Max Muncy's Dodgers critique might signal lack of leadership in LA's clubhouse

The Dodgers have won six of their last 10 games (and three were against the Rockies), but the four losses have been so profoundly awful that it's becoming harder and harder to see how LA will actually be able to pull off a repeat World Series championship.

On Sept. 6, Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott blew a three-run lead and 8 2/3 no-hit innings from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. On Sept. 12, the Dodgers spoiled another Yamamoto gem by only giving him one run of support, and then Scott gave up a walk-off grand slam to one of the worst hitters in baseball.

On Sept. 15, Scott (always at the scene of the crime) gave up a go-ahead run to the Phillies in extras to allow them to clinch the NL East. The next day, Justin Wrobleski collapsed after five no-hit innings from Shohei Ohtani to doom the Dodgers to a series loss.

Apart from the obvious, glaring issues, it just feels like the Dodgers aren't clicking as a group.

Max Muncy said, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, "We try to preach having good at-bats, doing things to help the team win, but over the course of seven, eight months, sometimes it slips through the cracks for some guys. It's just one of those things where, at this point in the year, we can't be worried about ourselves. We've got to be worried about what we're doing to win the game. All that matters is the team at this point. It's a tough message to get across sometimes."

Max Muncy aims pointed critique at Dodgers teammates amid awful late-season struggles

That sure does make it sound like the Dodgers don't really have a unifying, rallying voice in the clubhouse right now.

Dave Roberts has been admirably holding his players to account this year, especially in the second half. He's been able to call players out by name and identify exactly where they should've done better in a given game. But that can only go so far if he doesn't have a clubhouse deputy that can really make sure everyone is on the same page and ensure that players don't drift off in their own bubbles.

In a clubhouse filled with veterans, one would think that the Dodgers would have plenty of suitable candidates for the job. Maybe it's Muncy, and maybe he's just having a harder time corralling everyone as of late when every loss is compounding frustrations.

Whatever the case may be, Muncy all but confirmed that the Dodgers aren't on the same wavelength right now, so maybe we're stuck in something of a chicken-or-egg cycle. Will getting back to winning get everyone back on track, or will getting back on track off the field lead to more winning on it? The former doesn't look like it's going to happen with the bullpen pitching the way it's been, so the Dodgers should really be working on the latter.