The Dodgers on Tuesday morning announced their 28-man roster ahead of the 2020 World Series against the Rays, which begins on Tuesday evening at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
The club’s selections are identical to the team that defeated the Braves in seven games in the National League Championship Series.
Catchers (2): Will Smith and Austin Barnes
Infielders (5): Max Muncy, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Edwin Rios and Matt Beaty
Outfielders (3): Mookie Betts, AJ Pollock and Joc Pederson
Infielders/outfielders (3): Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez
Pitchers (15): Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias (L), Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Kenley Jansen, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, Pedro Baez, Victor Gonzalez (L), Joe Kelly, Jake McGee (L), Dylan Floro, Adam Kolarek (L) and Alex Wood (L)
Skipper Dave Roberts previously announced that Kershaw will be the starter for the series opener. He’ll be opposed by righty Tyler Glasnow of the Rays, who has posted a 2-1 record with a 4.66 ERA and 25 punchouts over 19-1/3 innings so far this postseason.
In a bit of breaking news, Roberts told reporters on Tuesday morning that Buehler will be the starter for Game 3, despite remaining undecided who will take the mound for Game 2. Conceivably, Buehler’s Game 3 start could allow him to be rested enough to start a prospective Game 7.
Tuesday’s first pitch is slated for 8:11 p.m. Eastern time. The game will be televised by FOX.
There must be a few position players left off of the above roster. Hernandez, Taylor, Bellinger.
Thanks, man. It’s been a long day already. 🙁
Lets hope there is no need for 7 games. My heart could not take another one like Sunday’s.
I’d rather win in 7 than lose in 6. 🙂
I get that. I do not think the Rays offense is going to generate enough runs to win this. They do not have the explosiveness the Dodgers do.
I think the logical option to start game 2 is Gonsulin even if it’s not ideal. You’d love to have Buehler start after Kershaw but he exerted a lot of energy in his heroic start Saturday and I wouldn’t push him on 4 days rest. I would start Gonsulin telling him he would only go 2-3 innings and then use one of the bullpen guys as a 2 inning bridge to the middle innings. With the off days you only need 4 starters so one should be used in high leverage relief situations and I think the obvious candidate is Urias. He’s just a different animal in relief and I would rather have him for 3-4 relief appearances than 2 starts. Give May the ball game 4. You could probably use him in relief for one inning only tonight or tomorrow but I wouldn’t as he looked a little off Sunday so he may be a little tired. If we are going to win this series it will be because of our depth. I really wish there were no off days like in the NLCS because that would be a HUGE advantage for us. Tampa’s bullpen was completely out of gas by the end of the series with Houston.
Friedman will probably start somebody like Kolarek tomorrow.
Maybe so, but I bet they wouldn’t let him go more than 6 or 7 innings.
Welp, it wouldn’t be any fun if Dave Roberts didn’t do any of his trademark meddling. Would it?
I don’t blame him for pulling CK. Save his arm for a start in Game 5 and then if necessary an inning or two of relief in Game 7. On the other hand, it seems like they gave VGon about 2 pitches to get ready in the bullpen.
If it’s me, I’m really, really trying to economize my bullpen.
There’s certainly validity to that argument as well.
I’ve always believed that it’s a bit easier to control what happens today rather than trying to guess what might lie ahead. For all we know, Game 2 could go 20 innings with Roberts needing to empty the whole bullpen tank. The good news, though, is that the Dodgers have that one-game cushion, which is bigger than many people think.