Let\u2019s sample some of their in-depth reporting.<\/p>\n
You’re reading the Essential California newsletter <\/p>\n
L.A. Times reporters guide you through the most important news, features and recommendations of the morning.<\/p>\n
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n Shohei Ohtani\u2019s declining health was too much to overcome<\/p>\n Plaschke wrote that the single biggest reason the Dodgers didn\u2019t three-peat centered on the health of designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani.<\/p>\n The owner of four MVP trophies, Ohtani began the season with a goal of also winning the Cy Young Award. So he focused on pitching, and he pitched well, going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts.<\/p>\n Then he injured his knee, but he still pitched, long past when he should have been pitching, said Plaschke. He was finally pulled off the mound in early July, but by then he had also injured his elbow and his offense suffered because he was so worried about the pitching. It was at this point the Dodgers should have shut him down entirely, given him a month off to ensure he would be ready for October, according to Plaschke.<\/p>\n But no. Ohtani insisted he was fine even though his plummeting batting numbers said otherwise. When he was finally placed on the injured list in early September, Plaschke said it was too late, and he entered the playoffs as a shell of his former great self.<\/p>\n An autopsy reveals much<\/p>\n Lee agreed with third baseman Max Muncy when he said, \u201cThe train finally ran out of steam, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n A major aspect of the challenge of winning three straight is simply workload. The Dodgers not only have played more games than any other team the last two years, but their schedule has included grueling travel.<\/p>\n The Dodgers started both the 2024<\/a> and 2025<\/a> seasons early and overseas, playing in the Seoul Series and Tokyo Series in consecutive years. And both years ended with coast-to-coast travel for the World Series, as the Dodgers won titles over the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s collective age \u2014 the oldest lineup in the majors this year, according to Baseball Reference, weighted by at-bats and games played \u2014 may not have helped.<\/p>\n Cap concerns<\/p>\n Shaikin wrote about a lockout expected this winter as Major League Baseball owners attempt to implement a salary cap, which limits the amount of money a team can spend on player salaries.<\/p>\n The owners initially proposed a salary cap of $245 million for next year. The Dodgers already have $347 million committed to 14 players next year, according to Cot\u2019s Baseball Contracts<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under a cap, the owners have promised a transition period to account for existing commitments, and an actual negotiated cap could be higher, said Shaikin.<\/p>\n Even if the players do not agree to a cap \u2014 and they insist they won\u2019t \u2014 whatever economic system emerges from collective bargaining would likely make it painful for the Dodgers to spend so freely, according to Shaikin.<\/p>\n What some Dodgers fans are saying<\/p>\n Most baseball teams create a now well-anticipated \u201cthank you fans\u201d social media post after the conclusion of a season.<\/p>\n Passionate fans use the post as a sounding board for everything that ails them about their favorite teams. Just look at the \u201cthank you fans\u201d X posts from the New York Yankees<\/a> and Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> laced with profanities and vitriol fiercer than any East Coast nor\u2019easter.<\/p>\n But on Friday, Dodgers fans were gracious and supportive on the fan appreciation post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for the great run over the last three years. Let\u2019s come back stronger,\u201d wrote one user<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for the ride,\u201d another tweet noted<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ll be back next year!\u201d<\/p>\n The week\u2019s biggest stories A house burns off Calle Miramar in San Juan Capistrano during the Norte fire on Friday.<\/p>\n (Sandy Huffaker\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Southern California wildfiresOlympics and sports newsCrime, courts and protestsMore newsEditor\u2019s pickMore picksThings to do (Ariana Drehsler \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfadThe world premiere play \u201cBobby Robotowitz\u201d brings AI questions into your living room<\/a> \u2014 literally \u2014 with performances on the Eastside and Westside.\ud83d\udc40 The 10 biggest revelations of Nathan Fielder\u2019s new Elizabeth Holmes documentary<\/a>, \u2018You Can See Everything.\u2019\ud83c\udf7d\ufe0f For many, like the preservationists pushing to save Santa Monica\u2019s Mel\u2019s Drive-In<\/a>, the mere thought of demolishing the iconic restaurant is offensive. Eating there was certainly on the bingo card for columnist LZ Granderson when he and his son first drove across the Southwest decades ago, and it continues to be a favorite breakfast spot of theirs.Today\u2019s recipe (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Many meatballs are made with a panade, often a mixture of white bread soaked in milk, which lends moisture to the final meatballs. For these lamb meatballs, cooking editor Cody Reiss <\/a>decided to make his panade out of ingredients that felt more in-line with the mutabbal<\/a> he was serving them with. He ended up using a mixture of leftover pita bread and labneh (drained yogurt). The resulting meatballs were moist, herby, spiced, seasoned, spicy and just a joy to eat.<\/p>\n Photo of the day Volunteers led by guerrilla activist Jonathan Hale paint over the faded crosswalks of an intersection near USC on Sept. 19.<\/p>\n (Etienne Laurent\/For the Times)<\/p>\n Games Here\u2019s today\u2019s mini crossword<\/a>, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games<\/a>.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jack Dolan, investigative reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A spectacular run that included back-to-back World Series championships and delivered unforgettable memories ended with a whimper for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,2299,1085,891,2300,2297,340,2303,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,2302,1086,1459,2301,2298,74,225,315,688],"class_list":["post-499391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-california","tag-civic-revolt","tag-covid","tag-covid-19","tag-days","tag-essential-california","tag-israel","tag-l-a","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-may","tag-pandemic","tag-part","tag-president-biden","tag-red-county","tag-san-diego","tag-state","tag-time","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792253658_276_.jpeg\")
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Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n