Dodgers reliever Brock Stewart will bear season-ending shoulder surgical procedure, supervisor Dave Roberts tells the L.A. beat (together with Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic). It’s a debridement process, added GM Brandon Gomes (relayed by Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Instances). Whereas he’s unlikely to be prepared for Opening Day, the Dodgers count on him to return sooner or later within the first half of the 2026 season. The best-hander has been on the injured checklist for the reason that center of August.
It’s one other hit to a bullpen that’s the Dodgers’ greatest weak spot heading into the playoffs. Blake Treinen has given up 11 runs in 7 1/3 innings this month. Nearer Tanner Scott has surrendered six runs over his previous 7 1/3 frames. Treinen has a 5.47 earned run common on the season; Scott has allowed 4.82 earned runs per 9. Kirby Yates has been knocked round as effectively, and he went down with a hamstring pressure earlier within the week.
Michael Kopech has been restricted to 11 innings by a trio of accidents. He’s again on the IL with knee irritation and can no less than be unavailable for the Wild Card Collection. Brusdar Graterol by no means made it again from final yr’s shoulder surgical procedure. Evan Phillips underwent Tommy John surgical procedure in June. Stewart is their seventh potential high-leverage arm who’s both unavailable or not performing to expectations.
It leaves the Dodgers very susceptible late in video games. Lefty Alex Vesia has excelled for a second straight season and fourth time prior to now 5 years. He has gotten probably the most high-leverage assignments and leads the staff with eight holds within the second half. Fellow southpaws Anthony Banda, Justin Wrobleski and Jack Dreyer have every pitched effectively down the stretch.
Neither Wrobleski nor Dreyer has any postseason expertise. Banda tossed eight innings throughout L.A.’s World Collection run a yr in the past. He pitched effectively sufficient however wasn’t tasked with many key conditions. There’s virtually no certainty from the best aspect. The Dodgers simply activated Roki Sasaki after a four-month absence attributable to his personal shoulder harm. He’ll pitch in reduction and is alongside Edgardo Henriquez as right-handed alternate options if Treinen doesn’t determine it out.
Their finest choices except for Vesia are in all probability all transformed starters who might go to the bullpen in October. That’ll virtually actually be Emmet Sheehan’s function. Clayton Kershaw got here out of the bullpen on Wednesday in preparation for a possible reduction job. Shohei Ohtani has even left the door open to pitching late in video games (hyperlink by way of Thomas Harrigan and Sonja Chen of MLB.com).
That’s sophisticated by MLB’s two-way participant rule solely making use of to beginning pitchers. If Ohtani begins the sport as a chosen hitter after which pitches out of the bullpen, the Dodgers would lose the DH. Except he’s referred to as in to shut, that’d require them to play Ohtani within the outfield — one thing he has executed for all of 8 1/3 innings within the main leagues — or lose his bat late in video games.
The Dodgers determined to not aggressively assault that tenuous reduction group on the commerce deadline. Stewart and minor leaguer Paul Gervase had been their solely bullpen pickups in July. Stewart’s expertise wasn’t a query. The 33-year-old righty was sitting on a 2.38 ERA with a near-30% strikeout fee over 39 appearances with Minnesota. Swapping him for James Outman, a strikeout-prone outfielder who’d plummeted down the depth chart made sense.
Nevertheless, Stewart’s prolonged harm historical past meant the Dodgers had been taking a giant danger by making him their solely reduction pickup of significance. Stewart has by no means reached 40 MLB innings in a season. He was shut down in June 2023 by elbow issues and battled shoulder points for a lot of final yr, culminating in arthroscopic surgical procedure. He hadn’t had any arm accidents within the first half of ’25, but it surely sadly didn’t register as an enormous shock when he went down after 4 appearances following the commerce.
The Dodgers can switch Stewart to the 60-day injured checklist if they should open a 40-man roster spot earlier than the tip of the season. He’s enjoying on an $870K wage that’s barely above the league minimal. Stewart will undergo arbitration twice extra and received’t hit free company till the tip of his age-35 season.
Los Angeles has clinched the NL West and the #3 seed. They’ll host the league’s remaining playoff staff (one of many Mets, Reds or Diamondbacks) within the Wild Card Collection starting on Tuesday. In the event that they survive that three-game set, they’re more likely to match up with the Phillies within the Division Collection.
