The Dodgers have a big one in front of them, and they’re lining up the rotation accordingly.
Fresh off a sweep of the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles heads into a four-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium with the National League’s No. 1 seed hanging in the balance. The Dodgers are 73-48, one game behind the Brewers at 74-47, while the Atlanta Braves sit right there too at 73-48.
As things stand, Los Angeles is the NL’s No. 3 seed and would be left out of a first-round bye. Win the series, and the Dodgers could jump back into the top two and avoid the wild-card round.
Milwaukee comes in after getting swept by the San Diego Padres, who moved up to the No. 5 seed in the NL with those three wins. These clubs already met once this season in Milwaukee from May 22-24, with the Dodgers taking two of three. This is the last regular-season meeting between the two teams.
The opener Thursday night features RHP Roki Sasaki against LHP Shane Drohan. Sasaki has been rolling since the All-Star break, going 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 24 innings in his four starts.
For the season, he owns a 4.54 ERA in 20 starts and 105 innings. He saw the Brewers in May and gave up three runs, two earned, across five innings in an 11-3 Dodgers win.
Drohan is 6-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 23 appearances, including 13 starts. The rookie left-hander worked twice in relief against the Dodgers during that May series and allowed three runs, two earned, over 4.1 innings with seven strikeouts.
Friday brings another right-left matchup, with RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto facing LHP Robert Gasser. Yamamoto has been just as sharp after the break, posting a 1.88 ERA over 28.2 innings.
On the year, he’s 11-7 with a 2.65 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 139.1 innings. Against Milwaukee in May, he allowed one run over seven innings in a 5-1 Dodgers win.
Gasser has a 4.57 ERA in 13 starts and has struck out 61 over 67 innings. He opposed Sasaki on May 23 and gave up four runs in 4.1 innings.
Saturday’s game features a matchup of All-Stars, with LHP Justin Wrobleski set to face RHP Jacob Misiorowski. Wrobleski is 11-4 with a 3.44 ERA over 120.1 innings, though he’s had a rough stretch since the break with a 7.20 ERA in 20 innings. Misiorowski has been the story of the season, leading MLB in ERA (1.76), strikeouts (204), WHIP (0.79) and batting average against (.147) over 133 innings.
Wrobleski saw the Brewers on May 22 and was tagged for five runs on eight hits in five innings.
Sunday closes the series with LHP Tarik Skubal making his third start as a Dodger against RHP Logan Henderson. Skubal, the reigning two-time Cy Young winner, has allowed five runs in 11 innings through his first two starts with Los Angeles for a 4.09 ERA.
Overall this season, he has a 2.93 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 107.2 innings. He also faced Milwaukee on April 23 while with the Detroit Tigers, giving up four runs on seven hits over six innings.
The Brewers were runners-up in the Skubal sweepstakes at the trade deadline.
Henderson has put together a strong season of his own, going 6-2 with a 2.88 ERA and 69 strikeouts over 56.1 innings. He threw five shutout innings with seven strikeouts against the Dodgers on May 22 in a 5-1 Brewers win.
Thursday’s opener is set for 7:10 p.m. PT/10:10 p.m.
ET on SportsNet LA and in the MLB app. Friday’s game is also at 7:10 p.m.
PT/10:10 p.m. ET on SportsNet LA and in the MLB app.
Saturday starts at 4:15 p.m. PT/7:15 p.m.
ET on FOX. Sunday’s finale begins at 1:10 p.m.
PT/4:10 p.m. ET on SportsNet LA and in the MLB app.
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