It’s Hollywood vs. Broadway with two NL MVP candidates getting top billing in the NLCS, but when it comes to pitching, the Los Angeles Dodgers are calling on the understudies.
Right-hander Jack Flaherty will start Game 1 on Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, going against Mets right-hander Kodai Senga. An L.A. native on the mound for his hometown team to start off a series with World Series implications feels just as scripted as it sounds. He allowed four earned runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings in his NLDS start against the San Diego Padres, but went 13-7 with a 3.17 over 28 starts this season with the Detroit Tigers and Dodgers.
“I think it was easy in the sense of when he was lined up, his start days and all that stuff,” Dodgers manager Dave Robert said Saturday. “And I didn’t feel good about him pitching out of the ‘pen. So not by default, but it just made the most sense.”
It’s tough to believe a team with a $325 million payroll doesn’t have enough starting pitching to even make it through a short series, but the Dodgers succeeded with their bullpen in Game 4 of the NLDS and for four innings in Game 5. They just might use the same formula in this round as well.
The Los Angeles pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, with the team losing Clayton Kershaw, Gavin Stone and Tyler Glasnow all within the last week. Relievers Alex Vesia, Tony Gonsolin and Joe Kelly are injured too, but the bullpen has been able to lock down leads without them.
“There’s certainly a possibility of a bullpen game or two,” Roberts said. “But with that we’re going to have to get innings from other guys. That’s just the reality. I don’t think that in a seven-game series we have the luxury to max out guys like we did from the pen in a five-game series.”
Yoshinubu Yamamoto is the headliner for the Dodgers staff, especially after holding the Padres scoreless through five innings Game 5.
Much like Senga, Yamamoto is a routine-oriented pitcher who thrives off his meticulous schedule. The Dodgers are sticking to that schedule, but it could be to their detriment. It would limit his availability in a best-of-seven series to only one game.
The Mets know all about that. The team is using Senga as an opener once again in Game 1, hoping he’ll throw about three innings. They have long relievers like Jose Butto, Tylor Megill and left-hander David Peterson they can use to absorb middle innings, but they aren’t using Senga in a relief role because they don’t want to throw off his preparation when he’s only now getting healthy again.
“From the beginning, we wanted to put our guys in what we felt was the best position to have success, considering where they’re at physically, some of the innings, who needs the extra days, who do we want to keep under normal routine,” Mendoza said Saturday at Citi Field. “That was the case for Senga. We wanted to keep it as close as possible to his routine. And with some of the other guys, like I said, because of where they’re at, physically, who will benefit from extra days. So we decided to go with Senga, keep Senga on [schedule] Game 1.”
Sean Manaea will pitch Game 2 at Dodger Stadium. The Mets have not announced a Game 3 starter, but by closing out the NLDS in four games it bought a few extra days of rest for right-hander Luis Severino and left-hander Jose Quintana.
A clash of the payroll titans is set for the NLCS. The Mets have the pitching edge on paper, but the Dodgers can never be discounted.
