Why recent history presents concerning picture for Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The Los Angeles Dodgers face a historical disadvantage in the 2025 World Series, regardless of whether the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays win Game 7 of the ALCS.
Since 2000, pitchers working on extra rest after sweeping their LCS looked rusty, not rested, in the World Series (although Shohei Ohtani bucked that trend in last weekās NLCS).Ā
Shohei Ohtani’s 10 strikeouts and three home runs in chronological order pic.twitter.com/z51rA0zAx5
ā Talkinā Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 18, 2025
World Series pitchers advancing after their teams won Game 7 of an LCS, meanwhile, looked like their routines kept them rolling along.
The matchup has happened three times in the last 25 World Series. Each time, the difference in pitching was stark:
In 2006, St. Louis held Detroit to 11 runs in five games. They scored 22.
In 2007, Boston held Colorado to 10 runs in four games. They scored 29.
In 2012, San Francisco held Detroit to six runs in four games. They scored 16.
Starting pitchers led the way each time. Of those 13 games, seven saw the losing team score two runs or fewer. Those starters: Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter and Anthony Reyes in 2006; Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling in 2007; and Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong in 2012.
The sweep that propelled the Dodgers into the 2025 World Series relied heavily on starting pitching. Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched eight and nine innings respectively, while Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow exited earlier yet still combined to allow one run and strike out 18 batters in 11.2 innings.
If thereās hope for the Dodgers in their World Series schedule, itās that they finished their divisional series two days ahead of the Brewers and still limited Milwaukee to one run in each game of the LCS sweep.Ā
Yamamoto, working on five daysā rest, had the shortest time between starts before facing Milwaukee. Snell and Glasnow pitched on six daysā rest each, while Ohtani pitched on 12 daysā rest.
Bill Zimmerman
Bill Zimmerman began working in sports media during his college days in the mid-1990s. Having grown up in Central Florida surrounded by a mix of fans from the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest, Bill appreciates the national sports scene. He worked his way up to career stops including ESPN RecruitingNation, the Orlando Sentinel and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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