While a college football Saturday rolls out across the country, the Los Angeles Dodgers are having some coffee and breakfast while getting ready for a big Game 5 between the Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago Cubs.
The Brewers host the Cubs at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Saturday night in a winner-take-all matchup. The Dodgers have had a little time to catch their breath after an amazing NLDS win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
It's not time to really take a closer look between who faces Los Angeles next in the NLCS. That will have to wait until Sunday. The MLB world is still catching its collective breath after staying up late Friday night watching a 15-inning marathon between the Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.
But here's a little Dodgers nugget: The Dodgers need to get their offense in gear. While they did enough against the Phillies, going into the NLCS is a different story. Los Angeles scored 13 total runs in their four games against Philadelphia.
That has to get bumped up against either team. Shohei Ohtani, who will again be the Dodgers' leadoff hitter in the NLCS (unless Dodgers manager Dave Roberts changes his mind), must start off hot. Ohtani has not been stellar in the MLB postseason this season. It's been a very un-Shohei-like approach at the plate.
He's been swinging at pitches early in the count, usually finding himself hitting a pop-up or grounding out. As Ohtani goes, so goes the Dodgers offense. Of course, the team has Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to give their offense a needed boost.
Yet if Ohtani can get on base, that kickstarts the Dodgers offense. Watching him flail away at different pitches is giving Dodgers fans fits.
So, whether it's Milwaukee or Chicago, Ohtani knows what he needs to do.
Pitching-wise, the Dodgers have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow probably fitting in some place in the rotation. Will Clayton Kershaw make another appearance out of the bullpen? That's questionable. Kershaw did not have a good outing against the Phillies. It was rough. Roberts might be a little gun-shy about bringing him back.
Kershaw has deserved a second chance due to his illustrious career. It will be interesting to see what Roberts does if he uses Kershaw at all.
Then there's the Dodgers bullpen. Forget Kershaw for a minute. Roki Sasaki is the closer and Roberts will not be shy about bringing him in to put the hammer down late in the game. Blake Treinen and Alex Vesia are options, too. Tanner Scott was replaced on the NLDS roster by Justin Wrobleski after undergoing a procedure to remove an abscess issue.
Who makes the roster for the Dodgers in the NLCS? That's going to be another point of contention for Dodgers fans to take a look-and-see attitude about, too.
Los Angeles, whether they face the Brewers or Cubs, needs to get off to a hot start. The NLCS is a best-of-seven series. Whichever team can possibly win the first two games has a leg up going into the series' middle games.
Roberts knows that putting the best players on the NLCS roster matters, too.
For this Saturday, though, Dodgers fans can simply sit back and enjoy watching the Brewers and Cubs battle it out. LA wouldn't mind seeing these teams go 10, 11, 12, 13 or even 15 innings and have to burn their pitching staffs.