The Dodgers will turn to left-hander Blake Snell in Game 1 of the wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium, a 6:08 p.m. start time for a game that will be televised by ESPN.
This decision
could have been expected, as the Dodgers lined up Shohei Ohtani, Snell, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to pitch the three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. This lines up Snell to pitch Tuesday on five days rest. The starting pitchers for the remainder of the series have not yet been announced.
When Snell signed his five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers, he mentioned looking forward to pitching in games like this.
“Being able to pitched in a packed stadium, to make moments for people, this is where you want to play,” Snell said in December. “I don’t think there’s a situation that you could be in better than being right here.”
Entering Sunday, the Reds as a team hit .229/.300/353 against left-handed pitchers with a 79 wRC+ that ranked 26th in MLB, compared to .250/.320/.403 with a 97 wRC+ against right-handers.
Snell missed four months with left shoulder inflammation, but since returning to the team in the first week of August had a 2.41 ERA and 32.7-percent strikeout rate in nine starts. Over his last three starts Snell allowed only one run in 19 innings, including scoreless starts with 11 and 12 strikeouts.
Hunter Greene starts Game 1 for the Reds and, like Snell, also pitched last Wednesday. The right-hander from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks had a 2.76 ERA in 19 starts this season, with 132 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs (three earned runs) in five innings in a loss at Dodger Stadium on August 25.
The Dodgers won their 12th NL West title in 13 seasons, but as the NL division winner with the worst record they will be the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs. That brings the No. 6 seed Reds to Los Angeles, where the entire best-of-three wild card series will be played.
