LOS ANGELES — Bring in the noise, break out of the funk. With milestone home runs from Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages and eight scoreless innings from Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers routed the New York Mets, 10-0, on Sunday afternoon, adding a life-affirming conclusion to a disappointing homestand. The Dodgers had lost five of their six games before Sunday and went just 3-6 on the homestand. But Ohtani’s two-run home run in the third inning was the 176th of his career (fifth as a Dodger), moving him past Hideki Matsui for the most home runs in MLB by a Japanese-born player. Pages, meanwhile, had a d ..read more

LOS ANGELES – Something is dragging the Dodgers’ offense down and it is spelled with a capital K. Through Saturday, the Dodgers led the National League in strikeouts (221) and were just one behind the Boston Red Sox for the major-league lead. Teoscar Hernandez (33) and Max Muncy (32) rank fourth and fifth individually with the most strikeouts in the majors. In fewer plate appearances, James Outman has a strikeout rate (32.4 percent) nearly as high as those two (40.5 and 39.5, respectively). “Yeah, drag is a good word,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Right now, (it is) a little problematic ..read more

LOS ANGELES — More than $1 billion in offseason spending could not cover everything and already the bill for other parts of the roster are coming due. Adding Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernandez via free agency generated a significant frenzy. Landing Tyler Glasnow in a trade further increased the hype. Yet there were known areas the Dodgers were willing to wait on before addressing or improving – like infield defense and the bullpen. For the second consecutive day, that relief corps had it rough in the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the New York Mets on Saturday afternoon. Starling Ma ..read more

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the obvious Saturday morning, calling Freddie Freeman’s struggles at the plate a legitimate “slump.” It’s a designator rarely used for the steady veteran, who has been an All-Star in each of the past five seasons when they played the showcase game and was the National League MVP in the one year they didn’t (2020). Freeman was batting just .259 leading into Saturday afternoon’s game against the New York Mets, with a .346 slugging percentage that was better than only his 20-game baptism in the major leagues in 2010 when the mark was .333. “It is a ..read more

LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman is not wrong. “We just didn’t play good tonight. That was just not a good game,” Freeman said accurately after a 9-4 loss to the New York Mets on Friday night. “If we just play better baseball, we’re going to win. Our team is way too good. I think we all know that and I think we’re going to be just fine soon.” In the meantime, they look far from fine. The defense cost them runs against the Mets. The bullpen continues to be unreliable. The starting pitching has been spotty. And the offense is not living up to the hype – including Freeman, who is beating himself up ..read more

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers talk about “checking boxes” when players – particularly pitchers – are returning from injury. Walker Buehler has checked some. But Dodgers manager Dave Roberts would like to see him check one important box. “He hasn’t pitched in a long time,” Roberts said of Buehler, who has made four starts on a minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment this season and one last September but hasn’t pitched in a major-league game since June 2022. “But when you’re on the heels of pitching for us, you have to be good, too.” The results were not very good in Buehler’s rehab start for ..read more

LOS ANGELES — As far as trending topics go, there is no greater one for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts than Shohei Ohtani. Whether it’s a standout pitching performance from a starter, or a rough day for the bullpen, there is an Ohtani question waiting for Roberts at some point. As Mookie Betts continues his blistering hot start amid a position change, or Teoscar Hernandez settles into life with his new team, there is always an inquiry about the one player who primarily will swing the bat this season. When you have $700 million committed to you, the queries no doubt will come early, late and ofte ..read more

LOS ANGELES — The sights, sounds and smells all have been familiar to Landon Knack for months now and on Wednesday the right-hander finally got his first chance to dive into the fray. Knack made his major league debut and needed an inning to get his bearings before showing the presence that has been front and center for the Dodgers since February. As good as the rookie was, Washington Nationals starter Jake Irwin was even better as the Dodgers fell, 2-0, to drop each of the first two series on the homestand. The Dodgers have lost three of their last four series overall and are 5-7 since April ..read more

LOS ANGELES — The placards on the clubhouse lockers have changed at a rapid pace this week, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts invoking even more names Wednesday. Roberts’ list of available players was different in every game in this series against the Washington Nationals. The latest roster adjustment came not long before first pitch Wednesday when right-hander Landon Knack was activated to make the start in his MLB debut. On Monday, right-hander Ricky Vanasco was called up and he made his major-league debut that night. On Tuesday, outfielder Andy Pages was recalled to make his own debut. Righ ..read more

LOS ANGELES — The ‘OKC Shuttle’ might need to make a few refueling stops this week with all the roster maneuvering the Dodgers have done. After a brief pause, though, Mookie Betts’ MVP campaign is flying high again. Betts went 5 for 5, drove in two runs and scored two as the Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals, 6-2, on Tuesday night, just their second win in the past six games. “Having the stars be stars – you know, that’s why they’re on our roster, and that’s why they’re superstars,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So they have to step up and carry us when we need it.” Betts has carried ..read more