When a Major League Baseball team is forced to rely on an inordinately high number of pitchers, it typically means a rash of injuries and ineffectiveness that derailed the season. 

For the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, it meant winning the franchise’s eighth World Series title. 

Los Angeles set a team record last year by using 40 different pitchers during the regular season, including a total of 17 who started at least one game. The team obviously made it work, but it is not the recommended path. 

While optimistic of staying away from that big of a merry-go-round in 2025, the Dodgers do plan to employ a six-man rotation once Shohei Ohtani is ready to start, but that date remains an unknown. Los Angeles is also hopeful of being able to ease Yohinobu Yamamoto into the season, while keeping an eye on Roki Sasaki’s workload in his first MLB campaign. 

All of which emphasizes the importance of depth in the pitching staff, and for Los Angeles, thanks to a few injuries and one off-field “mishap,” that depth will be tested right from the opening pitch. As the Dodgers prepare to begin their defense of the crown with games against the Chicago Cubs on March 18 and 19 in Tokyo, they will do so without a quintet of right-handed relievers: Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Michael Grove, Brusdar Graterol, and Edgardo Henriquez. 

Edgardo Henriquez Will Miss 4-6 Weeks Due to Metatarsal Injury in Left Foot

Those first four are all dealing with injuries of varying degrees. As for Henriquez, the 22-year-old, who made his MLB debut in September, appeared to have earned a spot on the opening day roster, in part due to the loss of the aforementioned quartet, but on March 4, he arrived at the team’s training camp site in Arizona with a walking boot on his left foot. Manager Dave Roberts was initially reluctant to discuss the injury, but later said Henriquez had a “mishap” off the field and suffered a metatarsal injury, which would keep him out for four to six weeks. 

Among the injured relievers, Grove will be out the longest. On Sunday, Grove walked into the clubhouse at Camelback Ranch with his pitching arm in a sling. He declined to speak with reporters, but it was later confirmed that Grove had season-ending surgery to repair his right labrum. 

“It’s been a shoulder issue that’s been bothering him for, I don’t know how far back,” Roberts said. “He tried to pitch through it and the recovery wasn’t what any of us would have liked. We tried the rest approach and we just felt that we had to get the surgery done.” 

Graterol is expected to miss half of the upcoming season following surgery to repair the labrum in his right shoulder. The procedure was performed a few days after the World Series, in which Graterol appeared in three games. 

Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips Hope to be Activated in April

Kopech, a trade deadline acquisition who was one of the team’s top relievers in the postseason, will open the season on the injured list with the lingering effects of forearm inflammation that he pitched through during the playoffs. Kopech did throw his first bullpen session of spring training in early March, and the team is hopeful that he will be able to return by perhaps the end of April. 

“You’ve gone through the wears and tears of a full season already, you’re feeling it, and then you have another month where you’re competing to win while you’re banged up,” Kopech said. “Everything is a little risk versus reward. But the higher the risk, usually the higher the reward.”   

The news is better about Phillips. The team’s leader in saves last season, Phillips was forced to miss the World Series with a tear in the back of his rotator cuff. However, Phillips is scheduled to remain in Arizona and face hitters while the Dodgers open the season in Japan, and he could be on the active roster in early April. 

“Physically, right now, I feel 100 percent,” Phillips said. “Now it’s just about building up, starting my bullpen progression, and trying to get as close to game ready as possible.” 

Fortunately for the Dodgers, they enjoy an embarrassment of riches throughout their system. And with the offseason signings of Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott, along with the re-signing of postseason hero Blake Trienen, Los Angeles seems prepared to overcome the injuries. 

“Thankfully, when the actual roster is announced, we’re going to look at it and not really notice that they’re missing five of their top 10 to 12 relievers, because that’s just how deep their bullpen is,” said Blake Williams of the DodgerHeads podcast. “They still have multiple Elite options in the bullpen and they probably have more quality options than any other team, even with all those guys out.”