The Los Angeles Dodgers are not playing their best baseball as of late, having lost four in a row after being swept in the season series by the Angels. Times are so tough right now that even superstar Shohei Ohtani recently found himself on the wrong side of MLB history.
“According to Baseball Almanac’s tracker of every triple play in MLB history, it marked just the eighth the Angels have ever turned. As for the Dodgers, they have now fallen victim to 24 triple plays. There had never been a triple play in the 152 games between the Dodgers and Angels since the Freeway Series began in 1997,” SI’s Sam Connon wrote.
The Dodgers are now trailing the San Diego Padres by one game in the NL West after once holding a sizable lead.
“I’ll own it. I thought the 9-game lead was safe with 74 games left. At this point Fangraphs gave the Dodgers a 98.4% chance of winning the division, so I guess I should have had the historic collapse at 1.6% odds instead of 0.25%,” Dodgers writer Blake Harris wrote.
Losing such a big lead in such a short span is never easy, and the Dodgers must do whatever they can to avoid falling into a deeper hole. Still, Mookie Betts sees a silver lining in the recent string of close losses.
“It’s encouraging to know we’re giving ourselves a chance to win every night. It’s not like we’re going out there just laying eggs. We’re going out there and doing what we can. Just falling short right now,” Betts told the media.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Betts makes a valid point — the Dodgers aren’t getting outplayed, they’re just not delivering in clutch moments, which is uncharacteristic for a team of their caliber. There’s still plenty of time left in the regular season, so there’s no need to panic just yet. However, with the Padres surging, it may soon be the Dodgers’ turn to focus on clinching a Wild Card berth.
