Dodgers’ star-studded rotation gives slumping champs real chance at three-peat

Save for a three-run eighth inning on Sunday that was heavily assisted by the Tigers’ incompetence, the Dodgers’ offense remained in a state of hibernation over the last week.

Don’t be deceived by the 6–1 scoreline from the series finale in Detroit. 

Shohei Ohtani still looks like Popeye without his spinach, and the Dodgers will have trouble scoring runs consistently until that changes.

But if a 2–4 road trip showcased the reasons why the Dodgers won’t win the World Series again, it presented an argument for why they will.

They have the best starting pitching in baseball.

By far.

Over the five games they combined to pitch against the Tigers and Braves, the Dodgers’ four projected postseason starters registered a 2.14 ERA.

Remove Tyler Glasnow’s three-run first inning in Atlanta at the start of the two-city tour — his first inning of major-league action in close to four months — and that ERA drops to 1.27.

Pitch like that in October and the wins will come.

There will be games like the one the Dodgers lost to the Braves on Thursday, in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up a run in 6 ⅓ innings but was outpitched by Chris Sale, who threw a shutout. 

No matter.

No team has ever gone undefeated in the playoffs in the wild-card era, and the Dodgers won’t be the first, regardless of how much they spend on players.

The difference between the Dodgers and their opponents is what comes after.

The day after Yamamoto pitched, Tarik Skubal started the series opener in Detroit. Skubal was followed by Blake Snell, who was followed by Glasnow.

There isn’t a team that can match that.

With pitching like that, a team doesn’t have to hit much. They just have to strike the decisive blow before the other team does.

Sort of how the Dodgers did on Sunday.

With Glasnow dominating the Tigers, Teoscar Hernández broke a 1–1 stalemate with a two-run home run in the sixth inning.

That was the formula the Dodgers used to win the World Series last year, their pitchers maintaining a low-scoring environment that set the stage for one of their hitters to be the offensive hero.

The Dodgers will have to be better offensively than they are now — but not to a degree that would be impossible.

The three-peat remains within their reach, even more so because of Glasnow’s resurgence after a three-and-a-half month absence because of back spasms.

The Dodgers went on the road last week with a measure of certainty of what they could expect in October from Yamamoto, Snell and Skubal.

But the two starts made by Glasnow were inspiring revelations, particularly with Ohtani scratched from his scheduled one-inning start on Sunday and now unlikely to be sufficiently stretched out to be a full-fledged starter in October.

Following that shake-off-the-rust first inning on Monday, Glasnow went on to limit the Braves to two hits over the next four innings.

He was even better on Sunday against the Tigers.

He was perfect through three innings. He completed seven innings, striking out seven. 

Glasnow was dissatisfied with the consistency of his fastball, but manager Dave Roberts described the pitch as “great,” particularly to his glove side.

“You’ve got to respect the velocity,” Roberts said. “Then off that, it was the curveball, the slider.”

The 6-foot-8 Glasnow looked the part of a No. 1 starter. On these Dodgers, he’s a No. 4 — or even a No. 5 depending on Ohtani’s status.

With Glasnow, the questions were never about his talent but rather about his physical and mental resilience.

While his back problems this year indicate he is still a threat to break down physically, the way he’s pitched point to him being mentally stronger than he was when the Dodgers traded for him before the 2024 season.

The Dodgers initially planned for Ohtani to pitch an inning on Sunday as an opener and have Glasnow come in after him. Glasnow was unfazed when the plan changed.

The Tigers scored their only run against Glasnow in the fourth inning, which was also when they collected their only two hits against him. Glasnow responded by retiring the final 10 batters he faced.

The Dodgers posted a losing record in August. Their offense was atrocious. But they’re much closer to another championship than their recent form suggests. In October, they will be in every game and every series. Their rotation will ensure they are. 

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