Sep 12, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tanner Scott (center) receives the game ball from manager Dave Roberts (right) with second base Miguel Rojas (left) during the tenth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Tanner Scott's Return Timeline Revealed, Will He Return to Dodgers This Year?

Originally posted on Los Angeles Dodgers on SI
By Gabe Smallson | Last updated Oct 11, 2025 2:30 PM ET

When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Tanner Scott to four-year, $72 million deal last offseason, it made a lot of sense in the context of the 2024 season he was coming off of.

Scott tossed a 1.75 ERA through 72 innings of work last season, earning 22 saves and his first All-Star appearance. He had a 97 mph average fastball velocity, placing him in the 91st percentile of MLB, and opposing batters would only hit his offerings with an average exit velocity of 84.3 mph, putting him in the 100th percentile in that regard.

When he put on a Dodger uniform for the first time, everything went south.

Scott has a 4.74 ERA through his 61 outings in LA, and leads MLB with 10 blown saves. His fastball velocity has dropped 0.5 mph, and last season's average exit velocity that he boasted is now at 90.8 mph, putting him in just the 10th percentile among active pitchers.

Scott hasn't played in the postseason for LA, and a reason contributing to that is a "minor procedure" that manager Dave Roberts recently touched on after Game 3 of the NLDS, leading to Scott being replaced on the NLDS roster ahead of the Dodgers' advancing to the Championship Series.

“As I understand it, it was abscess excision, some type of lower body (procedure),” Roberts said after Game 3. “I don’t know a whole lot about it, to be quite honest with you. But I do know that he’s recovering well. And it took place last night. That’s kind of where we’re at.”

General manager Brandon Gomes weighed in on Scott's situation as well, claiming that the recovery, "sounds like anything from seven days to two weeks.”

“It sounded like it was uncomfortable,” Gomes said. “Then we thought he was on the other side of it. And then it got worse to the point of having to have the procedure.”

Many pointed to the fact that future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw was left in for the eighth inning of Game 3 despite not looking sharp to end the seventh would have been an ideal time to put in Scott, if healthy.

Regardless, Scott was replaced by southpaw Justin Wrobleski on the NLDS roster and is not eligible to compete in the NLCS, per MLB guidelines. Roberts did add that Scott could return to the roster for the World Series, if the Dodgers advance.