With playoffs a week away, the Dodgers’ bullpen has become a chronic liability

When the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers were being described as a superteam entering spring training, their bullpen was a major reason why.

A franchise long hesitant on spending big money on relievers — the Dodgers are usually decent at finding relievers either via development or trade — spent the offseason trying to find a way to splurge with its World Series windfall. With the bullpen somewhat a question mark, the Dodgers dropped enormous money on three specific guys to anchor their bullpen:

• Free agent left-hander Tanner Scott: four years, $72 million

• Returning right-hander Blake Treinen: two years, $22 million

• Free agent right-handers Kirby Yates: one year, $17 million

Those three were among the best in baseball last season and turned the bullpen into a luxurious strength. Instead, they’ve become a liability, with their only path to postseason innings a product of their team’s lack of other options.

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It was Scott who felt the sting Tuesday. After six scoreless innings from Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ bullpen stumbled enough that L.A. entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 4-3 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

They turned to Scott to finish the game and cut their magic number to win the NL West to 2. Here’s what they got instead: hit-by-pitch, walk, sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, walk-off single. The worst that can be said about Scott is it felt inevitable from the moment his slider hit Ildemaro Vargas.

Here is a stat for you: the last time a Dodgers starting pitcher took a loss was Sept. 4, a span of nearly two weeks. They have gone 10-7 in that span. In all seven of those losses, either Scott or Treinen took the loss.

Let’s reiterate: in every Dodgers loss since Sept. 4, it was one of two guys who yielded the winning runs.

Disastrous doesn’t begin to describe how the Dodgers’ bullpen is shaping up with the postseason only a week away. It’s not just that their bullpen ranks fifth-worst in MLB since the start of September with a 5.69 ERA. It’s that the three guys they were supposed to rely on the most have allowed 21 of their 43 earned runs allowed.

The Dodgers’ bullpen is running on empty

It is at this point you might wonder why Scott was still placed in a save situation Tuesday, or why Treinen (11.57 ERA in September) is even on the active roster at this point. Let’s go through what some of the other options are.

We can assign “not an urgent concern” status to basically two guys currently on the active roster: Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda. The other four pitchers in the bullpen on the active roster are all rookies, with only Edgardo Henriquez possessing postseason experience (four earned runs in five innings last year).

So let’s assume the Dodgers aren’t keen on using those guys with a postseason game on the line. What about Michael Kopech, a key piece of their 2024 World Series run? He’s on the injured list with knee inflammation, after walking nine in four innings of work in September.

What about Brock Stewart, their only bullpen acquisition from a curiously quiet MLB trade deadline? He’s been on the IL since mid-August with right shoulder inflammation.

Brusdar Graterol, the fan-favorite fireballer? Hasn’t pitched at all this season due to shoulder surgery. Evan Phillips, their right-handed stalwart? Tommy John surgery in June.

It’s arguable that the top six-right handers for a full strength Dodgers bullpen — Treinen, Kopech, Yates, Graterol, Phillips, Stewart — are all either hurt or unplayable right now.

You know that scene from the seminal “Homer at the Bat” episode of “The Simpsons,” in which Mr. Burns brags about how nine misfortunes couldn’t possibly befall his lineup of ringers? And then eight of the nine All-Stars get taken down? The Dodgers’ bullpen has become the less funny version of that.

What will this bullpen look like in October?

It reached the point Tuesday where Clayton Kershaw, scheduled to start Sunday, volunteered for bullpen duty just to get through the D-backs series this week, per Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. That foreshadows how he might be used in the postseason, as the Dodgers are the rare team with more starting pitchers they trust than relievers they feel have a prayer.

A six-man rotation will likely become four in the postseason with Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow getting starts, while Kershaw and the young Emmet Sheehan move into a relief role.

That at least gives the Dodgers two extra relievers, though Kershaw’s postseason history in particular isn’t going to inspire confidence, imminent retirement or not. There’s also the previously hyped rookie Roki Sasaki, whom Roberts said would be activated from the IL Wednesday in a relief role, and Kyle Hurt, who was decent in abbreviated action last year and is currently on a rehab assignment in his return from Tommy John surgery.

Having a bullpen almost entirely composed of relievers with career-worst numbers, guys returning from injuries and rookies sounds like a formula for gray hairs in the playoffs. That’s currently how it’s shaping up for L.A.

Not helping things is that their rotation, while effective when on the mound, is not known for long outings. Ohtani hadn’t pitched more than five innings in a start until Tuesday as he slowly returns from a 2023 UCL surgery. Snell is infamous for often needing 100 pitches just to reach five innings. Glasnow is among the most injury-prone starting pitchers in baseball.

It seems very possible the Dodgers will ask Kershaw and Sheehan to go the bulk inning route after their starters and supply as many innings as possible before the current group of relievers gets called in. That won’t cover every base, though, so get ready for some high-wire acts starting next week.