Dodgers’ Dave Roberts Explains Controversial Decision vs Phillies

The manager flirted with danger by not using his best relief pitcher to begin the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NL Division Series.

For most of the 2025 season, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was saddled with a bullpen that was largely ineffective, unhealthy, or some combination of both.

Not until Roki Sasaki returned from a minor league rehab assignment as a relief pitcher in September did Roberts have something resembling a reliable closer. So why wasn’t Sasaki on the mound when the Dodgers led the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Monday?

Not until Roki Sasaki returned from a minor league rehab assignment as a relief pitcher in September did Roberts have something resembling a reliable closer. So why wasn’t Sasaki on the mound when the Dodgers led the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Monday?

“I thought about it,” Roberts said. “(Sasaki) hasn’t gone two out of three much at all.”

Sasaki, 23, pitched a scoreless inning last Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Series. He pitched a scoreless inning again Saturday in Philadelphia, when he recorded the save in Game 1. Game 3 is Wednesday in Los Angeles, and Game 4 is Thursday.

Asking Sasaki to close each game in the series would be potentially taxing for any reliever with a triple-digit fastball, let alone a rookie who only became a reliever last month. A three-run lead might have struck Roberts as an opportunity to give Sasaki a day off Monday. It was not to be.

Veteran right-hander Blake Treinen, who was 2-for-5 in the regular season in save situations, got the first shot at converting the save in Game 2. He faced Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos, and allowed hits to all three. Castellanos’ double to left field scored a pair of runs, bringing the Phillies within 4-3.

A single by Harrison Bader, and a groundout by Max Kepler, gave Philadelphia runners on second and third base with two outs. Finally, with Vesia having faced the minimum three batters and Sasaki having warmed up in the bullpen, Roberts summoned the Dodgers’ unofficial closer.

Sasaki got Trea Turner to ground out to end the game, with Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman dropping to his knees to scoop Tommy Edman’s throw out of the dirt.

“I didn’t want to just kind of, you know, preemptively put him in there,” Roberts said of Sasaki. “Again, I felt good with who we had, with our leverage relievers, a couple of our highest-leverage relievers (Treinen and Vesia). And fortunately (Sasaki) was ready when called upon. And I liked him versus Trea, and he got a big out for us.”