LOS ANGELES -- The bottom third of the Dodgers' lineup has weathered a rough start to the season. But that might just be a symptom of the problem the defending champions are facing.
The Dodgers fell to the Cubs, 4-2, on Sunday, dropping their third series in a row after sweeping their first three of 2025 in an 8-0 start to their title defense. Los Angeles set the bar at perfection by going undefeated for so long, which has made its six losses in the past nine games loom even larger.
But the Dodgers scored only five runs across their series loss to the Cubs, which manager Dave Roberts attributed to his team getting away from what it does best.
"Our DNA as an offense, we do a really good job of beating the starter and getting the pitch count up and getting to the 'pen," Roberts said. "And I think for me, that stands out. It¡¯s going to happen. It¡¯s just in this last nine-, 10-game stretch, it just hasn¡¯t.¡±
Both of Los Angeles' runs on Sunday were driven in by the bottom third of the order -- Kik¨¦ Hern¨¢ndez's RBI knock in the second inning, then Max Muncy's sacrifice fly in the sixth. Through his first dozen games of the season, all of Hern¨¢ndez's hits had left the yard -- but there were only four of them. Muncy still has yet to go deep this season, and he just missed a homer on his run-scoring drive.
The three batters who started in the Nos. 7-9 spots on Sunday -- Muncy, Hern¨¢ndez and Miguel Rojas -- all finished the day batting well below the Mendoza line. The Dodgers have gotten a .508 OPS from their Nos. 7-9 hitters, as opposed to .823 from the top six in the order. The bottom third of the lineup has gotten on base at a .230 clip.
But the most telling statistic about how the bottom of the order has not set the table might be that Shohei Ohtani, who has started all 17 of the Dodgers' games in the leadoff spot, has taken just seven plate appearances with runners in scoring position, which is tied for the third fewest among qualified Major League hitters.
During the Dodgers' 2-4 road trip through Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the common thread for Roberts was a lack of team at-bats. There have been flashes where L.A. has been able to string hits together -- like in Sunday's sixth inning capped by Muncy's sac fly -- but there hasn't been constant pressure on opposing pitchers.
"I just feel like ¡ we have more guys scuffling than guys that are feeling really good at the plate, so it's just one of those stretches right now," Hern¨¢ndez said. "It's a matter of time. We're going to snap out of it and we're just going to start steamrolling people. We're just going through a little bit of a rough patch."
That the rough patch came after the team's season-opening dominance only makes the contrast more stark. It's not unusual for players and teams to find their rhythm in the first month of the season.
Even when the Dodgers were undefeated, Roberts said multiple times that they were not playing their best baseball. In what ended up being the final game of the season-opening win streak -- when Ohtani walked off the Braves on his bobblehead night -- the manager said he was "dumbfounded" that his team had found a way to win that game.
Now that the Dodgers haven't been finding ways to win, the early-season scuffles are amplified.
"It can happen in October. It can happen any time," Mookie Betts said. "This is the game of baseball. It's a game. You never know when you're going to do good, when you're not going to do good. It's hard."
But the struggles can compound when multiple members of the lineup aren't feeling synced up. The Dodgers, though, have the perspective to understand that these ebbs and flows at the plate are only natural in a 162-game season -- and expect to get through it as a team.
"When you get guys that are kind of searching -- they¡¯re looking more anxious than I think typically we are," Roberts said. "Hitting is not easy, but I¡¯m not overly concerned right now, given where we¡¯re at on the calendar. I know we¡¯re going to hit. I know we¡¯re going to score runs, things like that. We¡¯ve just got to get back to who we are."