Angels get their own category in this ranking. Plus, try sandlot baseball!

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The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.

The Dodgers snapped a losing streak. Their pitching is still in trouble.

Plus: Examining why some teams don’t appear to be “trying.” Also, do you want to play baseball? There’s a league for you. Yes, you! I’m Levi Weaver; Ken Rosenthal is off today. Welcome to The Windup!

Déjà Vu: Dodgers pitchers keep breaking and breaking

When Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the seventh inning last night, it was surely a breath of fresh air for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. For all the money spent this offseason, L.A. is facing a familiar problem: Its pitchers keep landing on the injured list.

It might be tempting to forget — since they went ahead and won the whole thing — but the Dodgers’ pitching situation during the 2024 postseason was a mess.

With approximately a whole NBA roster’s worth of pitchers injured (no, really, as you can see shortly), here’s how the starts broke down for the Dodgers’ 16 postseason games:

• Jack Flaherty: 5
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto:  4
• Walker Buehler: 3
• Ryan Brasier (reliever):  2
• Michael Kopech (reliever):  1
• Ben Casparius (reliever): 1

Fully one-fourth of their games were bullpen games. Flaherty (Detroit) and Buehler (Boston) departed after the season in free agency.

But no worries, right? It’s the Dodgers. They’ll spend their way out of it, and some guys will get healthy over the winter. Repeat City, here we come? Well … yeah, just maybe not quite in the way they intended.

Here’s that list of Dodgers pitchers who are currently on the IL: Tyler Glasnow, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, Edgardo Enriquez, Kyle Hurt, Kopech, Evan Phillips, River Ryan, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Snell, Gavin Stone, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates.

I counted, so you didn’t have to. It’s 14. Even if you subtract the depth guys, that’s two of their top starters and their four best right-handed high-leverage relievers.

To quote Andrew Friedman in Fabian Ardaya’s most recent dire diagnosis: “Not fun.”

Their relievers have pitched more innings than any other team. Their team ERA entering last night’s game against the Diamondbacks: 22nd out of 30 teams. Even Yamamoto’s brilliant start didn’t result in a win — Tanner Scott allowed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, then worked a second inning for the first time this year, departing after a Corbin Carroll home run made it 3-2.

And then yeah — the Dodgers walked it off with some clutch hitting. They’re 30-19 after snapping a four-game losing streak.

So even the bleakest days have silver (or maybe diamond) linings. It’s still possible (albeit optimistic) that L.A.’s October rotation could go: Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and some combination of Clayton Kershaw/Tony Gonsolin/Dustin May.

But for the time being, whew. Not fun, indeed.

More Dodgers: Phillips got a “full circle” moment with an emotional return to Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s Hospital, two years after his son was born seven weeks premature.

Investigations: Which teams are trying?

It has become a common (and frankly, understandable) complaint among fans of teams who don’t operate in the same echelon as the Dodgerses and Metses of the world: “Why isn’t my team’s front office trying?”

Let’s start by clarifying something: Every front office is trying. Your team’s GM wants to have the Yankees’ budget, just like every principal would love to provide your kids with more books and supplies than they could ever need to succeed in school.

The problem (in both cases) is the people cutting the checks. But unlike state school boards, we don’t really have any way of knowing if small-market owners are being honest when they pull their pockets inside out like the Monopoly man and ask: “How many years in a row should we operate at a deficit?”

And maybe they are losing money! It’s awfully hard to know for sure, since teams don’t open their books — even when they promise to do just that.

Today, Andy McCullough takes a closer look at this issue, which is one of the more existential problems facing the sport. After outlining the disparity, he separates the teams into tiers: the powerhouses (think Dodgers), the overachievers (think Rays), the middle (hello, Red Sox) and the basement (Pirates, etc.).

And of course, there is a special section reserved just for the Angels, who spend a lot of money but never really seem to get the results they’re ostensibly paying for.

As McCullough mentions, the league’s CBA is set to expire after the 2026 season. One thing those smaller-market teams — and let’s face it, probably all owners — are going to angle for is a salary cap. The spin will be that it’s just necessary for competitive balance.

Is that the solution? Or is it just another way to tip the scales back toward ownership when it comes to divvying up the billions of dollars that baseball generates every year? I’m not arrogant enough to suggest it’s simple enough for a one-sentence answer. The truth is, I sincerely don’t know.

But I do suspect that’s at least partially by design.

Take the Field: Sandlot Baseball is baseball for all

If you’re a baseball fan, there’s a good chance you used to play the sport in some form. Or maybe you came to your love of the game later in life, and have wondered what it would be like to pick up a wood bat and take your hacks.

Well, you can.

Allow me to tell you about sandlot baseball. It’s an informal movement, allowing people to play the sport they love without the pressure that comes with more competitive leagues. If you’re looking to be scouted, this isn’t the league for you. The entire point is to give players of any (adult) age, gender or skill set a place to hang out and play some baseball (of frequently questionable quality).

“Community over competition” is a phrase I’ve heard a lot. That’s what sets sandlot apart from other leagues, and why I wanted to tell you about it. Full disclosure: I play for a team in Dallas, and the competition level varies quite a bit. I’ve seen fastballs close to 80mph (rarely), and I’ve seen people try pitching for the first time in their lives lobbing 40 mph floaters toward the plate (more common).

The best part is that it is extremely chill. Catchers usually call their own balls and strikes, and disputed plays on the basepaths are usually settled with an eye roll and an “OK fine, you guys can have this one.”

If that sounds really dumb to you, well — sandlot probably isn’t your bag. But if you just miss getting out there with your friends and playing baseball, I can’t tell you how much the experience (and the community) has meant to me over the last couple of years.

You can check here to see if there’s a team near you. Or if you want a better idea of what the teams look like, there’s a central Instagram page you can peruse. And hey, if there’s not a team near you, guess what: You’re allowed to start one!

I know this isn’t our usual Windup fare. Usually, this space is for talking about the best of the best playing the sport. But we all need more fun in our lives. So here’s a section about how you can join the worst of the worst (because honestly, they’re the best).

More: If you’re looking for something even less formal — something you can play in your backyard — may I present: Canball.

Handshakes and High Fives

After yesterday’s section on Juan Soto, we have a bit more on the Mets right fielder: Tim Britton tells us how the spotlight has intensified on Soto recently, while Jen McCaffrey has an exclusive: Soto “strongly considered” signing with the Red Sox.

How are the Tigers doing this? Cody Stavenhagen has seven numbers that explain Detroit’s success.

Matt Gelb tells us how the Phillies will attempt to overcome the loss of reliever José Alvarado, who has been suspended 80 games for PED usage.

Free agency doesn’t start for another five-plus months, but Jim Bowden is helping us plan ahead, with his top 50 potential free agents-to-be.

Home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook escalated an argument with Walker Buehler then threw him out of the game, which seems like something that shouldn’t ever happen. The Red Sox still won, handing the Mets their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Travis Bazzana, whom the Guardians took with the first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, will miss at least two months with a “right internal oblique strain.”

Baseball Savant released a bunch of new tools and visuals for hitters, including a Swing Path/Attack Angle Leaderboard. Eno, DVR and Jed dig in on “Rates & Barrels.”

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Eno Sarris on five young starting pitchers with good stuff and bad results (so far).

📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo: Rick Scuteri / Imagn Images)

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