For much of the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been as dominant as ever, boasting depth up and down the roster on both sides of the ball. But a team can only be as good as their worst side of the ball, and at the moment, the Dodgers cannot hit a lick. On Monday night, the Dodgers were on the receiving end of a 3-2 loss from the St. Louis Cardinals — with Sonny Gray shutting the team down.
It's not like the Dodgers are experiencing severe injury woes. They had the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Will Smith, and Mookie Betts active — with Max Muncy even returning from the injured list. But all they could muster against the Cardinals were three hits, failing to give Tyler Glasnow the run support he needed to grab a win.
Baseball is about timing and sequencing. The Dodgers could at least take a bit of comfort in the fact that their offense is sputtering in August, not in October. After all, manager Dave Roberts believes that it's only a matter of time before his team turns it around at the plate — they're simply “too talented” not to.
“The offense will get on track, it's gonna happen at some point, we're just too talented for it not to,” Roberts said in his postgame presser, per SportsNet LA.
Considering the track record of the players they have on the roster, this belief from Roberts is not misplaced. But past performance isn't necessarily an indicator of future production. Someone like Betts, for example, is 32 years of age already. Aging curves are different for each player, and there's a chance that his level of play in 2025 is his new normal.
But indeed, only time will tell if this offensive rut from the Dodgers is something they have to worry about or something they simply have to overcome.
Dodgers' offensive woes may be overblown
Since the start of July, the Dodgers have not been very good offensively. They rank just 23rd in MLB in total runs scored, which is a far cry from where they usually rank.
But on the year, the Dodgers have scored 578 runs — good for third-best in MLB. A good offensive team does not become a horrific one overnight. As is the case with every ballplayer, there are ebbs and flows — the Dodgers are simply getting the short end of the stick with their players simultaneously going cold.
