The scan that changed everything
Dave Roberts started with inflammation. Then he called it a strain. The MRI said otherwise. Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers’ 25-year-old catcher, has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, and Roberts confirmed it Tuesday on AM 570 KLAC. Los Angeles had already stashed him on the injured list the day before.
Rushing can keep swinging the bat through his rehab. Throwing is the problem. He won’t pick up a ball for another four to six weeks, and even that timeline feels optimistic.
“I don’t know what that looks like for the rest of the season and the playoffs,” Roberts said. Nobody in the clubhouse does.
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Suddenly there’s nobody to catch
The timing was almost merciful. Rushing went down the day before the trade deadline, so the front office had a window and it moved. Hunter Feduccia arrived Monday in a deal with Tampa Bay. Hours later, Ben Rortvedt came over from the Mets.
Depth was already thin. Will Smith, the everyday catcher, has been out since early June with neck discomfort and isn’t expected back until late August. That left Rortvedt starting Tuesday in his first big league game of the year. He went 0-for-2. The Dodgers lost 5-1 to the Cubs.
Five straight defeats now. It’s their ugliest stretch of the season, and the reigning champions picked a strange moment to wobble.
What the lineup loses
Rushing was producing. A .253 average, a .335 on-base mark, a .475 slugging line, 12 home runs and 36 RBI across 74 games. Pull that out of a lineup already scrambling behind the plate and the math gets uncomfortable fast.
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