{"id":101648,"date":"2025-10-02T08:35:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T08:35:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=101648"},"modified":"2025-10-02T08:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T08:35:04","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%80-dodgers-closer-question-roki-sasaki-emerges-as-the-potential-answer-in-l-a-s-bullpen-dominance-on-display-teammates-buzzing-with-belief-and-the-pressing-question-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=101648","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\ude80 DODGERS CLOSER QUESTION: Roki Sasaki emerges as the potential answer in L.A.\u2019s bullpen \u2014 dominance on display, teammates buzzing with belief, and the pressing question is\u2026 has Los Angeles finally found its ninth-inning savior?..ll"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Roki<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 How many times have we expressed the sentiment this year alone? At one time or another, every fan base in baseball hates its bullpen \u2013 and this year it\u2019s Dodger fans\u2019 turn. That development might be karmic payback for their team leaning so hard on relievers in winning the World Series last year.<\/p>\n

That said, the solution as this postseason continues has seemed obvious: Lean on the starters to get through the sixth, and into and maybe through the seventh, to lessen the burden (and dependence) on a relief corps that has been largely untrustworthy in 2025. Yoshinobu Yamamoto did just that Wednesday night, giving up two unearned runs and four hits over 6\u2154 innings only to be followed by another cringeworthy performance in the inning after he left.<\/p>\n

But maybe the Dodgers have indeed found a dependable closer, after two months or so of fans covering their eyes every time the bullpen gate swung open. Wednesday night, instead of apprehension in the ninth inning, there was joy for a change.<\/p>\n

Roki Sasaki took the mound, after Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Vesia had made another lopsided game closer than it should have been. And to the chants of \u201cRoki \u2026 Roki\u201d originating in the upper deck, the 23-year-old rookie from Japan set down the Cincinnati Reds in order \u2013 with seven of his 11 pitches triple-digit fastballs that induced two whiffs, three fouls and a check-swing \u2013 to close out an 8-4 victory and a Dodgers two-game sweep of the Wild Card Series.<\/p>\n

There were hints of such dominance in Sasaki\u2019s two scoreless relief appearances in the final week of the regular season, one in Arizona and the other in Seattle. After all this time as a starting pitcher (and for much of this season an injured one), maybe Sasaki has found his niche, as the sort of flamethrowing reliever that populated bullpens in the good ol\u2019 days.<\/p>\n

Are we making too much of this? Or is Sasaki the antidote for the late inning nervousness Dodger fans have felt way too often this season?<\/p>\n

The sheer terror this bullpen can produce was on display in Tuesday night\u2019s series opener. Blake Snell had pitched seven brilliant innings, allowing four hits and striking out nine, and left with a 10-2 lead. But by the time Jack Dreyer got the third out in the eighth it was 10-5 and the Reds had the tying run in the on-deck circle.<\/p>\n

Blip, or bad omen? It certainly wasn\u2019t an isolated incident, because Wednesday night the Dodgers had an 8-2 lead going into the eighth and Emmet Sheehan going to the mound for his playoff relief debut, and by the time the inning ended Alex Vesia had replaced Sheehan, it was 8-4 and the tying run was again on deck.<\/p>\n

As for Dave Roberts\u2019 trust tree? It keeps getting skinnier \u2013 but it is autumn, after all. Sasaki has already risen a place of prominence, and maybe he\u2019s the star at the top of the tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou like them all, you trust them all, to various degrees,\u201d Roberts had said before Wednesday night\u2019s game. \u201cAnd I think in the postseason, you have to go with ultimately who you feel best in that one spot. And so it\u2019s ever-evolving. \u2026 It can\u2019t be blind to performance and heartbeat and how guys respond to certain situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made this observation before Game 1: \u201cRelievers, kind of like placekickers, are tigthtrope walkers. It\u2019s what they do for a living. They do well, people forget about them. They don\u2019t do well and they\u2019re in the ire of everything. So it\u2019s tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, but Friedman forgot \u2013 or ignored \u2013 this distinction: When an NFL placekicker misses enough key kicks, he gets waived and his team holds auditions for a replacement. When a Dodger reliever spits up a lead \u2026 well, too often over the course of this season it\u2019s been the guy Friedman gave a four-year contract, Tanner Scott.<\/p>\n

Then again, the Dodgers won a bidding war for Sasaki \u2013 but with a $6.5 million bonus and a one-year, $760,000 contract, limited because of his status in Japan as, technically, an \u201camateur,\u201d he was by comparison a bargain.<\/p>\n

To be fair, Scott (23 saves, 10 blown saves) hasn\u2019t been the target of thunderous boos from the Dodger Stadium faithful as much as might be expected; the displeasure has been muted. So maybe Dodger fans haven\u2019t hated the bullpen as much as they\u2019ve feared it.<\/p>\n

And in a season when all of the Dodgers\u2019 regular relievers have had their shaky moments \u2013 as did Friedman and GM Brandon Gomes at the trade deadline \u2013 maybe they found their solution in experimentation. Sasaki was a starter for the season\u2019s first two months before going on the injured list with a shoulder impingement, and he began working out of the bullpen during his minor league rehabilitation stint.<\/p>\n

(I sure hope someone yelled \u201cEureka!\u201d during this process.)<\/p>\n

There are still these questions about whether Shohei Ohtani might be a bullpen resource, at least between starts, and it\u2019s the memory of Ohtani coming out of the bullpen to strike out Mike Trout and lock down the World Baseball Classic title for Japan in 2023 that keeps that thought alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see that happening,\u201d Roberts said before the game. Keep in mind that under MLB\u2019s Ohtani rule, if he comes into the game as a relief pitcher but then is removed, he leaves the game as a hitter, too.<\/p>\n

Roberts said before the game he would \u201cput this game on Yoshinobu,\u201d and Yamamoto did his part.\u00a0He gave up two unearned runs in the first, retired the next 13 in a row, got into and out of trouble in the sixth by striking out Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz with the bases loaded, and almost made it through the seventh, exiting with two out and two on and a 7-2 lead.<\/p>\n

The drama started in the eighth. It ended with Sasaki methodically putting down the Reds in the ninth.<\/p>\n

So, Roberts was asked, is the youngster now the closer?<\/p>\n

\u201cI trust him, and he\u2019s going to be pitching in leverage,\u201d he said. \u201cThe more you pitch guys and play guys, you learn more. \u2026 I don\u2019t think the moment\u2019s going to be too big for Roki.\u201d<\/p>\n

This could be a lot of fun. Anyone want to volunteer an entrance song?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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