The Los Angeles Dodgers have forced a deciding Game 5 against the Padres in their NLDS series after winning a shutout in Game 4, 8-0, the Dodgers' largest shutout win in franchise history. However, Game 4 was Game 4, and both teams have returned to the drawing board to make the necessary adjustments to pull out the win and advance to the NLCS against the New York Mets. One of these adjustments is a potential pitching matchup between the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto versus the Padres' Yu Darvish, which Shohei Ohtani looks forward to seeing.
“Shohei Ohtani says he's excited to see the expected matchup of Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Padres starter Yu Darvish in Game 5,” via a post from Bob Nightengale on X, formerly Twitter. “The trio led Japan to the 2023 WBC title.”
Can Dodgers survive Game 5?
About an hour later, though, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts clarified their Game 5 pitching strategy.
The skipper said that “they have not finalized their pitching plan for Game 5 but that Yamamoto ‘will be part of it,'” per a follow-up post from Nightengale. Perhaps this is the Dodgers doing proper gamesmanship and not giving the Padres a clear idea about their strategy.
Moreover, their bullpen strategy in Game 4 worked wonders, and the team might not want to fix what isn't broken. Still, if the Dodgers do play Yamamoto, they might not start him.
After all, the last time he started was in the Dodgers' Game 1 victory, where he threw for just three innings but gave up five hits, five earned runs, and two walks.
However, the Dodgers did sign Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million deal, the largest contract ever given to a pitcher, so it almost seems inevitable that he'll see the mound one way or another in Game 5.
“We have six or seven relievers available, so I feel good about the relief coverage. How Yoshinobu is a part of it, we're still talking through it,” Roberts told reporters via Eric Stephen for True Blue LA. “Guys will go and play catch, we'll see how they feel, which will give us more information on ultimately on who takes the brunt of the game, and who starts the game. I just feel like [Yamamoto] will do whatever we ask.”
On the Padres
Meanwhile, the 38-year-old Yu Darvish has earned the full confidence of the Padres staff and teammates, though he has lost all four playoff elimination games he has pitched in the MLB. However, he did give the Dodgers headaches throughout the NLDS.
“I have full confidence. I feel like he's already proven himself,” Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. said, via Mark Sheldon for MLB.com. “He's proven himself in the last 18 years, probably, pitching in baseball. I have all my confidence playing behind him, and I'm ready to go.”
Whatever the adjustments, expect the Dodgers and Padres to throw haymakers at each other in Game 5 of the NLDS.