LOS ANGELES — I’m not sure we’re talking miracles or the supernatural here, but you might be seeking an explanation. How can a team with three functioning starting pitchers get to the World Series?
How, in fact, can they have done so with baseball’s best regular-season record, and thus home-field advantage throughout the postseason?
And can this style of baseball – a smoke-and-mirrors approach, in a sense – help achieve four more victories on baseball’s biggest stage?
The Dodgers have already used three bullpen games in this postseason. The strategy has worked twice, most notably Sunday night in the Dodgers’ 10-5 victory over the New York Mets to wrap up the National League Championship Series. Thus, Walker Buehler will be well-rested – nine days’ worth – when he takes the mound to face the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday evening in The Ravine.
Now, think about it. Tyler Glasnow was originally acquired and signed to a contract extension with the idea that he would be that Game 1 ace. Clayton Kershaw, according to the grand plan, would join the rotation sometime during the season after his shoulder healed from offseason surgery and would do what Clayton Kershaw is capable of doing. Maybe Dustin May would be able to make it back. Maybe Tony Gonsolin. Maybe, maybe, maybe …
Maybes don’t win championships, yet here the Dodgers are. Friday they’ll begin the franchise’s 22nd appearance in the modern (post-1900) World Series, and the 12th against the Yankees.
And a couple of things are worth noting here: One is that the one-time bullies of the Bronx, who have won 27 titles in their own storied history, will be making their first appearance in the Fall Classic since 2009. The Dodgers have been three times since then, won one (in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020) and had one stolen from them (and the lasting legacy of the Astros’ 2017 title, at least outside of Houston, is today’s PitchCom system to replace finger signs).
The other note: The Yanks won six of the seven World Series against Brooklyn in the ’40s and ’50s, but the L.A. Dodgers have split four Fall Classic meetings with New York, winning in 1963 (in a sweep) and ’81 and losing in ’77 and ’78.
OK, those of a certain age don’t have to remind me that the Dodgers did have a three-man rotation in 1963, or in ’65 when they defeated Minnesota in the Fall Classic: Two of those three, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, are in the Hall of Fame.
Anyone you see out there today remind you of either? Didn’t think so.
It is a different time and a different game, obviously. The bullpen game might not be routine, but it’s become a more legitimate strategy. And in the case of the Dodgers, for whom relief pitching has become an unquestioned strength – as strange as that sounds considering years past – it’s a necessity.
Sunday night they began with Michael Kopech, maybe deducing that a triple-digit fastball and a 5:08 p.m. first pitch would be an effective combination. As it turned out, a walk to Francisco Lindor, a wild pitch that moved him to second, a grounder to advance the runner and an infield single gave the Mets a 1-0 first-inning lead.
But here’s the other half of the equation. The Dodgers’ offense is pretty darned good. And it doesn’t always revolve around Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman – who didn’t even start Game 6, because of his ailing ankle and a 1-for-17 slump dating to the late innings of Game 1.
Tommy Edman’s two-run double in the bottom of the first accounted for the first and only lead change of the series, putting L.A. in front, 2-1. Edman, the series MVP, later added a two-run homer in the third to make it 6-1. While the Dodgers’ front office had their eyes on Edman well before they were able to acquire him at the trade deadline, I doubt that they had factored “potential postseason hero” into their evaluation.
Big leads reduce the pressure on the relievers to get outs. And by the eighth inning, when Edman – who is hitting .340 in the postseason, was 11 for 27 in this series and tied Corey Seager’s franchise record of 11 RBIs in an LCS – came to the plate, it was 9-4 and he was hearing “M-V-P” chants, a precursor of what was to come.
So just how did the Dodgers making this pitching plan work, anyway?
“You know what? We found a way to piece it together,” Manager Dave Roberts said on the field after the game, in between accepting congratulatory hugs and handshakes. I just got to give the players all the credit. They bought in. They were ready when called upon. And … it clearly shows there’s no one way to do things.”
It was, the manager said, a case of everyone on the roster pitching in. There’s two-way responsibility there.
“It just kind of comes down to me trusting everyone on the roster,” he said. “And, you know, there’s some guys that cut their teeth in the postseason. It’s not ideal, but they showed well. They competed, fought. And for this ballclub, that’s what we’re going to need from a pitcher.”
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He could have been thinking of Landon Knack, who had a rough time in Game 2 against the Mets, the one bullpen game the Dodgers have lost in the postseason, but he still hung in there long enough to save some arms for when they would be needed. Or Brent Honeywell, who provided three innings in Game 2 and 4⅔ in a Game 5 loss to, again, preserve other relievers for critical situations.
Or rookies Ben Casparius and Edgardo Henriquez, who got opportunities during this series, survived them and will be better for it.
And caps must be tipped to guys like Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen and Daniel Hudson, who have transitioned away from what were once hard-and-fast roles, perhaps in preparation for situations like this. The idea of a guy who is the closer and only pitches in ninth-inning situations now seems passe here, and maybe it’s the last casualty of this organization’s emphasis on role flexibility.
That might not be a bad thing at all, especially under these conditions.
jalexander@scng.com