Entering the 2024 season, Dodgers‘starting pitching has been their biggest issue, and with just two weeks until the postseason begins, LA’s rotation is once again their biggest concern in October. Of course, Shohei Ohtani and Co. can be counted to score runs in bunchesbut you also have to prevent the other team’s offense from doing the same.
The concern is not a lack of talent. When healthy, the Dodgers have top-notch starting pitchers with elite players and depth. However, the Dodgers’ ongoing injury woes — whether due to bad luck, organizational inability to keep starters healthy or something else — have kept them from reaching their full potential as a staff.
Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller all have missed time this season with various injuries that landed them on the injured list. The team also lost a rookie right-hander Ryan River to Tommy John surgery in August, Tony Gonsolin is out for the season while recovering from Tommy John, and Dustin May has missed all of 2024 due to various illnesses, including surgery to repair an esophageal tear.
If not for a right-handed person Jack Flaherty, who the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadlinethey would be in an even worse condition. And so the question now is what does LA’s rotation look like when the NLDS begins on October 5th? The only obvious answer is that Flaherty would start Game 1, but what happens after that?
The rest of the Dodgers rotation is a big puzzle. Stone was the team’s healthiest starter and one of the most consistent arms all season. Novak was probably in line to start the playoffs before him he passed with inflammation of the right shoulder last week. At this point in the season and given the nature of the shoulder injuries, there may not be enough time for him to return in October.
Glasnow (tendinitis of the right elbow) and Kershaw (bone spur in left big toe) are both expected to return before the end of this month, and if healthy, both should figure into the team’s postseason rotation plans. Of course, given their injury history, that’s a big if.
The good news is that the Dodgers may have their biggest rotation question answered this week the return of Yamamotowho looked terrific in his performance on Tuesday against Cubs. Although The Dodgers lost 6-3their $325 million man struck out eight batters over four innings of work and topped out at 97.9 mph.
“Today’s outing turned out much better than I expected,” Yamamoto told reporters in LA after the start. “Today is more about relief. I have to get back and finish what I need to do.”
Offered manager Dave Roberts: “I feel a lot better about the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours ago.”
If Yamamoto can continue to pitch like he did in his first start since June, he’ll get the start in the NLDS and, just as importantly, could be the X-factor in LA’s quest to get back to the World Series.
The other side of the Dodgers equation is determining which starter will end up pitching out of the bullpen or fall off the NLDS roster entirely. Right-hander Walker Buehler showed flashes of his old form, but was not particularly consistent since returning from his second Tommy John surgery. Bobby Miller hasn’t looked as sharp this season as he did during his freshman year. How the Dodgers deploy those two arms in October is another matter that needs to be resolved during the final two weeks of the season.
Being in hold mode this late in the season is not what any team wants, especially not a team that was in the same position last year and other recent years. We’ve seen this movie before, and it ended with the Dodgers’ pitching proving to be their kryptonite in October. But unfortunately for LA fans, the Dodgers don’t have many options at this point. They have the last two weeks of the regular season and the first few days of October – assuming that win the NL West and secure a bye — to try to get healthy and figure out his rotation plans before Game 1 of the NLDS.
Once again, LA’s success or failure this postseason likely hinges on its rotation, which could be the biggest mystery of any playoff team entering October.