When will the Los Angeles Dodgers have a functioning bullpen? Like sand through an hourglass, their regular season is making the days of Dodgers fans lives more stressful.
It happened again on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used his bullpen throughout the game, starting with Anthony Banda and turning to Emmet Sheehan for a bulk innings outing. Banda gave up a first-inning home run to Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, sending him to the showers after two batters.
Sheehan, though, pitched 5 2/3 innings of ball and kept the Phillies off the scoreboard. After him, though, things collapsed. The Phillies ended up beating the Dodgers 6-5 in 10 innings, giving Philadelphia its second straight National League East Division crown.
After the final out was recorded, Phillies players celebrated on the field and Phillies team personnel passed out division-winning hats and T-shirts to the team.
Max Muncy and Andy Pages slammed home runs for Los Angeles. Besides Schwarber, Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper connected for a dinger over the left-field fence.
The Dodgers, who remained in first place in the NL West, can ill afford to lose a few more games. The 2025 MLB regular season is in its final days and every game matters.
"I still like the guys that we had on them," Roberts said after the game. "… I think we’re talking about guys that were rested, ready to go. I had the guys I wanted on them. That doesn’t always work out."
Here are some stats from MLB that might not surprise Dodgers fans that much, but they do paint a telling picture of the bullpen situation right now. Look at what's been happening when the Dodgers step into high-leverage relief situations since the All-Star break.
LA relievers entered Monday's game against the Phillies with an 8.68 ERA, which ranked 28th in MLB and was ahead of the Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins. In September, the Dodgers' high-leverage arms have a combined ERA of 14.40, which is second worst in MLB.
Those are not pretty statistics at all.
Roberts is still trying to find the right concoction among his relief corps. Seeing things implode like this right now doesn't make any Dodger fan feel comfortable. What does Roberts think about this matter right now?
"It’s just trying to see which guys step up with opportunities," Roberts said. "I thought Tanner [Scott], for example, the last two outings have been very good. That’s really good to see. So, just trying to figure out who’s going to seize the opportunity."
Scott has blown too many saves this season. Yet Roberts still believes in him, which is good for Scott at this time. Still, the bullpen has been a sore spot for many different reasons. The Dodgers need to get this part of their game fixed before heading into NL postseason play.
With the loss, though, Los Angeles falls 5 1/2 games behind the Phillies for the No. 2 spot in the NL playoff picture. LA has 12 games left in the regular season. The loss also cut into the Dodgers' NL West lead, putting the San Diego Padres within two games of first place.
The Dodgers and Phillies get back at it again on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles needs to win tonight and pile up a few more W's before the season ends. LA fans hope Roberts can mix and match his pitchers to perform at an outstanding level.