WEST SACRAMENTO –– Thanks to their MLB-best record and all-but-insurmountable 12 ½ game lead in the National League West, the Dodgers have some luxuries with how they navigate the rest of this regular season.
Exhibit A came on Wednesday, when they lined up in punt formation with a pitching plan never likely to work.
After pushing back Shohei Ohtani’s originally scheduled start a couple of days to give the two-way star an extended break on the mound, the Dodgers rolled out a bullpen game against the Athletics that transformed into a sacrificial bulk-relief outing from triple-A call-up Charlie Barnes.
Not familiar with that name? Don’t worry, manager Dave Roberts wasn’t really either.
“You know,” Roberts said when asked what he knew about Barnes, a 30-year-old left-hander who was claimed off waiver earlier this year and had made only 13 career MLB appearances before Wednesday, “honestly not much.”
That’s OK.
Barnes followed opener Jack Dreyer and was quickly roughed up in his seven-inning, 94-pitch appearance, giving up seven runs to send the Dodgers –– who were also playing without Mookie Betts after he was scratched pregame with a wrist injury –– to a 7-1 defeat to the Athletics.
But with where the club is at right now, such concessions don’t come with much cost.
The Dodgers, after all, are already steamrolling toward October. They have a 99.9% chance of winning the NL West, according to Fangraphs’ computer models. And if they have the chance to give star players like Ohtani some extra rest, they’re more than capable of taking advantage of it.
A random Wednesday night game at a triple-A park in Sacramento be damned.
“It’s kind of where we were at today,” Roberts said afterward. “You don’t want to chase short money.”
That didn’t mean the team’s loss, which snapped a four-game winning streak, wasn’t ugly.
They left the bases loaded in the first, stranded two more men in the second, then left Barnes on the mound to wear it as the Athletics knocked him around for two runs in the fourth, three more in the fifth and one last indignity in the eighth.
Then again, whatever.
In the grand scheme, this game didn’t matter.
And the Dodgers’ plan, and performance, showed it.
“You do have take the long view at times,” Roberts said. “But it doesn’t always feel good in the middle of it.”
What it means
The Dodgers (56-31) already did what they needed to on this nine-game road trip, winning seven games and all three of their series to pull even further away in an uncompetitive NL West race.
From the perspective of playoff seeding, they remain in strong position, as well, up 1 ½ games on the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the league and 4 ½ games on the slumping Atlanta Braves for a top-two position and first-round bye.
All that was really at stake Wednesday was a chance to sweep the Athletics (41-46), and win five consecutive games for the fourth time this season.
That they didn’t won’t come with any tangible consequences –– especially after Barnes, at the very least, saved the rest of the bullpen by preventing Roberts to have to summon any other relievers.
“Charlie did a nice job for what was asked of him,” Roberts said, shortly after informing Barnes he was being sent back to the minors.
As the saying goes, sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the 162-game-long war.
Who’s hot
The Dodgers’ lone run came from Freddie Freeman, who briefly tied the score at 1-1 with a solo homer in the third.
The blast was Freeman’s 14th of the season and bumped his batting average up to .294, the highest it has been since late April.
But even Freeman wasn’t long for the game, getting subbed out in the sixth inning once the score got out of reach. Just another way the Dodgers were able to prioritize the bigger picture.
Who’s not
The bigger concern for the Dodgers on Wednesday was Betts, who was a late scratch from the lineup after feeling soreness and lack of strength in his right wrist prior to the game.
However, Roberts said the Dodgers were more “erring on the side of caution” with what is believed to be a minor issue, and expect him back in the lineup on Friday.
Such a cautious decision, after all, fit in with the theme of the night.
Up next
The Dodgers return to Los Angeles for a 10-game homestand that will take them to the All-Star break, beginning with a four-game set against the San Diego Padres on Thursday.
Roki Sasaki (3-5, 4.88 ERA) will start the opener opposite right-hander Randy Vásquez (6-6, 4.44 ERA).
