Dodgers baseball news: The Orange County Register

Dodgers still can’t figure out Brewers’ pitchers

Bill Plunkett — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 04:39:32 +0000

Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow throws to the plate during the first inning of a game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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LOS ANGELES — Before Friday night’s game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised the Milwaukee Brewers, particularly for the strength of their pitching and defense.

“It’s just hard to score against this team,” Roberts said.

He has no reason to think otherwise.

The Dodgers returned from the All-Star break and were held to three hits in a 2-0 loss to those Brewers.

It was their fourth loss to the Brewers in the past 11 days. They have scored a total of four runs in those matchups with the National League wild card leaders while batting .151 as a team.

“I think obviously they do a good job of pitching,” Roberts said after the game of a Brewers team that went into Friday with the fifth-lowest ERA in MLB. “They throw a lot of quality pitches with their entire pitch mix. This guy was good tonight. Didn’t make many mistakes. The comeback sinker to the righty, the slider, the cutter.

“They don’t walk guys. So it just seems like, yeah, they’re pitching us well.”

That has been a theme during a barren month of July for the Dodgers’ offense. With multiple players slumping, they have hit just .205 this month with a .272 on-base percentage and .322 slugging percentage in 13 games. Only one team (the last-place Pittsburgh Pirates) has been less productive offensively this month.

“We saw it over at their place. They got some big arms,” Dodgers outfielder Michael Conforto said. “What we usually do is just have tough at-bats, and eventually somebody gets a mistake and slugs it. I think we’re working our way back to that, and will be scoring more runs shortly.

“Every time we go out there, we expect to score, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year. It’s just one of those stretches of a little bit tougher to get runs in. But, you know, obviously, we have faith in our guys, and some big names in here that made their careers on scoring runs and driving guys in. I think we’ll be okay.”

Seven of the 13 unproductive games this month have been against two of the best pitching staffs in baseball – the Houston Astros and Brewers. All seven of those have been losses, a bad portent for October when every team will have good pitching.

“I don’t know if it’s a concern,” Roberts said to that. “I think it’s one of those perfect-storm kind of plays in the sense that some guys just haven’t been swinging the bats well, and then you’re running into good pitching on top of that. It doesn’t really bode well for run production.

“But tomorrow’s a new day. We’ve got to reset and be ready because those guys aren’t going to feel sorry for us, and Freddy (Peralta) is an All-Star. For me, we’ve got to get on the fastball, try to scare him out of the zone because this is a guy again that just doesn’t walk many guys. We’ve got to find a way to be on the offensive tomorrow.”

Friday’s starter, Quinn Priester, wasn’t an All-Star but he looked like one against the Dodgers. He announced his presence with authority, striking out Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in the first inning and going on to strike out 10 in his six innings. The Dodgers have struck out 47 times in their four games against the Brewers.

Priester’s sinking fastball averaged just 94.3 mph but the Dodgers missed on five of their 12 swings at it, taking 10 more for called strikes. They didn’t have any more luck with Priester’s cutter, missing on five of 11 swings at it.

The Dodgers managed just three hits off Priester and touched second base just twice in the game. Freeman doubled with one out in the fourth inning then was promptly doubled off when Will Smith hit a line drive right at third baseman Caleb Durbin.

Ohtani reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning and stole second (his 13th steal of the season), but Betts struck out on the next pitch.

Hyeseong Kim’s leadoff single in the sixth inning was the Dodgers’ last hit of the game.

“He was filling up the (strike) zone,” Conforto said of Priester, the Pirates’ first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft now in his third organization. “He could command all his pitches. A lot of sinkers, a little cutter, big curveball, big slider – he was really good with all of them.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to get guys on and score runs because our pitchers did their job tonight.”

The Dodgers’ ineffectual offense against the Brewers wasted an excellent outing from Tyler Glasnow in his second start back from the injured list.

Glasnow retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced. But he made the cardinal sin of walking the leadoff hitter in the fifth inning. Isaac Collins moved up on a ground out and scored easily when Durbin lined a double into the left field corner.

That was one of just four hits allowed by Glasnow in the loss. He has allowed just two runs (one unearned) on six hits in 11 innings since coming off the IL.

“It’s been really good. It has,” Roberts said. “He’s been able to stay in his rhythm, stay in his delivery, just be in ‘compete’ mode. It’s nice to see the 99s (mph), the slider’s playing. There’s swing and miss there. There’s efficiency to the pitching.

“So all that stuff, it’s been really good. To get him through six is just another building block for Tyler. I think he’s in a really good spot. He’s healthy, feeling confident and we’re better for it, for sure.”

Glasnow’s fastball velocity has been up in each of his starts since returning from a shoulder injury he suspected was caused by changes he made in his mechanics in hopes of avoiding another elbow injury. He averaged 97.3 mph on his 37 four-seam fastballs on Friday and got six of his 12 swings-and-misses with that pitch.

A less positive trend continued when Kirby Yates followed him in the seventh inning and gave up a solo home run to Durbin. It was the sixth home run allowed by Yates this season, double his total in twice as many innings last season.

Dodgers will continue slow buildup for Shohei Ohtani as pitcher

Bill Plunkett — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 02:01:05 +0000

LOS ANGELES — As the second half begins, the Dodgers are still not ready to loosen the reins on Shohei Ohtani’s pitching work. But they are giving him a new partner.

Ohtani’s next start as a pitcher will come Monday night against the Minnesota Twins. ‘Piggybacking’ with him this time will be Dustin May. Ben Casparius and Emmet Sheehan filled that role for Ohtani’s first five starts. Casparius has returned to a bullpen role. Sheehan has moved into the starting rotation.

“Dustin has done it before so it’s really not going to be that big a deal for him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

The move does not necessarily signal a demotion for May, who has career-highs in ERA (4.96) and WHIP (1.35) but it’s a way to lighten his workload in his comeback season. May is second on the team to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in starts (17) and innings pitched (94⅓). Both are far and away career-highs for the oft-injured May.

“Yeah, I mean, we’ve already eclipsed probably where we would have expected at this point in time,” Roberts said. “So then to curtail, save – whatever way you want to kind of frame it – a little bit here and there should be a benefit to Dustin, too.”

In his last start before the All-Star break, Ohtani went three innings and threw 36 pitches against the San Francisco Giants, both season highs. But the slow pace of his buildup will continue. Roberts said Ohtani is expected to throw three innings on Monday, maybe increasing to four innings in his next two outings after that. So Ohtani won’t be throwing “a normal game,” Roberts said, any time soon.

“I think it just allows us to get the benefits of both sides in the sense of building Shohei up, to then have somebody behind him that is not just a typical bullpen game, that we feel that this person, whoever it might be on that particular night, can take down the majority of the game,” Roberts said. “And depending on how the game plays out, they can either keep going or we can pivot to leverage guys (short relievers).”

It will also give the Dodgers somewhere to stash one of their surplus starting pitchers – a luxury that seemed so far away for most of the first half but could be coming soon.

Tyler Glasnow rejoined the rotation before the All-Star break and started again on Friday. Blake Snell made his second rehab start on Tuesday in the Arizona Complex League. He threw three innings and is expected to build on that in his next rehab start on Sunday with Triple-A Oklahoma City.

If all goes well, Snell could rejoin the Dodgers’ starting rotation for the first time since April 2 during their next road trip, which begins next weekend in Boston.

Roki Sasaki has also continued throwing bullpen sessions, working toward a potential return in “late August,” Roberts said recently.

“Roki’s doing well. He worked over the All-Star break,” Roberts said Friday. “Everything I hear has been positive. So hopefully we can keep building him up and face some hitters, and get him out there competing again.”

QUICK HEALER

Injured third baseman Max Muncy was on the field before the game Friday and his recovery from a bone bruise in his left knee is going “quick,” according to Roberts.

“I think he’s swinging the bat. He’s doing some jogging and throwing,” Roberts said. “So he’s in great shape right now. I don’t really know a timeline. But I do know from the outset it’s going to be a lot sooner than anticipated, which is good for all of us.”

Muncy was injured on a play at third base during the Dodgers’ July 2 game against the Chicago White Sox. The expectation at the time was that he would miss six to eight weeks.

CEY HONORED

Longtime Dodgers third baseman Ron Cey was inducted into the Legends of Dodger Baseball before Friday’s game. A six-time All-Star with the Dodgers, he played the first 12 seasons of his 17-year major league career with the team. He ranks fifth in franchise history in home runs (228) and walks (765), is sixth in rWAR (47.7), and 10th in RBIs.

He is the ninth inductee into the Legends. Don Newcombe, Steve Garvey, and Fernando Valenzuela were so honored in 2019, and Valenzuela later got his jersey No. 34 retired in 2023. Maury Wills and Kirk Gibson were inducted into the Legends in 2022, Manny Mota and Orel Hershiser received the honor in 2023, and Dusty Baker was inducted last season.

UP NEXT

Brewers (RHP Freddy Peralta, 11-4, 2.66 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Emmet Sheehan, 1-0, 2.03 ERA), Saturday, 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani authors children’s book about his dog, Decoy

Staff and news service reports — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 03:28:08 +0000

Countless stories have been written about Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. It turns out, the record-setting two-way star has been doing some writing of his own.

Ohtani announced a new children’s book, “Decoy Saves Opening Day,” with an Instagram post of his dog, Decoy, on Thursday.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shohei Ohtani | 大谷翔平 (@shoheiohtani)

The 32-page book, which Ohtani co-authored with Michael Blank, is set for release next February. The cover is an illustration of Ohtani and his dog, who is holding a baseball in his mouth.

According to the publisher HarperCollins, the plot follows an excited Decoy before he has to throw the first pitch of Opening Day. But Decoy realizes that he left his lucky baseball at home.

“Can he get his ball and make it back to the stadium before it’s too late?” teases the blurb on the Harper Collins website.

Ohtani is hoping to use the book’s sales to support animal rescue nonprofits, according to the publisher.

The three-time league MVP is batting .276 with 32 home runs, 60 RBIs and 91 runs scored this season, with the team set to resume play Friday night against the Milwaukee Brewers at Dodger Stadium. Slowly resuming his two-way star duties, Ohtani has pitched nine innings over five games since mid-June as he returns from elbow surgery in September 2023.

Decoy memorably delivered a ceremonial first pitch before a Dodgers game against the Baltimore Orioles last August, coinciding with a bobblehead giveaway that featured both Ohtani and his dog.

Decoy and Shohei with the cutest first pitch you've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/fEoFRxMOH4

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 29, 2024

Confident Dodgers acknowledge room for improvement

Bill Plunkett — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:30:45 +0000

Remember when these Dodgers were going to win 120 games or at least threaten the all-time record of 116 wins in a regular season?

Those were simpler, less complicated times.

All the offseason and spring hyperbole ran head on into reality again this year with injuries and unexpected slumps running roughshod over a roster that really was the deepest in baseball when the 2025 season began.

And that has left the Dodgers entering the post-All-Star break portion of the season … leading the National League West for the ninth time in the past 11 full seasons, by five games or more for the fifth time in the past eight full seasons, with the best record in the NL for the fourth time in those eight seasons and still well-positioned to become the first World Series champion to repeat since the New York Yankees of 1998-2000.

“We’re in first place after the first half. I don’t know what more – like, first place by 50 games?” first baseman Freddie Freeman said of reality matching expectations.

“First place is first place.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made it clear that was not enough to make him happy. Asked if he thought the team could be satisfied with the way the first half went, he said, “I think you can – I don’t think I’m in that camp.”

“I think the win-loss, the standings are great,” Roberts said. “But I think there’s just a lot of improvement that we need to do, we need to be better at.”

There is reason to expect they will. The Dodgers have had a better winning percentage after the All-Star break than before in seven of their eight previous full seasons under Roberts, posting a collective .663 winning percentage in the second half of the past six full seasons.

“I think it’s all of it,” Roberts said when asked what he expects to improve. “The pitching, there’s some baserunning things, defense at times. It’s been steady, but the pitching, the offense we gotta get on track. I always expect more from our guys, and they expect the same thing.

“Good first half. But yeah, we should want to get better.”

The starting rotation should be the first area to see improvement.

Injuries forced the Dodgers to use 16 different starting pitchers during the first half (including bullpen games). Kiké Hernandez (five) and Miguel Rojas (four) both pitched in more games than Blake Snell (two), the Dodgers’ big offseason acquisition.

Tyler Glasnow returned from his shoulder injury to start once before the All-Star break and Snell should be back from his shoulder problem soon. He made his second start on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment on Tuesday in Arizona, going three innings. Snell is expected to make one more rehab start before the Dodgers will consider returning him to the starting rotation for the first time since April 2.

Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching has been a slow process and also figures to be even more – to use the favorite word of Dodgers management when discussing Ohtani the pitcher – “additive” in the second half. He went three innings in his most recent start and said he expects to increase his workload in the second half. That means the Dodgers could be in position to choose from All-Stars Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw, Glasnow and Snell, Ohtani and his most recent piggyback partner Emmet Sheehan for a postseason rotation with Roki Sasaki and Dustin May as wild cards.

That might be enough to keep Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman’s wish list item of not having to trade for starting pitching at the deadline. The prognosis for the bullpen is not as bright, however.

Evan Phillips won’t be back until next season after Tommy John surgery. Michael Kopech is optimistically projected to return from his knee surgery before the end of the season – but how effective will he be after nearly a full season of inactivity? Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates were veteran additions before this season but neither has been particularly trustworthy so far.

All of that makes the bullpen the most likely area for Friedman and General Manager Brandon Gomes to focus on as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. There is a long list of potential targets – Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase, Minnesota’s Jhoan Durán or Griffin Jax, Baltimore’s Felix Bautista and St. Louis’ Ryan Helsley for starters. None will come cheap.

The Dodgers compensated for their pitching uncertainties by leading MLB in runs scored before the break and the National League in home runs, batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. An MVP-level season from catcher Will Smith, more production than they could have expected from outfielder Andy Pages and another elite season from Ohtani (only a step down from his 50/50 MVP season in 2024) were important factors.

But there were disturbing signs in the weeks before the break. Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and even Ohtani (.209 since his first pitching start on June 16) were slumping for extended periods.

“It’s the ebbs and flows of a baseball season,” Freeman said dismissively. “It’s going to happen.”

It has been much more ebb than flow for shortstop Mookie Betts, who is having the worst offensive season of his career with an OPS of .629 since mid-May.

But a lot can change between now and October. A year ago at this time, the NL Championship Series MVP (Tommy Edman) wasn’t a Dodger yet and the player who would throw the last pitch of the World Series (Walker Buehler) was on the injured list.

Dodgers midseason report: Roster health isn’t their only concern

Bill Plunkett — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:28:29 +0000

FIRST HALF REVIEW

HOW THEY GOT HERE: If the Dodgers’ first half felt familiar – it should have. For the second year in a row they spent big in the offseason (Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Roki Sasaki and Kirby Yates) in order to assemble a deep and talented pitching staff only to have that group gutted by injuries. At one point this season, the Dodgers had 14 pitchers on the injured list. For the second year in a row, they lost a key piece from the lineup in June and the offense stalled in the wake of that subtraction. Last year it was shortstop/right fielder Mookie Betts (fractured hand) and third baseman Max Muncy (rib injury). This year it was only Muncy (knee). They slumped into the All-Star break each year. Last year, they lost six of their last seven before the break. This year, it was seven of nine. And in both cases – it didn’t matter. They reached the break leading the National League West again this season for the ninth time in the past 11 full seasons, by five games or more for the fifth time in the past eight years and with the best record in the NL for the fourth time in those eight seasons. Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-7, 2.59 ERA) emerged as the staff ace this year. But the offense carried the load, leading the majors in runs scored before the break thanks in large part to Shohei Ohtani (NL-best 32 home runs and .987 OPS and MLB-high 91 runs scored) and Will Smith (NL-leading .323 average and .425 on-base percentage).

SECOND HALF PREVIEW

KEYS TO SUCCESS: There is reason for optimism about getting back to full strength – or at least a close approximation. Snell and Blake Treinen should return before the start of August and Muncy could be back for the stretch run. Sasaki and Brusdar Graterol are wild cards that could impact the pitching staff before the end of the regular season. That’s the team the Dodgers hope to take into October – one that features plenty of starting pitching options, a sturdy bullpen and a deep lineup. That lineup has not been clicking on all cylinders for awhile. Since the start of June, Betts (.229/.280/.347), Freddie Freeman (.203/.269/.280) and even Ohtani (a .209 average since he returned to pitching on June 16) have been in slumps. Teoscar Hernandez has struggled as well (.197/.244/.328). They are the foundation of this team and need to produce if the Dodgers are going to repeat as World Series champions.

BIGGEST CONCERN: The Dodgers’ bullpen has worked harder than any in MLB this season (427 innings). And that group has done that with Evan Phillips lost to Tommy John surgery, Michael Kopech out until at least September following knee surgery, Treinen missing most of the season with a forearm injury and both Scott (seven blown saves) and Yates underwhelming. Ben Casparius and Jack Dreyer have been unexpectedly valuable performers in that bullpen. But this group needs reinforcements from within (Treinen, Graterol and Kopech possibly) or without (via trade). If you want something else to worry about – Betts is having by far the worst season of his career and there is no obvious reason for it (no injury or physical reason to blame). He has been better at shortstop than most expectations, but at 32 years old is he no longer the dynamic offensive player that he has been in the past?

TRADE POSSIBILITIES: Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has been open and honest – he doesn’t want to pay the price it costs to acquire starting pitching at midseason. There seem to be enough in-house options for him to avoid that this year. But the bullpen could use help. Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanual Clase won’t come cheap nor will Minnesota Twins right-handers Jhoan Duran or Griffin Jax or Baltimore Orioles closer Felix Bautista (back from Tommy John surgery this year). But the Dodgers are likely to aim high and, as always, have the prospect depth to make a big move. With outfielder Michael Conforto a disappointment and Muncy sidelined, a left-handed hitter is another acquisition that makes sense. Would the Orioles move Cedric Mullins (a free agent this winter) or would the Rockies send Ryan McMahon to a division rival?

SCHEDULE: The Dodgers have a challenging three-city trip to Boston, Cincinnati and Tampa at the end of July and early August. After that, though, they leave the state for just four of their next 25 games – and those four are against the woeful Rockies. If that isn’t enough to lock down a 12th division title in the past 13 years, the September schedule features seven games against the Giants (three in San Francisco, four at Dodger Stadium) and three in Arizona.

Kyle Schwarber leads NL past AL in All-Star Game’s first home run swing-off

The Associated Press — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:10:09 +0000

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates with the MVP trophy at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates after hitting his third home run in as many swings to help the National League win a tiebreaker against the American League in the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. The game was tied, 6-6, after nine innings, leading to the first use of the home run tiebreaker that involved three players from each team. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

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Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber celebrates with the MVP trophy at the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

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By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer

ATLANTA — Kyle Schwarber was nervous.

He had played in Game 7 of the World Series, homered for the United States in the World Baseball Classic.

But he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off.

No one had.

“That was like the baseball version of a shootout,” the Philadelphia Phillies slugger said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Tampa Bay’s Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after a 6-6 tie Tuesday night in which it wasted a six-run, seventh-inning lead.

Schwarber earned the MVP award, going 0 for 2 with a walk as the NL won for the second time in its last 12 tries.

“It will be interesting to see where that goes,” said AL manager Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees. “There’s probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it’s in some regular season mix. I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about it like that.”

Concerned about running out of pitchers in an era where no All-Star throws more than one inning, Major League Baseball and the players’ association made the change in 2022.

In baseball’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shootout, the game was decided by having three batters from each league take three swings each off of coaches.

Boone picked the Athletics’ Brent Rooker, Seattle’s Randy Arozarena and Aranda on Monday, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts picked Arizona’s Eugenio Suárez, Schwarber and the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso for the NL. Because Suárez was hit on the left hand by a fastball in the eighth inning, the NL turned to its alternate, Miami’s Kyle Stowers.

Players from both teams stood outside their dugouts, some already in street clothes, jumping and shouting after each long ball from their side. Yankees coach Travis Chapman threw to the AL batters and Dodgers third base coach Dino Ebel to the NL hitters.

Rooker put the AL ahead by homering on his last two swings, and Stowers hit one. boosted the AL lead to 3-1.

Ebel had thrown BP to Schwarber two years ago at the WBC.

“He asked me right before, he was like, where do you want it?” Schwarber recalled “I’m like, just middle. And he’s like, I gotcha.”

He took two pitches then deposited the third just over the center-field fence. Schwarber took another, then hit a drive over the right-center bullpen. After letting two more go by, he dropped to a knee while pulling the third, craned his neck and held his bat it the air as the ball landed in the fourth row of the Chop House seats.

“I didn’t hit it, obviously, my best, but I was thinking I got enough of it,” Schwarber said. “I was just kind of down there, hoping, saying: go, go, go. And it went. And it was awesome.”

Aranda followed with a fly well short of the center field warning track, drove a pitch about a foot shy of the top of the right 0field wall and hit an opposite-field pop that dropped in medium left.

Alonso, a two-time Home Run Derby champion, didn’t have to bat and patted Schwarber on the head as fireworks went off at Truist Field.

“I felt like a closer, like a closer going into a game,” said Alonso, who began warming up in a batting cage when the AL tied the score in the ninth inning. “And then it’s like, wait, the guy in the field got a double play to end the inning. You’re not going in. I was ready for it, but I’m glad Schwarbs did it and we did it the easy way.”

So, what was the final score?

MLB, after consulting with the Elias Sports Bureau, said in 2022 that All-Star Games ending in a swing-off would be listed as tied, with a notation of the game being decided in a swing-off. MLB’s official postgame notes listed Tuesday’s outcome as a 7-6 NL victory.

Ketel Marte’s two-run double in the first had put the NL ahead, and Alonso’s three-run homer off Kris Bubic and Corbin Carroll’s solo shot against Casey Mize opened a 6-0 lead in the sixth.

The AL comeback began when Rooker hit a three-run pinch homer against Randy Rodríguez in a four-run seventh that included Bobby Witt Jr.’s RBI groundout. Robert Suarez allowed consecutive doubles to Byron Buxton and Witt with one out in ninth, and Steven Kwan’s infield hit on a three-hopper to third off of Mets closer Edwin Díaz drove in the tying run.

Joe Torre, the 84-year-old former Yankees manager, went to the mound for a pitching change in the eighth to take the ball from Shane Smith and hand it to Andrés Muñoz. The Hall of Famer was picked as a coach by current New York skipper Aaron Boone, who managed the AL.

HEAT ON THE MOUND

Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game each of his first two seasons, struck out Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene in a perfect first that included Aaron Judge’s inning-ending groundout. The 23-year-old right-hander from El Toro High reached 100 mph on four of 14 pitches.

Last year, in Texas, Skenes walked one batter in his scoreless inning, a blip he said “pissed me off” and pushed him to attack hitters for his encore.

“I was throwing every pitch as hard as I could,” Skenes said, “hoping that it landed in the strike zone.”

He admittedly reached back seeking to strike out the side, but Judge grounded out on another 100 mph pitch.

“That’s what the All-Star Game’s for,” Skenes said. “Every hitter’s trying to hit a home run. We’re trying to strike everybody out.”

Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, a controversial inclusion after pitching in just five major league games, fired nine pitches of 100 mph or more in a one-hit eighth inning 34 days after his major league debut. The 23-year-old righty, added to the NL roster by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, reached 102.3 mph.

There were 21 pitches of 100 mph or more, down from a record 23 last year but up from 13 in 2023, 10 in 2022 and one in 2021.

KERSHAW’S MOMENT

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw relieved Skenes, 14 years his junior, in the second inning.

Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh, Monday’s Home Run Derby champion, welcomed him with a 101.9 mph line drive that Chicago Cubs left fielder Kyle Tucker snagged with a sliding catch.

Kershaw, an 11-time All-Star, then struck out Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looking at an 87 mph slider on his sixth pitch, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to emerge from the NL dugout to take the ball from Kershaw and end what could have been the final All-Star Game appearance of his Hall of Fame career.

A legend pick for the game by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, Kershaw, who became the 20th pitcher to record 3,000 career strikeouts earlier this month, delivered a pregame speech in the NL clubhouse.

“We have the best All-Star Game of any sport,” Kershaw said. “We do have the best product. So to be here, to realize your responsibility in the sport is important. And we have Shohei here. We have Aaron Judge here. We have all these guys that represent the game really, really well so we get to showcase that and be part of that is important.

“I just said I was super honored to be a part of it. Thanks for letting me be here, really.”

ROBOT UMPIRE DEBUTS

Raleigh was just as successful with the first robot umpire All-Star challenge as he was in the Home Run Derby.

Seattle’s catcher signaled for an appeal to the Automated Ball-Strike System in the first inning, getting a strikeout for Detroit’s Tarik Subal on San Diego’s Manny Machado.

“You take ’em any way you can get ’em, boys,” Skubal said on the mound.

Four of five challenges of plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s calls were successful in the first All-Star use of the ABS system, which could make its regular-season debut next year.

Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson, a former Thousand Oaks High standout, won as the first batter to call for a challenge, reversing a 1-and-0 fastball from Washington’s MacKenzie Gore in the fifth inning that had been called a strike.

Stowers lost when ABS upheld a full-count Andrés Muñoz fastball at the bottom of the zone for an inning-ending strikeout in the eighth.

Mets closer Edwin Díaz earned a three-pitch strikeout against Arozarena to end the top of the ninth on a pitch Iassogna thought was outside.

Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk used ABS to get a first-pitch strike on a 100.1 mph Aroldis Chapman offering to Brendan Donovan with two outs in the bottom half.

“The fans enjoy it. I thought the players had fun with it,” said Roberts, who earned his first All-Star win as NL manager. “There’s a strategy to it, if it does get to us during the season. But I like it. I think it’s good for the game.”

Skubal had given up Ketel Marte’s two-run double and retired the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman on a groundout for his first out when he got ahead of Machado 0-and-2 in the count. Skubal threw a 89.5 mph changeup, and Iassogna yelled “Ball, down!”

Raleigh tapped his helmet just before Skubal tipped his cap, triggering a review by the computer umpire that was tested in spring training this year and could be adopted for regular-season use in 2026.

“Obviously, a strike like that it was, so I called for it and it helped us out,” Raleigh said.

An animation of the computer analysis was shown on the Truist Park scoreboard and the broadcast. Roberts laughed in the dugout after the challenge.

“I knew it was a strike,” Machado said.

Skubal doesn’t intend to use challenges during regular-season games if the ABS is put in place. He says he’ll rely on his catchers.

“I was joking around that I was going to burn two of them on the first balls just so that way we didn’t have them the rest of the game,” he said. “I’m just going to assume that it’s going to happen next year.”

Before the game, Manfred indicated the sport’s 11-man competition committee will consider the system for next season.

“I think the ability to correct a bad call in a high-leverage situation without interfering with the time of game because it’s so fast is something we ought to continue to pursue,” Manfred said.

ABS decisions may have an error of margin up to a half-inch.

“Our guys do have a concern with that half inch, what that might otherwise lead to particularly as it relates to the number of challenges you may have, whether you keep those challenges during the course of the game,” union head Tony Clark told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “Does there need to be some type of buffer zone consideration? Or do we want to find ourselves in a world where it’s the most egregious misses that we want focus in on?”

Manfred sounded less concerned.

“I don’t believe that technology supports the notion that you need a buffer zone,” he said. “To get into the idea that there’s something that is not a strike that you’re going to call a strike in a review system, I don’t know why I would want to do that.”

MLB sets the top of the automated strike zone at 53.5% of a batter’s height and the bottom at 27%, basing the decision on the midpoint of the plate, 8½ inches from the front and 8½ inches from the back. That contrasts with the rule book zone called by umpires, which says the zone is a cube.

“We haven’t even started talking about the strike zone itself, how that’s going to necessarily be measured, and whether or not there are tweaks that need to be made there, too,” Clark said. “So there’s a lot of discussion that still needs to be had, despite the fact that it seems more inevitable than not.”

Manfred has tested ABS in the minor leagues since 2019, using it for all pitches and then switching to a challenge system. Each team gets two challenges and a successful challenge is retained. Only catchers, batters and pitchers can call for a challenge.

“Where we are on ABS has been fundamentally influenced by player input,” he maintained. “If you had two years ago said to me: What do the owners want to do? I think they would have called every pitch with ABS as soon as possible. That’s because there is a fundamental, very fundamental interest in getting it right, right? We owe it to our fans to try to get it right because the players as I talked to them over a couple of years really, expressed a very strong interest or preference for the challenge system that we decided to test.”

Skubal wondered is all contingencies had been planned for.

“If power goes out and we don’t have ABS – sometimes we don’t have Hawk-Eye data or Trackman data. So what’s going to happen then?” he said. “Are we going to expect umpires to call balls and strikes when it’s an ABS zone?”

FREEMAN GETS A HAND

Freeman was removed for Alonso with two outs in the third inning, giving the crowd of 41,702 a chance to cheer a player who spent 12 seasons with the Braves and helped Atlanta win the 2021 World Series title.

Freeman grounded out in the first inning in his lone at-bat.

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and catcher Will Smith also started for the NL, with Ohtani going 1 for 2 with a single and a run scored. Smith went 0 for 2 with a strikeout and a pop-up.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Angels pitcher Yusei Kikuchi were both named All-Stars, but neither pitched because they pitched for their teams over the weekend.

RECREATING AARON’S 715TH HOMER

MLB honored late Hall of Famer Hank Aaron by recreating his record-breaking 715th home run through the use of projection mapping and pyrotechnics.

The lights went down at Truist Park and fans stood holding their cell phone lights following the sixth inning. The scene from April 8, 1974 at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was projected on the infield and also shown on the video board.

The high-tech images of Aaron and other players were seen on the Truist Park infield before a blaze of a fireball launched from home plate to signify the homer that pushed Aaron past Babe Ruth’s record of 714 homers.

Aaron’s widow, Billye Aaron, stood and waved as the cheers from the sellout crowd of 41,702 grew louder.

NL players warmed up for the game in batting practice jerseys with Aaron’s No. 44 on the back

One year ago, MLB celebrated the 50th anniversary of Aaron’s homer with announcements for a new statue at Baseball’s Hall of Fame and a commemorative stamp from the U.S. Postal Service.

Also, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred helped honor Aaron in Atlanta last year by joining the Braves in announcing the $100,000 endowment of a scholarship at Tuskegee University, a historically Black university in Aaron’s home state of Alabama.

Manfred noted the Henry Louis Aaron Fund, launched by the Braves following Aaron’s death in 2021, and the Chasing the Dream Foundation, created by Aaron and his wife were designed to clear paths for minorities in baseball and to encourage educational opportunities.

Aaron hit 755 home runs from 1954-76, a mark that stood until Barry Bonds reached 762 in 2007 during baseball’s steroid era.

Aaron was elected to the Hall in 1982. A 25-time All-Star, he set a record with 2,297 RBIs. He continues to hold the records of 1,477 extra-base hits and 6,856 total bases.

STYLING

Teams were back in their regular-season club jerseys – whites for the NL, mostly grays for the AL – after four years of special All-Star uniforms that were much criticized.

New York Yankees infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. arrived in a Valentino smoking jacket and Christian Louboutin shoes. Instead of having players line up on the foul lines as they were introduced, they walked to a four-level red podium stretching across the infield dirt with flashing lights, smoke a DJ and dancers.

MLB draft: Dodgers select Arkansas lefty Zach Root, 13 other pitchers

Bill Plunkett — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:41:09 +0000

Long before they chose him with their first pick in this year’s draft, Arkansas left-hander Zach Root was being groomed for a job with the Dodgers.

“I couldn’t be happier. This was my favorite team growing up, and I’m happy to be a Dodger,” Root said after the Dodgers made him the 40th pick in the MLB draft on Sunday night.

“Growing up, my dad always made me watch (Clayton) Kershaw and learn to pitch like him. So I’ve just been watching Dodger baseball ever since I can remember because of Kershaw.”

In this era when velocity is king, Root goes against the trend – his fastball is not his best pitch. He threw it only a third of the time in college, relying more on a pitch assortment featuring a changeup, curveball and slider that produced 126 strikeouts in 99⅓ innings last season (fifth in NCAA Division I).

“(I’d describe myself as being) able to throw multiple pitches into the zone in any count, and that’s a big part of keeping hitters off-balance, not falling into patterns where the hitter can guess what’s coming,” Root said. “So just working to throw multiple pitches in the zone in any count, is the kind of pitcher I am, to keep the hitter off guard and really be tough to hit against.”

Root was the first of 14 pitchers taken by the Dodgers in their 21 picks during the 20-round draft that concluded Monday. Two of those pitchers fit a familiar draft-day theme for the Dodgers. Both second-rounder Cam Leiter out of Florida State (shoulder surgery) and 17th-rounder Sam Horn from Missouri (Tommy John surgery) were highly rated but slipped because of the injuries that impacted their college careers.

Leiter is the nephew of former major-league pitchers Mark and Al Leiter, and a cousin of current New York Yankees reliever Mark Leiter Jr. Horn was a four-star football recruit who played quarterback briefly in 2023 before missing all of 2024 in both sports while recovering from elbow surgery. He slipped in the draft over uncertainty about which sport he will pursue now.

The highest-drafted position player in the Dodgers’ draft class this year was Root’s Arkansas teammate Charles Davalan, who went on the next pick, 41st overall.

Davalan’s journey was a long one. He grew up in Montreal playing “a lot of hockey and then baseball on the side.” He “fell in love with baseball” and moved to Florida as a high school senior so that he could play year-round. After a year at Florida Gulf Coast, he transferred to Arkansas.

“As soon as I stepped on campus, really, it was super competitive,” he said of playing for a Razorback team that went 50-15 and reached the semifinals of the College World Series. “You had to kind of beat out, beat your teammates, and that’s what I learned. … You couldn’t take an AB off during the midweeks or even during the conference play, just because it’s SEC.”

The Dodgers took two more college outfielders in the third round (Landyn Vidourek from Cincinnati) and the 16th round (Seton Hall’s AJ Soldra).

The first high school player taken by the Dodgers this year was shortstop Aidan West from Long Beach, Maryland, their fourth-round pick.

The only other prep players the Dodgers selected were outfielder Mason Ligenza from Tamaqua Area, Pennsylvania (sixth round) and left-hander Shane Brinham from Vancouver (20th round).

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani ‘in his own league’ as he resumes two-way duty

Bill Plunkett — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:28:35 +0000

They saw it coming.

For more than a year, Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound, to two-way player status, was a topic of near-constant conversation and speculation. But it’s still impressive to see it up close.

“He’s almost the best hitter in the game and he’s almost the best pitcher in the game. It’s just amazing,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, one of his teammates in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, said of watching Ohtani in full this season.

“It’s like he’s in his own league. We all did that in Little League, but he’s doing it in the big leagues. It’s special.”

The Dodgers have eased Ohtani back into two-way play. He pitched a third inning for the first time in his fifth and most recent start on Saturday in San Francisco. The 36 pitches he threw that afternoon are the most they have asked him to throw in any of his weekly starts.

“Obviously early on we were planning him not to pitch with us until more of a higher buildup, as far as four or five innings,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But his anxiousness to get back on a big-league mound kind of prompted that. And then from that point on, it’s been pretty deliberate. That’s how it played out.

“I think it’s also been helpful for Shohei to kind of dip his toe in the water, as far as logging some innings going into the (All-Star) break, having somewhat of a foundation going out through the second half.”

Ohtani might have forced the issue, essentially convincing the Dodgers he could continue his rehab on the mound in major-league games rather than facing minor-league hitters in simulated games. But he was in agreement with the slow pace of his return to pitching.

“In a rehab progression, it’s really important to just take one step at a time,” Ohtani said through his interpreter recently. “There are times when I may be able to go another inning, but it’s really important not to take unnecessary risks and make sure that I can progress consistently. It’s always been this way in terms of my rehab progression. So I’m following what the team is also asking me as well.”

Nonetheless, he announced his return to pitching with authority, throwing a 101.7 mph fastball in the first inning of his third start. It was the fastest pitch of his MLB career. Possibly aided by knowing his outings are going to be short, Ohtani’s 63 four-seam fastballs have averaged a career-high 98.2 mph.

But it has been more than that. So far, batters have hit .111 off his sweeper and .167 off his slider. According to Statcast bat tracking, none of his 140 pitches so far this season have been hit on the barrel of the bat.

“We all knew that he threw hard,” Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. “But he’s got really good stuff. He’s got multiple pitches. He’s got six pitches, seven pitches – I don’t even know how many he’s got. His command – for not pitching for two years – is really good. He doesn’t have too many misses.

“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised because it’s Shohei. But it’s been impressive – really impressive.”

Ohtani, who will bat leadoff for the National League but will not pitch in Tuesday’s All-Star Game, gave up a run on two hits in his first inning against the San Diego Padres on June 16 – his first game action as a pitcher since August 2023. Since then, he has pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just three singles, walking two and striking out 10.

“It’s awesome,” Dodgers relief pitcher Alex Vesia said. “I’m going to use that word because it is so cool for him to pitch and literally walk off the mound, get checked (for sticky stuff by an umpire), get his helmet on and – first up. To me that is so cool.

“It is crazy. I’ve been more and more surprised by the velocity and the command and stuff. We didn’t know what it was going to be like. We had no idea. But if you talk to him, I bet he knew exactly what it was going to look like. That’s confidence. That’s preparation. That’s there. And that’s why he is who he is.”

The three-time league MVP remains an elite hitter and tone-setter at the top of the lineup. He leads the NL with 32 home runs to go with 12 doubles, seven triples, 62 walks, 60 RBIs and 91 runs scored while slashing .276/.382/.605.

Now, he is again showing off his other impressive skill – juggling.

He spent last season balancing his preparations as a hitter with the requirements of his rehab from the September 2023 elbow surgery. He handled that well enough to put up baseball’s first 50/50 season. This year, the need to balance his work as a hitter with his preparations to start on the mound once a week, game planning and studying scouting reports for each, has been a new challenge – but one familiar to Ohtani.

“He does it really, really well,” Kershaw said. “Nothing seems to overwhelm him. He just kind of knows what he has to do and he does it. There’s not many people that could do that. There’s only one of them.”

Vesia has observed the juggling act with interest.

“His schedule has changed a little bit where he has to incorporate the pitching side of things,” he said. “It’s different because it’s not a normal throwing program like myself. It is different the way he has to plan out his day to not only play catch, focus on pitching but then focus on hitting and go about that. So it’s been really interesting to watch him go about his business.

“It’s sticking to his routine day in, day out and knowing that it works for him. This isn’t something that just popped up yesterday. This is years, going back to when he was in Japan. This is a routine that he knows. Obviously if I were to jump in tomorrow and try that it would probably be pretty hard. To do that at this level – plus he’s come back and each start he’s gotten better and better.”

On the mound, Ohtani takes on another task, calling most of his own pitches (as he did with the Angels).

“That’s a hard thing to do too. I don’t think I could do that,” said Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner. “To have that kind of feel for what you want to do – it’s just impressive. I don’t know what else to say.”

Vesia took it a step further. He said he would be surprised if Ohtani didn’t want to call his own pitches “because he’s the most prepared person I’ve ever met.” Vesia thinks having the perspective of a hitter while pitching is an advantage for Ohtani, he said.

“I do,” Vesia said. “I don’t think like a hitter. I think like a pitcher. He’s got both. That’s definitely a very good insight for him. To see it from both lenses, that’s cool.”

And he seems to be enjoying it. Roberts said the Dodgers have learned this year that Ohtani has “more of an edge” to his personality when he’s pitching.

“I think he loves pitching. I think he loves it – I think he loves it almost more than hitting,” Freeman said. “The way you can control a game on the mound, it’s all about you. I think he loves it. I grew up pitching and I loved it. That was so much fun.

“There’s so much on you. I think he loves that. He’s almost the best hitter in the game and he’s almost the best pitcher in the game. It’s just amazing.”

Alexander: Is there really reason to panic, Dodger fans?

Jim Alexander — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:27:52 +0000

The good news for Dodger fans: That long regional nightmare is over. Victories over the Giants on Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco removed the agony of that seven-game losing streak/offensive power outage, especially with four of those losses inflicted by the Houston Astros and the Giants.

The bad news: Tanner Scott, signed in the offseason to bolster the back end of the bullpen, has seven blown saves in 26 opportunities over the season’s first 97 games, including the lead he blew in the ninth inning on Sunday against the Giants. And he’s getting paid $11 million (plus $5 million of a signing bonus) this season, the first installment of a four-year, $72 million contract.

But hey, it’s only Guggenheim’s money.

Of the Dodgers’ MLB-leading $403 million payroll (for luxury tax purposes), $73.87 million remains on the injured list, with $55.37 million being paid to injured pitchers. Again, it could be worse: Tyler Glasnow ($30 million) is again active, and we are told that Blake Snell ($26 million) and Blake Treinen ($6 million) aren’t that far away.

The point: Do. Not. Overreact. It’s still just mid-July, and whether we’re talking activations from the injured list or trade deadline acquisitions it’s the long game that matters most with this club. The roster likely will look substantially different by the time they get to September and October.

Consider, for example, 2024. The Dodgers were 55-35 on July 6 and had a 7½-game lead in the division. Then they lost six of seven games right before the All-Star break – four losses in which starting pitchers gave up early leads, and two in Detroit right before the break decided in walk-off fashion when Yohan Ramirez (a) gave up a two-run homer to Gio Urshela in the 10th and (b) committed a throwing error allowing the winning run to score in the ninth.

At that point they were 56-41, the sky seemed to be falling, and yet they still had a seven-game lead in the NL West. They came out of the break with five straight victories, picked up Jack Flaherty, Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech at the trade deadline, and I think we all remember what happened the rest of the way.

So, again: Do. Not. Overreact. Hitters slump, sometimes collectively. Injuries happen. Ineffective players find their level – on the bench, say, or back in Triple-A. There are never any guarantees, true, but that goes for failure as well as success.

If you’re a fan, take your cue from the front office and play the long game. Treat each game as part of the mosaic of the season. Please don’t let a single loss – regardless of how or to whom – spoil the rest of your day.

That said, there are plenty of opinions as to how the Dodgers can attack the rest of this season while waiting for Max Muncy’s knee to heal. Is it worth moving Mookie Betts back to right field and Teoscar Hernández to left, where his defense isn’t as much of a liability? The upside would be an everyday spot for Hyeseong Kim at second base, with Miguel Rojas and Edman manning the left side of the infield until Muncy returns.

Is it, maybe, worth pursuing another starting pitcher before the trade deadline while waiting for arms to heal, as Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes did last year in acquiring Jack Flaherty? Sandy Alcántara and Seth Lugo are out there, as is Zac Gallen (although it’s unlikely the Diamondbacks would help a division rival). And old friends Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney are said to be available.

Then again, if the refrain in your household is “Oh, no, not Tanner Scott” when he comes in from the bullpen … well, I can’t blame you at this point.

I’ve written it often over the years: At one time or another, every fan base in the sport hates its team’s bullpen. Dodger fans haven’t had that feeling so much in recent seasons, but I would imagine that same apprehensive feeling in the pit of the stomach is back when Scott, or Kirby Yates (two blown saves in four opportunities), enters a game.

Feel free to root for the speedy-as-possible returns of Treinen (said to be soon after the All-Star break) and Kopech (who underwent surgery last week to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and could be back some time in September), and maybe even Brusdar Graterol.

But it is hard to predict good health, especially in the current environment. The Dodgers have used 33 pitchers already this season – not counting Rojas and Kiké Hernández – with 11 on the injured list, and they’re not even the leaders in that department. The New York Mets have used more pitchers (35), and only two teams have used less than 20 full-time pitchers, the Giants (19) and the St. Louis Cardinals (18).

Or how about this statistic, gleaned from ESPN’s daily recap of injured list information: There are currently 165 pitchers on major league injured lists. Of those, 78 have elbow injuries and 28 either have had or are scheduled to have Tommy John surgery, including those who are getting close to returning. So it’s not just a Dodgers problem. (Down the 5 in Anaheim, the Angels have used 28 pitchers and have three on the injured list: Hunter Strickland, Robert Stephenson and Ben Joyce.)

And while it’s easy to presume that the Dodgers’ bullpen will be whole again when and if guys like Treinen, Kopech and (possibly) Graterol return, it’s only due diligence that Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes explore the possibilities leading up to the July 31 trade deadline.

So how about these ideas, if we’re just focusing on the bullpen: David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates (13 saves, 2.53 ERA, 45 strikeouts in 32 innings), either Jhoan Durán (15 saves, 1.66, 49 strikeouts in 43.1 innings) or Griffin Jax (3.92 ERA but 66 strikeouts in 41 innings) from Minnesota, Ryan Helsley (19 saves, 3.21, 36 strikeouts in 33 innings) from the Cardinals … or if we’re wish-listing, how about Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase (20 saves, 2.91, 42 strikeouts in 43 innings)?

And bonus points if Friedman and Gomes swipe someone either the Padres’ A.J. Preller or the Giants’ Buster Posey, or both, are pursuing. Hey, this is a tough division.

jalexander@scng.com

MLB All-Star Game: Freddie Freeman, Max Fried return to Atlanta as All-Stars

The Associated Press — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:25:30 +0000

By CHARLES ODUM AP Sports Writer

ATLANTA — Four years of return visits to Atlanta has prepared Freddie Freeman for another Tuesday night, this time as the starting first baseman for the National League in the All-Star Game.

Freeman, now in his fourth season with the Dodgers, played his first 12 seasons in Atlanta. He makes no effort to hide his emotions when he returns and says he won’t be surprised if another warm reception from Atlanta fans creates another emotional response.

“Now that I’m here, I think it’s going to be special,” Freeman said before Monday night’s Home Run Derby. “For the last four years, every time I come back, the fans, they’ve given me such great big, standing ovations, so I don’t expect anything.

“I’m just happy to be back and play in front of these fans again. So if they give me one, believe me, I’ll take it all in. I think you guys know, whatever I feel on the field, I let it come out. So we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

Freeman won’t be the only former Atlanta star making his return. Max Fried, who leads the American League and is tied for the MLB lead with 11 wins in his first season with the New York Yankees, returns following eight seasons with the Braves. Both players still have homes in Atlanta and get to sleep in their own beds this week.

Fried, a former Harvard-Westlake standout, won’t be able to participate in the game due to a blister on his left index finger.

Fried left Atlanta to sign an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees in December.

Freeman said he was “so happy” Fried landed the big contract.

“I think we all know Max and how wonderful a person he is,” Freeman said. “And to see him get that contract rightfully, he deserves. He’s, you know, a big-game pitcher pitching on the biggest stage. … And it’s really hard in your first year of a new contract, new team. … And for him to go out there and have (success), it’s awesome. Especially in pinstripes in the Bronx, when there’s a lot of pressure on you.”

Fried was replaced on the All-Star roster by Yankees teammate Carlos Rodón but is still attending the festivities in Atlanta. The Yankees might start Fried in a three-game series at AL East-leading Toronto on July 21-23 after opening the second half by visiting the Braves.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was clear how much it meant to Freeman to return to Atlanta as an All-Star.

“It’s something that I know once they announced that it was going to be held here, it was marked on his calendar,” Roberts said. “And then that was kind of his goal, was to get back here and get in front of the Braves’ faithful that cheered him on for, what, 11, 12 years. So he’s sleeping in his own bed for a couple nights.”

Freeman said he has visited with Braves manager Brian Snitker and some former teammates but spent more time relishing his relationship with the Atlanta fans.

“It’s special,” he said. “I think every time I come back, I try to portray what Atlanta means to me. Oh, it’s special every time I come back and the receptions they’ve given me the last four years. So I spent a lot of wonderful years here. … I’m excited to be back.”