Kuzul

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez confirmed Sunday that he refused to stay at Chicago’s Trump International Hotel and Tower with teammates during a May series against the Cubs.

“I didn’t stay there,” Gonzalez said, per JP Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. “I had my reasons.”

The Dodgers had long used the Donald Trump-owned hotel as their headquarters during Chicago road trips. They did not stay at the Trump Tower during their recent National League Championship Series trip to Chicago because the location required a non-refundable deposit.

Gonzalez refused to elucidate on the reasoning behind his decision.

“We’re here to play baseball, not talk politics,” he said.

Gonzalez was born in San Diego but raised in Mexico. He has played for the Mexican national team in the World Baseball Classic and has worked to build the game in his family’s native country. As Hoornstra noted, Gonzalez has donated to multiple Mexican charities and helped rebuild a Tijuana youth facility where he honed his game as a child.

Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has made a series of disparaging remarks about Mexicans during his campaign. He has consistently proposed the construction of a wall on the Mexican-American border aimed at keeping illegal immigrants out of the country. Trump has also accused Mexican immigrants of bringing drugs to the U.S. and of rape, among other crimes.

A recent NBC News poll showed Trump trails Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by 50 points among Latino voters.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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Chase Utley saved Clayton Kershaw from being the goat. Again.

As far as the Los Angeles Dodgers are concerned, there was a happy ending to Game 4 of their National League Division Series on Tuesday. With the Dodgers’ season on the line with two on and two out in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 5-5 game against the Washington Nationals, Utley plated the go-ahead run with an RBI single off Blake Treinen.

After that, Kenley Jansen retired the Nationals in order in the ninth to preserve a 6-5 victory and send the Dodger Stadium faithful home happy and knowing Los Angeles had lived to fight another day—specifically Thursday, for Game 5 at Nationals Park.

But Kershaw? He presumably went home feeling relieved. Because it wasn’t long before Utley’s clutch hit that the Fox Sports 1 cameras had caught him reduced to this:

That’s the look of a man who (at least in a general sense) was not only painfully aware of that bottom number but also how much worse it had been made by recent events.

The top of the seventh inning started well for the left-hander. He allowed a leadoff single to Danny Espinosa but got Pedro Severino for his 11th strikeout and then Chris Heisey to fly out. All he needed was one more out.

It did not come. Instead, this happened:

• Trea Turner: infield single
• Bryce Harper: walk
• Pitching change: Pedro Baez
• Jayson Werth: hit by pitch, RBI
• Pitching change: Luis Avilan
• Daniel Murphy: single, two RBI

When it was over, the “ER” portion of Kershaw’s line score had ballooned from two to five. With it, his career postseason ERA went from an ugly 4.48 to a 4.83 mark that’s about as ugly as the public perception of his postseason track record.

It’s the latest cruel twist of fate October has thrown at Kershaw, whom most of the world knows as a three-time Cy Young Award winner and generally the best pitcher in the sport. And like most of the others, this one was made crueler by how smoothly things had been going.

Kershaw’s day started with promise. After holding out on everyone following an 8-3 loss in Game 3 on Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced Tuesday morning he would start Kershaw on three days’ rest rather than put Los Angeles’ season in the hands of 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias.

“One, Clayton gives us the best chance to win,” Roberts said (via ESPN.com), “and No. 2, he gives us the best chance to go deeper into a game.”

The Dodgers needed the latter after getting only 7.1 innings out of Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda on Sunday and Monday. Had Urias struggled under the postseason spotlight, the Dodgers would have been doomed before they even knew what hit ’em.

For Kershaw, it was a shot at redemption under circumstances he’s fared well in. While one of them is remembered for a hanging curveball to Matt Adams, Kershaw’s previous postseason starts on short rest had each consisted of at least six innings and no more than three earned runs.

At first it seemed unlikely Kershaw would add another to the pile. The Nationals got to him for a run on 27 pitches in the first inning and tacked on another in the third. But he settled in after that, and the Dodgers offense got him three runs of breathing room.

Kershaw wasn’t at his sharpest. Brooks Baseball showed he was working up in the zone, where he could have been hurt. But he was sitting around 94-95 mph with his fastball, which climbed as high as 96 mph. He got nine swinging strikes on his heater and 12 more on his curveball and slider. When location fails, it’s good to have that kind of stuff.

This is where my copy of Hot Takes for Dummies says I’m supposed to write that Kershaw then let the pressure burst his pipes rather than turn him into a diamond. I’m supposed to write that he choked.

But, nah. What really happened was an unfortunate series of events that didn’t go Kershaw’s way.

Turner’s infield hit probably should have gotten Kershaw out of the inning. Turner didn’t put good wood on a curveball, hitting it just 83.7 mph, per Baseball Savant. If Corey Seager had been playing a step to his left or had gotten the ball out of his glove quicker, that would have been an out.

Then came the walk to Harper. It pushed Kershaw’s pitch count to 110 but didn’t feature a bad pitch and may have ended differently if he’d gotten one very close call:

Give Harper credit for working a tough at-bat, but don’t take too much credit away from Kershaw. The fact he was still making pitches after having thrown so many on short rest is admirable.

“A matter of will,” Nationals manager Dusty Baker said (via Dodger Insider). “Kershaw was on empty. They knew it; we knew it. That was some battle.”

Once Kershaw was in the dugout, he was powerless to stop the horrors Baez and Avilan released. Baez needed only one pitch to hit Werth. Avilan failed two pitches into his lefty-on-lefty matchup. That their debacles—merely the latest in a trend well covered by Bill Baer of Hardball Talk—resulted in three runs should not to be forgotten when looking at the five runs on Kershaw’s line score.

Had the Dodgers lost the game and the series, there would be a “But…” to talk about. Utley made sure that didn’t happen, though, putting this game in a gray area as far as optics go.

Postseason legacies are defined just as much by memorable achievements and failures as they are by numbers. Had Kershaw’s line loomed large in a Dodgers loss, it would have been another one of his visible failures to carpe the hell out of the diem in October. Since they picked him up and carped the diem on their own, Kershaw’s performance didn’t go down as another visible failure. It’s more of a missed opportunity.

The same can be said of Kershaw’s performance in Game 1, in which he had to rough it through five innings to pace the Dodgers to a 4-3 win. The fact a series they were heavily favored to win is tied 2-2 has little to do with his shortcomings and more to do with those of his rotation mates.

That is to say it remains to be seen whether Kershaw will find redemption or grow another pair of goat horns in his latest trip to the postseason. If either happens, it will be in the National League Championship Series or the World Series.

For now, it’s a push. The Dodgers are still alive, and Kershaw’s postseason legacy is no better or worse than it was at the outset.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The 2016 season has not gone according to script for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Sunday afternoon, though, all the punch-up artists in Hollywood couldn’t have written it any better.

With their magic number whittled to one, the Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3 in 10 innings. It was legendary broadcaster Vin Scully’s final home game, and he got to call a walk-off home run by utilityman Charlie Culberson—in extras, no less. Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register offered:

Even with the MLB mood darkened by the tragic death of Miami Marlins‘ ace Jose Fernandez, it was a special scene.

At nearly the same moment, the San Francisco Giants lost 4-3 to the San Diego Padres just down California’s I-5 freeway. Call it a double clinch.

The Dodgers have now won four straight NL West titles. During that span, they’ve never advanced past the National League Championship Series, and have been dropped twice in the division series.

Now, they’re gunning for redemption and angling to bust the franchise’s 27-years-and-counting championship drought.

There are no guarantees, not with formidable foes such as the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals lurking.

The Nats are cemented as LA’s first-round opponent. The good news for the Dodgers is that they’ve gone 5-1 against Washington this season, sweeping a three-game set in L.A. June 20-22 and taking two of three in the nation’s capital July 29-31.

They’ve also fared well against Nationals ace Max Scherzer. Current Dodgers hitters with a history against Scherzer own a collective .282 average, per ESPN.com.

Ace Clayton Kershaw, meanwhile, has kept Nationals bats under wraps to the tune of a .217 average and .557 OPS.

Stats and matchups aside, this Dodgers squad has weathered injuries and controversy and emerged—resilient and triumphant—on the other side.

Sure, it’s helped that the Giants have imploded. After posting the best record in the first half, San Francisco has gone 25-41 since the All-Star break.

Give Los Angeles credit, though. They’ve secured a 90-win season and another October foray. And they’re coming together at the right time, with momentum in the dugout next to the sunflower seeds.

Let’s begin with the starting rotation, which has been a veritable MASH unit for much of the season. We won’t recount every ding and disabled-list stint; the fact that Los Angeles has used 15 starting pitchers should tell you all you need to know.

The biggest ailment, obviously, was the herniated disc that cost Kershaw the entire months of July and August. For a while, it was uncertain whether Kershaw would return at all. On July 21, manager Dave Roberts suggested surgery was on the table, per ESPN.com’s Doug Padilla. 

Thankfully for the Chavez Ravine faithful, Kershaw never went under the knife. He returned to action Sept. 9, and has appeared to get progressively stronger. He threw seven shutout innings in his most recent start against the Rockies, scattering three hits and striking out six.

The Dodgers trailed the Giants by eight games on June 26, the date of Kershaw’s final pre-DL start. On Sunday, they moved eight games up on San Francisco.

Kershaw is joined atop the rotation by Japanese import Kenta Maeda, who has been the constant in an otherwise revolving cast of hurlers. Through 30 starts, Maeda owns a 3.20 ERA with 171 strikeouts in 169 innings.

Add trade-deadline acquisition Rich Hill—who battled frustrating blister issues early in his Dodgers’ tenure but owns a 1.53 ERA in five starts with LA—and you’ve got a formidable top three.

Offensively, Los Angeles has benefited from the rise of shortstop Corey Seager, the odds-on favorite to claim NL Rookie of the Year honors with his .313 average and 26 home runs. 

Others—including third baseman Justin Turner, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and center fielder Joc Pederson—have helped the Dodgers score the second-most runs in the NL since the All-Star break.

But the team also wrestled with the Yasiel Puig controversy. The mercurial outfielder was beset by injuries, inconsistency and behind-the-scenes grumbling and was ultimately demoted to Triple-A in early August, prompting yours truly to wonder if he’d ever again don Dodger blue.  

Sure enough, Puig returned Sept. 2 and has been a boon, notching four home runs and 10 RBI. 

It’s been that kind of stretch run for the Dodgers, with hardships turning to blessings like sand getting polished into a pearl.

The postseason push won’t be easy. Los Angeles will face the  Nationals in the NLDS, as mentioned. 

If LA survives that test, the young, loaded Chicago Cubs will be waiting, assuming Chicago wins its series against the NL Wild Card Game winner. And let’s not forget Kershaw’s past October struggles.

We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. For now, the Dodgers should celebrate. They are, per the team’s official Twitter feed:

I threw out a word a while back: “resilient.” Left-hander Brett Anderson invoked it recently, too.

“It’s probably the most resilient team I’ve been on,” Anderson said, per the Associated Press (h/t New York Times.). “We’re never out of it.”

It describes this Dodgers club. But it also harkens back to one of the franchise’s defining moments, in 1988, when Kirk Gibson stepped to the plate on two bad legs and launched a two-run, walkoff homer in Game 1 of the World Series.

Los Angeles beat the Oakland A’s in five games and hoisted the Commissioner’s Trophy. More than a quarter-century later, they’re hoping for a similar spark—and similar glory.

The Dodgers have already written one Hollywood ending. Now, we wait to see what the sequel has in store.

All statistics current as of Sunday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are National League West champions for the fourth consecutive season.

They clinched the division crown in dramatic fashion Sunday, as second baseman Charlie Culberson hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to send them to a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers reacted to the win and the National League West crown that came with it:

It will be a moment Culberson will likely remember for the rest of his life:

The team also shared the celebratory embraces and the after-victory party:

Sunday was the final home game of the season for Los Angeles, which means it was the last time legendary broadcaster Vin Scully called a game in Dodger Stadium. Scully will retire after the year, and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com thought it was the perfect ending:

Boston Celtics announcer Sean Grande underscored just how long Scully had been with the Dodgers:

Jesse Spector of Sporting News reacted to the walk-off:

Helping fuel the Dodgers’ playoff berth was a solid offense that ranked sixth in the National League in total runs heading into Sunday, per ESPN.com. Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal each have 27 home runs, and rookie shortstop Corey Seager has provided a critical boost to L.A.’s offense, slashing .310/.370/.514 with 25 home runs and 70 RBI coming into Sunday’s game. Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated believes he is a “lock for the National League Rookie of the Year.”

It isn’t just the offense that has spearheaded the Dodgers this season.

The starting pitching staff features six-time All-Star and three-time National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw. While he did miss significant time earlier in the season with a herniated disc, he is back and healthy with sparkling numbers. The southpaw has a 1.65 ERA, 0.71 WHIP and 168 strikeouts in 142 innings. Had he not missed so much time, he could be the clear-cut National League Cy Young front-runner.

Elsewhere, Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill provide some depth to the rotation. The Dodgers acquired Hill via trade from the Oakland Athletics this year, and he has a head-turning 1.53 ERA and 0.68 WHIP in five starts for his new team. Kershaw and Hill give Los Angeles a formidable duo that will make it a difficult out in any postseason series.

The Dodgers can also shorten playoff contests with closer Kenley Jansen and a bullpen that touts the best ERA in baseball, per ESPN.com. 

While the focus will turn exclusively to the players in a few weeks’ time, Scully is perhaps the marquee figure associated with the organization until the end of the regular season. He announced he won’t call playoff games in his final season, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, means his career will end on Oct. 2 when the Dodgers visit the San Francisco Giants.

At least he will be calling games for a postseason team after the Dodgers clinched the division crown Sunday.

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Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen is set to hit free agency after his one-year, $10.65 million contract expires at the end of the 2016 season, per Spotrac. 

Having spent his entire seven-year career with the Dodgers, Jansen revealed to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball that he isn’t automatically committing to Los Angeles in the winter:

LA’s nice. LA’s great. LA gave me the opportunity. LA converted me when I failed as a catcher. I’m grateful about it, and will never forget LA. But at the same time, we’ll have to see what’s good for the family… It’s going to be a tough decision. It’s not going to only be me.

Jansen originally joined the Dodgers organization as a catcher, though he was unable to find success at the plate in the minors. It was there he moved from behind the plate to the mound, joining the Dodgers bullpen in 2010. 

After two years as a middle reliever and setup man, Jansen became the team’s closer in 2012 and hasn’t relinquished the role since. 

Over the past five years, the Curacao native has recorded 177 saves, including 44 in 2014. In total, his 186 career saves are a Dodgers all-time record. He also hasn’t recorded an ERA over 2.76 in that span and is experiencing a career year in 2016. 

In 65 games, Jansen has already tied his career high with 44 saves while posting an ERA of 1.72, which will be the lowest of his career in a season in which he appeared in over 25 games. 

It warranted his first-ever All-Star selection and has helped the Dodgers open up a four-game lead in the National League West over the San Francisco Giants entering Friday night. 

He doesn’t have the most overpowering stuff compared to other premier closers around the game such as Aroldis Chapman of the Chicago Cubs and Jeurys Familia of the New York Mets. But a fastball that tops out around 94 miles per hour is supported by a seldom-used slider that is more than 10 miles per hour slower, per Fangraphs, which has made him so tough to figure out:

Excelling at a position that has become a hot commodity in a game that stresses pitch counts from its starters, Jansen will surely garner plenty of attention during free agency this winter. 

If a team that is desperate for late-inning help comes along, a bidding war might decide where Jansen lands in 2017. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com. 

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Vin Scully has one of the most familiar voices in sports, but it won’t be heard in the 2016 MLB postseason.

While the longtime Los Angeles Dodgers announcer had already called this his final year in the booth, he explained his final game will be the regular-season finale on Oct. 2, according to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. 

“Otherwise, I’d be saying goodbye like in grand opera, where you say goodbye 12 different times,” Scully said.

“I’m going to say goodbye at Dodger Stadium the last game with Colorado. I will say goodbye in San Francisco. And then that will be it,” Scully added. “And then I will go home.”

The Dodgers have a four-game lead in the National League West. According to ESPN.com, they have a 99.9 percent chance of qualifying for the postseason either as the division winner or through the Wild Card.

The 88-year-old announcer began his career with the Dodgers in 1950, calling a number of the biggest moments in baseball over the last 67 years. He announced perfect games from Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax and Dennis Martinez as well as a handful of World Series games, including Kirk Gibson’s famous walk-off home run in 1988.

He also announced Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run and Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 71st single-season home run.

MLB Network provided a heartfelt tribute to the legendary broadcaster:

By electing to forgo the postseason, Scully’s retirement won’t be dependent the Dodgers’ success in the playoffs, giving the veteran announcer the sendoff he deserves.

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Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Scott Kazmir was diagnosed with thoracic spine inflammation and could be out indefinitely as the regular season draws to a close. 

Continue for updates:

Kazmir Has No Timetable For Return

Saturday, Sept. 10

MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick relayed the update. 

The 31-year-old is in his first season with the Dodgers after signing a three-year, $48 million deal in the offseason, via Spotrac.com, which is his third team in the past two seasons. 

After starting 2016 off slow with a 2-3 record, Kazmir won his next five decisions before splitting his six. He’s now 10-6 with a 4.59 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. 

He also helped keep the Dodgers afloat when they lost ace Clayton Kershaw on June 30 before he returned in a limited capacity on Sept. 9. 

Before this most recent knock, Kazmir looked like he was putting his injury woes behind him. Since 2008, nagging elbow issues had limited him at times. But in each of the past two seasons, Kazmir had recorded over 30 starts.

With the loss of Zack Greinke to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers were in search of a No. 2 starter who could support Kershaw. They brought in Kazmir and Japanese product Kenta Maeda to try to fill the void. 

It looks like Maeda will take Kazmir’s spot as the Dodgers’ primary ace until Kershaw is back at 100 percent and pitching at an All-Star-caliber level again following an extended stretch on the shelf. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

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There was neither a red carpet nor a flourish of trumpets at Marlins Park on Friday night, but there might as well have been. For the mighty Clayton Kershaw had returned.     

… For three innings.

Out since June 26 with a bad back, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace was going to have a tight pitch count no matter what. The Marlins’ tough at-bats hastened the speed with which he racked ’em up, so he was done after throwing 66 pitches and allowing two runs on five hits. The Dodgers mustered just three hits of their own against Jose Fernandez, who struck out 14 in seven innings, before going down 4-1.

So, yeah. It wasn’t a prodigal-son-level return for Kershaw. But then, that’s what any rational person would have been prepared for after such a long layoff. It’s what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt expected.

“Rick pointed out to expect him to be in midseason form is unfair,” Roberts said, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. “We all know Clayton is going to expect himself to be dialed in. We’ll see. I think we all hope for the best and expect to see a lot of good things from Clayton. But I think the most important thing, the most encouraging thing is to make sure he gets out of the start feeling well.”

There are positive takeaways from the left-hander’s oh-so-brief return. After Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported Thursday that Kershaw is still “pretty banged up,” the biggest is that his back didn’t break down. He didn’t look like he was struggling physically, and he walked away unharmed when he had to make a tough play on a swinging bunt by Christian Yelich in the third inning.

And right out of the gate, Kershaw showed that the long layoff hadn’t robbed him of any electricity. Mike Petriello of MLB.com noted he came out spinning some A-OK heat:

Kershaw also featured some good breaking balls, and he wasn’t wild, having 46 strikes out of 66 pitches. With five strikeouts and no walks Friday, he has 150 strikeouts to just nine walks all season. The two runs he allowed only pushed his ERA to 1.89. On balance, his 2016 season is still worth gawking at.

It’s not going to have a happy ending unless he and the Dodgers go out on a high note, though. And that’s not happening unless Kershaw fixes the ills that plagued him against Miami.

Kershaw may have been throwing strikes, but his three-inning stint is a case study for the difference between throwing strikes and throwing good strikes. He had trouble hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal’s targets with his fastball. Considering he was throwing a career-high 63.1 percent of his fastballs in the strike zone before Friday, it’s not like Kershaw had this problem before he got hurt.

His breaking stuff, meanwhile, was a mixed bag. Here’s Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times:

Those bad breakers included two the Marlins whacked for run-scoring hits: a solo home run off a hanging slider by J.T. Realmuto and an RBI single off a hanging curveball by Chris Johnson.

In so many words: Kershaw looked partially like himself and partially like he had some rust.

I know—I’m also wearing my surprised face. His three National League Cy Youngs, his MVP and his numerous statistical achievements make Kershaw a pitching god among his peers, but a little over two months is a long time to spend on the disabled list. He made just one rehab start that lasted three innings and 34 pitches prior to his major league return, which should count as his second rehab start despite the hype.

The Dodgers can be cool for now. They have 22 regular-season games remaining, giving Kershaw space for up to four more starts. That could give him enough time to build up his stamina and find his bearings.

L.A. holds a 4.5-game lead (as of this writing) in the NL West that the San Francisco Giants seem incapable of erasing, so he could be back to his usual self in time for the National League Division Series.

It’ll be time to worry if/when Kershaw isn’t up to speed for October. Maybe his back will give out again. Maybe he won’t be able to get back in a groove. Or maybe both. One way or the other, it wouldn’t be good.

No one doubts the Dodgers can muster up some hits. With runs typically at a premium in October, though, they’re not going to go far unless they can pitch. It won’t be easy to do that without Kershaw. His absence would up the pressure on Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill. That’s not to mention L.A.’s bullpen, which went from a league-leading 2.83 ERA in the first half of the season to a 4.11 ERA in the second half.

Things would look different with a healthy and operational Kershaw in the Dodgers’ plans for the postseason. Cliff Corcoran for USA Today noted how well a trio of Kershaw, Maeda and Hill would match up against the Washington Nationals, who just lost Stephen Strasburg to injury indefinitely. That would give the Dodgers the chance to start off on the right foot.

And while having Kershaw in the rotation wouldn’t fix the Dodgers’ bullpen, it would shorten the bridge to Kenley Jansen on days he pitches. That plus their surging offense could allow for a deep trip into October.

However, Kershaw’s thud-like return to action is a reminder that all of this is theoretical until he shakes off the rust. The Dodgers didn’t need him to be his best right out of the gate, but they need him to get better as soon as he can.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Yasiel Puig said what he needed to say upon his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was humble; he was contrite.

“I earned the demotion,” he acknowledged Friday after getting the call from Triple-A, per Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. “I feel like I am a better person, and I am here now to show it.”

In an admittedly brief stint back with the big club, here’s what Puig has shown: He can still hit a baseball.

In two games, Puig has gone 3-for-6 with two walks and three runs scored. On Sunday, he cracked his first MLB home run since July 4, a three-run shot in the third inning of the Dodgers’ 7-4 win over the San Diego Padres.

Here’s the strong-man swing, courtesy of the Dodgers’ official Twitter feed: 

It’s a small-sample flash. But Puig resembles the guy who took the league by storm in 2013, the preternaturally gifted orb of energy who played like he had the cheat codes scribbled under the brim of his cap.

That version of Puig, or something approximating it, would be an immeasurable boon for the Dodgers as they battle the San Francisco Giants for National League West supremacy. Entering play Monday, L.A. holds a three-game lead over its archrival. 

He’s still Puig. A few conciliatory quotes and a couple of solid games don’t erase the issues that landed him in the minors and made yours truly wonder if he’d ever again don Dodger blue.

There’s no need to recount the entire Puig saga. Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller summed it up succinctly in December 2015:

Tucked somewhere among the salacious stories of Greinke tossing Puig’s suitcase off the bus and onto a street in Chicago, ace Clayton Kershaw allegedly advising the Dodgers front office this winter to dump the outfielder and third baseman Justin Turner almost getting into a fight with Puig last spring looms one of the biggest questions facing the Dodgers for 2016:

Is the relationship between Puig and his teammates inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse irreparably broken?

That was before the season started. Clearly, things didn’t get better.

Puig wrestled with injuries and inconsistency. On Aug. 2, the Dodgers sent him down, as manager Dave Roberts phrased it, “to improve him as a player and a person,” per MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.

Puig stirred up controversy with the Oklahoma City Dodgers as well, but he torched Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of a .348 average and .994 OPS. 

The Dodgers lineup was struggling against southpaws. At a certain point, it just made too much sense to give the right-handed Puig another crack.

In both of his starts so far, he’s slotted into right field against southpaw starters in place of lefty-swinging trade acquisition Josh Reddick. Puig has logged MLB innings at all three outfield positions, however, which will allow Roberts to mix and match.

Puig’s return was unceremonious, as Shaikin detailed:

It was an awkward homecoming for Puig. He had conquered the minor leagues in the month since the Dodgers had banished him, but they did not treat him as a conquering hero. They tried to trade him before they sent him down, and they tried again before they called him back up. They had moved his locker clear across the clubhouse, and no longer did he enjoy a vacant locker next to his own.

This is a marriage of necessity. The Dodgers need Puig’s bat. Puig needs to cast aside the distractions and prove he deserves to stay in the Show.

He’s only 25 years old and two seasons removed from an All-Star campaign. A hot streak down the stretch and into the postseason could cement a role with Los Angeles next season. Or it could boost his trade stock if the Dodgers opt to dangle him this winter in a weak free-agent class. 

We already know there’ll be interest, based on reports that the Milwaukee Brewers claimed him off waivers prior to his call-up and engaged in “legitimate” talks involving outfielder Ryan Braun, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. 

Either way, Puig can benefit himself and his employer by keeping his head down and his stick scalding. 

Add ace Clayton Kershaw’s impending return—he’s set to start Friday, per Alanna Rizzo of SportsNet Los Angeles—and the Dodgers may be getting the band back together at precisely the right time.

Is Puig a changed man? Did a month riding the MiLB bus show him the light? Those are questions for another day.

Can he help the Dodgers win games from here to late October? The early returns point toward yes.

All statistics current as of Sept. 4 and courtesy of MLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com.

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After spending a month in Triple-A, Yasiel Puig has returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times first broke the news on Thursday, which the Dodgers confirmed on Friday. Puig was placed in the starting lineup, will bat fifth and play right field against the San Diego Padres.

Los Angeles sent the outfielder down to Triple-A at the start of August after a poor first four months of the season. He responded by hitting .348 with four home runs in 19 games for the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

Of course, his play on the field wasn’t the only reason for the demotion.

Per McCullough, Puig showed up late to meetings and was inconsistent with his work habits, and manager Dave Roberts wanted the 25-year-old to “be a better person and baseball player.”

The first couple of weeks in the Pacific Coast League didn’t seem to change his attitude, as he posted partying videos on Snapchat.

However, he appeared to have a change of heart in recent days. He told ESPN.com’s Marly Rivera that playing in the minors taught him humility and added his thoughts on his improved attitude:

I keep hitting. I’m behaving. I’m doing the work I have to do. What I did wrong before and I have been doing better the last two or three weeks that I’ve been here. [Being called up] does not depend on me. All I can do is try to improve what I did wrong, the things that got me sent me here. The rest does not depend on me, that’s [a decision for] the GM, the president. Only God knows where I will end up.

“Yasiel has done everything we asked of him,” Roberts said, per MLB Network Radio. “We felt ultimately that he makes us better, that was the deciding factor.” 

Roberts also noted he and team president Andrew Friedman brought veteran players in to discuss the move with them, per MLB Network Radio. 

The Dodgers were reportedly still undecided about Puig’s fate earlier in the week, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. They then placed him on waivers, where he was claimed by a team before the Dodgers decided to bring him back to the big league roster, per Today’s Knuckleball (h/t ESPN.com).

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports explained L.A. can still trade him in the winter:

Until then, he will likely be a part of the Dodgers and could play an important role down the stretch. With the squad involved in a tight division race with the San Francisco Giants in the NL West, L.A. will hope Puig not only plays well but also avoids being a distraction in the clubhouse.

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