Tanner Scott Has Rebounded at the Perfect Time for the Dodgers

On September 6, 2025, closer Tanner Scott walked off the field at Camden Yards, defeated. The blown save marked his ninth of the season and came at a brutal moment for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto had just thrown 8.2 no-hit innings before surrendering a home run to Jackson Holliday and setting the score at 3-1. Then, still with two outs, Blake Treinen entered and loaded the bases before allowing an RBI walk. 3-2.

In comes Scott, with the bases loaded and the Dodgers’ lead cut to just one run. He gives up a two-run single, catches an errant throw home, and throws the ball to the ground in frustration. The loss was another tacked onto a pile of rough appearances, capping off what had been a particularly frustrating season for Scott.

The night prior, Scott had given up a walk-off home run to Baltimore Orioles rookie backstop Samuel Basallo. Afterwards, he spoke with the media about how he had been performing. “It sucks. It feels terrible. And I have to figure it out. Because baseball hates me right now.”

After a few more outings, the Dodgers’ playoff run began, and Scott’s season came to an end. The southpaw underwent a surgical procedure to remove an abscess on his lower body, and Scott watched as his teammates won the World Series without him.

Now, Scott was faced with a long and introspective offseason. Recovering from surgery would be a challenge in itself, but the mental shift seemed much more daunting. Nonetheless, Scott set out to figure it out.

So far in 2026, it seems like he has done just that.

All stats taken prior to play May 27.

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Scott has thrown 21.2 innings over 23 appearances, striking out 25 batters while walking only three. He owns a 1.25 ERA — the eighth-best figure among MLB relievers with 20+ innings pitched. Among this sample, he also has the fourth-lowest K/9 and ranks first in WHIP (0.60).

If his current stats were to hold, Scott’s 32.5% strikeout rate would be the second-best figure of his career. His 3.9% walk rate would be the lowest of his career by far. As a result, his 28.6% K-BB ratio would easily be the best of his career as well.

This is in spite of the fact that his stuff has not seemingly changed all that much. Scott is still a two-pitch pitcher, relying on his fastball and slider at around a 50/50 split. While Scott has dropped his arm angle slightly, his stuff looks more or less the same than it did the year prior.

Regardless of how he got here, Scott’s performance is a dramatic step in the right direction. 

Fresh off an incredible contract year in 2024, Scott signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Dodgers, coming in as the presumed closer. He notched 22 saves with a 1.75 ERA the year prior, so expectations were high coming in.

Clearly, things did not work out as planned in the first year of Scott’s deal. He ended 2025 with a 4.74 ERA and 10 blown saves, along with the lowest strikeout rate and highest home run rate of his career.

This year, he’s turned this narrative around in a big way.

What Changed?

Scott has said that a big part of the issue in 2025 was his inability to put hitters away. Often he would get into two-strike counts, and rather than coaxing a swing-and miss- he would give up solid contact. 

In 2026, Scott has cut his home run rate in half, surrendering only two so far on the year. A big part of this correction is due to a mentality shift on Scott’s part. In 2025, he lacked necessary confidence on the mound, and his misses wound up over the heart of the plate rather than out of the zone. 

He has adjusted this year, dropping his zone percentage with two strikes from 51.3% in 2025 to 36.4% this season. This has allowed him to both increase his strikeout rate in these instances and reduce the quality of contact he allows when batters hit his putaway offerings.

In turn, Scott has dropped his average exit velocity allowed by over three ticks (from 90.8 mph to 87.5 mph). Only 26.5% of batted balls have been hit over 95 mph, placing him in the top three percent of MLB.

He is allowing fewer ground balls and more fly balls, but far fewer of them are leaving the yard. This also corresponds with a significant decrease in hard contact allowed and increase in soft contact rate. 

Scott has always had the stuff to be dominant. For him, it seems like the big difference lies in approach and mentality. Treating this year as a fresh start, Scott has been able to leave his tepid 2025 season in the rearview mirror.

The Bullpen is Buzzing

As it stands, Scott has not allowed a run to score in over a month. He has been one of the best relievers in baseball over that timeframe, striking out nearly 14 batters per nine innings and notching three saves over his last 10 appearances. 

Scott’s rebound could not have come at a better time. The Dodgers’ starting rotation has been battered by injury, as both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are currently on the shelf. Both Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan have struggled at points this year, so the bullpen performance as a whole has been crucial. 

Fortunately for the Dodgers, Scott is not the only Dodgers reliever to be having a great month. The entire bullpen has been firing on all cylinders, as they just wrapped up one of the longest scoreless streaks in franchise history at 38 innings. 

Every bullpen arm with five or more innings pitched over the past month has a 2.89 ERA or better. The Dodgers bullpen has a 1.55 ERA as a whole over this time, with the next-best team bullpen ERA coming from the Boston Red Sox at 2.43.

All of this is in spite of the fact that newly-acquired closer Edwin Díaz has spent the vast majority of 2026 on the injured list. Scott stepping back into the spotlight in his absence and performing the way he has is a major part of the bullpen’s success.

Scott has endured a rollercoaster of a year. The success that he has found this year has been a long time coming. With the rest of the bullpen rising to his standard, Scott is in an excellent position to lead the pack and shut out the Dodgers’ opponents as they work on closing out a strong first half.