With every inning this postseason, Jack Flaherty can help lift these Dodgers of the present into Dodgers history, and at the same time he has been pitching his way into the Dodgers鈥 future.
The Los Angeles kid who comes complete with broadcast-ready photos of him as a toddler at Dodger Stadium, Flaherty carved his name into that ballpark鈥檚 many October highlights Sunday night with seven sterling, shutout innings in 9-0 statement against the New York Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. The former Cardinals鈥 frontman gave the Dodgers their longest playoff start since 2021 and, while he extended a postseason record for LA, did something essential for its championship aspirations. He made it possible for the Dodgers to avoid a bullpen game when the series shifts to Queens.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of fun,鈥 Flaherty told reporters in the post-game press conference. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 really put it all into words. But the most important part was coming out and setting a tone.鈥
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Flaherty set one that will echo into the winter and his free agency.
The right-hander, who turns 29 on Tuesday, has pitched for four teams in the past 15 months, been traded twice and a free agent once. He signed a one-year, $14-million contract with Detroit this past offseason 鈥 seeking a chance to be in a rotation and increase interest for his second shot at free agency this winter. A deal to the Dodgers at the trade deadline meant more than a return to his house in Los Angeles. With his boyhood team, he could harness an October tailwind to sweep him into the open market.
Unless he makes a firsthand bid just for the Dodgers to keep him home.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e getting Jack at the perfect time as far as he鈥檚 a veteran player, he鈥檚 been through a lot 鈥 highs lows,鈥 LA manager Dave Roberts told reporters. 鈥淎nd found his way back.鈥
Said catcher Will Smith: 鈥淗e鈥檚 got an aura about him.鈥
In his second playoff start for the Dodgers, Flaherty retired the first nine Mets he faced. He lost his perfect run with a leadoff walk in the fourth before blitzing through the remainder of that inning. In his seven innings, the only hits he allowed were two singles bunched together in the fifth inning. Flaherty struck out six and needed 98 pitches to get 21 outs. He established his fastball, and though it averaged 92.6 mph 鈥 down from 93.3 mph this season, or 94.3 mph in his heyday with the Cardinals 鈥 was pinpoint enough to set up his breaking pitches and eventually peppered the strike zone with pitches for outs.
Flaherty got more swings and misses on his knuckle curve and slider (eight) than the Mets got balls in play against those pitches (seven).
This was, he might say, the art of pitching.
鈥淗e was getting ahead with his fastball and then his slider, the breaking ball, the slow curve 鈥 kept us off balance,鈥 Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said in a post-game press conference. 鈥淗e tried to make us chase. Which we did the first time through the order. Then he was just on.鈥
Said Roberts: 鈥淗e did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix.鈥
The bullpen added two scoreless innings onto Flaherty鈥檚 seven to give LA its third consecutive shutout this past week. Stretching back to when they were on the brink of elimination by Mike Shildt鈥檚 San Diego Padres, the Dodgers have authored 33 consecutive scoreless innings to tie the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the playoff record. Flaherty鈥檚 perfect run through his first look at the Mets鈥 lineup extended the Dodgers streak to 28 consecutive opponents retired, stretching back to their NLDS Game 5 clincher.
The innings mattered as much to the Dodgers as the zeroes Flaherty hung them in.
Injuries have shredded LA鈥檚 rotation (again), and neither Clayton Kershaw nor Tyler Glasnow will be found in this round鈥檚 rotation. The Dodgers have Walker Buehler set to start as early as Game 2 and would have been forced to use him if Flaherty faltered. The fallout from that, however, would have meant a bullpen game Wednesday at Citi Field 鈥 a bullpen game at the start of a three-game, three-day stretch with no off day to reset.
Flaherty鈥檚 seven strong innings allow the Dodgers to go bullpen Monday night at home in Dodger Stadium with Flaherty鈥檚 birthday off day to follow Tuesday.
鈥淛ack being able to do that opens up a lot of things,鈥 Roberts explained to reporters in Los Angeles late Sunday. 鈥淎lso saves some looks for some of our guys in the 鈥榩en.鈥
For Flaherty, a shutout at Dodger Stadium was a throwback.
As a junior at Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, California, Flaherty hoisted the Wolverines to a state championship at Dodger Stadium. He pitched a 1-0 shutout that day, and he drove in the lone run.
Flaherty wears his LA love on his sleeve. As a Cardinal, he spoke and tweeted often about his fondness for the Lakers and Kobe Bryant. When Flaherty represented the Cardinals in the Futures Game, Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield found the young right-hander鈥檚 locker in the clubhouse and sat in it until Flaherty returned. They鈥檇 known each other for years 鈥 attended the same Super Bowl parties at Kenny Lofton鈥檚 house in LA. His mother, Eileen Flaherty, took him to Dodger Stadium before his first birthday and he鈥檇 attend a dozen to 20 games a summer. He recalled for reporters this past week going to games in 2014, months after the Cardinals drafted him 34th overall and out of high school.
Ahead of his first start at Dodger Stadium, back in August 2018, Flaherty dashed across the diamond to embrace Robert Horry, the former Laker and seven-time NBA champ. The close family friend then saw Flaherty take a no-hitter through five as the Cardinals completed a sweep of the Dodgers.
鈥淚 saw some family out there when I was warming up,鈥 Flaherty said of this Sunday night at Dodger Stadium. 鈥淎nd I had gone to games here with them before. So, it was just kind of lets you relax a little bit. At least that was the way it was for me tonight. Felt I tried to do too much the last couple of times out in some big games. Just allowed me to be myself and just go out and pitch and trust my stuff.鈥
The Game 1 start was his best playoff outing since his six-inning start for the Cardinals at San Diego in the 2020 postseason tournament, and it was his longest since seven innings and eight strikeouts in his playoff debut with the Cardinals in 2019鈥檚 NLDS Game 2 at Atlanta. The Cardinals did not score in either of those games to support Flaherty.
All the promise of those early years encountered frustration and inconsistency in later years until the Cardinals, resigned to a losing season in 2023, traded Flaherty. The deal did not happen until shortly before the deadline, leaving Flaherty at one point to workout on the Busch Stadium field, in Cardinals gear, as if he might stay 鈥 even beyond 2023. Instead, the Cardinals completed a deal that sent him to Baltimore. When the Orioles鈥 playoff run ended with Flaherty in the bullpen, he became a free agent for the first time.
Flaherty went 7-5 with a 2.95 ERA in 18 starts for the Tigers before he had deadline day d茅j脿 vu. He was one of the best pitchers available for trade in late July. It took until the final moments to complete an 11th-hour engineering of a deal to the Dodgers. The Yankees had interest and reportedly eased out of a deal due to medical concerns. Flaherty insisted later he was fine. The Dodgers would back him. (The whole thing might sound vaguely familiar to long-time readers of Post-Dispatch reporting.)
All of that was peripheral to performance.
For an LA rotation fraying with injury and absence, Flaherty proved vital. In 10 regular-season starts for the Dodgers, Flaherty went 7-3 with a 3.58 ERA and an average of slightly more than five innings per start. Including a rocky, boisterous start against San Diego, where he twice exchanged words with Manny Machado, Flaherty has a 3.46 ERA for the Dodgers, who are 8-4 in his 12 games.
That is the momentum he'll take into free agency as still one of the youngest starting pitchers available, and no qualifying offer to shape the bidding.
There is a phrase that comes up every spring training and applies just as easily to October. Players and pitchers talk about how they鈥檙e performing for all 30 teams, any of whom might have interest in signing them, trading for them, or acquiring them should they slip through waivers. What鈥檚 true on the fringes of the roster in March applies to pending free agents in October. They can catch the eye of all 30 clubs.
Or, with a start like Flaherty鈥檚 on Sunday and all of the weight on it and the team around, assert how he looks with one club, right down to the sellout crowd's standing ovation that ushered him out of the game.
The team that has him may just need to keep him.
He can go home again, maybe even to stay.
鈥淭his is certainly a childhood dream for him and his family,鈥 Roberts said in his post-game press conference. 鈥淲e just knew that you get a guy and you just feel that he can handle this market, handle pitching in a playoff game, starting a playoff game. That wasn't really a surprise for us. I felt, like I said tonight, he's going to spit out a really good one. And the moment just isn't going to get too big for Jack.鈥
