The Los Angeles Dodgers dropped their fourth game in the last five with a 10-1 blowout loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
Jack Flaherty endured his worst start since joining the team at this year’s MLB trade deadline, allowing four runs on five hits in just three innings of work.
It was more bad news for a Dodgers rotation that has been decimated by injuries all season long, but especially as of late with Tyler Glasnow unlikely to pitch again this year and Clayton Kershaw out until the postseason in a best-case scenario.
Mookie Betts believes the latest developments are unfortunate but should not stand in the way of the Dodgers reaching their goals, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“It does suck. You win a lot of ballgames with pitching,” Mookie Betts said of the injuries that have depleted the Dodgers’ pitching staff. “But you’ve also got to hit, got to play defense. It does suck. But that’s no excuse. It’s no excuse. We just haven’t been playing good baseball by any means.”
While the setbacks to Glasnow and Kershaw are disappointing, the Dodgers received a bit of good news as Gavin Stone is due to begin playing catch.
But considering Stone needed to go more than one week without throwing, he presumably would only be able to make one start for the Dodgers before the regular season ends on Sunday, Sept. 29.
However, a return at some point during the 2024 season is far from of a guarantee. Stone and the Dodgers are effectively at a point where every step of his rehab process needs to go off without a hitch.
If Stone makes it back, he would be part of a Dodgers postseason rotation that could include Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and one of Walker Buehler, Bobby Miller or Landon Knack.
Dodgers ‘still confident’ despite injuries
Despite the Dodgers’ postseason rotation outlook being in disarray, manager Dave Roberts recently voiced continued confidence in the team.
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