Inside Jack Flaherty's postseason dream and more from Dodgers clubhouse after Game 1

In late July, in the hours before the trade deadline, Andrew Friedman thought Jack Flaherty was headed elsewhere. Flaherty was a prime target for Los Angeles, but with a trade looking increasingly unlikely, Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office pivoted and focused on other options.

Then with 40 minutes before the deadline, Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris called Friedman. Flaherty was still available. Quickly, the two sides finalized a trade that sent Flaherty to the Dodgers for catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo and shortstop Trey Sweeney.

Since then, Flaherty has emerged as one of the Dodgers’ most dependable starting pitchers when the team has needed him most. In 55.1 innings, Flaherty has recorded a 3.58 ERA and 61 strikeouts. He has allowed three or less runs in eight of 10 outings. And with the Dodgers entering the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, they didn’t hesitate in naming Flaherty their Game 1 starter.

“Jack has been great for us,” said Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations. “The look in his eye, he wanted the ball today.”

Said manager Dave Roberts: “I just feel he’s built for moments like this.”

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Jack Flaherty came up huge when the Dodgers needed him most

In Game 1, Flaherty delivered his best performance as a Dodger in a 9-0 victory. He threw seven shutout innings, recording six strikeouts while allowing only two hits and two walks. He overwhelmed a powerful Mets lineup the same way he has throughout a resurgent 2024 season: by playing with the shapes and speeds on his sliders, locating pitches, mixes and locating his curveball effectively and, in the words of infielder Gavin Lux, “competes his ass off on the mound.”

After Flaherty exited the game, he was mobbed by teammates inside the Dodgers’ dugout. One of them was Clayton Kershaw. The right-hander idolized Kershaw growing up as a young Dodgers fan and being teammates - and being praised by his childhood hero - meant the world to Flaherty. “Getting a hug afterwards and him letting me know it was a really good job is special,” Flaherty said, “and things that you can’t make up.”

But it’s the job that Flaherty, and the entire Dodgers pitching staff this postseason, that has the Dodgers three wins away from advancing to the World Series. The Dodgers have combined for 33 consecutive scoreless innings, tying a record held by the 1966 Baltimore Orioles. People around the Dodgers, including Roberts, have cautioned that it’s not just the pitchers who deserve credit for this historic stretch. It’s the defense. It’s the coaches. It’s the front office. It’s the advance scouts. It’s everyone.

“I just think that’s how we’re preventing runs,” Roberts said. “It’s a complete team effort, collective effort.”

Dodgers pitching staff is on the ropes, but that's where they thrive

That the Dodgers are at this point is nothing short of miraculous. Sure, they have an offense that resembles an All-Star team. But the pitching has been decimated with injuries. They have introduced numerous young players into critical roles. There are three to four players on the National League Championship Series roster who Roberts wasn’t sure would get Major League service time this season. 

With everything factored in, Roberts called it his “most challenging” season as Dodgers manager.

But on Sunday night, in front of a packed Dodger Stadium, Flaherty made Roberts’ night simple. He pitched arguably the best game of his career in a place he often came as a kid to watch his favorite team. When the game ended, with his right arm heavily wrapped in ice, he greeted his mom Eileen with a hug behind home plate.

The moment meant the world to Flaherty. It reminded him of how far he has come since dreaming of being a Dodgers player as he grew up playing little league baseball in Sherman Oaks. But he made it clear that he doesn’t want to look too far back or too far ahead. After all, this was only Game 1.

“We still got work to do,” Flaherty said.

More notes from the Dodgers clubhouse after Game 1

Kevin Kiermaier

After the game, Dodgers outfielder Kevin Kiermaier reiterated that this will be his last season in baseball. 

“This is it,” Kiermaier said. “I want to go out with a bang.”

Kiermaier on Freddie Freeman

“From the outside looking in, you see him hobbling around and doing this or that,” Kiermaier said. “But you’d be amazed with what he’s doing every day. He’s with the trainers constantly and doing exercises when it’s nice to have downtime and unwind a little bit.

“I’m speaking for everyone when I say we have the utmost respect for him in the way he goes about it. He’s an absolute dawg. … Ever since I came over here, everyone said, ‘Watch what this guy will play through. You’ll never see anything like it.’ That was back in August and here I am now, in the most crucial games of the year, and for him to do what he’s done, it’s absolutely amazing. I tip my hat to him.”