For two games, we saw bits of the Dodgers we were promised back in April. Yesterday, not so much. Let’s hope that eighth inning was a reminder that this team can’t get too complacent just yet. In other
news…
Dodgers Notes
Roki Sasaki is the Dodgers’ go-to closer right now, and that doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon, writes Andrés Soto at MLB.com. Sasaki has been thriving in late innings, and while manager Dave Roberts was cautious to say that he’d slot in other pitchers as needed, Sasaki’s track record so far makes him the no. 1 choice.
Starters are still getting the job done in their usual early innings, too, writes Cary Osborne at Dodgers Insider. The team has allowed only three extra-base hits in four postseason games, with a collective 1.75 ERA, proving that the starting rotation is indeed a strength of this playoff picture.
And while the starting team has been pulling double-duty in late innings pretty successfully so far, there’s the question of sustainability, writes Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic. How long can the Dodgers expect their revamped bullpen to hold it together, especially in the wake of yesterday’s meltdown?
Shohei Ohtani has been having a tough time this October, and it shows, writes Mirjam Swanson at the Orange County Register. It comes down to poor decision making at the plate, Roberts said, and the double workload of pitching and hitting might have something to do with Ohtani’s recent slide, too.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has a dream: one MLB channel, accessible all over the country, with every game for every team. That means no blackouts, no balancing act of random subscriptions. Is it possible? Manfred wants this to happen by 2029, and Dodgers president Stan Kasten is on board, writes Bill Shaikin at the Los Angeles Times. But it’s not that simple — TV revenue makes up a big chunk of the Dodgers’ treasury, and they’d be giving up quite a bit of that cash under this model.
