Any bets on who the best player in Major League Baseball is right now?   *  *  *  “The boy said my name’s Johnny Mookie And it might be a sin But I’ll take your bet And you’re gonna regret ‘Cause I’m the best there’s ever been.” (The Charlie Daniels Band)   *  *  *  *  On Tuesday night in front of a sold out Dodger Stadium crowd of 52,718, Dodgers superstar and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Mookie Betts had the third five-hit game of his 11-year MLB career and the first in Major League Baseball this season. “I mean, I don’t know, just get a good ..read more

Looking in the rear-view mirror, 2022 was the beginning of a turbulent time for the Dodgers starting pitching. In 2021, the team signed Trevor Bauer to a three-year/$102M contract, but his off-field problems limited him to a total of 17 starts and 107 innings pitched. He did not throw a single pitch for the team in his final two contract seasons. The 2023 starting rotation included two journeymen southpaw pitchers (Andrew Heaney and Tyler Anderson), who pitched beyond reasonable expectations and were pitching in their free agent walk years. Also headed to free agency after the season were star ..read more

It’s a sayings that has been around as long as the game of baseball itself: “Walks kill you.” Not the physical type of walks, which are good for you, but the base on balls type of walks, which are not. On a rain delayed game at Chavez Ravine on Sunday afternoon, walks killed the Dodgers, when five Dodgers pitchers walked a combined 14 San Diego Padres batters, the most in a single game by a Dodgers pitching staff since 1962 and only the fourth time in franchise history. “It’s hard to win a baseball game when you give up 14 bases by way of walks,” a noticeably upset Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ..read more

Saturday night’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium was one for the books. Not only did it almost not happen because of significant rain which caused a two hour and 15 minute delay, but at one point, both benches cleared between the division rivals over a pitch that Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar thought 25-year-old Dodgers starting right-hander Gavin Stone intentionally threw at him in the top of the sixth inning. (He didn’t). Stone would go on to earn his first win of the season (with one loss), tossing 6.2 innings in the Dodgers eventual 5 ..read more

  *  *  *  “It’s Dinger Day at Dodger Stadium.” – Dodgers Broadcaster Stephen Nelson   *  *  *  *  If “Chicks Dig the Long Ball,” there were alot of happy chicks at Dodger Stadium on Friday night, where the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres hit a combined eight of them, four apiece. They were, in chronological order: Padres designated hitter Manny Machado in the top of the first to make it 2-0 Padres Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1 Padres Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim in the top of the second ..read more

Being in first place 15 games into the new season is nice, but it is certainly not indicative of how the 2024 regular season will ultimately play out. However, this week’s nine-game home stand with three against the NL West second-place San Diego Padres, three against the NL East fourth-place Washington Nationals, and three against the NL East third-place New York Mets respectively provides the Dodgers with a golden opportunity to create even more distance over San Diego and further live up to the hype of not only being the best team in the National League West, but the best team in all of bas ..read more

We have long been told that there are only two sure things in life – death and taxes. Make that three. “It seems like every time you look up, he’s on base,” former Dodger great and current Dodgers broadcast Rick Monday said, after future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts singled to right on the second pitch of Wednesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Of course, if getting on base is indeed a sure thing for the 31-year-old Nashville, TN native and fifth-round draft pick in 2011 by the Boston Red Sox out of Overton High School in Nashville, it should come as a surprise to no o ..read more

It’s one of the earliest sayings we learned as kids: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” A quick look at Dodgers right-hander Alex Vesia‘s stats 15 games into the 2024 season confirms he is broke. In his last two appearances on April 9 and 10 against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, the Alpine, CA native and 17th round draft pick in 2018 by the Miami Marlins out of California State University East Bay (who turns 28 tomorrow) faced seven Twins batters, to whom he made a total of 23 pitches, of which 16 were strikes. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he allowed two hits to thos ..read more

I’ll get right to the point: Shohei Ohtani‘s first inning double to center gave him nine extra base hits on the season, tying him with Mookie Betts for the Major League lead. (SportsNet LA) Ohtani’s sixth inning double to left was his team-leading seventh of the season. (SportsNet LA) Ohtani’s seventh inning solo home run to left-center field was his third of the season. “What a game for Shohei Ohtani!” – Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis. (SportsNet LA) “Shohei has continued to swing a hot bat, and, you know, if he can continue to go to the middle of the field and go back-side, which he did toni ..read more

To say that 25-year-old right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto got off to a bit of a rough start after signing his 12 year/$325 million contract with the Dodgers on December 27, 2023 would be extremely kind. Truth be told, after signing the longest and most lucrative contract in Major League Baseball history (so far), and after his rocky Dodgers debut against the San Diego Padres on March 21 in Seoul, South Korea in which he allowed five earned runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts in one inning pitched and left South Korea’s capital city with a horrific 45.00 ERA, a good many Dodgers fa ..read more