The Los Angeles Dodgers feature a championship-caliber ceiling, but injuries are proving to be problematic early in the 2025 campaign. Blake Snell was already on the injured list before the Dodgers placed Tyler Glasnow on the IL on Monday. Glasnow is dealing with shoulder inflammation, an injury that surfaced during a recent outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts addressed the team’s early-season pitching adversity after the news was announced, via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.
“Pitching is certainly volatile,” Roberts said. “We experienced it last year and essentially every year. I think the thing that’s probably most disconcerting is the bullpen leading Major League Baseball in innings. When you’re talking about the long season, the starters are built up to go take those innings down. That’s sort of where my head is at as far as trying to make sure we don’t redline these guys in the pen.”
Dodgers’ starting pitching dealing with injury trouble
Starting pitching injuries lead to more bullpen usage. It is an inevitable part of the game when adversity surfaces. Roberts understands that MLB features a challenging 162-game schedule, though. The Dodgers need their starters to handle more innings, something that is obviously difficult given the injuries.
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Los Angeles has made an effort to build starting pitching depth. Yet, the following pitchers are currently on the injured list: Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone and River Ryan. Shohei Ohtani continues to hit as a DH, but he isn’t pitching yet either.
The injuries have forced Dave Roberts and the Dodgers to get creative with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Dustin May as their only remaining starting pitchers from the Opening Day roster. Gonsolin is expected to return soon which will help the situation.
Still, the Dodgers’ rotation has plenty of uncertainty at the moment.
