Friday, September 6, 2024
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2024
This year was expected to be the Dodger year to win their first full-season world championship since 1988. While the Dodgers are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in the major leagues, they aren’t going to the World Series in 2024.
It is neither Andrew Friedman nor Dave Roberts’ fault. They have done their usual fantastic jobs. The players performed well, sometimes outperforming the expectations.
The Dodgers’ main problem is health. If the Dodgers even made it to the World Series, who would pitch?
On Friday, the Dodgers put their most reliable starting pitcher, Gavin Stone, on the IL with right shoulder inflammation. He probably won’t come back to the active roster until the NLCS if the Dodgers reach that series.
The Dodgers have Jack Flaherty and a bunch of question marks in their starting rotation. They hope Tyler Glasnow will return soon from right elbow tendonitis. If he threw on the mound on Friday, it would be the first time since he went on the IL on August 16th. If he does and feels good, he will have a bullpen session, and then go out on a rehabilitation assignment. The Dodgers don’t have much time before the regular season ends to pitch Glasnow in a regular season game. Their last three regular season games are at Coors Field, where no team in its right mind wants an injured starter returning.
Tuesday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is returning from spending almost three months on the IL because of a strained rotator cuff. Nobody knows if he can pitch without suffering a more serious injury to his rotator cuff. Yamamoto had two rehabilitation starts, and he only pitched two innings per rehabilitation start.
Yamamoto will start against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday. He would be lucky to pitch three innings. Throughout the 2024 season, the Dodger bullpen has been overused. The relievers don’t need to have another game when they have to pitch more than usual innings.
No one knows when or if Clayton Kershaw will return from an inflamed right big toe. He has been throwing the ball.
To replace the injured starters, the Dodgers have been called up many pitchers before they were ready. Now, Landon Knack will on Friday, and Justin Wrobleski will start on either Saturday or Sunday.
When the Dodgers started spring training, they looked like they had too many starters. But now, they have too few starters. Walker Buehler and Bobby Miller are healthy but frequently ineffective. No team can go deep into the postseason without good starters and a well-rested effective bullpen. The Dodgers have neither.
