PITTSBURGH — Perhaps the Los Angeles Dodgers can sleepwalk their way through September en route to their 12th NL West title in 13 years. But if the defending champions continue to play down to their competition and fail to live up to the caliber of talent on their roster, their chances of repeating as champs once October arrives might be unexpectedly flimsy.
Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat in Pittsburgh against the last-place Pirates clinched another series loss for L.A. amid a prolonged run of underwhelming showings, and Thursday’s 5-3 embarrassment secured a sweep by Paul Skenes and the Buccos. Pittsburgh’s ace struck out eight over six innings and gave up two hits and no runs.
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Since the start of August, the Dodgers have also dropped series at home to the middling Cardinals and Diamondbacks, were swept in Anaheim by the crosstown-rival Angels and split four games in Colorado against the worst-in-baseball Rockies.
Los Angeles’ saving grace throughout this subpar run has been a similarly discouraging stretch from their closest competition, as the Padres have played even worse recently, allowing the Dodgers’ division lead to remain at a reasonably comfortable two games through Thursday. The Padres were swept by the Orioles on Wednesday, presenting the Dodgers with a golden opportunity to grow their lead — one they failed to take advantage of.
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“I’m very much aware of that,” Roberts said Wednesday of Los Angeles’ inability to capitalize on their rivals’ recent skid. “But, you know, they’re feeling the same thing we are, and we’ve got to control what we can control. And we’re certainly not.”
After losing a sloppy slugfest 9-7 in Tuesday’s series opener, the Dodgers were scheduled to send Shohei Ohtani to the mound Wednesday for his 12th start of the season, with hopes the two-way superstar could help get the club back on track. Instead, right-hander Emmet Sheehan was announced as the starting pitcher about four hours before first pitch, with manager Dave Roberts revealing pregame that Ohtani had been feeling “under the weather.” His start was pushed back to Monday against Colorado.
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Per Roberts, Ohtani reported feeling ill Tuesday, which interrupted his normal throwing progression leading up to his start and forced the Dodgers to reconsider whether proceeding with his start as planned was worth the risk.
“We asked him if he could still hit. He…