When a team is coming off a World Series championship the previous season, and continuing to boast one the top two records in the current one, it seems a bit weird to think of that club as struggling.
But the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, who at 56-36 are tops in the National League and second-best in MLB behind only the surprising Detroit Tigers, have definitely been scuffling over the past several days.
They were swept at Dodger Stadium over the weekend by the Houston Astros, the second time this season the Dodgers suffered a home, three-game sweep. The Los Angeles Angels pulled it off May 16-18.
The Dodgers did not suffer a sweep in front of the Dodger Stadium faithful at all last year — or the year before that.
The last three-game sweep by a visiting team at the now-legendary Chavez Ravine stadium came from May 12 to May 14 of 2022 when the Philadelphia Phillies — who went on to represent the NL in the World Series that year — won three straight there.
Injury-Torn Pitching Staff Slowing Down Dodgers Run
The Colorado Rockies also beat the Dodgers three straight at home from October 2-4 that season, but that came a part of a highly unusual, season-ending six game series made necessary by the labor lockout at the beginning of the season, so technically not a sweep.
After taking the butt end of the Astros sweep, the Dodgers went on to lose on the road to the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, 9-1, extending their losing streak to four, equaling their longest skid of the season.
What is going on in sunny Southern California?
For the Dodgers, while the problems have been manifold, much of the team’s ordeal can be chalked up to pitching, specifically to injuries on the pitching staff.
As of Monday, the Dodgers’ injured list was bursting with a dozen pitchers, seven of them starters. At least that number was down from 14 just three weeks earlier.
But even as the Dodgers attempt to hold off a season-high five game losing streak, which would equal their longest since April 8-13 of 2019 when they dropped six in a row, manager Dave Roberts made an announcement Monday that could go a long way toward reversing the team’s mound fortunes. (The Dodgers lost five in a row last year from May 21-26.)
$136.5 Million Fireballer to Return Wednesday
Tyler Glasnow, the 31-year-old righty whose fastball averages 95.2 miles per hour but has topped out at 100.2 mph, will be coming off the 60-day injured list on Wednesday to make only his sixth start of the season when he faces the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.
Glasnow has been on the sidelines since April 27 when he went out with right shoulder inflammation.
The Dodgers acquired Glasnow in December, 2023, in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, a deal contingent upon Glasnow signing a contract extension.
He did sign one, for $136.5 million over five years.
The Pittsburgh Pirates 2011 fifth-round draft choice out of William S.
Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California, made 22 starts for the Dodgers in his first year in Los Angeles, but that was a career-high for the injury-prone hurler. He made his final start on August 11, before shutting down due to elbow troubles.
When healthy, which has not been all that often, Glasnow has shown he belongs among the game’s pitching elite. In 2019 he made 12 starts for Tampa Bay and posted a 1.78 ERA.
His ERA in 2021 was 2.66 in 14 starts.
If he can just stay off the injured list for the remainder of the 2025 season, Glasnow’s return would provide a tremendously stabilizing force in the Dodgers’ battered rotation as they make a run at defending their World Series championship.
