Cody Snavely
Happy Tuesday and a belated Labor Day, Dodgers fans! The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up a massive week of baseball, taking on two teams in postseason contention: the Baltimore Orioles and their National League West rival, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers ended their nine-game homestand with the Orioles before beginning a short six-game road trip, which kicked off with a massive series in Phoneix.
Throughout the week, we got plenty of injury updates to players such as Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Brusdar Graterol, along with plenty of roster moves to discuss since the calendar turned to September with expanded rosters.
Catch up on that and more in the latest Dodgers Notes from DodgersBeat!
Week recap (8/25/2024-9/2/2024)
Orioles Recap: The Los Angeles Dodgers welcomed one of the top American League teams to close out their nine-game homestand, and despite an opener series loss with right-handed pitcher Jack Flaherty on the mound, the team rebounded nicely, winning both Bobby Miller‘s and Walker Buehler‘s starts.
The Dodgers offense would awaken in the second and third games after being held to just two runs on seven hits in the series opener. In game two, the offense would take it to Orioles ace and 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes, scoring six runs, three of which were on a Teoscar Hernández three-run home run.
Walker Buehler would pitch his best start since his activation off the 15-day injured list, and Bobby Miller would give the Dodgers five solid innings of work.
Overall, the Dodgers ended their homestand by winning seven of their nine games and then headed to Arizona for a massive four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
- Game One: 2-3, L
- Game Two: 6-4, W
- Game Three: 6-3, W
Diamondbacks Recap: In what was arguably the most crucial series of the season so far, the Los Angeles Dodgers entered Phoenix for a four-game series while leading the National League West by four games.
The Dodgers would take care of business, winning three of four games despite being outscored by the Diamondbacks this series. Both game one and game two were offensively heavy, with Clayton Kershaw leaving in the second inning and Gavin Stone giving up five runs.
However, everyone on offense contributed to this series, including the “big three,” who led off the game with back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning of game two off D-Back starter Merrill Kelly.
Despite getting demolished in game three of the series and losing by eleven runs, the Dodgers would not settle for a split. Jack Flaherty and the Dodgers’ offense, led by a 5-for-5 day by Teoscar Hernández and a multi-home run game by Freddie Freeman, would push the Dodgers past Arizona, winning not only this series but the season series, giving the Dodgers the potential tie-breaker if the two happened to tie in the National League West.
- Game One: 10-9, W
- Game Two: 8-6, W
- Game Three: 3-14, L
- Game Four: 11-6, W
Injury Notes
Relatively speaking, the Los Angeles Dodgers offense is as healthy as it has been all season, with players such as Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, and Tommy Edman back within the last few weeks.
However, as we enter September, the biggest concern for the injury department has been the pitching, with multiple key players ending up on the injured list with various injuries.
Starting off with right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who was placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow tendonitis in mid-August, has finally begun throwing again, tossing the ball on Friday and coming out of it feeling better.
Glasnow stated that he believes that he will return before the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season is over and will be ready for the 2024 postseason in October.
Glasnow will continue to throw and, hopefully, progress to bullpens, live at-bats, and a minor-league rehab assignment. But for now, the Dodgers and Glasnow are taking their time even though there are only a few weeks left of the season.
Another pitcher who has been on the injured list since mid-June is rookie right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has been dealing with a strained rotator cuff.
Yamamoto made his first minor league rehab appearance last week, pitching two innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out two batters in his two innings of work.
Yamamoto will make his second rehab start tonight from Triple-A OKC with the plan to go three innings.
Joining Yamamoto on his rehab assignment will be right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol, who was placed on the 15-day injured list with a grade-one hamstring suffered in early August while making his regular-season debut.
Since injuring his hamstring, Graterol has continued participating in baseball activities and weight training. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated that the righty could rejoin the team this weekend if all goes well.
Veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw left his last start against the Arizona Diamondbacks series on Friday after left toe discomfort, which was revealed to be a bone spur in his left big toe and an injury that the sixteen-year veteran has dealt with throughout his career.
Kershaw will also wear a walking boot to help with the swelling. The Dodgers will reevaluate the situation after the fifteen days on the injured lost list are fulfilled, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects Kershaw to return despite the clock working against the team with October fast approaching.
Joining Kershaw on the 15-day injured list is veteran right-handed relief pitcher Joe Kelly due to right shoulder inflammation.
Kelly was roughed up in Friday’s game against the Diamondbacks, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks while striking out one over 1.2 innings. It is the second time this season that Kelly was placed on the injured list due to his ailing shoulder, and now doubt is in if he’ll be ready to return for the postseason.
September rosters expanded
With the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season reaching September, the final month of the year, rosters have officially been expanded from twenty-six to twenty-eight, with teams allowed to add one position player and one pitcher to their active roster.
On the position player side, the Dodgers decided to recall right-handed hitting outfielder Andy Pages from Triple-A OKC. Upon his demotion due to the Dodgers roster crunch, Pages was hitting .360 as of August 28th. Before being sent down, he had a .290/.389/.548 slash line with a .937 OPS in August. He has been excellent against left-handed pitching this season, hitting .337/.383/.488 and having a 144 wRC+.
On the pitching side, the Dodgers made a handful of moves utilizing the expanded roster, such as calling up left-handed pitcher Justin Wrobleski to make a spot start in game three of their four-game series in Phoenix.
In the same series, the Dodgers also added extra arms in right-handed pitchers Michael Peterson, Ben Casparius, and Michael Grove.
The Dodgers could also consider adding top prospect Dalton Rushing to the 40-man roster for a potential call-up. Since the lefty bat was promoted to Triple-A OKC, he has played the majority of his time in left field, hitting .308/.439/.551 with a .990 OPS in seventy-eight at-bats.
The Dodgers will also have to consider the potential activation of Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The number of pitchers on a Major League roster in September is limited to fourteen.
Homestretch of the 2024 regular season
The Los Angeles Dodgers enter September after their four-game series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, five games over the second-place San Diego Padres, and six games over Arizona.
With only twenty-four games left of the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, the Dodgers are focused on October, which is quickly approaching.
With twenty-four games remaining, the Dodgers have the third easiest schedule based on winning percentage (.470), including eleven games against the Colorado Rockies (6), Miami Marlins (3), and Los Angeles Angeles (2).
The Dodgers, over their last twenty-three games, have gone 17-6, and if they match that win total for the final twenty-four games, they would reach the century mark in wins for the fifth straight full season going back to 2019.
With the calendar turning, it is officially magic number season, and for the Dodgers, their magic number to clinch a twelfth straight postseason berth is fifteen; to clinch the National League West title, it is nineteen; and to clinch the best record in the National League, it is twenty-four.
Currently, the Dodgers have a five-game lead over the San Diego Padres and a 1.5-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for the top seed in the National League. However, if the two teams finish with the same record, the Phillies hold the tie-breaker after winning the season series.
Regarding projections, FanGraphs has the Dodgers winning fourteen of their final twenty-four games and finishing with ninety-seven wins, the most in all of Major League Baseball. This is astounding when the team had dealt with injuries all season, including running a lineup that included Cavan Biggio and Nick Ahmed on the regular throughout the summer.
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