Why recent history presents concerning picture for Dodgers

World Series pitchers advancing after their teams won Game 7 of an LCS, meanwhile, looked like their routines kept them rolling along.

The matchup has happened three times in the last 25 World Series. Each time, the difference in pitching was stark:

• In 2006, St. Louis held Detroit to 11 runs in five games. They scored 22.
• In 2007, Boston held Colorado to 10 runs in four games. They scored 29.
• In 2012, San Francisco held Detroit to six runs in four games. They scored 16.

Starting pitchers led the way each time. Of those 13 games, seven saw the losing team score two runs or fewer. Those starters: Jeff Weaver, Chris Carpenter and Anthony Reyes in 2006; Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling in 2007; and Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong in 2012.

The sweep that propelled the Dodgers into the 2025 World Series relied heavily on starting pitching. Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched eight and nine innings respectively, while Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow exited earlier yet still combined to allow one run and strike out 18 batters in 11.2 innings.

If there’s hope for the Dodgers in their World Series schedule, it’s that they finished their divisional series two days ahead of the Brewers and still limited Milwaukee to one run in each game of the LCS sweep. 

Yamamoto, working on five days’ rest, had the shortest time between starts before facing Milwaukee. Snell and Glasnow pitched on six days’ rest each, while Ohtani pitched on 12 days’ rest.