Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández revealed that the Dodgers held a team meeting back in September that helped turn their season around. The meeting came after back-to-back losses to the Atlanta Braves, but more notably after the team found out they had lost starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow for the rest of the season and postseason.
Glasnow was already on the injured list because of an elbow injury, but the team initially believed he would return for the postseason. Before that meeting, the team officially learned they would no longer have Glasnow for the playoffs. The Dodgers tabbed Glasnow as their top pitcher heading into the 2024 season, giving him the start on both Opening Day and the Dodgers' first series in Seoul, South Korea. Glasnow returned the favor, recording career-highs in starts and strikeouts before his kryptonite, injuries, came back to bite him once again.
Hernández recalled that the Dodgers were feeling down heading into that meeting because of Glasnow, but that meeting gave them the boost they needed.
"It was one time that we see a lot of fans, that we see not from the team but from the outside, everybody was panicking because we got a lot of injuries. We lose a lot of pitchers," Hernández said.
"It was one time that we felt like we were down as a team," Hernández said. "And one meeting changed everything. And then we realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we're still the Dodgers. And we can do special things with the people we have healthy throughout the year and just the opportunity to maintain the team on the top until those guys were able to come back and keep helping the team win.
Since that meeting, the Dodgers have gone on to the National League Championship Series, their first time winning an NLDS series since 2021. They are within one game of advancing to the World Series, needing one more win over the New York Mets in either Game 6 or Game 7 of the NLCS.
Even with a trip to the NLCS, the Dodgers certainly haven't been perfect. The loss of Glasnow and multiple other starting pitchers has plagued them at times this postseason. The team's pitching has given up five or more runs five different times this postseason. They have also come through on other occasions with four separate shutouts. If the team can rely on that potential they saw in that meeting and pitch well in a few more games, they could very lift a World Series banner to close out the season.
