Alex Vesia, Brusdar Graterol in the mix for Dodgers World Series roster

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers’ already robust bullpen might get one or two reinforcements for the World Series, as Alex Vesia and Brusdar Graterol are making progress in their injuries, potentially well enough to join the roster on Friday.

“They are both trending in the right direction,” manager Dave Roberts said via Zoom on Tuesday. “With both of these guys, it’s going to be a type of game-time decision as far as when we’ve got to submit, if they’re going to be viable or not.”

Rosters are due to Major League Baseball on Friday morning, the day of Game 1.

Vesia pitched three scoreless innings during the Division Series, but left Game 5 against the Padres while warming up for the eighth inning, feeling a cramp in his side. An MRI revealed an intercostal injury, which left him off the Dodgers’ roster for the NLCS against the Mets.

Graterol was placed on the injured list during the final week of the season with shoulder inflammation, which also sidelined him for the first four months of the season. At the time, Roberts said Graterol’s shoulder was “week to week,” which had been the case most of the year.

Roberts said Vesia will face hitters either Tuesday or Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. He’s ahead of Graterol in terms of likeliness to make the roster, through Graterol has been throwing and will have a bullpen session this week to help determine his status.

Three of the Dodgers’ 10 games through the first two rounds were planned bullpen games, two of which were won by Los Angeles. The team’s starting pitchers — Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler — have combined to pitch 36⅔ innings, while the Dodgers bullpen has accounted for 60⅓ innings this October.

Flaherty and Yamamoto will start Games 1 and 2 of the World Series at home, and the Dodgers will have a bullpen game in either Game 3 or 4 at Yankee Stadium, with Buehler starting the other game.

The group of Blake Treinen, Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Anthony Banda, Ryan Brasier, Daniel Hudson, and Vesia during this postseason have combined for a 1.80 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 15 walks in 40 innings, with Brasier the only one of the septet to allow more than one run this October.

Having Vesia and/or Graterol, both experienced high-leverage and playoff relivers, added to that mix would make the Dodgers more formidable not only during the bullpen game(s), but also to spread out reliever usage over the course of the series, something the Dodgers have done a great job of so far this postseason.