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by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers lost Game 1 of the National League Championship Series 3–2 in Atlanta against arguably the Major Leagues’ best pitcher in the second half, Max Fried, in a game in which he was matched pitch for pitch.
And none of the Dodger players making a pitch were named Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler or Julio Urías.
The Dodger bullpen, as it has done throughout the postseason, gave the Dodgers a chance to win with eight pitchers combining to allow six hits, no walks and three runs with 14 strikeouts. The third run crossed the plate on a walk-off hit by Austin Riley against one of the league’s most difficult pitchers to handle in Blake Treinen, after a bloop single and a stolen base.
The margin of loss or victory for the Dodgers this postseason has been paper-thin with the team either trailing by one run or tied going into the ninth inning four times in seven games.
Each time, the Dodger relief pitchers have played a significant factor in the game.
In those four games — the Wild Card Game, Games 3 and 5 of the National League Division Series and NLCS Game 1 — Dodger pitchers not named Scherzer, Buehler or Urías allowed three runs in 19 2/3 innings, good for a 1.37 ERA in tense contests.
The three runs all crossed the plate in Saturday’s Game 1, a bullpen game where the Braves had two at-bats with runners in scoring position and one hit — Riley’s single, which plated Ozzie Albies, who before dropped a single between Corey Seager and Chris Taylor.
“The fact that it’s 2–2 going into the ninth doesn’t surprise me in playoff baseball because that’s why teams are here, because they can pitch. And that team over there can really pitch, and that bullpen’s deep,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker. “It’s not going to get any easier tomorrow either.”
The Dodgers’ trio of Cy Young-candidate starters has allowed eight earned runs in 32 innings this postseason — a 2.25 ERA.
All other Dodger pitchers have allowed six earned runs in 29 1/3 innings — a 1.84 ERA. They’ve allowed just two walks.
The Dodger bullpen hasn’t walked a batter since Joe Kelly walked Giant LaMonte Wade Jr. in the sixth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS — a span of 103 batters.
Only Treinen, among this group, has allowed more than one run. He has allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He also pitched critical shutout bridge innings to the ninth in the Wild Card 3–1 win over St. Louis on Oct. 6 and on Thursday in the Dodgers’ 2–1 win against the Giants in Game 5 of the NLDS.
Kenley Jansen, Brusdar Graterol and Phil Bickford have combined to allow no runs in 9 1/3 innings.
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The Dodgers have gone the non-traditional route in their last two postseason games with opener/bullpen games and have been successful from the standpoint of preventing runs.
The way the next three games are lined up, with Scherzer, Buehler and Urías going in Games 2–4, a potential Game 5 sets up a decision for the Dodgers.
It would likely be either Scherzer on three-days’ rest, the possibility of an opener/bullpen game or the Dodgers could go with their only other length guy on the roster and give Tony Gonsolin a traditional start — something he hasn’t done since Sept. 30.
Scherzer has never started back-to-back games on three-days’ rest.
If that leaves them with the bullpen option, that might put them in great hands — hands, as in the plural.
Relievers keep the Dodgers in Game 1, and could continue to be big factor was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.