Dodgers lefty Rich Hill will open the season on the injured list with what the team has described to the media as a medial collateral ligament strain in his left knee (Twitter links via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com). The team also revealed that lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu will start Opening Day, with right-hander Ross Stripling is lined up to start the second game of the season.
Hill will join fellow southpaw Clayton Kershaw on the IL to open the season. Kershaw estimated Wedmesday that he’ll need 20 days to build up to game readiness after his latest throwing session (via Gurnick), while Hill will be out for at least a “couple weeks,” though the team hasn’t put forth a more specific timeline than that.
With Kershaw and Hill both out for the start of the season, the Dodgers will look to Ryu, Stripling, Walker Buehler and Kenta Maeda to start games in the early-going. It doesn’t appear as though the Dodgers have definitively determined who’ll open the year as the fifth starter, although Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets that manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that Julio Urias might have to open the year as a starter rather than a reliever.
baseballfan90
Well at least it’s not that blister again I guess…
captainsalty
Internal knee blister
snotrocket
Wish I would have put a prop bet on this over the winter.
imgman09
He’s an old Man with a lot of Miles,don’t be surprised at anything,all their Starters are very questionable one way or another
empirejim
Hill may be older, but he has never had ” a lot of miles”. Most teams in the league are striving to have a pitching staff as “questionable” as the Dodgers
Basebal101
You obviously no zero about the Dodger’s
leefieux
You obviously know zero about………
captainsalty
That’s a know know
BlueSkyLA
More like a know not, but point taken.
BigFred
It’s “Dodgers” not “Dodger’s”.
jwardrip99
Know way?!
baseballfan90
Know weigh?! This is fun!
HalosHeavenJJ
Buehler is the ace of that staff now. And the opening starting 5 is likely enough to win the West.
Getting the elder statesmen healthy and having them ready later in the season is the correct focus.
empirejim
Pitching depth. The Dodgers have it.
PacificBlue
Good that we have a lot of depth on this roster.
scuba17
I love Wedmesdays.
Sinhalo75
Called Dodgers unstable rotation months ago after dealing Wood in the big Cincy trade. Definitely not close to how good they’ve been the last 2 years and definitely not getting back to the WS this season.
abcrazy4dodgers
Um, the guys the Dodgers have “to fall back on” are all Three’s in most rotations, and Two’s in a few other’s
Sinhalo75
Lololol Ryu Maeda Urias, Stripling… more band aids, spare parts, injury concerns abound than any #2s there
Basebal101
The lack of intelligence of so many on this site is really scary. Truely
kenleyfornia2
Lol Alex Wood was bureid in the depth chart. He will not at all be a diffrence in their performance
Sinhalo75
Buried by bands aids, part time guys, wegding Urias into the rotation and more injuries. XD
kenleyfornia2
Yup band aids and part time guys can really win you 2 pennants in a row.
Sinhalo75
Weaker division helped them. They barely won division last season and the gap only has been getting more narrow and their SPs are older, more injury prone and Urias potentially starting is a hit to the pen. Lost Kemp, Puig, Manny, Grandal, Dozier… replaced with AJ lol, Russ Martin, Freese, Seager turning… net negative. Sure it was a nice run.
fred-3
of course when the division was at its strongest, they won 104 games
captainsalty
Seager turning? Dude you are the worst kind of troll
Yelsnit
This is what we call “Salty”, folks!
Sinhalo75
Returning… some can make that deduction. I saw he played 1 game this spring. Cool story. XDDDDD
kenleyfornia2
I didn’t know it was 1950 and winning the division is an automatic world series trip. Or that the NL west was weak in 2017 when three teams made it. Everyone on planet earth is getting older. Guess Dodgers age faster than the rest of the NL
Sinhalo75
No use moving the goal posts.
As the saying goes…
Eat breathe blue… for 6 innings
XDDDDD
pr0ject2501
There were no divisions in 1950.
Sinhalo75
Good catch… only AL & NL
That was all.
kenleyfornia2
6 innings is what every teams starter averages these days. Keep reaching for your nonsense
Sinhalo75
Lol the fans are usually out before the SPs get the hook in LA… loving that fairweather out there huh… eat breathe blue…. for 6 innings maybe XDDDDD
captainsalty
I’d rather have some of the Dodgers position players in my pitching rotation than the Angels pitching rotation
spinach
Think they should try for Keuchel, 3/$50m or something. Help them this year and cover them next year with Ryu and Hill fa.
1988wasalongtimeago
Fork meet Dodgers
empirejim
It’s ok Giants fan….. someday your team will be relevant again and then you can start posting your “3 in 5” and feel all warm and fuzzy
Yelsnit
Don’t forget the “even year” garbage that they had going as well………….
Xavier Blaine
“With right handed Ross Stripling is lined up to start the second game of the season”
Not tying to hate or anything, but sometimes I really wish there was an editor on this website. In the previous post “Wednesday” is misspelled as “Wedmesday” as well. Love the content regardless.
Senioreditor
They have a nasty first month. This will not start well. I’m guessing 6 pitchers with 20 starts and then various others. The “new” pitching staff.
Yelsnit
Dodgers had a nasty first-month last year as well…………..
puigpower
Yeah I guess I can deal with another bad first month if we win another pennant
OilCanLloyd
Give us decent offer on Stroman.
DarkSide830
if this is what takes them to keep Urias in the rotation they were evidently trying to keep him out of it intentionally.
kenleyfornia2
Every year since since 2015 we have heared about how the Dodgers rotation is going to collapse due to injury prone players and it doesn’t happen. Its funny how much of a sheep some people are by believing that. The Dodgers manipulate it this way because they can. This is proven by the fact these players NEVER happen to miss october. What a coincidence.
fred-3
Meanwhile, contending teams like the Brewers and Phillies barely have 5 starters to choose from without injuries.
kenleyfornia2
Exactly the Brewers used openers and tried to toy around in the NLCS. I think were good.
rebchipper
Looks like the Dodgers will be shopping for pitchers at the trade deadline.
Yelsnit
Why?
BlueSkyLA
Because it felt so good to say it.
petrie000
I wonder if most baseball sites have a permanent ‘Rich Hill is injured’ article on file just to save time…
rycm131
What!!!!!????
sincere3
It’s time for Stripling and Urías to shine.
Thronson5
This is ridiculous to me. The fact they didn’t add any starters is crazy to me and they are opening the season with mediocre starting pitching and even when Hill and Kershaw come back it’s just a matter of time before they get hurt again. Buehler and Urias are the only bright spots for this rotation.
RIPprosports
Hopefully you’re not a Dodger fan to make this ridiculous comment. Buehler, Ryu, Stripling, Maeda, and Urias is a solid rotation. Then throw Kershaw and Hill in when they get
healthy. Zero reason to spend money on another arm at this time. See how it looks come all star break.