The defending champs blitzed their method by the NL facet of the playoff bracket, successful 9 of their 10 video games towards the Reds, Phillies and Brewers. These three golf equipment mixed for simply 28 runs towards Los Angeles, a mean of two.8 runs per sport. The Brewers, who ranked third within the Majors in runs scored behind the Yankees and Dodgers throughout the common season, mustered simply 4 runs — one in every sport — of their NLCS sweep by the hands of L.A.
A lot of that stingy run prevention has come from the membership’s beginning rotation, consisting of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani. In the meantime, Roki Sasaki — usually a starter — has flourished as Los Angeles’ nearer after shifting to the bullpen when he returned from a proper shoulder harm in September.
Granted, this wasn’t solely sudden. The rotation’s second-half surge, one thing Mike Petriello wrote about on Sept. 16, hinted at what was coming in October. Nonetheless, even with that momentum, the diploma of dominance Los Angeles’ pitchers have displayed this postseason has been outstanding — and downright historic.
Under, you’ll discover 9 numbers that illustrate the extent of the Dodgers’ mound mastery in these playoffs.
5: Consecutive video games through which the Dodgers have allowed no multiple run, an lively streak masking their 2-1 win in Recreation 4 of the NLDS towards the Phillies and all 4 video games of their NLCS sweep over the Brewers. That ties them with the 1981 Dodgers and ’96 Braves for the longest streak inside one postseason in MLB historical past.
56: Whole hits allowed by Dodgers pitching this October, the second fewest by any staff by its first 10 video games in a single postseason, behind the 2017 Yankees (55).
.118: The Brewers’ batting common towards the Dodgers within the NLCS, the bottom in a sequence of at the very least three video games in postseason historical past. Milwaukee tallied simply 14 hits in 119 at-bats over the 4 video games and was held to 1 run in every sport. Solely 5 of these hits got here with runners on base.
51: Mixed outs recorded by Snell and Yamamoto towards the Brewers in NLCS Video games 1 and a pair of. Snell made historical past in Recreation 1, changing into the primary pitcher with 10 or extra strikeouts, one or no hits and no walks allowed in an outing of eight or extra innings throughout the playoffs.
Yamamoto adopted with a three-hit full sport in Recreation 2, changing into the primary pitcher to go the gap in a playoff begin since Justin Verlander did it for the Astros within the 2017 ALCS.
69.9%: The share of the Dodgers’ 92 whole innings which have been thrown by beginning pitchers in these playoffs, as Los Angeles has leaned on its rotation to beat what was alleged to be its largest weak point: a suspect reduction corps.
It is a proportion that flies within the face of the modern-day pattern towards excessive bullpen reliance in October. In actual fact, simply final 12 months, the Dodgers received the World Collection with their starters accounting for less than 42.2% of their postseason innings. Beginning pitchers have thrown 45.1% of the innings for the opposite 11 playoff groups this 12 months.
Taking it one step additional, 86.2% of the Dodgers innings within the 2025 postseason have been thrown by pitchers who have been primarily starters throughout the common season, with Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw all pitching in reduction.
1.40: The collective ERA recorded by Dodgers starters over 64 1/3 innings within the 2025 postseason. That is the third-lowest ERA by a staff’s beginning pitchers by the primary 10 video games of a single postseason, behind the 1981 Dodgers (1.26) and the ’73 Mets (1.38).
.408: The opponents’ OPS towards Dodgers beginning pitchers this postseason, the bottom allowed by a staff’s beginning pitchers by the primary 10 video games of a single postseason. Solely two different golf equipment are even inside 100 factors — the 2023 Phillies (.439) and the 1981 Dodgers (.483).
39.4%: The whiff price induced by Dodgers starters in these playoffs, which might be the very best mark (min. 400 swings) in a single postseason throughout the pitch-tracking period (since 2008).
Dodgers starters have recorded at the very least 22 whiffs 3 times this postseason, together with 23 apiece by Ohtani and Snell in Video games 1 and a pair of of the NLDS. With that, the Dodgers turned the primary staff to have 22 or extra swings and misses from their beginning pitchers in consecutive video games inside a postseason underneath pitch monitoring.
Total, Los Angeles’ rotation has generated 176 swings and misses by 10 video games, already probably the most in a single postseason since 2020. That 12 months, the Dodgers (233 whiffs) and the Rays (201 whiffs) performed 18 and 20 postseason video games, respectively.
19: The variety of pitchers since earned runs turned official in each leagues in 1913 to complete a postseason with at the very least 20 innings pitched and a sub-1.00 ERA. It final occurred in 2017, when Masahiro Tanaka posted a 0.90 ERA over 20 innings for the Yankees.
Snell, who owns a 0.86 ERA in 21 innings this postseason, may be a part of that checklist. However he is not alone amongst 2025 Dodgers hurlers with an opportunity to do it — Glasnow (0.68 ERA in 13 1/3 IP) can even carry a sub-1.00 ERA into the Fall Basic.
99.2: Sasaki’s common four-seam fastball velocity this postseason, up from 96.1 mph within the common season. The pitch has yielded only one hit in 16 at-bats this October. Add in a splitter producing a 50% whiff price within the playoffs and Sasaki has been lights out closing video games for L.A.
