The Los Angeles Dodgers might be on a 97-win pace right now, a full five wins ahead of their preseason projection of 92, but for some, their approach to the regular season is flat out ruining baseball. Forget the Tarik Skubal trade drama, the real beef is how they are treating the marathon campaign as nothing more than a de facto extended Spring Training.
The ‘Summer Swoon’ Is Real, And It’s Ugly
Man, getting thumped by the so-called “jewelbox teams” is just never fun, right? We’ve all seen those rough patches, but with the Dodgers, it feels different. We’re talking about a team that got walked off on consecutive nights, not just a casual loss, but after they just coughed up a no-hitter on the 26th out! Seriously? That’s not just a bad couple of games, that’s a straight-up “what are we even doing here?” kind of energy. It’s like they’re playing this incredibly bad baseball in these gorgeous stadiums, and you just gotta wonder, shouldn’t there be a law against that? This “summer swoon” vibe isn’t some new fluke either; Eric Stephen has been tracking these Dodgers’ skids for years. Even with the current skid, they’re still on a 97-win pace, which is technically better than the 92 wins predicted, but does it even feel like it?
Why They Just… Don’t Care
Okay, so why does it feel like this? Craig Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus broke it down perfectly last year, and his words are like a gut punch right now. His take? The Dodgers are actually ruining baseball, not with some emotional drama, but by straight-up devaluing winning the division unless you’re a top-two seed. Think about it, the difference between being a third-seed division winner versus a fourth-seed top Wild Card? It’s home-field advantage in the Wild Card round either way. They literally just shrug at it! Remember when they were dropping 111-win seasons, finishing 22 games ahead of everyone else? Back then, they had all the cushion in the world to run whatever “in-season experiments” they wanted, no problem. But now? It’s the same attitude creating a bigger problem. Roberts and the Dodgers seem to just… not care all that much. Obviously, they want to win, you don’t drop that kind of money just for playoff wins; they need to sell tickets and ads all season too. But prioritizing the World Series so aggressively, taking “the longest view available at every possible turn,” means we’re seeing a diluted on-field product. They’re basically sleepwalking through regular season series, even against teams they might face in October. That’s the real issue.
So yeah, while the 97-win pace looks good on paper, it feels like the heart of the regular season, the sheer marathon beauty of it, is getting cheapened. It’s tough to swallow when you’re a fan who lives and dies with every single pitch. You gotta ask, is this how the game is supposed to be played?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by True Blue LA.
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