PHILADELPHIA — Every year, teams across Major League Baseball claim that they have their sights set on the World Series. But the Dodgers have made that pilgrimage through October so routine, and have leveraged their financial might to assemble such a deep roster, that the extra month of play weighs more heavily on their midseason decisions than it does for any other club.
Yes, the Dodgers want to claim the best regular-season record in the majors. But they also know how vital it is to peak in health and performance at the right time. Part of that puzzle is managing workload for young pitchers who are poised to be major postseason contributors.
So, expect them to be keeping a watchful eye on left-hander Justin Wrobleski in the second half.
“He’s obviously a huge piece of what we’re doing and what we’re going to be doing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Wrobleski held the Phillies to one run through 6 1/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win over the Phillies on Tuesday.
The Dodgers pulled out the victory on a game-ending 5-2-6-4 double play when the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto was thrown out running back to second base — instead of staying on third — after Justin Crawford was caught in a rundown.
“Obviously with the six-man [rotation] that we’re kind of beholden to for this whole season, I think that’s helped. And each outing, just manage how he’s looking, how he’s feeling, and a lot of conversations that we have. But yeah, we’re still looking out to play through October, so got to be mindful of the workload.”
Wrobleski reached the 100-inning mark in his last start before the All-Star break — and then recorded five strikeouts in his first Midsummer Classic, on his 26th birthday no less. He’s on pace to reach a career high in innings well before the end of the regular season.
He’ll blow past the 123 ⅓ innings he threw last year between triple A, the majors and the postseason. But his overall workload last year could be considered a little higher than the innings count, factoring in the work he put in to fix his delivery early in the year and stay ready during the playoffs before making his postseason debut in the World Series.
This year, Wrobleski has thrown the second-most innings of any Dodger, behind only Yoshinobu Yamamoto (119 ⅔). There’s a wide gap before No. 3 on that list, Emmet Sheehan (87 2/3).
The Dodgers have two avenues to subtly ease Wrobleski’s workload, when merited, through number of starts and through pitches within a start.
Even with Shohei Ohtani (left knee irritation) out of the rotation indefinitely, the Dodgers want to keep their starting pitchers on a six- to seven-day rotation. That will naturally cut down on innings, compared to pitching on regular rest.
On Tuesday, Roberts didn’t take the ball from Wrobleski until after the first out in the seventh inning, a deep start, but he was efficient enough that his pitch count was only up to 89.
Wrobleski gave up a run in the first inning on consecutive base hits. But after that, he only let two more runners even reach scoring position.
Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy’s two-run home run gave the Dodgers the lead in the fourth inning. It was his 228th home run as a Dodger, tied with Ron Cey for No. 5 on the franchise all-time list (tied for No. 2 since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles).
Closer Tanner Scott recorded a five-out save to seal the victory on the wild double play.
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