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The Dodgers kicked off the second half with a win in the Bronx, powered by Roki Sasaki on the mound and Max Muncy at the plate, per MLB.com staff. After all the All-Star Game fanfare and the Ohtani knee chatter, this was a clean, businesslike start to what should be a fascinating stretch run.

Sasaki continues to look like the pitcher we all hoped he’d become when he signed with the Dodgers. The 24-year-old right-hander came over from the Chiba Lotte Marines with enormous expectations — a triple-digit fastball, a devastating splitter, and the kind of poise that belies his age. After a debut season where he was managed carefully through an innings ramp-up, 2026 has been about Sasaki establishing himself as a frontline starter in the deepest rotation in baseball. Getting a strong outing from him right out of the break, on the road, against a Yankees lineup that’s been one of the best in the American League — that’s exactly the kind of performance that builds confidence heading into the trade deadline stretch. We know the Dodgers have been linked to adding another arm (the Skubal talk isn’t going away), but starts like this from Sasaki remind you that the internal options are pretty formidable already.

Muncy, meanwhile, did what Muncy does when he’s locked in — drove the ball and came through in a big spot. The veteran first baseman and third baseman has been a fixture of this Dodgers core for years now, dating back to his breakout 2018 season when he slugged 35 home runs seemingly out of nowhere. He’s dealt with injuries and inconsistency at times (the 2023 UCL tear was rough), but when Muncy is seeing the ball well, he changes the complexion of the lineup. His ability to work counts, draw walks, and punish mistakes makes him a different kind of threat than the Dodgers’ other big bats. Having him productive alongside Ohtani, Freeman, and Betts gives Andrew Friedman’s group real depth from both sides of the plate.

Getting a win in the Bronx to start the second half matters more for tone than for the standings. This is a Dodgers team that went into the break on a high — Bellinger winning All-Star Game MVP, Freeman rallying the NL clubhouse — and they picked up right where that energy left off. The Yankees series is always a measuring-stick event, and taking the opener says something about where this club’s head is at.

I like the way this team is playing right now. The rotation has options, the lineup has depth, and the confidence level is high. The trade deadline is still a couple weeks away, and we’ll see what moves the front office makes, but this roster as currently constructed just went into one of the toughest road environments in baseball and took care of business. That’s what good teams do.

Source(s): MLB.com Staff (MLB.com) | First reported: July 18, 2026 2:11 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers