Given the Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting pitching dominance in the postseason, manager Dave Roberts could pick anybody in the rotation and feel good about his team’s chances.
But after the way left-hander Blake Snell and righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto performed in the first two games of the NLCS, why change anything for the World Series?
Roberts confirmed this line of thinking on Tuesday as he tabbed Snell and Yamamoto to start on Friday and Saturday in Toronto against the Blue Jays. Both will be working on 10 days’ rest.
“I think we’re going to run the same rotation back, I think for sure for the first two,” Roberts said.
Snell, who inked a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers in the offseason, threw 21 innings versus National League competition in the playoffs and allowed just two runs (0.86 ERA) and six hits. He blanked strong-hitting teams in Philadelphia and Milwaukee — highlighted by allowing just one hit over eight innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers.
Yamamoto threw a complete game the next night in Game 2 against Milwaukee, allowing 1 run on 3 hits.
Both of those efforts came on the road, the same challenge the duo will face against the hot-hitting Blue Jays.
Roberts has other outstanding options for Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles as power right-handers Tyler Glasnow (0.68 playoff ERA) and Shohei Ohtani are lined for those games.
The Dodgers’ relative weakness — the bullpen — may get a lift in the World Series. Southpaw Tanner Scott, who missed the last two series after an emergency surgical procedure, could return to boost that group.
Scott, another free-agent acquisition this winter, earned 23 saves but struggled at times. He blew 10 saves and pitched to a 4.74 ERA.
“It’s just kind of trying to get a grasp on the doctors giving him the full kind of green light, the go-ahead,” Roberts said. “I know that he’s anxious, which is a good thing, but fortunately, we get to see for a couple more days how he responds to throwing and bullpens and things like that.”
