Dodgers Territory - How Did the Dodgers Stack Up in April? It's Grades Season!

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

Alanna Rizzo, Katie Woo, and Clint Pasillas recap a rough series for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The offense has been struggling over most of the last week-plus (1:19). What is going on with this vaunted LA lineup? The hosts share their thoughts. (18:27) We're through the first month of the 2026 season. How would you grade the Dodgers so far? Alanna, Katie, and Clint give their month one grades. (40:19) And a look ahead to the series with the Cardinals. 🌶️ To explore coverage, visit aspcapetinsurance.com/FOUL. The ASPCA® is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance. Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.com Support Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.org Find Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgers Follow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/  Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTubeRate and review our podcast on Apple and SpotifySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side, a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TWO.% on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcasts. The offense is not going to hit like this forever. It's concerning because of the lack of production and because it's against the Marlins.

You and everybody and welcome to a brand new edition of Dodgers territory. I'm Alana Rizzo. That is Katie Wu and Clint Paseas. Katie Wu is already in her old stomping grounds of the Lou. Thank God she is on our side. Thank you guys for being here. We appreciate it very much. Look at Clint's mug.

It must have been. Oh, man. We're not so great. Wow. Wow. I realize afterwards, so I haven't had time. All of the things. I'm happy that you guys are here.

I don't know what Clint's problem is, but rate is five stars, like, subscribe. We appreciate it anywhere that you get your podcast as we try to make our way to 20,000 subs. We are over the 16,000 mark, so I appreciate that very much. All right, guys, lots to talk about on this Thursday. So let's get into the big ticket now that Katie's back. All right, you were there. Where did she?

I push. the button, but things happen. You did take your mug and swig whatever's in there. You need some more. You need some more. Katie, your insight on losing two of three to Miami. Yeah, not what you want.

I think this was the first time where I think the Dodgers could have been like all season long. You give them the benefit of it out because they are the back-to-back champions. Can you see this outrageous wall behind me? This is so St. Louis. I like it. But I think like my short takeaways, the offense is not going to hit like this forever.

It's concerning because of the lack of production and because it's against the Marlins. So they played much better baseball in April. I don't want to discredit their kind of scrappy baseball that they're playing. But the Dodgers need to take care of business against these kinds of teams, especially at home. There was virtually no offense from the top of the order of runners in scoring position continues to be a problem. We're seeing better flashes of Show Hay and Kyle Tucker at the plate. but Freddie Freeman's got to get it going to Oscar Hernandez tapering off. Max Muncie doing a nice job collectively, just not with runners in scoring position.

Andy Paw has tapering off. All in all, just like a really lackluster offensive performance, specifically from the top of the order with Dave Roberts lamenting both some mechanical changes that guys are going through collectively and also the team-wide approach not being there. And we saw that with three very winnable games against the Marlins, two, did not go their way. Oh, yeah. Sorry, I missed. I missed the cue there on that one, Alana.

That's on me. But, yeah, more on that from Doc there, Katie, because usually you don't see Dave be so open and honest, I guess, we'll say, when it comes to the Dodgers struggling. But, yeah, the offense hasn't been good. The approach hasn't been good. I complained about it yesterday with Alana a whole bunch in the post game. It's just, it's not, they're always going to, you know, swing for the long ball.

That's what this team does. And usually it works right now. Now the approach just seems a little bit off. Where do you think things are at with Dave and this in this clubhouse? Well, the clubhouse, more so the team and the approach. Just a reality check. It's just a, hey, what I respect about this Dodgers team is no one needs to hold them accountable. They know.

They're going to take the off day here. It's actually an unorthodox, a gorgeous day in St. Louis, Missouri. And they're going to come back against a scrappy Cardinals team also. That's, I think, is performed or outperformed expectations. And I think they're going to take care of business. They can go out the clubhouse and everyone's going to say, yeah, we're not. doing our job offensively and thank goodness that the starting pitching has been phenomenal. Otherwise, we're looking at it maybe a much different record. But I think Freddie Freeman

summed it up well, just like not there. They just need a day. They're going to come in refreshed. And I understand the fan perspective, especially looking at the slump woes going back to 2025. You wonder if that's a carryover into this season. I don't think we're there yet. I think just some guys collectively have not really been able to get off to a good start. And when you have your big free agent acquisition slumping to start the season, when you have Marty Freeman starting slow. Tay Oscar, same thing. And Shohei just now starting to get right.

That's the majority of your power in your lineup. So it makes sense that these runners in scoring position situations are not panning out as expected. I'm not blowing the panic horn yet. I'm just going to give them a day, see how they get right again St. Louis and Houston, two pitching staffs that have not seen a ton of success lately. And, you know, maybe in a week we're having a much different conversation. Yeah, I think we can almost guarantee we're going to be having a different conversation one week from today. Riz, we were expecting a lot out of Freddie.

We talked about him yesterday. He struggled. Obviously, we're starting to see Kyle Tucker kind of tiptoe his way towards getting right. To Oscar Hernandez, also a massive disappointment. Somebody we're probably going to talk about in the next segment when we grade the team so far this season. But yeah, kind of what do you think is going on with those dudes? Because we anticipated them coming out of spring training to be hot. They are not.

They're not. And you know, it's not just one guy, as you just eloquently mentioned their clan. I'm pulling up the Dodgers roster right now. And it's like you look at the guys up and down this lineup that just aren't doing much. And we had said that we wanted Teoska Hernandez to have a bounce back type of season, right? We needed him to have a 2024 type of season more than the 2025 type of season. Now he's hitting just 235 right now. I mean, four home runs, okay, whatever, but at 98 at bats, I mean, you need more production,

obviously from Teasper Hernandez. And I thought perhaps that he would be able to focus more on that because he's playing a bit of an easier outfield spot, obviously having him moved over to left field with the addition of Kyle Tucker. You mentioned Kyle Tucker, obviously kind of tiptoeing his way there. We haven't quite yet had the Kyle Tucker moment. I realize he had the walk off the other day. I understand that. But we haven't necessarily had that Kyle Tucker moment yet that kind of solidified, like, welcome to the Dodgers type of season. I know, I know it's strange for me to say that because of the walkoff, but I just don't feel that he's completely there yet, right?

I don't feel like he's completely not one of them. That's not fair because I'm not trying to say that he's not assimilating himself to the team. I just kind of feel like it's taken a bit longer for me to feel like Kyle Tucker is like woven into the fabric that is the Los Angeles Dodgers. So we need him to be doing better. We also obviously need Shohei and Freddie to be doing better. As Katie mentioned, that's the heart of the top of the order in terms of that heart of your production, the heart of your offense. And you looked at Kyle Tucker there at 205. You look at Taasca Hernandez at 235 or whatever I just said.

You know, Freddie was very verbal and adamant that he really struggled with not hitting 300 last season. And that he wanted to that really bothered him and irked him, if you will. None of these guys are even close. And Shohei has really struggled offensively. And there are signs of him obviously coming back around. Like he's starting to warm up. I think he was even John Hartung's pick to click yesterday as far as the player that he thought was going to be doing. but 167 with runner and runners in scoring position for Shohei.

I mean, that's, that's, that's crazy to see. But again, like I said yesterday, it's all kind of happening at the same time with these guys. So it's magnified. But perhaps they write their ship against these next two teams. Honestly, Alana, I think what you said about Kyle Tucker is worth noting. I felt the same way. I felt like that was his first like, okay, I'm a Dodger moment. But it felt like a sigh of relief, not a moment of celebration.

because I think Kyle Tucker was pressing so much. And it's understandable. I think it's very common. Dave Roberts has said as such to when you are coming to a new organization, especially when you're under such heavy contractual obligations, such as Kyle, Kyle Tucker's four year $260 million deal, you want to perform for your new team. And I think him hitting the walk off on Monday's game against the Marlins was a like,

I can relax. I finally did something I was supposed to do rather than, hey, I just won the ball game for my new club. So I do think we're seeing better signs of Kyle Tucker. I think the quality of the bats are better, and that correlates almost instantaneously with him moving down in the order. And I think he also has been pretty candid

and like, yes, I feel the quality of the bats are better, but it's hard to trust that when the results aren't following through on the box score. I think that's very valid. But I think there's a turnaround there. I do agree, though. It's not like he's as big like I'm a Dodger. I think the walk off was I finally did something

that a Dodger is supposed to do. And the Dodger need to do much more of that. Just going through runners and scoring position. Show Hey, like we said, 167. Max Muncie probably been the most consistent hitter, but he's still hitting 182 with runners in square position. Tucker barely over 200 and Freddie at 276,

but as Clint notes, it doesn't really feel like it. So the Dodgers, long story short, then they know this, need to be better collectively, situational hitting, and just overall better quality of abats

and hopefully for them this series, they can do that. And what's always funny about this team, and we're sitting here, I don't know if we're complaining about a team, of this team, but, you know, we're voicing some concerns, and those concerns, again, will continue. I'll keep teasing forward

to the next segment, but we're talking about a team that is 20 and 11. They are a very good baseball team. They're near the top, and this is something Dave addressed yesterday, near the top of just about every offensive category in baseball. It's just right now. I mean, a lot of it is building up the

goodwill at the start of the season, but right now, the last week and change, maybe week to 10 days, it has not been, it's not necessarily been a bad brand of baseball. It's just they're missing that key ingredient, you know. They made a roast and forgot to salt it or season it or something like that. It doesn't taste good what we're watching right now. We need, you know, like grandma to get in there.

We need abuelita to get in there, season it a little bit more, get white grandma out of the kitchen with no salt, no seasoning. That's right. Why not? It's one of those days. Jesus Christ. poor white grandma. She probably doesn't flavor it well. There is a good question in here.

And Katie, I'm going to defer to you on this because I no longer travel like I used to, obviously. Jetty Sparky asks $5 super chat. We appreciate you very much, Jetty Sparky. Does 13 games in a row have an effect on this team? Is that fair? And I personally say it's a long effing season and it's a long, long time. But 13 games in a row is a lot. So perhaps my question to you, Katie, Wu, is did this off day come at the right time?

Yeah, absolutely. Anything more than 10 feels like a little bit of a stretch, 13, especially when this team had been accustomed to six days on, one day off. It's going to feel like a little bit of a grind. And this was their first schedule grind of the season. So I think what Friday Freeman was saying post game after Wednesday's loss, like we just did 13 in a row. We need the off day. That's totally valid. It does wear on guys, maybe not as much as it does in the middle of the season. But the first stretch without any off days also is kind of a reality check for everybody involved. And I know. So like the common sentiment is, okay, they're baseball players, like they're playing, you know, they go to work for four or five hours out of the day. That is not true. These guys are showing up at the ballpark for a 715 game at like 1231 p.m. They're doing their early work. Trust me, I see them on the field at 1.30, six hours before first pitch, taking early swings, early BP, early infields. They have all their meetings throughout the day. They're lifting, they're working out. Like these are long extensive days plus the travel. I'm not, again, not pressing the panic button here. I think the off day, especially on the road where they can sleep in, relax, maybe go to a

nice dinner, and then reset for this next road trip, I think that will do wonders to just give everybody a day off. Yeah. And I had said this yesterday as well, but first I got a slam riz. Jedi. It's Jedi. Not Jetty. What are you talking? Oh, Jedi sparked. Yeah. So I had a Jedi. Are you a Star Wars guy? Is that no, no, but I mean, I'm not. I'm not, but, but, but they even have BB8 in their profile pick. Like, let's go. Let's go here.

Come on. What does that even mean BD8? It's so bad because I am not a Star Wars guy, but at least I, I, I know this, but. No, I do not. I am not like that I don't know Star Wars. I'm right one person on the planet that's never watched a Star Wars episode. By the way, if Abolita was in the kitchen right now, it would be a Star Wars. But anyway.

That is very true. Piggybacking off of what Katie was just saying there. I said this yesterday. You know, I'm somebody who apparently this season has been very big on, let's just get the Dodgers anywhere they're not. When they're at home, get them on the road. I really liked yesterday. I know Katie did not, but I really liked yesterday being a 12 o'clock game

because they actually got to go home, spend some time with family, maybe have some dinner with family and friends or whatever, sleep in their own bed, sleep in a little bit, and then fly out. Actually, let me double check on that. Katie, did they fly out yesterday?

Or did they stay home? The players left after the game. I think coaches and support staff left this morning. But players got into St. Louis late last night. Thrilling, thrilling place for nightlife. Let me tell you. And there are some cities.

Alana, you know this. When you're on the road, they are sleep and Netflix cities. This is one. So much. But this is one. There's not a lot of Netflix city.

There's not a lot, and there's nothing really around. Yeah. It's a tough place to jump. With all due respect? Respectfully. Respectfully. Well, anyways. All right.

Well, crapping on half of what I said there, they still get to get to somewhere, like you're saying, Katie, and spend some time not thinking about baseball. Just get away from the field, get away from, even the players, if you want to, even though this team has tightened it enough where they probably still all went out and got some stakes at the place that probably closes at 7.30 p.m. or whatever. because apparently St. Louis is the worst. You guys heard that first quote, Katie Wu on that one.

Oh, my God. Food. I'm going to get canceled. Yeah, yeah, hella canceled. I'm kidding here. But I think they'll be good. And they're facing an interesting Cardinals Club. We'll talk more about the cards a little bit later.

I'm suddenly learning a lot about the Cardinals these days. Directing Cardinals. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, directing Cardinal territories. Yeah. It's always a thrill when Matt Holiday shows up. I'll tell you what, Jim Hayes. Big Cat is thrilled when Mad Holiday shows up.

But anyways. No one's the thing about Matt holiday? I covered Matt when he was the Rocky, right? I covered Matt when he was a Rocky and Jackson Holiday was four years old running around that clubhouse. Yes, the Jackson holiday that was picked number one overall a couple of years ago. That same Jackson Holiday. Look at her now. The fact is that I don't know about Star Wars.

I don't care. All right. Well, anyways, I think we made the point here. How about we take a little bit of a break? because Alana, I want you to tell people about today's sponsor. We'll be here, but you're the lead about this. You are currently experiencing something that our sponsor directly can help with. Why don't you tell people about what's going on with Bentley?

I appreciate this sponsor very much. And we appreciate all of our sponsors because as they support us, it helps us have our show. So thank you very much to the ASPCA in terms of pet insurance. So yes, this weekend I had to take my dog Bentley, who was having some very distrust. like, just like she couldn't breathe, right? It was like she couldn't, it's almost like she had a hairball and she couldn't get it out type of situation. So I was worried that she was obstructed in some way.

So I took her to the emergency vet and they did an x-ray to make sure she was okay. Long story short, she is okay. And they think it's more of allergens in the air than any sort of like really serious matter. But that being said, I wanted to make sure she got all of the imaging done. And it was over $800.

There was almost $900 and we were there for all of half an hour. But of course, I'm going to do everything in my power to do whatever I can for her. And I never want there to be a situation where I have to make a decision based on cost because I will lose my house before I don't save my dog. But ASPCA health insurance is so unbelievable because they help you. I mean, there's a lot of different ways that you can go about it. There's a lot of different plans, you know, 9010, 80, 20 type of situation.

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They're very easy to do. They get back to you quickly. They directly deposit it right back into your account. So when you get, and again, they support us. We also want to support our listeners and our viewers. So when you enroll in an ASPCA pet health insurance plan, you could get a $25 Amazon gift card. It's a little treat for you while you're doing something great for your pet.

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We appreciate it very much, you guys. This is a paid advertisement insurance is underwritten by either Independence American Insurance Company or United States Fire Insurance Company and produced by PTZ Insurance Agency Limited. The ASPCA is not an insurer and is not engaged in the business of insurance. That's a lot of things that I just said there, but I highly, highly, highly recommend it. Yeah, I trust you when it comes to this stuff, obviously, in the past. We don't need to reveal a whole lot, but we had some issues with our dogo here.

And I mean, you were my pet health insurance back then. You were phenomenal, and I'm sure you worked with these fine folks. And it's something here. Mrs. FRG feels very much the same way about our two dogs and three cats here. So something I'll be looking into. I'll be scanning that QR code for sure. But enough about that. Let's talk about the Dodgers.

Let's grade him in Bleeding Blue. If I'm being right, it's bleating. Weedin blue. But listen, it's a weird month. It was a good month, but I think we're just have the sour taste in our mouth from this last week to 10 days, like I said. It's great season, though.

That's what I decided. And why don't we just trudge forward on this, thoughts and grades for the starting rotation? This feels like it's the spot that has been the strongest, you know, area for. for the Dodgers. Katie, what are your thoughts about the starting rotation? Staff of Aces, so A's all around. I think Friday Freeman, again, said it best. Good thing that the Dodgers rotation has been phenomenal because they might be looking

at a little bit of a different record. And you look at like, choose your fighter. Yamamoto, Shohei and his like minuscule ERA. And oh, Justin Robleski, same thing. Emmett she and we've talked about the, the belo, but it's gotten better. Blake Snell is on his way back. Roki, we'll get to Roki. Tyler Glass now. Like there's not one matchup, with the exception of Sasaki, and that's different. But there's not one matchup coming in with these six where I'm like disadvantaged Dodgers.

This is just an, I love what Justin Rubleski has been doing. And it's going to be so interesting to see what this rotation looks like with Blake Snell nearing a return, possibly a couple of weeks away. But there's no one here that sticks out to me. again, I'm putting Sasaki outside because it's different. The expectations are that he is going to develop in games, right? But everyone else is about performing and posting, and they've been able to do that. So all around, if we're going to put Sasaki in the rotation, okay, A minus, but still, ACE is wild.

Starting rotation has been phenomenal. I think starting rotation has done guys exactly what we expected them to do. It's not often that that actually happens, that the deliverance is exactly of the expectation. And I think that the good thing about the starting rotation is that we thought we had, had the best starting rotation, probably, you know, maybe the front office thought they had the best starting rotation ever assembled. When you look at the amount of unbelievable arms in that rotation, I think they've delivered. I really do. I can't, I'm going to give him an A as well. I can't imagine not giving them an A. And yeah, I mean, Roki is a work in progress. But as we said the other

day, he's going to be the one player that is under the most amount of scrutiny and the one player under the biggest microscope. And again, like we're all piling on Roki because everybody else with so damn good. And it's not like he's been unbelievably terrible. We just, as long as we can see constant improvement every single outing, I'm completely fine with that as he learns and develops and grows in this game. So A for me, what about

you, Clint? Yeah, I mean, it's hard not to give them an A. They have, they have excelled. I would definitely agree with the idea that they have not exceeded expectations because the expectations were already sky high. But what I really like about this rotation is it's so good. You can

you can nurture Roki Sasaki along the way. You can guide him into making four or five starts and being like, hey, I want to change my grip, and I'm not going to bring out the baseball for it. But I want to change my grip. I want to try to start changing up the arsenal a little bit here as I attempt to make myself a better pitcher. But also, it is a little bit different. As Katie mentioned, you don't have, well, I should say, it's different from what we anticipated entering spring training.

You don't have Blake Snell in there. I was expecting Gavin Stone to be somebody who, It was his job to lose coming out of spring training. He makes one start. And the shoulder starts barking at him. So their ability to adapt and overcome adversity. And, yeah, you got to give. If we're given this rotation in A, somebody who's done a lot of the work,

unexpectedly was Justin Rebleski. And everybody here on the internet who's watching me for a while knows. I've been somebody who has staunched, has been staunchly calling for the fact that he belongs in the bullpen. His arm is a bullpen arm, and he proved me wrong. He shut me the, as my mug says, fuck up. And I'm proud of Justin Rebleski. Kid has turned into an absolute dog. So great stuff, great stuff in the starting rotation.

What do you think? Bullpen? This one feels weird. Is that where we're going next? I mean, that's a tough one. Just be, well, Katie, you go. We'll keep that order. Works for me.

What are your thoughts at? I don't know how to grade the bullpen right now, because I don't know what it looks like really without Evan Dio. So can you get like an in progress grade? Because I heard some guys have credit to your guy, Kyle Hurd looked nice yesterday in a leverage situation. My guy. I love that.

I told people that you text me about that. And I said, you know, it's a guy who's a dude, quote me on it because he goes out there. He just finds the strike zone. And he will punch and he will get out. So I love that kid.

Elite entrance song too. Don't hurt me. I'm not going to pretend like I didn't get it at first. But I did now. So great job. Oh, God. I just got it. I just got it, too.

See, I don't get to listen to always because I'm out at the stadium. So, okay, very good. Yeah, Bullpen, I don't know. I think it's tough with them, you know? It's like Edwin Diaz goes down. You're like kind of working your way backwards. I'll give them a beat. I don't know, they haven't been horrible, but they haven't been lights out.

I'll give them a beat. Yeah. Did you actually have a great? So you're going with incomplete there, Katie? I'm not with incomplete. I haven't seen enough, although Tanner Scott's bounce back nicely. I still think that. that they need a more higher leverage righty than Blake Trinan, though he's done up until the last

couple of times, just fine. Well, yeah, incomplete for now. Yeah, I think I'm going to go with Riz on this, like a B, maybe a B minus, maybe even, I'll go as high as a B plus. I think they have been, you know, we talked about entering the season. This is, this is a spot to watch for the first month of the season. How are they going to perform? How's Blake Trinan going to be, for the greater part, Trinan has been pretty good.

The bullpen is not the problem for this team. Yeah, they have a couple of games here and there, mixed in all bullpens are going to have a couple of games mixed in here and there, where they are the reason the team lost. But of late, it's the offense that is the issue. It's not the bullpen. The bullpen has more than done its job without the closer, without a couple of other arms being available with like Brock Stewart

and Evan Phillips to later on in the season, so on and so forth. So B to B plus for me, great stuff. Incomplete is also extremely fair. Now I mention the offense. It's probably time to talk about the offense. And this is almost another one where it feels incomplete because they were so good to open the season,

writing the coattails of Andy Paez on an absolute heater. But things have tapered off, at least in terms of the run production department. Katie, what kind of grade do you give this offense in totality for March and April? like a C plus because to your point earlier in the show, they are leading in a ton of offensive categories or a top three. But with high expectations for this Dodgers teams comes, you know, you need to see the higher production. It's like when we talked about Otani slumping to start the year and you had like an 875 OPS.

But you're Shohay Otani. So that is low for you. The production is low for this group of Dodgers hitters. Even without Mookie Betts. They showed that they could for a while sustain the production without him. But they've had to make some changes already with Tucker moving down in the order. Freddie Friedman moving up to number two. And I think I understand what Dave Roberts is doing there.

But looking where Freddie was, when that change happened, it wasn't like he was seeing the ball well either. He just happened to be the only one I think that Dave felt comfortable moving up. So overall, like, again, these guys are going to figure it out. No one is over here sweating over the Dodgers last eight games of run production. But because they're fresh off of a bad. series lost to the Marlins, you know, reasoncy bias is going to come in. I give it a C because we expect so much more of this lineup.

And it just hasn't lived up to expectations. But I firmly expect that narrative to change. It's baseball. It's the Dodgers. It's what they do. Yeah, I give them a C. also. I just feel like it's average.

It's not average at all. I mean, Dave's right. I mean, they do lead a lot of the offensive categories in the league. I mean, they are below only the Yankees and home runs. The Yankees have 48. The Dodgers have 43. They have, you know, more RBI than the Yankees. do the Dodgers have driven in 159.

The Yankees only have 145. Now the Braves have 172. So you can look at it from that perspective and say the Dodgers are not doing as well as the Braves, but they're still second in the league and RBI. I mean, so they're at the top of the categories in the most important offensive categories. But it just kind of feels like ho-hum. It kind of feels just average because they're not running away with wins. They're not having many laughers.

We're talking about we always have a recency bias, right? Like, I don't remember what they did in the second week of March. I don't. Or the second week, you know, or whatever, the first week of April, I don't remember. I remember what they did just recently before they went on this road trip and it wasn't pretty. So that's what I remember. That's why I give them a C even though they certainly are performing above that. Yeah, I think C is fair. I'd probably go C minus. I'm going to go to Maddy Man's comment in the chat, by the way, because he says like you're looking at those stats that I put on the screen a couple times. There's no way it feels like those stats are real, not if you've been watching the last 10 games. And yeah. baseball fans sports fans it's all about the recency bias and recently the dodgers have struggled to drive in runs so um just because of the numbers and the totality of the season i'll give them a c but of late it's a d and they need to you know see me after class oh they're in trouble i don't know what i'm going to do i'm wop and some ass i'm not attention all right speaking of d what about the defense katy what do you give the defense

I can't. That's great. She's a respected journalist, and we're bringing her down. Look at my mug. I'm on two hours of sleep, so just let me have my juvenile moments. The defense has been great. It's one of the best in the National League. They're doing it without Mookie Betts that shortstop.

The platoon between Alex Freeland and Hison Kim has worked out, I think, better than anyone would have expected. Yeah, A-minus. I don't really see any holes with this defense. They continue to get plays done. And, you know, I think there's been some growing pains at shortstop with Kim, but let's keep in mind that's not a position that he's played a ton of in the major leagues. And overall, the platoon has been just great.

So no complaints about the defense. It's hard to find things to complain about with this team. From a writer's perspective, I'm like, they're going to figure it out. It makes for boring stories, but as a fan, I'm going to do you want. Yeah, I can understand that. Not much, I think, for either of us to add on the defensive sense. side Alana. They've been good.

That's what you expect from a Dave Roberts led club and, you know, Dino and Chris Woodward and all that. These guys are some of the best of the best. They are going to put in the work every single day and not give away baseball games with stupid or lazy errors, at least not very often. Yeah, now this is a very well-prepared team.

They're a team that you don't have to, you don't have to generally worry about them making, you know, silly mental errors. It might be a physical thing and that's okay. You can deal with that, but you don't have a lot of mental errors on this club. Very rarely is this team outworked or out played or out prepared. All right. I mean, Dave for me is an A.

I'm pretty much A the rest of the way, really. Well, that's the last one. One of the things I always used to like to do is we threw in like the manager because people love to hate on Dave a lot less so when you've won two in a row. But yeah, there hasn't, and four

total, of course. But there hasn't anything where like maybe the ABS like I and that's not even on Dave like some of the challenges have been a little questionable from some of the hitters yeah the one right down the middle that Pah has had early in the game you're like this there's some of that and you know moments where it's like oh maybe you should you should go to replay on that but otherwise I mean Dave's putting guys in the right spots for the most part like no issues there I think we're all good on Dave getting an A? I learned my lesson ever questioning day, Robert.

I will never question Day Roberts as long as I live. Hey, through all the bad, a lot of good came out of it. We love you, Dave. We'll see you again soon. Woo, you got your favorite bright spot so far this month? I'm trying to remember anything that happened in the last month. You guys, I'm on autopilot. I literally lived all of April basically blacked out.

I just don't. I think if there was a... Not that way. Not that way. No, not in that way, not in that way at all. I don't know. I love Dalton rushing emerging as like everyone's hated. A dog.

Where did that come from? I don't know, but I don't see it stopping. Like the timeout thing was hilarious. I'm sure not for him. He punched out when he shouldn't have. So that's not funny. But then, you know, we see him dramatically call time. And he's such a like emphatic.

He's so emphatic with his expressions that he's like the easiest to lip read, as we know, based on some things. Like, I love that that's my bright spot. The emergence of Dalton rushing as like public enemy number one from 29 other fan bases is so interesting for the entertainment point of this game. And Dalton is, like we talked about this a lot on this show, someone who went out and really put a lot of understanding into his role, how he can be better. He's prepared. He's matured. He's swinging one of the best baths.

We talked about the low offense, but didn't give him enough love in that segment, I don't think. So the baseball world Baseball Twitter deciding to hate Dalton rushing was not something that I saw coming necessarily But it is certainly interesting to follow along It's good for baseball to have these kinds of guys Future Padre right there Dalton rushing just got that

Got that kind of vibe to him I'll shoehorn myself in here I'm not saying I'm one of the bright spots Of the season so far But always so make sure you guys hit that like button Subscribe and all that kind of stuff But I want to be lazy and lame and go with Kyle Hurt, but I'm not, I'm going to continue to glaze

on Justin Rebleski. Kid has been an absolute bright spot for this team, you know, pitching into an eighth inning, flirting with a complete game in his first full month as a starter. Dude has absolutely shined. And yeah, maybe Shohay's better than him. Maybe Yamamoto's better than him in the rotation or maybe not. Maybe they are kind of equals, but that is a bright spot. I didn't see coming Robo in the rotation. What do you got, Riz? I don't have anything. Is that lame? Like I don't, I don't, nothing like really stands out to me. And I think that's just kind of like what I, I don't worry about this. I don't, you know, no one's really other than Dalton, I guess. I just, I'm just thankful that

we have a team that is as good as they are and that we have a team that has a good ownership group and I don't have anything that like really again I don't even know what I did yesterday so there's really to me like it's like oh that's really cool I mean they just they just they're like they just go to work with their little lunch pills and I don't know like I'm just say this is a really good show for for Wu being on like 38 minutes sleep you coming off of you're in your third show consecutively right now and I'm here so I'm doing I mean What else should be our moment? What about you guys in the chat?

Like, does anybody have a, you know, what's your bright spot? What do you like? I mean, honestly, it's the show. Yeah. It definitely. It's us right here. We got Foxy Cinnamon, great name with some love. Look at that rim on that martini.

Must be cinnamon. Oh, yeah. Hey, you guys remember like seven hours ago when she called Jedi Jetty? seven hours. Bro, I really don't care. Guys, I'm not going to make it. We're going to try. Very soon.

I'm very, I'm very scared. Okay. We're going to charge forward quickly. And let's get into just quickly. Everybody, one name, biggest disappointments, I'll lead us off. Teoscar Hernandez. I guess it's two names.

Teoscar Hernandez. It's been my biggest disappointment. Get it back. Get yourself back on track, Teo. Riz. You have a disappointment then if you don't have a bright spot. Disappointment is such a strong word. I need more, I need more production out of Freddie.

Yeah. Woo. I'll go not his fault. So this is not personal, but disappointing situation for Edwin Diaz, 100%. That was like their big guy. And to lose him without even getting to see what he could do for, you know, maybe three months, if not more. The surgery is hard to predict coming back from.

That just sucks. Yeah. Yeah. Losing D. I want that one instead. I'll take that one. Why not? Stealing, stealing her stuff here.

Again, if you guys are watching this after the fact, drop your grades, drop your thoughts in the comments, and we'll see how everybody kind of aligns, and we'll do one of these in a month, and hopefully we're not complaining then. But there is more to come on today's show. We do got to tell you first a word from our friends, Fanduel. We're actually going to talk about

Fanduel in general because Dodgers Territory today is brought to you. I don't know why it's not popping up, but it didn't pop up, so we're just going to trudge forward here. I loaded it up, but it decided not to work. Dodger Territory is brought to you by Fanduel today. Baseball fans, baseball season is in full swing.

Fan Duel is giving you a chance to call your shot with Daily Dingers. You see it there on the screen. Joining the action is easy. You make a free pick on who's hitting a homer in their game, and if you're right, you get a profit boost to use on your next bet, and you a chance to get extra winnings. It's another reason why Fandul is the home of home runs. And what I want us to do here, gang, quickly, is look ahead to this series with Katie Wu's Cardinals. They are

playing the cards. And cards have been a little bit of a surprising team this season. I'm sure Katie's a little shocked at at least to a degree that they have played as well. I'm a little more than a little. Yeah, yeah. They've been really solid. The whole NL Central has been really solid, but we want the Dodgers to hit some dingers off of the Cardinals. And in this series, Matthew Libretor will go for the Cardinals on Friday. You also got Michael McGreevy, who's been the card's best pitcher. And old pal, Dustin May, will face the Dodgers. All of them have given up an amount of homers.

Liberator leads the cards, I believe, or at least the rotation with eight homers allowed. And I feel, of all of the names I just mentioned, I feel like if there's somebody that's going to hit a homer, it's going to be Max Muncie. and it's going to be off Dustin May, and I'm going to love it on Sunday. So that's my call to Dinger there. I think he's going to hit a Homer. Riz, you've got a pick-to-click during this series. I'm definitely not picking anything against Dustin May, poor guy.

I'm going to go with right-hander Michael McGreevy giving up a long ball. And I'm going to say that he gives it up. He's going to give it up to Freddie. Freddie Dinger? We could do it. I was hoping you'd say Freddie. Katie, you got somebody? I know these first starters very, very well.

I also know the state of the Cardinals bullpen while they continue to play. They're about to sweep the pirates in four games at PNC Park. The bullpen is not good. I anticipate the bullpen running into some trouble with the Dodgers offense. But with all due respect to Michael McGreevy, one of my favorite Cardinals, great dude, a San Clemente guy, there's just no way that the Otani matchup doesn't go well. for Otani and not McGreevy. And I say that with love and respect.

I would imagine that being the homer. There it is. You guys can play along as well. Either on Fandul or in the comments, if you want. I'll go ahead and throw this up on the screen. You guys ready to play your game. Head over to Fandual.com. Now I'm going to throw it up on the screen.

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I got to say it that way because that's just how Scott Braun says it. It sounds like Scooby-Doo. All right, let's get to left look. All right, guys, Nacho and Millie. They are a bonded pair. They were found roaming around La Puente, California, as strays totally adopted, fully infested, and we got them all cleaned up.

They're feeling great. We just got Millie a cytopoint shot, so she's feeling much better with her skin. As I mentioned, they are a bonded pair. Millie is on the left. She's a terrier. We expect her, or believe, to be around three years old, and Nacho is a short-stack pity mix on the

right. He's about two years old. They love each other, so we are not separating them. If you are interested in supporting us, please go to giddreysgarden.org. Any donation helps us, but they definitely need a loving adopter to take them home together. Appreciate if you guys would do that for Riz and Gidreys. All right, let's talk a little bit more about this series. Back in your old stomping grounds, and we'll speed through this as well because Katie's got to try to get a power nap in there. But yeah, on the other side. We talk.

No power of our. That's my guy. My guy. Dodgers have not their, that's funny. I just said a whole bunch of nice things about Rebleski, but when you're looking above them at Shohei Otani and the other guy and other names, you're not going to put Sheehan and Rokey and Rebleski in the top of the Dodgers rotation. That said, those are the guys that are going against the Cardinals.

Interesting storylines with the Cardinals. Jordan Walker's had himself a really nice season. and that's the end of my knowledge on the offensive side because the show features Lance Lynn and Kyle Gibson, two pitchers. But this feels like you said much, much earlier, Katie, feels like a series where the Dodgers can start to really get right. Like, don't get me wrong. They're rebuilding. And they're not supposed to win. And I think that's why they've been winning baseball games because they've been able to adopt that mentality. They have one of the nationally rookie of the year candidate early in J.J. Weatherholtz at second base. He's their leadoff hitter. and slug it. What makes the Cardinals a dangerous team to play is that they're playing with zero expectations. And I watched this clubhouse for five years, especially these young guys playing now

coming up, play with the weight of the city on their shoulders. The Cardinals were trying very hard to avoid rebuilding. They were trying very hard to win and patched together. And these young players, this core, the Mason win, the Alec Berlusons, those guys were able to really kind of embrace who they were as ballplayers. And now they have the luxury to do so, which makes makes them a dangerous team. They have a ton of comeback wins. Their bullpen lets, you know, the other team back in games all the time, but this offense comes out and slugs right back. I don't think this is much of a wash of a series as maybe people from the outside perspective are going to see. I do think the Dodgers should be able to take care of business here.

But let's not discount the Cardinals on what they've been able to do. They've been a very gritty team, very resilient, and they've surprised a lot of people, myself included. Riz, looking at some of these numbers here from the Cardinals side. Yeah, there's a lot of numbers particularly on the pitching side that makes you think the Dodgers are going to have themselves a good series. But you know what? The Dodgers just lost two of three to the Miami Marlins. So I think anything is kind of possible.

What do you need to see from the Boys and Blue in the series against the Redbirds? I think the whole thing is attack early, right? Get some runs on the board early. I think that's been the thing. It's like I feel like lately, again, especially in the Marlins series, I feel like we're honestly trying to play catch up. And I may be completely wrong by that. The perception is like we're just not scoring often.

We're not scoring early. We're not, you know, we're getting on base, but we're terrible with runners and scoring position like Max Muncie. That could be a bright spot. Max Muncie. I mean, he continues to crush the baseball, but, you know, there's nobody on base or there's, he's not pitching well or playing well rather with runners and scoring position. Yeah, I just need the score early, you know, get to that bullpen as fast as you can

and take two of three. If they can win series on the road, that's, I'm always, I'm always fine with that. You don't need a, I don't need a sweep. I'll take a series win. Yeah, series win, get back on track. Even if you lose one of these games, drive in a lot of runs. That's the important thing.

I think Dodgers take two or three in the series, and I think we'll have a happy show on Monday when we are back again, 12 o'clock Pacific, 3 p.m. Eastern. We're going to have a good time then. If you guys want to buy some stuff to support the store or the show through the store, check out Dodgers Territory Shop.com, scan that QR code, or click the button.

in the link below. Also, you can join the YouTube members. We appreciate everybody who has joined so far. You get loyalty badges, custom emojis, discount in that store as well. And soon we will have Dodgers Territory Happy Hour. It is coming up. You know our kid is on her way now.

She's on her way, on her way out the door. So we'll sign off. Hit that like button. Hit that subscribe as we are out. And we'll see you in the next one. Bye. Bye, guys. 2%.

That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. I'm on my podcast, 2%. I break down the signs of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TWO.% on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. last.