Will Smith's tone-deaf take on Dodgers' struggles will rile up the haters

The Dodgers are not in a good place right now. Mentally, physically, spiritually, what have you — it's a hard time to be a Dodger and a Dodgers fan. They just wrapped up their worst month on record since April 28, going 11-13 through July and capping it all off with an awful 8-1 loss to the worst possible team on Wednesday.

The Padres took full advantage of a struggling Clayton Kershaw and three Dodgers errors (two courtesy of Gavin Lux) to put up six runs in 2 2/3 innings. These Dodgers had no hope of coming back from that-- not when Dylan Cease mowed down LA's hitters, allowing just three hits and one run. Four San Diego relievers, including brand new trade deadline pickups Jason Adam and Bryan Hoeing, didn't give up a single hit.

After the game, Will Smith gave reporters a soundbite that was definitely meant to inspire confidence, but fell flat given the misery of the past month: "We'll come out of it. No doubt about it. We're the Dodgers. We're the best team in baseball."

Will Smith's optimism following Dodgers' terrible July rang hollow after loss to Padres

Okay, look — the odds are still very much in the Dodgers' favor here, and there is always the instinct to get a little fatalistic about things during bad stretches. They're definitely going to make the postseason and are almost certainly going to clinch a bye at the end of the regular season. They're still well above .500 on the season overall and 4.5 games ahead of the Padres. Mookie Betts is making good progress to return, Max Muncy had "a breakthrough," and we haven't seen what Jack Flaherty is capable of in a Dodgers uniform yet.

However, the Dodgers are certifiably not the best team in baseball right now, and maybe coming back down to earth and being a little humble about things might do them some good. Betts' comments from the offseason about series against the Dodgers being "every other team's World Series" hasn't exactly been proved wrong, given how excited opposing teams are when they beat LA, but that doesn't make it less sad that when a multi-billion dollar team loses five series in July.

The Dodgers need to get back more of the guys they've lost to injury (and the healthy guys need to start playing better) if they really want to reclaim the title of being the best team in baseball, and this kind of tone-deaf insistence is just making them look worst.