LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers will open their National League Division Series with a double dose of left-handers.
After Tarik Skubal dominated in Game 1 for the Dodgers, it will be Blake Snell to take the mound for Game 2 against the visiting Atlanta Braves on Sunday. The decision leaves Los Angeles ace and 2025 postseason hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto to pitch in Game 3 of the best-of-five series on Tuesday at Atlanta.
“You can put those three or four (starters) in a hat and kind of make a decision,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of his rotation. “… I think just kind of looking out potentially, that just sets up the rotation and Yamamoto better looking forward.”
The Braves have not committed to a Game 2 starter, but are considering their own left-hander in Chris Sale, who recorded the final four outs against the Philadelphia Phillies in the deciding Game 3 of their NL wild-card series on Thursday.
“We still haven’t decided yet,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said after the 5-3 road loss in Game 1 on Saturday. “… We’ll have some conversations about this. So not sure who’s going to start. That’s where we’re at right now.”
As for facing a left-handed starter for the second time in two games, Weiss was hardly surprised that another opponent elected to focus more on his left-handed hitters like Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II.
“We’re used to it,” Weiss said. “Everyone lines up their lefties against us. It’s happened all year. It’s happened with starters. It’s happened with the opposing bullpen. Even during the year, they’d call up lefties for the series.”
The plan worked well for the Dodgers on Saturday when Skubal opened by allowing one hit over five scoreless innings. A Los Angeles offense that struggled for two months after the All-Star break received home runs from Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy.
Hernandez rebounded from a sub-par July and August with a .341 batting average in September. Tucker struggled in the first year of a four-year, $240 million contract but his six September home runs were his most in any month.
“Obviously, we’ve been going through a lot this year, but we stayed together,” Hernandez said when asked about watching Tucker hit his home run. “We have each other’s back. We’re going to continue to try to do our best and try to do our job so we can keep winning.”
Snell went 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA in nine starts during an injury-marred season when he had left shoulder fatigue, loose bodies in his elbow and late-season groin soreness. In six career regular-season starts against the Braves, he is 0-3 with a 3.49 ERA.
“I think the coolest part about the whole group that no one gets to see is really how much we talk about pitching,” Snell said about the Dodgers’ rotation. “It’s very unique. It doesn’t happen everywhere. For all of us to kind of be pushing for each other to be great, it’s a really cool starting staff to be a part of.”
Amid a daunting task, the Braves head into Game 2 with some momentum after Ozzie Albies hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning Saturday and the tying run came to the plate late in the game.
“I think anytime the other team feels you and has to go to leverage guy after leverage guy, in the end it always helps for the next day,” Braves reliever Brent Suter said about the Dodgers using pitchers Tanner Scott and Evan Phillips in the ninth inning.
–Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
