Dodgers Postseason Hopes in the Hands of an Unreliable Bullpen

After another blown save on Monday, the Dodgers are faced with one, very untimely problem – the bullpen.

Last season, the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen was elite. Many tried to break down their walls and came up empty. Teams would challenge them and would quickly walk away defeated. This was a bullpen lead by Brandon Morrow, Kenley Jansen, and Tony Cingrani. Now Morrow is a Cub, and Cingrani and Jansen are on the disabled list until at least the end of August.

What a difference a year can make.

This whole thing began last week, when the Dodgers placed All-Star closer Kenley Jansen on the DL with an irregular heartbeat, an issue that he and the team have kept an eye on. It cropped up in Denver, where the air is thin and players have to work even harder to avoid any altitude-based illnesses.

Jansen has a history of heart problems, especially in Colorado. He returned to LA before the series ended and is currently recovering and beginning to train again. This raised the question of whether or not the Dodgers should pitch Jansen in Denver and potentially have him stay back in LA while the team faces their division rival.

‘”I’m going back to Denver, man”, he said. “Can’t be scared of life,”‘ Jansen told Bill Shaikin of the LA Times.

Jansen is said to be out 4-6 weeks; it could be shorter, but the organization and their fans want him to get back to 100%, even if it means a few losses.

Should it, though? Should the Dodgers putting Jansen on the DL mean that that bullpen is bound to fall apart? Jansen is good, that is no secret, but the only inning that is ever truly his is the 9th. It’s been these relievers, the guys that have given up 14 runs over the past 5 games, that have bridged the gap.

Now, if I may be so frank, the bridge is beginning to collapse and I don’t know how the Dodgers are going to fix it.

Kershaw pitched a gem on Monday, and sure, maybe Roberts should have sent him out there for the ninth, but with Alexander warming, things were looking solid for the Dodgers. They went on to lose to the Giants 5-2, with four of San Francisco’s five runs coming in the 9th inning.

If this were any other month, the Dodgers would be okay. If this were April, May, or June, this would be a pressing issue but not a pivotal one. It would be a problem that could simply fix itself. Now, the Dodgers are running out of time, and the division race isn’t going to get any less intense.

That said, there is still time for the Dodgers to make moves. The waiver deadline isn’t for two weeks, and there are plenty of arms still out there.

I don’t dislike this bullpen, not in the slightest. I think that Scott Alexander has a wild sinker and a great groundball rate, and Dylan Floro has been a great edition. All pitchers, all players, for that matter, go through rough patches. That isn’t the problem. The problem is that, whether it be offense or defense, the slumps seem to be arriving all at once.

I want to be optimistic but on this, the evening of the Dodgers 5-2 loss to the rival Giants, things for LA aren’t looking great.

The answer to the Dodgers bullpen woes could lie in the hands of any number of pitchers, whether they currently don the Dodger blue or not. I wrote the other day that this is an issue the Dodgers can’t afford to ignore. They can’t, but the season isn’t over yet.

I’m not giving up on this team, and neither should you.