The Los Angeles Dodgers remain in first place of the National League West and still have one of the best records in baseball, but the month of August was hardly kind to them.
It concluded with a six-game road trip comprising of matchups against the Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers, and one which saw the Dodgers go just 2-4. They did manage to bounce back with a series win against the Tigers after being swept the Braves.
And even with returning to Los Angeles on a positive note, manager Dave Roberts was looking forward to the final month of the regular season.
“Is it September yet?” Roberts said on SportsNet LA. “Next time we play. Yeah, August was very forgettable.”
Dodgers struggles in August
The Dodgers went 13-14 in their 27 games during August. And though that was the month Roberts focused on, the Dodgers are just 26-25 since the start of July.
Uneven performances in the second half of the season have become somewhat commonplace during the Dodgers’ postseason streak that is on track to reach 14 consecutive years this fall.
In 2024, the Dodgers went 11-13 in July but turned it around for a dominant 19-8 month of August. Last year they were 10-14 during July and followed it with only modest improvement to go 15-13 in August. Of course, the end result for both seasons was a World Series title.
“If you really follow Dodger baseball the last three years, it’s almost like it’s a trend for the team to struggle around this time of the year,” Kiké Hernández recently said.
“I mean, were they saying in ’24 that we were tired because we got swept the year before? I don’t think so. They might’ve been saying Korea, and then last year maybe Japan, but we won the World Series. Yeah, we’re an older group, but I just think it’s part of a season when you struggle.
“It just happens for us that we’re struggling in August and didn’t struggle in April. A lot of teams struggle in April and May. For us, it’s weird timing that it always tends to happen around late July, early August. But we’re a group that has been together for so long and kind of seen it all, that in a sense, we’re more than battle-tested.
“A little grind, a little tough stretch is not going to make us doubt or panic in any sense. I think for us, it’s just a matter of figuring it out and tuning up certain things.”
While the Dodgers certainly possess the talent to become the first NL team in MLB history to three-peat, their level of play will need to improve come October, and the down month of August contributed to losing head-to-head tiebreakers that could come into play for playoff seeding.
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