DodgerHeads: Reds-Dodgers Wild Card preview, Blake Snell starting Game 1, Clayton Kershaw overlooked
It’s time for Dodgerheads. [Music] Five ball right [Music] Dodgers have won it all in 2020 50 clubs out there hits the ball she is good at the party Los Angeles your Dodgers have won the World Series [Music] What’s up everybody? Welcome into Dodgerheads Live presented by dogerblue.com part of the mediumlarge sports network. My name is Jeff Beagle joined tonight by Anthony Watrado here to talk about the Major League Baseball playoffs. They are here on Tuesday. The Dodgers unfortunately playing in the wildard round. But lots to discuss. Anthony, uh happy Sunday evening to you. Happy uh playoff Eve Eve to you. Yeah. Yeah. We are finally here. Um for the Dodgers, for this fan base, for that organization, this is when the season starts. Yeah. Yeah. And and it and it three games that that’s what is in front of them and what’s on the table all happening at Dodger Stadium. So, uh, it’s it’s perfectly put by you that everything the Dodgers have been planning for, trading guys for, signing guys for, everything is for what’s in front of us, not not what’s behind us. They made it this far. And so, uh, lots to get into. We’re going to talk preview of the series against the Reds now officially. Only today did we find out who they would be playing the Yankees. An unbelievable collapse. They were 0 for eight with runners in scoring position at one point. I don’t know if that um got worse from there in a in a winter take all the Reds to lose, but they backed themselves in to the postseason. We’re going to talk roster notes. We’ve got updates on some key guys, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell, Will Smith among them. You and I are going to give some roster predictions for the Wildcard series and then uh a little bit of putting a bow on the regular season behind us. But let’s just talk before we get into any of that, Anthony, let’s just talk about where the Dodgers are at now. Because if you haven’t been paying super close attention, you might be surprised to hear that other than than the New York Yankees, the Dodgers are the hottest team in baseball right now. They’ve won nine of their last 11, eight and two in their last 10. Only the Yankees have more wins over that stretch. Yankees are 10- one in their last 11, nine- one in their last 10. And the Dodgers have done it, Anthony, against teams that kind of needed those games. The Giants were super hot coming into that stretch. The Dodgers put them out of their misery. One of those games was against the Phillies who we know are very good. The Diamondbacks were making a run. The Dodgers put them out of their misery. And then you had Seattle, who’s, you know, the number one seed in the one of the best teams in the American League has homefield buy. So the Dodgers are not doing this against bad teams. Anthony, the question is, does any of it mean anything? Right. Right. Um, no. And that includes the two losses to the Phillies. um where I think that the Dodgers did a pretty solid job for I would say 95% of that series of showing like they might be the better team. Um you know in that other you know 2% or 5% or whatever it was um was all bullpen stuff. So I I I think that it matters for them more than like who they played. you know, I I think them coming in playing good ball um matters matters most because I I think for for for what they’re doing this for and for how they went about their business, it really didn’t matter who they played. I think as long as they were going to come in this way, we were going to feel good about it and I think they’re going to feel good about it in that clubhouse. So, um it helps, right, that they were playing teams that were kind of going all in. Um, but yeah, I think I think the biggest thing is just, you know what, they’re going to be able to to to look up and down that roster right now and go, we’re ready. Yeah, we are ready. Well, and and you kind of hinted at it. There has to be a mental piece of this, having seen yourself do it over the last two weeks, like that has to play a part. I’m not saying that’s a 100% of the equation, and had they come in five and five, like they’d be screwed in the wild card, but now things are different. But I just have to feel like there’s a five to 10 percent boost that they’re going to experience because just the mentality of like, no, we’re we’re actually firing on all cylinders right now. There’s a confidence level, right? We saw the the inverse of this with the bullpen where it felt like the negative mentality had seeped in. I I imagine the positive mentality, the confidence of yes, we won the World Series last year, but yes, we’re playing our best baseball right now. Like I I just it’s hard for me to believe that’s not going to impact this series or this run at some level. Yeah. Yeah. I I think it is important because of how up and down they were before that, right? Like they had all the conversations about flipping the switch and are they going to be able to do it and you know just just generally playing bad baseball. Um and a lot of that was on the one aspect of the of the club, you know, the bullpen, but still like they were losing games. Um, and so yeah, I I I think it is meaningful in that they can come into this thing and go, “Yeah, this is the team that we thought we could be.” Um, and it’s it’s clicking right now as we walk into October. And that’s important. Yeah. Maybe they flipped the switch. Maybe they were telling us the truth all year, Anthony. They said, “Don’t worry, we can turn this thing on when we need to.” And maybe maybe the the red but the red light is on that things are powered up and ready to go. Yeah. Look, and I think for a veteran team, like they just need to see it for a little bit. You know what I mean? Like it just two week span, a week and a half span. That’s all that’s kind of all it takes for them to go, “Yep, we got it. We’re in now.” Yeah. And and you know, it’s time to strap ourselves in and go. Um, you know, I I think that they’re feeling good about all parts of the club right now, including the bullpen. I think internally we might not be feeling great about it, you know, so much, but I think internally they’re probably feeling pretty good about what they got going in. Yeah. Aaron, uh, super chat says, “The boys picked a damn good time to play their best ball. Bullpen has looked fantastic since Thursday. If the pen found it, the league is in trouble.” That last sentence is unequivocally true. If the Dodgers bullpen becomes like even just good. We don’t even need great. We just need good, then I do think the rest of the National League is not going to be thrilled to find that. Are you buying any of this or is this yet another sort of peak that is that is potentially going to be immediately followed by a valley? I am going to for the next month always be nervous about the bullpen. Yeah, that’s just what they’ve conditioned us to do now. It’s it’s been too long. And so, you know, they might be good going up until that final out of of a World Series run again. And I’ll still be, you know, biting my nails wondering if this is the time it collapses. Totally. and and we’re going to talk postseason roster stuff in a little bit. We’ll go over some of those names and see how people feel. But there’s at least a couple guys like I think Trinan there’s there’s a couple outings in a row where you’re like, “All right, I I don’t need a ton to believe that Trinan has found something.” So when when a guy like that seems to be clicking, that’s encouraging. But um the rest of the guys, I’m with you. DN life says there’s a lot of talk about how the Cincinnati Arms are comparable to the Dodgers, that’s crazy, right? Um, I I was reading the athletics preview of this and I thought they did a good job of identifying like, hey, Cincinnati’s pitching is really good, dot dot dot, but it’s not the Dodgers pitching, you know, like it’s like, hey, like a an erra as a group of like 3.0 is really really good. The Dodgers are like 2.4. So, it’s it’s you can say both of those things at the same time. The Reds have very good pitching. The Dodgers dramatically better. Yeah, for sure. For sure. This is this is why um I think they were very cautious with some of these arms in the regular season and we didn’t see certain guys until probably like I I would guess that some of those guys could have made starts. Glass and Snell could have made starts probably even Otani earlier than they did, you know, after they were coming back from their injuries. But this is why they didn’t is so that these guys would be in good shape going into the playoffs. Um, and this is why I think they still have as good a chance as any team in the dra in the tournament. Um, and it’s because those starting those the starters. Yeah. Yeah, I’m with you completely. Uh, NG with the huge super chat. We appreciate that. Kershaw, the last of the Moheakans. Uh, I mean, what a day from him today. Five and a third, four hits, no runs, a walk, and seven strikeouts. Brings his season down to 3.36. Uh, the last game he will start in the regular season for the entirety of his career. obviously potentially the last game he ever starts. We don’t know. The expectation as we’re going to talk about is he’s not going to be on the wild card roster. He will be on the NLDS roster. It sounds like if they make it there, whether his role is starter or reliever to be determined, but all that said, today was fantastic. He finishes the fifth inning with a strike out on the curve. I was prepared for that to be it. I was like, just let him go out now. The curveball, five clean. But kudos to the Dodgers and Dave Roberts because they said, “Go back out there. Get us one more out, which could have gone poorly.” It did not. Gets a strike out with the slider and then they get the moment where Freddy Freeman gets him out of the game. Everybody gives him a hug. He gets an ovation and announcement from Seattle. So, unbelievable stuff from Kershaw obviously all season. Um, but today yet again, like I was not expecting to be crying again on a Sunday, but here we are. We we cried in his last home start. We cried in his last road start. And uh hopefully it’s not the last we ever see of him. Yeah. Uh I I really hope so. I hope that he gets an October moment again. Um I I think he will. Um but you know, threeame series, so we’ll see. Anything can happen. Anything can happen. Absolutely. Uh 300 says, “Playoffs are always high anxiety. We should handle the Reds, but the Phillies will be a battle. Let’s freaking go.” Uh yeah, I it’s perfectly said. Threeame series, you’re going to hear us say it 25 thou thousand times tonight is just terrifying in and of itself. has has little to do with the Reds and everything to do with just the logistics of it. Uh destination all with an interesting question here. Dalton six for 17 and a home run. Should he start again? Um I’m just going to hand this one over to you Anthony because anytime I talk about the Dodgers catching situation, people get mad at me. So I’ll let you have uh take the first bite of this one. I I don’t think they change anything that they’ve been doing during this run. Um, so if it’s Rorvette getting the majority of the starts and Dalton getting some, um, I’m fine with that. If he can settle into a role of of like what he’s been, um, and he’s finally getting comfortable there, then I that’s a huge plus and it’s a huge it’s a huge weapon potentially off the bench for them. So, um, I’m fine doing what they’ve been doing. I don’t think they they need to make any drastic kind of um, lineup decision just because, you know, Dalton’s been good for a couple of weeks or whatever. So, um I I think I think more of it is like can he keep this up whether he’s starting or not. Uh cuz I don’t think either one of those guys is like the the kind of of guy that you can say he’s got to start every single day. Yeah. Both of them like as we’ve been saying kind of all along, both of them have um pretty notable flaws in their games, right? The ironic part is they’re the opposite. Uh, Rorvette is at zero offensively and I know he had a nice little stretch there at the beginning and uh, I got a ton of flack for saying like, “Hey, this is all smoke and mirrors and none of it’s going to last.” And now he’s three for his last 24, I believe it is, um, with the one home run and a couple singles. So, um, but he’s been good defensively, like much better than Dalton Rushing, who can’t keep the ball in front of him. And then you have Daltton Rushing who has projected ability to hit the ball as the super chat says like we’re in like a four- game stretch where he’s actually hit the ball and yet he’s a liability defensively and the playoffs are not the time that I want to necessarily figure out if that has changed or gotten any better. So I’m with you. I I don’t I would be shocked if rushing starts a game at catcher um at any point this postseason because I think it’s going to be Will Smith if and when he is healthy and it’s going to be Rortfet in the in the meantime. But um I was going at it a little bit with our guy Scotty Chi on uh on social media cuz I’m like now all the now all the Rovet people want to tell me that it was just a joke that they were buying into his offense and that it was all about the defense. I’m like look I saw the replies. That’s all I’m going to say. I saw the replies in my mention. So I hope he figures it out. I do think that if Will Smith does come back and he’s able to play, I think Wart Vet is probably the guy who’s out. Um Okay. So, you’re saying if if Smith is going to be starting in every day, then Roett is out, which that’s literally what I’ve been saying the entire time and I rushed for that take. I think regardless of what the you know of of who’s healthy or not, rushing is always the backup in these in this situation that the Dodgers are dealing with. That that’s what I think because I think um if Will Smith is going to actually play, Wart Vet’s value is significantly diminished. um because he’s just not going to play and you can’t you can’t use him as a bat off the bench like you can with rushing. Yeah. No notes. No notes on anything you just said. Totally agree. Uh Jedi Engineer, I was tempted to shout into the press box Dodgerheads rules at the game today. Great season, guys. Let’s gear up for Tuesday. Shows after every game from here on out. Unfortunately, I was not at any of these games. Um you all bullied me into buying tickets for Friday night’s game on last Friday’s live stream. Uh, which was a good decision. I felt good about it for three days until it was announced that Clayton Kershaw would not be pitching on Friday. One side note, and I know this is like a joke and it’s they make a joke of themselves. I bought the tickets from Tickpick, which if you watch MLBTV, you’ve seen 8,000 ads from them. Yes. Well, great great deal. No fees, like anything. It’s great. Well, the problem was I bought the tickets and then I went to resell them on like Monday or Tuesday and I didn’t have seat numbers or barcodes. And I was like, “Well, wait a minute.” And they’re like, “Oh, no. You you get those 24 hours before the game starts. You’ll get the seat numbers and barcodes.” And I was like, “Well, so I can’t sell these tickets. Like, I’m just stuck with them until 24 hours before.” And they’re basically like, “Yes.” And I’m like, “Well, why didn’t they have to give you barcodes in order to sell them?” Anyways, it turned into a mess. Thankfully, I got out of it with a small loss. couldn’t make it up there today. But um yeah, it was a bummer. And shout out to Tickpic for being brutal to deal with. But to answer the bottom question here, yes, shows after every game from here on out. Tuesday night, uh Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, if there is a game, Thursday, 6:08, I believe, is the time frame on all of those. And so we will be going live postgame after every single Dodgers playoff game from here on out. So hop in, join us. It’s going to be fun. Hopefully you’re hopefully you hear our voices from now until uh the middle of November basically as we uh as we celebrate another World Series. That’s the goal. Uh but I mean give me before we dive in because we’re going to get into the Reds here in a minute. Like are you as confident now as you’ve been at any point this season in in the group that’s in front of us or do you feel like now that the postseason’s here you’re feeling nerves? I’m always going to feel nerves um because I know like they they can do this. Yeah. Right. like if if they were underdogs probably wouldn’t feel this, but I think like they’re a favorite and and we all expect them to be able to to make this run. Um so I’ll be nervous in that way. But um to answer your question, this is as good as I felt all season long about where this team is. Yeah. Um you know, the first week or so of April, like that was easy to feel good about them, but it’s it’s first week of April. Like you know, way too many things can happen. Um, and so I I think basically since then, uh, outside of that little run there, when was it like June, July, when they faced like that gauntlet of like teams over 500 and they came out of that like really well. Yeah. Outside of that, this is as good as I felt about where this team’s at all season. Think about it this way. If I had told you before the year, you know, we were joking about are the Dodgers going to win 110 games? If if I had followed up that conversation and said, Anthony, here’s what here’s what I’ll give you. I’ll give you the season. They only win 93 games this year, which is like a massive disappointment. But yeah, you’re gonna get to the postseason with the entire starting pitching staff healthy. Mookie, Freddy, and Otani are all going to be healthy. We would have taken that like 10 out of 10. How quickly do I sign before you realize what you’re offering me? Right? I think all of us operated under the assumption hopefully we can get two of the four starting pitchers across the line and hopefully we can get two of the three studs on the offensive side across the line. We would have hoped for more on the bullpen side of things, but like the fact that we are going to get four studs pitching wise, and that’s not even counting Kershaw and EMTT who have been fantastic. And the top three guys are all healthy, albeit Will Smith is banged up, Muny’s coming back, but like all things considered, our three studs on offense and our four horses in the starting rotation are all healthy. To me, that that will make me feel way more confident than if they had won 115 games. But those two things weren’t true. Yeah. No, I like this a lot better. Um, you know, I think that we’ve seen how those regular season wins like really matter in October, right? Um, which is to say that they don’t. And so I I think for this team in particular, which everything they did in the last two winters, everything they did during the regular season and how they managed the roster was all so that they could come they can be on this Sunday night healthy as as possible. and they’re and they are um and I think if you take if you’re gonna say we have a real question mark about one of these groups, the starting pitching, the the the lineup or the bullpen, you take the bullpen in that every single time. And it’s it’s it makes for really um nerve-wracking games and some some disappointing finishes and things like that like we’ve all seen. But yeah, the other two matter so much more um and and and can carry you so much more in a run like this. Uh that that’s it’s an easy call to say like, “All right, you know what? If I’m going to have to question anything, it’s going to be that group.” Yeah, I’m with you. It’s a great point. And by the way, 93 wins, Chad Moryama had a great tweet that like the Dodgers sweeping the Mariners, it like cancelled all these people that were going to say like this is the worst season since Guggenheim took over because 2018 they won 92 games. Do you know how 2018 they they played in the World Series that year? World series. Yeah, obviously they didn’t win it. So hopefully hopefully one game better and a World Series outcome that’s a little bit different. So um let’s get into the Reds and the Dodgers. A wild card preview here. Uh again, games start Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. 6:08 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday if necessary. All three games, as a reminder, will be at Dodger Stadium. So huge advantage for the Dodgers there. Um Dodgers and Reds, if you didn’t know, played six times all six games in the second half of the season, July and August. The Dodgers won five out of six, including sweeping the second of those two series. Um, the Dodgers posted a 778 OPS with seven home runs against the Reds. So, on the season, Anthony, it has been, you know, undeniably a positive matchup. I think we would both agree how these teams played against each other in July and August doesn’t hold a ton of water necessarily, but when we get to pitching matchups, we’ll talk a little bit about that. Um, as far as a preview of the Reds, I do have some numbers I’ll throw up on the screen, um, for those who are watching on YouTube. Here’s their offense at a glance with some rankings here. So, they rank 18th in baseball in batting average, 21st in home run home runs, 19th in OPS, 14th in runs, 24th in weighted runs created. plus over the last 30 days. Home runs have ticked up a little bit, but basically you look up and down this group, Anthony, and it’s a pretty average offense, which when I was thinking about who I wanted to face, whether it was the Mets or the Reds, I I preferred the Reds because of their offense. You look at this group and it is not a group that scares you. Their best hitter is Ellie de la Cruz, who has a weighted runs created plus of 108 this season. Uh the rest of the guys on that list as over a 100 weighted runs created plus guys. basically slightly above average offensive players. TJ Fredo, this is in order from best to worst. TJ Fredel, Austin Hayes, Gavin Lux, Noel V Marty, and Tyler Stevenson are the average to slightly above average hitters in this group. That’s why I like this matchup for the Dodgers most. Yeah, I agree with you. I think that um had it been the Mets, even if they might have come in playing poorly, they had guys on that in that lineup who could really carry a team, right? And especially you get two or two two of those three guys to get hot. Um and you and suddenly you get into big trouble. Um and and so they were scary just for that reason. Um and those guys are like all having good seasons, right? Like so uh that that that sort of nervousness you might have felt there was it was real. The Reds just they don’t they don’t scare anybody uh with their offense. Like they have good pitching but beyond that like they don’t really scare anybody. And you talked about De La Cruz and and the 108 uh weighted runs created plus there. A whole lot of that damage was done early in the season. A lot of it was really bad the second half. He’s been really bad since since around the All-Star break or something like that. Like his last month he’s slashing 215, 305, 344 in his his OPS start. Some Michael Conforto stuff right there. Now we’re talking, baby. Right. Right. So like that’s their best guy. uh you know, and so you know that no one in that lineup scares you and and when you when you can throw elite starting pitching at that group um you you really like that matchup for the Dodgers and they have good pitching and we’ll talk about that. But their offense does not scare you especially against this kind of uh starting rotation. Totally. A and again what’s the Dodgers biggest weakness? It’s the bullpen. Like if my bullpen has to come in and when you say, “Hey, they’re facing the middle of the order.” And it’s like, “Okay, that’s TJ Fredo, Austin Hayes, and Gavin Lux, like I’m not there’s I feel good. I feel good about the Dodgers bullpen if those are the toughest matchups that they’re going to have to come in and face because again, I’m with you. Like the Mets, just the idea of Juan Sto and Pete Alonzo coming up to the plate and one swing being able to change the trajectory of the series, that’s what scared me. Now, Ellie de la Cruz can still do that, but as you said, he has been really bad over the second half of the season. Fairly average and pedestrian for the entirety of the season. I mean, his basically his seasonl long profile is Mookie Bets. Like, if you just take Mookie Bet’s season and flip it upside down, that’s what Ellie de la Cruz has been. And he’s their best hitter. So, imagine if you walked into the series and Mookie Betts was the guy that you were most reliant on. That’s the Reds. Um, as far as matchups go, lefties and righties, I thought this was interesting. Weighted runs create a plus. Again, 100 is league average. Above it is good. Below it is bad. Against lefties, they are 21 points worse. 21% worse than league average. Against righties, they are 97. So three points 3% worse than league average. On the road, they’re 93. So again, a below average offense. But to the same token, Anthony, if I told you they were going to be able to hit righties or lefties and struggle against the rest, what do the Dodgers have a lot of in the bullpen? A whole crapload of lefties that they’re going to be able to throw at people. We know they got one starter who’s going to be a lefty they’re going to see in this series. So again, still positive for me that this is a team that is below average against righties and very very below average against lefties. Yeah, this is this is where you feel good about this matchup right here. Um you know, you you think the Dodgers are favorites because their pitching should be able to handle this lineup. Uh you know, I I would I won’t say with ease, but like the matchup is really good for the Dodgers here. Yeah. Yeah. I’m with you. I’m with you. Let’s go over to the pitching side of things. Um on the season, some of the similar numbers. Um starting pitchers, erra, they are eighth in Major League Baseball. Bullpen RA 14th in Major League Baseball. Strikeouts per nine 14th. Walks per nine 11th. Home runs 17th. So again, I mean this makes sense, right? Like there are so many teams that make the Major League Baseball playoffs. The Reds are about the 12th best team in Major League Baseball. So guess what? They’re really average in all of these stats. Um, we we talked a little bit about starting pitching. The fact that they’re eighth in Major League Baseball in ERA lines up with what the Dodgers are going to see in Hunter Green, Lollo, and Andrew Abbott if it gets that far. Two of those guys are lefties, by the way. One of them, Hunter Green, is a righty. Um, but bullpen, I mean, it’s an average bullpen. They they improved the bullpen second half of the season post trade deadline, but this isn’t a bullpen like the Padres’s bullpen for example where if you if you’re trailing in the seventh inning, you’re like, “Holy crap, what are we going to do now?” Um, so again, more good stuff here. Um, one other against lefties versus against righties. Um, lefties have have hurt them. 712 OPS from left-handed hitters against their pitching 692 right-handed hitters against them. So, um, look for some of the Dodger lefties to be able to to feast a little bit. But when you look at these numbers, lefties, righties, overall pitching stuff, Anthony, I’m curious what jumps out to you. This is where the this is where you can get a little nervous with their starting pitching. Yeah. Uh it’s been good. Uh with that said though, I think the Dodgers have handled them pretty well uh in in in the in the times they’ve played them more recently. Um so I think it holds a little bit more weight there. Uh but but that is where the Reds are going to make their money. that’s that’s where they’re best right now and that’s why they’re they’re, you know, in the playoffs is because that rotation kind of dragged them across the finish line here. Um, but again, you look at the overall matchups here and I think the Dodgers are the going to be the favorite for a reason. Again, threeame series, so we’ll see what happens. But yeah, um, I would say the Dodgers are in a much better position than the Reds are right now. Um, and I’m seeing some people say like, “Oh, well, we’re confident in 23.” I do not know what version of the Dodgers you all were watching in 23 coming down the stretch of the season and going into the postseason. They had like one pitcher and his arm was falling off. Yeah. Like I mean maybe some people felt like they were going to make a run that year, but it felt to me like a long shot. Uh I I guess I was surprised how they lost that series, but I wasn’t surprised that they lost. Yeah, this this team is in much better shape than they were in 23. Yeah, I think it’s a great point. Uh on the pitching side, by the way, uh Hunter Green expected to pitch for the Reds in game number one. Dodgers have seen him once so far this season. Five innings, six hits, five runs, three of them earned two homers, two walks, and three strikeouts. That was just a month ago at the end of August. So the Dodgers are not going to be afraid to see Hunter Green in game one. Uh and then Nick Lollo is on track to start game two. Did pitch one inning in relief today, but I assume he will start game two. Dodgers have seen him twice. I’m sure a lot of Dodger fans remember the first one of those um back in July when he had 11 strikeouts against them. But he finished that game with five and a third, six hits, two runs, a homer, and a walk as well. He came back a month later, a month ago, four and two/3s, five hits, four earned one walks, six strikeouts. So those are the two best guys. Andrew Abbott’s been very good. Dodgers have not seen him. He would probably be their game three starter is my guess. But I look at those matchups and I I again these guys have good numbers, Anthony. But I love to know that the Dodgers have gotten to them that that both of these guys, you know, again, Lollo in 10 innings has allowed six runs. Green in five innings has allowed five runs. Just from a pure confidence, stepping into the box believing that you’re going to be successful. The Dodgers have reason to believe it. Yeah, I I think so. Um like I said, like I I would rather be on this side of the ledger than than the Cincinnati side, right? If you’re rooting for a team. Um, you know, and with that said, again, three game series, the the Reds, they they can win a series against the Dodgers. Anybody can win a series against anybody when it’s three games. Um, you know, that’s why the Major League Baseball playoffs are kind of what they are and so different from other sports. Um, you know, so so it’s it’s not like this is going to be just a team you expect to walk over, but uh again, the numbers bear it out. The matchup on paper is is favor favorable for the Dodgers. Um, now the guys just have to go out and perform kind of as expected and and I think that if they do that, the Dodgers are are are just better. They’re a better ball club. Uh, and so then then I think you you know, you get that result. But just you just got to hope for no hiccups here because in in a series like this, right, just it’s it’s two or three breaks that don’t go your way and all of a sudden season is on the brink. Totally. Totally. Uh, I mentioned the Dodgers getting a chance to see a couple of their um pitchers. The Reds have not seen Blake Snell this season, which I think is an advantage for the Dodgers. Um, Yamamoto they saw once, seven innings, four hits, one run, nine strikeouts. Otani they saw twice, once early on in July, once in August, eight total innings, seven hits, three earned 13 strikeouts. So both Yamamoto and Otani successful against the Reds. Otanis I would put an asterisk against because the first time was basically a rehab appearance that he was making against the Reds and the second time he was much better. So all this is lining up. I don’t want us to sound like a broken record where we say hey the Dodgers are way better on paper but it’s a three-game series so who knows but that’s pretty much the summary. Like everything leans Dodgers except for bullpen. The Dodgers have the advantage in every situation. Their starting pitching is better by a decent amount. Their hitting is better by a mile. Uh bullpen Red’s probably advantage, but honestly, it’s it’s probably not a significant advantage. It’s, you know, it’s it’s an advantage, but not a significant one. And even history, Dodgers have won five out of six. Dodger starters that are going to be seen in this series have looked better against the Reds than the Reds starters in this series have looked against them. The Reds struggle against lefties. The Dodgers have a crapload of lefties they can throw out of the bullpen. Like all these things, LA Cruz, by the way, a 65 weighted runs created plus against left-handed pitching. So the Dodgers every time he comes up and the bullpen is out there, they can throw a lefty at him. He might not see a righty. He might not see a righty that’s not a starter in this series totally. And that’s the thing is sometimes when you’ve got two lefties, you’ve got to choose like it’s the seventh inning. Do we throw the lefty now and risk not h it’s like they’re going to have four or five. And so maybe it’s Tanner Scott becomes the LA de la Cruz killer and it’s like hey Tanner as soon as this guy comes in the game you’re going, you know, comes up. It’s your thing. But again, everything lining up nicely for the Dodgers when it comes to um the matchups here. So, good news all the way around. We got a bunch of super chats. Let’s get through some of these. Brandon asks, “Who starts every day at second base in the playoffs?” Second base and outfield, there seem to be like an open spot in those two places. Um I I believe the consensus seems to be that against right-handed pitchers, which would be Hunter Green in game one, that Michael Conforto would be starting in left field. um and that Tommy Edmond would be starting or excuse me um Miguel Rojos maybe at second base and then against left-handed pitchers Tommy Edmund would be starting in center field and Miguel Rojos would be starting at second base. So, how do you see that shaking out? Do you think Miguel Rohos is an everyday player and that it’s a Conforto and Edund platoon? I worded that poorly, but that’s that’s ultimately I think the expectation. Yeah, I I think I think at least to start um you know if if Todd me if Tommy Edmond gets going then you might see him at both positions or if Michael Conforto gets hot you know you might see him get a game against uh you know a lefty or something like that may maybe now that’s probably going too far but um you know I think it’s it starts out mostly with what we’ve been seeing so far um and then I think they’ll make adjustments if somebody like I said gets going and and you say oh you know what okay Tommy Edmond Miguel Rohos like we we need you in the lineup right now. Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting because I know like the Tommy Edmond I believe Tommy Edmond is going to be a guy that makes an impact at some point in the postseason and yet at the same time it’s like the Kik Hernandez thing. We just haven’t seen that materialize offensively at any point since he has come back from the injury. And so I think that’s the the hard part for fans that I’m interacting with on social media is they’re remembering NLCS MVP Tommy Edmond and Michael Conforto who did finish the season with a 200 batting average. Shout out to him for not having a 199 on his track record. But uh like I I think it that’s the hard part for people who if if they aren’t looking closely at the numbers to realize that Michael Conforto had a better offensive season than Tommy Edmond did from a weighted runs created plus perspective that it might be hard for them to get there without without knowing that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And look, it doesn’t matter what we think. They they know what’s going on under the hood over there. And so um you know they’re going to they’re going to run out the lineup. This isn’t the time now where these guys have long leashes like that anymore, right? Like if a guy’s going to hit a buck 50 uh for, you know, over the course of, you know, three or four games, like he might not see that fifth game. Uh, you know, this is this is the time where you need to produce if you’re going to stay on the field. It’s why Kik Hernandez plays in October. Well, I was going to say we didn’t mention him. Like, is is Kik gonna be in the mix for for Edmond’s job or Conorto’s job or for some of Rojos’s at bats, do you think? Yeah, I think I think he’s going to be in the mix probably all around. Um I think it just sort of depends on the matchup at at that time. Um but they are going to find a way to get him in the lineup for sure. Yeah, I think he’s going to be like the first pinch hitter you see in pretty much every single game as soon as there’s an advantageous spot whether it’s they they switch from a lefty to a righty and he’s pinch hitting for Edmond or he’s pinchitting for Conforto or he’s pinching for Rohos. Like I think that’s what’s going to happen because they also view him as a defensive probably upgrade in some of the places that he would be coming into. So um Kik fans, don’t you worry. I think he’s going to be able to make an impact in this one. Uh ADK says Red’s game plan literally is anything can happen in the playoffs. So I like the Dodgers chances. This 162 game preseason is brutal by the way. Go blue. Perfectly said AJ. No notes on any of that. Brandon with What’s that? Season starts now. Totally. Brandon with another super chat. Outside of starters, who’s in the bullpen? We need Keith Tober starting every day in the playoffs. He’s better than Miggy and playoff proven. Migy didn’t play much last year. Miggy’s just been too good in the regular season consistently to lose his spot. And and I say that’s a the problem if you’re a Kik person, but for the Dodgers like Rojos has produced, you’re not afraid that the moment is going to be too big for him. And so as much as I love Kik and I deeply believe in playoff Kik in the face of all logic to say that a guy can just turn the switch on in October, I believe in playoff Kik. And yet all the guys in front all the guys in front of him have kind of played well enough over the last little bit or over the last year to say there’s not a spot for him right now. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to figure out, you know, or to watch the the coaching staff figure out how they get all these guys at bats because like you can’t sit Rojos right now against a left-handed pitcher, I don’t think, right? Like he’s been too good. Um, you know, and you want Edmond hitting from the from a certain side of the plate versus the other. Um, and then you try to find ways to get Kik in the game where he can make a difference. Uh the nice thing about him is that this goes for Rojos too I think is that they don’t need to start to still have an impact and find a way to to to make their their presence felt. Um so they have that part of it going for them. Like I I do still think that you know when there’s when there’s right-handed pitching out there Conforto is going to be the guy for now. Yeah. Um you know so how how they sort of move the pieces around I think will be interesting. But like I said, I think if somebody gets going and it’s like, ah, you know what? We got to get this guy in there. Maybe maybe that guy is Kik. We’ll see. But, um, this is the time of the year where the production matters and it’s going to be a meritocracy from for the next month. Absolutely. Uh, Jedi engineer, today I learned physical game program stopped being produced in 2018. Sadness for my Kershaw final game momento. Settled for a series magnet. So, tough stuff. But I’m glad you got a magnet. That’s a solid That’s a solid little momento. Stick it on the fridge. Those things seem to last forever. So, uh, Shelley says, “I love how the Dodgers are playing. We have swagger and good vibes up and to the right, and I’m nervous.” Uh, yes, I I said it last time. I don’t enjoy watching playoff baseball. It just stresses me out. So, here we go. Sign me up for stress for hopefully the next month. Uh, not not Jeff Spiegel. Best Dodgers content. Thanks for another season, Jents. Thank you. We appreciate it. Season’s not done. Season’s not done. We got again hopefully another month. Uh Cole says, “Assuming the Dodgers win the world’s uh uh wild card, predict the wild card MVP.” I don’t believe this is a real award, but we will we will we can choose someone. Dodgers win the next two games or two out of the next three. Anthony, who’s the MVP? Yeah, I don’t I don’t there’s not a wild card MVP, but I think if we can pick one, um let’s go non-starting pitcher, right? Because they’re just going to they’re they’re each probably going to go six or seven innings. Let’s hope. So, I’ll say as an offensive player, I will go with Don’t take my guy. I’ll go with Freddy. Gosh dang it, Anthony. Why are you taking Why are you taking my guy? First of all, he always hits in the postseason. I’ll never forget the, you know, 2020 when he absolutely murdered us and went swing for swing with Cory Seager. Uh, but I also mentioned it like left-handed hitters have had success against the Reds more than right-handed hitters. So you you pencil all those things in and Freddy and he’s hot by the way because he keeps hitting home runs. So it’s good. Uh JRod says Jeff with the nerd stats for Edund Conforto weighted runs created plus is does that still qualify as a nerd stat or have we moved that into the general? Like I joked with someone they called it a nerd stat. I’m like they literally have changed it so that you can understand the number just by looking at it. 100 is average, higher is good, lower is bad. Like that doesn’t nerd stats. I feel like you need to explain them. That one is that one is is is getting into the lexicon like OPS like OPS used to be quote unquote nerd stat. Um yeah I think I think weighted runs created plus is is you know it’s up there with like fielding independent pitching like I think it’s it’s a pretty common one now. Yeah. Bergman says anything with a plus at the end of it he’s not into. So if there’s if there’s a plus or a minus at the end that’s that’s his that’s where he draws the line. So uh David chimes in with the super chat. We appreciate you David. 8-2 since Dave Roberts left Blake Snelling to finish that inning against the Phillies. I said it before that was the turning point to this season. Um and I think it might be nine and two um including the last game of the Philly series. I could be wrong there, but um there you go. You you buying this Anthony Dave Roberts showing some love to his guy Blake Snell. Blake Snell rewarding him. That was kind of a switch flip moment. I think they’ve had a few of these moments over the course of the last couple of weeks where it’s like they’re sort of galvanizing like, okay, we’re in this kind of thing. I that was one of them. Um the final start at home for Kershaw, I think was another one. Um, I think what they did to the Giants too in in that four game series was uh was kind of one of those that should have been a sweep, but I think the way they played there and just sort of the way that series went down and and kind of ending any chance the Giants had at the postseason, too. I think that was another one of those. So, I think they’ve had a few, you know, coming down the stretch here. Um, man, they’re happening at the right time. Well, you you hinted at this and I I we need to pause and talk about this because this is fantastic. The Dodgers literally stepped on the throat of the San Francisco Giants a week and a half ago. The Giants were like the hottest team in baseball. They were surging towards wild card contention and the Dodgers beat him five out of seven and end their season. And then a few days later, here come the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of the hottest teams in baseball, surging towards wild card contention. Win a couple games against the Dodgers. They’re right in it. What do the Dodgers do? stepped on their freaking throats and ended their season. All the while, the Padres’s game back of the game back of the division. This is going to be the year they’re going to win the NLS. What did the Dodgers do? Stepped on their freaking throats. Think about how beautiful it is. I know it’s 93 wins. I know it. We got to play the wild card. But like literally in a twoe stretch, you allowed the Giants fans to get their hopes up and then you killed them. You got Diamondbacks fans got their hopes up and then you killed them. And Padres’s fans got their hopes up and then you killed them. That that in and of itself, Anthony, needs to be celebrated. Cincinnati’s next, right? Exactly. Shout out to Gavin Lux and Gavin Lux’s season. G, this is the uh Mike Serota revenge series. Here you go. Against. So, um, all right, let’s get to um some news and notes because we do have some roster notes and then we’re going to make some predictions about the roster. Um, let’s start with Blake Snell. Blake Snell, according to Dave Roberts, is a quote good bet to start game number one. He basically was asked who’s going to start and he’s like, “I don’t know.” He’s like, “Well, I’ll give you a hint. Blake Snell’s a good bet.” So, there you go. Blake Snell expected to start game one. That’s a little bit of a surprise. Um, I think most folks thought it was going to be Show Otani based on how the pitching had lined up, based on the fact that Otani threw a bullpen yesterday, Snell threw a bullpen today. Not that Snell’s going to be on short rest, but it just seemed like it was trending towards Otani and then Snell. Were you surprised that they gave the game one to uh to Snell? Now there’s a chance Yamamoto gets game two instead of game three and Otani actually gets bumped to game three if necessary. Yeah, it it sounds um it was it was a little bit of of a surprise but not a lot. And I think I think I can’t remember exactly like where the Reds and Mets situation was. I think it had not happened yet. So even though the Reds are bad against left-handed pitching, I don’t think that figured into it much. Um because I think the I think the Mets at least were still playing. And so he he didn’t know who the opponent was going to be quite yet. But um yeah, I was a little bit surprised as much as you can be by figuring that it was like for me I figured it was going to be some combination of Snell Yamamoto first. Yeah, I was a fan of throwing Otani in game one. So um but like you’re picking between those three guys. Like it’s who cares? Yeah. The only the only thing you like it’s weird because there’s these arguments for and it’s the same, right? like whoever you’re going to pitch as your game three starter like let’s say now either Yamamoto or Otani you know I think Yamamoto is going to go game two but you go boy your season can end and you don’t throw fill in the blank either Yamamoto or Otani and it’s like it’s true for both of those guys and you could have said the same thing about Snell who’s been one of the best pitchers in the league since he’s come back you know what I mean like I mean it it’s it’s a really good problem to have yeah this is do you want the bone and ribeye or the Big Filt tonight, sir. And it’s like, you know what? Surprise me because I’m going to be thrilled no matter what you bring me out. So, that’s one note. The second note that we got today that was a surprise to me, I know Blake has been on this one from the beginning, not thinking Clayton Kershaw was going to be on the wild card roster. And obviously, the fact that he was pitching today, um, whether or not he was going to pitch the whole game or what they were going to do, but the news came out that Clayton Kershaw will not be on the wild card roster, not official, but he threw a 100 pitches today. Um, so he would not be available until game two or three uh at the earliest. How surprised were you obviously like not how surprised were you based on knowing he threw a 100 pitches or was starting today, but a week ago if I had told you Clayton Kershaw will not be on the wild card roster, would that have surprised you? A week ago it would not have I was I was one of the people after his bullpen appearance after he came out of the bullpen and got three outs. If I told you he wouldn’t be on the wild card roster, would it have changed anything? I’d have been Yeah. Yeah. And I was a little bit surprised today um when when that news came down especially and and I think you and I were texting and I said especially because of what happened with the Brock Stewart stuff um and I know he’s a righty but Kershaw’s you know the splits don’t matter for me and get guys out from either side and so I was like h okay that’s that is a little bit surprising it’s not stunning news but I did think that there was probably going to be a spot for him in the bullpen especially because Dave has talked about it with him too. Um, I think him not being there maybe hints that he could get the ball in a in an NLDS situation. Like this this to me, the decision-m tells me he’s going to start a playoff game in if if if they get there. So, there’s two pieces of this to me. One, I’m just going to say this. If the Dodgers somehow don’t make it out of the wild card, I’m going to be pissed because of that. I’m also going to be pissed because Clayton Kershaw was not on the roster. Like this is a you better as hell make it out of this first round series if Clayton Kershaw is not on this roster. That’s one piece because a I think like I’m not even talking purely on reputation. Although I am talking a little bit about reputation. I think you could justify Clayton Kershaw over like the last three or four guys at the back end of this postseason roster we’re going to talk about. But the second thing, as the biggest Kershaw guy possible, I I I don’t love the idea of him starting a game in the NLDS. Like, we have four good starting pitchers. We don’t we shouldn’t need five. So, I get that Yamamoto, Otani, they need some extra days off. But I’m just like, hey, Galaxy Brain folks, figure this thing out and line this up where we only need four because Clayton Kershaw, as good as he has been this season, is a dramatic drop off from Snell, Otani, Yamamoto, and Glassnap. And I’m saying this as the biggest Kershaw guy possible. There was a drop. So I don’t love the idea that he’s going to be starting, which this move tells me he will. Yeah, that that’s kind of what I took from it, too. Um maybe they’ll surprise us be like, look, he’s going to be he’s going to be a bullpen piece, you know, there and we’re not going to start him. Um but this I I think this told me that that they’re considering giving him the ball as a starter. It’s possible that they didn’t want to cut his last regular season start short and said you’re going to take the ball and you’re going to go do your thing and you know all of that kind of stuff. I I also think they know they have bigger fish to fry. So if they thought like they wouldn’t do it just for that, you know, is is what my better judgment tells me. So um yeah, I’m with you. I I think I’m in the same boat in that like I’m fine with him starting if that’s what happens. He’s not one of their top four starters though and I and I think it’s very very clear. Uh I mean he might not he may not even be one of their top five starters if we’re being honest. Totally. Sheen Sheen’s been one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball for the last six starts. Yeah. So um yeah, it was it was a little bit surprising just given the way they had used him. I thought for sure he was going to be a bullpin piece after the way they used him uh you know coming coming down the stretch here. Um, so yeah, I don’t I don’t know what that was about now. Um, yeah, because what was it to your point? Like why even put him in the bullpen and use him in a game? Then he goes out there, he gets you three straight outs. Like he does the job. He proves to you that he can do it and then you’re like, “Yeah, no, we’re good. We’re good actually, Clayton. Like go throw 100 pitches in a meaningless game 162 and then like we’re going to leave you off the playoff roster.” Like because again, Glass Now is going to be on Glass Now is going to be on the playoff roster. So, which which was also a little bit of a surprise too. We we’ll talk about that in a minute. But yeah, that that was the second part of the surprise today was that like I thought glass. Now, again, this is he was in the bullpen against uh whoever they played in the last series at Dodger Stadium, then he actually was used out of the bullpen in Arizona. Um and then for them to say, oh, he’s not going to have that role in the wild card series. Surprising. And then to say potentially Glass Now is a bullpen piece. surprising again makes no sense to me because because again glass is the guy that you should be putting in bubble wrap and saying get ready for NLDS game one Tyler and I know it’s lefty righty the whole thing but um yeah it’s doesn’t make a ton of sense to me but that that’s the news that we’ve gotten so far um so we’ll set that aside because we’re going to talk playoff roster in a second um Brock Stewart if you have not heard is out for the 2025 season will not be reappearing um has to have shoulder surgery will miss part of but not all of 2026 as the reports we have now, which is a bummer. Um, and the last piece here is Will Smith. Dave Roberts, quote, this is like quintessential Dave Roberts. He is hoping but not hopeful regarding Will Smith being available to him in the wild card series. So, he is hoping Will Smith is available to him, but he is not hopeful. Now, does that mean he’s not sure? So, he doesn’t have reason to be hopeful? Does that mean he has reason to not be hopeful? I mean, interpret this how you will, Anthony, but yeah, this isn’t the news any of us wanted to hear regarding Will Smith. No. And I was I was already kind of counting him out at least for this series anyway. Um in in all honesty, I’m kind of counting him out for at least the next two series if they get there. Yeah. Um you know, we’ll see. But I just I just don’t know how another few days makes it better if they do advance. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I’ll save my thoughts till we get to the postseason roster prediction here uh in just a second. Got some more super chats. Back to back says, “Is it just me or is everything coming together?” Uh, it’s not just you. I think this is I asked Anthony. I think this is every Dodgers fan would tell you that today. They’ve won nine of their last 11. The starting rotation made it to the postseason healthy. The top of the lineup made it to the postseason healthy. Um, the Reds is is pretty much the ideal matchup for them in the wild card if you have to play the wild card. So, um, it’s things seem to be lining up. Like, I’m just imagining if this was Arizona, I would feel way worse about this if they had to play the Diamondbacks just because I don’t know, they’re the Diamondbacks. So, I love that it’s the red. Uh, Big Bob Johnson says, “Magic number 14, let’s make it happen. Do it for Kersh.” I have to imagine Anthony in the clubhouse, do it for Kersh is a thing. Like, hey guys, Kershaw’s the GOAT and we got to do this for him. Like, that’s the type of rallying unifying thing that teams can buy into. And it’s real for this group. And I’m sure that’ll be a They may not say it out loud. you might not hear it until like if they win at all and like that this was a theme, but like don’t drop this series to the Reds because Kershaw needs to throw in the in the playoffs kind of thing, right? Like that that might be a thing too. Yeah, I I absolutely think that this is something that’s going around the clubhouse. Uh not not Jeff Spiegel. Why not Otani Shien Piggyback game one, Snell Yamamoto game two? Um this my my thing is you’ve got four starting pitchers who are very good and you need at least four of them. So keep them as starting pitchers would be my answer. I think the bullpen has given me just enough confidence to believe that they’ll be able to sort of figure it out. Um but Shien’s going to be in the bullpen. So would you be a fan of of kind of a piggyback thing? Where do you stand on this? If you remember like earlier in the summer, I was I was I said like look, I could see this happening in the regular season, especially was it was during the time when the bullpen was really getting taxed from from an inning standpoint, too. Logistically, it’s so much less feasible in the postseason. Yeah. Um I was on with the with the blue review guys on um Greg Bergman and crew from the ESPN LA, their Dodger show. Um, and we kind of discussed this and I was like, “Look, it’s not as simple as just going, here’s a good starter, here’s a good starter, you guys go and and pitch this whole game. It’s it’s not that easy.” Um, uh, and I know you talked a little bit about it with Lance, and I thought Lance had a really good perspective on it, too, is like you don’t know how some of these guys are going to respond in that situation given routines and, you know, those those such things. But the bigger part of it, I think, is is when we talk about from a logistic standpoint, like it’s not the same as like a bullpen day, right? So, you can’t go like, well, a guy would have thrown, you know, 30 or 40 pitches anyway in the bullpen. This is a whole different thing. Comparing a bullpen session to an October baseball game is is not it’s apples and oranges. And also, uh, like for Snail and Yamamoto, you burn both those guys in one game then. Yeah, it’s brutal. And and now they both get pushed back to later in the next series if you advance. And so you’re you’re painting yourself into a corner before you even know if you have to or not. Yeah. Here’s a good way of thinking about it. Like if you do that, you’re basically saying, “Okay, Clayton Kershaw is definitely going to start a postseason game and we’re going to need five innings out of him in that game.” So my question would be which of these would you rather me say hey Kershaw needs to take down 15 outs in a playoff game or you can pick any two or three relievers and you’re going to need eight to nine outs from those two or three guys in a situation like as bad as the Dodgers bullpen is I think I would still take okay I can find three of my best relievers to go get me nine outs with matchups that I get to predetermine like that’s still a better option than okay Clayton you’re starting a postseason game I need 15 outs out of you and then I got to go get 12 outs out of my bullpen after that. Like, so that’s essentially the decision you’re making, inserting Kershaw into the rotation or needing three innings from your bullpen. So, yeah. Yeah, that’s that’s a really good point. And and I think now is is we have to start thinking about relief appearances in terms of counting outs, not covering innings, because I think it’s a different mentality, too. And that’s how the managers will manage these games now. And so it it might sound redundant or like kind of the same thing, but it’s kind of not because typically in the regular season you’ll go, “Okay, Alex Vesia, you’re going to get the seventh inning or the eighth inning.” Yeah. No matter, you know, however many hitters it takes you. Now you’re going, “Okay, I’m looking at what’s what’s coming up here. Vessia, we might need four outs from you.” Yeah. Or you know, you you’re now looking at it that way. You’re building a bridge to the end of the game based on outs, not innings. So, it looks a little different there. And so, I think your point’s a really good one. Um, I think also for like a guy like Shien, let’s say you you put him with Otani and Otani gives you um 100 pitches in six innings. Yeah. And then Okay. So, now you’re going to burn Shien for let’s say three innings maybe. Hopefully. That’s I would I would I would rather use Sheen potentially three times in a like like let’s say the NLDS potentially three times in a longer series versus once because if you throw him three innings he’s now burned. He’s burned. Yeah. Might as well be a start. It’s a good point. It’s a good point. Uh Ravens Morland says Snell will likely give you more innings saves the bullpen for games two and three. Um, I I actually think this is why I like Yamamoto in game two because if I told you which Dodger starter is going to get the most innings pitched in an outing, I think I would take Yamamoto over Yamamoto. Yeah. Yeah. So, having him in game two is perfect because that’s the day you want your bullpen rested so that everybody’s available in game one and everybody’s available in game three without having to do back to back to back, which you’re not going to want to do with anybody. So, I think Snell is is good. Like Snell, I’m expecting six minimum from Blake Snell, but Yamamoto, like I wouldn’t be surprised to see seven. I think I’d be surprised if Snell got seven. Not surprised, but you know what I mean. If I had to just because he’s not as efficient. Yeah, totally. Intentionally. So, um all right, let’s get to the uh wildard series roster predictions. Uh as a reminder for folks, Dodgers roster as of today is currently at 28. It needs to come down to 26. You can have a maximum of 13 pitchers. asterisk unless you’re the Dodgers who can have 14 because the show Otani rule. So Otani basically is only going to count as a hitter in the exercise that we’re about to do. So the Dodgers can carry up to 13 pitchers. However, we’ve had debates on this show, will the Dodgers actually fill out a full bullpen of 13 pitchers plus Otani for a three-game series or do they take an extra guy on the bench for the first series and change it for the five games? So as I look at this, Anthony, um I think I’ve got on let’s start offensive side of things. I think I’ve got 12 guys that I think are locks. Basically, I I think 12 of the 13 are locks. That would be Now, this is where it’s going to get interesting. I’ve got Rovet and Rushing on this list. I’ve got Freddy Freeman, Tommy Edund, Mukie Betts, Maxy, Miguel Rojos, Andy Pahes, Tasks Hernandez, Michael Conferto, Kiki Hernandez, and Show Otani. Um, so that is those are those are 12 locks. I think the 13th spot would come down to Will Smith if you think he’s available. Hess Kim uh and Alex Call. I actually think Hess Kim is a lock for this roster also because of the speed that he offers you and potentially defensive sub but primarily speed. So I would actually move him into my 13th spot as a lock. I’m curious how you feel about that. And I’m not saying Colin Smith are off by the way. I’m just saying I think I’ve got 13 guys that I feel pretty confident are going to be on this list. Again, that’s Worvet Rushing, Freeman, Edmund, Betts, Muny, Rojos, Pahes, Teosscar, Confordto, Kik Otani, and Kim. Yeah, I’m with you on the Kim thing. Okay. Um I think he brings more value for a playoff roster. Totally. Uh than than Call does. Um, and I’m also out on the Will Smith idea just because it it it could potentially be just a twoame series and I know I don’t know how you use him in that situation. Um, and also like if one of your catchers gets hurt and you are in that emergency situation, then you can just bring him back in. Yeah. Um, because you get to replace that guy like like you would in the regular season. So, um, I’m with you. I think it is Kim. I think Kim takes that last spot just because he brings an element that no one else on this team really has. Um and in the postseason in particular, it’s something that that can be valuable and that’s that’s essentially his speed. Yeah. Um and I’m going to circle back to Colin Smith because I do think at the end of the bullpen discussion, you’ve got a three or four names in contention for like one or two spots. So, we’re going to come back to that. Um, but yes, to clarify, to to repeat what Anthony just said for those that don’t know, um, if you are on a postseason roster and you get hurt, you can be replaced, but then the injured player cannot come back in the following series. Right? So, let’s say Daltton Rushing is on the wild card roster, gets hurt, he can come off, be replaced by Will Smith, but then Daltton Rushing would be ineligible to play in the NLDS, could come back for the NLCS. Um, so the fear for some people with Will Smith is if he were to get hurt and you have to replace him on the roster, then he would have to miss an additional series. So, some context there. Let’s talk pitching. Um, I have 11 locks for pitching. Again, Otani is not counting towards the 11. It’s 11 plus Otani. So, I’ve got Snell and Yamamoto. From the left-handed side, I’ve got Vessia, Bonda, Dryer, and Scott, who I think are all locks. From the right-handed side, I’ve got Trinan, Sasaki, Shien, Glass Now because of what we talked about earlier, and Edgardo Enriquez all as lock. So again, that’s five righties. It’s four lefties plus Snell plus Yamamoto and then Otani, who doesn’t count. That does not include Justin Robleski. It does not include Klein. It does not include Kasperius. And it does not include Hurt, which we do have to make a note about Klein. And this is our guy Blake Williams giving us this information. Because Klein was optioned down to the minor leagues, he has to stay down for, I believe it’s 10 days or 15 days, whatever the number of days is, he’s actually not eligible to be on the wild card roster according to Blake or the NLDS roster. He would have to wait until the NLCS roster to come back. So Klein is actually not in the mix. So again, I’ve got 11 plus Otani. That does not include Robleski, Kasperius, or Kyle Hurt in that group. Anybody you would disagree with? the only one I would have he’s still got spots available by the way. So when I say Robleski is not in that list, it doesn’t mean for sure. I just think the other guys feel like I would be surprised if one of them is not on the list. Sure. Sure. And I think I agree with you there. Edgardo makes it because he’s right-handed. Yeah. And I think that’s the biggie. That’s the big reason right there because the only the only one I could possibly quibble with is the Robleski one. Um, and so, you know, you have to have some right-handed pitching, right? And so, Edgardo’s in there. I I agree. Roki, any issues with him being a lock? No, actually, not at all. No, he’s looked this this exercise once Klene has moved off to the side. This exercise is a lot easier for me because a lot of these decisions have been made for them where it’s like, okay, Klein’s not not available. Steuart’s not coming back. Copec is hurt. Yates is on the IIL. like all these decisions they we thought they were going to have to make have kind of been made for them. We It’s We say it a lot on this show. These things tend to play themselves out and then all the decisions you think you might have to make are sort of made for you or you know maybe not with the rotation but that’s a good problem to have. Yeah. With the bullpen I think it’s kind of just worked itself out. Totally. Totally. So um that leaves us with two roster spots still to go. Um again because right now we’ve got Sorry, I got to plug my computer in. Um, right now we’ve got, um, 13 offensive players, including Otani, and 11 pitchers. So, we can we can add two more pitchers. We can add a pitcher and a hitter. We could add two more hitters if we really wanted to. Um, and so I think that the guys we’re talking about here are Will Smith, Alex Call, and Justin Robleski. Those three guys, I think, are competing for two spots. Again, if you want to make a case for Ben Kasparius, I’ve tried, can’t get there. Uh, Kyle Hurt, I’ve tried, I can’t get there. I don’t think I would be totally shocked if one of those two guys is on there even over a Justin Robleski. But for now, they have had opportunities to bring those guys up and have chosen not to bring them up for whatever reason. So again, I think it’s Call, it’s Smith, and it’s Robleski here. And these are the questions I think you’re asking. You already have four left-handed pitchers on this wild card roster. Do you want a fifth in Justin Robleski? Um, or do you want an innings heater? Like, do you want a guy that if one of these games gets out of hand that you can just turn to Robleski and say, “Hey, we need you to take down three or four innings today to preserve the bullpen.” You don’t have that because Glassnau is not going to be that guy and Kershaw’s not on this list. So, that’s one option. The second question is, and this is where the Will Smith piece comes to me. I don’t think you need all 26 of these roster spots to be competitive in this three-game series, especially with the DH. So I wonder does Will Smith as a once or twice in this series pinch hitter like if you feel like hey he can’t catch a whole game but like if we need a hit and Rorvette spots due up and there’s runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh can we get one swing out of Will Smith is that worth taking up a roster spot I think that’s the case for Will Smith Alex Call the case would be we know Tay Oscar’s not good defensively we know Conforto is not good defensively even Tommy Edmond’s been a little bit compromised defensively he gives you a bit of speed base running off off the uh off the bench. So that would be the argument for Robleski, for Smith and for Call. If you had to pick two of these three or throw a Kasparius or a Kyle Herd at me, who would you pick? I think I would go Call. Okay. Because um I think you do need you need that outfield defensive presence and I think you probably need more than one guy who can do it. Could I was going to ask could Kik Hernandez or Hess Kim be that? Could could Kik Hernandez be that guy that is your closing left fielder or center fielder because you’re probably not taking Teao’s bat out of the lineup unless like you’re you’re positive his bat is not coming back up. Yeah. Yeah. And I I agree. I think if I think if he’s left on base or if you know he makes the final out or something like that of the seventh inning, let’s say, um, and you got a three-run lead, I I I want def I want defense out there in the outfield. Okay. Um, like it’s and so that’s why I think gets the nod there because um you might need two of those guys. You not you might need one in each corner. Yeah. In that situation. So I think I think and also like if you needed to too, he’s an extra pinch runner. got a little bit of speed, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I’d be fine with that. With the Will Smith thing, I like from it’s a pain tolerance situation right now for him. Yeah. I don’t even know where he stands with that. Um, you know, if if he, you know, what what it feels like to swing a bat for him. Um, so in that case, I would go call Robleski. Okay. And I think we’re we’re aligned. Robleski like just give me another pitcher. Give me a guy that can play a bunch of different roles. And again, that night, the other night where he came in with a runner on second base and got the save, it was like, if that didn’t stamp his ticket to the postseason, like I don’t care how many lefties are ahead of him, I like him in that spot, to quote Dave Roberts. Um, but I’ll be honest, for me, I’m I’m leaning Will Smith because I just think I I play out the scenarios of like what would have to happen for Alex Call to play. And clearly, it’s defensive, but I just keep coming back to, okay, I think Kik Hernandez is sitting right there. Even heads on Kim, who I don’t love in left field, is sitting right there. And I’m like, I don’t think Kik is going to be coming in for Max Muny for fear that like, well, what if things go sideways and now Muny’s bats out of lineup? I don’t think Kik is going to come in for Tay Oscar Hernandez for the same reason. And so, I feel like Conforto is the guy they typically defensively replace. And I think I can get by with Kik. And I would just hate I would hate to have Ben Rovet come up in a big moment in the sixth or seventh inning and not feel like I had somebody. Now, maybe it’s Kik that just takes the one swing and then rushing comes in after. I I just feel like, hey, I don’t really need this roster spot. I don’t really need the break glass in case of emergency things. So, just give me Will Smith for the one swing I might need at some point in this series. I would I would agree. I’m I’m on that on that bus with you if I have asurances that Will Smith can swing the bat. Yeah. And and the fact that Dave didn’t say he’s off is the what I’m reading into now. And I see Blake’s in the chat. I don’t know if Blake is giving us infight inside info that Will Smith is off of the roster or not. But if if the Dodgers have not come out and said he will not be on the roster, Dave Roberts said he’s hoping he’s on the roster. He’s not hopeful he’s on the roster. But that that’s kind of the mentality I’m taking is if if there’s a chance and it’s just pain tolerance and we get the adrenaline flowing and it’s the seventh inning of game two and it’s a tie game and there’s a runner on second, I want I want the janitor in the building. Yeah. If he can swing the bat, then I’m I’m totally fine with that. But if it’s more of a just, you know, hey, we probably don’t need all the roster spots. Will Smith, you’re on board just in case. Yeah. Um I actually would rather have a player that can actually do something even if you might not need them. So let me ask you this then. If if it comes down to Alex Call, is there any part of you that would say, “Hey, I’ve got room. Just give me a Ben Kasparius instead of Alex Call on the roster.” Not in this series. Okay. Because that’s the tricky part. Again, I don’t think you’re going to need the 26th man either way in the bullpen or off of the bench. Um so, we’ll see. We’ll see. Yeah. Um All right. So, just to recap this, we’ve got the same group here except for one. I’ve got Will Smith in my final spot. You’ve got Alex Call in your final spot. Other than that, we’ve got Rofet rushing, Freeman, Edmond, Muny, Betts, Rojos, Pahes, Tay Oscar, Conforto, Kik Otani, I can’t remember if I said him already, and has Kim. On the pitching side of things, we have got Snell, Yamamoto, Otani, Vessia, Bonda, Drier, Scott, Trinan, Sasaki, Shien, Glasnau, Enriquez, and Justin Robleski. So, 12 pitchers plus Otani, 13 hitters, Otani included in that is how we get there. So, that’s uh that’s how the Dodgers roster, how we’ve got it. Uh and and that’s kind of a mix of how we would do it versus how we think the Dodgers are going to do it as well. Um Aaron with the super chat, how many bullpen arms do you at least feel good about? Um let’s just go through this list. Anthony, I’m going to read you the guys that are going to be in the bullpen. You tell me feel good or don’t feel good. Yes. Starting with the lefties. Uh Vessia, feel good. Agreed. Uh, Bonda, feel good. Agreed. Jack Dryer, feel good. He’s He’s a little more iffy. There’s a little pause there, but I feel good. I I I feel fine with him. Tanner Scott, do don’t feel good. Uh, Blake Tryan, I feel good, baby. I don’t want I don’t want to I don’t want to go middle ground here. I don’t want to say like I appreciate that about you. Uh, I’ll say I feel good. Very shaky ground. You’re 5149 on the feel good side. Yes, I love Blake Tryan. Uh, Roki, feel good. Actually, I’m with you. EMTT Sheen. Feel very good. I feel great. I feel great. Uh, Edgardo Enriquez don’t don’t feel great. Yeah, I agree. And and he had a stretch where he was really good. He has not been great lately. You don’t miss bats. That’s what terrifies me. Last outing was promising like but I I take the seasonl long sample size over the one inning. Yeah. Um so I mean that’s nine. So that’s eight guys and we just said we feel good about six of the eight. Robleski is the ninth. I I feel good about Robleski. Yeah. So there’s seven of nine that we feel good about. Glass now would be the 10th in the bullpen who’s like a wild card because none of us have ever seen him come out of the bullpen. But the stuff alone I’ll say I feel good about Glasnau just based on pure stuff. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I agree. I agree. And and I also think that um the way that these guys get deployed is going to be a little bit different in October than it is during the regular season. And again, we’re counting outs, not innings. So I think also the makeup of of those, you know, let’s say like the last nine outs might look a little different than it might in, you know, in August or September, too. Yeah, absolutely. Uh Apes says, uh 95 Red swept us 300. I’m taking this series personal. Reds are going down. Enter MJ. And I took that personal gift. I love it. I love it. Uh Rod says, “Predict what the average number of innings pitched per game by Dodgers starters this postseason. Also, if Smith returns, who will be his backup?” So, let’s start. Um I I’ll just give you the four. If I told you glass now, Otani, Snell, and Yamamoto start games for the Dodgers this postseason, and the overunder was set somewhere between six and 6.1 innings. Would you take the over or the under? I would take the under. Yeah. Um, just because I don’t think all these guys are going to be getting into the seventh inning that much. I would say I would set it at like 5.2. That’s what that’s Sawyers in the chat said 5.2. Exactly. Yeah, I think that’s fair. I think Otani six feels like the max for him, which like Snell and Yamamoto, the rest of these guys could give you, they could get seventh innings. Yeah. Glass Now, same thing. Like if if Glass Now gets through six full, I think that would be a pleasant surprise. Not because I think he’s going to be bad, but he’s like Snell. They just throw a lot of pitches and strike a lot of guys out. So, there you go. Um, good stuff there. Um, real quick, I I want to I want to put a bow a little bit on on the regular season just because I think this is fun to go through. Uh, wins above replacement on the pitching side of things. Do you know who led the Dodgers in wins above replacement? Yamamoto by a lot. Five. Here’s an interesting one. 60 inning pitched or more. What Dodgers pitcher led the team in RA? Bonda. Uh, so sorry when I say 60, I don’t think they had any relievers get to Oh, oh, oh, oh. Gotcha. Gotcha. Uh, is it Otani? Blake Snow 2.35 because Otani had some of those weird starts in the beginning where he was like rehabbing basically. Uh, Yamamoto leads the team in wins with 12. Uh Tanner Scott leads the team in saves and blown saves. 23 saves, 10 blown ones. Uh wins above replacement on the offensive side of things. Otani 7.2. Uh home runs. Otani reset the Dodgers franchise record today with the 55th home run. Uh sets a personal best as well. Uh and then do you know which Dodger ended up winning uh batting average for the team? A couple guys battling for it. Yeah. Was it Freeman? Uh Will Smith. Freeman dipped a little bit and so Will Smith I believe beat him. Uh unless that changed today, but Will Smith hit 296. I believe Freeman was at 294. So some fun ones there. Yeah. Didn’t qualify though for the for the league race. Correct. Correct. Did not qualify for the batting title and would have lost anyways. I didn’t even see who ended up winning it. Was it I thought I thought it was Trey Turner. Okay. I know he was wrong, but uh I know he was in the midst for a while. It was Was it Xavier Edwards from the from the Marlins that was kind of making a run at it quietly? Let’s see. Uh Trey Turner, you’re right. He ended up hitting 305. Um and then Freddy Freeman hit two 294. Um so there you go. Oh, Nicoer was in the midst 297. I thought there was a Marlins guy. Maybe I’m just a psycho. Oh, Xavier Edwards. He ended up 282. Probably sucked down the stretch. So there you go. Uh, and the admin pointing out that Trey Turner’s 304 is the lowest batting title um, winner in major league in National League history, which is pretty. That’s that’s interesting. Um, he had a really good quote. They asked about being the only guy to finish at 300 or higher this season. Um and he had a really I thought really good answer and it was just like you’re coming in you’re facing starters who are throwing 98 99 100 and oh that guy has six pitches and you have to prep for six of those pitches and then you get into the bullpen and these guys are doing what they do as bullpen arms in the major leagues. And um he said also he thinks that the since he’s been in the league, defenses have gotten much much better even without the shift now and that he think that defense in Major League Baseball is as good as it’s ever been. Um which I think is a fair point. There’s there’s you know better athletes teams are more prepared for every hitter. Um and that’s not to say that the days because I think it was just last year that array you know Luis Aras hit like I don’t know what it was 320s or something like that. He had a pretty decent number. Um, but I think you’re probably going to start to see some more of this, you know, guys in the low 300s win batting titles in both leagues. Um, you know, I don’t think it’ll be an every season thing, but I think it’ll be a little more common. Yeah, six American League guys were in the 300s, by the way. It was just one on the National League side. And real quick, I I saw this stat today, like what Aaron Judge did to to hit he hit 331 this year. Like, and I’m in the Northwest. I understand the Cal Raleigh argument and I think it’s like a tossup. So, like you could convince me either way, but the Cal Raleigh people who just like write off Aaron Judge as if he didn’t hit 330 with a 460 o OBP and a 700 slug this year. The guy hit 330 with 53 home runs. Nobody has ever won the batting title and hit 50 home runs in the same season and not win MVP. And not win MVP. Thank you. I think it one other time it had been done. Something like that. So, I think I think two times it had been done and both those guys won the MVP. Um, and Cal Raleigh is a catcher, 60 home runs, the best defensive catcher in baseball, like I I hear all of that. I think it’s a totally valid argument, but like any either side that says it’s not close. That’s where you lose me. Yeah. Yeah, I’m I’m with you. Um, also, he hit 60 home runs and like he didn’t even beat Judge by double digits. Like, he beat him by seven home runs. It wasn’t like Judge hit 35. Uh, you know what I mean? And so like that’s that’s essentially the only like stat that matters that that Raleigh beats him in. Um Judge Judge’s batting average was 90 points higher. His on base was 100 points higher and his slug was 100 points higher for context here. Like he hit seven more home runs and had a 100 point deficit in slugging percentage. Yeah, I if I had to vote it it would be judge. Um but I understand the Cal Rally narrative. Um, I am just I hate voting on narrative because I will never forget Ra Dicki beating Clayton Kershaw for the Sai Young award. That was just completely it made me want to puke. That’s just below Ryan Brown beating Matt Kemp for MVP as far as things I’m things I’ll never let go in my life. Astros number one, Ryan Braun number two, and RA Dicki number three. And at least RA Dicki wasn’t his fault, so I’ll give him that. Um, real quick, I was doing this. I made 17 bold predictions at some point this season, Anthony. We went we went uh 10 for 17 this year, which is pretty good. I feel I feel pretty solid about that. So, my mid-season ones, uh I did predict that Tanner Scott would figure it out. That has not aged well, but I did predict that they would not make a big trade at the deadline. That was a win. And I predicted Muki bets 800 ops in the second half of the season, which I’m gonna give myself a slight rounding up there because I think he finished at like 796 or something like that. We’re going to round up to 800 based on the fact that I could have said 750. I went for it said 800. So there you go. Um, we did some uh I Yamamoto, top LA Sai Young Award finisher. You and I both had that one. So that’s going to be a win. Um, I believe we both said no to rookie of the year for Roki Sasaki, which that’s going to be a win. Um I had I can’t remember what you had. I had Dodgers Padres’s NL West finishing order. So that’s going to be a win. Um my over on the win total uh is going to be an out by a lot by about 17 or 18 wins. So we’re not I thought I was low on mine and and yeah, I was 10 games off. Yeah. And you you were you were on the under though, so that was the key there. That was the key. Um all right, let’s get to some questions here. All caps questions. Throw those in the chat. We’ll get to some of those. We’ll be on here for five or six more minutes. We got another super chat here. Scarecrow, great show as always. Love all the nice stat visuals. Let’s have a good postseason. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And yes, please, please, please let us not be done talking about the 2025 Dodgers in like four days. Three days. We could be done in three days. 72 hours from now, somebody’s season could be over, which is an absolutely insane thing to think about. Um, oh, Rod asked this, and I’m glad because somebody else asked it. If Smith returns, who would you choose as his backup? We we touched on this briefly um but you said Dalton Rushing will be the you in your opinion Dton Rushing should be the backup either to Wartvet or Smith but never third string. Yes. Yeah. I think he has more value than WartVet as the number two catcher if Smith is in in there. Um and I also don’t think he should start overvet though. It’s it’s kind of an interesting thing. It’s just it’s it’s the value of the position he holds on the bench there that I think um you know you you could get a little bit more out of him, you know, because of his bat. Yeah. And that that has been my point all along is that if Will Smith is going to be playing, and I got killed for this, but if Will Smith is going to be playing, I want Dalton rushing as the backup because all I care about with my backup catcher is can you get a hit for me when I need it? And if my life depends on one of those two players getting a hit, I’m taking Dalton rushing. So, um, but as I said all along, if Will Smith can’t start, then I’m perfectly fine RVET over rushing because I think the defense is that much better and the offense up until the last week. Um, there had not been like enough from rushing to justify otherwise. Um, Aaron asks, “Predictions for the other wildard series?” Uh, Cubs Padres’s will be the other one in Chicago. Um, you think the Padres’s get eliminated? I I do. They’re not playing good baseball. God, buddy that I run into every once in a while is a Padres’s fan. Insufferable right now. Please, please, please, please. Uh, Hawaiian Kira, opinions on the Mets and Astros not making the playoffs. Uh, don’t care about the Mets. I’ll be honest. Other than that, I didn’t want to face Sodto or uh Alonzo, but oh man, beautiful stuff. You You really hate to see the Astros miss the playoffs. just an organization that does things the right way and deserves the best, you know. Um, I know everybody was rooting for them, but it’s tragic that the Trash Stros will not be in the playoffs this year. Yeah. The Mets thing was interesting, too, though, because one, they spent like the Dodgers. They were the other team who was ruining baseball, and they had an like a historic kind of collapse. It’s just wow. And my thing, I I sent this on social media. Any Dodgers fan who hates Dave Roberts, go look at the Mets of 2025. Go look at some of the Padres’s series of like you get mad at Dave because he only wins 93 games and wins the division but doesn’t get a buy. It is within the realm of possibilities that you could spend like the Dodgers spend and not make the playoffs. The the um Mets are proof of that. The Padres’s are proof of that. What Dave Roberts never does is he never misses the playoffs. He never doesn’t win the division. basically one time he did. But yeah, and they won 106 games that year. Exactly. So like there are just no down years with Dave Roberts. So say what you will, you can hate some of the bullpen stuff. The thing that he does that does not get measured on a day-to-day basis is he never fails big picture. Like he he is never a failure over the course of 162 games like some of these other teams are. And so yeah, I I thought you made a good point on that on Twitter today. Um when you when you basically said all of that um I am you know I I’m of the mindset that in over the course of the regular season the manager has a direct hand in wins or losses five to eight times. Um, but with that said, in in all of these years, Roberts has never had this kind of collapse, right? Like in 17, they lost the 15 of 16 or whatever it was, and that was an ugly stretch coming coming into the playoffs. Um, but they went to the World Series and probably should have won it. Yeah. You know what I mean? If they don’t get cheated out of it. So, like, but but like you said, there’s no there’s no missing the playoffs. There’s no not winning the division except for the one year. Um, you know, so I I think yeah, it’s it’s easy to take it for granted when it happens all the time. Um, but man, try being try being a fan of some of these other teams. It’s it’s a lot tougher. Yeah. Braves another one that missed and they obviously had some crazy injury stuff happened, but it’s a team with high expectations that didn’t, you know, just miss out on a buy. They’re just nowhere to be seen in the postseason. Couple rapid fire and we’ll get out of here. Back toback. How much did these past five games increase your confidence in the bullpen, Anthony? Tiny bit. Yeah. Yeah. It’s It’s not nothing, but it’s not like I’m fully back on. It’s probably more individual, right? Like we feel really good about Roki and we didn’t. We feel better about Trinidon than we did. Like it’s not big picture, it’s little picture. Oh, I like Roki now and Trin’s put together a couple outings. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, you know, we talked about it earlier, right? Like who do you trust? Who do you not trust? Or who do you feel good about? And there’s more guys to feel good about right now, I think, than not. And a big part of that is I think one Roki is has looked good. Um, you put Sheen in there. Yeah. And even for the wild card series, you put Glass now in there. And if if you’re looking at those guys to get you three to four outs, I’m starting to feel a lot better about this bullpen than I was two weeks ago. Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Uh, Edico, how many games for the Red Series and what can you say about the Red Surge? Not really looked at as an October team, but made it and the Mets who got sodto and failed to make it. The Mets kind of backed themselves out of the postseason. And I know the Reds won seven of the last 10, but it was more a Mets collapse than the Reds sort of taking it. Like the Reds lost today. They needed to win today to clinch and they lost. Um, but give me a prediction for the series, Anthony. Is this a Dodgers in two, Dodgers and three? What do you got? I think it’s a twoame series just because I think the pitching matchup for the Reds is just not favorable at all. Yeah, I I’m with you. I’m hoping Dodgers in two. So, there we go. And that’s no disrespect to the Reds. Like, it’s a threeame series. We’re going to say it a hundred times. Um, you know, the Reds are very capable of beating the Dodgers in a three-game set, but I think you just look at like Snell and Yamamoto, those are two of the best. Those are two of the best five pitchers in the National League right now, probably. Um, and the Reds got to face them both on back-to-back nights. Yeah, absolutely. Two food questions. Jedi Engineer, do you get a street hot dog before or after the game? That’s an S before I never see them before the game. Are they out there? I believe they are. Yeah. Um, it’s it’s definitely I need I need a couple of pops. Yeah. Like though they taste better when you got a little something when you got a little oil in you. The smell of those things is undeniable. So, uh, last one. David says, “I know I’m going to regret this later. I ordered a beef burrito supreme from Taco Bell at 11:00 at night. Do you guys agree?” I don’t know if he’s saying, “Do you agree with ordering it? Do you agree that he’s going to regret it?” Because I think the answer to both of those questions is yes. I love that you’re crushing a burrito. Beef supreme burrito and absolutely 4 am’s gonna come calling for you and you know it might be worth it. Uh yeah, I mean you got to find a better burrito at at this time. But I also agree that yeah, you’re going to regret it no matter where the burrito’s from. There’s a time and a place for Taco Bell and at 11 p.m. for our guy David. The lamp lighter was closed and so he was just crushing Taco Bell. There you go. Uh all right, folks. That’s going to do it for us. Uh, as I mentioned, we will be back on Tuesday night as soon as that one ends. 6:08 is the start time. So, we will be on here right around 8:45 9:00 as things go according to plan. Hopefully celebrating a Dodgers win. We will be back on Wednesday night. We will be back on Thursday night as well. So, tons of Dodgers content coming your way. And of course, right here on Dodger Blue 1958, make sure you subscribe, ring the notification bell. We’re working on some more interviews. If you missed the Lance Brodowski breakdown of Roki Sasaki and Emtt Sheen, that was great from last week. Of course, unplugged. That was good. Unplugged with Scott Gearman. Weekdays at 10 a.m. live on here as well. So, enjoy the rest of your night everyone. As always, go Dodgers and hopefully for a lot longer. We keep saying it, still freaking champs.
“DodgerHeads” Live with DodgerBlue.com host Jeff Spiegel and Forbes’ senior MLB contributor Anthony Witrado previewing the NL Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers, Blake Snell appearing to be the Game 1 starter, Clayton Kershaw not making the playoff roster, and more.
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44 comments
All I can ask for is that they win or lose this series before Thursday. I don't feel like sweating it out on my birthday.
Out of the Mets, reds, and Diamondbacks, the Dodgers got the most favorable team to face in the wildcard. With an inconsistent bullpen, you don’t want the Dodgers facing the top of the order for the Mets or the Diamondbacks.
I would keep rortvedt over rushing UNLESS there is 0% chance that Will Smith ends up having issues with his hand. Rushing, as of late, has been unable to handle wild pitches. He’s also been having issues finding the ball when it doesn’t get caught in his gloves. I could just imagine the other team scoring from those type of mistakes. I don’t see rushing pinchhitting for anyone. I don’t even remember him doing it during the regular season, so it’s unlikely he’ll do it during the playoffs.
Good luck LA. Only concerns is after a day off they come out flat as pancake and Mookie back lately being pop up man. Please !Dave no Conforto starting.
Edman is a switch hitter. Edman should be playing everyday. The only time Conforto is playing in the playoffs is if something really bad is happening with the Dodgers. So you do not want to see Conforto playing.
Blake Snell for game one makes sense. Reds are not very good against lefties, so you might as well use your most elite lefty.
It does not make sense that kershaw would be starting any game in the best of five or best of seven. You have four (or even five) other starting pitchers that are better than him, you only need at most a four-man rotation. Any role that Kershaw will have will be at the bullpen. Perhaps to replace treinen or Scott when Dave finally realizes the error of his ways.
David removed Kershaw because Dave drank too many treinen Kool-Aid. He saw a couple strikeouts from treinen (from one game that didn’t matter) and he thinks he’s back. Dave is going to regret it.
If dodgers lose the wild card because of an impotent bullpen, you all will be screaming why they didn’t do piggyback games.
I'd definitely have to shut down Smith for the year no matter what! Even talking about bringing him back is stupid!
I'd put Muncy on the retirement boat immediately! He's not really the competitor I'd seek in postseason play. He's sloppy with the bat. I'd have to definitely release Muncy to free agency in aboout a month when the season is over.
Wrobo or Klein > edgardo
If edgardo has no command of his fastball, say good nite because his secondary is a meatball.
I'm happy for the reds and Gavin lux and success he's had this season .he's one of my favorite dodger(former )player but the dodgers are taking this . nothing to be ashamed .reds did great making this far
33:12 … Conforto actually finished at .199 for the season.
Roberts is already planning to lose by over utilizing Treinan this postseason . He's talking about Treinan like he wants to ride him waaayyy too hard!
Bro the Mets are out of the playoffs
Tommy Edman hit .303 with an .843 OPS with RISP this season (36 RBI in 76 AB w/RISP).
If Dodgers get swept with the first two games, and Ohtani didn’t get to pitch (for his first ever playoff pitching), he’s gonna be so pissed
1오타니2베츠3프리먼4스미스5먼시 6테오7에드먼 8파헤스9에르난데스 콘포토 김혜성 로하스 콜
We are winning it all fam we are going back to back
I'd think about keeping Treinan off the wildcard roster and bringing in a psychiatrist to give Roberts a full examination!
Did you guys miss that the Dodgers called Frasso up to the active roster on Sunday, so Hurt is probably not in the running for a spot as of now?
Kershaw had pretty good numbers this year for a guy who was either falling apart the whole year or right on the verge . 11-2 with a 3.36 ERA wasn't bad for a guy who was fading . It looks like he's going to be changing some diapers on baby #5 soon in Arlington Texas by the way Ellen was talking the other day! She's compelling him to retire . He'd probably go one more year with the Rangers if she let him. Or two. Maybe after mid-season she'd let him drive to the park in Arlington (10 minutes away) and go make a mint on a side hustle job if he's a good boy and changes the diapers. It's his turn! She's gotta be thinking that given the impression she made the other day with her statements. The Rangers would probably give him 7 million to pitch half a season next year! He'd be like a trade deadline deal for the Rangers after the All Star break 2026. 7 million's alooot of money. I know Grienke would never turn that down if he was healthy! Clayton would fit perfectly with the Rangers due to Ellen having a firm grip on Clayton . It appears so anyway.
Would so love to see Kershaw close our final win to clinch the World Series… The thing about CK is that he has been so so good this season… Hate that he is retiring…
Lineup needs to get early runs vs Cincy.
I think Teo was too tired this year because he never had a day off last season it seemed like. He was going hard all season long through the All Star break ,and the postseason too! And the reason he wasn't consistent this year is because he needed more off days this year to fully recover. And they dogged it by not giving him enough time off to reset.
Why even play Conforto? Pages in LF is way better. Conforto defense is poop and he throws like a nancy. I'm talking about the terrible throw he made in Seattle to 2B if someone doesn't know. Should play Kim or Rojas on 2B switching between lefty or righty. Kim in a slump is Conforto all season without the bad defense.
Dave didn't play Kim like usual. Even with limited playing time Kim hit a dinger last game.
Didn't padres win 7 out of 8 to end the season? Their bats have woken up recently
LET'S GO LOS ANGELES DODGERS!!! NO FEAR!!! NO MERCY!!! LET'S WIN THE 2025 WORLD SERIES CHAMPION!!!
Who’s our starting left fielder ?
Reds starting pitching had the 2nd best staff in baseball only to the Phillies
Commenting as I go… but as a reds fan, yes the LHP thing was bad, but a ton of that was before all star break… once we got lefty killer Miguel andujar(hitting 360 as a red btw) that number has gone way up.
Huge credit to Roki for turning a lost season into being included in the playoff conversation!
Also, I would say the bullpen, it wasn’t great with the middle, but now that we moved #2 pick Chase burns to the bullpen along with starter nick martinez, bullpen is much better. You go 6-9 with Martinez burns santillan(who has been amazing this year) and pagan as the closer?
The reds have the better starting pitching. You will see this series.
In what world does conforto starts a game over kikitober, a proven stud. That will be the dumbest decision ever! And tommy plays everyday.
We won a chip last year with those guys starting in the playoffs, so to change that formula would be stupid.
I hate to say it but I'm feeling really confident about the Reds. I also think the Sox can take the Yankees, the Guardians will take Detroit, and the Cubs will beat the Padres. Let's Dodgers!
Will Smith should not be included on the wild card roster. He can't even take normal batting practice. He's not going to provide a productive pinch hit
It just occurred to me that Kershaw probably is retiring permanently because he probably doesn't want to risk his ERA going up any further. It's sitting real close to 2.50 . He probably doesn't want to mess with that anymore because of his obsession with his lifetime stats on the back of his baseball card. He's also probably thinking the nanny's going to change the diapers on baby number 5. Of course he can just tinker with his postseason ERA for up to a few years and pitch for the Rangers just in October. He might be up for that. He could try to lower his postseason ERA by being available only for the postseason and satisfy Ellen's requirements at the same time. Of course he'd have Rangers on the back of his baseball cards. But wait! No. No he wouldn't . Because baseball cards only put regular season stats on the back. Or they used to anyway. His regular season statistics would be sealed permanently. He could just pitch for Texas in the playoffs to try to lower his postseason ERA while trying to bring another title home to Texas! And he can still do that this year if the Dodgers can make it past the Reds. They're chances of getting past Cincy are good with three home games and Cincy has more weaknesses too.
They dogged it playing Edman so much after the ankle injury. That's the kind of thing that can cost them the title this year. Those kind of boneheaded plays tend to go unnoticed but are costly in terms of maintaining team strength headed into the playoffs! That and allowing Dave to run Trienan into the ground during the postseason like he's planning to. Roberts is having those visions again about winning , but only the way he wants to win with the heroes he wants to do the winning according to his fantasy visions .
I might quit after this year. Been at this for ten years all of a sudden. You know the seasons never end. They just keep going. After awhile everybody disappears!
Here is my prediction for this series. Dodgers sweep the Reds 2-0. Why? 1. Dodgers have home field advantage, and they do extremely well at home. 2. LA Dodgers have the superior offense. 3. Dodgers are more experienced in the playoffs than the Cincinnati Reds. 4. Dodgers owned the Reds in 2025, and I think Dodgers will own the Reds in this series. 5. Cincinnati Reds barely made the playoffs while LA Dodgers easily made the playoffs. Bottom line is that the Dodgers are the better team here and will move on to the divisional round. Philadelphia Phillies will be a tougher opponent than the Cincinnati Reds in the next round.
Didn’t want to be watching the Dodgers in a Wildcard Series, but it is what it is. Thankfully the Dodgers have the rotation to get through a Wildcard and seamlessly head into the DS. Let’s go Blue!💙
I suspect that Glasnow is only on the WC bullpen roster as an absolute last option in an emergency. I'm sure they still want him starting in the NLDS