{"id":491195,"date":"2026-10-10T05:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491195\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T05:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T05:10:18","slug":"dodgers-star-studded-rotation-primed-for-success-vs-brewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/491195\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ star-studded rotation primed for success vs. Brewers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Dodgers<\/a> entered the postseason with the best rotation of any team on paper, led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>, who proved to be practically superhuman in the World Series last year.<\/p>\n

However, with Blake Snell<\/a> tweaking his right groin muscle in his penultimate regular-season start, Tyler Glasnow<\/a> pitching better after a rough patch in early September and Tarik Skubal<\/a> experiencing his first Dodgers playoff run, some questions remained unanswered.<\/p>\n

Then the group gave up just four runs, one from each pitcher, during their National League Division Series win<\/a> over the Atlanta Braves. Their collective 1.69 ERA was second in the postseason to only the Tampa Bay Rays (1.65 ERA), who swept the Yankees in the American League Division Series.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe locked in and did a pretty good job,\u201d Glasnow said Friday. \u201cAll of us together are so close. We root each other on, we help each other throughout the week.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Dodgers\u2019 quest for a third straight World Series title, the rotation is going to have to serve as the backbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly makes life easier for the team, the bullpen, if the starters are good,\u201d said manager Dave Roberts during a conference call. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got the best rotation top to bottom in baseball, and it\u2019s nice to be able to reset the rotation and get these guys going. And obviously, it gives a chance to also minimize certain looks from our guys out of the \u2018pen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal is set to start Game 1 of the National League Championship Series<\/a> against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday<\/a>. By ending the NLDS in four games, the Dodgers avoided having to pitch Skubal in a Game 5, making it simpler to line up the rotation. Skubal should be available for a potential Game 5, on regular rest.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers were thinking about the NLCS when they decided to pitch Yamamoto in Game 3 against the Braves instead of Game 1. So, he\u2019s lined up to pitch in Game 2 and 6 of the NLCS.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there, we\u2019re just going to keep talking through it,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have shown promising signs in other areas. They hit two home runs off Braves ace Chris Sale and forced him to hand the ball over after five innings in Game 3. The back end of the bullpen settled into a rhythm with Tanner Scott<\/a> serving as the setup man and Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a> reestablishing himself as the closer.<\/p>\n

The success, however, started with the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did what they had to do,\u201d Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> said. \u201cThey kept us in games when we weren\u2019t scoring. Not surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers lost Game 2<\/a> after Snell exited with two outs in the fourth inning. It was the shortest outing of any of the Dodgers\u2019 starters, but he still held the Braves to one run.<\/p>\n

Snell, however, was coming off a disjointed pitching schedule because of the injury. With his postseason experience, he could settle into a better rhythm as the playoffs continue.<\/p>\n

\"Blake <\/p>\n

Blake Snell delivers for the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 4 at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Glasnow didn\u2019t quite make it through the fifth inning in Game 4, exiting with two outs. But with runs at a premium, and more off days built into the postseason, shorter starts are common. Glasnow\u2019s five walks drove up his pitch count, but he gave up only one hit.<\/p>\n

In Game 1, Skubal gave the Dodgers exactly what they hoped for when they acquired him at the trade deadline. He limited the Braves to two hits over six innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve executed every pitch that I throw thousands of times,\u201d Skubal said after his start. \u201cSo just trust that, trust the work that you put in. It sounds simple to try and live one pitch at a time, but I think it\u2019s pretty difficult given [the] circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yamamoto raised the bar even higher: seven innings of one-run ball. His 10 strikeouts were a playoff career high.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto also made it clear that, like last year, he would be willing to pitch out of the bullpen or on short rest if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to get myself ready for any situation,\u201d he said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda this week. \u201cIf they want me to go out, then I go out. But for me, just those are key things for me. Postseason is just focusing on the game right in front of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, planning on a deep run, didn\u2019t tax their starting pitchers heavily in their first round. That gives them the option to lean on the rotation even more against the Brewers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all kind of in the prime of our careers, and we\u2019re all evolving and continuing to get better and grow,\u201d Snell said last weekend. \u201cI think the coolest part about the whole group that no one gets to see is really how much we talk about pitching. It\u2019s very unique. It doesn\u2019t happen everywhere. For all of us to kind of be pushing for each other to be great, it\u2019s a really cool starting staff to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Roster decision<\/p>\n

The Dodgers plan to carry a roster of 13 pitchers and 13 position players in the NLCS, Roberts said, one more pitcher and one fewer position player than last round.<\/p>\n

In the NLDS, the Dodgers left left-handed relievers Justin Wrobleski and Jack Dreyer off the roster. They carried rookie pinch-hitter Josue De Paula and pinch-runner\/utility player Hyeseong Kim.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if Miguel Rojas will be part of the roster. Rojas tweaked his back in Game 3 when his feet slid out from under him in the slick grass in shallow right field as he made an on-target throw to first base. He left the game in the middle of his next at-bat, aggravating the injury on a swing. He did not play in Game 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was encouraging,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe had imaging, and a lot of it was kind of stuff that he has had prior history. So, we\u2019ve still got a flight to get on. See how he comes in tomorrow for the workout there. So there\u2019s nothing definitive. But I will say today was a step in the right direction. He took ground balls and took a couple rounds of [batting practice]. So that was good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dodgers entered the postseason with the best rotation of any team on paper, led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[126243,432,10445,426,423,48,52,51,47,50,49,21949,4256,4122,424,16713,2668,191597,18471,8652,429],"class_list":["post-491195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-back-end","tag-blake-snell","tag-braves","tag-dodgers","tag-game","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-pitch","tag-pitcher","tag-postseason","tag-roberts","tag-roster","tag-run","tag-star-studded-rotation","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-tyler-glasnow","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}