The Dodgers are run by smart guys. Really smart guys. Every now and then, a little too smart for their own good.
The Dodgers already would have swept the National League Championship Series had they deployed their best relievers in the Game 2 bullpen game. In a short series, they did not take their best shot at winning.
So credit where credit is due: The Dodgers could end this NLCS by winning Friday, and they are not overthinking this one.
Their starting pitcher: Jack Flaherty. The Dodgers are taking their best shot at winning.
“There’s a sense of urgency,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
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There should be. In the postseason, there always should be. Sacrifice today in the interest of tomorrow, and tomorrow might not come until the spring.
You may be wondering what all the fuss is about. The Dodgers have three starting pitchers. Walker Buehler started Wednesday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto started Thursday, leaving Flaherty as the obvious choice for Friday.
The Dodgers never are content with the obvious, always searching diligently for even the slightest edge. That could have led them to run a bullpen game Friday. They have three chances for the one victory they need to qualify for the World Series. If they were to lose Game 5, they still would have had Flaherty available for Game 6.
There is a new World Series wrinkle in the postseason schedule. If the championship series in each league concludes in no more than five games, the start of the World Series moves up three days.
The Dodgers could win in five. So could the New York Yankees.
If the start of the World Series moves up, and if the Dodgers won a bullpen game Friday, they would have Flaherty available for Game 1, followed by Yamamoto in Game 2.
By using Flaherty on Friday, if the start of the World Series moves up, the Dodgers would not have either Flaherty or Yamamoto available for Game 1.
Roberts said the Dodgers did not factor the potential accelerated World Series start into the decision to use Flaherty on Friday.
“He gives us the best chance to win,” Roberts said.
This is the correct answer. In the postseason, always take your best shot at winning today, and then worry about tomorrow.
Before Thursday’s game, however, Roberts declined to commit to starting Flaherty on Friday.
“It’s kind of that’s our lean,” Roberts said then, “but it’s not in stone yet.”
He said the Dodgers wanted to see how Thursday’s game went and which relievers might be used.
“There’s things we’re kind of still talking through,” he said.
After the game, Roberts indicated there was no gamesmanship intended in that answer.
“We were still kind of deliberating,” Roberts said. “But after tonight, just talking to the pitching guys, the front office and Jack, most importantly, we just felt that tomorrow’s the day. So he’s lined up.
“So, not really what went into the game.”
It helped that the only key relievers the Dodgers needed Thursday were Evan Phillips, working on five days’ rest, and Blake Treinen, working on a second consecutive day after four days’ rest.
But it also helps that the Dodgers’ front office is borrowing a little swagger from the players. Maybe the Mets or Cleveland Guardians force a sixth game, and none of this matters.
From the day Guggenheim Baseball bought the Dodgers, team president Stan Kasten marveled at the chance to run the storied team. Not just any team, he often said. The Dodgers!
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The Dodgers should not need to play for every tiny advantage, perceived or otherwise. They posted the best record in the majors, despite 20 pitchers spending time on the injured list.
At some point — and this is pretty much that point, with a 3-1 lead in the NLCS and one win from the World Series — the Dodgers need to just say, “Come at us. Beat us.”
“I sort of like the us-against-the-world attitude that our guys have sort of taken on,” Roberts said after Thursday’s game. “I think that’s kind of ironic with the Dodgers, but I like that.”
The Dodgers as disrespected underdogs? Them against the world? Come on now. The Dodgers!
“That’s fair,” Roberts said. “We usually are the world.”
The World Series. That’s fair.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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