While Shohei Ohtani gets the Game 1 start for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Philadelphia Phillies as the National League Division Series opens Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts already has a Game 2 starter named.
That honor goes to Blake Snell, who had an incredible start in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds.
Snell will have to face a lethal Phillies lineup that includes Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, among others.
As for Clayton Kershaw? He's going to be on the NLDS roster for the Dodgers out of the bullpen. It'll be interesting to see how Kershaw performs in this role. Yet the veteran, who will be hanging up his spikes after the 2025 MLB season ends, has said he'd be willing to do anything to help.
Now that Roberts has his first starter named, he might take some time to review his bullpen situation. Roki Sasaki has been lights-out when coming into a relief role, one he'd never played before this postseason. Much like Kershaw, though, Sasaki is willing to do whatever it takes for the Dodgers to win another World Series title.
Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott, while being a bit shaky here and there (that's an understatement), still have some leeway when it comes to Roberts looking for arms to help out.
As for Games 3 and 4 back at Dodger Stadium, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has also been making opponents look weak in the batter's box lately, and Tyler Glasnow will get the starts.
On the surface, this looks like a pretty formidable Dodgers starting rotation. But the Phillies have shown a knack for hitting opposing pitchers hard if they can get ahead in the counts.
According to Jeffrey Lutz of MLB.com, Yamamoto excelled during the Wild Card Series in his first stateside playoff appearance. Yamamoto allowed two unearned runs with nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings as the Dodgers finished off a two-game sweep.
Glasnow, 32, is in line for his first postseason start for the Dodgers. While playing with the Tampa Bay Rays between 2019-23, Glasnow made 10 playoff starts and struck out 61 in 45 2/3 innings, albeit with a 5.72 ERA.
What will it take for the Dodgers to knock off such a threat as the Phillies? A combination of timely hitting and excellent pitching performances. Roberts knows that his lineup of Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and others can hit opposing pitchers hard when needed.
The Phillies and Dodgers have a rich history in National League postseason play. Both franchises have won World Series titles in the past couple of decades. They know what postseason play is all about - clutch plays and clutch hits.
When these two teams start the NLDS on Saturday, old-school MLB fans can harken back to players like Mike Schmidt, Steve Garvey, Tug McGraw, Dave Lopes, Ron Cey, and others who made their marks in postseason play.
The MLB history books will add yet another chapter in this storied series when things kick off.