Game 1: at Giants, today, 6:37 p.m., TBS Game 2: at Giants, Saturday, 6:07p.m., TBS Game 3: at Dodgers, Monday, 6:37p.m., TBS x-Game 4: at Dodgers, Tuesday, 6:07p.m., TBS x-Game 5: at Giants, Thursday, 6:07 p.m., TBS x- if necessary
Head to head: The Giants won the regularseason series, 10-9.
Trea Turner (.328 .375 .536, 28 HRs, 77 RBIs, 107runs, 32SBs), 3B Justin Turner (.278 .361 .471, 27 HRs, 87 RBIs), C Will Smith (.258 .365 .495, 25HRs, 76RBIs), LF AJ Pollock (.297 .355 .536, 21 HRs, 69RBIs), 1B Matt Beaty (.270 .363 .402, 7HRs, 40RBIs), CF Cody Bellinger
(.165 .240 .302, 10HRs, 36RBIs)
The Giants under the Farhan Zaidi-Gabe Kapler leadership pursue matchup advantages as aggressively as the Dodgers once did — remember the “line changes” of 2018? It works. The Giants scored 804 runs, second in the National League to the Dodgers’ 830. And they hit home runs, lots of them, the most in the NL — despite not having any real power hitters. Ten different Giants hit between 10and 29home runs this season.
Like the Dodgers with Max Muncy, though, the Giants will have to compensate for the loss of a key piece of their lineup.
First baseman Brandon Belt — the Giants’ leader in home runs (29) and OPS (.975) — will miss the NLDS due to a fractured left thumb.
EDGE: EVEN
STARTING PITCHERS
GIANTS: RH Logan Webb (11-3, 3.03ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 9.6 Ks per 9 IP), RH Kevin Gausman (14-6, 2.81ERA, 1.04WHIP, 10.6Ks per 9IP), LH Alex Wood (10-4, 3.83ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 9.9 Ks per 9 IP), RH Anthony DeSclafani (13-7, 3.17ERA, 1.09WHIP, 8.2 Ks per 9 IP)
DODGERS: RH Walker Buehler (16-4, 2.47ERA, 0.97WHIP, 9.2Ks per 9IP), LH Julio Urias (20-3, 2.96ERA, 1.02WHIP, 9.5 Ks per 9 IP), RH Max Scherzer (15-4, 2.46ERA, 0.86WHIP, 11.8Ks per 9IP), RH Tony Gonsolin (4-1, 3.23ERA, 1.35WHIP, 10.5 Ks per 9 IP)
Like everything about the 2021Giants, their starting pitchers are better than you realize. Kevin Gausman was the staff leader for much of the season but 24-year-old Logan Webb has emerged as a budding ace in his first full season at the big-league level. Over his last 20starts, Webb had a 2.40ERA and the Giants won 18times. The Dodgers haven’t faced him since July. Meanwhile, Gausman has been uneven with a 4.12ERA over his past 10 starts.
Max Scherzer was not sharp in the wildcard game against the Cardinals. But the Dodgers are counting on the trio of Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer and Julio Urias to set the tone for them in this series.
EDGE: DODGERS
BULLPEN
GIANTS: RH Tyler Rogers (7-1, 2.22ERA, 13saves, 1.07WHIP, 6.1Ks per 9IP), LH Jose Alvarez (5-2, 2.37ERA, 1.11WHIP, 5.8 Ks per 9 IP), RH Zack Littell (4-0, 2.92 ERA, 2saves, 1.14WHIP, 9.2Ks per 9IP), LH Jake McGee (3-2, 2.72ERA, 31saves, 5blown saves, 0.91WHIP, 8.7Ks per 9
DAVID CRANE — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Dodgers’ Trea Turner breaks his bat during the third inning of Wednesday’s NL wild-card win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Turner won the NL batting title this year.
DODGERS: RH Kenley Jansen (4-4, 2.22 ERA, 38saves, 5blown saves, 1.04WHIP, 11.2 Ks per 9 IP), RH Blake Treinen (6-5, 7 saves, 1.99ERA, 0.98WHIP, 10.6Ks per 9 IP), RH Corey Knebel (4-0, 2.45ERA, 3 saves, 0.97WHIP, 10.5Ks per 9IP), RH Brusdar Graterol (3-0, 4.59ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 7.3 Ks per 9 IP), RH Joe Kelly (2-0, 2.86ERA, 2saves, 0.98WHIP, 10.2Ks per 9IP), LH Alex Vesia (3-1, 2.25ERA, 1save, 0.98, 12.2Ks per 9IP), RH Phil Bickford (4-2, 2.81ERA, 1save, 1.07WHIP, 10.3 Ks per 9IP), LH Justin Bruihl (0-1, 2.89 ERA, 1.07WHIP, 5.3Ks per 9IP), LH David Price (5-2, 4.03 ERA, 1 save, 1.43 WHIP, 7.1 Ks per 9 IP), LH Julio Urias (20-3, 2.96 ERA, 1.02WHIP, 9.5Ks per 9IP), RH Tony Gonsolin (4-1, 3.23ERA, 1.35WHIP, 10.5 Ks per 9 IP)
There are no familiar names in the Giants’ bullpen corps — unless you remember Jake McGee from his small role in the 2020 Dodger bullpen. But the sum of the parts (and the constant search for matchup advantages) has been outstanding. The Giants led the majors with a 2.99 bullpen ERA and had the lowest walk rate of any bullpen (2.73 per nine innings). McGee could be limited by an oblique injury he suffered in September, but the Giants have uncovered a potentially valuable weapon in Camilo Doval (37strikeouts and 19 hits in 27 innings).
Meanwhile, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged after Wednesday’s wild-card win that this is the best, deepest bullpen he has ever had to work with in the postseason. Over the final month of the season, Dodgers relievers held opposing batters to a .188batting average and .285on-base percentage. After Roberts pulled Scherzer early in the wild-card game, five Dodgers relievers — Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, Corey Knebel, Blake Treinen and Kenley Jansen — allowed just two hits over 4- / scoreless innings with Jansen striking out the side in the ninth. EDGE: DODGERS
BENCH
GIANTS: IF Donovan Solano
(.280 .344 .404, 7HRs, 31RBIs), IF Wilmer Flores (.262 .335 .447, 18HRs, 53 RBIs), OF Austin Slater (.241 .320 .423, 12 HR, 32 RBIs), OF-1B Darin Ruf
(.271 .385 .519, 16HRs, 43RBIs), C Curt Casali (.210 .313 .350, 5HRs, 26RBIs) DODGERS: IF-OF Chris Taylor
(.254 .344 .438, 20 HRs, 73 RBIs, 13 SBs), C Austin Barnes (.215 .299 .345, 6 HRs), 1B Albert Pujols (.236 .284 .433, 17HRs, 50RBIs), IF-OF Gavin Lux
(.242 .328 .364, 7HRs, 46RBIs)
Chris Taylor came off the bench to hit the walk-off home run in Wednesday’s wildcard win. But it’s the Giants who have the greater firepower on the bench regardless of how they configure their starting lineup. That’s why they set the MLB record with 17 pinch-hit home runs this season.
EDGE: GIANTS
MANAGERS
GIANTS: Gabe Kapler, fourth season overall, second with Giants (297-249, .544), first postseason
DODGERS: Dave Roberts, sixth season (542-330, .622), sixth postseason (3927, .591)
Kapler spent four seasons as the Dodgers’ farm director under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and GM Farhan Zaidi. He interviewed for the job as Dodgers manager and was considered the frontrunner to replace Don Mattingly for the 2016 season. But there were concerns among some veteran players that Kapler was too closely tied to Friedman and Dave Roberts got the job instead.
Kapler did get his chance to manage in Philadelphia, where his new-age bent and adherence to an analytical approach did not go over well. He was fired after two seasons and landed with Zaidi in
San Francisco, where he is a lock to win the National League Manager of the Year award for the 2021 season.
EDGE: DODGERS
SERIES PREDICTION
Despite vastly different expectations this season, the Dodgers and Giants have been as close as two teams can get. Counting the Dodgers’ wild-card victory over the Cardinals, both teams have now won 107 games this season. Head to head, the Giants narrowly won the season series, 10-9. Five of those games were decided by one run. Two went extra innings and two were decided on walk-offs. Overall, just two runs (80-78) separated the two rivals over their 19 meetings. Why should anything change now? This series figures to be played on a razor’s edge.
PICK: DODGERS IN FIVE