Dodgers' Game 1 disaster proves they still haven't answered their biggest question

When the Toronto Blue Jays chased Blake Snell in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the World Series, in created the Los Angeles Dodgers' worst nightmare.

By the time Addison Barger launched the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history five batters and two relievers after Snell's exit, the Blue Jays had exposed the Dodgers' biggest flaw – one that proved to be fatal in an 11-4 loss.

Game 1 of the World Series made one thing crystal clear about the Dodgers: beneath all their star power and payroll muscle, they still haven’t exorcised the same demon that’s haunted them for years – what happens when their starter gets knocked out early.

Dodgers' Game 1 disaster proves they still haven't answered their bullpen questions

When the Blue Jays forced Emmet Sheehan and Anthony Banda into action before the end of the sixth inning, the Dodgers’ pitching plan fell apart instantly. The moment a starter falters, Los Angeles is forced to rely on a middle-relief patchwork that doesn’t measure up to the rest of the roster.

The Dodgers' bullpen was built for scripted matchups and clean innings, not for emergency bridge work early in games. The result: mismatched leverage, overexposed arms and cascading damage that burned through key relievers far too soon.

The Dodgers’ blueprint assumes their rotation holds, and that their elite offense and high-leverage arms only have to protect leads late. But playoff baseball rarely goes to script. When the “big if” happens – when an opposing lineup drives a starter out before the sixth inning – the Dodgers simply have no fail-safe. They’ve never found a dependable long man, never built a second wave of relief depth. The Blue Jays exposed that weakness the same way the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies did in previous Octobers.

The Dodgers have poured resources into stars but not into redundancy. It’s a stunning gap for a club that does almost everything else right. In Game 1, the cost was immediate: chaos by the sixth inning, fatigue by the seventh, and a bullpen that looked broken before the series even began.

Until the Dodgers find reliable bridge pitching – arms who can stabilize a game when a starter stumbles – they’ll keep living on a knife’s edge in October. Game 1 wasn’t just one bad night; it was proof that the franchise’s most persistent postseason flaw remains unsolved.