{"id":24279,"date":"2025-10-26T15:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T15:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/24279\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T15:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T15:58:13","slug":"dodgers-world-series-pitching-strategy-centered-on-simplicity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/24279\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ World Series pitching strategy centered on simplicity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TORONTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0There might be no greater reminder of how far the Dodgers<\/a> have come than the opposing pitcher on Monday. When the World Series returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 3, the starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays is scheduled to be Max Scherzer<\/a>. <\/p>\n

You may remember his brief tenure with the Dodgers four years ago<\/a>, which ended with an elimination game in which Scherzer said he could not pitch<\/a>. The Dodgers lost<\/a>, the last domino in a cascade triggered by a front office that miscast its humans as widgets in a search for even the tiniest of edges.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just take my word for it. This was the word<\/a> from Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez at the time: \u201cDodgers analytics dept really misused probably the best rotation in all of baseball. \u2026They need to figure out a way to let starters be who they really are and let them pitch how they are used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the 2021 postseason, by choice, the Dodgers used an opener three times, a 20-game winner as a middle reliever, and a Hall of Fame starter as a closer. There would be no parade.<\/p>\n

In the 2024 postseason, and not by choice, the Dodgers ran four bullpen games. There would be a parade<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2025, the Dodgers are simply throwing out a top-flight starting pitcher in every game. Presumably, there is nothing for the front office to overthink here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just sit back and enjoy the show \u2014 on Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto\u2019s second straight complete game show<\/a>. This must be less stressful, at least.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s less stressful,\u201d Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said to an inquiring middle-aged reporter with gray hair getting a little too noticeable. \u201cWe\u2019ve got matching hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Still, there isn\u2019t much mystery in the Dodgers\u2019 10-2 postseason record. In every game in which their starting pitcher has gotten an out in the sixth inning, they have won. In every game in which their starting pitcher has not gotten an out in the sixth inning, they have lost.<\/p>\n

To the rotation of Yamamoto, Blake Snell<\/a>, Tyler Glasnow<\/a> and Shohei Ohtani<\/a>, take a bow.<\/p>\n

To Andrew Friedman and his front office<\/a>, take a bow too. Just because your ownership provided you with a $1.35-billion rotation does not guarantee that you will leave well enough alone.<\/p>\n

In the final month of the season, remember, the Dodgers entertained a flurry of ideas about how to best combine a talented rotation and an iffy bullpen into an effective October staff.<\/p>\n

Would they deploy Ohtani in relief<\/a>? Would they use their best arms as often as possible, as the Washington Nationals did in 2019, when they used their top three starters \u2014 Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Stephen Strasburg \u2014 as starters and relievers?<\/p>\n

The Dodgers let their starters be starters. The conventional wisdom does not always need to be challenged.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, Blake Snell, Yama, Glasnow, Shohei, all really good pitchers,\u201d Prior said. \u201cI think we can all agree that they\u2019re all really good pitchers, and any team would probably roll them out in a playoff game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t think this is any master plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said catcher Will Smith<\/a>: \u201cI think that\u2019s just this team. We have four starters now that are pitching their best. … We\u2019re just riding those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow is set to start Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times )<\/p>\n

That brings us back to 2021, when the front office decided the best way to approach the winner-take-all finale of the division series against the San Francisco Giants was to use reliever Corey Knebel as an opener, 20-game winner Julio Ur\u00edas from the third through the sixth innings, closer Kenley Jansen in the eighth inning and Scherzer as the closer.<\/p>\n

That is the kind of all-hands-on-deck approach better suited to the end of a World Series. The Dodgers won that game against the Giants, but Scherzer could not complete five innings in his first championship series start and said he could not take the ball for his next start, an elimination game.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy arm\u2019s been locked up the past couple of days,\u201d Scherzer said then.<\/p>\n

He said that he would be the one at risk if he were not honest with the Dodgers about his condition, rather than trying to push through.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys, when they lie, they go out there and they take on too much, then they blow out,\u2019\u2019 he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the ultimate risk here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That line of thought did not go over too well in some corners of the clubhouse. Ur\u00edas was miffed because he believed the Dodgers did not 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 were eliminated.<\/p>\n

Scherzer\u2019s last World Series start, for the Texas Rangers in 2023, lasted three innings. He isn\u2019t thinking about the Rangers, or for that matter the Dodgers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be looking backwards at all for any motivation,\u2019\u2019 he said here Saturday. \u201cI have plenty of motivation. I\u2019m here to win and I\u2019ve got a clubhouse full of guys who want to win too. So we\u2019re a great team and that\u2019s the only thing I need to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The only thing the Dodgers need to worry about on Monday, at least based on their postseason run: Can they get six or seven innings from Glasnow? If they can, they should be halfway to the World Series championship.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Highlights from the Dodgers\u2019 5-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 2 of the World Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0There might be no greater reminder of how far the Dodgers have come than the opposing pitcher on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[432,426,18797,18798,423,18799,48,52,51,47,50,49,15933,4256,4122,18796,427,315,8652,4470,429],"class_list":["post-24279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-blake-snell","tag-dodgers","tag-eighth-inning","tag-front-office","tag-game","tag-good-rotation","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-max-scherzer","tag-pitcher","tag-postseason","tag-starter","tag-team","tag-time","tag-tyler-glasnow","tag-world-series","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}