3 Dodgers on the September roster who don't deserve to play this postseason
The Los Angeles Dodgers September roster is out as the team added Emmet Sheehan and Kolten Wong to the roster on Friday. Sheehan is a young starting pitcher with the potential to be a guy the Dodgers rely on for years, while Wong is a veteran who the Dodgers picked up after the Mariners released him.
The Dodgers are fighting for the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the NL, but their path is a lot tougher now following two frustrating losses in a row against the Braves, the team they're chasing. Even if they don't get that top seed, the Dodgers are all but locked into one of the top two seeds in the NL guaranteeing them a spot in the NLDS, bypassing the Wild Card round.
The returns of J.D. Martinez this week and hopefully Walker Buehler later this month have Dodgers fans excited as the team looks to win the World Series. While it's nice to get big reinforcements like Martinez and Buehler, their returns combined with the fact that postseason rosters shrink from 28 in September back to 26 means certain players on the roster now will lose their spots.
Dodgers who won't make the postseason roster, No. 3: Emmet Sheehan
Emmet Sheehan is a pitcher who generated a ton of hype after posting a 1.86 ERA while striking out an absurd 14.9 batters per nine in 12 appearances (10 starts) for Double-A Tulsa this season. Sheehan's dominance and the Dodgers' pitching injury woes helped the right-hander jump straight from Tulsa to the bigs.
The hype only grew for Sheehan after he delivered six hitless frames against the Giants in his MLB debut. Sheehan only struck out three but limited the Giants to two walks in his 89-pitch masterpiece.
The right-hander followed that up with a solid six-inning start against the Astros in which he allowed just two runs on three hits. All looked extremely promising for Sheehan, but he had an 8.06 ERA in his next five appearances before being moved to the bullpen. After four innings out of the bullpen against the Athletics, Sheehan was sent down with the Dodgers acquiring Lance Lynn just a couple of days before.
With Tony Gonsollin done for the year, Sheehan is with the Dodgers starting on Saturday against the Braves, but who knows how long he'll remain with the club. Walker Buehler is expected to return from Tommy John Surgery sometime this month, and the Dodgers have four other established starters in Lynn, Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, and Julio Urias. There's no room for Sheehan to start, and I think it's very unlikely he has a role out of the bullpen.