MLB Insider Thinks Dodgers' Latest Veteran Signing Could Become Critical to Playoff Run

Sep 11, 2022; San Diego, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Andrew Heaney (28) throws a pitch against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have sky-high expectations as they enter the final 25 games of the regular season, and with so many key pieces returning from the injured list, it appears that things are coming together at the perfect time.

As the rosters expanded from 26 to 28 players on Monday, the Dodgers activated two injured players to fortify both the pitching roster and the heart of the lineup — but that wasn't all. LA also signed veteran southpaw Andrew Heaney to a minor league contract.

Although many Dodgers fans remember Heaney's productive 2022 campaign in Dodger blue, the greater baseball world is starting to formulate ideas of what October implications this move might have. MLB Network's Brian Kenny spoke on the move and compared it to another under-the-radar pitcher that was huge for LA last season.

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"I see the Dodgers getting [Andrew] Heaney and I go, 'I know they're up to something,'" said Kenny. "He's gonna be pitching these fifth and sixth innings in these playoff games like Landon Knack last year like, 'Where did this guy come from?' He can be a quality guy.'"

Knack's postseason numbers won't tell the full story, but after an effective 3.65 ERA across 69 innings of regular season work, he ended up eating innings in October to allow the bullpen to rest and eventually seal an eighth World Series win.

Heaney likely knows the story of the constant injuries surrounding the Dodgers' pitching roster this season, but the hope is that he can bring his value as a serviceable left-handed pitcher to LA for the most important stretch of the season.

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The southpaw tossed a 3.10 ERA across 72.2 innings during his sole season on the Dodgers, but his ERA has yet to get that low in the three seasons since. In fact, 2022 would prove to be his lowest ERA at season's end across all 12 of Heaney's MLB campaigns.

Heaney will also return to Triple-A for the first time since 2022, but conventiently, the veteran is already living in Oklahoma City.

If Heaney does, in fact, become the 2025 version of Knack, it would be an immediate boost to the Dodgers' hopes of becoming baseball's first repeat champions in a quarter-century.

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