The Dodgers have steadied themselves a bit by taking care of business against one of baseball’s weakest bullpens in Kansas City, but the larger problem hasn’t gone away. Before that series - and really all along during this skid - the warning signs were flashing.
It hit a boiling point on Sunday. Dave Roberts went to Max Muncy as a pinch-hitter for Teoscar Hernandez, hoping a different swing might spark a lineup that had gone quiet.
Instead, four pitches later, the game was done. Two fastballs, a strikeout, and an Arizona Diamondbacks win closed the book on a road trip that had already gone sideways.
The Dodgers finished that stretch with eight losses in nine games and 15 losses in their last 24.
Even with veterans like Freddie Freeman pushing back on the doom-and-gloom, the issue is hard to ignore: the Dodgers are getting beat by fastballs.
Since July 1, only the Tampa Bay Rays have seen more fastballs than Los Angeles, which has been getting a four-seamer or sinker 49.8% of the time. Add cutters into the mix and Dodgers hitters have seen a pitch in the fastball family 58.4% of the time, still behind only Tampa Bay.
The results have been ugly. They’re hitting .250 against those pitches with a .313 on-base percentage and a .392 slugging percentage.
That average ranks eighth-worst, the OBP is second-worst, and the slugging is sixth-worst.
The message from opposing teams is simple: come into the zone and make the Dodgers prove they can turn it around. Right now, they’re not.
Roberts said as much after the loss Sunday, explaining that the series made it “very clear that we weren’t hitting the fastball and we were exposing ourselves to the changeup with the secondary specifically.” That’s a blunt diagnosis, and it points to a lineup that looks like it’s guessing instead of reacting - a strange place for a group this experienced to be.
Some of the biggest names are part of the problem. Mookie Betts homered in the Royals series, but he’s at a 92 wRC+ in August.
Muncy has come through in spots, yet he sits at 88. Freeman is at 72.
Shohei Ohtani is at 119, which is solid but still well below the standard he usually sets. Kyle Tucker has actually been the most productive bat, which is a relief for Dodgers fans, though they’d probably prefer not to need him carrying so much of the load.
Muncy’s role adds another layer to the conversation. There have been questions about his long-term fit for a while, but whatever that debate becomes later, his current run in the middle of the order isn’t exactly keeping opponents up at night.
The offense isn’t the whole story, though. Justin Wrobleski, who had been one of the better stories of the first half, got knocked around Sunday and has now allowed nine home runs over his last three starts.
He was direct about where things stand: “I’m just not good enough right now.” When the starter can’t hold things together and the lineup can’t respond, a rough stretch can spiral fast.
That goes a long way toward explaining how the Dodgers landed in one of their toughest runs in recent memory.
There is some help on the way. Tarik Skubal is with the team, brought in to make the Dodgers tougher to beat and to give them a chance even when the offense isn’t fully clicking.
Blake Snell is also back and looked dominant at times in five strong innings against Kansas City. That kind of pitching gives the roster breathing room.
Still, even a strong rotation can’t solve an offense that keeps losing the fastball battle. Roberts said the hitters aren’t adjusting, but there has to be a bigger question too: can they?
With Daulton Rushing out, the Dodgers are often rolling out lineups where Andy Pages is the youngest regular presence. Freeman is 36.
Betts is 33. Muncy is 35.
Hernandez is 33. Ohtani is 32.
Tucker is 29. That matters, because older hitters tend to have a tougher time with velocity.
The Dodgers can still win without fully fixing this, especially over short postseason stretches. But if they’re going to chase something as ambitious as a three-peat, their at-bats have to look a lot different than they have over the past few weeks.
The Royals series gave them a temporary break from the pressure. It even showed some improvement against fastballs. But if that doesn’t hold, the front office is going to have to keep searching for answers.
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