The Dodgers (83-55) are coming off a successful road series, winning three of four games against the red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks (77-61), creating some breathing room in the division and securing the tiebreaker against Arizona if they needed it.

Unfortunately, they don’t get a day off after that series, but they do get a weak opponent in the Angels (57-80) for two games before Thursday’s day off. This will be the first time Shohei Ohtani has returned to Anaheim (in the regular season) as a member of the Dodgers, and hopefully he will get a big round of applause from the fans there. The talented left-hander Reid Detmers will make his first Major League start in more than three months against Hiker Buehlerwho is trying to build a solid outing for his final time. The last game the Dodgers played in Anaheim was on June 21, 2023, when they faced Shohei Ohtani who threw seven innings and allowed one run on five hits with 12 strikeouts and … got the loss.

	6:38 PM		Anaheim
DH	Ohtani (L)	LF	Department
RF	bets	SS	Net
1B	Freeman (left)	1B	Schanull (L)
LF	Hernandez	3B	Rendon
C	Blacksmith	CF	Moniak (L)
CF	Edman (S)	C	O’Hoppe
3B	Muncy (left)	2B	Drury
SS	Red	RF	Adell
2B	Tailor	DH	Kavadas (L)
P	Buehler (R)	P	Detmers (L)

The Dodgers will field their relatively standard lineup against left-handed pitchers with Max Muncy starting at third base over Kiké HernándezIt’s a little odd to start Muncy against Detmers after playing him against the lefty. Eduardo Rodriguez in favor of Kiké, but I suspect they also want to give Muncy some rest and time to see if he can hit lefties before October. Gavin Lux will sit on the bench in favor of Chris Taylor against the left-handed Detmers.

Below you can see how the two violations compare as a whole.

The Angels have struggled mightily on both sides of the ball this year, and it’s clear they have one of the worst offenses in baseball. They desperately lack Mike Forel who is out for another year, this time due to a torn meniscus. Luis Rengifo was one of the bright spots and a major candidate for a trade, but he’s out with a right wrist injury. They also lost Ohtani to free agency this offseason, with all of the above resulting in a terrible offense and a terrible team.

However, there are also some bright spots, Zach Neto is their first-round pick in 2022, and with a 113 wRC+, 20 home runs and 25 steals while playing solid defense at shortstop, he’s a fixture in their future. Additionally, their 24-year-old catcher Logan O’Hoppewith a 96 wRC+, solid defense and 17 home runs despite injuries this year. Their 2023 first round pick, Nolan Schanuelalso sets things up with a 103 wRC+ after appearing unready for the majors earlier this season. He’s hitting .271/.384/.406 in the second half, a 128 wRC+. Taylor Department is their 30-year-old left fielder who appeared to break out in 2022 with a wRC+ of 136, but followed that up in 2023 with a wRC+ of 107 and a wRC+ of 102 this year.

Theoscar Hernández comes from a 5-5 game, to a 130 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR despite poor defense in left field. He’s a reliable presence in this lineup, and this offense would be a lot worse without the one-year deal he signed this offseason. Freddie Freeman had five days off to mentally reset and give his broken finger some time, and it seemed to do wonders for him based on his play last weekend. He was 6-15 with two hits, four homers and 10 RBI during a crucial series. That’s the Freeman the Dodgers need in September and October. Ohtani has 44 homers and 46 stolen bases after adding three steals in yesterday’s game. He needs three more homers to set a career high, six more to set the single-season franchise record and the tougher part of 50/50.

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Here’s how Detmers and Buehler compare. Both teams clearly had a season that didn’t go the way they wanted.

The Angels recalled Detmers from Triple-A to start this game after he spent three months in the minors due to poor performance. The Angels reportedly listened to trade offers for Detmers just before the deadline, but did the right thing and kept him. Well, best for the franchise, but that’s unlikely to be the case for Detmers. I really don’t know why they’d have him in Triple-A, since he’s clearly had success in the major leagues the past two seasons and is still only 25 years old. He had a 4.48 ERA and 4.13 FIP in 148.2 innings pitched last season with 168 strikeouts, after a 3.77 ERA and 3.79 FIP in 129.0 innings as a 22-year-old. He had a 4.40 FIP in his limited innings this season with a .333 BABIP and a LOB% (left on base percentage) of 61.7%, well below the league average of 71.9%, all of which suggests he could be back to his 2022 and 2023 selves. Instead, they send him to Triple-A Salt Lake City, a terrible place to pitch, where he has a 5.54 ERA in 79.0 innings pitched with 101 strikeouts and 27 walks. He sits in the mid-90s with his four-seamer, throws a mid-80s slider/sweeper and changeup, and a big, loopy, mid-70s curveball. He likely attracted so much trade interest because he’s a young left-handed starter with a track record of success despite pitching in an organization with a terrible track record of pitching development. He should be in the major league rotation and has the ability to be dominant every time he takes the mound, even though he has a 6.14 ERA this year.

Buehler had a good performance last time out against a tough Orioles offense, despite the final score looking poor. He started strong by retiring the first four batters he faced, before an error and a third-strike problem ruined his momentum in the second inning and dragged out the inning. He nearly made it through five innings, only one batter short, but put together one of his most encouraging performances of recent memory. Not much to say, other than hopefully he can continue his performance against a weak offense. Hopefully the defense behind him steps up tonight.

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Good news for Tyler Glasnow and its progress.

Hopefully Clayton Kershaw heals a bit and gets time to plead his case for the postseason roster.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw two innings for OKC tonight, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Most importantly, he came out strong, topping out at 96 MPH and continuing to raise his pitch count.

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First pitch is at 6:38 PT on SNLA.