LOS ANGELES — The two-time World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are rolling out their new toy Saturday afternoon in two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal.
Their opponent, Atlanta, has no idea who it will even start Saturday (4 p.m. ET) at Dodger Stadium with a fatigued pitching staff.
The Dodgers are tanned, fresh and rested, home since Sunday evening. They haven't left California for the past 2½ weeks.
Atlanta, on the other hand, just came off a grueling three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies where ace Chris Sale not only started Game 1, but came on in relief for a four-out save in the deciding game.
The Dodgers will have a well-rested Skubal, two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell in Game 2 and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
in Game 3.
Atlanta may not have Sale or even No. 2 starter Tyler Mahle available until the series returns to Atlanta.
The Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series championships, and three in the last six years.
Atlanta has won just two World Series titles in 60 years since it moved from Milwaukee.
So, yes, you can certainly understand why Atlanta manager Walt Weiss wasted no time pulling out the David versus Goliath narrative before boarding a five-hour flight to Los Angeles.
“You call David and Goliath and all that stuff,’’ Weiss said, “but you've got to go through the Dodgers if you want to get to the top of the mountain. You've got to go through them at some point. So it's going to be a great challenge for us. …
“Everyone knows the Dodgers have a juggernaut, but we played well against them this year. I know that doesn't carry a whole lot of stock. Once the playoffs begin, like I say, everybody starts at zero.’’
It starts, of course, with the task of trying to beat Skubal, one of the nastiest pitchers on the planet. He got the starting nod over World Series hero Yamamoto, and will make his first postseason start in front of hometown fans in his career. He has made six postseason starts the past two years for the Detroit Tigers, but all on the road.
“It's an honor and a privilege to start Game 1,’’ Skubal said, “and have the trust in the coaching staff and my teammates and the organization to take the ball and go out there and do what I can do to put our team in a position to win. I'm excited for the opportunity to throw in front of the fans. Usually when I walk out onto the field in a playoff game, it's usually received with a lot of boos.
“So, I'm excited to get some cheers in there for us.’’
Skubal, who will be the most coveted free-agent pitcher since Yamamoto, is so tenacious in his work ethic to win a World Series title that not once has he even mentioned free agency to his teammates. He doesn’t want to hear pitch limits. He doesn’t want to hear load management. The dude just wants to pitch, and win.
“The guy’s awesome, you know?’’ Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “He wants the ball. He wants to be out there. He wants to compete. He wants to be fiery.
“Every single person that plays Major League Baseball wants to be out there, but there’s certain guys where you can see it a little bit differently, where they don’t want to come out. That’s been him every single time he’s pitched for us. I know every time (Dodgers manager Dave Roberts) has taken him out, it’s been an argument to get him out of the game, and that’s pretty special to me.’’
And, considering he’s in line to receive the largest contract for a pitcher in history, it’s even more impressive − he needs to finish the season completely healthy if he wants to be paid.
“I haven’t heard him mention one thing about free agency,’’ Muncy said. “All he’s talked about is just pitching here, competing with us, making it through this playoff run. That’s rare, and it’s pretty special to see that out of a guy who’s looking at a big payday coming up. He’s so focused on what’s going on right now, it’s really cool to see.’’
This may be the deepest and most talented Dodgers team taking the field during their 14-year postseason run, but still, there are blemishes. Instead of using Edwin Diaz, their $69 million free-agent pitching prize over the winter, as their closer, they plan to turn to Tanner Scott, who lost the closer job a year ago. First baseman Freddie Freeman, managing knee tendinitis the last two months, has hit just one home run in his last 66 games.
And then there’s four-time MVP DH Shohei Ohtani, who has not homered since Aug. 18. He is unable to pitch in the series with left knee soreness and strained biceps and is still compromised physically. Ohtani hit .198 and struck out 34 times in 109 plate appearances in 24 games before he went on the 15-day injured list in September. When he returned, he hit .238 with one extra-base hit, eight strikeouts and one walk in five games.
“Shohei’s not 100%,’’ Roberts said, “but he’s going to be in the lineup. I think that most players that are performing now are not 100%. Obviously with Shohei, it's a bigger deal because of the player, but there's a lot of players that are not 100%, and they've just got to manage it.’’
Yet, as confident as Roberts is that Freeman will bounce back after watching him during their intrasquad game, he doesn’t share the same optimism with Ohtani.
“I'm not so sure,’’ Roberts said. “I know that once the lights turn on, the postseason starts, the focus will be heightened. I expect good things. I really do. We just haven't seen it enough for me to forecast it.’’
Ohtani took late batting practice past 10 p.m. ET Friday, trying to assure that he’ll be in a good place once he steps into the batter’s box Saturday with a forecast of 103 degrees during the day.
“It feels really good overall,’’ he said. “I do feel like my swing is in a better place, feels smooth, and just little tweaks here and there, and I'll be ready for (Saturday).’’
And no matter how much he’s aching, or his knee bothers him, he refuses to come out of the lineup until the Dodgers’ season comes to an end.
“I do pride myself on playing every day,’’ Ohtani said. “I do see it as an obligation as a professional to be on the field every single day. Just being on the IL has taught me a lot. … I haven't been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this. I think that process is going to happen during the offseason when I'm going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it.
“But as of now, it's something I'm just going to have to manage.’’
All these concerns, Roberts says, is why it’s foolish for anyone to believe this will be a cakewalk, like a year ago when the Dodgers swept the Cincinnati Reds, won 3-1 vs. the Philadelphia Phillies and then swept the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS before winning the World Series in seven games over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Momentum can be a dangerous thing, and Atlanta has plenty of it after knocking off the Phillies and their abundance of star power.
“What makes a team like that dangerous,’’ Roberts said, “is they've already been in the fight. They've already got their intensity up. They can manage emotions. They've come out of the series with some momentum, coming out of winning a series.
“The advantage for us is we have an opportunity to not let their pitching staff come up for air, and how do you do that? You have to exhaust the starter tomorrow. You have to get in their pen, and you have to have them deploy arms as soon as possible and get that carousel going and continue to beat starters.
“Then you can suffocate them.’’
It’s what the Dodgers do, year after year, October after October, making sure they’re the last ones standing.
And this time, it would be history.
“We are the team to beat,” Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández said. “We are the team that you have to go through.
“I feel great about my team.”
Once again.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NLDS is not David vs. Goliath: Shohei Ohtani injuries among Dodgers' problems
