The Los Angeles Dodgers, despite countless injuries and other setbacks, are still 68-51, with a one-game lead in the NL West and the fourth-best record in the National League. While this season has not been the wall-to-wall smackdown Dodgers fans probably hoped for, this team remains extremely dangerous — and it will only get better in the weeks ahead.
Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani are all back into the swing of things on the mound. Rōki Sasaki, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates should all return well before the postseason. As health prevails and the Dodgers get closer to full strength, this team will begin to resemble the juggernaut that Andrew Friedman thought he was assembling after L.A.'s World Series win a year ago.
That said, there's always room to improve, and the Dodgers are never short on ambition. A quiet trade deadline does not mean Los Angeles can't still improve, perhaps through an impactful waiver wire addition: Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias.
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Dodgers should target Braves' Raisel Iglesias as potential waiver candidate
Amid injuries to Scott, Yates and others, L.A.'s bullpen has struggled to maintain leads all season. It's a small drop in an ocean of far more pressing weaknesses around the league, but since we are talking about the Dodgers, we cannot rule out the divine intervention of fate. Good things happen to the Dodgers because good things happen to the Dodgers. It's a known fact of the world. We must all accept reality.
There's a good chance Atlanta opts to keep Iglesias through the season and attempts to re-sign him as a free agent. But he's 35, and Atlanta is clearly not going to contend this season. Iglesias won't command a huge salary next winter, but he won't come cheap either, and Atlanta has a ton of viable pitching prospects — both starters and relievers — coming up through the farm system.
As such, it could behoove them to cut bait and let Iglesias explore his options elsewhere. This has been Iglesias' worst season to date on paper, with a 4.34 ERA and 1.11 WHIP and 53 strikeouts in 47.1 innings. After putting together one of the best reliever campaigns in recent memory a year ago, his value has sunk to the point where Atlanta might just let him walk.
Raisel Iglesias beefs up World Series-caliber Dodgers pitching staff
At full strength, the Dodgers have arguably the best pitching staff in MLB. It has not been "at full strength" at all this season, but it seems like L.A. might just pull together a relatively healthy 13-man group just in time for October. Because of course they will.
Despite some less-than-stellar surface numbers, Iglesias is still a very good pitcher. He has been the victim of bad luck this season and his output has turned around in a big way of late. Iglesias has not allowed a run in his last seven outings. With low walk numbers, high strikeouts numbers and a penchant for soft contact, the advanced metrics paint a still-glowing portrait of Iglesias as a stone-cold closer.
If the Dodgers can stack Iglesias, Scott, Yates and Alex Vesia in the postseason bullpen, that is four lights-out, high-leverage arms with a ton of experience. Toss in a few back-end members of the rotation, like Sasaki and even Clayton Kershaw, and the Dodgers look like a buzzsaw.
This outcome would suck for the rest of the league, but it's worth monitoring as a possibility as Iglesias chases that illusive World Series ring.