If there was ever a time to panic for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they may have reached that point.
The Dodgers’ offense has been an issue for roughly 10 weeks now, and it correlates with opposing teams throwing them more fastballs. Something that could normally be attributed to a slump also has a real reason behind it for their struggles, and that’s a major red flag.
They have not been able to adjust, and they show no signs of breaking out. That has caused them to go on a losing skid, despite their generally good pitching each night.
Since the start of June, the Dodgers rank 14th in runs scored. That is right around the time pitchers started adjusting to them. From July on, they rank 22nd in runs scored.
Aside from just not hitting, their approach at the plate has been atrocious, and it’s been an issue for nearly everyone in the lineup night in and night out.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been consistent offensively,” manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers lost three of four to the Milwaukee Brewers while scoring just 10 runs total in the series.
“I think for me, winning a 2-1 pitch and not chasing, winning a 3-2 pitch to take the walk, not chasing the first pitch to then be 1-0. Our guys are chasing off-in, we’re chasing away. I just don’t see a consistent plan of attack one through nine. Hitting is hard, but I do think fighting, winning pitches and spoiling pitches, that’s care, hunger.
“You look at four and a half months of the season, the Brewers have outscored us. It’s a team that’s young and hungry. It’s certainly not talent. And I say this, because this has been four, five, six weeks of below-average production from our offense.
“I just think we haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense not converting an out, so then it potentially can cost our starter an inning, which it has.
“So those things, that’s just not winning baseball. Our pedigree, what we typically do is control the zone, grind at-bats, create stress. We’re not doing that.”
One key element missing from the Dodgers’ lineup is a lack of power. Since June, they rank 18th in MLB in slugging percentage (.409), and since July, that number has dipped to .390, which ranks 21st.
With that, they also have the ninth-highest strikeout rate and the ninth-lowest walk rate over the last six weeks. That translates into an on-base percentage of .308, ranking 20th in the league.
When the Dodgers are at their best, they both get on base at high clips and slug a lot. Neither has happened in quite some time.
Another significant reason for their decline in both areas, aside from their struggles against fastballs, is their approach at the plate. Roberts attributes the issues with the approach to a lack of focus by their hitters at the plate.
“That’s what it comes down to,” the skipper said. “You swing at a first pitch that’s a ball out of hand, yeah, you have two more strikes, but that still flips the count.
“So I think that urgency of every single pitch is important. I don’t think that we have that intent. Some guys are scuffling with their swings and things like that, which is real. But I think other guys are not valuing every single pitch.”
Roberts has called on the Dodgers to increase their urgency and lock in more for each game, but it has yet to work. Miguel Rojas was also vocal about the Dodgers needing to start playing each day like it’s the playoffs.
“I’d like to think they’re all aware of it. They’ve done it in the past, so we’ve just kind of got to reset offensively,” Roberts said. “It can’t happen all at once, but just kind of start building collectively. Once we do that, then you get the big hit and things like that.
“But it’s a process of each pitch, passing the baton and valuing every single pitch. Mentally, it’s not easy. But we can do it, we’ve done it many times over before.”
So far, nothing has worked to fix the offense. No one in the organization wants to admit this could be the reality of their team, and there is an internal belief that things will turn around eventually.
But Roberts doesn’t want to see the players rest on the belief that things will turn around because of their talent.
“I don’t think that’s who we are,” Roberts said. “I think we’ve done it long enough individually and collectively, but I do think that just saying you’re going to come out of it is not the right way to look at it.
“I think coming out of it is by how you got about it. That’s winning a 1-1 pitch, winning a 3-2 pitch and taking the walk, earning good counts and taking advantage of mistakes. That’s how you get out of it.”
Dodgers defense also slumping
In addition to their lack of focus at the plate, they have seemingly brought their mindset into the field. The Dodgers have made far too many errors and defensive mistakes during their stretch of poor play, and it has been a major contributing factor to their struggles.
“They’re both concerning,” Roberts said. “Giving extra outs costs pitches. The guys are working on defense, they’re working with their at-bats. But yeah, they both need to get better.”
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