Oh, it's okay if it's not Ohtani? When you're a batter, keep in mind the 5th and 6th games of Snell Yamamoto NLCS 1st and 2nd games
Oct 13, 2025
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The first game will be left-hander Blake Snell and the second game will be Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Shohei Ohtani, who was expected to start Game 1 in the rotation, was pushed back after Game 3 at home.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on the 13th (Korea time)"Blake Snell will start in the first game tomorrow. The second game is Yamamoto Yoshinobu."
The first and second NLCS games will be held at Milwaukee's home stadium, American Family Field, and the first game, where Snell will take the mound, will begin at 6:08 a.m. on the 14th.
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However, Roberts' choice is Snell and Yamamoto as the starter for the second game. The reason is simple. It can be said that the intention is to use Snell, who is in the best condition this fall baseball, in the first and fifth games.
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.
Game 5 will be held at Dodger Stadium on the 19th. Snell has no problem because he will take the mound after a four-day break.
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.
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However, Ohtani only took two appearances after a five-day break after returning to the mound in June, and the rest were more than six days. Those two five-day breaks also came after the first two games in which he pitched one inning.
Also, when Ohtani's postseason pitching schedule came out, what was mentioned was 'the next day off' The opinion was that it would be better to take a day off after working as a pitcher. In other words, he was able to start the second game, and Roberts seems to have appointed Snell and Yamamoto as important as Ohtani's condition management, saying it is important to make sure to hold the first and second games of the series and prepare for the fifth and sixth games.
In the case of Ohtani, he showed a severe batting slump with one hit in 18 at-bats in DS, so it can be seen that the NLCS has considered reducing the pitching burden and reviving him as a batter.
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Meanwhile, Roberts said in an interview with local media while directing the team's training the day before that "(best out of seven) NLCS is enough with four starters." It's important how we make the rotation, but what we need is four starters" "No one knows how this series will go, but it's important to arrange the four starters optimally. You don't have to play a bullpen game."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
