Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, it’s pretty safe to say that most of you reading this saw or heard about the game last night in some capacity. Shohei Ohtani officially created the 50/50 club with a wild series ending game in Miami. The Dodgers (91-62) won by a score of 20-4 behind Ohtani’s six hit night, with three home runs, two doubles, 10 RBI, 17 total bases, and two stolen bases. He added 0.7 fWAR yesterday alone, and passed Shawn Green as the Dodgers’ single season home run leader. The team also secured a spot in the postseason for a major league leading 12th consecutive season. Not a bad day. If you’d like to read more about it or watch some clips, Chad’s recap from last night should suffice.
Not that it matters a ton, but if they don’t win out and end up 100-62, this will be the first time the team hasn’t won 100 games in the regular season since 2018 (92-71). The Rockies (59-94) will send out the left-handed veteran Kyle Freeland, up against Ryan Brasier who is starting a bullpen game for the Dodgers.
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| 7:10 PM | Los Angeles | ||
| DH | Blackmon (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| SS | Tovar | RF | Betts |
| 3B | McMahon (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| 2B | Rodgers | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 1B | Toglia (S) | C | Smith |
| CF | Hilliard (L) | CF | Pages |
| C | Goodman | SS | Rojas |
| RF | Cave (L) | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| LF | Beck | 2B | K. Hernández |
| P | Freeland (L) | P | Brasier (R) |
Tommy Edman will have a day off after a strong road trip, where he slashed .241/.313/.517, with four extra-base hits. He’s been great for the Dodgers, with surprising power and stellar defense at shortstop and center field. While not Ohtani, Max Muncy also had a good series in Miami, with five hits and three walks. Andy Pages has had an up and down rookie season, which is to be expected for a 23 year-old who had played just a handful of games above Double-A to start the year. Since 9/4, he’s slashing .320/.346/.480, for a 132 wRC+, and a strikeout rate of just 15.4%. He’s not a center fielder, but he makes plays with his arm and his bat is heating up at the right time. He’s in good form considering he isn’t starting every day and looks to be one of the first bats off the bench in the postseason.
The Dodgers have a league-leading 121 wRC+ at home while Colorado is one of the worst offenses on the road (and in general), so the offensive matchup clearly goes to the Dodgers. Park adjusted numbers like wRC+ tell you that outside of Coors Field, the Rockies really struggled to hit. Their offense has been bad, but they aren’t all that terrible at home considering their overall record, with a 36-39 record at Coors Field. Their road performance is why they have the third worst record in baseball, with a 23-55 record on the road, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox. Their road OPS (.635), and wRC+ (74), are once again second to only the White Sox, while their .217 batting average and 28.6% strikeout rate are the worst in baseball. They’re having an awful year as a group, and if the White Sox weren’t the worst team we’ve seen in the modern era, the Rockies would and should be catching more flack for their performance.
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Freeland has been solid this year through 19 starts, with a 4.89 ERA, 4.41 FIP, 1.38 WHIP, and 79 strikeouts to 25 walks over 103 innings pitched. The numbers don’t jump out at you, but when you consider his home park, his ERA and FIP are right around league-average by park adjusted numbers. ERA- and FIP- are park adjusted similar to wRC+ for hitters, with 100 being average, but in this case the lower the number the better. He has an ERA- of 104, and a FIP- of 103, slotting in at just barely worse than average as a whole. Funny enough, he’s been much better at home this season, with a 3.75 ERA in Coors over 50.1 innings, and a 5.98 ERA on the road over 52.2. He missed over two months with a left elbow strain, but since returning on 6/23, he has a 3.40 ERA, 4.09 FIP, and a 1.17 WHIP over 87.1 innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk over seven innings his last time out against the Cubs, maintaining his recent form.
Ben Casparius replaced Zach Logue on the roster, as the team will look for some length out of the bullpen. He threw one inning in relief in his big league debut back on August 31, and pitched most recently on September 15, going four innings for OKC. With Triple-A OKC, he owns a 3.36 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP over 67.0 innings pitched. Who knows how it’ll shake out after Brasier, but if the offense can put some runs on the board early, the higher leverage arms won’t need to pitch which would be…ideal.
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The necessary move to bring Casparius back up.
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Good to see Anthony Banda recovering well, having him as a second lefty with Alex Vesia really helps the bullpen.
With Clayton Kershaw still not 100%, it seems like the first round of the playoffs would feature Landon Knack and Walker Buehler as the third and fourth starters. That’s a bit scary.
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First pitch is at 7:10 PT on SNLA.
