Week 20: Did the Dodgers’ play ruin baseball?

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 05: Manager Dave Roberts #30 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts against the Chicago Cubs during the seventh inning at Wrigley Field on August 05, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images

For all the talk of the Dodgers ruining competitive balance in baseball, they’ve been neither competitive nor balanced of late. Their losing ways continued on the road last week, getting swept by the Chicago Cubs then losing two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The only win in six games last week came after somehow escaping an impossible situation in the ninth inning on Saturday.

Bad baseball has been on display for a while now.

Batter of the week

Kyle Tucker has been a much better player on the road this season (19 extra-base hits, 131 wRC+), doing almost nothing at Dodger Stadium (13 extra-base hits, 73 wRC+). So it stands to reason he’d stand out during the road trip. Tucker homered twice, including a go-ahead shot in the eighth inning on Saturday, and tripled in a run on Sunday too.

Pitcher of the week

For the first time since May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto didn’t complete six innings, but he did hold the Diamondbacks scoreless for 5 2/3 frames, another solid start in a season full of them. Yamamoto this season has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 21 starts and has given up two or fewer 14 times.

Week 20 results

1-5 record 19 runs scored (3.17 per game) 31 runs allowed (5.17 per game) .290 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

70-48 record 591 runs scored (5.01 per game) 453 runs allowed (3.84 per game) .619 pythagorean win percentage (73-45)

Miscellany

Never stop backstopping : For the second year in a row, the Dodgers lost both Will Smith and Dalton Rushing and had to turn to Ben Rortvedt . They also turned to fellow old friend Hunter Feduccia , trading for both catchers on Monday. By Wednesday, both Rortvedt and Feduccia started behind the plate for the Dodgers. They joined Eliezer Alfonzo and Chuckie Robinson, making this the second year since moving to Los Angeles that they’ve used six catchers in a season, along with 1976 . This is the first year six different catchers have started for the Dodgers since World War II. In 1945, Mike Sandlock, Jon Dantonio, Johnny Peacock, Mickey Owen, Stan Andrews, Clyde Sukeforth, and Ray Hayworth all started behind the plate for Brooklyn .

Fill this out in triplicate : Edwin Díaz blew two saves in his two games pitched in Arizona, but somehow Saturday he escaped certain death after allowing two triples to open the ninth inning. Tying run was in and the winning run was 90 feet away with nobody out. Díaz stranded Corbin Carroll and the Dodgers won in the 10th . Díaz is the first Dodgers reliever to allow two triples since Ricky Trlicek in 1993 , the first two allow back-to-back triples since Howie Reed in 1964, and the first such Dodgers reliever to earn a win after giving up two triples since George Jeffcoat for Brooklyn in 1936.

Last week messed around without a triple, double : The first five games of the road trip featured 41 hits but the Dodgers, but was all singles (33) and home runs (eight). A double by Andy Pages in the third inning on Sunday in Phoenix snapped a string of five straight games by the Dodgers without a double or triple, their longest such streak since August 22-26, 1990 .

Transactions

Monday : Old friend Ben Rortvedt became a current friend again, acquired from the Mets for recently DFA’d pitcher Chayce McDermott .

Monday : Dodgers got pitcher Kris Bubic — currently working his way back from shoulder soreness and on the 60-day IL — from the Royals for Carlos Durán .

Monday : Hunter Feduccia joined the catcher reunion party , acquired with minor league pitcher Jacob Kmatz (now with Double-A Tulsa) from the Rays for minor league outfielder Jack Suwinski and $250,000 of international bonus pool space.

Monday : Dalton Rushing was placed on the injured list , and he might not catch for a while since he has a torn UCL . Word is still out on when he might be available as an extra lefty hitter. Emmet Sheehan was optioned after a bad start. Catcher Chuckie Robinson was called up for a day, and Jonathan Hernández added an extra arm in the bullpen. Tarik Skubal was activated and Wyatt Mills was designated for assignment.

Monday : Cole Irvin, who was designated for assignment on August 1, cleared waivers and was sent outright to OKC .

Tuesday : Rortvedt and Feduccia were each added to the active roster . Eliezer Alfonzo was optioned and Robinson was designated for assignment.

Thursday : Mills was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals .

Friday : Robinson cleared waivers and was sent outright to Oklahoma City .

Game results

Monday: Cubs 10, Dodgers 5

Tuesday: Cubs 5, Dodgers 1

Wednesday: Cubs 7, Dodgers 6

Friday: D-backs 4, Dodgers 3

Saturday: Dodgers 2, D-backs 1 (10 innings)

Sunday: D-backs 4, Dodgers 2

Player PA R H 2B HR RBI BA/OBP/SLG Tucker 24 5 8 0 2 3 .364/.417/.727 Rojas 6 1 3 0 0 0 .500/.500/.500 Ohtani 26 3 7 0 2 4 .292/.346/542 Pages 25 2 7 1 1 2 .304/.360/.478 Alfonzo 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333/.333/.333 Feduccia 9 1 2 0 0 0 .250/.333/.250 Betts 24 2 5 0 0 0 .227/.292/.227 Rortvedt 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250/.250/.250 T.Hernández 19 1 3 0 1 1 .158/.158/.316 Muncy 16 1 1 0 1 3 .071/.188/.286 Edman 24 1 4 0 1 4 .167/.167/.292 Freeman 23 1 4 0 0 1 .182/.217/.182 K.Hernández 9 1 1 0 0 0 .125/.222/.125 Call 3 0 0 0 0 0 .000/.333/.000 Totals 215 19 47 1 8 18 234/.284/.368

Pitcher Record IP H R BB K ERA WHIP Yamamoto 0-0 5.7 3 0 3 6 0.00 1.059 Skubal 0-1 6 4 2 2 6 3.00 1.000 Sasaki 0-0 6 4 2 1 5 3.00 0.833 Wrobleski 0-2 7.7 13 11 6 7 11.74 2.478 Lauer 0-1 4 11 6 0 1 13.50 2.750 Hernández 0-0 4.7 1 0 0 3 0.00 0.214 Phillips 0-0 2.1 2 0 0 2 0.00 0.857 Scott 0-0 2 2 0 3 3 0.00 2.500 Dreyer 0-0, Sv 1.2 1 0 0 2 0.00 0.600 Hurt 0-0 3 3 1 2 3 3.00 1.667 Henriquez 0-0 3.7 3 3 3 7 7.36 1.636 Vesia 0-0 1.7 2 2 2 1 10.80 2.400 Díaz 1-1 2 5 4 3 3 18.00 4.000 Totals 1...

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