Bullpen collapses and a cold offense have the World Series favorites reeling. As October nears, Dave Roberts demands execution following a puzzling series of losses to St. Louis.
Since July 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers are one game under .500.
That's a sentence doesn't feel real knowing just how good this Dodgers team has been not just for the last two seasons, but dating back to when they won the World Series in 2020.
To be 26-27 in that stretch is relatively unheard of, and it's a bit alarming to see them drop back-to-back games against the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that is nowhere near their level.
St. Louis improved to 70-70 on the year while the Dodgers fell to 82-57. Now, the Dodgers are 4.5 games back of having the best record in all of baseball, trailing the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, and the league-leading Milwaukee Brewers who are now 87-53.
The Dodgers have lost six of their last eight, and their latest 8-6 loss in 10 innings to the Cardinals proved just how much work needs to be done if this team wants to win a third straight World Series.
Dodgers have allowed 21 runs in their last two games
No matter how good Yoshinobu Yamamoto was through his first five innings, things came crashing down as he allowed two runs to score in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Usually, this Dodgers team would feel confident about him allowing four earned runs in seven innings, but Tanner Scott went on to blow his third save of the year, and Brock Stewart allowed two earned runs on three hits in extras to fall to 0-2 on the year.
Dodger Stadium hasn't been too kind to the Dodgers lately as they scored one run in the bottom of the 10th but couldn't match the three that the Cardinals scored against Stewart just minutes prior.
Remember, this is the same Dodgers team that was swept by the Braves from August 25-27, but that at least made sense as the Braves have the third-best record in the entire league.
These losses to the Cardinals have been puzzling, to say the least, and they really put things into perspective with October approaching at a rapid rate.
Dave Roberts put the team on notice
"I don't think … there's really time to be disappointed. I don't think anyone cares. We just got to perform and execute and win baseball games. That's just the bottom line," the Dodgers manager said after the loss, according to MLB.com's Sonja Chen.
To say the Dodgers bullpen hasn't been great would be an understatement, but this offense has been equally as horrific.
LA left 13 runners on base in this two-run loss, and Freddie Freeman was the only player to record a hit with a runner in scoring position while the rest of the team went 0-for-17.
