The Los Angeles Dodgers know they will have a bye to the National League Division Series and need to figure out how they want to line up their starting rotation.
The Dodgers will have Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow in their rotation for October. The NLDS will start on Oct. 3, and the Dodgers will have all of their starters rested, so all that's left to do is pick the order.
The Dodgers really cannot go wrong with any order, but they would be foolish not to pitch Tarik Skubal in Game 1. The two-time Cy Young Award winner is the best left-handed pitcher in baseball, and the Dodgers made a big move to go get him at the trade deadline. He will be on extra rest, as he is pitching on Friday, seven days before Game 1 of the NLDS.
Game 2 should be Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers rode his excellence to a championship last season, and he was on a different level. On any other team, he would be the clear No. 1 starter, but he happens to pitch on a team with multiple Cy Young Award winners.
Games 3 and 4 pose the first real decisions for the Dodgers' coaches. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell are both excellent and have both missed significant time this season. However, Snell should be the one to get the nod here, and it's not really a hard choice.
Snell made three quality starts in the postseason last year, but was not great in his final two starts. He came back in Game 7 of the World Series and pitched well in relief. He is a two-time Cy Young Award winner and has a 1.04 ERA in his six starts since returning from the injured list.
That leaves Glasnow for Game 4, and Skubal again for Game 5 if the series gets there. However, starting Skubal in Game 5 may not be as clear as Game 1. In a potential Game 5, the Dodgers could also start Yamamoto on four days' rest. He has not pitched on four days' rest this year, but proved last postseason that he is capable of pitching well on short rest, or even no rest.
The Dodgers will likely start Skubal in a potential Game 5, but what Yamamoto did on the postseason stage last year certainly gives them a reason to consider him.