{"id":815906,"date":"2026-09-27T23:51:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/815906\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T23:51:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:51:17","slug":"dodgers-arent-fretting-over-lack-of-designated-playoff-closer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/815906\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers aren’t fretting over lack of designated playoff closer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this a million times, but the Dodgers<\/a> are trying to become the first team to win three consecutive World Series championships<\/a> since the New York Yankees, from 1998 to 2000.<\/p>\n

Those Yankees had a Hall of Fame closer. In 1998, Mariano Rivera got the final four outs of the clincher. In 1999, he got the final four outs. In 2000, he got the final three outs.<\/p>\n

These Dodgers? Their closer? Your guess is as good as theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not know,\u201d said Andrew Friedman<\/a>, the Dodgers\u2019 president of baseball operations.<\/p>\n

This might be a good time to know, no? The regular season is over. The postseason is upon us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very confident that we\u2019re going to be going into October with arguably the deepest and best pitching staff that we\u2019ve had,\u201d he said. \u201cExactly what their roles will be and how things will be ordered, I don\u2019t know right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the Dodgers are overthinking this. They have done that before.<\/p>\n

Tanner Scott<\/a> converted 25 of 29 save opportunities this season, including saves Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

But the strongest hitters on the Dodgers\u2019 possible division series opponents are left-handed \u2014 Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II on the Atlanta Braves; Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber on the Philadelphia Phillies \u2014 and the Dodgers may not hesitate to use the left-handed Scott against those guys in the seventh or eighth inning.<\/p>\n

In theory, these Dodgers have three candidates as closer: Scott, their marquee closer signing for 2025 and actual closer for most of 2026; Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>, their marquee closer signing for 2026; and Roki Sasaki<\/a>, their accidental closer last October.<\/p>\n

Yet Friedman said he could envision scenarios where Evan Phillips could close, or even Brock Stewart, or perhaps Alex Vesia against a run of left-handed hitters. The Dodgers hope to activate Edgardo Henriquez for the playoffs. The starters could close, too, especially a well-rested Tyler Glasnow early in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a number of guys that we really trust,\u201d Friedman said. \u201cDepending on who we\u2019re playing, how deep our starter goes, there are a lot of factors that would go into it. But, more than who will be that pitcher on the mound, is the fact that we have so many candidates we feel really good about.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the Dodgers have improvised an October relief corps, transformed a rookie starter into a postseason closer and run bullpen games in elimination games might lead you to conclude Friedman does not really believe in the concept of a designated closer. In a world where \u201chigh leverage\u201d is the trendy jargon, maybe a closer is more of an anachronism than a necessity.<\/p>\n

That the Dodgers invested $72 million in Scott and $69 million in D\u00edaz in consecutive winters would lead you to conclude Friedman does indeed believe in the concept of a designated closer. In fact, he does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s extremely helpful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers do not hold splashy news conferences to introduce closer candidates. When the Dodgers introduced D\u00edaz last December, Friedman proudly introduced the three-time All-Star as the closer.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, we have a high bar,\u201d Friedman said then. \u201cTo name someone the closer, you have to be one of the best. You have to be elite and dominant at what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz\u2019s season went awry, limited to 18\u2154 innings after elbow surgery and then a neck injury. But in five September appearances since his activation from the injured list, he gave up no runs and one hit in five innings, striking out nine of the 17 batters he faced. (In the same span, Scott has given up no runs and two hits in five innings, striking out nine of the 19 batters he faced.)<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers reliever Edwin D\u00edaz high-fives teammates in the dugout after pitching against the San Diego Padres on Sept. 22.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen out of D\u00edaz recently has been really encouraging,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cWhat that ultimately means, we don\u2019t know yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, if you have a reliever who is really hot in October, that can be extremely valuable. It doesn\u2019t mean you use him exclusively in the ninth. But, by and large, that\u2019s how you would use him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts saluted D\u00edaz for working hard to get back to an uncertain assignment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of Edwin, given the deal he signed, to work it out, to go to the minors, to come back and pitch in whatever role we ask of him, that shows a lot of character,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have mailed this year in. That\u2019s something that has not gone unnoticed. And we\u2019ll see how October plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers could be forgiven for believing it will all work out in the end. Their final pitcher in each of the World Series clinchers under Friedman, all starters: Julio Ur\u00edas in 2020, Walker Buehler in 2024, Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025.<\/p>\n

The pitchers to record a postseason save in those championship seasons: Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen and Urias in 2020; Alex Vesia, Treinen and Buehler in 2024; Glasnow, Sasaki and Treinen in 2025.<\/p>\n

The organizational flexibility can lead to some uncomfortable discussions within the clubhouse, as Roberts and coaches keep the relievers updated on the latest plan for how they might be used.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is tricky,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cThese are constant conversations. They are ever-evolving. They are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all goes right for the Dodgers, those conversations will be ongoing for another month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Stop me if you\u2019ve heard this a million times, but the Dodgers are trying to become the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2406],"tags":[628,5,1692,39,1087,6468,1165,4332,4333,99267,774,57,3224,4331,4,6263,2320,6947,1595,1602,3215,1479,5951,115],"class_list":["post-815906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-andrew-friedman","tag-baseball","tag-blake-treinen","tag-dodgers","tag-edwin-diaz","tag-eighth-inning","tag-la","tag-la-dodgers","tag-ladodgers","tag-left-handed-scott","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesdodgers","tag-mlb","tag-october","tag-pitcher","tag-playoff","tag-postseason","tag-roberts","tag-run","tag-season","tag-starter","tag-walker-buehler"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117345693790824109","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}