Dodgers advance to NL Division Series with terrific offense, starting pitching and shaky bullpen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The starting pitching is terrific. The offense is clicking. The Los Angeles Dodgers have opened the postseason on a roll in defense of their World Series title.

If their bullpen can stop blowing up, they might just be the first team since the New York Yankees 25 years ago to win back-to-back championships.

“I think we can win it all. I think we’re equipped to do that,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We certainly have the pedigree. We certainly have the hunger. We’re playing great baseball. And in all honesty, I don’t care who we play. I just want to be the last team standing.”

After a second straight shaky eighth inning by the relief corps, the Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-4 on Wednesday night to sweep their NL Wild Card Series.

The Dodgers advanced to their 20th NL Division Series appearance — 13th in a row — in franchise history and will face the Phillies starting Saturday in Philadelphia. The teams last met in the postseason in 2009, when the Phillies beat the Dodgers in the NL Championship Series for the second straight year.

Shohei Ohtani will make his postseason pitching debut in Game 1. The two-way superstar never got to the playoffs during his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels and he didn’t pitch in his first season with the Dodgers after having a second elbow surgery in September 2023.

The team has carefully managed his mound outings this season, with his first coming in mid-June. Ohtani’s longest was six innings at Arizona on Sept. 23. He was 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 appearances during the regular season.

The Dodgers’ Japanese contingent of Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and rookie Roki Sasaki figure to gather steam as the postseason progresses. At the plate, Ohtani homered twice in the Dodgers’ 10-5 Game 1 win over the Reds. Yamamoto struck out a playoff-high nine while allowing two runs in 6 2/3 innings in Game 2 and Sasaki made his postseason debut out of the bullpen with a 1-2-3 ninth Wednesday.

“I’d probably say he’s No. 1 on the growth chart,” Roberts said about Yamamoto. “Considering coming over here and trying to get his feet wet, trying to learn the culture, the game, the hitters, create a routine for himself, to then be a really big-game pitcher.”

The Dodgers essentially outscored their bullpen in sweeping the Reds.

Relievers Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer combined to issue four walks as the Reds scored three runs and pulled to 10-5. The trio needed 59 pitches to get three outs on Tuesday.

“I thought it was a good lesson for them, more so for Henriquez and Jack, but I’m still evaluating,” Roberts said. “You learn a lot from that inning.”

Former starter Emmet Sheehan and Vesia worked the eighth on Wednesday. Sheehan gave up two runs before the Reds brought the potential tying run to the plate against Vesia. The duo made a combined 41 pitches before the flamethrowing Sasaki mowed down the Reds in the ninth.

“It’s sort of a daily kind of conversation with the pitching coaches, the front office and most importantly, what I see,” Roberts said. “In the postseason, you have to go with ultimately who you feel best in that one spot.”

After illness and offensive struggles during the regular season, Mookie Betts is rounding into form. He went 6 for 9 with a run, three doubles, three RBIs and a walk.

“We had a lot of struggles really all year. But I think we all view that as just a test to see how we would respond,” he said. “Now we’re starting to use those tests that we went through earlier to respond now and be ready now. And anything that comes our way, it can’t be worse than what we’ve already went through. Just keeping a positive mindset and just keep going.”

The Dodgers had a combined 28 hits against the Reds, the first time they’ve had 13 or more in consecutive postseason games since 1978.

“We’ll be sharp going into the next series,” Roberts said.

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