Blake Snell will end his streak of starting game ones for the Rays, but he’s not going to wait long to take the hill. Snell will get the ball in game two against the Dodgers, while Tyler Glasnow will toe the rubber in the opening game of the World Series, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter).
Clayton Kershaw is set to oppose Glasnow in game one for the Dodgers. Los Angeles was able to escape the NLCS despite just one so-so outing from Kershaw, but they’re surely expecting more from the all-time great as the World Series kicks off on Tuesday.
For the Rays, expect similar usage from their pitching staff over the first couple of games, but it will be anyone’s guess from there. With days off after game two and game five, manager Kevin Cash will have more options available to him. The days off mean the Rays will probably drop a pitcher from their 15-man unit in order to bring a position player back into the mix, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays went with a 14-and-14 pitch-to-hitter balance for the first few rounds of the playoffs, only adding the additional arm for the 7-day, 7-game ALCS.
Rays starters don’t tend to pitch far beyond the fifth inning regardless, but the extra rest gives Cash some flexibility for how to deploy his arms. Charlie Morton would be on five days rest for a game three start, assuming Cash decides to keep his regular rotation intact. He could then turn to Ryan Yarbrough for game four, or return to Glasnow on three days’ rest.
Purely speculating, Josh Fleming and Jose Alvarado were the ’last in,’ so to speak, having been added to the roster for the ALCS. Alvarado struggled with his command, while the Rays may not feel the need for a longman like Fleming given the extra days of rest. Shane McClanahan, who made his big league debut during the postseason, could also be an option for removal. On the offensive end, Brett Phillips and Nate Lowe both made the playoff roster for a previous round. Given how much the Rays value outfield defense, Phillips might be the more natural add, especially with Ji-Man Choi healthy and ostensibly filling Lowe’s potential role on the roster.
Dodgers fan here and I could not be any happier with who is starting game one for Tampa. I know that probably makes no sense to a lot of people but Tampa is rolling out there a dead fastball pitcher and the Dodgers are loaded with nothing but dead red fastball headers. Should be very interesting.
Def hear ya-
This series is really setting up for a Joc moment (good or bad)
As you know he’s probably priced himself out of our plans moving forward, he knows it they know it and all Dodger fans should too- Id Love too see a sweet Swan Song here….. Now….
That leads us to Mr Pollock, who this series sets up completely horrible for…..do they have the balls to swap him and Lux (another good fastball hitter and LH) out today? Either way Pollock will only see time vs Snell and Yarbourgh….. idk if the 10 abs is worth no defense, no speed, no grit, no hidden intangibles (bunt etc) to carry here salary withstanding
Another perk to going with Lux is it might persuade Pollock to walk after next year (his option) creating better cash flow for Belli -Seager. I doubt they do it but I would, Lux loves the heat and everyone coming in late is going to be Right handed from Tampa-
Rios is another name to watch this series as well, we havent gotten much outta the Dh all playoffs (aside him at stints), he can turn that all around quick
Lux is not ready for the moment. He’s coming off a terrible year and it would be unfair to put him in that situation unless in an emergency scenario. Pollock was tied with Betts for most HRs this season. No way he gets left off the roster. I do think that you need to have Smith in the lineup everyday as a C and DH when not catching. He has come up with key hits and I like his approach at the plate. Smart hitter that has good takes and doesn’t expand the zone, and he can turn on those inside fastballs. Joc and Pollock platoon LF. Remains to be seen on Pollock. The contract looked terrible after 2019, but in a small sample size he has lived up to that contract in 2020. Yeah, I still hate his very shaky defense and at times he looks terrible at the plate, but he has more than redeemed himself in 2020.
He will literally get 10 abs this series and thats not even a given. I mean they could just give all those abs to Kiki (I def would) and you could see him log 3-4 abs the whole series. Thats well within the realm of possibilities
If by 2020 he re-deemed 2019 maybe. Come postseason he’s still the same player, either on the Bn or 0-4, bad defense and not putting the ball in play and moving runners over. I dont hate Pollock the person but I hate the contract and what it represents in opportunity cost moving forward in what I feel is going to be a very decorated Run for LAD when all is said and done- We can only pray he takes the 5 mill buyout before 22 when we really start needing the cash flow
When i was a young boy (I was, really) I was a big fan of the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox, and was ecstatic because the Sox were going to face Bob Gibson THREE TIMES in the World Series. Ecstatic because the Sox were such great “dead red” hitters, and Gibson threw a lot of “dead red”.
Didn’t work out real well…..
Lonborg on 2 days rest.
The way Lonborg threw in that Series, if there was a Gibson vs. Lonborg match up with normal rest, they’d still be playing.
Touche. I think Gentleman Jim is still with us, as a dentist in the Boston area. He may have cut down on his ski trips, however……
He could knock down a hitter with the best of them.
The reason the Astros almost squeaked out the Rays was because of their (the Rays) starting pitching. Snell was fairly bad, Glasnow was decent though still allowed to many runs, and after that it was hard for Morton and Yarbrough to hold up the rest. This staff needs to be good for the Rays to win, and I have to say that I just don’t have very much hope in that. Maybe it’ll change, but right now it doesn’t look good.
Rays fans, how are y’all feeling about this series? I say Rays in 7, but that could change very easily.
One thing people need to realize about Snell in the DS and CS is that he had to face probably the two most dangerous line-ups in AL and both happen to be very heavy on right-handed hitting. LeMahieu, Voit, Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Urshela over in New York and then Springer, Altuve, Correa, Bregman, Gurielle in Houston… sorry but I don’t care who you are, if you are a left-handed pitcher facing either one of those line-ups, you’re going to have trouble. Even Glasnow and Morton as right-handed pitchers had trouble against these two star-studded/super-star-studded line-ups.
As as Rays fan and having aged 10 years at least over the past two weeks, I have to say that I am a bit relieved to see this Dodger line-up which is great, but with all due respect, it isn’t Houston and it isn’t a healthy New York.
You are 100% correct it isnt Ny or Hou’s lineups…its better
The Dodgers led the league in virtually every quantifiably positive stat, don’t go breathing any sighs of relief in TB quite yet.
Dodgers should feel strong coming from down 1-3 in a series against a great team. Even if kershaw blows game 1 we know we can come back strong. Really hopeful this can be our year!
True the Rays starters haven’t been their regular season “Lights out” form in the playoffs, However the relief pitchers have picked up all that slack and more. If Glasnow and ,Snell have pinpoint accuracy during this series the Dodgers are most probably doomed.
rays in 5! so that the dodgers are shut out once again.
Game 2 will be a tough call for Lad and most likely depend on who wins game 1 –
Dodgers win game 1 they probably just have a bullpen/bulk day game 2 and keep guys Like May Urias completely rested if not needed for later in the series – Worst case they lose and are tied 1-1 , have Buehler for 3, and a completely healthy May Urias and most likely pen for games 3-7 – A guy like Wood might get some bulk inns here
Dodgers lose game 1 its all up in the air and they have to burn some of their better options for game 2 – The game might look similar to how they managed game 7 last night vs the Braves –
Game 1 is big tho, would love to see a clean 7 inn win from Shaw. Would have major implications for the rest of the staff the entire series moving forward- Would also give him extra swag for his next and final start of the season which would have high odds of being a WS clinching victory start
Asking for 7 innings from Kershaw in game 1 is a big ask. I think Roberts will be thrilled to get 5 innings pitched with 2 or less runs allowed. They should be prepared to pull Kershaw after 5 and hopefully they’ll have scored enough by then to get him the win. Clayton tends to get in trouble in the playoffs by the 6th inning…don’t let him get there!
Nah, he uses his pitches affectively to save the arm- He just went 8 vs Mil – He gets on a roll hes going as long as he can
If we have a good lead its even more the reason to get the inns from Shaw and save the bullets from the pen – This pen is drained and they certainly know how vital it will be later in the series
You hate to potentially go down 0-2 if they lose game 1, but I’d prefer to rest Buehler, May, Urias for games 3-5. Maybe May can go closer to 100 pitches that way. His pitch counts are running up quick and Dodgers not getting as much bang for the buck.
Totally agree….if its 1-1 and we have a rested May Urias Buehler we are sitting pretty- Makes Game 1 a tad bigger this year for them – I like a fully rested Kershaw in a big ballpark – Hes pitched there 3 times already as well no Tb pitcher ever
Buehler / Morton in Game 3 would be must watch tv. Both of these guys are nasty in the post season. Probably a 2-1 or 3-2 game.
I like Glasgow first before Snell for this series. Like stated, Glasnow is a pure fastball pitcher and could be nice for dodger hitters. If he is on his command with the breaking stuff, could produce a game 1 victory(big if though).
To say the dodgers lineup isn’t as scary as the Yankees and Astros is ludacris.
So by your logic any team that loves fastballs should love seeing Graterol at the end of the game against the Dodgers?
Do you really think all fastballs are the same? Glasnow’s is fairly straight. Graterol has 3 different versions he throws with various movement. Not all 100 is equal
The dodgers are very good against 95+. The numbers say this. Why are you extrapolating To “any team” when he’s specifically talking about one team, the Dodgers? Then getting upset about it?
So by your logic any team that loves fastballs should love seeing Graterol at the end of the game against the Dodgers?