LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are in the postseason, we know they will start their quest for a third straight championship in October 3 with the National League Division Series. So let’s figure out how their postseason roster will shake out.
First, a caveat: each round has its own roster. The Dodgers will submit a roster for the National League Division Series on the morning of Game 1, and will do so again should they advance to the National League Championship Series and World Series. Each series roster might
be different, based on opponent, length of series, or other factors.
Time on their side
By clinching the No. 2 seed, the Dodgers get a bye past the wild card round, which means they have five days off between the regular season and NLDS. They’ll need it, with the oldest position-player group in baseball, averaging just under 31 years old.
Shohei Ohtani was just activated off the injured list this week, as was Andy Pages. Freddie Freeman is playing through a right knee injury and is hitting only .219/.293/.260 in September. They could all use a combination of rest and finding their form between now and October 3.
Same for Roki Sasaki, who missed over three weeks after a blister on his middle finger, and Blake Snell, who left a start last week with left groin discomfort and will start Saturday in San Francisco to see if everything is okay. Edgardo Henriquez, out since September 14 with lower back discomfort, is expected to be ready for the NLDS, nearly three weeks after he last pitched.
Optional gambit
Dodgers top prospect Josue De Paula got his first taste of the majors when Shohei Ohtani was placed on the injured list, and impressed greatly while filling in at designated hitter, plus one start in left field. In 11 games, De Paula hit .323/.500/581 with five extra-base hits and more walks (11) than strikeouts (five). But he was optioned once Ohtani returned on Wednesday.
“Josue has been awesome. Injected some life and energy into our team as we got into September,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “He handled himself and did as well as he could possibly do. Right now we view him as a DH, and Shohei’s back and going to take the DH at-bats.”
Manager Dave Roberts said something similar after De Paula was optioned.
“We have some other guys that need to play that we’ve got to put eyes on. And to be quite frank, there’s just not a lot of at-bats to go around now that Shohei’s back,” Roberts said. “We’ve still got to get Miggy (Rojas) some at-bats, Kiké (Hernández), and some other guys at-bats, too. They’re hard to come by.”
Sending De Paula down to the minors specifically on Wednesday meant that his 10 days on optional assignment will be up just in time to be available on October 3, the date of Game 1 of the NLDS. De Paula will be available for the Dodgers in the postseason, should they choose to use him.
For some pitchers, it’s not that easy.
Emmet Sheehan was optioned on Monday, and pitchers have to be down for 15 days instead of the 10-day requirement for position players. That means Sheehan wouldn’t be eligible to be called up to the Dodgers (or added to their postseason roster) until October 6, which is three days after the start of the NLDS.
Same goes for Kyle Hurt (optioned Wednesday) and Seth Halvorsen (optioned September 20), aside from depth-chart concerns. Landon Knack (optioned September 18), Bobby Miller (optioned September 17), and Paul Gervase (optioned September 16) would be technically eligible for the NLDS, though a lot would have to happen for them to be fully considered.
Will Klein is more of an option even while currently on the 60-day injured list. He’s eligible to return by the NLDS, though the Dodgers are considering him more for the later rounds, depending on how he progresses over the next few weeks after his simulated game on Tuesday.
“With Will it’s more get healthy, show that you’re healthy, throw to some hitters,” Roberts said. “He’ll throw during the week off, then we’ll kind of see if there’s an opportunity later on in the postseason, sort of like last year.”
How many pitchers?
Postseason rosters have 26 active players, with a limit of 13 pitchers, just like in the regular season. Here’s how many pitchers the Dodgers carried in each round of the last four postseasons, excluding the shortened wild card round which can get wonky:
- 2022 NLDS: 13 pitchers
- 2023 NLDS: 13 pitchers
- 2024 NLDS: 13 pitchers
- 2024 NLCS: 13 pitchers
- 2024 World Series: 13 pitchers
- 2025 NLDS: 11 pitchers*
- 2025 NLCS: 12 pitchers*
- 2025 World Series: 12 pitchers*
That’s 13 pitchers in every round for three postseasons, then last year one fewer pitcher when they had two-way player Shohei Ohtani covering a starter’s level of innings on the mound. The Dodgers do not have that luxury this year, as Ohtani won’t pitch again in 2026.
Last year’s NLDS was the exception, when the Dodgers carried 11 pitchers plus Ohtani, or 12 if they set a normal roster. But last year’s Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies had the built-in day off between Games 1-2 to help stagger both leagues for television purposes. This year, that extra day is during the American League Division Series, so the Dodgers won’t have an extra day of rest built in to maneuver their pitching usage.
In other words, 13 pitchers seems like the most likely route for the Dodgers in any best-of-7 series this October. Where it gets interesting is in the best-of-5 NLDS, where they could carry 12 pitchers and still feel they have enough coverage.
Which pitchers?
The pool is fairly well defined, especially for the NLDS. With four starting pitchers, the Dodgers have 10 relievers active at the moment, five from each side:
Right-handers (5): Roki Sasaki, Evan Phillips, Brock Stewart, Edwin Díaz, Blake Treinen
Left-handers (5): Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Justin Wrobleski, Kris Bubic
Edgardo Henriquez has been mentioned multiple times this week as being likely to be ready for the NLDS, so that’s 11 relievers from which to pick either nine (if the Dodgers carry 13 pitchers) or eight (if the Dodgers carry 12 pitchers).
One open bench spot or two?
It took until the Dodgers’ 158th game of the season, on Wednesday, until they had their planned starting eight in the same lineup for the first time in 2026.
For the most part, that will likely be the lineup all postseason, maybe save for a few times Max Muncy might sit against a left-handed starting pitcher before coming into the game later, as he did three times in 17 postseason games last year.
Kiké Hernández, the Dodgers’ all-time leader in postseason games played, will surely be active in October, as will Miguel Rojas and backup catcher Hunter Feduccia.
That’s already 12 position players.
The Dodgers plan to activate Dalton Rushing from the injured list on Friday, basically to get three pinch-hitting opportunities in three games in San Francisco. That puts him in direct competition with De Paula for a potential left-handed pinch-hitter role for October, a battle that thus far is decidedly in the rookie’s favor, in large part because Rushing has only played in five games in the last eight weeks thanks to two injured-list stints.
“To be quite frank, it’s going to be tougher for Dalton given the time he’s missed, and to think that you have [three] games to get back into playoff form, it’s tough to do,” Roberts said. “It’s not a knock on him, he’s been great for us, but it’s still tough, right, given that we talk about having the consistency of at-bats recently from Josue. But we have to have those conversations and make a decision.”
Teoscar Hernández started all 33 postseason games the last two seasons. He played every inning in eight of 16 games in 2024, and did so six times in 17 games last October. Kiké Hernández could be the late-inning defensive replacement, or the Dodgers could stick with Alex Call, who has been active all season and was active all postseason last year, too, and got into seven games. Call isn’t one of the 12 listed above.
That’s before considering if one of De Paula or Rushing makes the team, or even if they decide on an extra speedster like Hyeseong Kim, who could pinch-run and play defense up the middle as needed.
If the Dodgers carry 13 pitchers, there’s room for one more position player. If it’s 12 pitchers, there’s room for two more position players.
“It’s probably a different conversation if we’re fortunate enough to get to the next round, the CS,” Roberts said Thursday. “In a five-game series it’s not as much of a conversation, as far as the need for extra pitching.”
