LOS ANGELES – We have reached the portion of this World Series where fans may want to avert their eyes.
Oh, not from the surroundings: Palm trees will sway, sunsets will dazzle and the Micheladas will flow in an overstuffed Dodger Stadium as the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers resume an already entertaining World Series knotted at one game apiece.
The aesthetic pleasure, so far, is off the charts, unsurprising when the Dodgers tout three former MVPs atop their lineup and just produced one of the greatest starting pitching performances in World Series history, all pitted against a Blue Jays team that’s never met a nine-run rally it didn’t like.
Yet in Games 3, 4 and 5, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kevin Gausman will be nowhere to be found. The starting pitchers aligned almost certainly won’t last as deep into the game. And the next three games will be contested without an off day.
Those factors create an inconvenient reality for both clubs: An increasingly narrow circle of trusted relievers will be forced to take the ball, again and again, to perhaps diminishing returns.
Grab a snack. And some Maalox, a necessary possession for every manager when they have to push the buttons and summon relievers into such high-stakes games.
“We limit our three-in-a-rows throughout the regular season,” Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman tells USA TODAY Sports. “If you crush yourself with three-in-a-rows throughout the regular season it can play a big part in your fatigue. Our staff does a great job managing our bullpen throughout the year and put us in a place these next three days won’t affect us too much.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys that are going to take the ball no matter what, no matter how they’re feeling.”
And no matter the results.
Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani are making postseason history for the Dodgers with every start. So are their relievers – just not in the fashion manager Dave Roberts would prefer.
Dodgers starters have combined for a stunning 1.84 ERA this postseason. Their relievers? A 6.16 ERA that’s worse than any playoff team that played at least three games.
The loss of lefty reliever Alex Vesia due to a family emergency at the start of the World Series is a very small part of their quandary this week. The Dodgers bullpen has been a wreck almost since the start of the season, as $72 million projected closer Tanner Scott’s significant struggles created a downward slide from the back of the bullpen.
He and veteran right-hander Kirby Yates aren’t on L.A.’s postseason roster. Blake Treinen, a member of the Dodger bullpen since 2020, was leaned on for just one big out, in the Naitonal League Championship Series.
And manager Dave Roberts’ relief trust tree more resembles a hurricane-wracked sapling.
Yamamoto was excellent in throwing complete games. Yet Roberts’ options are so limited, there was never a doubt he’d get a chance to finish.
Right now, it’s rookie Rōki Sasaki holding down the ninth inning, a role he’s assumed for barely a month. Lefty Anthony Banda and righty Emmet Sheehan are simply by-necessity buttons to push.
Any pressure on Game 3 starter Glasnow, Game 4 starter Ohtani and Snell, once again, in Game 5, to go deep?
“It’s critical,” says Roberts, knowing that sugarcoating it otherwise is simply not realistic. “I think that, unfortunately, we are comprised of a rotation that can log innings. Three (games) in a row is very important to vary reliever looks and get the optimum matchups that you can.
“But, yeah, it starts with the starters going deeper, absolutely.”
Yet that runs right into the grim reaper of Games 3 through 7: Hitters getting multiple looks at both starters and relievers, gaining familiarity, and, eventually, the upper hand.
Heck, the Blue Jays are here only because leadoff hitter George Springer ripped a go-ahead three-run homer off Eduard Bazardo in Game 7, as the Seattle reliever was pitching for the fourth time in the series and facing Springer for the second time in as many nights.
“You have to be able to adapt and show a guy a different look, a different pitch, a different location. So it’s a battle,” says Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “These guys have really good stuff, our guys have really good stuff, we have really good hitters, they have really good hitters.”
But mostly really good hitters and a paucity of truly trustworthy relievers.
That can make it difficult for managers to expand their level of trust when circumstances dictate. The Blue Jays have helped mitigate that by putting starter Chris Bassitt in the bullpen the past two series, forming a solid base with Hoffman and fireballing set-up men Louis Varland and Seranthony Domínguez.
“I’ve said it all along: I trust everyone that’s on the roster, and we’re probably going to need everyone when you’re playing three games in a row,” says Schneider. “So we tried to build it to where there’s multiple guys that can give you multiple innings, but I think that it starts on the mound with the starter
“If you can churn through some innings and — even if it’s just saving one inning here or there for one of your bullpen guys, that’s huge.”
That’s how it might look on paper. But this series is headed toward the halfway point. Expect things to get weird on the back end, perhaps even ugly for some.
Yet until the final out of Game 7, there’s always a chance for a previously untrusted, downtrodden dude to rewrite a narrative. A high-leverage inning from an unlikely arm might even be the difference between hoisting a trophy and a winter of regrets.
“No matter how yesterday or today goes for any given guy, you still gotta leave it in the past,” says Hoffman. “and look toward the next one.”
