Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (84-65) handled business over the weekend, taking two of three in San Francisco to maintain the 2.5 game lead in the West over San Diego. While the usual offensive struggles for Yoshinobu Yamamoto bit the Dodgers in the opener, the Dodgers put up double digits in the other two games entering this vital series to open their final homestand of the season.
The Phillies (89-61) currently lead the Dodgers by 4.5 games for the 2-seed in the NL and the first round bye in October. A Dodger series win or sweep would make that race very interesting for the final 10 games of the season, although Philly has a much softer remaining schedule. After this series, the Dodgers host San Francisco for four before heading to Arizona and Seattle to end the season. Philly heads to Arizona this weekend before returning home for Miami and Minnesota. The Phillies took two of three over the Dodgers for the Dodgers’ first series loss of the season back in April. It was a very close series, as both teams scored 12 runs and the Dodgers lost a pair of one-run games and took the middle game by two. The Phillies have won nine of their last 11 games and are 13-4 since being swept by the Mets in late-August. The did get rolled by the Royals yesterday, as Aaron Nola gave up six runs in a 10-3 loss to snap a six-game winning streak.
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Bader | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | Schwarber (L) | SS | Betts |
| 1B | Harper (L) | RF | Hernández |
| C | Realmuto | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| LF | Marsh (L) | LF | Call |
| 3B | Kemp | 2B | Rojas |
| RF | Kepler (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| SS | Stott (L) | CF | Pages |
| 2B | Wilson | C | Robinson |
| P | Suárez (L) | P | Banda (L) |
The Dodgers roll with an opener tonight, as Anthony Banda will start with Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hitting in the first. After him, Emmet Sheehan is expected to get the ball coming off another very strong start at home against the Rockies. Sheehan allowed a run and three hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts and a walk. It wasn’t quite as good as his previous home start (seven shutout with 10 strikeouts against the Reds), but Sheehan’s making his stake for a prominent role in October. He hasn’t exactly been facing high-powered offenses, so this should be a much better test in what’s essentially a playoff game. Sheehan’s 36.6 percent out of the zone swing rate is the highest among starters with over 50 innings pitched this season and the Phillies 30.3 percent out of the zone swing rate is the third-highest in baseball. No clue what the difference between that and Statcast’s chase rate is (Sheehan’s is 33 percent), but that still could be a good omen entering today. Sheehan’s recorded double-digit whiffs in six of his last seven starts and has had 18 or more in his last three.
The Dodgers face the Phillies’ two Cy Young contenders in this series, starting today with Ranger Suarez. Suarez has a 2.77 ERA/2.96 ERA in 143 innings over 23 starts this season. He missed the first month of the season with back soreness, but has been very consistent since then. He’s completed six or more innings in 17 of his 23 starts and has only allowed more than three runs in a game four times. Suarez had rough back-to-back starts last month (19 hits and 11 runs allowed in 11 2/3 innings against Baltimore and Cincinnati), but has been nails in five starts since. He’s allowed three runs in 30 2/3 over those five starts with 39 strikeouts and six walks. He did have a weird start against Atlanta to end August, allowing 10 hits with only two strikeouts over five innings but somehow only one run. Suarez generally isn’t a huge strikeout guy, topping out at eight strikeouts over his first 18 games but has also turned that on of late. He’s struck out double-digit batters in three of his last five starts after only doing so twice in his previous 111 career starts and is coming off a new career-high 12 strikeouts against the Mets. The Dodgers haven’t seen Suarez since 2023, when he allowed a run and four hits over six innings in a 5-4 Phillies win.
Suarez mostly lives by generating soft contact. His 30.3 percent hard-hit rate is the lowest among starters with 140+ innings pitched (using Statcast’s definition). Fangraphs has Suarez with a 20.6 percent soft-hit rate, the fourth-best in baseball. He essentially throws a five-pitch mix, leading with a sinker (28.3 percent, his 45.9 percent ground ball rate is the 18th-best in baseball). He’s also thrown a change (19.8 percent), cutter (18.3 percent), curve (16.2 percent), four-seamer (14 percent) and has thrown a few sliders to lefties (3.4 percent). Righties have a .668 OPS against Suarez this season, while lefties are only OPSing .495 off him (with only 113 plate appearances against him).
Chuckie Robinson gets his first action with the Dodgers, but he has played in 51 games over two seasons with the Reds and White Sox. He posted a .364 OPS in 136 plate appearances and did hit two homers, but hasn’t exactly been a big bat at all in the Majors or Minors. He has a .694 OPS in 48 games at OKC this season since being acquired back in May. It’s cool for him to get a start, as Dalton Rushing is in LA and is eligible to be activated tomorrow. Alex Call gets the start in left and Max Muncy starts at third. Curiously, Tommy Edman isn’t in the lineup against a lefty.
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Brock Stewart is heading on a rehab assignment and could return this weekend.
Brock Stewart is packing up to meet OKC team in Tacoma for rehab assignment. Expects to pitch Tuesday and Thursday then rejoin #Dodgers.
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 15, 2025
Stewart’s expected to pitch tomorrow and Thursday before returning. It’ll be interesting to see the roster move for Stewart assuming no one gets hurt in the next three days.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
