With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves on the brink of another postseason appearance. Entering Saturday, the club sports a 1.5-game lead over the second-place Colorado Rockies in the National League West.
Despite the slim margin, the Dodgers are nevertheless in a favorable position because of their remaining schedule. The club is in the midst of a three-game series with the rebuilding San Diego Padres, and contests follow against the fading Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.
All of that considered, the Dodgers rightfully have an eye on October baseball. Yasiel Puig went as far as guaranteeing the club will come out on top with their sixth consecutive division title.
To help prepare for potential postseason matchups, Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi revealed that manager Dave Roberts may rely less heavily on platoons during the final week of the regular season, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“I think as we’ve done all year, you want to kind of play the matchups and put out your best eight guys that you think give you the best chance to win every night. But at the same time keep guys current and make sure that if we’re facing a run of lefties, some of your left-handed hitters get a chance to get in there. You saw that the other day with Belli getting the start against a left-handed pitcher. Puig hasn’t played that frequently against lefties, is in there [Friday]. I think Doc is going to continue to try to look for opportunities for those guys. Because again, once you get in a playoff situation, as we hope to be in a couple weeks from now, you have the shorter rosters again. Lefties are going to have to face lefties and vice versa. You’re not going to be able to play this kind of style of September baseball.”
With a stacked roster from top to bottom, the Dodgers have understandably utilized platoons to their advantage this season.
But with September drawing to a close, the club has begun shifting course in allowing batters to face the same-handed pitchers. It’s a smart strategy, as Roberts won’t have the luxury to mix and match quite as much in October.
Rosters will soon diminish back to 25 players, for instance. And if recent postseasons were any indication, the Dodgers could opt to carry an extra pitcher for the bullpen and shorten the bench as a result.
