3 takeaways from Dodgers' season-opening set

This story was excerpted from Juan Toribio's Dodgers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SEOUL -- What a week it was in South Korea.

The experience of playing regular-season games in South Korea for the first time was certainly memorable for the players, staff and the baseball fans in Asia. The atmosphere inside Gocheok Sky Dome was unique and one to remember.

Off the field, of course, the Dodgers did have to navigate through some distractions. There was getting adjusted to a time zone on the other side of the world, which naturally affects sleep, plus getting to know a different culture. Then, there was the reported situation surrounding Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, which resulted in Mizuhara’s firing before the second game.

The Dodgers declined to say much about the situation and manager Dave Roberts insisted there was never any consideration to Ohtani not being in the lineup against the Padres. Ohtani declined to comment after the game.

Anyway, with the team landing back in Los Angeles early Friday morning and the regular season soon to be in full swing, let’s take a look at a couple takeaways from the Dodgers’ two-game series against the Padres, which ended in a split.

Betts is ready to lead
Ohtani is the Dodgers’ new shiny toy, but it was Betts who led the charge against the Padres, and it’s been the 2023 National League Most Valuable Player runner-up who has shown the most focus on the roster since the start of the spring.

Betts went 6-for-9 with a home run and seven RBIs in the two-game set, reaching base safely in eight of his 11 plate appearances. From the moment Betts got to Spring Training in Arizona, he has looked like a player determined to make a significant impact this season.

That became especially clear midway through spring when Los Angeles made a defensive shift in the middle of the diamond, moving Betts to shortstop and Gavin Lux to second base. Since the move, Betts has had some good days and he’s had some bad days. But through two regular-season games, Betts has more than held his own.

There’s a long way to go, but Betts is on a mission to show everyone why he’s one of the best players in the world.

“This is what I expect of myself,” Betts said after Thursday’s 15-11 loss. “I hold myself to a very high standard. I did OK. I missed a couple balls today that I need to clean up, but I expect greatness out of myself.”

Too early to panic with Yamamoto?
The reality is that there was always going to be a lot of skepticism around Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That’s just what comes with signing the biggest contract for a pitcher in Major League history despite not throwing a pitch in the Majors prior to Thursday’s game.

Yamamoto, of course, didn’t do himself any favors in his Major League debut, allowing five runs on four hits and completing only one inning. That said, it was Yamamoto’s first career start in the Majors. The transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league to the Majors does take some time.

The Dodgers continue to believe in Yamamoto, and the right-hander does deserve some time to prove them right.

“I feel regret that I just couldn’t keep the team in the game from the get-go,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonado. “So I do feel a responsibility for it. Like I said, I just have to get ready for the next outing.”

Infield defense remains a big concern
The biggest on-field question mark Los Angeles faced this spring was its infield defense. Lux was going to get the first crack at handling shortstop on an everyday basis, but some throwing woes early in spring forced the Dodgers to flip their middle infielders.

Betts and Lux actually turned in solid defensive efforts in both games against the Padres. The same can’t be said for Max Muncy, who came into camp in much better shape and had strong defensive performances in Cactus League play and in the two exhibition games in Seoul.

Muncy struggled mightily on Thursday, however, committing two errors that resulted in runs for the Padres. The Dodgers’ third baseman also had a couple of other shaky plays over the past two games. Lux, on the other hand, quieted some of the noise that built throughout the spring, consistently making strong throws to first base.

As good as Los Angeles’ lineup will be this season, the team is built on run prevention. In order to maximize that, the Dodgers will have to be much better defensively, particularly in the infield.

Roberts put it simply: “Defensively, we weren’t good either.”