The Los Angeles Dodgers have hit a bit of a rough patch as of late, currently losers of five straight games ahead of Wednesday's tilt with the Milwaukee Brewers. Despite this, Los Angeles still sits with an elite record of 56-37 as the All-Star break quickly approaches.
A big part of the reason that the Dodgers have performed perhaps slightly below their historic expectations this year has been the sheer number of injuries the team has sustained, particularly on their pitching staff.
Recently, the Dodgers got some more bad news regarding a key member in that department.
“The Dodgers just transferred Michael Kopech to the 60-day IL. They’d initially been hopeful it would be a short stint on the IL for his sore right knee,” reported Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic on X, formerly Twitter.
Kopech hasn't appeared in a game for the Dodgers since their June 26 road win over the Colorado Rockies, and joins a long list of Los Angeles pitchers who have been bitten by the injury bug this year.
Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are two of the more notable names on that list, and it was only recently that superstar Shohei Ohtani made his pitching debut for the team, marking the first time he'd taken the mound since the 2023 season, when he was a member of the Los Angeles Angels.
Despite all of the injury troubles, the Dodgers are still in good position to attempt to defend their World Series championship this fall. The Dodgers won the pennant last year against the New York Yankees and were in the rare position of adding several key pieces in free agency the ensuing winter, setting the stage for what many anticipated would be a historically dominant 2025 season.
That said, the All-Star break will surely be a good opportunity for some of the injured Dodgers to have some time to get healthy.