Winning the National League Division Series in four games afforded the Dodgers the luxury of setting their starting rotation exactly the way they wanted for the next round. Tarik Skubal gets the ball in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Brewers, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 to cover the first two games of the series in Milwaukee, manager Dave Roberts said via Zoom on Friday.
Skubal struck out seven in six innings in his win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the NLDS.
This will be the fourth Game 1 start for Skubal, who has a 1.97 ERA in seven career postseason starts, with 63 strikeouts and seven unintentional walks in 45 2/3 innings, and he’s lasted at least six innings in all seven starts.
Yamamoto added to his legend in Game 7 of last year’s World Series, getting the final eight outs of Game 7 one day after starting and pitching six innings in Game 6. He’s the only pitcher in postseason history to win five straight road appearances while allowing no more than one run in each game, a streak that began in Game 2 of last year’s NLCS, also in Milwaukee.
Ahead of his NLDS start, Yamamoto expressed willingness to start on short rest or pitch of out of the bullpen if needed when asked.
“I’m going to get myself ready for any situation. If they want me to go out, then I go out,” Yamamoto said, with interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “But for me, just those are key things for me. Postseason is just focusing on the game right in front of me.”
But this far, every one of Yamamoto’s 86 MLB starts — including 10 in the postseason — have come with at least five days rest, and Game 2 comes with five days rest after his 10 strikeouts in seven innings on Tuesday in Atlanta. And starting Yamamoto in Game 2 of a best-of-7 series would allow him to also start in Game 6 on five days rest, while Games 1 and 3 starters would start in Games 5 and 7 on four days rest.
