Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The Dodgers saw some familiar struggles pop up on Sunday, dropping Game 2 of the NLDS 3-1. Dustin broke that down in detail yesterday, but the offense was shut down by a second-consecutive Atlanta bullpen game and Dodger pitching issued eight walks to the team with the third-lowest walk rate in baseball (7.7 percent). Blake Snell labored through 3 2/3 innings and while he only allowed one run, he walked five and needed 90 pitches to record 11 outs. The Dodgers managed to use more pitchers in Game 2 (seven) than Atlanta did in either of their two bullpen games to start this season (six in Game 2, four in Game 1). The Dodgers were supposed to handle business at home with two Cy Young winners going against bullpen games, putting less pressure on needing to win a game on the road against Chris Sale or Tyler Mahle. Now, they must do that to avoid getting bounced in the NLDS.
Today’s #NLDS Game 3 Dodgers lineup at Braves: https://t.co/aYZ2IfRsZV
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 6, 2026
Game 3.#LetItFly https://t.co/qEtGsjSSjq
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 6, 2026
All the talk has been about how big an advantage Atlanta has with a tied series before Sale throws a pitch, but the Dodgers don’t exactly have a scrub giong tonight. Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his 2026 postseason debut coming off an excellent season. Yamamoto posted a 2.53 ERA, the fifth-best among qualified Major League starters and third among NL starters. Yamamoto was easily the Dodgers’ best starter this season and took the ball every turn, totaling 28 starts and 185 innings. He made 30 starts last season, but was a bit more up-and-down and only threw 173 2/3 innings in 2025. Last season, Yamamoto failed to get through four innings twice and failed to get through five four times. In 2026, he completed five innings or more in each of his 28 outings and only failed to get through six three times. Despite being their best starter, the Dodgers opted to hold Yamamoto off until Game 3 as he had significant home/road splits this season. In 16 starts at Dodger Stadium, Yamamoto posted a 3.13 ERA and gave up a .596 OPS against with 14 homers and 15 doubles allowed. On the road, Yamamoto had a 1.77 ERA and held batters to a .480 OPS with only six doubles and six homers allowed. He only threw about 22 more innings at home than on the road, but gave up more than twice as many homers and doubles in LA.
All of this should be enough to have faith in Yamamoto, but obviously we need to discuss his postseason history. Yamamoto’s first postseason start was pretty rough, giving up five runs in three innings in Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the Padres. In three starts after that, Yamamoto only allowed three runs and seven hits in 15 2/3 innings. Then came the 2025 postseason. Yamamoto actually had a similarly shaky start last October, giving up five runs (two unearned) in 10 2/3 innings in his Wild Card start against the Reds and NLDS start against Philly. After that, Yamamoto went all the way off. He threw back-to-back one-run complete games in NLCS Game 2 and Game 2 of the World Series. He allowed one run in six innings in Game 6 in Toronto, and came out of the bullpen the next day for 2 2/3 scoreless and induced the series-clinching double play in the 11th. Potentially worth noting, those four historic outings all came on the road and nine of the 14 postseason runs he’s allowed have come at Dodger Stadium.
Yamamoto could earn another top-3 Cy Young finish, but one of the two starters that will likely finish ahead of him is tonight’s starter for Atlanta. Sale put together another dominant season, with a 2.16 ERA/2.29 FIP in 162 2/3 innings over 27 starts. Sale is basically built in a lab to be a tough matchup for the Dodgers, who make their living on working counts/drawing walks and slug. Sale’s 4.8 percent walk rate is the second-lowest among qualified starters and his 0.55 HR/9 is the lowest in baseball. He only gave up 10 homers all season and had two games where he allowed multiple homers, somehow against the Angels and Mets. Sale allowed one or zero runs in 16 of his 27 starts, but was a little more human in the second half of the season. Sale allowed three or more runs three times in his first 18 starts, but also did so three times in his 10 starts after the break. He pitched twice against the Phillies in the Wild Card round. He started Game 1 and gave up an RBI double in the first inning, but shut Philly down until the seventh. He only gave up three baserunners over the next five innings, but after getting the first out of the seventh he hit a batter and gave up a single to chase him from the game. Didier Fuentes came in and gave up a triple to J.T. Realmuto (didn’t realize he gave up hits) to score both inherited Sale runs and close the line on him. He surprisingly came in in the decisive Game 3 despite Atlanta having a four-run lead in the eighth. Atlanta had a lefty on the hill (Dylan Dodd) in the eighth and he gave up a leadoff triple and two fly outs, one of which scored a run. The bases were empty with Bryce Harper up and Walt Weiss decided to turn the ball over to Sale, who struck Harper out and worked around a leadoff single to get the final four outs. That decision loomed large as it prevented Sale from pitching before NLDS Game 3, but they made that moot by winning one of their two bullpen games.
Sale saw the Dodgers twice this season and was pretty great despite going 1-1 against them. He faced them in May in LA and gave up three runs (two earned) over seven innings. Teoscar Hernandez singled and Kyle Tucker doubled him home in the second for their first run, and the second run came after Miguel Rojas reached second on a Jim Jarvis throwing error at short. Sale almost worked out of trouble, but Shohei Ohtani singled in Rojas for a second run. Freddie Freeman led off the sixth with a homer for the third run, and Atlanta only managed one run off Emmet Sheehan and five Dodger relievers. Sale’s second start against the Dodgers came in Atlanta on August 27, and he happened to be up against Yamamoto. Yamamoto was great, giving up a run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. The lone run came on Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game, as Drake Baldwin ambushed a splitter to make it 1-0. Yamamoto settled down very nicely but Sale threw a complete game shutout, allowing five hits and striking out 11 for his first CGSO since 2019.
A bit of a surprising lineup for the Dodgers. Max Muncy and Tommy Edman both sit against Sale, with Rojas hitting sixth and starting at second and Enrique Hernandez starting at third, hitting ninth. Shohei Ohtani remains at DH but drops down to fifth in the order, the first time he’s hit lower than second in his three years with the Dodgers.
——
First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 PM PT and will be on FS1.
