The Los Angeles Dodgers held on by the skin on their teeth in Game 1 against the Milwaukee Brewers. This NLCS was expected to be tight, as the Dodgers are the reigning World Series champions and favorites to repeat, while the Brewers finished the regular season with the best record in baseball. Milwaukee has homefield advantage as a result, and very nearly pulled off a memorable comeback in the game's final inning. Instead, it was Dave Roberts' Dodgers who registered the first win of this likely long series.
The Dodgers got eight great innings out of ace Blake Snell. Los Angeles signed Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract last winter for moments like these. While Snell is injury-prone, he is healthy now, and came up huge. The left-hander had 10 strikeouts to just one walk, and gave up just one hit to the Brewers. Snell was removed from the game after his eighth shutout frame despite throwing just 103 pitches. I am not an MLB manager, but given how Snell was pitching when he was taken out, he probably could've taken the ninth. Instead, Roberts went with the young Japanese hurler Roki Sasaki, a move he could come to regret.
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Taking out Blake Snell was a mistake by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts
As a Tigers fan, no one understands the importance of load management like I do. Sure, he's not Kawhi Leonard, but Tarik Skubal rarely throws over 100 pitches. That came back to haunt the Tigers in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Seattle Mariners. Skubal came out of the game with just under 100 pitches thrown, making way for a Detroit bullpen which blew his one-run lead. The Tigers lost the series.
The Dodgers avoided the same fate on Monday night, albeit barely. Roberts turned to Sasaki, who has become Los Angeles' closer-by-committee leader in the clubhouse. Sasaki had been excellent this postseason up until his outing in Game 1. in just under an inning pitched, Sasaki gave up a hit, a run and walked two Brewers batters. Roberts eventually had to replace him with Blake Treinen, who nearly gave up the lead in his own right.
By going to Sasaki in Milwaukee and removing him short of a save, Roberts risked the young pitcher's confidence. This is a player with a ton of potential, but also a pitcher who had struggled to find his place in the majors once the Dodgers won his bidding war.
Roki Sasaki is complicated, and the Dodgers cannot afford setbacks
Just eight days ago, ESPN's Jeff Passan published an article detailing how Sasaki became the Dodgers' 100 MPH closer. It wasn't an easy transformation, and took a lot of poking and prodding by the team's developmental staff. It should also be noted that Sasaki didn't trust the Dodgers training staff at the beginning of his rehab. That took a lot of hard work, and eventually Sasaki relented. He is better for it, but who's to say he'll remain that way if Roberts continues to treat him like a chess piece?
"Good or bad, right or wrong, he hasn't had a whole lot of instruction. He's just been on his own program because of the talent," Roberts said. "And there was a point where he was in Arizona where the group came together and said, 'Hey, you've got to give Rob a chance.' And to his credit, he bought into that and just kind of freed himself up."
Hill is the Dodgers director of pitching. He is the person Sasaki ought to be listening to when he needs rehab or tweaks to his delivery. Sasaki came over from Japan talented, but an unpolished product. He still has a long way to go. This postseason should go a long way in his development.
Yet, it's important for the Dodgers manager to take Sasaki's age into account. He is just 23, and is one bad playoff outing away from unraveling.