Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog: “Chief Knight”. I’m really sorry for not posting any blogs in over a year, but I’m trying to get back into the hobby of blogging. Blogging really wasn’t my thing, and I just forgot about it. But, to make it up, I’ve decided to create a new series of writing a weekly blog about my favorite baseball team…
the LOS ANGELES DODGERS!!!
In this post I’m going to talk about their recent trades, a little bit about the Cincinnati Reds series, the Tampa Bay Rays series, and much more. But before that, let’s hear it for them DODGERS!
Their first trade before the trade deadline was shipping off James Outman for right-handed reliever Brock Stewart from the Minnesota Twins. Brock Stewart’s stats on the year has a 2.38 ERA in 34 innings, while throughout his career has a 4.48 ERA in 183 innings. James Outman on the other hand, has had a career batting average of .224 with 30 homers, getting playing time in both the big leagues and the minors. Outman was a stud in his first month of getting promoted to the Majors but has since fallen off a cliff lately.
I would rate this trade a B for the Dodgers because they addressed a need in the bullpen, losing a lot of key pieces lately, Evan Phillips, Tanner Scott, and Michael Kopech in the last few months. Outman has been struggling lately and was only good for the 1st month of the season. The problem with this trade is Brock Stewart, a 33 year old vet, has gotten arm injuries, including Tommy John.
Their second trade before the deadline was acquiring Alex Call from the Washington Nationals for pitching prospects: Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Linan. Alex Call stats during the 2025 season shows that he’s a promising hitter with a .274 batting average and an OPS of .756. The average batting average and OPS is .246 and .718, showing that Call is better than the average baseball player. Eriq Swan for the 2025 season in High-A has a record of 4-3 and an ERA of 4.43 with 77 strikeouts. Eriq Swan is a flamethrower throwing an average fastball of 94-97 MPH and can reach 101 MPH. He does have trouble on his control with 69 walks in the 2025 season and has a walk rate of 9 walks per 9 innings. Sean Paul Linan has a 3-3 record with a 2.78 ERA on the season. He has a fastball average of 91-94 MPH and has a very good changeup that is around 80 MPH.
I would rate this trade a C for the Dodgers because they did get a solid outfielder in Call who has a good batting average and OPS and is really good at defense. They did have to give two pitching prospects one who’s a flamethrower and the other has a deadly changeup. The Dodgers care about “now” and not the future, as they are hoping that Call can help them get to another world series.
Their third trade before the deadline was giving up Dustin May for some prospects: James Tibbs lll, and Zach Ehrhard. James Tibbs lll is the Red Sox’s No. 5 prospect and Zach Ehrhard is the Red Sox’s No. 27 prospect. May’s stats during the 2025 season has been average posting a 6-7 record with a 4.58 ERA in 104 innings. May has had some serious injuries including Tommy John and a torn esophagus. Throughout his MiLB career James Tibbs lll has batted .234 with 15 HR in 113 career MiLB games. On the other hand, Zach Ehrhard has a .267 batting average with nine homers in 89 MiLB games. He has the ability to hit for power and has above-average speed. He is a good center fielder but usually spends his time in the corner outfield spots.
I would give this trade for the Dodgers a B because although May was a valuable member when the Dodger rotation was healthy, his loss may make an impact if the team faces any more pitching injuries. Dustin May has struggled this season on giving up many homers, and has had some serious injuries throughout his career. He’s also going to become a free agent next season, so it was smart to ship off May for some prospects to help for the future. The players that the Dodgers got are promising hitters, like Tibbs who was a former first-round pick, but did struggle in AA. Ehrhard is also a solid prospect, and is known for his base running skills and athleticism. This trade’s success will ultimately come down to the development of Tibbs and Ehrhard.
Now, let’s talk about their recent Cincinnati Reds’s series. In game 1 of 3 the Dodgers won 5-2 scoring most of their runs in the 5th and 7th inning. Mookie Betts was 2-4 scoring 3 of the Dodger’s runs. Shohei was 1-3 driving in 2 runs, and Tesocar was 2-5 driving in another 2 runs. The Dodgers starter: Yoshinobu Yamamoto was lights out going 7 innings, giving up only 1 run and had 9 strikeouts. The Dodgers’s pitching as a whole only gave up 6 hits. In game 2 of 3 the Dodgers won 5-4 in a close win. Shohei was 0-5 with 4 strikeouts, a really bad game for the 700 million dollar man. Will Smith was the MVP for the Dodgers going 2-5 with 2 RBI’s, one of the RBIs came in the top of the 9th which gave the Dodgers the lead. Tyler Glassnow, the starter, had some control issues and only went 4 innings and walked 5. Thanks to the bullpen they kept the Reds from scoring and only gave 2 hits and 0 runs. Alex Vesia closed the game out getting 2 punchies and sealing the series win for the Dodgers. In game 3 of 3 the Dodgers lost 2-5. The Dodgers couldn’t score any runs in this game, and only those 2 runs came thanks to Freddie Freeman’s homer in the 4th. Both Betts and Shohei were 0-10 in this game. I want to shout out Alex Freeland for getting his first base hit in the majors.. The Dodger’s starter: Shohei Ohtani gave up 2 runs in only 3 innings, and had to exit the game due to cramping. Evan Sheehen came in for Shohei and pitched pretty well but gave up the go-ahead runs when Spencer Steer hit a 2-run triple off him. The Dodgers did take the series winning 2 out of 3 games.
Now, let’s turn our attention to the Dodgers recent Tampa Bay Ray’s series. In game 1 of 3 they won 5-0 scoring their runs in the 1st, 4th, and 5th inning. They were able to get 9 hits off the Rays and only allowed 6 hits. Shohei was 2-4 scoring 1 run and Freddie Freeman was 2-4 driving in 3 with a home run. Alex Freeland continued his greatness at the plate going 2-4 and collecting his 1st RBI. The Dodgers pitching was lights out as their starter: Clayton Kershaw went 6 innings and collected 3 strikeouts. Wrobleski went the other 3 innings and struck out 5. In game 2 the Dodgers lost 4-0. The hitters weren’t able to hit that day and only collected 6 hits. Some notable stars were Freeman going 2-4 and Freeland extending his hit streak for 3 games going 1-3. The Dodgers starter: Blake Snell was solid allowing 3 runs but got 8 strikeouts, his first game back from injury. In game 3, the last game of their road trip the Dodgers won 3-0 thanks to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yoshinobu went 5.2 innings only giving up 5 hits and collecting 6 strikeouts. He was able to get some run support as Betts. Freddie, and Pages all collected one RBI. Shohei had a good time at the plate going 2-3 with 2 walks, and 1 run scored. The game looked a little nerveracking at the end as Blake Treinen gave up a hit and 2 walks, but thankfully Casparius gave in and allowed no runs. The Dodgers end their road trip having a record of 5-4.
That’s all for this blog, I again apologize for not writing a blog in over a year and hope to write one once every week about the Dodgers. Please put your comments down below and give me any suggestions about anything to add, or an entirely new series. I am open to suggestions. Thank you, and don’t forget: THE DODGERS ARE BETTER THAN THE PADRES!!!
