The National League postseason bracket is going to be a six-way heavyweight bout. There will be no 2023 Marlins. Every team that will be playing in October this year in the Senior Circuit, provided there is no miracle in the Wild Card chase, can reasonably win the pennant.
But it might all come down to whose pitching staff will be the healthiest.
Things will have to change, and fast, for that to be the Dodgers, who got bad news on Friday from one of their best arms. Tyler Glasnow experienced a setback while warming up for a simulated game, manager Dave Roberts told reporters, including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya. It’s the same elbow discomfort that landed him on the injured list in mid-August.
So now, instead of being in line for a return from the IL relatively soon, Glasnow’s October availability is in doubt. (Initial scans, Ardaya did report, seemed promising.) That leaves the Dodgers’ postseason rotation looking like this: Jack Flaherty; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who on Tuesday made his first start since mid-June; and a whole lot of question marks. Gavin Stone and his 3.53 ERA hit the injured list last Friday; he hasn’t started since in two weeks. Clayton Kershaw, who’s trying to pitch around a left big toe bone spur, hasn’t started in two weeks plus a day.
The Dodgers aren’t the only team going through it on the pitching side at a terrible time. Reynaldo Lopez, enjoying a career year in Atlanta, hit the IL on Wednesday with right shoulder inflammation after exiting early on Tuesday.
The Braves’ rotation picture isn’t as dire as L.A.’s, with Spencer Schwellenbach, Charlie Morton, Max Fried and Cy Young favorite Chris Sale all healthy — but their postseason status itself is up in the air. They’re a game back of the Mets for the third Wild Card spot (with the tiebreaker to be decided in the last week of the regular season), and the absence of López could play a massive role.
A lot can change between now and the postseason, but for now, pitching health is where the Phillies have an advantage. Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola (as always — despite a second straight short outing) and Cristopher Sánchez (despite a career-high workload) are healthy. Ranger Suárez’s velocity has been down, but he’s working his way back from a monthlong IL stint, and there are still 25 days until Game 4 of the NLDS, which is likely when his first postseason start would come.
They’d like to have Suárez looking like Suárez in short order. It would be a big blow if he doesn’t. But at least he’s out there. Teams like the Dodgers with greater uncertainty to more starters, or like the Braves with far less margin for error, should remind the Phillies that all things considered, they have it pretty good — for now.
Must-read Phillies content
- Destiny Lugardo recapped the Phillies’ loss to the Mets on Friday and Aaron Nola’s tough outing.
- Tim Kelly covered a couple Phillies set to begin rehab assignments on Saturday.
- Destiny also crunched the numbers on when the Phillies can clinch a postseason berth and a division title, based on what they do this weekend against the Mets and what the Braves do against the Dodgers.
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