Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. That beeping sound you hear is the Dodgers and Padres trying to back into the NL West title.

If you believe in foreshadowing, then the Dodgers’ loss on Saturday against the Orioles in not a good sign.

Here was my thought process as the game unfolded:

“Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a no-hitter in the ninth. He could be the true ace of the team. I hope he gets the no-no.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, losing the no-hitter and shutout on one pitch. Why didn’t Andy Pages make more of an attempt to catch that ball? It’s a no-hitter, you have to try harder than that.”

“With how bad the Dodgers’ bullpen has been, I’m not sure I’d take Yamamoto out. Give him one more batter.”

“At least they are bringing in Blake Treinen, not Tanner Scott. This game is well in hand.”

“Treinen doesn’t have it tonight. Maybe bring in Edgardo Henriquez or Jack Dreyer. Give Scott a mental rest from tough situations. Maybe Henriquez or Dreyer can give them a big boost psychologically by getting out of this.”

“Oh no, they are bringing in Scott.”

“Wow, one of the worst losses in recent memory. I’m afraid to look at my emails.”

By the way, to be fair to Pages, different angles showed there was no way he would have caught the ball unless he became Mr. Fantastic and could stretch his arms a few feet. Orioles staff working the area said it first landed about 18 inches higher that it appeared on TV. But at the time, you want to see the effort, don’t you? Dave Roberts had this to say to reporters: “I’d like to think that if there was any chance to make a play on a no-hitter play that you would just exhaust every effort. But again, I couldn’t tell, and I refuse to go back and look at it.” (I’m not so sure, “I refuse to go back and look at it,” is the best response from a manager.)

I remember a game where Shawn Green was in right field. I forget who the pitcher was, but he had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, and the batter hit a liner to shallow right. Green came in and instead of diving, pulled up and played it on the bounce. Fans were irate with Green for not diving for the ball, even though he wouldn’t have caught it. But sometimes players and management forget that the fan at home lives vicariously through the players. Many fans watching had a dreams of playing pro baseball. And in the mind of the fan, we would dive for every ball. We would give 100% on every play! Whether that is realistic or not doesn’t matter. Players and management sometimes need to put themselves in the position of the fan.

You know, for the last few seasons, everything has seemingly gone right for the Dodgers. Most of the breaks went their way. They got a lot of key hits and great relief. This year, not so much. Is the magic gone?

But the most frustrating thing to me, is the lack of urgency, and a growing lack of hustle. Mookie Betts, who is the king of hustle, hit a ball off the wall in the ninth inning Sunday, and was held to a single when he didn’t run hard right out of the box. And this is the guy whose hustle put him on first base in the infamous fifth-inning Yankees meltdown, when pitcher Gerrit Cole failed to cover first. And I don’t mean to pick on just Betts. There is a lack of apparent hustle in the outfield going after balls. I get the sense, but don’t know, that Teoscar Hernández is still hurting from the bruised bone is his foot and strained groin he had earlier this season, because he built his career on hustle and it stopped happening soon after those injuries. But the lack of hustle is team wide. You don’t know what is in the heart or mind of a person, so to say they don’t care this year is unfair. You don’t reach the majors by not caring. But something is off.

Remember after the Dodgers won the World Series last season, and players said afterward that they knew they could beat the Yankees because of their weaknesses, lack of positioning and bad defense? Well, that’s how the Dodgers are playing right now. There are a lot of things to clean up.

So now what? Max Muncy should be back in the lineup today against Oakland. If he is still hitting like he did, then that is huge. He is the one Dodger to consistently work the count and make the pitcher put in a little extra effort. That has a cascading effect throughout the lineup. It should also remove one of the weaker hitters from the lineup.

Will Smith should be back in the lineup soon after bruising a bone in his hand when taking a foul tip off it. Hands are a key part of hitting, so a bone bruise (and it’s bad enough that the Dodgers said he will have to manage it the rest of the season) could hamper his swing. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Tyler Glasnow seems to have recovered from the tight back that caused him to miss his scheduled start Friday. Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia should be back to help, with Vesia perhaps coming back today. Tommy Edman should be back soon. All this should help.

People still tell me the Dodgers have no chance of winning the World Series this year. I tell those people they should be headed to Vegas and placing bets since they know what’s going to happen. If you asked me today, “Will the Dodgers win the World Series?” I’d say it looks unlikely the way they are playing. But, the St. Louis Cardinals won the 2006 World Series after finishing the season 83-78. The 1987 Minnesota Twins were 85-77. If we knew who was going to win, there’s be no reason the play the postseason at all.

Shohei Ohtani, closer?

Could Ohtani be moved to the bullpen?

Roberts: “There’s obviously thoughts about that. I can’t answer that question right now. But we’re going to do whatever we feel gives us the best chance to give us a chance to win. And I know Shohei would be open to whatever. We haven’t certainly made that decision.”

Wait, I figured it out

Last season, the Dodgers weren’t supposed to be champions because, while they had a great bullpen and a good offense, they had no starting pitching. They won anyway. This year, they want to prove that you can win with great starting pitcher, but no bullpen and an inconsistent offense.

The postseason

Here’s how the postseason race pans out after Monday’s games:

NL
1. Milwaukee, 89-55
2. Philadelphia, 83-60
3. Dodgers, 79-64

Wild-cards
4. Chicago, 81-62
5. San Diego, 78-65
6. New York, 76-67

7. San Francisco, 72-71
8. Cincinnati, 72-71

AL
1. Toronto, 82-61
2. Detroit, 82-62
3. Houston, 78-66

Wild-cards
4. New York, 80-63
5. Boston, 79-65
6. Seattle, 75-68

7. Texas, 74-70
8. Kansas City, 73-70
9. Cleveland, 72-70

The Dodgers have three games remaining with Philadelphia, which could be crucial in determining the No. 2 seed. Right now, the Phillies lead the season series, 2-1. Whoever wins the season series has the tiebreaker advantage. If they tie, 3-3, in games, then the second tiebreaker is record within their own division. Right now, the Dodgers are 26-13 against the West and the Phillies are 23-19 against the East.

The top two teams in each league get a first-round bye. The other four teams in each league play in the best-of-three wild-card round, with No. 3 hosting all three games against No. 6, and No. 4 hosting all three against No. 5.

The division winners are guaranteed to get the top three seeds, even if a wild-card team has a better record.

In the best-of-five second round, No. 1 hosts the No. 4-5 winner and No. 2 hosts the No. 3-6 winner. That way the No. 1 seed is guaranteed not to play a divisional winner until the LCS.

Up next

Monday: Colorado (Chase Dollander, 2-12, 6.77 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: Colorado (Germán Márquez, 3-12, 6.19 ERA) at Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 3-4, 3.19 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: Colorado (*Kyle Freeland, 4-14, 5.10 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 3.75 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Davey Johnson, former Dodgers manager who also guided Mets to title, dies at 82

Does anyone want to win the NL West? | Dodgers Debate

And finally

Mike Scioscia hits a key two-run homer during Game 4 of the 1988 NLCS. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

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