On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers stared at the face of their past demons and said, “Not today.”
They staved off a second elimination at the hands of the San Diego Padres in three seasons with an emphatic 8-0 win to send the series to a decisive Game 5. Considering the Padres' ability to put runs on the board in bunches, being able to shut them out should not be taken lightly.
The Dodgers did not start the first three games of the series on the right foot. They allowed the Padres to stack some runs against their starting pitchers. Thus, in Game 4, Dave Roberts decided to rely on his bullpen to get them across the finish line, and his faith paid off.
Now, it's unclear who the Dodgers will give the ball to with one full day of rest between Games 4 and 5 of the NLDS. Roberts is keeping his cards close to his chest, as he does not want to give the Padres a competitive advantage by hinting at their pitching plans for the do-or-die game.
Per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register, Roberts said that he could either give the ball to Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Jack Flaherty, or he could “run the same playbook” and go with another bullpen game.
In elimination games, conventional strategies go out of the window. It will be all hands on deck for both the Dodgers and the Padres in Game 5 as both teams seek to gain whatever advantage they can over the other in what has been a highly emotional NLDS.
With there being one day of rest between Games 4 and 5, the Dodgers could have more leeway to go with another bullpen game. Their relievers prevented the Padres from getting into any sort of offensive rhythm, limiting them to just nine baserunners on the night. With how successful this “playbook” was, so to speak, it should not be a surprise if LA goes to this yet again.
Dodgers head to Game 5 of the NLDS with momentum
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The Dodgers' 8-0 win may not show it, but their NLDS clash against the Padres has been hotly contested. Thus, every advantage they could use is important. Having home-field advantage could end up paying dividends as they return back to Dodger Stadium, the site of the series' heated Game 2, to try and dispatch of the Padres once and for all.
Now, this is not exactly the manner in which the Dodgers expected themselves to take care of business. They looked to assemble one of the deepest pitching staffs in all of baseball, but some of their starters are currently dealing with injury while the starters that they have healthy did not exactly perform well during their NLDS starts.
If the Dodgers were to give the ball to a traditional starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will have the freshest arm. Five days will have passed since his last start by the time Game 5 comes around, and perhaps this amount of rest can help bring out the best in him after his stuff wasn't up to par during his Game 1 performance.
But perhaps the Dodgers' best bet might be to go to their bullpen with their backs against the wall again. Bringing in a new pitcher every inning or so introduces new looks to the Padres' hitters, preventing the team's pitchers from being exposed from going through the order multiple times.
