First highway journey of the season begins in Philadelphia – Dodgers Digest

The Dodgers (8-0) completed up their third sequence of the yr in one more sweep, this time towards the Atlanta Braves (0-7), doing excessive injury to Atlanta’s playoff hopes early within the yr. The Braves are anticipated to be in one of many tightest division races in baseball within the NL East, and beginning 0-7 is horrible. Humorous sufficient, they might actually profit from the Dodgers sweeping the primary place Philadelphia Phillies (5-1) this weekend. The sequence will open up with Yoshinobu Yamamoto making his third begin of the season, up towards the newly acquired Jesús Luzardo, making his second begin with the Phillies. There’s a likelihood of rain each Saturday and Sunday, so it seems in the present day is the one day with a close to assure of no climate delays.

	3:45 P.M.		Philadelphia
DH	Ohtani (L)	DH	Schwarber (L)
SS	Betts	SS	Turner
2B	Edman (S)	1B	Harper (L)
RF	T. Hernández	3B	Bohm
C	Smith	LF	Kepler (L)
1B	Ok. Hernández	RF	Castellanos
LF	Conforto (L)	C	Realmuto
3B	Rojas	2B	Stott (L)
CF	Pages	CF	Marsh (L)
P	Yamamoto (R)	P	Luzardo (L)

Just like the Dodgers, the Phillies are basically sticking with the identical place participant group as that they had final season, with each groups including left-handed nook outfielders. The Phillies added Max Kepler this offseason as their main left fielder, and whereas he had a mediocre 2024 season battling some accidents, he owns a profession 111 wRC+ and .780 OPS towards right-handed pitching. It’s early, however Kepler has a 162 wRC+ and .965 OPS to date, significantly bettering upon their left area state of affairs from 2024, which featured eight gamers logging innings there. The Phillies had a terrific season final yr, with the fifth finest OPS as a crew at .750, with seven regulars with a wRC+ above 100. They’re led by the ever harmful Bryce Harper, previous pal Trea Turner, and the slugging Kyle Schwarber. They’re a hazard to place up a giant quantity ever sport, so Yamamoto must be sharp.

Michael Conforto was the route the Dodgers took to cowl plate appearances in left area with Teoscar Hernández transferring to proper area attributable to Mookie Betts transferring to shortstop full time. It’s nonetheless very early, however up to now it’s seeming like Conforto was a wise transfer, together with his 239 wRC+ and 1.237 OPS trailing simply Will Smith (1.257 OPS, 255 wRC+).

Freddie Freeman (1.083 OPS) was positioned on the 10-Day Injured Checklist, so the Dodgers solely have 5 regulars within the lineup with an OPS north of .980. Tommy Edman is at .980, Betts at 1.114, Shohei Ohtani at 1.126, with the aforementioned Conforto (1.237), and Smith (1.257) main the crew. Within the absence of Freeman, it might be good if Max Muncy or Teoscar began trending to their profession norms, because it’s onerous to know what to anticipate from Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas, and Kiké Hernández.

——

Right here’s how Luzardo and Yamamoto evaluate. Luzardo’s stats are from his injury-shortened 2024 marketing campaign, whereas Yamamoto’s are from 2025.

Right here’s what I needed to say about Yamamoto after his most up-to-date begin towards the Tigers.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a stable outing his final day out, pitching round some visitors and producing loads of whiffs whereas doing so. He set a profession excessive in strikeouts with ten, racking up ten whiffs on 14 swings on the splitter, and three whiffs out of 4 swings on the cutter which might be a pleasant improvement for him. He’s getting extra motion on all of his pitches to date, and the outcomes have been nice. He gave up two solo dwelling runs yesterday, one approaching a terrific swing by Dillon Dingler on a low and inside splitter, and one off a sinker up to now inside that Gleyber Torres truly obtained injured doing so.

He’s working an elite 34.1% strikeout price this yr, with 14 strikeouts to 3 walks in ten innings, with a ridiculous 57.6% whiff price on his splitter. It’s basically been an auto-out with two strikes. To this point it seems he’s constructing upon his nice rookie season, creating into the ace the Dodgers hope he might be. In the present day can be a terrific take a look at for him with a wholesome, harmful, and skilled Philadelphia offense in good type, within the formidable Residents Financial institution Park.

Luzardo had a terrific debut for the Phillies, permitting two runs over 5 innings with eleven strikeouts, incomes him his first win of the yr. He missed time final yr with elbow irritation early within the season, and with a lumbar stress response close to the top of June that saved him out for the remaining three months of the yr. It resulted in a forgettable season for the gifted 27 year-old former prime ten prospect. He was one of the vital coveted beginning pitchers accessible by way of commerce this offseason, attributable to his potential when wholesome, as proven by his sturdy 2022 and 2023 campaigns. He had a 3.32 ERA and three.12 FIP in ’22 over 100.1 innings, and a 3.58 ERA and three.55 FIP over 178.2 innings in ’23. He averaged a 28.7% strikeout price over these two seasons, with a mixed 328 strikeouts in 279 innings.

The Phillies don’t count on him to be their ace with the ever dominant Zack Wheeler holding that title, along with Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, and Ranger Suárez rounding out the rotation. Luzardo sits 95-98 MPH on his four-seam fastball, with three pitches within the mid-80’s, a changeup, slider, and newly developed sweeper. The sweeper will get vital glove aspect motion, a pitch he didn’t have previous to this season, regardless of throwing a slider.

——

The Dodgers will add Hunter Feduccia to the roster within the absence of Freeman. They didn’t want so as to add an infielder with each Muncy and Kiké capable of play first base with the latter wanting like the popular choice. What it does replicate although, is the relative weak spot of the bench bats as Feduccia is instantly the most suitable choice.

Talking of Freddie, it feels just like the crew might give Freeman a number of weeks off to let his ankle heal completely, however the crew possible is aware of finest.

——

Sam took a have a look at the current commerce for Esteury Ruiz, the American League stolen base chief in 2023, with 67 steals in simply 132 video games.