Police: Nashville shooter bought 7 guns before school attack

• March 28, 2023

By JONATHAN MATTISE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The shooter who killed three students and three staff members at a Christian school in Nashville legally bought seven weapons in recent years and hid the guns from their parents before carrying out the attack by firing indiscriminately at victims and spraying gunfire through doors and windows, police said Tuesday.

The violence Monday at The Covenant School was the latest school shooting to roil the nation and was planned carefully. The shooter had drawn a detailed map of the school, including potential entry points, and conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre, authorities said.

The suspect, Audrey Hale, 28, was a former student at the school. Hale did not target specific victims — among them three 9-year-olds and the head of the school — but did target “this school, this church building,” police spokesperson Don Aaron said at a news conference Tuesday.

Hale was under a doctor’s care for an undisclosed emotional disorder and was not known to police before the attack, Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said at the news conference.

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If police had been told that Hale was suicidal or homicidal, “then we would have tried to get those weapons,” Drake said. “But as it stands, we had absolutely no idea who this person was or if (Hale) even existed.”

Hale legally bought seven firearms from five local gun stores, Drake said. Three of them were used in Monday’s shooting.

Hale’s parents believed their child had sold one gun and did not own any others, Drake said, adding that Hale “had been hiding several weapons within the house.”

Hale’s motive is unknown, Drake said. In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Drake said investigators don’t know what drove Hale but believe the shooter had “some resentment for having to go to that school.”

Drake, at Tuesday’s news conference, described “several different writings by Hale” that mention other locations and The Covenant School. There also was a map of the school and a drawing about how Hale would potentially enter the school.

“There’s quite a bit of writing to it,” he said.

Police have released videos of the shooting, including edited surveillance footage that shows the shooter’s car driving up to the school, glass doors being shot out and the shooter ducking through one of them.

Additional video, from Officer Rex Engelbert’s bodycam, shows a woman greeting police outside as they arrive at The Covenant School on Monday and telling them that all the children were locked down, “but we have two kids that we don’t know where they are.”

The woman then directs officers to Fellowship Hall and says people inside had just heard gunshots. Three officers, including Engelbert, search rooms one by one, holding rifles and announcing themselves as police.

The video shows officers climbing stairs to the second floor and entering a lobby area, followed by a barrage of gunfire and an officer yelling twice: “Get your hands away from the gun.” Then the shooter is shown motionless on the floor.

Police identified Engelbert, a four-year member of the force, and Michael Collazo, a nine-year member, as the officers who fatally shot Hale.

Aaron said there were no police officers present or assigned to the school at the time of the shooting because it is a church-run school.

Police response times to school shootings have come under greater scrutiny after the attack in Uvalde, Texas, in which 70 minutes passed before law enforcement stormed the classroom. In Nashville, police have said 14 minutes passed from the initial call to when the suspect was killed, but they have not said how long it took them to arrive.

Surveillance video shows a time stamp of just before 10:11 a.m., when the attacker shot out the doors. Police said they got the call about a shooter at 10:13 a.m. but have not said precisely what time they arrived, and the edited bodycam footage didn’t include time stamps. A police spokesperson didn’t respond to an email Tuesday asking when they arrived or whether any version of the video includes time stamps.

During the news conference, Drake did not answer a question directly about how many minutes it took police to arrive. At about 10:24 a.m., 11 minutes after the call was received, officers engaged the suspect, he said.

“There were police cars that had been hit by gunfire. As officers were approaching the building, there was gunfire going off,” Drake said.

“We feel, our response right now, from what I’ve seen, I don’t have a particular problem with it. But we always want to get better. We always want to get there in two or three minutes,” he said, adding that traffic was “locked down” at the time.

Traffic was indeed stopped along a nearby two-lane road with a turning lane as police tried to weave their way to the school.

Police have given unclear information on Hale’s gender. For hours Monday, police identified the shooter as a woman. Later in the day, the police chief said Hale was transgender. After the news conference, Aaron declined to elaborate on how Hale identified.

In an email Tuesday, police spokesperson Kristin Mumford said Hale “was assigned female at birth. Hale did use male pronouns on a social media profile.” Later Tuesday, at the news conference, Drake referred to Hale with female pronouns.

Authorities identified the dead children as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. The adults were Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.

The website of The Covenant School, a Presbyterian school founded in 2001, lists a Katherine Koonce as the head of the school. Her LinkedIn profile says she has led the school since July 2016. Peak was a substitute teacher, and Hill was a custodian, according to investigators.

The Covenant School, founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, is in the affluent Green Hills neighborhood just south of downtown Nashville. The school has about 200 students from preschool through sixth grade, as well as roughly 50 staff members.

President Joe Biden said he had spoken to the police chief, mayor and senators in Tennessee. He pleaded with Congress to pass stronger gun safety laws, including a ban on “assault weapons.”

“The Congress has to act,” Biden said. “The majority of the American people think having assault weapons is bizarre, it’s a crazy idea. They’re against that.”

Before Monday’s violence in Nashville, there had been seven mass killings at K-12 schools since 2006 in which four or more people were killed within a 24-hour period, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. In all of them, the shooters were males.

The database does not include school shootings in which fewer than four people were killed, which have become far more common in recent years. Just last week alone, for example, school shootings happened in Denver and the Dallas area within two days of each other.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie in Richmond, Virginia, John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles.

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​ Orange County Register 

Seven dead, dozens missing in Ecuador landslide

• March 28, 2023

By Patricia Oleas and Cesar Olmos | Associated Press

ALAUSI, Ecuador — A huge landslide swept over an Andean community in central Ecuador, burying dozens of homes, killing at least seven people and sending rescuers on a frantic search for survivors, authorities said Monday.

Earlier in the day, officials had reported 16 deaths, but President Guillermo Lasso put the confirmed toll at seven as he arrived Monday night at the scene of the disaster in Alausí, about 137 miles south of the capital, Quito. Officials also raised the number of people reported missing to 62.

Lasso lamented the tragedy and promised people in the town that “we will continue working” on the search effort.

Ecuador’s Risk Management Secretariat said more than 30 people were rescued after the mountainside collapsed around 10 p.m. Sunday. It said 23 people were injured.

“My mother is buried” under the mud, said Luis Ángel González, 58, who also lost other family members Sunday. “I am so sad, devastated. There is nothing here, no houses, no anything. We are homeless (and) without family.”

The risk management agency estimated 500 people and 163 homes were affected by the disaster, which also destroyed a portion of the Pan-American Highway.

The governor of Chimborazo, Ivan Vinueza, told The Associated Press that some of the injured were taken to area hospitals. He said officials had urged people to evacuate the area after landslides and cracks began to develop about two months ago. Some followed the advice, and by Saturday, as tremors intensified, others fled.

Area residents told local media they heard tremors on the mountain before the landslide, which was estimated to be about 150 meters (490 feet) wide and nearly a half mile (700 meters) long. It swept away trees, homes and other buildings. More than fifty houses were buried under tons of mud of debris.

The emergency response agency said 60% of potable water service in the area was affected by the landslide. The communication’s office of the presidential office said some schools would be switching to online classes.

Firefighters from a half dozen cities were dispatched to the area to help. Rescuers focused on the flanks of the landslide where they found traces and debris of houses.

Rescuer and paramedic Alberto Escobar said it was unlikely more survivors would be found because of the time that had elapsed.

He said the search would continue as long as it did not rain.

Video from cameras connected to the country’s emergency service network showed people fleeing their homes with help from neighbors. It also showed people transporting appliances and other belongings in vehicles.

Survivors, many housed in temporary shelters, cried over their misfortune.

Among them was the Zuña family, who were staying at the Iglesia Matriz de Alausí, where rooms for catechism or parish meetings were adapted with bunk beds days ago after authorities declared an emergency in the area due to the risk of landslides.

Sonia Guadalupe Zuña said her mother was reluctant to leave what they had built over the years.

“We went to the shelter, but my mother didn’t want to,” Zuña said. “Later, my daughter went to convince her. When they walked along the rails, everything collapsed. They arrived covered in dirt and crying.”

Save for the clothes they had on, Zuña’s family lost everything.

“I don’t know where, but we’re all leaving,” she said crying. “My parents taught us that by working hard, you get material things, but being together is priceless.”

Associated Press writers Gonzalo Solano in Quito and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

Coachella 2023: The Glitch Mob, Disco Wrek, Mr. Carmack to play the Do Lab

• March 28, 2023

The Do Lab, the famous electronic and house music and arts stage located inside the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, has revealed its lineup for the two-weekend affair taking over the Empire Polo Club in Indio April 14-16 and April 21-23.

It includes more than 50 acts and features Do Lab veterans The Glitch Mob, Australian duo Flight Facilities, the new project of Party Favor & Baauer aka Dylan & Harry, and the mashup of Grammy-nominated artists A-Trak and Dave 1 under the moniker The Brothers Macklovitch.

The Do Lab stage has been an intricate part of Coachella for the past 16 years and 2023 also marks the 20th anniversary of Lightning in a Bottle, the boutique festival that puts on the stage with the immersive art leaders Do Lab. The stage is known for its interactive crowd, colorful structures, electronic beats and occasional aerial dancers gliding above the crowd.

Surprise guests are also expected each weekend. Previous surprises have included sets by Diplo, Skream, Subtronics, Dom Dolla, John Summit, Madeon, SG Lewis and DJ Hanzel.

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The lineup for weekend one includes ALUNA, Andreas One, BAMBII, Bora Uzer, Carlita, Carré b2b Samwise, Daily Bread, DJ Tennis, Dylan & Harry (Party Favor & Baauer), Elif, Flight Facilities, Franky Wah, Henry Pope, Kasablanca, KIMONOS, Little Dinosaur, Maria Tambien, Mild Minds, Miss Javi, Mr. Carmack, Phantoms, SOHMI, The Brothers Macklovitch, The Glitch Mob and Whipped Cream.

Weekend two will be A Hundred Drums, Ali Farahani b2b Patrik Khach, Arodes, Cloonee, DEVAULT, Disco Wrek (Disco Lines b2b Ship Wrek), DJ Susan, Elephant Heart, Emmit Fenn, Flamingosis, Giolì & Assia, Hank K, HOLLY b2b Machinedrum, it’s murph, Jo Jones, Little Foot, Maddy O’Neal, Michaël Brun, Mikey Lion, ODD MOB, Of The Trees, PARALEVEN, Patricio, SYREETA and The Funk Hunters.

​ Orange County Register 

LA-Orange County homebuying slumps 36% to slowest February on record

• March 28, 2023

Homebuying’s slump in Los Angeles and Orange counties pushed sales down 36% in a year to the slowest February on record.

Sales of 4,907 homes in the two counties were down 2,765 from February 2022, according to data from CoreLogic.

So, just how slow is that?

It was the slowest February for sales in records dating to 1988.
Third lowest sales total for any month.
The year’s percentage sales drop ranked second-largest over 35 years.
It’s 41% below the average February sales pace dating to 1988.

Surging mortgage rates cut buying power by 25% in a year, making Southern California’s high home prices even more unaffordable. Economic skittishness and soaring inflation didn’t help. In the six-county Southern California region, sales fell 38% in the past year to 11,068. The median sales price fell 0.3% to $690,000.

Purchasing pause

Los Angeles County had 3,392 closings, up 10% in a month but 38% lower in a year. Orange County had 1,515 sales – up 17% in a month but 31% lower in a year.

And consider how prices moved.

In Los Angeles County, the $765,000 median was up 0.3% in a month, but it’s 4% lower in a year. It’s also 12% off the $865,000 record high set in April 2022.

Orange County’s $957,750 median was up 0.8% in a month, but it’s 2% lower in a year. It’s also 9% off the $1,054,000 peak of May 2022.

Payment pain

Pricier financing is clearly a culprit: The 30-year mortgage averaged 6.3% in February vs. 3.8% 12 months earlier.

My trusty spreadsheet tells me Los Angeles County buyers got an estimated house payment that’s 27% pricier – $3,772 per month on the $765,000 median vs. $2,968 on a year ago’s $800,000 home. And that assumes having $153,000 for a 20% downpayment.

In Orange County, buyers got a payment that’s 30% higher – $4,723 monthly on the $957,750 median vs. $3,635 on a year ago’s $980,000 home. The downpayment was $191,550 or 20%.

Single-family homes

Sales: Los Angeles County’s 2,344 transactions were up 4% in a month but 36% lower in a year. Orange County’s 922 closings were up 11% in a month and 30% lower in a year.

Prices: Los Angeles County’s $830,000 median was up 4% in a month but 4% lower in a year. Orange County’s $1,070,000 median was down 3% in a month and 8% lower in a year.

Condos

Sales: In Los Angeles County, 828 units sold —  up 26% in a month and 41% lower in a year. In Orange County, 430 sold —  up 22% in a month and 36% lower in a year.

Prices: Los Angeles County’s $637,500 median was up 2% in a month and 3% lower in a year. Orange County’s $725,000 median was up 14% in a month and 1% higher in a year.

New homes

Sales: Los Angeles County builder sold 160 units —  up 31% in a month but 45% lower in a year. Orange County had 163 new residences sold —  up 48% in a month but 21% lower in a year.

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Prices: Los Angeles County’s $883,750 new-home median was down 1% in a month but 5% higher in a year. Orange County’s $1,236,000 median was down 3% in a month but 30% higher in a year.

Builder share: In Los Angeles County, new homes were 4.7% of all closings last month compared to 5.3% 12 months earlier. Orange County’s 10.8% share last month compares to 9.4% 12 months earlier.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Who was uphill? Paltrow trial spotlights skier code

• March 28, 2023

By Christopher Weber and Sam Metz | Associated Press

PARK CITY, Utah — Skiers have likely noticed signs at mountain resorts across the country saying, “Know the code.” They refer to universal rules of conduct that apply to both skiers and snowboarders — people who partake in inherently risky snow sports that involve navigating down crowded slopes, often at high speeds.

But whether they actually understand the code is another question. For those unfamiliar with snow sports, it’s likely something they’ve never heard of.

That’s all changing as actor Gwyneth Paltrow’s highly publicized ski collision trial is live-streamed from the courtroom. The actor-turned-lifestyle-influencer was accused of crashing into a fellow skier during a 2016 family trip to the upscale, skiers-only Deer Valley Resort in Utah.

After initially suing Paltrow for $3.1 million, retired optometrist Terry Sanderson is now suing for at least $300,000.

The celebrity trial is shining a spotlight on the unspoken rules that govern behavior on the slopes. Testimony over the last six days has repeatedly touched on skier’s etiquette — especially sharing contact information after a collision, and ski turn radiuses — in what experts have said is the most high-profile ski collision trial in recent history.

There are about 100 code-related lawsuits playing out now outside the spotlight, but most cases are settled before going to trial.

Throughout the trial, the word “uphill” has emerged as synonymous with “guilty,” as attorneys have focused on one of the code’s main tenets: The skier who is downhill or ahead on a slope has the right of way. “You must avoid them,” the code instructs uphill skiers.

Rather than focus solely on the question of who hit who, attorneys for both sides have questioned nearly every witness — from Paltrow’s private ski instructors to Sanderson’s doctors — about who was downhill at the time of the collision.

The question has become a focal point of the trial, as both sides call legions of family members, friends and doctors to testify in Park City — the posh Rocky Mountain resort town that draws a throng of celebrities each year for the Sundance Film Festival.

In the courtroom, attorneys have used the term “downhill” hundreds of times each day to try to persuade the jury that the opposing side represents the skier who was uphill and to blame.

Paltrow’s legal team has invested heavily in convincing the jury that she was downhill when the crash happened, even commissioning artists to render their client’s version of events with multiple, advanced animations.

Because no video footage of the collision was included as evidence, the recollections of a ski buddy of Sanderson’s who claimed last week to be the collision’s sole eyewitness has become a sticking point for Paltrow’s team.

Over objections from Sanderson’s attorneys, the court has allowed Paltrow’s team to play three of the seven high-resolution animations on a projector positioned between witnesses and the jury box — showing the eyeball-like prunes of Deer Valley’s aspen trees, the ski coats of Paltrow’s children and groomed snow on Bandana, the beginner run where Sanderson and Paltrow crashed.

Irving Scher, a biomechanical engineer hired by Paltrow’s defense team, used a dry-erase marker to draw stick figures and line graphs, and to jot down equations for force and torque to argue that science supported Paltrow’s claim that she was uphill when the collision began.

“Ms. Paltrow’s version of events is consistent with the laws of physics and how people move and rotate,” Scher testified Tuesday.

In an equally theatrical display last week, Sanderson’s lawyers tried to rope Paltrow into a reenactment of events to poke holes in her claim that Sanderson ran into her from behind — yet ended up on top when the two plummeted to the ground. Her attorneys objected to the actor’s participation in the reenactment and the judge put the kibosh on that.

While there are minor differences in state laws when it comes down to finding fault, “in court it becomes a question of who was the uphill skier,” said Denver attorney Jim Chalat, who has litigated cases in Utah as well. His firm, Chalat Hatten & Banker, has 20 active collision cases in Colorado alone.

“It’s the uphill skier who is almost always in a position to cause the crash,” Chalat said Monday. “If you’re skiing too fast for your own ability and you can’t carve out a turn, and you hit someone, you’re going to be in trouble.”

Still, crashes between skiers are rare. The majority of incidents resulting in injuries or death occur when skiers or snowboarders slam into stationary objects, usually trees. Collisions involving people represent only about 5% of skier injuries, Chalat said.

During the 2021-2022 season, there were two reported fatalities as a result of collisions between two skiers, according to the National Ski Areas Association, who developed the first Skier Responsibility Code in 1962.

Even though serious crashes are uncommon, the snow sports industry has prioritized collision awareness in its safety programming. The responsibility code was recently updated to urge skiers involved in a collision to share contact information with each other and a ski area employee, said Adrienne Saia Isaac, the NSAA’s marketing director.

“Skier-skier collisions are a generally preventable risk we needed to make folks aware of, and let them know what to do if they were involved in one,” Isaac said in an email.

Last week, Paltrow was grilled by Sanderson’s attorneys for leaving the collision without first exchanging information with Sanderson. She said she made sure one of the family’s ski instructors handled that for her.

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The majority of ski collision cases are typically settled before going to trial, and very often the payouts are covered by one’s homeowners insurance, said Los Angeles attorney John Morgan of the firm Morgan & Morgan.

Very few cases target the ski resorts where crashes occurred because of the inherent dangers that come with skiing and snowboarding, Morgan said. The mountain where the Paltrow-Sanderson collision happened, Deer Valley, was removed from the lawsuit in part because skiers absolve resorts of responsibility by agreeing to a set of rules on the back of every lift ticket.

“It’s like going to a baseball game and you get hit in the head by a foul ball. You know by sitting there that there’s some risk of that happening,” he said.

Weber reported from Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register 

Smashing Pumpkins’ World is a Vampire Tour hits Southern California in August

• March 28, 2023

Rock band the Smashing Pumpkins announced its The World is a Vampire North American Tour on Tuesday, March 28 and it includes a trio of Southern California stops.

Smashing Pumpkins will hit FivePoint Amphitheatre in Irvine on Wednesday, Aug. 9 before heading to North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista on Thursday, Aug. 10 and Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in Highland on Friday, Aug. 11.

The 26-date tour comes as support of its three-part rock opera album, “Atum” and the third and final act, “Atum: Act Three,” which will be released on May 5. In all, the “Atum” project features feature 33 tracks, acting as the sequel to 1995’s “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” and 2000’s “Machina/Machine of God.” The tour will also have support from rock groups Interpol, Stone Temple Pilots and Rival Sons.

General admission tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31 at livenation.com.

The tour title comes straight from the opening line of the “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” track off of “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.” More recently, Smashing Pumpkins released the single “Spellbinding,” which will appear in the third act of “ATUM.” In addition, the new record will come with 10 additional unreleased songs. Last year, the band headlined an evening of the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach and brought its Spirits on Fire Tour with Jane’s Addiction to Honda Center in Anaheim and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in November.

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​ Orange County Register 

Dodgers no longer the (only) juggernaut in the NL West

• March 28, 2023

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres have known each other for a long time. But their relationship status has recently changed.

Now – it’s complicated.

For the past decade, the Dodgers have been the big-market powerhouse flaunting its privileges, collecting stars, running up payroll numbers that few if any other franchises dared to match and entering each season as clear-cut division favorites and often the short-odds choice to win it all. The Padres sat in their seaside small market, watched the waves and nursed an inferiority complex.

“I’ve been on both sides and I do recall being on that other side feeling like the little brother vs. the big brother,” acknowledged Dave Roberts who spent two seasons on the Padres’ roster as a player and five more as a coach before becoming the Dodgers’ manager in 2016. “I can say that because I’ve lived it.”

Things have changed as the 2023 season begins. The Padres are the ones collecting stars – Xander Bogaerts this winter joining Manny Machado, Juan Soto and (when his suspension has been served) Fernando Tatis Jr. not to mention Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove in the starting rotation. The Padres are the ones with the robust payroll, throwing money around at a rate only the New York teams have topped this year. The Padres are the ones with a potential mental edge after prevailing in the postseason last fall.

And the Padres are the ones, in many quarters, being touted as favorites over the Dodgers to win the National League West and contend for a championship this season.

“Don’t really care who’s the favorite or not,” Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said this spring when asked about the Padres’ ascent.

“They made splashy moves. Great for them. They’ve still got to go out and win. You’ve seen it in the past with teams where they make splashy moves but they don’t go out and win,” infielder Max Muncy said.

“You can have whatever team you want on paper but you’ve still got to go out there and do it between the lines.”

The Dodgers have produced some mighty fine paper over the past decade.

Last year, their Opening Day lineup featured eight players who have been named All-Stars (including starting pitcher Walker Buehler) and three former league MVPs. The talent that packed up and left Camelback Ranch a year ago was so impressive that shortstop Trea Turner referenced the ‘Monstars’ of “Space Jam” fame – a powerhouse team that also lost its biggest game of the year.

This year, the Dodgers prepare to open the season as defending division champs for the ninth time in the past 10 years – but not quite looking like those juggernauts of the past.

“I do agree,” said Kershaw, a 16-year veteran usually reluctant to compare teams year to year. “I think on paper last year we knew we were going to win a lot of games. But I don’t necessarily know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing – to come out of camp and just know that you’re that good. It’s different too as a player. Regardless of what everybody thinks a player is going to do based on track record, you still have to go perform. Like, even though Mookie and Freddie are all-world baseball players, they don’t think they just have to show up and play.

“There’s that element with everybody. You don’t know if this is going to be somebody’s best year, you don’t know if it’s going to be somebody’s worst year. I think with that, it creates some optimism, some excitement that we have some unknowns with the team. Which I think might be good. Obviously, we think positively of the guys who are going to get a chance but might not have a track record. If they perform, we could be pretty dang good.”

The Dodgers almost certainly will be good. Whether they rise to the level of “pretty dang good” again will likely be determined by the answers to more questions than they typically have had entering recent seasons.

Can their bargain-bin collection of veterans on one-year contracts (Noah Syndergaard, Jason Heyward, David Peralta and J.D. Martinez) offset the subtractions from last year’s team (Trea Turner, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger and Tyler Anderson, in particular)?

Having already sustained the loss of Gavin Lux to a season-ending knee injury this spring, can the Dodgers absorb another injury to a core player?

And are the young players being given opportunities (Miguel Vargas, James Outman and Ryan Pepiot to begin, with Gavin Stone, Bobby Miller and Michael Busch lined up behind them) ready to contribute to a team with championship aspirations?

“I think that’s the thing – just a lot of unknowns,” outfielder Mookie Betts agreed. “We don’t really know. Those are things we can’t control a lot. You just have to let the story play out.”

The Dodgers have been very good at writing feel-good stories during the regular season. But they have had trouble with the final act, losing in the first round of the playoffs after franchise record-setting regular seasons twice in the past four seasons. If MLB’s tinkering with the postseason format has added randomness to October, the Dodgers have been the leading victims.

“It’s no secret that more teams in the playoffs helps MLB make money. That’s no secret,” Kershaw said. “Do I agree with rewarding teams that have mediocre seasons by making the playoffs? I don’t know. But that’s where we are with that.

“It’s whoever’s hot at the time.”

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The Washington Nationals of 2019, Atlanta Braves of 2021 and last year’s 87-win National League champion Philadelphia Phillies all attest to that.

Only five teams in MLB history have won as many games as last year’s 111-win Dodgers. Only one of those teams (the 114-win Yankees of 1998) also won the World Series. The previous four won an average of 16½ fewer games the next season. But two of them won World Series titles in the follow-up season.

Sixteen fewer wins would still make the Dodgers a 95-win team (a number they exceeded in four of the past five full seasons) – pretty dang good and certainly enough to get them into the postseason. But will it be enough to maintain the power position in their relationship with the headline-grabbing, big-spending Padres?

“What they’ve done is great,” Kershaw said. “They’ve improved their team. They’ve gotten big-name guys. They’ve got good players. They’ve extended some of their guys. What they’re doing is great. It’s great for the game and it’s great for players individually.

“I still think we can beat them.”

Winningest teams in MLB history (and their follow-up seasons):

2001 Seattle Mariners – 116-46 (Lost in ALCS)

2002 Mariners – 93-69 (Third in AL West)

1906 Chicago Cubs – 116-36 (Lost in the World Series)

1907 Cubs – 107-45 (Won World Series)

1998 New York Yankees – 114-48 (Won World Series)

1999 Yankees – 98-64 (Won World Series)

1954 Cleveland Indians – 111-43 (Lost World Series)

1955 Indians – 93-61 (Second in the American League)

2022 Dodgers – 111-51 (Lost in NL Division Series)

2023 Dodgers – ???

​ Orange County Register 

The 2023 Dodgers, position by position

• March 28, 2023

ROTATION

The Dodgers’ starting pitchers have had the lowest ERA in MLB four times in the past six seasons (including the past two years) despite the names in that rotation changing on an annual basis. Three All-Stars have been subtracted from last year’s rotation. Walker Buehler is recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tyler Anderson left for the Angels as a free agent. And Tony Gonsolin won’t be ready to start the season on time after a spring ankle injury. But Cy Young Award candidate Julio Urias returns to front the rotation with future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw rolling into the season healthy. Dustin May and Noah Syndergaard have the same challenge – regain their pre-Tommy John surgery forms a year farther removed from that ordeal. The difference this year seems to be that what depth the Dodgers have is largely young and unproven. But those young arms – Ryan Pepiot, Michael Grove, Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone – are dynamic.

BULLPEN

The Dodgers have said they are committed to entering the season without a designated closer. Whether he eventually emerges as the closer or not, Evan Phillips is far and away their most important reliever. Released by the Baltimore Orioles and waived by the Tampa Bay Rays just days apart in August 2021, Phillips has blossomed with the Dodgers into one of the best relievers in the National League. He held batters to a .155 average and a .430 OPS over 63 innings last year. The Dodgers will rely on him even more with veteran Blake Treinen recovering from shoulder surgery and Daniel Hudson’s return from knee surgery delayed. The options around Phillips are solid. Brusdar Graterol, Alex Vesia and Yency Almonte were all very effective in 2022, but it all revolves around Phillips.

INFIELD

The Dodgers let two elite shortstops leave for mega-millions elsewhere – Corey Seager following the 2021 season, Trea Turner this past winter – at least in part because they felt they had a viable alternative in Gavin Lux. That plan was blown up when Lux suffered a knee injury this spring that will sideline him for the 2023 season. An infield already in flux underwent further renovation. Miguel Rojas will take down the bulk of the playing time at shortstop now – a defensive improvement over Lux but another blow to a lineup that already subtracted Trea and Justin Turner. A return to his pre-elbow injury form from Max Muncy (now the everyday third baseman) would help offset those lineup losses and rookie Miguel Vargas will get every opportunity to fulfill his offensive potential while developing defensively at second base. Meanwhile, at first base, another MVP-level performance from Freddie Freeman in his second season as a Dodger is the expectation.

OUTFIELD

It’s hard to believe, but this is already Mookie Betts’ fourth season as a Dodger. They have gotten their money’s worth. Betts has finished in the top five of the National League MVP voting two of the first three years, won two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and made the All-Star team each year there was one. The group to Betts’ right, however, is in flux. With Cody Bellinger gone, the Dodgers will turn to platoon arrangements in center as well as left field. Some combination of left-handers Jason Heyward, David Peralta and James Outman and right-handers Trayce Thompson and Chris Taylor will be pieced together on a daily basis. The results in the spring were not always encouraging as Taylor struggled and Heyward showed uneven progress as the Dodgers’ hitting coaches try to salvage his swing.

CATCHER

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has proclaimed Will Smith one of the top three catchers in baseball and the combination of Smith and Austin Barnes the best catching tandem in baseball. It’s not as hyperbolic as it sounds. Smith should have been an All-Star last season when he hit 24 home runs and drove in 87 runs with an .807 OPS. He is a rarity in baseball these days – a catcher who provides middle-of-the-order offensive production as well. Barnes, meanwhile, is a popular target for the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

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BENCH

The Dodgers’ depth took a big hit with the season-ending knee injury to Gavin Lux. With Lux out, Miguel Rojas will be the primary shortstop instead of the multi-position backup he was originally slated to be. The rest of the bench figures to be the rotating group of platooned outfielders. The signing of J.D. Martinez represents a philosophical change by the Dodgers. Martinez will be the dedicated DH, a position the Dodgers used to rotate players through in the past.

MANAGER

Shocking as their first-round exit from the postseason was last October, coming as it did on the heels of a historic 111-win regular season, Dave Roberts largely escaped blame. The loss to the Padres was “an organizational failure” as Andrew Friedman put it and less time was spent this winter performing an autopsy on Roberts’ postseason decision-making than previous winters. But the pressure will be on Roberts again this season (his eighth). The roster is less ‘turn-key’ than in the past with more young players being asked to produce and a closer-less bullpen to be managed.

​ Orange County Register