In a yr that has been so inconceivable, the inconceivable has occurred.
The Dodgers have dropped out of first place.
The group that was anticipated to win 120 video games has fallen a sport behind the San Diego Padres within the Nationwide League West, and who is aware of how a lot additional baseball’s most costly assortment of gamers may plummet?
The geniuses within the entrance workplace improved the farm system greater than they did the clearly problematic bullpen on the commerce deadline, leading to blown lead after blown lead after blown lead.
Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers the ball from the mound in opposition to the Angles on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Occasions)
Video games have develop into “Choose Your Own Adventure” books wherein each alternative obtainable to supervisor Dave Roberts ends in catastrophe, with relievers giving up leads in 4 of the group’s final seven video games.
The current activation of Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have made the beginning pitching complete, however what does it matter if the bullpen can’t shut out video games?
Mookie Betts has began hitting and the offense has picked up, however what does it matter if the relievers give the runs proper again?
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman instructed reporters the opposite day the look of the bullpen may considerably change by the point the playoffs begin due to the anticipated returns of the likes of Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates and Michael Kopech. He may very well be proper.
Nevertheless, there’s no probability of that transformation occurring within the subsequent 10 days, which may very well be an important 10 days of the common season. The Dodgers will play the Padres six occasions over that interval — 3 times at Dodger Stadium this weekend and 3 times at Petco Park in San Diego subsequent weekend.
The Padres have gained 14 of their final 17 video games to overhaul the Dodgers, who have been 9 video games forward of them on July 3. Whereas the Dodgers have been comparatively inactive on the commerce deadline, the Padres fortified a lineup powered by Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. They bolstered the league’s No. 1 bullpen with the addition of Mason Miller, the very best reliever available on the market.
The Dodgers even have momentum — however a completely completely different type. When their beginning pitcher departs a sport, a collapse feels inevitable.
That was actually the case on Wednesday when Ohtani was taken out of the sport in opposition to the Angels with a 5-4 benefit. Why wouldn’t there be a way of impending doom in a sport wherein Roberts was pressured to put the sport within the palms of Justin Wrobleski and Edgardo Henriquez?
Dodgers pitcher Edgardo Henriquez bites his glove as he walks off the mound after giving up the go-ahead run in opposition to the Angels on Wednesday at Angel Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Occasions)
Wrobleski and Henriquez mixed to surrender two runs within the eighth inning, and the Angels went on to finish their three-game sweep of the Dodgers.
If that they had protected the lead, who would have pitched the ninth inning?
Roberts: “Umm …”
The supervisor ultimately got here up with a reputation: , whom the Cincinnati Reds demoted to the minor leagues earlier than buying and selling him to the Dodgers.
Roberts defined that Blake Treinen was unavailable as a result of he’d pitched in three of the final 5 video games. One other potential consideration Roberts didn’t point out: Treinen, who was activated from the injured listing about two weeks in the past, has a 4.26 earned-run common.
The blown lead on Wednesday was the second by the Dodgers in as many days. A worn-down-looking Alex Vesia gave up a tying run within the ninth inning and Ben Casparius misplaced the sport within the tenth.
“It’s something that we’re really not accustomed to, to be quite honest,” Roberts mentioned.
The bullpen performed a significant position within the championship the Dodgers gained final yr. That looks as if a distant risk this yr. Even when Scott and Yates return, what are the probabilities of them pitching effectively when the high-price free-agent pickups haven’t pitched effectively for almost all of the season?
And, say, the bullpen comes collectively as Friedman envisions. The place will the Dodgers be within the standings? The Dodgers have the fifth-best document within the NL. Solely two groups obtain first-round byes.
Within the wake of the loss on Wednesday evening, Roberts sat within the visiting supervisor’s workplace at Angel Stadium. A bottle of wine was on the desk in entrance of him.
“It’s a gift,” Roberts mentioned. “I haven’t opened it yet.”
He didn’t low cost the potential of doing so, nevertheless. Requested if he may drink the complete bottle that evening, Roberts pressured a smile.
“Possibility,” he mentioned.
