Losses are starting to pile up for the Los Angeles Dodgers following a series-opening defeat against the New York Mets on Friday.
The Dodgers have lost six of their last eight games, and eight of the last 13, which dates back to falling to the Chicago Cubs on April 5. During that stretch, they’ve also dropped three of their four series, and they are one loss away against the Mets from losing their third consecutive series.
Although they remain atop the National League West at the moment, they are in danger of losing that status.
While the Dodgers have the talent to play better baseball, they’ve had multiple issues that have affected their ability to win games, and it’s been from the entire club, not just any one specific area, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I think when you lose four out of five, and play the way we’ve played, I think it’s a combo, it really is,” Roberts said. “I mean, it’s hard to pick one thing. I think each game you look at, it could be the starting pitcher, it could be the pen. It could be offensively, we’re not putting up enough runs. So I think it’s collectively, I really do.
“Tonight was kind of a microcosm of what we’ve been through, all facets, we could have been better. About a week ago, I said we’ve only played about three games of a complete game, and I think we’re still there. So we’ve got to put together a complete game.”
Over their last four games, the Dodgers have seen losses caused by each area of their team. On Friday, the bullpen allowed five runs in the final three innings to secure a Mets’ victory, on Wednesday, the offense was shut out in a 2-0 loss, and on Monday, Tyler Glasnow allowed six runs over five innings.
More often than not, nothing has been in sync for the club.
They have received stellar starts from members of their rotation, only to have the offense struggle or the bullpen give the game away. When the bullpen pitches well, the starters struggled or offense fail to show up. When the lineup is producing, the pitching is not.
At some point, that’s likely to turn around, and it’s part of the normal ups and downs of a baseball season. However, it has still caused some frustration among the Dodgers.
“Well, yeah, I think there’s certainly frustration because I know we’re a very talented team,” Roberts said.
“We’re certainly capable of playing a complete baseball game in all facets. So I think that we’re going to have to get back to work, which our guys do a great job of, and go out there and do it. But yeah, certainly frustrating. Losing doesn’t feel good.”
Time to panic over the Dodgers?
While it might be easy to hit the panic button on the Dodgers after they entered the year with high expectations, there is no reason to sound the alarms just yet. Baseball is a game of ebbs and flows, or failures and successes, if you prefer, where every team will go through a few rough patches.
For the Dodgers, it just so happens to be at the beginning of their season. They’ll go into another skid at some point too, because that’s just how baseball goes. But between those patches, there’s going to be a lot of wins as well.
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