The Dodgers suffered their franchise's first non-winning month in half a decade. They had some serious underperformers that led to this 12-12 month.
This June, for the first time in five seasons, the Dodgers played to an even or a losing record in a month. The last time the team had a non-winning month was May of 2018, where they finished 14-14 on the month.
To put it into perspective, Yasiel Puig was the right fielder, Kenley Jansen was the closer, and Matt Kemp was still on the roster. Two of these players are no longer in the MLB and Jansen has recorded over 139 saves since then.
To suffer a non-winning month, there have to be players to blame. But for such a talented team like the Dodgers, which players struggled enough to issue some blame for their 12-12 month?
Max Muncy seriously let the Dodgers down in June
Max Muncy has been a staple in the Dodgers' lineup for the last six years. Over this time, he has proven time and time again how valuable he is to Dave Roberts' team. But Muncy has seen some regression with his bat to ball skills in 2023. He's currently slashing .189/.322/.459 with walks contributing a ton to his OBP and home runs carrying his value as a player. Without those home runs, Muncy is a near unplayable option.
And this is exactly what happened in June. For the month of June, the Dodgers slugger put together an atrocious slash line of .111/.259/.222. In 45 at bats, he tallied just five hits and only one home run on the month. In comparison, Muncy hit six home runs in May and 11 home runs in April.
Max Muncy was in the lineup over and over again for the Dodgers and over and over again, he let them down. His month of June was definitely one to forget as he was possibly the worst hitter in Los Angeles for the month. While he has been a plus player on the year, Muncy was far from a plus player, helping the Dodgers suffer their first non-winning month in 5 years.
Caleb Ferguson suffered three losses in the month of June
Caleb Ferguson has been lights out for the Dodgers this year. He has allowed ten earned runs across 34 appearances in 30 innings pitched. But, sadly for the Dodgers, Ferguson allowed seven of those earned runs in four appearances, three innings, to start the month of June. The Dodgers have heavily relied on the lefty this season, obvious because of his 11 holds and two saves on the season, but he let them down to start the month of June.
To start the month of June, Caleb Ferguson had a 2.14 ERA on the season. After his fourth appearance of the month, including it being his third loss in four appearances, his ERA had skyrocketed to almost 4.00 on the season. He blew a save in a three-walk performance against the Cincinnati Reds on June 6th, resulting in his first loss of the season.
Since then, Ferguson has been lights out again. He's now thrown seven consecutive scoreless innings, going for six strikeouts, one walk, and two hits allowed to end the month. But, despite how good he has performed to end the month, he was given the loss in 25 percent of the Dodgers losses this month. Caleb Ferguson has a part in the blame for the Dodgers first non-winning month in five years.
Alex Vesia may have pitched himself out of a roster spot in June
The Dodgers bullpen has been far from a strength this season. They currently have the sixth worst bullpen ERA in the MLB with a 4.57 ERA this season. There are a ton of players to blame for such an abysmal statistic.
One of the players that has struggled, specifically in June, was Alex Vesia. Vesia appeared in eight games in June, allowing runs in four of those games. In those eight games, LA won just one game, losing the other seven. The lefty was handed the loss in two of those games.
Alex Vesia pitched seven innings during the month, allowing seven hits and five runs in that span. Dodgers fans were calling for him to be optioned for weeks, as the reliever was just not pitching up to the standard that's held for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After 22 days of struggling, the Dodgers finally optioned Alex Vesia to Triple-A. Vesia was solid in 2022, but 2023 has been the complete opposite. At just 27 years old, Vesia may be back in the big leagues in the future, but for the time being, his June performance pitched himself out of a roster spot as well as pitching the Dodgers to a 12-12 record.
