The Dodgers have gotten almost nothing but bad news on the pitching front this year. On Tuesday, however, the storm clouds hovering over the staff finally might have begun to clear.
It wasn’t just that Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight batters in a dazzling four-inning, one-run return from the injured list. Or that Tyler Glasnow took another step in his recovery from elbow tendinitis, throwing a bullpen session ahead of a scheduled simulated game later this week.
For the first time in months, the Dodgers actually might be able to do more than dream about what a potential postseason rotation could look like.
“I feel much better about the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours ago,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Now if only they could have done something about their sloppy defense.
The Dodgers lost 6-3 to the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, with numerous defensive miscues — including three errors in a decisive five-run eighth inning — contributing to each of the Cubs’ tallies in their series-clinching win.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes tonight,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “We’ve got to eliminate that.”
Indeed, for a team that Roberts hoped would be in “playoff mode” as they close in on another National League West division title, holding a 4½-game lead entering Wednesday, the maddening mental lapses in the field wasted what otherwise was an encouraging day for their starting rotation.
With Yamamoto at last back, Glasnow looking increasingly likely to come back in time for a potential playoff run, and top trade deadline acquisition Jack Flaherty continuing to bounce back in a resurgent season, the Dodgers might have three talented starters to rely on after all.
Less than three weeks out from the start of the postseason, the makings of a potential October rotation finally are coming into focus.
“It’s starting to turn,” Roberts said, “in terms of getting back the rotation that we had envisioned.”
This, of course, remains no guarantee.
Yamamoto and Glasnow still have many boxes to check. Flaherty, who dealt with back problems with Detroit this season, still needs to get across the finish line healthy. The Dodgers still could benefit from the emergence of a clear No. 4 starter too, evaluating Walker Buehler, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw (if he returns from his toe injury) for such a role.
But if things…