The Dodgers have switched their rotation for the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, moving Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Game 1 on Saturday night in Chavez Ravine and Jack Flaherty to Game 2 on Sunday night.
Flaherty, the right-hander who was acquired from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, was originally scheduled to start the opener of the best-of-five series. By moving Yamamoto from Game 2 to Game 1, the Japanese right-hander would be available to start a potential Game 5 on Oct. 11 on five days’ rest.
“It’s much more about if there’s a Game 5,” Andrew Friedman, the team’s president of baseball operations, said during Thursday’s workout. “Yoshi hasn’t pitched on regular [four days’ rest]. Jack is more accustomed to it. Depending on our bullpen usage throughout [the series], it allows us that flexibility in Game 5 if there is one.”
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Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325-million deal in December, went 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts this season, missing almost three months from mid-June to mid-September because of a rotator-cuff strain. The Dodgers kept him on a once-a-week schedule that resembled his workload in Japan.
In addition to freeing up Yamamoto for a potential Game 5 start, the rotation switch will also allow Flaherty, who went 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 10 starts for the Dodgers, to be available for a Game 5 on regular rest.
Yamamoto gave up eight earned runs and eight hits in six innings of his two starts against the Padres this season, a 15-11 loss in South Korea on March 21 and an 8-7 loss in Los Angeles on April 12.
“It just creates more options,” Friedman said. “If there is a Game 5, depending on the usage of our bullpen, we can have [Yamamoto and Flaherty] take down the game. We can have just one of them with our pen. It creates flexibility for things that we can’t possibly know right now, which is how our pitching is used in Games 1 through 4.”
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Friedman said that after walking through the logic of the switch with Yamamoto and Flaherty that both pitchers “were excited about it.”
Friedman also said he is not concerned about Yamamoto potentially being overexcited about making his first major league playoff start in a series opener, not after watching Yamamoto allow two hits in seven scoreless innings of a nationally televised June 7 game in Yankee Stadium.
“To go into a hostile environment like that and see him elevate his game … we talked about it at the time, that’s not an easy thing to do,” Friedman said. “He has experienced pitching in a lot of big games, and the one thing we feel really confident about is that the moment is not going to affect him. He’s going to take it in and feed on that adrenaline and do what he does.”
Freeman, Rojas injury update
The Dodgers are remaining optimistic that Freddie Freeman (sprained ankle) and Miguel Rojas (adductor tear) will be ready for Game 1 of the NLDS.
Based on Thursday’s team workout, however, Rojas seems like the much safer bet.
After missing the final four games of the regular season, during which time he got an injection to help ease the pain of an injury that bothered him throughout the final month, Rojas was a full participant in Thursday’s activities. He joined the team in base-running drills. He took grounders on the infield. And he played in the team’s intrasquad scrimmage.
“Miggy looks really good,” Friedman said. “I think the time off has really helped him.”
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Rojas said he feels “kind of the same that I felt in September” but remained confident that he’ll be able to play through it during the postseason.
“Trying to do the best I can to take care of myself off the field so I can be playing in these games,” Rojas said.
Forty-eight hours out from Game 1, Freeman looked like a much bigger question mark.
The first baseman did not speak with reporters Thursday or participate in any of the team’s pre-scrimmage drills on the field. Freeman did take live at-bats in the scrimmage but appeared to still be walking gingerly.
Freeman also didn’t play in the field during the scrimmage, with Max Muncy at first base instead. Manager Dave Roberts said last week that Muncy would probably play first against the Padres (with Kiké Hernández at third base) if Freeman is unable to go.
Friedman did say that Freeman took swings in the batting cage before the scrimmage and that his ankle “has gotten progressively better” every day since he twisted it trying to beat out a grounder at first base last Thursday.
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However, Friedman also acknowledged that “today will be a big test” as it pertains to Freeman’s Game 1 status.
“It’s hard because any time you talk to him about it, he’s like, ‘I’m good, I’ll be good,’” Friedman said. “But it was a real sprain.”
Even if Freeman isn’t ready for Game 1, Friedman said they will still carry the eight-time All-Star on their NLDS roster, remaining confident that Freeman — whose ankle would probably pose a bigger limitation defensively and running the bases than with his swing — will be able to make an impact in the best-of-five series.
“Again, all of this, we’ll get a better feel for as he gets out there and does things,” Friedman said. “He’s of the mind that he’ll be good, and that’s just what his mindset is.”
Ohtani unlikely to face hitters
Shohei Ohtani will continue to throw before playoff games as he rehabs his surgically repaired right elbow.
However, as of now, the Dodgers are not planning to have Ohtani throw any live batting practice sessions to hitters during the playoffs.
“Nothing is definitive, but as of now, we’re not going to [have him] throw lives,” Friedman said.
Although Ohtani is nearing the stage of his rehab when he could start to face hitters — a step that would put him in better position to be ready to pitch at the start of next year — the Dodgers have been wary of potentially overtaxing the two-way star in his first MLB postseason.
“The adrenaline, the intensity of these games, it’s just different,” Friedman said. “So not layering on that extra element right now, until we at least get into it and just see how he’s doing … we will wait right now.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.