Sports
Dodgers' growing offensive struggles have a familiar feel in loss to Cubs
It was around this time last year that the Dodgers offense started cooling off.
After a sluggish performance at the plate this week, they can only hope it isn’t happening again.
Before the Dodgers crashed out of the 2023 playoffs in a National League Division Series sweep against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team’s bats began to quiet in September, when declining production from big stars and role players alike foreshadowed the offensive no-show that doomed the team in October.
Lately, the Dodgers have experienced something similar, following up a rollicking showcase in Arizona with a muted week offensively since.
The latest example came in a 10-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night at Dodger Stadium, in which ex-Dodgers Cody Bellinger and Michael Busch almost outscored the entirety of their former team.
In the first four innings alone, Bellinger and Busch had three hits, a home run apiece and four total RBIs off Walker Buehler.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, didn’t score their first run until the fifth and squandered multiple opportunities to get back in the game — despite facing Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks and his 6.60 ERA, worst among MLB starters with 100 innings.
“We had the opportunities,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “I think we could go through the course of the year and, unfortunately, this is what happens in baseball when you play 162 games. You can have the opportunities, you just don’t get the hits.”
Since tallying 32 runs and 52 hits in a victorious four-game series against the Diamondbacks to start the month, the Dodgers have managed just 23 runs and 45 hits in six games since.
During that stretch, they’ve struck out 56 times. They’ve scored five or more runs just twice. And, after appearing to turn a corner at the plate with a healthy lineup for the first time in months, signs of their mid-summer malaise have returned.
“I think offensively certainly the first few innings were forgettable,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought [after] calibrating … we took better at-bats and we took the walks when we needed, got [Hendricks] out of the game, stressed their pen. We just couldn’t get that hit to really put up multiple crooked numbers.”
Alarm bells aren’t ringing yet. But reasons for concern are starting to sprout.
The Dodgers’ biggest problems Monday resided at the bottom of the batting order.
While Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman combined for five hits and five walks — Ohtani also stole his 47th base of the season in his continued pursuit of MLB’s first 50 homer-50 steal season — the rest of the lineup offered little support.
Max Muncy went hitless and managed only one RBI (a fifth-inning sacrifice fly) from two bases-loaded at-bats, leaving him two for 18 since the start of September.
Will Smith failed to build off a three-hit performance Sunday, continuing his second-half slide with an 0-for-five line that included a strikeout with two runners aboard in the fifth.
Tommy Edman had two hits, while Gavin Lux, Chris Taylor and Miguel Rojas each singled. But as a team, the Dodgers (86-58) were just two for seven with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base — not nearly enough on a night they trailed 3-0 after the first inning and 7-2 at the end of the sixth.
“I think the production from the bottom half, I certainly know it’s not as dire as it was early in the season,” Roberts said, maintaining confidence in an offense that still ranks third in the majors in scoring this season. “I still think we’re in a good spot.”
But on Monday, at least, the Cubs (74-70) were simply better.
Bellinger, the Dodgers’ former rookie of the year and most valuable player award winner, opened the scoring with a first-pitch, two-run homer in the first, launching his second long ball as a visiting player at Chavez Ravine deep into the right-field pavilion.
Cody Bellinger rounds third after hitting a two-run home run for the Chicago Cubs during the first inning Monday.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Busch, the former Dodgers prospect who was traded to Chicago last offseason, tallied the next two runs for the Cubs. He lined an RBI single in the first, then cleared the short wall in left on an opposite-field solo homer in the fourth.
It all amounted to a “pretty big step back” for Buehler, as he put it, after a pair of encouraging outings in his previous two starts. The right-hander finished the night with five earned runs in five-plus innings, and struck out just four batters while allowing nine hits.
“I screwed us from the jump,” said Buehler, who now has a 5.95 ERA on the season and 9.69 ERA in first innings. “Obviously three runs in the first kind of sucked the energy out of the building … That’s a lot to ask of the rest of our guys to dig me out of a hole every game.”
Despite that, the Dodgers had chances to rally.
They loaded the bases in the third inning, but came away with nothing.
They scored twice in the fifth and seventh innings — Betts homered in the latter, his seventh in 26 games since returning from a broken hand — but missed opportunities in each to chip away further.
“Chalk it up to one of those days,” Freeman said. “Come back and get them tomorrow.”
The good news for the Dodgers: Their biggest stars are still hitting.
In addition to his seven homers, Betts also has a .316 batting average and 26 RBIs since coming off the injured list.
Freeman, who is still playing through a fractured right middle finger, is 11 for 33 with seven walks since getting a three-game break in late August.
Ohtani is also continuing to mash, batting an even .300 since Aug. 21 in search of his third MVP award.
But if the Dodgers thought their top-heavy lineup problems were a thing of the past, Monday’s loss — in which they were without Teoscar Hernández for a third straight game because of his foot contusion — offered a familiar reminder of how quickly things can turn.
“Every single day we come in with a game plan to win that game and do our best,” Freeman said. “Just didn’t happen today.”
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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.
The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough.
Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.
A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.
Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.
The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.
From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.
“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE
Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.
The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.
Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.
The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.
Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL
CITY SECTION FINALS
FRIDAY
At Birmingham
DIVISION I
#1 Taft d. #3 Cleveland, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21
DIVISION IV
#7 Maywood CES d. #4 Math & Science College Prep, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23
At Venice
DIVISION II
#4 Marquez d. #6 Narbonne, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-16
DIVISION III
#13 Birmingham d. #2 Legacy, 25-20, 17-25, 31-33, 25-21, 15-10
SATURDAY
At Birmingham
OPEN DIVISION
#3 Chatsworth d. #1 Granada Hills, 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18
DIVISION V
314 Franklin d. #13 Rancho Dominguez, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16
SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS
THURSDAY
At Home Sites
DIVISION 9
Vasquez d. Tarbut V’ Torah, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10
FRIDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 1
#1 Mira Costa d. #3 Loyola, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22
DIVISION 4
Sunny Hills d. Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23
At Home Sites
DIVISION 5
Bishop Diego d. St. Anthony, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23
DIVISION 8
Temescal Canyon d. West Valley, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23
SATURDAY
At Cerritos College
DIVISION 2
Orange Lutheran d. Edison, 3-1
DIVISION 3
Windward d. St, John Bosco, 24-26, 25–21, 25-22, 25-20
DIVISION 6
Culver City d. Garden Grove, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 15-9
Sports
It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons
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The NBA takes a lot of flak for having meaningless games, and I can definitely understand it, watching on a random Wednesday in January. However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.
This will be the fourth Game 7 of the playoffs. Three series have been sweeps, and the other three have been six games. That shows competitive hoops. Now, how do we bet this Game 7 in the Eastern Conference?
The Cleveland Cavaliers blew it. After not winning a road game all postseason, they took Game 5 in surprising fashion. It looked like they were going to win in six games. After all, they hadn’t lost a game at home in the postseason.
Instead, Detroit came out and blitzed the Cavs, never giving them a chance to get their footing. They lost in an ugly fashion and now have to figure out a way to win a game on the road.
Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 5 in the second-round NBA playoffs in Detroit on May 13, 2026. (Duane Burleson/AP)
It isn’t just the Cavs’ fate that rests in this game. It is also the legacy of James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Donovan Mitchell.
We know that Mitchell is a very good player, but he isn’t regarded as one of the best players ever. Harden is. Unfortunately, Harden has struggled in Game 7s. He’s averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. That’s not terrible, but looking at his shooting percentages, he is at 35.3% and 22.2% in those games. He actually is 4-4 overall in the games, but in his past three, he has scored a combined 34 points over 113 minutes.
The Detroit Pistons seem to like playing with their backs against the wall. They are a gritty team, so I suppose it makes sense.
Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren reacts after allowing a pass to go out of bounds in the second half of Game 4 of the second-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on May 11, 2026. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)
Cade Cunningham continues to deliver for the team, and he finally got some help in Game 6 from Jalen Duren. This was never going to be an easy series for Duren, but it feels like he is taking more time to mature than others. He definitely improved this year, but the consistency they need from him just isn’t there yet.
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Now as the team goes home they will need Duren to be a beast on the glass. If he can keep the Pistons in the rebounding battle, they should win this game with ease. They won Game 6 by just three rebounds, but that takes away a big dimension of what Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley do for the Cavs. It isn’t everything, though, as the Pistons won the rebounding battle in both losses in Cleveland.
I don’t see this being a runaway game for the Pistons. Mitchell and Cunningham likely will cancel each other out with scoring. Harden needs to establish himself as the third-best player on the floor. I haven’t seen him do that in the postseason, yet.
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and James Harden talk during Game 2 in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs vs. the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Ohio. (David Dermer/Imagn Images)
This is the second Game 7 of the playoffs for both of the clubs, so it isn’t like either will be caught off guard about what this entails.
If I look at it objectively, I think the Cavs have the better players. However, the Pistons have looked significantly better this season, and definitely in the playoffs overall. Both are prone to issues and slipping. The Cavs shouldn’t be as they are a veteran team.
This game has to be won by Cleveland, though. There is too much riding on the franchise and legacies of guys for them to not prepare properly for it. Maybe that’s weak analysis, but I’m taking the Cavs with the points and I do think they win outright. I expect a monster game from Mitchell, and Harden should get 10+ assists.
Either way, whoever wins will lose to the New York Knicks.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
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