The in Los Angeles looked after the business from home during the wildcard round. I cleaned up the Cincinnati Reds and set up the NLDS series that everyone in baseball wants to watch.
The team visited the road on Thursday. We headed east for a massive showdown with the Philadelphia Phillies.
There were some surprises to see no one coming in the wildcard roster. Is the group vs. Philadelphia the same, or will manager Dave Roberts choose to change it? Are Anthony Vanda and Michael Comfort back on the active roster?
We try to maximize the ideal 26-man group that can be seen in what should be a very competitive series featuring two Juggernaut teams.
Position the player
DH: Shohei ohtani
Otani tries to continue his fierce postseason start after he went 3-3, 3-3, with two Homer and four runs hit during the wildcard round.
C: Will Smith, Dalton Rushing, Ben Rothventz
Having a third catcher on the roster gives the some flexibility. Smith by all accounts tries to set up a shop behind the plate. With the hands being treated with bone problems, no one really knows whether a full game behind the plate can have a negative impact on your ability to not only catch but also throw.
It is essential to have Smith as an elite pinch hitter from the bench. Rush also stays on the roster due to his ability to slug as a left-handed bench option. Rortvedt packs solid stuffing for All-Star catchers.
INF: Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncie, Miguel Rojas
inf/of: Kiké Hernández, Hyeseong Kim, Tommy Edman
Of: Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernandez, Alex Call
Justin Dean was a surprising entry on the wildcard roster. He submitted to be a defensive alternative at center field in both games. On his one opportunity to play in Game 1, Dean was a pigeon for the ball he probably expected to catch. It biased from his hands for what would become a base hit.
Dean is virtually zero on the plate, so if he’s not absolutely defensively good in the center, then even if Tommy Edman is nursing a bulky ankle, he doesn’t really need him on this roster.
Because of his ability to hit left-handed people, Cole remains on the roster. Philadelphia has a lot of very good left-handed pitchers. He can smash the bats, get decent defense in the outfield, and also provide some speed for the team. He and Kim appear to give outfield cover while Page and Hernandez people are in other spots.
Just like in the wildcard round, Comfort is off the roster.
pitcher
SP: Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow
It would be interesting to see how Game 2 shakes as Ohtani is expected to go to Game 1. If the win the first contest, there is a real world where Glasnow goes to Game 2. Snell’s home/away split appears to show a left-handed left-handed man who takes the ball in Game 3 at Studies. Yamamoto will surely pitch in Game 4 situations.
If LA loses Game 1, Snell will be a regular rest and can pitch Game 2 very well regardless of the outcome. This pushes Glasnow back from the pen as a long relief bar/multi-inning option.
At the very least, the spinning seems to be in a very good place to move forward.
Breeders: Blake Trainen, Loki Sasaki, Alex Vescia, Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius, Emmett Sheehan, Tanner Scott, Justin Worbullski, Clayton Kerrshaw
There are some harsh calls within this group. The chief among them is to keep Edgard Henriquez away from this roster. It is undeniable given that he is one of the most difficult saviors in sports.
That being said, his control was a big problem. In Game 1 of the Wild Card Round, I raised an ugly head in the Reds. Philadelphia’s lineup is pretty good, with Henriquez hitting far fewer bats than I really think he’s more effective than the Phillies given his speed.
Banda nods to Henriquez, considering the fact that the left-handed batsman hits .153 from him in 2018. You can see the banda in the middle inning when you have to face the tandem of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.
On the other side of the equation, if the team is sacrificing speed for the effectiveness Banda has enacted, the opposite idea comes with Dreyer keeping Wrobleski on a team that is out of it. Wrobleski is better in comparison with pure ones and is someone who can beat multiple innings. His swing and miss abilities outweigh Dreyer – and when the Car Show arrives, Dreyer really doesn’t need it.
He wasn’t featured in the wildcard rounds, but Scott would certainly get his chance and a lineup with some true left-handed boppers. The problem is when Scott receives those opportunities. The odds are that they become lower leverage spots.
Casparius also enters a crease that has been tinkering around with Triple-A for a while. He has been pitching in the postseason and has seen what resets can do for younger pitchers in the minor leagues, as Sasaki has recently shown.
More news: Mookie Betts is “pride” himself in spending the entire season at a shortstop for the
Photo credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today Network Imagn Images
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