The Great Lake Loons took the field Thursday afternoon looking to be the first team to reach 20 wins in the Mid-West League East. The Loons Maddux Bruns took the mound and pitched 4 innings / 3H / 0E / 2BB / 6K / 1.04ERA. In the bottom of the first DH Chris Newell got things start with his eighth HR of the season scoring SS Noah Miller putting the Loons up 2-0 over the Lugnuts. In the top of fifth inning, the Lansing Lugnuts took the lead 3-2 over the loons. In the bottom of the sixth, C Thayron Liranzo singled on a line drive to left field, Chris Newell walked, and moved Liranzo to second. 3 ..read more

LOS ANGELES — Last season, the notoriously even-keeled Will Smith promoted his bobblehead night with Dave Roberts mentioning the Dodgers’ star catcher and his lack of humor. “He’s not funny at all,” Roberts quipped in the promo, followed by video of Smith on a stage somewhere, in uniform no less, dropping dad jokes to an appreciative fake audience. Well that must have sparked an idea with somebody somewhere. On Wednesday night, Will Smith hosted a night of comedy at the Orpheum theater in downtown LA. Smith agreed to showcase his comedy chops as part of the “Netflix is a Joke” festival that h ..read more

LOS ANGELES, CA — Tuesday night gave us a rare evening of excellent starting pitching for not one, but two emerging Japanese superstar pitchers. On this night, the start dates for both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga lined up directly, so baseball fans were treated a double dose of Japan’s finest. But at night’s end, baseball talking heads were all a flutter. Who really got the better deal between these two, the Cubs with Imanaga or the Dodgers with Yamamoto? Of course, it’s very early in the contracts of both these players, but let’s open up the hood and see who’s leading the race at thi ..read more

Should Shohei Ohtani give up pitching and just be a hitter? Dodgers stay hot and more As the Los Angeles Dodgers travel to San Diego to face the Padres for a three-game set, they will also be accompanied by left-handed outfielder Jason Heyward, who is close to returning with the team as his back pain has subsided. On May 3rd, Jason Heyward demonstrated his readiness by participating fully in pregame workouts and taking swings during batting practice. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Heyward would travel with the team to gain some live at-bats. This is a crucial step before a rehab ..read more

Entering the 2023/2024 MLB offseason, the Dodgers had a clear problem to address: the starting rotation. In October, the young Arizona Diamondbacks dismantled the Dodgers’ starting rotation and swept them in the NLDS. In that series, Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, and homerun-happy Lance Lynn were not enough to propel the Dodgers on another deep postseason run, as each starter had a collective ERA in the sixties.  With the departure of Lynn as a free agent, Kershaw’s ongoing rehabilitation from shoulder surgery, and Miller entering only his second year in the MLB, the Dodgers found themse ..read more

Game 38, 5,8/2024 : Dodgers 3, Marlins 1 Chavez Ravine, CA — The Dodgers were looking for the sweep against Miami as this midweek matinee was an early 12:10 PM start. Los Angeles sent out Gavin Stone, who is coming off a solid start his last time out. He tossed 6 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 5 against the Braves. Teoscar Hernandez started the scoring early as he drove in an RBI single to put the Dodgers on top early. Bryan De La Cruz decided to return the favor as he launched another solo shot in back-to-back days to tie the game. It was all Hernandez today as he launched a tw ..read more

After about a month of baseball in the 2024 season, the Dodgers return to their winning ways and have a sizeable 6.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the National League West standings. While the team’s dynamics remain largely unchanged, one notable shift is the absence of the Dodgers’ left-handed ace Clayton Kershaw. This marks the first time in over fourteen years that he has not been a prominent member of the team.  Clayton Kershaw, in the midst of the first major surgery of his Hall-of-Fame career, is expected to be out until mid-summer as he diligently rehabs his shoulder ..read more

Game 38, 5/7/2024 : Dodgers 8, Marlins 2 Chavez Ravine, CA — The Dodgers are still rolling as they have won 12 of their last 14 games and remain undefeated in this homestand. They are searching for their sixth consecutive win and hope that Yoshinobu Yamamoto can set the table for that outcome. The Marlins jumped out extremely early as the first pitch of the game was crushed by the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr. Max Muncy decided to return the favor and more as with the bases loaded, he cranked a go-ahead grand slam to push the Dodgers on top early 4-1. The Dodgers would find themselves having th ..read more

LOS ANGELES, CA — Is the unicorn not long for this world? There are some around baseball who are advocating for it. On today’s MLB Now show on the MLB Network, noted stathead Brian Kenny went through the case AGAINST bringing back Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher next year. His reasons are essentially two-fold. First, when he is concentrating only on being a DH as he is this year, Ohtani is off to a historic start of his season. In fact, if the numbers hold, Ohtani would have the best season as a DH in MLB history. His OPS+ of 220 far outpaces the current record holder, Edgar Martinez of the Mariner ..read more

LOS ANGELES, CA — It wasn’t exactly the Return of the King. But it was a good show nevertheless. Walker Buehler‘s return to the mound at Chavez Ravine was far from triumphant, but everyone involved should be feeling pretty good about what happened at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. If you look at the stat line itself, it’s not too impressive: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. 77 pitches, 49 for strikes. However, there was a lot of reason for optimism after Buehler’s first start in almost two years. First, while he did give up three runs, he wasn’t exactly getting knocked around the yard. In the f ..read more