Which Former Dodgers are Still Playing This October?
As you might have heard, the Dodgers are done playing baseball for the year after being eliminated by the Padres in the NLDS. For some Dodger fans, that will mean turning off the TV for the rest of October and pretending the playoffs are over. But for many of you, you’ll still want to watch baseball until the very end, sometime between November 1 and November 5.
So for those of you still watching, here are some former Dodgers to keep an eye on over the next few weeks.
Yu Darvish and Manny Machado, Padres
Darvish was the Dodgers’ big pickup at the 2017 trade deadline and their losing pitcher in the decisive Game 7 of the World Series that year. Machado was the monster acquisition at the 2018 deadline whose last act in a Dodger uniform was flailing at a Chris Sale slider to end that year’s World Series loss.
Now, both are on the Padres and played big parts in knocking L.A. out of the playoffs last week. Darvish will be starting Game 1 of the NLCS today, and Machado is a mainstay at third base and batted .357 with a 1.113 OPS in the NLDS.
Corey Knebel, Zach Eflin, and Bryce Harper, Phillies
We’re including Harper on this list because of how long he spent as a future Dodger. He never quite made it to L.A. (yet!), but he’s probably had more fake rumors and jersey mockups than any other non-Dodger in history.
Dodgers rumors: Los Angeles may have an agreement with Bryce Harper – ClutchPoints https://t.co/7gE0SkuRax pic.twitter.com/259h6bgFrY
— Los Angeles Informer (@losangelesinfor) December 16, 2018
Knebel spent the 2021 season with the Dodgers, then signed with Philadelphia to be their closer. He posted a 3.43 ERA and blew four of his 16 save opportunities, lost his closer job in June, and had a season-ending injury in August. So if you’re looking for Knebel, your best bet it to scour the bench and see if you can spot him.
Eflin was a Dodger legend for one day. In December 2014, he came over from the Padres along with Joe Weiland and Yasmani Grandal in exchange for Tim Federowicz and Matt Kemp. The next day, L.A. shipped him along with Tim Windle to the Phillies for shortstop Jimmy Rollins. Eflin is now the Phillies closer, kind of, saving a game in the Wild Card Series against the Cardinals and finishing a game in the Division Series that wasn’t a save situation.
Tim Locastro, Yankees
Locastro is in his third stint with the Yankees, although he never played for them in his first stint. The speedy Timmy Lo debuted with the Dodgers in 2017 and got his first career hit in 2018 in the Dodgers’ combined no-hitter against the Padres in Mexico. (Walker Buehler also got his first big-league hit in that game.) After 2018, he was traded to the Yankees, who then traded him to the Diamondbacks. In 2021, the DBacks traded him back to the Yankees, who put him on waivers after the season. The Red Sox claimed him, then released him later than month, and he re-signed with New York.
Locastro is finally getting his first postseason playing time this year, going 0-for-1 with a stolen base thus far in the ALDS.
Dusty Baker, Astros
Dodger fans of a certain age have a great fondness for Baker, who spent eight years playing left field for Los Angeles from 1976-83. He was part of the famous 30-homer foursome, when he, Reggie Smith, Steve Garvey, and Ron Cey helped the Dodgers become the first team to have four 30-homer guys in one season.
Fans of a younger age mostly know Baker as a manager, first of the hated Giants, then the Cubs, Reds, and Nationals, before settling in as the Astros manager in 2020 after AJ Hinch was fired for leading a team of cheating cheaters to the World Series title.
If you don’t have a fondness for Dusty as a Dodger, the Giants and Astros connections probably don’t put him very high on your list of favorites. And even though many in the baseball world are rooting for Dusty to finally win a World Series as a manager, we can probably all agree that we don’t need to see the Astros and their fans happy this postseason.
There you have it! Enjoy the postseason, or whatever you’re doing instead!
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