With stars up and down the lineup, it’s easy to assume the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to put plenty of runs on the board, and pitching will be the deciding factor in their push for a second straight World Series title.
But is this even an above-average offense right now?
Game 3 was the first time since the NL Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds that the Dodgers scored more than five runs in a game, and it took 18 innings and a Freddie Freeman walk-off home run for them to get to that sixth run.
This all might sound like an overreaction to scoring only two runs in Tuesday night’s Game 4 loss against Shane Bieber and three relievers, but it doesn’t take much digging into the numbers to raise an eyebrow at the Dodgers’ offense right now.
Let’s start with a quick rundown of how the team’s go-to lineup has performed throughout the 2025 postseason:
Shohei Ohtani: 70 PA, .268 BA, 11 XBH (8 HR), 14 RBI, 21 K
Mookie Betts: 68 PA, .250 BA, 5 XBH (0 HR), 6 RBI, 7 K
Freddie Freeman: 66 PA, .250 BA, 7 XBH (2 HR), 3 RBI, 12 K
Will Smith: 52 PA, .267 BA, 1 XBH (1 HR), 6 RBI, 14 K
Teoscar Hernández: 63 PA, .271 BA, 6 XBH (5 HR), 12 RBI, 16 K
Max Muncy: 56 PA, .200 BA, 4 XBH (2 HR), 2 RBI, 13 K
Enrique Hernández: 57 PA, .269 BA, 4 XBH (0 HR), 6 RBI, 17 K
Andy Pages: 54 PA, .080 BA, 1 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI, 11 K
Runs are always at a premium in October, so is this simply a matter of regression across the board in the pressure cooker of playoff baseball?
The Dodgers posted a .760 team OPS with 27 home runs, 95 runs scored (5.9 runs per game), and a 19.8 percent strikeout rate in 16 games last postseason en route to a World Series title.
By comparison, this year’s team has a .746 team OPS with 20 home runs, 63 runs scored (4.5 runs per game) and a 23.1 percent strikeout rate through 14 games. Their significantly improved starting pitching relative to a year ago has not been able to bridge that gap.
At the start of this year’s Fall Classic, it looked like the Dodgers were going to be unstoppable thanks to a starting rotation that had recorded eight quality starts in 10 games, but their dominance on the mound only served to mask their offensive inconsistencies in the NLDS and NLCS.
The Blue Jays have shown an ability to string together hits and put crooked numbers on the scoreboard throughout the postseason, but aside from their 18 runs in two games against the Reds in the Wild Card Series, that sort of offensive potency has been nowhere to be found in the Dodgers’ dugout.
Credit where it’s due to Toronto’s starting pitchers Trey Yesavage, Kevin Gausman, Max Scherzer and Shane Bieber—who have allowed nine earned runs in 20.1 innings to keep the Blue Jays in every game before turning things over to the bullpen—but are they pitching well, or is the Dodgers offense simply making them look good?
Shohei Ohtani Continues to Be One-of-One
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After homering twice, adding two doubles and reaching base in all nine of his plate appearances during Monday’s marathon game, Ohtani continued to show why he is a true one-of-a-kind in Game 4.
Making his first start on the mound since his epic performance in Game 4 of the NLCS, it was fair to wonder how much gas there would be in the tank for Ohtani after he was an active participant in an 18-inning odyssey that wrapped up in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
The box score will show an “L” next to his name, but after the Dodgers ran through 10 pitchers in Game 3, Ohtani gave them six strong innings before running into trouble in the seventh, when both runners he left on base came around to score.
His final stat line: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Those numbers don’t tell the entire story, and his ability to throw 93 pitches and give the bullpen a chance to reset could have a direct impact on Game 5.
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Blake Snell was utterly dominant through his first three starts this postseason, going 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA, 0.52 WHIP and 28 strikeouts in 21 innings while allowing just six hits.
However, he was tagged for eight hits and five runs by the Blue Jays lineup in Game 1, as he served up the first few knocks in Toronto’s nine-run sixth inning that blew the game open.
With a reset bullpen, Snell will look to put that ugly start behind him, but the bigger story to watch is the Dodgers getting a second look at rookie right-hander Trey Yesavage.
The 22-year-old made just three starts during the regular season before earning a spot in the postseason rotation, and has been able to pile up 27 strikeouts in 19 innings in October, thanks in part to a lack of exposure.
He allowed four hits and two earned runs in four innings in Game 1, facing the entire Dodgers lineup twice. Five days later, that same lineup gets another shot at him, and his unique over-the-top delivery won’t carry the same element of surprise in the batter’s box this time around.
The potential is there for the Dodgers to jump on him early, and a few early runs would go a long way in erasing the emerging narrative of a struggling Dodgers offense.