Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani face playoff duel; Martín Pérez is ready for anything

LOS ANGELES – A little over a week ago, Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani met in right field at Dodger Stadium.

The number of active players who began their careers in Japan is small, and the connection between the 38-year-old Darvish and the 30-year-old Ohtani is even closer as two former Nippon Ham Fighters play on the West Coast of the United States.

Ohtani even wore Darvish's No. 11 in Japan before following his “childhood hero,” as he described Darvish on Friday, to the big leagues.

Of course they will talk.

“We obviously come from the same country,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “We come from the same culture. Here we are in a foreign country playing baseball and catching up here and there.”

The relationship, Darvish said, began when the two met for dinner in 2014, more than two years into his big league career with the Texas Rangers. They continued to meet for dinner and train together from time to time.

While Darvish couldn't remember exactly the conversation they had during the Padres' last stop in Los Angeles, photos appeared to show Darvish holding a baseball while Ohtani looked on. The Dodgers' designated hitter is recovering from a second Tommy John surgery and is ineligible to pitch in the postseason, but the first 50-50 player in MLB history is perfectly capable as the Dodgers' leadoff hitter. Winning games all by yourself.

Before the Dodgers' bye, Ohtani was hitting .628/.667/1.186, hitting six homers in 10 games and threatening Luis Arraez's batting title.

So far, Ohtani is 1-for-5 with two strikeouts against Darvish, although the Padres right-hander has indicated that his compatriot is far from his only target heading into Game 2.

“I face all nine Dodgers batters,” Darvish said. “My main focus is getting them all out, not just Shohei. Going into the game, I just want to stay focused, keep concentration at a high level and execute my pitches.”

As for Ohtani's take on the match, he was hoping for an even bigger reunion on the field on Sunday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was originally scheduled to pitch for Game 2 before being pushed out ahead of Jack Flaherty on Saturday.

“My personal hope was that Darvish would face Yoshinobu,” Ohtani said. “Of course that won’t happen this time, but I’m very honored and excited to be competing against him.”

“Pérez,” Jacob added

The Padres are adding an extra arm to their NLDS roster and two new faces on the active staff. With Joe Musgrove Preparing for Tommy John surgery, left-handed Martin Perez and right-handed Alek Jacob were added to a 13-man pitching staff.

Padres manager Mike Schildt described the job as length options for both newcomers to the postseason roster as MLB returns to traditional extra innings in the postseason.

“Martín is obviously built up,” Sheldt said. “He will be in the bullpen no matter what the situation arises. Maybe for extra innings, no ghost runner. When you get into that environment, you want a little more length.”

As the fifth starter after the trade deadline, Pérez is also the projected starter for Game 4 should the series go that long.

He wasn't on the roster for the Wild Card Series against the Braves and went into the postseason knowing he had to be ready to respond to any number of situations.

“It’s time to stop making excuses,” Pérez said. “It’s not how comfortable I feel. It's one thing that I have to do it. We don't have time. The playoffs only last three weeks. In this case it's not what you want. They’re not going to come to you and say, ‘Hey, what do you want to do?’ This is what you have to do and you have to do it.”

The extra arm for the longer NLDS series comes at the expense of the infielder Nick Ahmedwho only appeared in two games during the regular season after the Padres secured the first wild card spot, and did not appear in any wild card games against the Braves.

Boo me?

New to the Padres-Dodgers rivalry, Luis Arraez As he lined up to play at Dodger Stadium, he knew he was about to be booed.

At this stage of the game, the only thing that matters on the road is the color of the uniform.

“I don’t know if Dodger fans don’t like me,” a smiling Arraez said Saturday. “I mean, maybe they hate me tonight because I want to go out and do my job.”

Arraez led off the game with a single to left field and scored another run Jurickson Profars Groundout to second base.

Remarkable

Manny Machados His two-run home run in the first inning on Saturday made him the Padres' all-time postseason RBI leader with 13 Tony Gwynn (11). Machado's seven postseason home runs are the most in franchise history.
Fernando Tatis Jr.'His third-inning groundball double to left center, off the bat at 118.9 mph, was the hardest hit ball of his career. The only ball ever hit harder in the postseason was Kyle Schwarbers 119.7 mph home run off Darvish in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS at Petco Park.

Originally published: October 5, 2024 at 8:05 p.m