Glasnow Out for the Year: Dodgers’ Pitching Continues to Thin

The Los Angeles Dodgers have announced that Tyler Glasnow is most likely done for the year. Glasnow was placed on the injured list at the beginning of August due to elbow discomfort. He attempted to recover and felt elbow discomfort when throwing a simulated game. The official statement is that he has a right elbow sprain and is unlikely to pitch again in 2024. 

The news is a devastating blow to the Dodgers but one that was never out of the question. Glasnow has had only three seasons where he pitched over 100 innings and one of those seasons was in 2024 when he set his career high for innings pitched in his 31-year-old season. When the Dodgers traded for and signed Glasnow to the contract extension in the offseason, the only question mark was whether or not he could stay healthy for long enough. Until he went to the injured list, Glasnow was the Dodgers’ ace. He was having one of the best seasons of his career and it looked like he was going to make the full season after recovering well from a short injured list stint following the All-Star Break. However, that was unfortunately not the case. 

Glasnow’s season-ending injury adds to the ever-growing list of injured Dodgers starting pitchers. Clayton Kershaw ended up back on the injured list with a bone spur after only making seven starts and Gavin Stone also was placed on the injured list roughly the same time. Currently, Jack Flaherty is the only consistent reliable starting pitcher that has no question marks surrounding him. Yoshinobu Yamamoto looked great following his return but coming off an injury, how long will he be able to hold up? Bobby Miller and Walker Buehler both have flashed great potential this season but still can’t figure out how to be consistent. Going into the playoffs, the Dodgers are expected to have one of the weaker starting staffs. If they can’t figure out the question marks immediately, it may be too late come October.