Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers surprised many when they got creative for their 2025 NLWCS roster, jettisoning some who many assumed were locks, and the performance of those that did make the roster in that series — both good and bad — makes the selection for the upcoming 2025 NLDS somewhat interesting. Arguably though, a more entertaining point of discussion is how to align the rotation.
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Here’s a prediction as to how the Dodgers’ roster could look for the five-game NLDS.
Catchers (3)
Will Smith
Ben Rortvedt
Dalton Rushing
Infielders (4)
Freddie Freeman
Mookie Betts
Max Muncy
Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (3)
Andy Pages
Teoscar Hernandez
Alex Call
Utility (2)
Unicorn (1)
Three catchers seems superfluous, and obviously a lot of this depends on how confident they now feel about the health of Smith to actually play the position, but if they have any doubts then Rushing is probably the choice over a specialist given his solid finish to the season and a potential pinch-hitting role. The insurance aspect of this makes him the choice over adding somebody like Michael Conforto back.
Justin Dean and Hyeseong Kim would then be the cuts here, as they were mostly around as defensive replacements or pinch-runners, and I also don’t think they’ll keep a specialist over another pen arm in a longer series. Anything is possible, but this seems like the most logical alignment with Kim over Rushing the most likely alteration if they’re convinced Will can catch.
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Starters (4)
Blake Snell
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Shohei Ohtani
Tyler Glasnow
Bullpen (10)
Blake Treinen
Tanner Scott
Alex Vesia
Jack Dreyer
Anthony Banda
Edgardo Henriquez
Emmet Sheehan
Roki Sasaki
Justin Wrobleski
Clayton Kershaw
It’s really a shame how television has dictated awkward off-days in a short series like this, further devaluing the advantage of getting a top seed and bye. But hey, now that the Dodgers aren’t in that situation, hopefully they can take advantage of the fact that having to play in the NLWCS arguably leaves them at no disadvantage in terms of aligning the rotation.
As it stands, the Dodgers can — and should, IMO — go with Shohei in Game 1 (10 days rest) with Tyler Glasnow in a potential relief role (six days rest), Blake in Game 2 (five days rest), Yoshinobu in Game 3 (five days rest), Glasnow in Game 4 (either 10 days rest or four days rest after a short relief appearance), and then Shohei again in Game 5 (six days rest) with Snell in a potential relief appearance (four days rest). The other option is to get Blake and Yoshinobu even further rest by penciling in Glasnow for Game 2, which would be hard to argue with since he does have to start one game this series anyway, and it’s impossible for fans to know if Blake or Yoshi could use an extra day. However, that would leave the pen with one less option in Game 1 and Game 5, and they need all the help they can get.
As far as the pen goes, given that they’ll add another pitcher for this roster, it seems like it could come down to Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius, and Edgardo Henriquez for two spots. Banda seems like an obvious add due to the lefties of the Phillies (even if their best hit lefties well), so it’s down to whether Henriquez’s meltdown in Game 1 of the NLWCS lost the faith of Dave Roberts. It’s probably hard to argue the decision either way, but I’ll stick with chalk for now even though I never understood sending Casparius down to begin with.
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Vs. RHP
Ohtani DH
Betts SS
Freeman 1B
Muncy 3B
T. Hernandez RF
Edman 2B
Pages CF
E. Hernandez LF
Rortvedt C
Vs. LHP
Ohtani DH
Betts SS
Hernandez RF
Freeman 1B
Edman 2B
Pages CF
Muncy 3B
E. Hernandez LF
Rortvedt C
Only minor adjustments here, depending on whether Tommy can play center or has to play second due to his ankle. It’s just a shuffling, as Enrique would then move to left instead and Pages would move over to center. There’s also a string of lefty starters to begin the NLDS, so Muncy could be platooned, at least in certain matchups, though they seem to see him as integral to their alignment.
If Will is healthy, he’d likely bat fifth against righties and third against lefties with Teoscar bumped down to fifth and everybody else shifting down a spot.
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The stars came through for the Dodgers in their first playoff series, and they’ll need to lean on them again versus arguably the toughest opponent they can face this season in the Phillies. If the Dodgers are lucky, the series will play out like their last meeting in the regular season, with them carrying big leads into the later innings, hopefully this time with better endings in two out of the three games.
