Dodger Blue Dream

The dog days of August are here. As we take stock of where this billion-dollar Dodgers team is at, we find we've got... first-place problems. With chef, lifelong Dodger fan, and friend Wesley Avila, and Fabain Ardaya of The Athletic.

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At Dodger stadium on Monday, we saw an ovation to remember for the Dodgers' firstbaseman, Freddie Freeman, as he returned from caring for his 3-year-old son Maximus, who had been stricken with a rare illness 10 days earlier.

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This week is an inflection point in the Dodgers 2024 season — especially for our starting pitching — in a year where we have seen many rookies take the mound.

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A long-distance podcast portrait of the fabulous and famously friendly firstbaseman, Freddie Freeman. In 5 parts.

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A listener submits a question — "Is Shohei Ohtani holding his breath when he swings?" — and we answer.

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Shohei Ohtani is the first player to both pitch and hit simultaneously at the Major League level since Babe Ruth. But this year, Shohei is not pitching. What is Shohei capable of when he puts down the ball and the mitt, and focuses instead on the stick?

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On Father's Day at Dodger Stadium, the baseball gods appeared out of a cloudless Los Angeles sky, and struck down one of our best player with a ruthless blow. A companion piece to our previous episode, "Mookie's Best."

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In his quest to become "a legend in the game," Mookie Betts, the Dodgers dapper and diminuitive leadoff man, attempts the impossible: playing shortstop at the professional level for the first time, at the age of 31.

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A 37-page federal criminal complaint answers questions about how Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter, allegedly stole $16 million from Ohtani to pay debts Mizuhara had accrued with an allegedly illegal bookmaker.

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The Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, after he allegedly steals millions of dollars from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts to a bookmaker in Orange County, who is now federal investigation for illegal gambling.

PARTIAL SOURCE LIST:

• ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39784809/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-mizuhara-theft-line
• ESPN: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39827116/rob-manfred-hopes-shohei-ohtani-investigation-takes-short
• Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-27/how-could-ohtanis-translater-pull-off-alleged-gambling-heist-with-no-red-flags
• Los Angeles Times: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-28/shohei-ohtani-sports-betting-investigation-dodgers-yasiel-puig
• The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/5364216/2024/03/23/shohei-ohtani-ippei-mizuhara-biography-inaccuracies/?source=user_shared_article
• The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/5375358/2024/04/01/mlb-ohtani-mizuhara-scandal-illegal-gambling/
• The Athletic: https://theathletic.com/5361794/2024/03/26/shohei-ohtani-espn-media-gambling/?access_token=11093551&redirected=1
• Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/03/21/sports-gambling-scandals-legalization-00148243

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