Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (11-4) shutout the Cubs (9-7) last night, with a fantastic Yoshinobu Yamamoto outing leading the way. Chad recapped the game last night and covered Yamamoto’s excellent outing. It’s a bit early, but if he continues to build upon his great rookie season, it seems Yamamoto has Cy Young Award upside as soon as this year. No Japanese starting pitcher has won the Cy, and there’s a real possibility Yamamoto could be the first. Tonight features another Japanese starting pitcher with Cy Young upside in Roki Sasaki, looking to maintain the form he showed in his last outing against the Phillies. Ben Brown counters for the Cubs, looking for his first solid outing of 2025.
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| 6:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Happ (S) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| RF | Tucker (L) | SS | Betts |
| DH | Suzuki | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Busch (L) | RF | T. Hernández |
| SS | Swanson | LF | Conforto (L) |
| 3B | Turner | 2B | Edman (S) |
| 2B | Hoerner | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| CF | Crow-Armstrong (L) | CF | Pages |
| C | Kelly | C | Barnes |
| P | Brown (R) | P | Yamamoto (R) |
The Dodgers won each of the Tokyo games by three runs, and despite that the Cubs currently have the highest run differential in baseball at +23. They’ve scored more runs than any other team (96 in 15 games, although the Yankees’ 82 runs in 12 games is a higher runs/game).
Chicago was averaging 6.4 runs per game, with the fifth ranking wRC+ at 122 heading into yesterday, and that shutout by Yamamoto and Co. showcased their weakness in 2025 — the Dodgers. The Cubs have scored four runs against the Dodgers in three games while going 0-3, and are 9-4 against other teams averaging nearly 7.1 runs per game.
Here’s how the two offenses compare:
The Cubs have had success on the offensive end predominantly from their newly acquired superstar, Kyle Tucker, with an OPS of 1.108 and a 206 wRC+. Seiya Suzuki has been great this year, with a .302/.400/.556 slash line, forming a dangerous top two thus far. Similar to the Dodgers’ offensive “issues” so far, they’ve stemmed from a couple slow starts as well as poor performances by players they count on. Ian Happ has started the year with a .564 OPS, while one of the most prominent rookies, Matt Shaw, has also struggled with a .540 OPS to begin his career. Pete Crow-Armstrong isn’t expected to have a big bat as his value will come from his defense and baserunning, but he’ll need to improve upon his .523 OPS and 57 wRC+. Old friend Michael Busch is having a solid year, with a .762 OPS and 124 wRC+ after very similar numbers last season. Carson Kelly will start today in place of Miguel Amaya behind home plate, as they appear to be splitting time equally at catcher. Kelly has a 1.262 OPS this year in 30 plate appearances, and if he maintains even 70% of that production he’ll be the clear starter. Shaw will have the day off in place of Dodger legend, Justin Turner, who has just a .570 OPS this year.
Tommy Edman hit his sixth home run of the season last night, tying him for the league-lead. His previous career high is 13, so it’s uh….very likely that he surpasses that total. He has 12 in 52 regular season games with the Dodgers, which catapults him into clear All-Star status. His three OAA (Outs Above Average) lead all position players, excluding the elite shortstops (Masyn Winn, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Correa). Miguel Rojas had two hits last night, a nice surprise as the team still looks for increased production from the bottom of the lineup. Austin Barnes will be catching Sasaki again, which might be noteworthy as Sasaki credited him for ensuring he was ready for that start against the Phillies. Barnes is still looking to reach base for the first time this year.
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Here’s how Sasaki and Brown have fared:
It’s rare to see two starters with WHIP’s over 2.0, showcasing serious command issues for both this year. Both possess great stuff with the ability to dominate opposing hitters, but have been their own worst enemies. Sasaki had two poor outings to start his year, but bounced back in a big way on the road against the Phillies, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts over four innings.
The four-seam fastball continued to underwhelm by a stuff perspective, but the command was much improved, with 27 of his 35 fastballs resulting in strikes. Once he’s ahead, the splitter becomes a real weapon, as the key for him in that outing was getting ahead in the count. It wasn’t perfect but it was a huge improvement from his first two outings. A single by Bryson Stott dropped in front of Teoscar Hernández that effectively knocked Sasaki out of the game, although the single had a 95% catch probability according to Statcast. Sasaki was at just 68 pitches, but Dave Roberts (rightfully so) decided that he wanted Sasaki to end his outing on a high note before the outing potentially went south.
Brown allowed five runs on seven hits and four walks over four innings in a very disappointing outing against the Padres his last time out. He needed 35 pitches to get through the first inning before settling in a bit. He has a .429 BABIP against him thus far and could really use a break and pitch against a slightly less potent offense, but he’ll have to get through the Dodgers once again who saw him well last time out in Japan. He garnered plenty of whiffs and five strikeouts in just 2.2 innings in that outing, but also allowed two runs on three walks and four hits.
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Hyeseong Kim has an .854 OPS in Triple-A this season while getting some playing time all around the field including in center, as he looks to factor into the roster at some point in the relatively near future.
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Good to see Ohtani is carrying on with his throwing progression. Still yet to throw breaking balls apparently, but still.
Positive updates on all of Clayton Kershaw, Evan Phillips, and Michael Kopech.
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Looks very likely that the Dodgers call upon Bobby Miller next week for his season debut.
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First pitch is at 6:10 PT on SNLA.
