TORONTO — Forgive the Dodgers if they’ve become accustomed to the finer things. Their quality of life, as president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman likes to say, has been much improved with the way their rotation has thrown the ball this postseason.
But as much as the reigning champions have leaned on their starting pitching, they can’t expect a borderline historic performance every night. And if the Dodgers can’t figure out their own bullpen, then they will have a difficult time in the final stage of their title defense.
“As we go out there, we try to execute,” Banda said. “It’s something that we just didn’t do today as far as the bullpen. When we do, it’s lights-out. It’s as simple as that, build confidence in that. But tonight was just very bad.”
For the first time in these playoffs, the Dodgers trail to begin a round. Historically, in best-of-seven postseason series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning Game 1 at home have gone on to take that series 69 of 102 times (67.6%).
“That was a tough game, and then they came out swinging it and had a better game,” said Snell, who was charged with five runs in five-plus innings. “It’s four games. You gotta win four.”
The Dodgers’ winning formula this postseason has typically been as follows: Get a quality start, or better. Put just enough runs on the board. Lastly, hand the ball to one of the few trusted arms at the back end of the bullpen.
As they seek four more wins, the Dodgers also find themselves reconstructing the bridge to the ninth inning that they seemed to have figured out up to this point. An already small circle of trust has contracted further with Alex Vesia expected to be out for the World Series while he and his wife handle what the team described as a “deeply personal family matter.”
The bullpen situation was tenuous even while the Dodgers entered the World Series having won nine of their past 10 games, but it hit a breaking point on Friday.
Entering the sixth, manager Dave Roberts tried to get one more inning out of Snell, who had thrown 84 pitches, in a 2-2 game. Bo Bichette led off with a walk, Alejandro Kirk singled and Daulton Varsho — who hit a game-tying two-run blast off Snell two innings prior — was hit by a pitch.
Roberts went to the ‘pen for the right-handed-hitting Ernie Clement. Sheehan, who is typically a starter, inherited the bases loaded with nobody out. It was Sheehan’s first time entering in a dirty inning this postseason, and he’s had trouble even while coming in with the bases empty, allowing four runs in 3 1/3 innings.
“I don’t know,” Sheehan said of his scuffles out of the ‘pen. “It’s been bad.”
But Roberts’ options were limited. Of the bullpen’s other right-handers, Blake Treinen has been used in leverage, but he has been nearly as unpredictable in the postseason as he was during the regular season. Edgardo Henriquez and Will Klein were new additions to the World Series roster. Roki Sasaki isn’t reserved for the ninth inning, but in a Game 1, he likely wouldn’t pitch as early as the sixth without a Dodgers lead.
That left Sheehan. He allowed his first three batters to reach on two hits and a walk, each of which brought in one run. He recorded his lone out on a George Springer forceout that led to a play at the plate.
The Blue Jays brought up lefty Addison Barger as a pinch-hitter, and Roberts countered with Banda. But that move backfired when Barger took Banda deep for the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history. Kirk added on with a two-run blast before Banda recorded the third out, putting a merciful end to a nine-run sixth inning.
The momentum was firmly on Toronto’s side, even after Shohei Ohtani responded with a two-run homer to chip away at the lead in the top of the seventh.
“With the construct of the ‘pen, we’re going to need ’em,” Roberts said of Sheehan and Banda. “And so we got a long way to go, a lot of baseball, but they certainly got to make good pitches.”
The Dodgers missed out on their fair share of opportunities, leaving the bases loaded in the second and stranding Will Smith at third one inning later. They went 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.
“We’re more than capable of scoring 10, 11 in a game,” Mookie Betts said. “It’s just hard to do in the postseason.”
But there are very few nights when any amount of offense can account for the ‘pen letting nine runs score.
The Dodgers have gotten this far in spite of the bullpen volatility they’ve faced. If they can piece together four more wins, they’ll have to answer the biggest question they’ve faced all season long.
