Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Ryu Goes Thursday (Game 1); Kershaw Friday (Game 2)

The Dodgers named their starters for the 2018 NLDS, and for the first time in forever, Clayton Kershaw is not starting Game 1:

LOS ANGELES -- Hyun-Jin Ryu will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series for the Dodgers on Thursday, while Clayton Kershaw will get the nod in Game 2 on Friday, the club announced Tuesday.

That gives both pitchers an extra day of rest and keeps them in order, as Ryu pitched Friday night in San Francisco and Kershaw on Saturday. Because of scheduled off-days after Games 2 and 4 in the NLDS, Kershaw could still start Game 5 on normal rest, so the move does not affect his availability to pitch twice on full rest in the series.

This year, Kershaw has a 3.21 ERA with 7.6 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 3.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio on four days' rest. With five or more days of rest, he has a 2.48 ERA, a 9.2 K/9 and a 6.4 K/BB ratio. Although Kershaw has started on short rest repeatedly in past postseasons, there are no plans to use him that way this year. He did say after Monday's win over the Rockies, though, that he was available out of the bullpen on two days' rest.

If this sounds weird, it's because we haven't had a non-Kershaw Game 1 since 2009:

The move marks the first time since 2009 that Kershaw will not start a postseason opener for the Dodgers. Kershaw has allowed eight runs on 14 hits over his past 11 innings, while Ryu has given up only one run on 12 hits in his past 19 innings.

Look, as long as I get a chance to see both of them go at home this week, I'm okay with the ordering.

UPDATE 10/3 11.49p: Apparently, Dylan Hernandez is not okay with the ordering.

1 comments:

QuadSevens said...

I hope the Dodgers win in 4, or sweep the Barves, and make Dylan Hernandez eat his words.