Dave Roberts drops concerning Tanner Scott endorsement for 2026 Dodgers season

When news broke that Tanner Scott would not pitch in the World Series after having a lower-body abscess procedure, it allowed fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers to breathe a sigh of relief.

The MLB leader in blown saves during the regular season, Scott was vocal about his personal failings all season long, declaring that baseball hates him as his on-field struggles piled up.

While the Dodgers were able to overcome Scott’s struggles to win their second-straight World Series, with Roki Sasaki taking over the closer spot with some help from Blake Treinin, Will Klein, and even Yoshinobu Yamamoto, fans largely hoped that LA would pursue a new closer for the 2026 season, leaving their failed 2025 free agent addition in the rear view.

Could the Dodgers still sign a new closer? Sure, but in the opinion of Dave Roberts, they don’t necessarily need to, as they still believe in Scott as a viable option at the end of games.

“I think if you’re talking about you know you know a place of where we could improve. I still feel that, you know, last year was an outlier year for Tanner Scott, not to say that he needs to be a dedicated closer, but I feel that he’s going to be much improved next year,” Roberts said via Roundtable Sports. “There are some things physically that he was dealing with, some that were talked about, some that weren’t. But yeah, I think that getting a high leverage reliever is never a bad thing.”

Focusing on Scott’s injury further, Roberts noted that his reliever may not have been as healthy as he might have led on, with the potential for 2025 to be an outlier season in his otherwise above-average career.

“I just think that there were just some things that he kept under wraps about his body,” Roberts said. “And I think that the transition to LA, and he just kind of thinks just anything that could go wrong went wrong. I just feel he’s just; he works his tail off. He’s too talented. And his track record was nothing like last year.

“So, I just think it was an outlier of a season. There was some stuff that he just, honestly, something he never felt right all year. And there were moments where It looked right, he felt okay, but he just never felt comfortable. But he’s never gonna use that as an excuse though. And to have a regular offseason to kind of prepare for ‘26, he’s gonna be on a mission next year.”

Could Scott actually end up bouncing back in 2026? Historically speaking, 2025 was an outlier in his career statistically, and at just 31, he is very much in his MLB prime. Still, after watching almost a dozen blown saves during the regular season last year, it makes sense why some fans might not be less willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least until Scott shows them something next spring.

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