We’ve already covered some notable roster additions for the Guardians and Mets as the Division Series begins, and the Royals are sticking with the same 26 players used in the Wild Card Series against the Orioles. Now that all eight teams in the LDS rounds have revealed their rosters, here are the details…
- The Padres made two changes from their NLDS roster, adding left-hander Martin Perez and right-hander Alek Jacob and removing Joe Musgrove and infielder Nick Ahmed. Musgrove was obviously out due to his impending Tommy John surgery, while replacing Ahmed with a pitcher gives San Diego 13 pitchers to go with 13 position players. Perez is one of five southpaws on San Diego’s roster, as ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (X link) was among those who noted that the Padres are guarding themselves as best they can against Shohei Ohtani and other powerful left-handed Dodgers bats.
- The Dodgers will go with an even mix of 13 batters and 13 pitchers, and rookie Edgardo Henriquez has made the list of available arms. Henriquez only made his MLB debut on September 24 and he has played in just three games as a big leaguer, but Los Angeles will give the hard-throwing righty a look in October to add some velocity to the bullpen. It’s probably safe to assume that Henriquez wouldn’t have made the cut if the Dodgers weren’t ravaged by pitching injuries, yet the rookie also got the nod over veteran Joe Kelly, who had an inconsistent year but was pitching well after returning from the IL in mid-September. On the position player side, L.A. didn’t include either Kevin Kiermaier or James Outman, so Andy Pages will be the only true backup outfielder along with utilitymen Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor in the bench mix.
- The Phillies will use 14 position players and 12 pitchers in their NLDS matchup with the Mets, with left-hander Kolby Allard joining the relief corps. Allard has worked as something of a swingman throughout his career, and this ability of covering multiple innings earned Allard the spot, as manager Rob Thomson told MLB.com’s Paul Casella and other reporters. “He’s going to probably give us the most length if we get into an extra-inning game….so I just wanted as much length as we could get,” Thomson said. Utilityman Weston Wilson also got the Phils’ last bench spot, as Casella observes that Wilson brings more positional versatility than outfielder Cal Stevenson.
- The Yankees went heavier on position players (15) than pitchers (11) for their ALDS roster against the Royals. Anthony Rizzo is missing the series due to two broken fingers and DJ LeMahieu wasn’t yet activated from the injured list, but New York still has plenty of room on its bench, including pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis. The Yankees appear to be loading up on bats to take on the Royals’ tough rotation and more porous bullpen, which left right-hander Marcus Stroman off the ALDS roster as the odd man out of the starting staff.
- The Tigers made just one change from their Wild Card Series roster, as rookie righty Keider Montero has been included in place of Casey Mize. Montero posted a 4.76 ERA over 98 1/3 innings in his first Major League season, starting 16 of 19 games. This doesn’t necessarily mean Montero will start against the Guardians in the ALDS, however, as Detroit’s pitching staff (apart from ace Tarik Skubal) is very malleable in terms of specific roles.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
That stroman deal was so bad
YankeesBleacherCreature
Enjoy watching the series!
User 4245925809
YBC- Tell me Trevino isn’t catching him.. KC runs more than Boston does and we both know what Boston did to Stroman..
YankeesBleacherCreature
Wells is starting tonight. Stroman isn’t in this series.
User 4245925809
YBC- Probably alienating half the Sox fans on this site with this…
AL now? Was for the O’s, but can’t (never was) a KC fan and even tho Tigers have had ST where live for decades.. Hoping NYY can get to WS with Sox and O’s out of it.. Makes AL East look better u know..
ZackMorris
Stroman ain’t no Madison Bumgarner, that’s for sure. Hell, he isn’t even on Barry Zito’s level.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Marcus stroman future San Francisco giants pitcher
cpdpoet
The Weston Wilson show continues…..
Bart Harley Jarvis
Good ol’ Weston Wilson!
Jerry Hairston Jr's Toupee
Dodgers gunna miss Kiermaier’s defense in center. But I understand. His bat is just so awful….
Jerry Hairston Jr's Toupee
But so are Taylor and E. Hernandez’s….
B-rocker
Taylor Finished the season strong, slashing .345 (20-for-58)/.433/.586 with 16 runs, five doubles, three homers and nine RBI in his last 25 games since the beginning of September…finished September with the fifth best batting average in the National League, while ranking sixth in the league in OPS and ninth in OBP
B-rocker
Kiké hit .308 in Sept.
BlueSkies_LA
And the other reason he is on the roster is the Padres are loading up on LHP, not to mention, he’s been a postseason monster in the past. Altogether not a difficult or surprising choice.
User 4245925809
Don’t forget he took Jansen deep right after the AS break vs Boston, turning a loss into a win for the LAD..
BlueSkies_LA
We haven’t forgotten. 😉 Though I have to say, Hernandez is another one of those players who came to be disliked in Boston but who has always been a fan fav in LA. Fun to watch play the game, and has a knack for coming through in big moments.
TradeAcuna
Why must baseball be such a b and force me to root for the Phillies with guys like Marsh on the team?! Oh, cause f the Mets and Lindor.
TradeAcuna
Why must baseball be such a b and force me to root for the Padres with guys like Tatison the team?! Oh, cause f the Dodgers..
Mojo37
such a sad, angry little man
ZackMorris
Garbage take from an account with a Trump profile pic. Shocking.
TradeAcuna
Have mercy!
fox471 Dave
Tradeacuna actually sounds like a little man doesn’t he? Little whiny man.
Curly Was The Smart Stooge
Don’t bogart that joint TradeAcuna, pass it over to me…
DarkSide830
TradeLuisangelAcuña
YankeesBleacherCreature
Duke Ellis over DJL!
PronounsRUS
The World Series belongs on the east coast because California baseball is dumb
NYCityRiddler
RUS, never heard that before. Not sure why but it strikes me as funny. Ahahaha!
THEY LIVE!!!
Can’t stand the Mets and the Phils make me ill too.
GO DODGERS!!!
THEY LIVE!!!
Kiermaier would’ve made my roster.
highflyballintorightfield
Bigger surprise for the Dodgers was including Grove. But probably prudent to add a multi-inning mop-up option if there is a game that gets out of hand. I think the new guy was a lock considering how they used him in the last week–the last call was Grove vs Kelly. Kelly was not used in high-leverage and Grove can cover more innings.
Butter Biscuits
No Graterol for the WC series definitely sucks
mlbnyyfan
I’m done with Holmes. I’d rather have Stroman in the BP
Raysasineppswasplanted
C’mon give Sherlock a break, he did perform well tonight
Viveleempireevil
Luke Weaver is…supernatural.
gaa1313
How can the NYY Series have 3 off days in a 5 game series. I guess MLB wants them is WS. Cole can start 2x in a 5 game series, ridiculous.
Ok Yankees Fan
Because NYY are the greatest, most hallowed franchise in sports history and everybody wants to see them, whether to root for or against. Sit back and enjoy the spectacle!
84LeFlore
Love ya Tigs! Thanks for a great run!
The offseason and Spring Training are going to be very interesting! Rebuild is suddenly in “playoff team’ stage.
They need to AT LEAST get a platoon mate for Tork. They should do it in-house IMO. Riley/Carp/Colt should all see time at 2B in Lakeland. Riley, to protect his health, Carp because he’s L/L, and Colt because it’s probably his future position. His defense at 2B is mediocre at best. McGonigle is also on the way, and he won’t stick at SS. He’s a 2B all the way.
Maybe they try Jung at 2B because his defense at 3B is so bad. Jung also needs to hit the weight room to strengthen his upper body and core. I think that would greatly improve his hitting, which was not impressive, either.