The Dodgers Now Have MLB’s Best Bullpen, and It’s Not Even Close
With the additions of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, the Los Angeles Dodgers have constructed by far the best bullpen in MLB.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have built the best bullpen in baseball heading into the 2025 season, and it’s not even close.
On Thursday, the Dodgers officially announced the signing of southpaw Tanner Scott, who was this offseason’s premier free agent reliever. One of the best closers in all of baseball over the past two years, Scott inked a four-year, $72 million deal with Los Angeles, providing an enormous boost of talent to an already loaded group of relievers.
It didn’t stop there, however. Just a couple of days later, the Dodgers reportedly reached a tentative agreement with 37-year-old reliever Kirby Yates, who is coming off a sensational season with the Texas Rangers where he pitched to a 1.17 ERA. While the deal has yet to be formally announced, it is expected to become official following his physical.
The Dodgers continue to stockpile elite talent. The bullpen was arguably their biggest roster weakness heading into the offseason, and they’ve now constructed a super ‘pen that no team in baseball can match.
MLB’s Best Bullpen
The Dodgers have a litany of elite options to turn to for the 2025 season. For a ball club that already had numerous fantastic relief options, adding Scott and Yates into the fold makes this one of the best bullpens MLB has seen in recent memory.
Projected 2025 Bullpen | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | B/9 | HR/9 | GB% | SV |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tanner Scott (L) | 1.75 | 1.13 | 10.50 | 4.50 | 0.38 | 50.0% | 22 |
Kirby Yates (R) | 1.17 | 0.83 | 12.41 | 4.09 | 0.44 | 45.5% | 33 |
Blake Treinen (R) | 1.93 | 0.94 | 10.80 | 2.12 | 0.96 | 44.7% | 1 |
Michael Kopech (R) | 3.46 | 1.15 | 11.70 | 4.52 | 1.20 | 37.6% | 15 |
Evan Phillips (R) | 3.62 | 1.19 | 10.37 | 2.80 | 0.99 | 39.7% | 18 |
Alex Vesia (L) | 1.76 | 0.99 | 11.80 | 4.48 | 0.95 | 22.1% | 5 |
Anthony Banda (L) | 3.67 | 1.25 | 9.06 | 3.26 | 0.91 | 44.4% | 2 |
Ryan Brasier (R) | 3.54 | 0.96 | 8.04 | 1.61 | 0.96 | 42.3% | 0 |
*Brusdar Graterol (R) | 2.45 | 0.68 | 8.59 | 2.45 | 0.00 | 44.4% | 0 |
It appears the Dodgers paid Scott to be their closer, but they truly have six or seven elite options they can utilize in that role if need be.
Not only does this bullpen feature as much depth as any in Major League Baseball, but the abundance of top-end talent that they have at their disposal from top to bottom is second to none.
For a while, the lone concern that existed for this group was health and durability. But with the recent additions they made, they addressed that concern in a big way to buy time for some of their top arms to return to full health.
Brusdar Graterol, one of the most talented relievers in the sport when healthy, underwent right shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss at least the first half of the 2025 season.
What’s more, per a report by Bob Nightengale, Michael Kopech, the club’s enormous trade deadline acquisition from last summer, could miss the first month of the season as he’s currently dealing with forearm inflammation. The team later downplayed the injury issue, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
The duo of Scott and Yates helps fill their void in the bullpen to start the season, and when Kopech and Graterol eventually return to the bump and this bullpen is at full strength, no team in MLB will have as many premier closer options than the Dodgers will have in 2025.
An Endless List of Elite Closer Options
While Scott will get the opportunity to close out games, GM Brandon Gomes indicated that the southpaw will not be the set closer and it will be a fluid role. In other words, the Dodgers will embrace a closer-by-committee approach in 2025 as a way to capitalize on their abundance of talented options.
Not only is Scott one of the best lefty relievers in the sport, but he’s been one of the best overall closers in MLB over the past two seasons. Scott leads all qualified relievers in fWAR since the beginning of the 2023 season (4.5) while pitching to a 2.04 ERA across 150 innings.
He can attack both lefties and righties, and he’s an arm the Dodgers can use in any situation. Whether it be getting out of a tight jam in the seventh, setting up in the eighth, or closing out the game in the ninth, Scott adds such an enormous amount of versatility to this bullpen.
The list of potential closing options doesn’t end with Scott, however. The Dodgers brought back Blake Treinen this offseason, who was terrific in 2024. He pitched to a 1.93 ERA with a WHIP under 1.00 while striking out north of 30% of batters faced.
Treinen was the Dodgers’ primary setup man in the regular season last year, but he took over the closer role in October. He was very capable in that role, as he led the club in postseason saves (3) while fanning 18 hitters and allowing just three runs across his 12.1 postseason innings.
The newly-acquired Kirby Yates dominated in his age-37 season with the Rangers. Among all qualified MLB relievers last year, Yates was second in ERA (1.17), only behind Emmanuel Clase.
Yates had a dazzling opponent batting average of just .111, he struck out batters at a 35.9% clip, and he managed to keep the ball on the ground at a high rate as well (45.5%). The veteran has experience pitching in all types of leverage situations.
As mentioned, Kopech could miss the first month or so of the season, but he was outstanding after coming over from the White Sox at the trade deadline. Posting a 1.13 ERA in 24 appearances in a Dodgers uniform, Kopech proved to be a reliable closer for Los Angeles down the stretch.
After joining the Dodgers, Kopech had a WHIP under 0.80 and a strikeout rate of 33% in the regular season. When he returns from injury, he will certainly be in the mix to close out games as he continues to develop his devastating arsenal.
Southpaw Alex Vesia had a career year with the Dodgers last season as well. The 28-year-old pitched to the tune of a 1.76 ERA to go with a 33.1% strikeout rate and an opponent batting average of .144 across 66.1 innings. He’s yet another iron in the fire for the Dodgers to deploy in high-leverage situations.
It’s also important to remember that the Dodgers still have Evan Phillips, who has been the ball club’s primary closer for the last two seasons. Combine his experience closing for the Dodgers and his ability to pitch in tight, late-game situations, and he will certainly be in the mix to continue closing games in 2025.
It’s truly an awe-inspiring group of relievers. It’s the deepest and most talented bullpen in MLB, and few teams even come close to being in the same tier.
How Other Great Bullpens Compare
There are plenty of impressive bullpens across Major League Baseball, but how do they stack up when compared to the Dodgers? We’ll start by looking at the best from a season ago.
Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians have built an incredible bullpen, and it’s the one that comes closest to rivaling that of the Dodgers.
It helps to have the best closer in the game in Emmanuel Clase, who earned Cy Young votes for his impeccable 2024 campaign. Following the emergence of Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis as some of baseball’s premier setup options, there’s a reason why the Guardians put up one of the best seasons we have seen from a bullpen in recent memory in 2024.
The Guardians recently signed free agent Paul Sewald to fortify the middle of their bullpen as well. While he’s coming off a down year in 2024, he has impressive stuff and has proven himself in high-leverage situations in previous seasons.
Add in southpaw Tim Herrin, who pitched to a 1.92 ERA with a WHIP of 0.97 across 65.2 innings last season, and Cleveland has an impressive group of four relievers to bridge to Clase. They are once again going to be one of the top relief units in all of baseball in 2025.
However, the Dodgers’ depth for the no. 6-8 spots in their bullpen is what separates them from the Guardians.
Cleveland has a pair of capable up-and-coming arms in Erik Sabrowski and Andrew Walters, but their lack of track record compared to the Dodgers’ equivalents is what gives Los Angeles the edge.
If Walters and Sabrowski can build upon the success they flashed in their small sample sizes at the tail end of the season in 2024, it could be a different conversation. But for now, the Dodgers should be viewed as the superior bullpen.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers were once again one of the best bullpens in MLB in 2024. They finished second in baseball in both bullpen ERA (3.11) and Win Probability Added (12.14). Only the Guardians were better in those two categories.
They don’t do it with household names, but Milwaukee continues to produce elite results regardless of who is taking the mound. The emergence of Trevor Megill, Jared Koenig, and Bryan Hudson in 2024 was massive for the team’s success, and they will be leaned upon in a huge way next season.
Of course, the Brewers will be without their long-time closer, Devin Williams, as he was traded to the New York Yankees this offseason. Obviously subtracting one of the best closers in the sport will be an adjustment, but the Brewers have a strong track record of creating seamless transitions in that role.
They might not have the same degree of name recognition as the Dodgers or the Guardians, but they have plenty of depth from top to bottom, as well as two of the most exciting reliever prospects in the game in Craig Yoho and Jacob Misiorowski.
With that being said, it’s not a guarantee that their bullpen picks up where they left off in 2024. What’s more, Milwaukee’s bullpen drops down a tier following their top four relievers of Megill, Joenig, Payamps, and Hudson. The remaining names in their bullpen have plenty of upside, but they also come with a wide range of outcomes.
For that reason, one could argue that the Brewers’ back of the bullpen isn’t on the same level as the Dodgers, or even the Guardians. Still expected to be one of the top relief units in the sport in 2025, Milwaukee simply doesn’t have the same degree of star power as the Dodgers — especially after trading away their star closer.
Minnesota Twins
The Twins’ bullpen finished second in the American League in fWAR last season (5.9), trailing only the Guardians. They were also second in the AL in FIP (3.62) and SIERA (3.52).
Interestingly enough, Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projection model has the Twins grading out as the best bullpen in baseball in 2025. For that reason, it seems fair to pin them up against the Dodgers and see how the two bullpens compare heading into next season.
Jhoan Duran is still one of the most talented closers in the entire sport, and he’s likely to turn in better results in 2025 than the 3.64 ERA he put up a season ago. The duo of Duran and Griffin Jax is expected to be one of the best in baseball next season.
But much of Minnesota’s encouraging projections stem from anticipated bounce-backs from Duran and Brock Stewart, as well as expected development from setup men Cole Sands and Jax. Each one of those players would need to take a step forward for the Twins to be considered in the same tier as the Dodgers, and while certainly possible, that is hardly guaranteed.
Though they have the talent to finish among the top bullpens in the American League once again in 2025, the Twins’ bullpen isn’t nearly as deep as the Dodgers’ when breaking it down player by player. That has been the common theme throughout this article.
Best of the Rest
There are a ton of really good bullpens throughout Major League Baseball, but many of them come with at least a question or two.
The Orioles will feature some incredible top-end talent with the return of Félix Bautista combined with names like Andrew Kittredge, Yennier Cano, and Keegan Akin. But they lack back-end relief help in a big way.
The Yankees have a wicked one-two punch in Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to close out ballgames, but their options drop to a lesser tier following those two names.
The Diamondbacks project to have one of the highest floors of any bullpen in baseball in 2025, having relief options from top to bottom who can all be penciled in for a low-to-mid 3.00s ERA. But they lack the top-end star talent to compete with a team like the Dodgers.
The Padres may have lost Tanner Scott, but they have plenty of capable replacements ready to fill his role in the bullpen. Robert Suarez and Jason Adam are expected to be a formidable one-two punch in late-game situations, and they have a trio of middle relievers who all turned in sub-3.00 ERAs in 2024 in Jeremiah Estrada, Adrian Morejon, and Bryan Hoeing.
But the uncertainty of how losing a closer like Scott will impact their bullpen, combined with their less inspiring options in the bottom half, keeps them a tier below Los Angeles heading into 2025.
If there is one glaring takeaway from this entire article, it’s this: There are plenty of good bullpens, and there are even a handful of great bullpens, but no relief unit stacks up against what the Dodgers have built this offseason.
They have the closest thing we have seen to a flawless bullpen in recent memory, and they have by far the best bullpen heading into 2025.