Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers completed another comeback win on Saturday with Will Smith hitting a birthday/bobblehead game-winning homer to complete a sweep of Arizona. They had a rare Sunday off and now welcome the Guardians for the first interleague series of the season. Cleveland started the season in Seattle and split a four-game set. They were shut out last night by Emerson Hancock, who threw six no-hit innings before giving way to Cooper Criswell for a three-inning save. They scored six runs in each of their two wins in Seattle but only scored one in the two losses. The offense as a whole has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, but Chase DeLauter won AL Player of the Week. He made his debut in the playoffs last season, starting Games 2 and 3 of the Wild Card series against Detroit. He only had one hit in seven plate appearances, but opened 2026 as the Cleveland right fielder and is 6-for-17 with four homers in his four games. Steven Kwan (4-for-17 with four singles) and Jose Ramirez (2-for-16 with two doubles) have gotten off to slow starts, and the only non-DeLauter Guardian that had success in Seattle was Rhys Hoskins (3-for-6 with two walks), who sits today. The Dodgers took two of three in Cleveland last May, with the loss coming in the game where Andy Pages messed up an Emmanuel Clase bet (allegedly? do we need to say allegedly on this).
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| 7:10 P.M. | Los Angeles | ||
| LF | Kwan (L) | DH | Ohtani (L) |
| DH | DeLauter (L) | RF | Tucker (L) |
| 3B | Ramírez (S) | SS | Betts |
| 1B | Manzardo (L) | LF | T. Hernández |
| CF | Schneemann (L) | 1B | Freeman (L) |
| 2B | Rocchio (S) | CF | Pages |
| SS | Arias | 3B | Muncy (L) |
| C | Hedges | 2B | Rojas |
| RF | Martínez (S) | C | Rushing (L) |
| P | Messick (L) | P | Sasaki (R) |
Roki Sasaki makes his 2026 debut after an uneven 2025 and an awful Spring. Sasaki posted a 4.72 ERA/6.19 FIP in 34 1/3 innings over eight starts and only struck out 24 batters with 22 walks in that time. Sasaki hit the IL with a shoulder issue in early May and returned for his Minor League rehab in mid-August. Sasaki continued to struggle in the Minors, allowing 14 runs in 18 2/3 innings with 16 strikeouts and 12 strikeouts in his first five rehab starts. They shifted him into a bullpen role in preparation for a possible playoff spot with the Dodgers, and Sasaki threw two hitless innings with three strikeouts and a walk in his two relief appearances for OKC. He continued to look better in two relief appearances for the Dodgers in late-September (two innings, one hit, four strikeouts no walks). He did make the playoff roster and was nearly perfect in October, allowing a run and six hits in 10 2/3 innings over nine games. He still struggled with his strikeouts (only six) and walks (five), but it was good to see Sasaki get some big outs and close out some playoff games. The Dodgers remained committed to Sasaki as a starter, but his Spring was not really inspiring. He allowed 15 runs in 8 2/3 innings over four starts and issued 15 walks. He was seemingly tinkering with some stuff and allegedly looked great in a non-televised back fields session against the White Sox, but this will be Roki’s first real test since his strong postseason.
Parker Messick (Guardians No. 5 Prospect on MLB Pipeline, No. 92 prospect overall) makes his 2026 debut after a strong cup of coffee for the Guardians in 2025. He made his first career start last August and allowed one run and seven hits over 6 2/3 innings in Arizona. He followed that up with seven shutout innings in his home debut, but fell back to earth a little bit in his five September starts. He was still pretty solid (3.81 ERA in 26 innings with 26 strikeouts and only five walks), but was left off the Wild Card roster. He won a rotation spot with a 4.12 Spring ERA in 19 2/3 innings over five games.
Messick threw a five-pitch mix in his time in the Majors last season. He led with a fastball (36 percent usage) and also threw a change (23.4 percent), slider (14.6 percent), sinker (13.4 percent) and curve (12.6 percent). Messick’s sinker was rough last season, as batters hit .500 off it and two of the four homers he allowed came on it. The lefty didn’t have huge platoon splits over the full 2025 season (.695 OPS allowed against righties, .614 against lefties) but that gap widened in his time in the Majors (.762 against righties, .622 against lefties).
The Dodgers make a couple changes in their second consecutive game against a lefty. Miguel Rojas starts at second again, and Max Muncy starts at third over Santiago Espinal. Smith gets the day off with Dalton Rushing getting his first start of the season behind the plate.
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Sasaki will likely be part of history this week, as he, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani will start the three games of this series against Cleveland.
The trio will be the first time a team has started a Japanese pitcher in three consecutive games. Somewhere, Josh Reddick is probably very angry about this.
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Sasaki is built up for 90 pitches, but Justin Wrobleski could also make his 2026 debut tonight.
Dave Roberts said Roki Sasaki is built up enough to throw 90 pitches. But if he gets into trouble, Justin Wrobleski can provide length behind him.
— Maddie Lee (@maddie_m_lee) March 30, 2026
Roki topped out at 71 pitched in the Spring, but could go up to 90 today. He only had one start in his four outings where he threw more strikes than balls, so he should try doing that today imo.
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First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PT and will be on SportsNet LA.
