The Dodgers and Diamondbacks are set to play Game 1 of the NL Division Series this evening at Dodger Stadium. Left-hander Clayton Kershaw (2.46 ERA) is set to take the mound for LA this evening opposite right-hander Merrill Kelly (3.29 ERA). The clubs both announced their 26-man rosters for the impending five-game series earlier this afternoon.
Arizona made just one change from their Wild Card Series roster, swapping out right-hander Bryce Jarvis for left-hander Kyle Nelson. Jarvis, 25, posted a 3.04 ERA in 23 2/3 innings of work at the big league level this season, though the rookie’s peripherals were less impressive. Jarvis struck out just 13% of batters while walking 9.8% and achieved solid results thanks largely to a microscopic .162 BABIP. All that left him with a FIP of 5.03 during the regular season. Jarvis ultimately did not appear during Arizona’s two-game sweep of the Brewers.
His departure from the roster makes room for Nelson, who the Diamondbacks claimed off waivers from Cleveland prior to the 2022 season. The lefty has pitched well in 111 appearances with Arizona, posting a 3.39 ERA and 3.96 FIP across 93 innings of work. That said, his work has been a touch less impressive in 2023, with a 4.18 ERA and 4.45 FIP over 56 innings.
Ineligible for the club’s NLDS roster is outfielder Jake McCarthy, who was replaced on the Wild Card Series roster by Jace Peterson before Game 1 began thanks to an oblique injury suffered during batting practice. It’s unclear if McCarthy will be able to return to the roster if Arizona makes it to the NLCS, as manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including those at ESPN) that McCarthy’s injury is a matter of weeks rather than days, putting his postseason availability into doubt even if the Diamondbacks manage a deeper run.
As for the Dodgers, the club secured a bye through the Wild Card Series with a 100-win season, second only to the Braves in the National League and well ahead of the 92-win Brewers, who were knocked out of the postseason by Arizona last round. LA sports just three surefire starting options on the roster in Kershaw, rookie Bobby Miller and veteran Trade Deadline addition Lance Lynn. That being said, righties Shelby Miller, Emmet Sheehan, Ryan Pepiot, and Michael Grove are all multi-inning options the team has at their disposal on the roster, though the club opted against rostering left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, who posted a 4.89 ERA and 4.52 FIP across 11 appearances for the club after being acquired from the Royals ahead of the deadline back in August.
Looking at the position players on the club’s roster, second baseman Kolten Wong makes an appearance over infielder Amed Rosario. After a brutal first half of the season in Seattle, Wong has hit .300/.353/.500 in limited time (34 plate appearances) with the Dodgers, while Rosario has hit .256/.301/.408 across a much more substantial sample size of 133 trips to the plate with LA. That being said, Wong provides the club with a left-handed bat off the bench to complement fellow righty infielders Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez.
The full rosters…
Diamondbacks
- Right-handed pitchers: Miguel Castro, Luis Frías, Zac Gallen, Kevin Ginkel, Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Paul Sewald, Ryan Thompson
- Left-handed pitchers: Joe Mantiply, Kyle Nelson, Andrew Saalfrank
- Catchers: Jose Herrera, Gabriel Moreno
- Infielders: Jordan Lawler, Evan Longoria, Ketel Marte, Geraldo Perdomo, Jace Peterson, Emmanuel Rivera, Pavin Smith, Christian Walker
- Outfielders: Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tommy Pham, Alek Thomas
Dodgers
- Right-handed pitchers: Ryan Brasier, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, Joe Kelly, Lance Lynn, Bobby Miller, Shelby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Evan Phillips, Emmet Sheehan
- Left-handed pitchers: Caleb Ferguson, Clayton Kershaw, Alex Vesia
- Catchers: Austin Barnes, Will Smith
- Infielders: Freddie Freeman, Enrique Hernandez, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Chris Taylor, Kolten Wong
- Outfielders: Mookie Betts, Jason Heyward, James Outman, David Peralta
I would’ve never thought Kolten Wong would make any playoff roster, let alone the Dodgers.
He has been good off the bench for them. I think the idea is Arizona is too righty heavy to give Rosario much of a role.
Kolten, I put up -0.8 bWAR/-0.9 fWAR all season long, Wong? Maybe for the A’s or Royals.
Stats are stats but I would have gone with Rosario over Wong. Dodgers are in trouble with Grove or Yarlborough pitching except if up or down by five or more runs
Expect a Dodgers sweep and a snakes’ weep
How about down 5 (with 1 out in 1st) with no Yarb to go to cause he ain’t there?
Make that 6
@manny – that one didn’t live long did it?
I was shocked how quickly the stadium emptied. Reminded me of the Colosseum by about the 5th inning. Was also shocked by how little movement Kershaw had. Appreciate he’s never been a power pitcher, but felt horrible for such a great pitcher to be rinsed in 1\3rd of an inning. Hope there’ll be a game 5 so he can bounce back.
9-0 bottom of the 2nd. I mean, the Dodgers might come back but the analytics are not in their favor.
Yes, I’ll take my mulligan here. The Diamondbacks will win Game 1 over Dodgers
Game 3 gets Kershaw again or does he go on IL?
Dodgers best hope for IL.
That was vintage postseason Kersh. Not too late to add Yarbrough….
Snakes sweep, Dodgers weep
There, fixed it for u Manny
Stand by for predicted articles and posts from Dodger fans calling for Dave Roberts head. Happens every losing post season
Manny Manny Manny
JD Martinez is on the Dodgers roster, but he’s not listed
No love for the DH in the National League
🙁
Rs62
Yeah. Only 12 batters listed for LA
RE: Wong over Rosario
Hard to read anything into 34 PA, but
His BB and K rates are pretty similar (7.5 and 21.3 with SEA and 5.9 and 20.6 with LA). Those are the most meaningful numbers in small samples.
His BABIP was terrible with SEA (.203) and much better with LA (.318)
He had no power with SEA (.062 ISO) but a .200 ISO with the Dodgers.
The extremely mild take is that he wasn’t as bad as he looked in SEA and not as good as he looks with the Dodgers.
I’d have gone with Rosario. But, I certainly defer to the Dodgers’ F/O.
Wong’s numbers looked terrible this year before LA but he has otherwise been a very good player, superior basically in every aspect over Rosario. I guess they’re betting both on history and recent (tiny) performance.
In addition to that Wong hits from the left side which gives the Dodgers four flexible bench guys on each side of the platoon and is a better candidate to finish a game in the field than Rosario.
Wong has been good in limited pinch hit opportunities. Dbacks pitching are right handed heavy. Pretty simple.
Z63
I hope they put more thought into it than that
I do admire how the Dodgers have been one of the best teams in baseball for about a decade. However, consider this: “pitching wins championships.” The Dodgers have the guy with the lowest career ERA since 1961 (Kershaw > deGrom) and one of the best pitching staffs consistently. And yet, championships seem to elude them. If you have just 1 good hitter vs 1 good starter, I guess you can pitch around the hitter, but how does that beat a balanced lineup vs a balanced rotation?
Clayton Kershaw
Regular season ERA 2.48 2712 2/3 IP
Post season ERA 4.49 194 1/3 IP
Not the same pitcher at all.
The Dodgers and the Braves tell similar stories—perpetual regular season success followed by post season failures.
I happened to see two good At Bats from Wong last month. He got a ghost runner to 3rd with a ground ball to lead off extra innings. In another game, he lifted a short fly ball to get a runner to second who later scored on a double. Productive outs that don’t show up on the scorecard but helpful nevertheless. I like this roster move. The odd choice to me is leaving an experienced playoff pitcher like Yarborough off the roster and carrying 4 rookie pitchers. Every one of those kid pitchers are better than Yarborough who has seen action in the playoffs with Tampa not long ago?
Yarbrough didn’t pitch that well in September and all the off days means you don’t need multiple long relievers to save the pen. I would have kept him over Grove for better LH/RH balance, but opportunities to go lefty matchup will be limited as Carroll is the only impact LH batter. I don’t like it but I understand it.
These are pure analytics decisions. They crunched the numbers and came up with the most numerically beneficial scenario. I’m surprised that anyone is surprised by this, given it’s what the game is all about now.
Dodgers roster mostly as expected. No doubt Wong got the nod over Rosario due to Arizona’s glut of right-handed pitchers. Mildly surprised Yarbrough was left off, but he did look very hittable last time out.
Going to see plenty of platoons, and piggyback pitching. A guy like Michael Grove could be an underrated stud this post-season.
The Kershaw playoff curse lives.
Even by Kershaw standards.
1/3 an inning
No k’s
6 hits
6 runs
1 walk
It was atrocious.
Why does the playoff schedule ALWAYS favor the AL? I note every year, assuming the LCS goes the same number of games that the ALCS finishes first! This gives the pitching staff and others at least one more day of rest before the WS.
Milla – favor the AL?
NL gets an off day today and Tuesday. The NL WC teams can benefit from the extra days rest and reset their rotation and since both WC teams won game 1, I’d say that either: (1) helps the AL because the winner has a good chance of getting a WC team to face; or (2) hurts the AL because they don’t get the extra day of rest.
Many different ways to look at it but I can’t see the NL complaining.
It’s because baseball is America’s pasttime. The American League is America’s League. Seriously, though, I guess that’s because it’s the junior circuit or alphabetical order.
Many years ago I recall a survey (both in prime)
Who would you rather build your rotation around – baumgarner or Kershaw.
Clearly, regular season dominance goes to CK.
However, MB postseason: 2.11 ERA overall and .25 – yes, .25 across 3 different WS.
LTC
Kershaw without a doubt. He’s a much better pitcher than Bumgarner.
I’m sure you could look though MLB history and find a pitcher who had a terrible ERA compared to the rest of their career on Tuesdays. That doesn’t mean that there’s a reason they suck on Tuesdays. Random variation.