Michael King, 2.63 ERA, one run, and the Dodgers got blanked. San Diego passed the test. This is Dodgers Daily, and somehow the Padres are 29-and-18 now — one game better than us after that 1-0 gut punch at Petco. Today we're looking at what that shutout actually says about this offense against real pitching, and with Lauer confirmed as a starter, who’s next in line behind the top five. Thirty-one runs against the Angels, zero against the Padres. Somebody explain that one to me like I'm five. This one's from MLB.com:
- Event: Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres - Status: Final - Score / Time: Los Angeles Dodgers (29-19) 0 - San Diego Padres (29-18) 1 (W) - Start Time: Tue, May 19, 1:40 AM UTC - Venue: Petco Park
The test we flagged on Sunday showed up exactly like this. Yamamoto against Michael King at Petco, and it ends 1-0 Padres. Dodgers drop to 29-19, San Diego goes to 29-18, so yeah — one game apart, and San Diego's got the better record. Thirty-one runs over the weekend, then zero. Zero. Against a team I've been waiting to bury all week. The offense didn't just cool off — it went dark the second the pitching got serious. To be clear, one loss to a real arm is not a crisis. King is sitting at a 2.63 ERA, so this was a legitimate pitcher on a legitimate team, not some Angels bullpen audition. What it does tell you is that the 31-run weekend was at least partly opponent-dependent. Worth saying out loud. And now San Diego has the better record. I spent two episodes setting up the schadenfreude moment — Sasaki looked great, Ohtani was clicking — and the Padres still walked out of Petco with a better record than us. That hits in a very specific pre-2020 way. This one's from RotoWire:
Lauer was dealt from the Blue Jays to the Dodgers on Sunday for cash considerations, and while it initially sounded as though his new club would deploy him out of the bullpen, general manager Brandon Gomes clarified Monday that the team intends to utilize him in a starting role as part of a six-man rotation.
Following up on yesterday's Lauer move — Brandon Gomes told RotoWire on Monday that he's going into a six-man rotation, not the bullpen. And Katie Woo at The Athletic says he could slot in after this road trip. So he's eating actual rotation innings. Great, love the clarity — but we just got shut out 1-0 by San Diego, and now the big conversation is the sixth starter? The two things are connected, Joey. If Lauer's starting, he's above Ryan and Freeland on the depth ladder — and that makes the bullpen behind him thinner on paper. That's the real question after today, not a separate one. Sure, but River Ryan is back in OKC, Freeland's back in OKC — fine, depth-on-paper stuff. The Padres held us to zero runs tonight. The ladder doesn't matter if the offense isn't climbing anything. Okay, so the Dodgers just picked up Eric Lauer, River Ryan is hurt with no timetable, and they've got a pile of OKC arms on standby. Who's actually next if one of the big five goes down, and what tells us the front office would trust any of them with a real job? All right, let's build the ladder. At the top, the core five — Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, Sasaki — are the job, full stop, per every bit of reporting going into 2026. Below that, Emmet Sheehan was competing with River Ryan this spring to round out or back up the group, and Ryan was genuinely impressive — a 1.86 ERA through four Cactus League outings, with no real rust after Tommy John, per MLB.com. Then he tweaked his hamstring at Triple-A Oklahoma City, and Brandon Gomes was pretty explicit: no timetable, and they are not rushing him back just to label him a four-inning option. So Ryan is off the depth chart for now, and that opens the door Lauer just walked through. The Dodgers got Lauer from Toronto on May 18th, with the Blue Jays eating about $2.5 million of his salary, so L.A. is only on the hook for roughly $600K above league minimum — basically a free look at a veteran arm who can start or swing. After that, MLB.com pointed to an OKC wave — Jackson Ferris, Christian Zazueta, Marlon Nieves, Adam Serwinowski — as the next tier, even if none of them are Top 100 guys right now. The Dodgers used 14 different starters last season, so this pipeline gets tested every year whether they want it to or not. The cost on Lauer is basically nothing, so he feels more like a bridge than a real answer. What would actually have to happen for Gomes and the front office to give one of those OKC prospects a real rotation role? Historically, it's simple: injuries pile up fast enough that there's no veteran buffer left, which is exactly how Ryan got his 2024 debut in the first place. Watch Lauer's first two or three outings — if he's stretched out as a starter and holding his own, the team buys time for Ryan's hamstring to heal; if Lauer struggles or another starter lands on the IL, a Ferris or Zazueta gets the call earlier than anybody planned. Gomes has made it clear they won't force Ryan back, so the prospect pipeline isn't a last resort anymore — it's the contingency plan. Here's Emil Morales at Dodgers Digest:
Lindsey’s season started with a rehab assignment, where he homered twice in a handful of games in Arizona. He joined Ontario last week and picked up where he left off, tripling in his debut, then doubling and homering in his second game. Overall he batted .500 last week with five extra base hits in four games.
Before we spiral too far into the 1-0 loss, there’s a Dodgers Digest prospect note worth filing. Freeland and River Ryan both got back to OKC this week, so the rotation depth ladder that’s been theoretical all month finally has some actual rungs. Sure, and Kellon Lindsey is batting .500 with five extra-base hits in four games at Ontario — which, fine, great, love that — but none of those guys were available last night when Michael King carved us up for nine innings. That's fair, but the Ryan-Freeland piece is the one that actually ties to today. Gomes confirmed Lauer's a starter, so he's above those two on the depth chart now. If anything touches the top five, the order of who comes up matters. And right now we've got sourced data on who's actually pitching well down there. I don't disagree on the ladder. I'm just saying Lindsey's got five extra-base hits in four games and Emil Morales is apparently close to leaving the park, and the guy who mattered yesterday had a 2.63 ERA while our offense put up a zero. The farm can wait a day. If you like keeping up with L.A. sports day by day, check out Angel City Daily Podcast — a daily ACFC supporter briefing with match reaction, NWSL standings, roster moves, women's soccer in Los Angeles, and supporter buzz. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
You'll find links to every story we mentioned today in the show notes, so if something caught your ear, you can dig in a little deeper there.
That's Dodgers Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.