MILWAUKEE -- The Dodgers' rotation alignment for the NL Championship Series is beginning to take form.
Blake Snell will take the ball for Game 1, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2, manager Dave Roberts said on Sunday night. The team has not announced any probable starters beyond the portion of the series at American Family Field, but reading the tea leaves, it would appear that Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani would start the first two games at Dodger Stadium, in that order.
The Dodgers have some unique considerations when setting the rotation for this series, given that Ohtani and Yamamoto typically pitch on five days or more of rest and that there is one fewer off-day than in the NLDS. But Roberts said that the team intends to cover the best-of-seven series with its four-man rotation without inserting a spot starter or going with a bullpen game.
The puzzle, as Roberts put it: "How do you get your best pitchers the most innings in a potential seven-game series?"
Here's why a Snell-Yamamoto-Glasnow-Ohtani rotation would make sense for the NLCS:
- As the Game 1 starter, Snell would be available to start Game 5 on four days' rest.
- Yamamoto would have five days of rest in between Games 2 and 6. He has never started on four days' rest.
- Glasnow would have four days of rest in between Games 3 and 7. He and Snell are the only members of the postseason rotation who started on "regular" rest in the regular season.
- That leaves Ohtani making just one start this series, which Roberts said would be the case on Sunday, in Game 4.
Had the NLDS gone the distance, Ohtani would have started the winner-take-all Game 5 in Philadelphia. If he indeed starts Game 4, he will have had nearly two weeks off in between starts on the mound. The Dodgers have generally preferred to pitch Ohtani in front of an off-day when possible, but Roberts indicated that making that happen would not be a priority during the NLCS.
Pushing Ohtani back in the rotation is not an effort to reset him at the plate either. Ohtani went just 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts as a hitter in the NLDS, when he and the Dodgers faced a gauntlet of left-handed pitching from the Phillies.
"I expect a different output from Shohei on the offensive side this series," Roberts said. "But, yeah, pushing him back was no bearing on the offensive performance."
The Dodgers will hope that a vaunted left-hander of their own helps them beat the Brewers for the first time this year in the NLCS. Snell looked excellent in his first two postseason starts with L.A., allowing two runs across 13 innings and striking out 18 against five walks.
Snell will get his first look this year at Milwaukee in Game 1 on Monday night, as he was on the injured list with inflammation in his left shoulder when the teams faced off in the regular season. He's studied the Brewers as much as he can, but he'll pick up the best information on how to approach their lineup once he's on the mound.
"They feed off of each other. It's a very energetic lineup," Snell said. "They're really good. They put the ball in play. You make them swing at your good pitches. You figure out what they're good at, what they're not good at, and that will just tell you how to attack them."