LOS ANGELES — There have been flickers, but no flame. The Los Angeles Dodgers are just three wins away from becoming baseball’s first repeat champions in 25 years, but they have not replicated the formula that allowed them to slug their way through last October.
Instead, Dodgers hitters have done just enough to support a starting pitching staff that seemingly brushes up against history with every cold October night. It’s gotten them this far. It still leaves much to be desired.
“You can make it something if you want to make it something,” Mookie Betts said after Game 1 of this World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays, which is now 1-1 heading into Game 3 at Dodger Stadium on Monday. “We’re more than capable of scoring 10, 11 in a game. It’s just hard to do in the postseason.”
Through 12 games this postseason, the Dodgers average 4.58 runs per game compared to the 5.94 runs they produced per game in their 16 playoff games in 2024. The Dodgers haven’t scored more than five runs in a game since opening the postseason against the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card Series.
“I think it’s a byproduct of the environment and facing good pitching,” said hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc. “And as much as we want to just take over the game offensively, we’ve faced some good pitching. We’ve got to find ways to win close games against some of the best arms in the game.”
Mookie Betts expressed confidence in the team’s bats, noting that the Dodgers are capable of putting up double-digits. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
The Dodgers have done that. It’s hard to argue with the fact that the Dodgers have gone 10-2 this postseason. The Dodgers still would like to give their pitchers some cushion with their bats.
A simple culprit for the lack of production: They haven’t hit the ball out of the ballpark. Last October, it was 27 home runs in those 16 games. This time around? Just 16, including the solo shots that Will Smith and Max Muncy hit to take and extend the lead in the Dodgers’ 5-1 Game 2 win on Saturday.
“I guess they have made good pitches,” Roberts said of the Blue Jays, who have held the Dodgers to nine runs through the first two games of this World Series. “We have missed pitches as well, so I do think that coming home, I feel that we’re back into a little bit of a rhythm offensively that it should show itself here these next three games.”
Van Scoyoc praised the quality of at-bats he’s seen this October. The results have not followed. The Dodgers had rookie Trey Yesavage on the ropes in Game 1, loading the bases in the second inning and putting multiple runners on in the third inning before failing to capitalize. They got to Kevin Gausman for a first-inning run in Game 2, but didn’t jump on him again until the seventh inning.
“Slug happens as a result of a good process of forcing pitchers to make mistakes,” Van Scoyoc said.
The Dodgers have whiffed when it comes to jumping on those mistakes.
“It’s just coming up with a timely hit,” said Smith.
It would help to get more production out of their stars. Shohei Ohtani’s offensive output has been condensed largely to two outbursts (two home runs in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, and three home runs in Game 4 of the Championship Series) to go with a two-run blast in Toronto to put window dressing on what was already a blowout loss. He took home NLCS MVP honors, but has had more than his fair share of struggles this October. Ohtani has two hits in this World Series, but sounded encouraged with his progress Sunday night.
“I do feel better at the plate recently,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I do everything in my power to make sure that I’m prepared as much as possible and being at the plate with the right mentality, but I’ve got to give some credit to the other side as well.”
Betts has put together strong at-bats throughout the postseason, though his 55 plate appearances have featured just five extra-base hits — just two since the Wild Card Series — to go with a .759 OPS.
Freddie Freeman launched the go-ahead home run in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series and got the Dodgers’ offense going in Game 2 of the World Series with a two-out double against Gausman that led to a run. However, Freeman is also running a .740 OPS in his 53 postseason plate appearances.
Smith, who missed close to a month with a hairline fracture in his throwing hand, has also put up good at-bats but didn’t have an extra-base hit in this series until his go-ahead blast off Gausman in the seventh inning of Game 2 on Saturday night. Is that swing an indication that his hand is healthy?
“I hope so,” Smith said.
The Dodgers are also considering at least one tweak to their lineup before Game 3. They might bench the struggling Andy Pages in hopes of getting more production out of the bottom half of their lineup. Pages was a breakout star this summer, solidifying center field for the Dodgers while showing notable strides on both sides of the baseball. It hasn’t translated this October, where he has a .250 OPS while dropping all the way down to ninth in the Dodgers’ order.
Pages has just four hits this month, including an eighth-inning single in Game 2 on Saturday that sparked a two-run inning to expand a 3-1 lead to a 5-1 final score. He’s getting bullied by fastballs — four-seamers and sinkers make up 49.2 percent of the pitches Pages has seen this postseason. He doesn’t have a single hit off a fastball this October, with opposing staffs taking advantage of an approach and swing that is clearly out of whack.
“Some of it is staying in the strike zone,” Van Scoyoc said. “Teams are challenging him. He’s getting beat by fastballs … probably a little bit of his swing. You’re caught between. Breaking balls are in the back of your mind, and then the fastball beats you. You get caught in no man’s land with it.”
Making a change and getting Pages out of the lineup, Roberts said, is “still on the table.”
“It’s front of mind, just trying to figure out where he’s at mentally, physically,” Roberts added. “Certainly, the performance hasn’t been there. Thinking of other options. So, yeah, it’s certainly on the table.”
The Dodgers don’t have ideal alternatives. Subtracting Pages’ center-field defense would likely require moving Kiké Hernández over from left field and putting Alex Call in the lineup after the latter was largely reduced to a platoon role after arriving at the trade deadline. The more clear-cut solution would typically be Tommy Edman, though his balky right ankle keeps Edman’s availability in the outfield off the table.
“He hasn’t taken a fly ball out there in a month, so I’m just not sure where he’s at,” Roberts said.