After another offset of successful additions, the Los Angeles Dodgers raised fears of the competitive balance and calls a salary ceiling from the major baseball league.

Now, with only a few days before the trade deadline, Dodgers are not even the best team in the national league and face urgent alignment needs if they hope to repeat as champions.

At the top of the list is an emergency arm that can manage large sleeves in October. But the Dodgers could also check the potential offensive upgrades while their set of star strikers disappoints.

“While Freddie Freeman began to show signs of reversal of things, the worst offensive season of Mookie Betts has only aggravated”, Bill Plunkett Written for the County Orange register. “Teoscar Hernandez has his own crisis (.199 since the beginning of June) and Michael Comforto has been a bust of free agent (an average of 0.185 and 0.614 ops), apparently leaving room for improvement.”

The first goal of Los Angeles Dodgers Freddie Freeman
Los Angeles, California – April 16: Freddie Freeman # 5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers was walking at the canoe during the seventh round against the Colorado rockies at the Dodger Stadium on April 16, 2025 in Los …


Mulcahy / Getty

Many have been made of struggles of the Betts season because it was treated with a stomach virus and an injury to the toes while assuming the everyday arrest role for the first time in his career. But after a few heroic pronounced in the World Series of last year and a flamboyant beginning which earned him a sign of the stars, Freeman’s Flump is more a recent problem. He only struck. 200 in June and only strikes .224 until now in July.

Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said Freeman had failed the team’s expectations alongside Betts when he sent a message full of hope that the duo would come back to train alongside Max Muncy.

“I think you recover Muncy and we are talking about future families from Freddie and Mookie who have not played until our expectations,” Gomes told Plunkett. “I think these guys will happen again on the right track and then some of the other guys will come back in a groove, going from injuries, it’s the same thing – I think the level of talent is really high.”

Freeman has an oblique bar line. 295 / .368 / .470 with the most doubles of the national league so far. But even a temporary collapse pushed him in the expectations of the Dodgers.

More MLB: MLB Insider surprisingly marks closer hackers as the best available on the deadline