LA is silent on the starter, SD is ready to ball

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers spent $325 million and won the bidding war for Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter.

They offered the Detroit Tigers the best package of prospects at the July trade deadline and acquired the best available starter in Jack Flaherty.

So who do they want to start in Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on Friday night?

After all, both starters are available in normal idle mode.

Well, if you can believe it, maybe neither.

The Dodgers are so full of confidence after watching their bullpen shut out the Padres in the last two games in San Diego, with the Padres scoring in just one in 17 innings, that they're tempted to use the same strategy in Game 5 .

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn't willing to show his hand Thursday night, saying only that Yamamoto will be part of their plan.

Will he start?

The Padres and everyone else will have to wait a day to find out.

“Of course I'm sure Yoshinobu will be a part of it,” Roberts said. “How we're going to use the support staff if that's the case, I just don't know. … We have six or seven support staff available.” Therefore, I am satisfied with the type of relief reporting.

“How Yoshinobu is a part of that is something we’re still talking about.”

If the Dodgers bullpen wasn't so effective in this series, it wouldn't be as enticing. In the Dodgers' two wins, the bullpen threw 15 consecutive scoreless innings.

“Our bullpen is special,” left-handed reliever Alex Vesia said. “We have eight, nine, 10 guys who can all play in very high-leverage situations and I think it shows. The script for us can be written in many different ways, and we use that to our advantage.”

Egos and hurt feelings aside, it can be foolish for Dodgers to mess with something good.

“Based on what they did,” Roberts said, “everyone is pretty confident going into Game 5.”

Hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

“It's definitely working, that's for sure,” said Dodgers reliever Ryan Brasier, who started Game 4 and retired the only four batters he faced. “We've got a really tight-knit group and we've got a really good game plan to get across to the staff.” That game plan will be.

The only aspect of a bullpen game that Brasier hates, in his opinion, is that once he finishes pitching early in the game, he is relegated to the bench instead of sitting in the bullpen with his friends.

“That part sucks because I get so bored when I throw and then come in and sit down,” Brasier said with a laugh. “If I start, I can’t hang out in the bullpen with my guys.”

The Dodgers employed eight different pitchers in Game 3, one shy of the major league record in a playoff shutout. The only intrigue is who Roberts should throw to which batters and when.

The Dodgers introduced a different twist on normal bullpen play on Wednesday, starting their heavily leveraged relievers early instead of saving them until late in the game.

“I've shown that in big places there isn't a man I don't trust,” Roberts said. “So there’s a lot of neutrality among our guys. I think if you have to go to the same well for everyone.” It's a big hotspot and has a tendency to catch up with you in the late season.

“I feel like we have a lot of different guys this year that we can use in certain lanes or in certain spots.”

If it works, the Dodgers should have Yamamoto and Flaherty available in four starts in the NLCS.

If things backfire and the Dodgers don't get out of the first round again, they will go down as one of the biggest disappointments in franchise history.

The Padres, on the other hand, don't care about secrecy or playmaking.

They announced that they were forming Yu Darvish. No trickery involved.

“Everyone runs their own club the way they run it,” Padres manager Shildt said. “We’re more like Vince Lombardi; Power sweep, 'here it is'.”

It's the same lineup that was throttled to all but one inning in their two games in San Diego – but also one of the best in baseball.

“That’s us,” said Schildt. “We will compete and execute. When we do that, we shake hands and pop champagne.

They will lean heavily on Darvish, who dominated the Dodgers in their 10-2 win in Game 2, yielding three hits and a run in seven innings.

He may be 0-4 in elimination games, but in his last six postseason starts since the 2017 World Series (0-2, 21.60 ERA) with the Dodgers, he has gone 3-2 with a 2.56 ERA, Allowed 28 hits and one strikeout against 32 batters.

Darvish also has a brilliant record against the Dodgers: He posted a 2.35 ERA in 17 career starts and won the two postseason games he started against the Dodgers.

“Maybe it’s the experience I’ve had so far,” Darvish said, “that calms me down right now.”

Really, the only nerve may be wondering how baseball fans back home in Japan will react when they see two of their greatest pitchers go head-to-head.

“I think it's a great thing that we can compete in Game 5 of an NLDS game,” Darvish said. “We are also really good friends with him on a personal level. Just for us.' I think that means a lot to me because I can go out there and pitch, a playoff game, on the same day.

The Padres can only hope history repeats itself after winning the previous three winner-take-all games in franchise history, while the Dodgers are happy to celebrate their first postseason series win since 2013 in front of their hometown fans would – even though they did win the 2021 NL wild card game at home.

“We have a lot of grinders and a lot of fighters,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said. “They are a strong team. We knew it wouldn't be easy. Nothing is easy. So you simply have to take all the cards that are dealt to you and play them.

“And that’s exactly what we did.”

Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill says, “I don’t care if we’re at the end of our last life. They too are on the verge of their last life.''

Win or go home.

What more could you want?

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