Dodgers' Dave Roberts Gets Honest on Bullpen's Struggles in Wild Card Game 1

Sep 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (30) looks on before the game against the Cincinnati Reds in game one of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Dodgers started the postseason with a win, but it came in a much more stress-inducing manner than it probably should have.

As it has been for much of the season, it was the Dodgers bullpen that underperformed and proved why this Dodgers team could be vulnerable throughout the playoffs.

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Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell showed why he earned the Game 1 start, allowing just four hits and two earned runs across seven innings. By the time Snell allowed each of his two earned runs in the seventh inning, the Dodgers had already scored eight runs of their own.

Then, in a fitting performance, the Dodgers' bullpen floundered. If not for a strong night from the offense, a sigh of relief once the ninth inning concluded could have easily been a sigh of despair from a disappointed Dodgers team.

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After Snell completed the seventh inning, Alex Vesia came in to open the eighth. Quickly, Vesia found himself with a runners on first and second, forcing Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to pull him in favor of Edgardo Henriquez.

Henriquez didn't fare much better, walking his first batter to load the bases, walking his second to give up a run and allowing a single on his third batter to give up another run. Roberts had seen enough.

Up next in the disastrous eighth inning was Jack Dreyer, who walked Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz but ultimately took care of business, striking out the two final batters of the inning.

Roberts clearly wasn't happy about how his bullpen showed up to open the playoffs.

"Well, Alex wasn't sharp tonight," Roberts told Dodgers Nation. "And obviously Henriquez didn't have any command. So with that lane right there, three right-handers, four right-handers, I felt good about where we were at to kind of shorten Alex a little bit. Still got 20-something pitches to get one out.

"And then you follow up in a 10-2 ball game with Edgardo in a lane that I feel very confident in, and he just wasn't good tonight.

"At that point in time you've got to get somebody else to stop the momentum. So I felt having Dreyer on Elly was a good spot for him, and fortunately he made pitches when he needed to and ultimately we got Ke'Bryan to pop up."

While Blake Treinan's 17-pitch, two-strikeout ninth inning was a promising sign from the reliever who has struggled at times this year, Roberts and the Dodgers can't feel great after watching the eighth inning unfold.

The bullpen will get another chance to redeem itself Tuesday, as the Dodgers look to close out the Wild Card round over the Reds at 6:08 p.m. PDT.

For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.