LOS ANGELES — Tanner Scott’s problems are behind him and he expects to be ready to rejoin the Dodgers’ active roster for the World Series.
The left-handed reliever was dropped from the roster after Game 3 of the National League Division Series when he had to have an abscess excision on his lower body. The move made him ineligible for the NL Championship Series but he is eligible to be part of the World Series roster.
“It was just an infection, bad timing,” Scott said. “I feel healthy. I definitely feel a lot better than I did coming off that Phillies series and I wasn’t feeling great.”
Scott didn’t pitch during the Dodgers’ two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card Series or the first three games of that NLDS. His last appearance was Sept. 26 during the Dodgers’ final regular-season series in Seattle.
But Scott said he has thrown bullpen sessions and expects to throw live batting practice to hitters during the Dodgers’ workouts this week. That will put just about a month between his last game action and the start of the World Series but Scott said he is not worried about the layoff affecting him.
“No,” he said. “Playoff energy is different.”
POSTSEASON RECORD
Assuming he is in the lineup for Game 1 on Friday, utility man Kiké Hernandez will tie Justin Turner for the most postseason games played as a Dodger (86). When the mark was mentioned to Hernandez during the NLCS, he said it made him feel “humbled, fortunate.”
“This is not just any franchise, man. This is the L.A. Dodgers,” said Hernandez, who has played in 96 postseason games in all (11 with the Boston Red Sox). “They’ve been around for a long time, and they have a lot of history. And for a guy like me from Puerto Rico, kind of swam against the current my entire life, to be sitting in this position is pretty special.
“At the same time, I haven’t really wanted to reflect too much on it because there’s going to be a time for that once I’m done playing, and I’m going to have a lot of years to reflect on it. … It will be cool if my name is up there with the most Dodgers World Series ever. But to be creeping up on playing the most playoff games as a Dodger is something that I never really dreamed of or thought that would happen.”
Hernandez has been at his best in the postseason. A career .236 hitter with a .707 OPS in 12 major-league seasons, Hernandez has hit .282 with an .863 OPS in those 96 postseason games and was part of the Dodgers’ championship teams in 2020 and 2024.
BACK TO WORK
The Dodgers took Saturday off following their series-clinching victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night. They went back to work on Sunday and continued Monday with live batting practice sessions a part of the workout.
Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda, Bobby Miller and Kyle Hurt threw to hitters during Monday’s workout.
ALCS Game 7 played on the video board during Monday’s workout, determining the Dodgers’ opponent for the World Series.
The Dodgers finished the regular season with a three-game sweep in Seattle. They also swept the Mariners in three-game series in 2023 and 2024 and have a 12-game winning streak against them dating to April 2021.
“I feel like we’ve faced them in different parts of the year,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said well before the ALCS was over. “We’ve never faced them in this stage. And we don’t even know if we’re gonna face them.”