When the Dodgers left Los Angeles for their final road trip before the All-Star break last summer, they had a 55-36 record and a 7 1/2-game lead in the National League West.
That team went on to win the World Series.
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When this year’s Dodgers land in Milwaukee on Sunday night to begin the last road trip before the All-Star break, their record will be a game better and their division lead about the same, pending the results of San Diego’s game Sunday night.
But if you take a good look under the hood, there are obvious — and worrying — differences between this year and last year.
In 2024, the Dodgers had one of the best records in baseball against teams with a winning record. After Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Houston Astros, this year’s team is just a game over .500 — 20-19 — against teams over .500. Those are the only kind of teams the Dodgers will face in the playoffs.
Read more: Shohei Ohtani wows early, but Dodgers’ bullpen falters in loss to Astros
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And it’s not just that they lose, it’s how they lose that’s troubling.
In losing three in a row for the first time since mid May, the Dodgers were outscored 29-6 by the Astros. The sweep was Houston’s first in a three-game at Dodger Stadium since 2008, when the team played in the National League.
Look a little deeper and there are other concerns. The Dodgers’ injured list, already as crowded as a Beyoncé concert — it swelled to 12 players with Max Muncy’s addition Thursday — could get even larger this week depending on the results of MRI scans on outfielder Tesoscar Hernández and utility player Tommy Edman.
Hernández, who fouled a ball off his left foot Saturday, spent 13 days on the IL with a groin problem in May and has been troubled by that injury and a nagging hip-flexor issue that could be behind a slump that has seen him hit .188/.240/.321 during his past 30 games. Edman didn’t play Sunday after hitting a ball off the small toe on his right foot over the weekend.
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Read more: Dodgers’ pitchers get torched during historic lopsided loss to hated Astros
That left manager Dave Roberts with a short bench. And with the rotation still missing four starters to injury, he gave the ball to right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who had thrown just four big-league innings all season.
Sheehan went one better Sunday, yielding just a run on five hits over five innings. But his teammates did little against Houston starter Ryan Gusto (6-3), who gave up four hits — including a run-scoring double to Dalton Rushing — over six innings.
Will Klein came on in favor of Sheehan to start the sixth and after two quick outs, the Astros loaded the bases on a double, a hit batter and an infield single. Klein then walked Zack Short on a 3-2 pitch to force in the go-ahead run.
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The Astros padded their lead with back-to-back homers from Christian Walker and Yainer Díaz to start the seventh off reliever Tanner Scott.
Jose Altuve closed the scoring with another solo homer off Anthony Banda in the ninth.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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