SAN DIEGO -- Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda will start the first three games of the National League Division Series against Washington, manager Dave Roberts announced on Tuesday.
Kershaw will pitch Game 1 on Oct. 7, Hill Game 2 on Oct. 8 and Maeda Game 3 on Oct. 10. Roberts would not name a Game 4 starter but said 20-year-old rookie Julio Urías is "on the table." Urias makes his third start of September on Thursday night in San Diego.
Kershaw, whose scheduled start on Saturday in San Francisco is his fifth since returning from 2 1/2 months on the disabled list (herniated disk), will have six days until he opens the series with the Nationals. Kershaw said he was given the choice of pitching Friday or Saturday and chose Saturday because he didn't want to go a full week between starts.
Hill is scheduled to start on Friday in San Francisco, giving him eight days until Game 2 of the series, allowing his finger blisters extra time to rebound. Hill is starting Friday on nine days' rest. The lefty has made five starts for the Dodgers. His ERA in three starts with at least six days off is 0.00. His ERA in two starts with four days off is 4.35.
Maeda, originally scheduled to pitch Wednesday night in San Diego, was moved up a day by Roberts so he could also start Sunday's regular-season finale. Roberts said that was Maeda's preference, to minimize the down time before his NLDS start.
Coincidentally, squeezing in another start will give Maeda 32 this season, earning him a $1.5 million performance bonus that would bring his 2016 salary, which had a base of $3 million, to $12.9 million.
"What Kenta's done for us, in the spirit of the contract, if he performs and he posts, he's going to be compensated," said Roberts. "I applaud our organization. He's taking care of his family and he deserves it."
While it now appears Urias is the front-runner as fourth starter in the postseason, the Dodgers could also consider Brett Anderson, Brandon McCarthy, José De León, Brock Stewart or Ross Stripling.