Roberts Rips Dodgers' Offense, Defense After Brewers Loss
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- Dave Roberts slammed the Dodgers' offense and defense after a 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday, citing "four or five, six weeks of below-average production" and saying the team "hasn't played clean baseball for quite a time."
- The Dodgers lost three of four games in the series, falling three games behind the Brewers in the race for the NL's best record while also losing the head-to-head tiebreaker for postseason seeding.
- Los Angeles is 5-11 over its past 16 games, having been swept by the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs and dropping series to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Brewers, going 18-21 since July 1 as back-to-back World Series champions.
- Roberts criticized the team's plate discipline, saying hitters are "chasing off in, chasing away" without "the consistent plan of attack, 1 through 9," after the Dodgers managed just three runs on 11 hits and three walks over the final two games against Milwaukee.
- Even Shohei Ohtani was not immune, grounding into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and third in the seventh inning.
- Tommy Edman committed two errors in the series finale that directly led to three Brewers runs, including a botched force play on Mookie Betts' throw in the second and a missed double-play grounder in the ninth.
- The Dodgers hold a seven-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West but are competing with the Brewers and Atlanta Braves for the two playoff spots that bypass the wild-card rounds.
Why it matters: Roberts' public criticism signals the reigning champions are not coasting into October: the Brewers now own both the three-game NL-best-record lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker, meaning even if the Dodgers catch Milwaukee, they lose the seeding coin-flip — a costly margin with the wild-card round looming.
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