The Los Angeles Dodgers seem more vulnerable than they have in a long time.

After winning their eighth World Series championship last year, they entered this season as the overwhelming favorites to repeat following another blockbuster offseason of superstar additions. But now, sitting with just a two-game lead in the National League West division after losing four of their last six games, it seems they can be beaten.

The Dodgers have suffered a startling amount of pitching injuries already and several of their veteran players are struggling at the plate. As LA looks to right the ship, the front office recently cut the team’s two longest-tenured position players.

“The elevation of Dalton Rushing to the majors and carving out of a role for Hyeseong Kim last week have improved the Dodgers’ roster,” Bill Plunkett wrote for The Orange County Register. “But the subtraction of established, well-liked veterans Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor, both long-time members of the Dodgers, has left a hole in the day-to-day life of their former teammates and inevitably alters team chemistry.”

Barnes had been on the Dodgers for 11 seasons and Taylor for 10, and both were members of the team for its last two championship runs. However, neither was actively contributing from the bench and the pursuit of another title called for the team to move on.

Still, it is impacting their former teammates. First baseman Freddie Freeman summed up the feeling with two simple words: “It stinks.”

“It does suck,” Freeman added, per Plunkett. “If you say you’re not sad when you lose friends, you’re not human. You just get going. You’re going to be a little sad but that can’t be the reason you go 0-for-4 now.”

Freeman and his remaining teammates might take some consolation in the fact that the moves opened room for two young and versatile contributors. But losing friends never feels good.