Shohei Ohtani Makes More History As The Dodgers Lose Again
Dodgers star pitched five no-hit innings and homered in eighth inning but team lost 9-6 to Phillies
The 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers have been one of the biggest regular-season disappointments in recent memory, after an offseason when fans accused the organization of "ruining baseball."
Heading into the final week and a half of the regular season, LA, far from challenging the 116-win record-holding Seattle Mariners, has been one of Major League Baseball's worst teams since early July. Starting July 3rd, the Dodgers have gone 28-35, a winning percentage worse than the Chicago White Sox, the Angels, Miami Marlins, or even teams that sold at the trade deadline like the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Nearly every part of the roster has slumped in the second half: the bullpen has been inconsistent, injuries gutted the once-formidable lineup, and starters often falter when the offense finally produces.
The one constant? Shohei Ohtani. And Ohtani once again demonstrated on Tuesday why he's almost certainly the greatest baseball player who's ever lived. Oh, and it came in a game where the Dodgers lost 9-6. Of course.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 22: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers delivers a pitch to the plate in the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium on June 22, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Ohtani Once Again Dominates As Dodgers Lose
Tuesday was yet another demonstration of Ohtani's brilliance on the mound and at the plate. Starting against the Philadelphia Phillies, one of the best lineups in baseball, Ohtani went five no-hit innings, striking out five with just one walk. The Dodgers took a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning, turning things over to the bullpen as they continued to stick to Ohtani's pitching plan.
Immediately, reliever Justin Wrobleski allowed five runs, including a three-run homer to Brandon Marsh. Edgardo Henriquez replaced him, and promptly allowed a home run to light-hitting outfielder Max Kepler. Suddenly, Ohtani's no-hit brilliance was erased in favor of a 6-4 deficit.
But the 31-year-old wasn’t done. In the bottom of the eighth, trailing 6-4, Ohtani crushed a solo homer off David Robertson into the right-field bullpen—his 50th of the season, on a night he also pitched five no-hit innings.
With that swing, Ohtani became the first player in history to hit 50 homers and strike out 50 batters in the same season. Again, we’re watching the best player who’s ever lived—and the Dodgers are wasting it.
The Dodgers battled back in the eighth, tying the score 6-6 heading into the ninth. Postseason hero Blake Treinen came in to give LA a chance at a walk-off in the bottom of the ninth, with Ohtani due up third. Instead, he allowed a two-out, three-run home run to Rafael Marchan, just his second of the season. Ohtani makes history, the Dodgers lose 9-6. It wasn't even the worst loss in the past few weeks – that honor goes to a 4-3 loss to the Orioles in a game where Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a no-hitter for 8 ⅔ innings. That's the story of the 2025 Dodgers season in a nutshell.
Dodgers Running Out Of Time To Fix Major Issues
Over the last 10 games, their starters have averaged 6.2 innings pitched per game, with a 1.75 ERA and 0.66 WHIP. The bullpen has a 7.36 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. When the starters pitch well, the bullpen implodes. When the bullpen pitches well, the offense disappears. When both pitching and offense click, their defense finds a way to make some spectacular mistake in a fashion heretofore unimaginable. Whatever it takes, they will find a way to lose.
The stupidity of baseball and its postseason construction is that even a team as inept as the 2025 Dodgers could get hot for a few weeks in October and win the World Series. But it's hard to imagine that happening, considering how poorly the team has played, and how awful and inconsistent the bullpen has been. The Phillies have scored 15 runs in two games at Dodger Stadium despite just seven at-bats with runners in scoring position. It’s almost impossible to be that bad, yet Dodgers relievers have managed it.
Shohei Ohtani is doing everything possible—some things unimaginable—to drag LA toward another title. The rest of the roster seems just as determined to make sure it doesn’t matter.