Dodgers might finally be falling out of love with Dalton Rushing after roster battle reveal

Dalton Rushing has had to make peace with the fact that he may never be the Los Angeles Dodgers' primary catcher. No matter what the prospect pedigree promised, Will Smith will always be the first consideration as long as his body can still handle the job.

Fans have had to make peace with it, too. It didn't fit into conventional baseball wisdom that they would relegate their No. 1 prospect to backup duties, but in retrospect, it's just the Dodgers flexing another one of their muscles. They don't have to develop stars when they can buy them.

That fact that his exclusion from the NLDS roster wasn't much of a surprise to anyone is just more reinforcement of that same idea. The fact that he was in direct competition with the new No. 1 prospect for a roster spot and lost ... yet more evidence.

According to Dave Roberts, carrying Josue De Paula on the postseason roster was about his "really good idea of a strike zone, quality of contact, good heartbeat. That translates into the postseason." Then, as a throwaway, Robert said, "Dalton Rushing was the other consideration."

Dave Roberts confirms Dalton Rushing lost NLDS roster spot as a direct result of Josue De Paula

The Dodgers were looking for a lefty to keep on the bench as a pinch-hitting threat and Rushing —the more senior player — saw his spot handed to a guy with just 31 major league at-bats. Rushing was hurt for most of September, but the Dodgers favored experience over youth when it came to most of their roster. They left off Justin Wrobleski and Jack Dreyer in favor of Brock Stewart and Kris Bubic.

Outside of Rushing's ego-ballooning April, July was really his only other solid month. The viral antics slowed and Rushing made himself comfortable playing second-fiddle without making headlines.

It's unlikely that this is going to change anything in the offseason. LA still likes Rushing as an occasional starter or pinch-hit lefty bat, and Hunter Feduccia still has a minor league option, so he could start 2027 in Triple-A.

But it does speak to the Dodgers' level of trust in Rushing right now as much as it does their infatuation with De Paula. Maybe they were right to resign him to his second-string fate all along — maybe he isn't a star. There might be something to the fact that he'll still be part of multiple World Series-winning teams, but that could be a cold comfort.

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