Through Spring Training, the biggest question mark surrounding the Dodgers was about their infield defense. For most of the first two weeks of the regular season, that same infield defense hasn’t been nearly as big of a concern as initially expected.
But for perhaps the first time, those questions crept back up for the Dodgers, who committed three errors in the 8-1 loss to the Cubs at a wet Wrigley Field on Sunday. After dropping two of three in Chicago, this was the first series loss for Los Angeles this season.
“You never like three errors in a ballgame,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think it’s been considerably better than it was a month ago, and I think it’s only going to get better. Today was just one of those days, like I said, we would like to wash. But I don’t think it was the infield defense today.”
As Roberts said and in fairness to the defense, the playing conditions in Chicago worsened as the game wore on. There was eventually a two-hour and 51-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fourth. But even with the poor conditions, the Dodgers didn’t do right-hander Gavin Stone any favors as the Cubs jumped ahead early.
The mistakes started on the first hitter Los Angeles faced as Freddie Freeman couldn’t handle a grounder hit by Ian Happ to start the game. Initially Happ was credited with a hit, but it was changed to an error despite the ball having an exit velocity of 108.3 mph, per Statcast. That ultimately opened the door for the Cubs, who scored three runs in the opening frame on a bases-clearing double by former Dodger Michael Busch.
In the third, it was Mookie Betts who misplayed a ball at shortstop. Betts, of course, made the move to shortstop from second base in the middle of Spring Training. For the most part, Betts has looked comfortable at his new position, but his error on Sunday allowed the Cubs to score the fifth run of the game on a Mike Tauchman RBI double.
Before the rain delay, Miguel Rojas was also charged with a throwing error. After the play, the umpires called for the tarp due to the deteriorating field conditions. Rojas, who was starting his first game of the season at third base, is one of the best defenders in the league.
“I think Miguel’s on the throw,” Roberts said when asked if the weather conditions affected some of the misplays. “Mookie’s ball, he just hasn’t played in conditions like this at short before, and it was a ball that just stayed down. And then the Freddie error, that’s a tough error. That’s an in-between hop. To me that’s a tough error. But obviously if we make that play, potentially it’s a different inning.”
Outside of the defense, Stone also didn’t have his best stuff and command on Sunday. The young right-hander, who was stellar in Cactus League play, has gotten off to a bit of a slow start this season. Against the Cubs, he allowed five runs (one earned) on four hits and walked three. Perhaps the one encouraging part for the Dodgers and Stone is that the velocity on all his pitches was up once again from his season averages in 2023.
Overall, there weren’t many positives for Los Angeles outside of Shohei Ohtani continuing his mini-hitting streak with a double and a triple. In a long season, games like these will happen. The Dodgers were able to avoid it over their first 11 contests. But this is the first one they’ll have to wash away.
“No excuses,” Rojas said. “They played better baseball than us today.”
