Among the news to expect over the next 27 hours or so is who will start for the Dodgers on the mound in Game 1, and whether the Dodgers will carry 12 or 13 pitchers (not including Shohei Ohtani) in this round rather than the 11 on the roster in the Division Series.
Dave Roberts on a conference call on Saturday wasn’t ready to unveil a Game 1 starter just yet, but did suggest the Dodgers would try to use only four starters to cover the seven games if the series goes the distance.
“No one knows how the series is going to play out, but I do think that how we would line the starters up, we would do the best we can to get four starters and not have to take on a bullpen game,” Roberts said.
Considering Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch with at least five days rest, that suggests that Blake Snell would probably start Game 1 on Monday, because he would be available to also start Game 5 on four days rest. But that announcement will likely come at some point on Sunday.
“Obviously, pitching becomes more paramount,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers carried only three right-handed relief pitchers in the NLDS — Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, and Blake Treinen. Edgardo Henriquez was active during the wild card round, and Ben Casparius and Kirby Yates have been around and throwing during workouts, as other possible options.
NLCS rosters are due Monday morning at 8 a.m. PT.