Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The final series of the regular season is upon us. Some felt a season-ending series between the Dodgers and Giants could have huge playoff implications, but there are virtually none. The Dodgers are locked into the two seed in the NL, the Giants were eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week. For the Giants, the only thing that matters in this series is getting their young guys some more experience (as evidenced by them scratching Logan Webb from this series and starting Kyle Harrison on Sunday instead). I’m sure they’d also much rather finish ahead of the Padres in the NL West (currently a game back and in fourth place). Also a plot twist, the Giants fired Gabe Kapler before this game. For the Dodgers, health is the number one thing. They also need to win two of three to hit the hundred win plateau for the fourth consecutive non-covid-shortened season. There are still some postseason roster decisions looming, and after the rookies showed out in Colorado this week, tonight’s Dodger starter might need a big start to get a start next month.
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| 7:15 PM | San Francisco | |||
| 2B | Betts | 1B | Wade Jr. (L) | |
| 1B | Freeman (L) | RF | Yastrzemski (L) | |
| C | Smith | 3B | Flores | |
| DH | Martinez | DH | Pederson (L) | |
| RF | Heyward (L) | 2B | Estrada | |
| LF | Peralta (L) | LF | Conforto (L) | |
| 3B | Hernández | SS | Luciano | |
| CF | Outman (L) | C | Sabol (L) | |
| SS | Rojas | CF | Fitzgerald | |
| P | Lynn (R) | P | Winn (R) |
Lance Lynn gets the ball for his final postseason audition tonight. Lynn had a horrid two-start stretch where he allowed 15 runs in nine combined innings, but other than that he’s been pretty solid as a Dodger. He’s only allowed 14 earned runs in his other eight starts (49 innings). Lynn was acquired with the thought that while his ERA was bad, he was striking out batters at a high rate. That also abandoned him for a bit, has he had a five-start stretch where he struck out only total nine batters (and also issued nine walks and allowed nine homers). He’s shaken that off and has struck out six in each of his last two outings, the last of which came against the Giants last weekend. Lynn allowed two runs and five hits over six innings, but did issue three walks as well. Both runs came in the fifth after Tyler Fitzgerald led off with a single and Lamonte Wade Jr. hit a homer to tie the game. Lynn faces some stiff competition for the postseason roster, as Emmet Sheehan, Ryan Pepiot and Bobby Miller combined to allow five runs in 19 innings while striking out 27. Miller is about as much a lock as can be, and Pepiot should easily get a start (or bulk appearance). Sheehan and Lynn could be in competition for the fourth rotation spot (also assuming Clayton Kershaw gets one).
The Dodgers get their first crack at Keaton Winn, the Giants’ 16th-ranked prospect on MLB Pipeline. Winn is a frontrunner for Eric Stephen’s Cy Young award, as he made his MLB debut in June and got a four-inning save in his first outing. Winn made a few relief appearances and a few starts before being sent back down and was recalled again in early September. His first September appearance was the best of his career, as he shut the Padres out over the final five innings of the game. He started consecutive games against the Rockies and allowed three runs in each game. The first, in San Francisco, was over six innings and he struck out a career high nine batters. His last start came at Coors, and he needed 76 pitches to complete four innings before getting placed on the Covid IL. Winn had a rough go of it in the minors this year, as he allowed 31 runs in 58 innings and posted a 1.586 FIP.
According to Baseball Savant, Winn has thrown his splitter most often this season. Winn’s thrown it 55.1 percent of the time and has only allowed a .215 average and .316 slugging against it. He’s thrown a fastball 26.8 percent of the time and averages 96 MPH on it, but has allowed a .640 slugging off it (four of the six hits off it have been extra bases, two doubles and two homers).
Max Muncy sits today with Enrique Hernandez getting the start at third. Mookie Betts starts at second with the all-lefty outfield today.
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The Dodgers will have almost a week off, so they’ll be having a workout on Wednesday that is open to season ticket holders. That’s all the Dodger related news folks.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM PT and will be shown on SportsNet LA.
