The Dodgers’ biggest October question might be the kind every contender wishes it had: which ace gets the ball first?
Los Angeles is once again positioned as the favorite as it chases a third straight World Series title, and the front of its rotation is loaded enough to make the Game 1 decision feel almost absurdly luxurious. The club can turn to Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Tarik Skubal for the opening game of the NLDS, and either choice would be a statement.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez pointed to Yamamoto as a legitimate possibility to open the series, writing, "The Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal, winner of the last two AL Cy Young Awards, and yet it would surprise no one if Yamamoto were their choice for Game 1 of their first playoff series," Gonzalez wrote. "He has cemented himself as the ace of this Dodgers' staff."
Yamamoto has already delivered one of the defining moments of last October, winning World Series MVP honors after getting the final eight outs in Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays on zero days’ rest. That kind of postseason trust goes a long way when a manager is mapping out a short series.
Skubal, meanwhile, is the sort of pitcher who would head the rotation for nearly any other team in the field. Gonzalez noted that Jacob Misiorowski, Critopher Sanchez, and Cam Schlittler may be the only other starters who could get the nod ahead of him, though even that isn’t certain.
Gonzalez also framed Yamamoto’s rise in glowing terms, writing, "And though he won't win the Cy Young in a year in which Misiorowski and Sanchez have been so dominant, the thought by many is that Yamamoto eventually becoming the first Japanese-born pitcher to win the award is an inevitability," Gonzalez wrote. "We are watching a master craftsman at the peak of his powers."
However Roberts lines it up, the Dodgers aren’t exactly hurting for options. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow give them two more frontline arms behind Yamamoto and Skubal, leaving Los Angeles with a rotation that looks every bit as dangerous as the rest of its roster.
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