SPECTACLE: Shohei Ohtani STUNS Japan | Blake Snell Opening Day Odds = ZERO

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Water usually wins.

It rots wood and tears docks apart, unless you build with treks.

Trek's marine grade decking is 100% submersible, built to resist rod and salt and fresh water.

Water has met its match.

Trek's decking.

Visit treks.com slash docks.

More juggling a lot, but you can still squeeze in a financial plan.

With the Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor as your partner, it's not only possible,

it's personalized, so if you're tying the knot, closing on a house, or welcoming a little

one, you'll be ready for whatever life tosses your way.

It's the right time to feel less stressed and more certain.

That's a better way to money.

Let's get started at nm.com.

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Batting practice turned into a spectacle in Japan.

Players stopped, phones came out, and Shohail Tani reminded the world who runs baseball.

You are Lockdown Dodgers, your daily Los Angeles Dodgers podcast, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

What's up everybody?

I'm Harry Ruiz.

That's Travis Rogers, and it's time for Lockdown Dodgers, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Now, the number one sports podcast network on today's show.

We got a temperature check on the Dodgers first real speed bump of cactus league play.

The tough, but honest reality involving Blake's nail and opening day.

But first, we're starting in Japan with Shohail Tani putting on a show that didn't even

count in the box score ahead of the WBC kicking off this week, Travis.

Yeah, still fun to see though.

It doesn't count, but it was still fun to see him cranking balls the way that he did.

In today's episode of Lockdown Dodgers is brought to you by MLB the show 26.

Visit MLBtheShow.com slash Lockdown and use the code Lockdown to unlock a pack for use

in diamond dynasty.

Pre-order now available March 17th on PlayStation five Xbox and Nintendo Switch rated E for everyone weekdays.

Travis sets the tone on 17 ESPN LA from three to six, holding it down on Travis and the Marco show.

And no matter where you are, so Cal or not, the ESPN LA app keeps you plugged in for me.

When I'm not on the call for USC football in Espanol, this is where I lock in Dodgers talk real breakdowns,

honest reactions and a conversation we build together.

If this is your first time here, you're right where you're supposed to be.

And if you're an everydayer, you already know this show doesn't move without you.

If you're watching on YouTube, tap that like button, drop your takes in the comments,

and subscribe so you don't miss a day.

If you're listening on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows,

a five-star rating goes a long way and helping other Dodgers fans find us.

And don't forget the Lockdown Dodgers edition online is always live,

called 2793 Locked.

That's 2793562533 to leave us your voicemail any time with anything related to the Dodgers,

or you can also text that number.

All right, batting practice that felt like a main event.

When Shohei Otoni shows up anywhere, the rules change.

And in Japan this past weekend, everything stopped.

Advental in Dome in Nagoya, Samurai, Japan was getting ready for an exhibition

against the Chunchichi Dragons.

No one will be stars.

We're even eligible to play jet because it wasn't a real WBC game,

it's a preparation game.

That though didn't matter because once Shohei Otoni stepped into the cage

for pre-game batting practice, the stadium turned into a theater.

TV stations, social media, everybody was focused in, locked in,

and we got to see it all the way and the other side of the world in Travis.

The fans were loving it.

The reporters were loving it.

Everybody was loving getting to see Shohei Otoni do batting practice.

This is not something we see often.

We started seeing him doing it in the World Series

after getting into a little bit of a slump.

And it was Shohei Otoni having to see him do batting practice.

And that's what Shohei Otoni does.

He steals the headlines.

All the spotlight is on him, no matter if it's a game or not.

No practice, talking about practice.

Yeah, Shohei does it there too.

Yeah, I think there's three things going on here.

You touched on a couple of them.

I think number one is anything that Shohei Otoni is involved in in Japan

is going to be, you know, blockbuster news.

Like if he ordered a sandwich at a deli,

it would be, you know, breaking news of it because Otoni is doing it.

He's just as famous as he is here, as popular as he is here,

as incredibly well-liked as he is here,

especially in the city of Los Angeles.

It doesn't come within 100 miles of his popularity back in Japan.

So anything that he does, including just taking some batting practice swings,

is going to be massive, massive news.

That's number one.

Number two is, and I think you touched on it, and it's really good,

is we don't get to see him train very often, right?

Like we get to see him play a lot of games.

And, you know, one of the great things about Shohei is just how remarkably durable he is.

So you get to see him, you know, play every single night.

But it was breaking news when he took batting practice on the field

at Dodger Stadium last year.

I mean, it was like, holy smoke.

Shohei Otoni's taking batting practice on the field.

He usually works in the cage.

It's very rare where you see Shohei Otoni and anything other than long sleeves,

a full uniform like he is very disciplined about what he allows people to see

outside of his game performances.

So any time we get to see him, it's something that's a little bit more of a casual setting,

something less than an actual official game.

It's interesting because it's rare.

And I think the third thing is the man just knows how to put on a show, right?

He just knows how to show up in those moments that whether it was an all-star game,

whether it's a world series, whether it's batting practice, whatever it is

when all lights are on him, he almost always gives you a little something that makes you go,

did you see that?

Could you believe what you actually saw?

And him putting balls in, you know, the hallways in the outfield in Japan was just remarkable.

Like the man just knows how to put on a show and he did it again.

And he just, he's something else, man.

I just, I can't wait to see him start playing this week.

It was awesome seeing the videos of the his teammates stopped stretching the opponents.

We're like over the railing like, oh, we should be in the clubhouse right now,

getting ready for the game, but Shohei is doing batting practice.

We can watch here.

We got a front row seat for this.

Let's watch the fans.

They're just like in awe watching the ball being hit to places where it's not supposed to reach

when it comes out there.

Even, I don't know if you saw all the clips, but even some swings and misses or some

foul balls that he had.

They were loud and they were like, everybody, well, personally, there was one that came

back to him where I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, maybe he should stop doing batting

practice right here, but it was just loud, chaotic excitement.

It was all and it's something where it's just that type of player that he is.

Like messy when he goes out in them unless and plays a game anywhere in the United States,

ticket prices are ridiculously priced.

You've got fans showing up super early to see him doing warm ups.

You got fans running onto a field wherever he was in Central America this past week.

In the next ambition game, somebody even tackled him, but it was just the excitement of

seeing a once in a generation type of talent that you can get.

And in soccer, you have, of course, Messi and Cristiano and baseball.

You got Shohei, Aaron Judge can be his counterpart in the American League, but he's not Shohei

Ohtani when it comes to worldwide superstardom when it comes to even being able to do what Shohei

does with the home runs, with the steals, with the pitching.

It's just another type of thing.

And I just fans never get to see Ohtani do these type of things that in Los Angeles very,

very rarely.

He had to be in a type of slump like he was in the postseason for him to do that.

And in Japan, you brought up the type of popularity as out there Travis.

There was a video of him rolling into a restaurant.

I don't know how fans knew he was going to go eat there, but they were lined up to the wall

on both sides.

And he just walks in straight and goes upstairs.

I'm like, hey, that's that, I mean, you get lost into the, hey, he's a $700 million player.

Yes, he's the best player in baseball, but out there, yes, we've had Japanese superstars

in the past.

But now this is an icon that you're talking about.

And the culture shot that he has.

And that's the gravity that he has the presence.

And the irony is that, like I said, Ohtani didn't even play Ohtani still won.

And now I can't wait for that.

I might wake up at two in the morning to watch their game in the next couple of days

here.

Yeah, the games are going to be great.

I, you know, it's funny.

You mentioned the way that other players react to him.

And I think that's a good point because it going, going back to judge, you mean, Aaron

Judge is the best player in baseball, not named Shohei Ohtani, right?

And I think that most people would probably agree with that because of what he does and

he plays for it.

So, but nobody's arguing that Aaron Judge might be the greatest baseball player of all

time.

That's the, that's the area that we've entered with, with Ohtani.

And I think that's why his countrymen, that's why his opponents, that's why his teammates,

that's why the media react to him in a way that isn't just, oh, that guy is a 50 plus

home run guy and can pitch really well.

We're, we're talking about maybe the greatest player of all time playing right now.

Like it just, it's a, it's a really like Babe Ruth, it feels like a, a, a dream, right?

It feels like Willie Mays played in, you know, an era where TVs were in black and white.

And it's like, yeah, somebody could tell you about it.

You kind of like, Shohei Ohtani is playing right now on this earth in full living color.

And so when you get a chance to see him, whether it's just take batting practice, walk into

a restaurant, whatever it is, it's breathtaking.

It really is stunning to be able to see him do something, even if it is something is, you

know, routine is taking batting practice.

And other players recognize his greatness, other players recognize the opportunities that

we're all getting to see this man do what it is that he does.

So I, I, I'm not surprised that people react to him the way that they do it.

That you and me and fans like, well, sure, we're going to do it.

But when other players, when other pros stop what they're doing to watch another person

do what they can do really well as well, that's a whole nother level.

No doubt about it.

Look, spoiler alert, the, the locked on MLB top 100 player list is coming up really, really

soon.

Everyone is fighting to be number two behind Shohei Ohtani.

Yes.

It's on no doubt or that it's Shohei and then everybody else fighting for the rest of

the 99 spots because wherever Shohei Ohtani is, baseball just rearranges itself around

him.

I'm coming up.

We're shifting from spectacle to something far more grounded because reality just hit

with Ohtani's rotation next on locked on Dodgers.

The Dodgers finally said the quiet part out loud about Blake's now and opening day.

The odds not good.

And what that means for the rotation might surprise you.

College basketball is nonstop, right?

We're talking big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night.

You never know what's going to happen from early tip offs to late night West Coast shootouts.

There is always action on the board and you can get into it right now because Fandall

is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a college

basketball parlay profit boost.

You can build any college hoops parlay that you want.

We're talking rivalry games, ranked matchups, whatever fits your fancy, right?

You can mix spreads, totals, player props to match how you see the slate playing out.

When you apply the profit boost and instantly bump up that potential payout, right?

You can go with the favorites.

You want to go Arizona.

You want to go Duke.

You want to go with some of the blue bloods go.

You want to go long, right?

You want to go deep into it.

You want to go with my UCSB Gouchos.

You can do that too.

Go safe.

Go bold.

Ride with the team.

You've been following all season.

It is your parlay, your style now with more upside behind it.

Head to fandall.com to get started.

That's fandall.com.

Fandall.

Your game.

When work is piling up and that one open role is still empty, you don't have time to

wait around.

That's where indeed sponsored jobs comes in.

Sponsored jobs puts your listening in front of people who actually fit the right skills,

experience, and location.

So you're not just crossing your fingers.

In fact, while I've been talking 27 hires were made on indeed worldwide according to

indeed data, locked on Dodgers listeners get a $75 sponsored job credit to give your

post the boost that it deserves.

Go to indeed.com slash podcast to get started and to support our show.

Need to hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs.

Once again, visit indeed.com slash podcast to get that $75 sponsored job credit.

Thank you for making locked on Dodgers here for a listen of the day and thank you for

making locked on the number one sports podcast network.

Don't forget to check out the every day or club for ad free episodes and access to a group

chat with us on discord and other listeners over on the show tap the link in the show

notes or go to locked on Dodgers dot supercast dot com to join this community.

To answer that nobody wanted, but everybody, everyone needed and knew it was coming for

weeks.

We've all been reading between the lines now.

The lines are clear Blake snow is not going to be ready for opening day Dodgers manager

Dave Roberts.

He didn't sugar coded saying that the odds are probably zero and honestly, that's refreshing

right there because now isn't behind schedule by accident.

This right here is intentional restraint.

Steve situation as with mookie bets who took a week to get his first cactus league action

Travis after dealing with shoulder discomfort last year.

Snow that lingered before the season even started and the Dodgers are choosing patience

over panic.

Yeah, this doesn't really catch me by surprise that the second they said he was behind schedule

a couple of weeks ago, you knew that this was the inevitable conclusion of a statement

like that.

You don't say somebody's behind schedule if you expect them to catch up.

This was just softening the ground and now we know that he's going to miss some time.

For me, Harry just lands somewhere between not a big deal and something to keep your eye

on.

I think it's somewhere in there.

If I'm making the case for not a big deal, he started last season and then didn't pitch

for half the year and he was still brilliant by the time we got to the end of the season

anyway.

I think that that's probably somewhat the plan this year is get him ready for the end of

the season, the middle of the season whenever he's ready to go.

That's the, hey, everything's fine.

Yeah, I think things are fine, but I'm not quite sure what happens next is he pitched

very little last year and yet we're already behind again at the start of the next year.

That's the part and I know that he was, you know, he hammered the gas at the end of

the season and he was terrific.

Don't get me wrong.

He was really, really good, but it's not like he threw a million innings last year.

He really didn't.

He pitched a couple of times at the beginning of the year, didn't pick the ball up until

well into the second half and then was really good and very good to the playoffs.

And I know they leaned on him heavily in October, but it's not like the workload was some

extraordinary amount over six or seven months.

It was a relatively short period of time where they leaned on him and that that set him

back again.

Not great news, right?

Now, the good news is they have plenty of options to cover his innings between now and

whenever it is, he comes back, but this falls somewhere in the, yeah, that's not great.

It doesn't sink the Dodgers chances or anything like that.

I think it'll be all right, but it's awfully early to have this happen for a second or

call it a third time if you want.

Yeah, here's a deal.

He has been playing catch out there in Arizona, but there hasn't been any mound work.

No games, no shortcuts and that's the frustrating part when you remember that this isn't just

a great pitcher.

It's a $182 million arm that the Dodgers have right there, but this is where context matters

because when Snell did get healthy last year, he was excellent.

Do you remember that game one of the NLCS, those eight incredible innings that he gave the

Dodgers?

Those are the moments that the team has him in that rotation for because that's the domination

that you want him to be the best possible pitcher in October.

He was pushing it too hard last year to be ready for opening day.

He pitched the Dodgers first game state side in 2025 and then like you said, he had I

think one other start and then he was out for pretty much half the year.

We didn't see him until late last season and then you were able to see him do this thing.

And part of the equation to Travis is that they were pushing him in the World Series and

the NLCS.

They needed him to be the pitcher that they paid him a nearly $200 million contract

for it to come over to get that opt out in San Francisco to come to Los Angeles to be

a part of that rotation with Yamamoto, Wake last now with Otani.

And now it's like, okay, we pushed it too hard last year.

We know the arms that we have in this 26 man roster, the active one, the 40 man roster.

There's no need to push too hard right now and be here in March 27th and then have an

absence that's prolonged before having him back in September.

And I think they got lucky last year, Travis, where he hadn't played much.

And by the time the NLCS rolled around, he was dominant.

I rather him be in a rhythm.

And then when the playoffs roll around him just be in his natural state of A. I'm one

of the best pitchers in baseball.

Yeah, he didn't pitch much last year like he really didn't.

He pitched 61 regular season innings.

That's nothing.

He pitched 35 innings in the postseason.

And I understand that postseason innings are built a little different than regular season

innings to be sure.

But that's only 96 innings.

96 innings in near behind already to start the next season.

That's one of those.

Okay.

Again, it's not a five alarm fire, but that is a, that's unusual, I think.

Like, look at Yamamoto and I get it.

Not everybody is the same.

But you look at Yamamoto who went through the entire season, didn't miss a start, carried

the ball more than anybody in the postseason.

And he's over in Japan, get ready to pitch in competitive games in the WBC.

So something, something isn't adding up for Blake's snow as far as his health goes.

They can survive, you know, get him healthy is the number one priority and get him ready

to go.

But that is really kind of one of those.

Okay.

Like that.

For the first time, I think you can say, hey, let's, let's keep an eye on this and see

what's happening.

It's just not a lot of innings to be behind that laden's or that early, I should say,

in spring training.

Yeah.

Is it ideal?

Definitely.

No.

Is it survivable?

For this team?

Absolutely.

Travis, because you know that you're going to have Yoshinobu Yamamoto who is locked in.

He pitched three innings this past weekend out there in Arizona before heading out to Japan

for the World Baseball Classic.

You have, of course, Tyler Glass now, who seems to be in a good spot right now.

He's going to be a part of it.

But how early is it going to be available to pitch at least three to five innings?

We still don't know because unlike Yamamoto who's going to be pitching in the WBC, Otoni

won't.

And then you got Rocky Sasaki, you got Emma Chi and you got Gavin Stone, you got Justin

Robleski, you got River Ryan.

This is depth by design for this team to be able to go through a stretch without Blake's

now where with Blake's now, you're talking a man, you got a great potentially six man

rotation for the Dodgers without Blake's now, it's like, hey, we can still have a six or

seven man rotation if you want with the guys that you've been able to build throughout

your system and that we have been able to see throughout the last couple of years.

I'm excited to see Gavin Stone back getting more consistent playing the big leagues after

his surgery and missing all of 2025 and the chunk of 24 being able to be the leader for

the team in the innings, no innings in 25 now.

Let's see him back in 2026.

So this team Travis isn't built for April, it's built for October.

So that's where I'm like, okay, I'm a little bit more calm down knowing compared to last

year.

Maybe last year, I was a little bit more hesitant this year, I'm 100% okay with it.

No, he this is not this doesn't affect their day to day, their regular season really

at all.

But that's not the concern that could be like you said, there are plenty of guys that

can step in and take the ball if they need to and it's not just like you have a guy,

you have really good guys that can step in and cover the innings.

My concern doesn't lie in what do they do every fifth time through the rotation or even

it's, is he healthy?

Is he going to be healthy enough to be a regular contributor at the end of the line in the

middle of the season or is this constantly going to be something that you have to manage

and baby along the way just to make sure that he's as healthy as possible because those

are two different things.

If he's going to be a guy that goes out there every fifth or six day, great, but is he

going to be a guy more like, and I don't mean this in any negative way, but I think everybody

understand I got like Tyler Glassnell or you just never know when he's going to be available.

That when he's there, he's great that the glass now when he pitches, he almost always

pitches beautifully, he just doesn't pitch as much as most guys, he just misses a lot

of time.

So, which of these sort of guys is, is snow going to be?

I know that he wants the ball, I know that it'll go out there and compete for it, but if

he's not healthy, he's not healthy.

That's my concern is it innings, it's health.

And when you have two guys like that, that could be potentially an issue.

So hopefully, I'm going to look at it this way, Travis.

They're slow playing it this year because that they know that after 2026, they still have

three more years of Blake snow and they're hoping that those three years, 27, 28, 29,

he can actually be like, okay, if we take care of him this season, we saw what happened

last year.

Let's take care of him this year.

That way the next three, he can actually be a constant contributor in our rotation.

All right.

Coming up on Lockdown Dodgers, the Dodgers finally hit a speed bump in Cactus League play,

who struggled, who stood out, and why none of this is worth panicking over.

I'm very excited to shout out today's sponsor, MLB the show 26, because if you love baseball,

this game absolutely delivers.

It pulls you in and suddenly unhower disappears.

The gameplay is smoother.

The details are sharper and once you start a game, it's really hard to put the controller

down.

For me, it's the closest thing to being on the field without lacing up cleats.

Whether I'm grinding through a season, jumping into quick games or just trying to square

up that perfect pitch, it feels authentic every single time.

This isn't just another sports game, it's the one you keep coming back to.

If you're a gamer, a baseball fan, or just want to enjoy America's favorite pastime in

a new exciting way, you are going to love MLB the show 26, play as your favorite team

and franchise players and see if you have what it takes to win your own world series.

Visit MLBtheShow.com, slash Lockdown and use the code Lockdown to unlock a pack for use

in diamond dynasty, internet connection required.

Pre-order now, available March 17th in just two weeks on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and

X and Nintendo Switch.

Radity for everyone.

Water usually wins.

It rots wood in Terry's docks apart.

Unless you build with treks, treks marine grade decking is 100% submersible, built to resist

rod and salt and fresh water.

Water has met its match, treks decking, visit treks.com slash docks.

Don't forget to follow Lockdown Dodgers, not only on YouTube, but on X Instagram and

TikTok as well.

You can find Travis on social media at TravisRodgers on X and Instagram.

Meanwhile, I'm at Harry Ruiz on X at Harry underscore Ruiz on Instagram and at

Harry Ruiz underscore on TikTok.

A spring reality check and a quick reset.

After six straight wins, the open cactus league play the Dodgers finally blink.

Three losses in two days against the Giants, Rangers and Cubs and honestly good.

Friday's loss came with Yoshino Miyamoto going three innings, allowing two runs but flashing

command and strike out stuff before heading out to Japan versus San Francisco.

With no superstar line up behind them, which matters Travis, you're not going to get the

same results having at least three, four innings of your best players compared to not having

them at all.

It's spring training, Harry.

Yeah, it doesn't matter.

Everybody in one piece, everybody's healthy.

It's a success.

That's it.

The end of the day, whether this guy played or they did everybody walk off with

their own two feet.

Is everybody's arm feeling pretty good?

Yeah, it's great.

So when they were winning every night, it was, yeah, okay, they lose a bunch this weekend.

That's fine.

It doesn't really matter.

I just, I want to make sure that everybody's healthy.

I want to make sure that everybody looks right and that's what they got through the weekend.

So I'm still in a very good spot for this team.

Whoever watched the ending of Friday's show, when I said, I don't think they're going

to come back and defeat it by the time they were losing the third game in the role.

I'm like, man, did I just jinx them?

What happened?

Look, I got four fans going to the game.

Yeah, right?

No, but it was, it was cool to see.

Yamamoto, what I like about him is that he seems like, hey, man, this guy is somebody

that they got the Dodgers, got him on that long-term contract.

They Travis, they gave him the biggest contract ever for a pitcher without ever throwing an

inning in Major League Baseball, but you could see that he has that commitment to his

body, to the way that he works.

It was great to see that on Friday.

Now we're going to be able to see it on a bigger scale and seeing him go three innings,

it's like, hey, man, it's literally his second start in spring training while you've got

other players like Blake Snow trying to get on a mound to throw for the first time.

Yo, she's on three innings.

I'm not worried at all.

World Baseball Classic with him because of the type of commitment that we see from him.

Then on Saturday, split squad chaos against Texas, Andy Pahes, Kyle Tucker, got reps against

the Cubs, the Big Bats played.

Freddie Freeman will Smith, Max Muncie, Towsker, Hernandez, and the results just weren't

there.

They got one hit through all these five guys that I just brought up against the Cubs,

but that's spring.

They're going to have good days.

You're going to have bad days.

You're just getting ready and getting those eyes ready.

I was seeing an interesting stat that we're going to go in deep on tomorrow.

The Dodgers have the worst ABS system results so far.

And I was like, I was like, oh, that's interesting.

But even for this Travis for regular season, it's like get those eyes ready to know what

you're going to challenge, what you're not going to challenge.

Yeah.

No, that's an interesting topic.

I'm excited to talk about that.

That'll be good.

I want to go back to what you're talking about with Yamamoto.

I think you're spot on that they were like, Yamamoto was not an unknown commodity.

Everybody wanted him, right?

Everybody was willing to try to make a deal with him, but the Dodgers went above and beyond.

I think this is a great example of where the Dodgers economic might really kind of shines

through.

They were willing to do what you said, which is we will give you the largest contract

to any pitcher ever without ever having thrown a pitch in the major leagues.

It was a big looking back at it now.

It's a no brainer.

But at the time, it was like, OK, because sometimes the players from that league translate to

this league.

Sometimes they don't.

Sometimes there's something in between.

He has been so much better than anyone could have reasonably expected.

Because he's still getting started, right?

He is still learning the American major leagues.

He's only been in this league for two years, and he's already one of the best pitchers

in baseball.

He's shown to be really resilient and durable, incredibly competitive, incredibly professional.

So that he is as far along as he is already getting ready for the WBC, I think, shows a

lot of potential as just his demeanor for the season and his demeanor for that long-term

deal.

Those other guys getting off to a slow start, OK, whatever, like just getting Mookie back

out there.

Great.

That he's, you know, we talked about it last week.

Where was he?

Is he getting, you know, until you see somebody, it's always, they can tell you everything's

fine.

But like, can I see it for myself that we finally got to see him is really good news there.

But they're just crossed your fingers and toes and everything else that they stay healthy

through this tournament that they still healthy through spring training and that when

we, you know, we're inside the opening day of this month, it's getting closer and closer

and just stay healthy.

That's really all I pay attention to.

No doubt about it.

And look, Sunday was where we got balanced back from this team because Betz, he was able

to make a spring day view.

Even though he went hit list, he's scoring a freeman double in the first inning, getting

on base on a, on a fielders' choice.

And that's how spring lines up sometimes where it's like, OK, you don't get a hit, but

you don't get on base and then be able to run the bases.

He was actually really good at two outs, Freeman got that double and Bumuki, he was flying

on the bases, which is what we're expecting from a guy like Mookie Betz, especially on a

bounce back season.

He was chatting with Kristen on sports net LA and he looked really, really loose, really

cool.

And let's remember, he's about to have a baby very soon as well.

So there's going to be a time that he's going to be gone for a couple of days to be with

his wife and his kids, how it should be.

But so far, so good with Mookie Betz, they haven't rushed him at all.

And that's what we need him at 100%.

Sunday landed not had a rough outing, but the bullpen, they locked in Travis.

They didn't allow a single run after NAC allowed three in two third innings.

Yeah, the Mookie thing, I think you bring up a good point that he's able to run freely

and like, that's the kind of stuff that always makes you go, you know, like when you hit

the gas for the first time, right?

You go first to third and try to score from second base on a base head and that thing

that you can do sprints in the outfield, you can do the weight room, you can do the stretching

and all this stuff.

But when you really have to go the first time, that's always interesting that it came through

that.

It is really good news.

I know we've talked about this a lot the every day or certainly have heard both of us

mention this.

I think Mookie's at the top of the list of things that I mentioned to that to open the

season, right?

I just don't know what to expect from him offensively.

We know he can play shorts out.

Awesome.

He's really, really good there.

But is he going to be Mookie Betts with the bat in his hands?

Is he going to be Mookie Betts on the bases again?

Is he going to be Mookie Betts one of the scariest guys in the whole league again?

I certainly hope so, but coming off of last year where he was offensively kind of all over

the place, very inconsistent.

I'm not sure and I'm excited to see it.

I really want to know what he has.

No doubt about it.

And look, it's the thing that I feel that is maybe at the top of the list of a lot of

his fans will type a season as Mookie going to get.

I know spring training, the scores they don't matter, but just seeing that where the ball

was still in the air and Tim Neverd was like, okay, the ball drops and Neverd is like,

well, Mookie's already rounding third.

It's like, great.

That's something that you know that Mookie Betts is loose.

He's good.

And even though he didn't get a single hit, he got a base on a fielder's choice.

He was still able to score.

It's like, okay, the speed is there.

The defense was there first inning, bam, ball was getting bad his way.

So let's get Mookie into the level he needs to once opening day rolls around.

All right.

That'll do it for today's pod.

Thank you for making Lockdown Dodgers, your first assistant of the day.

And thank you for making Lockdown the number one sports podcast network.

We'll be back tomorrow.

We're talking a ABS system.

We're going to hear from Oro Hirschizer with a conversation that Travis Rogers had with

him a week and a half ago.

It's interesting.

And I was looking at those numbers.

I was like, damn, the Dodgers are minus eight when it comes to wins.

And losses is an ABS system.

I was like, is this actually going to be good for us?

We'll see.

Then look, spring to maybe this is what spring trainings for us to work out the bumps in the

ABS system because minus eights no good.

I don't like that at all.

I don't like it either.

But like I said, hopefully they fix it before the regular season starts.

If you never miss an episode, the every day or club is built for you.

Get Lockdown Dodgers at free plus members only discord access and more.

Head to Lockdown Dodgers dot supercast dot com to join the club.

For those of you on video, we sent you the first time for 24 seven national locked on

podcast network YouTube channel on audio.

Make sure you make your second listen locked on fantasy baseball as you gear up for the MLB

season.

Travis, fun way to kick off the week and man, it's crazy to say this month, the regular

season is going to kick off in WBC this week.

We got like, we got real games this week.

So it's, it's exciting.

We actually, what happens actually matters.

I can't wait.

I'm excited watching spring training games.

Now we got WBC games that actually count for those countries.

And then March 27th, yes, regular season games that go into standings.

We almost are hyped about it, almost here and indeed Travis.

We appreciate you riding with us until next time.

Keep it real.

Keep it dodge or blue.

Water usually wins.

It warps in Rott's wood.

It pulls it apart bored by bored.

Unless you build with treks.

Treks marine grade decking is 100% submersible for docs.

Built to last, it resists rot, warping, and decay and salt and fresh water.

For homeowners, that means care free days on the water, not constant maintenance.

For builders, it means trusted performance that minimizes callbacks.

Water has met its match, treks decking, performance engineered for your life outdoors.

Visit treks.com slash docs.

Liberty.

Liberty Mutual customizes your car and home insurance to save you money.

That's it.

That's the ad.

No bells and whistles.

No guys, I said no bells and whistles.

No.

Trambones are fun.

Visit LibertyMutual.com and make the switch today.

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.

Exfinity tech support?

How can I help?

I can't get Jurassic Park back online without-

Oh, you just need Exfinity.

Plug in your gateway and you're good.

All set.

Luckily, Exfinity has reliable, self-healing Wi-Fi that keeps you safe from threats.

You can even boost speeds to your most important devices.

Get reliable Wi-Fi and one price for five years.

Guaranteed.

Exfinity.

Imagine that.

Just Jurassic Park with Exfinity.

Restrictions apply, select plans only.