The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-2 defeat against the Arizona Diamondbacks marked their eighth loss in the last 9 games. That certainly doesn’t look like a team aiming to win the World Series three times in a row, especially when they have just added a reigning Cy Young winner to their already star-studded roster. Yet Freddie Freeman made it clear that the clubhouse has no plans of going near the panic button.

“It’s baseball, ups and downs. We’re going to go through it,” Freddie Freeman said, as per SportsNet LA on X. “No one’s worried in here.”

In less than 2 weeks, the Dodgers have dropped all 3 of their series, and they were swept in 2 of them. They were somehow able to stop the seven-game slide from extending further, but they could not save the series against the Diamondbacks.

This is quite a contradiction of what the fans had expected when LA confirmed the Tarik Skubal trade. 

The Detroit homeboy had been linked with the Dodgers for several weeks. They finally offered the Tigers 3 of their top prospects in exchange to seal the deal on August 2. With Shohei Ohtani off pitching duties and starters like Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow yet to return from the injured list, Dodgers fans expected something incredible from the team after adding Skubal to the roster. 

The back-to-back Cy Young winner didn’t exactly disappoint.

He allowed just 4 hits and 2 earned runs, recording 6 strikeouts over 6.0 innings against the Chicago Cubs during his only start so far for LA on August 4. But the rest was barely under his control.

Since his trade, the Dodgers have a 1-6 record, the worst in MLB, while the Tigers are 5-2, among the best in the same span. 

But Freeman, who signed a 6-year, $162,000,000 contract with the Dodgers, thinks it’s not something the reigning champions should be worried about. 

“It just happens to be during a time where our pitching has been pitching well the last couple of games, and as an offense, we’ve got to do better. So hopefully it starts tomorrow,” he added. 

Although the veteran sounded quite relaxed, the closer picture is indeed a bit concerning, and the biggest issue is double plays.

The Dodgers have grounded into 99 double plays this season. That’s the most by any team. To top that, their offensive struggles went glaring on Sunday.

The Dodgers were limited to two runs and five hits over seven innings by Eduardo Rodriguez. At the end of the game, they could only manage six hits. In their 3 games in Arizona, the defending champs scored only 7 runs.

While their average run once was 5 per game, over the last nine appearances, it has reduced to 3.2.

Yet, Freddie Freeman acknowledged the Los Angeles Dodgers as a “good team” and said, “There’s no concern.” But he also admitted that “We’re searching and we’re asking” for a proper solution to get out of the recent stretch. 

But the manager had his concerns clear, especially before going against the Kansas City Royals over the next two days.

“We have to make adjustments. I think, for me, that’s sort of what I see as a group — we’re just not making adjustments,” Dave Roberts noted in terms of his team’s pitching skills.

The Dodgers are still leading the NL West with a 70-48 record. They are 7.5 games ahead of the second-placed D’backs in the division. That gives them plenty of room to breathe easy, but come October, such performance will shatter their three-peat dreams. Hopefully, the fans will experience a change of scenery with Tarik Skubal taking the mound on August 10 as the Dodgers host the Royals, followed by Blake Snell the next day.