Why the Dodgers’ faulty build will cost them a World Series
Was Edgardo Henriquez the better option to lead off Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the seventh inning with two outs and two runners on the corners?
Maybe, maybe not.
And that was the problem.
The problem was that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had no clearly better option than to put the game in the hands of a 23-year-old but unreliable rookie.
Henriquez walked Guerrero on a 99.9 mph fastball that sailed into the opposite batter’s box, evading catcher Will Smith’s grasp and allowing Addison Barger to score.
The manageable two-stage deficit is now three and about to become four.
The Dodgers were coming off a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, and the Game 5 score put them at a three-games-to-two deficit in this World Series.
For Roberts, that seventh inning wasn’t a coach’s nightmare. It was a night terror for the principal.
What else can Roberts do?
Stick with pitcher Blake Snell? Snell had already served Guerrero three times and had 116 pitches.
Would you use the closer Ruki Sasaki as a firefighter? He’s the only reliable savior and Roberts wasn’t about to use him in a non-elimination game in which his team was down.
Turning to last year’s postseason champion Blake…? Never mind, this question isn’t even worth asking at all.
“It’s tough because you can’t put too much pressure on rookies,” Roberts said. “I thought Blake emptied the tank.”
The Dodgers have somehow hidden their piñatas from the bullpen the previous three rounds of the postseason, but this bullpen is now catching up to them.
Reversing the series deficit will almost certainly require some of their starters to play in unfamiliar roles over the next two games, including Shohei Ohtani as the starter on three days’ rest in a potential Game 7.
Snell also appears to be a candidate to pitch in Game 7, perhaps as a middle reliever. Tyler Glasnow is expected to be available out of the bullpen for at least one of the remaining two games.
Besides Sasaki, painkillers can’t be trusted.
In each of the team’s three losses in this series, games changed when the starting pitcher was removed with men on base. In all three cases, the bullpen wreaked havoc on the game, allowing inherited runners to score.
“When you look at the three games we lost, it took a toll on us with guys on base,” Roberts said. “Guys have to be better.”
They can’t.
That reality makes the bullpen’s heroic performance in the 18-inning win in Game 3 all the more miraculous. The Dodgers are lucky this series isn’t over yet.
Building this bullpen has to be one of the greatest blunders in franchise history, as it could cost a team a World Series in a season featuring Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and a billion-dollar rotation.
How did this happen?
Start with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. The Dodgers committed a total of $85 million to relievers and neither were on the roster.
Look at the injured list. Brosdar Graterol missed the entire season with shoulder issues. Evan Phillips underwent Tommy John surgery.
Finally, check out what the Dodgers didn’t do at the trade deadline. Everyone — and by everyone, I mean everyone except Andrew Friedman’s front office — knew they were in desperate need of help. Relying on some internal solutions that worked, the only savior they had was Brooke Stewart. A fragile Stewart suffered a shoulder injury and did not play in the postseason.
What the Dodgers did was the baseball equivalent of building an amazing mansion but they forgot to install any toilets.
Now, the entire dorm stinks, and the Dodgers are one loss away from losing the World Series that should be theirs.