The defending champion Dodgers just dropped their sixth straight game on Wednesday, falling 7-6 to the Chicago Cubs. This isn’t just a tough patch, folks, they have now been swept in back-to-back series by both the Cubs and the Boston Red Sox, tumbling from the best record in MLB all the way down to the third-best win percentage in the National League.
The “Inevitable” Team Is Suddenly Human
Talk about a plot twist, right? Just last week, the whole conversation was about the Dodgers being absolutely inevitable after they swung that massive trade for two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Headlines screamed. Social media blew up. Everyone thought this team was about to ruin baseball, making a salary cap the only way forward. Instead? They’re sitting at a paltry 10-15 since the Fourth of July. That 14-game division lead they once held could be down to eight by the end of Wednesday, even if that’s still the largest in baseball. Yeah, “crazier things have happened” feels like a serious understatement right now.
Hold Up, This Has Happened Before
Look, before we all jump to “Space Jam’d” conclusions, it’s worth remembering that even the mighty Dodgers have always had their rough patches. This isn’t exactly unprecedented, as wild as it feels. The 2017 Dodgers, who went to the World Series, stumbled through September with a 12-17 record. The 2018 squad had a losing record as late as June 6. And last year’s team? They lost seven straight games in July. Even their back-to-back title winners in 2024 and 2025 had glaring issues, like rotation depth in 2024 and a bullpen collapse in 2025, needing to win back-to-back elimination games at some point. Losses happen in baseball, even to so-called “super-teams,” and they definitely come in bunches. It just so happens this skid is happening when schadenfreude over the Skubal trade is at an all-time high.
When Even Your Aces Can’t Steal a Win
A six-game losing streak for a team running a six-man rotation feels incredibly off, right? Especially when you look at the starting pitchers who took the mound: Edgardo Henriquez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, Tarik Skubal, and Eric Lauer. You’d think they should’ve definitely snagged wins in those Yamamoto and Skubal starts. The problem? They only managed to score a combined three runs in those two games. Three runs! You gotta score more than that, even if it’s baseball and sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way. Maybe they’re pressing, feeling the heat after that Skubal deal.
The defending champs are in a tailspin, even after landing two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. This stretch is a wild ride, proving no team is truly inevitable. Everyone’s watching to see if they can finally break out of it.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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