The Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen finished the 2024 regular season as the fifth-best group in baseball. But that was not the case in the early stages of the year as they struggled out of the gate and were shorthanded at the outset with Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen on the injured list.
There was also the matter of adjusting to being an unofficial sixth member of the rotation and extra workload that came with semi-regular bullpen games. They were tasked with such a challenge due to to the Dodgers easing Yoshinobu Yamamoto into a MLB rotation this season.
It was a baptism by fire for the Dodgers bullpen, but they came out the other side battle-hardened and with a new identity as the season progressed. It started with a casual comment from Alex Vesia, but the movement took shape thanks to Graterol…