Full Transcript for Dodgers Considering Benching Shohei Ohtani?! Offense, Yamamoto Miss Game 2 Opportunity

Sausage, Obi Wan, Dodger Blue, Dodgers Everything. We appreciate each and every one of you guys. For hopping in here and joining with us. We're gonna be able to take some time and take some questions from the chat. Obviously, the setup that I've got is a little bit different, so I'm gonna do my best on that front. But thank you to everybody. Let's hit some of the main topics from game two of the NLCS and then we'll circle back kind of to the Shohei Otani conversation. let's talk Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The final line is two and two thirds, four hits, three runs, two walks, just one strikeout. It's seventy five pitches. It's forty six of those for strikes. And in a game where the Dodgers jump out to a lead in the first inning of this game, they take a one to nothing lead and you're thinking, my goodness, we're gonna actually score some runs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. Like this is this is the dream scenario for Dave Roberts and the Dodgers, right? Instead, it's a double from Bryce Tarang, it's a single from William Contreras, who we'll talk a lot about in this game because he was at the center of everything. And it's all of a sudden one to one. But even that doesn't tell the full story because It's in this first inning that you start to see glimpses that maybe the the version of Yoshinobu Yamamoto we thought we were getting, we hoped we were getting. It's not actually the version that we were going to get. He gets Jackson Churio to two strikes, puts him away for a strikeout. That would be the only strikeout of the game for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It would be the only two strike pitch that results. He throws 33 two strike pitches in this game, and only one of them was for a strikeout. It was Jackson Churio, the first batter faced. Tarang, of course, goes to 0 2. Pitch number three is a strike. There there's no sugarcoating. There's no way of dancing around it. It should have been a strike call from the umpire. He doesn't. He calls it a ball and it puts Will Smith in a really fascinating spot. Because I think the easy thing for us is to see the box on the screen, to see that it's clearly a strike, and say, Come on, Will, how do you not challenge that pitch? How do you not get Yoshinobu Yamamoto the strikeout? But in that spot, you have to remember it's the bottom of the first inning. You're up one game to n you're up one to zero, excuse me, in the game. There's one out. There's nobody on. And it's an O two pitch. So Will Smith is probably thinking, I'm not positive if this pitch was a strike. He I I imagine Will Smith had a pretty good sense that it that it might have been a strike, but he's thinking I can't burn a challenge on an O two pitch with nobody on in the first inning, especially with Yamamoto on the mound. You're thinking, I have Yoshidobu Yamamoto out there. Like, fine, we get a bad call. That sucks. It's an O two, now a one-two count. He's going to be fine. Well, unfortunately, he's not. The count gets all the way full, and then Tarang

doubles. Contreras comes up, he gets in an 02 count. So right after Taran gets 0-2 and can't get put away, Contreras is 0-2, he can't get put away, and all of a sudden it's one to one and the game is tied. And that was just a sign to come for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. You look at some of the underlying stuff here. 33 33 swings against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, just four whiffs. He got 11 swings on his fastball, and none of them were swing and miss. the number of foul balls that he had. was was crazy, you know, 12 called strikes. So the called strike plus whiff rate is only 21% in this game. the splitter, only five swings at the splitter. we talked on the All Dodgers podcast about how the chase rate of that pitch, which is normally about 38, was 27. So the Bruce did a great job of laying off of that pitch. But it just meant that Yoshinobi Yamamoto wasn't nearly as effective as normal. When he got to two strikes in this game, it was two singles, it was a double, it was two walks. So five times in in what? Two and two thirds that he ends up throwing in this game, five times in that stretch, he gets a guy to two strikes and can't put them away. They got seven outs with two strikes, only one of them via the strikeout. So Yoshinobu Yamamoto just not at his best. And we can sit here and talk. The umpire should have been better. Again, I I'm a Will Smith guy. I'm not defending Will Smith because I like Will Smith. I think that's a hard spot for a catcher to be in. I think the guy to blame is the umpire. Now, Will Smith, if he challenges that pitch, things probably go different. But I understand why Will Smith doesn't challenge. There were two more challengeable pitches against Tarang, one in that same inning, excuse me, and another one in the bottom of the third. I actually am not positive either of the other ones, either of the other two pitches I heard people calling for a challenge on were actually strikes that they would have been overturned. And so he ends up not challenging either of those. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is out after just eight outs recorded. So one night after Terek Scoobel can't do go deep into a game, Yamamoto can't go deep. The difference was the Dodgers had the lead With Yamamoto out of the game. In the fifth inning, they took a four to three lead. And unfortunately for the Dodgers, Yamamoto, the bullpen, like they they just were not able to hold. The Dodgers jump out into the lead in the first, and immediately Yamamoto gives up a run. They jump out to a lead in the third, immediately Yamamoto gives up two runs. They jump out to a lead in the fifth, immediately the bullpen gives the run back in the sixth, or excuse me, in the bottom of the fifth, then again in the sixth, then again in the eighth, and seven to four is the final score. So I Yamamoto is the first talking point. I'm not saying I blame him for everything that happened in this game, but I think you would like to see a little bit more from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And he he would tell you, like

two and two thirds for him, I know it's only two earned runs. is the final line, three earned runs, excuse me. It's only four hits, but he would tell you that that's not good enough. I said it was a B performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The more I think about it, two and two thirds, and they had to pull him. Like his inability to get Jake Bowers out that 12 pitch at bat that lasts seven minutes. It just wasn't his best. There's probably a C plus performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which is disappointing, but the season is not over. we got a couple super chats here. We appreciate those. Dylan Beaufield with a dollar ninety-nine says win two, and all the pressure is on them. The JDP Spark, Hoseway DePala Spark, soon, he says. I mean, we talked about the odds on the other show. Like the Dodgers are heavy favorites in game number three. And I I I just obviously they've got to go out and win that game first, but I I wonder. For all the people that it's doom and gloom and this season is over and the series is over and all of that. Like I I just wonder if the Dodgers are to go out and win game three, like if Blake Snell pitches like the Blake Snell, who we have for the whole season said is closer to Yamamoto and Scuble, one of the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, if he goes out there and shoves and the Dodgers can can win a game at home, how different do you feel about the series? Because then you fast forward to game number four. And again, it's going to be a massive pitching advantage. It's gonna be Tyler Glass now for the Dodgers against we don't know who we thought it was gonna be Dustin May. He pitched in today's game. Maybe it's Mizorowski on short rest. That wouldn't make a ton of sense to me. But like if Mizorowski is not pitching on short rest, it's advantageo Dodgers. And honestly, if it's Glass now fully rested against Mizorowski, who they've already seen once on short rest, like I think it's still advantageous Miz. He's the best pitcher in baseball. But at the same time, I think that's probably a lot closer than than you might anticipate. So e even if the Dodgers can go obviously and just get two out of three. At home and head back to Milwaukee in a three to two series. We've seen the Dodgers go down three to two, have to win two games on the road and come out victorious. I think they could do it again. so again, win two and all the pressure flips back to Milwaukee. Whether or not Joseway DePala comes soon, remains to be seen. Raul, ten dollars super chat. We appreciate you, brother. Thank you so much for hopping in here and supporting me. I know you're a big supporter over at all Dodgers. So thanks for hopping in. He said, question Do you believe Otani pitching days are over because of the injuries that happened this season? And make him the left fielder this offseason and have Josue DePala DH. I'm gonna be honest, Rao. This is a fascinating question that I haven't taken the time to really think about. The idea that could the Dodgers see the greatest value in being how do we get Josue DePala into the lineup? And I think everybody's assumed, well, you just teach him to play a passable left field and you allow the Teoscar Hernandez level defense, although I again the reports from anybody that you talk to in the organization are that it's probably worse. Than Teoscar Hernandez. But you just put him out there and you hope that it's passable. But would the Dodgers consider it would they be better off with Otani not pitching, not putting the stress on his body by pitching, and just going out and playing left field, giving Josué DePala the ability to be the designated hitter? Obviously, maybe they take turns and you know it's a fifty fifty split in left field and DH spot. But man, Raoul, first of all, thank you for the super chat. And second of all, I think that's a fascinating question. Would the Dodgers put Shohei Otani in left field? I'm gonna have to think about that one moving forward. So again, thank you to both those people for the super chat. We got another one, $1.99 from Grateful Rose. What is the actual likelihood of benching Shohei? I was just on our All Dodgers postgame show 20 minutes ago, and I said it was 1% that they would bench Shohei Otani in game number three. Now there's a report. Again, Dave Roberts saying, hey, we're gonna have a conversation, the athletic. A report put out by Ken Rosenthal and Katie Wu as Shohei Otani struggles. Dodgers will discuss benching superstar in game number three. They're considering sitting him. I guess it's probably higher. Like, I I still think game three, he plays. And then you have the conversation about maybe benching him in game four, and you can justify it by saying, well, it's three games in three days. We're gonna give him the day off. You give him one more chance to potentially hit. Obviously, if he hits, if he smacks a double into the left center field gap or something like that, then you don't have to bench him at all. But if it's another 0 for 4, you say, hey, we're just benching him in game four, giving him a day off his feet. You don't throw DePala in against Gas or the lefty. You give them maybe a more favorable, advantageous opportunity against whatever the pitching plan is on game in game four and go from there. That would be my guess. Obviously, if the Dodgers win game three, it's a little easier to bench Shohei Otani in game four. I suppose if they lose, then you could justify, hey, he's struggling. He's not playing well enough. We need to change this. So yeah, I I the the likelihood of Shohei Otani being benched, I I would still say it's in the ten to fifteen percent range. I I just think it's really unlikely. I think you just you ride your superstar, you hope that he finds some magic. I'm not saying they should do that. I'm not saying it's the smartest right thing to do. I understand the DePala asks. And I think as much as I've been hopeful and optimistic that Otani would figure it out, I think he

looked terrible in game number two. You can you can justify it when game one, when he flipping a single and he's taking a walk, but man, game two was a tough watch from Shohei Otani. some more super chats. Shelly Lawrence, five dollars, just here to support you in your great work. Let's get a win. on Wednesday. Thank you, Shelly. I appreciate that. Of course, if you do want to support the show a little bit more, Patreon.com slash beat dodger bleed dodger blue link in the description below. five bollar five dollars a month, ten dollars a month, twenty dollars a month, whatever you can afford to support this channel. Help me get it up off the ground. Greatly appreciate it. Shelly, I know you've been a big supporter from day one. So thank you. Skier loves baseball, another carry over from the first post game show I did tonight. Thank you. Said we need to play from ahead. Makes a huge difference in combating the brewers pressure and early home run. Is just what the doctor ordered. That's what's so interesting, right? Is they jump ahead tonight. They got ahead. They got the lead three separate times, and the pitching not once could hold on to it. Obviously, a one-run lead is different, but man, would it be nice for the Dodgers to get two or three runs early in the game? I'm with you, skier loves baseball. Like coming into this, the narrative was all about the Dodgers, they just rely on slug. And the Brewers don't hit any home runs. They just rely on small ball. Then you watch game one, and guess what happened? The Dodgers put the ball in play more. The Brewers struck out more. The Brewers hit home run. Like it was just the weirdest thing. And then game two, as Jeff Snyder pointed out on our All Dodgers podcast, like the Brewers had a higher strikeout percentage in game two than the Dodgers did. The Dodgers putting the ball in play was not the problem. In fact, quality of contact wasn't even necessarily the problem. The Brewers just figured out that if you hit 76 mile-an-hour bloopers, Right over the infield's head. It's pretty much a thousand expected batting average, unfortunately. And so I I'm with you. I I the power's gotta come being back at home. Pitching is gonna d decrease in quality immensely after having faced Mizrowski and Henderson, who are two fantastic pitchers. And so can somebody get right? It's a lefty on the mound. Like can Teosca Hernandez, I believe it's six playoff series in a row that he said a home run. Let's make that seven. you know, some of the other guys swinging from the Mookie bets, let's get a a liner. Into the gap early on in this game. I think the approach has been good from Dodgers hitters, even quality of contact. Will Smith, like the guy is hitting the ball hard. He just seems to hit it right at people, unfortunately. So I think the swing is coming. I think the slug is coming from some of these guys. And again, maybe just a lesser quality of pitcher, having seen Yuribe and Ashby twice already. Ashby, I can't imagine,

would be available. Who knows in game three? but maybe, just maybe, you get a little bit more action. Against some pitchers, get a little bit of confidence at home, get the crowd behind you, and see what happens. So thank you for the super chats, everybody. let's talk Dave Roberts a little bit. This was a big talking point after game number two, and rightfully so. I highlighted three decisions that Dave Roberts made that I think could be questioned. And I'll preface these the same way I did on the All Dodgers podcast, which is I don't think any of these are like 90%, 10%, as in It's so obvious what he should have done and he chose the stupid thing that nobody in their right mind would ever do. None of the three decisions I'm about to talk about are that. I would compare them more to 6040 decisions. I think 60% of people would have done the other thing compared to what Dave Roberts did. But I think what he did is defensible in its own way, even if it's not defensible in the sense that like it's what I would have done. So the first thing he did was he bat Shohei Otani fourth in this game. I said before the game, both on this channel and my other one. That I thought Shohe Otani should have been batting seventh. I would have moved Will Smith down to eighth. I would have moved Shohe Otani down to seventh. Instead, Shohe Otani stayed exactly where he was in fourth. Will Smith moved down to fifth. And Shohei Otani came up in a big spot. I believe it was in the second or third inning. Maybe it was the third inning. it's a leadoff single from Tommy Edmund. It's a Mookie Betts, basically lines the ball off the shortstop, first and second with nobody out. Freddie Freeman. I mean, talk about not catching any breaks, smashes the ball into right field, incredible play by Sal Freelick. So all of a you got runners on first and second with nobody out. Henderson throws away a pickoff to first. Dodgers score making it two to one. Teoscar Hernandez grounds out. And then you've got Shohei Otani up with an opportunity to knock a run in and can't do it. Dodgers 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position in this game. And so, again, for me, first decision, Dave Roberts puts Shohei Otani fourth. He comes up in a big spot in the third inning. Can't cash it in. I think that's a mistake from Dave Roberts. Second thing, he did. Roki Sasaki, just one inning. Dave Roberts responded to this one after the game and said he didn't like the row of guys coming up after. I believe it was like five left-handed hitters in a row, or five out of six of the next guys were all left-handed hitters, something along those lines. and of course, you know, the one right-handed is Contreras in there, who ends up hitting a home run off Bubic. He kind of liked that lane for Chris Bubic. But you look back on this, hindsight's 2020, and you say, Man, man, getting more outs out of Roki Sasaki definitely would have been a good thing for the Dodgers and Dave Roberts in that spot. They don't And it ends up

being a cascading effect because Roki Sasaki only gets you three outs. Then you go to Bubic. Bubic isn't very good. Then you have to get to Brock Stewart really early, and you just see the cascading waterfall of decision. So again, I I think in in real time, Roki Sasaki walked a guy. He gave up a little bit of loud contact. You can say, I got three outs, feel good about it. But then in hindsight, you're looking and saying Bubic is the guy you're going to. I know it's lefties, but could you have gotten more? Or could you have saved Roki Sasaki? For a lane where maybe he has the opportunity to get you five or six outs in a game where your starter only goes two and two thirds. The third decision, and it's the one that I think most people are the most frustrated with, is the bottom of the sixth. And it's how Dave Roberts handled Brock Stewart and Tanner Scott in that spot. Brock Stewart has to come in in the bottom of the fifth to bail out Chris Bubic because Bubic is a mess. And so Brock Stewart comes in in the si bottom of the fifth. And after a Contreras home run that Bubic gives up, it's a single and a walk. Brock Stewart comes in with runners on first and second and two outs. Pratt hits a ball up the middle. Tommy Edmund tries to make a play. The throw pulls Freddie Freeman off the bag just to tick. Bases are loaded, infield single. That was a good pitch by Brock Stewart. He gets a weak ground out, just can't get the play. So then it's bases loaded. Sal Freelick, the guy who makes the catch in right field is due up and just stares at a fastball. It was the funniest moment of the broadcast, and I love Joe Davis. It's not his fault. I'm sure he's right. But he he he immediately says. Sal Freelick, one of the better hitters with two strikes, and then Sal Freelick just stares at a fastball right down the middle. So Stewart bails out Bubic, gets out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth, maintains a four to four game. And I'm thinking to myself, hey, Brock Stewart looked good in the NLDS. Obviously, he has had stretches in his career when he's been incredibly effective, one of the best right on right relief pitchers that we have. Now you're heading into the sixth inning. At this point for the Dodgers, having already used Vesia, Sasaki, and Bubich in a tie game. You're gonna have to stretch Brock Stewart a little bit. Like I'm gonna need more than just one out. So they bring him back for the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately, his first batter is the number nine hitter, Hamilton, and hits him with the slider. Backfoot slider that literally hits him on the back foot. tries to pick off Hamilton, throws it off of Freddie Freeman's glove. I believe Freddie Freeman is who ended up getting credited with an error in that on that play. but Hamilton ends up on second base. Churio grounds out. Advances Hamilton to third. So now we've got a runner on third in a tie game in the bottom of the sixth with Bryce Terrang, left handed hitter, do up. Tanner Scott is warming for the Dodgers. So here are the two decisions for Dave Roberts. Bottom of the sixth, you've got one out. You could go to Tanner Scott. You could use him in this spot. You could burn Brock Stewart, burn Tanner Scott, go lefty lefty. Then you'd have Contreras up next. Maybe you intentionally walk him. Maybe you pitch to him with Tanner Scott. And then you could get to Bowers, who's another lefty, and go that route. Or you could leave Brock Stewart in. You could intentionally walk Bryce Terrang, who's been killing you in this series, to get a righty on righty matchup between Brock Stewart and Wilson William Contreras. Contreras, by the way, known for being a guy who hits into double place. And so knowing that that's what they need, Dave Roberts, I think, gambles. I think this is a 60, 40 where he took the 40 and he said, Can I, can I bet a little? Can I cheat a little bit? Can I try and get two more outside of Brock Stewart? Can I save Tanner Scott? Can I extend my bullpen a little bit, knowing that, hey, maybe this game goes to extras. Maybe I need Tanner Scott later. He tries that. He walks to Rang, who, by the way, had been awesome, hit the home run in game one. Goes to Contreras, who has just hit a home run off of Bubic the inning before. And unfortunately, Brock Stewart makes a terrible pitch. He hangs the slider. Contreras bangs it into left field. It's five to four. Then Tanner Scott comes in, and what does Tanner Scott do? He makes Dave Roberts look really dumb because he strikes out Bowers and he strikes out Yelich and the inning is over. So obviously, in hindsight, going to Tanner Scott would have been the move. That's not what Dave Roberts ends up doing. Again, I understand the reasons why Dave Roberts did what he did, but sometimes you gamble. This time he lost. Three decisions. Keeping Shohei Otani fourth, not extending Roki Sasaki, and then staying with Brock Stewart there. I think this was not a great night. For Dave Roberts. And this is a guy, by the way, that I gave the MVP in the NLDS. I thought he pulled every string, made every decision correctly. I think Dave Roberts is fantastic as a manager tonight. He he made three gambles, and sometimes, you know, things go over three. You bet on black and red comes up three times in a row. We got another five dollar super chat here from Jeffers 626. Says Otani's my hero, but he needs to be a man and speak to the media at least once after games. I understand the media can be jackals, but it is part. of the job. Jeffers six two six, thank you for the super chat. Stuff I I mean, I I'm not in the locker room. I don't know all of the dynamics. I I've been around the locker room. I've been around beat reporters and I do know that, you know, there's some guys who talk after every game and who are available and there's other guys who don't. Shohe Otani tends to not be a guy who's available all the time. I think the last time he spoke was after the N L D S. I think it's tough. I

mean, obviously there's complicated stuff, needing a translator, all of that type of thing, the scrutiny that he is under. But I I think Jeffers is off to it has a great point here with it's tough for Otani to be struggling, but you know, when he's not facing the music, so to speak. You know, you see this in all sports, college b football. This was a big storyline last week. I'm an Oregon Ducks fan. The Oregon Ducks quarterback was terrible. Guess he did? He went and stood in front of the media and he said, I wasn't good enough today. I need to be better, I let my team down, etc. And it's like, kudos to you, you know. Shohei Otani, we don't know the reasons why he hasn't done that. I'm not saying it makes him a bad person, but to Jeffers' point, I think, you know, as a fan, you kind of want to hear him tell you the truth about how things are feeling. Like, does he feel like he's getting close? Does he feel like he's on the verge? Does he feel like he's hurting the team? those are all interesting questions that, you know, we're just not going to know the answer to. So again, thank you for the super chat. Thanks to everyone. 130 people in here live. I know that's not a huge number compared to the all Dodgers, 1100, 1200. That we had tonight, but for a new channel and an unexpected live show, thank you to each and every one of you. If you're new here, please like, subscribe, ring the notification bell. Would greatly appreciate it. Let's talk about the Dodgers offense a little bit. just three hits and two walks in this game. The only reason the Dodgers were in this game is because the Brewers were a mess. I, you know, AJ, who I used to do Dodger heads with back in the day, he posted the this the dragons meme where one dragon looks super scary and the other one looks silly, and it's Logan Henderson throwing to home plate, like he's one of the best pitchers. Logan Henderson throwing to first base, clearly incapable of doing anything. I mean, that's what kept the Dodgers alive. the first inning, they score on a walk. They advance the runner, pitch in the dirt to third, and it's a sack fly. One nothing Dodgers. Dodgers in the third, leadoff single for Edmund. It's a liner off the shortstop. He can't handle Henderson. Throws away a pickoff pitch or a pickoff throw. All of a sudden, it's two to one Dodgers. top of the fifth. Kyle Tucker, leadoff double. First extra base hit for the Dodgers in the NLCS. Tommy Edmund. Bunt. Guess what happens? Thrown into right field. Dodgers are 0 for 3 with runners in scoring position and had three runs at that point. Freddy adds a sacrifice fly after Mookie moves him over, and it's four to three Dodgers. Again, Dodgers 0 for 4 in this one, 1 for 10 in the series with runners in scoring position. Only two left on base today, but that's not really a good thing because nobody was actually getting on base for the Dodgers. So the question is. Is there a pulse for the Dodgers? I mean, what's interesting is Mookie Betts, he reaches twice today. Freddie Freeman, 0 for 3 with a sackfly RBI. Tiasca Hernandez, 0 for 3 with a sackfly and an RBI. Shohe Otani, 0 for 4. Will Smith, 0 for 4. He's now hitting 043 with one walk and 043 slagging percentage. Max Muncie, 0 for 3 with a walk. Miguel Rojas, 4 for excuse me, 0 for 3 with a strikeout. Rojas, 0 for 1 with a strikeout. Pajes, 0 for 2 with a walk. And a strikeout. Kyle Tucker one for three. Tommy Edmund one for two with the sacrifice bunt in there as well. So Dodgers offense. In the first game, they put tons of pressure on. They had traffic. They couldn't get the slug. They couldn't get the big hit. In the second game, they kind of were the opposite. They were able to cash in runs, two sacrifice flies. They kind of moved guys over when they needed to. The problem was they didn't have very many guys to move over in this game. And so I think with the pitching that the Brewers are going to have out there in game three. And then game four. I think there's reasons for optimism if you're the Dodgers to believe that maybe the offense is going to get right. I think the fact that you've seen your ebay twice, the fact that you've seen Ashby twice, Ashby, you know, again, having thrown four innings now in this series so far, you know, maybe not available in excuse me, three and two thirds, I guess. Maybe not available in game number three, even with the off day. hopefully the Dodgers can take advantage of of some advantageous situations. all right, let's talk Blake Snow. Blake Snell on the mound for the Dodgers in game number three. we know the story with Blake Snell was fantastic this season. It was a 1.9 ERA. and then in game, you know, against the Braves, game number three, game number two, excuse me, three and two thirds, three hits, one earned run, five walks, and five strikeouts. I think the thing that scares me about Blake Snell, and it's not rocket science here, is the five walks. And it's not because of the five walks, it's because this team is the Milwaukee Brewers and they'll love to take walks. They love to grind guys out. And so if Blake Snell can't command the strike zone, we know that's part of his game, effectively wild, getting guys to chase, et cetera, et cetera. Yammodal couldn't get guys to chase. His chase rate on the splitter was down 11% tonight. His season chase rate was down, I believe, three or four percent tonight. So if Blake Snell's got to be in the zone and he's got to be effective, do I think he's capable of that? Absolutely. I think he's capable of dominating. I think it is more than likely he is going to be the best pitcher the Dodgers have had so far in the season. It's a low bar. Scoobyl and Yamamoto not going very deep, but I think it is likely that Snell is going to be good. Can you get five innings out of him? Because the other piece here is game two against the Braves. Snell had an off day right after. So the Dodgers could just throw the entire bullpen at this game. Game three, however, is

the first of three games in three nights. All at home, but the Dodgers are gonna have to lean on their bullpen. Glass now the next day, and then Scoobyl in game five if they can get there. With you know, six or seven guys having pitched Already in game number two. If the Dodgers can get five plus innings from Blake Snow, if he can get them, you know, one earned run in five innings, it would be such a massive boost to this team. Give the offense some runway. Like Robert Gasser, the Dodgers should be able to score three or four runs in the first five innings in game number three. Ultimately, I believe that the pitching is going to end up doing its job. It's going to come down to whether or not the offense can string together enough hits, can find the home run ball. in time to make this series competitive. I think they can. I believe they can. but again, it now you're, you know, we're talking small sample sizes. The Dodgers are two losses away from their season being over. They've done this before. 2020 NLCS down two games to zero to the Braves. They come back and win, go on to win the World Series. Last year against the Blue Jays, they're down three games to two, heading to Toronto for game six and seven. Like I I felt way worse heading into game six of the World Series than I did than I do heading into game three. They got three games at home. They could very easily head back to Milwaukee with a lead in this series. you know, so we'll see, we'll see if the Dodgers can do that. But I I believe those things are possible. Again, the implied odds are that the Dodgers have a good chance of winning game three. And if it's two to one with two more games in LA, I think all of us are going to feel a whole lot better 48 hours from now with that one. So with that said, let's get to some questions. If you've got any questions, all caps questions, throw those in the chat I would love to get those. again, thank you to everybody hopping in here live. Thank you to those listening after the fact. If you're new, bleed dodger blue podcast, try and do some stuff about once a week during the season. Obviously, NLCS gonna try and get a little more active. I don't know if it's gonna be these post post shows or videos posted in the morning, but if you've got any questions, go ahead and throw those in the chat. looking at the the other game, Cleveland seven to three over Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, I know had jumped out to an early lead. in that one two to nothing, but Cleveland, a run in the sixth, a run in the seventh, two in the eighth, and three in the ninth. I did see that of all people, Patrick Bailey had a big home run in that one to tie the game. Dela Chase Delauder, Bailey home run, Lau with a single to make it four to two. Mullins gets one back, four to three. And then Ramirez singles, Adele doubles, seven to three, in that one. Obi Wan says question any roster lineups that any lineup changes that you would make in this one. Lefty on the mound. So that's worth pointing out. I don't think that changes the top two guys, the top three guys, honestly, it with Gasser on the mound. I think it's Mookie one, it's Freddie two. I would stick with Teoscar Hernandez three. but then I I would get Kyle Tucker into the fourth spot. Like Kyle Tucker's been awesome. Competitive at bats, grinding at bats. I absolutely trust him to do the thing that he's trying to do doubled tonight. I would put Kyle Tucker fourth. I would put Pahay's fifth. I would put Muncie sixth. And then you get into a question of what do you do with Shohei Otani? I believe Kike Hernandez. I mean, like you could talk me into Kike batting seventh against a left-handed hitter. Realistically, I'd probably put Kike ninth, but you know, I'd go Shohe Otani seventh. Will Smith eighth. Kike Hernandez ninth. I know you line up a couple lefties in a row and a couple righties there. But yeah, like Will Smith and Shohei Otani should be in the lineup. I don't think I'm ready for Hunter Fiducia. And like I said, I think I still think even though the athletic is reporting the Dodgers are considering benching Shohei Otani, I don't think that's likely necessarily. but I I would move those guys down. I'd have them hitting seventh and eighth, put Kike or Tommy Edman ninth, whoever you want in that spot, and then save Hosway De Paula for a big pinch hit spot would be would be my my advice. Raul, question how long is Snell's leash in game number three? it's a great question. As we mentioned, three games in three days, I think changes the equation a little bit. The Dodgers opted not to have a true long man. I think Justin Robleski is the closest. Obviously, Edgardo Enriquez, I he gets you five or six outs, maybe Roki Sasaki if the timing is right. But they don't have a bailout button of like an Emmett Sheehan who can go eat four innings for you necessarily, or not in a way that you would want him to. So I think there's pressure on Blake Snell to give them some length. I again five would be fantastic. I'm not asking for seven innings. From Blake Snell. If you can just get five and then only need twelve outs from the bullpen, I think that would be the dream scenario for the Dodgers. Now, what happens if if it's a Yamamoto situation where maybe he grinds his way through through three, but he struggled in the third and he's at seventy eight pitches? Like, I think it's gonna be a lot harder to go drain your bullpen in game number three, knowing that you have four and five. The flip side is you need to win this game. Like, these are the tough decisions for Dave Roberts. And so, I think the leash, I think it's gonna get extended. I think he's gonna have like a Brock Stewart-esque leash where maybe he trusts Blake Snell to try and get out of one jam more than the average fan would be comfortable. How's that for an answer? my guy, Canadian J Dog, Jason, the man who gave me, let's see, got my Brooklyn Dodger sat for you there, Jason. Sent it to me. I appreciate that. He says, Hey

Jeff, you may have covered it already. I'm just in after the Canadian Thanksgiving. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, by the way. Is this purely on the offense? Minimal extra base hits. It is interesting to ask, and I I I would love to hear from people in the chat. Throw throw your answer to this one in the chat. The blame pie for the loss in game number two. Yamamoto, the offense, the umpire, Dave Roberts. Like, how do you divvy that up? Because I think Yamamoto deserves a chunk. Like maybe it's 40% Yamamoto. I it's the offense scored four runs, which is funny because on the flip side they were atrocious, and if not for a bunch of errors by the Brewers, they were a disaster. So maybe it's 55% offense, 40% Yamamoto, and then, you know, 3% umpire, 2% Dave Roberts. Maybe that's how I would shake out the blame pie on this one. but yeah, it's the offense has to be better. And they were good. Like they they were they were good's probably the wrong word. They put 13 guys on base in game one against Miz. Against the three best relievers Milwaukee had. So I had reason to believe that maybe they would be competitive, but tonight was not competitive, unfortunately. Vinny with a question. Since you just brought it up, rank these from worst to least bad. The twenty twenty NLCS down three to one, the twenty twenty four NLDS down two to zero, the twenty twenty five World Series down three to two, and right now. that is a fantastic question. let me just look up one thing. Okay, so we've got NLCS against the Braves, 2020, 2024 NLDS down two to zero, twenty twenty five World Series down three to two against the Blue Jays, NLDS against the Padres, and then right now. this is the least bad of all of those situations. And I would actually say it's the least bad by like a lot. Because if you look at the rest of those, 2020 NLCS, the Dodgers have to win three in a row. 2024 NLDS, the Dodgers have to win three in a row. 2025 World Series, they have to win two in a row. in Toronto in the World Series. Like there is no margin for error. I think the NLDS was probably the it's hard because the World Series is exaggerated, right? So you feel the worst about potentially losing the World Series. But as far as like odds of winning, I think the 2024 NLDS was probably the smallest odds of winning. Because you knew the Dodgers needed to come back and you knew they had a bullpen game coming. Like they had no pitching. This game it's like, they're down two but like we have pitching advantage in three of the next four games. That wasn't the case in 2024. So that was probably the worst. I would probably say the NLCS having to win three in a row in 2020 would be next, then the World Series and then this, as far as like odds, I thought the Dodgers would actually win the series. If we're talking about like how bad I felt, I would say the World Series, I felt the worst. The twenty twenty NLCS, remember, they hadn't won anything. So we were just like prepared for the Dodgers to not ever have anything good happen to them. The NLDS, I the Padres, losing to the Padres. Like again, I I just think I feel so much better about this situation than all the rest of those. And I'd be curious to hear from people in the comments. Do I feel that way because the Dodgers have won three World Series since 2020? Or do I feel that way because it's the Brewers and it's only two games? probably a little bit of both. So great question though, Vinny. That's a fun one. Skeer loves baseball says hypothetically, if you replaced Otani with an injury, could you replace him with a pitcher? you couldn't. Only because they already have 13 pitchers. So you couldn't get to a 14th pitcher. Otani is a two way player. I I guess in theory you could replace him with a two way player, but that doesn't exist. I think Sheehan could be helpful if we were to get back into this. I was surprised Sheehan wasn't on the roster. I was also surprised Jack Dreyer wasn't on the roster ahead of Bubich, but you know, neither here nor there. Luis, with the question Do you think it has been these last two games a Brewer's lineup is better than the Dodgers, or that Dodgers starters haven't been great? I think Dodgers starters haven't been great. I posted on Twitter. the 2026 Dodgers will live and die with their starting pitchers, and so far in two games they've died. I don't think the offense has helped them out. I think the pitching has been quote unquote good enough to win, but I I don't think they've gotten good performances out of Scuba or Yamamoto, unfortunately. But again, like, you know, when you only score one run, you're never gonna win, like no matter how good your pitching is. So, yeah, but I I I think it's more of that the Dodgers pitching has not been good enough. In this one. Even you look at tonight, like the the pitch Brock Stewart, the the the Bubich home run to Contreras, the single that Stewart gave up, like they're just terrible pitches. It's not like the Jose Ramirez home run, if you saw that, where he hit this ball that's six inches below the zone and he yanks it to the h to right field. You just tip your cap and say, That's stupid, whatever. Like even the pitch Tarang hit yesterday off Scuba is a pretty good pitch. Like borderline off the plate. So, yeah, I think it's more bad pitching. And by the 2024 NLD has somebody correcting the Dodgers are on two to one, not two zero. So there you go. Good point. Red Hat says pie blame splits, pitching forty percent offense fifty five, and Dave five percent for putting Otani and your janitor back to back. fair. Hello, Swill and Sausage. I see you in the chat. Hello, good to see you. but yeah. So I I look, I'm not saying things are great for the Dodgers. I'm not saying things that that are miraculously going to get better. but as it currently stands, You know, that that's where they're at. Swell and sausage asks, the guys that followed Roky aren't the Dodgers bread and butter. Why did they pull him? you know, Dave Roberts said

he didn't like Roky against all those lefties. He thought that was a good lane for Bubitch. Clearly it wasn't. Bubic gives up a home run to the righty, but he was kind of a mess against everybody. And he was sort of a mess in the NLDS, although you could write it off, say, Tao needs to make that play, and if Tao makes the play, then things are a little bit different. But that that's the part with Dave. I think it's defensible the idea of like, hey, there's five of the next six guys or whatever that, you know, I'd have to go look at the lineup, but there's a bunch of lefties coming up. I think it's defensible to say, I don't want Roki pitching to all these lefties. So we're gonna go to a lefty. That makes sense. The problem was Bubic stunk. And maybe maybe going to Bubic was the mistake because we should have expected him to stink. clearly he's higher than Justin Robleski on the trust tree. They had to use Vesia earlier to get one out. Like again, these are the cascading effects. Yamamoto can't get through the third. They have to burn Vesia, which means when you get back to the string of lefties, your best lefty, not named Tanner Scott, is unavailable. They could have gone to Tanner Scott there early. There probably would have been some criticism of that, but You probably could have justified it. Hey he's not the closer anyways. Like just go get some big outs while the game is in the balance. I I wonder I mean, obviously Dave wouldn't go back to to Bubich, but I I like I wonder if Dave's move there would have been just to go straight to Tanner Scott. versus sticking with Roki Sasaki for three more outs. so don't care one eighty seven. Can I panic now? no, you're not allowed to. Here's here's my deal. If the Dodgers lose in four games, The series is gonna the season is going to be over on Thursday night. What is that? 72 hours from now, the season might be over. You will have so many days and nights and months to panic and to be sad and to be mad and to doom and all those things. Like, just enjoy the fact that your team is still playing baseball. There's four fan bases that get to watch baseball games right now and their team is still playing. We're one of the four. And and we're not even like, On the verge of elimination yet. The joke is, is is the next game a must-win game? The answer is no. It's not a must-win. They could lose and still be alive. So enjoy that. Like, yeah, of course, things aren't going the way that you want. Scuba wasn't that great. Yamamoto wasn't that great. The offense has been disappointing. All of those things very true. Is it likely that the Dodgers are going to lose to the Brewers? Yes. Greater than 50% chance they lose. It's probably 70% chance that the Dodgers don't come back in this series and they lose. Some people would say it's much higher. But my thing is like. We can complain about them having lost once they have lost. For now, we can complain about how they aren't playing well. We can wish they would be better.

We can say, why don't they move Otani down in the lineup? All those things are fair. But like when the Dodgers were down three to two, I had people in my mention saying it's over the offense. How can you possibly believe? Guess what? They scored two more runs. They took the lead. Then they gave up the runs. Like, just wait until the bad thing happens to to to react against the bad thing. That that's my answer. And again, I don't I'm I try not to tell other people that. How to fan. These are just the people that come to me in my comments, in my questions, asking me, don't care 187. You've been a good fan of the show and a supporter of this stuff. So again, that isn't me selling anybody else like you're stupid for panicking. That's just my view. Is wait, wait for the bad thing to happen before complaining about the bad thing. Luis with another question. What do you think should be the offensive approach in game three? Attack mode or try to make the starter increase the pitch count early in the game to get to their bullpen. This is a tough one because. Three games in three days, the my default is grind it out. Get the pitch count up. If you can get to the bullpen in like the fourth inning and make them burn all these relievers in game one of three in three days, that's great. The flip side is if you're playing against a pitcher who's not very good, be aggressive. Like, is Robert Gasser being in the game a good thing or a bad thing for the Dodgers? Like, do you want him out? Is he better or worse to hit against than the guys coming behind him? If you feel like you can hit him, be aggressive. Like I think the Dodgers offense needs to figure out something. They've done the grinded out thing. It's, you know, it worked against Chris Sale. It sort of worked against Mizorowski. It just didn't result in a ton of runs. so I think you could go either way, Luis. I think it's a great question. But yeah, I I could be talked into either, I guess is the short answer there. we got another super chat here. So music to my ears, nine nine nine, ten dollar super chat. Thank you, sir. It's the haunted hotel. We've got this. There you go. Just come back home. Sleep in your own bed. You know, Will Smith's got his own pillow again. And maybe that's the difference. Thank you for the super chat. Apologies to people with super chats. I can't throw these up here. I I've got a weird software that that claims that I can do all these things, and unfortunately, they don't exist on this. So I apologize for that. Jason with another super chat, Canadian friend. Did you notice Tao pulling up on the foul ball? Pitch nine versus Bowers. That can get Yama out of the inning. We we talked about this a little bit on all Dodgers, and I'd love to hear thoughts. Maybe I'm in the minority. When that ball landed, I think every Dodger fan thought the same thing, which was like Muncie's busting it to get there. And Teo is, come on, buddy, you gotta get there. The ball lands in the dirt. What are we doing? When they showed the replay, I felt like Teo was hustling. Like I don't think he's the fastest guy in the world. He wasn't positioned right along the line. Like I think he had a long way to go. I think Smoltz made a good point that when you're the outfielder and Muncie is sprinting back right at you, it's pretty hard to sell out for a ball. You're not trying to collide. I I don't think he I don't know. I I thought Tao gave like a reasonable effort. I'm not saying he couldn't have tried harder. He couldn't have laid out for it. I just think it was bad luck. And then, you know, sure enough, I think it's like the next pitch or two pitches later. Somehow he hits another foul ball that lands right in between Muncie and Will Smith, right in front of the dugout 'cause it didn't go very high. Like just ridiculous. So I don't know. For me, I I don't think that was Teo's fault necessarily, but maybe I'm wrong. So Raul says I still chuckle that fan bases go troll on a Dodgers podcast and pay for super chat. yeah, hey, if if any Giants fans, the Giant fan that was in the all Dodgers chat, if you want to come in here and throw me five bucks, no complaints. there. people pointing out the Fister Hotel is supposedly haunted. let's see if we got any more questions there. I don't think so. Any more questions? All caps questions, throw those in the chat. in the meantime, if you're a fan of this show, thank you. Subscribe, ring the notification bell. if you want to support the show financially, super chats, which many of you have done. We don't do a ton of live shows, so you can become a Patreon member. Patreon.com slash bleed dodger blue link in the description below. five dollars a month goes up to twenty-five dollars a month. A huge way to support the show, and it means a lot to me to know people are supporting it. you can also check out and support the brands that we're partnered with, Foco and Amis are those two. shout out to Foco. You can see the sweet Yoshinobu Yamamoto Double World Series bobblehead that I've got right here. That was a gift from Foco. So thank you to them. The the gold 50-50 Otani. Also a Foco bobblehead as well. And then Ahmed, who actually I believe I'm wearing an Amis shirt right now. No, maybe not. I'm not wearing an Amish shirt, but they're the most comfortable c clothes that I've ever worn. So shout out to Amis. You can click the link below if you want to get any Dodgers gear from either of them. And that's another way to support the show. don't care 187. It's all good speeds. I love your positivity. My coping mechanism is to joke, troll, and doom sometimes. I get it. We all cope in our own ways. swelling sausage, $1.99. Thanks for the nice show. Like, share, and subscribe. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that. as well. Shelley says she's choosing positivity, which, you know, if you're if you're watching my channel, that's probably that's probably why you're here. Mo Love, OG, says, Will the front office change from slug ball

next year with how dead our bats are? This was the run it back year. I don't think they're going to. I I think the the history tells you that more like more often than not, slug is what wins. I mean, the irony is do you want to know why the Brewers are winning this series right now? It's mostly because they're slugging. Because Bryce Tarang hit a home run in game one and Contreras hit a home run in game two. It's the slug that's actually the difference for these teams. So I think that's why the Dodgers are in the NLCS. I think that's why they've won three World Series in the last six years coming into this one. And so sometimes it might look ugly, but the season is not over. The series is not over. So there we go. Sign Stealing Scandal, another familiar name. Thank you. Says, who are you taking with your life on the line? Current Shohei Otani or 06 Olmado signs. let's look up, let's look up Olmato signs. the tomato, as a as a as a friend of mine would say, obviously a professional hitter. The other thing you could always say about Olmato signs is. let's see what let's see what 06 Olmedo was doing. look at this 94 to 2007. They've got they've got Olmedo listed at 6'1, 230. Does anybody believe that? 6'1 and 230. 2006 Olmedo. my gosh. We're clearly taking 2006 Olmedo. You know the answer to this question. 135 weighted runs created plus. My man in a hundred games was slashing two ninety six, three sixty-three, and five sixty-four. Only two hundred played appearances, but eleven home runs. 135 weighted runs credit plus. I you want to talk about a professional hitter. Starting in 2024, 2002, not 22. 120 weighted runs credit plus, then an 04 with the Dodgers. 120, 110, 135. Sadly, a 69 in 2007 is last year, but my man was a professional hitter. Shout out to Omato Signs. Great question. Skear loves baseball. Question Is Scuble available Tuesday for an inning or two as his in between start throw day? Great question. It's a great question. I would guess yes. I mean, the other thing with Scoobyl is like they probably would never say this out loud, but the guy's going to be a free agent at the end of this year. He's like the one dude that, you know, you never want to risk a guy's elbow on purpose, but you you would be less concerned about him potentially risking his arm than anybody else, right? So you could probably justify it. the hard part is with him pitching game five, it would almost seem like somebody like Yamamoto might be more likely to be available to to give you an inning and then have Three more days off after that. So I I don't know if it would be Scoobyl. I don't know if the Dodgers would be that desperate, but I mean if things get weird, you know, I I suppose. I suppose things could get could get crazy there. sign ceiling scanning. We don't talk about 2007 in this house. Apologies, apologies, on that one. So folks, I think that's gonna do it for us. Fifty minutes, 160 people in here live. Amazing. So fun to be with all of you. Thank you. To every single one of you for being in here. Again, this is Bleed Dodger Blue. My name is Jeff Spiegel. You can subscribe, ring the notification bell. Check out Amishin Foco in the links below. Check out the Patreon as well. Dodgers down two games to zero, but as we discussed, they've come back. They've come back from worse. Last year's World Series was worse. They win in and won game six. They were down in game seven. Miguel Rojas, miraculous. Like crazier things have happened, folks. Hopefully, hopefully, we get a three game sweep at Dodgers Stadium. Head back to Milwaukee with the chance to end this. In game six. Thanks to every person who watched. Thank you to those who have subscribed. Enjoy the rest of your night, everyone. As always, go Dodgers. And yes, still champs.