LOS ANGELES -- A dominant performance on the mound helped the Dodgers continue an even more dominant start to their season.
Tyler Glasnow blanked the Braves across five innings in his season debut, paving the way for a series-opening 6-1 victory on Monday night at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers are only the third defending World Series champions to go undefeated across their first six games or more, joining the 1985 Tigers (6-0) and the 1933 Yankees (7-0).
Their 6-0 record also matches the Dodgers' best start to a season since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1958. The only other Dodgers team to win its first six games in that span was the '81 club that went on to win the World Series that year.
Glasnow set the tone early, striking out eight and not allowing a hit until there was one out in the fifth inning. He issued three walks but only gave up a pair of singles to cap his first big league start since last Aug. 11.
"That was kind of the nastiest I've seen him," Braves center fielder Michael Harris II said. "He was, I guess, 98 [mph], but it felt like 103, and then even when he got down to 95 it still felt like 100."
Glasnow's first season with the Dodgers ended prematurely due to injury, which has become somewhat of a tired refrain around the 31-year-old right-hander throughout his big league career. Because of that, he might just be one of the more overlooked members of Los Angeles' rotation despite being the club's Opening Day starter in 2024.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell got the ball for the openers in Japan and at home, respectively. Roki Sasaki's transition to the Majors has been a subject of intrigue. Dustin May is set to return to a big league mound after nearly two years of adversity.
And in the middle of it all is Glasnow, who was excellent when healthy last season, posting a 3.49 ERA across 22 starts and 134 innings, both career highs. He didn't throw a pitch in October, but he was a big part of how the Dodgers got there.
In the hopes that health wouldn't be the predominant topic around him this year, Glasnow was motivated to find a solution this past offseason, tweaking his delivery and changing his throwing program in an effort to ensure he's an option every fifth day.
"I think after I got hurt the first time," Glasnow said, "it's like you keep messing around with stuff and try to fix things. And I think this year it's, like, an accumulation of everything."
One big change to Glasnow's routine is he's stopped throwing weighted balls, which he believed helped his velocity but had an adverse effect on his health. He now takes a more old-school approach, which involves throwing out to greater distances but at a lower effort level. He's hoping that will help him achieve the same electric stuff, but with less of a health risk.
Another focus for Glasnow this season is feeling free and not allowing himself to overthink his in-game mechanics. He made strides in that regard on Monday, when he "felt out of sync" and walked back-to-back hitters to open the second inning.
This is the type of situation where Glasnow might have gotten in his own head in the past. Instead, he settled down to get three quick outs, and he only had one baserunner get past first in his final three innings.
"Just kind of getting hitters and staying aggressive and trusting his stuff," manager Dave Roberts said. "And you can see the conviction of the breaking ball today. There's a lot of bad swings with that pitch. And then the fastball played. I think tonight was a good stepping stone going forward.¡±
If the Dodgers are able to accomplish their goal of becoming the first to win back-to-back World Series in more than two decades, Glasnow will surely play a large role in helping his team get there again. And he wants to be on the mound up until the end.
If the Dodgers continue to build off their strong start, he might get a chance to do just that.
"I didn't know what to expect going into spring, and it just seemed like the atmosphere was even hungrier than last year," Glasnow said. "I think it's been, from Day 1, everyone has just been super motivated to come out strong and win it again."