Sports
Dodgers offense continues to struggle in loss to Cubs
It’s too early, the Dodgers say, to sound any alarm bells. Their lineup is too talented, they believe, for the narrative not to eventually turn.
But right now, the team’s biggest problem is not difficult to diagnose.
Their $400-million roster is not hitting, plain and simple.
And in a 4-2 defeat to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, it cost them a third straight series loss in the wake of their roaring 8-0 start to the season.
“I’m not overly concerned right now, given where we’re at on the calendar,” manager Dave Roberts said, reflecting the frustrated — but not panicked — mood of his team.
“I think we just haven’t gotten synced up offensively,” he added. “It’s gonna happen. It’s just in this last nine-, 10-game stretch, it just hasn’t.”
During the Dodgers’ unbeaten barrage to begin this year’s World Series title defense, their star-studded lineup was performing as expected — even if the team felt then it wasn’t quite clicking on all cylinders.
Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts set the tone at the top. Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Will Smith cashed in with runners on base. And despite struggles from the bottom of the batting order,, the Dodgers were still averaging more than 5 ½ runs per game, hardly seeming to notice Freddie Freeman’s early absence.
Over the last nine games, however, the offense has come to a screeching halt; averaging barely three runs per contest during their current 3-6 rut.
Ohtani and Betts have been solid, but far from superhuman. Everyone else is trudging along, if not toiling through a flat-out slump.
“I just feel like we have more guys scuffling than guys that are feeling really good at the plate,” said Kiké Hernández, one of five regulars in the Dodgers’ lineup batting .225 or worse.
“It’s a matter of time. We’re going to snap out of it and we’re just going to start steamrolling people. We’re just going through a little bit of a rough patch.”
In Roberts’ view, the root of such scuffles has been a lack of quality “team at-bats,” with the manager bemoaning his hitters’ tendency to chase pitches out of the zone and make life easy on opposing pitchers.
“Our DNA as an offense, we do a really good job of beating the starter and getting the pitch count up and getting to the ‘pen,” Roberts said. “It’s not like guys are not trying to hit the ball hard. But I do think that if you look at the last 10 days, there hasn’t been a lot of loud contact. Just kind of building innings, creating stress, we just haven’t done that.”
That sobering reality became all the more apparent Sunday, when the Dodgers (11-6) did little against Cubs starting pitcher Colin Rea; a swingman from the bullpen with a career 4.52 ERA.
Rea gave the Dodgers plenty of good pitches to hit early in the “Sunday Night Baseball” showdown. Roughly a dozen times, Rea offered up mid-90s mph fastball near the heart of the plate.
Cubs pitcher Ryan Pressly reacts after Shohei Ohtani grounds out to end the game.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But of the 16 total heaters the Dodgers swung at against Rea, — a lanky 6-foot-5 right-hander with a deceptively low release point — they whiffed six times, put only three in play and recorded just one hit on a Michael Conforto single in the second.
Conforto eventually came around to score on a Hernández single, giving the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. But, on a day they were once again without Freeman (who got a scheduled day off after his return from the injured list at the start of the weekend), it didn’t do much to kick-start the offense.
“Each guy is trying to find their individual swing,” Roberts said. “When you get guys that are kind of searching, they’re looking more anxious than I think typically we are.”
On the mound, Tyler Glasnow bounced back from last week’s frustrating outing in Philadelphia, when he imploded during a third-inning rain shower for a disastrous five-run meltdown.
“He was frustrated at himself, rightfully so,” Roberts said pregame, having sought out Glasnow this week to ensure he’d flushed any lingering disappointment. “He’s coming into today with a little bit of a chip on his shoulder.”
Over a strong six-inning, two-run start, Glasnow just did that, striking out seven batters, walking only one and surrendering just three hits despite feeling off with his mechanics.
“Generally, when I feel like that, it usually ends a lot worse,” Glasnow said, noting his inability to locate pitches precisely how he wanted. “So glad I could just get through it.”
The only problem: Two of the hits Glasnow yielded left the yard.
Outfielder Kyle Tucker and second baseman Nico Hoerner can’t come up with this single by Mookie Betts.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Pete Crow-Armstrong blasted a tying solo home run off the right-field foul pole in the third. Ex-Dodgers prospect Michael Busch ended a nine-pitch at-bat in the sixth with a solo shot to the bullpen.
That gave Busch six hits in his Chavez Ravine homecoming this weekend, and the Cubs their first lead of the day at 2-1.
The Dodgers did get Glasnow off the hook for the loss in the bottom of the sixth. Conforto singled again to lead off the inning. Smith doubled down the line to set up Max Muncy for a tying sacrifice fly.
But the Dodgers — as has so often been the case over the last couple of weeks — failed to tack on.
That allowed the Cubs (11-7) to retake the lead with more long ball in the top of the seventh, with Crow-Armstrong launching on a hanging cutter from Blake Treinen to center for his second home run of the day.
The Dodgers then gift-wrapped an insurance run to the Cubs in the eighth, giving up another score after Conforto missed a fly ball near the left-field line for a leadoff double.
Given the way the Dodgers have swung the bats lately, however, Chicago didn’t need it. Over their final three trips to the plate, the Dodgers’ only baserunner came via a stranded seventh-inning walk from Betts.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve sucked for two weeks,” Betts said. “It just happens that it’s right now. If we panic, things get worse. If you don’t panic, it looks like we don’t care.”
Panic is certainly not what the Dodgers felt after the game, with Roberts and his players framing the last couple weeks as a temporary blip.
Sure, three straight series losses (something that only happened once last season, also in April) might have come as a surprise. Their .218 team batting average in that stretch certainly wasn’t expected, either.
But on the whole, an 11-6 record is one Roberts said he happily “would have banked” if offered back before opening day.
And while it “stings” to have come after an 8-0 start, he conceded, there’s virtually no scenario in which he sees the offense scuffling long-term.
“I know we’re going to hit. I know we’re going to score runs, things like that,” Roberts said. “We’ve just got to get back to who we are.”
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Austin Reaves nearing return for Lakers as Luka Doncic remains out indefinitely with hamstring strain: report
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In early April, with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that star guard Luka Doncic would be sidelined at least until the NBA playoffs.
Doncic’s setback was a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, an MRI confirmed. The reigning NBA scoring champion sustained the injury during an April 2 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers also entered the playoffs without another key member of their backcourt, Austin Reaves.
The shorthanded Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in the opening game of their first-round Western Conference series Saturday. Ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday, the Lakers reportedly received a clearer update on the health of at least one of their injured stars.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves brings the ball up court against the Washington Wizards in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026. (Ryan Sun/AP)
Reaves, who was diagnosed with an oblique strain, appears to be progressing toward a return later in the first-round series if it extends to six or seven games. If the Lakers advance sooner, he could be on track to return for the Western Conference semifinals.
According to ESPN, Reaves recently returned to the practice court for 1-on-1 drills. The 27-year-old will still need to progress to 2-on-3 and then 5-on-5 work before he can be cleared for playoff action, but he appears significantly further along than Doncic, who remains out indefinitely.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center on March 21, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Doncic is unlikely to play in the first round, regardless of the series length. ESPN footage showed him on the practice court on Tuesday, though the six-time All-Star was not doing high-intensity work.
2025-26 NBA PLAYOFF ODDS: SPREADS, LINES FOR FIRST-ROUND SERIES
The Rockets, despite being widely favored in the opening round playoffs series, also contended with key injuries. Kevin Durant missed Game 1 with a knee contusion. He was cleared to play in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shoots the ball against the Lakers during Game 1 in the NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on April 18, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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LeBron James scored 19 points, while Luke Kennard led Los Angeles with 27 in Saturday’s win.
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Watching junior right-hander Fabian Bravo of Sun Valley Poly High pitch for the first time, there was something strangely familiar about his windup.
When he turned his back to reveal he was wearing No. 32, everything made sense.
He had to be a fan of Sandy Koufax, the 1960s Hall of Fame left-hander for the Dodgers.
Two friends sitting next to me refused to believe it.
“No way,” one said.
“Kids today have never heard of Sandy Koufax,” another piped in.
Only after Bravo threw a three-hit shutout to beat North Hollywood 3-0 was my belief vindicated.
“I come into the back with my arms and it’s a little bit like a Sandy Koufax kind of thing,” he said. “I wear 32 too. He was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and was good in the World Series.”
Koufax was perfect-game good on Sept. 9, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, striking out 14.
Bravo started learning about No. 32 when his parents would bring him to Dodger Stadium as a young boy.
“I always saw No. 32 retired on the wall,” he said. “Once I got to know him, I was able to see who he really was. I felt I could really copy him and get myself deeper into history.”
Bravo is no Koufax in terms of being a power pitcher. He’s 5 feet 10 and 140 pounds. Since last season, when he changed his windup to briefly emulate Koufax’s arms going above his head, he has a 12-3 record. This season he’s 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA.
“I saw his windup and he looked like he was calm and composed and I tried it. I felt more of a rhythm. I was able to calm down and pitch better,” he said.
After Bravo’s arms go up over his head in his windup, he also does a brief hesitation breathing in and out before throwing the ball toward home plate.
“My dad always taught me to breathe in, breathe out before I do anything,” he said.
Nowadays, teenagers seemingly don’t pay much attention to greats of the past, from old ballplayers to Hall of Fame coaches. Ask someone if they know John Wooden, kids today probably don’t. He did win 10 NCAA basketball titles coaching for UCLA. And who was Don Drysdale? Only a Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher alongside Koufax from Van Nuys High.
Bravo is fortunate he’s seen Dodger broadcasts mentioning Koufax at the stadium and on TV, motivating him to learn more, which led to seeing his windup on YouTube.
His older brother also wore No. 32, so no one was getting that uniform number other than a Bravo brother at Poly.
There is another Bravo set to arrive in the fall. Julian Bravo will be a freshman left-handed pitcher and wants No. 32.
“While I’m there he’s going to have to find a new number,” Fabian Bravo said.
Julian might also want to help his big brother gain a few pounds at the dinner table.
“My brother takes food from me,” he said.
As for recognizing Bravo’s Koufax connection, it was No. 32 that provided the clue. How many pitchers in the 1970s were choosing No. 32? A lot. And it’s great to see a 17-year-old in 2026 paying tribute to one of the greatest pitchers ever.
Emulating Koufax is hard, but forgetting him is unforgivable.
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Eli Manning retired in 2019 and missed out in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2025. He was passed over again earlier this year but still fired back at a fan who claimed one of his contemporaries was the better quarterback.
On Tuesday, a social media user floated a theory about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan, who now oversees football operations as the team’s president, last played in an NFL game in 2022. He announced his retirement in 2024, making him eligible for Hall of Fame consideration beginning in 2028.
“Matt Ryan was a better QB than Eli Manning… people just worship rings. Agree or nah,” the post read.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning greets Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan after their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning caught wind of the suggestion and weighed in, pointing to the two Super Bowl-winning teams he was part of during his standout run with the New York Giants.
“I will ponder this while I play with my rings…,” Manning wrote in a quote-tweet.
Ryan’s statistical production surpasses Manning’s, at least on paper. He was named NFL MVP in 2016, an honor Manning never earned. Ryan is also the most accomplished player in Falcons history and finished his career with more than 62,000 regular-season passing yards, compared with Manning’s 57,023.
NFC head coach Eli Manning leads a huddle during a practice session before the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Both quarterbacks were selected to four Pro Bowls, but the key difference lies in championships. Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, while Ryan reached it once but fell short. Manning threw for a single season career-best 4,933 during the run leading up to the second Super Bowl title.
Ryan threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help the Falcons build a 25-point lead in the championship game — a matchup remembered for the New England Patriots engineering the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)
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The Falcons have reached the Super Bowl twice in franchise history, first in 1998, but the team is still chasing its first elusive championship.
The Giants marked their 100th season in 2024, winning four Super Bowls over the franchise’s century-long history.
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