Dodgers World Series Roster Updates: Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott, More

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts high fives relief pitcher Alex Vesia (51) after getting out of the eighth inning of the MLB National League Wild Card Game 2 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. The Reds were eliminated from the postseason with an 8-4 loss to the reining World Series Champions La Dodgers. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts provided an update on a few roster decisions heading into their World Series matchup against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The most notable absence from the defending champions' roster going into the Fall Classic was left-handed reliever Alex Vesia. The team announced that he is away from the team dealing with a personal matter, and Roberts provided the latest ahead of Game 1.

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“I think we exhausted a couple different options, but just considering obviously what he’s going through and baseball’s certainly on the back-burner, so I just think that’s the right process that we as an organization (thought) was probably the best way to handle it," Roberts said of not placing him on the Family Medical Emergency List.

"We have a lot of viable options (to replace him) and I don’t know what situation will present itself but I trust all the guys, I really do. And guys are gonna have to step up, but Alex is certainly gonna be missed."

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman noted that the decision to hold Vesia off the roster was to help support the southpaw and his family.

“Yeah I mean we just didn’t want to have any potential for any kind of pressure," Friedman said. "This is so much bigger than baseball and for us it was doing whatever small part we could to just, 100 percent be supportive.”

Vesia isn't the only top arm that was left off the World Series roster as Tanner Scott is absent as well. Scott is dealing with a lower-body abscess procedure that was the reason he was removed from the NLDS roster.

Although he didn't have the most productive regular season, Roberts noted that he was left off the roster mostly because of medical reasons.

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“More medical (than performance-based)," Roberts said. "The medical has not allowed for him to have the ramp-up, and as he’s thrown a couple bullpens, it just wasn’t quite there. For us, the cost of potential injury and betting on the upside of how quick this thing came about — I think it’s just ultimately bad timing, unfortunately.”

Two players that were somewhat surprising to see on the World Series roster were right-handers Will Klein and Edgardo Henriquez. Klein has yet to make a postseason appearance, and Henriquez made just one appearance during the first game of the Wild Card series.

Friedman spoke on the value they both bring to the table.

“Edgardo and Will, for us, just their pitch mix, how it matched up against their hitters, (we) felt like gave us more margin for error in different ways and different ways to match up that we felt like fit our group really well," Friedman said.

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