Why the Dodgers’ Most Glaring Weakness Now Looks Like A Strength

Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) — Before Teoscar Hernandez ran out to patrol left field in the ninth inning last Friday night, he lingered in the dugout a while longer than usual. The game was almost over, but the show was about to begin. In the eighth inning against the Diamondbacks, Kyle Tucker roped a go-ahead single to put the concert in motion, setting the scene for the debut of the team’s other major offseason expenditure. Hernández wanted a front-row seat to take in the spectacle as closer Edwin Diaz jogged in from Dodger Stadium’s home bullpen for the first time. “Everyone was waiting for that moment,” Hernández said. “I wanted to watch everything — him coming out of the bullpen, getting all the way to the mound.” Díaz took his first step onto the newly-dubbed Uniqlo Field, patted his glove a couple times, then watched the Dodger Stadium fade into darkness as the bass in the sound system began to thump. In the left-field pavilion, trumpeter Tatiana Tate began to play “Narco,” the walk-out song that Díaz and musician Timmy Trumpet made famous in Queens. The live rendition in Los Angeles was a surprise touch that Díaz wasn’t expecting, but it added to the pageantry of the occasion. “It was bumping out there,” Tucker said. Everybody, Hernández said, was surprised this actually became a reality. No one thought the three-time All-Star closer would leave New York. But after a year in which the Dodgers’ unreliable bullpen was nearly their undoing, the back-to-back champs stayed persistent. And when they offered a few million dollars more than the Mets, giving Díaz three years and $69 million — the largest annual salary ever for a reliever — it was enough to entice the two-time National League Trevor Hoffman Reliever of the Year to leave the place he had called home for the last seven years. In Los Angeles, Díaz felt he had the best chance to win his first championship. He had only heard great things about the organization from his brother, Alexis, who made nine appearances for the Dodgers in 2025, and fellow Puerto Rico native Kiké Hernández, a fan favorite who now holds the Dodgers’ franchise record for most postseason games played. But even Dave Roberts didn’t think there was a chance of landing Díaz entering the winter. The Dodgers manager grew more optimistic while on vacation in early December, when the front office reached out to him about joining in on a call with Díaz. “We talked for probably, I’d say, 45 minutes on a Zoom,” Roberts recalled. “Afterwards, I told my wife, I go, ‘We’re gonna get him.’ I felt really good about it.’” Why was Roberts convinced? “It was just kind of selling ourselves and talking about how well we value him and the culture and the team and ownership,” Roberts said. “If you really want to win a championship, this is the place to be. Obviously talked to his wife and convinced her that moving West was a good decision. Yeah, and I also think that his brother being here last year was a big help. Having him here as a call-up from the minors, and us treating him like a superstar, I think that kind of helped the decision and comfort going forward.” Fast-forward three months, and everything the Dodgers envisioned was playing out as planned. On Friday afternoon, the Dodgers received their 2025 World Series rings. Díaz watched some of the ceremony from the dugout before retreating to the clubhouse to prepare for the game that night. If he wanted any extra motivation before his first performance for his new team, that was as good as any. “My goal for this year is being in that moment next year,” Díaz said. “I want to help this team to win. I know if this team stays healthy, we can do it again.” Hours later, the two players the Dodgers brought in to try to lift their chances of hoisting a World Series trophy for a third straight season — a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in more than a quarter-century — played their roles to perfection. Tucker, sandwiched between Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts at the top of one of the most decorated lineups ever constructed, reached base twice and knocked in the winning run. Díaz surrendered a walk and nothing more, striking out two batters in a scoreless ninth to secure his 254th save and first as a Dodger. One night later, Diaz entered again with a one-run lead again and promptly retired all three batters he faced to finish a sweep of the Diamondbacks. Stability in the late innings was a luxury these Dodgers weren’t accustomed to last year, when they ranked 21st in bullpen ERA, blew the ninth-most saves in the sport, saw the first year of Tanner Scott’s four-year, $72 million deal go up in flames and were forced to use starters in relief to carry them through October. Now, in a scary reality for the rest of the league as the Dodgers embrace their status as baseball villains, the back end of the Dodgers’ bullpen looks daunting. Not only does Díaz give the Dodgers the shutdown closer they lacked, but Scott also appears to be finding his form again in a lower-leverage role. Roberts intimated this winter that Scott never felt right physically last season and believed the left-hander’s 2025 season, during which he went 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA, was an “outlier year.” At one point six months ago, at his lowest point after one of his 10 blown saves, Scott lamented that baseball hated him. By trying to be too perfect, he thought he got away from his strengths. He was missing his spots consistently. There were mechanical issues involved, too. The struggles became mentally exhausting. “I threw too many balls in the zone and paid for it a lot,” Scott said. “It was terrible.” But a new year brings a fresh slate. It’s a short sample, but Scott has retired seven of the eight batters he has faced in 2026, including three by strikeout, in three scoreless appearances. “There’s a physical component which certainly feels better,” Roberts told me in a scrum. “There’s a mental component where it’s a new year.” Scott’s fastball, which yielded nine home runs last season, is getting the swing-and-miss that wasn’t there a year ago when the pitch too often found the middle of the plate. His slider is coming in a tick harder, and though he told me that he hasn’t changed the grip on the pitch, he has done a lot of work with Dodgers pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness and bullpen coach Josh Bard to get the slider in a place where he trusts it. “Just going back to what I did in ‘23 and ‘24 and seeing the success I had and what I was doing with it,” Scott told me. “I kind of got away from what I was doing really good the previous two years. Baseball’s a grind. You’ve got to put in the time, and it’s paying off. But we’ve got to keep going.” Added Roberts: “The slider’s just a better pitch this year than it ever was last year.” Scott is careful not to get too far ahead of himself, especially given how last year went, but he’ll take the small wins. Everything, Scott said, feels good right now. It’s evident both in his presence on the mound and in the  “funky swings,” as Roberts described them, that he’s generating. “I think even with Tanner, who’s as good as anyone at washing the slate clean, you’ve still got to have success,” Roberts said. “When you’re not having success, it’s like, ‘Here we go again’ kind of mindset. So for him to get off to a good start, it’s important.” This time, the weight of finishing games has been lifted. The Dodgers have not had a single closer record more than 25 saves since Kenley Jansen departed after the 2021 season. The primary ninth-inning option has been a revolving door since then, from Craig Kimbrel in 2022 to Evan Phillips in 2023 and 2024 to Scott last season. With Diaz now cemented as the team’s shutdown closer, the Dodgers’ manager can deploy Scott, Alex Vesia and his other high-leverage options in more advantageous lanes as he sees fit in the innings prior. “It’s huge,” Roberts said. “I don’t think that there’s one way to manage a pen, but when you have a guy like Edwin Díaz as your closer, I do think it frees up other guys, myself included, not having to worry about matchups for the ninth. I think that’s freeing for me and allows for kind of getting the matchups we need in the prior innings.” Bullpen success can be volatile, but at least in the early going, the Dodgers’ most glaring weakness from last year’s team now looks like one of their many strengths — and that’s before the expected returns later this year of relievers Phillips, Brock Stewart and Brusdar Graterol. The top four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup — Ohtani, Tucker, Betts and Freddie Freeman — are batting a combined .192 through five games, yet the Dodgers are 4-1 behind an elite rotation and a fortified bullpen that has started the year 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA and a new closer who has converted each of his first two save opportunities. Dîaz allowed his first run of the season in his third appearance Tuesday night, but Roberts attributed the result to the rainy conditions and a water-soaked mound. Díaz still rebounded to comfortably finish off the Dodgers’ win against the Guardians. The fact he’s there at all is still an almost unbelievable reality for those around him. “I just know I gotta keep doing my job,” Díaz said, “and hear the trumpets here in Dodger Stadium.” Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.