The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to begin their postseason journey on Tuesday with Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series.
Because they secured the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs, the Dodgers will host the Cincinnati Reds, who earned the third Wild Card spot, in a best-of-three at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers head into the short series in a strong position due in large part to a strong stretch of success from their starting rotation. While manager Dave Roberts hasn’t announced the team’s starters yet, they will likely go with some combination of Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
That casts a bit of uncertainty on Tyler Glasnow’s role, who would be the Dodgers’ No. 4 starter in a longer playoff series.
Roberts left open the possibility of the right-hander contributing out of the bullpen if necessary, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“What it does is it opens up him in the ‘pen. I had a good conversation with him. He’s ready for whatever we need of him. So to be able to shorten him up, shorten Emmet up, the goal is to get our best 12, 13 pitchers on the roster. That’s our plan.”
Glasnow hasn’t made a relief appearance since the 2018 season, when he exclusively pitched out of the bullpen for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Though, he did pitch in relief during a Dodgers exhibition game in Japan this year.
While Glasnow is a starter by trade, he could be an effective reliever due to already throwing at a high velocity and with imprssive stuff that should play up even more in short spurts.
The Dodgers are using a similar strategy with Emmet Sheehan, who will move to the bullpen for the postseason. Clayton Kershaw and Roki Sasaki could also be used in relief roles if they make the team’s playoff roster.
Tyler Glasnow’s 2025 season
Glasnow missed a significant chunk of the 2025 season due to right shoulder inflammation, but continued to pitch at a high level when healthy.
In 17 starts, he went 4-3 with a 3.30 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 1.09 WHIP and 10.6 strikeouts per nine over 87.1 innings. Glasnow’s final start of the regular season saw him throw three scoreless innings on Saturday night.
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