Sunday, August 03

Welcome back to the Dodgers Beat newsletter! 

The Dodgers have already found themselves in an all-too-familiar spot.

Two members of the team's Opening Day rotation are sidelined, with Tyler Glasnow joining Blake Snell on the 15-day injured list on Monday. Both have shoulder inflammation in their throwing arms, with indefinite timelines to return to action.

That leaves the Dodgers with three healthy starting pitchers, although they'll gain one back when Tony Gonsolin is activated off the IL to start Wednesday's finale against the Marlins. They got through most of April with four starters on a once-a-week schedule, plugging in spot starters and bullpen games as needed. 

But that will be a more difficult task once the calendar flips to the next month. Los Angeles did not play more than six days in a row in April, but May begins with 10 games in 10 days. There are only four scheduled team off-days in the entire month. 

This is around the time when the Dodgers might have begun using a six-man rotation, had they had a full complement of arms at their disposal. But they don't have that luxury at the big league level and will need to find a way to piece things together. 

Here are some options that are on the table in the wake of Glasnow's injury:

Shift every starter to five days' rest

Every Dodgers starter has been pitching once a week thus far. It's been beneficial for Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, who are used to that schedule from their Nippon Professional Baseball days, as well as Glasnow and Dustin May, for workload management. But when the team plays seven or more days in a row, that just might not be feasible. 

Yamamoto has experience pitching on five days' rest; he made 11 such starts last year. That cadence may be more of a question mark for Sasaki, who's pitching in the Major Leagues for the first time. 

Even so, it might be a necessity. It would allow the Dodgers to navigate the upcoming chunk of the schedule much more similarly to how they got through April. 

"That’s a conversation as well," manager Dave Roberts said. "... It’s another thought as far as given the amount of games we have in a row, to have them have less rest in between starts."

Stretch out Ben Casparius

If the Dodgers move away from their once-a-week pitching schedule, they'll still need at least one more arm. The best one available might already be up with the team.

Casparius has been the Dodgers' primary long reliever, and he came in on short notice for Glasnow when he exited with his shoulder injury on Sunday. The rookie right-hander threw 54 pitches across 3 2/3 scoreless innings -- both season highs -- and has put together an excellent first month. 

Casparius spent most of Spring Training preparing to be an option out of the bullpen, where he's thrived. There had been no talk of shifting the 26-year-old to the rotation until this latest injury to Glasnow, but Roberts has acknowledged that it has become a possibility.

The Dodgers also have Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack and Bobby Miller waiting in the wings at Triple-A Oklahoma City. In addition to being options for spot starts, one of the three could assume a long-relief role in L.A.'s bullpen if Casparius ends up moving to the rotation.

Expedite Shohei Ohtani's return to the mound

To be clear, this will not happen.

The Dodgers have been slow-playing Ohtani's buildup as a pitcher, in large part because they do not need him in the rotation right now. They might be getting to the point where they do need another Major League-caliber arm, but they are not going to rush Ohtani back into two-way duties.

"I think Shohei is separate, as far as the process," Roberts said. "I think it was [GM Brandon Gomes] who said … it’s a week-to-week thing, and I just don’t really know. But the availability of the other pitchers has no bearing on Shohei’s program."

This is a common thread with every rehabbing Dodgers pitcher. From Snell to Glasnow to Clayton Kershaw, the team intends to take the time to ensure that its arms are coming back fully healthy. The goal is for everyone to be available to contribute down the stretch, and hopefully, in a deep postseason run. 

• Speaking of, here's the latest on Ohtani's progress on the mound; he threw his first bullpen session since returning from paternity leave on Saturday. 

• In a very welcome development for the Dodgers, Andy Pages has been heating up. He recorded 10 hits in the three-game series against the Pirates to help secure him co-NL Player of the Week honors. 

• The NL West has been one of the most exciting divisions in baseball in April. I teamed up with my MLB.com colleagues who cover the D-backs, Giants and Padres to break down where each team stands.

The Dodgers have a three-city, 10-game road trip ahead of them, but there are some exciting events -- including four bobblehead giveaways -- coming up once they return to Dodger Stadium. The full-season promotional schedule can be found here.

• May 13 vs. A's: Mookie Betts bobblehead

• May 15 vs. A's: Ohtani 50-50 bobblehead

• May 19 vs. D-backs: Vin Scully bobblehead

• May 21 vs. D-backs: Will Smith last out bobblehead

To subscribe to Dodgers Beat, visit this page and mark "Dodgers Beat" from our newsletter list. Make sure you're following the Dodgers or that they're checked as your favorite team.

View Online

© 2025 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. Any other marks used herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

Please review our Privacy Policy.

You (mlb-newsletters@mlb.com) received this message because you registered to receive commercial email messages or purchased a ticket from MLB. 

Please add info@marketing.mlbemail.com to your address book to ensure our messages reach your inbox. If you no longer wish to receive commercial email messages from MLB.com, please unsubscribe or log in and manage your email subscriptions.

Postal Address: MLB.com, c/o MLB Advanced Media, L.P., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.