When it comes to starting pitching depth, the Dodgers feel they have an advantage during this best-of-seven, no-days-off National League Championship Series matchup with the Braves.
And it’s true that the Braves already have deployed Max Fried for Game 1 and Ian Anderson for Game 2 — manager Brian Snitker has said Fried won’t start again before a Game 6, and if there’s a Game 7, it looks like Anderson would get the call. The 22-year-old Bryse Wilson will make his postseason debut in Game 4 on Thursday night after spending most of the season at the Braves' alternate training site in Gwinnett County.
“We knew that going in, and we still feel that way,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We’ve still got to go out there and pitch well and play defense and catch a lead, but obviously, with Walker (Buehler), Clayton (Kershaw), Tony (Gonsolin), Dustin (May), Julio (Urias), we just like those five guys.”
Collectively, Dodgers starters led the National League with a 3.29 ERA, led the NL with a 1.07 WHIP and limited opponents to a .219 batting average, which is the second-best mark in the majors.
In the NLCS, the Dodgers also got a boost with Kershaw’s return, after he was scratched for Game 2 with back spasms.
Who the Braves will start in Game 5 is unclear, as of Thursday afternoon, since Huascar Ynoa won’t be available after pitching four innings in Game 3 after starter Kyle Wright could manage only two outs as the Dodgers scored the most runs ever (11) in a postseason inning. After Wright, Grant Dayton wasn’t much better, giving up eight runs in two innings.
Theoretically, Wright could be available, though that might not make sense, given his Game 3 fiasco. They may have to go with Josh Tomlin, despite him giving up three runs in Game 2′s ninth inning and getting pulled for Mark Melancon, who stopped the bleeding and got the final out to preserve the Braves' win. Or maybe they’ll use an opener and have more of a bullpen game.
Regardless, as the two teams get deeper into the series, the Dodgers are confident their starting pitching depth is an advantage (Roberts, for the record, declined during his media session Thursday afternoon to say who he will start for Game 5). But it’s a positive, according to Dodgers reliever Alex Wood, that they jumped on Wright early in Game 3 and forced the Braves to figure out a backup plan.
“I think they did a good job of maneuvering around it, the game got out of hand early, so they were able to kind of save some of their more higher-leverage guys from throwing yesterday, but they don’t have a lot of starter depth,” Wood said.
“It’s apparent, and so to have two of their long guys throw a lot of pitches yesterday, it handicaps them a little bit.”
A seven-game series with no days off makes pitching depth, or depth of any kind, actually, an even bigger issue.
“I think we take pride in our depth and how many good players we have,” Wood said. “I was talking to somebody the other day just about our rotation. It’s insane. We pretty much have five guys that would probably be the No. 1 on most teams in baseball.
"The depth of position players, the bullpen, it’s a special group, there’s no doubt about it, which is the reason we’ve gotten to this point, and hopefully over the course of a seven-game series, if it goes to seven games, our depth will shine through and kind of propel us to the World Series.”
