Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers have now made the playoffs in 14 consecutive seasons, 13 of those coming via NL West title (damn 2021 Giants), and are in the driver’s seat to avoid the NLWCS on September 29 to skip toward the NLDS on October 3. With the postseason now officially clinched — and the NL West title also officially secured — now is as good a time as any to speculate wildly on the Dodgers postseason roster because so much is still unknown and in flux, thus potentially making this exercise as messy and incorrect as possible.
Let’s try to sort it all out, shall we?
Note: The rosters will reduce back to 26 for the playoffs with 13 pitchers as the limit.
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Locks (20)
Rotation (4): Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow
Bullpen (4): Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Hunter Feduccia
Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (3): Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker
Shohei Ohtani (1): Shohei Ohtani
Utility (2): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez
That looks like a lot of locks for a so-called “mess”, but as alluded to, this is basically a dream scenario when it comes to health.
In reality, Shohei Ohtani is on the IL battling knee, bicep, and neck issues, Blake Snell’s left groin flared up and he’s unknown, Tyler Glasnow was squirming last start like his back was still bothering him, Roki Sasaki is battling blister issues, Edgardo Henriquez will miss the regular season with a back strain, Miguel Rojas has a torn right labrum, and Andy Pages has been out for a month with a hand fracture. And that doesn’t even count the guy who have returned from missing extended time this year, and we’re just assuming they’re fine.
Still, if healthy, I don’t think there’s much debate here.
Maybe some would question Rojas or Enrique based on their years to date, but they both still get almost every start against a lefty, and both were also basically brought back to be the veterans who can perform in the playoffs. There’s no scenario where they’re healthy and get left off.
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Candidates (16)
Rotation (1): Gavin Stone
Bullpen (10): Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller, Blake Treinen, Kris Bubic, Jack Dreyer, Edwin Diaz, Brock Stewart, Evan Phillips, Will Klein
Catcher (2): Dalton Rushing, Ben Rortvedt
Infielders (1): Alex Freeland
Outfielders (2): Josue De Paula, Alex Call
Okay, so now there’s four or five bullpen spots and one or two bench spots remaining, and by my count there’s 16 quasi-realistic candidates for those spots.
The rotation reserves are realistically Roki, Emmet, and Wrobo, with Gavin being a break in case of emergency option that would likely be a part of a pen game if it got to that point.
To fill out the pen, with Roki also able to provide length, they likely take just one of Wrobo and Sheehan as a swingman type with Miller as the fallback. Wrobo appears to be groomed at that role, and despite Sheehan coming on of late, they seem to see him as more starter insurance than anything else right now. I figure they need at least one more of these options because it’s a distinct possibility that a starter like Snell or Glasnow might need to exit after throwing one pitch or something and you’d prefer not to white flag playoff games.
For the others, I don’t think they leave a healthy Treinen off the roster, but his usage since returning has given me some pause, as he’s yet to be really be used in leverage. Likely just bringing him along slowly, but if his performance starts to falter close to the playoffs as he moves up the trust tree, he could be a surprise casualty. I also think Phillips and Bubic have the inside track to get the last two spots at the moment based on how they’ve been used and how they’ve been brought along. Bubic only has one appearance, but they acquired him for this exact role and brought him along deliberately, almost as if his health was more of a question than what they thought of his abilities. Phillips has history with Dave and has looked great the last two months (2.45 ERA/2.69 FIP), but Stewart has been similarly effective albeit deployed less generously (3.00 ERA/2.87 FIP). Stewart replacing Treinen is a real possibility since the former has been deployed in leverage by Dave for months now. Meanwhile, Klein’s health is the major question, and Diaz is basically just here on reputation at this point, unless he really looks great the rest of the way I don’t see how they take him. It’s actually likely that it’s Dreyer who would be next up for the pen if anybody’s health falters (likely).
For position players, no matter what they say, I think Rushing is likely too injured and too late to prove he’s not to give a roster spot to, and he’s only not already on the 60-day IL because they will do it when De Paula gets placed on the playoff roster. Meanwhile, Call is really only needed in case of injury at this point, as his spot against lefties is taken by most of the other bench options. That likely leaves Freeland to be included almost by default, as he has infield versatility, athleticism, and they still seem to like him. Then there’s De Paula, who hasn’t strung together multi-hit games or anything, but has weirdly proven that he can be valuable without even swinging the bat. Dave has already batted him lead-off once, and has used him in a variety of roles, so barring collapse it sure seems like they want him to be at least a lefty pinch-hit option. That said, it’s possible that they take an extra reliever instead, not wanting to choose between Phillips and Stewart, and leave JDP at home.
I’ll go with Wrobo, Treinen, Phillips, Bubic, De Paula, and Freeland as my final six, assuming health.
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In theory, it’s easy to see why the Dodgers are an opponent most would like to avoid. It’s a terrifying roster of names that not only has depth across the board but a useful combination of versatility and handedness.
That said, it’s also presumptuous of everybody’s health. There’s a realistic chance that around eight of the “Locks” are either out or only barely healthy by the time October rolls around, and the Dodgers end up having to borrow heavily from the “Candidates” list to piecemeal a comparatively vastly inferior roster together.
There’s now less than two weeks of games — and potentially three weeks of time — to figure things out, and both the tryouts for the playoff roster on the field and the race against the clock for the rehabbing players should be an unfortunately nervewracking follow.
