LOS ANGELES — Mookie Betts’ towering go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth Sunday night seared through the mist of a rare rainy night at Dodger Stadium and served as a stark reminder to the rest of the league.September is here, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are heating up.With the Dodgers trailing 5-4, Betts took advantage of a historically bad Washington Nationals bullpen and pummeled a 1-0 fastball from reliever Will Dion deep into the left-field seats, charging Los Angeles to a 7-5 win, a three-game sweep and its fourth straight victory. The Dodgers (86-57) extended their lead in the National League West to 10 1/2 games with 19 left to play, and moved into second place in the National League standings.After a frustrating August in which they played below .500 ball (13-14) the Dodgers know it’s time to flip the switch. That’s easier said than done, but they’re off to a solid start.“If you can end it in September playing good ball, then I think it gives you good confidence going into the postseason,” Betts said. “But again, we just got to put our head down and play one game at a time.
MLB, The Show! pic.twitter.com/eryUzJcvgL
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 7, 2026It wasn’t a perfect week in Dodgers land. Some of the roster decisions raised more questions than answers. But as we’ve seen over the last several postseasons, their roster in September is vastly different than in October. Let’s dive in.Shohei Ohtani should return MondayAfter missing the last four games, the Dodgers believe Shohei Ohtani will return to the starting lineup Monday ahead of their series opener against the Cincinnati Reds — and he was available to pinch-hit Sunday if needed. However, despite pledging otherwise for most of the last week, they no longer believe it’s likely he’ll pitch again.“Not officially,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday when asked if Ohtani had been officially shut down from pitching . “But obviously, if you’re looking at the calendar, how much he’s thrown in the last week, I think we can all do the math.”The Dodgers have 19 games remaining in the regular season. Ohtani has not thrown since he was shut down Aug. 30, and hasn’t pitched in a major-league game since July 3. The chances of Ohtani’s long-awaited return to a big-league mound became dicey the moment he shortened what was scheduled to be his final bullpen session to 20-ish pitches — down from the 30 or so he prefers in his final tune-up before making a start — and was later scratched all together.When he showed obvious signs of physical discomfort earlier this week, Roberts made the call to take Ohtani out of the starting lineup for four straight games — the longest Ohtani has gone without playing in his Dodgers tenure.But Dodgers’ brass downplayed the severity of Ohtani’s discomfort up until a four-strikeout night Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals forced their hand. In fairness, the front office stresses the importance of open communication, and Ohtani likely minimized the amount of pain he was in during those conversations. But the numbers told a clear story: Since starting a throwing program on Aug. 8, Ohtani hit .204 with a .704 OPS, and a glaring 30.5 percent strikeout rate. That made general manager Brandon Gomes’ dismissal of Ohtani’s struggles all the more confounding when he was asked about them Thursday.“I just think there’s also just ebbs and flows of the season and what to attribute things to and what not to is just too hard to say,” Gomes said. “We haven’t had any indication that he’s not feeling good enough physically to go out and play.”The Dodgers followed up by resting Ohtani for three more games.Managing his physical health also requires Ohtani to be honest about how he’s feeling, no matter how much he wants to pitch again. It has been three weeks since Ohtani has spoken with reporters. He has not done so since Aug. 17, one week into the throwing program that was shut down.
