The Los Angeles Dodgers have been awaiting the outcome of the Wild Card game on their side of the bracket, and now know their opponents in the NLDS – the San Diego Padres.
The Padres defeated the New York Mets on Sunday night to take the best of three series 2-1. The Mets/Padres series was the only one of the Wild Card series to go the full three games.
Being division rivals, the Dodger and the Padres are very familiar with each other. They had also met in the 2020 NLDS, with the Dodgers winning three straight games to take that series on the way to their World Series win.
In the 19 games played this season between the Dodgers and the Padres, the Dodgers bested the Friars 14 times.
But, as Freddie Freeman says, none of that matters now.
““First tournament’s over,” Freeman said on Friday. “Now, the big tournament starts. No one cares what your numbers were or how many wins you you have starting Tuesday. So it’s first to 11.”
On Monday, Freeman reiterated that winning 111 games and having success against the Padres in the regular season doesn’t mean anything moving forward.
However, Freeman also had this to say about the Padres – “They’re hot, and we’ve been hot for seven months”.
The Padres may indeed have some momentum coming into L.A., as they have been fighting for their playoff lives and the Dodgers have not played a real game since last Wednesday. The team has been playing some sim games at Dodger Stadium to keep loose and ready, but that is not the same as playing meaningful games.
While the full playoff rosters have not yet been announced, there are a few updates.
Chris Taylor will most likely be on the NLDS roster. He had been dealing with a neck issue for the last week of the regular season. Manager Dave Roberts said he was a “full participant” in Monday’s workout, and is expected to be on the roster on Tuesday.
The starters for the first two games at Dodgers Stadium were also announced. Julio Urías will start Game 1, and Clayton Kershaw will get the ball in Game 2.
Urías said that he has known since the first team practice on Friday that he would be the Game 1 starter.
“Obviously, a lot has gone into this. A lot of things from my teammates, from my coaches, from the training staff,” Urías said. “Everybody that has put in this work for me, it’s another opportunity for me to go out there and pitch in a moment like this.”
“We thought about it and kicked around a lot of different scenarios,” Dave Roberts said Monday. “We just felt having Julio for Game 1 and potentially for Game 5 on regular rest made the most sense. Hopefully we can get through this series, and then Clayton would be even more prominent in the next series.”
Roberts also went on to say how the team thinks they are better off in the bullpen area this season, also. “It’s the most talented ‘pen that we’ve had, or just kind of arms to prevent runs. The way it’s going to show itself in a shorter series, or even in a longer seven-game series, we’ll just have different options. You don’t have to run the same cast of characters out there.”
As for the Padres, Mike Clevinger will start Game 1, and Yu Darvish will start Game 2. Clevinger has not pitched yet this postseason, and Darvish dominated the Mets Friday in the Wild Card opener.
Game times have also been announced. Tuesday night’s game will be at 6:37 PT, and Wednesday’s game will be at 5:37 PT.