Dodgers notes: Cy Young or three-peat, Shohei Ohtani extends on-base streak
Which is more important, Yoshinobu Yamamoto getting a Cy Young or meaningful innings in October?
The Los Angeles Dodgers just finished their first road trip of the season, going 5-1 against the Washington Nationals and Toronto Blue Jays. They returned to the scene of the crime in Canada, winning 2-of-3 there, just like they did in the World Series. Ironically, it was the bullpen that lost them the final game, and the offense going a little cold after having scored a gazillion runs in the first four games.
The starting pitching, as is had been in the World Series, has been stellar. Speaking of the starting pitching, Bill Shakin of the L. A.
Times poses that if the Dodgers want to three-peat, then most likely none of their pitchers will be a Cy Young winner this season. In his post, he proposes that while obviously Yoshinobu Yamamoto has the talent to be the NL Cy Young winner, it might not be in the Dodgers’ best interest. In the past few seasons, Manager Dave Roberts has not pushed the World Series MVP past six innings often if at all.
He did go into the seventh inning in Monday’s start, but was removed after the first two batters reached, and he was at 97 pitches. But as the last Dodgers pitcher to win the Cy Young and a World Series in the same season puts it, teams are putting more emphasis on their pitchers being able to have bullets in October instead of spending them in the regular season. “As far as the workload in the playoffs compared to what they’re doing in the regular season, I think they all could still do what we did.