While the Los Angeles Dodgers boarded the "struggle bus" recently, they've found a way to right the bus and keep on rolling down the road. The Dodgers found some power in their lineup from Teoscar Hernández and Mookie Betts, helping them defeat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Hernández had two home runs while Betts and Freddie Freeman also added dingers. Los Angeles was able to stretch its National League West Division lead to two games. It's highly important that they do this as the 2025 MLB season is winding down.
After some tough losses that included bullpen meltdowns, getting back in the win column probably makes Dodgers manager Dave Roberts feel a lot better. Seeing Betts show some of his muscle on the offensive side helps, too.
"He looks like Mookie," Roberts said after the victory. "He's just playing baseball. I don't think he's overthinking the mechanics. He's competing. He's trying to help us win baseball games. And you're seeing that kind of emotion, the confidence, the swagger, which we hadn't seen in a while. But it's been consistent over the last 30 days."
Hernández went 3-for-4 at the plate, giving the Dodgers some hope that he can continue to hit with power and give them a nice postseason push.
From his view, Betts knows that it's players like Hernández, Max Muncy, and Andy Pages that are lined up to provide the team with much-needed support up and down the lineup.
"I think it's the Teo, the Muncy, the middle, the Pages, those guys are really what make us go," Betts said. "We at the top can do our thing and whatnot, but it really takes those guys really just to cause more havoc and make it really tough on opposing pitchers. We do our thing up there, but it's really those guys that kind of carry us."
Look at Betts' recent numbers. Since early August, Betts is hitting .333 with a .931 OPS. Those numbers are much, much better than what he had been producing for most of the season.
OK, so what about the postseason race? As was mentioned, the Dodgers are two games up on the Padres with less than 20 games left in the regular season. The San Francisco Giants are seven games back in the NL West.
The Dodgers are in prime position to secure the division title if they can keep on stacking win on top of win.