The Los Angeles Dodgers and their manager, Dave Roberts, are in a familiar tough spot. Despite holding first place in the NL West, the team built for championships is now forced to confront the harsh reality that bullpen issues could derail another promising season. With five games left, Roberts watches his division lead wobble at just 1½ games. He understands that even a healthy rotation can’t cover for relief pitchers who surrender leads late in the game.

Tuesday’s loss to Arizona laid bare the Dodgers’ troubles. Shohei Ohtani delivered the best outing of the season, shutting out the Diamondbacks for six innings on just 91 pitches. The commanding 4-0 lead should have felt secure, yet Roberts and his players knew how unsteady the bullpen could be. Rookies Jack Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez relinquished three runs in the seventh, and closer Tanner Scott blew his tenth save, allowing Geraldo Perdomo’s walk-off single to complete a disastrous 5-4 defeat.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield wrote extensively about the Dodgers’ complicated situation. He acknowledged they remain well-positioned to make the playoffs but warned fans that the season has exposed troubling vulnerabilities. “Yes, the Dodgers should reach 90 wins, and yes, they still lead the NL West, but we’re grading on a curve here — and this has hardly been the easiest of seasons for a franchise where we expect 100 wins every year,” Schoenfield reflected. Among the issues, he cited an injury crisis that limited Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw to fewer than 20 starts each, and a bullpen oscillating between bad and terrible.

Still, Schoenfield noted bright spots, emphasizing a healthy playoff rotation for the first time since 2022, Mookie Betts’ recent offensive surge, and the “indomitable force” that is Shohei Ohtani. He added, “Anybody’s bullpen can get hot for a month.”

The mounting pressure has forced Roberts to face difficult truths about his team’s mindset. His postgame remarks echoed frustration born from season-long bullpen woes. “It’s hard to absorb these games, especially games that we need to win,” Roberts admitted. “I just see (them being) careful, the getting behind, the walking guys, the hit batsmen. That’s just a sign of you’re either scared or you’re pitching too careful. That’s just the facts.” His blunt assessment revealed a mental struggle among relievers, where fear of failure breeds mistakes that lead to defeat.

Given the magnitude of the crisis, Dodgers management is exploring unprecedented solutions. The season hangs in the balance, and a few weeks ago, the approach would have seemed unthinkable.

Dodgers Turn to Kershaw for Bullpen Help

Roberts’ frustration signals a systemic problem requiring immediate attention. The Dodgers are now contemplating deploying franchise icon Clayton Kershaw from the bullpen on Wednesday against Arizona—a move few anticipated during his farewell season.

The bullpen’s amazing collapse has forced management to make decisions that have never been made before. Kershaw is still set to pitch in the regular-season finale against Seattle on Sunday, which will be an emotional farewell for the legendary lefty. But the fact that the team is thinking about using its aging ace in short relief on Wednesday shows how bad the bullpen situation has gotten.

Roberts is still in charge even though his arms are hurt and overworked and break under pressure. The relief corps is completely unreliable when games are on the line, so they have to come up with creative solutions that seemed impossible just a few weeks ago. Kershaw’s willingness to take on any role shows how committed he is to winning a championship, even though his long career is coming to an end.

Kershaw has been in this situation before, as he has made important relief appearances in October during other playoff runs. But asking him to pitch relief during his last regular-season game makes an already tense situation even more tense. The Dodgers really need to build up some momentum before the playoffs, and their legendary ace stepping into any role could give this fragile team the boost it needs.