LOS ANGELES — If the Dodgers hope to repeat, they’ll have to flip the pitching script that won them a World Series.
Last October, they triumphed despite relying on just three starting pitchers. They rode their relievers, who logged 22 more innings than their starters. A bevy of bullpen games, including one that saved their season in an elimination Game 4 of the National League Division Series in San Diego, helped them survive.
Now, their starting pitching might be the best in the postseason field. Their bullpen, meanwhile, threatens to be their undoing.
(Photo by Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images)
A medley of high-profile additions this winter were supposed to give the Dodgers an embarrassment of late-inning riches; instead, they simply were an embarrassment.
They committed four years and $72 million to Tanner Scott, who was coming off an All-Star campaign in which he recorded a 1.75 ERA, went 22-for-24 in save chances and threw five scoreless postseason innings.
They brought back Blake Treinen, a postseason hero who led the Dodgers with three saves last October and recorded seven outs in the World Series-clinching Game 5 in New York.
When they added Kirby Yates for $13 million this winter, it felt superfluous, inviting more questions and frustration about the sport’s economic imbalance. Yates was coming off an All-Star season in Texas in which he tallied a 1.17 ERA with 33 saves.
They all cratered.
Scott went 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA, blowing 10 of his 33 save opportunities. Treinen was 2-7 with a 5.40 ERA, enduring a stretch in September in which he lost five games in seven appearances. Yates had a 5.23 ERA on the season and a 7.90 ERA after the break.
Combined, that trio had an ERA over 8.00 in September.
“Baseball hates me right now,” Scott lamented earlier this month after taking a loss in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech, two vital members of last year’s championship bullpen, could not stay healthy. Phillips underwent Tommy John surgery in May.
The end result was a Dodgers bullpen that ranked in MLB’s bottom 10 in ERA, WHIP, walks and blown saves.
“The past has to be behind them, and they have to have a short memory,” manager Dave Roberts said earlier this month. “And I think that’s the thing that they’re having a hard time getting past, the short memory of, ‘Today’s a new day, it’s a new opportunity, and go out there and impose your will.’”
That is, at least, what the Dodgers’ rotation has done.
From Aug. 2 — when Blake Snell returned from a shoulder injury — through the end of the season, the Dodgers’ rotation led MLB in ERA and strikeout-to-walk ratio. In that same time, the Dodgers’ bullpen ranked 22nd and 21st in those categories, respectively.
With few options to trust in high leverage, and more viable starters than they’ll need in October, Roberts and the Dodgers will likely get creative over the next month.
(Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Emmet Sheehan, who was 6-3 with a 2.82 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 73.1 innings in his first year back from Tommy John surgery, is expected to transition to a relief role. He was limited to an inning his last time out in preparation for the change and struck out three.
For a while, it seemed like this would be a lost season for Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, the most coveted international free agent on the market this winter. His velocity fluctuated, and he struggled to miss bats in his first taste of the big leagues before a shoulder injury sidelined him for most of the year.
He returned to action in August at Triple-A. By early September, his velocity ticked back up dramatically. He shifted to the bullpen and made two scoreless relief appearances in Oklahoma City before the Dodgers called him up for what was essentially an October tryout.
On Sept. 24, Sasaki struck out two batters in a scoreless inning in Arizona while averaging 99.2 mph with his fastball. Two days later, he struck out another two batters in another scoreless inning in Seattle, again averaging a tick over 99 mph.
Now, after just two relief appearances, he looks destined for the Dodgers’ postseason bullpen.
“I expect him to be on the roster,” Roberts said. “We haven’t finalized anything yet. I still think that the way he threw, the big games that he’s pitched in before, I think that’s something that I can trust, certainly.”
Those might not be the only starters the Dodgers use in relief, either, depending on how long this run goes.
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
The Dodgers, of course could end up using Shohei Ohtani in a late-game situation at some point, much like he did while securing the final out for Japan at the World Baseball Classic. But at least to begin the postseason, he will be in his usual starter’s role.
With Blake Snell starting Game 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto getting Game 2 and Ohtani likely going in Game 3, if necessary, it’s possible Tyler Glasnow becomes a bullpen option. The Dodgers removed him from his final regular season start Saturday after just three innings.
And then there’s Clayton Kershaw, who threw one scoreless inning in relief on the same day of Sasaki’s appearance in Arizona before making final career regular season start Sunday. Roberts said Kershaw won’t be on the wild-card roster but will make the Division Series roster if the Dodgers advance past the Reds.
To get there, the Dodgers’ bullpen will need to find the stability it lacked in September, when it had the third-worst ERA in the National League.
There were, at least, some positive signs toward the very end.
Anthony Banda ended the regular season with five straight scoreless outings.
Scott had a 2.70 ERA over his last seven appearances and secured a save in his final outing.
On Saturday, Treinen, Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez ended the game in Seattle by combining for nine straight strikeouts.
That, at least, could provide some confidence ahead of Tuesday’s wild-card opener.
“Much more confidence than we had a couple weeks ago, and I think that it’s because those guys have shown the confidence in themselves,” Roberts said. “That Seattle series was really impressive from our pen.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.
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