TORONTO — There could perhaps be no better reminder of how far Dodgers came than the opposing pitcher on Monday. When the World Series returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 3, the Toronto Blue Jays' starting pitcher will be Max Scherzer.
You may remember his brief tenure. with the Dodgers four years agowhich ended in a knockout game in which Scherzer said he couldn't serve.. The Dodgers lostthe latest domino in a cascade initiated by a front office that mistook its people for widgets in search of even the tiniest edges.
Don't take my word for it. It was word from Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez at the time: “The Dodgers' analytics department has really abused what may be the best rotation in all of baseball… They need to find a way to let the starters be who they really are and let them pitch the way they're used to.”
In the 2021 postseason, the Dodgers used a rookie, a 20-game winner as a middle hitter and a Hall of Famer as a closer, three times by choice. There will be no parade.
In the 2024 postseason, the Dodgers played four bullpen games through no choice. There would be a parade.
In 2025, the Dodgers will simply throw a top-notch starting pitcher every game. Presumably there is there is nothing for the front office staff to think about here.
Just sit back and enjoy the show – Yoshinobu Yamamoto's second in a row on Saturday. complete game show. At least it should be less stressful.
“I don't think it's any less stressful,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Pryor told an inquisitive middle-aged reporter whose gray hair had become too visible. “We have the same hair.”
However, there's not much mystery about the Dodgers' 10-2 postseason record. Every game in which their starting pitcher threw an out in the sixth inning, they won. Every game in which their starting pitcher didn't get an out in the sixth inning, they lost.
To Yamamoto's rotation, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow And Shohei Ohtanibow.
TO Andrew Friedman and his front officebow too. Just because your property gave you $1.35 billion in rotation doesn't guarantee you'll be left alone.
Remember that in the final month of the season, the Dodgers were hatching a flurry of ideas about how best to combine a talented rotation and an unreliable bullpen into an effective October lineup.
Will they deploy Otani is relieved.? Will they use their best weapons as often as possible, like the Washington Nationals did in 2019 when they used their top three starters in Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg? And pitchers?
The Dodgers allowed their starters to remain starters. Conventional wisdom does not always need to be questioned.
“Obviously Blake Snell, Yama, Glasnow, Shohei are all really good pitchers,” Pryor said. “I think we can all agree that they are all really good pitchers and any team would probably start them in a playoff game.
“So I don’t think this is some kind of master plan.”
Said the catcher Will Smith: “I think it's just this team. We have four starters right now that are playing their best… We're just riding these guys.”
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow is set to start Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
That takes us back to 2021, when the front office decided the best way to approach the winner-take-all division series finale against the San Francisco Giants was to use pinch-hitter Corey Knebel as the leadoff man, 20-game winner Julio Urias in the third through sixth innings, closer Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning and Scherzer as the closer. close.
This approach to the game is better suited to ending the World Series. The Dodgers won that game against the Giants, but Scherzer failed to complete five innings in his first Championship Series start and said he would not be able to pitch for his next start, an elimination game.
“My hand has been locked up the last couple of days,” Scherzer said at the time.
He said he would be at risk if he wasn't honest with the Dodgers about his condition rather than trying to break through.
“Guys, when they lie, they go out and take on too much and then they blow up,” he said. “That's the biggest risk here.”
Some corners of the club weren't too keen on the idea. Urias was frustrated because he felt the Dodgers didn't believe in him. Walker Buehler, who started on short rest as a late replacement for Scherzer, gave up four runs in four innings. The Dodgers are out.
Scherzer's last World Series start for the Texas Rangers in 2023 lasted three innings. He doesn't think about the Rangers or, for that matter, the Dodgers.
“I wouldn't look back at all for any motivation,” he said here on Saturday. “I have a lot of motivation. I'm here to win and my club is full of guys who want to win too. So we're a great team and that's the only thing I have to think about.”
The only thing the Dodgers have to worry about Monday, at least based on their postseason play: Can they get six or seven innings from Glasnow? If they can, they should be halfway to a World Series championship.
Highlights from the Dodgers' 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the World Series.
