LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ quest to contain Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and the rest of the Yankees’ hitters in the World Series probably became a little tougher before Friday night’s Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.
In addition to five Dodgers starting pitchers being done for the year and their three active ones either struggling or not built up due to injury issues this season, manager Dave Roberts’ bullpen took a big hit with the surprising absence of reliever Evan Phillips on the World Series roster.
Phillips has been dealing with some arm fatigue lately and it became worse after his last NLCS outing.
A right-hander, Phillips has been one of the Dodgers’ top relievers since he was claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays in August 2021. This year, he was 5-1 with a 3.61 ERA and team-high 18 saves in 61 appearances.
In the postseason, Phillips worked seven scoreless innings over five games to keep his career ERA in the playoffs at 0.00 over 12 outings since 2022.
The injured Dodgers starting pitchers are three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, ace Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin.
The Dodgers plan to go with only three starting pitchers in the World Series – Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler – and have a bullpen game. The rotation ERA was north of 6.00 in the first two playoff rounds.
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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.
