Dodgers News: Baseball Insiders Debate LA’s Brand of “White Flag Baseball”

LOS ANGELES — If you’ve been watching closely — and as Dodgers fans, we always do — you’ve noticed something unorthodox coming out of the Los Angeles dugout this season. Manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers’ brain trust are playing what’s now being called “White Flag Baseball”: strategically surrendering certain games when the odds of winning drop to near-zero. They’ll pull stars mid-game, send out the “B” bullpen, and yes, even roll with position players on the mound — all in the name of resource preservation.

It’s raised eyebrows around MLB — and it’s working.

This week’s MLB Now on MLB Network, hosted by Brian Kenny, dug into the strategy. With a panel that included insider Tom Verducci and former big-leaguer Ryan Rowland-Smith, they didn’t hold back in discussing the implications. But while opinions varied, one thing was clear: only a team as deep and analytically sharp as the Dodgers could pull this off.

The Dodgers Are Winning the Long Game

Let’s break down what’s happening.

In the Dodgers’ recent series against the Padres, after winning Game 1 in a thriller on Monday, they found themselves down 5–0 in the sixth inning of Game 2 on Tuesday. The win probability? A paltry 2%, and dropping. Rather than burn their top arms or risk injury to key contributors, they benched regulars like Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández, and sent Kiké Hernández — yes, the utility player— to the mound. He threw 2⅓ innings of 50 mph “not trying” fastballs. The Dodgers lost 10–1.

And yet… they won the series, taking Game 3 with a bullpen game featuring eight different pitchers. Resource management at its finest.

This isn’t new for the Dodgers. In last year’s postseason, they absorbed a few ugly blowouts — like the 12–6 shellacking in Game 5 of the NLCS after starting Jack Flaherty — in order to save their best arms for winnable games. The result? A World Series title.

White flag? More like waving the chessboard in victory.

The Critics Don’t Love It — But They Should

Tom Verducci admitted on the show: “I hate it when basically teams stop trying.” He compared it to the idea of a mercy rule, which he ultimately rejected. To him, and many fans, sending in a position player mid-game signals surrender — not competition.

Fair point. The aesthetics of “giving up” don’t sit well in a sport built on grinding out comebacks.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t surrender. It’s calculated sacrifice. In chess, you might call it a gambit: sacrificing a lesser piece (a pawn perhaps) in order to gain an advantage in the overall game. Here, in this case, the pawn was reliever Matt Sauer, who took a shellacking for 111 pitches to preserve arms for Wednesday’s finale.

Before Wednesday’s game, Roberts addressed the isssue directly, “I’m not going to waste a lot of energy explaining the decision to the fans,” he explained. “I wasn’t worried about Sauer’s health. He feels good today. You have to manage one game… and then you have to manage ensuing games. We’re trying to win as many games as we possibly can and Matt understands that.”

Indeed, without big-name starters like Snell, Glasnow, and Sasaki in the rotation, this is a strategy borne out of necessity. On MLB Now, Ryan Rowland-Smith said it best: “This is a product of the inefficiency in the starting rotation… I don’t think any other team besides the Dodgers could survive and do this.” The Dodgers’ rotation has been decimated by injuries. They’re relying on young arms, converted relievers, and waiver-wire miracles just to get through the month. In that reality, every rested arm is a treasure.

When you’re playing 162 games — and hoping for 20 more in October — you have to be smarter, not tougher. What the Dodgers are doing is smart baseball.

Why It Works for L.A. — and Only L.A.

Let’s be honest: this isn’t a model other teams can copy overnight. The Dodgers are uniquely equipped.

They have:

• Elite depth, with relievers and utility players who can play anywhere and do anything.
• A front office that trusts the math, including win probability models and matchup projections.
• A fanbase that demands World Series wins, not pretty box scores.

They’ve also had to get creative out of necessity. As MLB Now pointed out, the Dodgers are paying more to injured pitchers than active ones. Their supposed “rotation” looks more like a bullpen phone directory. And yet — they lead the NL West.

Our Take: This Is What Thinking Baseball Looks Like

Here at DodgersBeat, we consider ourselves “the site for the thinking fan.” And what Dave Roberts and the Dodgers front office are doing is next-level thinking.

Do we love seeing Kiké on the mound? Not really. But if it means we’ve got a fresh Alex Vesia or Tanner Scott in the next game, it’s a trade we’ll take 10 times out of 10.

Baseball’s not just about the next inning. It’s about the next game, the next series, the next ring. “White Flag Baseball” may not look sexy in the moment — but it’s World Series baseball.

Let the rest of the league mock it. Let MLB debate rule changes. As long as the parade ends in downtown L.A., we’ll gladly take the heat.

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