The Dodgers spent the first half of 2026 looking like a team built to cruise, then reminding everyone that even a 100-62 club can hit rough patches. Their final first-half grade lands at an A-, a mark shaped by a blazing start, a pile of injuries, and a late July wobble that dulled an otherwise excellent run.
March barely gave anyone enough runway to make a real judgment, but the Dodgers still came out hot. They won four of their first five games, opened the year by sweeping the Diamondbacks, and followed that with a strong offensive showing on Opening Day after falling behind early.
The lone blemish in that tiny sample came in their first game after the Arizona series, when they managed just two runs on nine hits against the Cleveland Guardians. They closed the month with a dominant 4-1 win, which was enough to slot them into the A- range.
April was steadier, though not spotless. Los Angeles dropped its first series of the month to the Cleveland Guardians and then didn’t lose another series until a trip to San Francisco near the end of April.
The Dodgers finished the month 16-10, but the injury list started to grow. Mookie Betts strained an oblique early in the month, while Edwin Diaz and Ben Casparius both went down with long-term injuries by month’s end.
Even with those hits, the Dodgers looked solid for most of April before the Giants held their offense to four runs in a three-game set. They bounced back against the Chicago Cubs, only to fall back into a slump against the Miami Marlins, who took a home series to close the month.
May brought more turbulence right away. The Dodgers dropped the first two games of their series against the St.
Louis Cardinals before salvaging the finale with a 4-1 win. They then went to Houston and won that series against the Astros, but Tyler Glasnow left with a back injury that kept him out for most of the season.
The offense then went quiet again. After beating the Atlanta Braves in the opener at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles lost four straight and gave up 29 runs in that stretch.
A split with the Giants followed after they dropped the first two games, and from there the month turned sharply in their favor once Betts returned. The Dodgers finished strong by sweeping the Los Angeles Angels, beating the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers, then taking care of the Colorado Rockies before winning two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies.
They went 18-10 in May, better than April, and posted the second-best wRC+ in baseball that month at 115.
June was their best month by record, even if it wasn’t always clean. The Dodgers went 18-9, splitting a series to start the month against the Diamondbacks and then losing at least one game in each of their next three series before sweeping a red-hot Tampa Bay Rays team from June 15-17.
They dropped their next series to the Orioles, but then won seven of their final eight games. That run came despite losing Will Smith to injury early in the month.
Offensively, the Dodgers looked sharper in June than they had in May, finishing with a 118 wRC+ that ranked second in the National League. Tommy Edman’s return from offseason ankle surgery was a major part of that surge.
July 1-12 was where the first half lost some shine. The Dodgers opened the month with a 7-1 loss to the Athletics, then responded by taking three of four from the Padres at home.
They also won a series against the Rockies, although the offense still wasn’t firing on all cylinders against a divisional opponent. The low point came next, when Arizona handed them their first sweep of the season.
During the stretch before the All-Star break, the Dodgers’ offense sat in the bottom third of the league, and the results followed. They went 5-6 before the break, one of their roughest runs of the half.
Even with that finish, the bigger picture still points to a strong first half. The Dodgers owned the best record in baseball and the best offense, and the injuries they absorbed make the overall grade harder to knock down. The late slump and the uneven stretches at the plate keep it from being a straight A, but an A- fits the body of work.
In Other News...
Padres Just Left The Dodgers With A Brutal NLDS Opener
The Dodgers NLDS opener landed in an unwelcome spot almost as soon as San Diego finished off the Cubs in the Wild Card round. Instead of a prime-time atmosphere, Game 1 was pushed to a 1 p.m. local start under an extreme heat watch, with temperatures expected to climb to 101 degrees and humidity adding to the discomfort.
Dave Roberts made it clear he would have preferred a night game, and the concerns went beyond convenience. Player safety has been part of the conversation, and the scheduling shift came on the heels of the Padres sweep, even if the exact reason for the change still wasnt fully clear. For the Dodgers, it was one more layer of irritation before a matchup that already carried plenty of October pressure. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers NLDS Opener Comes With A Stadium Twist Fans Will Notice
Dodger Stadium is getting a postseason menu refresh as the NLDS opens, with Levy rolling out a batch of new food items for fans coming through the gates. The additions are built for the kind of October crowd that likes to make an event out of every inning, and the list includes a Spam musubi dog, orange chicken fries, a colossal burger, a wing sampler, chicharron and guacamole, and a churro waffle ice cream sandwich.
The new offerings will be available for all NLDS games, and there is at least a chance they stick around into the NL Championship Series if the Dodgers keep advancing. For fans, it adds another layer to a postseason atmosphere that already comes with plenty to track, from the action on the field to what ends up in hand during the long nights at Chavez Ravine. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Braves NLDS Opens With One Huge Pitching Question
The National League Division Series gets underway Saturday at Dodger Stadium, and for the Dodgers the first layer of strategy comes before the first pitch is even thrown. Atlanta arrives fresh off a wild-card sweep of the Phillies, while Los Angeles had the benefit of a bye, giving both sides a different kind of edge as the matchup shifts from survival baseball to a best-of-five series.
Chris Sales status for the opener is the biggest pitching question hanging over the matchup, with his recent workload creating real uncertainty for the Braves. From the Dodgers side, the bye gives them some flexibility in how they line up their own rotation for Game 1, a small but meaningful advantage in a series where every decision around the mound could shape the tone early. [Read more 🡒]