Dodgers prove in this World Series vs. Yankees that starting pitching is not really a necessity

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced it four times this postseason. The first time, against the Padres, it was met with scoffs. The next two times, in the NLCS, the Mets considered it an opportunity. And this last time, ahead of Game 4 in the World Series, the Yankees had to be concerned.

Before the Dodgers rode their bullpen all the way to deep October, the punchline wrote itself. All this money, and this team couldn’t find a starting pitcher in the postseason? In response, Roberts, down to three healthy rotation pieces, would announce his bullpen game, and, two of the three times, the Dodgers won.

But it was more than that: Going into Tuesday, Dodgers relievers had thrown 68 2/3 innings this postseason, compared to 56 2/3 innings from the rotation. Bullpen games aren’t new — the Rays spearheaded that years ago — and heavy bullpen usage is the norm these days, but seeing rookie reliever Ben Casparius (8 1/3 career innings) start Game 4 for a team with a $241 million payroll is certainly novel.

“Who would have thought that Ben Casparius or Landon Knack would be going to be pitching in Game 4 at Yankees Stadium?” Roberts said. “You never foresee a season like we've gone through, but you've still got guys that are upright and are talented.”

Despite all that, no bullpen piece had thrown more than 10 cumulative innings in the last four weeks — painting a picture of a manager who deployed relievers like a Pokemon trainer. Juan Soto up to bat? I choose you, Blake Treinen and your nasty sweeper. And other than adhering to the three-batter minimum, Roberts has shown no hesitation in shuffling the deck as much as he needs to.

“What they do in terms of their game planning is they start with how good each guy’s stuff is either going east, west or north, south . . . and then they match it to the swings of the Yankees hitters,” former Mets general manager and baseball analyst Jim Duquette said. “The game planning, you can replicate. But I think it’s hard to do because you need the personnel — you need five, six guys and the ability to use them often.”

The truth is, the Dodgers didn’t draw it up this way. They’ve had to weather season-ending injuries to Gavin Stone, Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw. They lost Evan Phillips, one of their highest-leverage relievers, in the NLCS. But their success does at least make you wonder if similar strategies could be deployed on future playoff rosters, or even, to a lesser extent, adapted to the regular season, former manager and MLB analyst Buck Showalter said.

Showalter said depending on who’s on staff, a four-man rotation with a fifth swingman could work in your favor. The Dodgers, though, have a big asset many others don’t: They have plenty of money, so if a reliever isn’t working, they have the means to find alternatives, meaning they’re more likely to maximize what they can get out of their bullpen. That’s important, because a bullpen is like a chain, “and the longer the chain is, the more likely it’s going to snap,” Showalter said.

And the truth is, it’s tough for a hitter to adjust if they’re seeing significant variations in stuff and delivery from inning to inning.

“That’s the biggest issue why it works but then, as the series goes on, the advantage goes back to the hitter because they’ve seen him a second or third time, right?” Duquette noted. “The first time through, it’s more of an advantage to the pitcher, for sure.”

That’s what the Yankees were preaching after their Game 3 loss and before Game 4.

“I think the more you see a reliever, obviously the more comfortable you are,” Anthony Rizzo said. “You see these guys on a nightly basis now. You pretty much know the guys you're going to face at this point kind of in the ebbs and flows of the series. I feel like seeing the starting pitcher now is a little bit more difficult than seeing the relievers because you know how the relievers are going to attack you.”

Regardless, there’s an inescapable part of this equation, and one that’s made the Dodgers so tough.

“The first thing that jumps to mind is how talented the group is really,” Gerrit Cole said. “The strategy from my perspective would be to limit the amount of looks that certain hitters get at certain pitchers, play matchups, whatever, in your favor. I think the cherry on top is they really have a lot of good options. There doesn't seem to be a real weak spot in their approach because of the talent that they have.”

It's brought them here, piece by piece — a medley of arms intended to suffocate the air out of every team in front of them.

By Laura Albanese

laura.albanese@newsday.com@AlbaneseLaura

Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.