The Dodgers taking care of the Reds in two games instead of three, coupled with the extra day off in the National League Division Series, allowed them to lineup their starting rotation in a number of ways against the Phillies. We know Shohei Ohtani starts on Saturday in Game 1, but after that they will run it back with Blake Snell in Game 2 on Monday in Philadelphia then Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Snell, who struck out nine in seven innings against the Reds on Tuesday, will be on five days rest for Game 2 against the Phillies on Monday. Yamamoto after striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings on Wednesday in the wild card round, will be on six days rest next Wednesday against the Phillies.
Roberts also said Tyler Glasnow would be available in relief in Game 1 against the Phillies, which would line him up to start Game 4 if necessary. Glasnow was active in the wild card round but did not pitch against the Reds.
Given that there would be three off days if the NLDS goes the distance, the Dodgers would also have options in Game 5 on Saturday, October 11. Either Ohtani could pitch again on six days rest, or Snell could start on four days rest if they needed him.
Roster notes
Roberts reiterated what he and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said in Los Angeles, that Clayton Kershaw will be active in the NLDS and pitch in the bullpen. If the Dodgers carry 13 pitchers — which they’ve done in each of their last six series of at least five games — they would also add another reliever after carrying 11 pitchers for the short wild card round.
Then it becomes who is preferred between the left-handed Anthony Banda or right-handed Ben Casparius.
Carrying 13 pitchers would require dropping two position players from the 15 who were active against the Reds. Late-inning outfield defensive specialist Justin Dean and utility speedster Hyeseong Kim are candidates here, or the Dodgers could carry only two catchers instead of three. The latter, however unlikely, would require Will Smith to be able to catch, which might take until Saturday morning to decide after how Smith comes out of Friday night batting practice in Philadelphia.
“He will be available to catch. Just trying to be mindful of haven’t caught in a long time and then kind of looking at the series and the capacity he can take on,” Roberts said of Smith. “So those are things that are kind of going through our heads right now.”
Smith has started only once in the last month after suffering a hairline fracture in his right hand. Friedman on Tuesday explained the steps of Smith finally being able to get back behind the plate.
“Last week he had a hard time gripping things. That progressively got better and got to a place where the bone had to heal. Now it’s about getting strength back, and once you do that then it’s about throwing,” Friedman said. “We were able to keep his legs going, but he hasn’t had that throwing volume for a little while. Now we have to keep continuing to aggressively layer that on.”
