LOS ANGELES – The great Sandy Koufax, who averaged almost eight innings in his seven postseason starts, took his usual lower box seat to watch another Dodgers relay race of pitchers take place. Imagine if Truffaut were around to watch Tik Tok videos and you get a sense of how much playoff baseball has changed.
By now the Dodger October postmodern script is familiar: pull the starting pitcher as the lineup turns over a third time and match up a cadre of relievers against certain “runways” of hitters in the opposing lineup. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts, for the 71st time in running 78 postseason games, yanked his starter without letting him throw 100 pitches. Julio Urías, his best pitcher, was gone after 79 pitches and five innings. The manager then deployed four relievers who combined for four shutout innings to preserve a 5–3 Dodgers win over the Padres on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
But there was one wrinkle this time to the Dodger blueprint: without Kenley Jansen (who left after last season for Atlanta as a free agent) and Craig Kimbrel (left off the roster because of ineffectiveness), Roberts for the first time has no established closer in October. No problem.
