It's now becoming clear Dodgers stole trade deadline's best closer

When the Dodgers completed their three-way trade with the Cardinals and White Sox for Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech, they got a Gold Glove superutilityman who'd been a longstanding target for LA and the only pitcher to throw an immaculate inning this season. Both came with asterisks — Edman was still on the IL until mid-August and Kopech still carried a 4.74 ERA in relief for Chicago — but both came with a tremendous amount of upside.

Edman has quickly made his presence felt, with fantastic plays all over the field and a tie-breaking two-run single against the Diamondbacks on Saturday, but Kopech may be the most valuable pickup of all of the Dodgers' trade deadline acquisitions.

Since the deadline, Kopech has pitched 15 1/3 innings and has only allowed four hits, three walks, and a single earned run. In his first appearance, he took over for the fifth after a blowup start for Clayton Kershaw and was perfect, striking out three Padres in order. It sent him moving up Dave Roberts' "trust tree," and he was sent out as the Dodgers' closer for the first time on Aug. 16.

He's played that role four more times since and has allowed zero hits, just one walk, and has struck out eight batters.

Michael Kopech has been near-perfect since coming to the Dodgers at the trade deadline

Evan Phillips had an absolutely terrible month of July, pitching 7 2/3 innings to a 11.74 ERA, and subsequently fell lower on that trust tree in August. He's closed four games this month and has been credited with three saves, but he also blew one against the Rays on Aug. 24 and was sent out in the eighth during his next outing. All told, he was much better in August (0.73 ERA), but it does feel like he's slowly ceding his role fully to Kopech.

Kopech is still inducing elite whiff rates on his three-pitch arsenal, and the walk and barrel problems that he had in Chicago don't seem to have followed him to LA. He has a 0.52 WHIP and .083 batting average against, six holds, three wins, and three saves in three opportunities.

This was exactly what the Dodgers bullpen needed when they got Kopech at the deadline. Phillips was flailing, Brusdar Graterol was still out, and Alex Vesia and Daniel Hudson — as good as they've been this year — aren't closers. Kopech was the perfect final ingredient, and now the Dodgers just have to make sure they don't gas him completely before the postseason.