The Dodgers’ rough road trip ended the way too many of their recent trips have ended: with another loss, another series defeat, and another reminder that nothing is clicking at once.
Los Angeles fell to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday to close out a 1-5 trip, then headed back to Dodger Stadium for seven straight. The bigger picture is just as bleak.
The Dodgers have now dropped three consecutive series for the first time since Aug. 29-Sept. 7, 2025 against Arizona, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles.
Arizona also locked up the season series, finishing 7-6 against Los Angeles. It’s the first time in eight years the Dodgers have failed to win the season series against the Snakes.
L.A. is also only 9-12 in the second half.
Sunday’s 4-2 loss had the feel of a game where the Dodgers kept running into the same problems from different directions.
Justin Wrobleski and Eduardo Rodriguez, both National League All-Stars this year, started opposite one another, but their afternoons could hardly have looked more different. Wrobleski lasted just 3.1 innings and was charged with four runs on six hits, along with three walks and three strikeouts. His outing turned early when Ketel Marte hammered a two-run homer in the first inning, the ninth home run Wrobleski has allowed over his last three starts.
Arizona kept stacking traffic in the second. Tyler Locklear opened the frame with a double, then scored on Ryan Waldschmidt’s sacrifice bunt, which also ended with Wrobleski’s throwing error. The Diamondbacks’ fourth run came when Gabriel Moreno doubled him home.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, settled in and controlled the game. He worked seven innings of two-run ball, giving up five hits, walking two and striking out a season-high nine.
The Dodgers scratched across their first run against him in the third when Kiké Hernández singled and later scored on Andy Pages’ RBI hit, with Ben Rortvedt also collecting a single to move the inning along. In the sixth, Freddie Freeman led off with a single and came around on Kyle Tucker’s triple.
Tucker has now hit safely in seven straight games. Over his last 15, the right fielder is batting .304/.418/.609 with four home runs, six RBI and 10 runs scored.
The larger issue for Los Angeles remains the offense as a whole. Since June, the Dodgers have played more like a middle-of-the-pack or worse lineup than the kind of group fans expect to see in October.
During that stretch, they rank 12th in runs scored and wRC+, 16th in slugging percentage, 20th in home runs and 24th in strikeout rate. They’ve still done enough in batting average and on-base percentage to put runners on, but too often those chances have gone to waste.
That showed up again Sunday. The Dodgers went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position, left five on base and never hit a home run. As a team, they managed only two homers in the three-game series.
There was at least a small positive on the pitching side. The bullpen, which has been under plenty of stress since July, has now put together back-to-back strong games.
On Saturday, six relievers combined to allow one run over 4.1 innings. On Sunday, five different pitchers covered 5.2 innings and kept Arizona off the board.
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The Dodgers have quietly started doing the kind of roster housekeeping that comes with an organization already thinking a step ahead. Five minor league players were released to open space for the clubs 2026 draft class, a small but telling move that speaks to how Los Angeles keeps one eye on the present and another on the pipeline. For a team built to contend deep into October, these are the behind-the-scenes decisions that rarely draw much attention outside the front office, even though they help shape what comes next.
At the same time, the rotation continues to settle into the spotlight in a place where every outing feels a little bigger. Tarik Skubal recently spoke about being more nervous than usual in his Dodger Stadium home debut, a start in which he went five innings and struck out six in a win. For the Dodgers, that mix of roster churn and postseason-adjacent pressure is part of the late-season backdrop now, with the bigger picture still taking shape in plain sight. [Read more 🡒]
Tyler Glasnow Has More Than One Reason This Return Feels Different
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The comeback has also taken on a more personal tone for Glasnow, who is dealing with more than just the baseball side of the rehab process. Along with the ramp-up toward rejoining the Dodgers, he and his wife Meghan Murphy are preparing for their first child, adding a separate layer of significance to a stretch that already feels different than a routine injury return. [Read more 🡒]
Dave Roberts Sent The Message Dodgers Fans Needed To Hear
After a rough loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, Freddie Freeman offered a steadying voice for a Dodgers club that has had to answer a few too many questions lately. In the middle of a stretch where the offense has not always looked like itself, the message from inside the clubhouse was less about panic and more about belief, with Freeman pointing to the talent still in place and the expectation that the group will sort itself out.
Dave Roberts followed with the part fans usually want to hear most when the results have been uneven: the Dodgers need to move with urgency and get better. There was a quick response on the field, too, as Los Angeles beat Arizona in the next game and showed signs of more life at the plate, a small but meaningful step for a team trying to stabilize its rhythm before the next skid has a chance to linger. [Read more 🡒]