Los Angeles Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts has confirmed Jack Flaherty would be the Sport 1 starter for the Nationwide League Division Collection in opposition to both the San Diego Padres or Atlanta Braves.
It isn’t how the Dodgers drew it up once they traded for Tyler Glasnow within the offseason however it’s the hand they’ve been handled Glasnow on the injured record.
Nonetheless, Flaherty has postseason expertise, and had an excellent yr total for the Dodgers and Detroit Tigers. He was 13-7 with a 3.17 ERA in 28 begins this season and helped lead the St. Louis Cardinals to the NLCS in 2019.
Would the Dodgers quite have Glasnow, Stone, or any of the opposite six injured starters accessible? Positive. However sending Flaherty and Yoshinombu Yamamoto within the first two video games just isn’t a disappointing possibility and it’s higher than an injured Clayton Kershaw and inexperienced Bobby Miller, like they did a yr in the past.
Ought to the Dodgers be involved about Flaherty?
In line with Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Instances, possibly.
“Though Flaherty helped regular the Dodgers’ rotation when he arrived on the commerce deadline, his final three begins raised some purple flags,” Harris writes. “In 14 complete innings, he gave up 10 runs, 14 hits and 9 walks. His fastball velocity was down within the final two outings, averaging lower than 92 mph. And he labored into the sixth inning in simply one of many three, one thing he did not do solely as soon as in his first seven begins with the crew.”
Harris thinks the Dodgers needs to be extra apprehensive about Yamamoto, who continues to be constructing his arm up since getting back from the IL 4 begins in the past.
In his first three begins after getting back from the injured record, he managed solely 4, 4, and three innings. Nonetheless, over the weekend in Colorado, Yamamoto lastly pitched 5 innings — in probably the most hitter-friendly ballpark in baseball, no much less.
Regardless of the restricted innings, Yamamoto posted a 3.38 ERA throughout his 4 September appearances, which is way from horrible.
What the Dodgers desperately want greater than anything is for his or her high starters to pitch deep into video games to keep away from placing extra pressure on an already fatigued bullpen.
Each pitchers have proven they’re able to doing this at factors throughout the season, however these performances have been uncommon not too long ago, casting doubt on whether or not they can ship ace-level outings within the playoffs.
Photograph Credit score: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports activities
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