If you have watched some uninspiring Dodgers baseball this summer, you have likely had a singular thought during the team\u2019s recent .500 stretch, or thereabouts, as of September 5:<\/p>\n
Wait, the Dodgers spent how much for this offense to be this bad?!? Didn\u2019t we just go through this lull last year?<\/p>\n
While one always has to resist the urge to put on airs, it\u2019s always a bit of an ego check to effectively get confirmation that Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser are unfamiliar with my work.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not complaining. A throwaway line in a broadcast three seasons ago has led to quite a bit of unexpected copy.<\/p>\n
After all, I have spent three seasons on the Jack in the Box beat with little fanfare, especially now that there\u2019s a website that does what I was doing in my spare time for me<\/a>. Naturally, this season will be the last one in which I keep daily track of the free gastronomical happenings caused by Dodger baseball.<\/p>\n Do a bit, they said. It\u2019ll be fun, they said.<\/p>\n The lead broadcaster duo recently discussed their confusion over the team\u2019s seemingly annual summer dip during the series against the Detroit Tigers. Those who are regulars at True Blue LA know that we have extensively covered the now-annual dip into mediocrity.<\/p>\n SportsNetLA broadcast, August 28, 2026, top of the third inning with Shohei Ohtani batting:<\/p>\n Joe Davis: \u201cIt\u2019s crazy how similiar it is to last year, the slump that the Dodgers have. It started at almost the same exact time in early July \u2026 lasted about two months last year.\u201d<\/p>\n \/Ohtani grounds into a 4-6-3 double play<\/p>\n Davis: \u201cAnother double play. That\u2019s been one of the mystifying things in this stretch and really all year. Even though they don\u2019t have an exceptionally high ground ball rate. They hit into way more double plays than anybody. Part of that as you have touched on is that is they have more guys on in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n Orel Hershiser: \u201cIt\u2019s a headshaker. Especially from power hitters that usually hit the ball in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n \/after Freddie Freeman walks, while Mookie Betts is up to bat, after Davis and Hershiser discuss the Chris Sale game to close out the Atlanta series<\/p>\n Davis: \u201cNo runs their last 14 innings.\u201d<\/p>\n Hershiser: \u201cYou would think with [Tarik] Skubal coming back here, the offense would want to get him some runs early to get the nerves off of Skubal. I really think the offense wants to get going to get the nerves off themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Davis: \u201cSometimes that wanting and that trying becomes the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n Quibbles aside, apart from Joe Davis insisting that nine batters batting in an inning is batting around, which requires ten batters, i.e., the person who led off the inning is now back up to bat. To their credit, Davis and Hershiser eventually noted that, apart from the Wild Card Series last year, the Dodgers\u2019 offense was largely absent during the postseason tournament.<\/p>\n Yes, there were moments of individual glory, but let us not forget that the Dodgers had the lowest team batting average of any eventual World Series champion since 1966 (Baltimore, .200), hitting .203 while the Blue Jays collectively hit .269.<\/p>\n Just about every break, miscue, and happening had to break the Dodgers\u2019 way to prevail in seven games.<\/p>\n As an aside, do you know who reads my work and actually references it, even without citation? Stephen Nelson.<\/p>\n What can I say? The customer is always right in matters of taste.<\/p>\n The Superteam that wasn\u2019t<\/p>\n Chad Moriyama of Dodgers Digest<\/a> has an excellent breakdown of the answer to \u201care the Dodgers that bad offensively?\u201d, which is a resounding \u201cyes, the Dodgers are even worse than you remembered in July and August.\u201d The wheels figuratively fell off when Will Smith went down with an injury, as the supposed superteam became super mortal in a hurry.<\/p>\n Thankfully, Smith has finally returned. And almost, as if on cue, the offense is showing signs of life against the Nationals.<\/p>\n Unlike Reggie Jackson of the New York Yankees in the late 1970s (allegedly?), Will Smith would never describe himself as the straw that stirs the drink. He\u2019s just that taciturn and can\u2019t tell a joke to save his life, which is a problem I can relate to.<\/p>\n See \u2014 absolutely terrible. There was a crime, and it was against comedy.<\/p>\n Smith and Shohei Ohtani were the only Dodgers to hit with any regularity in last year\u2019s Fall Classic, so it was not a shock that the Dodgers offense sputtered when Dalton Rushing, Chuckie Robinson, and Eli\u00e9zer Alfonzo had to pick up the slack. At the trade deadline, the lack of punch led to reunions with Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt. Rortvedt has since been designated for assignment, yet again, but actually cleared waivers this time.<\/p>\n If at first you don\u2019t succeed, keep trying until your man gets to Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n In my view, the Dodgers are one of the biggest disappointments this season. Granted, one can disappoint and still succeed. Unlike the absolute train wrecks in Queens or Seattle, the season-long hangover in Toronto, or the clinic in how to alienate a fanbase in San Francisco, I compare the Dodgers to an underachieving A-student:<\/p>\n [The team was] billed as the second coming of the 1992 NBA Dream Team, which I didn\u2019t buy for a minute; [and it\u2019s] been less than the sum of the considerable parts.<\/p>\n If they end up pulling off the 3peat – great, I\u2019ll zip it; but as built and as on the field, feels like an older, warmed over version of last year\u2019s flawed championship model.<\/p>\n As someone who was an underachieving A-student for most of his life, it took a lot of humbling and therapy to realize that I was coasting in life on talent, not work ethic, and doing just enough to excel in less-than-optimal surroundings. Eventually, the crash between what is required and what you have been doing comes like a thunderclap.<\/p>\n To succeed in life, outside of nepotism, regardless of talent, you have to put in the effort, and 90% of that effort is just showing up and being attentive.<\/p>\n