October 3, 2025 • 36 mins
Join Richard and Chef Wes as they ruminate over the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen struggles while driving through various L.A. neighborhoods (including a taco-burrito bang-bang in East L.A.) and do their part to philosophically fix what's wrong with the first place Boys in Blue. After their Wild Card series win over the Reds this week at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers are advancing to the National League Division series against the Phillies, which kicks off this weekend in Philadelphia.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
It's time for Dodger by.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Soft lander to short bets.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Is there?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That's a win?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Friday, the Dodgers are going to the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers are going to Philadelphia. As they move on
in their quests, are running back in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hello, and welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. It is Friday,
October three, twenty twenty five, and we are celebrating the
boys in Blue beat the Reds in a decisive, short
two game Wildcard series at Dodger Stadium this week, and
next up it's the Division Series against the hard hitting
(00:50):
Philadelphia Phillies. That best of five NLDS kicks off in
Philly on Saturday. And so we are one step closer
to our goal to become the first franchise to win
back to back World Series titles in a quarter century.
Eleven more wins, that's all we need. And we got
two big ones this week.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And we looked.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Good swag in a line drive rip right fail. There
was explosive offense runs, Galory.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold out for its right center field freedal is back.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That one is god Yamamoto and dominant swimming a mess.
Hey struck him out deep starts from both Blake Snell
and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Todo escape so faces loaded, no out jam.
Our offense scored us enough runs to win, and our
starters held the other team at bay.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
They score ten, they get seven strong from Blake Snell.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The bullpen stumbled their way in, but once it was
time for the bullpen to come in and preserve the lead,
it was a bit more of a mixed bag ball
four high ball four and that's low ball four.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Dave Roberts has seen enough and.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Riquez is just walked in a run for the Reds.
It wasn't all bad.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Carter got him.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But it was not all good.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yeah, well, Alex wasn't sharp tonight, and uh, you know,
and obviously Henriquez wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
We didn't have any command.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And this has become a pattern, particularly of late. Even
amid the champagne soaked post series win celebration in the
locker room last night, the specter of the bullpen's mixed
performance in this series loomed large. Knew it wasn't gonna
be easy, but our bad stopping to show up. I
started pitching, was there as Dodger's utility man and LA's
(02:51):
own private mister October keyk Hernandez said without even being asked, and.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
They're gonna show up. Wegally they're gonna do their job.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The bullpen is gonna show up.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We believe in.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Them dot dot dot.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Look, I believe, I dream, But like most Dodger fans,
I do give a about the bullpen. And let's hope
that the bullpen does show up. Because to win it all,
we're gonna need better than a mixed bag. We're gonna
need more than thoughts and prayers. We're gonna need.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
The Dows.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The Dodgers bullpen aka the Dows is going to be
key in the Dodgers pursuit of eleven more victories over
the next month to bring back the World Series championship
to Los Angeles and to become the first team to
go back to back with consecutive World Series titles in
(04:04):
twenty five years. So today we're going to talk about
the bullpen, what is it, how does it work, and
catch you up on a bit of the main storylines
that have emerged out of the Dodgers bullpen over the
course of the twenty twenty five baseball season.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Ah, we are headed to go get some grub.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
With me, as always is my co host, chef Wes Avila, And.
Speaker 6 (04:29):
I think we're headed to Marisco Salisko or Marisco's Jalisco
as the locals call it.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And because like baseball, food is life, we'll be taking
a trip today to Boil Heights, East LA for a
bang bang tacos and burritos. How would you describe this
area kind of hood?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Like these are projects, this.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Is baseball and it's DBD. You never know what's gonna happen. Yeah,
I got something to say, Yeah, yeah, what do you
want to say?
Speaker 7 (05:06):
School Dodgers and Dodger Dog that's talking about step it up,
get it right, Let's do that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Let's go all the way back to back.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks, the third Superfish.
Today's episode the Power of the Downs.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
See what I did there.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The bullpen always super important, and over time increasingly so.
In the early nineteen hundreds, the majority of baseball games
featured a complete game by at least one of the
two starting pitchers, and by the nineteen eighties and nineties,
when I was falling in love with baseball as a child,
(06:18):
there were still hundreds of complete games thrown in Major
League Baseball every season, but then those numbers started to fall.
By twenty fifteen, there were just over one hundred complete
games thrown in the MLB, and after declining year over
year for the past decade, in twenty twenty four, the
number of complete games thrown hit a new all time low.
(06:42):
There were just twenty eight. Because there's a general trend
of starters not getting as deep into games overall across baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
Absolutely, yeah, it's been you know, numbers have gone down
from guys having complete games to even like even pitching
past the sixth inning, past the fifth inning sometimes.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
In twenty fourteen, starting pitchers average nearly six innings per start.
Ten years later, in twenty twenty four, that average was
down to just a little over five innings per start.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I think to get a win, you got to get
past the fifth.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Right, Yes, To qualify a statistical win as a starting pitcher,
you need to log at least five innings. It used
to be common that a starting pitcher would at least
qualify for a win, but these days managers bring out
the hook earlier and earlier.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
For a lot of times, they're getting the hook at
five or six.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
And it's a shame because some of these guys will
have great games going. Give them the hook like you do,
because you don't want to burn their arms out, you know,
if the count's high or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Teams watch their starting pitchers, pitch counts very closely. Once
a pitcher gets to a certain number of pitches, he's out.
More and more relief pitchers coming out of the bullpen
are playing a deciding role in baseball games. And why Well,
there's the rise of analytics and data driven strategies, which
(08:12):
the Los Angeles Dodgers organization has wholeheartedly embraced and often
been on the cutting edge of guys are burning out
their arms because generally speaking, there's an emphasis on velocity.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And movement and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Right, so pitching is more physically strenuous than it ever
has been. And then there's the third time through the
order logic. Big league hitters are good the first time
they see a pitcher, the pitcher might have an edge.
The second time, they're reading the picture's body language for tells,
they're sharing info in the dugout, they're timing up the
(08:45):
pitcher's movement. Third time around, a big league hitter has
gathered enough data on the game starting pitcher to have
a much better chance against him, because managers don't want
their starters to face hitters three times. Yeah, so once
you get to the third time through the order, there's
a short leash for starting pitchers. Relievers are used to
(09:06):
fill in the gaps way more than ever before, and
in the postseason that's even more so true. It's the
end of the season, so managers might take a little
bit more risks with guys' usages. You know, it's a
short series that you is a must win, and so
you'll risk burning guys out in order to win games.
(09:27):
Sometimes this is October. Everything is different, and so postseason
stats on bullpen usage mirror the same trend as the
regular season. Over time, we see the bullpen becoming more
and more important. In twenty fifteen, starters average five and
a half innings per start or so in the postseason.
(09:50):
A decade later, in twenty twenty four, starters averaged just
over four innings per start. Over the last decade of
October base seventeen percent of pitchers who had allowed two
or fewer runs were still removed after facing eighteen or
fewer batters AKA twice through the lineup. The last complete
(10:14):
game start in the playoffs was Justin Verlander in twenty seventeen.
And for the Dodgers, the trends around bullpen usage are
even more pronounced.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
I think historically for the last five years, like during
the playoffs, the Dodgers have not had We've always struggled
with pitching and we'll have these really great guys that'll
be injured. I remember what was it We beat the
Giants in a wild card and it was surez Aer
and Udias and that's hit. That's all we had, And
it was like, what what are we gonna do when
(10:47):
it goes to four games?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Last year kind of the same thing, Zach, we basically
had Flaherty Yams who wasn't built up because he had
been injured all year, and then we had Bueler.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
We didn't We.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Had like two and a half total pictures last year. Yeah, exactly,
far and away. Our primary concern going into last postseason
was that we didn't have a solid built up starting rotation.
How on earth would we make it all the way
through the postseason? The answer the dogs?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So can you explain the dogs?
Speaker 6 (11:27):
I mean the doves like they're coming out of the pound,
like they were just dialed in.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You knew when they were coming in they were gonna
get in there and do the job.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You didn't get a collective sigh when somebody comes in
and you're like they're putting him in again, like you
didn't have that.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You're like, put him in, let's go.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
The Dodgers used their bullpen pictures sixty percent of the
time throughout the twenty twenty four postseason, filling in the
gaps for a banged up starting staff. It's not a
stretch to say that our bullpen won us the World Series.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Last year.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
The Dows became the stuff of legend in the city
of Los Angeles. Normally the bullpen is a little bit
relegated to obscurity, but last year they were like the
Beatles and so yeah, they had they even had their
own like nickname.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Absolutely, absolutely, That's why they got a bunch of credit
and people love them. You got to know the guys
back there, like Alex Vesia, like trying to b Anthony Bondai,
Like you started knowing them because you see them all day.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You see them every pitching every day.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's like even Brent Honeywell Junior and Vip Brent Honeywell Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yet not a high leverage guy, but an important.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Piece nonetheless, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
But this year things are quite different. That's why it's
so surprising that this year, going into the postseason, the
thing that won us the World.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Series last year is our biggest concern, the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
This year, the bullpen has been like nerve wrecking.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
The dogs have lost their bite.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And not just one guy, multiple guys.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Will be right back after a short break.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
But man, it's like, get it together, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Stay with us. We'll get back to the baseball in
just a little bit. But first, I believe we're entitled
(13:46):
to our union lunch break.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Can you tell me what we're doing at this moment.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
We are looking for parking the mission. We're trying to
find parking on Olympic on a Sunday, which is kind
of a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
There's a whole stretch of Olympic here where there are
multiple Taco trucks that are well loved and how yeah,
how would you describe his area.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Kind of hood like these are projects.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Don Quixote is a dance hall that's right here where
multiple cousins and my sister.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Had her Kingtonetta no Way for years.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Don Quixote has been like the spot, like we dj
there many many times.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You rent it out, you.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Rent it out and they cook beata for you.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
But we are not here for Beda. We're here for
Marisco's Helisco is sur vibe, people tailgating, eating on the
hood of the car with the sarabi to protect the
pay job.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Ain't I'm bumping too short?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It actually kind of feels like Oakland a.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Little bit, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, do you know anything about the origins of Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
If the origins you'd have to talk to Billas bars
at Street, Ormet.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
History of He's probably written about it.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
He's probably written a bunch of stuff so he can.
I don't want to butcher it. All I know is
that and his crew makes them awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah. Jay Gold told me about it years ago. Yeah, yeah,
I mean this place is legendary. It was like, it's
one of my favorite places to come. What do you want?
Just one yea skip at Taco.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Speaking of the Jay Goulds, but I used his profile
for the the Gold Award.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I had to painted inside my restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
The profile Jonathan gold.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
Yeah, hello, good, how are you to get to two tackles?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Just individuals? We're here, that's it for.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Good.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What are you doing? Do you mind saying hi for
the mic?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Can you tell me who you are and where we are? Hi?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Guys. This is.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
One of the most iconic bites in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Yeah, thank you, thanks to everybody that comes to jake
it out.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Can you describe the taco that we're getting.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It's a shrimp and potato deep fried taco.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
It's got a like a tomato, like a loose tomato
sauce on the top, with cabbage chopped, cilantro chopped, and
like a good amount of avocado, so like they don't
they don't spare on the avocado.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And it's great.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
It's like three yeah still still so so it's really hot.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Mm hmm bomb straight out of the friar. So good. Yeah,
that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Second, so where's the don Quixote?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Is on the street? Las Palmas is out of there,
out of the same building. Can we stop by there
too if you want? They were swing by there?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Why now?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Why not?
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Why shouldn't they get one of those little guys?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, So we're doing we're doing a bang bank.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
We're doing the bang bank.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I saw the twinkle in your eye. I was like,
how is this guy walking away with with one? I
don't know, Chef West having one trimp taco.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
No, I'm not a one trip Tamco tind of guy.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Right, So now what.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Are we doing stopping and have a real quick little Brito's.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
A very small skinny cube mo.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, yeah, almost like taco almost like three bits.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Can we get one and then the other one? Uh right?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Taco number two. I think this is the burrito that
inspired the question when does a taco.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And then a burrito? But again, yeah, this is.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, this one. These are like little narrow guys.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love these guys.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It's just the perfect like size and these tortillas are
so good.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
A Ross Serrano here, Bloa, he just went for it. Yeah,
Bully ross Rano straight to the.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Dome hashtag chef life. Our belly is now full. It's
time to turn back to baseball. And if you remember,
before the break, we established the fact that the bullpen
is an all important piece of any team's winning strategy,
and that bullpen usage has steadily increased over recent years,
(18:31):
and that that trend is even more exaggerated in the postseason,
and this is a super key piece of how the
Dodgers plan to pursue winning a back to back World
Series title. And unfortunately, over the course of the twenty
twenty five baseball season, the bullpen has become our primary
(18:53):
area of concern. We can't win without them, but they're
not really getting it done. And for example, in the
first game of the wild Card Series, our offense scored
ten runs and jumped out to a huge lead, and
Blake Snell gave us a super deep start seven innings,
nine strikeouts, just two earned runs, and he handed over
(19:15):
the game to the bullpen with a ten to two lead.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
They get ten.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But still, somehow the bullpen made that game scary ball
full high ball four and that's low ball four.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And Dave Roberts has seen enough.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
We had to use three pitchers to get through the
eighth innings. Driquez has just walked in a run for
the Reds. Two of those pitchers walked in runs for
the Reds. Yet you were up by eight. That's just unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
You have to challenge hitters. You cannot issue free passes.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
This isn't the way the story was supposed to unfold.
And so what happened to the dogs since last October
when they were such a huge part of our World
Series winning run that brought us to this point. Let's
dig in. Well, so take me back, though, take me
back to the beginning of the season with the bullpen,
(20:10):
and tell me what you expected.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
Just in general, our pitching was finally getting the help
it deserved, the help that needed to help all the
MLB did not want to see, and everybody was getting healthy.
So we thought we kind of had it locked, to
be honest.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And we had the dogs from us and we had
the dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It wasn't like a bunch of pitchers who were great
in twenty twenty four left the team. The only dog
that we were going to lose potentially was Blake Trinan,
and Dave Roberts made that a priority and we resigned him.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
And so the expectation was to have this like really
solid rotation of just kitmen out there, you know what
I mean, these guys who can just get it done.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Because we had all the dogs, we re signed trin
and then we added i would say.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Two very key pieces.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, basically two closers who were available on the free
agent market.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
We got Kirby Yates, who's a righty, and we got.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Antley for it. You know, Scott from the Padres.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Rally bunkies are out. They're gonna have to bring the
rally gilli for this man, Eric Ganie.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
The Dodgers have always historically had like a really big
deal intimidating closer, you know, Eric Ganye.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
Gan Ye gets Kennedy on a low fastball about ninety
six miles an hour if he's got.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Too much movement.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Kenley Henley Janssen.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Jansen makes the catching eggs the nine button up, his
three hundredth saved once.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Ken Lee basically it was time for him to wind
down his career. We let him go.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Two balls and two strikes on Show.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Hail Tommy Tanner Scott was sort of brought in to
fill that.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Role the Showgay Killer, Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
On the corner.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Last year he was on the Padres.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It just keeps getting better. They're gonna be mad about
this one.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
We got some breaking news the Dodgers and left handed
reliever Tanner Scott are an agreement on a four year deal.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Do you feel most comfortable in those situations where you getting.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
To save and when I just want to win. So
whenever the phone rings, I'm ready, And.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Is the title closer to me anything?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
At this point, I just want to win.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I just want to win.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
That's my goal. And I mean I wasn't a part
of it last year, and I want to be a
part of it this year.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Because he was a huge signing. You got a lot
of money and you got a lot of years.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Did he get a lot of years? Yeah? You better
get it together, man.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
He's like a part of the master plan for our dynasty.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, then no wonder Doc is relying on him so much. Yeah,
put him in there, let him figure it out.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We acquired a righty closer and a lefty closer to
add to the dogs, so we're pretty well fortified going
into the season.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah. Yeah, expectations are high.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Expectations are high, and it's looking pretty good the beginning
of the season. Like everything was looking pretty good Kenner.
Scott had some rocky outings in the beginning. True, but
I feel like he got it dialed in. Let's say,
mid May to the end of June, Like he was
looking where I was like, dude, he's looking good. He
had like five or six says where I was like,
all right, at least you know he can get he
(23:11):
can get it done. And then it just went downhill.
I can't point to the exact moment it did, but
it just kind of snowballed, like where one thing happens
that's really bad and then something else happens that's really bad.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well, we were also hit with some injuries.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yes, we were hit with injuries.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Bruce Door has been gone all year and Evan Phillips.
Evan Phillips has been gone all year.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Who was I would say like top dout like him
and Trining over the past couple of years have been
the guys. Yep, they've been kind of co closing. Yeah,
unless you need a lefty in there. But that's why
we got Tanner Scott because he's a lefty closer and
he's just a lefty, you know, so he plays both parts.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
We started relying on.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Rookies to play the role of some of the top
dogs who are either injured or not getting it done.
But we had a league leading twenty six blown saves
this year. Why dry what.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
We are going home? I think twenty seven altogether or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yes, we have it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
The major league lead in blown saves, which is like
a category you want to have.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
You hear that kind of a voiceing what the man,
what it's like, dude, Like what is going on?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like it's so bad and so frustrating.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
We also had ninety six meltdowns, which is the most
enfranchised history. A meltdown is a Sabermetric stat when a
relief pitcher basically significantly harms the team's chances of winning.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So that kept happening this year, in ninety six of those.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It puts the team in a position of having to
come from behind to win so many times.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
It was so frustrated. We couldn't get like it just
like they couldn't do it. It's just like, but we
would stay in the first place.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Yeah, this year, this year the bullpen has been like
nerve wracking. I mean, and not just one guy, multiple guys.
Like you take one out and you're like, all right,
let's switch him out. Let's switch out trying in with Banda.
Let's switch out Banda with Vessio. Let's switch out Vessio
with Tenner Scott.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It kind of didn't work out with Kirby either, right, No.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It didn't work out with Kirby. The biggest disappointment has
been ten Or Stock.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
I think the bottom bottom bottom.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Had to be when they blew it for Yoshi Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yes, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no hitter all the
way into the ninth.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Inning any right field.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And then gave up a home run pot his turs
and wanted to go no hitter gone. But it's not
that big a deal. The game's in the bag. There
was two outs in the ninth inning. The bullpen just
had to get one out and they couldn't. Tanner Scott
gave up the game, losing hit the middle said my
(26:33):
tail out third Hotel two storm.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Had to go moment and.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Time Wow, September the sixth.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Yeah, but I think they had to be the bottom
worst of our bullpits.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know, that was just sad that a close sort
of deal with mentalist was just some of the struggles
this season especially kind has been turning rounders.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
H Yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I mean, I'm having the worst year in my life,
so it's not fun. What they call the mental game, yeah,
is where he struggles.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
It's it's kind of Baseball hates.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Me, right, now.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
It's just been really bad, Like you feel bad. It's
so bad that you feel bad for.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Talking so much on the guy.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
But at the same time, it's like, man, it's like
get it together, you know, like it's that bad, you know,
and people are.
Speaker 8 (27:33):
All like, he'sid enough time, he's not gonna figure it out.
Pull up, Like, dude, if you completely give up on
the guy, there's no way, you know. That's why I
was like, I talk, I talk, But that's.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
Why I call him Terror squad Man, because when he
goes out there and gets the job done, he gets
it done.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So hopefully that can keep going. You know, if like,
just turn it on, just turn it on. It's it.
Turn it on to love you. It's like a gladiator.
You know, they want to see blood if you give
them blood from the other teams.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So, the bullpen has been associated with some traumatic memories
of late.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
What's this chickens roosters? Oh, we gots just in the
hood the hood. Yeah, No, it was bad.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
We are driving past a historic location, so I gotta
pause for that. Right up here is where you and
I met for the historic location. Yes, right right here here,
this law here right right in there.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, it's right here where there's game is.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, this one right there.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
It is right there.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yep, that's where we met for the first time.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
By the time we were headed down the stretch toward
the end of the twenty twenty five regular season, the Dodgers'
chances at a division title were in question. It was
no guarantee that we'd even make the post season, and
a lot of that was due to the poor performance
of our bullpen throughout the season. So how did we
stick it out? The answer, at least in large part
(29:08):
down the stretch run of the month of September, was
our starting rotation. The starters bailed out the dows when
the dows lost their bite. September is a really key
month for a team that's going to make a postseason run.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
That's when we saw the bullpen at its worst.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Really yeah, So it was a really scary September because
our starters were historically dominant, ex setting records. It seemed
like every other day was a different starter was taking
a no hitter deep into a game and just shut
out after shutout, but hand it over to the bullpen.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Shut out, no.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
More blowout, blown game, I should say blown game after
blown game, and the.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Offense can only do so much.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
The Dodgers starting rotation allowed fewer than two runs on
average throughout September, struck out thirty percent of all batters faced,
and held their opponent's batting average to an all time low.
The bullpen, on the other hand, had a rough month,
combining for an ERA over five, a thirteen percent walk rate,
(30:14):
and allowing twelve home runs compared to just four allowed
by the starting staff. As September was drawing to a close,
with the postseason right around the corner, we were looking
for solutions to this problem. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts started
getting creative.
Speaker 6 (30:34):
And because we have so many good starters, then it
puts us in a situation where we could potentially use
Rokie as a setup guy.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Kersh is a setup guy.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
Shean is a setup guy, right, you know, and even
one of them closing, like even show closing, why not.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I mean, that's the dream. Just like he did in
the World Baseball Class.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
You know, he shows up.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
He can pitch in a big game like that, and
it's a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Things took a turn for the better, mixing in some
of our starters coming out of the pen was working
out and the dows started to get there, bite back.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
They've actually turned it around.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Blake trying and shaved and all of a sudden he
was looking like his old self pitching wise, the vibes shifted.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah it worked for Tryina.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
I mean he went in there finally shaved up all
his thing and look good, brand new hat.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Doesn't look as much like a CHP officer anymore.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
No, yeah, for sure, he didn't like you'll pull you over.
Now he looks like a rookie. So his pitching looks
solid too. It look the dogs look dialed.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It looked like, oh my god, they're gonna have other
teams are gonna have trouble.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
I hope, we hope. You know, it's always our expectation.
That was their expectation in the beginning, and that's what
I hope for.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Now they look more like themselves.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
Now, they look like we expected them to play in
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
They look like the dogs.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
All of a sudden. We had a road map because
in October baseball you might see anybody coming out of
the relievers and starters alike.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
There's so many options that Doc has now for the
post that like he wasn't using at all, Like he
was still trying to grind out with these guys, just
grinding it out, grinding it out with Tennor Scott, just
letting him terrorize us with like whether he's gonna do
it or not.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Then this past week at Dodger Stadium during the Wildcard Series,
we saw the new plan at work. And sure there
were some rocky moments, especially in Game one when a
ten to two lead somehow didn't seem like enough for
a trio of Dodger believers who couldn't seem to throw
a strike. But we got through it. And then in
Game two, I liked what I saw Emit. Shean typically
(32:40):
a starter, made an appearance out of the pen, and
he wasn't perfect by any means, but Bessie came in
and finished the job, looking solid, trying and pitched to
clean inning. And then we got to see rookie phenom
Roki Sasaki, always intended to be a part of our
starting rotation, make his post season day to close out
(33:01):
the game the way from moving on to Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Okay, Sosaki sets it fires.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
And during a clean bottom of the ninth inning in
the deciding game against the Reds Rokie was electric. Not
so in proay.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
The Dodgers are going to the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers are going to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
And what will we see from the bullpen in the NLDS,
which starts this weekend in Philadelphia against the big slugging
Phillies Trey Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber. Will the Dowgs
regain their power?
Speaker 6 (33:42):
You know, that's the awesome thing about playoff baseball. You
see all the stuff like getting pulled out.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Unusual situations. Yeah, heightened drama.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
And I hate those games, but I love them at
the same time. I hate those games.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
I just want to see them win five zero, seven
to zero. That's it. I don't want these Oh, no,
struggle give me a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Driving through Chinatown, we're driving through all the places today,
ladies playing Majong out on the.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Street lights to the arts district, like deep deep Chinatown.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You have taken this slow route back to Richie's so
we can get this all recorded up.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, it's been a beautiful day, beautiful drive through LA.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
It's got that low bottom sun.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
That orange sun, that bright, bright orange.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, the gold sun.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
When you get that yummy light for like the last
couple hours. It definitely all of a sudden feels like autumn.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
We have baseball, fall, baseball.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
We were just talking about that and like my yoga
class from summer to fall, like how it's the change,
you know, we go summer and moving on and fall
is here.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It's time.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
It's time once again for the postseason. All right, I
feel pretty good?
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah good?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Anything else?
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
And we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
As always, I'm Richard Parks the Third and I'm Wes Sabila.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Thanks for listening. Boom.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by Richard Parks
the Third. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch, Jonathan
Snipes and The Blasting Company and Richard Parks. Production assistance
from Tyler Hill. I'm Wes Sabila. Follow us on social
media at.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Dodger Blue Dream. If you like the show, please share
a link to it with one friend today, leave us
a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Dodger
Blue Dream is produced in partnership with iHeartRadio's Michael Podcast Network.
For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
OH Dodgers,
It's time for Dodger by.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Soft lander to short bets.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
Is there?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
That's a win?
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Friday, the Dodgers are going to the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers are going to Philadelphia. As they move on
in their quests, are running back in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hello, and welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. It is Friday,
October three, twenty twenty five, and we are celebrating the
boys in Blue beat the Reds in a decisive, short
two game Wildcard series at Dodger Stadium this week, and
next up it's the Division Series against the hard hitting
(00:50):
Philadelphia Phillies. That best of five NLDS kicks off in
Philly on Saturday. And so we are one step closer
to our goal to become the first franchise to win
back to back World Series titles in a quarter century.
Eleven more wins, that's all we need. And we got
two big ones this week.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
And we looked.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Good swag in a line drive rip right fail. There
was explosive offense runs, Galory.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Hold out for its right center field freedal is back.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
That one is god Yamamoto and dominant swimming a mess.
Hey struck him out deep starts from both Blake Snell
and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Todo escape so faces loaded, no out jam.
Our offense scored us enough runs to win, and our
starters held the other team at bay.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
They score ten, they get seven strong from Blake Snell.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The bullpen stumbled their way in, but once it was
time for the bullpen to come in and preserve the lead,
it was a bit more of a mixed bag ball
four high ball four and that's low ball four.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Dave Roberts has seen enough and.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Riquez is just walked in a run for the Reds.
It wasn't all bad.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Carter got him.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
But it was not all good.
Speaker 5 (02:17):
Yeah, well, Alex wasn't sharp tonight, and uh, you know,
and obviously Henriquez wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
We didn't have any command.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And this has become a pattern, particularly of late. Even
amid the champagne soaked post series win celebration in the
locker room last night, the specter of the bullpen's mixed
performance in this series loomed large. Knew it wasn't gonna
be easy, but our bad stopping to show up. I
started pitching, was there as Dodger's utility man and LA's
(02:51):
own private mister October keyk Hernandez said without even being asked, and.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
They're gonna show up. Wegally they're gonna do their job.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
The bullpen is gonna show up.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
We believe in.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Them dot dot dot.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Look, I believe, I dream, But like most Dodger fans,
I do give a about the bullpen. And let's hope
that the bullpen does show up. Because to win it all,
we're gonna need better than a mixed bag. We're gonna
need more than thoughts and prayers. We're gonna need.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
The Dows.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
The Dodgers bullpen aka the Dows is going to be
key in the Dodgers pursuit of eleven more victories over
the next month to bring back the World Series championship
to Los Angeles and to become the first team to
go back to back with consecutive World Series titles in
(04:04):
twenty five years. So today we're going to talk about
the bullpen, what is it, how does it work, and
catch you up on a bit of the main storylines
that have emerged out of the Dodgers bullpen over the
course of the twenty twenty five baseball season.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Ah, we are headed to go get some grub.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
With me, as always is my co host, chef Wes Avila, And.
Speaker 6 (04:29):
I think we're headed to Marisco Salisko or Marisco's Jalisco
as the locals call it.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And because like baseball, food is life, we'll be taking
a trip today to Boil Heights, East LA for a
bang bang tacos and burritos. How would you describe this
area kind of hood?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Like these are projects, this.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Is baseball and it's DBD. You never know what's gonna happen. Yeah,
I got something to say, Yeah, yeah, what do you
want to say?
Speaker 7 (05:06):
School Dodgers and Dodger Dog that's talking about step it up,
get it right, Let's do that.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Let's go all the way back to back.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Welcome to Dodger Blue Dream. I'm Richard Parks, the third Superfish.
Today's episode the Power of the Downs.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
See what I did there.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
The bullpen always super important, and over time increasingly so.
In the early nineteen hundreds, the majority of baseball games
featured a complete game by at least one of the
two starting pitchers, and by the nineteen eighties and nineties,
when I was falling in love with baseball as a child,
(06:18):
there were still hundreds of complete games thrown in Major
League Baseball every season, but then those numbers started to fall.
By twenty fifteen, there were just over one hundred complete
games thrown in the MLB, and after declining year over
year for the past decade, in twenty twenty four, the
number of complete games thrown hit a new all time low.
(06:42):
There were just twenty eight. Because there's a general trend
of starters not getting as deep into games overall across baseball.
Speaker 6 (06:52):
Absolutely, yeah, it's been you know, numbers have gone down
from guys having complete games to even like even pitching
past the sixth inning, past the fifth inning sometimes.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
In twenty fourteen, starting pitchers average nearly six innings per start.
Ten years later, in twenty twenty four, that average was
down to just a little over five innings per start.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
I think to get a win, you got to get
past the fifth.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Right, Yes, To qualify a statistical win as a starting pitcher,
you need to log at least five innings. It used
to be common that a starting pitcher would at least
qualify for a win, but these days managers bring out
the hook earlier and earlier.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
For a lot of times, they're getting the hook at
five or six.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
And it's a shame because some of these guys will
have great games going. Give them the hook like you do,
because you don't want to burn their arms out, you know,
if the count's high or whatever.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Teams watch their starting pitchers, pitch counts very closely. Once
a pitcher gets to a certain number of pitches, he's out.
More and more relief pitchers coming out of the bullpen
are playing a deciding role in baseball games. And why Well,
there's the rise of analytics and data driven strategies, which
(08:12):
the Los Angeles Dodgers organization has wholeheartedly embraced and often
been on the cutting edge of guys are burning out
their arms because generally speaking, there's an emphasis on velocity.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And movement and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Right, so pitching is more physically strenuous than it ever
has been. And then there's the third time through the
order logic. Big league hitters are good the first time
they see a pitcher, the pitcher might have an edge.
The second time, they're reading the picture's body language for tells,
they're sharing info in the dugout, they're timing up the
(08:45):
pitcher's movement. Third time around, a big league hitter has
gathered enough data on the game starting pitcher to have
a much better chance against him, because managers don't want
their starters to face hitters three times. Yeah, so once
you get to the third time through the order, there's
a short leash for starting pitchers. Relievers are used to
(09:06):
fill in the gaps way more than ever before, and
in the postseason that's even more so true. It's the
end of the season, so managers might take a little
bit more risks with guys' usages. You know, it's a
short series that you is a must win, and so
you'll risk burning guys out in order to win games.
(09:27):
Sometimes this is October. Everything is different, and so postseason
stats on bullpen usage mirror the same trend as the
regular season. Over time, we see the bullpen becoming more
and more important. In twenty fifteen, starters average five and
a half innings per start or so in the postseason.
(09:50):
A decade later, in twenty twenty four, starters averaged just
over four innings per start. Over the last decade of
October base seventeen percent of pitchers who had allowed two
or fewer runs were still removed after facing eighteen or
fewer batters AKA twice through the lineup. The last complete
(10:14):
game start in the playoffs was Justin Verlander in twenty seventeen.
And for the Dodgers, the trends around bullpen usage are
even more pronounced.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
I think historically for the last five years, like during
the playoffs, the Dodgers have not had We've always struggled
with pitching and we'll have these really great guys that'll
be injured. I remember what was it We beat the
Giants in a wild card and it was surez Aer
and Udias and that's hit. That's all we had, And
it was like, what what are we gonna do when
(10:47):
it goes to four games?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
Last year kind of the same thing, Zach, we basically
had Flaherty Yams who wasn't built up because he had
been injured all year, and then we had Bueler.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
We didn't We.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Had like two and a half total pictures last year. Yeah, exactly,
far and away. Our primary concern going into last postseason
was that we didn't have a solid built up starting rotation.
How on earth would we make it all the way
through the postseason? The answer the dogs?
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So can you explain the dogs?
Speaker 6 (11:27):
I mean the doves like they're coming out of the pound,
like they were just dialed in.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
You knew when they were coming in they were gonna
get in there and do the job.
Speaker 6 (11:35):
You didn't get a collective sigh when somebody comes in
and you're like they're putting him in again, like you
didn't have that.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
You're like, put him in, let's go.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
The Dodgers used their bullpen pictures sixty percent of the
time throughout the twenty twenty four postseason, filling in the
gaps for a banged up starting staff. It's not a
stretch to say that our bullpen won us the World Series.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Last year.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
The Dows became the stuff of legend in the city
of Los Angeles. Normally the bullpen is a little bit
relegated to obscurity, but last year they were like the
Beatles and so yeah, they had they even had their
own like nickname.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Absolutely, absolutely, That's why they got a bunch of credit
and people love them. You got to know the guys
back there, like Alex Vesia, like trying to b Anthony Bondai,
Like you started knowing them because you see them all day.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
You see them every pitching every day.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's like even Brent Honeywell Junior and Vip Brent Honeywell Junior.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Yet not a high leverage guy, but an important.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Piece nonetheless, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
But this year things are quite different. That's why it's
so surprising that this year, going into the postseason, the
thing that won us the World.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Series last year is our biggest concern, the bullpen.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
This year, the bullpen has been like nerve wrecking.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
The dogs have lost their bite.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
And not just one guy, multiple guys.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Will be right back after a short break.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
But man, it's like, get it together, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Stay with us. We'll get back to the baseball in
just a little bit. But first, I believe we're entitled
(13:46):
to our union lunch break.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Can you tell me what we're doing at this moment.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
We are looking for parking the mission. We're trying to
find parking on Olympic on a Sunday, which is kind
of a nightmare.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
There's a whole stretch of Olympic here where there are
multiple Taco trucks that are well loved and how yeah,
how would you describe his area.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Kind of hood like these are projects.
Speaker 6 (14:12):
Don Quixote is a dance hall that's right here where
multiple cousins and my sister.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Had her Kingtonetta no Way for years.
Speaker 6 (14:21):
Don Quixote has been like the spot, like we dj
there many many times.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
You rent it out, you.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Rent it out and they cook beata for you.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
But we are not here for Beda. We're here for
Marisco's Helisco is sur vibe, people tailgating, eating on the
hood of the car with the sarabi to protect the
pay job.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Ain't I'm bumping too short?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It actually kind of feels like Oakland a.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Little bit, a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Yeah, do you know anything about the origins of Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I don't know.
Speaker 6 (15:01):
If the origins you'd have to talk to Billas bars
at Street, Ormet.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
History of He's probably written about it.
Speaker 6 (15:08):
He's probably written a bunch of stuff so he can.
I don't want to butcher it. All I know is
that and his crew makes them awesome.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah. Jay Gold told me about it years ago. Yeah, yeah,
I mean this place is legendary. It was like, it's
one of my favorite places to come. What do you want?
Just one yea skip at Taco.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Speaking of the Jay Goulds, but I used his profile
for the the Gold Award.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
I had to painted inside my restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
The profile Jonathan gold.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
Yeah, hello, good, how are you to get to two tackles?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Just individuals? We're here, that's it for.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Good.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
What are you doing? Do you mind saying hi for
the mic?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Can you tell me who you are and where we are? Hi?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Guys. This is.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
One of the most iconic bites in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Yeah, thank you, thanks to everybody that comes to jake
it out.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Can you describe the taco that we're getting.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
It's a shrimp and potato deep fried taco.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
It's got a like a tomato, like a loose tomato
sauce on the top, with cabbage chopped, cilantro chopped, and
like a good amount of avocado, so like they don't
they don't spare on the avocado.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
And it's great.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
It's like three yeah still still so so it's really hot.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
Mm hmm bomb straight out of the friar. So good. Yeah,
that's ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Second, so where's the don Quixote?
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Is on the street? Las Palmas is out of there,
out of the same building. Can we stop by there
too if you want? They were swing by there?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Why now?
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Why not?
Speaker 6 (17:01):
Why shouldn't they get one of those little guys?
Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, So we're doing we're doing a bang bank.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
We're doing the bang bank.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
I saw the twinkle in your eye. I was like,
how is this guy walking away with with one? I
don't know, Chef West having one trimp taco.
Speaker 6 (17:15):
No, I'm not a one trip Tamco tind of guy.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Right, So now what.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Are we doing stopping and have a real quick little Brito's.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
A very small skinny cube mo.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Yeah, yeah, almost like taco almost like three bits.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Can we get one and then the other one? Uh right?
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Taco number two. I think this is the burrito that
inspired the question when does a taco.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
And then a burrito? But again, yeah, this is.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, this one. These are like little narrow guys.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I love these guys.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
It's just the perfect like size and these tortillas are
so good.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
A Ross Serrano here, Bloa, he just went for it. Yeah,
Bully ross Rano straight to the.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Dome hashtag chef life. Our belly is now full. It's
time to turn back to baseball. And if you remember,
before the break, we established the fact that the bullpen
is an all important piece of any team's winning strategy,
and that bullpen usage has steadily increased over recent years,
(18:31):
and that that trend is even more exaggerated in the postseason,
and this is a super key piece of how the
Dodgers plan to pursue winning a back to back World
Series title. And unfortunately, over the course of the twenty
twenty five baseball season, the bullpen has become our primary
(18:53):
area of concern. We can't win without them, but they're
not really getting it done. And for example, in the
first game of the wild Card Series, our offense scored
ten runs and jumped out to a huge lead, and
Blake Snell gave us a super deep start seven innings,
nine strikeouts, just two earned runs, and he handed over
(19:15):
the game to the bullpen with a ten to two lead.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
They get ten.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
But still, somehow the bullpen made that game scary ball
full high ball four and that's low ball four.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And Dave Roberts has seen enough.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
We had to use three pitchers to get through the
eighth innings. Driquez has just walked in a run for
the Reds. Two of those pitchers walked in runs for
the Reds. Yet you were up by eight. That's just unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
You have to challenge hitters. You cannot issue free passes.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
This isn't the way the story was supposed to unfold.
And so what happened to the dogs since last October
when they were such a huge part of our World
Series winning run that brought us to this point. Let's
dig in. Well, so take me back, though, take me
back to the beginning of the season with the bullpen,
(20:10):
and tell me what you expected.
Speaker 6 (20:12):
Just in general, our pitching was finally getting the help
it deserved, the help that needed to help all the
MLB did not want to see, and everybody was getting healthy.
So we thought we kind of had it locked, to
be honest.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
And we had the dogs from us and we had
the dogs.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It wasn't like a bunch of pitchers who were great
in twenty twenty four left the team. The only dog
that we were going to lose potentially was Blake Trinan,
and Dave Roberts made that a priority and we resigned him.
Speaker 6 (20:40):
And so the expectation was to have this like really
solid rotation of just kitmen out there, you know what
I mean, these guys who can just get it done.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Because we had all the dogs, we re signed trin
and then we added i would say.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Two very key pieces.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, basically two closers who were available on the free
agent market.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
We got Kirby Yates, who's a righty, and we got.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Antley for it. You know, Scott from the Padres.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Rally bunkies are out. They're gonna have to bring the
rally gilli for this man, Eric Ganie.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
The Dodgers have always historically had like a really big
deal intimidating closer, you know, Eric Ganye.
Speaker 6 (21:24):
Gan Ye gets Kennedy on a low fastball about ninety
six miles an hour if he's got.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Too much movement.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Kenley Henley Janssen.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Jansen makes the catching eggs the nine button up, his
three hundredth saved once.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
Ken Lee basically it was time for him to wind
down his career. We let him go.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Two balls and two strikes on Show.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Hail Tommy Tanner Scott was sort of brought in to
fill that.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Role the Showgay Killer, Yes.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
On the corner.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Last year he was on the Padres.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
It just keeps getting better. They're gonna be mad about
this one.
Speaker 4 (21:59):
We got some breaking news the Dodgers and left handed
reliever Tanner Scott are an agreement on a four year deal.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Do you feel most comfortable in those situations where you getting.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
To save and when I just want to win. So
whenever the phone rings, I'm ready, And.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Is the title closer to me anything?
Speaker 1 (22:12):
At this point, I just want to win.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I just want to win.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
That's my goal. And I mean I wasn't a part
of it last year, and I want to be a
part of it this year.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
So it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Because he was a huge signing. You got a lot
of money and you got a lot of years.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Did he get a lot of years? Yeah? You better
get it together, man.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
He's like a part of the master plan for our dynasty.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, then no wonder Doc is relying on him so much. Yeah,
put him in there, let him figure it out.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
We acquired a righty closer and a lefty closer to
add to the dogs, so we're pretty well fortified going
into the season.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah. Yeah, expectations are high.
Speaker 6 (22:50):
Expectations are high, and it's looking pretty good the beginning
of the season. Like everything was looking pretty good Kenner.
Scott had some rocky outings in the beginning. True, but
I feel like he got it dialed in. Let's say,
mid May to the end of June, Like he was
looking where I was like, dude, he's looking good. He
had like five or six says where I was like,
all right, at least you know he can get he
(23:11):
can get it done. And then it just went downhill.
I can't point to the exact moment it did, but
it just kind of snowballed, like where one thing happens
that's really bad and then something else happens that's really bad.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well, we were also hit with some injuries.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yes, we were hit with injuries.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
Bruce Door has been gone all year and Evan Phillips.
Evan Phillips has been gone all year.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Who was I would say like top dout like him
and Trining over the past couple of years have been
the guys. Yep, they've been kind of co closing. Yeah,
unless you need a lefty in there. But that's why
we got Tanner Scott because he's a lefty closer and
he's just a lefty, you know, so he plays both parts.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
We started relying on.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Rookies to play the role of some of the top
dogs who are either injured or not getting it done.
But we had a league leading twenty six blown saves
this year. Why dry what.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
We are going home? I think twenty seven altogether or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yes, we have it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
The major league lead in blown saves, which is like
a category you want to have.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
You hear that kind of a voiceing what the man,
what it's like, dude, Like what is going on?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Like it's so bad and so frustrating.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
We also had ninety six meltdowns, which is the most
enfranchised history. A meltdown is a Sabermetric stat when a
relief pitcher basically significantly harms the team's chances of winning.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
So that kept happening this year, in ninety six of those.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It puts the team in a position of having to
come from behind to win so many times.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
It was so frustrated. We couldn't get like it just
like they couldn't do it. It's just like, but we
would stay in the first place.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Yeah, this year, this year the bullpen has been like
nerve wracking. I mean, and not just one guy, multiple guys.
Like you take one out and you're like, all right,
let's switch him out. Let's switch out trying in with Banda.
Let's switch out Banda with Vessio. Let's switch out Vessio
with Tenner Scott.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
It kind of didn't work out with Kirby either, right, No.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It didn't work out with Kirby. The biggest disappointment has
been ten Or Stock.
Speaker 6 (25:54):
I think the bottom bottom bottom.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Had to be when they blew it for Yoshi Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yes, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no hitter all the
way into the ninth.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Inning any right field.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
And then gave up a home run pot his turs
and wanted to go no hitter gone. But it's not
that big a deal. The game's in the bag. There
was two outs in the ninth inning. The bullpen just
had to get one out and they couldn't. Tanner Scott
gave up the game, losing hit the middle said my
(26:33):
tail out third Hotel two storm.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Had to go moment and.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Time Wow, September the sixth.
Speaker 6 (26:46):
Yeah, but I think they had to be the bottom
worst of our bullpits.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
You know, that was just sad that a close sort
of deal with mentalist was just some of the struggles
this season especially kind has been turning rounders.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
H Yeah, it's terrible.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I mean, I'm having the worst year in my life,
so it's not fun. What they call the mental game, yeah,
is where he struggles.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
It's it's kind of Baseball hates.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Me, right, now.
Speaker 6 (27:21):
It's just been really bad, Like you feel bad. It's
so bad that you feel bad for.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
Talking so much on the guy.
Speaker 6 (27:26):
But at the same time, it's like, man, it's like
get it together, you know, like it's that bad, you know,
and people are.
Speaker 8 (27:33):
All like, he'sid enough time, he's not gonna figure it out.
Pull up, Like, dude, if you completely give up on
the guy, there's no way, you know. That's why I
was like, I talk, I talk, But that's.
Speaker 6 (27:44):
Why I call him Terror squad Man, because when he
goes out there and gets the job done, he gets
it done.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So hopefully that can keep going. You know, if like,
just turn it on, just turn it on. It's it.
Turn it on to love you. It's like a gladiator.
You know, they want to see blood if you give
them blood from the other teams.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
So, the bullpen has been associated with some traumatic memories
of late.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
What's this chickens roosters? Oh, we gots just in the
hood the hood. Yeah, No, it was bad.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
We are driving past a historic location, so I gotta
pause for that. Right up here is where you and
I met for the historic location. Yes, right right here here,
this law here right right in there.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, it's right here where there's game is.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, this one right there.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
It is right there.
Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yep, that's where we met for the first time.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
By the time we were headed down the stretch toward
the end of the twenty twenty five regular season, the Dodgers'
chances at a division title were in question. It was
no guarantee that we'd even make the post season, and
a lot of that was due to the poor performance
of our bullpen throughout the season. So how did we
stick it out? The answer, at least in large part
(29:08):
down the stretch run of the month of September, was
our starting rotation. The starters bailed out the dows when
the dows lost their bite. September is a really key
month for a team that's going to make a postseason run.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
That's when we saw the bullpen at its worst.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Really yeah, So it was a really scary September because
our starters were historically dominant, ex setting records. It seemed
like every other day was a different starter was taking
a no hitter deep into a game and just shut
out after shutout, but hand it over to the bullpen.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Shut out, no.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
More blowout, blown game, I should say blown game after
blown game, and the.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Offense can only do so much.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
The Dodgers starting rotation allowed fewer than two runs on
average throughout September, struck out thirty percent of all batters faced,
and held their opponent's batting average to an all time low.
The bullpen, on the other hand, had a rough month,
combining for an ERA over five, a thirteen percent walk rate,
(30:14):
and allowing twelve home runs compared to just four allowed
by the starting staff. As September was drawing to a close,
with the postseason right around the corner, we were looking
for solutions to this problem. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts started
getting creative.
Speaker 6 (30:34):
And because we have so many good starters, then it
puts us in a situation where we could potentially use
Rokie as a setup guy.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
Kersh is a setup guy.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
Shean is a setup guy, right, you know, and even
one of them closing, like even show closing, why not.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
I mean, that's the dream. Just like he did in
the World Baseball Class.
Speaker 3 (30:53):
You know, he shows up.
Speaker 6 (30:54):
He can pitch in a big game like that, and
it's a beautiful thing to see.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
Things took a turn for the better, mixing in some
of our starters coming out of the pen was working
out and the dows started to get there, bite back.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
They've actually turned it around.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Blake trying and shaved and all of a sudden he
was looking like his old self pitching wise, the vibes shifted.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah it worked for Tryina.
Speaker 6 (31:20):
I mean he went in there finally shaved up all
his thing and look good, brand new hat.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Doesn't look as much like a CHP officer anymore.
Speaker 6 (31:28):
No, yeah, for sure, he didn't like you'll pull you over.
Now he looks like a rookie. So his pitching looks
solid too. It look the dogs look dialed.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
It looked like, oh my god, they're gonna have other
teams are gonna have trouble.
Speaker 6 (31:40):
I hope, we hope. You know, it's always our expectation.
That was their expectation in the beginning, and that's what
I hope for.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Now they look more like themselves.
Speaker 6 (31:47):
Now, they look like we expected them to play in
the beginning.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
They look like the dogs.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
All of a sudden. We had a road map because
in October baseball you might see anybody coming out of
the relievers and starters alike.
Speaker 6 (32:02):
There's so many options that Doc has now for the
post that like he wasn't using at all, Like he
was still trying to grind out with these guys, just
grinding it out, grinding it out with Tennor Scott, just
letting him terrorize us with like whether he's gonna do
it or not.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Then this past week at Dodger Stadium during the Wildcard Series,
we saw the new plan at work. And sure there
were some rocky moments, especially in Game one when a
ten to two lead somehow didn't seem like enough for
a trio of Dodger believers who couldn't seem to throw
a strike. But we got through it. And then in
Game two, I liked what I saw Emit. Shean typically
(32:40):
a starter, made an appearance out of the pen, and
he wasn't perfect by any means, but Bessie came in
and finished the job, looking solid, trying and pitched to
clean inning. And then we got to see rookie phenom
Roki Sasaki, always intended to be a part of our
starting rotation, make his post season day to close out
(33:01):
the game the way from moving on to Philadelphia.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Okay, Sosaki sets it fires.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
And during a clean bottom of the ninth inning in
the deciding game against the Reds Rokie was electric. Not
so in proay.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
The Dodgers are going to the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers are going to Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
And what will we see from the bullpen in the NLDS,
which starts this weekend in Philadelphia against the big slugging
Phillies Trey Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber. Will the Dowgs
regain their power?
Speaker 6 (33:42):
You know, that's the awesome thing about playoff baseball. You
see all the stuff like getting pulled out.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Unusual situations. Yeah, heightened drama.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
And I hate those games, but I love them at
the same time. I hate those games.
Speaker 3 (33:56):
I just want to see them win five zero, seven
to zero. That's it. I don't want these Oh, no,
struggle give me a heart attack.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Driving through Chinatown, we're driving through all the places today,
ladies playing Majong out on the.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Street lights to the arts district, like deep deep Chinatown.
Speaker 6 (34:15):
You have taken this slow route back to Richie's so
we can get this all recorded up.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Yeah, it's been a beautiful day, beautiful drive through LA.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
It's got that low bottom sun.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
That orange sun, that bright, bright orange.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Yeah, the gold sun.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
When you get that yummy light for like the last
couple hours. It definitely all of a sudden feels like autumn.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
We have baseball, fall, baseball.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
We were just talking about that and like my yoga
class from summer to fall, like how it's the change,
you know, we go summer and moving on and fall
is here.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It's time.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
It's time once again for the postseason. All right, I
feel pretty good?
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Yeah good?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Anything else?
Speaker 3 (35:02):
No?
Speaker 1 (35:03):
All right, thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
And we'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (35:09):
As always, I'm Richard Parks the Third and I'm Wes Sabila.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Thanks for listening. Boom.
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by Richard Parks
the Third. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Original music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch, Jonathan
Snipes and The Blasting Company and Richard Parks. Production assistance
from Tyler Hill. I'm Wes Sabila. Follow us on social
media at.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Dodger Blue Dream. If you like the show, please share
a link to it with one friend today, leave us
a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. Dodger
Blue Dream is produced in partnership with iHeartRadio's Michael Podcast Network.
For more podcasts from my Heart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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