Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
It’s been over a week since we last did this exercise, and the Dodgers have now clinched the second overall seed in baseball and a bye from the NL Wild Card Series, which means their playoff journey will start October 3 in the NL Division Series. Now that the season’s final game has been played, it feels as good of a time as any to try and figure out how things will look in the postseason again. Surprisingly, there hasn’t been as much clarity as I figured, though thankfully due to a lot of pen arms stepping up and a bunch of guys seemingly proving their health.
With the caveat that the final selections will probably be at least a little dependent on the specific matchup, let’s try to sort it all out again.
Note: The rosters will reduce back to 26 for the playoffs, with 13 pitchers as the limit.
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Locks (22)
Rotation (4): Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow
Bullpen (6): Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott, Edgardo Henriquez, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Kris Bubic
Catchers (2): Will Smith, Hunter Feduccia
Infielders (4): Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (3): Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker
Shohei Ohtani (1): Shohei Ohtani
Utility (2): Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez
Since the last time we did this, a lot of injury question marks in this category have cleared up somewhat. Ohtani is back even if he’s not 100%, Snell made a start and looked healthy, Glasnow looked as good as he has all year, Roki’s blister no longer looks like an issue, Miggy’s shoulder seems fine, Pages has looked surprisingly healthy, and Freddie is still hobbled but playing. Meanwhile, Henriquez is throwing and there’s optimism he can be ready for the NLDS, so I’ll be including him here, though obviously that’s the biggest remaining potential health exclusion.
The two additions to this group are Phillips, who looks as good as he ever has, and Bubic, who has been near flawless out of the pen. It’s difficult to see how either could possibly be left out, as Phillips’ stuff has come all the way back and he has history as a leverage arm with the team, while Bubic’s stuff has ticked up in relief and he hasn’t looked dissimilar to the guy who was an All-Star last year.
That leaves four spots, likely three pitchers and one position player, but possibly another position player due to the shorter five-game series.
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Candidates (11)
Bullpen (6): Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller, Edwin Diaz, Jack Dreyer, Brock Stewart, Will Klein
Catcher (1): Dalton Rushing
Infielders (1): Alex Freeland
Outfielders (2): Josue De Paula, Alex Call
Utility (1): Hyeseong Kim
I think there’s only like 11 realistic candidates left for the final four slots.
Emmet Sheehan was removed as an option here because the 15-day wait requirement after his option at the start of the week means he’s only eligible to pitch after Game 2 of the NLDS. Meanwhile, Blake Treinen is now done for the season, so he’s also out. With his exclusion, perhaps Kyle Hurt or Seth Halvorsen might normally become possibilities, but they face the same option issues as Sheehan does. I also removed Gavin Stone and Ben Rortvedt from consideration, as it seems clear that the rotation is healthy now and so are Smith and Feduccia.
To fill out the pen, that basically leaves Wrobo as the swingman choice, if they take one. With Glasnow likely available out of the pen for the first two games — not unlike last year’s NLDS — it’s possible that they feel they don’t need that role for this series. Diaz hasn’t given up an earned run in September, and all of a sudden looks like a near lock for the playoff roster, but Brock Stewart has been used in leverage for longer and Jack Dreyer has been similarly effective all year. With so many quality arms, I still think they likely end up taking 13 pitchers, as it allows them to spam lefties against either NLDS opponent.
For position players, Rushing has taken all of two plate appearances since returning, and I don’t possibly see how they take him. Freeland could be used if they want more of an all-rounder, and maybe Call specifically if they face the Phillies and their lefty duo. While I didn’t consider Kim last time out, he becomes an option if they feel like have a space for a pinch-run specialist, but considering he didn’t even warrant recall consideration, he might be a longer shot than they’re acting like in the media as well. Finally, De Paula is De Paula and recently contributed to the AAA team’s championship while he’s been down, and he’ll be counted on as a great pinch-hit at-bat option and insurance against Ohtani needing to nurse his injury while not making him ineligible for the next series. It’s a specialist role since they don’t trust him defensively, but it sure seems like he’s a hell of a specialist.
Given the matchup, I’ll go with Wrobo, Diaz, Dreyer, and De Paula, or Wrobo, Diaz, De Paula, and Kim if they go with 12 pitchers.
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Like I said last time, and especially so with everybody now being relatively healthy for the playoffs, it’s easy to see why the Dodgers are a fearsome opponent on paper. That becomes doubly true knowing how they’ve stepped up in the playoffs the past two years and to some degree have treated the regular season like Spring Training.
Going into the break, it sure seems like they’re setup extremely well and have a good problem of having more players they’d like to take than the 26 they’re allowed.
Less than a week to go. 11 wins yet again.
