Dave Roberts envisioned a season predicated on a dominant starting rotation, but he just can’t imagine the position his team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is in now. The Dodgers find themselves in choppy waters fighting to stay above,  with many notable players on the injured list unexpectedly. They’ve been hit pretty hard, losing 5–1 to the Phillies on Thursday and dropping all three games in the series against the team with Major League Baseball’s best record.

This was a rough series for the Dodgers, who were outscored 19–5. Geographically speaking, Phillies hitters went 22-for-48 (.458) against Dodgers starting pitchers, while the Dodgers went 12-for-64 (.188) against Philadelphia’s starters. The Phillies hit seven home runs to only two for the Dodgers—one of them solo by Gavin Lux Thursday. On that note, Freddie Freeman and Dave Roberts expressed their feelings about what the situation is of their team at this moment. Let’s figure out what they have to convey.

Dodger’s situation so far

The LA Dodgers have been decimated with injuries. Of the 15 who started on Opening Day, six are now sitting on the injured list, including 2024 All-Stars Tyler Glasnow and Mookie Betts, and former All-Stars Max Muncy and Jason Heyward. Add to that others who were stars—like Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler, also on the verge of being out. “We don’t have much margin for error, I hate to say you got to play perfect baseball to win, but it’s seeming like that,”  said manager Dave Roberts.

The rotation has been hit hard, with Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto going to the injured list, in addition to Miller, who was optioned to the Minor Leagues on Wednesday. With a rotation fully stacked with talent, the Dodgers opened the season full of confidence, but a cruel twist of fate has thrown their plans in disarray. “We are injured. We have a lot of guys missing. But no one really cares about that, nor does this group in here, This is who we got. We want to go out there and try to win every ballgame. We just didn’t play very good this series. We’ve got three games left to end on a positive note,” said All-Star Freddie Freeman.

Now, the Dodgers have lost four in a row and are 4–8 in the last 12. They held a 7 ½ game lead in the National League West to a mere seven games with a 55–39 record. Furthermore, drawing comparisons between the Dodgers and Phillies, Dave Rogers is also highlighting the concerns which can be addressed for gradual growth. But will the LA Dodgers get over this slump?

Dave Roberts outlines Dodgers troubles as Phillies dominate the Game

LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t mince words after the team lost three games in a series with the current best NL outfit Philadelphia Phillies, saying this served them with a wake-up call before they meet again. “They’re clearly playing a lot better baseball than we are. They’re clearly a better team than we are right now, We really didn’t do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits — all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed.” : Roberts said.

The serious wounds for the Dodgers offense have only been outlined the most by their 5-1 final loss on Thursday. They have played without Mookie Betts since June 16 because of his fractured left hand. Even Max Muncy, after he strained his right oblique on May 15th, hasn’t played a game. The Dodgers are in a tailspin, losing three of their last 10. Now, the journey to find its second-half footing is next. That begins Friday in Detroit, where it will start a three-game series and close the first half of the season.

It won’t be an easy challenge in Detroit All-Star Tarik Skubal stands top three in American League ERA at 2.37, WHIP at 0.90, and opponents’ batting average at .195. The Dodgers, scrapping their way through this rough patch, are squarely focused on tugging their team through the adversity so that they finish this first half strongly.