The Dodgers will have the same pitching rotation to start the World Series as they did to begin their sweep of the National League Championship Series -- Blake Snell starting Game 1 Friday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Game 2 Saturday in Toronto, manager Dave Roberts said.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
Roberts was noncommittal in a Zoom call with reporters Tuesday afternoon about his starters for Games 3 and 4, of the best-of-seven series, which will be played at Dodger Stadium.
Tyler Glasnow started Game 3 of the NLCS and Shohei Ohtani Game 4.
There is "one spot" in the bullpen "I think that we could potentially kind of debate," when constructing the 26-player World Series roster, Roberts said, without offering any specifics.
Blake Treinen and Justin Wrobleski could be dropped in favor of Edgardo Henriquez and Tanner Scott, who had been the team's closer.
The previous question to Roberts was about the possibility of including Scott on the World Series roster.
Scott was on the roster for the wild card series, but didn't pitch in the two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. He was also on the roster for the division series against the Philadelphia Phillies, didn't pitch in any of the first three games, then was replaced by Wrobleski before Game 4 after undergoing a procedure to treat an abscess on his lower body.
Under Major League Baseball rules, a player taken off the roster due to injury or illness cannot be on the roster for the next series, which kept him out of the NLCS.
"It's good to see Tanner continuing to throw and throw pens, and it's just kind of trying to get a grasp on the doctors giving him the full kind of green light," Roberts said. "Today, I can't answer that question."
Scott was placed on the 15-day injured list July 22 due to left elbow inflammation. He didn't pitch again for the Dodgers until Aug. 24. Since his return he was 0-2 with a 7.15 ERA in 11 1/3 innings in 14 games.
Snell had one of the best postseason pitching performances in the 2-1 Game 1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers Oct. 13. He became the fourth pitcher in postseason history to face the minimum number of batters through eight innings.
Snell retired all three batters he faced in the first inning and all three in the second. He allowed a single to Caleb Durbin leading off the third. After striking out Isaac Collins, Snell picked off Durbin, then retired each of the 16 batters he faced before being relieved by Roki Sasaki to start the ninth.
Snell struck out 10 and didn't walk a batter, becoming the first pitcher in postseason history with at least 10 strikeouts, one or zero hits and zero walks in a start of at least eight innings.
Larsen had seven strikeouts in his perfect game in Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 8, 1956, in the New York Yankees 2-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers.
The next day, Yamamoto pitched the first postseason complete game since 2017 in the 5-1 victory, pitching a three-hitter, shutting out the Brewers after Jackson Chourio hit his first pitch for a home run, striking out seven and walking one.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok