With the Toronto Blue Jays officially set as the Los Angeles Dodgers' World Series foes, manager Dave Roberts has settled on his Game 1 and 2 starters as the boys in blue travel north of the border for a pair of games at the Rogers Centre.
Taking to social media to note the skipper's plan, Orange County Register's Bill Plunkett revealed his strategy, which could look remarkably similar to the NLCS if things go as planned.
“Dave Roberts says it will be Blake Snell in Game 1 of World Series with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2,” Plunkett wrote. “Probably going to ‘run back' the same rotation after that which would mean Tyler Glasnow in Game 3 and Shohei Ohtani in Game 4.”
Now, to Roberts' credit, if the Dodgers do decide to stick with what works, few would hold it against him. Snell turned in one of the all-time great playoff performances for Los Angeles in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed it up with a complete game in Game 2 at American Family Field. But what happens if the Dodgers return to Los Angeles 1-1, or even 0-2, and really need to be basically perfect at Blue Heaven if they want to take another flight to Toronto? Could Snell pitch again on Tuesday instead of Ohtani, or does Roberts have something else up if things go south in Ontario?
With Snell and Yamamoto locked in as the Game 1 and 2 starters, it's clear the Dodgers are looking to steal a few wins from Toronto before returning to Los Angeles. From there, anything could happen.
