Dodgers

From Kevin Baxter: Brock Stewart slumped in front of a mostly empty locker in the middle of the Dodgers clubhouse Monday afternoon, a stall that used to belong to pitcher Dustin May, as clubhouse attendants rushed over with boxes of brand new size 13 cleats.

A week ago Stewart was pitching for the Minnesota Twins, who wear red cleats. The Dodgers don’t, so Stewart needed a makeover.

“I got blue gloves coming too,” he said.

Getting dressed properly isn’t the only thing players have to worry about when they change teams in the middle of the season. Stewart had a home and family in Minnesota to pack up and move when he learned Thursday that he had been traded from a team with a losing record to one chasing a second straight World Series title.

By late Monday evening, Stewart found himself in the middle of that pennant race when he took the mound in the ninth inning of a tie game. It didn’t end well, with Stewart (2-2) surrendering a run on three hits while getting just two outs in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was a rude homecoming for the right-hander, who was drafted by the Dodgers in 2014 but waived five years later after pitching 36 times over parts of four seasons. After he remade himself during a six-year sojourn in which dropped down to independent ball, Stewart was brought back to Los Angeles to stabilize an overworked, injury-plagued bullpen that has struggled.

In his first appearance at Dodger Stadium in the home uniform since 2019, he added to those struggles, giving up hits to the first two batters he faced, then falling behind 2-0 to pinch-hitter Yohel Pozo, who flared a single over the infield to drive in the go-ahead run.

For manager Dave Roberts, one bad outing won’t change Stewart’s role.

“That’s baseball,” he said.

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Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

ANGELS

Jo Adell hit a two-run homer, Yusei Kikuchi surrendered four hits in six innings and the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 on Monday night.

The Rays (55-59) struck in the opening inning when Yandy Díaz doubled to right and scored on Junior Caminero’s sacrifice fly to center field. Kikuchi (5-7) escaped without further damage and finished with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Angels pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.

Yoán Moncada reached on a fielder’s choice for the Angels in the second inning before Adell launched a 428-foot homer to left-center off Adrian Houser (6-3), putting the Angels (55-58) ahead 2-1.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

CHARGERS

From Anthony De Leon: The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office will not pursue charges against Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman, who was arrested on suspicion of felony weapons possession Friday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. records.

Perryman was arrested after deputies allegedly discovered five firearms — including two assault-style weapons — in his vehicle during a traffic stop Friday night, the agency said in a statement. He was released from jail Monday afternoon and his arrest will be listed as a detention on his record.

Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh publicly addressed the situation Monday, saying he visited with the veteran linebacker in jail over the weekend.

“He’s working through the legalities along with his representation,” said Harbaugh before Perryman’s release from jail. “Had a chance to see him yesterday, whenever I visited, and he was in good spirits. And love Denzel. He’s always done right. He’s never been in trouble. They’ve got a beautiful family.”

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LA OLYMPICS

From Michael Wilner: President Trump will order the establishment of a White House task force on Tuesday focused on security for the Olympics Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the president plans on creating the task force by executive order on Tuesday, telling The Times that Trump “considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle.”

“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,” Leavitt said. “Sports is one of President Trump’s greatest passions, and his athletic expertise, combined with his unmatched hospitality experience will make these Olympic events the most exciting and memorable in history.”

It is unclear whether the executive order will provide relief as city leaders and the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the privately funded nonprofit organization known as LA28 that is planning the Games, negotiate key issues including security costs.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1936 — At the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens wins his third of four gold medals, winning the 200-meter race in an Olympic-record 20.7 seconds.

1954 — The first election for the Boxing Hall of Fame is held. Twenty-four fighters are elected, with the most noteworthy from the modern era Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong. Fifteen are selected from the pioneer era including John L. Sullivan, Gentleman Jim Corbett and Jack Johnson.

1967 — The Denver Broncos beat the Detroit Lions, 13-7, in a preseason game, for the first AFL victory over an NFL team.

1984 — American Joan Benoit wins the first Olympic marathon for women in 2:24:52, finishing 400 meters ahead of Norway’s Grete Waitz.

1991 — Sergei Bubka becomes the first to clear 20 feet outdoors in the pole vault, breaking his own world record by a half-inch at the Galan track meet in Malmo, Sweden.

1997 — Michael Johnson wins his third straight 400-meter title at the world championships in Athens, Greece, capturing the gold medal in 44.12 seconds.

2005 — Jason Gore shoots a 12-under 59 in the second round of the Nationwide Tour’s Cox Classic in Omaha, Nebraska.

2006 — Warren Moon becomes the first Black quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio; joined by Troy Aikman, John Madden, Rayfield Wright, Harry Carson and Reggie White.

2007 — Lorena Ochoa wins the Women’s British Open — the first women’s pro tournament played at venerable St. Andrews — for her first major title.

2012 — Jamaica’s Usain Bolt claims consecutive gold medals in the marquee track and field event at the Summer Games in London. Only about fifth-fastest of the eight runners to the halfway mark, Bolt erases that deficit and overtakes a star-studded field to win the 100-meter dash final in 9.63 seconds, an Olympic record that lets him join Carl Lewis as the only men to win the event twice.

2012 — Britain’s Andy Murray cruises past Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the Olympic tennis singles final at Wimbledon. Serena and Venus Williams win the doubles title, as Serena becomes tennis’ first double-gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. Ben Ainslie earns another gold medal in the Finn class to become the most successful sailor in Olympic history.

2014 — The San Antonio Spurs hire WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach, making her the first woman to join an NBA coaching staff.

2017 — Justin Gatlin spoils Usain Bolt’s farewell beating him in the 100 meters at the world track championships in London. Bolt gets off to a slow start and Gatlin holds him off at the line in 9.92 seconds. American sprinter Christian Coleman takes silver in 9.94 seconds and Bolt took bronze in 9.95.

2018 — The Springfield Lasers win their first World TeamTennis title edging the Philadelphia Freedoms 19-18. The Lasers were 0-5 in WTT championship finals and winless in three meetings with the Freedoms during the 2018 regular season.

2018 — Georgia Hall of England catches Pornanong Phatlum in a final-round duel at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to win the Women’s British Open for her first major title.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1921 — Pittsburgh radio station KDKA and announcer Harold Arlin provided listeners with the first broadcast of a major league game. The Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5.

1927 — Philadelphia’s Cy Williams hit for the cycle, drove in six runs and scored three times to lead the Phillies to a 9-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1931 — For the second time in his career, Jim Bottomley got six hits as the St. Louis Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 16-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.

1932 — Detroit pitcher Tommy Bridges lost his bid for a perfect game on a bloop single by the 27th Washington batter, pinch-hitter Dave Harris. The Tigers beat the Senators 13-0.

1933 — Sammy West of the St. Louis Browns had four extra-base hits in a 10-9, 12-inning win over the Chicago White Sox.

1942 — Don Kolloway’s two-out steal of home in the fifth inning was the only run as the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0.

1969 — Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell became the only player to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium. Stargell’s shot off of Alan Foster cleared the right-field pavilion and landed 506 feet from home plate.

1973 — Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves pitched a 9-0 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. He walked three and struck out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta.

1975 — The first eight batters for Philadelphia Phillies got hits for a major league record, en route to a 13-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.

1984 — Cliff Johnson of the Blue Jays hit his 19th career pinch homer to set a major league record as Toronto beat the Orioles 4-3 at Memorial Stadium.

1999 — Mark McGwire became the 16th member of the 500-home run club, hitting two homers — Nos. 500 and 501 — in the St. Louis Cardinals’ loss to San Diego.

2001 — The Cleveland Indians tied a major league record and became the first team in 76 years to overcome a 12-run deficit to win, defeating the Seattle Mariners 15-14 in 11 innings.

2005 — Albert Pujols became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in each of his first five seasons, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 11-3.

2006 — Trevor Hoffman set a major league record with his 11th 30-save season and the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 6-3.

2007 — Tom Glavine earned his 300th victory in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The 41-year-old left-hander became the 23rd pitcher with 300 victories and only the fifth lefty to win 300.

2013 — Alex Rodriguez was suspended through 2014 (211 games) and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were banned 50 games apiece when Major League Baseball disciplined 13 players in a drug case — the most sweeping punishment since the Black Sox scandal nearly a century ago. Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension last month and previous punishments bring to 18 the total number of players disciplined for their relationship to Biogenesis of America, a closed anti-aging clinic in Florida accused of distributing banned performing-enhancing drugs.

2019 — Jonathon Villar of the Orioles hits for the cycle in a 9-6 loss to the Yankees.

2021 — Team USA is headed to the Olympic Gold Medal Game for the first time in 21 years, beating South Korea, 7 – 2 at the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Teenager Eui-lee Lee holds the U.S. to two runs in five innings, one a mammoth homer by Jamie Westbrook, but five relievers are called on in the 6th when the U.S. scores five times. Jack López drives in two for the U.S. while Hyeseong Kim goes 3 for 3 in a losing cause. Ryder Ryan gets the win in relief of Joe Ryan.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow and the Cardinals’ Sonny Gray squared off in an old-school pitchers’ duel Monday. But both were watching from the clubhouse when pinch-hitter Yohel Pozo’s two-out single in the ninth lifted the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory at Dodger Stadium.

Glasnow gave the Dodgers seven strong innings for the second time in three starts, allowing a run on three hits — none after the second inning — while striking out seven. Gray was even better in his seven innings, giving up just a fourth-inning solo home run to Freddie Freeman and a second-inning walk to Max Muncy.

Both then gave way to shaky bullpens, which is when things got interesting.

The Dodgers’ bullpen gave up more runs over a span of nine batters than Glasnow did all night. Anthony Banda went first, allowing a go-ahead homer to Iván Herrera three batters into the eighth inning. But the Cardinals’ Riley O’Brien gave the run right back in the bottom of the inning on a double to Teoscar Hernández.

Newcomer Brock Stewart started the ninth for the Dodgers, but he didn’t finish it. After Willson Contreras and Lars Nootbaar greeted him with singles to put runners at the corners, Pozo squirted a two-out single over the infield to score pinch-runner Garrett Hampson for the go-ahead run.

After Shohei Ohtani’s led off the ninth with a single, the Cardinals’ JoJo Romero finally shut the door, getting Mookie Betts to pop out and striking out Freeman. After walking Will Smith to put the tying run at second, he retired Muncy on a line drive to right to end the night.

Glasnow got off to a rough start, allowing three hits, including a solo homer by Masyn Winn, in the first two innings. But he settled in after that, allowing just one baserunner the rest of the way, though he would have nothing to show for it, finishing without a decision for the eighth time in 10 starts.

Gray, meanwhile, was dealing from the start for the Cardinals, setting down 10 of the first 11 batters he faced before Freeman tied the game with a one-out home run, his 13th of the season, in the fourth.

Freeman has hits in 12 of his last 13 games and is batting .500 over his last six games. But his home run would prove to be the only hit the Dodgers would get off Gray, who struck out eight and walked just one.

Sasaki set to throw

Right-hander Roki Sasaki is expected to throw the equivalent of three innings to hitters Friday and if that goes well, he could begin a minor-league rehab assignment next week. He has not pitched in nearly three months after going on the IL with a shoulder impingement.

Edman goes on injured list

Utilityman Hyeseong Kim, out since July 29 with a shoulder issue, is swinging a bat and taking grounders. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is optimistic he will be able to return soon. But another utility player, Tommy Edman, went on the IL with an ankle injury. With Kim, Edman and Kiké Hernández, another utility player, all out with injuries, Roberts has not had the usual versatility he has enjoyed in fielding a lineup.

The Dodgers are leading the majors in on-base-plus-slugging percentage as an offense this year. They are second in the National League in scoring, and third in team batting average.

They have the league’s top players in hitting (Will Smith batting .324 and Freddie Freeman batting .306) and OPS (Shohei Ohtani at .982 and Smith at .963).

They figure to have several players who will get MVP votes at the end of the season, including the odds-on favorite for the award in Ohtani.

And yet, as the club enters the stretch run of the season, their lineup might be the biggest question mark in their bid to defend last year’s World Series championship. Since the start of July, they have scored the third-fewest runs in the majors, have the second-lowest team batting average and the fourth-lowest OPS.

They stayed relatively quiet at the trade deadline, hopeful a number of struggling superstars would get things going over the campaign’s final two months. But to this point, only Freeman (who endured a two-month slump before heating up again on their recent nine-game trip) has shown tangible signs of a late-season revival.

“If you look at it from the offensive side, as far as our guys, they’ll be the first to tell you they’ve got to perform better and more consistently,” manager Dave Roberts said this past weekend, after utility outfielder Alex Call became the team’s only deadline addition to the lineup. “That’s something that we’re all counting on … Now it’s up to all of us to go out there and do our jobs.”

While that’s true of most hitters in the lineup, all the way down to Andy Pages and (even before his most recent ankle injury flare-up) Tommy Edman, there are three star-level players in particular the Dodgers have been waiting to round back into form.

Here’s a look at the problems plaguing each of them:

Mookie Betts

First 15 games: .304 average, .554 slugging percentage, .954 OPS

Last 87 games: .222 average, .327 slugging percentage, .616 OPS

When asked on Sunday for the umpteenth time this season if he knew what was wrong with Mookie Betts’ swing, Roberts failed to come up with an answer.

“Honestly, no,” Roberts said. “I know that he and the hitting coaches have been working diligently, consistently, intentionally. I think that the first thing, the easiest thing, to say is it’s a mechanical thing. So I guess kind of that’s where he’s at. But also, I do believe that there’s a mental part of it, too, which is sort of beating him down a little bit.”

When Betts was presented with the same question later Sunday afternoon, after running a season-long hitless streak to 17 at-bats and watching his batting average dip to .233, he was left searching for divine intervention.

“I’ve done everything I can possibly do,” he said. “It’s up to God at this point.”

Betts’ struggles are not for a lack of effort. He spends hours in the batting cage before (and sometimes after) almost every game. He has tried mechanical tweaks and mental cues and fundamental drills that in the past would get him back on track.

His approach has largely remained sound, as he ranks in the top 20% of big-leaguers in chase rate, whiff rate and strikeouts percentage, per Baseball Savant’s Statcast data.

And while his bat speed is in the 11th percentile of MLB hitters (and down almost two mph from his 39-homer season in 2023), it’s also about the same as he had last year, when he was still a .289 hitter with 19 home runs (in just 116 games) and a .863 OPS (which only trailed Shohei Ohtani for the best on the team).

“I really don’t know what else to do,” he said. “I don’t have any answers.”

Perhaps the most confounding metric: Betts is in the 99th percentile in “squared-up” rate, a metric that effectively determines when a ball is hit off the sweet spot of the bat.

But, even when Betts does make solid contact, he simply isn’t generating as much power as he usually does — ranking among the bottom third of big-league hitters in average exit velocity and hard-hit percentage; and watching fly balls that used to leave the yard die at the warning track, if they even make it that far.

While he has been a victim of some bad luck (his expected .252 batting average is almost 20 points higher than his actual mark), he has had no choice but to “go back to the drawing board” time and time again this year — gradually grating on his confidence as answers continually fail to appear.

“I don’t know anybody in the world that would have confidence in the stretch that’s going on [for me],” he said. “It sucks when you don’t get stuff done.”

Betts can be a streaky hitter. And the Dodgers’ hope is that, at some point over these final two months, he’ll find something that unlocks more pop in his bat, and go on the kind of heater that can make him an effective producer at the top of the lineup again.

Until that happens, however, questions will persist. About whether his shortstop play is to blame for his offensive decline (a theory multiple rival evaluators have increasingly pointed to of late as a reason for his struggles). About whether age is simply catching up to the soon-to-be 33-year-old veteran. And about whether he will ever be the same hitter he was once, amid a season-long slump almost no one saw coming.

Shohei Ohtani

First 70 games (before resuming pitching): .297 average, 1.034 OPS, 24% strikeout rate

Last 40 games (since resuming pitching): .230 average, .886 OPS, 31% strikeout rate

The easy demarcation line for Ohtani this year has been before and after he returned to pitching in mid-June, with offensive production dropping even as his stuff has ticked up on the mound.

Ohtani has still been a relatively productive hitter since then, continuing to hit home runs at a league-leading pace (he is tied with Kyle Schwarber for the NL lead with 38 on the year).

But he has become a much easier out the last couple months, as well, epitomized first and foremost by his climbing strikeout rate.

An over-aggressive approach would figure to be the easy explanation here. And there have been times, Roberts noted, the slugger appears to get into a “swing mode” that prevents him from laying off bad pitches.

But on the whole this season, Ohtani is actually swinging less often than he did last year, chasing pitches at an almost identical rate and continuing to draw more walks than almost anyone in the majors (his 71 free passes are seventh-most this season).

Ohtani’s problem has been an increase in swing-and-miss, with the reigning MVP coming up empty on more than one-third of his hacks.

It might simply be a byproduct of the added physical workload he has taken on since resuming two-way duties. But he has insisted such problems remain fixable, citing a lack of balance and consistency in his swing mechanics.

Like Betts, Ohtani can also be prone to more extreme highs and lows over the course of a year. Last season, for example, he hit just .235 with an .886 OPS in August, before turning around in September and batting .393 with a 1.225 OPS.

The Dodgers could use another late-season tear like that again this term. Whether he can do it while also ramping up as a pitcher looms as one of the biggest questions facing the Dodgers down the stretch this year.

Teoscar Hernández

First 33 games (pre-groin strain): .315 average, nine home runs, .933 OPS, 18% strikeout rate

Last 57 games (post-groin strain): .211 average, seven home runs, .619 OPS, 28% strikeout rate

Hernández’s midseason drop-off is perhaps the easiest to explain of any recently scuffling Dodgers hitter.

Before suffering a groin/adductor strain in early May, he was on an All-Star (and potentially even MVP-caliber) pace after re-signing with the Dodgers in the offseason.

Since then, however, the 32-year-old simply hasn’t looked the same — both at the plate, where he hasn’t been able to drive the ball as he usually does, and in the field, where his range has been clearly limited.

To that end, a foul ball he took off his foot last month hasn’t helped matters either.

There have been some recent signs that Hernández is getting healthy again. His slugging percentage has started to tick back up since getting a week off for the All-Star break. He has had more hard contact, especially to center and the opposite field.

“At the beginning [after my injury] it was a little hard,” Hernández said after hitting home runs in consecutive games at Fenway Park last week. “First I got my groin, then I got the foul off my foot. Couldn’t put a lot of weight [on it] for like two weeks. Thank God there was the break in there. I got those four days off, going through that and getting some treatment, getting some rest. And finally feel like myself again.”

But, it still hasn’t resulted in a total reversal of fortunes, with Hernández finishing the road trip going just five-for-25 with nine strikeouts and only one extra-base hit.

Last year, Hernández’s ability to be a run-producer behind the Dodgers’ star trio of hitters was crucial to both their regular-season and postseason offensive success. Lately, though, he has been more strikeout-prone and less opportunistic at the plate, contributing to a string of frustrating recent defeats marked by squandered chances in leverage opportunities.

“He’s bearing down, and he’s not trying to give at-bats away,” Roberts said. “He’s grinding.”

Much like the Dodgers’ other scuffling stars, the team will need him to fully snap out of it, and live up once again to the expectations the club had for him and the lineup at large.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. With one week to go before The Times begins a nine-part series looking at the top players by positions on Aug. 12, let’s give a sneak peek at the strongest position in Southern California this season: defensive line. And look at some talented linebackers.

Big men, big hitters

Defensive end Richard Wesley of Sierra Canyon.

(Craig Weston)

Defensive line, in my opinion, is the strongest position in Southern California when it comes to elite players who could make an impact at the college and even NFL level one day.

Tomuhini Topui of Mater Dei is a 320-pound man among boys. He will be the crown jewel in the USC 2026 recruiting class. He’s so athletic he’ll also be seeing time on Mater Dei’s offensive line. But make no mistake about it — he causes havoc in the middle for the Monarchs.

Marcus Fakatou of Orange Lutheran is a 6-foot-7, 265-pound sophomore who continues to grow into his body and becomes meaner every game. Khary Wilder of Gardena Serra is an Ohio State commit who routinely sees double teams. Richard Wesley of Sierra Canyon is a Texas commit and part of a Trailblazers defense that might be best in the Southland. Don’t sleep on his teammate, Mikhal Johnson, a two-sport athlete who had 16 tackles for losses.

Dutch Horisk of St. John Bosco and Anthony Jones of Crean Lutheran are committed to Oregon and UCLA, respectively. Elijah Harmon of Inglewood is 280-pound junior with immense potential. Simonte Katoanga has transferred from JSerra to Santa Margarita and is committed to USC.

St. Pius X-St. Matthias has Malik Brooks, a 330-pound USC commit. JD Hill of Mission Viejo is a Northern Arizona commit with improving skills. Devyn Blake of Edison is a 275-pound Sacramento State commit. Elyjah Staples of Marquez had 13 sacks as a sophomore and is the younger brother of UCLA receiver Ezavier Staples. Corona Centennial defensive lineman Kingston Schirmer is a Cal commit.

Linebackers make impact

When it comes to linebackers, there’s an impressive list to admire.

Tristan Phillips of Ventura is an Oregon commit and tackling machine. Shaun Scott of Mater Dei is a USC commit with the speed to sack quarterbacks. Samu Moala of Leuzinger is a Texas A&M commit who keeps getting bigger and stronger.

Dash Fifita of Santa Margarita is an Arizona commit who fills up the middle better than anyone even though his 5-9. Isaiah Leilua of Servite and Isaiah Phelps of Oxnard Pacifica who are two juniors ready for big seasons.

Taylor Johnson of Cajon is a USC commit who averaged double-digit tackles. St. John Bosco is filled with quality linebackers, led by UCLA commit Matthew Muasau. Jackson Reach at Mira Costa is a top tackler and long snapper.

Practice begins

Quarterback Jeremy Pacheco of University is back after suffering a season-ending knee injury in first game last season.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Official football practice began on Monday. Senior quarterback Jeremy Pacheco of University was particularly happy. He suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opening game last season. To get back onto the field healthy was something he had worked hard to accomplish.

Here’s a report.

Bellflower went 0-10 last season but is ready for a big change under first-year coach Keith Miller. Here’s a report.

The City Section preseason top 10 rankings are in. Here’s the report.

Quarterback Brady Smigiel (left) and linebacker Balen Bentancourt have been teammates since fourth grade. They’re seniors at Newbury Park.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The Conejo Coast League held its media day, with Newbury Park leading the way as the team to beat. Here’s the report.

The rule changes in flag football are immense, from allowing punting for the first time to figuring out screen blocking and what’s legal and what’s a penalty.

Then there’s the defense starting from only one yard from the line of scrimmage instead of seven yards last season. All these changes will make the early season game important for everyone — coaches, players, officials, parents.

Here’s a report from a City Section meeting in which coaches asked repeated questions to the official explaining the new rules.

Notes . . .

Brothers Marcus and Maximo Adams.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The high school basketball player who has made big-time progress in terms of attracting attention from elite college programs this summer is Maximo Adams of Sierra Canyon, younger brother of Arizona State’s Marcus Adams. Duke is the latest program to offer Adams. . . .

Corona Centennial guard Isaiah Rogers has committed to Stanford. . . .

Left-handed pitcher Drew Slevcove of Cypress has committed to UC Santa Barbara. . . .

Oaks Christian cornerback Davon Benjamin has committed to Oregon. . . .

Southern Section high school football television games are moving to Spectrum this season. The first game will be Sierra Canyon vs. Oaks Christian. Bally Sports has been the primary TV channel in years past. . . .

Standout point guard Acen Jimenez from La Habra has committed to Dartmouth. . . .

Mater Dei’s football team will make an early appearance on ESPN, traveling to Florida to face St. Thomas Aquinas on Aug. 23 at 12:30 p.m. . . .

Mater Dei running back Justin Lewis has committed to Massachusetts. . . .

Nick Itkin, a Palisades grad, and Bryce Louie, a Campbell Hall grad, helped the USA Men’s Foil team claim a silver medal at the World Fencing Championship in Tibilisi, Georgia. . . .

Former Newbury Park distance star Nico Young won the USTA national championship in the 10,000 meters, running 29:02.12. . . .

Robert Prieto is the new baseball coach at Bishop Amat. He was an assistant at Mt. SAC. . . .

Girls volleyball teams begin official practice next week, but Mater Dei and Santa Margarita made it to the championship of the Queen’s of the Court summer tournament. Corona Centennial and JSerra were the other semifinalists. Mater Dei won. Long Beach Poly also won its divisional championship. . .

Audrey Flanagan from Mira Costa is playing for the U.S. Girls U19 national team at the Women’s U21 World Championships Aug. 6-17 in Indonesia.

From the archives: Jonah Mathews

Oregon State’s Gianni Hunt tries to get past USC’s Jonah Mathews in 2020.

(Amanda Loman / Associated Press)

Former Santa Monica and USC guard Jonah Mathews was a standout player for Besiktas in leading the team to the Turkish finals in June.

Mathews was a top scorer during his Santa Monica and USC days.

Here’s a story from 2016 when he led Santa Monica to the 1A championship.

Here’s a story from 2016 about the rise of Mathews.

Recommendations

From the Los Angeles Times, a story on former NFL punter Chris Kluwe suing the Huntington Beach Union School District.

From Oaks Christian, a story on Quentin Young starting his pro baseball journey.

From the Los Angeles Times, a story about renewed concerns about getting CTE playing football.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. For you movie buffs, it’s nice to see a genuine Superman back on the big screen again.

The trade deadline

Well, the trade deadline is over and the Dodgers made moderate upgrades to their bullpen and outfield and some nice additions to their farm system. Before we can appraise the overall picture, let’s see what happened (all numbers are from the time they were traded). So, as an old friend would say, pull up a chair and spend part of the day with us.

—Dodgers acquire right-handed reliever Brock Stewart from Minnesota for outfielder James Outman.

If Stewart’s name sounds familiar to you, it’s because he pitched for the Dodgers from 2016-19, throwing 84 innings for a 5.46 ERA. And in the rare case of a pitcher getting better after leaving the Dodgers, he eventually landed in Minnesota, where he has pitched the last three season, throwing 77.1 innings with a 2.33 ERA. His fastball was 91 mph with the Dodgers, it is 96 mph now. A setup man with the Twins, Stewart has 14 holds and only blown one lead this season and right-handers are hitting only .104 against him. Dave Roberts said he wouldn’t hesitate to use Stewart in the ninth inning.

However, in a phrase I should have saved so I can cut and paste it whenever the Dodgers acquire a pitcher, Stewart has quite the injury history. He has never pitched more than 34.1 innings in a season, and that was in 2017. He was at 34 innings this season before the Dodgers acquired him. He had Tommy John surgery in 2021, because the Dodgers are apparently legally required to only acquire pitchers who have had that operation. In 2023, he was shut down in June because of an elbow injury. Last season, he appeared in only 16 games because of shoulder surgery. He started this season on the IL because of a strained left hamstring. So, while he’s been good when he pitches, he doesn’t pitch all that often.

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes to reporters on Stewart: “We felt like he’s in the upper tier of right-handed relievers. He’s been absolutely dominant against righties this year and performing really well.”

Outman finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2023 but has been terrible at the major league level since then, hitting .137/.245/.269. This is his final option year, so the Dodgers would have had to expose him to waivers if they tried to send him down next season. Trading him for Stewart is a pretty good deal for the Dodgers, and for Outman. Hopefully he rediscovers his swing in the majors (he remains a good hitter in triple A).

—Dodgers acquire minor league outfielders James Tibbs and Zach Ehrhard from Boston for pitcher Dustin May.

Tibbs was the Giants’ first-round pick in 2024 and the Giants traded him to Boston in June for Rafael Devers. He’s a left-handed hitter who can play left, right and first base. He hit .246/.379/.479 in High-A with the Giants. The Red Sox promoted him to double-A and he hit .207/.319/.267, which isn’t great, but he’s only 22. Either the Red Sox saw something they didn’t like, or they gave up on him way too soon. MLB has him as the No. 7 prospect in the Dodgers’ system.

Ehrhard was selected by the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 2024 draft. He’s a right-hander who can play left or right, and has some speed, stealing 23 bases in 88 minor league games this season while hitting .270/.371/.434 split between High-A and double-A. He is now the 25th-ranked prospect in the Dodger system.

Injuries sidetracked what looked like was going to be a great career for May. He has shown flashes of his old form this season, but has a 4.84 ERA in 104 innings (the first time he has pitched over 100 innings). With Tony Gonsolin and Blake Snell back, there was no room in the rotation for May, and apparently he didn’t want to pitch in the bullpen. He is going to be a free agent after this season, so getting two good prospects for him is a good deal. He will probably become Boston’s fifth starter, joining former teammate Walker Buehler in the Red Sox rotation.

Gomes on the trade: “We had a lot of really respectful conversations with D-May, and he’s been a huge part of the organization for a long time. Through those conversations, it was apparent that starting was very important to him. And while we felt like he could have been a contributor out of the bullpen and an impact-type piece, trying to understand the mindset and his desire to continue to start, we took that into consideration.”

—Dodgers acquired outfielder Alex Call from Washington for minor league pitchers Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Linan.

Call, 30, can play all three outfield positions and has a good defensive reputation. If nothing else, he can sub in for Michael Conforto or Teoscar Hernández at the end of games to get a better glove in the game. He is hitting .274/.371/.386 over 237 plate appearances this season, and could become a platoon partner with Conforto, with Call starting against left-handers, against whom he has much better success (.262/.345/.403 in his career versus .230/340/349 against righties). In his one season as a regular, he hit .200/.307/.307, so he’s not cut out to be an everyday starter. He has two minor league option years remaining and is under team control through 2029. He works the count and draws walks.

Swan was the 16th-ranked prospect and Linan 20th. Swan has a high-90s fastball and had a 4.43 ERA in High-A this season, but gave up almost as many walks (46) as hits (49) in 79 innings. Linan’s out pitch is a changeup. He had a 2.01 ERA in 67 innings while striking out 89 spread across High-A and Low-A. He is only 20.

Gomes to reporters on Call: “This guy’s just a straight grinder, works at-bats. Playing against him, he’s always incredibly frustrating to try to game plan for and get out. So I think it was a nice balance to fill some holes and continue to build out with a really, like, functional roster on top of the already really strong talent we had.”

—In a three-team deal, Dodgers acquired minor league pitcher Adam Serwinowski from Cincinnati and pitcher Paul Gervase and minor league catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia.

Serwinowski is considered the class of this part of the deal, as he was a top 10 prospect for the Reds and is ranked 14th with the Dodgers. He’s 6-5 and left-handed, and scouts do love the tall left-handers. He has struck out 242 in 188.1 minor league innings, but has struggled somewhat in High-A this season, with a 5.45 ERA, giving up 68 hits and 39 walks in 74.1 innings. Gervase is a 6-10 right-hander who joins the Dodgers in the majors. He is 25 and pitched only six inning with the Rays, but had a 3.12 ERA in triple-A with 63 strikeouts in 40.1 inning, giving up 27 hits and 12 walks. He’s tall, but his fastball reaches “only” 94, and he also throws a slider and a cutter. Rortvedt, with all due respect, basically provides minor league depth at catcher for the Dodgers. He has hit .186/.276/.265 in 209 games in the majors.

Feduccia was squeezed out when the Dodgers decided it was time to let Dalton Rushing play in the majors. He’s 28 and will get more of a chance to play elsewhere, as his path to the majors in L.A. was limited to someone getting hurt.

So there you have it. Nothing earth-shaking.

What does it mean? It means the Dodgers have decided to go all-in on the team they have. The team that made some people get carried way with themselves and predict 120 wins. The team that many consider a disappointment despite them being in first place most of the season. The Dodgers believe that getting Glasnow and Snell back, and possibly Roki Sasaki, will stabilize the rotation. Then getting Blake Treinen back, and hopefully getting Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates back will stabilize the bullpen. That Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández will start hitting like themselves again (Freeman is already showing signs of it). That Max Muncy will return and hit like he did before he was injured. That’s a lot to hope for, but it could happen.

When the season began, Andrew Friedman said he signed guys like Scott and Yates and Sasaki so the team wouldn’t have to overpay to acquire anyone at the trade deadline. And it appears we should have believed him. They have almost all of their top prospects still, while the Padres traded 10 of their top 30 prospects in a bid to win it all this year.

The Dodgers have acquired big names at the deadline before, names that seemed to put them over the top, only to see it not happen. Yu Darvish. Max Scherzer. Trea Turner. Other teams made bigger improvements this year at the deadline. But that has happened before without those teams winning the World Series.

Did the Dodgers do the right thing this year? Emotionally, it would have been nice to see a big name or two added, but in reality, it’s impossible to say. Some people will say the sky is falling and that the Dodgers guaranteed failure this season by doing relatively little. Some will say they did the right thing. But the truth is, no one knows what will happen. There were plenty of people who thought the Dodgers weren’t going to win the World Series last year because they didn’t have enough starting pitching. But they did. Guys they needed to stepped up. Yoshinobu Yamamoto stepped up, as did others. Guys they didn’t count on stepped up. Walker Buehler stepped up, as did unexpected others. That’s what has to happen this year, any year, to win the World Series. Will the Dodgers have the expected guys, and the unexpected ones, step up?

The Dodgers could win the World Series. They could lose in the first round. They could fall apart and not even make the postseason. Don’t worry about the destination right now. Enjoy the ride.

How do the Dodgers feel about what they did? Again, Gomes: “We feel really good about this group. Coming into the year, we felt like this was as talented of a roster as we’ve ever had. We’re in a position where we’re in first place, and I don’t even think we’ve played our best baseball yet. So as we continue to get some of our starters back, and then adding these pieces, and our guys just kind of playing up to their potential, we feel like it’s still a really, really strong team, and we don’t feel any differently about our aspirations than we did at the beginning of the year.”

To read how Jack Harris recapped everything, click here.

To read what Bill Plaschke‘s opinion on all this is, click here.

The Padres

The Padres have won seven of eight and are surging, only three games behind the Dodgers. What did they do at the deadline? Let’s look:

—Acquired pitcher Nestor Cortes, minor league infielder Jorge Quintana from Milwaukee for outfielder Brandon Lockridge

Cortes gave up the grand slam to Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the World Series. He made two starts for Milwaukee then went on the IL. He is scheduled to come off soon.

—Acquired first baseman-outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and outfielder Ramon Laureano from Baltimore for six minor leaguers: Boston Bateman, Brandon Butterworth, Cobb Hightower, Victor Figueroa, Tyson Neighbors, and Tanner Smith

O’Hearn and Laureano could platoon in left, which has been a weak spot all year for the Padres. O’Hearn is hitting .277/.342/.454 over the last three years with Baltimore. Or they could just start Laureano, who is hitting .290/.355/.529 this season and put O’Hearn at first. Or have O’Hearn switch between first and DH.

—Acquired infielder Will Wagner from Toronto for minor league catcher Brandon Valenzuela

Wagner can play any infield position, so he gives the Padres versatility, but he was sent to the minors after they acquired him. He is hitting .237/.336/.298 this season.

—Acquired catcher Freddy Fermin from Kansas City for pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek

Catching has been a real weak spot for San Diego this season, and Fermin gives them a bit of an upgrade on offense and defense. In four seasons with the Royals, he is hitting .268/.314/.383, but he is having his worst season this year. Bergert has a 2.78 ERA in seven starts this season, while Kolek has a 4.18 ERA in 14 starts. Seems like the Padres overpaid a bit.

—Acquired pitchers Mason Miller and JP Sears from Athletics for minor league shortstop Leo De Vries and minor league pitchers Henry Baez, Braden Nett and Eduarniel Nunez

The Padres upgraded an already stellar bullpen. Don’t let Miller’s 3.76 ERA fool you. He had a rough couple of weeks, but since then has been his usual great self, giving up one run in his last 15 innings with 19 strikeouts. His fastball averages 101 mph. Sears is a starter with a career 4.48 ERA.

De Vries is considered the Padres’ top prospect and the No. 5 prospect in all of baseball, so the Padres paid a price for the two pitchers. Will it pay off? Will trading 10 of their top 30 prospects get them that long-awaited World Series title this year? Reading the reaction of Padres fans on social media, they are just as split as Dodger fans. Some think the Padres overpaid. Some think this will lead to the promised land.

For all the trades by every team, click here.

Memory lane

A look at some previous trade deadline deals by the Dodgers.

2017

—Acquired pitcher Yu Darvish from Texas for A.J. Alexy, Willie Calhoun and Brendon Davis.

—Acquired pitcher Tony Cingrani from Cincinnati for Scott Van Slyke and Hendrik Clementina.

—Acquired pitcher Tony Watson from Pittsburgh for Angel German and Oneil Cruz.

—Acquired outfielder Curtis Granderson from the New York Mets for Jacob Rhame.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 74-31, .705

Record after Aug. 1: 30-27, .526

2018

—Acquired shortstop Manny Machado from Baltimore for Rylan Bannon, Yusniel Diaz, Dean Kremer, Zach Pop and Breyvic Valera.

—Acquired pitcher John Axford from Toronto for Corey Copping.

—Acquired second baseman Brian Dozier from Minnesota for Logan Forsythe, Luke Raley and Devin Smeltzer.

—Acquired infielder David Freese from Pittsburgh for Jesus Valdez.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 59-49, .506

Record after Aug. 1: 33-22, .600

2019

—Acquired pitcher Adam Kolarek from Tampa Bay for Niko Hulsizer.

—Acquired infielder Jedd Gyorko from St. Louis for Jeffry Abreu and Tony Cingrani.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 71-39, .645

Record after Aug. 1: 35-17, .673

2020

Nothing significant. This was the 60-game COVID season.

2021

—Acquired pitcher Max Scherzer and shortstop Trea Turner from Washington for Gerardo Carrillo, Donovan Casey, Josiah Gray and Keibert Ruiz.

—Acquired outfielder Billy McKinney from the New York Mets for Carlos Rincón.

—Acquired pitcher Danny Duffy from Kansas City for Zach Willeman.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 63-43, .594

Record after Aug. 1: 43-13, .768

2022

—Acquired pitcher Chris Martin from the Chicago Cubs for infielder-outfielder Zach McKinstry.

—Acquired left fielder Joey Gallo from the New York Yankees for Clayton Beeter.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 68-33, .673

Record after Aug. 1: 43-18, .705

2023

—Acquired Kiké Hernández from Boston for Justin Hagenman and Nick Robertson.

—Acquired pitchers Joe Kelly and Lance Lynn from the Chicago White Sox for Jordan Leasure, Nick Nastrini and Trayce Thompson.

—Acquired infielder Amed Rosario from Cleveland for Noah Syndergaard.

—Acquired pitcher Ryan Yarbrough from Kansas City for Derlin Figueroa and Devin Mann.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 59-45, .567

Record after Aug. 1: 41-17, .707

2024

—Acquired pitcher Jack Flaherty from Detroit for Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney.

—As part of a three-team deal, acquired infielder/outfielder Tommy Edman from St. Louis, pitcher Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox for Alexander Albertus, Jeral Perez and Miguel Vargas.

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 63-46, .578

Record after Aug. 1: 35-18, .660

2025

Dodgers record before Aug. 1: 63-46, .578

Record after Aug. 1: ?

These names seem familiar

A look at how some prominent Dodgers from the last few seasons are doing with their new team (through Friday). Click on the player name to be taken to the baseball-reference page with all their stats.

Batters

Cody Bellinger, Yankees: .279/.330/.505, 436 plate appearances, 20 doubles, 5 triples, 20 homers, 65 RBIs, 129 OPS+

Michael Busch, Cubs: .269/.356/.510, 396 PA’s, 15 doubles, 3 triples, 21homers, 61 RBIs, 149 OPS+

Hunter Feduccia, Rays: 0 for 3

Gavin Lux, Reds: .272/.358/.374, 355 PA’s, 18 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 42 RBIs, 100 OPS+

Zach McKinstry, Tigers: .265/.347/.445, 376 PA’s, 16 doubles, 8 triples, 9 homers, 37 RBIs, 119 OPS+

James Outman, Twins: in the minors

Joc Pederson, Rangers, .129/.262/.223, 165 PA’s, 5 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 43 OPS+

Keibert Ruiz, Nationals, .280/.327/.363, 168 PA’s, 7 doubles, 2 homers, 17 RBIs, 97 OPS+

Corey Seager, Rangers: .265/.372/.469, 347 PA’s, 15 doubles, 15 homers, 38 RBIs, 143 OPS+

Chris Taylor, Angels: .189/.302/.396, 42 PA’s, 4 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBIs, 83 OPS+ (numbers with Angels only)

Justin Turner, Cubs: .211/.286/.297, 147 PA’s, 5 doubles, 2 homers, 13 RBIs, 70 OPS+

Trea Turner, Phillies: .286/.339/.424, 487 PA’s, 23 doubles, 3 triples, 11 homers, 45 RBIs, 108 OPS+

Miguel Vargas, White Sox: .229/.305/.402, 439 PA’s, 25 doubles, 2 triples, 13 homers, 44 RBIs, 96 OPS+

Alex Verdugo, Braves: .239/.296/.289, 213 PA’s, 10 doubles, 12 RBIs, 66 OPS+, released by Braves

Pitching

Walker Buehler, Red Sox: 6-6, 5.74 ERA, 94 IP, 106 hits, 44 walks, 71 K’s, 71 ERA+

Jack Flaherty, Tigers: 6-10, 4.36 ERA, 115.2 IP, 98 hits, 47 walks, 144 K’s, 94 ERA+

Kenley Jansen, Angels: 3-2, 2.93 ERA, 20 saves, 40 IP, 31 hits, 11 walks, 39 K’s, 145 ERA+

Dustin May, Red Sox: has not pitched for Boston yet.

Ryan Pepiot, Rays: 6-9, 3.80 ERA, 130.1 IP, 109 hits, 45 walks, 128 K’s, 107 ERA+

Max Scherzer, Blue Jays: 2-1, 4.39 ERA, 41 IP, 35 hits, 8 walks, 44 K’s, 95 ERA+

Ryan Yarbrough, Yankees: 3-1, 3.90 ERA, 55.1 IP, 48 hits, 17 walks, 49 K’s, 104 ERA+

Up next

Monday: St. Louis (Sonny Gray, 10-5, 4.38 ERA) at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 1-1, 3.38 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Tuesday: St. Louis (Miles Mikolas, 6-8, 4.83 ERA) at Dodgers (Emmet Sheehan, 2-2, 3.60 ERA), 7:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Wednesday: St. Louis (*Matthew Liberatore, 6-9, 3.96 ERA) at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 0-0, 2.40 ERA) 1:10 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers welcome deadline additions, hopeful arrival ‘raises the floor for our ballclub’

Hernández: Dodgers look vulnerable, and Padres and rest of their competitors know it

Plaschke: Andrew Friedman struck out on the Dodgers’ urgent need for a closer

Dodgers pass MLB trade deadline quietly, add Brock Stewart and Alex Call

And finally

Game 2 of the 1978 World Series, Bob Welch vs. Reggie Jackson. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

So, what’d ya get?

Revenue sharing payments started flowing into UCLA football players’ PayPal accounts this week, leading to the inevitable sidling up to teammates for quiet comparisons … or not.

“We try not to,” linebacker Isaiah Chisom said when asked if players discussed how much money they’re making. “Obviously, I mean, people know how much some people are getting, but, you know, at the end of the day, we all came here for one reason, and that’s to play football and the extra money or whatever we get is just extra, it’s not making anybody play harder.”

While UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond would not divulge the specifics of his school’s revenue-sharing plan, it’s believed that the football team was allotted roughly 75% of the $20.5 million in payments — or about $15.375 million — which is in line with the suggested formula as part of the House settlement with the NCAA. That would break down to $146,428 per player if divided evenly among the 105 players on the roster, though coach DeShaun Foster said his staff divvied up the money based on talent evaluations.

Does that mean new quarterback Nico Iamaleava, the highly coveted transfer from Tennessee, is the team’s highest-paid player? Nobody will know unless Iamaleava wants them to.

“We haven’t put anything out publicly like that for the other players to see,” Foster said of divulging payment amounts. “So if they wanted to share that, they can.”

The lack of transparency about revenue sharing across the country will lead to guesswork and assumptions about who’s making what. Chisom acknowledged the importance of ensuring that the presumed revenue sharing discrepancies didn’t disrupt team chemistry.

“It definitely can expose a team or bring up a team,” Chisom said. “It really just depends on the people you have on the roster. But I think the coaches did a great job of bringing in the right type of character and people who want to play football and are excited to play in California in the Rose Bowl.”

Foster said players were taught about financial literacy to give them information about the importance of saving money and the tax implications of their new windfall.

But the quaint notion that revenue sharing would level the playing field for UCLA with teams whose name, image and likeness collectives were generating several multiples of what the Bruins were before the House settlement has long been discarded.

“They’re just going to find ways to do it under the table,” Foster said of the powerhouse programs sustaining their financial edge. “It is what it is. We’re just going to control what we can control. We have our salary cap. We’re gonna do the best that we can do with that, and allocate it to our players the way that we want to, and you know, whatever everybody else does, that’s what they do. They’re just gonna find other ways to do what they’ve been doing.”

A cloak-and-dagger camp

First impressions of UCLA’s football training camp?

Iamaleava looked good getting off the bus in a light blue hoodie, black sweatpants and a black do-rag.

The offense’s black uniforms with blue numbers looked spiffy.

The weather in Costa Mesa has been close to perfect.

Oh, you wanted some insight into how the Bruins look on the field? That’s been much harder to gauge.

Daily media viewing sessions have been limited to 25 minutes of mostly stretching, individual drills and special teams work, leaving almost everything else to the imagination.

One early takeaway has been that defensive linemen Keanu Williams and Gary Smith III look fully recovered from their respective injuries. Williams made one quick burst that appeared to please defensive line coach Jethro Franklin, who unleashed an excited expletive.

Iamaleava’s arm has looked strong and accurate in throwing drills, but it’s been impossible to determine how well he’s mastered the offense given the viewing limitations.

The punters appear promising. Will Karroll and Lennox Miller, a pair of newcomers with Australian roots, were regularly booming punts some 50 yards.

Foster said he’s happy that his team features better depth in Year 2, leading to more competition because some backups could be good enough to supplant the presumed starters.

“It’s not just ‘I’m the guy,’ ” Foster said of having multiple players worthy of starting at various positions, “so it just feels that there’s more guys that can push a starter.”

A singular vision

JonJon Vaughns quit the UCLA baseball team to focus on football.

(Courtesy of UCLA Athletics)

JonJon Vaughns is all in on pigskin.

The UCLA linebacker’s decision to redshirt last season after playing in the first four games, combined with a choice to stop playing outfield after four seasons on the school’s baseball team, provided him with nearly a full year of football prep.

He can see and feel the difference, no longer having to work his way back into football shape after having missed spring practice while playing baseball.

“It was hard, just getting back in shape, running straight, not having those muscles from football early on,” Vaughns said, “and then, and then I don’t get those muscles until like midseason, so it’d be too late. But now it’s like, I got them, let’s use them, you know?”

As luck would have it, the timing of Vaughns’ decision to quit baseball was not ideal — UCLA made it back to the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

“I wanted to be there with the guys and coach [John] Savage, and I even texted [Savage] before [the Series], like, ‘Hey, wish I was there,’ you know?” Vaughns said. “But seeing them doing what they did this year was amazing to see.”

Looking a bit sturdier at 6 feet 1 and 225 pounds after having completed his first series of spring football practices, Vaughns said his weight is actually about the same after gaining 10 pounds of muscle and losing an accompanying amount of fat.

Having started 11 games in his first five seasons with the football team, Vaughns could move into a full-time starting role in his final football season. His ability to play both strong-side and weak-side linebacker gives him the versatility to fill a variety of spots and make the biggest influence of his career on a defense that needs playmakers.

Another softball title

Megan Faraimo during her days with UCLA.

(Alonzo Adams / Associated Press)

UCLA’s 12 NCAA softball championships lead all college programs — no one else is in double figures — so it should come as no surprise that three Bruins alums were crucial members of the first champion in the new Athletes Unlimited Softball League.

While helping the Talons sweep the Bandits, two games to none, in the championship series, Megan Faraimo pitched the seventh inning of Game 1 and collected the save with two strikeouts; Sharlize Palacios reached base four times in the series and ranked top five on the team in hits and total bases; and Maya Brady reached base safely twice in Game 1 and scored the team’s third and final run.

Competing as part of a barnstorming four-team, 24-game debut season that was completed in 12 cities and drew 20 sellouts, the Talons had several other UCLA connections. Lisa Fernandez was the team’s general manager, Kirk Walker the associate head coach and Will Oldham an assistant coach.

The AUSL plans to become a city-based league in 2026.

Opinion time

We had an influx of new subscribers after last week’s newsletter, so we are holding over the Mount Rushmore voting for one more week.

To recap, we’re wondering which four coaches or players would you put on your Mount Rushmore of UCLA football? Email your list of four to [email protected] and we’ll post the results in a future UCLA Unlocked. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but anyone who doesn’t list coach Terry Donahue should be denied entry to the Rose Bowl.

Remember when?

Speaking of Donahue, his final season opener as UCLA’s coach in 1995 was one of his more memorable ones.

The No. 15 Bruins welcomed No. 12 Miami to the Rose Bowl and proceeded to hand the Hurricanes a 31-8 whipping. You can watch the game here.

Left tackle Jonathan Ogden led a powerful offensive line that opened massive holes for running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar, who ran 29 times for 180 yards in 102-degree heat. The game was also notable in that it marked the debut of freshman quarterback Cade McNown, who completed both passes he threw in relief while starter Ryan Fien was sidelined by a concussion.

It was a high point in an up-and-down season that ended with a 51-30 loss to Kansas in the Aloha Bowl and the Bruins needing a new coach after Donahue announced that he was retiring after 20 seasons before becoming a college football analyst with CBS.

In case you missed it

UCLA’s Tino Sunseri vying to make child’s play out of winning with new quarterback

They’re happy campers as UCLA opens training sessions in cool, breezy Costa Mesa

Can UCLA sustain its buzz? Five questions Bruins must address going into training camp

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter @latbbolch. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

TAMPA, Fla. — Scoring runs at Steinbrenner Field should not be as hard as the Dodgers made it look this weekend.

The spring training ballpark, which is doubling as the Tampa Bay Rays’ temporary home this season after Tropicana Field was shredded in an offseason hurricane, has small Yankee Stadium-inspired dimensions that played even shorter in this weekend’s sweltering Florida summer heat.

Yet, for 18 innings from late Friday night to midway through Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers put nothing but zeros on the scoreboard.

They couldn’t capitalize on the short porch in right field. They didn’t run into any cheap home runs amid conditions that should have helped the ball fly.

During a 3-0 win over the Rays on Sunday, the Dodgers manufactured offense in different kinds of ways.

In the top of the sixth, third base coach Dino Ebel decided to wave his arm on an aggressive send of Freddie Freeman, who went chugging around third base to score just ahead of a tag at home on Andy Pages’ RBI single to left.

In the seventh, they needed a swinging-bunt single from Shohei Ohtani, a one-out walk from Mookie Betts and a double-steal from both players to set up Freeman for another RBI single.

And in the ninth, they extended their lead with a sacrifice fly from Betts at the end of a 10-pitch battle for a key insurance run.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws during the first inning of a win over the Rays in Tampa, Fla.

(Jason Behnken / Associated Press)

Such results will do little to quell the concerns about the Dodgers’ slumping lineup, which has seen a brutal performance in July (when they scored the third-fewest runs in the majors) continue into the early days of August.

But on a day Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered 5 ⅔ scoreless innings and the Dodgers’ bullpen completed a second shutout of the Rays in this weekend’s series victory — despite a bases-loaded scare in the bottom of the ninth — it was nonetheless enough to ensure the team returned home from this nine-game road trip with a winning 5-4 record.

The Dodgers’ ongoing search for offense included another twist on Sunday morning. Two weeks after flipping Ohtani and Betts at the top of the batting order, manager Dave Roberts reversed course by returning Ohtani to the top spot and dropping Betts — who has remained mired in his season-long slump — into the two-hole.

Early on, the results weren’t promising.

Betts grounded into a double-play in the first inning, immediately after Ohtani had led off with a walk.

In the fifth, the Rays intentionally walked Ohtani to put two aboard in front of Betts. But he flied out to center to end the inning, extending his recent hitless streak to 16 at-bats.

“It’s kind of just trying to figure out what’s best short term,” Roberts said of the lineup adjustment, while remaining undecided on how the batting order will look in the coming days. “With [Teoscar Hernández, who got an off day] not being in there, this was the best lineup for today.”

Roberts hinted that more tinkering could happen once Max Muncy returns from the injured list, which could happen as soon as Monday — especially after infielder Tommy Edman left Sunday’s game early with a sprained right ankle, aggravating his lingering ankle injury while rounding first base on a single in the fifth.

Roberts also left open the possibility of Betts, who saw his season batting average dip to .233 despite his seventh-inning walk and ninth-inning sacrifice fly, dropping further down the batting order at some point, as he continues to search for answers to his faltering swing.

“I’ve thought about it,” Roberts said. “I think it’s a totally fair question. I’m just trying to figure out what would be best for him, for the team. But yeah, I’ve thought about it.”

For now, however, the Dodgers are clinging to what positives they can.

Ohtani entered Sunday in a recent skid that included 20 strikeouts in his last 10 games, but managed to reach base four total times to go along with two steals. Freeman stayed hot with his second three-hit performance of the trip, raising his batting average (which had slipped to .292 just a week ago) up to .306. And by the end of the day, even Betts had pitched in, following up his seventh-inning walk by staying alive against reliever Griffin Jax for his sacrifice fly in the ninth.

TAMPA, Fla. — Blake Snell nearly had a flawless return from the injured list on Saturday afternoon.

If only the Tampa Bay Rays didn’t have slugger Yandy Díaz, or a quirky short right-field wall at their temporary home at Steinbrenner Field.

Making his first start since the second week of the season, when he went down with a shoulder injury that shelved him, Snell largely looked like the ace the Dodgers thought they were getting when they signed him to a $182-million contract this offseason.

Over a five-inning outing that included eight strikeouts, no walks and a whole bunch of flailing swings by the Rays, the veteran left-hander flashed his two-time Cy Young Award-winning stuff and tantalizing late-season potential for this year.

However, in the Dodgers’ 4-0 loss to the Rays, Snell gave up three runs on a pair of long balls to Díaz — who twice took advantage of the ballpark’s short porch in right field.

“I thought, to be quite frank, he was a victim of this ballpark,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “There were a couple fly balls to right field that just went out. … Unfortunately, got a little bit of bad luck.”

After the Rays’ permanent home, Tropicana Field in nearby St. Petersburg, had its canvas roof shredded during Hurricane Milton this winter, the club relocated to Steinbrenner Field for this season; using the New York Yankees’ open-air, Tampa-based spring training park for its home schedule.

Since the 10,000-seat venue was modeled after Yankee Stadium in New York, its defining feature is a short right-field wall (similar to the one in the Bronx) that measures at just 314 feet down the line — eight feet shorter than the dimensions at Tropicana Field.

In the bottom of the first inning, Díaz took full advantage, golfing a 3-1 fastball the other way for a solo home run. According to MLB’s Statcast system, the ball traveled only 326 feet, and would have stayed in play at each of the league’s other 29 stadiums. But not here, and especially not on a sweltering summer afternoon with a first-pitch temperature of 91 degrees.

“I was surprised,” Roberts said of watching Díaz’s ball land in the first row of seats.

“They took advantage of the field,” added right fielder Teoscar Hernández.

Indeed, Díaz repeated the act two innings later; snapping the groove Snell had settled into after retiring seven of the next eight batters, including five on strikeouts.

On a 1-1 fastball that was up in the zone, Díaz launched one to the opposite field again, hitting a two-run blast on a 341-foot fly ball that would’ve been a homer in only two other parks (Yankee Stadium, and Daikin Park in Houston).

“The first homer to Yandy, that was not a good pitch,” Snell said. “On the second homer, I thought that was a really good pitch to him, and it was. Just a good result for him.”

Still, on the whole, Snell offered plenty of promise in his return to action Saturday.

First and foremost, he filled up the strike zone, eliminating his habit of nibbling around the plate by throwing 57 strikes in 86 pitches.

“I was in the zone more than I thought I would’ve been,” he said. “You’re just trying to feel it out again, so I like that.”

And, in another positive development, many of those strikes were of the swing-and-miss variety.

Snell racked up 19 total whiffs, tied for third-most by a Dodgers pitcher in a game this season. Seven came on 12 total swings against his changeup, a key offspeed pitch that showed no signs of rust after his four-month layoff. Five more were courtesy of his slider, with the Rays coming up empty on all five swings against it.

“I was in the zone, I was confident, I knew what I wanted to do,” Snell said. “Overall, first start back, emotions, there’s a lot that I’m dealing with to get better. … But definitely something to build on, learn from.”

In the big picture, after all, the Dodgers’ main priorities for Snell are: 1) Stay healthy; 2) Pitch better than he did at the start of the season, when his bothersome shoulder contributed to two underwhelming outings that marred the beginning of his Dodgers career.

Tampa Bay’s Yandy Díaz watches his solo home run off Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell during the first inning Saturday.

(Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

Down the stretch this season, the Dodgers’ biggest strength might be their rotation. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is in the Cy Young Award conversation. Tyler Glasnow has looked improved since returning from his own shoulder injury. Shohei Ohtani has quickly rediscovered his premium stuff coming off a second career Tommy John procedure. And even Clayton Kershaw has been productive in his 18th season.

The biggest linchpin, though, likely remains Snell — whom the Dodgers targeted this offseason in hopes of avoiding the tightrope they walked last October, when their injury-ravaged rotation was almost completely depleted by the start of the postseason.

“Last year, we found a way to do it, not having that [rotation depth],” Roberts said. “But having the starters healthy, pitching the way they’re capable of, makes it a better quality of life for everyone.”

While the Dodgers had managed in Snell’s absence, maintaining a narrow lead in the National League West despite another prolonged stretch of patchwork pitching, Roberts acknowledged they had missed his “presence” over the first two-thirds of the season.

And after watching from afar how well Snell finished last year — when he rebounded from another extended early-season IL stint with the San Francisco Giants by posting a 1.23 ERA over his last 12 starts, including his first no-hitter exactly one year ago Saturday — Roberts was hopeful the 32-year-old could mount a similar “heater” now.

“He’s really focused,” Roberts said. “I love where his head’s at.”

The results on Saturday might not have been enough to compensate for the Dodgers’ quiet day at the plate — with their lineup managing only six hits and squandering its best opportunity to rally on Hernández’s bases-loaded, inning-ending double-play grounder in the top of the sixth.

But it nonetheless raised hopes about the potential of the team’s late-season rotation, offering a long-awaited glimpse of the kind of dominance Snell could provide to the Dodgers’ push to defend their World Series championship.

“I thought Blake threw the baseball really well today,” Roberts said. “Just kind of seeing him out there, competing, making pitches, it just makes you feel better going forward.”

From Jack Harris: Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.

“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”

“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.

“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”

On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.

The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.

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MLB trade deadline tracker: Updates, news and every major move

UCLA NEWSLETTER

We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.

Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.

The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.

The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.

You can sign up for it here. And you can’t beat the price: Free!

ANGELS

From Bill Shaikin: In the slang, “mid” means disappointingly mediocre, forgettable, uninspiring. On TikTok, a classic rant starts: “It’s called the Midwest because everything in it is mid! Skyline Chili? Mid! Your Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? M-M-M-Mid!!!”

The Angels are mid.

They are three games under .500, four games out in the American League wild-card race, with four teams to pass, hoping to end baseball’s longest playoff drought at 10 years.

The Seattle Mariners, tied with the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot, traded for middle-of-the-lineup corner infielders in third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor. The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly to supplement Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the starting rotation.

The Angels made two trades, picking up two veteran setup men and an infielder batting .152 for three lightly regarded minor leaguers.

Why lightly bolster a team with a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, as projected by Baseball Prospectus before Thursday’s trades, when you could start building the 2026 roster in the many areas needing improvement?

“Giving them a chance to play this thing out, relative to what was presented [in trade talks], made a lot of sense,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.

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CHARGERS

From Sam Farmer: Trey Lance welcomes any opportunity that comes his way — a vexing four NFL seasons have only made him more eager — so Thursday night felt especially good.

Lance, the onetime third overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers, is battling for the Chargers’ backup quarterback job, and he made a compelling case in the Hall of Fame Game against the NFC darling Detroit Lions.

Although he didn’t put up gaudy numbers — completing 13 of 20 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns — he was as relaxed and at ease in front of the crowd of 18,144 at Tom Benson Stadium, as refreshing as the gentle evening breeze after a day of sprinkling rain.

“I was excited that we got this fourth preseason game,” Lance said after the 34-7 victory. “If I could play four games I’d be fired up about that.”

Here are five observations from the Chargers’ preseason opener.

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Canton memories: The Harbaugh family’s connection to Ohio’s ‘Cradle of Coaches’

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Quarterback Stetson Bennett never appeared to lack confidence when he was leading Georgia to back-to-back national titles.

And for the first time since the Rams drafted him in 2023, Bennett is practicing with an obvious spring in his step.

With starter Matthew Stafford sidelined because of a back issue, and Jimmy Garoppolo running the first-team offense, Bennett has impressed while working with the second unit.

“Everything is just more comfortable,” Bennett said Thursday after a full-pads practice at Loyola Marymount.

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Rams linebacker Nate Landman wears his pride on body and helmet

BILLIE JEAN KING

From Steve Lopez: Everyone reaches a point in life when it’s OK to sink into the easy chair, prop up their feet and take a deep breath.

Apparently, no one has told this to Billie Jean King.

Since the time she was a child in Long Beach, raised by a firefighter and homemaker, King has been filling history books.

She won more singles and doubles championships at Wimbledon than anyone before or since, and she was the No. 1 female tennis player in the world.

She’s been carrying a flag, for decades, for gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights in sports and society. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

A global audience of 90 million people tuned in on their televisions one evening in 1973 and watched her whip Bobby Riggs in a tennis challenge billed as “The Battle of the Sexes.”

But King’s resume, which would stretch from one end of Wimbledon’s Center Court to the other and keep going, is missing one thing, and that was bugging her. The omission came up last year in a conversation she was having with the staff of her New York-based consulting, investing and marketing company. (Yes, she still runs a business and a foundation promoting education, leadership and activism.)

In the spring this year, at the age of 81, Billie Jean King went back to school, chasing not a trophy, or a cup, or a medal, but a degree.

Continue reading here

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1936 — The Berlin Olympics begin.

1963 — Arthur Ashe becomes the first Black tennis player to be named in the US Davis Cup team.

1982 — American Greg Louganis becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives in winning 3m springboard gold, World Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

1987 — Mike Tyson wins the undisputed heavyweight championship with a 12-round unanimous decision over IBF champion Tony Tucker in Las Vegas.

1992 — Eric Griffin, a two-time world champion at 106 pounds, loses to Rafael Lozano of Spain under the new electronic scoring system at the Olympics. All five judges credit him with more blows than his opponent as did five jury members used as a backup in case the computer failed.

1996 — Michael Johnson wins Olympic gold in the 200 meters in a record 19.32 seconds, becoming the first male Olympian to win the 200 and 400 in a single games. Dan O’Brien wins gold in the decathlon, four years after failing to make the U.S. Olympic team.

2002 — In signing star linebacker Ray Lewis to a 5-year contract extension the Baltimore Ravens give him a $19m signing bonus, then the largest in NFL history.

2004 — Karen Stupples wins her first major title with a record-tying 19-under 269 at the Women’s British Open. Stupples ties the low score in a major, set by Dottie Pepper at the 1999 Nabisco Dinah Shore.

2009 — Rachel Alexandra rolls past the boys again to win the $1.25 million Haskell Ivitational at Monmouth Park, establishing herself as one of the greatest fillies. Ridden by Calvin Borel, she beats Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird by six lengths.

2010 — Stuart Appleby hits golf’s magic number, shooting a 59 to win the Greenbrier Classic. He is the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the milestone.

2010 — Yani Tseng of Taiwan wins the Women’s British Open by one stroke for her third major title and second of the year to go with the Kraft Nabisco.

2010 — Bob and Mike Bryan win their record 62nd career doubles title on the ATP Tour. The twins were tied with Hall of Famers Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia.

2012 — Four teams are kicked out of the women’s badminton doubles at the London Games for trying to lose on purpose. The eight players from China, South Korea and Indonesia are cited for conduct “clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”

2021 — Marcel Jacobs becomes the first Italian athlete to win the 100m dash in 9.80 at the Tokyo Olympics.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1906 — Harry McIntire of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched 10 2-3 innings of no-hit ball before Claude Ritchey of Pittsburgh singled. McIntire weakened in the 13th and lost 1-0 to the Pirates on an unearned run, finishing with a four-hitter.

1937 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle in a 14-5 rout of the St. Louis Browns. It was the second cycle of Gehrig’s career. Gehrig hit a two-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the second, singled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.

1941 — New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez walked 11 St. Louis batters in a 9-0 victory to set a major league record for walks in a shutout.

1962 — Bill Monbouquette of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat the White Sox 1-0 at Chicago.

1970 — Willie Stargell of Pittsburgh hit three doubles and two home runs to power the Pirates to a 20-10 rout of the Braves in Atlanta.

1972 — Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader with five home runs and two singles. San Diego beat the Atlanta Braves in both games, 9-0 and 11-7.

1977 — Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit two home runs, including his 18th career grand slam, a total that still leads the National League.

1978 — Pete Rose went 0-for-4 against Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber to end his 44-game hitting streak as the Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 16-4.

1986 — Bert Blyleven threw a two-hitter and struck out 15 to become the 10th major league pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts and Kirby Puckett hit for the cycle to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 10-1 victory over the Oakland A’s. Puckett tripled in the first inning, doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth homered in the eighth. Puckett finished 4 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs. It was the first cycle to happen at the Metrodome.

1994 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken became the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games, and the Orioles edged Minnesota 1-0.

1998 — Switch-hitter Tony Clark set an AL record by homering from both sides of the plate for the third time this year, powering the Detroit Tigers past Tampa Bay 8-0.

2005 — Rafael Palmeiro was suspended 10 days following a positive test for steroids, less than five months after the Baltimore Orioles first baseman emphatically told Congress: “I have never used steroids. Period.”

2006 — Carlos Guillen hit for the cycle in Detroit’s 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay.

2009 — The Oakland A’s retire Rickey Henderson’s uniform number 24.

2017 — Evan Longoria hits for the cycle, becoming the second player in team history to pull off the feat, as the Rays defeat the Astros, 6-4. It takes a video review to confirm that he slid safely into second base in the 9th for the missing double that completes the quartet of hits.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The self-confident, stay-as-they-are Dodgers did right by not panicking at the trade deadline and keeping the roster pretty much intact. This is still the same group of guys picked by most baseball experts to win a second straight championship.

The slumps will pass. The injuries will go away. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and the gang will be there at the end when it counts most.

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Though I don’t agree with his breathless, sky-is-falling sense of urgency, I do think Bill Plaschke is right that the Dodgers should have been more aggressive at the trade deadline. It’s a reasonable gamble to believe that their pitchers will stay healthy enough, their hitters will get untracked and Max Muncy will return and pick up where he left off. But it’s a gamble nonetheless. And if you’ve already sunk $400 million into your payroll, what’s another $10 million to $20 million for a playoff insurance policy: a proven closer and a better outfielder?

John Merryman
Redondo Beach

On Wednesday against the Reds, James Outman attempted to do his best Denzel Clarke-Cedric Mullins imitation by attempting to rob a homer. Unfortunately this last great effort typified Outman’s career with the Dodgers, as it was another case of “so close, but yet so far,” as the ball landed off the heel of Outman’s glove for a two-run triple.

The NL rookie of the month in April 2023 is a great athlete, but it was understandable why the Dodgers traded him.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

A few hours before baseball’s trade deadline Thursday, MLB Network dived into how well top minor league prospects across baseball have succeeded in the major leagues over the years, and it’s a pretty dismal percentage. Very few go on to successful big league careers, most just pop back and forth between the minors and majors, move from team to team, while many just fizzle out. They concluded that given the opportunity to garner a quality major league player, let alone an All-Star by just using your draft capital is a no-brainer. The Padres are one team that firmly believes in this while the Dodgers always seem hesitant to do so.

They pointed to the Dodgers with an aging Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and a 31-year-old, currently healthy Shohei Ohtani that the time to win is now and that holding onto all their draft capital when it could be used to immediately bolster the roster doesn’t historically or statistically make much sense.

Jerry Leibowitz
Culver City

Well the trade deadline passed without much movement from the Dodgers. With their deep pockets, I thought they might have become the first organization in MLB history to trade for an entire team.

Joe Kevany
Mount Washington

TAMPA, Fla. — First, the meme made Freddie Freeman laugh.

Then, in a serendipitous twist, it gave him a lightning-bulb epiphany about his recently ailing swing.

At the end of a long day during last week’s homestand — when Freeman was hit by a pitch on July 20, immediately removed from the game to get an X-ray, then informed he somehow hadn’t sustained serious injury — manager Dave Roberts shared with the first baseman a comical video edit he had received from a friend. A light reprieve at the end of a stressful day.

In it, the swing of Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in last year’s World Series was incorporated into a spin-off of the viral Coldplay kiss cam video (yes, that Coldplay kiss cam).

Freeman got a chuckle out of the clip.

But, while rewatching his Fall Classic moment, he also made an observation about his iconic swing.

On that night last October, Freeman noticed, “I’m more in my front ankle,” he later said — a subtle, but profound, contrast to how he had been swinging the bat amid a two-month cold spell he was mired in at the time.

So, for the rest of that night, Freeman thought about the difference. He went into the Dodgers’ batting cages the next afternoon focused on making a change.

“It’s a different thought of being in your legs when you’re hitting,” said Freeman, who had started the season batting .371 over his first 38 games, before slumping to a .232 mark over his next 49 contests. “It’s just more [about leaning] into my front ankle. It’s helping me be on time and on top [of the ball].”

“We’ll see,” he added with a chuckle, “how it goes in the game.”

Ten games later, it seems to be going pretty well.

Since making the tweak on July 21, Freeman is 14 for 39 (.359 average) with two home runs, four extra base hits, 10 RBIs and (most importantly) a renewed confidence at the plate.

After collecting his first three-hit game in a month Tuesday in Cincinnati, then his first home run in all of July the next evening, he stayed hot in the Dodgers’ series-opening 5-0 defeat of the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, whacking a two-run double in the first inning and a solo home run in the fifth in front of a crowd of 10,046 at Steinbrenner Field (the New York Yankees’ spring training park serving as the Rays’ temporary home).

“That visual helped him kind of tap into something,” Roberts laughed recently of Freeman’s post-meme swing adjustment. “He is early, for a change. Versus being late, chasing.”

Freeman’s turnaround is something the Dodgers — who also got six scoreless innings out of Clayton Kershaw on Friday, lowering his season earned-run average to 3.29 in 13 starts — need out of several superstar sluggers over the final two months of the season.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers during a 5-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

(Jason Behnken / Associated Press)

During Thursday’s trade deadline, the team didn’t splurge on big-name acquisitions. The only addition they made to their recently slumping lineup (which ranked 28th in the majors in scoring during July) was versatile outfielder Alex Call from the Washington Nationals.

Instead, both Roberts and club executives have preached of late, the team is banking on players like Mookie Betts (who is batting .237), Teoscar Hernández (who has hit .215 since returning from an adductor strain in May), Tommy Edman (who has hit .210 since returning from an ankle injury in May) and even Shohei Ohtani (who leads the National League in home runs, but is batting only .221 since resuming pitching duties in June) to play up to their typical, potent standards.

“I think if you look at it from the offensive side, as far as our guys, they’ll be the first to tell you they’ve got to perform better and more consistently,” Roberts said. “That’s something that we’re all counting on.”

For much of the summer, Freeman had been squarely in that group, as well.

His recent Coldplay-inspired rebound, the club hopes, will be one of many that spark an offensive surge down the stretch this year.

TAMPA, Fla. — The Dodgers didn’t go shopping at the top of the market ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

But what they came away with — right-handed relievers Brock Stewart and Paul Gervase to bolster the bullpen, and versatile outfielder Alex Call to round out the lineup — are the kind of moves that “just raises the floor for our ballclub,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday.

“I feel we did get better,” Roberts said, before echoing the front office’s hope that the Dodgers’ biggest improvements over the final two months of the season come from the star-studded, but underperforming, core they already have in place.

“I think we’ve got a pretty dang good team. I think if you look at it from the offensive side, as far as our guys, they’ll be the first to tell you they’ve got to perform better and more consistently. That’s something that we’re all counting on … I love our club. I really do. Now it’s up to all of us to go out there and do our jobs.”

The job for the Dodgers’ two biggest acquisitions, Stewart and Call, will be clear from the get-go.

Stewart, a former Dodgers swingman from 2016 to 2019, has reinvented himself in the second half of his career. Unlike his first stint in Los Angeles, when he threw in the low 90s and was a fringe long reliever on the roster, Stewart is now a higher-leverage relief option, with a mid-to-upper 90s fastball and swing-and-miss sweeper he has used to dominate right-handed hitters this season.

“At the end [of his first Dodgers stint], he lost the velocity and was trying to figure out if he could hang on and who he was at that point,” Roberts recalled. “Obviously, he’s put in a ton of work to sort of find himself again. He’s had nothing but success. I’m excited to see this version of him. He certainly shouldn’t lack for confidence.”

Stewart won’t fix the Dodgers’ ninth-inning problems — with their closer role up in the air ever since struggling offseason signing Tanner Scott went on the injured list with an elbow injury — but could get some save situations “in the right situation,” Roberts said — for instance, if a run of right-handed hitters (who are batting just .104 with a .327. OPS against him this year) are up at the end of the game.

“I trust the guy, I trust the player, what he’s become,” Roberts said. “So for me, if the situation calls for it tonight and he’s in the ninth inning, I’ve got all the confidence.”

Gervase, a 6-foot-10 right-hander the Dodgers acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for catcher Hunter Feduccia as part of a three-team trade on Wednesday night, was also on the active roster Friday. He comes with just five previous career MLB appearances, but a deceptive delivery aided by his long-limbed extension on the mound.

“I don’t know a whole lot about him,” Roberts said. “I know he’s got a big arm. He’s got some extension, some rise, but I haven’t seen him.”

The arrival of Stewart and Gervase did coincide with yet another loss in the bullpen. Veteran right-hander Kirby Yates, another offseason signing who has disappointed with a 4.31 ERA this season, was placed on the injured list because of lingering discomfort in his pelvic and lower-back area. He went back to Los Angeles to get further testing.

“In the last, call it, two weeks, he hasn’t felt great,” Roberts said. “Hasn’t been injured, in his words, which is why he kept pitching and competing. But we flew him home this morning to look at the doctor and kind of get some tests to see if there’s something that’s kind of been aggravating him. Something’s just not right, exactly. So we’re trying to suss that out.”

In the lineup, Roberts said Call — a 30-year-old right-handed-hitting journeyman who found a niche with the Washington Nationals the last few seasons as an on-base threat capable of grinding out tough at-bats — would mix in at all three outfield spots.

“[He is] a tough, feisty hitter,” Roberts said. “I certainly see him playing versus left. But I think he’s pretty much a neutral guy. Slugs a little more against left, but gets on base against right. I’m going to try to keep him in there a couple times a week.”

Call said he wasn’t shocked to learn he had been traded on Thursday, and was excited by the “chance to compete in the playoffs and win a World Series” with a first-place Dodgers team.

“For me, I am going to grind out at-bats, put the ball in play, take my walks, make it tough on the pitcher,” said Call, who has hit .297 with the Nationals in 102 games over the last two seasons. “Just really make the [pitchers] work so that hopefully they’re tired when the top of the order comes back around or whatever.”

Roki Sasaki facing hitters

Internally, the Dodgers are hoping rookie Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki can also serve as a de facto late-season addition after missing the last several months with a shoulder injury.

And this week, the right-hander took a key step in his recovery process.

Sasaki faced hitters for the first time since getting hurt in a simulated inning this past week in Arizona, Roberts said, and is scheduled to throw two more simulated innings on Saturday.

The team has been targeting a late-August return for Sasaki, who had a 4.72 ERA in eight starts this season before going on the IL.

So much for the Dodgers ruining baseball.

They won’t finish this season with the best record in history, as they could win every one of their remaining games and still not realize the 120-win season that was envisioned for them.

They might not even finish this season with the best record in the National League — or in their own division, for that matter.

The Dodgers look beatable.

Their perceived vulnerability didn’t necessarily inspire the frenzied action around baseball before the trade deadline, but it certainly didn’t discourage it either.

With blood in the water and the World Series field wide open, several contenders moved to prepare their rosters for October. No team changed as much as the San Diego Padres, who are suddenly positioned to turn the Dodgers’ title defense into a humiliation exercise.

“We went in knowing, OK, we have a team that can compete and play deep and ultimately we have these needs and let’s go fill them,” Padres general manager A.J. Preller said.

Mason Miller, who throws a fastball with an average velocity of 101 mph, will turbocharge what was already the No. 1 bullpen in baseball. Ramon Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn will improve the balance of a top-heavy lineup featuring Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Freddy Fermin will address a hole at catcher. JP Sears and Nestor Cortes will add depth to a rotation on the mend.

Particularly revealing of the Padres’ ambitions was what Preller didn’t do. He didn’t trade closer Robert Suarez, an impending free agent. He didn’t trade underperforming former All-Star pitcher Dylan Cease, who will also hit the market this winter.

The Padres were only three games behind the Dodgers at the trade deadline, making Preller’s team a legitimate threat to overtake them in the division and cost them a top-two seed in the NL, for which the reward is a first-round bye in the playoffs.

The danger didn’t compel the Dodgers to act, their relative inactivity in this situation reflecting the contrasting philosophies of the two organizations.

The Dodgers make deals on their terms. When president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman overpay for players — the combined $85 million the Dodgers spent over the winter on relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates is an example — it’s usually by accident.

The mentality often results in the market dictating to the Dodgers what they can and can’t do. For better or worse, the Padres have elected a proactive approach.

Landing Miller required to part with Leo De Vries, an 18-year-old shortstop who is widely considered one of the five best prospects in the entire sport.

Preller knew what he gave up.

“He’s going to be a very good major league player,” Preller said of De Vries.

Preller has done this before, He traded Max Fried and he traded Emmanuel Clase and he traded Josh Naylor. When he acquired Juan Soto at the 2022 trade deadline, he sent the Washington Nationals a package that included three future All-Stars in CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and James Wood.

Impact players have considerable price tags, and they’re higher in some years than in others. The Dodgers examined the prices of the best relievers and outfielders available, and they settled for more affordable options. The Padres went for it, with Preller saying he was confident the team’s scouting and player development departments would once again replenish the farm system.

“In different points in time over the last few years, we’ve been able to be in this position, to be able to make these types of decisions and calls,” Preller said. “It’s just because we have good players that other teams want.”

The Padres weren’t alone. The two New York teams reconstructed their bullpens, the Philadelphia Phillies found a closer in Jhoan Duan and the Seattle Mariners added some pop to their lineup by dealing for Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor.

Why wouldn’t these teams be bold?

The Dodgers couldn’t make this a one-horse race. Their inability to separate themselves from the pack presented competitors with opportunities to pass them by at the trade deadline. Some of them might have.

A funny thing blocked the path to another Andrew Friedman midsummer triumph.

An Andrew Friedman midsummer failure.

The Dodgers and their renowned baseball boss came to bat at baseball’s trade deadline Thursday poised to knock another fat midseason pitch out of the park en route to a second consecutive World Series championship.

They never took the bat off their shoulder.

Strike out, staring.

The Dodgers needed a proven closer. Six teams picked up proven closers. The Dodgers weren’t one of them.

Mason Miller went to the San Diego Padres, Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees, Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays, Ryan Helsley to the New York Mets, Jhoan Duran to the Philadelphia Phillies and David Bednar to the New York Yankees.

Some other reliever went to the Dodgers. I think his name was Brock Stewart or something.

How does this make sense? Are they watching what we’re watching?

So you’re telling me they must forge ahead through the rest of the season hoping that Tanner Scott gets healthy or Kirby Yates gets consistent or Blake Treinen gets younger or, heck, maybe the Boston Red Sox cut Walker Buehler and he comes back for one more ninth inning! That’s crazy, but this entire situation is crazy, a $400-million roster with nobody to pitch the last out.

The Dodger also entered Thursday needing a defensive-minded outfielder. Four teams found one. The Dodgers did not.

Harrison Bader went to the Phillies, Mike Yastrzemski and Randal Grichuk to the Kansas City Royals, Austin Slater to the Yankees and Cedric Mullins to the Mets.

The Dodgers picked up an outfielder named Alex…is it Call?

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So now Dodger fans are haunted with the fear that Michael Conforto will lose a fly ball down the left-field line on Halloween with the season on the line.

This is all so weird. This is all so, well, arrogant.

Granted, the Dodgers have baseball’s best team on paper, but they’ve had its best team for several years and that hasn’t stopped Friedman from dominating the last week in July.

One could argue that Friedman actually won last year’s championship by brilliantly acquiring Jack Flaherty and Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech at the deadline.

This has always been Friedman’s strength, humbly adding talent to a group already possessing riches of talent.

Remember, this is the time of year he also once traded for Rich Hill, Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, Max Scherzer, Trea Turner and Evan Phillips, all of whom led them deep into the playoffs.

The only two years during which Friedman has fumbled the deadline? He failed to acquire pitching in 2022 and they were beaten by the Padres. He brought in only Lance Lynn in 2023 and they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

This suddenly feels like one of those years.

“We felt like this is an incredibly talented group that, as we get healthy and these guys hit their stride, we feel like we’re in a great position for another deep run into October,” general manager Brandon Gomes said on a conference call with reporters.

In other words, they think they’re good enough that they don’t need to trade any top prospects for win-now talent.

But are they? And even if they are, why take a chance?

Mookie Betts reacts after striking out against the Milwaukee Brewers on July 20.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

If there’s anything the first 109 games of this season has taught us is that the Dodgers’ greatness, like all greatness in a sport that hasn’t had consecutive champions in a quarter of a decade, can be fleeting.

The window suddenly seems to be slowly closing on the Hall of Fame careers of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Shohei Ohtani has been so physically stressed that he’s leaving games with cramps.

Teoscar Hernández doesn’t look like last year’s revelation. Max Muncy can’t stay on the field. And Edman is batting aches that may last all season.

The rotation is also shaky, with fragile Tyler Glasnow and aging Clayton Kershaw and underwhelming Roki Sasaki and injured Blake Snell and, really, just one sure-fire starter is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

“Obviously there was a lot of action today throughout the game, and a lot of teams improved, but we feel really good about this group,” Gomes said. “Coming into the year, felt like this was as talented of a roster as we’ve ever had. We’re in a position where we’re in first place, and I don’t even think we’ve played our best baseball yet. So as we continue to get some of our starters back, and then adding these pieces, and our guys just kind of playing up to their potential, we feel like it’s still a really, really strong team, and we don’t feel any differently about our aspirations than we did at the beginning of the year.”

Through their stunning inaction Thursday, the Dodger clearly made the statement that they’re good enough to a championship without any more help.

All those teams that greatly improved don’t agree.

The baseball world is sensing a Dodger vulnerability, as if there’s blue blood in the water.

Given a chance to dissuade everyone of that notion the Dodgers sighed, shrugged and passed.

A strikeout of a day, a turning point of a season?

In the slang, “mid” means disappointingly mediocre, forgettable, uninspiring. On TikTok, a classic rant starts: “It’s called the Midwest because everything in it is mid! Skyline Chili? Mid! Your Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? M-M-M-Mid!!!”

Today, the Reds are five games over .500, and one of four teams that appear to be competing for the three National League wild-card spots. They added a starting pitcher, an elite defensive third baseman and a veteran utilityman batting .298 ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.

The Angels are mid.

They are three games under .500, four games out in the American League wild-card race, with four teams to pass, hoping to end baseball’s longest playoff drought at 10 years.

The Seattle Mariners, tied with the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot, traded for middle-of-the-lineup corner infielders in third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor. The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly to supplement Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the starting rotation.

The Angels made two trades, picking up two veteran setup men and an infielder batting .152 for three lightly regarded minor leaguers.

Why lightly bolster a team with a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, as projected by Baseball Prospectus before Thursday’s trades, when you could start building the 2026 roster in the many areas needing improvement?

“Giving them a chance to play this thing out, relative to what was presented [in trade talks], made a lot of sense,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.

In large part, he said, this was about the young players.

“The development of our core is obviously very, very, very important,” Minasian said. “Being competitive in August and September is really, really important for this group, not only for the now but for the future — playing meaningful games, understanding there is an expectation to win, showing up to the ballpark every day feeling like you have a chance to win over a six-month period.

“It’s hard to quantify, but I felt like it was very important for this group to go through that, to see what playing in August demands, what playing in September is like.”

Does he see the 2025 Angels playing meaningful games in October?

“I don’t make predictions,” he said.

Beyond shortstop Zach Neto, no one on the Angels’ current roster was likely to command an elite prospect in return.

Yet the Angels could have traded soon-to-be free agents such as pitchers Kenley Jansen and Tyler Anderson, or infielders Yoan Moncada and Luis Rengifo, to fill 2026 needs: a back-end starter, bullpen help, a utility infielder, a defense-first outfielder, upper-level depth in the minor leagues.

Maybe Oswald Peraza, the once-hyped New York Yankees prospect with the .152 average, starts at third base next year, or secures that utility job. Minasian called him “a classic change-of-scenery guy.”

To get him, however, the Angels surrendered $73,766 in international bonus pool money that could have been better used to sign Latin American prospects. Minasian said the Angels had used what they needed of their $6,261,600 pool they needed this year — and the better prospects cost much more than $73,766 — but they cannot afford to close any avenues for talent acquisition.

In 2021, the Angels drafted all pitchers and failed to get a collective 1.0 WAR out of them. The Dodgers basically did the same thing: 20 picks, 18 pitchers, same under-1 WAR, although they have gotten some big moments from Ben Casparius, Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski.

But the Dodgers spend whatever they need, and then some, on deep and talented rosters of players, coaches and executives, and on player development and player acquisition.

It’s not all about money. It’s about creativity too. The Dodgers inserted themselves into a three-team trade Wednesday to bolster their farm system by trading a surplus minor league catcher for two minor league pitchers. The Dodgers last year inserted themselves into another three-team trade to grab reliever Michael Kopech, then-injured Tommy Edman for a depth bat and two minor leaguers.

The last time the Angels were a party to a three-team deal, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman facilitated that too. The Dodgers got four players from the Miami Marlins, then swapped pitcher Andrew Heaney to the Angels for infielder Howie Kendrick. That was in 2014.

The Angels these days do not spend as much, or as well, on free agents. They do not distinguish themselves in scouting, analytics, player development or international signings.

That forces them to narrow their focus to drafting college players who race through the minor leagues. A weak draft class hurts far more in Anaheim than it does in L.A.

The Angels have their kids, but the optimism inherent in their talk of a young core obscures the fact they are about to have to pay the kids — and, money aside, they are running out of time.

Shortstop Zach Neto has emerged as a young star for the Angels, who are fighting for a wild-card playoff spot this season.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Neto, the lone star to emerge so far from the young core, is eligible for salary arbitration this winter. The Angels control him for only three more seasons — maybe less, if some or all of the 2027 season is lost to a collective bargaining war.

Catcher Logan O’Hoppe and pitcher José Soriano also are eligible for arbitration this winter. First baseman Nolan Schanuel is eligible next winter.

In the big picture, nothing much changed Thursday. The plan today is the same as it was in spring training: hope enough young players blossom that, when Anthony Rendon’s contract expires next fall, Minasian can persuade owner Arte Moreno that spending big on one or two players in free agency could make the difference. If playing meaningful games this August makes those young players that much better, perhaps this trade deadline was worth it.

Moreno resists rebuilding, as an advocate for fans he believes deserve to see a competitive team. No one in Orange County has to watch what something akin to what the Colorado Rockies are offering — or what the Houston Astros were offering before their ongoing run of success. Rebuilding could mean 100-loss seasons and an even greater drop in attendance; competing could mean sneaking into the playoffs with 84 victories.

The Angels could do that this year. It could work. However, it has not worked over the last decade, and in the meantime the Angels have become an unwitting poster child for a players’ union fighting against a salary cap to say, “Market size is not destiny. Look at the Angels.”

You can say the game plan is to contend every year, in the interest of the fans, but you should not try to win every year on a wing and a prayer.

Your most dedicated fans — represented by the hundreds that decorated themselves in wings and halos at Wednesday’s game, flapping their arms as angels in the outfield — were not shy about letting their feelings be known.

You could hear them loud and clear, at the game and on the television broadcast, “Sell the team!”

Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.

“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”

“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.

“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”

On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.

The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.

But compared with the flurry of blockbuster deals that reverberated around them in the National League — from a head-spinning seven-player shopping spree by the San Diego Padres, to a bullpen arms race between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — the Dodgers’ moves were mild, tame and certainly cost-conscientious.

They didn’t splurge for one of the several established closers that were dealt for sky-high prices throughout the league. They didn’t remake their lineup by landing someone such as Steven Kwan, or any other hitter with anything close to All-Star pedigree.

In fact, the Dodgers hardly gave up much at all, content to round out the margins of their roster while parting with little in the way of prospect capital.

High-A pitchers Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan (the 16th- and 20th-ranked players in their farm system by MLB Pipeline) were shipped to Washington. But otherwise, the only other departures were 40-man roster players unlikely to factor much into the team’s late-season plans: James Outman, who went to Minnesota in exchange for Stewart; Dustin May, who was dealt to the Boston Red Sox for a prospect a few months before entering free agency; and minor league catcher Hunter Feduccia, who was part of a three-team deal late Wednesday night that netted the Dodgers two pitching prospects and a journeyman catcher.

The Dodgers’ James Outman (33) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run during a game against the Miami Marlins in May.

(Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)

Compared to last year — when the Dodgers added Jack Flaherty (their eventual Game 1 starter in the World Series), Tommy Edman (the eventual National League Championship Series MVP) and Michael Kopech (a key piece in a bullpen that carried the team to a World Series title) — it all felt rather anticlimactic.

Which, as the Dodgers’ top two executives had noted the week before, appeared to be perfectly fine by them.

In Stewart, the team got a lower-cost addition in what was an expensive seller’s reliever market.

The 33-year-old has only two career saves, and is unlikely to fix the Dodgers’ ninth-inning problems. But, he is having a strong statistical season with 14 holds and a 2.38 ERA, 14th-best in the American League among relievers with 30 innings. He will give the Dodgers a stout option against right-handed hitters, who have just a .104 average and .372 OPS against him. And he comes with familiarity in the organization, still thought highly of after starting his career with the Dodgers from 2016-2019 — back before he reinvented himself with a fastball that now sits in the mid-to-upper 90 mph range.

In Call, the Dodgers gave themselves more versatility in the outfield.

The right-handed hitter has appeared in just 277 career games over four MLB seasons with the Nationals and Cleveland Guardians.

But the former third-round draft pick is having a nice 2025 season, highlighted by a .274 batting average, .756 OPS and decent (if unspectacular) defensive grades at all three outfield positions.

While Call’s role wasn’t immediately clear, he could factor into a platoon with recently resurgent left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Conforto. He also gives the Dodgers another option in center field, specifically, which would allow Andy Pages to spend more time in a more naturally suited corner outfield spot.

For those Dodgers, the moves checked off their two big priorities: Adding another dependable right-handed reliever in the bullpen, and improving their defensive options in the outfield.

What was missing from the Dodgers’ deadline, however, was the kind of big splash so many other contenders reeled off this week. The Padres acquired Mason Miller, Ramon Laureano, and Ryan O’Hearn without sacrificing any key big-league pieces. The Mets added Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto to their already stout bullpen, while the Phillies upgraded theirs with the addition of Jhoan Durán.

Already this year, the rest of the NL was keeping pace with what was billed as a seemingly invincible Dodgers team. Suddenly, the competition looks that much stronger, not only for the club to defend its World Series, but even to preserve the narrow three-game lead it holds over the Padres in the NL West.

The Dodgers, however, see internal improvement as the key to the rest of the season.

Already, their pitching staff is getting healthy. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen and (as of this coming Saturday) Blake Snell are all back from extended injuries. Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki are also scheduled to return over the final two months.

Offensively, the club is confident that slumping stars Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Tesocar Hernández will get back on track, and that Max Muncy will provide a jolt in his return from injury next week. All that — coupled with the MVP-caliber play of Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith — they believe should yield a lineup capable of repeating a run to the World Series.

“It’s always tricky when you’re in the midst of a swoon in team performance, because in those moments you feel like we need everything,” Friedman acknowledged leading into the deadline, with the team enduring a 10-14 slide in July. “So for us, it’s about, all right, let’s look ahead to August, September. Let’s look at what our best-case scenario is. Let’s look at, if we have a few injuries here and there, what areas are we exposed? What areas do we feel like we have depth?”

Apparently, the Dodgers still liked what they already had, rolling the dice on their current group while other contenders stocked up all around them.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. We’ll recap trade deadline deals on Monday. In the meantime, a palate cleanser.

Top 10 second basemen

Here are my picks for the top 10 second basemen in Dodgers history, followed by how all of you voted. Numbers listed are with the Dodgers only. Click on the player’s name to be taken to the baseball-reference.com page with all their stats.

1. Jackie Robinson (1947-56, .311/.409/.474, 133 OPS+, 6-time All-Star, 1 NL MVP award, 1 ML Rookie of the Year award

I have written a lot about Robinson over the years, so I won’t repeat myself here. He was a great, great player.

2. Jim Gilliam (1953-66, .266/.360/.355. 93 OPS+, 2-time All-Star, 1 NL Rookie of the Year award)

It seemed that every season Jim Gilliam would be on the bench, squeezed out of the lineup by a hot rookie or flashy newcomer, then by the end of April, either the new player would be a bust or an injury would open a spot and Gilliam would end the season as the starting second baseman. Or starting third baseman. Or starting left fielder.

Let’s recount a story Vin Scully told me about Gilliam for my book: “I was introducing the team, and I would introduce, ‘So and so is the shortstop’ and so on, and I introduced Jim as ‘Jim Gilliam, baseball player.’ He was one of the smartest players. I remember Walter Alston saying that Jim never missed a sign. Never. Like anyone else, you are going to drop a ball, you are going to make an error, but Jim never made a mental mistake. And on the base paths, he’d go from first to third all the time. He always did the right thing. He was very quiet and not at all ‘on,’ but he was a consummate baseball player. He was married in St. Louis, and the team bus stopped at the reception while the photographer was taking pictures. Jim said to the photographer, ‘One more.’ The photographer took it and Jim got on the bus and we went to Busch Stadium.”

On Sept. 15, 1978, Gilliam suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at home and went into a coma. He died on Oct. 8, only 49 years old. He died the day after the Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies to win the NL pennant. His number, 19, was retired, and until the Dodgers finally retired Fernando Valenzuela’s number, he was the only Dodger not in the Hall of Fame to have his number retired.

3. Davey Lopes (1972-81, .262/.349/.388, 105 OPS+, 4-time All-Star, 1 Gold Glove)

Here’s what I best remember about Lopes. Not only was he a great base stealer, he was the best at the lost art of the leadoff man stalling after the pitcher makes an out, giving the pitcher more time to rest in the dugout.

It usually happened like this: Someone such as Don Sutton would hit a slow roller to second and would hustle up the line. The second baseman would throw him out, but Sutton would have used a lot of energy in the process.

Lopes was a magician at wasting time to give Sutton a chance to towel off and cool down a bit. Especially if there were two out. Lopes would spend a moment or two extra in the on-deck circle. Then he would have trouble getting the round weight off his bat. Then he would slowly walk to the batter’s box.

Once there, he would return to the on-deck circle to rub a little more pine tar on the handle. Then he would return to the batter’s box and take his time digging in. Then he would take a pitch or two.

Of course, this can’t happen anymore because pitchers don’t hit (except for Shohei Ohtani) and there’s a pitch clock. It was really fun to watch.

More than that though, Lopes was a key member of four Dodgers World Series team, in 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1981.

An argument can be made that Lopes is the best base stealer of all time. He finished his career with 557 steals, which is 26th all-time. Of the 36 players with at least 400 stolen bases and for whom we have caught stealing totals available, Lopes ranks third all-time in stolen-base percentage, at 83%, trailing Tim Raines (84.7%) and Willie Wilson (83.3%). In 1985, when Lopes was 40 years old and playing for the Chicago Cubs, he stole 47 bases and was caught only four times.

Lopes is second all-time in Dodgers history, with 418 steals, trailing only Maury Wills, who had 490.

4. Tom Daly (1890-1901, .294/.382/.412, 119 OPS+)

There isn’t a lot known about the personal life of Daly, and it’s hard to compare players who competed more than 120 years ago to players of today, but Daly had a good reputation. In 1890, “Sporting Life” magazine said, “During the fall of 1889 he entered into negotiations with the Brooklyn Club and finally signed with it at the largest salary, it is said, ever paid a catcher. He is a sure catch, wonderfully accurate thrower and a good batsman.”

Of course, Brooklyn moved him to second base, which is why he appears here.

According to SABR.org, Daly was involved in a number of bizarre incidents during his baseball career. During a baseball world tour of 1888, Daly was sharing a room with teammate Mark Baldwin when Baldwin blew out a gas lamp, causing both him and Daly to faint. In 1893, in between games of a doubleheader, Daly fell asleep in the outfield. Teammate Oyster Burns pulled out a small knife and poked Daly with it to wake him up, which resulted in a rather nasty injury, severing Daly’s tendon. In 1901, Daly encountered fellow major leaguer Ned Garvin at a saloon. The two men got into an argument which resulted in Garvin pushing Daly to the ground, putting a glass cup on his face and stomping on it.

Despite all that, Daly lived until 1938, when he died at the age of 72 in Brooklyn.

5. Eddie Stanky (1944-47, .263/.405/.336, 105 OPS+, 3-time All-Star)

The Dodgers acquired Stanky from the Cubs in 1944 because their regular second baseman, Billy Herman, was drafted by the Navy. Stanky didn’t have a lot of power, but he drew a lot of walks (his 148 walks in 1945 was an NL record at the time) and played a hard-nosed style that quickly endeared him to Brooklyn fans.

It has been written in a couple of books that Stanky was unhappy when Jackie Robinson joined the team and told him so, a belief that persists to this day. However, Jonathan Eig, in his book on Robinson, says that was wrong and Jackie and found accounts from 1947 where Robinson said Stanky was one of his earliest backers. And, as memorably recreated in the movie “42,” when Phillies manager Ben Chapman hurled racial slurs toward Robinson during a game, Stanky was the first to defend him.

Stanky’s son, Mike, talked to Eig about the relationship, saying “Dad talked about that first game and Jackie a lot. He was so impressed by Jackie’s raw ability and the way he dealt with everything he had to handle, that, despite what’s been written over the years, they became really close. I think they both discovered that, despite their obvious differences, they were alike, very much alike.”

6. Steve Sax (1981-88, .282/.339/.356, 97 OPS+, 3-time All-Star, NL Rookie of the Year)

Sax replaced Lopes as the starting second baseman and quickly became a fan favorite due to his constant hustle.

Sax usually hit for a decent average but didn’t draw that many walks, so he had relatively low on-base percentages for a leadoff hitter. So, he never scored 100 runs in a season and scored more than 90 runs just twice. He stole 56 bases in 1983 but was caught stealing 30 times. I’m being a little hard on him probably. He did hit .332 in 1986 and it is unfair that he is mostly remembered now for the case of the yips he developed for a while, unable to throw the ball to first base. He committed 30 errors in 1983, most of them throwing errors.

Here’s a well-known story: the Dodgers were trying to convert Pedro Guerrero to third base, and he just wasn’t getting the hang of it. He had all the physical tools, and the team was convinced the problem was mental. So Tommy Lasorda went for a walk with Guerrero before a game. “When I was playing,” Lasorda said, “I wanted every ball hit to me. That’s the mentality you need to have out there. Two outs, bases loaded, we’re leading by one, you’re playing third base. Pedro, what are you thinking.” Pedro answers “I’m thinking, ‘Please don’t hit the ball to me.’ ” An unhappy Lasorda begins to scold him “Is that all you are thinking out there?” Pedro answers “No, I’m also thinking, ‘Please don’t hit the ball to Sax.’ ”

7. Jim Lefebvre (1965-72, .251/.323/.378, 104 OPS+, 1-time All-Star, NL Rookie of the Year)

In 1965, Lefebvre joined with first baseman Wes Parker, shortstop Maury Wills and third baseman Jim Gilliam to form the first all switch-hitting infield in major league history. Lefebvre went four for 10 in the World Series, where the Dodgers defeated the Minnesota Twins, and was named NL Rookie of the Year after the season. How different was the game in the 1960s, when pitching dominated? Lefebvre and Lou Johnson led the Dodgers in homers in 1965, with 12 each. The Dodgers hit 78 as a team.

Lefebvre’s best season was 1966, when he hit 24 homers, the Dodger record for a second baseman until Lopes broke it in 1979 with 28. A series of injuries derailed his career after that, but Lefebvre was well-known enough to appear in several TV shows, including “Gilligan’s Island” and “Batman.” The Dodgers released him after the 1972 season and he spent four seasons as a player in Japan, before returning to become a longtime coach and manager in the majors and minors. He was a coach with the Dodgers until he got into a fistfight with Lasorda before the 1980 season, putting an end to his Dodger career. He last coached for the Padres in 2009, and retired after the Padres fired him.

8. Billy Herman (1941-43, 1946, .292/.367/.376, 112 OPS+, 2-time All-Star)

The Dodgers acquired Herman, who was considered the best second baseman in the league, from the Chicago Cubs, who thought they had someone better (and cheaper) in the minors by the name of Lou Stringer, who ended up not panning out (to be fair, three of his seasons were lost when he was drafted for World War II).

Herman provided immediate dividends, hitting .291 for Brooklyn and leading them to the World Series. He hit .256 in 1952, but rebounded to .330 in 1943, finishing fourth in MVP voting, before his career was interrupted by the war. He enlisted in the Navy.

He returned to the Dodgers in 1946, but was blocked by Stanky. The Dodgers traded him to the Boston Braves in June.

Herman later coached for the Angels, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1975. He died of cancer in 1992.

9. Jeff Kent (2005-08, .291/.367/.479, 119 OPS+, 1-time All-Star)

It’s a mystery why Kent has drawn such little support for the Hall of Fame. He compares favorably to other second basemen there. Perhaps it was because he had a reputation for being a bit prickly.

Kent spent the final four seasons of his career with the Dodgers, driving in 105 runs his first season with the team. He was solid offensively and defensively and was a clutch hitter.

After he retired, he began the Jeff Kent Women Driven Scholarship Endowment for the University of California, his alma mater. It has raised more than $600,000 for scholarships for female walk-on athletes at Cal. “Having the opportunity to get an education at Cal can make a profound difference in life. I know how much I benefited,” Kent said. “Everybody should have a shot, and this is my chance to ensure others have their shot.”

10. Lee Lacy (1972-78, .270/.324/.390, 101 OPS+)

When injuries depleted the Dodger infield during the 1972 season, the Dodgers bypassed Lopes in triple-A and brought Lacy up from double-A, where he was hitting .389. He hit .407 his first two weeks, was named NL player of the week, and became the starting second baseman. He cooled off considerably after that, hitting .259 for the season.

He lost the starting second baseman job to Lopes in 1973 after hitting only .226 with no power in 16 games. He became a super utility player after that, mostly spelling Lopes at second base. He played great defense everywhere and was a solid pinch-hitter. The Dodgers traded him before the 1976 season to Atlanta along with Jim Wynn, Tom Paciorek and Jerry Royster for Dusty Baker and Ed Goodson. The Dodgers missed Lacy’s versatility and bat and sent reliever Mike Marshall to Atlanta midway through the 1976 season to reacquire Lacy (along with reliever Elias Sosa).

Lacy is probably best remembered by Dodgers fans for hitting home runs in three consecutive pinch-hit at bats (May 2, 6 and 17) in 1978, setting a major-league record.

Wanting to play every day, Lacy left the Dodgers as a free agent, signing a six-year, $1.05-million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates after the 1978 season.

The readers’ top 10

1,111 ballots were sent in. First place received 12 points, second place nine, all the way down to one point for 10th place. Here are your choices:

1. Jackie Robinson, 1,003 first-place votes, 12,988 points
2. Davey Lopes, 103 first-place votes, 9,637 points
3. Jim Gilliam, 2 first-place votes, 7,622 points
4. Steve Sax, 6,407 points
5. Jeff Kent, 1 first-place vote, 3,859 points
6. Jim Lefebvre, 1 first-place vote, 3,798 points
7. Billy Herman, 1 first-place vote, 2,613 points
8. Eddie Stanky, 2,319 points
9. Chase Utley, 2,090 points
10. Charlie Neal, 1,852 points

The next five: Ted Sizemore, Gavin Lux, Lee Lacy, Juan Samuel, Orlando Hudson.

Top 10 third basemen

Who are your top 10 Dodgers third basemen of all time (including Brooklyn)? Email your list to [email protected] and let me know.

Many of you have asked for a list of players to consider for each position. Here are the strongest third baseman candidates, in alphabetical order.

Adrian Beltré, Casey Blake, James Casey, Ron Cey, Billy Cox, Blake DeWitt, Wally Gilbert, Billy Grabarkewitz, Pedro Guerrero, Dave Hansen, Lenny Harris, Mickey Hatcher, Don Hoak, Spider Jorgensen, Cookie Lavagetto, Bill Madlock, Ken McMullen, Bobby Morgan, Max Muncy, George Pinkney, Mike Sharperson, Billy Shindle, Red Smith, Joe Stripp, Bill Sudakis, Justin Turner, Juan Uribe, Arky Vaughan, Tim Wallach, Todd Zeile.

A reminder that players are listed at the position in which they played the most games for the Dodgers, which is why Pedro Guerrero and Mickey Hatcher, for example, are listed here and not at other positions they played.

Notes

The Dodgers seemed to avert disaster when Shohei Ohtani had to leave Wednesday’s start early. Leg cramps were the issue on a very humid evening in Cincinnati and he stayed in the game at DH. I probably would have just taken him out of the game entirely.

The Dodgers put Hyeseong Kim on the IL with an injured shoulder and brought infielder Alex Freeland up from triple-A. The injury probably explains why Kim was just five for his last 32 with no extra-base hits.

Freeland is the Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect and was hitting .253/.377/.421 at triple-A Oklahoma City. He was drafted out of Central Florida in the third round of the 2022 draft. Before the season began, Baseball America listed him as the 46th-ranked prospect in all of baseball. He has decent home run power, draws a lot of walks and is a stolen-base threat. He can play second, third and short.

Max Muncy began a rehab assignment on Tuesday, playing six innings for Oklahoma City. If all goes well, he could be back with the Dodgers next week, a remarkable recovery from his knee injury. Hopefully, he hasn’t lost his swing while he was hurt.

Blake Snell has made four starts in the minors, giving up two runs in 13.2 innings, and is on schedule to start for the Dodgers this weekend, probably Saturday.

Kiké Hernández is still sidelined with an elbow injury and isn’t doing any baseball activities, so his return is unknown.

Tony Gonsolin still hasn’t begun throwing, making his return this season more doubtful by the day.

Up next

Friday: Dodgers (*Clayton Kershaw, 4-2, 3.62 ERA) at Tampa Bay (Shane Baz, 8-7, 4.61 ERA), 4:35 p.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Dodgers (*TBD) at Tampa Bay (Drew Rasmussen, 8-5, 2.96 ERA), 10:10 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9-7, 2.63 ERA) at Tampa Bay (TBD), 10:10 a.m., Sportsnet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers begin deadline with minor trade, while still seeking upgrades in bullpen and outfield

With Dodgers battling more injuries, prospect Alex Freeland called up for MLB debut

As Dodgers look to upgrade outfield, Harrison Bader could be a trade deadline fit

Orel Hershiser puts a bounty on his Topps one-of-one signed chrome card

Shaikin: Home again? Why Kenley Jansen could be a good trade match for Dodgers

And finally

Davey Lopes appears on “The Baseball Bunch.” Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

From Jack Harris: The Dodgers lost the game Wednesday night.

What was more important, however, was that they didn’t lose their two-way star.

In the Dodgers’ 5-2 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, Shohei Ohtani left the mound alongside a trainer in the fourth inning with what the team later said was only cramping — a worrying scene in the moment, quickly alleviated by a seemingly benign injury announcement.

Ohtani remained in the game as a designated hitter, going 0-for-5 on the night.

The rest of the Dodgers’ lineup didn’t do much better, with Freddie Freeman’s two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning representing their only scoring.

It was a half-inning later that Ohtani’s injury scare occurred.

Continue reading here

Dodgers begin deadline with minor trade, while still seeking upgrades in bullpen and outfield

Dodgers box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

UCLA NEWSLETTER

We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.

Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.

The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.

The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.

You can sign up for it here. And you can’t beat the price: Free!

ANGELS

The Angels acquired relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García from the Washington Nationals in a trade for left-hander Jake Eder and minor league first baseman Sam Brown.

The Angels announced the deal to bolster their bullpen on Wednesday. The team also designated left-hander José Quijada for assignment to make room on its 40-man roster.

The 35-year-old Chafin joins his eighth major league team after going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 26 appearances for Washington this season. Left-handed hitters are batting just .147 against him.

The Angels have one of the majors’ highest bullpen ERAs despite the presence of closer Kenley Jansen, who has 20 saves and a 2.93 ERA in another strong season.

Continue reading here

————

Nathan Eovaldi limited the Angels to a run in seven innings, Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the eighth and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 6-3 on Wednesday night.

Eovaldi (9-3) helped the Rangers avoid a series sweep and snap the Angels’ three-game winning streak. He allowed six hits and struck out four.

Marcus Semien was three for five with an RBI and two runs. He doubled and opened the scoring on Wyatt Langford’s single in the fourth, and had an RBI single in the sixth. Langford was two for five with a double.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

RAMS

From Gary Klein: NFL careers typically do not last long.

For most players, getting to a second contract is challenging. And careers that extend well beyond that milestone are uncommon in a business that churns through talent.

So when Ahkello Witherspoon began his career in 2017, he could not envision that he would be preparing for his ninth season.

“I had no idea,” the Rams cornerback said.

Witherspoon, 30, is the most veteran player in a Rams secondary that remains unchanged in personnel from when the Rams advanced to the NFC divisional round.

Continue reading here

CHARGERS

From Sam Farmer: What Antonio Gates did as a Chargers tight end was remarkable.

But what he didn’t do was just as impressive.

Gates, who will be enshrined Saturday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is the only player to reach that pinnacle without a single snap of college football. He was a basketball star at Kent State, a half-hour up the road from Canton, Ohio, and never seemed to give football a second thought, even though he was a two-sport high school phenom in his hometown of Detroit.

“I never in a million years when he was playing basketball at Kent State thought he would be a professional football player,” said Steve Sefner, the school’s play-by-play announcer when the 6-foot-4 power forward was routinely dominating taller opponents.

“He had an elite first step, point-guard skills, making reads, passing,” recalled Anthony Wilkins, now a basketball assistant coach at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and then Kent State’s co-captain with Gates. “We could put the ball in Tone’s hands and literally run the offense through him.”

Continue reading here

Chargers preseason preview: Five players to watch in opener

From Ben Bolch: It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.

San Bernardino, this was not.

With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.

Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.

“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”

Continue reading here

From Ryan Kartje: Eight weeks ago, on the first day of USC football’s summer workout program, Trumain Carroll hoped to drive home one particular message.

How you do one thing, he told the team, is how you do everything.

Carroll had just been hired as USC’s new strength and conditioning coach, replacing Bennie Wylie, who was abruptly let go in April. The late start for Carroll left him with only so much time to lay a foundation. But this lesson was especially critical. Not only was it one of his core beliefs as a strength coach, it was also one of the main reasons he was brought to USC, where discipline, especially late in games, had often unraveled.

Carroll knew, that first day, that he needed to make clear how much details mattered. So when the team was lacking effort during warm-ups, he made players start again. And again. Soon enough, before the workout even started, they were out of time.

Continue reading here

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1932 — France beats the U.S. 3-2 for its sixth consecutive Davis Cup championship.

1934 — Britain, led by Fred Perry and Bunny Austin, defeats the U.S. 4-1 at Wimbledon to win the Davis Cup title.

1942 — Jockey Bill Turnbull wins seven of nine races at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.

1973 — Julius Erving, the American Basketball Association’s leading scorer, is traded by the cash-strapped Virginia Squires to the New York Nets for forward George Carter and cash.

1983 — Jan Stephenson beats JoAnne Carner and Patty Sheehan by one stroke to win the U.S. Women’s Open.

1993 — Mike Aulby becomes the third player in PBA history to win a tournament by rolling a 300 game in the title game. Aulby beats David Ozio 300-279 in the Wichita Open.

1994 — Sergei Bubka sets a world pole vault record for the 35th time in his career at a meet in Sestriere, Italy. Bubka soars 20 feet, 1¾ inches, adding a half-inch to his mark set in Tokyo in 1992.

2000 — Dorothy Delasin becomes the LPGA’s youngest winner in 25 years by beating Pat Hurst on the second extra hole to win the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. The 19-year-old Delasin is the youngest winner on the tour since Amy Alcott took the Orange Blossom Classic at age 19 in 1975.

2005 — Grant Hackett becomes the first swimmer to win four straight world titles in the same event, capturing another 1,500-meter freestyle. The Aussie stretches out his own record for world championship medals to 17.

2007 — All-Star Kevin Garnett is traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to Boston for five players and two draft picks. The Celtics obtain the former MVP and 10-time All-Star from Minnesota for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff and two first-round draft picks.

2011 — Yani Tseng wins the Women’s British Open for the second straight year, beating Brittany Lang by four strokes and becoming the youngest woman to capture a fifth major title. The 22-year-old top-ranked Taiwanese shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 16-under 272.

2012 — Michael Phelps breaks the Olympic medals record with his 19th, helping the U.S. romp to a 4×200-meter freestyle relay victory at the London Games. With 19 medals spanning three Olympics, Phelps moves one ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who got her haul in 1956, 1960 and 1964.

2012 — The team of Gabrielle Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber lives up to all the hype, winning the first U.S. Olympic title in women’s gymnastics since 1996.

2021 — Katie Ledecky wins the women’s 800m gold in Tokyo. This is the third consecutive Olympics she has won the race.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1930 — Lou Gehrig drove in eight runs with a grand slam and two doubles, and the New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 14-13.

1932 — Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium opened and Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A’s beat the Indians 1-0 before 76,979 fans.

1934 — The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 in 18 innings at Cincinnati as Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas both went the distance.

1954 — Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Adcock’s 18 total bases set a major league record at the time. Adcock homered in the second inning off Don Newcombe, doubled in the third and homered in the fifth off Erv Palica. He connected off Pete Wojey in the seventh and off Johnny Podres in the ninth. Adcock saw only seven pitches and his double off the left-center field fence just missed going out by inches.

1961 — The All-Star Game ended in a 1-1 tie at Fenway Park because of heavy rain.

1981 — The second baseball strike ended after 42 days.

1990 — Nolan Ryan, 43, won his 300th game, reaching the milestone in his second try, as the Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.

2002 — Mike Mussina became the second pitcher in major league history to give up six doubles in one inning, during the New York Yankees’ 17-6 loss to Texas. Hall of Famer Lefty Grove allowed that many with Boston in 1934 against Washington.

2003 — John Smoltz broke his own record as the fastest pitcher to record 40 saves by pitching a scoreless ninth in Atlanta’s 7-4 win over Houston. Last year, he got his 40th save on Aug. 8, en route to breaking the NL record with 55.

2007 — The New York Yankees tied a franchise record by hitting eight home runs, including two by Hideki Matsui, in a 16-3 rout of the Chicago White Sox. New York last hit eight homers in a game in a doubleheader opener at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939.

2010 — Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-ending home run to complete the cycle, and Colorado rallied to a 6-5 win after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning to the Chicago Cubs.

2011 — Ricky Nolasco scattered 12 hits, Emilio Bonifacio homered and Florida handed the Atlanta Braves the 10,000th loss in franchise history. With the 3-1 loss, the Braves become the second big league team with 10,000 losses. The Phillies reached that mark in 2007.

2015 — New York’s Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate for the record 14th time, hitting his 10th grand slam and a two-run homer that led the Yankees past the Chicago White Sox 13-6.

2021 — Seby Zavala becomes the first player in MLB history to record his first three home runs in the same game.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

CINCINNATI — What’s the opposite of a splash?

Because that’s how the Dodgers started their trade deadline activity late Wednesday night.

On the eve of MLB’s annual trade deadline (which is Thursday at 3 p.m. PDT), the Dodgers were the tertiary party in a three-team trade with the Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays.

While the biggest piece in the deal — starting pitcher Zack Littell — went from Tampa Bay to Cincinnati, the Dodgers were included in a swap of some lesser-name players.

Minor league catcher Hunter Feduccia, a longtime Dodgers farmhand having a nice season with triple-A Oklahoma City, was sent to Tampa Bay.

In return, the Dodgers received pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski from the Reds, as well as reliever Paul Gervase and catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Rays, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly.

Serwinowski is the most intriguing name the Dodgers acquired. A 21-year-old left-hander who was ranked as the No. 10 prospect in the Reds’ farm system by MLB Pipeline, the former 15th-round draft pick has been a favorite of Dodgers’ evaluators for a while, according to another person with knowledge of the team’s thinking.

While Serwinowski has a 4.84 ERA in high-A this season, the Dodgers are excited by his potential and add him to a farm system that is lacking the depth of impact pitching prospects it usually touts.

Gervase is a 25-year-old reliever who debuted in the majors this year with the Rays, posting a 4.26 ERA in five outings this year.

Rortvedt is a 27-year-old journeyman catcher who will help provide organizational depth in Feduccia’s absence, alongside current triple-A backstops Chris Okey and Chuckie Robinson.

For a team that has been linked to some of the bigger names on this year’s trade market, it was far from the blockbuster many fans have been waiting on.

Granted, the Dodgers are still expected to be active on Thursday.

Their need for a reliever remains, even though they remained idle on Wednesday as other top options, from Jhoan Durán to Ryan Helsley to Tyler Rogers, were dealt elsewhere.

The club is still hoping to add another hitter to their lineup too, with an upgrade in the outfield (especially defensively) seen as a priority, according to a person with knowledge of the club’s thinking.

Whether the Dodgers can land the impact additions they seek, in what has been a seller’s market defined by high acquisition costs to this point, remains to be seen.

But at least they won’t go into deadline day without having made any deals, with Wednesday night’s late-night transaction expected to be the first of several moves they make ahead of Thursday’s trade cutoff.

CINCINNATI — The Dodgers are dealing with more injuries to their lineup.

As a result, one of their top prospects could get his first big-league opportunity this week.

Alex Freeland, the top-ranked infielder in the Dodgers’ farm system, will be in Cincinnati on Tuesday in case either Tommy Edman (who had his lingering ankle injury flare up on him Sunday while rounding the bases) or Hyeseong Kim (who has been battling a shoulder issue over the last week) needs to go on the injured list, manager Dave Roberts said after the Dodgers’ Monday night win over the Reds.

“He’s going to come and we’ll see what direction we go, with who,” Roberts said. “We’re just kind of trying to figure out … if we do need to make a move for one of those guys.”

Freeland, a third-round pick in 2022 out of the University of Central Florida, is the team’s No. 3 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the 35th-ranked prospect in baseball.

The 23-year-old switch-hitter has spent all season with triple-A Oklahoma City, where he has batted .253 with 12 home runs, 71 RBIs and .799 OPS in 94 games.

Now, he might get his first crack at the big-league roster, with the Dodgers facing another round of injury headaches following Monday’s game.

In the short term, Kim’s shoulder injury appears to be the more pressing issue.

The South Korean rookie has struggled mightily at the plate lately, with an 0-for-3 performance Monday leaving him just three for 24 since July 19.

“You can just see offensively with the bat, he’s just not himself right now,” Roberts said.

Dodgers infielder Hyeseong Kim, who is dealing with a shoulder injury, has struggled at the plate in recent games.

(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

Edman, however, represents the bigger long-term concern for the Dodgers to manage, with his ankle injury lingering since early May.

“It’s something that’s kind of always there,” Edman said. “But I would say it’s been pretty normal.”

At least it was until Sunday, when Edman said he “had a little tweak of it” while running the bases at Fenway Park.

While Edman was not available for Monday’s game, he maintained optimism he could avoid what would be a second injured list this season and be back in the lineup Tuesday.

“I don’t feel like this is that big a deal,” he said. “I was just at a point where I didn’t feel like I could run full speed today. I got some good treatment today so hopefully I’ll be back available tomorrow.”

Still, the Dodgers could decide that an extended break for the utilityman is warranted — especially since he has been unable to play outfield while trying to manage his injury.

“Obviously, if I couldn’t hit him tonight, for him to not to be able to play three innings of defense, isn’t a great feeling,” Roberts said.

Freeland will be waiting in the wings just in case.

A native of Louisville, Ken., he made a major jump up the Dodgers’ farm system last year, when he progressed from high A to triple A while batting .260 across three minor-league levels.

A disciplined hitter with 228 career walks in 345 career minor-league games, Freeland has received high marks for his defense at shortstop and third base. He also has 81 steals over his four minor-league seasons.

How will the Dodgers determine if Kim or Edman — or both — will need to go on the IL?

“That’s the thing that, it is a blurred line,” Roberts said. “The players obviously feel that they’re not hurt, where they can play and post, which is great. But the line of, are you still hurting the team, hurting yourself, that’s the thing that the organization, the training staff, we’ve got to make that decision.”

When and if they do, the Dodgers know who will be tapped as a potential replacement.