Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts tells Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Instances that left-hander Clayton Kershaw won’t be on the membership’s wild-card roster. The veteran southpaw is beginning Sunday’s sport and will probably be a traditional begin for him. The Dodgers recalled right-hander Landon Knack to provide them a contemporary arm, with left-hander Andrew Heaney optioned out because the corresponding transfer.
The choice on Kershaw is sensible given the brief sequence, as they wouldn’t want him to make a begin within the best-of-three. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell will probably take the ball for the primary two contests. Tyler Glasnow began Saturday however solely went three innings. He needs to be a lot rested for Thursday’s Sport 3, if mandatory. Shohei Ohtani may be an element, relying on how the Dodgers need to use him.
The Dodgers have experimented with Kershaw as a reliever just lately, as he tossed a aid inning on Wednesday. Nonetheless, Kershaw lacks the top-end velocity that groups typically wish to have popping out of the bullpen. His fastball averaged 90.4 miles per hour throughout that look out of the bullpen on Wednesday. Even with the Dodger bullpen scuffling in current weeks, they seemingly want to go along with their typical relievers as a substitute of getting Kershaw convert to a pen function.
For the reason that Dodgers don’t plan on utilizing Kershaw within the wild-card spherical, they will have him soak up as many innings as attainable Sunday in a meaningless sport, as they’ve already been locked into the No. 3 seed within the Nationwide League. It’s additionally meaningless for the Mariners, who’re locked into the No. 2 seed within the American League.
The Dodgers presumably hope to have Kershaw and Knack cowl as a lot of the sport as attainable. They’ve an off-day Monday earlier than the playoffs start, so they may maybe have some relievers get restricted work on Sunday. Kershaw ought to get extra consideration for a spot on the NLDS roster, if the Dodgers advance.
