“Bleeding Blue” is a column by Diego Ynzunza about the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The day we’ve all been waiting for has arrived.
Game 1.
Kershaw vs. Kelly.
Dodgers vs. D-Backs.
The perennial contender vs. the up-and-coming underdogs.
This is one of my favorite days of the year. I watch my guys compete for something other than just a normal, regular-season win. Every inning counts. Every pitch counts. It’s postseason baseball, and it’s one of the best postseason experiences in all of sports.
Our boys in blue drew the matchup with the D-backs, after they went into Milwaukee and swept the Brewers in two games in the NL Wild Card round.
Rookie starting pitcher Brandoon Pfaadt put up an extremely subpar outing during Game 1 and gave up 3 runs. Thankfully for the D-Backs, their bullpen put up zeroes the rest of the game, and they took the first game 6-3.
Star pitcher Zac Gallen gave the D-Backs a tremendous outing for Game 2, in which he gave up two runs and went 6 innings. They would eventually win 5-2 and punch their ticket for an NLDS matchup with their division rivals.
The Snakes will turn to Merrill Kelly to start Game 1, a surprisingly consistent arm. This year, he put up a 4-WAR season, with a 3.29 ERA in 177 innings.
The Dodgers will turn to Clayton Kershaw, who although not completely healthy, is still ready to bring his A-game. In September he put up a 2.33 ERA in 19.1 innings.
While the Game 1 matchup is one to watch, Game 2 looks to be a good one as well.
The Dodgers’ Bobby Miller will oppose Zac Gallen, a potential Cy Young Award winner.
Miller looks to solidify this ailing Dodgers rotation that looks as if it will feature Lance Lynn in Game 3 in Arizona on Wednesday.
LA won eight out of the 13 regular season matchups with the D-Backs this year. The interesting thing is that the D-Backs won five out of the eight matchups they had in March and April. However, the Dodgers swept all five games in August, as they really started to hit their stride and show their true potential.
I have every confidence that the Dodgers will take care of the D-Backs.
Firstly, the offenses are not comparable.
The Dodgers deploy some serious firepower in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, JD Martinez, Will Smith, James Outman and Max Muncy. Not to mention the lean, mean, Jason Heyward machine.
Sure, the D-Backs have future superstar Corbin Carroll to brag about. The guy put up an .868 OPS to go along with 25 homers and 54 stolen bases. He is the face of this franchise, and D-Backs fans have every right to brag about his accomplishments.
They even have nice pieces to complement Carroll. Ketel Marte, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and the resurgent Evan Longoria will surely not make things easy for the Dodgers pitching staff. However, while they are good players, the Dodgers can truly say that they deploy true stars. Looking down the D-Backs lineup, the only one I can truly feel confident to call a star is Carroll.
Where I believe the Dodgers have the edge is in the bullpen. Nobody believes Kershaw or Lynn will go seven innings. The Dodgers’ contingency plans come in the form of Emmett Sheehan, Ryan Pepiot and Michael Grove, three up-and-coming arms who can act as long men out of the bullpen. The career resurgence of Ryan Brasier, in conjunction with the established arms of guys like Evan Phillips and Brusdar Graterol, surely give the Dodgers the edge over less-established guys like Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson for the D-Backs.
With the Dodgers roster being released today, I have a gripe, though, with the exclusion of both Ryan Yarbrough and Amed Rosario. Rosario has been a quality bat for the Dodgers since his trade from the Guardians in July. He put up a .256 batting average and cut his strikeout percentage by two points.
Yarbrough could have been a more dependable long-man than Michael Grove, but I have every faith that the Dodgers did their due diligence in coming to their decision.
In the end, I believe I will be right back here next week previewing the Dodgers’ NLCS matchup with the Atlanta Braves.
Let’s take care of business.
Dodgers in three.
“Bleeding Blue” runs every Friday.