One major ingredient in Dodger bullpen success — buy-in
by Cary Osborne
Eight pitchers made up the Dodger bullpen when the team played its 2024 home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.
That’s where the evolution began.
Over the next seven months, the bullpen gate swung open for 21 other relief pitchers to appear in a Dodger game. And by the time the last out of the Dodgers season was recorded on a mound at Yankee Stadium, it was the LA bullpen that had risen together as an important piece of the World Series championship story.
The chain that linked every reliever for the Dodgers in 2024 was a philosophy that speaks to the success of the last year’s bullpen, and it carries over to 2025.
“Protect the group.”
It’s a saying preached by bullpen coach Josh Bard, said left-hander Anthony Banda, who joined the roster last year after he was purchased from Cleveland on May 17.
“I bought in so fast because of everything I’ve always heard from the outside,” says the veteran reliever. “And so when I started seeing it more, started understanding, like what it is that they do to build it, you have to buy into it. They say you have to be all in. Be there for yourself but be there for your teammates.”
Over the course of the 2025 season, the Dodgers bullpen will take many shapes. But the pieces in place — to begin the season and for the long-term — look to be a major part of this team’s story as it works to repeat as World Series champions.
The additions of 2024 All-Stars Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates help start that narrative. And it was clear from the moment they signed with the Dodgers — from their own words — that they were eager to acclimate to the Dodger bullpen culture.
“I’ve never been on a team like this,” Yates said. “My Braves team in ’23 was really good. And up until I was on this team, I thought that would probably be the best team I’d played on. … I would like to do my part (on this Dodger team) and help us win as many games as we can and be one of these teams that people talk about for a while.”
Scott said this during his introductory press conference: “Whenever the phone rings, I’m ready to go. I just want to win.”
Those aren’t just words. The Dodger front office saw that buy-in from Scott last year after the Padres acquired him from Miami and called that out in Scott’s press conference on Jan. 23.
He appeared in 28 of 48 games down the stretch for San Diego, entering games in the seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th innings. He pitched in four of San Diego’s six postseason games.
“What Tanner did down the stretch last year, taking the ball every day and doing whatever was needed to help his team win, is something that you don’t see that often when it comes to somebody who’s about to hit free agency for the first time,” said Brandon Gomes, Dodger executive vice president and general manager. “That for us spoke volumes to the type of competitor he is and how that would fit within our team and the bullpen culture that Josh Bard has helped create.”
That workload for the regular season likely won’t be needed. This Dodger bullpen is deep — with four pitchers having closer backgrounds in Scott, Yates, Evan Phillips and Blake Treinen. Add another few who have closed out games in Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Brusdar Graterol.
Phillips and Kopech are on the 15-day injured list to begin the season with shoulder ailments. Graterol hopes to rejoin the team later in the season after offseason shoulder surgery.
Even with the pitchers on the injured list, the Dodger bullpen remains “stacked.”
It’s a word Scott used in Spring Training when talking about the LA bullpen.
In Yates (1.17), Scott (1.75), Vesia (1.76) and Treinen, the Dodgers have four of the top 11 reliever ERAs in all of baseball from last season.
The Dodgers have the capability to handle multiple high-leverage situations in a game — regardless of the inning.
They have the arms to handle the matchups — regardless of batter handedness. Yates, Scott and Vesia all held left-handers to sub.150 batting averages last year. Yates, Vesia and Treinen held right-handers under .175.
They also have six relievers on the 40-man roster who averaged at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings last season in Yates, Vesia, Kopech, Treinen, Scott and Phillips.
Depth, talent, experience — now layer in the buy-in culture.
“Everybody wants to be the closer, as you should be if you’re in the bullpen,” said Dodger pitching coach Mark Prior. “But I think our guys understand the sum of them is sometimes just as more impactful than just the one. And I think guys understand that it’s about winning as many ballgames as you can, but it’s also continuing to put them in the best position possible — health-wise, workload-wise, toward the end of the season so that we can really maximize our chances to win the ultimate goal. And I think that’s what they buy into.”
Kopech experienced it last season after coming over the from the White Sox at the trade deadline. He was closing out games for Chicago, then came over to the Dodgers and pitched in all different situations — including starting a bullpen game in the National League Championship Series.
Now, he and many of his bullpen mates from last season are World Series champions.
“First and foremost, it is a welcoming group. That being said, we’re friendly with one another, but we’re all out there to compete, do a job and attack,” Kopech said. “And I think that it’s hard to not buy into that culture.
“I know we talked about a lot during the postseason last year, probably all of us have mentioned it, but it was just next-man-up mentality. And I don’t see how that changes coming into this year. It’s a really fun environment to be a part of. With the additions that we made, it’s probably going to be even more fun.”
One major ingredient in Dodger bullpen success — buy-in was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.