September 7th, 2023 at 9:15 am 
by Ron Cervenka You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the National League West first place Los Angeles Dodgers have a very serious starting pitching problem.
Not only is 35-year-old staff ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw (very) obviously broken (although he adamantly insists “I’m fine”), but they just lost 27-year-old soon-to-be free agent Culiacan, Mexico native left-hander Julio Urías to the restricted list and most likely (and hopefully) forever.
But wait! There’s more!
Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts have even more problems with only 24 games remaining in the 2023 regular season; this despite having a comfortable 13-game lead over the NL West second place Arizona Diamondbacks and a ‘Magic Number’ of 11 to win the division which, barring a meltdown of biblical proportions, they absolutely positively will.
The Dodgers starting pitching problem became blatantly apparent in Wednesday night’s embarrassing 11-4 loss by the (now) 84-54 NL West first place Dodgers to the (now) 72-67 NL East third place Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park near downtown Miami, when (significantly) struggling 36-year Dodgers right-hander Lance Lynn allowed eight (of nine) earned runs to the Marlins in the bottom of the fifth inning, turning a 1-0 Dodgers lead into that eventual 11-4 loss.
“Mistakes,” Lynn said postgame after suffering his second loss in as many starts. “I got behind, you know, I’m doing pretty well with two strikes, walked a couple guys, and just an absolute disaster. Blew up.
“Can’t happen. I’ve got to be better. I know that. I’ve pitched too long to have an inning like that,” added the Indianapolis, IN native and first round draft pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2008 out of the University of Mississippi.
(SportsNet LA)
‘That inning’ included three home runs allowed by Lynn – a two-run shot by Marlins shortstop Joey Wendle, a three-run shot by center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., and a solo shot by right fielder Jesús Sánchez, before Roberts finally removed him
(SportsNet LA)
“I thought the stuff from Lance was much better than it was his last start,” Roberts told Sportsnet LA Kirsten Watson postgame but convincing no one. “Yeah, I mean, I though he was cruising in a good little rhythm. And then that leadoff double (by Marlins catcher Jacob Stallings), then the home run (by Wendle), and then it just seemed like he just couldn’t make pitches.
“And, you know, looking back at the replays, there’s a lot of pitches over the big part of the plate and unfortunately it went out of the ballpark,” Roberts astutely added.
Yes, they did.
There is no kind or gentle way to put it. If the Dodgers do not get starting pitching help between now and the end of the regular season, it is very unlikely that they will get beyond the first round of the postseason against the NL East first place Atlanta Braves, against whom they just lost three of four at Dodger Stadium – including one by Lance Lynn.
Fire away.
* * * * * *
Posted in 
I assume (hope I’m not making an ass out of u and me!) that Kershaw doesn’t blow out his shoulder before the playoffs. I say go with Kersh, Miller, Pepiot and either Beuhler, Sheehan and Stone. Offense takes care of the rest!
Our beloved Kershaw now qualifies as the proverbial “crafty veteran”. But even with his craftiness it’ll be extremely hard to be effective against the best in baseball (playoffs) without much of a fastball. That gives him no pitch to work off of. Maddux did it for awhile but eventually even he had to surrender.
Kersh with an opener OR working as an opener for one of the kids to help them last many more innings than most (all?) of them have ever thrown may work but in the playoffs? Unless the offense goes out of this world in all the post season games they’ll have a very tough time going very far.
Clayton still had us only down 3-2.
I like Miller and Pepiot. Sheehan also pitched solid against the Braves and Maybe Buehler can pitch. Should be fun.
The one year the Dodgers pitching is in complete shambles will obviously be the year they win it all lol. We just have to remember that the best team RARELY wins it all in baseball (around 25% of the time actually). The Postseason is full of randomness and random dudes stepping up out of nowhere. As long as the Dodgers are in, they can win it all no matter how bad the pitching looks. They just have to make sure they don’t go 0-30 or whatever it was with RISP like they did vs the Padres last year. Miller, Sheehan and Pepiot will make some noise in the Postseason and as long as the offense shows up, I believe the Dodgers can bring it home.
I agree with you.