The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres begin their National League Division Series matchup on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, with Game 1 scheduled to start at 6:37 p.m. PT. The start time for Game 2 on Wednesday is 5:37 p.m.
For Game 1, the Dodgers announced Eric Karros and Steve Sax are both going to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. They will be followed the next night by Walker Buehler, who is on the mend from a flexor tendon repair and second Tommy John surgery.
Karros last threw out the first pitch before Game 4 of the 2021 NL Championship Series.
Although Buehler has previously caught the ceremonial toss from his wife McKenzie, this of course will represent a first for him. The unique situation has of course come to fruition because of his Tommy John surgery, as Buehler otherwise would have been part of the Dodgers’ postseason starting rotation.
The right-hander presumably will miss the entirety of the 2023 regular season as well, but when recently speaking with reporters, Buehler said he did not yet want to resign to as much.
Furthermore, the Dodgers came away encouraged after Buehler’s surgery and anticipate the 28-year-old making a full recovery, whenever that bears out.
“It’s a tough blow, but from all the sounds of it, it went as well as could possibly be expected,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at the time.
“Talking to Dr. (Neal) ElAttrache earlier, he felt really confident about it. Felt like he went in and got it back in good order. And so now we just go through the progression part of it and hopefully get him back as soon as possible. But here’s no sugarcoating it. It’s a tough blow. But we’ll get him back. I know he’s already itching.”
Walker Buehler joining Fox Sports for NLDS coverage
In addition to throwing out the first pitch on Wednesday, Buehler has joined Fox Sports studio coverage as a pitching analyst for select NLDS games.
Dodgers NLDS games are being called by Adam Amin and AJ Pierzynski, with Tom Verducci working as the reporter.
If the Dodgers advance to the NLCS, those games would be broadcast by Fox or FS1, but with Joe Davis and John Smoltz on the call.
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