The Dodgers haven’t named a starting pitcher for Game 5 of the National League Division Series yet, but they didn’t have a starting pitcher for Game 4 and yet they did a great job, keeping the team’s season alive with a big win.

“Just as rescuers link their arms in a human chain to save someone in danger of drowning,” wrote Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, “the Dodgers’ bullpen ventured their arms onto the thin ice of Game 4 and made prevented their season from happening. below.”

Pitching coach Mark Prior discussed the team’s schedule for Wednesday’s bullpen game, in which the team’s seven active high-leverage relievers covered the first eight innings. From Andy McCullough at The Athletic:

At no point during the night did Prior exhale.

“Honestly, no,” said Prior. “You saw what they did last night. They can make runs very quickly.”

A comment from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez about the Dodgers and Tigers bucking a long postseason trend Wednesday with bullpen game blankings in October: “Before Wednesday, no team had ever thrown a postseason shutout in a game in which the starter four or less scored out.”

I love a good newspaper layout with a catchy headline, and Thursday morning’s Los Angeles Times fits that bill, with the text “THE ‘PEN IS MIGHTIER” at the top of the page.

It was decided that Freddie Freeman would not play in Game 4 at breakfast on Wednesday, but would instead rest his sprained right ankle plus Thursday’s day off in hopes of playing in Game 5. That he was still drafted into the lineup initially — before being scratched — was “a bit of gamesmanship,” Freeman said after the game, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.

Daniel Brim of Dodgers Digest dug into the Dodgers’ numerous pitching injuries and wondered if de-emphasizing velocity could be a path forward:

You understand why throwing harder is more beneficial for teams. But unless you have a stable number of starting pitchers to more than ten, it may be wise to change your philosophy. I mean, the Dodgers have over ten capable starting pitchers and yet they go into a bullpen game with their season on the line.

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