The Dodgers have had almost nothing but bad news this year regarding injuries to their pitchers.

On Tuesday, however, the dark clouds hanging over the staff may have finally – or at least partially – begun to clear.

It wasn’t just that Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out eight batters in a dazzling four-inning, one-run return from the injured list. Or that Tyler Glasnow took another step in his recovery from elbow tendonitis by throwing a bullpen session ahead of a scheduled simulated game later this week.

Instead, for the first time in months, the team could actually do more than just dream about what a potential postseason rotation might look like.

“I feel a lot better about the rotation tonight than I did 24 hours ago,” said manager Dave Roberts.

Now it was just a matter of waiting to see if they could do anything about their sloppy defense.

The Dodgers lost 6-3 to the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. Numerous defensive errors (including three errors in a decisive five-run eighth inning) contributed to the Cubs scoring in their series-clinching victory.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes tonight,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “We’ve got to eliminate that.”

For a team that Roberts hoped would be in “playoff mode” at this point — now cruising toward another National League West division title, with a 4 1/2-game lead at the end of Tuesday’s game — the insane mental breakdowns on the field wasted an otherwise encouraging day on the mound.

With Yamamoto finally back, Glasnow increasingly likely to return in time for the playoffs and Jack Flaherty coming off a successful 2024 season, the Dodgers may have three talented starters they can rely on after all.

Less than three weeks before the start of the post-season, the elements for an actual October rotation are finally becoming clear.

“It’s starting to turn around,” Roberts said, “in terms of getting back to the rotation that we envisioned.”

Of course, none of this offers any guarantees.

Yamamoto and Glasnow still have a lot of boxes to check before they become surefire postseason weapons. Flaherty, who battled a back problem earlier this season with the Detroit Tigers, still needs to get healthy. The Dodgers could also still benefit from the emergence of a clear No. 4 starter, with Walker Buehler, Landon Knack, Bobby Miller and Clayton Kershaw (if he returns from his current toe injury) currently being evaluated for such a role.

But if things continue this way, the Dodgers’ potential playoff pitching plans may not be as fragmented as the team once feared.

Especially if Yamamoto can repeat what he did on Tuesday night.

After missing nearly three months due to a rotator cuff injury in his right throwing shoulder, Yamamoto couldn’t have been more impressive in his long-awaited return.

He sent his fastball to both sides of the plate, topping 98 mph on multiple occasions. He landed his curveball for strikes and got six whiffs on 10 swings with his splitter. The only run he gave up came in the second, when he scored after Freddie Freeman failed to catch a high hopper near the first-base line.

“It was a much better return start than I expected,” Yamamoto said after throwing 11 swings-and-misses and showing an increase in velocity from earlier in the season. “I’m really relieved that I was able to come back and pitch well.”

The fourth inning was the end for Yamamoto, who had not pitched more than two innings in any of his minor league rehab starts in recent weeks.

Read more: Clayton Kershaw tries ‘everything,’ even Skechers, to alleviate toe injuries

But the Dodgers hope this is the beginning of a late-season revival from the 26-year-old, $325 million pitcher, who now has a 2.88 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 15 starts in his debut campaign.

“He really showed himself,” Roberts said. “I didn’t know if there was going to be any rust or how he was going to handle the baseball, but he came through with flying colors.”

Glasnow, whose status was uncertain in October after being placed on the injured list last month with an elbow injury, also appears to be on the right track.

The veteran right-handed pitcher and de facto staff ace threw his second bullpen of the past week on Tuesday, impressing Roberts and other club executives in an extended session that saw him utilize his full pitch mix.

“It was good,” Roberts said. “I didn’t talk to him about it after that, but my eyes liked what I saw.”

Glasnow will pitch a two- or three-inning simulated game during the team’s trip to Atlanta on Friday. If that goes well, he could be on track to return before the end of the regular season, an encouraging development for the team’s $136.5 million offseason acquisition, who was 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA before the injury.

“It’s a priority to get him into a major league game (before the end of the regular season),” Roberts said.

Speaking to reporters before the game, Roberts still sounded cautiously optimistic as he discussed the state of the Dodgers pitching staff (which is still without Kershaw, who returned to catching duty Tuesday, and Gavin Stone, who is still out with shoulder inflammation).

“In theory there is hope, but there is also a realistic part,” Roberts said when asked how mature Yamamoto and Glasnow might be by the time the playoffs begin.

“I think we’re all comfortable with it in the sense that whatever the buildup is, it is what it is, and we’ve got to move on. So I’d obviously like to say six (innings) and 90 (pitches) would be great. How realistic that is for both guys, time will tell.”

By the end of the evening, the manager had further concerns about his team’s poor field play, the main cause of their fourth defeat in the last six games.

After leading 3-1 into the eighth inning — Tommy Edman hit two early homers, his first long balls of the season, and Max Muncy homered in the fifth — the Dodgers capitulated to the Cubs’ five-run rally.

Reliever Alex Vesia issued a leadoff walk. Throwing errors by Austin Barnes (who missed first base on a swinging bunt) and Tommy Edman (who threw a ball from center that neither shortstop Miguel Rojas nor Muncy at third could catch) led to the two tying runs. Then the go-ahead run scored when second baseman Kiké Hernández lost the ball while trying to tag a runner on a potential double play.

“It was very uncharacteristic,” Roberts said. “Just a different team that I didn’t really recognize in that eighth inning.”

Barnes took responsibility for his foul throw.

“It was horrible,” he said. “This is my fault.”

The culprit for Edman’s mistake was not so clear in the dressing room after the match.

Muncy, who saw the ball pass by third base before it ended up in the Dodgers’ dugout, said he thought Rojas would stop the play at shortstop.

“I mean, it was thrown right at him,” Muncy said. “Yeah, I thought he was going to catch it.”

However, Roberts said Rojas tried to cover the runner on first base to prevent him from advancing to second base, raising a glove as if he was just trying to create a diversion, thinking Muncy was in position to get the ball behind him.

“Miggy made the right play to keep that runner on first base,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if Max was in the right position to be honest with you, and the ball went past him. That’s a play that shouldn’t get past the third baseman.”

Those mistakes dampened the good vibes that had been radiating from the stadium after Yamamoto’s impressive start, and served as a reminder of the fine-tuning that still needed to be done in the final stages of the season.

Read more: ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy.’ The Dodgers’ role in the MLB pitching injury epidemic

Still, there may finally be some light on the horizon for the Dodgers’ injury-plagued pitching staff, given the situation a few days ago when Flaherty seemed like the only safe option for a potential postseason rotation.

It didn’t result in a win on Tuesday. But it could position them for a deep October push that once seemed doubtful.

“Of course it never feels good to lose a game,” Roberts said. “But I think the biggest lesson is that we have (Yamamoto) back.”

Gonsolin begins rehabilitation

In other positive news on the pitching injury front, right-handed pitcher Tony Gonsolin has begun a rehabilitation program with Triple-A Oklahoma City, throwing a scoreless two innings in his first game since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.

Gonsolin is unlikely to make the Major League roster this year, Roberts said, unless a “crazy scenario” occurs.

But by initiating some rehab starts before the end of this year, Gonsolin should have a smoother return to the Dodgers’ rotation in 2025.

Teoscars return

The Dodgers lineup is also expected to get a boost on Wednesday, with Teoscar Hernández expected to return to the batting order after missing the last four games with a foot contusion.

Hernández was available off the bench on Tuesday, with Roberts joking before the game that he “couldn’t convince the training staff yet” to approve the hitter’s return to the lineup.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.