Dodgers Set Starting Rotation for Padres Series, Move Pieces Around

The Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of six straight games, are getting set to head to San Diego for what will feel like the biggest matchup of the year thus far, a rematch of last year’s NLDS.

Usually, the Padres/Dodgers regular season matchups mean much more to San Diego, however, I think it’s fair to assume the Dodgers want to get some revenge after last year’s embarrassing defeat and set the tone for the rest of the season. 

Whether the fans want to admit it or not, the Dodgers are proving to think ahead a little bit before this series. Rookie RHP Gavin Stone made his MLB debut in order to give the Dodgers rotation an extra day of rest, and they were able to move things around to get their best three guys going this weekend in San Diego.

Here’s how the pitching matchups are lined up to look for all three games this weekend:

By calling up Stone, the Dodgers were able to shuffle the rotation to keep Noah Syndergaard and Tony Gonsolin on the bench for this series. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about those moves, and if it was, in fact, geared toward the San Diego series.

“I think there’s something to that,” Roberts said about setting up to rotation to face the Padres. “[Also] giving Noah some extra time. We just wanted to give him a reset. So, starting with that and then keeping the other guys on, giving Dustin an extra day. Julio feels good about staying on the five- day when he can. So it just made sense all around.”

The Dodgers and Padres will each have their best three guys going — although Blake Snell has been horrible to start the year — in a series that will likely feel like more than just a three-game series in May. 

It will be important to not overreact to whatever happens, but it should be a lot of fun either way.

Fortunately, no matter what happens, the teams will be meeting again in Los Angeles a week later — and Dustin May, Julio Urias and reigning National League Pitcher of the Month Clayton Kershaw should be on track to pitch those three games, too. 

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