The Los Angeles Dodgers playoff roster for the World Series figured have one change, which manager Dave Roberts hinted at early in the week, but a personal matter with Alex Vesia was expected to bring about another.
Just as Roberts had suggested, the Dodgers roster was largely unchanged from the National League Championship Series. The differences came with Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein taking the spots of Ben Casparius and Vesia.
Casparius was active for the NLCS after not being with the Dodgers for the first two rounds. Vesia getting removed was widely a given due to being with his wife.
Meanwhile, Henriquez is on the Dodgers roster for a second time this postseason. He was part of an expanded bullpen group for the Wild Card Series, though struggled in his appearance and got taken off for the NL Division Series.
Klein, who joined the organization in June, is making his Dodgers postseason debut.
Vesia’s absence leaves a significant void in the bullpen, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman is confident in the group that’s been put together.
“We feel really good about our relievers in terms of the righty, lefty, the different looks, the stuff that we’ll bring out. Obviously, it comes down to execution, and those guys feeling confident to go in in the lanes that Doc, Mark, Danny kind of figure out, and for them to just trust to flood the zone,” Friedman said.
“If we’re able to do that, I think then we’ll be really successful. So it comes down to execution, but feel good about the group. Edgardo and Will, for us, just their pitch mix, how it matched up against their hitters, it felt like gave us more margin for error in different ways and different ways to match up that we felt like fit our group really well.”
Dodgers World Series roster decisions
Edgardo Henriquez
Henriquez is a power arm who’s flashed tantalizing potential but at times struggled with command and doesn’t collect many strikeouts. The Blue Jays as a team have the lowest whiff percentage in the postseason.
“Edgardo, it’s velocity, it’s a slider, it’s a sinker, there’s a cut-fastball in there,” Roberts said. “So just something to continue to try to keep a couple of those right-hand hitters at bay.”
Will Klein
Klein offers similar characteristics to Henriquez but demonstrated better control during his appearances late in the regular season.
“I like Will because it’s a plus-fastball, it’s a good curveball, good slider, and it’s something that these guys haven’t seen,” Roberts explained.
Tanner Scott
Another potential option available to the Dodgers for their World Series bullpen was welcoming back Tanner Scott after he missed time upon undergoing an abscess incision on his backside.
Scott had resumed throwing during the NLCS and expressed hope during the week that he would be available. Ultimately, he didn’t gain clearance.
“The medical has not allowed for him to have the ramp-up, and as he’s thrown a couple bullpens, it just wasn’t quite there,” Roberts said. “So I think that for us the cost of potential injury and betting on the upside of how quick this thing came about, I think ultimately it’s just bad timing, unfortunately.”
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