In the aftermath of the postseason/” title=”Possibility of Shohei Ohtani pitching in 2024 postseason”>Dodgers
‘ victory over the Padres, Manny Machado expressed his lack of disappointment and confidently stated that they would meet again in the postseason. And he was right. This will be the third time in five years that these two teams face off in the National League Division Series.The Dodgers swept the Padres in 2020, but the Padres got their revenge with a four-game victory in 2022. Now, after an intense division race that went down to the wire, they will meet once again in October.
Game 1 of this best-of-five series is scheduled for Saturday night at Dodger Stadium. It will be televised on FS1 at 5:38 p.m. PT. For those unable to watch on TV, all games are available on MLB.TV with authentication from a participating Pay TV provider.
The starting pitchers for Game 1 are Dylan Cease for the Padres and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers. Cease has been sharp recently with a 2.97 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP in September, while Yamamoto has been solid throughout the season despite dealing with a shoulder injury.
Both teams have strong bullpens to rely on after their starters leave the game. The Padres have used Tanner Scott and Jason Adam as their primary high-leverage options leading up to closer Robert Suarez, while Bryan Hoeing, Jeremiah Estrada, and Adrian Morejon have also pitched well in important situations.
The Dodgers believe their bullpen will be a major strength during this postseason due to questions surrounding their starting pitching rotation. They have right-handed options like Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, and Michael Kopech along with left-handers Anthony Banda and Alex Vesia.
There are some injury concerns for both teams heading into Game 1. Ha-Seong Kim is out for the season due to shoulder surgery for San Diego while Joe Musgrove will miss postseason play because of Tommy John surgery.
For Los Angeles, Freddie Freeman is dealing with a sprained ankle but is expected to play through it while Miguel Rojas has been battling through an adductor muscle tear but should also be available.
Lastly, keep an eye on Fernando Tatis Jr., who has been hot at bat for San Diego during this postseason run along with Shohei Ohtani from Los Angeles who had an outstanding regular season performance.
Fans can expect an exciting matchup between these two talented teams as they vie for a spot in further rounds of playoff action.
