Cursed.
It’s a word so many people use. When the main character in a fiction book is going to someplace haunted. Or, it’s used when a team is… well… cursed. The 2o24 Dodgers are cursed with… injuries. But, there’s one specific injury that’s been haunting the Dodgers ever since it was created. Let’s talk about that injury, and dive deeper into the injury situations.
The Main Reason
We don’t need the IL segment today.
Just yesterday, we got the news that River Ryan is going to undergo Tommy John surgery. Yes. The dreadful UCL fix that puts you out for the rest of the current and the next season. It’s pretty bad. Imagine pitchers like Walker Buehler, Shohei Ohtani, Justin Verlander, and others who’ve gone through this surgery multiple times.
Now, to the Dodgers. In 2023, the Dodgers had 15 pitchers go through Tommy John surgery. The Phillies had the least amount with 6. In total, there were 274 Tommy John surgeries in all of baseball that season. Here’s that list. Daniel Hudson, Justin Bruihl, Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, Lance Lynn, Andre Jackson, Nick Robertson, Victor González, Michael Grove, Shelby Miller, Gus Varland, Noah Syndergaard, Caleb Ferguson, Dustin May, and Tony Gonsolin. Umm… Wow.
Let me tell you all about River Ryan if you don’t know anything about him. He was the best pitcher for the Dodgers in the period of 2-3ish weeks. In his 4 starts, he only gave up 3 runs. In that span, he had a 1.33 ERA. The presumed Dodgers ace, Tyler Glasnow, had 10 runs in his last 4 starts. In Gavin Stone‘s last 4 starts, he’s given up 13 runs. The fact that he was better than Glasnow by that much is crazy! You probably know Paul Skenes. In their first battle against each other, before Ryan got hurt in the middle of the 4th inning, Ryan was outpitching Skenes! In fact, looking at the stat lines after the game, that was the truth.
I’ll tell you exactly why I talked about Ryan in just a second. First, though, let’s tackle Tommy John surgery. You see, Tommy John cursed these Dodgers. John was the first ever player to receive UCL surgery, hence they named the surgery after him. He received this surgery when he was playing for the Dodgers. In total, Dodgers Nation has had to face the loss of a pitcher to Tommy John surgery 113 times. So, don’t you think there’s a connection?
There are a few problems with this. For the team, they’re paying money for the player. If that guy just gets injured, well, they have to pay the money they owe him for… nothing. For the players, it depends on the situation. If there isn’t a market, no one will sign them. After all, so many things can change in a year and a half. For some, they just can’t pitch again because they physically can’t. This is more vivid in repeat TJ surgeries, but in a few cases, this may just happen.
Tommy John surgery is super common for bullpen pitchers because they throw fast. Looking at all the data from 2016-2024, the number of surgeries we see every year, is increasing. By a lot. In 2016, we saw 190 pitchers go on the IL for the rest of the season. The team with the lowest that year, the Red Sox, had only 2. If a team had that much this year, it would be a blessing.
Now, why was I talking about River Ryan? So, remember I told you he was doing so so good. Well, that’s the curse. Whenever a Dodgers pitcher is doing good, they somehow just get injured. In Yamamoto’s last 3 outings before going on the IL, he gave up one run. In this span, he faced the Rockies, Royals, and Yankees. In Ryan Brasier‘s last 3 outings, he also gave up only one run. For Brusdar Graterol, he had a career year in 2023 with a 1.20 ERA. Now? He came back on August 6th, when the Dodgers needed a bullpen piece, and got injured again. Do you see the trend?
How about that starting rotation? It’s in tatters! Shohei Ohtani? Tommy John. Dustin May? Tommy John. Tony Gonsolin? Tommy John.
All of what I said proves that the 2024 Dodgers are cursed. They’re lucky that they’re even in first place. In fact, I wrote an article about that earlier this week! Check it out here.
In Other News:
- The A’s are only one game back from taking over fourth place.
- Can the NL have four teams from one division competing for the title?
- The Yankees have reclaimed first place.
- The Dodgers have taken the lead in the MLB standings.
