LOS ANGELES — As a World Series-record number of pitchers individually filed out of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen during a marathon Game 3 on Monday night, each honored one pitcher who couldn’t be there.
Ten pitchers, and nine relievers, took their turns pitching, taking on Yeoman’s work in an eventual 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays in 18 innings. While they pitched, they had stitched onto their caps the No. 51 of veteran reliever Alex Vesia, who is away from the team as he and his wife, Kayla, deal with what the Dodgers have called a “deeply personal matter.”
The salute was subtle, with the number in white script right next to the World Series patch on the side of their caps. The gesture arrived in time for a defining performance, with the much-maligned bullpen group combining to log 13 1/3 innings while allowing just one run to help the Dodgers win the longest game in World Series history. It’s a group that was weakened by the loss of Vesia, who has been a stalwart relief ace for the Dodgers since arriving from the Miami Marlins before the 2021 season.
The Dodgers have not provided any update on Vesia’s status, though he is not expected to be available for the series.
“Certainly he’s a part of this,” manager Dave Roberts said before the series.
“This is so much bigger than baseball,” added president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman.
His fellow relievers wanted to make his presence felt anyway.
“With him not being here, I think it was just a matter of showing that we’re united with him and Kayla at this time,” said Jack Dreyer, who is also Vesia’s daily catch partner. “It’s just the little thing that we could do to show him that we care and we’re thinking about him. We could really use him here, but at the end of the day, we’re a family. So we’re going to help support him however we can.”
“Ves is such a big part of our squad and everything that we do, everything we’ve done,” added Justin Wrobleski.
“The Vesia situation is playing on our hearts recently,” said Evan Phillips, who along with Blake Treinen has shared a bullpen with Vesia dating back to 2021. “We certainly miss him on the field, but we know that we have his back and the support’s there for them while they’re going through this hard time.”
The gesture wound up being part of the visual of the tensest and most heroic moments of one of the greatest games in World Series history.
It was on Clayton Kershaw’s cap as the retiring future Hall of Famer entered a bases-loaded jam in the 12th inning and got Nathan Lukes to ground out in what could be his final appearance ever. It was on Emmet Sheehan’s cap as he turned in his finest outing this October, recording eight outs to help extend the game. When Will Klein inserted himself into Dodgers lore forever with four heroic scoreless innings to end the night, he did so with a No. 51 on the side of his hat.
“I’m new to the bullpen, but Ves, he means a lot to all of us,” Kershaw said.
“It’s been pretty emotional down there recently, with everything that’s going on with Ves,” added Sheehan. “We were thinking of him all night.”
— The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner contributed to this report.
