Stephen A. Smith boldly declares Dodgers’ bullpen ‘shaky’

Stephen A. Smith might not watch a lot of baseball, but that won’t stop him from talking it ahead of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers facing off in the World Series.

Smith appeased all the critics who complained he talks about the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Lakers too much on First Take Friday morning. He appeased them by taking a break from the NFL and NBA to talk baseball hours before the World Series. When Smith gets to talking about baseball, he can be a wild card of takes.

Like the time he claimed Shohei Ohtani can’t be the face of baseball. Or the time he said Aaron Judge benefits from having Juan Soto hit behind him. Smith can hold his own in a variety of discussions, but baseball seems to trip him up every so often. Ignore the fact that he can’t throw a baseball, that shouldn’t discount him from talking about the sport. But does he watch it?

“If you’re the New York Yankees you’re gonna have to figure out a way to get the better of him,” Smith said referring to the Dodgers World Series Game 1 starter Jack Flaherty. “Get the better of him, you understand? Wear him down. Get to their bullpen, their bullpen is shaky. The Yankees have a better bullpen. You do that, you should win this series.”

“The Los Angeles Dodgers have a shaky bullpen,” said no one other than Stephen A. Smith this season. So is Smith ahead of the curve and seeing something in the Dodgers bullpen that literally nobody else sees? Or did Smith just reach the point where it was time to say something about the World Series without watching the Dodgers this season?

The shaky Dodgers’ bullpen has a 5-0 record with a 3.16 ERA despite throwing more innings than any other cast of relievers this postseason. The Dodgers starters? They’re 2-4 with a 6.08 ERA in the playoffs. The Dodgers’ bullpen is a big reason why they’re in the World Series. So big that the Dodgers only have three starters and opt to have a bullpen game in their playoff rotation. The Dodgers’ staff also tied the record for consecutive scoreless innings in a postseason with 33, and 18 of those innings came from their bullpen.

Give Smith credit about one thing, he’s right in saying the Yankees should try to wear down the Dodgers pitchers. One way to beat a great bullpen is by forcing Los Angeles to cycle through relievers quicker than they’d like to. But it’s factually inaccurate to claim the Yankees just need to knock out the starter and they’ll be home free against a “shaky” Dodgers bullpen.

[First Take]