Been a minute, mostly since the season has started and most of the stories are covered in the Game Threads and/or Game Recaps, but as always I’ve parsed through the onslaught of useless crap online to highlight the best stuff.
Anyway, let’s start with Yoshinobu Yamamoto aura.
新CM「サムライ〜春〜」が完成したのだ！🐶⚔️山本由伸投手の「負けるという選択肢はない」という強い意志を感じさせるセリフが印象的なのだ🐶
30秒ver.はYouTubeにて確認してほしいのだ！🐾 pic.twitter.com/RiCJM2sAzf
— サムティグループ【公式】 (@SAMTY_official) April 2, 2026
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The Athletic: A quick profile on the culture and chemistry the Dodgers have developed in the clubhouse under Dave Roberts.
Baseball’s richest payroll means plenty of well-compensated stars. Which means egos and players wanting to maximize their place in a lineup that resembles the Walk of Fame. Which, in theory, breeds simmering chaos.Except in Los Angeles, it seems.“We don’t have the narcissistic superstar,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman explained.Mookie Betts put it less delicately.“Nobody’s being a d— in here,” he said.
“No one here cares about their numbers,” Muncy said. “All we care about is how many rings we’re going to have, and when you’re not worried about yourself, you’re just worried about the team.”
Some quality examples of what makes the clubhouse smooth sailing in the story.
The Athletic: Sorta related, but despite being a free agent himself, Enrique Hernandez played a key role in recruiting Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers.
As Hernández recently explained to The Athletic, he knew that brokering free agent signings was hardly part of his job description. But he recalled telling Friedman: “‘If you want to keep winning, this is your guy.’”
He just sorta volunteered himself as a go-between, lol.
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I didn’t think there would be any other 2025 World Series coverage, but of course there was stuff lined up before they headed back to Toronto for the series against the Blue Jays.
Dodger Insider: Going through the ninth-inning game-tying homer in Game 7 pitch-by-pitch with Miguel Rojas.
“I was out in front, but we call that comfortable out in front,” Rojas says. “I’m looking for the fastball to get it out front, but it’s a slider and you keep riding it out. That’s what happened.”
California Post: The collective thoughts of the players during Game 7 were pretty interesting, ranging from those who insist there was no doubt to guys who admit to having some doomer in them.
After all, as Treinen pointed out, “You could play that series the exact same way –– every situation lines back up again, before those big plays happen –– you do it 99 more times, and I bet you could almost say we’d lose 99 more of them.”But when it mattered, the Dodgers found a way to conjure one-in-a-hundred (Or thousand? Or million?) World Series magic, in a game forever etched into baseball history.Said Freeman, with a laugh: “I still don’t know how we pulled that off.”
Me either.
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Baseball America: You’ve undoubtedly heard about James Tibbs III going crazy on AAA pitching by now (he’s expectedly slowed in the last week), but it’s even more encouraging when you hear that it comes after he and the Dodgers made some adjustments.
“Scouts have noticed alterations to his stance and approach, and the resulting player is far closer to the version who played his way into the first round at Florida State. Specifically, he stands taller and stays closed longer, leading to more extension, torque and power. Scouts believe he’ll likely hit for power or average—but not both at once—and that it might behoove him to pick up a first baseman’s glove considering the glut of outfield prospects in the Dodgers’ system.”
Baseball America: One prospect that got scouting buzz was Marlon Nieves, who recently made an impressive debut.
Last summer, Nieves was one of the Dodgers’ up-arrow arms in the lower levels of the minor leagues. This spring, he’s taken a step forward. He’s added strength to his frame and continued to deliver his heater in the mid 90s while tightening the break and spin on his slider. He’ll still have to work to maintain his delivery in order to throw enough quality strikes to remain a potential rotation option, but Nieves’ arrow is pointing up as he heads back to Low-A Ontario.
Baseball Prospectus: While there was a lot of promise projected on Christian Zazueta coming into the season, apparently he’s up even further now.
As one of the very first Bryan Woo stans, I’m careful to liken anyone’s fastball to Woo’s. While Zazueta’s is not quite that good, it carries many of the same elements that make Woo’s one of the best in the sport. Coming at hitters from a low-three-quarters slot and good extension, Zazueta generates a ton of ride on his heater for such a low release point, and it sports a flat approach angle, which hitters constantly swing under. The velocity is also up this year, as he’s been sitting 95-97 compared to last year’s 93-95 (he was touching even higher in camp). Alongside advanced feel to locate in all four quadrants—and above the zone in favorable counts—this fastball has the makings for one of the best in the minors.
The report goes on to describe the rest of his arsenal, including that the changeup is actually even better, before landing on a bold prediction.
This might read as me calling my shot with Zazueta, and, well, it is. I will go so far as to say that if this keeps up, Zazueta will be one of the top-10 pitching prospects in the sport by midseason. He is tracking like an OFP 60.
Hot.
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Foundations On The Field: Teams are trying to use video for baserunning now, sort of like a Trajekt for basestealing or something. And there’s a good reason for it.
Essentially, instead of needing to see a pitcher’s move once the game starts, baserunners are attacking that learning before they ever step on the field. They have a sense of the cadence, delivery, timing, and potential tells before they take their first lead at first base.The goal is to bring players onto the field and let them develop that feel in the same environment they’ll experience during the game. The closer it is to reality, the more transferable it becomes. This is just an extension of what teams are already doing searching for edges in preparation and finding ways to make those reps more game like.In theory, this type of system should lead to better jumps earlier in games. If players already have a feel for the pitcher, that initial “figure it out” phase starts to disappear. It also chips away at some of the early cat-and-mouse dynamic pitchers rely on, where they can choose when to show their best move. If runners already know what that move looks like, part of that advantage is gone before the first pitch is even thrown.
Down On The Farm: This is a great look at when, where, and how the hot streaks that prospects go on matter. Not really sure how to summarize it, but I found it compelling at least.
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It counts.
Gonna claim @DodgersDigest now has one ring. #Historic https://t.co/qftcg3BCb8
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 3, 2026
