On Monday, the Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish from Texas to bolster their pitching staff. The acquisition made it clear that come playoff time, some of the Dodgers' pitchers would move out of the starting rotation, possibly to the bullpen.With talks swirling about the Monday trade deadline, Hyun-Jin Ryu went out Sunday and shut down the Giants, holding San Francisco to five hits over seven shutout innings. Ryu, coming back from a shoulder injury, improved his record to 3-6 and let Dave Roberts know he wants to remain a starter.
Last night, Kenta Maeda took the mound. Maeda, too, has struggled, and figures to be on the bubble when Roberts picks his playoff rotation. Maeda responded with one of his strongest outings of the year, holding the Braves to two hits over seven shutout innings to improve his record to 10-4 on the year.
Come October, Roberts figures to have a healthy Kershaw (15-2), Alex Wood (12-1), Rich Hill (8-4), Maeda (10-4), Ryu (3-6), Brandon McCarthy (6-4) and Darvish (6-9) to send to the bump. Expect Roberts to start Kershaw, Darvish, Wood and Hill with Maeda, McCarthy and Ryu working in long relief.
Coupled with a beefed up middle reliever corps and a shutdown closer in Kenley Jansen, LA's pitching figures to be formidable when October comes around.
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