NLCS: As if things weren’t challenging before for Dodger pitching, the challenge rises
by Cary Osborne
The imperfect or non-traditional pitching plan of the National League Division Series, particularly with bullpen use in the last two games of the series, couldn’t have gone better.
The plan for the National League Championship Series won’t be perfect either, and circumstances have upped the challenge level for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ bullpen won’t have Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol, said manager Dave Roberts on Saturday. Both missed the NLDS with shoulder ailments.
They will also likely be without Alex Vesia, who has an intercostal/side injury. Vesia left Game 5 when he was warming up for the eighth inning.
That takes away one of baseball’s elite left-handed relievers, who had nearly equal splits against left-handed (.144 opponents average) and right-handed batters (.150 opp avg.).
And now they have to win four games.
“I don’t think that in a seven-game series we have the luxury to max out guys like we did from the pen in a five-game series,” Roberts said.
Yet the Dodgers are still looking at a bullpen game, maybe two, in the NLCS.
Jack Flaherty goes in Game 1. A Game 2 starter hasn’t been announced. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who pitched five scoreless innings on Friday in Game 5, went six days between starts in the NLDS. If that math holds for the NLCS, he would be slated for Game 4 and Flaherty in Game 5
Walker Buehler figures to go somewhere in between Flaherty and Yamamoto.
Tony Gonsolin, who returned to pitch Minor League rehab games in September a year out from Tommy John surgery, wasn’t on the NLDS roster, but remains a topic of discussion.
“I think we have to organizationally decide if it’s worth putting him in stress and protect against downside, his future, next year. So I think that’s sort of weighing that with alternatives,” Roberts said of what it would take for him to make the NLCS roster. “So like I said, he’s in the mix. But we’ve got to be very kind of convicted that he’s the right decision if we are going to activate him.”
Dodger starters — Flaherty, Yamamoto and Buehler — logged 18 1/3 innings in the NLDS. The bullpen went 25 2/3 innings, including 14 scoreless over the last two games of the series.
With the injury to Vesia and the unavailability of some other key arms, opportunity knocks for some others and the ask is greater now of the traditional starters.
The Dodgers carried two rookie starters on the NLDS roster — Landon Knack and Ben Casparius. Knack closed out NLDS Game 4 with one inning of scoreless relief.
Brent Honeywell ended the regular season on the injured list with a cracked right middle fingernail. He wasn’t on the NLDS roster. He pitched multiple innings in 13 of his 18 appearances for the Dodgers this season and had a 2.62 ERA overall.
Roberts said if Yamamoto continues to pitch like he did on Friday, he would extend his length beyond the five he pitched in Game 5.
“I’ve got to lean on other guys to cover some innings, and/or expecting a little bit more out of the starters,” Roberts said.
The last time a Dodger completed six innings in a game was Flaherty on Sept. 19.
Stone likely out for 2025
Gavin Stone underwent shoulder surgery on Wednesday and will likely be out for all of 2025.
The 25-year-old had a breakout season until the right shoulder injury ended it before he could pitch a game in September. He led the Dodgers in wins (11), starts (25), innings (140 1/3) and had a 3.53 ERA and 1.21 WHIP.
NLCS: As if things weren’t challenging before for Dodger pitching, it now rises was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.