For the 13th time in the last 14 years, the Los Angeles Dodgers are champions of the NL West, clinching the division with a win on Thursday afternoon over the Reds. L.A.'s regular-season business isn't totally concluded — they still have to make sure they secure at worst a top-two seed and first-round bye in the playoffs, even if they can't catch the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the NL — but this is as good a time as any to start peeking ahead toward a run toward a third straight World Series title.
While the Dodgers will remain the de-facto title favorite until somebody knocks them off, this team is facing as many questions as they have at any point during this dynastic run. Can key players like Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages be healthy and ready to roll come October? Can Dave Roberts find nine trustworthy pitchers to build a bullpen out of? And will someone wake Kyle Tucker up already?
With so much up in the air, projecting the team's postseason roster is a bit of a moving target. But here's how things seem likely to shake out, barring any more twists and turns over the next week and change.
Projected Dodgers playoff rotation
Game | Pitcher |
|---|---|
Game 1 | Yoshinobu Yamamoto |
Game 2 | Tarik Skubal |
Game 3 | Blake Snell |
Game 4 | Shohei Ohtani |
Shohei Ohtani being removed from pitching consideration makes this projection a bit easier, as the Dodgers rotation is now down to a big four. Of course, just about every team in the league would still kill to run out Yamamoto (2.51 ERA), Skubal (2.52 ERA), Snell (1.91 ERA) and Glasnow (3.50 ERA) in a short series. You can't really go wrong here, but we'll defer to Yamamoto as the Game 1 starter given his seniority over Skubal and his performance in last year's postseason.
It's also worth noting that, should injury strike any of the remaining members of this super-rotation, Los Angeles also has solid depth behind them with the likes of Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan. And speaking of which ...
Projected bullpen
Role | Pitcher |
|---|---|
Closer | Tanner Scott |
Setup | Alex Vesia |
Setup | Roki Sasaki |
Middle relief | Edgardo Henriquez |
Middle relief | Blake Treinen |
Middle relief | Jack Dreyer |
Middle relief | Evan Phillips |
Multi-inning role | Justin Wrobleski |
Multi-inning role | Emmet Sheehan |
This unit has been keeping Dodgers fans up at night for months now, and it shows little sign of improving as we near October. Edwin Diaz is back on the mound in the Minors, but he's pitching so poorly in his rehab assignment — and he looked so diminished prior to landing back on the IL — that it seems unlikely the team would trust him with a spot on the playoff roster. That leaves Scott as the new closer, with fellow lefties like Vesia and Dreyer backing him up.
We'll assume for now that Henriquez will be back in time for October, given Roberts' optimistic comments about the righty's recent back flare-up. Phillips and Treinen are pretty much musts despite spotty performances at times this season; L.A. just doesn't have enough righties it can't trust right now. That's also why we give Sheehan to final nod here rather than someone like Brock Stewart, who has come unglued of late.
Projected Dodgers playoff lineup
Position | Player |
|---|---|
DH | Shohei Ohtani |
CF | Andy Pages |
1B | Freddie Freeman |
SS | Mookie Betts |
3B | Max Muncy |
C | Will Smith |
RF | Kyle Tucker |
LF | Teoscar Hernandez |
2B | Tommy Edman |
From every indication, Ohtani should be back and able to at least hit by the time the playoffs roll around. Pages, too, is trending in the right direction, swinging a bat again as he comes back from a hand injury. We'll put those two in pencil here for now, though that could certainly change.
From there, this lineup more or less writes itself. No, Roberts isn't going to bench Tucker despite how badly he's struggled at the plate this season. The track record (and the contract) is what it is, and it's not like the team is overflowing with better options.
Projected bench
Position | Player |
|---|---|
UTIL | Kiké Hernández |
INF | Miguel Rojas |
C | Hunter Feduccia |
DH | Josue de Paula |
Hernández and Rojas feel like locks for bench roles, given their positional flexibility and just how much the Dodgers trust them in high-pressure spots. Feduccia will be the backup catcher with Daulton Rushing out of commission with a UCL tear that leaves him incapable of throwing. It's still possible that Rushing could return as a hitter only, but why would Los Angeles want to rush him back without much of an on-ramp when they could just turn that lefty bopper spot over to top prospect Josue de Paula — who's absolutely looked the part while Ohtani's been on the IL? This configuration leaves guys like Alex Call, Alex Freeland and Alek Thomas on the outside looking in, but de Paula's upside is worth the loss of flexibility.
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