How the Dodgers' bad-tempered pitching staff and manager delivered a masterclass to win NLDS

LOS ANGELES — Dave Roberts walked into Friday night's postgame press conference, a cigar between his fingers, his voice hoarse from celebration. As a player in 2004, his series-turning steal helped the Red Sox overcome a 3-0 deficit in the American League Championship Series and clinch the World Series. As manager during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his Dodgers overcame a 3-1 deficit in the National League Championship Series against the Braves and were on their way to breaking the franchise's 32-year title drought.

And yet he continued this comeback in the National League Division Series against the Padreswhich included consecutive shutout wins in elimination games and 24 consecutive scoreless innings by the Dodgers' struggling pitching staff, in the same conversation as those achievements. After losing in the first round to a lower-seeded rival in each of the previous two seasons, that would not happen a third time as Los Angeles eliminated San Diego 2-0 on Friday and advanced to the NLCS against the New York Mets rose.

“That’s true,” Roberts said. “To win this series the way we did, kind of coming from behind — and the guys coming into the postseason had a lot of momentum — speaks to the character of our guys. This is exactly the right thing.”

Before Game 5, Roberts told his players that he believed in this team more than any other team he had ever coached.

“I just think there’s a relentlessness, a refusal to lose,” Roberts said.

Their first baseman, Freddie Freeman, played on one leg. Their shortstop, Miguel Rojas, left Game 3 early and never returned to the series, hampered by the adductor tear he was trying to play through. Injuries had affected their starting lineup so badly that by October they were down to just one member of their Opening Day rotation.

For many of these reasons, the Padres, who had lost the division but had the best second-half record in baseball, were viewed by many as the better club. A mantra began to form in the Dodgers clubhouse, based on a message delivered by Kiké Hernández when the team was down 2-1. Word spread further throughout the clubhouse when Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” blared over the speakers Friday night.

“F— all of them,” Max Muncy said.

The only starter remaining, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, missed nearly three months with a rotator cuff strain and had thrown five innings only once in his four regular-season starts after an injury. He was beaten down by the Padres in his major league debut in March and again last Saturday in Game 1 of the NLDS, so much so that the Dodgers thought he had given away his pitch. They tried to sort out the issues before Game 5 when they chose Yamamoto again.

“When you talk to him, you get the feeling that he wants the ball,” said Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations.

But the pick wasn't a given and wasn't announced until 9:31 p.m. PT the night before Game 5. They could have named Jack Flaherty, their prized deadline acquisition. Or they could have used another bullpen game after it worked masterfully against the Padres two nights earlier. All of their substitutes were available again in another elimination game.

But not giving Yamamoto the ball with the season on the line would have sent a bad message to the player they had just made the highest-paid pitcher in the sport.

“At the end of the day,” Roberts said, “we’re making a bet that someone will play the game of their life tonight.”

Yamamoto has had great playing experience in the past, both earlier this year and in his international career. His best appearance as a major leaguer came in the Bronx when he held the Yankees scoreless in seven innings on June 7. The 26-year-old was also a pitcher in the World Baseball Classic. Roberts considered pitching for Japan and a player's country “the highest stake you can have.”

In addition to winning the Nippon Pacific League MVP title and the Triple Crown three years in a row, Yamamoto also led the Orix Buffaloes to the Japan Series three seasons in a row. Last year he fumbled in a Game 1 loss in which he gave up seven runs. He got the ball again in Game 6, when the Buffaloes trailed 3-2 in the series, and struck out 14 batters in a 138-pitch complete game.

He wouldn't have to throw nearly as many pitches to give the Dodgers exactly what they needed.

“Yoshinobu is here to become a top starter,” Robertse said, “and this is his time.”

Before Yamamoto reached the top step on his final walk off the mound on Friday, Roberts slapped his hand and hugged him. A parade of high-fives awaited us in the dugout. Shohei Ohtani rubbed Yamamoto's head and laughed. The Dodgers had made it to this point without needing a starter to step up, but at some point that had to change. They gave Yamamoto 12 years and $325 million to respond to these situations. With the substitutes behind them, they didn't need eight goalless goals. If he could give them even three solid innings, the Dodgers figured they could cover at least six with their bullpen.

Instead, he delivered five flawless innings of work.

“He's got a little bit of Walker Buehler in him,” Gavin Lux said. “The bigger the game, the bigger the moment, he's going to do his best.”

Two years ago, the Dodgers never had that chance.

In 2022, the Padres took care of Game 4 before the series could return to Los Angeles. Some questionable pitching decisions doomed the Dodgers that night. Tyler Anderson was out as the bullpen took over. Their best reliever at the time, Evan Phillips, watched from the sidelines as disaster struck in a five-run seventh game that decided the series. At one point, Yency Almonte missed a pick-up signal from the dugout to give Alex Vesia more time to warm up. Instead, he threw a ball. Vesia, who later said he was already warm, then came into the middle of the attack and delivered the decisive goal. By the time Phillips made a pitch in the eighth and put the side out, it was too late. Roberts got beaten down for the moves, just as he did in 2018 when he pulled Rich Hill in the World Series and in 2019 when he brought in Clayton Kershaw as a reliever against the Nationals.

That was salvation and relief at the same time.

Roberts delivered a masterclass during the 2024 NLDS as the Dodgers outscored, outscored and outscored their opponents.

In Game 4, the Padres' decision to use Dylan Cease on short rest for the first time in Game 4 backfired, while Roberts' expert precision in using eight relievers led to the largest shutout win in Dodgers postseason history .

In Game 5, San Diego manager Mike Shildt decided to let starter Yu Darvish advance through the Dodgers' lineup to the seventh round a third time in a one-run game rather than turn to one of the sport's scariest back-end bullpens. The move proved costly. After signing a one-year contract with the club, Teoscar Hernández delivered an outstanding performance, as he had done all season in Los Angeles, placing a no-doubt shot into the left field pavilion and giving the Dodgers relievers' parade some breathing room.

The first matchup between two Japanese starting pitchers in MLB playoff history was no disappointment. In six innings, the only damage for either team came from the bat of Kiké Hernández. Roberts played the versatile player position with the season hanging in the balance due to his penchant for delivering in October.

“It’s kind of human, this special moment,” Roberts said, “and you have to make a bet.”

The night before the deciding Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS against the Cubs, Hernández decided to visualize his success. He imagined what the next day would be like, which pitchers he would face and how he would perform in the clutch. The next day, he hit three home runs to send the Dodgers to the World Series. He has continued this visualization technique, hitting .394 with six home runs in the playoffs since the start of the 2021 postseason.

“There are fears and things like that that we go through as athletes, especially in big situations, big games, especially in October,” he said before Game 5. “And whenever you feel like that little fear or whatever always creeps in, sneak in. Just imagine yourself succeeding again.”

On Friday, before the game, he wore a T-shirt that read “Good Vibes Only.” He then delivered a solo shot in the second inning that ultimately gave Yamamoto the only cushion he needed.

Roberts could have let Yamamoto continue with 63 pitches for five frames. The starter maintained his velocity and didn't allow a run while getting away with some fastballs that went across the plate. But he had done his job. Instead, Roberts judiciously turned to Phillips, who recorded the next five outs. Vesia followed with another as the duo struck out against the core of the Padres' order in the seventh.

Vesia was expected to stay out until Matchday 8, but an injury to his team forced him out during warm-ups. No panic. Roberts turned to Michael Kopech for this frame and Blake Treinen for the next. The bullpen did not allow a single baserunner.

With his team teetering on the brink, Roberts said Game 5 was the most stressful it's been in “a long time.” He didn't show it and pressed all the right buttons.

Roberts has now won six of his eight winner-take-all matches.

“I thought he had surgery in Game 4 and Game 5,” Friedman said. “I thought he had the right instinct and pulse on when to do something and who to turn to.”

The result was the Dodgers' first postseason clinch at Dodger Stadium since 2013, with no wild-card games. In 2020, their run to the World Series in Texas experienced a bubble. Although they have won all year, many of their players have expressed a desire to win a season-long championship so they can celebrate with the fans.

As we faced off Friday against a division rival that had been the hottest team in baseball for the past four months, the Dodgers' supporting players, along with their maligned pitching staff and manager, brought them one step closer.

“We know who we are,” Muncy said. “We’re the best damn team in baseball and we’re out there to prove it.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the LA Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. Rowan, an LSU graduate, was born in California, grew up in Texas and then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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