The Dodgers are heading into October with a familiar problem and, for once, Andrew Friedman isn’t pretending to have the answer.
After three straight seasons of trying to sort out the ninth inning, Los Angeles still does not have a clean-cut closer for the postseason. Friedman made that plain when asked how the Dodgers will handle the role.
“I do not know,” Friedman said to the Los Angeles Times.
He did add that the club expects to enter October with a staff that can stack up with any group it has had.
“I feel very confident that we’re going to be going into October with arguably the deepest and best pitching staff that we’ve had,” he added. “Exactly what their roles will be and how things will be ordered, I don’t know right now.”
That uncertainty has been building for a while. The Dodgers got through the last two postseasons without a firmly established closer, and the 2024 regular season had Evan Phillips finishing most games before Blake Treinen handled most of the postseason chances. Then came the push to solve the issue ahead of 2025 with Tanner Scott, but his shaky work in high-leverage spots, a postseason injury and Roki Sasaki’s rise out of the bullpen pointed back toward a committee approach.
This year was supposed to be different with Edwin Diaz in the mix after the Dodgers signed him to a three-year, $69 million deal in the offseason. Instead, he opened the year with a 10.50 ERA in his first seven outings, and the old questions came right back.
Still, the late-season picture has shifted. Scott bounced back from a brutal 2025 and finished the regular season with a 2.69 ERA.
Diaz, after two IL stints, has started to look like himself again, allowing just one hit and striking out nine over his final five appearances of the year. Sasaki also returned from the IL and delivered three scoreless outings from the bullpen, echoing the kind of late-season uncertainty that has followed this group before.
Treinen was part of the October equation too, with three saves on the way to the 2024 title and a key save in Game 1 of the 2025 NLCS when Sasaki nearly let the game slip away. But that option is gone now after Treinen injured his shoulder while warming up on Saturday and will miss the postseason.
So the Dodgers enter October with Sasaki, Scott and Diaz as the likeliest names to close, but Friedman made it clear that nothing is locked in. The only certainty is that the ninth inning is still up for grabs.
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Dodgers NLDS Opener Comes With A Tough Twist Fans Will Feel
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Forecasts are calling for temperatures near 100 degrees for the opener, a brutal backdrop that could shape how the game is played. Heat this extreme can wear on hitters and lengthen the challenge for both clubs, making the start of the series feel less like a normal October afternoon and more like a survival test. [Read more 🡒]