Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers (8-0) finished up their third series of the year in yet another sweep, this time against the Atlanta Braves (0-7), doing extreme damage to Atlanta’s playoff hopes early in the year. The Braves are expected to be in one of the tightest division races in baseball in the NL East, and starting 0-7 is terrible. Funny enough, they could really benefit from the Dodgers sweeping the first place Philadelphia Phillies (5-1) this weekend. The series will open up with Yoshinobu Yamamoto making his third start of the season, up against the newly acquired Jesús Luzardo, making his second start with the Phillies. There is a chance of rain both Saturday and Sunday, so it appears today is the only day with a near guarantee of no weather delays.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 3:45 P.M. | Philadelphia | ||
| DH | Ohtani (L) | DH | Schwarber (L) |
| SS | Betts | SS | Turner |
| 2B | Edman (S) | 1B | Harper (L) |
| RF | T. Hernández | 3B | Bohm |
| C | Smith | LF | Kepler (L) |
| 1B | K. Hernández | RF | Castellanos |
| LF | Conforto (L) | C | Realmuto |
| 3B | Rojas | 2B | Stott (L) |
| CF | Pages | CF | Marsh (L) |
| P | Yamamoto (R) | P | Luzardo (L) |
Similar to the Dodgers, the Phillies are essentially sticking with the same position player group as they had last season, with both teams adding left-handed corner outfielders. The Phillies added Max Kepler this offseason as their primary left fielder, and while he had a mediocre 2024 season battling some injuries, he owns a career 111 wRC+ and .780 OPS against right-handed pitching. It’s early, but Kepler has a 162 wRC+ and .965 OPS thus far, greatly improving upon their left field situation from 2024, which featured eight players logging innings there. The Phillies had a great season last year, with the fifth best OPS as a team at .750, with seven regulars with a wRC+ above 100. They’re led by the ever dangerous Bryce Harper, old friend Trea Turner, and the slugging Kyle Schwarber. They’re a danger to put up a big number ever game, so Yamamoto will have to be sharp.
Michael Conforto was the route the Dodgers took to cover plate appearances in left field with Teoscar Hernández moving to right field due to Mookie Betts moving to shortstop full time. It’s still very early, but so far it’s seeming like Conforto was a smart move, with his 239 wRC+ and 1.237 OPS trailing just Will Smith (1.257 OPS, 255 wRC+).
Freddie Freeman (1.083 OPS) was placed on the 10-Day Injured List, so the Dodgers only have five regulars in the lineup with an OPS north of .980. Tommy Edman is at .980, Betts at 1.114, Shohei Ohtani at 1.126, with the aforementioned Conforto (1.237), and Smith (1.257) leading the team. In the absence of Freeman, it would be nice if Max Muncy or Teoscar started trending to their career norms, as it’s hard to know what to expect from Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas, and Kiké Hernández.
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Here’s how Luzardo and Yamamoto compare. Luzardo’s stats are from his injury-shortened 2024 campaign, while Yamamoto’s are from 2025.
Here’s what I had to say about Yamamoto after his most recent start against the Tigers.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a solid outing his last time out, pitching around some traffic and generating plenty of whiffs while doing so. He set a career high in strikeouts with ten, racking up ten whiffs on 14 swings at the splitter, and three whiffs out of four swings on the cutter which could be a nice development for him. He’s getting more movement on all of his pitches thus far, and the results have been great. He gave up two solo home runs yesterday, one coming on a great swing by Dillon Dingler on a low and inside splitter, and one off a sinker so far inside that Gleyber Torres actually got injured doing so.
He’s running an elite 34.1% strikeout rate this year, with 14 strikeouts to three walks in ten innings, with a ridiculous 57.6% whiff rate on his splitter. It’s essentially been an auto-out with two strikes. So far it appears he’s building upon his great rookie season, developing into the ace the Dodgers hope he can be. Today will be a great test for him with a healthy, dangerous, and experienced Philadelphia offense in good form, in the formidable Citizens Bank Park.
Luzardo had a great debut for the Phillies, allowing two runs over five innings with eleven strikeouts, earning him his first win of the year. He missed time last year with elbow inflammation early in the season, and with a lumbar stress reaction near the end of June that kept him out for the remaining three months of the year. It resulted in a forgettable season for the talented 27 year-old former top ten prospect. He was one of the most coveted starting pitchers available via trade this offseason, due to his potential when healthy, as shown by his strong 2022 and 2023 campaigns. He had a 3.32 ERA and 3.12 FIP in ’22 over 100.1 innings, and a 3.58 ERA and 3.55 FIP over 178.2 innings in ’23. He averaged a 28.7% strikeout rate over those two seasons, with a combined 328 strikeouts in 279 innings.
The Phillies don’t expect him to be their ace with the ever dominant Zack Wheeler holding that title, in addition to Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, and Ranger Suárez rounding out the rotation. Luzardo sits 95-98 MPH on his four-seam fastball, with three pitches in the mid-80’s, a changeup, slider, and newly developed sweeper. The sweeper gets significant glove side movement, a pitch he didn’t have prior to this season, despite throwing a slider.
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The Dodgers will add Hunter Feduccia to the roster in the absence of Freeman. They didn’t need to add an infielder with both Muncy and Kiké able to play first base with the latter looking like the preferred option. What it does reflect though, is the relative weakness of the bench bats as Feduccia is immediately the best option.
Speaking of Freddie, it feels like the team could give Freeman a few weeks off to let his ankle heal entirely, but the team likely knows best.
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Sam took a look at the recent trade for Esteury Ruiz, the American League stolen base leader in 2023, with 67 steals in just 132 games.
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If you have time later, be sure to check out Dodgers Digest’s own, Bruce, on the broadcasting mic!
In the frenzy of an awesome finish tonight, I have a pretty exciting announcement:
— Bruce Kuntz (@Bnicklaus7) April 3, 2025
I’m going to be making my minor league baseball broadcasting debut this Friday as I call the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes’ opening game!
Watch my account for the link to listen along at 6:30pm Friday!
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First pitch is at 3:45 PT on Apple TV+.
