Dodgers Welcome New York Yankees to Dodger Stadium

For the most part, the Los Angeles Dodgers keep plugging away. Plugging in players and pitchers when another has a slump, or has inexplicably imploded on the mound.

And yet, the team is still tied for first in the NL West with the (still!) productive Arizona Diamondbacks, tied for best record in the NL, and third in all of the major leagues.

It’s really not too bad for a team that feels like there’s a new injury or bad reliever every other day.

The offense has definitely been producing, leading the NL in home runs, runs, slugging, and OPS. They also lead the NL in taking their walks.

One player in particular has been on another planet as of late.

On Friday, Freddie Freeman was named the National League Player of the Month for May.

Freddie posted a whopping .400 average, six home runs, 26 RBI, and a 1.184 OPS. He also is currently in the middle of a 21 game hitting streak. Freddie also leads all baseball in total bases so far in 2023, with 1,214.

Freeman and the Dodgers now welcome the New York Yankees and Aaron Judge to Chavez Ravine. Judge is Freeman’s counterpart in the AL, taking home his own Player of the Month award. He returned from an injury May 9th, and took off. He doubled Freddie’s home run amount with 12, batted .342, and had 25 RBI and a 1.356 OPS.

The Yankees started their season slow, mired in the basement of the AL East for weeks. They now have started surging, and are up to third in what is the best division in all of baseball, with all five teams having a winning record.

The Yankees will also have Josh Donaldson and Giancarlo Stanton returning to the team from their respective IL stints, adding even more power to this already powerful lineup.

Clayton Kershaw will be the first to face the Yankees, Friday night. Kersh has not pitched well his last three starts, but it sure to be fired up for this matchup at home. He will face Luis Severino who has only pitched 11.1 innings so far for the Yankees, but has a 1.59 ERA, allowing one homer and striking out 10.

Saturday will see Gerrit Cole, who is 6-0 on the season, facing Micheal Grove, who made one start and went on the IL. Sunday will be Domingo Germán and Bobby Miller who looks to get his third win on the season.

On Friday before the game, Manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media. He stated that the Dodgers have decided that Noah Syndergaard will make his next start, in Cincinnati. There has been some discussion of whether or not that would happen, but the Dodgers seem intent to try to let Thor have as long as possible to try to figure things out. Syndergaard has allowed five and six runs in his last two outings, and seems uneven at best. So far, even Mark Prior does not seem to be able to work his magic with the once top-tier pitcher.

“When he makes that start, I’m going to feel the same way I do every time he takes the mound. That he’s going to pitch well and it’s going to turn,” said Roberts. Let’s hope that Doc’s never gets being optimistic output comes true.

Dodgers Look to Finish Road Trip Strong in Tampa Bay

Last week, we talked about how the Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff was going to have a big test ahead of them on their current road trip. As with everything else this season, some unexpected things happened in that regard, good and bad.

The Dodgers started their trip in St. Louis, and lost the last three of that four game series. Clayton Kershaw, still dealing with his mother’s recent death, only lasted 3.2 in the finale of the series, one of the shortest outings of his entire career. Tony Gonsolin was the only one who allowed no runs that series. However, he only lasted 5.0 innings because his pitch count got too high in the process.

Continue reading “Dodgers Look to Finish Road Trip Strong in Tampa Bay”

Dodgers Pitching Will Be Tested on Longest Road Trip of Season

The Los Angeles Dodgers are embarking on their longest road trip of the season, which will take them to three cities for 10 games.

The team was the last in the majors to play any American League teams, but finished their last home stand by taking two of three from the AL Central leading Minnesota Twins.

Continue reading “Dodgers Pitching Will Be Tested on Longest Road Trip of Season”

Dodgers Injury News and Notes – Syndergaard, Buehler Update and More

If the Los Angeles Dodgers could somehow manage to maintain their pace of one clunker game followed by two to three good ones, well then they’d be in great shape at the end of the season.

The Dodgers just finished a road trip which took them to San Diego and Milwaukee. The first game of each series was not great, but they managed to scrape two hard fought wins in San Diego, and then cruise to another two wins in Milwaukee.

Continue reading “Dodgers Injury News and Notes – Syndergaard, Buehler Update and More”

Dodgers News and Notes – Injury Updates, A Look at the Division, and More

The Los Angeles Dodgers are one week into the 2023 season, currently sporting a record of 4-2, and all alone in first place in the division.

The name of the game this early in the season is small sample size, of course, but we are still going to use it to compare and contrast players on the Dodgers and teams in the NL West.

Continue reading “Dodgers News and Notes – Injury Updates, A Look at the Division, and More”

Dodgers Announce Opening Day Roster, and Thoughts Going Into Season

The Los Angeles Dodgers are poised to begin another playoff run in 2023, what would be over a decade of making the playoffs for the Boys in Blue.

This season will start with a bit more uncertainty than a lot of those previous teams, however. Gone are many of the players that helped lead the team to breaking the team record in wins, twice.

Continue reading “Dodgers Announce Opening Day Roster, and Thoughts Going Into Season”

Dodgers 26-Man Roster Set

With less than a week to go before the start of the 2023 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have announced their roster to start the season.

For the most part, the roster does not contain many surprises. Two additions do stand out, however.

Continue reading “Dodgers 26-Man Roster Set”

Dodgers News and Notes: Freeman Injury Update and More

The Los Angeles Dodgers now find themselves just two weeks away from the start of the 2023 season.

Several of the Dodgers players have been participating in the World Baseball Classic. Team USA, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith, and Team Mexico, with Julio Urías and Austin Barnes, have both moved on to the second round.

Teams Canada and Great Britain did not advance, meaning that Freddie Freeman and Trayce Thompson are both back at Dodgers camp.

Continue reading “Dodgers News and Notes: Freeman Injury Update and More”

Dodgers News and Notes from Day One of Spring Training

Happy Pitchers and Catchers Report Day to all who celebrate!

The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team is going to look quite different this season than it has previously. 12 members of last years team are off to other various baseball adventures, or retirement. (Godspeed, Jake McGee. And probably David Price).

Continue reading “Dodgers News and Notes from Day One of Spring Training”

Dodgers Sign Noah Syndergaard, Other News and Notes

The Los Angeles Dodgers are finally making some moves this winter, although they are not big and splashy like some of their counterpart teams.

The Dodgers have passed on pretty much all of the top free agents of this year. Justin Verlander went to the Mets. Aaron Judge re-signed with the Yankees. Trea Turner returned to the East Coast to play for the Phillies. And most recently, Carlos Correa signed a 13-year deal with play with the rival San Francisco Giants.

Continue reading “Dodgers Sign Noah Syndergaard, Other News and Notes”