Dodgers and Angels Settle for a Tie, Roki Sasaki Struggles, but the Dodgers’ Bats Quietly Keep Doing Their Job

Baseball returned to Dodger Stadium for the first time since Game 5 of the 2025 World Series, and while the result won’t count in the standings, it still managed to pack in plenty of intrigue — plus a 7–7 tie that felt very on-brand for Spring Training.

Most of the attention, predictably, will land on Roki Sasaki, whose outing began less like a debut and more like a stress test. He hit Zach Neto, watched a routine grounder turn into a Miguel Rojas error, and then walked three straight hitters to force in a run. Thirty pitches later — just 13 for strikes — Dave Roberts was making the slow walk to the mound before Sasaki could record an out.

It’s becoming a bit of a spring tradition.

Ronan Kopp entered and allowed two more runs on a Josh Lowe single, stretching the Angels’ lead to 4–0. Sasaki did return for two additional innings, showing some improvement (a low bar, to be fair), but still finished with four earned runs, six walks, and two strikeouts over two innings — notably without allowing a hit, which is impressive in a very specific, slightly chaotic way.

Afterward, Sasaki took the long view, saying through his interpreter, “I’m glad my weaknesses showed up during spring training… I have no choice but to go at it with a fresh mindset again.”

The Angels pushed the lead to 6–0 in the fourth on a pair of sacrifice flies, which is usually where games like this quietly drift off into irrelevance.

Not this one.

Lost in the Sasaki storyline — or at least trying to be — was the Dodgers’ offense, which continues to look very much awake. Teoscar Hernández and Miguel Rojas went back-to-back in the fourth to cut the deficit in half, and James Tibbs III added a bases-loaded walk in the fifth. The Angels briefly answered to make it 7–4, but the Dodgers kept chipping away.

Dalton Rushing lined an RBI double, Alex Call followed with another, and just like that, the game was tied 7–7 — because of course it was.

Both teams went quietly in the ninth, sealing the rare Spring Training tie: unsatisfying, inconclusive, and somehow completely appropriate.

It won’t be remembered for the final score, but it might be remembered as another reminder that while the spotlight stays fixed on Sasaki’s growing pains, the Dodgers’ lineup is already doing what it’s supposed to do — produce.

The series wraps Tuesday, when Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to take the mound — which should, at the very least, give everyone something new to talk about.