Ever since the third inning of the Los Angeles Dodgers' Game 3 NLDS win over the San Diego Padres, it's as if a switch was flipped, unleashing the best the Dodgers' pitching corps has to offer. In Game 1 of their NLCS clash against the New York Mets, the Dodgers' pitching continued to dominate, with Jack Flaherty taking center stage from the mound during their 9-0 win on Sunday night — giving them their third consecutive shutout victory.
Now, a collective effort was needed for the Dodgers to string together 33 consecutive scoreless innings from the opponent. Their bullpen, in particular, has been lights out, leaving the opposing hitters no chance to get their offense going. But the Dodgers needed better efforts from their starters to avoid their bullpen from burning out due to a heavy workload. In Game 5 of the NLDS, they got such a game from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and in Game 1 of the NLCS, it was Flaherty's turn to hold the fort.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn't help but gush over Flaherty's dominant outing against the Mets, and justifiably so. After all, the Mets have been coming up with huge hits after another throughout the postseason to this point, and yet Flaherty held them to just two hits across seven innings of work.
“It was just a pitching clinic. I thought he did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix. Used his fastball when he needed to. Just minimized damage. Once we caught a lead, he did a great job of just going after those guys and attacking,” Roberts told reporters following the Dodgers' win. “For us to get seven innings [from Flaherty] was huge.”
(Skip to 0:29 for the relevant part.)
The Dodgers notably acquired Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline amid their seemingly endless injury troubles involving their starting pitchers. Flaherty has certainly vindicated the team's decision to trade for him, and moving forward, they will need more performances like the one he had on Sunday night if they were to achieve their goal of winning the World Series.
Dodgers are on the precipice of making postseason pitching history
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To begin the playoffs, the Dodgers' shaky starting pitching looked like it was going to be its undoing. Now, this was not how they envisioned things would go come October. They spent a ton of money and prospect capital to assemble a deep starting rotation, but injury problems have plagued them all season long. But incredibly, the Dodgers have held their opponents scoreless for 33 consecutive innings — tying the playoff record set by the 1966 Orioles in the World Series, notoriously against the Dodgers themselves.
The Dodgers' bullpen, in particular, has set the tone well for the team over the past 33 innings. Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres was memorably a bullpen game, with eight pitchers contributing in an 8-0 victory, and then in Game 5, the quartet of Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech, and Blake Treinen did well in protecting the Dodgers' precarious 2-0 lead.
Will the Dodgers set the record for most consecutive shutout playoff innings? With Game 2 of the NLCS being a bullpen game, as per Dave Roberts, they just might.
