Cody Snavely
Whelp, here we are. The 2024 National League Division Series is set to begin tomorrow, Saturday, October 5th, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished with the best record in Major League Baseball at 98-64 and won the National League West for the eleventh time in twelve years, will host the San Diego Padres for the third time in five years.
The Padres, who finished the season second in the National League West with a 93-69 record, clinched the top wild card spot and the fourth seed in the National League postseason bracket. They are fresh off a two-game sweep of the fifth-seeded Atlanta Braves in the wild-card round.
It has been quite a turnaround for the San Diego Padres under manager Mike Shildt, who replaced now San Fransisco Giants Manager Bob Melvin after a disappointing 2023 season. Under Shildt, the Padres have roared back to contention, leading a team picked by many MLB experts and insiders as the best team in baseball entering October. However, it wasn’t always that way this season.
When the regular season hit the century mark, the San Diego Padres were a league-average team with an even record with fifty wins and fifty losses, but after the all-star break and the start of the second half, they have arguably been the hottest team in the sport.
The Padres’ winning percentage over their last sixty-three games is a Major League-best .683 (43-20), and they have been in the top fifth of the National League in multiple pitching and offensive categories.
Offensively, the Padres ranked first in hits (1,456), first in batting average (.263), tenth in home runs (190), and perhaps most impressively, first in strikeouts (1,077).
Led by superstars Manny Machado, Fernando Tatís Jr., and Rookie of the Year candidate Jackson Merrill, they pushed the Dodgers to the brink in the National League West race, inevitably losing the division to the Dodgers in the final week of the regular season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, despite having over twenty-five players placed on the injured list, including multiple key players lost for an extended period of time, such as all-star Mookie Betts, righties Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, and veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw, among others, still finished with the best record in all of Major League Baseball. They won the National League West by five games and are in the postseason for the twelfth straight season, the third-longest streak in baseball history.
Like the Padres, the Dodgers have also been one of the hottest teams in baseball in the second half of the regular season, winning forty-two of their sixty-five games.
A massive part of the Dodgers’ success due to the inconsistent pitching has been the offense led by National League Most Valuable Player Award front-runner Shohei Ohtani. In his first season in Dodger Blue, he had one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history, creating the 50/50 club and finishing the season with career highs in home runs (54), stolen bases (59), and RBI (130).
While the Dodgers also had great seasons with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and newly signed outfielder Teoscar Hernández, all eyes were on Shohei.
Down the stretch, the Dodgers played their best baseball in September, hitting .279/.358/.488. Their bullpen was unhittable, as Michael Kopech, who the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadline in a three-team deal provided the Dodgers exactly what they needed in the “closer” role.
Despite the Dodgers’ record and a five-game lead in the National League West, the team lost eight of the thirteen head-to-head games this season.
The Padres played the Dodgers exceptionally well in those games this season, hitting .244/.322/.408. They also hit more home runs than the Dodgers (16-to-11), had a lower starting pitching ERA (3.51-to-4.66), and had a better batting average (.244-to-.218).
However, in late September, the Dodgers took a crucial three-game series against these same Padres in a postseason-like atmosphere, including clutch performances by Walker Buehler, Will Smith, and Ohtani.
After the Padres dismantled the Atlanta Braves in two games, the two teams finally meet tomorrow to start the National League Division Series. The highly anticipated matchup will have the eyes glued to Ohtani’s postseason debut, adding another chapter to this rivalry.
Pitching match-ups
Game One: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (7-2, 3.00 ERA)vs Dylan Cease (14-11, 3.47 ERA)
Game Two: Jack Flaherty (13-7, 3.17 ERA) vs Yu Darvish (7-3, 3.31 ERA)
Game Three: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Four: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*Game Five: TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs TBD (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
*if necessary
Game Times
Game One: 5:38 PM PT, FS1
Game Two: 5:03 PM PT, FS1
Game Three: 6:08 PM PT, FS1/FOX
*Game Four: 6:08 PM PT, FS1/FOX
*Game Five: 5:08 PM PT, FS1/FOX
*if necessary
Who’s in & who’s out?
The Los Angeles Dodgers, entering this series, having had a full five days off after their regular season finale against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, and boy, did they need it.
In the final two weeks of the regular season, the Dodgers lost both veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas to a groin injury and all-star first baseman Freddie Freeman to a sprained ankle.
Rojas had an MRI after being removed from game two of a three-game series in the final week of the regular season. The MRI revealed a tear in his adductor, forcing him to miss the rest of the regular season.
Rojas, however, is still optimistic that he’ll be able to manage the pain and play through the injury in the postseason after getting a cortisone injection. The 36-year-old vet was a full participant in the team’s workouts and is expected to be in the starting lineup for game one of the National League Division Series on Saturday.
As for Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers are being hopeful and patient with him and his ankle. Freeman, who was seen in crutches and a walking boot in the Dodgers locker room as they celebrated the 2024 National League West title, was shut down and stayed in Los Angeles as the team closed out the season in Colorado.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is optimistic that Freeman will also be penciled in for game one on Saturday. However, if he’s not ready, the Dodgers have begun to give Max Muncy reps at first base, a position he last played in the 2021 season.
In yesterday afternoon’s Dodgers inter-squad game, Freeman was seen taking live at-bats but not playing the field, as Muncy was at first base and utilityman Enrique Hernandez was at third.
Veteran outfielder Kevin Kiermaier is nursing a dislocated middle finger after trying to turn a routine single into a double in the second to last game of the regular season. Kiermaier was not placed on the injured list, but second-year outfielder James Outman was recalled on Sunday’s series finale as insurance for him.
Right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol will be out for the first round of the postseason. The righty is dealing with lingering shoulder inflammation that has plagued him all year. Dave Roberts did not close the book on Graterol’s return if the Dodgers continue to advance deeper into October, but the chances of seeing the Bazooka again this year seem slim.
Another option for the bullpen that is likely out for the first round of the postseason for the Dodgers is right-handed pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr., who was placed on the 15-day injured list before the end of the season with a cracked right middle fingernail. Honeywell will have to stay the full fifteen days before any activation, which would be in the middle of the NLDS when the rosters are locked until the next round unless an injury happens.
Veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw is also far from throwing to live hitters or returning to the mound in a big league game. The lefty has been dealing with a toe injury since August, and Dave Roberts has seemingly ruled him out for the NLDS but is keeping the door open for the next few rounds of the postseason. Kershaw’s status has been changed on the Dodgers’ official transaction page, but what they did is unknown.
Tony Gonsolin, who missed the entire 2024 regular season rehabbing from Tommy John Surgery, will travel and stay with the team during their postseason run. Dave Roberts already stated the righty would not be an option for the NLDS but was involved with the inter-squad games on Thursday and could be an option in the NLCS or World Series.
Lastly, Shohei Ohtani, the hitter, will be on full display during the NLDS, but the possibility of him pitching is not zero percent in October. Ohtani will continue his throwing program, but Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman stated they do not anticipate him facing live hitters until after the 2024 postseason.
As for the San Diego Padres, they have potentially lost one of the best arms in Joe Musgrove for the rest of the postseason and potentially longer as the righty was removed from game two of the National League wild-card due to elbow tightness.
This is not the first time this season that Musgrove will miss time due to arm/elbow issues. The righty was placed on the 60-day IL back in early summer, missing nearly two months due to a similar issue. The Padres have not officially announced anything, so be sure to look out for any news regarding the situation.
A massive blow to the Padres middle infield is the loss of shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who is out for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury, which placed him on the injured list in August. Kim will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a “small tear” in the labrum in his right shoulder, he said on September 28th. Kim attempted to ramp up toward a return, but his shoulder wouldn’t respond. He sustained the injury in mid-August while diving back into first base during a game in Colorado.
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