Author: Rowan Kavner

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LOS ANGELES — As the bottles started popping Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow ditched their T-shirts, Shohei Ohtani let the champagne burn his eyes, and Freddie Freeman stood on the periphery taking in the scene. He wanted to hear the speeches, to be part of the jubilation of another division clinch at the end of an especially taxing season, but he could only do so much with his body supported by crutches and his right foot encased in a walking boot.

The victory that sealed the National League West crown for the Dodgers also served as a microcosm of a season defined by a litany of injuries and the club’s ability to triumph despite them. To finally hold off the surging Padres and claim an 11th division title in the last 12 seasons, it meant withstanding one more.

Toward the end of a raucous go-ahead, five-run seventh inning on Thursday that solidified their place atop the NL West standings, the Dodgers held their collective breath. A hush enveloped the sold-out crowd of 52,433 fans in attendance for the club’s regular season home finale as Freeman sat on the ground in pain behind first base after rolling his ankle while trying to beat out a throw.

Unlike most of the players on the team’s season-opening rotation, and many of the pitchers the Dodgers hoped to rely on come October, their All-Star first baseman believes he’ll be available when the postseason begins. X-rays on Freeman’s ankle, which had ballooned after the game, were negative.

“It’s swollen,” Freeman said. “It’s like a grapefruit. But they’re pretty optimistic that I should be able to go by [next] Saturday in the playoffs. That’s what I’m banking on. I’ve never rolled an ankle, so I don’t know.”

Freeman said he asked to stay in the game, but head athletic trainer Thomas Albert told him that wouldn’t be happening. So he hobbled off the field under his own power. He will not travel to Colorado for the club’s regular season finale, but he now gets eight days to rest before the Dodgers host the first game of the National League Division Series.

“I’m not too worried about it,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “We’re gonna be cautious. There’s no reason to play him this weekend. We could have, potentially, if we needed it. We don’t need it.” 

Their comeback victory against the Padres team that was chasing them in the standings ensured that.

Considering the money the Dodgers spent this offseason adding Ohtani, Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernández to an already formidable roster, perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that one of baseball’s most expensive ball clubs will get a chance to avenge their shocking back-to-back first-round exits in their last two playoff appearances.

On the other hand, this year was unlike any of their recent roads to October.

“They all feel sweet,” manager Dave Roberts said. “But I’ll tell you, man, with what we’ve gone through this year, this feels a tick sweeter.” 

The Dodgers dealt with significant losses in the starting rotation last year, but the volume of absences this season stands alone. Only Yamamoto, who missed nearly three months with a rotator cuff strain and has yet to go more than four innings since returning from injury earlier this month, is left standing from a season-opening rotation that included Glasnow, veteran James Paxton and rookies Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone.

Glasnow’s All-Star year was derailed by a season-ending sprained elbow. Paxton was designated for assignment and traded to Boston. Miller was ineffective in a follow-up campaign to a tantalizing rookie year. Stone was a stabilizing force in a rotation decimated by injury and would have earned a playoff start until he, too, eventually broke down, succumbing to a season-ending shoulder issue.

In Thursday’s postgame celebration, Kershaw sought out Stone, who finished the year 11-5 with a 3.53 ERA and a team-leading 25 starts.

“I told him, ‘Hey, you were as big a part of this as anything, and you need to enjoy this,'”Kershaw said. “This is special. Whether it’s your first or your 50th, it’s the best.” 

Unlike last year, it doesn’t seem likely that Kershaw will be able to grit through injury in time to help, either, though he has not given up all hope of returning at some point in the postseason from the big toe injury that has held him out since the end of last month.

Myriad injuries wiped out not only the team’s expected starters but also much of the depth behind those players. Young starters River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan needed Tommy John surgery. Dustin May was on the recovery trail from elbow surgery when he suffered an esophageal tear, further depleting the group. More hits arrived in the division-clinching series. Starting shortstop Miguel Rojas aggravated an adductor tear on Wednesday. Before Thursday’s series finale, relievers Brusdar Graterol and Brent Honeywell Jr. were placed on the injured list. Then Freeman got hurt.

And yet, here the Dodgers are again.

“It would’ve been easy for us to make excuses,” Roberts said. “You lose three, four, five, six, seven starters, write the season off. But not one person in this clubhouse did that.”

Various ailments, plus second-half surges from their top division foes, prevented another 100-win season and early clinch for the Dodgers; still, they prevailed. The trade deadline provided a necessary boost, giving the Dodgers another starter in Jack Flaherty, a closer in Michael Kopech and a versatile position player in Tommy Edman. 

After going 11-13 in July, a 19-8 month of August and a 13-10 start to September put the Dodgers in a familiar place. Despite all the injuries, the Dodgers enter the weekend with the best record in baseball.

“We like high expectations,” Friedman said. “We relish them. It beats the s- out of the alternative and people just not caring. People care, they’re passionate about the Dodgers. They have high expectations. So do we. We think that’s a great thing. And for us, this is step one.” 

For the first time since a tiebreaker Game 163 in 2018, the Dodgers got to celebrate clinching a division in front of a full crowd at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night. Just like that game six years ago, it was Walker Buehler on the mound again. 

Over the last half decade, Buehler built a reputation for delivering in the highest-pressure moments. A second Tommy John surgery threatened to prevent him from earning those chances again. Unable to miss bats or command the baseball the way he did prior to the elbow surgery that wiped out his 2023 season, his return to the mound in a contract year has been more of a slog than a dashing success. He took a 1-6 record and a 5.63 ERA into this week’s start.

But when the Dodgers needed him Thursday, he stepped up again.

“This is what I live for,” Buehler said after holding the Padres to one run in five innings.

“He’s the guy you want on the mound in a big situation,” Max Muncy added. “I don’t care what his numbers say.”

Over the last month, those numbers have looked more serviceable.

Buehler has a 4.44 ERA since the start of September — far from his usual dominance, but likely enough, given the Dodgers’ circumstances, to be the team’s third starter this postseason behind Flaherty and Yamamoto. Over his last three outings, Buehler held the Braves to one earned run in six innings, struck out nine Rockies, then delivered the Dodgers another division title.

He was not the only scuffling Dodgers veteran who found his form when it mattered most.

The Dodgers had yet to score against Joe Musgrove entering the seventh inning on Thursday when Will Smith, relegated to the sixth spot in the order after watching his OPS drop more than 100 points since the beginning of June, sent a 95 mph fastball down the heart of the plate out 426 feet to center field. He flipped his bat in the air and let out the emotion as he neared first base. Later in the breakout frame, Mookie Betts did, too, after padding the Dodgers’ lead with a two-run single.

Betts entered Thursday hitless in eight at-bats during the series and was batting .170 over his previous 13 games. He sought to change that through extra work in the cage before the game. Some of his teammates watched him hit for more than an hour. He finished with two hits and recorded just his second walk in the last 13 games.

“We’re going to fight,” Betts said. “Win, lose or draw, we’re gonna fight.”

If the Dodgers are to fulfill the expectations they had when they made their offseason spending spree, it will be this offense carrying the way — including a player who hasn’t been there for the Dodgers’ past couple playoff disappointments.

Amid the bounceback performances was another standout day from the steadiest force in one of the most dangerous lineups in the sport. The night prior, Ohtani tried to pump his dugout up after delivering the game-deciding RBI single.  At the most important time of year, Roberts is witnessing “the right energy” from Ohtani — urgent, but not pressing — the kind that can productively trickle throughout a roster.

“Your best player is playing with emotion,” Roberts said, “everyone follows.”

On Thursday, the two-time MVP was back at it again, providing the go-ahead hit in the seventh inning to become the first major league player with 400 total bases in a season since 2001. More importantly, he became part of a division winner for the first time.

“It was an awesome feeling,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, “and I’m hoping to continue being able to pop more champagne.”

This is all new to Ohtani, but he feels the environment of his first ever playoff push has elevated his performance. The numbers would suggest the same. He has delivered a hit in 10 of his last 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. In those clutch spots, Ohtani said, he is too focused to think about the nerves.

Overall, he is 20-for-29 with five homers, five doubles, 16 RBIs and seven steals over his last seven games.

“It’s something that I know Shohei’s dreamed about ever since he was a young kid, and now he’s living it right now in real time,” Roberts said. “He’s put on a show the last couple weeks, and obviously what a year he’s having. We’re going to ride that horse, that thoroughbred, to a championship.”

For that to happen, the Dodgers could use some positive news on the health front. Injuries have impacted but not yet eradicated the Dodgers’ chances of winning their first World Series title since 2020 and their first full-season championship since 1988.

Rojas hopes to return for the regular season finale in Colorado and be ready for the postseason.

The bigger question, now, is if Freeman will be ready to do the same.

“We worked really hard to overcome a lot of adversity, and it never ends, it seems like, this year,” Freeman said. “I’ll do everything I possibly can to be ready.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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Paul Skenes or Jackson Merrill for National League Rookie of the Year? Shohei Ohtani‘s historic 2024 or Ronald Acuña‘s 2023?

With a week left in the regular season, MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz gave his thoughts on some of baseball’s top award races and achievements — as well as one infamous mark the White Sox are hoping to avoid.

As part of our weekly conversation with the Hall of Fame pitcher, Smoltz also shared the rotation he likes the most entering the playoffs and more.

Kavner: Looking at what Shohei Ohtani has done this season, reaching the 50/50 mark, and what Ronald Acuña did last season to get to 40/70, which of those two feats do you find to be more impressive?

Smoltz: Honestly, it’s a great question. I think when stolen base is part of your game, I’m more impressed when you combine the stolen base with the power. And what I mean by that is, I’ve seen too many incidences where the power’s first and then the stolen bases come to make it some kind of unique thing.

I’m not a big fan of, once you reach a certain number, trying so hard to get the other number to equal. And that usually follows in the stolen base department. So when you got 70 stolen bases, that’s part of your game, that’s what makes you special, and then the homers just makes it doubly special. 

So, it would probably be crazy for me to say that the 50/50 isn’t more impressive. But we’re not going to see that again. So, if we’re not going to see that again, because that person’s not going to do it again, not because they’re not capable of hitting 50 home runs, it’s just — [the 50 steals] won’t be part of their game in the future. So, that would mean that a 40/70 is something that could be part of the future because it’s part of the game.

Kavner: Yeah, and you’re probably alluding to the fact that I doubt the Dodgers are going to let Ohtani go for 50 stolen bases again if he’s pitching every week. 

Smoltz: And you can get stolen bases that don’t help your team, that’s my point. You could have a six-run lead and steal a base. What is that doing? If you get a stolen base because that’s what you’re capable of doing in a tied or one-run game, that’s helping your club, I love that.

But if you’re just getting it to get a number, then you see stolen bases that are happening at third base that are insignificant with two outs. There are easy ways to make stats look great. I’m just saying, I’m a fan of a stat that helps your team win and win baseball games. That’s what I’m saying.

[RELATED: How Shohei Ohtani, without half his powers, rewrote MLB history again and went 50/50]

Kavner: Paul Skenes and Jackson Merrill have been neck-and-neck for a while in the National League Rookie of the Year race. You could also throw in Jackson Chourio, who’s been incredible in the second half. Who do you have as the NL Rookie of the Year?

Smoltz: I’m pitcher-biased, but I give a slight edge to Merrill. He’s an everyday player, helping the Padres possibly pull off the biggest shocker and winning the division. They’re in the playoffs, and they’re going to be a very tough out, and he’s contributed with tremendous late-game heroics. He’s been an everyday player in a league that we just mentioned is very difficult to hit.

When you have a hitter doing that as a rookie, even as incredible as Skenes is, it probably is going to give him a slight advantage. Skenes by every measure has had a great season. He’s very deserving of Rookie of the Year, and he will have Cy Young votes in the future and will win a Cy Young. That’s gonna be interesting to see how the vote goes.

Kavner: Who would you have as your AL Rookie of the Year?

Smoltz: That is a tough question. I would say Luis Gil and what he’s done as a pitcher in New York. You could make the same case for Austin Wells, but I would give Gil the nod just because, without Gerrit Cole for so long, the Yankees were really missing on their starting pitching. Gil provided a stability and a dominance that in that league, in that division, that probably trumps the other candidates. 

So, now I’m making the opposite argument in the American League for a pitcher than I would be for a position player — in New York, specifically, because it is a little bit easier to hit in New York and hit for power. But I’m going to make the counter-argument in this case in the American League because of how special Gil has been for the New York Yankees for a long time.

Kavner: The White Sox will likely set the record for most losses in MLB’s modern era. Is this the worst team that you can recall watching?

Smoltz: Paying attention to the worst teams is probably not my biggest priority. But the Tigers were pretty bad in 2003. I don’t know much about the ’62 Mets, other than what I saw in the record books.

When you’re talking about this day and age in baseball — again, like it, not like it, this is kind of a model to rebuilding a franchise — I don’t believe it’s a good model. But that’s what people are convincing their fan base: We got to strip this thing down. We got to rebuild our farm system. We’re going to incur all kinds of prospects. We’re going to make trades. 

I don’t think that’s a great formula, but that’s what we have today. So, if you go by their formula, they’re doing a pretty good job of stripping it down and not being very good. Now, the question is going to be, can they do what the Houston Astros did? Can they do what the Chicago Cubs did? People forget how long-suffering those franchises were before they got World Series championships. I think I can sell a lot of things. I think I would have a hard time selling to my fan base, “Be patient, stay there for seven years and watch us lose, because here’s the model of what we’re going to have at the end.”

I think every case is a little different. I don’t know if I could call them the worst team ever because they got some pieces they sold off and some players that are pretty darn good. I think the future is going to be a little bit brighter in Chicago and not take seven years to rebuild like we’ve seen in other cases. 

Kavner: Which team do you think has the best starting rotation heading into the postseason?

Smoltz: Well, my favorite is going to be the healthiest. It may not be the team that I land on right now. Although I could make an argument that these are both the same team, the Philadelphia Phillies. They have four dynamic and five really good pitchers that they’ve used all year. They’ve had a hiccup or two, some injuries with a couple of them. 

Of course, the Braves are no slouch, and certainly there’s others you can make the case for. But the healthiest rotation right now for me is the Phillies’. They have a weapon in the front, those first two guys create all kinds of different challenges. Zack Wheeler‘s the stud, and he’s the guy that’s been there, done that. Aaron Nola has gotten his groove on again and been mechanically sound. Then you got Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez. I just think the Phillies and their experience give them a leg up on most of the rotations that are out there.

If you told me that the Baltimore Orioles were going to stay healthy with their rotation, sign me up for that. They’ve had nothing but injuries and are a shell of themselves. You’re seeing teams really suffer. The Los Angeles Dodgers would have a dynamic rotation if those guys were healthy, and they’re a shell of themselves. The Houston Astros, I thought, were the most complete roster when you consider what their rotation could be. Too many injuries, they haven’t been able to kind of stay locked in. 

So, there’s going to be some injuries and there’s going to be some pitching performances by clubs that are going to have to use 12 guys to get through.

Kavner: Let’s finish off with two of the best in the game. If you were in a hypothetical Game 7 right now and had the choice of starting Chris Sale or Tarik Skubal, whom would you select? 

Smoltz: Wow. Tarik Skubal right now, only because he’s younger. Chris Sale’s phenomenal, but what he’s doing this year, after all the injuries and not really having a complete year in a long time. I give him all the credit in the world because he’s probably, at times, pitched on fumes, and he may be pitching on fumes now. The guy knows how to pitch and he certainly is nasty. 

Now, you give me a completely healthy Sale and no issues, and a completely healthy Skubal, I might have to go with Sale. But right now, in my gut, with Tarik’s done, he’s been phenomenal. That’s an unbelievable weapon right now for the Tigers.

John Smoltz, a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award winner, is FOX MLB’s lead game analyst. In addition to calling the network’s marquee regular-season games, Smoltz is in the booth for the All-Star Game and a full slate of postseason matchups which include Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series assignments.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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