Remember when the Dodgers were dominating the preseason projections? When they burst out of the gates with a scorching 8-0 start, analysts were already dusting off the record books, eyeing the Cubs’ 116-win mark like it was just another stepping stone. Moreover, the road to the 2025 World Series seemed as guaranteed as the overpriced hot dogs at Dodger Stadium—inevitable and eternal.
But while the hot dogs have stubbornly held their value, the Dodgers’ dominance hasn’t. And when a top-tier team loses 10 of its last 12 games, chaos tends to come as a package deal.
Well, for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Sunday was a masterclass in damage control. A three-game sweep at the hands of the Brewers, a dugout meltdown, and the gut punch of losing Freddie Freeman to injury—all in one afternoon. But while Freddie Freeman’s injury cast a dark cloud over the team’s ambit, it wasn’t the only flashpoint.
What truly grabbed attention was Clayton Kershaw’s emotional outburst in the dugout. An outburst that was triggered by the Dodgers blowing up yet another comfortable lead. As you can expect, the question was pitched to Roberts in the post-game presser.
The manager stated, “He wasn’t happy with how things played out. And I thought about how the first three innings were going and how that fourth inning was going. I felt where the pitch count was at; he could have easily gotten through the fifth inning. And things change when you give up bases and base runners and things like that. So, I think all of it was frustrating for him, knowing that he wanted to get through at least five innings or beyond. And you know we’ve got to support him too, and he was upset.“
Oct 1, 2021; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) throws against the Milwaukee Brewers during the second inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
For the unversed, Kershaw pitched 4.1 innings on Sunday, giving up just one earned run and striking out two. That was the most strikeouts by any Dodgers pitcher that day. He was cruising through the first three innings and looked well on his way to a win, especially after the Dodgers took an early 3-0 lead.
But things unraveled in the fourth. The defense let him down with two errors that helped the Brewers tie the game. In the fifth, Kershaw hit a batter, gave up a single, and then another defensive miscue followed. He stayed composed on the mound despite the sloppy defense. But you could see the frustration once he got back to the dugout.
And Roberts understands Kershaw’s frustration. But hey, till the time the Dodgers’ defense doesn’t correct itself, we might see a few more meltdowns.
The Dodgers’ defense is playing a wrong note
Apart from offensive and pitching blowups, it is the Dodgers’ defense that is costing them the games now and that’s what happened in the third game against the Brewers. For the first 3 innings, the Dodgers were leading. But in the fourth, Tommy Edman made a throwing error, letting Andrew Vaughn score.
Moving forward, things got worse even further. Center fielder Andy Pages misjudged a routine fly ball near the warning track, giving Andruw Monasterio a chance to cross the plate. Then again, in the fifth, Esteury Ruiz made an off-target throw home, which allowed another run. When so many defense blunders occur in a single game, a win is mostly out of the equation.
While Kershaw showed his frustration owing to these errors, Roberts also echoed the same thoughts. The skipper was honest about how the poor defense cost the starters and bullpen for the Dodgers in the game: “When things are tough, you can’t do things to sabotage yourself, and today specifically it was a defense and I thought you know, giving extra bases, extra outs, that affects the starter, that affects the bullpen.”
Roberts, however, also shed light on the positives amid the chaos, saying, “I’m obviously setting the table for Shohei, who had another homer. So, there were some things that I liked, but ultimately, yeah, we’ve lost 10 of 12.“
Well, apart from Ohtani and Ruiz’s solo homers and Dalton Rushing’s 2 RBIs, the Dodgers didn’t have too many positives to take away from the game. The defense caught all the limelight for the wrong reasons. Yes, the team is still topping the division, but they’re not sitting comfortably anymore.
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