LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers ace Tarik Skubal will get the ball in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday afternoon, manager Dave Roberts said Friday.
The Dodgers are still uncertain about their plans beyond Skubal, though fellow left-hander Blake Snell seems to be the likely choice.
The Braves will go with a reliever as an opener opposite Skubal in Game 1, a source told ESPN, though the team was still sorting through its options Friday night.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Cy Young contender for a second straight year, would have been in line to start Game 1, but he took part in a lengthy simulated game on Wednesday and will in all likelihood start Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday. In that scenario, Yamamoto would be the one lined up to start twice if the Dodgers advance to the best-of-seven NL Championship Series.
Starting Skubal in Game 1 of the NLDS allows him to start a potential winner-take-all Game 5 on five days' rest. Had they started Yamamoto in Game 1 and Skubal in Game 2, the Dodgers could have had both as options for Game 5; Skubal would have been lined up on the traditional four days' rest, and Yamamoto, who's more accustomed to extra rest, would have had five days off between starts. But in these early rounds, the Dodgers preferred to give their starters extra time off.
Their depth affords them that luxury.
"As the series goes on, if you're fortunate enough to keep moving on, things start to get more unpredictable," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "So I think that at the outset, if you can kind of line it up in such a way to giving guys ample rest, it just, I guess, puts you in a better position for more options down the road. That's kind of some of the math we had."
The Braves have fared better against righties (.730 OPS) than lefties (.696 OPS) this season, a factor that also nudged the Dodgers toward having Skubal and potentially Snell take down the first two games. Tyler Glasnow was used as a reliever in last year's NLDS, but that was a function of the Dodgers having a shoddy bullpen and also having an extra off day, between Games 1 and 2. Neither is the case this year; Glasnow would instead be lined up to start Game 4.
Skubal, who won the last two American League Cy Young Awards, was acquired from the Detroit Tigers in a blockbuster trade at midseason and went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts as a member of the Dodgers. His first postseason start for them could come under triple-digit heat in a 1 p.m. start.
"Hopefully everyone is drinking a lot of water and staying hydrated," Skubal said. "It's going to be a hot one. I'm excited, though."
The Braves' plans remain in flux in the wake of their win in Game 3 of their wild-card series on Thursday night. Manager Walt Weiss said from Atlanta earlier Friday that the team would continue to iron out its pitching plans during the plane ride west later that afternoon. That remained the case after the team touched down in L.A.
Weiss acknowledged he'll have to rely heavily on his bullpen in the first two games. Braves ace Chris Sale was previously lined up to start Sunday's Game 2, but he was used to cover four outs in the winner-take-all Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies, throwing 21 pitches.
That outing could technically count as Sale's between-starts bullpen session, coming off his Tuesday start in Game 1. But the 37-year-old left-hander has been pitching on extended rest for most of the season. Taking the ball on four days' rest, with an adrenaline-packed relief appearance in between, could be too much to take on, especially in the early round of these playoffs.
Still, Weiss said having Sale start Game 2 remained "on the table."
"That's one of the topics of discussion this morning before we leave," Weiss said. "A lot of it's going to depend on how Chris feels. Certainly don't want to jeopardize him and his health. He just happened to feel great yesterday when he got to the park, and that's why he was in play. He's had to grind here recently. So we're going to err on the side of giving him more rest, if it's even close."