ohtani

Didn’t hit. Didn’t pitch.

But that didn’t make Shohei Ohtani not the story.

On the contrary. Seeing him chillin’ in a Dodger-blue hoodie — and not dressed for success in his white home uniform top — was the most striking part of the Dodgers’ 5-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

Back on Tuesday, before the Dodgers’ fourth consecutive loss, with Ohtani having recorded just four hits in 36 at-bats, manager Dave Roberts announced plans to bench baseball’s best player.

To get him some R&R — rest and reset. “A good spa day,” Roberts would joke Thursday.

Of course, it’s Ohtani, so much is being made of the much-needed breather.

Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Maybe you hate it. Maybe you hate it for him. Maybe you think a $700 million contract doesn’t account for days off. Maybe you were among the unfortunate 51,048 paying customers who came to watch the Dodgers even their series with the Giants without Ohtani’s help, and you’re sad about it.

Maybe, though, you should give Roberts the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you should remind yourself Ohtani isn’t actually a unicorn. Not a myth, but a man.

“Mentally, the days that he does pitch, it’s tougher on him [to also hit],” Roberts said Thursday. “Physically, it’s the day after.”

And so the manager wasn’t joking; he wasn’t juking. Even after Ohtani homered for the first time in 53 plate appearances in Tuesday’s 6-2 loss, Roberts stuck with the plan and gave his superstar a whole day off Thursday after having him only pitch the night before.

Only. As in that he only pitched seven scoreless innings, only struck out eight and only lowered his ERA to a major-league leading 0.82. Yes, he only teed up the Dodgers for a 4-0 victory. An honestly exceptional day’s work for anyone else.

Then on Thursday, Ohtani contributed only vibes.

Which was weird. Which was good.

Instead of swinging a bat, Ohtani served as the welcoming committee after Will Smith led off the game with a home run. Ohtani was later an accessory to Smith’s prank filling Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s hood with wrapped pieces of bubble gum. And still, for the second consecutive game without him in the lineup, the Dodgers (26-18) finished the job.

For all of their recent scuffing and shuffling, these loaded, baseball-ruining Dodgers should be able to survive an Ohtani skip day every so often.

Even without Ohtani or Mookie Betts, a lineup with Smith, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández should be able to overpower the lowly Giants, who have been outscored by 45 runs and now are 18-26.

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani laughs with teammates while sitting in the dugout before a game against the Giants Thursday.

(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)

But maybe you think: Here the Dodgers go again, making it too complicated, being too cute. They’re back to being too cautious, too careful.

But don’t think of it as load management. Consider it asset management.

The Dodgers are going to protect their personnel from as much wear and tear as possible — and from themselves.

Obviously, Ohtani — who came into the season appearing to really covet the Cy Young award — is capable of multidimensional greatness. He’s the Him who closed out the National League Championship Series with a wildest-dream-exceeding, 10-strikeout, three-home run game.

But it’s important that the Dodgers don’t let the 31-year-old burn himself out.

“The thing is with all players, once you get to a point where you’re exhausted and tired and that’s in the middle of the summer, it’s tough to recoup,” Roberts said. “So you kind of have to know how to push them but not get to the red line point. If we can kind of hold and get a good rhythm, which I think we’re getting a good grasp on now, then we’ll have more of a base, a foundation to push him when the time is right. It’s certainly not right now.”

Roberts said Ohtani is sharing in these decisions. If there are days that Roberts feels like Ohtani would benefit from a day off, he’s given the manager his blessing.

Sometimes less is more, even for the guy who can do it all.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell and I’m back. The wedding was beautiful. Thanks to all of you who wrote in with well wishes.

The big news is that the Dodgers have continued to slump. Since starting the season 15-4, they have gone 11-14, including two four-game losing streaks. Why is this happening? Well, there’s usually not one thing that causes team slumps. It’s easy to blame Shohei Ohtani, since he isn’t hitting at his normal spectacular level, but you can say that about other players too.

Let’s look at some numbers. Let’s see where the Dodgers rank among the 30 MLB teams in some categories. These numbers are through Wednesday:

Runs per game
4.93 (seventh in MLB)

Batting average
.263 (second)

OB%
.342 (first)

Slugging%
.433 (second)

Grounded into double play
37 (tied for third)

Grounded into double play %
10.6% (eighth)

Batting average with runners in scoring position
.266 (ninth)

Batting average with two out and RISP
.241 (11th)

ERA
3.40 (third)

Rotation ERA
3.28 (fourth)

Bullpen ERA
3.60 (10th)

Nothing really stands out there. They are in the top 10 in almost every category. If you had to point at a troubling spot, it’s double plays. They hit a lot of hard grounders right at fielders with runners on base. Is that just bad luck? Better scouting by opponents? Too soon to tell.

The team slump really began on April 28. They were 20-9 going into that game, 6-9 since then. Let’s look at some individual numbers (through Wednesday) during that bad streak:

Kyle Tucker: .318/.446/.545, 7 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs
Freddie Freeman: .288/.362/.423, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs
Andy Pages: .283/.333/.528, 1 double, 4 homers, 10 RBIs
Will Smith: .270/.333/.324, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs
Alex Call, .267/.368/.400 (4 for 15)
Teoscar Hernández: .256/.347/.279, 1 double, 1 RBI
Alex Freeland: .250/.344/.357, 1 homer, 2 RBIs
Max Muncy: .214/.313/.405, 2 doubles, 2 homers, 6 RBIs
Hyeseong Kim: .200/.243/.286, 1 double, 1 triple, 1 RBI
Dalton Rushing, .167/.200/.167, 1 RBI
Santiago Espinal, .167/.167/.417 (2 for 12)
Mookie Betts, .154/.154/.385 (2 for 13)
Shohei Ohtani, .143/.294/.238, 1 double, 1 homer, 4 RBIs
Miguel Rojas, .095/.136/.095 (2 for 21)

Almost every player is hitting below their career averages in almost every category. It’s a teamwide slump that has lasted two weeks. It’s dragging the team numbers down, because remember above when I said they are in the top 10 in every category? Well, before the slump they were in the top five. If this continues, they will keep sliding down the rankings.

And while it’s certainly not all Ohtani’s fault, he is mired in a deep slump. The Dodgers gave him two days off from hitting Wednesday and Thursday (he pitched Wednesday).

“For me, with any hitter, when the quality of at-bat starts to go down consistently, I think that’s a telling sign there needs to be a break,” Dave Roberts told reporters. “Because you’re just not able to — whether it’s the mechanics, the mind — stay within your game plan, and then the chase starts to spike.”

Dalton Rushing has crashed back to earth. Teoscar Hernández has lost all his power. The whole team, except for Andy Pages and Kyle Tucker, has lost power. Maybe they forgot to pay their Edison bill. They are on pace to hit 214 homers this season. Last season, they hit 244. The last time they hit fewer homers in a season was 2012, when they hit 121. And won 111 games.

Should we be worried about the Dodgers? Well, they’ve gone through teamwide slumps in the past. If they are still hitting poorly when June begins, then be worried. And keep in mind, they are 26-18 and on pace to win 96 games this season. Last season they won 93 and were 29-15 after 44 games. In 2024, they won 98 games and were 29-15 after 44 games. And those seasons ended pretty well. The Dodgers are just getting their teamwide slump out of the way early this season.

Of course, I was tracking the team while gearing up for the wedding, and once I came back they have now won two in a row. Perhaps the slump is already over.

Unfortunately, the team the Dodgers seem to have the most trouble with, the lowly Angels, are up next on the schedule. Last season, the Dodgers lost all six games against the Angels. If the Angels sweep them this weekend, maybe I’ll start writing an Angels newsletter.

René Cárdenas dies

When I was a kid, the Dodgers’ Spanish broadcast crew was always Jaime Jarrín and René Cárdenas. Unfortunately, one half of that duo, Cárdenas, is no longer with us as he died Sunday. He was 96.

Cárdenas started with the Dodgers in 1958 and was the No. 1 broadcast, with Jarrín the No. 2 man. Cárdenas left the team to broadcast elsewhere, then returned to the Dodgers for the 1982 season.

As colleague Ed Guzman writes in the Cárdenas obit: By this point, Jarrín was firmly in place as the team’s lead Spanish-language play-by-play announcer — particularly in the wake of Fernandomania the season before, when Jarrín’s profile was raised as Fernando Valenzuela’s interpreter during his media interviews.

“It was explained to him by our producer, ‘You can’t come back as the No. 1 announcer because Jaime is established, he has many years as the lead announcer and he is beloved by the community,’” Jarrín said Monday. “René said, ‘I don’t care, I’ll come back as the No. 2 with Jaime. I just want to come back to the game of baseball.’ He was determined to return to the Dodgers.

“It was during that time that we established a close-knit friendship and we were well-received by the community as a broadcast duo.”

Cárdenas worked with the Dodgers through the 1998 season and moved back to Houston.

Our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Jason Heyward is back

But not as a player. He has rejoined the team in the front office as a special assistant to the general manager. “I asked for an opportunity,” Heyward said. “I asked for an opportunity to learn. I have a goal of potentially one day being in the front office. But I understand there’s a lot I have to learn on this side of things. It’s great to be a player, it’s great to have that experience. I think that will help me along the way. But at the same time, I knew it was important to learn to scout, how to evaluate players, learn the R&D, analytics, terminologies and things like that.”

Heyward played for the Dodgers from 2023-24.

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 5-1, 2.42 ERA) at Angels (Jack Kochanowicz, 2-2, 3.97 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KTTV, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830

Saturday: Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 0-1, 12.00 ERA) at Angels (Jose Soriano, 6-2, 1.66 ERA), 6:38 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KCOP 13, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830

Sunday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 1-3, 5.88 ERA) at Angels (TBA), 1:07 p.m., Sportsnet LA, KCOP 13, AM 570, KTNQ 1020, KLAA 830

All times Pacific

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Kiké Hernández ‘little bit shocked’ by reception in Albuquerque while on rehab assignment

Shohei Ohtani holds Giants scoreless, Dodgers’ bats heat up to snap losing streak

Fan favorite Jason Heyward joins Dodgers as a special assistant with an eye on more

Shaikin: Mark Walter says the Dodgers can’t win all the time. Even Magic Johnson agrees

Dodgers tout outfielder Alek Thomas’ upside after acquiring him from the Diamondbacks

René Cárdenas, broadcasting pioneer who was Dodgers’ first Spanish-language announcer, dies

And finally

One hour of Vin Scully telling stories. 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.

The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2 on Thursday night, reclaiming first in the National League West after San Diego lost to Milwaukee. The Dodgers also escaped a third straight series loss at home ahead of their weekend road series against the Angels.

Designated hitter Will Smith, whom Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described earlier in the day as “unflappable,” hit from the leadoff spot and homered to right-center field in the first inning to set the tone for the series-splitting win.

The decision to put Smith in the leadoff spot allowed Roberts to maximize the 31-year-old’s plate appearances without moving other players after Shohei Ohtani was held out of the lineup.

The Dodgers (26-18) are trying to lighten Ohtani’s workload after his recent struggles at the plate. It’s the first time a healthy Ohtani has been out of back-to-back batting orders, except for the paternity list, since the universal designated hitter rule was implemented in 2022.

Though the Dodgers outlasted the Giants (18-26) without Ohtani’s help, the team’s compounded mistakes almost cost it a win.

In the second inning, the bottom of the lineup strung together two hits to score Max Muncy, who reached on a walk. However, after Miguel Rojas softly hit a ground ball to Giants starter Landen Roupp, Teoscar Hernández found himself stranded in no-man’s land after running toward home from third — there was no force play at the plate.

Rojas, who stood on the basepath, slammed his helmet down in frustration after Smith struck out to end the inning.

Will Smith gets a face full of sunflower seeds from teammate Andy Pages after hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning for the Dodgers on Thursday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Rojas wasn’t the only one upset. Dalton Rushing was shown on the game broadcast breaking his bat in the dugout and slamming his leg guard on the back bench after striking out in the fourth inning. Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan shared some words of encouragement with the catcher and patted him on the back.

Sheehan’s night was relatively uneventful before the fifth. He put together three hitless innings before San Francisco’s Rafael Devers hit a one-out single to left field.

From there, things got worse. In the fifth, Jung Hoo Lee hit an inside-the-park home run when Hernández misread the ball off the left-field wall in foul territory, allowing the ball to roll past him. Rojas’ relay throw was too high for Rushing to catch, and Lee slid into home to become the first Giants player to hit an inside-the-park homer at Dodger Stadium.

But the Dodgers responded in the sixth. After Max Muncy reached base on a force out at second and was moved over to third on a single from Hernández, Alex Call delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single to right field. Rojas then blooped a ball over the infield to drive in Call.

Sheehan finished his night after six innings, giving up two earned runs, two hits with six strikeouts and two walks. With combined efforts from relievers Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez, the Dodgers shut down the Giants the rest of the way.

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman thought it was the truth when he said it.

After the Dodgers won the World Series last year, riding extreme highs and lows in an all-time nail-biter of a seven-game set, he remembers telling his wife, Robin, that a second consecutive championship, after a roller coaster of a season, should at least alleviate some of his stress during games the following April and May.

“I should have already gotten it before, but now I really get it,” he told The Times on Tuesday, recounting his declaration from last fall. “So now I’m going to be able to have some perspective.”

Robin didn’t believe him.

“She was right,” Friedman said before the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to the Giants on Tuesday.

A penchant for worrying often serves those in Friedman’s position well. Anticipating worst-case scenarios is the first step to protecting against them. The quality, however, doesn’t make for a pleasant viewing experience, especially during lulls in the season like the one the Dodgers are currently battling through.

The loss Tuesday extended their skid to four games, keeping the Dodgers (24-18) pinned behind the Padres (24-17) in the division standings.

Continue reading here

Dodgers-Giants box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

MORE BASEBALL:

Shaikin: Mark Walter says the Dodgers can’t win all the time. Even Magic Johnson agrees

Dodgers tout outfielder Alek Thomas’ upside after acquiring him from the Diamondbacks

Angels extend their futility on the road against Guardians | Angels-Guardians box score

Ducks fall to Golden Knights in OT, move closer to elimination

The Golden Knights’ Pavel Dorofeyev celebrates after scoring past the Ducks’ Lukas Dostal during overtime of Game 5 Tuesday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

From Kevin Baxter: The Ducks are a loss away from summer after Pavel Dorofeyev scored 4:10 into overtime, giving the Vegas Golden Knights a 3-2 victory in Game 5 of the teams’ second-round playoff series Tuesday. Dorofeyev, who also scored on a power play in the first period, batted a Jack Eichel pass just inside the left post to end the longest game of the series.

With the win, Vegas leads the best-of-seven series three games to two heading into Game 6 on Thursday in Anaheim, where the Ducks’ season could end.

“We’ve come back a lot all year. Obviously it’s different in a series perspective but a lot of guys are just excited to play already. We just want, we want to, want to get back out there already,” winger Mason McTavish said. “I’m kind of excited to see what everybody’s going to bring. We’ve got a lot of confidence.”

Continue reading here

Ducks-Golden Knights box score

Lakers invest in offseason upgrades beyond players

Lakers coach JJ Redick, right, and general manager Rob Pelinka answer questions from the media.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The Lakers’ roster isn’t the only thing getting restructured this offseason.

In the first offseason under Mark Walter’s ownership, the Lakers will undergo several changes in their front office and with the organization’s infrastructure while trying to keep pace in the ever-evolving NBA.

The Lakers plan to hire two assistant general managers, Rob Pelinka, the team’s president of basketball operations and general manager, said in a season-ending news conference Tuesday after the Lakers were swept out of the Western Conference semifinals by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

One position will focus on pro scouting, draft scouting and player development while the other will specialize in analytics, data and the salary cap. The organization has already begun interviews, Pelinka said.

“It’s not that we’ve had holes in those places,” Pelinka said. “We got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It’s just we want to add more to that.”

Continue reading here

Swanson: Lakers should learn their lesson, avoid Giannis Antetokounmpo

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo walks off the court after a game against the Nets on April 10.

(Jeffrey Phelps / Associated Press)

From Mirjam Swanson: I get it, you’re still thinking about the Lakers getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs.

It was a valiant fight to the end, Monday’s season-ending 115-110 loss. A thriller for naught.

But now we’ve finally reached the big, beautiful offseason the Lakers have been teasing for months. This pivotal moment that’s had them hoarding assets and fencing off their financial flexibility. All but paralyzed by possibility.

Even after jogging in place all this time, they’ve finally caught up with the can they kicked down the road: All indications are that the Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is about to hit the trade market.

And the Lakers — loaded with trade ammunition and cap space and forever wishing on star players — are going to be expected to make a play.

But they should run a different play.

Continue reading here

MORE NBA:

Lakers want LeBron James and Austin Reaves to return next season

Resiliency and re-signings: What’s next for the Lakers after getting swept by OKC?

Brandon Clarke, Memphis Grizzlies forward and former first-round pick, dies at age 29

UCLA rewards coach Cori Close with contract extension

UCLA coach Cori Close lifts the WBCA national championship trophy while surrounded by her players.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

From Marisa Ingemi: UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close isn’t going anywhere.

UCLA announced on Tuesday that Close signed a contract extension through the 2029-30 season after she led the Bruins to their first NCAA national championship.

“I am so grateful to Chancellor [Julio] Frenk and [athletic director] Martin Jarmond for the opportunity to continue teaching and mentoring the young women who choose UCLA,” Close said in a news release. “I love being here in Westwood, and I am so excited for what the future holds. I hope we can continue to make our Bruin faithful proud.”

Continue reading here

Ducks playoffs schedule

Second round
All times Pacific
Game 1: at Vegas 3, Ducks 1 (summary)
Game 2: Ducks 3, at Vegas 1 (summary)
Game 3: Vegas 6, at Ducks 2 (summary)
Game 4: at Ducks 4, Vegas 3 (summary)
Game 5: at Vegas 3, Ducks 2 OT (summary)
Game 6: Thursday at Ducks, 6:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO MAX
Game 7*: at Vegas, TBA, ABC or ESPN
*-if necessary

This day in sports history

1891 — Isaac Murphy wins his second straight Kentucky Derby aboard Kingman. In the stretch, Kingman comes from last in the four-horse field to beat Balgownan by one-half length.

1905 — World heavyweight boxing champion James J. Jeffries retires undefeated after 7 title defences; returns in 1910 to be beaten by Jack Johnson.

1950 — First ever race of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship is run at Silverstone, England and won by Giuseppe Farina of italy in an Alfa Romeo.

1952 — In an Appalachian League game, Ron Necciai of the Bristol Twins strikes out 27 batters while pitching a 7-0 no-hitter against the Welch Miners.

1958 — Stan Musial gets his 3,000th hit with a pinch-double off Chicago’s Moe Drabowsky at Wrigley Field. The Cardinals win 5-3.

1962 — LPGA Western Open Women’s Golf, Montgomery CC: Mickey Wright wins on the 4th hole of a sudden-death playoff with Mary Lena Faulk.

1976 — The New York Nets overcome a 22-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Denver Nuggets 112-106 and win the last ABA championship in six games.

1989 — Trinidad & Tobago ties US 1-1, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup.

1992 — The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 5-1 to eliminate the Patrick Division champions in six games and advance to the Prince of Wales Conference finals. It is the first time all four division winners are eliminated in the same round. The Norris Division champion Detroit Red Wings were swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in four straight games, and the Montreal Canadiens, who had won the Adams Division, lost in four games to the Boston Bruins. The Vancouver Canucks, the Smythe Division champions lost to the Edmonton Oilers in six games.

1993 — KC Royal George Brett hits his 300th HR.

1995 — Team New Zealand’s Black Magic 1 completes a 5-0 sweep in the America’s Cup, beating Dennis Conner’s borrowed boat Young America by 1 minute, 50 seconds.

1998 — Chelsea of England win 38th European Cup Winner’s Cup against Stuttgart of Germany 1-0 in Stockholm.

2005 — Tiger Woods misses the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship to end his record of 142 consecutive cuts made over the last seven years on the PGA Tour. Needing a par on the 18th hole at Cottonwood Valley, Woods misses a 15-foot putt. He taps in for a bogey and a 2-over 72, leaving him at 1 over for the tournament.

2006 — English FA Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (71,140): Liverpool beats West Ham United, 3-1 on penalties after 3–3 (a.e.t.); Reds 7th title.

2007 — Canada wins hockey’s world championship with a 4-2 victory over Finland. Rick Nash leads the way with two goals as Canada captures its’ 24th world title and first since 2004.

2007 — Rafael Nadal becomes the first player to win the Rome Masters three consecutive times by beating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-2, 6-2. The victory extends his winning streak on clay to 77 matches. By reaching the final, the Spaniard broke John McEnroe’s record for most consecutive victories (75) on one surface.

2007 — At 16 years, 65 days Matthew Briggs debuts for Fulham in a 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough; youngest player to appear in an English Premier League match.

2007 — PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: American Phil Mickelson wins by 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Sergio García of Spain; event played in May for the first time.

2012 — Manchester City wins the English title for the first time in 44 years, surging past Queens Park Rangers 3-2 with Sergio Aguero scoring his team’s second goal late in injury time. Aguero scores during the fourth minute of injury time, two minutes after substitute Edin Dzeko made it 2-2. The winning goal snatches the trophy from defending champion Manchester United on goal difference.

2012 — PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: Matt Kuchar wins by 2 strokes ahead of Ricky Fowler, Zach Johnson, Martin Laird and Ben Curtis.

2014 — Henrik Lundqvist sets an NHL record with his fifth straight Game 7 victory. He made 35 saves to lift the New York Rangers to a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins and earn a spot in the Eastern Conference finals. Brian Boyle and Brad Richards score for New York, who rally from a 3-1 series deficit for the first time in the franchise’s 88-year history.

2015 — Derek Stepan scores 11:24 in overtime, lifting the New York Rangers past the Washington Capitals 2-1 and into the Eastern Conference finals. Stepan’s wrist shot from the left wing caps a comeback from a 3-1 deficit in the series. The Rangers become the only team to manage that in successive years, doing the same thing to Pittsburgh in the second round in 2014.

2018 — Liverpool’s Egyptian soccer forward Mohamed Salah scores in a 4-0 win against Brighton to set the EPL goal scoring record (32) for a 38-game season.

2018 — PGA Players Championship, TPC at Sawgrass: American Webb Simpson wins by 4 strokes from Xander Schauffele, Charl Schwartzel and Jimmy Walker.

2019 — The Tradition Senior Men’s Golf, Greystone G &CC: Steve Stricker wins his first career major title by 6 strokes ahead of Billy Andrade, Paul Goydos & David Toms.

Compiled by the Associated Press.

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, 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, and I guess Shohei Ohtani is human after all.

I’m writing this on Tuesday evening because my youngest daughter, Hannah, whom I’ve mentioned numerous times in this newsletter, is getting married this weekend. I won’t be able to do a newsletter for next Monday, and I didn’t want everyone to wait a week and a half for the next newsletter.

So, hopefully nothing huge happened on Wednesday. But if it did, and it’s not mentioned here, now you know why.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, Shohei Ohtani was hitless since April 27. That’s a long time without a hit. So what happened?

Our Dodgers beat reporter, Maddie Lee, wrote about this after Monday’s game. Some takeaways from that story, which you can read here:

—At one point, Ohtani was going to hit and pitch Tuesday, but the Dodgers changed their mind Monday and had him only pitch.

—“Definitely not results,” Dave Roberts said of how he made that decision. “It’s a little bit more body language and just watching the player. … We’ve certainly enjoyed the fruits of him doing [both], which he will continue to, at times. But I think for me, it’s a start by start kind of read-and-react situation.”

—Ohtani: “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.”

—Ohtani has become pull-happy. He was hitting the ball to the right side 53.4% of the time entering Monday, compared to 43.2% last season, according to Statcast.

—“It’s more about timing and feel for him, backing up the baseball,” hitting coach Aaron 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.”

As of right now, this is Ohtani’s worst offensive season since 2020, when he hit .197. Let’s take a look at his OPS+ numbers since he began playing:

2018: 151
2019: 121
2020: 79
2021: 157
2022: 144
2023: 185
2024: 181
2025: 187
2026: 131

Even in the midst of this slump, Ohtani is 31% better than league average this season. Pretty amazing.

Does Ohtani slump early in the season? Let’s look at his numbers per month in his career:

March/April: .293/.369/.559
May: .261/.355/.541
June: .316/.413/.721
July: .248/.361/.543
August: .272/.365/.537
Sept/Oct.: .294/.391/.582

He usually hits fine this time of year. Of course, this season he is also trying to pitch full time. But he hit fine when he was a full-time pitcher with the Angels. Sometimes, players just go through slumps. There’s no reason to believe Ohtani won’t break out of this slump. And if Ohtani went four for four with three homers Wednesday, then I reverse jinxed him.

Stats explained

Every year I get emails from readers who only follow the Dodgers and not baseball in general. They want to know how to calculate various stats and wondered if I could put together a glossary of terms. This seems as good a time as any to do so. Some of you, maybe most of you, probably already know these things, but there are different levels of baseball knowledge among the subscribers, so let’s put us all on the same page. And if you want, you can save this newsletter to refer back to. These definitions come from mlb.com.

Pitching

GF: Games Finished. The number of times the pitcher was on the mound during the final out.

ERA: Earned Run Average. The number of earned runs times nine then divided by the number of Innings Pitched.

CG: Complete Games. When the pitcher throws the entire game without any relief.

SHO: Shutouts. A complete game thrown by the pitcher where the losing team did not score.

Saves. Earned by a pitcher when a. He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his team. b. he is not the pitcher who earned the win (W). c. he meets one of the following criteria: 1. He came to the mound with a lead of three runs or fewer and pitches at least one inning. 2. He came to the mound with the tying run on base, at bat, or on deck. 3. He pitches effectively for at least three innings.

IP: Innings Pitched. A pitcher with 4.2 innings pitched had four full innings then retired two batters in his fifth inning of work.

ER: Earned Runs. Earned runs are those which scored without the aid of an error, a catcher’s interference call, or a passed ball.

R: Runs Allowed. A total number of runs, earned or not earned, that scored.

K: A strikeout by the pitcher.

Balks. A call against the pitcher for making an illegal motion that the umpire views as an attempt to deceive a baserunner.

Hold. Awarded to a relief pitcher who enters with the lead, retires at least one batter, and does not relinquish the lead.

K/BB: Strikeouts to Base on Balls Ratio. Strikeouts divided by base on balls.

K/9: Strikeouts per nine innings. The number of strikeouts averaged during every nine innings of work. Strikeouts times nine divided by innings pitched.

BB/9: Walks per nine innings. The number of walks averaged during every nine innings of work. Calculated as walks times nine divided by innings pitched.

ERA+: A pitcher’s ERA adjusted to reflect home ballpark and league average. A pitcher with an ERA+ of 100 is a league average pitcher. An ERA+ of 110 means the pitcher’s ERA is 10% better than the league average. An ERA+ of 90 means that the pitcher’s ERA is 10% worse than the league mean.

FIP: Fielding Independent Pitching. FIP is similar to ERA, but it focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over: Strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs.

For example: If a pitcher has surrendered a high average on balls in play, his FIP will likely be lower than his ERA. Balls in play are not part of the FIP equation because a pitcher is believed to have limited control over their outcome.

The formula: The “FIP constant” puts FIP onto the same scale as the entire league’s ERA: ((HR x 13) + (3 x (BB + HBP)) – (2 x K)) / IP + FIP constant.

Hitting

AB: At-bats. Number of times a player batted, excluding walks, sacrifices, catcher interference, or being hit by a pitch.

Plate appearances: The number of times a player batted.

Runs Batted In. Given to a a batter when a runner scores due to a base hit, a sacrifice, being hit by a pitch, during an infield out (but not during a double play), or a fielder’s choice.

Sacrifice Fly. A fly ball hit with less than two outs, fair or foul, that is caught but allows one or more baserunners to tag up and score.

Batting Average. The player’s total number of hits divided by their total number of at-bats.

OB%: On Base Percentage. Determines what percentage of a player’s plate appearances resulted in him reaching base safely. Calculated by adding hits, walks and hit by pitch then dividing that by the player’s at-bats, walks, sacrifice flies and hit by pitch.

SLG%: Slugging Percentage. Calculated by taking the total bases (singles + 2 x doubles + 3 x triples + 4 x home runs) then dividing it by the number of at-bats.

AB/HR: At-Bats per Home Runs. Calculated by dividing the number of at-bats by home runs.

AB/K: At-Bats per Strikeouts. Calculated by dividing the number of at-bats by strikeouts.

OPS: On-Base Plus Slugging. On-base percentage added to slugging percentage.

OPS+: OPS adjusted to reflect league and ballpark conditions, like ERA+ for pitchers. OPS+ is scaled so that 100 is a league average player. Formula: 100 x (OBP/lgOBP + SLG/lgSLG – 1)

BABIP: Batting Average on Balls in Play. BABIP measures a player’s batting average exclusively on balls hit into the field of play, removing outcomes not affected by the opposing defense (namely home runs and strikeouts).

For example, a hitter who goes two for five with a home run and a strikeout would have a .333 BABIP. He’s one for three on the balls he put in play.

The formula: (H – HR)/(AB – K – HR + SF)

BABIP can be used to provide some context when evaluating both pitchers and hitters. The league average BABIP is typically around .300. Pitchers who have allowed a high BABIP is considered to be pitching with “bad luck.” Over time, they’ll see fewer balls in play fall for hits, and therefore experience better results in terms of run prevention. The same applies for batters who have seen a high or low percentage of their balls in play drop in for hits.

Up next

Friday: Atlanta (*-Chris Sale, 6-1, 2.14 ERA) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 2-1, 5.23 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Atlanta (Spencer Strider, 0-0, 8.10 ERA) at Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 1-3, 5.97), 6:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Atlanta (JR Ritchie, 1-0, 3.63 ERA) at Dodgers (*-Justin Wrobleski, 5-0, 1.25 ERA), 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

All times Pacific

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Shohei Ohtani is mired in a hitless streak. Here’s what the Dodgers are doing to fix it

How a onetime top Dodgers prospect became an advisor to four U.S. presidents

And finally

Vin Scully tells a story about a childhood prank. 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.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and it still amazes me every season how some fans are ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of distress.

So, the Dodgers’ offense has been sputtering as of late. Since April 21, a span of 12 games, they have scored two runs in a game three times, one run in a game twice and have been shut out once. They are 5-7 in that time and lost four in a row before winning Sunday.

Is that good? Of course not, but it’s nothing to get overly concerned about. Every team goes through highs and lows on offense. In that same time, they also scored 12 runs in a game and beat the Chicago Cubs, who had a 10-game winning streak, twice.

When they opened the season 15-4, they were averaging almost six runs a game. No one was bowing down and handing them the World Series trophy just for that, just like no one should write them off because of a bad stretch of games.

Let’s look at the Dodgers’ offense each year since 2017, with the number of times the team scored two runs or fewer in a game each season.

2026
Two runs: 6 times
One run: 3 times
No runs: 1 time
Season record: 21-13
Average runs per game: 5.15
Longest losing streak: 4 games

The Dodgers project to score two or fewer runs 47 times this season, which is higher than the last few seasons, but it’s a relatively small sample size and projections are a bit wonky this early. This is looking more and more like a repeat of last season. Streaky offense, erratic bullpen, solid (for the most part) starting pitching.

2025
Two runs: 13 times
One run: 16 times
No runs: 8 times
Season record: 93-69
Average runs per game: 5.09
Longest losing streak: 7 games

2024
Two runs: 15 times
One run: 14 times
No runs: 5 times
Season record: 98-64
Average runs per game: 5.20
Longest losing streak: 5 games

2023
Two runs: 12 times
One run: 14 times
No runs: 4 times
Season record: 100-62
Average runs per game: 5.59
Longest losing streak: 4 games

2022
Two runs: 12 times
One run: 13 times
No runs: 7 times
Season record: 111-51
Average runs per game: 5.23
Longest losing streak: 4 games

2021
Two runs: 22 times
One run: 14 times
No runs: 5 times
Season record: 106-56
Average runs per game: 5.12
Longest losing streak: 4 games

2020
Two runs: 7 times
One run: 2 times
No runs: 0 times
Season record: 43-17
Average runs per game: 5.82
Longest losing streak: 2 games

2020 was the COVID-shortened season.

2019
Two runs: 22 times
One run: 11 times
No runs: 6 times
Season record: 106-56
Average runs per game: 5.47
Longest losing streak: 6 games

2018
Two runs: 19 times
One run: 17 times
No runs: 8 times
Season record: 92-71
Average runs per game: 4.93
Longest losing streak: 6 games

2017
Two runs: 14 times
One run: 20 times
No runs: 8 times
Season record: 104-58
Average runs per game: 4.75
Longest losing streak: 11 games

So, there’s nothing really unusual going on so far this season. Now, if we reach May 20 or so and they still are slumping, then we can worry more. At some point, this team will age out. Mookie Betts seems to be injury prone, and Freddie Freeman has slowed some. At some point, this team will fail to make the postseason. But not this season.

The biggest obstacle this team faces is expectations. Some in the media proclaimed this the best offense in history. It was never going to be that. But it raised expectations, making them almost impossible to beat.

Heck, last season’s Dodgers went 0-6 against the Angels. They went 3-6 in one stretch, losing one of those games 16-0. They went through another stretch of the season in which they went 2-10, scored two or fewer runs seven times and averaged 3.5 runs per game. And last time I checked, they won the World Series.

So, this is nothing new.

When will Blake Snell be back?

Blake Snell, whom the Dodgers should start encasing in bubble wrap when he’s not pitching, is on a rehab assignment. In three games (two for class-A Ontario, one for triple-A Oklahoma City) he has pitched eight innings, giving up six hits, four runs and two walks while striking out 10. If all goes well, he will be back in mid-to-late May.

And who goes out of the rotation when he comes back? Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow aren’t going anywhere, so that leaves Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski and Roki Sasaki. If you go by results, then it has to be either Sheehan or Sasaki. How these guys pitch over the next couple of weeks will solidify that answer, but as for now, I’d remove Sasaki from the rotation.

Justin Turner, manager?

With three World Series titles, Dave Roberts will be Dodgers manager for a long time. But when he does step down, could Justin Turner be next?

Turner’s wife, Kourtney, recently appeared on the “Foul Territory” podcast and had this to say when asked if she believes Justin will become a manager after retiring.

“I do. I think it will be more nerve-wracking than his playing days for me, though, because I think it’s a tough job. Because if things are going well, not everyone looks to the manager. But then if there’s a decision that doesn’t pan out, I think it falls back on the manager.

“So I’ll have to stay off Twitter and all the comments for that one. I think he has such a good understanding of the game. I think he has good feel. I think he does a really good job.

“I’m always in awe when he goes to these new teams. And then I see him in the dugout the first or the second game of the season, and he’s already meshing so well. He just has that ability to reach, I think, every single guy there. And I think that’s what makes him so special.”

Turner is currently playing for Tijuana in the Mexican League.

These names seem familiar

How notable players who were with the Dodgers the last couple of seasons are doing with their new teams. Click on the player’s name to be taken to their full stats page:

Anthony Banda, Twins: 1-0, 9.00 ERA, 14 IP, 16, hits, 5 walks, 13 K’s, 50 ERA+

Austin Barnes: out of baseball (released by Mets in spring training)

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .275/.373/.483, 142 PA’s, 8 doubles, 1 triple, 5 homers, 20 RBIs, 137 OPS+

Walker Buehler, Padres: 1-2, 5.40 ERA, 25 IP, 27 hits, 12 walks, 24 K’s, 78 OPS+

Mike Busch, Cubs: .218/.317/.339, 145 PA’s, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 17 RBIs, 92 OPS+

Michael Conforto, Cubs: .300/.321/.433, 38 plate appearances, 4 doubles, 5 RBIs, 150 OPS+

Caleb Ferguson, Reds: on the IL

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 0-2, 5.90 ERA, 29 IP, 27 hits, 25 walks, 32 K’s, 74 OPS+

Jason Heyward: retired

Justin Dean, Cubs: in the minors

Tony Gonsolin: out of baseball

Kenley Jansen, Tigers: 0-2, 6.14 ERA, 6 saves, 7.1 IP, 8 hits, 4 walks, 9 K’s, 74 OPS+

Craig Kimbrel, Mets: 0-1, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 6 hits, 3 walks, 8 K’s, 100 OPS+

Michael Kopech: out of baseball

Gavin Lux, Rays: on the IL

Dustin May, Cardinals: 3-3, 5.15 ERA, 36.2 IP, 47 hits, 9 walks, 25 K’s, 75 ERA+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .209/.261/.326, 46 PA’s, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 5 RBIs, 62 OPS+, on the IL

James Outman, Twins: .129/.182/.194, 33 PA’s, 2 doubles, 4 OPS+

Ben Rortvedt, Mets: in the minors

Corey Seager, Rangers: .213/.315/.410, 143 PA’s, 6 doubles, 6 homers, 17 RBIs, 113 OPS+

Chris Taylor, Angels: in the minors

Justin Turner, Tijuana (Mexican League): .276/.344/.448, 32 PA’s, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 3 RBIs

Trea Turner, Phillies: .243/.304/.375, 148 PA’s, 6 doubles, 4 homers, 11 RBIs, 86 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .220/.359/.424, 145 PA’s, 4 doubles, 1 triple, 6 homers, 17 RBIs, 119 OPS+

Kirby Yates, Angels: on the IL

Up next

Monday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-2, 2.87 ERA) at Houston (TBA), 5:10 p.m. PDT, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 2-1, 0.60 ERA) at Houston (Peter Lambert, 1-2, 3.52), 5:10 p.m. PDT, TBS, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 3-0, 2.56 ERA) at Houston (Lance McCullers Jr., 2-2, 6.32 ERA), 11:10 a.m. PDT, Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Why Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan has ‘K ALS’ stitched into his glove

‘We’re in a little funk’: Dodgers fizzle at plate, suffer third straight loss

Ex-Dodger Alex Cora’s wild roller-coaster departure from the Red Sox explained

Shaikin: The Dodger hosting a comedy show? Stoic Will Smith. No joke

McCourt Foundation’s L.A. Marathon to city: Can you save us half a million dollars?

What Shohei Ohtani’s start against Marlins says about how Dodgers are handling his workload

And finally

Vin Scully tells a story on how a player’s career was influenced by … well, you have to see it to believe it. 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.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and how amazing is it that the Dodgers are 19-9, on pace to win 110 games, and are still just barely in first place?

So the Dodgers’ bullpen imploded for a couple of days, costing the team. Most recently was Friday against the Cubs, when Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott coughed up a four-run lead in a game the Dodgers lost, 6-4.

This brought renewed pleas from fans on social media and some readers of this newsletter to move Roki Sasaki to the bullpen. After all, he has been no great shakes as a starter this season, while he was “lights out” as a closer at the end of last season. But was he, or are we remembering it a bit more fondly than it deserves, After all, the Dodgers were in no hurry to bring him in during Game 7 against the Blue Jays.

Let’s take a look at each of Sasaki’s relief outings at the end of last season and in the postseason.

Sept. 24 at Arizona
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 3-1
Seventh inning
James McCann grounds to third
Tim Tawa strikes out
Ildemaro Vargas strikes out

Sept. 26 at Seattle
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 3-1
Seventh inning
J.P Crawford grounds to third
Cole Young strikes out
Randy Arozarena doubles to left
Cal Raleigh strikes out

Postseason

NL wild card Game 2
vs. Cincinnati
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 8-4
Ninth inning
Spencer Steer strikes out
Gavin Lux strikes out
Austin Hays lines to short

The game against the Reds was when fans got excited, because he looked dominant.

NLDS Game 1
at Philadelphia
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 5-3
Ninth inning
J.T. Realmuto strikes out
Max Kepler doubles to right
Nick Castellanos grounds to second
Bryson Stott pops to third
Sasaki gets the save

NLDS Game 2
at Philadelphia
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 4-3
Ninth inning, two out, runners on first and third
Trea Turner grounds to second
Sasaki gets the save

NLDS Game 4
vs. Philadelphia
Score when entering game: Tied, 1-1
Eighth inning
Kyle Schwarber flies to right
Bryce Harper pops to third
Alec Bohm grounds to second
Ninth inning
Brandon Marsh grounds to second
J.T. Realmuto strikes out
Max Kepler pops to third
10th inning
Nick Castellanos grounds to third
Bryson Stott strikes out
Trea Turner lines to right
Dodgers win game, and series, in 11th inning

NLCS Game 1
at Milwaukee
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 2-0
Ninth inning
Caleb Durbin pops to third
Isaac Collins walks
Jake Bauers doubles to right
Jackson Chourio sacrifice fly to center
Christian Yelich walks
Blake Treinen replaces Sasaki, gets final out, Dodgers win. First bad relief outing by Sasaki

NLCS Game 3
vs. Milwaukee
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 3-1
Ninth inning
Andrew Vaughn grounds to short
Sal Frelich pops to short
Caleb Durbin strikes out
Sasaki gets the save

NLCS Game 4
vs. Milwaukee
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 5-1
Ninth inning
William Contreras singles to center
Andrew Vaughn flies to deep right
Sal Frelick grounds to second
Caleb Durbin flies to deep right
Dodgers win game and sweep NLCS

World Series Game 3
vs. Toronto
Score when entering game: Tied 5-5
Eighth inning, men on first and second, one out
Ty France grounds to third
Nathan Lukes grounds to the pitcher

Ninth inning
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flies to right
Isiah Kiner-Falefa walks
Daulton Varsho singles off Freeman’s glove, Kiner-Falefa out trying to advance to third
Alejando Kirk walks
Myles Straw grounds to second
Dodgers win game in 18th inning

World Series Game 6
at Toronto
Score when entering game: Dodgers, 3-1
Eighth inning
George Springer singles to right
Nathan Lukes flies to center
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walks
Bo Bichette pops to short
Daulton Varsho grounds to second

Ninth inning
Alejando Kirk hit by a pitch
Addison Barger ground-rule double
Sasaki replaced by Tyler Glasnow, who gets the final three outs

Sasaki wasn’t fooling anyone against Toronto

In the postseason, Sasaki pitched 10 2/3 innings, gave up six hits and walked five while striking out six. His ERA was 0.84. However, his big success came in the first two rounds. In the NLCS and World Series, his numbers were: 5 1/3 IP, five hits, five walks, one hit batter, one strikeouts, one run.

All of this is to say: Don’t expect Eric Gagne 2.0 if they move Sasaki to the bullpen. He won’t be a miracle cure.

Let’s look at where they rank in ERA in the NL:

Starting pitching
1. Dodgers, 2.79
2. Atlanta, 3.12
3. Pittsburgh, 3.47
4. Milwaukee, 3.59
5. Chicago, 3.98
15. Philadelphia, 5.80

Relief pitching
1. Cincinnati, 2.91
2. San Francisco, 2.93
3. Atlanta, 3.14
4. Pittsburgh, 3.17
5. Miami, 3.60
11. Dodgers, 4.26
15. Washington, 5.27

Inherited runners that scored %

1. Colorado, 13.6% (six of 44)
2. Cincinnati, 20% (nine of 45)
3. Dodgers, 26.7% (eight of 30)
4. San Francisco, 27.8% (10 of 36)
5. Atlanta, 28% (seven of 25)
15. Washington, 48.9% (23 of 47)

It looks like 2025 all over again.

Colleague Bill Plaschke wrote about this a couple of weeks ago. You can read that here.

Injury Updates

Will Smith is day to day (aren’t we all?) with tightness in his lower back. He is not expected to go on the IL. Luckily, Dalton Rushing is hitting like he is.

Mookie Betts, sidelined by an oblique injury, is swinging the bat now. He could go on a rehab assignment in the next couple of weeks and be back soon after that.

Tommy Edman still has some soreness in his ankle and isn’t running the bases fully yet. Dave Roberts said he probably won’t return until the end of May or the beginning of June.

Reliever Brock Stewart is in a rehab assignment with Class-A Ontario, so he could be back in a couple of weeks.

When Betts returns, the Dodgers will have to decide what to do. It seems unlikely they send Hyeseong Kim down as long as he is playing this well, so that leaves either Alex Freeland or Santiago Espinal as the most likely candidates to be removed from the roster.

More complaints about Ohtani

It seems more people are getting on board the “Why do the Dodgers get to have an extra pitcher just because they have Shohei Ohtani” bandwagon. Teams can carry up to 13 pitchers on the roster. The Ohtani two-way player rule basically allows the Dodgers to carry 14 pitchers, since as a two-way player Ohtani only counts once on the roster.

And I respond with what I always say: Why didn’t these people complain when he was on the Angels and they did the same thing? Why is it now suddenly a problem?

The other complaint: Umpires allow extra time for Ohtani to get ready to pitch when he makes the last out of an inning, or is on base when the last out was made.

Response: Did these people never watch the NL before the DH rule was added? Umpires always gave the pitcher extra time to get ready when they made the last out or were on the bases when the last out was made. Quite often a pitcher would make the last out, walk over to the dugout, sit for a moment, towel off, grab their glove then make a leisurely stroll to the mound. This is nothing new. And I have a feeling if the Dodgers hadn’t won the last two World Series, no one would be complaining about either of these things.

Obscure stat of the week

All the recent talk about Davey Lopes had me wondering who were the best at stealing bases in Dodgers history. A look at the top 10 in stolen base %, minimum 50 stolen bases:

1. Eric Davis, 89.7% (52 for 58)
2. Shohei Ohtani, 89% (81 for 91)
3. Kirk Gibson, 88.5% (69 for 78)
4. Freddie Freeman, 86.4% (51 for 59)
5. Davey Lopes, 83.1% (418 for 503)
6. Dave Roberts, 82.5% (118 for 143)
7. Cody Bellinger, 81.6% (62 for 76)
8. Mookie Betts, 81.4% (70 for 86)
9. Chris Taylor, 81% (81 for 100)
10. Mariano Duncan, 80% (100 for 125)
21. Maury Wills, 74.1% (490 for 661)

The 10 worst:

Babe Herman, 54.3%, (69 for 127)
John Roseboro, 55.7% (59 for 106)
Steve Garvey, 57.5% (77 for 134)
Duke Snider, 57.9% (99 for 171)
Harvey Hendrick, 59.8% (61 for 102)
Gil Hodges, 60% (63 for 105)
José Offerman, 61% (61 for 100)
César Izturis, 61.4% (51 for 85)
Dusty Baker, 61.9% (73 for 118)
Wes Parker, 63.8% (60 for 94)

Up next

Monday: Miami (Chris Paddack, 0-4, 6.38 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-2, 2.48 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Miami (Janson Junk, 1-2, 3.67 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 2-0, 0.38 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Miami (Sandy Alcantara, 3-2, 3.05 ERA) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 3-0, 2.45 ERA), 12:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

‘They started it:’ Pete Crow-Armstrong won’t apologize for mocking Dodgers fans

Dave Roberts has a sharp reply to Cubs manager Craig Counsell’s criticism of ‘Ohtani roster exception’

Shohei Ohtani homers, Justin Wrobleski shines as Dodgers shut out Cubs for series win

Dodgers rediscover their offense, scoring 12 runs to end Cubs’ 10-game win streak

Bullpen meltdown squanders Emmet Sheehan’s strong start in Dodgers’ loss to Cubs

And finally

Vin Scully recalls a story about Pearl Harbor. 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.

The Dodgers claimed a series victory over the Chicago Cubs with a 6-0 win on Sunday.

Their offensive surge from the previous game carried over into the first inning.

Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández remained patient against Cubs rotation-leader Shota Imanaga, both drawing walks. Then Andy Pages hit a sacrifice fly, Kyle Tucker doubled and Miguel Rojas drove in two runs, to give the Dodgers (19-9) a 3-0 lead.

Neither team scored for the next four innings.

Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski navigated early command issues, issuing three walks in the first two innings before finding his rhythm to get through six frames without allowing a run. He limited the Cubs (17-11) to four hits.

The Dodgers’ bats came alive again in the sixth. Pages led with a double and Kyle Tucker drew a walk, setting up Dalton Rushing’s RBI single through the right side of the field. Tucker later scored on an errant back-pick attempt by Cubs catcher Carson Kelly.

Kyle Tucker scores for the Dodgers in the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The next inning, designated hitter Shohei Ohtani homered for the first time in two weeks, suggesting the end of his short-lived slump.

Dodgers relievers Edgardo Henriquez, Jack Dreyer and Kyle Hurt completed the shutout.

Will Smith sidelined

Dodgers catcher Will Smith was out of the lineup for the second straight game because of lingering back tightness, according to manager Dave Roberts.

“It’s one of those where he could play if needed,” Roberts said. “But we just thought it was smart to give him an extra day.”

Roberts said the Dodgers were not considering putting Smith on the injured list and hoped he would return to the lineup Monday against the Miami Marlins. It helped that backup catcher Rushing entered Sunday batting .400 with seven home runs in just 11 games.

“You weigh out the positives and negatives,” Roberts said. “But Dalton going the way he’s going, it just only seems like downside to push [Smith] now.”

The decisive blow in the Dodgers’ 12-4 win against the Chicago Cubs on Saturday at Dodger Stadium was the kind of unrelenting rally they hadn’t mustered since leaving Colorado on Monday.

The Dodgers were trailing by a run going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Then they put together a six-run rally.

They stacked up six hits, only one of which was for extra bases, and two walks in the inning, to knock Cubs starter Colin Rea out of the game before piling on against long reliever Javier Assad.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged Friday that the offense hadn’t been clicking as a whole for much of the week. That changed Saturday, with contributions from across the lineup.

Shohei Ohtani ended a three-game hitless streak (0 for 12) with a single in the first inning. He went on to draw two walks to reach base three times.

Max Muncy — batting third because he was feeling under the weather and Roberts wanted to take advantage of the matchup with Rea before replacing Muncy with Santiago Espinal — drove in the Dodgers’ first runs. Muncy’s two-run blast in the third inning was his ninth home run of the season.

Dodgers No. 8 hitter Hyeseong Kim started the fourth-inning rally with a line-drive single up the middle. Then Alex Freeland, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Dalton Rushing and Andy Pages combined for six RBIs.

Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers against the Cubs in the first inning Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

They kept applying pressure against the Cubs’ injury-depleted bullpen, putting together a four-run sixth inning that added two more RBIs to Pages’ tally.

The Dodgers (18-9) forced the Cubs (17-10) to use two multi-inning relievers, which could affect the rubber match Sunday.

Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki gave up three home runs, but they were all solo shots since he limited traffic on the bases. Sasaki surrendered four runs, each in different innings, and left the game in the sixth after putting two runners on base with a walk and single.

Left-hander Jack Dreyer entered and immediately walked designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros to load the bases. But he struck out the next two batters, and right-hander Will Klein finished the escape job.

The bullpen, with Kyle Hurt and Jake Eder also contributing, held back the Cubs the rest of the way. The Dodgers’ victory stopped the red-hot Cubs’ 10-game win streak.

The boos were already loud when Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, a member of the scandal-embroiled 2017 Astros, came up to bat in the eighth inning. They swelled when he launched a tying home run off Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen and rounded the bases.

Then in the ninth, Dodgers left-hander Tanner Scott surrendered a two-run home run to Dansby Swanson en route to the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss Friday.

The game flipped dramatically after Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan left the game. He was charged with just one run and four hits, receiving a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout with one out in the seventh. He tied his career high with 10 strikeouts.

Sheehan cruised through the first three innings, recording seven strikeouts his first time through the Cubs’ batting order and retiring 10 batters in a row.

He finally gave up back-to-back hits, the first baserunners he allowed, in the fourth inning. But a dart of a throw to home from center fielder Andy Pages cut down former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch to keep the Cubs scoreless.

The only run charged to Sheehan came in the seventh inning, after he’d given up a single to Cubs designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros and then handed the ball over to Alex Vesia.

Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Vesia surrendered a two-run triple to Swanson and an RBI single to Nico Hoerner, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to one.

The Dodgers had led since Will Smith’s three-run home run in the third inning. Then in the fourth, Hyeseong Kim drove in another run with a two-out single.

After Bregman’s home run, the Cubs came inches away from pulling ahead in the same inning. But with a runner on first, Pages cut off Ballesteros’ double before it reached the wall, and he slung the ball across his body to Kim, whose on-target throw home nabbed the Cubs’ Ian Happ as he slid headfirst toward the plate.

The Dodgers’ offense, however, didn’t score again, allowing the Cubs to extend their winning streak to 10.

Counsell doubles down on Ohtani exemption criticism

Days after Cubs manager Craig Counsell alluded to the rule that designates Shohei Ohtani as a “two-way player,” who doesn’t count against the 13-pitcher roster limit (14 in September), his team came face to face with Ohtani and the Dodgers.

“I was answering a different question,” Counsell said Friday, before the first game of the weekend series. “But what sometimes happens is, when you answer a question, whatever is more interesting about your answer is the part that gets printed.”

With the Cubs’ bullpen hit hard by injury, he was originally asked about the lack of flexibility in the roster makeup.

“I’ve never understood it, either,” Counsell told reporters Monday. “It’s an offensive rule, essentially. It’s a rule to help offense more than anything, if you ask me. And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration, — which is probably the most bizarre rule … for one team.”

His comments took on a life of their own, with a focus on the portion relating to Ohtani.

“Not surprised,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s kind of what happens these days when you say certain things. And I don’t think he meant it really maliciously. I mean, they’re going through it on the pitching side.

“But again, this is a rule that’s applicable to Shohei. It’s not a Dodger rule, right? I mean, this was implemented when he was with the Angels. But not surprising, because he’s a very important player, so it gets a lot of attention.”

Counsell said something similar, while standing firm in his evaluation of the rule.

“Look, this is not a Dodger thing, it’s not an Ohtani thing,” Counsell said. “It is a bad rule.”

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and it looks like the Dodgers won’t be needing Tatiana Tate to be a live trumpeter for a while.

Well, we knew some bad news had to hit the Dodgers eventually, and it did on Monday when they put new closer Edwin Díaz on the injured list because of “loose bodies” in his right elbow. He will have surgery and will be out until sometime after the All-Star break.

Díaz signed a three-year, $69-million deal with the Dodgers before the season, and after a great debut, has steadily declined. He has a 10.50 ERA and has given up nine hits and walked five in six innings, striking out 10. He has four saves. Let’s look at each game:

March 27 vs. Arizona
1 IP, 0 hits, one walk, two strikeouts, save

March 28 vs. Arizona
1 IP, save

March 31 vs. Cleveland
1 IP, one hit, one ER, one walk, two strikeouts

April 5 at Washington
1 IP, one strikeout, save

April 7 at Toronto
1 IP, one hit, one walk, three strikeouts, save

April 10 vs. Texas
1 IP, four hits, three ER, one walk, two strikeouts, blown save, win

April 19 at Colorado
0 IP, three hits, three ER, one walk

We kept hearing from Díaz and the Dodgers that he was healthy, but his fastball had lost about two miles per hour, and he went nine days without pitching. The Dodgers are known for not always being 100% forthcoming about injuries (I’m pretty sure their health advisor is the Black Knight from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”).

And then on Monday we hear about “loose bodies.” Loose bodies in the elbow are small fragments of bone or cartilage which are floating in the joint.

At the moment, Díaz joins names that include Don Stanhouse (2-2, 5.04 ERA) and Kirby Yates (4-3, 5.23 ERA) among terrible free agent reliever signings by the Dodgers. Tanner Scott was terrible last season, led the league in blown saves and didn’t pitch in the postseason, but has rebounded so far this year (of course, it’s still early).

I thought after Yates and Scott were so bad last season that the Dodgers would wait a while before offering big money to a reliever. But no. You have to figure they will be shy now.

Of course, Díaz could recover from this and come back to be a great closer. But right now, yikes.

So who will be the new closer? The guess here is that Dave Roberts will go with whoever the matchups dictate. Their best relievers this season have been Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer and Scott. Blake Treinen pitched well until his last outing. Same with Will Klein.

So, looks like another season of bullpen uncertainty. We should all be used to it by now. But just think: Closer injured, Mookie Betts injured, Kyle Tucker not hitting as expected and the Dodgers are still 16-6 (on pace to win 118 games) and have the best record in baseball.

And of course those pesky San Diego Padres are right there with them at 15-7, the third-best record in baseball.

Welcome, Jake Eder

The Dodgers brought left-hander Jake Eder up from the minors to replace Díaz. Eder, 27, was with the Angels last season, where he went 0-1 with a 4.91 ERA in 18 1/3 innings, walking nine and striking out 15. He was selected out of Vanderbilt in the fourth round of the 2020 draft by the Miami Marlins.

Of course, we know one thing if he’s with the Dodgers, and sure enough: He missed the 2022 season after Tommy John surgery. The Marlins traded him to the White Sox in 2023 and he had an 11.42 ERA in five starts in double A. In 2024, he had a 6.61 ERA in 24 minor-league starts. His contract was purchased by the Angels before the 2025 season, and they traded him to Washington on July 30. The Dodgers purchased his contract on April 1.

Dalton Rushing is amazing

Dalton Rushing has 12 hits this season. Seven of them are home runs. In 27 at-bats, he is hitting .444/.496/1.296. He is one behind Max Muncy for the most home runs on the Dodgers. He is tied for fourth in the NL in homers, but everyone he is tied with or trailing has at least 50 more plate appearances.

He has 13 RBIs, tied for third on the team with Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández, trailing Andy Pages (21) and Freddie Freeman (14). They all have at least 50 more plate appearances.

At this point, I’d play him every day until Freeman comes back from paternity leave and strongly consider starting him at DH when Shohei Ohtani is the starting pitcher. This run won’t last forever, but might as well ride it out while you can.

Davey Lopes remembered

I’m a little behind on this, but the Dodgers honored Davey Lopes before the first home game they played after he died. They played a video and had a moment of silence for him.

I think he deserves a patch on the uniform, but, the Dodgers must think otherwise.

Charley Steiner says thanks

After the last newsletter, where readers gave their best wishes and shared their favorite Charley Steiner moments, Steiner sent along the following:

“This has all been so very flattering. I’m feeling better and stronger. The messages were so kind, flattering and overwhelming.”

Up next

Tuesday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-1, 2.10 ERA) at San Francisco (Landen Roupp, 3-1, 2.38 ERA), 6:45 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 2-0, 0.50 ERA) at San Francisco (Tyler Mahle, 0-3, 7.23 ERA), 6:45 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Thursday: Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 2-0, 3.24 ERA) at San Francisco (Logan Webb, 2-2, 5.40 ERA), 12:45 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz to undergo surgery, will return after All-Star break

Rick Monday on saving an American flag at Dodger Stadium: ‘I get letters every week’

Shaikin: Rick Monday saved an American flag in 1976. Why the moment resonates 50 years later

Behind the scenes of a milestone Make-A-Wish experience with the Dodgers

And finally

Vin Scully discusses what he does to prepare for a game. Watch and listen here.

Until next time….

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

DENVER — Nobody’s perfect, not even the Dodgers.

Their steamroll hit a speed bump as they squandered opportunities in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Even the hottest of Dodgers’ hitters cooled off as the night did. Collectively, they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base, including two in the ninth inning.

Now 15-5, it was their first loss in five games and their first all season to a National League opponent.

Kyle Tucker, the Dodgers’ pricey new right fielder, had three hits, including his third home run this season. And backup catcher Dalton Rushing hit his fifth home run.

But that was all the damage the Dodgers did in support of starter Emmet Sheehan, who left with a one-run lead that reliever Will Klein relinquished in a matter of three batters in the sixth inning.

Shohei Ohtani also saw his career-best on-base streak reach 50 when he singled in the ninth inning to tie Willie Keeler’s 50-game mark established in 1901.

The two-time reining World Series champs threw the proverbial first punch when Tucker launched a 435-foot two-run home run into the second deck, making it 2-0 two batters into the game.

Tucker’s third home run as a Dodger drove home Ohtani, who chopped the first pitch he saw to Troy Johnston and would have been out at first if not for the errant throw by the first baseman.

In the bottom of the first, the Rockies responded when Mickey Moniak doubled and TJ Rumfield drove him in with a single to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing follows the flight of his solo home run off Colorado pitcher Ryan Feltner Saturday in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

The Dodgers came right back in the second inning, when Rushing — in his one expected start behind the plate this series — kept crushing, launching a 1-1 pitch 371 feet over the right field wall to make it 3-1. It was his fifth home run in 18 at-bats until that point.

The Dodgers’ two home runs in the first two innings gave them multiple homers in 10 of their first 20 games this season — and ran their MLB-leading season total to 37 as a team.

But the Rockies returned serve in the bottom of the second, when Johnston scored on a Kyle Karros sacrifice fly to stay within a run, 3-2.

That’s how it stayed for the next three innings, as Sheehan got out of the third and fourth unscathed, despite the Rockies putting runners in scoring position in both the third and fourth. His only 1-2-3 inning was the nine-pitch fifth.

His control wasn’t as sharp as in his prior outing, but he left after five innings with the lead, having thrown 77 pitches, allowed four hits, two runs, struck out four and walked two.

The Dodgers got something going again in the sixth inning when Freddie Freeman hit a one-out triple into the gap in the expansive Colorado outfield, just beyond the grasp of diving center fielder Brenton Doyle.

A batter later, the Rockies’ diving third baseman Karros made a nifty play to throw out Teoscar Hernández after he drilled a ball up the line — holding Freeman at third in the process.

Then left-hander Brennan Bernardino came on in relief and tied up a clearly frustrated Max Muncy with a curveball, striking him out and ending a scoreless inning with Freeman stranded on third.

Klein took the loss after taking over for the Dodgers in the sixth and immediately gave up a double to Hunter Goodman before Ezequiel Tovar’s grounder ricocheted off Klein’s left foot and right knee. Tovar reached before Freeman could corral the ball and get it to Klein at first.

Both runners scored on a no-out double by Johnston and Colorado had a 4-3 lead that would stand.

In the eighth, “Let’s go Dodgers” chants picked up with Andy Pages at bat and Ohtani and Tucker on first and second base. But Pages struck out on a strike that was determined to find the bottom of the zone by baseball’s new ABS system.

Hernández then walked to load the bases but Muncy grounded out to second base, leaving more runners stranded.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and the Dodgers keep rolling. When will the first bad stretch of games begin?

Last week, I asked you to show some support for Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner, who battled cancer and has been heard infrequently on broadcasts since 2024.

And boy did you respond. We received over 1,000 emails from people who wanted to pass along best wishes. Obviously, we can’t run all 1,000 emails, but here are a selected few.

John Peterson of Pleasant Hill: I had the great fortune of meeting Charley Steiner in Las Vegas in the early ‘90s. At the time, I was an assistant athletic director at UNLV, and our men’s basketball team had played in three Final Fours (1987, 1990, 1991), so tickets to home games were super scarce in those days. Charley was in town to call a boxing match for ESPN, so he and Rich Rose, former president of Caesars World Sports, were desperate enough to sit in my staff seats (at least they weren’t in the balcony!). I was in total awe of those two giants of the sports entertainment landscape. We even took a photo together. I was already a huge Charley Steiner fan, but after meeting him in person, I became a fanboy for life, so when he became a Dodger announcer, I was over the moon. I will always remember how gracious he was — like any other fan who wanted to see for himself what all the fuss was about the Runnin’ Rebels. Have cherished the memory ever since.

Tara Elkinton: My husband and I are huge Dodger fans and it’s been said I Bleed Blue. We always enjoyed listening to Charley and Rick. Charley’s commentary was always honest, interesting, personal and made you feel like you were at the game. We love and miss him.

Steven Booth: Charley, thank you for bringing peace, love and happiness into our lives. Hearing you call games is like having a coffee or beer with your friend at the ballpark. We love you and are praying for you.

Darin Axel-Adams of Pendleton, Ind.: I was a teenager when he started at ESPN and always enjoyed watching him on SportsCenter. I was a budding high school radio broadcaster and Charley was one of the ESPN anchors I attempted (not very successfully!) to mimic. I also thought he had some of the funniest “This is SportsCenter” promos … it was pretty obvious that he didn’t take himself or his profession too seriously. Living in the Midwest, I haven’t been able to enjoy much of Charley’s time with the Dodgers, but when I do, I am reminded again of what a truly gifted broadcaster he is!

Kim Haack: My father was a Dodger fan for more than 50 years. He is the reason I’m a Dodger fan today. He died three weeks before the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020. We often listened to the radio in the car and enjoyed listening to Charley and Mo. The radio call from Charley at Game 6 of the 2020 World Series when the Dodgers won was absolutely amazing. Of course, I was sobbing when they won, thinking of my father. It was a balm to hear Charley’s familiar voice and I think he spoke for all of us when he said, “In a year like no other, when joy has been so hard to come by, tonight tears of joy, let ‘em flow …” Charley’s call of that game is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. Whenever I see that clip and hear Charley’s voice, I tear up remembering how much I appreciated his familiar voice when facing a bittersweet time in my life.

Kirk Stitt: Charley, I’m a 76-year-old Dodger fan since 1958. I know you value your privacy, I get that. You need to know that thousands of Dodgers fans everywhere are thinking of you and wishing you the best and hoping to hear you.

Donald Golightly of Russell, Ky.: Being an old Brooklyn Dodger fan myself, I can relate to Charley. While I don’t feel the connection to the new Dodgers, in recent years I really enjoyed listening to Charley and Rick on the internet. So here’s wishing Charley the best now and always! Keep your head up and keep smiling!

Philip Nelson: The absolute best ESPN SportsCenter commercial is the Y2K commercial. Near the end Steiner is wearing his tie around his head like a bandana. War paint as if he is in The Lord of the Flies and says, “Follow me. Follow me to freedom!” (Note: You can watch that commercial here.)

Jim Carlisle: I have “followed you to freedom” for years and have greatly appreciated your integrity, personality, accuracy and humor on the air. It was so great to hear you on the air on opening day with Rick Monday. It was like having a reunion with an old friend. I’m hoping you’ll be able to return to the booth whenever you feel up to it. You have many fans who are hoping the same thing.

Stephen Knight: I’ve enjoyed your calls since, like, forever. As a cancer survivor myself with what I like to call unremission, the choice of how you deal with it is a personal one and is yours, and your family’s. And I just want to thank you for putting me inside the park for all of those Dodger games. You made me feel so alive, so connected with each call of every strike, ball, hit or miss.

Jimie Murray of Redondo Beach: One of my favorite memories was a totally random call about 10 years ago. A Dodgers runner slid into second base head first and got up after time was called to shake his belt and pants. Charley said, (Runner) is getting the dirt out of all the places dirt shouldn’t be.” It just made me laugh and now any time a player slides head first, I repeat it for my wife.

Tom Schulz: I’ve always been a Dodger fan, initially (and continuing so) because of Jackie Robinson. But I really became a fan in 2020 while living in Arkansas (now thankfully in California), and Charley and Rick helped me preserve my sanity during COVID. In the midst of that bizarre and unsettling year, Charley and Rick were voices of normalcy. Since then, I have caught at least part of every Dodgers radio broadcast. Charley and Rick became my friends.

Eliza Rubenstein: I’m a third-generation Cardinals fan living in SoCal, and it takes a LOT to get me to say nice things about the Dodgers. But I spent years listening to Dodger games on the radio in large part because I found Charley Steiner to be so completely and consistently delightful. His intelligence, his dry wit, his charming habit of saying “he’s been struck out” rather than “he struck out” … his rhythm and diction and humor have always spoken directly to my baseball-obsessed heart, and considering that I grew up with Jack Buck in my ear and high standards in my soul, that’s saying a lot.

Nancy Shattuck: Thank you for voicing joy and Dodger blue to this grateful fan.

Lydia Valenzuela: You’ve been missed. It was so nice to hear you on opening day. I’m sure I speak for all the fans when I say we can’t wait until you’re back again on the radio. I love to hear the banter between you and Rick. You both always bring a smile to my face. That warm soothing voice of yours is missed. Hope to hear from you again soon.

Howard Hancock: Thank you for being such a terrific part of my sports enjoyment for so many years. I greatly hope to hear you call many more innings in the future.

Scott Snyder: You have been the most underrated voice in my 55 years of loving baseball. Best of wishes to you.

Linda Seidman: We fans miss you and your calling the games so very much! Nobody calls a game like you, especially the home runs. The games just aren’t as good or as fun or as exciting without your calls, so please get back in the booth whenever you can!

Larry Oppenheim: What I love most about Charley Steiner is the sheer joy he brings to announcing the Dodgers. And his joy is contagious. A friend and I would text back and forth while listening to Dodgers games. I would say ‘did you hear what Charley just said’ and I would write it down in my text. Thankfully, I found these messages. Delving into my old text messages has brought back so many joyful memories. Charley, I miss you terribly.

Samuel Contreras of Chino Hills: Charley, we haven’t forgotten you at all. Dodger fans miss you and look forward to your return to the broadcast booth on a regular basis. My family’s life has been affected by multiple myeloma as my wife was diagnosed in October 2024. Thankfully, she’s doing well and I wish the same for you. Please know that Dodger broadcasts are not the same without you.

Keith Putirka: Charley Steiner is one of my all-time favorite baseball announcers and when I heard he was headed to L.A. to cover the Dodgers, I was thrilled. I grew up listening to Vin Scully and was clearly very spoiled. Until I moved to New York in the early 1990s, I had no idea how much of a gap there was between Vin and everyone else. But I still loved listening to baseball games, especially on ESPN, and I first heard Charley on the radio when he called the 1997 World Series on ESPN radio. He was terrific. He made the games come to life, conveying the environment, the stories and the excitement, in his own inimitable style. After that, I would always tune in to any ESPN-broadcast game so that I could hear Charley Steiner call the games. I’m 63 and I’ve been listening to and watching baseball for a very long time. Growing up in L.A. I heard a lot of great announcers, but my list for the top three announcers in baseball is an easy choice; it is in order, Vin Scully, Charley Steiner and Jon Miller. Thank you, Mr. Steiner, for making a great sport even greater to listen to.

Hoyt Adams: I used to work at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store in Santa Monica, and one day I helped Charley. He was so easygoing, funny and genuinely delighted to talk baseball with a stranger who was helping him with his computer.

When I told him the hard drive on his laptop was failing, he said in that wonderful radio voice, “So that’s your story and you’re sticking to it.” But he immediately lit up when we started talking baseball again. For one reason or another, I brought up how much I loved players like Jamey Carroll, who was getting a lot of time at shortstop that season. When I was driving home from work that night, I turned on the game, and Jamey Carroll just so happened to be having a killer night. Charley talked about him and even mentioned several beats from our conversation — it absolutely made my season.

Patrick Hennes of Corona: I have “worshipped” Vin Scully since I was one of millions of young fans that had my transistor radio under my pillow listening to my Dodgers, beginning in the early 1960s. No one could ever be better. But for this one night, I think Charley surpassed the GOAT. It’s always a good time to go back to this incredible game, when the Dodgers hit four straight home runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie San Diego. And to appreciate Charley Steiner as a fantastic announcer. (Note: You can watch and listen here.)

George Martin of Virginia: Listening to Charley Steiner call a game is like a warm blanket on a cold and rainy day. Whatever your troubles, hearing him brings security, relief and joy.

Jason Hashmi: The line, “we’ll find out together” is the classic Steiner phrase for me. Will Freeman’s ankle heal in time for the World Series and will he be a liability on the bases if he does return? “We’ll find out together.” I’ve adopted the phrase myself, and often for things unrelated to baseball. I always give a wink to Steiner in my mind when I do. I wish him health and peace.

Kathy Pratt: In 2014 my husband and I drove up from Tucson to see a spring training game. As we were walking into Camelback Ranch Stadium we looked up and there was Charley Steiner. My husband asked if he could take a picture of him and his wife. Charlie’s reply was, “I always love to have my picture taken with a beautiful woman!” Charley’s kindness was so appreciated and it made our day.

Candi Hersch: I miss hearing you on the radio. You are much younger than my father, but listening to the game with you is like hanging out with my dear departed dad. It’s comforting and you always have great insight.

Doug Weber of Carlsbad: For every note you receive, please know that there are thousands more who wish you all the best. Thank you for everything and we’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Bill Walsh of Oceanside: I miss Charley’s voice on the radio. While working I always had the Dodger radio broadcasts playing behind my desk. Charley and Rick became my daily companions. I miss you greatly Charley.

Andrew Mounts of Clovis: You’re part of this wonderful thing we call the Dodger family. Your enthusiasm and love for this crazy game and the Dodgers is greatly appreciated and very sorely missed. Never forget your voice paints a picture of this game that we love so much. You and Mo put us in the ballpark when we couldn’t be there. Thank you so very much. Get well Dodger friend and may God bless you and your family.

Geoff King of Bakersfield: The Dodgers have been blessed with the best radio and TV broadcast personalities ever, with Vin Scully at the top of the list. But Charley was a great addition to the Dodger broadcast crew years ago. His demeanor, stories and mannerisms calling the game were like Scully. We went several years without TV because of the Direct TV dispute so we would listen to the games on the radio. Charley was a lifesaver of Dodger baseball for us.

Rich Mortimer: My family and I have enjoyed your Dodger coverage for many years. I am 73 and have been a Dodger fan my whole life and Charley’s reporting has made our viewing and listening so much more enjoyable. Thank you Charley. Please know that there are thousands of Dodger fans, Charley Steiner fans, who are praying for your recovery.

John Sotos of Leesburg, Va.: I have always been a Charley Steiner fan, from his days at ESPN to his time broadcasting Dodgers games. That ESPN commercial — no, not “follow me to freedom!” — but the one in which he has to hide under his desk while an angry Evander Holyfield, having been told that Charley disparaged his boxing, prowls the ESPN spaces shouting “Charley Steiner! Come out and get your whoopin’!” Still one of my favorites. (Note: You can watch that ad here.)

Ohtani out of the batting lineup

Much concern was raised when Shohei Ohtani wasn’t in the hitting lineup Wednesday when he was the starting pitcher against the Mets. Nothing to worry about. Ohtani was hit in the right shoulder by a pitch Monday, and the Dodgers were just being cautious. As Maddie Lee reported:

“If it weren’t for the hit by pitch [Monday], he would’ve been DHing and pitching tonight,” Dave Roberts said before Wednesday’s game.

“Just feeling what gives him the best chance to stay loose during the outing, feel good,” Roberts said. “There’s still some soreness in there. When he’s hitting, there’s a component that he’s in the cage getting ready to hit, and if we can take that off his plate and just focus on one thing tonight, we felt — training staff, pitching coaches, myself — we just felt it was the best thing for him. So, once I told him, he completely understood.”

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-0, 4.00 ERA) at Colorado (Ryan Feltner, 1-1, 7.30 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 2-0, 6.60 ERA) at Colorado (TBD), 5:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 0-2, 6.23 ERA) at Colorado (Michael Lorenzen, 1-2, 8.10 ERA), 12:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Monday: Dodgers (*-Justin Wrobleski, 2-0, 2.12 ERA) at Colorado (*-Jose Quintana, 0-0, 4.15 ERA), 5:40 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

And finally

Charley Steiner on the 30th anniversary of his famous Carl Lewis call. 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.

Shohei Ohtani pitches well in Dodgers’ victory

From Maddie Lee: Dodgers right-hander Shohei Ohtani had navigated the Mets lineup without much trouble until the fifth inning. But he’d also been holding back a little something.

“I can’t go full throttle the whole time,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton after the Dodgers’ 8-2 victory Wednesday. “But considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle and make sure I’m considering the game situation.”

The Mets had just scored their first run of the game — ending Ohtani’s streak of innings without an earned run at 32 ⅔, the longest of his career — and cut the Dodgers’ lead to one.

So he unleashed a 100.2 mph fastball past Tommy Pham, and then 100.3 mph. Pham foul-tipped both and had some choice words with himself on the way back to the dugout.

That strikeout was one of 10 Ohtani had in a performance that was dominant, regardless of the first mark on his previously spotless ERA.

The two-way phenom only had one job to worry about Wednesday.

For the first time since 2021, he was not also in the lineup as a hitter while pitching.

“If it weren’t for the hit by pitch [Monday], he would’ve been DHing and pitching tonight,” Roberts said before the game.

Continue reading here

L.A.’s Blue Era: How popular are the Dodgers? Even the Lakers look up at them. Way up

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Bad play costs Angels

José Caballero laced a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning that gave the New York Yankees a 5-4 victory over the Angels, moments after the Angels botched an infield popup in a costly misplay Wednesday night.

Aaron Judge hit his third homer of the series and Trent Grisham had a two-run single for the Yankees, who won for only the second time in eight games after an 8-2 start.

Mike Trout hit his fourth homer in three games, putting the Angels ahead 4-3 with a two-run drive in the fifth.

That was still the score when Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped up to the left side with one out and nobody on in the ninth. But shortstop Zach Neto and ex-Yankees third baseman Oswald Peraza miscommunicated, and the ball dropped between them on the infield dirt for a gift single.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

Clippers season comes to an end

From Steve Galluzzo: It was do or die Wednesday night at Intuit Dome, and the Clippers did not do enough to keep their season alive, blowing a 13-point lead early in the fourth quarter and losing to the Golden State Warriors, 126-121.

Having rebounded from a franchise-worst 6-21 start to earn the next-to-last berth in the NBA play-in tournament, coach Tyronn Lue’s resilient bunch could not extend its historic comeback on its home floor.

Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 35 points, Kristaps Porzingis and and Gui Santos each had 20, and Brandin Podziemski added 17. The Warriors were 19 for 41 from three-point range, with Al Horford hitting four in the fourth quarter.

Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench while Kawhi Leonard and Darius Garland each added 21 points for the Clippers, who won three of the teams’ four regular-season meetings, including a 115-110 victory in the same arena four days earlier. Wednesday night, however, Leonard was held scoreless in the fourth quarter until the final seconds as the Warriors rallied.

Continue reading here

Clippers box score

Deandre Ayton can take the spotlight

From Broderick Turner: The last time Deandre Ayton appeared in the playoffs was in 2023, when he was a member of the Phoenix Suns and viewed in NBA circles as having the potential to be a force as a center in the league.

A lot has changed since then.

He’s on his second team since those days in Phoenix, playing two years for the Portland Trail Blazers and now the Lakers. He has been viewed by many as an inconsistent player who hasn’t reached his full potential.

Ayton has a chance to prove his worth, to show his critics he has the ability to be elite in the postseason when the Lakers open the first-round of the Western Conference playoffs Saturday against the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.

Continue reading here

Lakers playoff schedule

First round
All times Pacific

Saturday: Houston at Lakers, 5:30 p.m, ABC
Tuesday: Houston at Lakers, 7:30 p.m., NBC
Friday, April 24: Lakers at Houston, 5:30 p.m., Amazon Prime Video
Sunday, April 26: Lakers at Houston, 6:30 p.m., NBC
*Wed., April 29: Houston at Lakers, TBD
*Friday, May 1: Lakers at Houston, TBD
*Sunday, May 3: Houston at Lakers, TBD

*-if necessary

L.A. Olympics questions

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: You ask. We answer. Or at least we’re going to try.

The Times asked readers for their burning questions regarding the Olympics, and it’s the ticketing process that’s bringing the most heat. Locals in Southern California and Oklahoma City endured the presale headaches and sticker shock before the global audience got their shot at securing tickets this week. But with more than two years remaining until the Games open, expect that there will be more questions.

Here is what Times readers wanted to know:

Continue reading here

USOPC ‘quite confident’ of LA28 direction amid ticket sales uproar

Same old Sparks

From Bill Plaschke: One of the WNBA’s founding franchises, the failure-ridden Sparks enter the league’s 30th season attempting to break a five-year playoff drought with an understandable yet unremarkable game plan.

They’re going old. They don’t have a choice. Five years of lottery missteps have produced exactly one current Sparks player, Cameron Brink, a social media star who’s been an injured basketball bust.

While the national champion Bruins spent Monday dancing across the league from Toronto to Chicago, the Sparks didn’t get a chance to acquire any of them, and wound up with three late picks who will raise no eyebrows and play few minutes.

So, yeah, old.

When the Sparks open the season by hosting defending champion Las Vegas May 10, their fans are going to say, “Oh yeah!” followed by a resounding chorus of, “Oh no!”

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1939 — Stanley Cup Final, Boston Garden, Boston, MA: Boston Bruins beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 for a 4-1 series win; first best-of-7 SC Final series.

1949 — The Toronto Maple Leafs win 3-1 to sweep the Detroit Red Wings for the second straight year in the Stanley Cup Finals.

1953 — Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 1-0 for a 4-1 series win.

1954 — The Detroit Red Wings edge the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in the seventh game to win the Stanley Cup.

1957 — The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 to take the Stanley Cup in five games.

1958 — Arnold Palmer edges Doug Ford by one stroke to capture the Masters.

1961 — The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in six games with a 5-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

1980 — Arthur Ashe retires from pro tennis.

1987 — Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls scores 61 points in a 117-114 loss to the Atlanta Hawks and becomes the second player to surpass the 3,000-point mark in a season.

1990 — Gelindo Bordin becomes the first Olympic men’s champion to win the Boston Marathon. The Italian finishes in 2:08:19. Rosa Mota of Portugal wins the woman’s division in 2:25:24.

1991 — The St. Louis Blues become the eighth team in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3-1 deficit, beating the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in the seventh game.

1995 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: Raymond Floyd wins by 5 strokes.

2000 — PGA Seniors’ Championship Men’s Golf, PGA National GC: Doug Tewell wins first of 2 Champions Tour major titles.

2001 — Lee Bong-ju of South Korea wins the Boston Marathon, ending a 10-year victory streak for Kenyan men. Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba wins the women’s race.

2003 — The Mighty Ducks beat the Detroit Red Wings in a 3-2 overtime victory, making the Red Wings the first defending Stanley Cup winner in 51 years to be swept the following season in a four-game opening series.

2003 — Washington Wizards’ Michael Jordan plays his final NBA game.

2008 — Jason Kidd gets the 100th triple-double of his career with 27 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds in Dallas’ 111-98 victory over New Orleans.

2013 — Two bombs explode in the crowded streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 270 in a bloody scene of shattered glass and severed limbs. Earlier in the day, Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia wins the 117th edition of the marathon and Rita Jeptoo of Kenya takes the women’s race.

2018 — Desiree Linden runs through icy rain and a near-gale headwind to win the Boston Marathon, the first victory for an American woman since 1985.

2019 — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson becomes the highest-paid player in NFL history with a 4-year, $140-million extension.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1929 — Cleveland’s Earl Averill became the first American League player to hit a home run in his first major league plate appearance. The Indians won the game 5-4 in 11 innings on Carl Lind’s double.

1935 — Babe Ruth, 40, made a sensational National League debut in Boston. His single and homer off Carl Hubbell led the Braves over the Giants 4-2.

1940 — Bob Feller of Cleveland defeated the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in the only opening day no-hitter in major league history.

1948 — WGN-TV televised a baseball game for the first time. It was an exhibition game at Wrigley Field with Jack Brickhouse doing the play-by-play. The White Sox defeated the Cubs 4-1.

1961 — Beginning his historic chase of Babe Ruth’s 60 home run season-record, Roger Maris connects for his first homer in the twelfth game of the season for the Yankees.

1972 — Burt Hooton of the Cubs no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 at Wrigley Field.

1978 — Bob Forsch of the St. Louis Cardinals no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0. Less than a year later, Bob’s brother Ken of the Houston Astros pitched a no-hitter against Atlanta. They are the only brothers to throw no-hitters.

1983 — Padres first baseman Steve Garvey appears in his 1,118th straight National League game, breaking the mark held by Billy Williams.

1984 — Dave Kingman of the Oakland A’s hit three home runs, including a grand slam, in his first three at-bats. In total, he drove in eight runs in a 9-6 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

1989 — Kelly Gruber becomes the first player in Toronto Blue Jays history to hit for the cycle in a 15-8 victory against the Kansas City Royals.

1997 — The Chicago Cubs set the mark for worst start in National League history, making three more errors as they extended their losing streak to 12 with a 4-0 loss to the Colorado Rockies. Chicago broke the modern NL record of 0-10 set by Atlanta in 1988 and the overall NL record of 0-11 by the 1884 Detroit Wolverines.

2005 — Toronto’s Reed Johnson was hit by a major league record-tying three pitches — two with the bases loaded — in the Blue Jays’ 8-0 victory over Texas.

2006 — Albert Pujols hit three home runs, including a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth, to give St. Louis an 8-7 win over Cincinnati.

2007 — The Cleveland Indians became the first team in nearly 55 years to win a game with their only hit coming in their first at-bat. Grady Sizemore led off Cleveland’s 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox with a double.

2009 — Ichiro Suzuki makes history as he collects the 3,086th hit of his pro career, breaking the Japanese record held for decades by Isao Harimoto.

2009 — Grady Sizemore hit a grand slam and Cleveland ruined the first game at the new Yankee Stadium by beating New York 10-2.

2014 — Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda pitched the New York Yankees to a 3-0, 2-0 sweep of the Chicago Cubs in a chilly day-night-doubleheader. The Yankees had not won by shutout twice in one day since April 9, 1987, against Kansas City. No team in the major leagues had done it since Minnesota swept Oakland on June 26, 1988.

2015 — Giancarlo Stanton becomes the Marlins all-time leading home run hitter when he slugs #155 for his career.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, 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, and today is a very special day, so it’s time for the annual Jackie Robinson newsletter.

On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field in front of crowd of 26,623. He walked and scored a run in the Dodgers’ 5–3 victory. Thus began one of the most amazing careers in sports history. Robinson broke the color barrier and faced challenges few major leaguers ever had to endure.

Some players on his team didn’t want to play alongside him, starting a petition saying they would rather not be his teammate. Manager Leo Durocher’s response: “I don’t care if the guy is yellow or Black, or if he has stripes like a … zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What’s more, I say he can make all of us rich. And if any of you can’t use the money, I will see that you are traded.”

Players on other teams called him every racial insult. Some opposing managers were worse. Fans, some of them little kids parroting what their parents were saying, called him vile names. And Robinson had, and could have, only one response: No response. Give in and lose his temper, then the racists would say “See, his kind aren’t strong enough to play in the majors.” It would be used as leverage to kick him out and keep the majors “pure.” For a good example of what Robinson endured, watch “42” starring the late, great Chadwick Boseman.

So, Robinson took it. But he not only had to take it, he also had to play at a high level to prove Black people could play in the majors. He ran the bases with abandon. He excelled as a fielder no matter where they put him. He led the Dodgers to victory after victory, including their first World Series title in 1955.

And let’s not forget his wife, Rachel, who will turn 104 in July. She was a source of strength for Jackie and underwent verbal abuse and threats herself. She is an amazing woman and deserves full credit for her role in all of this. I think it’s safe to say that Jackie wouldn’t have been the same without her.

Robinson was a standout player at whichever position the Dodgers played him. On the bases, he was a terror. He stole home 19 times in his career, tied with Bobby Bragan for the most since 1920.

Robinson was drafted into the Army in 1942. Stationed at Fort Riley, Kan., he was not allowed to play on the segregated camp baseball team. He was appointed morale officer for the Black troops at Fort Riley and later was re-assigned to Ford Hood, Texas. On July 6, 1944 he refused when a white bus driver told him to move to the back of the bus. The base provost marshal and military police supported the driver, and Robinson was subject to court-martial. He won the hearing and the Army decided to kick him out with an honorable discharge.

In 1945, Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, which is where Branch Rickey found him and signed him. The rest is history.

After he retired from baseball, Robinson became a leader in the Civil Rights movement. He was hired to serve as a vice president for Chock Full O’Nuts, the first Black man to be named a vice president of a major American company. In 1964, he co-founded Freedom National Bank of Harlem, created to financially help Black communities. In 1970, he founded the Jackie Robinson Construction Company, which built housing for low-income people.

In perhaps the most famous steal of home in history, Jackie Robinson steals home in Game 1 of the 1955 World Series. For the rest of his life, Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said Robinson was out.

(John Rooney / Associated Press)

But let’s go back to his baseball career.

Imagine trying to do your job every day with thousands of people surrounding you, hurling racist taunts. Imagine going on the road and not being able to stay in the same place as your co-workers, but being forced to room with someone across town. Imagine having a wife and child who have to go through the same thing. Imagine a policeman coming into your workplace and threatening to arrest you and shut down your business unless you left, because they don’t appreciate “your kind” in their city. Imagine getting death threats every day in the mail.

Most people would not be able to do what Robinson did. He set the example that players such as Larry Doby of Cleveland, who broke the color barrier in the American League, were able to follow.

It’s sad that sometimes I will hear fans of other teams complain that Robinson’s No. 42 is retired and listed alongside the numbers of the legends from their team, because “he didn’t play for their team.”

Even now, some people try to find flaws that Robinson had to cut him down. What they don’t realize is that pointing out whatever flaws he had doesn’t make him seem less impressive — but even more impressive. It shows he was an imperfect man who performed one of the most perfect human achievements of all time.

But words don’t adequately describe what Jackie Robinson did or what he went through. They can’t. It’s embarrassing to even try.

What’s a good way to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day? Find anyone you know under the age of 18 and make sure they know who Jackie Robinson was and what he did. Don’t let his memory be forgotten. Show them the movie “42.” Give them a book on Robinson. Or sit down and talk to them about him. It’s the best gift you can give them.

In his own words

Some of the best quotes from Jackie Robinson:

“Plenty of times I wanted to haul off when somebody insulted me for the color of my skin, but I had to hold to myself. I knew I was kind of an experiment. The whole thing was bigger than me.”

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”

“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”

“Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life.”

“There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.”

“During my life, I have had a few nightmares which happened to me while I was wide awake.”

“I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest Black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made.”

“Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.”

“Negroes aren’t seeking anything which is not good for the nation as well as ourselves. In order for America to be 100% strong — economically, defensively and morally — we cannot afford the waste of having second- and third-class citizens.”

“Blacks have had to learn to protect themselves by being cynical but not cynical enough to slam the door on potential opportunities. We go through life walking a tightrope to prevent too much disillusionment.”

“It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.”

Jackie Robinson joins a picket line in Cleveland in 1960 to protest discrimination against Black people at southern lunch counters.

(Associated Press)

“When I am playing baseball, I give it all that I have on the ball field. When the ballgame is over, I certainly don’t take it home. My little girl who is sitting out there wouldn’t know the difference between a third strike and a foul ball.”

“Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.”

“I guess you’d call me an independent, since I’ve never identified myself with one party or another in politics. I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label.”

“How you played in yesterday’s game is all that counts.”

“I think if we go back and check our record, the Negro has proven beyond a doubt that we have been more than patient in seeking our rights as American citizens.”

“Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.”

“The most luxurious possession, the richest treasure anybody has, is his personal dignity.”

In the words of others

”A credit to baseball and to America.”
—Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers

“To do what he did has got to be the most tremendous thing I’ve ever seen in sports.”
—Pee Wee Reese, teammate of Jackie Robinson

“The greatest moment in the history of baseball.”
—MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred

“He gave the Black community a sense of hope, a sense of pride.”
—John Lewis, civil rights leader

”I didn’t know baseball from pingpong. But the point was that he had broken in. I grew inches that day. I puffed out my chest. A Black person had made it against the most tremendous odds.”
—Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“Jackie’s character was much more important than his batting average.”
—Hank Aaron

”Jackie Robinson made his country and you and me and all of us a shade more free.”
—Roger Kahn, author of “The Boys of Summer”

“There’s a direct line between Jackie Robinson and me.”
—former President Barack Obama

“He knew he had to do well. He knew that the future of Blacks in baseball depended on it. The pressure was enormous, overwhelming, and unbearable at times. I don’t know how he held up. I know I never could have. He was the greatest competitor I have ever seen.”
—Duke Snider, teammate

”There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker than Jackie Robinson.”
—Rickey

“After the game, Jackie Robinson came into our clubhouse and shook my hand. He said, ‘You’re a helluva ballplayer and you’ve got a great future.’ I thought that was a classy gesture, one I wasn’t then capable of making. I was a bad loser. What meant even more was what Jackie told the press, ‘Mantle beat us. He was the difference between the two teams. They didn’t miss DiMaggio.’ I have to admit, I became a Jackie Robinson fan on the spot. And when I think of that World Series, his gesture is what comes to mind. Here was a player who had without doubt suffered more abuse and more taunts and more hatred than any player in the history of the game. And he had made a special effort to compliment and encourage a young white kid from Oklahoma.”
—Mickey Mantle, on the 1952 World Series

”Jackie, we’ve got no army. There’s virtually nobody on our side. No owner, no umpires, very few newspapermen. And I’m afraid that many fans may be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if we can convince the world that I am doing this because you’re a great ballplayer, and a fine gentleman.”
—Rickey

“Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson .”
—Willie Mays

“Give me five players like Robinson and a pitcher and I’ll beat any nine-man team in baseball.”
—former Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen

“He led America by example. He reminded our people of what was right and he reminded them of what was wrong. I think it can be safely said today that Jackie Robinson made the United States a better nation.”
—American League president Gene Budig

”Jackie Robinson is the best I’ve seen. Robinson is the perfect blend of ballplayer. He has creativeness and imagination. Every move he makes from the minute he steps onto the field is designed to beat the other club. He’s constantly asking himself, at bat or on the bases, ‘what can I do to beat the other guy?’ That’s the kind of ballplayer that wins pennants.”
—Fresco Thompson, assistant farm director for the Dodgers when Robinson played his first game

“If I were in Jackie Robinson’s shoes, I probably never would have made it.”
—Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson

”Today we must balance the tears of sorrow with the tears of joy. Mix the bitter with the sweet in death and life. Jackie as a figure in history was a rock in the water, creating concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. He was medicine. He was immunized by God from catching the diseases that he fought. The Lord’s arms of protection enabled him to go through dangers seen and unseen, and he had the capacity to wear glory with grace. Jackie’s body was a temple of God. An instrument of peace. We would watch him disappear into nothingness and stand back as spectators, and watch the suffering from afar. The mercy of God intercepted this process Tuesday and permitted him to steal away home, where referees are out of place, and only the supreme judge of the universe speaks.”
—Jesse Jackson, delivering a eulogy for Robinson

For more on Robinson, I recommend visiting jackierobinson.org, where several of the above quotes and much more can be found.

And finally

Jackie Robinson is interviewed by Dick Cavett. Watch and listen here. And you can watch “42” for free on Youtube. 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.