The Dodgers' arms are carrying this thing right now — and honestly, they're not complaining about the overtime. Welcome to Dodgers Daily Fancast — I'm Cassidy, Devin's here, and today we've got a lot of pitching news to unpack: Sasaki looking like himself, Snell rehabbing, and some minor league arms turning heads. The rotation might be the most loaded it's been in years and people are still out here panicking about the offense — relax, the bats will come. Let's get into it. Alright, first up, from Bleed Los, the Dodgers and MLB News Podcast:
you know those guys are swinging the bats and you know hitting at guys and a lot of soft contact and again I just like the way that guys stay involved behind him and uh you know every single time he takes the baseball it just we have an opportunity to win a game most importantly and he goes deep in games
Wrobleski goes six shutout innings, zero strikeouts — and Dave Roberts is perfectly happy about it. The defense stays involved, soft contact, good pace. That's a very specific kind of pitcher succeeding in a very specific way. Six shutout innings without a punchout and I'm supposed to be calm about it? Look, it worked, I'll take the W — but every time he's out there I'm white-knuckling it waiting for the other shoe to drop. Roberts also said the offense didn't 'break out' but scored more than the other team, which — yes, that is how winning works, Dave, thank you. Two runs in the second and everybody's popping champagne. But fine — timely hits, good walks, I'll take a functional offense over whatever we were doing last week. And sticking with the arms here, Eric Stephen at True Blue LA had this:
Blake Snell completed the prescribed four innings in his third minor league rehab start on Sunday, and struck out four for Triple-A Oklahoma City against the Round Rock Express, a Texas Rangers affiliate.
Hat tip to True Blue LA for staying on the Snell rehab trail — third minor league start, four innings, 55 pitches, four strikeouts. Rough first inning with a two-run homer, then nine straight retired. That's a decent sign. The curveball finishing off three of four Ks and the fastball sitting 96 — okay, I'm not going to pretend that doesn't get me a little excited. Guy looks like he's coming back with something. Roberts said he'll need at least one more rehab start, so don't hold your breath for a May activation. But the trajectory is real. One more start, fine — just get him back before June and watch this rotation become an absolute nightmare for everybody else in the NL. Giants included. Now to Roki. Nelson Espinal at Dodgers Nation broke down the line:
Sasaki made a total of 104 pitches against the Cardinals, with 65 being strikes. He walked two batters, struck out four, and allowed five hits, one of which was a home run by Jordan Walker.
Roki Sasaki's best start of the year came Friday against St. Louis — six innings, three runs, 104 pitches. Still has the highest ERA in the rotation, but two straight promising outings is something. Credit to Dodgers Nation's Nelson Espinal for staying on this one. Okay I'm cautiously buying in. The stuff has always been there — dude was supposed to be a generational arm. If he's finally starting to trust that fastball, the league is in trouble. Emphasis on 'starting.' The Dodgers lost the game, by the way. So 'best start of the season' and still a loss. That's the context. And yeah, Dodgers Reddit was all over this. Over on r/Dodgers, this had 180 upvotes:
Won’t even blame him for this loss. A lineup getting paid this much should be able to work with a 6 inning 3 run start.
Hard to argue. Six innings, three runs from your fifth starter on most teams and you win that game. This lineup has no excuse. Another one from r/Dodgers, 71 upvotes, and honestly, fair:
The lad would be fine if he could just get run support earlier than the top of the 9th with 2 outs
Top of the ninth with two outs. That's not run support, that's a punchline. Then there was this from r/Dodgers, 134 upvotes:
He is getting better and better, pitching against quality AB is exactly what he needs. I am a ROKI BELIEVER
Roki Believer Gang, I'm with you — but I need like three more starts before I'm getting a tattoo. Quick farm check now, from Eric Stephen at True Blue LA:
Christian Zazueta pitched a career-high 6 2/3 innings in a win for High-A Great Lakes. He allowed only a solo home run and one other single in his first six innings, then ran into a bit of a wall in the seventh, loading the bases with two outs.
Farm system check from True Blue LA — and it's a good one. Christian Zazueta went 6 and two-thirds for High-A Great Lakes, seven strikeouts, two runs, career-long outing. Thirty-six Ks against six walks on the season — that's a real strikeout-to-walk number. Zazueta was the minor league pitcher of the year last year and he's picking up right where he left off. Eighth-best K-minus-walk rate in all of the minors — eighth! This guy is coming, and I cannot wait. Josue De Paula added a home run, Jack Suwinski is on an eight-game extra-base-hit streak in Triple-A. The pipeline is doing its thing. Credit to True Blue LA for staying on the affiliates every single day — nobody covers this system more consistently. And over at Dodgers Nation, a few other threads worth flagging: Dodgers Nation is running their early-season grades and a Kyle Tucker deep dive — Tucker's been the quiet concern through the first month, so that's the right call to spotlight. ESPN calling Roki Sasaki the biggest Dodgers disappointment is such lazy bait. The guy is twenty-three and learning a new league — relax. I don't fully disagree, but the stuff on Blake Snell and the Ohtani pitching timeline is what I actually want to hear. That's the real rotation math for October. Good news on Brock Stewart too — bullpen depth is quietly where this team wins or loses a series, and nobody talks about it until it blows up. You’ll find links to all of today’s stories in the show notes, so if something caught your ear, go dig in a little deeper there.
That’s Dodgers Daily Fancast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.