Column: October comes early? Dodgers will be tested by brutal August schedule
In their 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers resembled the team they will have to be in October — or, for that matter, in August.
Shohei Ohtani blasted his 34th home run and stole his 32nd base.
“I believe that as we get closer to October, you’re going to see an even better player,†manager Dave Roberts said.
Tyler Glasnow said he felt “a little out of whack†but managed to depart the game with a lead.
“I think he’s really trying to embrace being a top-of-the-rotation guy,†Roberts said.
Fans give an appreciative Freddie Freeman a lengthy standing ovation after his return to Dodgers following son’s hospitalization.
Freddie Freeman returned to the lineup after missing eight games because of a family emergency, Brusdar Graterol was in the bullpen for the first time this season and Mookie Betts was scheduled to play in a simulated game later in the week.
“It’s going to start looking more like the lineup that we had intended when we put this team together,†Roberts said.
It better.
The Dodgers have just started their most brutal four-week stretch of the season, and if they can’t emerge from this relatively unscathed, there might not even be an October for them.
The schedule has the potential to punish them.
They have two more games against the Phillies, the only team in the National League with a better record than theirs. Shortly before the All-Star break, the Phillies swept them in a three-game series in Philadelphia.
The series with the Phillies this week will be followed by successive series against the three best teams in the NL Central: the second-place Pittsburgh Pirates (three games at home), the first-place Milwaukee Brewers (four games on the road) and the third-place St. Louis Cardinals (three games on the road).
The Dodgers’ itinerary this month includes visits from three American League contenders in the Seattle Mariners, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays, as well as a trip to where the season ended last year for a division matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
There won’t be any soft touches for the remainder of this month. The Dodgers don’t see the Angels until September.
“Rather than settling anything, I think we’re at the stage where we have to build on our brand of baseball one game at a time,†Ohtani said to reporters in Japanese last week.
Roberts was encouraged by the changes he observed in Ohtani between the team’s recent three-game series in Oakland and the game on Monday night against the Phillies.
“He has talked about wanting to play in meaningful games and so I do sense that tonight was different than even the road trip, where I thought he was a little hair on fire as far as swinging, where tonight he controlled the zone much better and almost hit a couple of homers tonight,†Roberts said.
Ohtani was two for three with a sacrifice fly that drove in a run during the Dodgers’ four-run third inning. His homer in the eighth inning provided a valuable insurance run and extended the team’s lead to 5-3.
Pointing to how Ohtani led Japan to the World Baseball Classic title last year, Roberts predicted his play would improve as the stakes increased.
“I think the moment will heighten his focus,†Roberts said.
Roberts sounded less certain about his starting pitching. While the rotation was improved at the trade deadline by the addition of Jack Flaherty, the group has plenty of question marks. Clayton Kershaw and Gavin Stone were scheduled to start the final two games of the Phillies series, and neither of them had pitched well recently. Their most reliable starter is Glasnow, whom Roberts described as “a work in progress†as a No. 1 starter.
Before Glasnow was acquired by the Dodgers, he made 10 postseason starts for the Rays and was just 2-6 with a 5.72 earned-run average. The Rays lost each of his last five playoff starts, including two against the Dodgers in the 2020 World Series.
“There’s a responsibility in that sense of things aren’t going to be perfect and you’re going to have to manage your emotions to continue to get guys out and chew through lineups and go deep into games,†Roberts said.
Which was why Glasnow said he was encouraged by how he pitched against the Phillies. Over six innings, he limited the Phillies to three runs, two of which were scored in the second inning after center fielder Andy Pages missed a fly ball by Nick Castellanos at the wall.
“How I felt and how it turned out, it was all right,†Glasnow said.
With son Maximus home from the hospital, Freddie Freeman returned to the Dodgers on Monday and was greeted by teammates and coaches who wore Dodgers blue #MaxStrong shirts.
Freeman also reported feeling upbeat, considering his timing was off after missing more than a week to be with his 3-year-old son, Maximus, who was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. Freeman singled in his second at-bat.
Betts, who is recovering from a broken hand, is also close to a return. He is expected to play in a simulated game on Thursday, after which he and the team will determine whether he will go on a minor league rehabilitation assignment. He is on track to be activated next week in Milwaukee.
Graterol, who was sidelined for more than four months with a shoulder injury, has the potential to stabilize a shaky back end of the bullpen.
The positive developments were welcomed by the Dodgers. They managed to stay afloat while playing severely short-handed for the last couple of months, but they’re now in the part of their schedule that could wreck their season — or make it something special.
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