As the MLB season’s halfway point nears, the Dodgers are right where we expected

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a clear strategy from the outset of this season: Get through the 162-game schedule while as healthy as possible, and then roll with their incredible talent in October. That strategy helped them win their second consecutive World Series last year, as their starting pitching was the healthiest it had been all year going into the postseason. Coming into the 2026 season, that was once again the plan.

As the season nears its halfway point, the Dodgers are not healthy, which is something they’ve gotten used to over the past few years. L.A. has been without left-hander Blake Snell for most of the first half. The two-time Cy Young Award winner started the season on the injured list recovering from left shoulder fatigue. After making his return on May 9, he was back on the IL a week later and then had surgery to remove loose bodies from his left elbow.

Closer Edwin Díaz has been out of action since April 20, also undergoing surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow has been on the IL since the beginning of May due to a bad back and was recently put on the 60-day IL. He hasn’t begun a throwing progression, making his return in the near future feel extremely remote.

And finally, there’s Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani has been one of the best starting pitchers in Major League Baseball in 2026. But the four-time MVP is now dealing with a balky left knee, something L.A. will have to monitor going forward.

What do all these injuries mean for the Dodgers? Honestly, not much.

Despite all their various injuries and the fact that L.A.’s star-studded lineup hasn’t exactly set the world on fire to begin the year, the Dodgers once again are leading the charge in the NL West. And entering play Friday, they stand alone with the best record in MLB, at 48-27.

Shohei Ohtani has been one of the best pitchers in baseball, but now he has a knee injury for the Dodgers to monitor.

Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports

So how have they done it?

Somehow, it has been the pitching doing a lot of the heavy lifting. The Dodgers lead baseball in team ERA, with the dominance of Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto leading the charge. Behind them, the big surprise has been the development of third-year southpaw Justin Wrobleski, who is 8-2 with a 2.72 ERA in 12 starts. Wrobleski has made the most of his opportunity in the rotation and has put together an All-Star-caliber first half.

And while the Dodgers’ offense began the season slow, particularly by their typical lofty standards, they’ve started to turn it on over the past month. Ohtani, always the engine of L.A.'s lineup, has a 1.136 OPS with eight homers over the past month. First baseman Freddie Freeman is not far behind, with a .982 OPS and six homers in that same stretch.

Between the Dodgers’ offense heating up and the lack of NL West competition from the Padres and Diamondbacks in the first half, the Dodgers could enter the All-Star break with a double-digit lead in the division. That would give them even more runway to focus on getting healthy in the second half, with their sights set on yet another World Series run.

Tarik Skubal and the Detroit Tigers are feeling the heat

It has been a disaster first half for the Detroit Tigers, who, at 30-44, have the fourth-worst record in MLB. And because of their proximity to the cellar in both the AL Central and the American League, their time with baseball’s best starting pitcher, Tarik Skubal, is quickly coming to a sad and disappointing end. Detroit’s ace returned to the mound Saturday after missing a little more than a month recovering from having a loose body removed from his left elbow.

But the Tigers’ two-time AL Cy Young Award winner sees what has been going on. And just six weeks ahead of the trade deadline, Skubal has made it known that the lack of winning could mean big changes coming to Motown.

“The reality of the situation is, we need to play better baseball,” Skubal told reporters on Tuesday. “I’ve said that before, and I’ll continue to say that. My belief in this group has never changed. But the reality is we need to play better baseball, or else come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is.”

Skubal, who is 3-3 with 2.81 ERA in eight starts this year, will be a free agent at the conclusion of the 2026 season. Industry sources believe that if the Tigers do trade Skubal, they will wait until right before the Aug. 3 deadline, giving themselves as much time as possible to evaluate the market.

It’s unlikely the Tigers will make the climb back up to a position where they don’t feel compelled to trade Skubal. At this point, moving the best pitcher on the planet might be the only option.