Dodgers News: Writer Thinks LA Has One of Worst Pitching Staffs in Entire Playoff Field
The Dodgers dealt with more injuries and uncertainty amidst their regular season rotation than possibly any other team in MLB.
Dave Roberts' staff may have weathered the storm throughout the 162-game slate, but analysts remain uneasy about his makeshift barn of arms headed into the NLDS.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com has them as the ninth-ranked pitching staff of the 12-team playoff field. Here's what he had to say.
"This will be nothing if not interesting. We’ve watched the Dodgers’ starting staff wither away. Clayton Kershaw leads the team in innings. The top rotation options after him are a raw rookie in Bobby Miller and a veteran in Lance Lynn, who, until recently, looked washed. Manager Dave Roberts is going to use openers, tandems, quick hooks and lean heavily on what has been a terrific bullpen. As always, the Dodgers have a lot of weapons, but the questions about how to deploy them and piece together the innings it takes to advance cloud their ranking here."
Elbow injuries to both Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin meant a premature end to their 2023 seasons after they started the year out so promising.
Down two starters in August, the Dodgers picked up Lance Lynn at the trade deadline who, while better with LA than Chicago, still gave up home runs at an insanely high clip.
Julio Urias' September arrest made things even murkier for LA but Bobby Miller alongside fellow rookies Ryan Pepiot and Emmet Sheehan certainly played their way into October on Roberts' staff.
Openers became a new phenomenon in recent baseball history but Roberts may need to rely on such a strategy even further without a traditional playoff rotation.
Though Los Angeles has seen Walker Buehler, Zack Greinke, Hyun-Jin Ryu and plenty of other bona fide starting pitchers used in playoffs past alongside Clayton Kershaw, this year won't be that simple.
It'll be up to everyone on the playoff roster to get the job done with a World Series title no matter what role they're playing.
