Inside The Dodgers

Pitcher for NL West Rivals Has High Praise for Dodgers: 'It's Like They Have a Magic Formula'

J.P. Hoornstra

Aug 24, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Michael Kopech (45) throws in the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Aug 24, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Michael Kopech (45) throws in the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Baseball is a fishbowl industry. For all the talk among players about taking things one game at a time, focusing on what they can control, and not letting the whims of an opponent's season detract from their focus, most major league players are aware of who's doing well around the league — enough to notice a pattern when they see one.

Certainly the Dodgers have made a pattern of taking struggling pitchers for the Chicago White Sox and turning them into no less than useful major league pitchers. Last year at the trade deadline, the Dodgers acquired Joe Kelly and Lance Lynn from a moribund White Sox squad.

Kelly made 11 appearances down the stretch, allowed runs in only two of them, and struck out 19 batters in 10.1 innings while allowing a mere three hits. His 4.97 ERA in Los Angeles was a vast contrast with his 4.97 ERA in Chicago.

Lynn had the worst ERA among qualified American League pitchers (6.47) at the time of the trade, which sent Jordan Leasure, Nick Nastrini and Trayce Thompson to the White Sox. The veteran right-hander went 7-2 with a 4.36 ERA after the trade for an injury-depleted Dodgers rotation — good enough to earn a postseason start.

What the Dodgers have done this season with Michael Kopech is even more impressive.

After going 2-8 with a 4.74 ERA in 43 games with the White Sox, Kopech has risen to the top of the Dodgers' bullpen pecking order in 16 games since the trade. He's 3-0 with a 0.55 ERA and 0.551 WHIP (five hits, four walks allowed) in 16.1 innings as a Dodger. Remarkably, Kopech has struck out 20 of the 57 batters he's faced as a Dodger. He's 3 for 3 in save opportunities.

One of Kopech's appearances came against the Diamondbacks on Aug. 30, and the only inning he pitched left a major impression on veteran reliever Paul Sewald.

"It's like they have a magic formula over there," Sewald told USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "Look at what he's doing."

Sewald was in Kopech's position a year ago, when he was traded by the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline. After joining the upstart Dbacks squad, he helped the club reach the World Series by converting 13 saves in the regular season and another six in the postseason. If anyone can appreciate the disparity between a top-flight player development operation and a bad one, it's him.

The White Sox haven't lost 113 games this season by accident, so perhaps some boost was to be expected from Kopech's change of scenery. It's not often, however, that a player from an opposing team says what every fan is thinking in the same situation: the Dodgers are doing something special.

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J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. HOORNSTRA

J.P. Hoornstra writes and edits Major League Baseball content for Inside the Dodgers, and is the author of 'The 50 Greatest Dodger Games Of All Time.' He once recorded a keyboard solo on the same album as two of the original Doors.

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