Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made a few changes to his lineup ahead of Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night.
Read more: Dodgers Bench Andy Pages, Drop Mookie Betts Amid Major Lineup Changes for World Series Game 5
Outfielder Andy Pages was benched and replaced by Alex Call, while Mookie Betts was moved down to the No. 3 spot, replaced by Will Smith batting second.
Roberts revealed the rationale behind these lineup changes as the World Series shifts to a best-of-three series, with the final game of the season at Dodger Stadium coming Wednesday night.
“Obviously getting Alex in there, I felt that at the bottom, just the at-bat quality, seeing pitches, the potential to get someone on base for Shohei (Ohtani) at the top,” Roberts said of having Call replace Pages in the lineup. “I feel good with Kiké (Hernandez) in center field and Alex’s defense in left.”
As for the Smith and Betts switch?
“I feel that that’s the best way to win the game tonight,” Roberts said. “Both players were alerted and both players are all on board.”
More news: Shohei Ohtani Wants to Pitch in Relief for Dodgers in World Series
Pages has struggled mightily this postseason, hitting just 4-for-50 (.080) with an OPS of .215. In the World Series, he’s just 1-for-15 (.067). Call is 4-for-9 (.444) this postseason.
The No. 9 spot is especially important is it gets someone on in front of Shohei Ohtani, who’s done most of his damage with the bases empty this postseason.
The other important spot in the lineup is the No. 2 spot, as the Dodgers need someone to protect Ohtani and make Toronto pitch to him.
Betts is just 3-for-19 this postseason (.158) in the World Series. Smith is 4-for-17 (.235).
Roberts was asked why he decided to move Betts down now after being reluctant to do it in the regular season.
“I think in the postseason you have to be a little more reactive than in the regular season.”
Photo Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
Have you downloaded the new Dodgers Nation app yet? Click here for Apple Users and here for Android Users to be a part of the redesigned app to give fans everything they need, all in one place. Don’t miss out on live GameCast with play-by-play, news and analysis, Dodgers Nation podcasts and videos, all the stats you want and more!
4 Responses
Sorry Dave, but what really needs to happen is Betts needs to lead-off and Shohei needs to bat second, or Freddie followed by Shohei. Shohei needs people on base when he bats leadoff and the only way for that to happen with surety is if Edman bats 9th with Kike'(or Call) before him. A guy that hits 55 home runs in a season should have 120-140 RBI’s, yet Shohei only had 102 RBI’s this year. With the Dodgers best hitters in the top half of the lineup, Shohei should be put in the position of driving people in from all his hits. He had 55 RBI’s just on his single home runs alone. That means he only drove in 47 other runs aside from his home runs of which 44 were multi RBI homeruns. That means Most of Ohtani’s Homeruns were single RBI home -runs. To put that in perspective, Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies hit 59 homeruns and had 132 RBI’s or 59 RBI’s and an additional 73 runs driven in on top of that with 58 of those extra 73 runs being from multiple RBI Home runs. There is no doubt that while Ohtani is getting a lot of HR’s, their value is not as maximized as they could be with more prolific hitters ahead of him in the batting order… The facts prove it.
Agree 100%
Totally agree. I have never understood why the big HR / .270 BA, or better guy, does not hit out of the 3 spot. Totally agree.
When Ohtani bats first, he has no one on base 162 times during the season and more if the lower part of the order is not getting on base ahead of him. That does not work out well.