The Los Angeles Dodgers began 2025 chasing history, aiming to become baseball’s first repeat champions in 25 years. Yet as the summer has worn on, the pursuit has been dogged by a recurring theme: stretches of lifeless offense that have turned comfortable leads in the NL West into uncomfortable dogfights.
The San Diego Padres have already overtaken Los Angeles once this month, a jolt that manager Dave Roberts insists was more blessing than curse.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Offensive Malaise Leaves Roberts Searching for Urgency And Focus
Vote For Your Favorite Dodgers Duo: Ohtani – Yamamoto, Betts – Freeman, Hernandez – Hernandez
“I just think we didn’t, we haven’t—I just don’t think we’ve put in the focus,” Roberts admitted earlier this week. “To be quite honest, I just don’t think we had the urgency or focus that we needed to have. That’s just the bottom line—because when the standings started to get interesting then our guys certainly have ramped up their quality of at-bat. The offensive performance has ticked up.
“It’s not something I like saying. But I just don’t see any other reason—given the talent we have—why we have been a bottom-five offense for two months. For our talent, that’s just inexcusable.”
Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman didn’t dispute the assessment. While careful to note how close Roberts is to the daily grind, Friedman echoed the idea that urgency has been missing.
“Obviously, [Roberts is] closer to it,” Friedman said. “I think any time you’re not hitting, it’s going to look like there’s a lack of urgency. Sometimes there’s some truth to that. But there is no doubt that for a six-, seven-, eight-week period we were underperforming our offensive talent.”
Missing Pieces, Missed Chances
The Dodgers’ lineup card hasn’t been anywhere near full strength. Injuries to All-Star third baseman Max Muncy, utility man Tommy Edman, and infielder Hyeseong Kim have forced constant shuffling. Even so, Roberts has been blunt in saying that injuries alone can’t explain away a two-month skid that ranked the offense among the league’s worst.
That inconsistency came into sharp focus again this weekend. After a narrow escape in San Diego last week, the Dodgers again found themselves teetering on the edge of a sweep—this time at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. A 3–0 shutout win in Friday’s opener gave way to a 6–1 drubbing on Saturday, leaving Roberts visibly frustrated with the effort.
“I mean, it’s right there; it’s a great opportunity that we have and you got to embrace it,” Roberts said after Saturday’s loss. “It just seems like the last couple nights, at some points, it was an unrecognizable ball club. So, we still had a lot of talent. We’re still in a decent spot but we’ve got to play. We’ve got to play better. We do.”
The Dodgers’ Spiral of Complacency
Roberts’ recurring theme is urgency—or the lack of it. The manager admitted that while he saw flashes of desperation earlier this month, that fire has not carried into the Dodgers’ current homestand.
“I think it’s just I know that last Sunday we talked about urgency and we saw it for a handful of games. I just think the last couple of nights they were kind of fighting till the end, like it was the last game. We’re not seeing that. We’re just not,” Roberts conceded.
The results are glaring. Over the first two games against Arizona, Los Angeles managed only a single run—a bloop RBI from Mookie Betts that finally ended a 15-inning scoreless drought.
Tyler Glasnow deserved better. The right-hander retired the first ten batters he faced, carried a no-hitter into the sixth, and left after six scoreless frames. But without support behind him, his work unraveled once the bullpen took over.
“Ildemaro Vargas, their nine-hole hitter, breaks up the no-hitter with a dribbler, and Tyler keeps grinding. That’s what we ask from our starters,” Roberts noted. “But if we’re not scoring, it’s tough to sustain.”
The Dodgers Are Beating Themselves
The frustrating part for Los Angeles isn’t just being beaten—it’s how often they’ve beaten themselves. Andy Pages opened the second inning Saturday with a single, but Alex Call and Kiké Hernández stranded him. In the third, Will Smith came up empty after a promising two-out walk. By the fourth, Freddie Freeman doubled to tie Tony Gwynn on the all-time list, only to be left standing at first after another squandered chance.
“We’re just not capitalizing,” Roberts said. “That’s what makes it so hard to swallow, because we know what we have in that room.”
For now, the Dodgers remain within striking distance in the division, their October hopes very much intact. But as Roberts and Friedman have made clear, the difference between another deep playoff run and a short one may come down less to who gets healthy than whether the club can rediscover its urgency before it’s too late.