September 5th, 2023 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka There is zero doubt that losing three of four to the Atlanta Braves, the best team in all of baseball, and losing a key member of their starting rotation has left Dodgers manager Dave Roberts‘ team in a quandary. But with only 26 games remaining in the 2023 regular season and despite having a 14-game lead in the National League West and a ‘Magic Number’ of 12, the Dodgers cannot brood about it.
Instead, they must – absolutely must – keep their foot on the gas and get back on track if they have any hopes of getting past Braves manager Brian Snitker‘s team in the postseason – period.
A bit dramatic, you say? Absolutely. But them’s the facts, ma’am.
Not only was losing three of four to their (very) likely postseason opponent a harsh reality check for the Dodgers, it absolutely positively highlighted their glaring weaknesses – stranding 32 men on base and going an unacceptable 5-for-34 (.147) with runners in scoring position.
In contrast, the Braves left only 20 men on base and went a far more appropriate 10-for-26 (.385) with runners in scoring position over the four games – exactly what you would expect from a first-place team.
(MLB.com)
The silver lining to this otherwise dark cloud is that Dodgers infielder/outfielder and future Hall of Famer Mookie Betts went 5-for-15 (.333) with two home runs and five RBIs in the series.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers other future Hall of Famer, first baseman Freddie Freeman, went an un-Freeman-like 3-for-17 (.176) with five strikeouts in the four-game series, and as we have all come to learn, so go Betts and Freeman, so go the Dodgers.
Time to wake up, boys … and FAST.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
If there going to have a wake up call, nows a good time and I think they should relax a little more ,because we all no you want to get hot at the end of September, our manager does a great job of managing and doesnt get enough credit,Robert’s gets no
Love and every year he gets them to the race, when the playoffs start the players make the difference on who gets hot or not and a few breaks can allways help, and team and attitude in the dugout is key ,,the dodgers have a great winning culture
But no team can tell you how the ball will bounce in the end of the season ,,,I’m proud to be a dodger
Fan , there great but there not God
And they dont cheat they develop and dominate, they are the gold standard
Walker Buehler made his return to the mound in a game for the first time in almost 15 months.
He’s tossed two perfect innings for Triple-A OKC:
2.0 IP
0 ER
0 H
2 K
0 BB
24-15 pc
4-seam avg. 94.4 mph topping out at 96.1 mph
Terrific rehab start — and followed by an exceptional six innings from Gavin Stone (1H, 1BB, 7Ks, 0R)
Dodgers braves (assuming it happens) should be a classic. Hopefully all hands are on deck. Especially Kershaw. And a healthy buehler would be huge. How the braves have established themselves as a dynasty makes the comeback against them in nlcs en route to 2020 title all the more impressive
Go blue!!!
Begs the question, who is the better baseball operations executive for constructing a world championship roster — Friedman or Anthopoulos?