Sunday night the Los Angeles Dodgers will host the New York Mets for Game 1 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. The 2024 Dodgers are four wins away from a pennant and eight wins away from their franchise's eighth World Series title, including the Brooklyn years. The 2025 Dodgers, however, were dealt a significant blow Saturday.
Los Angeles announced rookie right-hander Gavin Stone, who led the Dodgers with 140 1/3 innings this year, underwent shoulder surgery and is likely to miss the entire 2025 season. Stone was placed on the injured list with shoulder inflammation on Sept. 6. Whatever caused that inflammation was serious enough to require surgery, apparently.
Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed pitcher Gavin Stone had right-shoulder surgery on October 9 performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. He will likely be out all of the 2025 season.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 12, 2024
"He had his shoulder surgery, successful," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Stone on Saturday. "Identified a lot of stuff that was going on in the shoulder. Don't see him coming back in '25."
Had he been healthy, Stone undoubtedly would have been part of the team's postseason rotation, which currently includes only Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, and Walker Buehler. Landon Knack could get a start at some point, though he was passed over in favor of a bullpen game with the season on the line in Game 4 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers have seven -- seven! -- major-league starters on the injured list at the moment, plus two of their top pitching prospects (Kyle Hurt and Nick Frasso) suffered season-ending injuries while in Triple-A earlier this year. Pitching injuries continue to threaten to derail to club's season and they also create an awful lot of questions about their 2025 rotation.
Here is the Dodgers' 2025 rotation depth chart using only pitchers under contract or team control:
- RHP Tyler Glasnow (elbow tendinitis ended his season on Aug. 11)
- RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
RHP Gavin Stone(likely to miss 2025 with shoulder surgery)- RHP Tony Gonsolin (coming off Tommy John surgery)
- RHP Dustin May (coming off Tommy John and esophageal surgery)
- RHP Landon Knack
- RHP Bobby Miller
- LHP Justin Wrobleski
RHP Emmet Sheehan(will miss most of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)RHP River Ryan(will miss most or all of 2025 with Tommy John surgery)
Flaherty and Buehler will be free agents this offseason as will Clayton Kershaw, who is out with a bone spur in his toe. Kershaw has a $10 million player option for 2025, though it's unclear whether he wants to continue playing. The future Hall of Famer has been going year-to-year for several years now, and it's possible not even he knows what he wants to do in 2025 yet.
It seems likely the Dodgers will import at least one starting pitcher this offseason -- re-signing the Southern California born-and-raised Flaherty is one option -- especially given Glasnow's injury history, Yamamoto's need for extra rest, and the likelihood Gonsolin and May will be handled carefully in their first full seasons following elbow reconstruction.
Stone, 25, made 25 starts and threw 140 1/3 innings with a 3.53 ERA in 2024. He is not a big bat-misser -- only 116 strikeouts in those 140 1/3 innings -- instead relying on his ability to generate weak contact to get outs. Stone's exit velocity and hard-hit rates were comfortably better than the league average.
Flaherty will start Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday night. Roberts hinted at using a bullpen game for Game 2 on Monday. That will likely depend on how much they need their relievers in Game 1. Buehler could start Game 2 instead.
