Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow was scratched from an expected start in Baltimore due to reported back tightness.
The news wasn’t great given the Dodgers struggles — not to mention Glasnow’s penchant for being injured. The team has been down this road before with the talented starter. Glasnow’s inability to stay on the field has hindered some real moments of brilliance on the mound.
Given how the Dodgers are desperate for wins at the moment, seeing a pitcher who’s thrown the ball quite well in recent weeks go down with a physical ailment is the last thing they’d want to see.
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Fortunately for the Boys in Blue, manager Dave Roberts revealed that Glasnow should be back pitching sooner than later. The 6-foot-8 hurler left the team in Baltimore in order to be checked out back home in Los Angeles. The check-up seemingly went well to the point that Glasnow fortunately did not suffer a serious back issue.
The Dodgers need Glasnow to be healthy down the stretch. There’s no doubting his importance to this team as a locked-in starter during a postseason series.
He’s been locked-in for virtually the entire season. Glasnow has allowed more than three earned runs in a game only twice this year — and just once since April 6. This includes 81 strikeouts in only 68.2 innings.
The advanced analytics also tell the story of a pitcher bordering on being elite. Glasnow ranks above the 75th percentile in extension, xBA, xERA, fastball velocity, average exit velocity, and strikeout percentage.
In a hypothetical playoff series, it seems likely that the top-two would probably be Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell. From there, anything’s fair game. Shohei Ohtani likely would start a playoff game though it’s far from a certainty as he works his way back into pitching shape. There’s some attractiveness in him being a wipeout long reliever or even closer in certain situations.
From there, Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw figure to pick up the rest of the starting duties.
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Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
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