Tyler Glasnow’s season debut and a minor bullpen test
The Dodgers bullpen has excelled in the first two games of the season; now it’s time to show some endurance
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 27: Tyler Glasnow #31 of the Los Angeles Dodgers admires his ring during the 2025 Back-to-Back World Champions Ring Ceremony prior to the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Friday, March 27, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jessie Alcheh/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images Searching the whole of the National League, one will not find a team utilizing a starting pitcher at or near the caliber of Tyler Glasnow this Saturday. Scheduling and other outside factors led to some rotations—including the Dodgers—not necessarily starting the season in descending order of skill set, but the point is valid all the same.
It won’t get much easier for opposing offenses against the Dodgers, at least not while this rotation can stay—knock on wood—moderately healthy. As much as we could focus on Glasnow and his outlook heading into a third season with the Dodgers, for a third game of the season, this will be as big an endurance test to the bullpen early on as one could ask for. For starters, Glasnow isn’t the type of pitcher to go that deep into a game, even when he’s rolling, a byproduct of all those strikeouts.
Secondly and most importantly, the Dodgers’ bullpen has excelled in a sizeable share of work these past two days. Dodger relievers have covered nearly a full game’s worth of baseball, responsible for 8. 2 scoreless frames in a pair of two wins against the Diamondbacks.
It speaks to the depth of this unit that the Dodgers were able to cover all of these innings with Tanner Scott being the only pitcher who appeared in both games. And even Scott had a minimal workload in both games, not even cracking double-digit pitches. Kyle Tucker’s go-ahead RBI takes the headlines, but the Dodgers don’t win that game if Jack Dreyer and Ben Casparius falter early on, both asked to throw 20+ pitches in a game the Dodgers only got 10 outs from their starter.