two.
There’s no guarantee that new maps will play out the way parties hope. For example, Texas based its revised lines largely on Trump’s performance in 2024, theoretically redistributing the president’s voters across more districts to pull them into the Republican column. But Trump’s popularity has waned since his reelection, including among Latino voters who figure prominently in the state.
Florida could face a similar conundrum. Creating more majority-Republican districts but with thinner margins could dilute GOP advantages and give Democrats more opportunities to win seats, especially if there’s an anti-Trump backlash at the polls this year.
Karl Rove, a former top political advisor to President George W. Bush, warned that if Florida Republicans get too aggressive, “they may lose a seat or two.”
Brian Ballard, an influential Florida lobbyist who has been DeSantis’ top fundraiser, said it’s worth remembering that DeSantis was the muscle behind the current map that expanded Republicans’ advantage in the state.
“He’s incredibly smart and capable,” Ballard said. “And he doesn’t get enough credit for that map. He’s done this before.”
Florida legislative leaders are not rubber stamps for DeSantis
As it did Tuesday, the Florida House has grown more willing to buck the governor in recent sessions. Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton made clear for weeks that they were not drawing their own proposals and would react only to what DeSantis put forward.
Albritton sent multiple memos to senators reminding them of Florida’s state constitutional limits on redistricting and the requirement that it not be done as a blatantly partisan act.
Perez sidestepped questions Tuesday about whether the maps violate those requirements, which Florida voters approved by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in 2010. Democrats and political advocates have promised legal challenges.
Beyond redistricting, DeSantis was effectively asking House members to approve AI and vaccine proposals that they refused even to advance out of committee earlier this year.
On AI, DeSantis wanted to require tech companies to ensure children cannot interact with chatbots without parental permission. He also wanted to prevent AI from generating harmful material for minors. That proposal put DeSantis at odds with Trump, who wants the federal government to be the regulator of AI technology. Perez said he sides with the president, calling AI a “national security issue” that is “bigger than just one state.”
On vaccines, DeSantis wanted to add a conscience-based exemption to public school vaccine requirements, similar to the existing religious exemption. That aligns him with the anti-vaccine portion of the Trump base that was instrumental in making Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the U.S. Health secretary.
Perez countered that vaccine requirements in the U.S. “have been working for decades” and said he remains uncomfortable with “children being in school without measles and mumps and polio and chickenpox vaccines.”
Political observers are watching — even at the White House
Ballard downplayed any political concerns for DeSantis. What may seem to some as strained relations with certain Republican legislative leaders, he said, is simply measuring DeSantis against the opening years of his tenure.
“I mean, he went from batting a thousand to maybe batting .600,” Ballard said, using a baseball analogy for the governor who played the sport while attending Yale. “That isn’t failure.”
During the last Republican presidential primary, DeSantis initially gave conservative establishment figures and key donors an option other than Trump, who grew frustrated by the challenge and mocked the governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
But Trump seemingly forgave DeSantis when he dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump following his victory in the Iowa caucuses. He even promised to call DeSantis by his actual name.
There’s more bad blood within the White House, though. Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a Floridian, managed DeSantis’ razor-thin 2018 victory, only for the governor to have a falling-out with her.
Wiles did not respond to a request for comment. But Ayres said he’s certain she’s paying attention.
“Donald Trump has a long memory, and Susie Wiles has a longer one,” he said. “And that doesn’t bode well for Gov. DeSantis to be Donald Trump’s Republican successor.”
Barrow writes for the Associated Press. Scott Bauer contributed to this report from Madison, Wis.
Last week’s meet-up in San Francisco didn’t provide the fireworks or memorable moments the candidates, and many voters, were hoping for — but it did manage to remind us all that ballots will hit mailboxes in coming days and decisions must be made.
Ahead of the forum at Pomona College in Claremont, a trio of our Times columnists — Gustavo Arellano, Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria — weigh in with a cheat sheet on what to look for, what to expect and why it matters.
Chabria: I’ll start us off with the obvious — let’s hope Tuesday gives us at least one breakout candidate who comes with some fire and vision.
After last week’s debate, there was lots of social media posturing about who won and who trolled whom the best. But as one of the six people who actually watched, I can tell you it was mostly bland with no clear winner.
That’s in large part because many of the Democrats have only slivers of daylight between their policies, and ditto for the two Republicans.
So my hope is that at least a single candidate ups their game and comes to voters with not just attacks, but something that inspires, something that sets them apart. This far into the race, that hope is slim, but I’m keeping it alive.
What are your hopes and dreams — and maybe fears — going into this?
Barabak: I know I sound like a broken record. (Google it, kids.) Anita, you and I, in particular, have gone round and round on this one. But I don’t feel a particular need for inspiration from the guys and gal that are running for governor. If I want inspiration, I’ll go back and reread the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail.” Or listen to a Grateful Dead show from May of ’77.
Give me someone who can work with the Legislature, and as difficult as it may be, President Trump, to get stuff done.
Pursue a “California First” agenda, to borrow a phrase. Put voters and their interests ahead of ego, careerism and personal ambition. Start by pledging, if elected, to serve a full four-year term and not run for president so long as they’re serving as governor.
Of course, that kind of promise can be broken. (See then-Gov. Pete Wilson, who made that vow when he sought reelection in 1994, then turned around and — unsuccessfully — sought the White House in 1995.)
At least we’d have them on the record.
Arellano: I’m all for this morass of democracy. A small part of me wants two Republicans to make it into the general election because the California Democratic Party deserves a meteor-like extinction event. No GOP statewide elected official since Schwarzenegger. Supermajority in Sacramento for most of a decade.
And what do they have to show for their one-party rule? This.
But then I hear Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton mewl, and I’m suddenly hoping alongside Anita that someone vanquishes their foes with an unassailable vision. Problem is, I think all the candidates have reached their ceiling. The only one who has any chance of showing us something new is Xavier Becerra, who needs to drop his Dudley Do-Right shtick for a second and channel the inner cholo we all know is in him.
Instead, he was at a fundraiser in Fullerton over the weekend with professional Latinos — you should’ve been kicking it with my cousins in Anaheim who were watching their Dodgers slaughter the Cubs, loco, because they’re the ones who’ll make or break you.
Chabria: How the first potential Latino governor is failing to excite Latino voters is exactly what I’m talking about. If you don’t give voters something to be excited about, they don’t vote, and our fragile democracy needs every voter it can get.
But if we are forced to vote on nuance, let’s do it informed. Here are some questions I hope these candidates have to answer:
For San José Mayor Matt Mahan, funded in the mega-millions by tech bros, it’s not enough to promise to regulate artificial intelligence, or billionaire influence, for that matter. Tell us what those regulations look like and tell us how you reconcile your own politics with those of big donors such as Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir, who has called Gen Z the “loser generation.”
For billionaire investor Tom Steyer, who has said he will reform Proposition 13 (which limits property taxes) for corporate land owners: What assurances do homeowners have that they won’t be next?
And I agree with you, Gustavo, Becerra is coming across as resolutely bland, but to Mark’s point, he’s using that to position himself as drama-free and experienced. So in an era when fraud and abuse are the words of the day, how does Becerra explain not catching fraud in his own office?
Mark and Gustavo, what are the topics you hope candidates will be grilled on?
Arellano: Slight correction, Anita — California already had a Latino governor: Romualdo Pacheco, the lieutenant governor who replaced Newton Booth in 1875 when the latter became a U.S. senator. Pacheco — a Latino Republican! — served all of 10 months before becoming a Congress member.
Issues? Immigration, of course. I want each one to address the state’s undocumented immigrants for 90 seconds in whatever matter they choose. Water: Believe in climate change or not, but our supply is shrinking faster than the gubernatorial chances of Thurmond. And since I believe that the more random the question, the more you learn about who a candidate truly is: What’s the best song about California, and why? Anyone who says “California Girls” or “California Gurls” deserves disqualification, even if both songs rock.
Barabak: Not an issue, per se. What I’d like to see is a bit of backbone.
The next governor is going to have to make some tough decisions, especially around spending priorities and/or cuts to the state budget. Inevitably, the next governor is going to make some people unhappy. And I’m not talking about just those members of the opposite party, or folks who didn’t vote for them.
So I’d like each of them to name an issue where, for the good of the state, they’re willing to take on their friends and allies, knowing they’ll be displeased. If you’re a Democrat, name something you would do that would, say, tick off organized labor. And for Republicans Bianco and Hilton, what’s an area where you’re willing to say to Trump, “Sir” — the president imagines everyone bowing and calling him sir — “you’re dead wrong about this and California needs to go its own way, whether you like it or not.”
Arellano: Good luck seeing any candidate buck their masters. I think we need to lower our expectations way, way, well, lower. So a simple question to conclude: Who needs to do the most tonight besides Mahan’s beard? I think it’s my fellow Orange Countian, Katie Porter. She’s now to the right of Steyer and left of Becerra, which means she needs to peel off supporters from both of them and grab undecideds if she wants to advance. Not sure how she can pull that off — but if anyone can bring necessary fire, it’s her.
Chabria: Porter definitely has a lot on the line.
One standout moment for her, Steyer or Becerra — good or bad — could tilt this very-much-undecided race — not so much because people will be watching, but because it will fuel the social media and advertising sure to follow. These next two debates are high-stakes, not just to avoid a Biden performance, but to do something, anything, that fires up momentum.
Politics ain’t beanbag, as the old saying goes, and it’s time to bring the heat. So in the spirit of Gustavo’s song request, I’ll leave it with these lyrics from the Rivieras (or the Ramones, if you prefer): We’re out there having fun, in the warm California sun.
Barabak: Not to be the pooper at the party but I think we shouldn’t overstate the import of tonight’s debate. For one thing, as Anita suggested, the audience will be exceedingly small — minuscule, even, relative to the state’s 23 million registered voters.
We know, from experience, that most folks will take away what they do based not on the debate itself but rather the coverage of it and whatever soundbites, memes, chatter and advertising it produces — and that’s only to the extent people are paying attention.
So, yes, what’s said and done in Pomona, will matter some. But we’re still five weeks away from election day, and I suspect many folks will be waiting at least another week or three to start focusing on the race and finally make up their minds.
I’ll end with something that Jerry Garcia sang: All good things in all good time.
WASHINGTON — In the span of 10 days, the nation’s capital saw a cascade of ethical scandals that cut across party lines and branches of government, raising fresh doubts about whether Washington is capable of holding itself accountable.
Three members of Congress — two Democrats and a Republican — resigned within days of one another as they faced calls for their expulsion due to their alleged misconduct. A fourth lawmaker is facing the same pressure but has so far refused to step down.
A Cabinet secretary stepped down amid a months-long investigation into allegations that she pursued a romantic relationship with a member of her security detail, while her husband stood accused of sexually assaulting female staffers in her agency.
In a separate case, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed last week that it put a senior counterterrorism official on administrative leave as it investigates an ex-boyfriend’s allegations that she was seeking out wealthy men online to pay for luxury items.
The back-to-back resignations and investigations, spanning both parties and both the legislative and executive branches, have reignited a debate about whether Washington’s rules and institutions for self-oversight can keep pace with the misconduct unfolding within it. Even those charged with policing it say the system is failing.
“Clearly, we have an ethical problem,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord), the top Democrat on the House Ethics Committee, said in an interview.
DeSaulnier, who has served on the committee since 2023, said the panel is long overdue for an overhaul. He would like to see the committee speed up investigations and give it more authority to root out misconduct before lawmakers can resign to avoid accountability.
“It takes too long,” he said, drawing an analogy to law enforcement standards for officers facing misconduct allegations. “If you’re a law enforcement officer, there are standards for a suspension with pay or without pay. I think we need to take a look at things like that.”
The committee’s records show that since 1976, it has investigated 28 instances in which a House member was suspected of sexual misconduct. The outcome in 13 of those cases was a loss of jurisdiction, meaning the member resigned, retired or otherwise left the House before the committee could reach a conclusion on the allegations.
“Unfortunately, there likely exist matters never reported to the Committee,” the panel said in a rare statement last week. It added that its “greatest hurdle” in evaluating allegations of sexual misconduct is “convincing the most vulnerable witnesses to share their stories.”
Lonna Drewes, left, and her attorney, Lisa Bloom, arrive at a news conference in which Drewes accused U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) of sexual assault, on April 14 in Beverly Hills.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
The two most recent cases in which the committee lost jurisdiction were the investigations into former California Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat accused of sexual assault who denied the allegations, and Republican former Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales, who last month admitted to a sexual relationship with a staffer who later died by suicide.
The committee is currently investigating Rep. Cory Mills, a Florida Republican, on allegations of “sexual misconduct and/or dating violence.” Mills has denied wrongdoing and declined to step down, telling CNN that House Speaker Mike Johnson told him not to resign and let the process play out.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has defended his stance on ensuring there is due process for House members, telling reporters last week that representatives should not be removed based only on allegations.
“There’s got to be an element of due process,” he said at a news conference, in which he also acknowledged that “sometimes it takes a long time” to achieve that and that he is open to suggestions on how to make the process better.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has also expressed hesitance in ousting members before they receive due process. He said that much in relation to Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), who eventually resigned as she faced an ethics investigation and federal criminal charges of stealing $5 million in disaster relief funds. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) speak to reporters after a hearing with the House Ethics Committee on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in Washington.
(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
The stance has drawn objections from 14 House Democrats in competitive swing districts, including California Reps. Mike Levin and Derek Tran.
In a letter addressed to Johnson and Jeffries, the lawmakers urged both House leaders to push the Ethics Committee to “expedite their investigation” with more transparency, including public hearings.
“We must demonstrate that no one is above the law and that serious misconduct will result in serious consequences,” the lawmakers wrote.
The calls for reform are not limited to the House.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Congress as a whole needs to increase transparency around how ethics complaints are handled and create a system that better protects junior staffers rather than members and senior aides who oversee them.
“The House of Representatives has an office that provides legal advice and representation to staff, but the Senate doesn’t appear to have such a thing,” Schiff said. “So that is also something I’m looking into.”
Schiff is also looking beyond Capitol Hill. He is pushing to install an inspector general inside the executive office of the President, a watchdog position that has never existed there despite being standard across the rest of the federal government.
Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz, left, chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, and David Smith, assistant director, Office of Investigations U.S. Secret Service, arrive for the House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing titled Federal Pandemic Spending: A Prescription for Waste, Fraud and Abuse in Rayburn Building on Feb. 1, 2023.
(Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via Associated Press)
President Trump has fired at least a dozen inspectors general during his second term, according to the New York Times. The dismissals of those independent watchdogs across the executive branch are likely to complicate Schiff’s efforts, which he said will need to “overcome the instinctual opposition of many in the president’s party who may view [the bill] as an indictment of the president’s actions.”
“But if we are ever going to ensure that a president and his administration are not above the law, an inspector general in the executive office is critical,” he said.
Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said he has long advocated for installing an independent watchdog in the White House but doubts that a Congress operating under its own cloud of scandal would take that step now.
“They are not complying with their own rules,” he said. “It is a big problem.”
Painter also argued that Trump’s own conduct is itself reshaping what members of his own administration and allies in Congress believe they can get away with.
The president’s past social ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have also received renewed scrutiny as his administration is criticized for the handling of the files. Trump has denied wrongdoing in all three matters.
“That sends a message to the entire administration and to Congress as to what is acceptable,” Painter said.
Trump, who is known for chiming in on myriad topics on social media, has not talked much about the sex scandals on Capitol Hill. But the president did call Swalwell a “sleazebag” in a recent interview with the Daily Mail.
“I don’t know anything about the charges, but he’s a bad guy,” Trump said. “He’s always been a bad guy, he’s a corrupt politician, and everyone knows it, so it’s happening to him, and we’ll see what happens. Right? Let him go defend himself.”
The president has not been as candid with his administration’s own controversies, but watchdogs in executive agencies have scrutinized some of his members.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer attends the world premiere of Amazon MGM’s “Melania” at The Trump-Kennedy Center on Jan. 29 in Washington.
(Taylor Hill / WireImage via Getty Images)
The White House declined to comment on the allegations against former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who stepped down last week after multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.
The New York Times reported that Chavez-DeRemer was under investigation by the agency’s inspector general, and that an imminent report was likely to be unfavorable toward her. The investigation had been ongoing for several months before her departure.
In a separate case, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Julia Varvaro, the agency’s deputy assistance secretary, was put on administrative leave amid an investigation into allegations that she was seeking out so-called sugar daddies online.
The scandals come as recent polling shows Americans are growing more dissatisfied with Trump and Congress.
Congress’ approval rating has plummeted to 10%, according to Gallup polling released last week. Public approval of Trump has dropped to 28%, according to a Marquette University Law School poll released earlier this month. The president’s approval ratings are tightly linked to concerns about the Iran war and the economy.
Some lawmakers, like DeSaulnier, worry the scandals will continue to erode Americans’ confidence in the government and the people who represent them.
“If they don’t have trust in these institutions and the people who are in these positions, that’s a real, serious problem for American democracy,” he said.
ATLANTA — A man charged in a string of shootings near Atlanta that left three people dead, including a Department of Homeland Security employee who was walking her dog, died in jail Tuesday night, authorities said.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was found unresponsive in his cell, according to a statement from the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office. Officials provided medical treatment to the U.S. Navy veteran, but he was later pronounced dead.
The official cause of death has not been determined, but officials don’t suspect foul play, according to the office. Officials are conducting an internal review.
Adon Abel was accused of killing Prianna Weathers, 31, and Homeland Security auditor Lauren Bullis, 40, in last week’s attack. Authorities also had been seeking an additional murder charge for Tony Mathews, 49, who was injured in the attack and died Sunday.
Authorities haven’t offered a potential motive for the shootings. It’s unclear if Adon Abel knew any of the victims. Police have said they believe at least one was targeted at random.
Adon Abel was represented by a public defender, and the state council overseeing defenders’ work said Wednesday in a statement that his death denies him “the opportunity to contest the charges in court.”
“We also regret that the families, friends, and colleagues of the victims may now be left without the fuller answers a public legal process might have provided about how these deaths occurred,” the statement said. “That is a painful and sobering reality for everyone affected.”
Adon Abel faced state malice murder, aggravated assault and gun charges over last week’s attacks, court records show. He also faced a federal charge of illegally possessing the gun as a person previously convicted of a felony, which was filed Friday.
His roommates told the Associated Press that shortly before the shootings, he got in an intense argument over the air conditioning in their home and stormed out. He lived with six others in separate units of the home.
The United Kingdom native was granted U.S. citizenship in 2022 while serving in the U.S. Navy and stationed in the San Diego area.
The attacks in Georgia quickly drew the Trump administration’s attention, with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raising concern that Adon Abel was granted U.S. citizenship when Democrat Joe Biden was president. Mullin cataloged a litany of Adon Abel’s previous alleged crimes, but it is unclear whether any of them occurred before he became a citizen.
Military records show the Adon Abel enlisted in the Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron in Coronado, Calif., and as a petty officer received a Navy “E” Ribbon for superior performance for battle readiness.
Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person when he was stationed in Coronado, near San Diego, according to California court records.
The attorney who represented him in that case, Brandon Naidu, has described him as polite, calm and soft-spoken in their interactions. He said Wednesday that his obligation to protect the confidentiality of their conversations limits what he can say publicly but, “Mental health was absolutely at the center of his San Diego case.” ““t was fueled by suicidal ideation as a result of mental health that he was self-treating with substances,” he said.
He added: “Nobody wins in this. We’ll never know the motives, what could have been done beforehand or even afterward. Nobody gets proper closure on this.”
Hanna and Golden write for the Associated Press. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan., and Golden, from Seattle.
Mike Trout homered, Nolan Schanuel homered and hit a three-run double and Jose Soriano worked five shutout innings as the Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 on Wednesday to avoid a series sweep.
Trout’s eighth homer of the season was a 428-foot solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. That hit tied the 34-year-old Trout with the late Garret Anderson for the Angels’ franchise record of 796 extra-base hits. Anderson died last week of an acute necrotizing pancreatitis at the age of 53.
Soriano, who is 5-0, gave up three hits and struck out five in five innings before leaving with a 3-0 lead. He lowered his ERA to an MLB-leading 0.24. The 27-year-old right-hander is the first MLB pitcher since 1900 to allow no more than one run in the first six starts of a season, and he has the lowest ERA (with a minimum of 30 innings pitched) through a pitcher’s first six starts of a season since 1913, when earned runs became official in both leagues.
Despite his impressive outing, Soriano did not figure in the decision after the Blue Jays rallied in the seventh. Ernie Clement’s RBI single with two out cut the deficit to 3-1. Toronto then capitalized on a walk, an error and an RBI double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., tying the game at 3.
The Angels countered in the bottom half. Schanuel, who hit a solo homer in the fourth, hit a three-run double to left that gave the Angels a 6-3 lead. They added another run on Hunter Renfroe’s RBI single.
Brent Suter (1-1) struck out two and worked a scoreless seventh for the win. Tommy Nance (0-2) allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings and took the loss.
WASHINGTON — With a fragile ceasefire set to expire with Iran in a matter of days, President Trump is still deciding between diplomacy and a resumption of fighting that may ultimately hinge on his definition of victory.
Negotiations have continued over the last week between the warring sides over a potential agreement that would end the conflict and curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with interlocutors from Pakistan passing messages that have kept talks alive. Tehran has floated an extension of the two-week ceasefire, set to expire Tuesday, that is under active consideration by the American side.
But the Islamic Republic has simultaneously vowed retaliation over a new U.S. blockade of Iranian ports that in effect cut off Tehran’s oil sales, which make up nearly 85% of the country’s export revenue. And the Trump administration is deploying up to 10,000 additional troops to the region, on top of the 50,000 already there, both reinforcing the blockade and threatening ground operations if diplomacy fails.
Conflicting messages from the Trump administration are designed to escalate pressure on Tehran ahead of the ceasefire deadline, potentially extracting concessions at the negotiating table.
But speaking with reporters, Trump has made it clear he is seeking a way to end the war for good.
“I think it’s close to over,” Trump told Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” on Wednesday. “I view it as very close to over. If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”
Negotiations toward that end have proved more challenging than the administration initially anticipated.
Trump has said he started the war in order to eliminate Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, degrade its ballistic missile and drone programs, and destroy its navy. But in talks, the Iranians have not relented on their right to enrich uranium, to maintain conventional defensive capabilities and to police traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most vital waterways.
Tehran rejected a proposal by U.S. negotiators last week for a 20-year pause on Iran’s domestic enrichment of fissile material, with the Iranians countering with a five-year moratorium, one official said.
In his interview with Fox, Trump said the talks were going so well that an extension of the ceasefire might not be necessary. Yet, speaking with the New York Post, Trump suggested he wouldn’t settle for less than an indefinite cap on Iran’s nuclear work.
“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons,” Trump said, “so I don’t like the 20 years.”
“I don’t want them to feel like they have a win,” he added.
The U.S. ceasefire with Iran was predicated on the resumption of free navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. But Iranian threats of a new toll system and warnings of drifting mines have limited traffic, prompting the Trump administration to announce a full blockade of the strait. Despite the U.S. threat, ships have continued transiting the passage this week, suggesting the U.S. blockade has focused more specifically on Iranian ports.
Amid the impasse, global oil prices remain stubbornly high — a concern for Republicans entering this year’s midterm election season. Trump told Fox that he expected prices to drop to prewar levels by the time of the vote in November.
“There’s gonna be a hit, but it’s going to recover, I think, fully,” Trump said. “I think that we will be somewhere around where we were — maybe even lower. And when this is over, I think the stock market is going to boom.”
A second round of high-level negotiations could take place in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the next several days, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters at a news briefing Wednesday.
Pakistani officials traveled to Tehran on Wednesday to deliver a message from the U.S. delegation, potentially laying the groundwork for new, in-person talks.
“He’s made his red lines in these negotiations very clear to the other side,” Leavitt said. “We feel good about the prospects of a deal.”
Taylor Frankie Paul won’t face criminal charges in connection with alleged domestic violence incidents between her and her ex-boyfriend, the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office said Tuesday.
The embattled “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star’s cases were reviewed by multiple attorneys due to their high-profile nature, according to the district attorney’s office.
“After reviewing reports and evidence submitted to the Draper Police Department and West Jordan Police Department, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file charges against Taylor Frankie Paul,” the statement reads.
According to the news release, Dakota Mortensen, Paul’s ex and the father of her youngest child, reported several domestic violence incidents, “some of which occurred more than three years ago.”
“Any incidents of misdemeanor offenses which are alleged to have occurred more than two years ago are barred by the statute of limitations,” the district attorney’s office wrote, adding that “several incidents that were submitted do not rise to the level of criminal offenses.” The remaining incidents lack sufficient evidence to support filing criminal charges, according to the district attorney’s office.
Mortensen filed a report with the West Jordan Police Department in Utah in February alleging an incident of domestic violence that he said occurred in early to mid-2024. Utah’s Draper Police Department was also looking into a separate incident involving the former couple.
Days before the premiere of Season 22 of “The Bachelorette,” in which Paul was set to star, a leaked video of a 2023 domestic dispute between Paul and Mortensen circulated online.
That 2023 incident resulted in Paul being arrested. She eventually pleaded guilty in abeyance to aggravated assault, and Paul’s arrest was featured in the first season of “Secret Lives.”
Although the incident had already been addressed publicly and dealt with in court, the leaked video featured previously unseen footage of the dispute. As a result, Paul was hit with a restraining order, she temporarily lost custody of Ever, the 2-year-old son she shares with Mortensen, and ABC pulled “The Bachelorette.” Production on the hit reality series had already wrapped and the premiere was slated for March 22.
The exes are also ordered to appear remotely at a court hearing April 30 to review the merits of Mortensen’s protective order against Paul. Paul has also filed her own protective order against Mortensen, which a Utah judge signed off on last week.
Mortensen sought a protective order after two incidents in February that involved “grabbing, scratching, shoving, and striking” that allegedly left Mortensen with marks on his neck, according to police documents. A judge granted the order last month.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Last week it’s hot, this week it’s cold. I think the weather has the flu.
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The Dodgers are 12-4, are on pace to win 122 games, have the best record in baseball and generally are off to the type of start everyone expected.
So, let’s check in and see how the players are doing. We will list in order from highest batting average to lowest. To see everyone’s complete stats, click here.
Dalton Rushing, .538/.571/1.308
It’s great to see him off to this start, but it has been only four games. He’s a much better hitter than he showed last season. He will cool off of course.
Andy Pages, .417/.453/.733
He was Dave Roberts’ pick to have a breakout season, and he’s certainly doing that, leading the majors in batting average, hits and RBIs (20).
Alex Call, .417/.563/.583
Just what you want out of your fourth outfielder. Solid defense and offense. The top three guys here won’t come close to finishing with these numbers of course, but you can realize that and acknowledge their incredible start.
Miguel Rojas, .357/.387/.429
Doing what he has done his whole career: Solid at-bats, strong fielding.
Teoscar Hernández, .314/.357/.549
It appears the 2024 version of Hernández has been re-introduced after consumers weren’t satisfied by the 2025 model.
Hyeseong Kim, .308/.412/.385
Kim was hitting the cover off the ball in his brief stint in the minors, and has continued to hit and field well in the majors. It’s only 13 at-bats, the same number as Rushing, but the Dodgers will have an interesting roster decision to make when Mookie Betts is ready to return.
Will Smith, .298/.400/.426
Best catcher in the game continues to prove it.
Freddie Freeman, .273/.324/.485
Batting average isn’t where it usually is, but, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, it’s still very early.
Shohei Ohtani, .267/.410/.533
I hear he can pitch a little too.
Kyle Tucker, .237/.352/.305
The first disappointment on the list. Two extra-base hits in 71 plate appearances. 16 strikeouts, nine walks. After 16 games last season, Michael Conforto was hitting .200/.333/.422 with six extra-base hits.
Max Muncy, .226/.317/.453
This is what Muncy does. Can look lost one game (striking out four homers Monday), just two days after hitting three homers in a game.
Alex Freeland, .220/.289/341
Had a great first game, but hasn’t quite found his groove since then. Will he eventually find it, or is he Miguel Vargas 2.0?
Mookie Betts, .179/.281/.429
Played eight games before he got injured. We are still waiting to see if last season was his new norm as a hitter, or just a down year.
Santiago Espinal, .154/.154/.231
Has had only 13 at-bats, but seems to be the last man on the bench. Does he go when Betts comes back?
Now we move on the pitching, listed in order of ERA:
Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 0.00 ERA
I guess we could quibble a bit about his walk rate (three walks per nine IP).
Alex Vesia, 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 save
Gives what he always gives, high emotion, high energy, good results.
Blake Treinen, 0-0, 0.00 ERA
Has struck out four and walked three in 5 1/3 innings. If the old Treinen is back, then the Dodgers will cruise to the NL West title.
Will Klein, 1-0, 1.17 ERA
The new fan favorite looks great out there, and it appears that amazing World Series performance elevated him to a different level.
Tanner Scott, 0-0, 1.17 ERA
Has pitched in more games than any other reliever (nine) and has given up five hits in 7 2/3 innings. Looks like his old self out there.
Justin Wrobleski, 2-0, 2.12 ERA
Who picked Wrobleski to have the best start as a Dodger so far this season?
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-1, 2.50 ERA
Is Ohtani the ace, or Yamamoto? A good problem to have.
Jack Dreyer, 1-0, 2.84 ERA
A key left-hander they go to early, Dreyer has done well and made trading Anthony Banda a little easier to swallow.
Tyler Glasnow, 1-0, 4.00 ERA
Has pitched into a little bad luck, as his FIP is 2.81. He has struck out 22, walked four and given up 13 hits in 18 innings.
Edgardo Henriquez, 1-0, 5.40 ERA
Henriquez has an electric arm, but his numbers never seem to reflect that.
Edwin Díaz, 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 4 saves
The problem with being a reliever is that a bad outing can ruin your ERA for a couple of weeks. As Maddie Leereported Sunday, Díaz’s velocity has been down this season and Friday (when he had his first blown save), his fastball velocity sat at 95.5 mph and slider at 87.8, according to Statcast, 1.7 mph and 1.3 mph down from last season, respectively.
“Two miles an hour, that’s pretty significant,” Roberts said Sunday. “So I think that’s why we sort of flagged it. We wanted to have him down [Saturday] and kind of see what we get. Because a couple days ago there were a lot of throws in there too. So just trying to also, like we’ve done many times, play the long game with our guys.”
Roki Sasaki, 0-2, 6.23 ERA
The Dodgers have lost four games, and Sasaki is responsible for two of them. In his other outing, he gave up six runs in five innings. That about sums up his value so far.
Emmet Sheehan, 2-0, 6.60 ERA
Then you have Sheehan, who has pitched about as poorly as Sasaki but has two wins. Baseball is crazy.
Ben Casparius, 0-1, 9.64 ERA
Casparius wins the award for first pitcher to go on the IL. He was put on the 15-day IL on Monday because of shoulder inflammation. Kyle Hurt was brought up to replace him.
Where is Julio Urías?
There hasn’t been much news on former Dodger Julio Urías since he last pitched for the Dodgers in September 2023. He was investigated for domestic abuse and sat out the 2024 season, then was suspended for the first half of the 2025 season. He has been eligible to pitch since then, but unlike Trevor Bauer, who has pitched overseas after his suspension ended, Urías has not surfaced anywhere. And, according to his agent, Scott Boras, who talked to my colleague Bill Shaikin about him, that is by Urías’ choice.
“Teams ask me about him all the time,” Boras said. “With the pitching market in this world, Julio could play in a minute. But I think it’s about him deciding if it’s something he wants to go do right now.”
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Today, we remember a Dodgers icon.
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Sad news in Dodgersland this week as Davey Lopes, member of the famed Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield, died at the age of 80.
“Even though Davey may have been the less visible of the famous long-running Dodger infield with Cey, Russell and Garvey, his impact on the team’s success was huge,” former Dodgers owner and president Peter O’Malley told The Times. “All Dodger fans will always remember the excitement he gave us on the basepaths and I admire his commitment to the game managing, coaching and instructing after his playing days.”
Lopes was born May 3, 1945, in East Providence, R.I. He did not remember his father, who died when Lopes was 2. His mother, Mary Rose, supported Lopes and his nine siblings on the meager salary she earned as a maid. Lopes found solace in baseball.
“If it hadn’t been for sports, there’s no telling what I’d be or where I’d be,” Lopes told former Times baseball columnist Ross Newhan in 1973. “I had one glove until I got to high school. I guess I can admit now that I confiscated more than a few bats and balls.”
Lopes found a mentor in baseball coach Michael Sarkesian, who usually coached the team Lopes was playing against while growing up. Sarkesian remembers Lopes, though, and brought him to Iowa Wesleyan when Sarkesian became the athletic director there.
“Whatever I missed by not really having had a father, Sarkesian provided,” Lopes told Newhan. “He could relate to my problems, my environment. The drive, the determination, not to give in to the ghetto, to make something of my life, stems from my relations with him.”
Lopes was an NAIA All-American at Wesleyan and then followed Sarkesian to Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. He hit .380 and was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the seventh round of the 1967 MLB draft. He turned them down, then signed with the Dodgers when they chose him in the second round of the secondary phase of the 1968 draft.
He played his first two seasons at Class A Daytona Beach, hitting .247 with 26 steals in 82 games in 1968, then hitting .280 with 32 steals in 72 games in 1969.
Davey Lopes steals second while Reds shortstop Davey Concepcion awaits the throw in a 1980 game.
(Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times)
Lopes was promoted to triple-A Spokane in 1970, and it was there that he met Tommy Lasorda, who was managing Spokane, and where the Dodgers converted Lopes from an outfielder to a second baseman under the tutelage of Monty Basgall. He was focused on learning a new position and stole only 11 bases, but rebounded in 1971 to hit .306 with 27 steals.
After another standout year in 1972, the Dodgers called him up to the majors for the first time for the final two weeks of the season. He stole four bases in four attempts.
At spring training in 1973, Lopes battled with Lee Lacy for the second base job and lost. But Lacy got off to a terrible start and Walter Alston made Lopes the starting second baseman on April 22. And he remained the starting second baseman until the 1982 season.
Eventually, Bill Russell, Ron Cey and Steve Garvey found their way into the starting lineup and on June 23, 1973, the foursome started together for the first time and stayed together for nine seasons, the longest-running infield in MLB history.
Lopes was the spark plug atop the lineup, becoming one of the best base stealers in the game. “I realize that when I’m running and stealing bases, I’m setting the momentum and getting the adrenaline going for the rest of the lineup,” Lopes told Newhan in 1974. “And until someone proves he can stop me, or the situation dictates I don’t run, I’m going to be stealing all the time.”
Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench once called Lopes the best base stealer in the game.
Beginning in 1975, Lopes racked up some impressive stolen base numbers:
In those five seasons, he stole 276 bases and was caught only 42 times, an amazing 86.8% success rate. He is the best base stealer in Dodger history. Maury Wills stole more often, but Lopes was more successful.
In 1975, Lopes stole 38 bases in a row from June 10 to August 24 to break Max Carey’s mark of 36 in a row set during the 1922-23 seasons. He was finally thrown out by Montreal’s Gary Carter in the 12th inning of a game.
In postseason play for the Dodgers, Lopes hit .241 with six home runs, 22 RBIs, 28 runs scored and 20 steals in 50 games, as the Dodgers lost in the World Series to Oakland (1974) and the Yankees twice (1977-78) before finally breaking through against the Yankees in 1981.
Lopes’ mentor with the Dodgers was Jim Gilliam. One day after the Dodgers won the 1978 NLCS, Gilliam died, leaving Lopes distraught. He channeled his emotions into an incredible Game 1 of the World Series, hitting two home runs and driving in five in an 11-5 rout. After his first homer, Lopes pointed to the sky to acknowledge Gilliam. A couple of years later, “The Bronx Zoo” by Yankees reliever Sparky Lyle was published. In it, he wrote about Lopes, saying, and I’m paraphrasing here, that it was bush league for Lopes to put up “We’re No. 1” while circling the bases, that the Dodgers had no class and that the Red Sox were better than the Dodgers. He had missed the point completely.
“They can do anything they want with us now,” Lopes said after the 1981 World Series victory. “I’ve got the ring. They can’t take that away from me.”
From left, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey reunite in 2013.
(Los Angeles Times)
His comments contained a bit of foreshadowing. Lopes had his worst season in 1981, hitting .206 in 58 games of a strike-interrupted season (though he still stole 20 bases while being caught only twice). The Dodgers had prized prospect Steve Sax waiting in the wings. So, on Feb. 8, 1982, the Dodgers traded Lopes to Oakland for Lance Hudson. If you’ve never heard of Hudson, that’s OK, because he never made it to the majors. In essence, the Dodgers gave Lopes away for nothing.
Lopes was far from through, though. He hit .242 with the A’s in 1982 and .277 with 17 homers and 22 steals in 1983. Oakland sent him to the Chicago Cubs near the end of the 1984 season for pitcher Chuck Rainey. And in 1985, Lopes had a season for the ages, or at least, aged. At the age of 40, he stole 47 bases and was caught only four times while hitting .284/.383/.444 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs in 99 games. It is still the record for most stolen bases at age 40. Rickey Henderson is next with 37 in 1999.
Lopes finished his career with two seasons with the Astros, retiring after the 1987 season. He then began a long career as coach and manager, including a stint as first base coach for the Dodgers from 2011-15. Then GM Ned Colletti made it his mission to bring Lopes back as a coach.
Colletti had this to say after learning of Lopes’ death: “Davey Lopes transformed coaching at first base. His situational awareness and intricacy of coaching first base was the best I have ever watched. He changed a coaching position and how it was executed — base running, secondary leads, pitch tipping, cutting your steps from first to third.
“His contract has expired in Philadelphia [after the 2010 season] and I went and recruited him back. He helped players and, therefore, teams, get better. He could find any advantage and he was a great teacher. He was one of my favorite people.”
Former Dodgers reliever Tom Niedenfuer, who played with Lopes on the 1981 championship team, had this to say: “Davey was 15 years older than me and he was quiet with us new guys. But he treated us as equals and was helpful. It had to be tough seeing Sax come up and knowing his days were numbered.”
Among the 112 players with at least 350 stolen bases, Lopes is fifth in stolen base percentage:
1. Tim Raines, 808 steals, 146 caught, 84.7% 2. Willie Wilson, 668-134, 83.3% 3. Barry Larkin, 379-77, 83.11% 4. Tony Womack, 363-74, 83.07% 5. Davey Lopes, 557-114, 83% 6. Jimmy Rollins, 470-105, 81.7% 7. Carl Crawford, 480-109, 81.5% 8. Ichiro Suzuki, 509-117, 81.3% 9. Joe Morgan, 689-162, 81% 10. Vince Coleman, 752-177, 80.9%
Rickey Henderson is 11th with an 80.8% success rate. Maury Wills is 42nd at 73.8%. Steve Sax 49th at 71.4%. Ty Cobb 81st at 64.3%.
How was Lopes so successful? In an interview with Ross Porter, he said, “Well, it’s just not running by chance. I studied the pitchers. I tried to look for idiosyncrasies in their bodies that tell me when they go to first base compared to going home. Try to pick that up, react to it as quickly as I possibly can.”
He also told Porter his favorite moment of his career: “Actually, the first time I ran on the field. It was like I had reached a goal I set as a kid — to be a Dodger. I always wanted to be a Brooklyn Dodger, but for some reason, they left Brooklyn. We won’t get into that. But to do it as a Dodger — that meant everything. It was kind of like second best, but it was like I arrived.”
As a leadoff hitter, Lopes would often bat after the pitcher. I always enjoyed watching Lopes stall for time when the pitcher had to run hard during his at-bat. To give the pitcher ample time to rest in the dugout, especially if there were two out, Lopes had a variety of delay tactics before getting to the batter’s box. He’d give a couple of extra swings in the on-deck circle. He’d walk to the plate, then stop and go back to the on-deck circle to get some extra pine tar. He’d “have trouble” getting the weighted circle off his bat. He’d take the first pitch and then call time. It was a master class in looking at the big picture.
Our best wishes to Lopes’ family, friends and former teammates. He will be missed.
More sad news
Miguel Rojas was all set to play Tuesday against Toronto when he learned that his father had passed away in Venezuela.
“There’s nothing I could do being this far,” Rojas told reporters Wednesday. “Just support my family, and trying to understand a little bit of what’s going on. I found out that my dad, on the way to the hospital, passed away. He couldn’t live through the heart attack that he had. So it was suddenly that he passed away; he was feeling good. Really hard to understand. I’m still trying to process the whole thing.”
Micky Rojas’ funeral was Wednesday. “That’s how they do things in Venezuela,” Miguel Rojas said. “It happens quick because they have to. They don’t have many places to hold these funerals.”
Rojas played Wednesday and wanted to play Tuesday until a couple of Dodgers talked him out of it. He said later he was glad that Dave Roberts and Freddie Freeman took that decision out of his hands. But Rojas was adamant about playing Wednesday.
“It’s going to be emotional, yes, for me, I understand that,” Rojas said. “But I’ve been through moments like this before with my mom, my grandparents. I know what they want me to do is play baseball. They raised me up and they gave up everything in their life for me to be a baseball player. This is what they want me to do. They know how much pride I take in showing up every day, and not letting my teammates down.”
We send out best wishes to Rojas and his family. You can read more about the situation in this story by Maddie Lee.
What about the team?
We will discuss the team in detail starting next week. It has been a strange two weeks with Charley Steiner, Lopes and Rojas, and sometimes life is more important that baseball. I received over 500 emails about Steiner, and some of them will appear in a special edition of this newsletter in the next couple of weeks.
Davey Lopes hits two home runs in Game 1 of the 1978 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 houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
As the time approached 10:30 Tuesday night — nearly three hours after Bruce Springsteen had marched onstage at Inglewood’s Kia Forum alongside 18 of his musical comrades — the 76-year-old rock legend told the crowd he hadn’t intended to be there.
“This is a tour that we never planned,” he said. “The E Street Band is here with you tonight because we need to feel your hope and your strength. And we want to bring some hope and bring some strength for you.”
It wasn’t impossible to believe him.
After a two-year trek that finally wrapped last summer amid the release of a massive box set and a splashy Hollywood biopic, Springsteen might’ve been expected to spend 2026 counting his money and his accolades. Yet the way he tells it, the actions of a “corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous” president and his administration spurred him back into action.
“If you’re feeling helpless, if you’re feeling hopeless, if you’re feeling betrayed, if you’re feeling frustrated, if you’re feeling angry — I mean, I know I’ve been,” he said.
Tuesday’s show was the first of two this week at the Forum.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Thus the hastily arranged Land of Hope & Dreams tour: two months of U.S. concert dates that began last week in Minneapolis, where federal immigration agents killed two American citizens in January, and will wrap May 27 with a stadium show in Washington, D.C.
“The White House — this White House — is destroying the American idea,” Springsteen proclaimed during Tuesday’s gig, the first of two this week at the Forum.
Before we get to the performance itself, let’s acknowledge that the Boss is sticking his neck out here. Sure, he’s protected by his wealth and his celebrity; sure, he’s preaching to the choir in every city he and the E Street Band visit.
But what other musician on Springsteen’s level is speaking out the way he is right now?
On Tuesday, he introduced “Streets of Minneapolis” — a brand-new protest song in which he mentions both Alex Pretti and Renée Good by name — with a vividly detailed monologue about the circumstances of their deaths. Then he led his players through a fervent rendition of the driving folk-rock tune.
“It’s our blood and bones / And these whistles and phones / Against Miller and Noem’s f— lies,” Springsteen sang — one lyric that might’ve inspired President Trump this month to urge his followers to boycott the singer, whom he compared in a social media post to a “dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon.” (In truth, Springsteen probably enjoyed that.)
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Whatever the risks of his speechifying, you had to admire — here in our age of political infotainment — the natural finesse with which Springsteen threaded his prepared rhetoric into Tuesday’s set. He knew just when to have the E Streeters vamp so he could talk about NATO and USAID; he knew when it was wiser to lead the audience in a chant of “ICE out.”
Indeed, as much as he was speaking his mind, Springsteen was providing his fans with an opportunity to work out their own anxieties in rowdy singalong versions of classics like “Born in the U.S.A.,” “No Surrender,” “The Promised Land” and “Out in the Street.”
If the concert’s animating impulse was outrage, the prevailing emotion was joy, even — or especially — when the music was at its most pointed, as in covers of Edwin Starr’s “War” and “Clampdown” by the Clash.
With an extra E Street member in Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Springsteen made “Badlands” and “Death to My Hometown” shimmer and stomp; “Murder Incorporated” was a gritty soul-rock rave-up, while “Youngstown” got a scabrous guitar solo by Nils Lofgren that reminded you of his other gig in Neil Young’s Crazy Horse. (Springsteen’s wife, Patti Scialfa, who said in 2024 that she has cancer, wasn’t part of the band Tuesday.)
About halfway through the show, Springsteen sang “American Skin (41 Shots),” the early-2000s song about racialized police violence he wrote after Amadou Diallo’s killing by four NYPD officers; he followed that with “Long Walk Home,” which he described as “a prayer for our country.”
Bruce Springsteen
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Played back to back, the songs made you think of how little agreement we’ve come to over the last quarter-century about who gets to be called an American. The identity is always under attack, and it’s always being defended.
Anyone but a Bruce stan would admit that Springsteen leaned a little hard on recent stuff here: “House of a Thousand Guitars,” “My City of Ruins,” “Wrecking Ball” and the like.
Yet as with his speechmaking, he can still read a room. “It’s gotta be done,” he said with a grin as the band revved up “Hungry Heart,” one of a handful of old pop hits he did that broke from the evening’s topical throughline.
Near the end — in an encore that went bang-bang-bang with “Born to Run” into “Bobby Jean” into “Dancing in the Dark” — Springsteen, his shirt drenched with sweat, took a seat onstage and thanked members of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center for attending the show. (Also in the house Tuesday: Henry Winkler.)
Then he offered one final homily before closing with Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom.”
“These are hard times, but we’ll make it through,” he said. “We’re the Americans. What do they say? Americans do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else.” He shook his head as though he were running through a mental inventory.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. I hope those of you who participate enjoyed the Easter festivities over the weekend. But why does a rabbit bring eggs? Shouldn’t it be the Easter Chicken?
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We are only nine games into the season, far too early to reach any conclusions. Yes, the offense struggled for a few games, but the Dodgers are still 7-2. And the offense’s struggles wouldn’t have been noticeable if it had happened for a few games in the middle of the season instead of right at the start.
So let’s turn our attention to something else. I get emails every week asking about Charley Steiner. He handled the radio call for the first three innings on opening day, then left and hasn’t been back since. Stephen Nelson put up a picture of Steiner and Rick Mondaythat you can see by clicking here.
In October 2024, Bill Plaschke wrote a column detailing Steiner’s battle with multiple myeloma blood cancer. You can read that column here. Steiner sat out the 2004 season because of it. He called six innings on opening day in 2025 and three innings on opening day this year.
In his column, Plaschke wrote:
—”He endured constant debilitating lower back pain. He lost 50 pounds. He was confined to a wheelchair. He initially moved his bed from the second floor of his Westside home down to the family room because he couldn’t climb the stairs. He enlisted the full-time help of nurses. It wasn’t pretty.”
—“He’s gone through hell,” said his longtime radio partner Rick Monday.
—”An extremely private person, Steiner lived the nightmare without fanfare, without telling anyone outside of his inner circle, the loquacious storyteller keeping his most important words to himself.”
At the time, Steiner’s cancer was in remission, which is why he talked about it. I don’t want to speculate too much about his current health, but the fact he has called only nine innings since then can’t be a great sign. The Dodgers have kept him on the payroll and support him, just as they have done with Andrew Toles. It is one of the great things about the organization.
When Steiner was calling games on the radio full time, I would occasionally criticize him for not mentioning the score and game situation enough. Now that seems rather meaningless.
So, with so much divisiveness and unkindness in the world, here is what I would like you to do. If you remember a particular call of Steiner’s, or a moment he made you laugh, or if you just want to wish him well and let him know Dodgers fans have not forgotten him, send me an email at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and I will compile them in a future newsletter. I’m sure he will see it, and if we can bring a little sunshine into someone’s day, then we have accomplished a good thing.
A couple of my favorite Steiner moments:
When Steiner was with ESPN, he couldn’t stop laughing after hearing Carl Lewis singing the national anthem. His laughter will make you laugh. You can watch that here.
Steiner talks about growing up a Brooklyn Dodgers fan and how much Vin Scully meant to him. You can watch that here.
Mookie injured
Mookie Betts injured his back while running the bases during Saturday’s victory and was put on the injured list on Sunday because of a strained right oblique. According to WebMD, the oblique muscles are broad, diagonal abdominal muscles located on the sides of the torso (internal and external) that enable trunk rotation, side-bending, and core stability. They assist in breathing and protect the spine, with external obliques running over internal obliques in opposite directions and…. this is why I’m not a doctor.
Injuries are one of the biggest things that could derail the Dodgers this season. Can they survive for four-to-six weeks without Betts? Sure, their offense is build to withstand things such as that. But if multiple hitters start ailing, then there could be a problem. Just look at the Lakers. Cruising toward the playoffs, with some experts saying they could at least reach the conference finals. Then, suddenly Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are injured, and winning a first-round series now seems problematic.
The Dodgers recalled Hyeseong Kim from Oklahoma City, where he has been crushing the ball. Kim and Miguel Rojas will share time to shortstop.
How much is too much?
On opening day, the Dodgers offered a Shohei Ohtani collectors cup for $75, with free soda all game. Many fans online were outraged by the price. For the second game of the season, the Dodgers dropped the price to $68.99 and said you could get free refills of soda all season long.
And actually, if you go to a few games a season and drink soda, that is quite a bargain, considering sodas at the stadium cost around $11.99. Of course, your ensuing bill for the onset of diabetes will make it less of a bargain.
Survey says
We asked, “Which Dodger closer had the best entrance music?” The results, after 10,941 votes:
Eric Gagne, “Welcome to the Jungle” — 53.9% Edwin Díaz, “Narco” — 30.9% Kenley Jansen, “California Love” — 15.2%
Up next
Monday: Dodgers (*-Justin Wrobleski, 0-0, 6.75 ERA) at Toronto (Max Scherzer, 1-0, 1.50 ERA), 4:05 p.m., Sportsnet LA, FS1, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Tuesday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 1-1, 3.00 ERA) at Toronto (Kevin Gausman, 0-0, 0.75 ERA), 4:05 p.m., Sportsnet LA, TBS, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Toronto (Dylan Cease, 0-0, 2.79 ERA), noon, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
It was Brady Murrietta’s silence rounding the bases, then his Darth Vader-like stare directed at St. John Bosco pitcher Jack Champlin after touching third base on Thursday and slowly jogging toward home plate that sent a clear message: Don’t poke the bear.
His two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie and keyed a 5-4 win to prevent the No. 1-ranked Lancers from suffering a three-game Trinity League baseball sweep by No. 2 St. John Bosco.
One day earlier, the intensity level between the two teams reached such a crescendo that after the fiery Champlin got the final out in a 4-1 win at Hart Park, he decided to offer a taunt.
“I was hearing them all game at third base,” Champlin said. “I pointed to the ground and was saying, ‘This is my field.’ A bunch ran out of the dugout toward me and it got bigger than it needed to be.”
There was pushing and shoving as St. John Bosco went nuclear on security for Thursday’s home game, so much so that a security person refused to let a 5-foot-4 sportswriter walk into the Orange Lutheran bullpen after the game until calmer heads prevailed.
Jack Champlin of St. John Bosco is fired up after a two-run triple on Thursday against Orange Lutheran.
(Nick Koza)
The two teams declined to shake hands in a precautionary measure. It was almost comedic, since Orange Lutheran pitcher Gary Morse has played with St. John Bosco pitcher Julian Garcia since they were 8 and texted him Thursday morning to congratulate him on his Wednesday pitching performance. And Murrietta intended to text his friends on the Braves, too.
“It was more to get my boys hyped up,” Murrietta said of staring at Champlin.
Wednesday’s game was particularly important with each team’s ace on the mound. The 6-foot-8 Morse had a 95 mph fastball and gave up two hits and one run with eight strikeouts over six innings. Garcia, who missed his junior season after arm surgery, touched 97 mph while striking out 10 and giving up three hits in six innings. The Braves broke the 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh inning, keyed by a two-run single from James Clark.
On Tuesday, in St. John Bosco’s 7-4 win, Clark had another big game with two hits and three RBIs.
“Two best teams in the country,” Morse said.
Orange Lutheran (8-3, 1-2) was coming off a championship at the National High School Invitational in North Carolina. It showed off a top pitcher to join Morse in Cooper Sides, a senior transfer from Red Buff who struck out eight in five innings on Thursday in front of dozens of pro scouts.
Asked what he learned about his 11-3 defending Division 1 championship team this week, St. John Bosco coach Andy Rojo said, “I think it continues what we already know that it’s a tough team, a resilient team. We’ve had a lot of high-pressure, high-level games. A ton of one-run games.”
Said Garcia: “It pushed us to show we’re a great team.”
Orange Lutheran coach RJ Farrell saw his team fight back from adversity, and in the Texas-bound Murrietta, he has an MVP candidate capable of igniting the Lancers with his bat, glove and leadership skills.
The two teams could meet again next week during the Boras Classic in Orange County. Otherwise, it would come during a new-look Southern Section Division 1 playoff format that will have 16 teams and start with a best two-out-of-three series to advance. Both teams have shown they have the pitching to advance.
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. The Dodgers are on pace to finish 162-0! That might be a record.
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Some random thoughts after an opening three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
—It is apparent that the Dodgers will never be out of almost any game. They’re 3-0, and they trailed in all three games.
—Opening day is always fun, filled with pomp and circumstance.
—However, having the starting lineup on opening day come in from center field, walk up a stage and back down it, was a bit much. Even the players seemed somewhat embarrassed, and I was just waiting for someone to turn an ankle on the stairs.
—Shohei Ohtani is hitting only .125. He is so overpaid.
—Clayton Kershaw did really well as an analyst. He seemed to know a lot about the Dodgers. I wonder how?
—Bob Costas told Kershaw he had permission to leave in a few minutes for the ring ceremony. Way to do your homework there, Bob. The ring ceremony was the next day.
—Kershaw sat in the stands next to the dugout during the game. Sitting across the aisle from him was Magic Johnson. Two of the greatest sports legends in L.A. history. We have an embarrassment of riches here.
—Alex Freeland certainly showed why he belongs on the roster. Meanwhile, in Oklahoma City, Hyeseong Kim went five for five on Saturday.
—It took all the way until the second inning of the second game of the season to get an email from a reader concerned about the team. “They don’t look ready!”
—Will Smith comes through on Will Smith bobblehead night. You can’t write it any better than that.
—OK, the Timmy Trumpet entrance by Edwin Díaz is really cool. If you haven’t seen it, you can here.
—That brings me a to quick poll. Which Dodgers closer had the best entrance?
—Eric Gagne, “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses —Kenley Jansen, “California Love” by Tupac Shakur —Edwin Díaz, “Narco” by Blasterjaxx and Timmy Trumpet
—Remember in the last newsletter when we talked about Will Klein perhaps reaching a new level after his Game 3 performance last season? Well, he has pitched two scoreless innings and has a win.
—The first three batters in the lineup are hitting below .200, but the Dodgers are 3-0. A good sign.
—If you believe social media, there were apparently a lot of fights in the stands in the opening homestand. I can’t speak as to this season yet, but in the past it has always been ridiculously easy to get around their beer limitation policies. And alcohol has been a prime factor in every fight I’ve ever seen there.
—What a bizarre schedule. Games on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but no game on Sunday.
—Take a look at the very, very early NL West standings. Maybe the experts were right about everyone except the Dodgers finishing with a losing record.
Dodgers, 3-0 San Diego, 1-2 Arizona, 0-3 Colorado, 0-3 San Francisco, 0-3
—The Dodgers’ magic number is 158. Too soon?
—There are only 159 games left to go in the season.
Meet Maddie Lee
Jack Harris, our former Dodgers beat writer, has left us to become a Tibetan monk (at least, that’s what I’ve heard). We have a new Dodgers beat writer this season: Maddie Lee, who spent the last few years covering the Chicago Cubs. Here’s a Q&A with her:
Q. Welcome to The Times. What was the road that led you here?
Lee: Thank you. It was a pretty winding road, to be honest. I grew up in Seattle, played Division III softball in Portland, and have covered everything from high school football, to MLS, to the NBA. But the last six years I’ve been a Cubs beat writer, first for NBC Sports Chicago and then for the Chicago Sun-Times.
Q. We will just jump right into the fire: Roki Sasaki. He looks lost at times. Is he really the best pick for the rotation?
Lee: Sasaki’s spring performance rightfully made him a controversial pick. And if his first regular-season start goes the same way, we could very well see Justin Wrobleski coming in to pitch multiple innings behind him. But with Sasaki’s record in Japan, and even last year, the Dodgers are hoping that pitching in games that matter will help him snap into compete mode and pull out a better version than we’ve seen so far. And if that doesn’t happen, they may have to reevaluate.
Q.You covered the Cubs for a bit. Have you detected any big differences in the way the teams do things? Which team has the best press box?
Lee: I haven’t been around the Dodgers enough yet to give a fair comparison between the organizations. But I’ve spent plenty of time in both press boxes. The Wrigley Field press box is roomier, but this time of year it’s also usually freezing.
Q.Why Alex Freeland and not Hyeseong Kim?
Lee: This was another decision that wasn’t rooted in spring performance. The Dodgers thought Kim could get value going to triple A, where he could get his swing and plate discipline back on track with regular at-bats, while also playing multiple positions. On the other hand, they saw a greater development opportunity for Freeland in the majors, where he’d be tested against a higher caliber of pitching. And it’s not a long-term decision. Kim is expected to make an impact on the major-league roster this year. And when Tommy Edman is ready to return from the IL, the Dodgers will have to clear a spot on the active roster for him.
Q. For many of our readers, covering the Dodgers sounds like a dream job. But there’s travel, little free time, not to mention the fact you have to try and find somewhere to live and move all your belongings. What do you do in your little free time to stay sane?
Lee: Let me be clear, it’s definitely a dream job. That will never be lost on me.
Also, what’s this free time you speak of?
Just kidding, most of my time away from the ballpark is spent with my dog, who loves beach walks and hikes.
Q. I understand you once had Tommy John surgery! What was that recovery like, and can you still touch 100 on the radar?
Lee: I had TJ between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I also got nerve damage from the operation, which added a bit of a wrinkle to the recovery, but I played all four years. I was a catcher and luckily my biggest strength was my softball IQ, not any physical gifts. What a shock that I would end up in the press box rather than on the field.
Q. Lastly, some Dodger fans aren’t satisfied unless the Dodgers build a 20-game lead in April and then slowly pull away. Do you have a prediction for how many games they will win this season?
Lee: I like using PECOTA projections as a jumping off point. They have the Dodgers at 103 wins, which would be a big improvement from their 93-win season last year. But the Dodgers obviously dealt with the injury bug last year and underperformed in the regular season. And, of course, Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz were big offseason additions. So, 103 wins feels attainable. I’ll go with 100.
The new rings are here
A detailed look at the inside of the Dodgers’ 2025 World Series championship ring.
(The Champions Collective)
The Dodgers gave out World Series rings on Friday. The diamond- and sapphire-encrusted rings include engravings of the 2024 and 2025 trophies on both the outside and inside of the ring.
The L.A. logo is made up of 17 custom-cut blue sapphires, one for every postseason game the Dodgers played last year.
On the underside side of the ring, the four playoff series are listed, along with “11.01.25,” the date of Game 7 of the World Series.
A detailed look at the inside of the Dodgers’ 2025 World Series championship ring.
(The Champions Collective)
The ring top holds dirt collected from home plate during Game 7, visible through a glass window when the ring is opened. Inside the ring sits a band that’s also set with sapphires and a diamond.
The total attendance figure for the 2025 season (4,012,470) gleams in blue on the bottom of the ring. Each player’s ring is also personalized with his signature, last name and number.
Up next
Monday: Cleveland (*-Parker Messick) at Dodgers (Roki Sasaki), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Tuesday: Cleveland (TBA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Wednesday: Cleveland (Gavin Williams) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto), 5:20 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020
Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
“I trust this kid’s heart,” McVay said three times Monday at the NFL owners meetings.
But do the Rams trust Nacua, who has been at the center of several off-the-field situations, enough to break the bank with a massive extension?
Last week, a woman filed a civil lawsuit against Nacua, alleging that on New Year’s Eve he made an antisemitic statement during a group dinner and later bit her shoulder. Nacua’s attorney told The Times before the lawsuit was filed that Nacua “denies these allegations in the strongest possible terms,” and that Nacua would “pursue all available legal remedies in response to these false and damaging statements.”
Last season during a livestream, Nacua criticized NFL officials and made a gesture regarded as antisemitic. Nacua apologized, and the Rams and the NFL issued statements condemning antisemitism and discrimination. But after the Rams’ loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Nacua criticized officials in a social media post from the locker room. The NFL fined him $25,000.
Last week the Seahawks signed receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to a record-breaking extension that includes $120 million in guarantees, putting Nacua in line to possibly match or exceed that deal.
If Nacua’s off-the-field actions become a pattern that does not reflect well on the organization, are the Rams hesitant to invest in the 24-year-old star who led the NFL with 129 catches?
“The play on the field is amazing, and then with what the play has dictated and determined there is a responsibility in terms of representing all things not exclusive to just that,” McVay said. “He knows that, those are expectations and we are hopeful that … this will be an opportunity for him to learn and grow, and we are hopeful that he’s a Ram for a really long time.
“But he understands what the responsibility is, not exclusive to just the production on the field.”
Nacua was one of several topics McVay addressed during a 30-minute session with reporters.
The Rams traded for McDuffie, an All-Pro who won two Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs, to a four-year extension that includes $100 million in guarantees, making him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history.
McVay said McDuffie “can do a lot of things” that made Jalen Ramsey such a force when he helped the Rams win Super Bowl LVI.
“He’s rare,” McVay said of McDuffie. “And then he’s a rare human. … You can’t find anybody that doesn’t love this guy and what he represents.”
Like McDuffie, his former Chiefs teammate, Watson has played in three Super Bowls, winning two titles.
“He’s been in a lot of big-time atmospheres and environments,” McVay said of the 6-foot, 2-inch Watson, “and he’s got some of the length.”
McDuffie and Watson join a secondary that includes safety Quentin Lake, who signed an extension in January, and safety Kam Curl, who re-signed with the Rams this month.
The secondary was not the only position group the Rams considered remodeling.
McVay confirmed a report that the Rams explored trading receiver Davante Adams, who led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches.
“If we felt like it was best for our team, we would have done that,” McVay said, “but we didn’t think it was best for our team, so excited about being able to move forward with him.”
McVay said he spoke directly with Adams about the situation.
“I addressed what those conversations were even though they never really got too far but I did want to acknowledge it,” McVay said. “He’s a grown man, and I think he understood that this is a part of this business.”
McVay said he would “love” for Jimmy Garoppolo to return as Stafford’s backup. But Garoppolo remains a free agent.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins prepares to take a snap against the Rams in December.
(Danny Karnik / Associated Press)
“At this point, when there hasn’t been a decision, it feels less likely than likely, but I don’t want to rule that out,” McVay said of Garoppolo’s possible return for a third season with the Rams.
McVay said that he has communicated with Kirk Cousins and his agent about possibly signing with the Rams. McVay coached Cousins in the NFL with Washington.
“He’s a guy that I have familiarity with, history and a lot of reverence for because of the gratitude from our experiences together.”
Staff writer Steve Henson contributed to this report.
