LA Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell left after throwing just 77 pitches against the San Francisco Giants on September 27.
Although it was his final regular-season appearance, checking his physical condition was more important in this game than qualifying for a win.
With the Dodgers having already clinched a berth in the National League Division Series, the game showed the priorities governing their postseason use of starting pitchers.
3-Line Summary
1. The Dodgers managed Snell against the Giants
2. Snell pitched 4 innings, allowing 1 run on 77 pitches
3. The key to the postseason is the health of the starting rotation
Snell’s Final Appearance Ends at 77 Pitches
Blake Snell started against the Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, United States, recording 4 innings, 5 hits allowed, 3 strikeouts, and 1 earned run. His top velocity was 158.7㎞/h, but he was replaced after 77 pitches without completing 5 innings.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained that he had to balance completing the necessary pitch count with checking whether Snell’s body felt all right after the outing. Since Snell had left early in his previous appearance because of stiffness in his left groin muscle, this substitution was viewed as a decision that prioritized injury management over the flow of the game.
Snell was limited to 9 games and 42⅔ innings this season because of injuries. However, his ERA was 1.90, and the Dodgers focused on gaining confidence that he could handle the starting rotation normally. This was also why they did not ask him to work deep into the final game of the regular season.
Priorities Changed After Clinching the Division Series
The Dodgers had clinched a berth in the National League Division Series with a 99–62 record before this game. In such a situation, a starting pitcher’s physical condition for the postseason is more valuable than one additional inning.
According to an OSEN report, manager Roberts said that a rationale could be found for setting the starting order in any way among Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow, and Snell. Rather than announcing a confirmed pitching order, this was the manager’s assessment that the Dodgers were viewing their starting-pitching options broadly.
Snell is a left-handed pitcher who has won the Cy Young Award in both major leagues, and he has a 3.27 ERA in 18 career postseason games. This was part of the background behind the Dodgers welcoming his return despite his regular-season absence. The 77 pitches against the Giants were less an appearance intended to add to his statistics than a process of confirming whether he could be used on the postseason stage.
Bullpen Void Left by Treinen’s Absence
By contrast, relief pitcher Blake Treinen injured his right shoulder while warming up before the Giants game and will be unable to appear in this postseason, Sports Donga reported. Before the injury, he had pitched 29⅔ innings in 36 games.
The Dodgers sought to preserve their options in the starting rotation by managing Snell’s condition, but an actual loss occurred in the bullpen. The Dodgers’ game against the Giants was one in which they prepared for the fall on one side by controlling a pitcher’s workload, while on the other they lost a postseason resource because of a sudden injury. What a team needs ahead of the postseason is not more innings, but the ability of its remaining pitchers to stay healthy and perform their roles.
References
Tags #Dodgers #Giants #LADodgers #SanFranciscoGiants #BlakeSnell #DaveRoberts #MajorLeagueBaseball #MLB #Postseason #NationalLeagueDivisionSeries #BlakeTreinen #OraclePark