Los Angeles Dodgers: Players that need a big finish to make playoff roster

1. Alex Wood

Alex Wood‘s fall from grace has been an interesting, and sad, thing to watch. While Wood is not a bad pitcher by any means, he simply is on the outside looking in on a team that is filled with starting pitching depth and cannot afford to let a cold pitcher in the bullpen pitch in high-leverage situations.

Last season, Wood was an all-star and was outpitching Clayton Kershaw for most of the year. Wood looked unhittable, and while he struggled late in the year, excelled in the postseason and was the only answer to the Houston Astros red-hot offense.

This year, Wood started slow, started to pick up steam again and has begun to gas out down the stretch. Wood was moved to the bullpen as a potential setup for the postseason.

However, Wood has not been good out of the pen outside of two decent showings against the San Diego Padres. Against the Rockies, Wood was the only pitcher to allow a run, allowing two runs in two-thirds of an inning.

That appearance came off Wood’s last start in which he allowed seven runs, six earned, in just three and two-thirds innings.

Getting Wood in some high leverage spots and seeing how he performs is critical to whether or not he makes the postseason roster.