After appearing in just five games over the past two seasons, Treinen bounced back in a huge way in 2024 and gave it his all in the postseason.
Blake Treinen made just five appearances in the 2022 season before missing the entire 2023 season as he recovered from right shoulder surgery.
Entering a contract season at the age of 35, Treinen had to prove that he could still be a viable option for the Dodgers’ bullpen, and at the beginning of spring training, he appeared to have regained his footing.
Treinen tossed three scoreless innings before facing the Texas Rangers on March 9. Treinen was met with a line drive off the bat of Sam Huff that connected with him near his chest, causing him to collapse on the mound in a great deal of pain. Treinen had suffered a bruised lung, an extremely uncommon injury in baseball, as well as broken ribs, and missed the rest of spring training.
After missing over a month of time to begin the regular season, Treinen was activated from the 15-day injured list on May 5. Over his first 14 appearances, Treinen was nearly unhittable, not allowing a run over 13 innings, recording 19 strikeouts compared to just two walks and holding opponents to a .170 batting average. Treinen, alongside teammate Anthony Banda, was just one of four pitchers with at least 10 innings of work to post a 0.00 ERA from the beginning of the regular season through June 13.
One mistake pitch to Kansas City Royals outfielder M.J. Melendez on June 15 spoiled his spotless ERA. His struggles to conclude the month of June continued, as he posted an ERA of 11.57 over his final six appearances in June, inflating his season ERA to 3.06.
Around the All-Star break, Evan Phillips was removed from the closer’s role after a disastrous month of July. The Dodgers elected to go with a closer carousel, but Treinen, who had recorded 79 saves in his career before 2024 (including a 38 save campaign with the Athletics in 2018) was seldomly used in save situations. He was given two attempts at recording a save in late July, failing to do so in both occurrences and was relegated to set-up duties to finish the season.
Treinen stumbled out of the gates in the second half of the season, posting a 4.70 ERA in his first nine appearances, but just like how he did to begin the season, he was lights out over his final 15 games, posting 15⅓ shutout innings while striking out 18 and walking just two.
In the postseason, the Dodgers could only maintain a three man starting rotation, with a bullpen game flexed in to where a potential number four starter would pitch. Amongst the cavalcade of bullpen options, Treinen was arguably the most instrumental bullpen piece for the Dodgers’ championship run.
After recording just one save throughout the regular season, Treinen recorded the save in the Dodgers’ NLDS Game 1 win over the San Diego Padres. He was the pitcher who recorded the final three outs of the NLDS, earning his second save of the series.
Treinen was called upon to close out Game 6 of the NLCS against the New York Mets, which resulted in his third save of the postseason and clinched a World Series berth.
After pitching in Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, the Dodgers deployed another bullpen game for Game 4, but after losing the lead early, the Dodgers punted with a 52-pitch eighth inning from reliever Brent Honeywell, helping rest key arms like Treinen.
The gamble paid off in Game 5, as with the Dodgers cementing their insurmountable comeback, Treinen was the only bullpen option available that had adequate rest. He trudged his way to 42-pitch outing, the most pitches he tossed all season, escaping a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning to preserve the Dodgers lead after the eighth inning.
2024 particulars
Age: 36
Stats: 7-3, 1.93 ERA, 0.943 WHIP, 2.99 FIP, 50 G, 1 SV, 46⅔ IP, 56 K, 11 BB 1.4 rWAR, 1.0 fWAR
Salary: $1 million
Game of the year
Treinen’s best game of the year would undoubtedly be his performance in Game 5 of the World Series. With the bullpen having done the heavy lifting for the pitching staff in Game 4 and the majority of Game 5, Treinen’s 2⅓ scoreless innings of work kept the momentum on the Dodgers side, and also gave Dave Roberts the chance to put his faith in his reliever instead of pulling him out of the game when he put runners on base.
Roster status
After reaching free agency for the third time in his career, Treinen re-signed with the Dodgers for a two-year deal worth $22 million. Treinen’s deal included a $5 million signing bonus and he will earn $6 million in salary for the 2025 season.