Sports
After ‘long funk’ and struggles with fastballs, has Will Smith rediscovered his swing?
Will Smith has hardly been a bad hitter for the Dodgers during the past two seasons.
But as his offensive production has declined at the plate, with the sixth-year catcher setting career lows for OPS in back-to-back campaigns, there’s been one common denominator to what he’s been missing.
From 2020 to 2022, Smith did much of his damage against four-seam fastballs, batting .292 against the pitch with a .588 slugging percentage, 21 home runs and only an 18.6% whiff rate.
In 2023 and 2024, however, those numbers have dipped across the board: Smith has only hit four-seamers at a .214 clip. He has slugged just .383 against them. And as pitchers have started throwing him more heaters, his whiff rate has climbed to 23.9%.
Overall, he’s still an above-league-average hitter, posting a .246 batting average this year with 20 home runs, 74 RBIs and a .758 OPS.
But the statistical regression has illustrated his struggles to hone in on his best swing — one the Dodgers are hoping has started to reappear in recent weeks.
This is what made Smith’s home run in the Dodgers’ division-clinching win on Thursday such a notable sight. It wasn’t just that he tied their game against the rival San Diego Padres, helping spark a go-ahead rally in the bottom of the seventh. Or that he celebrated with a demonstrative two-hand bat flip, displaying as much emotion as manager Dave Roberts could remember since his iconic long ball in the 2020 National League Championship Series.
Rather, the biggest thing is that it came against a Joe Musgrove four-seamer, with Smith barreling up an elevated 3-and-1 heater — the kind he has so often missed or fouled back or hit weakly for an out the last two seasons — and launching it to straightaway center at an estimated distance of 426 feet.
“That was a big boy home run,” Roberts declared afterward.
“Got into a hitter’s count,” a booze-soaked but understated Smith added amid the postgame clubhouse celebration, “and put a good swing on it.”
Early in his career, Smith had little trouble manufacturing such moments. In his rise as one of the majors’ most productive offensive catchers — an ascent that culminated with a 10-year, $140-million contract extension with the Dodgers before this season — his ability to punish fastballs was among his defining strengths.
But ever since he suffered a broken rib and oblique strain in late April of last season, the 29-year-old slugger has been inconsistent with his swing mechanics, according to Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates.
“I would just say some bad habits crept in from the injuries,” Bates explained. “They were so small, but they bled over into the next year.”
At times, Smith has been able to work around it. He earned his first All-Star selection last year while playing through the ailments. He was selected to the Midsummer Classic again this season after a torrid performance in March and April (.362 batting average, 13 extra-base hits, 23 RBIs) that Bates credited to his ability to attack off-speed pitches.
“Obviously,” Bates said, “he’s had some games this year where he’s been really good.”
Smith’s struggles against the fastball, however, quickly became a weakness for opposing pitchers to exploit. From May to August, he didn’t hit better than .212 in a single month. During that stretch, his average against fastballs was a woeful .146.
“His hands were creeping down as he was striding [toward the ball],” Bates said, identifying one of the core habits Smith and the Dodgers have tried to eliminate from his swing. “Guys are different, but most hitters for the most part want to feel like they’re above the ball and can work from the top down. If you’re working from the waist up or are caught in-between, you’re just trying to guess. It can be a tough spot.”
Attempting to fix his swing this year has forced Smith to revisit the past. His work in the batting cage has focused on “getting back to probably more of the ‘21, ‘22 [version of] myself,” he said recently. “More that model, if you want to say, where I was really hitting the heater.”
“I got away from a little bit of stuff last year, just trying to figure out what works,” Smith added, when asked how the lingering effects of last year’s injuries have manifested at the plate. “Sometimes you make the wrong changes. But the beginning of the last two years has been really good. So, it’s just, ‘Is that mold right for me?’ ”
Smith has appeared to start finding an answer again lately, just in time for a Dodgers’ postseason run that will likely hinge on the consistency of their lineup.
Since the start of September, he is hitting .254 with a .460 slugging percentage. His production against fastballs has skyrocketed as well, batting nine for 20 against the pitch this month.
“He’s coming to life [and taking] better at-bats,” Roberts said last week. “I think mechanically he’s in a good spot … And I think that he got through that funk that he was in, that long funk. I like where he’s at.”
This could all have massive ramifications on the Dodgers’ chances in the playoffs, of course, with Smith still occupying a critical role in the lineup. He’s no longer the team’s clean-up hitter, as he was early in the season. But he’s still had ample run-producing opportunities, averaging the second-most plate appearances with runners in scoring position on the team per game (only Teoscar Hernández comes up in such spots more often).
“He’s such a pro, and he’s such a great player,” Bates said. “I think the way he’s performed [lately] is more in-tune with the player he is.”
If that wasn’t becoming clear already, Thursday’s long ball brought it auspiciously into focus.
“For Will to hit a big boy home run right there gave us a lot of life,” Roberts said. “That was a lot of pressure and angst off his shoulders tonight.”
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CM Punk appeared on “Friday Night SmackDown” ready to take on any challenger that was ready to step to him after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn.
Punk entered the ring in Oklahoma City and called back to the “Monday Night Raw” after WrestleMania 42 when he told Cody Rhodes he’d be ready to deliver if a championship opportunity fell “out of the sky.”
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Cody Rhodes and CM Punk face off during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)
“When championship opportunities fall out of the sky, CM Punk catches them,” he said.
Punk named potential SmackDown superstars he’d think might come for the title, including Gunther, Finn Balor, Royce Keys, Damian Priest and Trick Williams. He even said that Zayn could come back around and get his rematch if he wanted. He didn’t mention Rhodes’ name, but the “American Nightmare” came out uncalled and marched his way down to the ring.
“I don’t think you and I can run away from each other anymore,” Punk told Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes looks on during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)
Rhodes agreed and mentioned that Punk would want a match with him, just “say when.” It was a quick retort from Punk, who said, “when.” SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who was in the ring for the segment, booked the match for SummerSlam.
Punk will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam, which takes place Aug. 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
First, however, Punk and Rhodes will be involved in a tag team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City next week. Aldis made the match after Gunther demanded that Aldis put him in a match against Punk. Gunther was hoping it would be for the championship. Instead, Gunther will tag with Zayn.
Gunther didn’t take too kindly to that and attacked Aldis. Rhodes came back out to break up the calamity. He wanted to take on Gunther after the show went off air but Gunther walked away.
Gunther makes his entrance during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images)
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Punk definitely has his hands full as he moves to SmackDown to become a fighting champion.
World Cup tourists are coming to L.A. for the soccer, but they’re staying for the $21 smoothies and Double-Doubles.
As the last Los Angeles FIFA World Cup event ended Friday, soccer fans were eating like locals and famous chains from the region were cashing in.
In the weeks that L.A. has hosted the World Cup, international soccer enthusiasts have flocked to big brands from the area, often in large groups wearing their countries’ jerseys.
It is a phenomenon seen at many of the host cities. In Dallas, giant gas station Buc-ee’s is the main attraction. For people visiting New Jersey, deli shops have been a hot ticket. In L.A., the place to be between matches was Erewhon.
Thirsty international sports fans gathered for pictures outside different Erewhons, wandered their aisles smiling, and, of course, picked up pricey smoothies.
While Erewhon would not comment on its business, mobility data company Arity, which uses phone data to track consumers, said Erewhon visits at the outlets around SoFi Stadium were quadruple what they were a week earlier on June 12, the day of the U.S. national soccer team’s opening match there.
Arity looked at what stores people visited within a 10-mile radius of SoFi that day and also found surges in visitors to nearby El Pollo Loco and Trader Joe’s.
Locals have spotted groups of people in Korea jerseys huddled together, trying to decide what to order at In-N-Out.
Some complained on social media that international tourists at Trader Joe’s were buying up all the mini canvas tote bags.
Soon after the Belgium vs. Spain quarterfinal ended Friday, the In-N-Out near SoFi had a long line of soccer fans stretching out the door in bright red and yellow and black jerseys and matching striped hats and scarves.
One of the workers said he had to explain “spread” and “animal style” to foreign football fans.
“I didn’t know this place existed,” a fan from Romania said while waiting in line.
Los Angeles and other cities and states that have hosted the event need the soccer fans to spend money to make the event worth all the time, effort and money it requires.
A rosy 2024 report projected the World Cup could bring more than $800 million to the L.A. region as 180,000 people converge on the area to sleep, eat and spend.
There were early concerns people weren’t turning up for the event because of the high ticket prices and the difficulty of obtaining visas for citizens of some countries.
However, at least for some L.A. hotels, there was a surge of last-minute visitors which pushed up occupancy and room rates.
While sports fans are not in the region to shop, they do make time for it.
World Cup customer spending is also apparent in beer sales. Andrew Heritage, the chief economist at the Beer Institute said beer purchases at entertainment and attractions in L.A. – outside of World Cup spaces – were up around 10% from normal.
“That tells me that fans in the L.A. area have decided to extend their stay and take in all the other things that the area has to offer, rather than just the match itself,” he said.
On social media, the purpose of these shoppers is clear: grab a quick souvenir or local specialty and take a selfie.
The data from Arity suggests that fans are very efficient when they spend at local spots, diving in, getting what they want and getting out as soon as possible, said Jeff Schlitt, a director at the company.
“Normally you’re there for an hour. They’re going to be there for 15, 18 minutes,” he said. “Why is that? Because they were purpose-driven shoppers.”
For some travelers, the more popular American chains aren’t unfamiliar. But some of the native L.A. fare still comes as a surprise.
As one Belgium-Spain matchgoer from the Netherlands stood taking a picture of the In-N-Out sign after the game, he said he’d never had a burger like the one he’d just tried.
“We only have McDonald’s and Burger King,” he said. “It’s way better.”
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The face of baseball will not be at Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start on Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers said he will also miss the Midsummer Classic with what the team called left knee irritation.
Ohtani, for obvious reasons, has become an All-Star Game fixture. He has earned the honor in each of the past five seasons and made his first start in 2021.
Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers warms up before the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The two-way phenom is on his way to winning his fifth MVP award in his last six seasons as he is hitting .290 with a .939 OPS and pitching to a minuscule 1.79 ERA, the second-lowest in the sport among pitchers with 80-plus innings. His OPS is also the seventh-best mark in the league.
The Dodgers said Ohtani will be the team’s designated hitter up until the break, but he will “have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season.”
Ohtani dealt with knee issues earlier in the season.
It is certainly a big hit for the game as the other face of the sport, Aaron Judge, will miss the game due to a fractured rib that has kept him out since late May.
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets ready in the on deck circle against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 01, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
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Ohtani hit 99 home runs combined in 2024 and 2025, leading the National League with a 1.025 OPS in that span. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024 after elbow surgery but returned to the bump last year and owned a 2.87 ERA and 11.9 K/9, a figure he also put up in 2022 that led the American League.
The “Japanese Babe Ruth” is the only player in MLB history to have 300-plus plate appearances and 40-plus innings in six separate seasons (Ruth only did it twice and never stole 50 bases), and he has more than excelled at both.
Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
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Ohtani is not hitting like he has in the past, but certainly the best pitching performance of his career will make up for it. He “only” has 20 homers and 56 RBI this season.
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