Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (66-49) played another sloppy game on Wednesday, as more late errors led to a 5-3 Cardinal win and a series loss for LA. The Dodgers now find themselves only two games up on the Padres in the West, their smallest lead in the division since June 15. The two teams face each other in each of the next two weekends, so surely those will be stress-free games that people won’t overreact to.
First, the Dodgers welcome an even tougher opponent to LA. The Blue Jays (68-48) have the second-best record in baseball despite entering May with a 14-16 record. They’ve gone 54-32 since then and are coming off a historic three-game sweep in Colorado. Their worst offensive showing of the series came on Tuesday, when they only put up 10 runs and 14 hits. They scored 45 runs in the three-game set and their 63 hits in the series is the most in a three-game series in the Modern Era. Eight of those runs did come against Austin Nola, who I was surprised to learn was still in the league. (remember when the Padres traded Andres Munoz for him). Even with the Coors and Rockies’ pitching factors, the Jays are coming in hot against a team that’s averaged 4.2 runs per game since the All-Star Break. The Dodgers took two of three in Toronto last April, winning the first two games before losing the finale.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Schneider | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| 2B | Clement | SS | Betts |
| 1B | Guerrero Jr. | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| SS | Bichette | C | Smith |
| C | Kirk | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| 3B | Barger (L) | RF | T. Hernández |
| DH | France | LF | Conforto (L) |
| CF | Varsho (L) | CF | Pages |
| RF | Straw | 2B | Freeland (S) |
| P | Scherzer (R) | P | Kershaw (L) |
The fans that paid a shit ton of money for the Kobe bobblehead get the added bonus of a legendary pitching matchup. Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer square off for the fifth (and potentially final?) time. Cary Osborne wrote about the first matchup of pitchers with 3,000+ strikeouts in Dodger Stadium history, so check that out and come back here.
Kershaw’s coming off one of his best starts of the season in Tampa last weekend. He tossed six shutout innings and allowed five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. He did work himself out of trouble a couple times. The first two batters of the second inning singled, but Kershaw got a flyout, groundout and strikeout to strand them. He also got in some trouble in the sixth after an error allowed a one-out baserunner. Kershaw then threw a wild pitch and allowed a single, but was able to strand the runner to complete six shutout. It lowered Kershaw’s ERA on the season to 3.29 and somehow he has the fourth-most innings pitched for the Dodgers this season (third most if you exclude Dustin May). Kershaw hasn’t faced the Blue Jays since 2019 and turned in a fine start overall against them, allowing three runs over six innings. However, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. combined to go 3-for-4 with two homers (both by Bichette) and two walks (both by Vladito) in that game.
Scherzer makes the ninth start of the 18th season of his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career tonight. He’s been mostly OK this season with a 4.36 ERA in 41 innings. His first start back in March was rough, as he allowed two runs in three innings before leaving the game and missing nearly three months with a thumb issue. In the six starts after he returned, Scherzer allowed between two and four runs in each game and went five or more innings in all but one of those starts. He ended July with a strong start in Detroit, allowing three runs in seven innings and recording the most strikeouts he’s had since August 2023 (11). Last time out, Scherzer allowed one run over six strong innings against the Royals. Scherzer has been a bit homer-prone with nine allowed in his eight starts, but has struck out 44 batters with only eight walks so far this season. This will be his 19th time facing the Dodgers and he has a 2.34 career ERA and .609 OPS allowed over 103 2/3 innings. He’s been good at Dodger Stadium (including his brief stint with the Dodgers), with a 2.54 ERA and .602 OPS allowed in 15 starts. Freddie Freeman (3), Michael Conforto (4), Max Muncy (1) and Miguel Rojas (1) have each taken Scherzer deep in the past, but Shohei Ohtani is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in his career.
Scherzer’s 4.9 percent walk rate is the 15th-best among starters with >40 innings pitched this season. His batted balls have also been much different from his career norms. He’s allowing a fly-ball rate above 50 percent for the first time in his 18-year career and his 24.8 percent ground ball rate is not only the lowest of his career, but is the lowest among starters with >40 innings pitched. There hasn’t been anything blatantly obvious in his pitch usage, so maybe chalk that up to small sample size. He’s thrown a four-seamer (46.6 percent of the time), slider (25 percent), change (13.6 percent) and curve (13 percent) and has thrown 11 cutters this season, 10 of which came against lefties. The slider and change are both above a 30 percent whiff rate, but his 18.6 percent whiff rate on his fastball is his lowest since 2011.
A pretty standard lineup for the Dodgers with Alex Freeland getting another start at second. Dodger fans miss out on a chance to boo George Springer, who’s on the concussion IL and still hasn’t been cleared to get in a rehab game at AAA.
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A surprising roster move broke late Wednesday and was confirmed by the team today. Justin Dean is up from OKC for the first time in seven Minor League seasons. Esteury Ruiz was optioned to OKC, and the recently-signed Luke Baker was designated for assignment.
Esteury Ruiz was optioned for Justin Dean, who would make his MLB debut whenever he gets into a game.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) August 8, 2025
Luken Baker (claimed on Monday) was DFA'd.
Dean turned some heads (I think, I remember being impressed at least) with some strong defense during Spring Training. He’s been pretty solid at OKC with a .796 OPS in 311 plate appearances with 25 steals. Like Ruiz, Dean’s speed is his calling card with 237 steals and 54 caught stealing in his seven Minor League seasons. He may not be as fast as Ruiz, but he’s much better be better defensively and can play all three outfield positions. Ruiz brought some nice speed to the team, but didn’t pass the eye test in left and struggled at the plate. This move also gets Ruiz back to getting regular at bats after he looked very strong at the plate with regular playing time in OKC. Baker was claimed off St. Louis’ waivers on Monday and played one game for OKC before getting DFA’d.
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A bunch of injury updates today, starting with the bullpen and Tommy Edman.
Michael Kopech, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates are all tracking to be back later this month. Kopech can’t return from the IL until August 27 and Yates figures to be the closest to returning. Edman won’t return until he’s past his ankle issues which will probably keep him out until September.
Roki Sasaki also threw his live BP today.
Roki Sasaki gets started with what is scheduled to be three innings of live BP today pic.twitter.com/OlMODg2FYf
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) August 8, 2025
Sasaki threw 46 pitches and was sitting 96-97 with his fastball after averaging around 95 in his final two starts before hitting the IL. He struck out three and gave up a single, and his next step is TBD. He could throw another live BP or he could begin a rehab assignment as they’re still hoping to get him more comfortable with his mechanics.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
