Dave Roberts aims for change in NLDS format as Dodgers force Game 5

SAN DIEGO – Under the current MLB playoff format, division winners continue to be dropped like so many foul pop-ups in the stands. In the National League, Philadelphia and Milwaukee have already disappeared. In the American League, Houston is dead. Cleveland is behind Detroit.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are hanging by a thread after defeating the San Diego Padres 8-0 in an elimination game at Petco Park on Wednesday and enter an all-or-nothing Game 5 unsure about their starting man. Only the New York Yankees have an advantage heading into Thursday's Game 4 in Kansas City after defeating the Royals 3-2 on Wednesday.

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After three years of this format, it has become clear that division winners have to enter the division series flat and sit around for five days while the wild card teams get to play. It's no longer just a pattern, it's a fact. Under the current playoff structure, no National League division winner has made it to the LCS.

The Dodgers, for example, are 3-8 in the NL Division Series since 2022. Perhaps it would be helpful to expand the Division Series to a best-of-seven instead of a best-of-five so that the division winners have more time to improve to high.

“Right now I wish it was seven games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday. “Of course, the seven-game series is certainly a better test for the opponents. We'll see if we can work on it. But I definitely like the seven-game series.”

Would it be a cure for sitting around these five days?

“No doubt, absolutely,” Roberts replied.

But the Dodgers have to work within the current system, and they had big success in Game 4 in San Diego on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers didn't have a healthy starting pitcher and played with their bullpen the entire game. First baseman Freddie Freeman was left out of the lineup late due to his high right ankle sprain. Shortstop Miguel Rojas was so injured that he had to sit on the bench.

But when the Dodgers needed it most, eight pitchers and star players worth $1.4 billion at the top of the lineup defeated the Padres.

That forces a deciding Game 5 on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. The winner will play in the best-of-seven NL Championship Series against the New York Mets, beginning Sunday in either Los Angeles or San Diego.

The pitching matchup could pit two Japanese hurlers against each other: 12-year veteran Yu Darvish for the Padres and rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers. Padres manager Mike Shildt hired Darvish, while Roberts did not announce a decision, saying only that Yamamoto was being considered.

Darvish missed three months midway through the regular season due to a personal matter, but dominated Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, throwing seven one-run, three-hit innings to record the 10-2 victory.

On Wednesday, the Dodger bullpen held the Padres to seven hits, three of them in the late innings when the game was already out of reach. This is a route that could be used again.

Both the Padres and Dodgers have home-field advantage over the Mets, who beat the NL East champion Phillies 4-1 and won their NLDS thanks to a game-winning grand slam in Game 4 by Francisco Lindor on Wednesday at New York's Citi Field.

It says a lot that a team like the Dodgers, with a $241 million payroll, doesn't have enough starting players to complete a playoff series.

The two-way Ohtani, who is making $700 million over 10 years after joining the Dodgers as a free agent, is still recovering from right elbow surgery and is not expected to pitch again until next season. Yamamoto is also one of the Dodgers' highest-paid players, having signed a 12-year, $325 million contract.

Yamamoto, who arrived from Japan last offseason, missed nearly two months with a right shoulder injury and lasted just three innings in Game 1, allowing five hits and five runs, although the Dodgers came back to win 7-5 won.

That's why Roberts is hesitant to name him the starter for the deciding Game 5.

“We don’t have a starter for Game 5 yet,” Roberts said. “Luckily our pen was very efficient. So we have some options.”

Mookie Betts, who has a 12-year, $365 million contract, initiated the Dodgers' offense early and ranked second in the rankings behind Ohtani.

Betts hit a home run in the first inning and Ohtani had an RBI single in the second inning. They were on base five times in the game, with a homer, two singles and two walks.

Betts has now hit first-inning home runs in consecutive games. It could have been three in a row if San Diego outfielder Jurickson Profar hadn't reached for the left field pitches for the potential home run at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.

“With that dropped, maybe we talk differently now (about the series),” Betts said.

Even though it was an out, it appears to have lifted Betts out of a lengthy postseason lull.

There's been a lot of talk about Betts' recent postseason success, or lack thereof. He was 2-of-26 in the last two postseasons and 0-of-11 last year. When he started that series 0-for-6, the storyline thickened.

He then hit a home run in Game 3, sparking a 4-for-9 run.

Betts said he spent most of his waking hours in the batting cage trying to make things right.

“Hit. Kept hitting. That's all I did. That's what I know. I'm working,” he said. “I had to turn off all social media because it was all negative. And I worked hard and finally saw one fall, and I think we're all right now.”

With Freeman struggling, the starter on life support and no Game 7 in the Division Series, the timing couldn't have been better. “We have a Game 5,” Betts said. “That’s all I really focus on.”

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