The Dodgers Need To Start Hitting If They Want To 3-Peat

In their last 21 games, dating back to April 18^th, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 8-13. And while they have outscored their opponents 82-80 in that time, they are buoyed by two 12-run outbursts. Over the other 19 games, they are averaging a mere three runs per game. Contrast that with the fact that, for the season, they are averaging just over five runs per game. If the three-run clip were to hold, that would put them just ahead the Mets and the Giants for the worst in baseball. What is going on?

For starters, one just needs to look at the top of the lineup, where four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani is off to his worst start since 2021. Since April 18^th, he is slashing .205/.326/.308, with just one home run. He has struck out 23 times vs. just 13 walks. For the season (and where lately he is not batting when he pitches), it’s not much better: .233/.363/.404)

Since his day off on April 18^th, first baseman Freddie Freeman is slashing .247/.313/.342, with just one home run of his own. He also has a nearly 2-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio.

How about the $60-million man, Kyle Tucker? Over these 21 games, he is slashing .263/.352/.434, with two homers. The incredible thing is that these numbers actually are an improvement over his start to the season.

How about Teoscar Hernández, who has been moved down the eighth in the batting lineup? How about .212/.333/.424. He has just two extra-base hits (both doubles) during this swoon. And, not surprisingly, no dingers.

Catcher Will Smith, who has been given more rest of late with the emergence of catcher (and rabble rouser) Dalton Rushing, is no great shakes either. He is slashing .236/.288/.327, with one homer and two doubles over this chunk of games.

Center fielder Andy Pages, who had a roughly post-season, and then came out swinging to start the year, has been pretty mid over these past 21 games: .253/.292/.446, but with eight extra-base hits, including four round-trippers.

Alex Freeland (.235/.309/.337) before he was sent down to Triple-A on Monday, Hyeseong Kim (.282/.345/.385), and October-legend Miguel Rojas (.250/.292/.350), have given the Dodgers practically no production at second base.

The one bright spot is third baseman Max Muncy. Since April 18^th, he is slashing .304/.407/.580, with five homers, nine extra-base hits, and 10 RBI. He is striking out roughly as often as he walks.

Mookie Betts rejoined the lineup on Monday night, five weeks after going on the IL with a strained oblique, and went 1-for-5 in his first action, a sharp single to center that came off the bat at 103-mph. Maybe Betts can jump-start the flagging offense.

In 2024, when Los Angeles won its first of two consecutive World Series titles, as a team they slashed .258/.335/.446, and never lost more than five in a row.

Last season, when they won the World Series in a harrowing seven games against the Blue Jays, they slashed .253/.327/.441, and endured one seven-game losing streak, and just two four-gamers.

When they take on the Giants tonight at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers will be at risk of their third four-game losing streak in less than a month. Does this mean that they won’t win the National League West, in which they are currently tied for first with the Padres? Or that they won’t win a third consecutive pennant? Or that they don’t remain the favorites to win the World Series (they still remain in poll position by a hefty margin)? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding “no.”

The Dodgers remain the class of baseball, but the Padres are nipping at their heels in the NL West; the Braves and Yankees have moved ahead of them in the power rankings put out by The Athletic; and they seem to be grasping at new/different straws, with the signing of Diamondback castoff Alek Thomas.

We are just a quarter of the way through the 2026 season. As they say, there is still a lot of baseball left to play. But the Dodgers, with that giant bullseye on their back, would do themselves well to start hitting…even just a little bit.