Dodger Blueprint? Starters May Just Have to Close Out Playoff Games

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Deesha Thosar

MLB Writer

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PHILADELPHIA – If you did not start a game for the Dodgers this season, you cannot be trusted to pitch in the playoffs. 

It’s a new concept that the Dodgers should continue to deploy. Using starters as relievers has allowed them to take a 2-0 series lead over the Phillies in the NL Division Series, placing them one win away from advancing to the NL Championship Series. 

And it addresses the team’s biggest and only real concern in the playoffs, the unreliability of the bullpen.

Consider what happened when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts strayed away from that formula in the ninth inning of Monday night’s 4-3 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

After left-hander Blake Snell pitched six scoreless innings to set the tone in Game 2, the stage was set for the Dodgers to run it back to a bullpen blueprint that has worked out superbly so far this October. Roberts turned to Emmett Sheehan, a right-hander who recorded a 3.17 ERA in 12 starts for the club this season. Sheehan gave up one run in two solid innings of relief, and Los Angeles held a three-run lead going into the ninth. 

Right-handed rookie Roki Sasaki was warming up and appeared ready to pitch the ninth when Roberts switched it up and went to veteran Blake Treinen instead. It was a disaster. The righty failed to record an out, allowing three consecutive hits, including a two-RBI single to Nick Castellanos that put the tying run on first base for the Phillies.

“Blake’s pitched some of the biggest outs, innings, in the postseason for us,” Roberts said. “And felt really confident right there.”

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Treinen recorded a 9.64 ERA in 12 outings in September, and he hasn’t inspired confidence in high-leverage situations for a while now. So if the idea was to rebuild trust with Treinen, it didn’t work. Los Angeles’ brain trust will think twice before letting the veteran near the mound again in the playoffs.

The Dodgers were playing with a fire of their own making. They let the Phillies offense back into the game, while a better option, though untraditional, was raring to go. After reliever Alex Vesia replaced Treinen and got two outs, Sasaki finally came in to face Trea Turner. He got the Phillies shortstop to ground out on his second pitch, a 99 mph fastball inside, earning his second postseason save and sealing the Dodgers win. 

“He hasn’t gone two out of three (games) much at all,” Roberts said of Sasaki. “So I didn’t want to just preemptively put him in there. Again, I felt good with who we had, with our leverage relievers, a couple of our highest-leverage relievers. And fortunately, he was ready when called upon. And I liked him versus Trea, and he got a big out for us.”

Sasaki returned from the injured list as a reliever in the final week of the regular season. After a couple of successful outings in September (including his first career save), Sasaki’s first high-leverage opportunity as a reliever came against the Reds in Game 2 of the Wild Card series. He retired the side with ease. 

But the real test came on Saturday night in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Phillies. This was no Cincinnati lineup, but Sasaki still collected three outs — even working around a Max Kepler double — to pick up his first save in the postseason. 

“I like how much he’s confident when he comes out of the ‘pen to close games,” Snell said of Sasaki. “He’s throwing strikes. He’s attacking. He’s fearless. It’s a different Roki. The starter Roki was more cautious and a little nervous, from what I could see.”

Philly’s Big Bats Go Quiet

The Phillies, meanwhile, are on the brink of elimination because their best hitters couldn’t summon enough offense to swing the series back in their direction. 

Their big three of Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper have gone 2-for-21 with 11 strikeouts and four walks in the first two games of the series against the Dodgers. Turner, at least, got the Phillies on the board in the eighth with an RBI single after Kepler’s one-out triple. But Schwarber wiped away any building momentum when he struck out on five pitches. Harper flew out to end the inning. The Phillies offense is 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the NLDS.

“Came up short there, obviously,” Harper said. “Gotta do a better job with guys on base. I had a couple of opportunities myself as well. Didn’t get it done earlier in the game. Just gotta be better. Got our work cut out for us going into L.A., out west. Like I said the other day, we gotta flush this one and get the next one.”

Bryce Harper and the Phillies couldn’t much at the plate until the very end. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) –> <!–>

In postseason history, teams that take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five series have won that matchup 80 out of 90 times (89.9%). The Phillies are faced with the daunting task of winning three straight games, and they likely won’t get another chance to exploit one of the only flaws this Dodgers roster had coming into the postseason. 

The Dodgers bullpen slogged into the playoffs with a 4.27 ERA that was tied with the Phillies for 20th in the major leagues. The relief unit gave up a league-high 27 blown saves in the regular season. Anytime Roberts took the ball from his starting pitcher’s hand, it created a chance for the opposing lineup to stack runs. The unpredictable nature of their relief unit offset the strength of their rotation. 

Now, the Dodgers have a straightforward fix. They’ve solved their bullpen problem in-house, by turning their starting pitchers into relievers. In Game 1 of NLDS, after Shohei Ohtani’s quality outing, Roberts turned to starter Tyler Glasnow, who pitched the seventh and eighth inning and kept the Phillies offense off the board. 

If it wasn’t Glasnow, Roberts was ready to go to Clayton Kershaw, yet another starter who is expected to be used as a reliever in the postseason. The Dodgers have received just three outs from traditional relievers in the NLDS, all of them coming from Vesia. 

Starters have combined to throw more innings and record more outs out of the bullpen in the playoffs than Los Angeles’ regular relievers. This latest trend should terrify the Phillies and the other remaining teams vying to compete in the World Series.

The reigning champions just eliminated their biggest roster concern. And now they’re one win away from eliminating the 96-win Phillies. 

“The starting pitching is doing an amazing job results-wise,” Sasaki said. “And all I’m trying to do is hold the lead or finish a game.”

Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.

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