I don’t follow the Dodgers when Joe Kelly’s on the Injured List, for obvious reasons. Because of this, I didn’t notice the Padres were hanging around in the NL West. The lead’s only three games? Heading into a three-game series against each other? With the tiebreaker still in flux?
Yikes, Dodgers. The Padres had to trade Juan Soto to avoid breaking financial rules, and also their owner died, and also Fernando Tatís Jr. broke his leg, and now they are within three games with a week left to go. This is what happens when Joe Kelly goes on the IL.
Thankfully for the Dodgers, their bullpen ace is back.
We’ve talked a lot this Joe Kelly season about teammates picking each other up. Sometimes, this is Joe Kelly picking up his teammates. Hardly ever but I suppose occasionally, this is Joe Kelly’s teammates pickup up Joe Kelly. Yesterday? Yesterday, it was Joe Kelly picking up his teammates.
The Dodgers trailed the Rockies 4–0. Over in San Diego, the Padres were playing the White Sox, meaning the Padres were going to win. The Dodgers needed to come back if they wanted to have any realistic hope of reaching the Division Series.
To whom did they turn?
In the fourth inning—unprecedented and understandable urgency from Dave Roberts here—they called upon Joe Kelly.
Joe Kelly might not have been sharp on Friday night, but Sunday is a godly day, and Joe Kelly was godly out there. Nine pitches. Two strikeouts. Three outs. Very close to an immaculate inning, when you look at it that way.
Dave Roberts didn’t ask our guy to pitch the fifth, so we don’t know whether he’s ready for multi-inning stints in October. Even if he isn’t, though, yesterday was the perfect case study concerning the value of a single Joe Kelly appearance. Before Joe Kelly entered the game? The Dodgers trailed 4–0. When the game was over? The Dodgers had won 6–5. There was a clear turning point, and a clear hero, a clear person responsible for Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts’s back-to-back game-tying and game-winning home runs in the ninth.
The Dodgers better just hope Joe Kelly can keep carrying them like this through October.
