Why Dodgers’ faulty bullpen construction will cost them World Series

Was Edgardo Henriquez the best option to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the seventh inning with two outs and runners on the corners?

Maybe, maybe not.

And that was the problem.

The problem was that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had no choice but to turn the game over to a powerful but unreliable 23-year-old rookie.

Henriquez walked Guerrero on a 99.9 mph fastball that sailed into the opposite batter’s box, avoiding catcher Will Smith’s grasp and allowing Addison Barger to score.

A manageable two-point deficit was now three and about to become four.

The Dodgers were on their way to a 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday night, with the result of Game 5 putting them at a three-game-to-two deficit in this World Series.

For Roberts, this seventh inning was not a manager’s nightmare. It was a manager’s night terror.

What else could Roberts do?

Stick with starting pitcher Blake Snell? Snell had already thrown three times against Guerrero and his pitch count was 116.

Use closer Roki Sasaki as a firefighter? He’s their only reliable reliever and Roberts wasn’t going to use him in a non-playoff game in which his team was losing.

Let’s turn to last year’s playoff hero, Blake…? Regardless, this question isn’t even worth asking in its entirety.

“It’s tough because you can only push a starter to a certain point,” Roberts said. “I thought Blake emptied the tank.”

The Dodgers have sort of hidden their piñata of a bullpen in the previous three rounds of the playoffs, but this bullpen is catching up with them now.

Reversing their series deficit will almost certainly require some of their starters to play unfamiliar roles over the next two games, including Shohei Ohtani as the opener on three days’ rest in a potential Game 7.

Snell appears to be a candidate to also pitch Game 7, perhaps as a middle reliever. Tyler Glasnow should be available out of the bullpen in at least one of the two remaining games.

Aside from Sasaki, the relievers cannot be trusted.

In each of the team’s three losses in this series, games turned when the starting pitcher was pulled with men on base. In all three cases, the bullpen spoiled the play, allowing inherited runners to score.

“You look at the three games we lost, it came crashing down on us with guys on goal,” Roberts said. “Guys need to be better.”

They can’t.

This reality makes the bullpen’s heroic performance in the 18-inning Game 3 win all the more miraculous. The Dodgers are lucky this series isn’t over already.

Building this bullpen has to be one of the biggest front office mistakes in franchise history, as it could cost the team a World Series in a season in which they have Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and a billion-dollar rotation.

How did this happen?

Start with Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. The Dodgers committed a total of $85 million to the two relievers and neither of them are on the roster.

Look at the injured list. Brusdar Graterol missed the entire season with shoulder issues. Evan Phillips underwent Tommy John surgery.

Finally, look at what the Dodgers didn’t do at the trade deadline. Everyone – and by everyone, I mean everyone except Andrew Friedman’s front office – knew they desperately needed help from the bullpen. Counting on the effectiveness of some internal solutions, the only reliever they acquired was Brock Stewart. The notoriously frail Stewart injured his shoulder and did not pitch in the postseason.

What the Dodgers did was baseball’s equivalent of building a breathtaking mansion, but forgetting to install a toilet.

Now the whole residence stinks, the Dodgers are one loss away from losing a World Series that should be theirs.