How the Dodgers’ rotation came together perfectly, just in time for the 2025 World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the World Series for the second straight year, looking to become the first repeat champion in two and a half decades. There’s obvious star power here with tons of talent and skill. They’re a worthy National League champion. It’s funny, though, because any team getting to the World Series needs a bit of fortune, luck, breaks, right-place-right-time, whatever you want to call it. The proverbial stars need to align. Remember, these Dodgers “only” won 93 regular-season games. In 2022, they won 111 and lost in the NLDS. They also won 105+ games in 2019 and 2021 and failed to make the World Series.

What happened this time around? The starting pitching just perfectly came together at exactly the right time.

It’s not like the offense has been exploding; they’re only averaging 4.6 runs per playoff game and scored just 23 runs in the last seven games. The bullpen is still unreliable, even if a few things have clicked, such as Roki Sasaki as the temporary closer. 

The starting pitching is what carried them to this point, though.

Blake Snell is a two-time Cy Young winner, so we’re well aware of his upside. He’s also only thrown more than 130 regular-season innings twice (yes, both of his Cy Young years). He was injured enough this season to only pitch 61 ⅓ innings. He returned from injury on Sept. 4 and gave up five runs on nine hits to the lowly Pirates. Since then, he’s been Snell at his best. In his last three regular-season starts, he gave up just one run in 19 innings with 28 strikeouts. In his three playoff starts, he has given up just two runs in 21 innings with 28 strikeouts. Simply, he locked into ace mode at the perfect time. That’s a very talented pitcher doing his thing, but also good fortune for the Dodgers.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto only threw 90 innings in the regular season last year, his first stateside, adding 18 ⅔ innings in the playoffs. In the 2025 regular season, he tossed 173 ⅔ innings in 30 starts. As is a question with all pitchers, but especially one with Yamamoto’s workload, the concern became if he would run out of gas. Through three playoff starts, he has a 1.83 ERA in 19 ⅔ innings, having just thrown the first complete game in the postseason since 2017. 

Tyler Glasnow is in his 10th MLB season, but he’s had so many injuries that his career high in innings pitched is 134. That was last season, but he was hurt for the playoffs, forcing the Dodgers to throw a bullpen game as their fourth starter. This year, he only pitched 90 ⅓ innings in 18 starts. He had a 2.49 ERA in four September starts, though. He came in relief in Game 1 of the NLDS, getting five important outs, before going 11 ⅔ innings and allowing only one run on five hits with 16 strikeouts in his two starts.

Shohei Ohtani came into this year still recovering from his 2023 elbow surgery. He didn’t pitch until June 16. The Dodgers slow played this like we’ve never seen before. He was still only throwing three innings in his seventh start. He didn’t complete a fifth inning until his 11th start. In his last two regular-season outings, he went 11 innings combined, giving up no runs on five hits with 13 strikeouts and one walk. In two playoff starts, he’s got a 2.25 ERA with 19 strikeouts and four walks in 12 innings. 

Even if we wanted to say Yamamoto is a bit less of a question mark than the other three — and that’s totally fair, given his track record from Japan — there are still question marks all over the place with this foursome in terms of health and workload.

In fact, Yamamoto led the Dodgers in innings pitched in the regular season. Glasnow was fourth with, again, 90 ⅓. Care to guess which two pitchers were in between? Clayton Kershaw was second with 112 ⅔. Dustin May has the third-most innings this season for the Dodgers. He hasn’t been with the team since July. Ben Casparius is fifth. Jack Dreyer, a short reliever, ranks sixth in innings pitched.

And yet, absolutely everything has come together for this stellar rotation at the perfect time. 

Dodgers starters in the playoffs have a 1.40 ERA, which is the best-ever mark for a team with at least seven postseason games. The Dodgers have played 10. And that’s not with a cheat code like openers and bullpen games; starters have pitched 64 ⅓ innings in those 10 starts, so nearly 6.5 innings per game. In the regular season, MLB starting pitchers averaged 5.2 innings a start. No other team this postseason is averaging more than five innings per start (the Phillies are second at exactly five). Again, we’re talking about a huge workload by today’s standards in addition to a dominating workload. Opposing teams are batting just .132 against Dodgers starters. This rotation has a 0.75 postseason WHIP and 81 strikeouts against only 19 walks. 

If we saw these stats from a single starting pitcher in the regular season through 10 starts, we’d be talking about how he’s already locking up the Cy Young and comparing other historic starts. Instead, it’s the entire Dodgers’ rotation… in the playoffs.

The Dodgers front office has to get some credit here. Some of this was excellent planning. They perfectly played Ohtani’s comeback so he was just hitting his peak right when the playoffs started. Glasnow and Snell took their time coming back from injuries and, given their history, it seems fair to believe the Dodgers were, again, planning on both being in peak condition right when October hit. 

But again, no plan comes together without a little luck.

It also needs to be said that the Dodgers financial clout comes into play here as well. Ohtani is paid the way he is due to his hitting prowess in addition to his arm, but he is on a $700 million deal. Few teams can afford that. The case looks even more extreme when you realize Snell is making $28.44 million this season, Glasnow is making $32.5 million and Yamamoto has a deal north of $325 million (which is heavily backloaded). 

Spin it all however you wish. As an all-time great TV show once taught us, all the pieces matter. 

The Dodgers are heavy favorites to win the 2025 World Series due to a perfect storm of some of the best rotation work the playoffs have ever seen.