World Series: Dodgers offense struggles against Yankees bullpen

The Dodgers came away with a win in Game 4 to win the whole thing, and ultimately, despite that lead, there were certain things that kept this team from quite coming together. Dave Roberts, for example, alluded to the team's inability to capitalize on opportunities to grab a third win, as the Yankees eventually did in Game 4. These late-game offensive struggles were a common theme for the Dodgers after the opening World Series.

Behind two 4-2 victories hid a complete lack of performance in the Dodgers' offense against the Yankees relievers, who did a remarkable job of picking up their starters on those two occasions. This performance doesn't get as much credit as it might otherwise have because the Yankees' hitters woke up too little, too late, but it doesn't change what the bullpen did.

After Gerrit Cole dominated that World Series, none of the other Yankee starters fared particularly well. LA hunted them down pretty early, scoring a total of 11 runs in 10 innings without a starter over the last three games. A positive sign in a vacuum where it hasn't been all that productive, considering the Dodgers have scored a single run in 15 innings against the Yankees' bullpen since the start of Game 2.

Looking ahead to Game 4, many gave the Yankees an advantage by going with Luis Gil, while the Dodgers had a bullpen game with a pretty gassed unit. The offense showed up early, forcing Gil to score four runs in as many innings to eventually force him out of the game. After that, they had 15 outs to work with, and all they could muster was a single from Shohei Ohtani to Tim Hill, perhaps an encouraging sign for what was likely to be a duel again, and a walk from Tommy Edman to Mark Leiter, Jr. The final score shows a blowout, but that was very stressful until the eighth inning when New York blew it all to an 11-4 win.

The Dodgers won Games 2 and 3 while seemingly in total control. The funny thing about control is that it has a loose grip when you're not scoring, and they didn't score against the Yankees' bullpen. The final attack came with the Yankees' go-ahead run on base in Game 2. All the Yankees needed was a walk from Gleyber Torres to have Juan Soto score the winning run in Game 3.

The lack of production may not be the cause of the most leverage, but it is still a lot of leverage. Unless this team finds a way to do damage against guys like Clay Holmes, Tommy Kahnle, and Tim Hill (I'm not even mentioning Luke Weaver because he was dominant and nearly flawless in both the regular season and the regular season). In the playoffs, the Dodgers could be in a dire spot, or as dire a spot as any club can be when they're up 3-1. After all, it's hard to feel too confident going up against Gerrit Cole pitching at his home park.

A quick note about Weaver is that perhaps the biggest impact the Yankees made in the eighth inning was that they no longer needed Weaver in the ninth inning. The broadcast showed that the bullpen was empty when LA already had one out in the bottom of the eighth. It was clear that Weaver was going for a seven-out save.

If the Yankees had done that closer, it might not have impacted his reliability, but at least it would have impacted his effectiveness heading into Game 5. With Weaver now down to just 21 pitches and another 6 in a short Game 3 outing, he's ready to take it to try for at least one inning, or maybe more given the Yankees' situation. Despite their struggles, the Yankees made Michael Kopech, Blake Treinen and all the main players sweat in LA. The Dodgers have yet to return the favor.