Bizarre injuries, comebacks — and a whole lot of winning: What we’ve learned so far about the Dodgers
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Alden Gonzalez
After watching the Los Angeles Dodgers secure their first full-season championship in four decades, Andrew Friedman and his front office lieutenants doubled down, adding practically every free agent they wanted over the ensuing offseason and triggering outrage throughout the sport. Their goal was to build one of the greatest baseball teams ever — one whose talent could overcome the randomness of the playoffs, which has prevented a repeat champion each of the past 24 years, and whose depth could overcome the attrition that impedes so many throughout the regular season.
Less than two weeks into the 2025 season, the latter hope is already being tested.
Mookie Betts suffered through a mysterious stomach ailment that caused him to shed close to 20 pounds, keeping him out of the first two games in Japan. Freddie Freeman slipped in the shower and reaggravated the ankle injury he played through during last year’s playoffs, triggering a stint on the injured list. And on Sunday, Blake Snell, the two-time Cy Young Award winner signed to a $182 million contract over the offseason, was shut down with what was diagnosed as shoulder inflammation.
Through that, though, the Dodgers have continually found a way to win. They were undefeated in their first eight games, giving them the longest season-opening winning streak for a repeat champion, and sit 9-2 despite dropping two of three on the road against the Philadelphia Phillies. The season is young, but it feels as if we’ve already learned so much about one of the most decorated teams in this sport’s history.
Below are the six biggest takeaways.
Their offense is even deeper than we imagined
Freeman has sat out the past six games and Betts sat out three of the first five. The Dodgers have yet to roll out their optimal lineup.
It hasn’t really mattered.
Through their first 11 games, they’re doing what they always seem to: come up with timely hits and, mostly, slug. They’re second in the majors in home runs, fourth in hard-hit percentage, seventh in OPS and first in win probability added by a wide margin.
Max Muncy, Enrique Hernandez and Andy Pages are all off to slow starts, but Tommy Edman has brought production from five different spots in the lineup. Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Michael Conforto have swung hot bats, and Betts has found enough strength to be a major contributor.
They’ll all inevitably go cold at varying points this season, but others should pick up the slack.
Said Teoscar Hernandez: “That’s just the depth that we have.”
And when everyone is clicking, a starting nine of Ohtani, Betts, Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Muncy, Smith, Conforto, Pages and Edman — in that order or close to it — is the best in the sport.
The return of two-way Ohtani might take longer than we thought
Ohtani went 32 days between throwing off a mound, from Feb. 25 to March 29. Before spring training, the month of May looked like a realistic target for his return to a two-way role. That no longer seems to be the case. Ohtani kept his arm active during his recent shutdown by throwing off flat ground at moderate intensity, but he is essentially starting his pitching buildup from scratch. His bullpen session on March 29 saw him throw roughly 20 pitches, after which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged, “We’re a ways away.”
This, Ohtani said through an interpreter in Japan, is “according to plan.” He wanted to “prioritize the hitting aspect as we’re getting into the season,” he added, “to get a little breather mentally and physically on the pitching side of things.”
Ohtani is throwing full bullpen sessions every Saturday, with a lighter one in between. He’ll continue to mix in breaking balls, build stamina, proceed toward facing hitters, then begin a quasi-rehab assignment by throwing in simulated games. (Given his importance to the lineup, the Dodgers won’t be sending him out on a traditional rehab assignment.)
There is no timetable for his return to the rotation, and there probably shouldn’t be. Ohtani is coming off a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament, not to mention a torn labrum he suffered on his non-throwing shoulder. He is again attempting to do something that is largely without precedent. And the Dodgers should have enough starting pitching depth to get by, especially after watching Dustin May roll through the Atlanta Braves in his first appearance in more than 22 months earlier this week.
If Ohtani throws 100 innings during the regular season, it’ll be a shock. What’s most important is for him to be at his best as a two-way player in October.
Roki Sasaki might be more of a work-in-progress than expected
A clip of Sasaki seemingly on the verge of tears from the top step of the Dodgers’ dugout on March 29 made the rounds on social media.
Sasaki had recorded only five outs against the Detroit Tigers, 10 days after recording only nine outs against the Chicago Cubs. Through his first 4⅔ innings in the major leagues, he had walked nine batters. Fastball command was elusive. His splitter and slider weren’t generating enough chase. Just as prominent to evaluators, he looked nervous. Scared, even. Some of those who spent years watching Sasaki in Japan could hardly recognize him. The entire industry knew that Sasaki, still only 23 years old, required seasoning before establishing himself as a top-of-the-rotation starter. But it seemed as if he needed even more than many anticipated.
Saturday, though, provided some much-needed optimism. Sasaki took the mound in the bandbox known as Citizens Bank Park, faced a Phillies lineup that is among the sport’s most dangerous and held his own. He pitched into the fifth inning, at one point retired 12 of 13 batters and, with some good fortune, gave up only one run. Sasaki simplified his repertoire, throwing fastballs and splitters with 63 of his 68 pitches, and made better use of his lower half as he drove toward home plate. As his start prolonged, his confidence seemed to grow.
There will continue to be growing pains, but Sasaki’s third start provided the first glimpse of what he can be at this level. After it was over, he again hung on the railing of the Dodgers’ dugout — only this time he was smiling.
It’s pretty telling of the Dodgers’ star power that Glasnow and Yamamoto, signed to long-term deals totaling more than $460 million in December 2023, were basically forgotten members of this rotation when the year began. But their health and success will be crucial to a talented-yet-highly-volatile rotation.
Yamamoto, who sat out close to three months with a rotator cuff strain in his transition from Japan to the major leagues last year, drew effusive praise from Dodgers officials throughout spring training. They believed that Yamamoto’s age-26 season would see him elevate to one of the game’s best starting pitchers. Three starts in, Yamamoto has done nothing to temper those expectations, giving up three earned runs and striking out 19 batters in 16 innings.
After a 2024 season that ended prematurely because of what was diagnosed as an elbow sprain, Glasnow and the Dodgers worked on making his delivery more compact and revamping his throwing program. He ditched weighted balls and got back to more long-tossing. After his first start of the season, when he shut out the Braves through five innings and struck out eight batters, Glasnow said he felt “more fluid.”
Glasnow’s second start was a struggle; he battled the rain Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia, put the first five batters on in the third inning and promptly exited. But the Dodgers have high hopes for Glasnow this season nonetheless. With Snell on the shelf and Sasaki still developing, his success is crucial.
They might actually have a weakness: defense
Betts attempted to turn a double play in Tuesday’s second inning and threw so errantly to first base he had to chase the baseball himself. About 24 hours later, Muncy made two throwing errors and Pages misplayed a ball near the warning track. The Dodgers overcame those defensive mistakes and won anyway, but it underscored what is seen as a potential glaring weakness.
Betts is making an unprecedented transition to shortstop. He has worked since early November to get it right, but if he is merely average at the position, the Dodgers will be happy. Muncy, who doesn’t have elite range, has the lowest fielding percentage among those who have played at least 250 games at third base since the start of the 2022 season.
Pages has a great arm in center field, but scouts have raised concerns about his ability to read balls off the bat. Conforto and Teoscar Hernández, who make up the outfield corners, have combined for minus-16 outs above average over the past two years. Even Freeman, a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman throughout his career, doesn’t move around the way he used to at 35 years old and coming off ankle surgery.
Given the elevated strikeout and home-run rates of this era, defense has never been less important. But as the New York Yankees showed in letting the Dodgers come back in Game 5 of last year’s World Series, it still matters. Very much so.
They have an underappreciated trait: fight
The Dodgers aren’t all glitz and glamor. They’re resilient — hardened by past October disappointment and buoyed by the injuries they overcame to secure a championship last fall. They know how to overcome, and they never seem to be out of games.
“It’s kind of a hallmark of our club,” Roberts said.
It’s showing once again. The Dodgers breezed past the Cubs in back-to-back games in Japan without Betts and Freeman. After a week off, they beat Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, on Opening Day. The next night, they erased two separate two-run deficits to win in extra innings. Twenty-four hours later, they won again even though their bullpen had to record 22 outs in relief of Sasaki. On Wednesday, the Dodgers fell behind 5-0 after an inning and a half against a Braves team desperate for its first win and still came out victorious.
Roberts admitted that he was “a little dumbfounded” by watching his team rally to a 6-5 victory that night — both by the defense that triggered the early deficit and the resilience that erased it. The Dodgers had recorded their second walk-off hit — a home run by Ohtani on his bobblehead night — and their sixth comeback win in eight games. They now have a major league-leading seven. Nobody else has more than four.
“The belief is big here,” Snell said. “We believe we should win every game. It’s fun to be around, and it’s fun when everyone knows that we’re gonna find a way.”
It’s 2025 MLB All-Star Home Run Derby day in Atlanta!
Some of the most dynamic home run hitters in baseball will be taking aim at the Truist Park stands on Monday (8 p.m. ET on ESPN) in one of the most anticipated events of the summer.
While the prospect of a back-to-back champion is out of the picture — 2024 winner Teoscar Hernandez is not a part of this year’s field — a number of exciting stars will be taking the field, including Atlanta’s own Matt Olson, who replaced Ronald Acuna Jr. just three days before the event. Will Olson make a run in front of his home crowd? Will Cal Raleigh show off the power that led to 38 home runs in the first half? Or will one of the younger participants take the title?
We have your one-stop shop for everything Derby related, from predictions to live updates once we get underway to analysis and takeaways at the night’s end.
MLB Home Run Derby field
Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (38 home runs in 2025)
James Wood, Washington Nationals (24)
Junior Caminero, Tampa Bay Rays (23)
Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (21)
Brent Rooker, Athletics (20)
Matt Olson, Atlanta Braves (17)
Jazz Chisholm Jr., New York Yankees (17)
Oneil Cruz, Pittsburgh Pirates (16)
Live updates
Who is going to win the Derby and who will be the runner-up?
Jeff Passan: Raleigh. His swing is perfect for the Derby: He leads MLB this season in both pull percentage and fly ball percentage, so it’s not as if he needs to recalibrate it to succeed. He has also become a prolific hitter from the right side this season — 16 home runs in 102 at-bats — and his ability to switch between right- and left-handed pitching offers a potential advantage. No switch-hitter (or catcher for that matter) has won a Home Run Derby. The Big Dumper is primed to be the first, beating Buxton in the finals.
Alden Gonzalez: Cruz. He might be wildly inconsistent at this point in his career, but he is perfect for the Derby — young enough to possess the stamina required for a taxing event that could become exhausting in the Atlanta heat; left-handed, in a ballpark where the ball carries out better to right field; and, most importantly, capable of hitting balls at incomprehensible velocities. Raleigh will put on a good show from both sides of the plate but will come in second.
Buster Olney: Olson. He is effectively pinch-hitting for Acuna, and because he received word in the past 72 hours of his participation, he hasn’t had the practice rounds that the other competitors have been going through. But he’s the only person in this group who has done the Derby before, which means he has experienced the accelerated pace, adrenaline and push of the crowd.
His pitcher, Eddie Perez, knows something about performing in a full stadium in Atlanta. And, as Olson acknowledged in a conversation Sunday, the park generally favors left-handed hitters because of the larger distances that right-handed hitters must cover in left field.
Jesse Rogers: Olson. Home-field advantage will mean something this year as hitting in 90-plus degree heat and humidity will be an extra challenge in Atlanta. Olson understands that and can pace himself accordingly. Plus, he was a late addition. He has got nothing to lose. He’ll outlast the young bucks in the field. And I’m not putting Raleigh any lower than second — his first half screams that he’ll be in the finals against Olson.
Jorge Castillo: Wood. His mammoth power isn’t disputed — he can jack baseballs to all fields. But the slight defect in his power package is that he doesn’t hit the ball in the air nearly as often as a typical slugger. Wood ranks 126th out of 155 qualified hitters across the majors in fly ball percentage. And he still has swatted 24 home runs this season. So, in an event where he’s going to do everything he can to lift baseballs, hitting fly balls won’t be an issue, and Wood is going to show off that gigantic power en route to a victory over Cruz in the finals.
Who will hit the longest home run of the night — and how far?
Passan: Cruz hits the ball harder than anyone in baseball history. He’s the choice here, at 493 feet.
Gonzalez: If you exclude the Coors Field version, there have been just six Statcast-era Derby home runs that have traveled 497-plus feet. They were compiled by two men: Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. James Wood — all 6-foot-7, 234 pounds of him — will become the third.
Olney: James Wood has the easy Stanton- and Judge-type power, and he will clear the Chophouse with the longest homer. Let’s say 497 feet.
Rogers: Hopefully he doesn’t injure himself doing it, but Buxton will break out his massive strength and crush a ball at least 505 feet. I don’t see him advancing far in the event, but for one swing, he’ll own the night.
Castillo: Cruz hits baseballs hard and far. He’ll crush a few bombs, and one will reach an even 500 feet.
Who is the one slugger fans will know much better after the Derby?
Passan: Buxton capped his first half with a cycle on Saturday, and he’ll carry that into the Derby, where he will remind the world why he was baseball’s No. 1 prospect in 2015. Buxton’s talent has never been in question, just his health. And with his body feeling right, he has the opportunity to put on a show fans won’t soon forget.
Olney: Caminero isn’t a big name and wasn’t a high-end prospect like Wood was earlier in his career. Just 3½ years ago, Caminero was dealt to the Rays by the Cleveland Guardians in a relatively minor November trade for pitcher Tobias Myers. But since then, he has refined his ability to cover inside pitches and is blossoming this year into a player with ridiculous power. He won’t win the Derby, but he’ll open some eyes.
What’s the one moment we’ll all be talking about long after this Derby ends?
Gonzalez: The incredible distances and velocities that will be reached, particularly by Wood, Cruz, Caminero, Raleigh and Buxton. The hot, humid weather at Truist Park will only aid the mind-blowing power that will be on display Monday night.
Rogers: The exhaustion on the hitter’s faces, swinging for home run after home run in the heat and humidity of Hot-lanta!
Castillo: Cruz’s 500-foot blast and a bunch of other lasers he hits in the first two rounds before running out of gas in the finals.
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