Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto

Oct 13, 2025

Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
LA Dodgers Shohei Ohtani received a rotation in NLCS that meant he should focus on batters rather than pitchers. AFP Yonhap News



Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
오타니 쇼헤이. AFP Yonhap News
Short-term games like the postseason are 'Mound Fight'. In particular, it is important for the coach to draw up the order because the game is decided and the direction of the series varies depending on the condition of the starting pitcher.

The Los Angeles Dodgers decided to use four starting pitchers in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Milwaukee Brewers, which begins on the 14th (Korea time). There is nothing special compared to Milwaukee, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners who are on the LCS, but attention is drawn more because of only one starter.

It is Shohei Ohtani who is the only major league player in the league. Ohtani was initially expected to start the first game of the NLCS. He was preparing to start Game 5 of the Division Series (DS) against the Philadelphia Phillies because it was normal for the series to end in Game 4 and move on to Game 1 of the NLCS.




Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
블레이크 스넬. AP Yonhap News
Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
Yamamoto Yoshinobu. AFP Yonhap News
However, Roberts selected Blake Snell and Yamamoto Yoshinobu as starters in the first and second NLCS games at American Family Field. The reason is simple. This is because they are the most reliable starting pitchers in this fall baseball.

Snell became a winning pitcher in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series (WCS) against the Cincinnati Reds, allowing four hits and two runs in seven innings, and one hit and no run in Game 2 of the DS against Philadelphia. In two games, he pitched a total of 13 innings and struck out 18. He allowed one run in 19 innings in three games at the end of the regular season to baseball in October. It can be said that Roberts decided on the rotation with Snell in mind as the first starter of the postseason.

Snell will take the mound in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium on the 19th after taking four days off if he throws the first game. Snell has no problem because he will take the mound after a four-day break. Yamamoto and Ohtani are on the mound after a four-day break that they can't do. This is why he was named the starting player in the first round of the NLCS following the first round of the WCS.




Snell will become the fifth pitcher in Dodgers history to take the mound twice as a starter in Game 1 of a single postseason series. Earlier, Derek Law (2008 DS, NLCS), Clayton Kershaw (2017 DS, NLCS, World Series / 2018 NLCS, WS), Walker Buehler (2020 WCS, DS, NLCS), and Jack Fleherty (2024 NLCS, WS) were the main characters of the record.

Yamamoto, who will take the mound as a starter in Game 2, will naturally be able to start Game 6 of the away game. He will take the mound after a five-day break.

Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
Shohei Otani starts the first game of the division series against the Philadelphia Phillies on the 5th (Korea time) and sprays the ball vigorously. ImagesYonhap News
On the other hand, Ohtani cannot take the mound after a four- to five-day break. Ohtani, who returned to the mound in June, never pitched after a four-day break, and only took two appearances after a five-day break. The rest were more than six days. The two five-day breaks were also after the first two games in which he pitched one inning. In other words, this is why Ohtani cannot take charge of the first game of the NLCS, no matter how good the ball is.




Roberts has set the rotation order so that Snell and Yamamoto can start twice. Ohtani is expected to play in one of the third and fourth games at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow is also a candidate to start Game 3 and 4.

Roberts said in an interview with local media on Monday, a day before the first game of the NLCS, "(Otani throws once in this series, but we haven't decided when.) The rest is not that important (for Otani). "I'm just thankful that four starting pitchers can be put in this series, which could play seven games, and two can take the mound twice," he said. "If you compare Otani to taking a day off, that's the momentum ."

In other words, Ohtani started the game off the next day, but he can't use it as a rotation decision variable anymore.

Matchmaker Roberts Reveals His True Tide About Pitcher OhtaniOur NLCS powers are Snell and Yamamoto
Batter Shohei Ohtani was sluggish in the division series, with one hit in 18 at-bats. AFP Yonhap News
Asked if Ohtani's poor batting performance affected the order of NLCS appearances, Roberts said "Not at all. Ohtani is only supposed to play as a pitcher once in this series. "Ohtani is in charge of one game, and the other two pitchers (Snell, Yamamoto) are allowed to take a normal rest and take the mound again."

In the end, he emphasized that he created an NLCS rotation centered on Snell and Yamamoto.

Ohtani was silent, going 1 for 18 (0.056) in 4 DS games. Roberts seems to want Ohtani to play a bigger role as a batter than a pitcher.





This article was translated by Naver AI translator.