LOS ANGELES — Emmet Sheehan’s line Friday night was a little bumpy, and he knew it. The Dodgers right-hander opened with a sharp first inning, striking out the side, then ran into more traffic as the game went on in a 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks. Afterward, Sheehan gave a pretty straightforward assessment of where he is this early in the season.

Sheehan, who went 3.1 innings and gave up four earned runs on five hits, said he could feel some of the version of himself that Dodgers fans saw last year, especially out of the gate. “I think it could definitely be better. I think I showed signs of my stuff from last year early in the game, like you said. But definitely working to get to a point where I just keep that longer in the game.”

“Getting Close”

That was really the heart of his postgame comment. There were flashes of late 2025. There was also a reminder that he is still trying to get everything lined up so those flashes last deeper into an outing. Sheehan said he does feel a return to form coming. “I think we’re working really hard. I think we’re making progress every week and, yeah, I think we’re pretty close to getting to where it should be.”

He also pointed to timing in his delivery as the big thing he and the coaching staff are working on right now. “I think just the timing of certain things right now isn’t where it should be and where it was in the past. The coaches are doing a great job of breaking it all down to me and giving me drills and stuff like that to get back. But we’re working really hard on it.”

Sheehan also took a moment to talk about the atmosphere around opening weekend, and there was a little smile in that answer too. “I don’t know. The whole thing, it’s pretty crazy. It’s really cool.”

That about sums it up. The night had a lot going on, and Sheehan’s outing had some brilliance and some rough patches mixed together. Still, his comments sounded calm and clear. He knows what he is chasing, he feels like he is getting closer, and the Dodgers still found a way to win the game while he keeps building toward where he wants to be.

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