With Max Muncy suffering a left elbow injury on the final day of the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers went into their Wild Card Game matchup with a question mark at first base. It wound up being answered by starting Matt Beaty and keeping Cody Bellinger in center field.
Although Muncy remains unavailable for the National League Division Series, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated Bellinger would start in center field for all games played at Oracle Park. “I think that this ballpark, obviously you got to have a guy that can cover the grass out there,” Roberts explained.
But after his club struggled offensively in a 4-0 loss to the Giants in Game 1, Roberts is planning on inserting Chris Taylor in center field and sliding Bellinger to play first base.
That bumps Beaty to the bench after back-to-back postseason starts in which he went hitless with one strikeout over six at-bats.
One game removed from reaching base safely three times and drawing a key walk to set up Taylor’s walk-off home run, Bellinger also struggled against Logan Webb and went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the Dodgers’ loss.
Taylor returning to the lineup could provided a needed jolt. In addition to Beaty and Bellinger, AJ Pollock had multiple strikeouts and went without a hit in Game 1.
Roberts planned to count on Taylor
When explaining why Taylor was left on the bench for the Wild Card Game, Roberts made it clear the super utility man still held plenty of importance. “My confidence in Chris as a baseball player hasn’t changed,” Roberts said at the time.
“I think that certainly he’s been grinding the second half. He really has. But we’re going to need him. I can’t predict what spot, whether it’s to get a bunt down, take an at-bat, play defense, start a game. I can’t predict that.
“I do know that he’s one of my favorite players. I trust him as a ballplayer, as a person. Like I said, we’re going to need him this postseason.”
Taylor already kept the Dodgers’ season alive and now he can be part of the effort to help them avoid a 2-0 deficit in the NLDS.
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