The Dodgers’ season has been defined by volume as much as talent. Twenty-three different players have already taken at-bats in a Dodgers uniform, and 32 more have been asked to throw a pitch. With Josue De Paula making his major league debut, the club has now used 52 different players in 2026 - an eye-popping total for a roster that is limited to 26 active players for the first five months of the regular season.
That kind of turnover is part of the Dodgers’ formula. They have long operated like two clubs in one, rolling out an “A squad” and a “B squad” and somehow keeping the wins coming. Year after year, they’ve turned that juggling act into a high-level skill.
But there’s another reason for the constant shuffling, and it has less to do with luxury than survival. The Dodgers have been living through seasons that start earlier than everyone else’s and end later than everyone else’s, with 2024 and 2025 both beginning in Asia and stretching all the way to the final out of the World Series. The wear and tear was always going to show up eventually.
Max Muncy said the quiet part out loud this week on Foul Territory.
"There's a lot of mileage on this team right now," Muncy said. "You think about the last two seasons that we played. Obviously we won [the World Series both years] but they were also two of the longest seasons in history, in terms of when we started, when we finished, starting overseas."
The Dodgers have won eight straight, but that run has not erased the bigger picture. Shohei Ohtani is on the injured list.
Mookie Betts is headed toward either the worst or second-worst statistical season of his career, with 2025 standing as the other possibility. Freddie Freeman’s .823 OPS is his lowest mark since 2012, when he was in his second season with the Atlanta Braves.
For the over-30 core, the decline is becoming harder to ignore. Muncy himself is on track to finish with at least 30 home runs for the fifth time in his career, and he’s doing it at age 36.
Even with his production, he’s not pretending the grind isn’t real.
"It's a lot of mileage on everybody," he said, "and to show up and try to win 110 games like that, that would have been almost impossible to do. It's just not realistic."
Muncy also pointed to the Dodgers’ recovery setup, including a hyperbaric chamber he described as "fancy" and said "everyone's been crushing lately," as part of what helps keep the group going. Just as important, though, has been the steady flow of Triple-A call-ups, waiver claims and other midseason additions that allow the regulars to stay fresher when it matters most.
That depth comes with a tradeoff. The reserve group helps preserve the veterans, but it also makes a 110-win season a tougher ask. Whether that’s a fair price depends on how much value is placed on the bigger prize the Dodgers are still chasing: another shot at becoming the first team to “three-peat” again soon.
In Other News...
Dodgers Quietly Made A Roster Move With Bigger Implications
The Dodgers made a quiet late-season roster move with bigger implications, shifting Eric Lauer from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list after elbow inflammation ended his year. It closes the book on a brief but uneven run for Lauer, who finished with a 5.23 ERA over 22 appearances and now heads into the offseason set to look for a new contract.
More important for Los Angeles, the transaction opened a spot on the 40-man roster for top prospect Josue De Paula, a name Dodgers fans have been tracking closely as the organization continues to juggle immediate depth with future upside. Even for a team that is always thinking several moves ahead, this was the kind of understated roster shift that hints at what may be coming next. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers May Have Found An Unexpected October Arm After All
The Dodgers spent the summer piecing together pitching depth with October in mind, and Kris Bubic has quietly become a name worth watching. Acquired despite his recent shoulder injuries and limited appearances, the left-hander has started to build a case during a minor-league rehab assignment, where he has turned in five scoreless innings and shown enough life to get into back-to-back games.
For a club that is always looking for one more usable arm when the games get tighter, the timing matters as much as the performance. Los Angeles is already adjusting its postseason plan after Shohei Ohtanis season-ending injury, and Bubics recent stretch at least opens the door to a relief role in the playoff bullpen if the Dodgers decide he is ready for that kind of October trust. [Read more 🡒]
Freddie Freemans Absence Just Raised A Bigger Dodgers Concern
Freddie Freeman sat out his second straight game with right knee soreness, and for a Dodgers team trying to keep its lineup stable, the timing is worth watching. Manager Dave Roberts said Freeman received treatment and is expected back the following day, but the bigger point is that this has not been a one-day inconvenience. It has started to show up in Freemans hitting, which makes the absence feel less like a routine maintenance day and more like something the Dodgers need to monitor closely.
Los Angeles has leaned on Freeman for middle-of-the-order consistency, so even a short stretch without him changes the look of the lineup. If the knee issue is still bothering him at the plate, the Dodgers are not just waiting for him to return to first base, they are waiting to see whether he can get back to being himself once he does. [Read more 🡒]