Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed the team’s starting pitching rotation for the upcoming season.
Per The Athletic’s Katie Woo, Roberts said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan and Shohei Ohtani would start with Justin Wrobleski available to piggyback and eventually make some starts.
The order isn’t yet available, but Yamamoto will be the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter, and Ohtani will make his first start of the year against the Cleveland Guardians next Tuesday. Glasnow is the most likely candidate to pitch the second game of the season, meaning Sheehan and Sasaki will probably pitch during the third and fourth games.
This likely won’t be the Dodgers’ rotation for the remainder of the season, though, Blake Snell will slot right into the rotation once he recovers from the shoulder inflammation which has bothered him this offseason. Gavin Stone also had a strong spring before going down with some soreness in his shoulder, and will likely make an MLB return at some point this season.
Even without those two, the rotation the Dodgers have put together shows they have the depth and quality to maintain a top class lineup while dealing with injuries — something they’ve struggled with in the past.
Where Does the Dodgers’ Rotation Rank Among All MLB Teams?
FanGraphs currently has the Dodgers ranked fourth as far as starting pitching goes, projecting them to accrue 16.2 fWAR throughout the season. That number only places behind the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies.
The unsurprisingly have Yamamoto as the ace of the group, and have four pitchers — Snell, Glasnow, Sheehan and Ohtani — projected to reach at least 2.0 fWAR.
While they aren’t at the top of MLB yet in terms of their rotation, the Dodgers are by far projected to be the best in the division. The next closest NL West team to them is the Diamondbacks, who are 21st in the rankings.
The Dodgers have had a firm grip over the NL West for nearly 15 years, and will look to use their dominant pitching staff to continue their streak of postseason appearances as they case a three-peat.
Which pitcher in the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation will make the biggest difference?
