Dodgers’ Dodgy Offense and Defense Continue to Frustrate This Season
ES 
EN The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t just go big this offseason, they went huge.
After already handing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto record-shattering deals last winter, the Dodgers doubled down in 2025, throwing around nearly $450 million more to build what looked like a baseball superteam.
Blake Snell, the reigning NL Cy Young winner? Signed. Roki Sasaki, Japan’s next pitching prodigy? Secured. Tanner Scott, a bullpen weapon? Added. Teoscar Hernández? Extended. Tommy Edman? Locked up.
All that money was supposed to buy another easy ticket to the World Series. Instead, what they have bought so far is inconsistency and frustration.
Dodgers’ Offensive Struggles
When the season opened, the Dodgers’ lineup – Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith – looked terrifying on paper.
However, through late April, the offense has been shockingly quiet.
Freeman and Betts, two of the team’s veteran rocks, have been just okay. Betts recently busted out of an ugly 1-for-22 slump with a three-hit night, but it’s been that kind of stretch-long, cold spells interrupted by occasional hot flashes.
Freeman has been steady, but not the MVP-caliber monster he was last season.
Then there’s Ohtani. While he’s carrying a .261 average – decent by normal standards – it’s a major dip from the .310 he raked at last season. Over the past couple of weeks, he’s been hovering closer to .224, showing he’s human after all, and now a new dad.
The bottom of the order has been even rougher. Dodgers’ Nos. 6-9 hitters are batting under .200 combined.
Yes, there have been small signs of life (rookie Andy Pages smoked a homer and a couple of knocks the other night), but overall, the lineup’s depth just hasn’t clicked yet.
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When the Bats Wake Up, the Arms Let Them Down
Even when the offense finally does show up, the pitching often decides to take the night off.
Take the wild game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field: the Dodgers exploded for 10 runs, only to blow multiple three-run leads and lose 11-10 in extra innings.
The bullpen coughed it up late, and defensive miscues didn’t help. Chicago stole bases at will, took extra bases on lazy throws, and ran circles around the Dodgers’ defense.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts put it bluntly:
“We were one out away. We just couldn’t put them away.”
It’s been the story of the season: when the bats are hot, the pitching falters. When the pitching is dominant, the bats go cold.
There’s just no rhythm yet.
Yamamoto’s Reality Check Against Skenes
For a moment, it felt like the Dodgers might get a statement win to flip the script.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had dominated with a 1.06 ERA coming into Friday’s game, faced off against Pirates rookie sensation Paul Skenes in a hyped-up showdown.
But instead of flexing their muscles, the Dodgers got punched in the mouth. Skenes looked every bit the future ace, blanking the Dodgers over 6⅓ innings while striking out nine. He even sat down Betts and Ohtani three times each – that’s not supposed to happen.
Yamamoto wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t sharp either. Five innings, three runs (only one earned), a few walks, and he looked uncomfortable for the first time in weeks.
End result? A 3-0 loss where the Dodgers didn’t even sniff home plate until the game was already out of reach.
The “Yamamoto-for-Cy-Young” hype train hasn’t derailed, but it definitely slowed down a bit.
As of now, the Dodgers sit at 16-10, good enough for third place in a crowded NL West race.
Not bad… but nowhere near the dominance fans expected.
This team is built to win it all. They have too much talent, too much depth, and too much experience not to figure it out.
But for now? It’s been anything but a cakewalk.
And with this much money on the field every night, “good but not great” just isn’t going to cut it.
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