As of Thursday afternoon, the Los Angeles Dodgers sit in third place in the NL West.
They're not too far from the top by any means, as they're only three games out of first place, but looking up at two teams is definitely unfamiliar territory for a franchise used to running through their division with ease.
Just last season, the Dodgers spent 170 out of a possible 181 days at the top of the NL West en route to a division title.
A big area that's hurt LA this season has been inconsistency from a usually lockdown bullpen. As of Thursday, they rank 26th out of 30 MLB teams with a reliever ERA mark of 4.74 -- and that's still a significant improvement from as recently as a couple weeks ago, when they had a 5.01 mark and ranked 29th in the sport.
Dodgers broadcaster Jose Mota feels that Alex Vesia turning his individual season around will play a big part in improving things collectively, as he told Dodger Nation's Doug McKain on the Dodgers Dugout podcast.
“One guy that, to me, is clutch here, is Alex Vesia,” Mota said. “He’s the one guy that just needs to go out there and be himself again and trust it. Ball comes out, trust it. Don’t overthrow it. Stay clean mechanically. … But I think, overall, he’s a key cog here.”
Vesia's form has taken a drastic downturn this season, as him losing his command has led to a high walk rate of 5.68 BB/9 and a 7.58 ERA, both being his worst marks in each category since he came to the Dodgers in 2021.
Those numbers from a pitcher who'd previously been reliable in high-leverage roles led to him being optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City multiple times this season.
The Dodgers hope that he can again find the rhythm that turned around his career when he came to LA, because if he can't, that will likely cause a major hole in the team's bullpen depth that will be difficult to patch.
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