The Dodgers remain steadfast in their World Series pitching strategy

NEW YORK – The Dodgers trailed by one run with four innings remaining. Have the Dodgers considered using one of their top relievers?

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

The Dodgers trailed by two runs with two innings remaining. One mistake and one big joke, as they say, and the Dodgers would have tied the game. Have the Dodgers considered using one of their top relievers?

“No,” Roberts said.

This is the World Series, not the third week of August.

The Dodgers could have gone for the jugular and won the World Series against the New York Yankees on Tuesday. The coaching staff and front office decided not to do this.

With four chances to win the deciding game of the World Series, the Dodgers decided not to risk depleting their pitching staff on Tuesday and thus weakening them for a possible game on Wednesday.

Game 5 takes place on Wednesday. If the Dodgers couldn't win on Tuesday, did Roberts think the outcome went as well as could be expected in terms of the pitching plan? “Absolutely,” Roberts said.

It's amazing that the Dodgers – the team with the best record in the major leagues – literally ran out of starters and still advanced to the World Series.

Tuesday was the Dodgers' final bullpen game of the postseason. They won two, lost two.

Their three proven starters will be at the start for the rest of the series. Jack Flaherty will start Game 5. If the series returns to Los Angeles, Yoshinobu Yamamoto would start Game 6, while Walker Buehler may start Game 7.

Another win.

Jack Flaherty will start Game 5 of the World Series for the Dodgers on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“I’m not worried about how I expect the series to turn out,” Flaherty said before Tuesday’s game. “I’m just worried about getting another one.”

There was a time in baseball – and for some teams, this is still a time – when teams would not use their top relievers in certain regular-season games if the situation seemed to warrant it. The reason: These helpers had to be fresh and ready to go every day in October if necessary.

At the cutting edge of analytical research, this is not considered wise. If a reliever faces the opposing team too often, no matter how fresh that reliever is, opposing batters will become accustomed to his repertoire and will be more likely to hit him hard.

In this World Series, the Yankees are old-fashioned: use your best backups as often as possible. Five substitutes worked in at least three of the four games; Clay Holmes has worked in all four areas.

The Dodgers are a new school: No backup player has worked in all four. Three worked in three of the four games, including left-handers Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia.

In the third inning, with Daniel Hudson struggling and three of the Yankees' left-handed batters faltering within four batters, Roberts declined to use Banda or Vesia.

“I just didn’t want to use them in the third inning,” Roberts said.

Hudson gave up a grand slam to Anthony Volpe (who, to be fair, bats right-handed). The Yankees took the lead and never relinquished it.

After the Dodgers suffered two setbacks in the eighth inning, Roberts called in Brent Honeywell Jr., making his first appearance in eleven days, and told him to end the game. He did, but not before giving up five runs in an inning and striking out 50 pitches. According to Jay Jaffe of Fangraphs, no pitcher has thrown more pitches in a postseason appearance of one inning or less.

And to be fair, analytics weren't responsible for everything that ailed the Dodgers on Tuesday.

Of the Yankees' first five runs, three were scored by players who reached base with a walk or hit by a pitch.

In the eighth inning, the Yankees stole three bases from Honeywell – one of which he stole third base with a left-handed batter at the plate.

In the final four innings – all but one of which began with the Dodgers trailing by a run or two – the Dodgers went 0 for 12 with six strikeouts.

And here's another stat for you: In a Dodgers bullpen game, the Yankees used more pitchers.

No team in Major League history has won the first three games of the World Series and lost the series. No team with a 3-0 lead even needed Game 6 to claim victory.

The Dodgers will if they lose on Wednesday.

During the National League Championship Series, Roberts said he wouldn't make it in the postseason today, just like he did in 2017 when he used reliever Brandon Morrow in all seven games of the World Series. “I’ve evolved,” he said.

None of these substitutes started Tuesday: Banda, Vesia, Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier and Brusdar Graterol.

So the Dodgers feel about the same as they did the day before Game 6 of the NLCS, when the Dodgers clinched their spot in the World Series. That day, Roberts said, “I don’t think we exposed our deeply indebted people at all.”

It doesn't quite have the ring of “If you don't love the Dodgers, there's a good chance you're not going to heaven.” But that's where the Dodgers are today, still one win away from a championship.