Angels get their own category in this ranking. Plus, try sandlot baseball!

The Windup Newsletter | This is The Athletic s MLB newsletter.

Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.

The Dodgers snapped a losing streak.

Their pitching is still in trouble.

Plus: Examining why some teams dont appear to be trying.

Also, do you want to play baseball? Theres a league for you.

Yes, you! Im Levi Weaver ; Ken Rosenthal is off today.

Welcome to The Windup! When Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the seventh inning last night, it was surely a breath of fresh air for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

For all the money spent this offseason, L.A.

is facing a familiar problem: Its pitchers keep landing on the injured list.

It might be tempting to forget since they went ahead and won the whole thing but the Dodgers pitching situation during the 2024 postseason was a mess.

With approximately a whole NBA rosters worth of pitchers injured (no, really, as you can see shortly), heres how the starts broke down for the Dodgers 16 postseason games: Fully one-fourth of their games were bullpen games.

Flaherty (Detroit) and Buehler (Boston) departed after the season in free agency.

But no worries, right? Its the Dodgers.

Theyll spend their way out of it, and some guys will get healthy over the winter.

Repeat City, here we come? Well ...

yeah, just maybe not quite in the way they intended.

Advertisement Heres that list of Dodgers pitchers who are currently on the IL: Tyler Glasnow, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, Edgardo Enriquez, Kyle Hurt, Kopech, Evan Phillips, River Ryan, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Snell, Gavin Stone, Blake Treinen, Kirby Yates.

I counted, so you didnt have to.

Its 14.

Even if you subtract the depth guys, thats two of their top starters and their four best right-handed high-leverage relievers.

To quote Andrew Friedman in Fabian Ardayas most recent dire diagnosis : Not fun.

Their relievers have pitched more innings than any other team.

Their team ERA entering last nights game against the Diamondbacks: 22nd out of 30 teams.

Even Yamamotos brilliant start didnt result in a win Tanner Scott allowed a game-tying home run in the ninth inning, then worked a second inning for the first time this year, departing after a Corbin Carroll home run made it 3-2.

And then yeah the Dodgers walked it off with some clutch hitting.

Theyre 30-19 after snapping a four-game losing streak.

So even the bleakest days have silver (or maybe diamond) linings.

Its still possible (albeit optimistic) that L.A.s October rotation could go: Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani and some combination of Clayton Kershaw/Tony Gonsolin/Dustin May.

But for the time being, whew .

Not fun, indeed.

More Dodgers: Phillips got a full circle moment with an emotional return to Cedars-Sinai Guerin Childrens Hospital, two years after his son was born seven weeks premature.

It has become a common (and frankly, understandable) complaint among fans of teams who dont operate in the same echelon as the Dodgerses and Metses of the world: Why isnt my teams front office trying? Lets start by clarifying something: Every front office is trying.

Your teams GM wants to have the Yankees budget, just like every principal would love to provide your kids with more books and supplies than they could ever need to succeed in school.

Advertisement The problem (in both cases) is the people cutting the checks.

But unlike state school boards, we dont really have any way of knowing if small-market owners are being honest when they pull their pockets inside out like the Monopoly man and ask: How many years in a row should we operate at a deficit? And maybe they are losing money! Its awfully hard to know for sure, since teams dont open their books even when they promise to do just that .

Today, Andy McCullough takes a closer look at this issue, which is one of the more existential problems facing the sport.

After outlining the disparity, he separates the teams into tiers: the powerhouses (think Dodgers), the overachievers (think Rays), the middle (hello, Red Sox) and the basement (Pirates, etc.).

And of course, there is a special section reserved just for the Angels, who spend a lot of money but never really seem to get the results theyre ostensibly paying for.

As McCullough mentions, the leagues CBA is set to expire after the 2026 season.

One thing those smaller-market teams and lets face it, probably all owners are going to angle for is a salary cap.

The spin will be that its just necessary for competitive balance.

Is that the solution? Or is it just another way to tip the scales back toward ownership when it comes to divvying up the billions of dollars that baseball generates every year? Im not arrogant enough to suggest its simple enough for a one-sentence answer.

The truth is, I sincerely dont know.

But I do suspect thats at least partially by design.

If youre a baseball fan, theres a good chance you used to play the sport in some form.

Or maybe you came to your love of the game later in life, and have wondered what it would be like to pick up a wood bat and take your hacks.

Well, you can.

Allow me to tell you about sandlot baseball.

Its an informal movement, allowing people to play the sport they love without the pressure that comes with more competitive leagues.

If youre looking to be scouted, this isnt the league for you.

The entire point is to give players of any (adult) age, gender or skill set a place to hang out and play some baseball (of frequently questionable quality).

Advertisement Community over competition is a phrase Ive heard a lot.

Thats what sets sandlot apart from other leagues, and why I wanted to tell you about it.

Full disclosure: I play for a team in Dallas, and the competition level varies quite a bit.

Ive seen fastballs close to 80mph (rarely), and Ive seen people try pitching for the first time in their lives lobbing 40 mph floaters toward the plate (more common).

The best part is that it is extremely chill.

Catchers usually call their own balls and strikes, and disputed plays on the basepaths are usually settled with an eye roll and an OK fine, you guys can have this one.

If that sounds really dumb to you, well sandlot probably isnt your bag.

But if you just miss getting out there with your friends and playing baseball, I cant tell you how much the experience (and the community) has meant to me over the last couple of years.

You can check here to see if theres a team near you.

Or if you want a better idea of what the teams look like, theres a central Instagram page you can peruse.

And hey, if theres not a team near you, guess what: Youre allowed to start one! I know this isnt our usual Windup fare.

Usually, this space is for talking about the best of the best playing the sport.

But we all need more fun in our lives.

So heres a section about how you can join the worst of the worst (because honestly, theyre the best).

More: If youre looking for something even less formal something you can play in your backyard may I present: Canball .

After yesterdays section on Juan Soto, we have a bit more on the Mets right fielder: Tim Britton tells us how the spotlight has intensified on Soto recently, while Jen McCaffrey has an exclusive: Soto strongly considered signing with the Red Sox .

How are the Tigers doing this? Cody Stavenhagen has seven numbers that explain Detroits success.

Advertisement Matt Gelb tells us how the Phillies will attempt to overcome the loss of reliever Jose Alvarado, who has been suspended 80 games for PED usage.

Free agency doesnt start for another five-plus months, but Jim Bowden is helping us plan ahead, with his top 50 potential free agents-to-be .

Home-plate umpire Mike Estabrook escalated an argument with Walker Buehler then threw him out of the game , which seems like something that shouldnt ever happen.

The Red Sox still won, handing the Mets their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Travis Bazzana, whom the Guardians took with the first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, will miss at least two months with a right internal oblique strain.

Baseball Savant released a bunch of new tools and visuals for hitters, including a Swing Path/Attack Angle Leaderboard.

Eno, DVR and Jed dig in on Rates & Barrels.

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Eno Sarris on five young starting pitchers with good stuff and bad results (so far).

Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic s other newsletters .

(Top photo: Rick Scuteri / Imagn Images).

This article has been shared from the original article on theathleticuk, here is the link to the original article.