Tyler Glasnow starts the opener Monday night for the Dodgers, who play the Nationals six times in the next 11 days.
Dodgers fans are about to get a crash course on the 2024 Nationals, playing them six times over the next 11 days. Then they won’t have to think about Washington at all until next year.
Up first is a three-game series beginning Monday night at Dodger Stadium. The two teams will also play at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. next week from April 23-25.
For this series in Los Angeles, the Dodgers have a bit of mound potpourri with their ace Tyler Glasnow in the opener — fresh off a career-high-tying 14 strikeouts — and a collection of arms to fill out the remainder of the (at least) 27 innings.
A bullpen game was already in the works to give the starting rotation extra rest, along with Thursday’s pending off day. The alternative would have been to stay in line and have Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch Wednesday afternoon, but that would have been on four days rest. To date he’s only pitched even on five days rest once, so that transition from starting roughly once a week in Japan to a busier MLB schedule hasn’t yet accelerated. Before his start on five days rest Friday against San Diego, Yamamoto’s first three major league starts were on seven, eight, and six days rest.
But then Bobby Miller, who lined up to pitch against the Nationals, was placed on the injured list on Saturday with shoulder inflammation, with no clear timetable for return. Another missing pitcher this week is old friend Josiah Gray, the Nationals opening day starter who last week landed on the IL with a flexor tendon strain in his elbow.
Ryan Yarbrough will figure prominently in a bulk role in this series, which has been the norm for the left-hander since getting acquired at last year’s trade deadline. Yarbrough did pitch a scoreless 10th inning on Friday night, but was limited to only one frame in anticipation of having a longer appearance against the Nationals.
This series feels like an opportunity for Kyle Hurt or Landon Knack to get a call-up from Triple-A. Both pitched last Wednesday in Triple-A.
The Nationals will call up left-hander Mitchell Parker to start the series opener on Monday, making his major league debut, per Grant Paulsen of 106.7 FM in Washington.
Washington comes to Los Angeles having dropped four of their five series, including losing two of three games over the weekend in Oakland.