Dodgers have one regular starter who seems very vulnerable to LHP and that's Muncy. But also Ohtani and Freeman are much more gettable with LHP than RHP, though still very good.

Dodgers have a number of guys who can hit LHP off the bench - Rojas, Call, Kim - but they don't seem to be too eager to use them so far. Or maybe they just haven't needed to.

It would seem to make more sense to play Call instead of E.Hernandez, though E.Hernandez has hit well enough that maybe they don't need Call's bat as much as they might. Call might be their Davis Schneider right now.

interesting artifact so far is that Dean is their most-used bench player, having played in 10 playoffs games so far, but hasn't actually had a plate appearance yet - solely a late inning defensive replacement for Teoscar.

Also Will Smith came back from his broken finger partway through the playoffs, but hasn't been very good since coming back. Meanwhile Rortvedt was on a bit of a tear while he was out. It'll be interesting to see how Smith and Bichette compare this series.



Here's how the two teams compare so far this postseason offensively - we could argue about which team has faced tougher pitching so far:


LF Springer 53pa, .219babip, .370iso, 150wrc+ ----- DH Ohtani 48pa, .211babip, .416iso, 143wrc+
RF Lukes 42pa, .382babip, .077iso, 125wrc+ -------- SS Betts 46pa, .324babip, .146iso, 128wrc+
1B Guerrero 51pa, .371babip, .488iso, 280wrc+ ----- 1B Freeman 45pa, .296babip, .179iso, 105wrc+
DH Bichette 0pa, .000babip, .000iso, 000wrc+ ------ C Smith 32pa, .444babip, .000iso, 89wrc+
CF Varsho 46pa, .333babip, .227iso, 121wrc+ ------- 3B Muncy 36pa, .238babip, .143iso, 115wrc+
C Kirk 49pa, .200babip, .244iso, 107wrc+ ------------ RF Teoscar 43pa, .269babip, .317iso, 142wrc+
3B Barger 40pa, .308babip, .229iso, 149wrc+ ------- 2B Edman 36pa, .381babip, .200iso, 118wrc+
2B Clement 45pa, .425babip, .190iso, 195wrc+ ------ LF Hernandez 40pa, .407babip, .111iso, 125wrc+
SS Gimenez 43pa, .258babip, .184iso, 114wrcc+ ----- CF Pages 39pa, .115babip, .029iso, -31wrc+

UT Schneider 13pa, .333babip, .100iso, 108wrc+ ---- UT Call 7pa, .750babip, .000iso, 351wrc+
OF Straw 10pa, .286babip, .000iso, 54wrc+ ---------- OF Dean 0pa,
IF Falefa 22pa, .250babip, .095iso, 54wrc+ ----------- IF Rojas 9pa, .375babip, .000iso, 143wrc+
C Heineman 0pa, .000babip, .000iso, 0wrc+ --------- C Rortvedt 10pa, .750babip, .143iso, 206wrc+

UT Santander 16pa, .300babip, .000iso, 29wrc+ ----- C Rushing 1pa, .000babip, .000iso, -100wrc+
OF Loperfido 0pa, .000babip, .000iso, -100wrc+ ---- IF Kim 0pa

There is an article on the Athletic that talks about how George Springer is nursing injuries apart from the knee. No-one will say what they are but they suggest he is battling.

This could become an issue if Bo is available to play. If Bo is the DH can Springer physically play RF for up to seven games?

It looks to me that Springer might be battling something in his hand or wrist. On several of his violent swings (in addition to his back leg collapsing) he has let one hand go off the bat in the backswing.

As SP Only:

RH Gausman 3gms, 5.7ip/gm, 52era-, 102fip-, 115xfip- ----- LH Snell 3gms, 7.0ip/gm, 20era-, 29fip-, 44xfip-
RH Yesavage 3gms, 5.0ip/gm, 103era-, 83fip-, 80xfip- ----- RH Yamamooto 3gms, 6.6ip/gm, 44era-, 80fip-, 83xfip-
RH Bieber 3gms, 4.1ip/gm, 108era-, 83fip-, 73xfip- ------- RH Ohtani 2gms, 6.0ip/gm, 54era-, 30fip-, 52xfip-
RH Scherzer 1gms, 5.2ip/gm, 78era-, 137fip-, 130xfip- ---- RH Glasnow 2gms, 5.8ip/gm, 18era-, 46fip-, 51xfip-


Their SP have been just ridiculous. Obviously we can't let them do anything close to this against us.




RP (trying to rank them looking at both usage and performance)

RH Varland 11.0ip, 1.57lvg, 80era-, 144fip-, 78xfip- ----- RH Sasaki 8.0ip, 2.15lvg, 27era-, 57fip-, 104xfip-
RH Hoffman 7.3ip, 0.77lvg, 30era-, 24fip-, 61xfip- ------- LH Vesia 4.7ip, 2.45lvg, 92era-, 79fip-, 113xfip-
RH Dominguez 6.7ip, 1.11lvg, 99era-, 149fip-, 149xfip- --- RH Treinen 3.7ip, 1.58lvg, 176era-, 49fip, 90xfip-
RH Bassitt 2.7ip, 1.15lvg, 0era-, 19fip-, 48xfip- -------- RH Glasnow 1.7ip, 1.56lvg, 0era-, 102fip-, 127xfip-
LH Fluharty 4.3ip, 0.72lvg, 153era-, 101fip-, 73xfip- ---- LH Dreyer 1.7ip, 0.70lvg, 0era-, 129fip-, 177xfip-
LH Little 3.0ip, 1.10lvg, 295era-, 242fip-, 228xfip- ----- LH Banda 2.7ip, 1.15lvg, 0era-, 48fip-, 91xfip-
LH Lauer 3.0ip, 0.46lvg, 221era-, 17fip-, 55xfip- -------- LH Kershaw 2.0ip, 0.60lvg, 430era-, 477fip-, 238xfip-
RH Fisher 3.7ip, 0.31lvg, 181era-, 100fip-, 45xfip- ------ RH Sheehan 3.3ip, 0.80lvg, 258era-, 88fip-, 145xfip-
RH Rodriguez 2.7ip, 0.49lvg, 249era-, 399fip-, 237xfip- --


RH Gausman 1.0ip, 0.59lvg, 0era-, 290fip-, 294xfip- ------
RH Nance 1.3ip, 0.09lvg, 332era-, 128fip-, 271xfip- ------
LH Bruihl 0.3ip, 0.01lvg, 1326era-, 1013fip-, 300xfip- ---


So little to go on with the Dodgers cuz their SP have pitched so many innings. I guess they can be seen as a weakness based on the regular season, but they now have 3 pretty good SP in the pen that the didn't in the regular season in Sasaki, Sheehan, and Kershaw.

For the jays, I would really really love it if we just tried using Bassitt and Lauer as if they were reliable high leverage RP. Can't be any worse than what we've had so far in those roles and might be a whole lot better.

A friend and I have had a theory for a while Springer is nursing something, given their refusal to play him in the field at all this postseason.

I've been rewatching the last few innings of last night's game again and, in addition to not understanding why Wilson went with Bastardo over Munoz in that inning, I am puzzled why Woo threw such a fat pitch to IKF on 0-2.

I'm sure he didn't mean for it to catch so much of the plate, but it seemed like an odd choice when you have the worst hitter in the lineup in a huge hole.

Yeah Katie the Bazardo decision is really tough to justify.

Munoz is a real actual high leverage dominant ace RP, the only one on the team, and he's extremely rested.....and you have the top of the order up for possibly the last time in the game in the 7th, and even if it's not the last time it's hard to envision any higher leverage situation coming up later.

Meanwhile Bazardo has been just a good pitcher, not a great one - and even worse, a homer-prone pitcher to boot (the 2nd most homer-prone RP on the team!).

I literally can't think of even one justification for the move.

But I thank Wilson for it.

OK this is pretty cool twitter thread from Zwelling here:

https://x.com/ArdenZwelling/status/1980716502295986498


It talks about how there's a similar "3rd time thru" penalty against RP as there is against SP. Which becomes a huge deal in a playoffs series.

And he points to the fact that that was the 3rd time Springer has seen Bazardo this series, and the pitch he hit for a HR was the same pitch that Bazardo got him out on the first two times.

So it not only helps explain why Schneider tried to mix up RP and not allow the mariners to see the same guy 3 times.

pretty cool i think.

Unfortunately it doesn't explain why he managed scared and used Hoffman up 6 runs, or why he chose to go to Little.

Interesting to see from uglyone's numbers that the Dodgers don't really have any hitters truly excelling this postseason.

Will be interesting to see if the Jays make any changes to their pitching staff for the World Series roster for Friday.

While the "all pitchers (but Trey) with their cleats on for Gm 7" was a cool narrative and worked out with Gausman & Bassitt pitching in relief, Schneider's RP Circle of Trust essentially shrunk to: Hoffman, Varland, Dominguez & maybe Fluharty by Games 6 & 7.

Also interesting that Seranthony didn't wear the Gm 5 meltdown scapegoat like Little did in Schneider's eyes, being called upon to pitch a clean 6th inning in Gm 7.

Braydon Fisher, never a manager favourite in the regular season despite great performance, similarly seems to have fallen out of the trusted few with more pedestrian postseason numbers.

Do the Jays still bring to Little with them on the WS roster and give him another chance? Do they drop him for Bruihl with the LHH heavy Dodgers?

Does YRod make the WS roster? He's fallen out of the trusted few as well and hasn't played well.

What about Eric Lauer & Chris Bassitt? Eric Lauer was the forgotten man in the pen in the ALCS. Schneider seemed hesitant to use Lauer for situational LHH matchups, low leverage middle relief or mop up duty. Despite the vast majority of the games in the series not being close, Schneider wouldn't use Lauer as a long reliever because a lot of the lopsided games were Toronto leads.

Same with Bassitt, though his gutsy Gm 7 8th inning likely sealed his spot on the WS roster. Bieber & Scherzer likely can't be counted on for length, so a true swingman is needed even if Bassitt & Lauer really weren't utilized as such in the ALCS.

The Jays also don't have a whole lot of depth to plug in to potentially replace the bubble guys potentially losing their place. Bruihl as a 3rd or 4th LHP like the ALDS is a possibility, but he isn't trusted to even throw low leverage relief.

Same with Tommy Nance, with good regular season performance but is lower than even Fisher presently on the pecking order.

Only if for some reason you actually want to claim, beyond all evidence, that one of the boldest managers in baseball actually manages scared for some strange reason.

If you want to continue to ignore the evidence that Hoffman is his most trusted reliever after Varland that's cool too tbh