Michael Duarte | NBC LA Reporter

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That's BetterHelp H-E-L-P dot com slash positive. Welcome Michael Duarte of NBC LA. Glad to have you with us, as always.

I know you aren't feeling well, Michael, so thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Before Sunday night's loss to the Astros and extras, the Dodgers had won four in a row, so now four of five. They nearly sweep Houston. Do you feel like this is a turning point for them right now, or is it turning for them right now?

Yeah, Amy, great question, and you don't have to call me a chicken, but I think we'll be talking about bock, bock, bock. That bock in that series of game two when the Dodgers completed a four-run comeback and win on a game-winning bock, I think that was a very turning point for the season and the Dodgers. We might look back, you know, at the end of the year at this particular series at Chavez Arena against the Houston Astros. Obviously, all the emotions from 2017 World Series and the cheating scandal and everything that went on. This was the first time fans at a packed capacity could be in attendance in a game that the Astros were at Dodger Stadium, and I was there for the first two games of the series.

The boos were loud. They were non-stop. There was inflatable trash cans and the bleachers in the outfield, and I really think the emotion of this series, even though a lot of Dodger players on this current roster, you know, it's kind of a misfit of rookies and young players and veterans like David Peralta and Jason Hayward and Freddie Freeman, Mookie Bette, you know, some of those guys were not on the 2017 team, but everybody in baseball saw that scandal and saw what happened with the Astros and the lack of punishment for the players, and so I think this had a little bit of extra oomph for both teams, and I think the Dodgers taking this series could be a turning point for them. They've been up and down like a roller coaster ride this season. As you mentioned, they've been hot.

They've been cold. They were kind of cold coming into this series, and I think taking two or three for them right as they go on this long road trip I think is going to be very helpful and beneficial, and the most important thing, though, is what you mentioned, and I know what we'll get to, and that is they're finally seemingly to be getting healthy now at the right time. Julio Reyes made a rehab start on Sunday.

Max Muncie is turning a corner. He'll be back soon, so it looks like they're going to get some bullets here. Even with this stretch where they were backsliding and they're without their starting rotation piecing it together, they are now within three games of the top of the NL West, so Michael, big night for Freddie Freeman. I know he hasn't been a Dodger his entire career, but he is a future Hall of Famer. What has he meant to the Dodgers since he joined them, and now getting his 2,000th hit in a Dodgers uniform? Talking to Freddie Freeman the last couple days, he was 0 for 9 entering this game.

He wasn't sure if he was going to get it done. He told me his wife and his son, Charlie, were ragging on him. Can you please get it done today on Sunday before they go on the road on Tuesday because they don't want to travel with the Dodgers and hope he would do it? So it was very exciting for him to be able to get hit number 2,000 in front of his family, his grandfather, his father, obviously his wife, his children. It was very fitting for him to get it where he grew up playing in his backyard almost and in front of family and friends. And I believe, Amy, you have to correct me on this for the numbers, I believe he's the 7th active player to get 2,000 hits that's still playing, and he's the last Dodger to do it, in a Dodger uniform at least, since Adrian Gonzalez back in 2017. He's always said the Dodgers fans have kind of embraced him and his family since day one here, obviously the Freddie chants all through last season, his first season with the Dodgers. He said they made this an extra special moment for him on Sunday to get number 2,000.

You were so close, he's number six among active players to have hit number 2,000. I like the fact that you bring up his family because one of the reasons that he picked the Dodgers over staying with the Braves, he wanted to be able to play in front of family and know his dad was there tonight. So I can imagine it's special to him that his hopes and his expectations for going back to LA have actually been realized where his family is around, specifically his dad, to be part of this stage of his career. Yeah, I think you nailed it, you know, obviously it wasn't entirely his decision not to go back to the Braves, him and his agent played a little bit of poker with them, and former Dodger executive Alice Anthopoulos was the one who said, okay, we're moving on to Matt Olson, obviously, who I think is leading the National League in home runs. Freddie was kind of left out in the cold and making the decision at that point over multiple offers between the Red Sox, Toronto, the Yankees, I heard a lot of different teams were interested. He obviously chose to come back home to the Dodgers, and I think, you know, it may have stung leaving the Braves, leaving the team that drafted you and the only organization you've known, so I can understand how emotional that was, that attachment that Freddie Freeman had.

But I think as time goes on, I think we're seeing it, like he tells me stories when they go down and play the Padres. His dad drives him in the car down to San Diego, and they just have these heart-to-heart father-son talks on the drive. Sometimes even players carpool with them, like Mookie Betts or something, and they're all down there together, something he never got to have in Atlanta. Also, when they have, you know, a few days off or, you know, an all-star game off, last year, obviously, Freddie ended up coming back and playing for it, but he had told me where most people plan a trip to Cancun or Las Vegas, or they go on a quick three, four-day getaway, Freddie was like, I'm just gonna go in my backyard and hang out in the beach in Southern California, and that's something he used to do, you know, in Atlanta, if he didn't make it or he had a few days off, was come out here.

So now, you know, being able to stay home for these vacations and spend time with his kid is his time off. You know, when it's all said and done, he's really going to relish the decision to come back home and play here for these things I just mentioned that he never really got to have in Atlanta. We're so excited to spend a couple of minutes with our friend Michael Duarte from NBC LA covering this Dodgers-Astro series over the weekend, and a very interesting column, an opinion that he has posted too, which I have to ask him about, but that's your tease that's coming up here after hours on CBS Sports Radio. Four-fifths of the rotation, the starting rotation from opening day is currently injured. So Clayton Kershaw, of all people, is the one stalwart, pitching really well and is healthy, which I think is so great for him considering the stage he is in his career and all the injuries he's been through, but when is that rotation going to be healthy or mostly intact, Michael?

Yeah, you nailed it. It's very funny if you had said beginning of the year with all these players the Dodgers have that Clayton Kershaw would be the workhorse, the one that hasn't missed a start. I believe, you know, he's top five in the ERA, number one in the National League and wins, so he's in the Cy Young consideration right now early for the Dodgers, and I'm not sure if you would have thought that with his age, but you know, this is something I talked about earlier when it comes to Kershaw is that Kershaw was never, you know, even in his peak where he won the MVP in 2014, considered a guy that blew you away with his fastball, you know, like Jacob deGrom we talk about, or even Noah Syndergaard, a guy in the Dodgers who's struggling late in his career. Kershaw was always curveball, slider, he's now added a change up here late in his career, and some are like Greg Maddox and some of these players who had success later in the second half back end of their careers, the ability to paint the corners and use their secondary pitches give them longevity in this league, and I think that's what you're seeing from Clayton Kershaw.

I also saw a stat recently, over 51% of the pitchers in Major League Baseball went on the IL last year, that's over half, so at some point I think it's inevitable, Kershaw and, you know, maybe one of these guys in the rotation that we've seen already, four or five, go on the IL even if, you know, it's a mental health break as we just saw with one with one pitcher recently going on the IL with a mental health issue. So, you know, the Dodgers are finally getting hold, Tony Gonsalves came back recently, he's been pitching pretty good, obviously Julio Rios I mentioned made a rehab start on Sunday, it went well, so I expect him to be in the rotation in five days, and that's going to be a huge boost for the Dodgers. Another fun thing is Walker Bueller has been throwing bullpen sessions, a good friend of mine out in Arizona, he's going to be a long ways away from actually pitching on the mound at Dodger Stadium, but I don't think anybody expected he'd be able to be on the mound this season, and there's a chance that come September or the end of September, he could be coming starting or coming out of the bullpen and giving the Dodgers a few innings, that would be a huge boost, and then obviously the Dodgers have found something I think in two rookies, and that's in Bobby Miller and Emmett Sheehan. Bobby Miller, a guy who when the Dodgers drafted him in the first round of 2023, I thought he was very similar to Walker Bueller, throws a hundred miles per hour plus, and just has that swagger about him that Walker Bueller has now in his few starts here with the Dodgers, he kind of gets emotional, if things kind of don't go well, they can unravel quickly, but once he kind of learns from that and gets that veteran mentorship from guys like Clayton Kershaw and Walker Bueller and Julio Rios, I think he's going to do pretty well, so I think the Dodgers, once they get healthy and this pitching staff and rotation gets good, and since they're only three backs, they're in the race, I think they're the second wildcard team as of right now, I expect because they're in contention, Andrew Friedman, to make some moves to bolster that starting pitching and the bullpen at the trade deadline, which I think will only give this team an injection for the second half. So the Astros end up getting the go-ahead run in the 11th and avoiding the sweep on Sunday, but you mentioned the walk-off balk from Saturday, what was the reaction to that odd moment?

I mean, it was just strange, Michael. Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned, and I'll try not to go into a diatribe on this, but I have a family friend, a cousin of mine from Sicily, from Italy, who's going to film school here in LA, and he was living with me for a long time, so when he first arrived to check out the film school, this is years ago, I took him to a Dodger game, his first ever baseball game, and that game ended in a walk-off balk. It was Kike Hernandez dancing on third base, getting the balk to happen, and then scoring, and my friend said, what just happened? I don't understand.

What is this sport? How did they win? And I have to explain a walk-off balk to someone who I just had to explain the game of baseball just hours before. So it was one of those moments where I think fans were stunned.

It's not something you see very often in these situations. You don't see it called. I saw a lot of Houston Astros fans complaining that it wasn't a balk, but if you do watch it in slow motion, his back right leg buckles a little bit, and I think that's the appropriate call. Whether or not it should have been called, I guess, is at the discretion of the second base umpire, but it was a jarring moment, but watching Stanek just erupt after that on the mound, and he was cursing expletives at the Dodgers fans. They were booing him, trashing him. He gets ejected. Dusty Baker gets ejected.

This was the emotion that was talking about finally spilling over from both teams. Guys like Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, the carryovers from that 2017 Astros championship team, just were booed relentlessly all weekend long. Dodgers fans don't forget, and it's the same when the Minnesota Twins came to Dodgers Stadium earlier this year. They booed Carlos Correa relentlessly and chanted, cheater, cheater, cheater, all series long, and they did it again for these guys, and I think that gets to some of these Astros players, and I think I saw the emotions spill over in that game on Saturday, but like I mentioned, you know, coming back the way they did to steal that game and ultimately take the series and steal the series will be huge for them in the long run. Certainly we'll see what happens from this point forward, but the fact that they've got a veteran leader in Dave Roberts, they've got a bunch of guys with an experience on the roster, guys that are still spearheading this charge. Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Clayton Kershaw, we talked about.

They're not in bad shape and the division is still very much wide open. Michael Duarte is with us from NBC LA here on After Hours, CBS Sports Radio. I gotta ask because it's a huge topic in LA and certainly a huge topic around baseball, Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers, a match made in heaven.

That is the headline from a column that you wrote. Why, Michael? Yeah, it's a great question.

You know, this was something that I have been working on for a while, just why I think this is a good fit. It's no secret the Dodgers' admiration for Shohei Ohtani. They made calls at the trade deadline last year in case the Angels wanted to part with them. They made calls this offseason in case the Angels wanted to part with them.

Obviously, Artie Marino was selling the team at the time and firing Joe Madden as the manager. There was a lot of transition happening, and I think the Dodgers thought they might be able to pounce on that. And I think that as you read the column, if you go to NBC Los Angeles and read it, the Dodgers have been courting Shohei Ohtani for over 10 years, since he was 18 years old at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Japan. This was a guy they wanted to sign straight out of high school and bring him into the Dodgers system, but only as a batter or as a pitcher. And he wanted to play both two ways.

He wanted to be both. He wanted to be the Babe Ruth of baseball of the modern era. And the Dodgers didn't seem at that time like they were going to give him that opportunity. And obviously, the Nippon ham fighters in Japan gave him that opportunity. And baseball is better for it because now we get to see something that we've never seen before. A guy who's one of the best pitchers in the game on the mound, a Cy Young candidate, Cy Young finalist, and right now leading the entire league of baseball in almost every offensive category.

And so it's good that we get to see it. Now, when he did come over and was posted in 2018, the Dodgers were one of the finalists to sign him. But at the time, there was no designated hitter in the National League. And that was kind of a deal breaker for Ohtani, who wanted to be able to hit every single day and not necessarily wear himself out playing in the field.

Well, now that's changed because of the new rules in 2022. And so now it seems like it's a great fit. There's rumors that Shohei Ohtani doesn't like cold weather and doesn't want to play in a cold weather city. Obviously, that makes sense. He's kind of familiarized himself with the LA area.

So that makes sense. And the biggest thing is in his now five seasons, full seasons in baseball, he's never once made the playoffs. And that's with Mike Trout on his roster as his teammate.

The Dodgers have done so 10 straight years. And what prompted this article now was going up to Anaheim for that two-game series earlier this week and watching the Dodgers sweep and shut out the Angels, including the first time Ohtani ever took the mound to face the Dodgers on Wednesday night. And he pitched phenomenally. He only gave up one run, a home run, to Freddie Freeman, who we talked about, 12 strikeouts. He looked amazing.

He impressed everybody. But hopefully the Dodgers were hoping by beating the Angels, by holding them scoreless those two games, and by now beating them eight straight times, that they might have impressed them and made even a bolder statement, which is, we're better than your team. And if you want to win, if you want your legacy to be as maybe one of the greatest players of all time, you want to play in the playoffs, you want to play in a World Series, you want to win a championship, and you're better suited to do that with us. Obviously, we all know it's going to be a bidding war in the offseason.

He's going to be fetching $500, $600 million, I'm sure. But the Dodgers have the ability to pay for it. They didn't obviously go spend a lot of money this offseason. And I think it's because Otani is our number one target in free agency. And I also mentioned maybe they would like to try to trade for him in the next month or so. But I just don't think that's going to happen with the Angels playing well and not wanting to let him go. And Artie Marino notoriously doesn't like the Dodgers.

And I just don't see that happening. So I think the offseason this winter, there's going to be a bidding war. And I think the Dodgers are going to be ahead of the table for that.

Michael Duarte with us for just one more minute here on After Hours. So Michael, there's a lot going on with baseball, of course. Outside of baseball, what's the next big thing in LA sports?

That's a great question. You know, I'm getting a lot of questions right now about the Rams and are they going to exceed their six and a half potential projected win total this year? That's something coming up obviously with training camp going on. But soccer's kind of taken over a little bit here, Amy, with Lionel Messi announcing that he's coming to Inter Miami. Me personally, I'm a huge soccer fan and I'm a huge Messi fan.

I'm always a Messi over Ronaldo guy. So getting the chance to see Messi when he comes to play for Inter Miami against the LA FC or the LA Galaxy is going to be extremely exciting for a lot of people, I think, in the United States who maybe have never seen Messi play live to see him coming potentially into July or early August. And then you have the Gold Cup coming for soccer as well. And that'll be a chance to see Argentina and Messi again and a lot of other teams in this region.

So I'm looking excited to soccer and the start of the NFL season right now. Michael Duarte on a weekend in which he's not feeling well. And I'm not laughing for that reason. I'm laughing because you're like me.

Sickness is really something you just have to fight through and work. And we're always so happy to have you with us. But I do feel terribly that we're keeping you up late and making you work when probably sleep is what you need the most.

We're terrible. I'm supposed to be your friend. But I'm glad to see that you are rejuvenated from your little quick vacation and glad to see you hiking. I think the Sedona got the bug in you. Now you're all hiking all the time. And so I'm excited to see that I've been doing some hiking recently myself. So I'm excited. Good.

It is the season for that. So find Michael on Twitter at Michael J Duarte. He's one of our favorites.

And he's not just NBC LA for Dodgers and Lakers we talked about recently, but also Rams and other LA sports like soccer coming up. You're the best. Now you need to get some sleep and recover completely, please. Thanks. I'm going to drink some NyQuil and sign off. Thanks, baby.

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