Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers in NLDS Game 1 against Padres

The Dodgers have changed their rotation for the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres, moving Yoshinobu Yamamoto into Game 1 on Saturday night at Chavez Ravine and Jack Flaherty into Game 2 on Sunday night.

Flaherty, the right-hander acquired from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, was originally scheduled to start in the opening game of the best-of-five series. By moving Yamamoto from Game 2 to Game 1, the Japanese right-hander would be available to start a possible Game 5 on October 11th with a five-day break.

“It's much more about whether there's a Game 5,” baseball team president Andrew Friedman said during Thursday's practice. “Yoshi didn’t pitch regularly (four days off). Jack is more used to it. Depending on our bullpen usage throughout the series, it allows us that flexibility, if there is any, in Game 5.”

Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract in December, went 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts this season and missed from mid-June to mid-September with a rotator cuff strain almost three months. The Dodgers kept him on a once-a-week schedule similar to his workload in Japan.

The rotation change not only clears Yamamoto for a possible Game 5 start, but also allows Flaherty, who went 6-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 10 starts for the Dodgers, to also be available for Game 5 with regular rest .

Yamamoto gave up eight earned runs and eight hits in six innings in his two starts against the Padres this season, a 15-11 loss in South Korea on March 21 and an 8-7 loss in Los Angeles on April 12.

“It just creates more options,” Friedman said. “If there is a Game 5, depending on the usage of our bullpen, we can let (Yamamoto and Flaherty) finish the game. We can only have one of these with our pen. It creates flexibility for things we can’t possibly know right now, and that’s exactly how our pitching will be used in Games 1 through 4.”

Friedman said that after going over the logic of the change with Yamamoto and Flaherty, both pitchers “were excited about it.”

Friedman also said he wasn't worried that Yamamoto might be overly excited about making his first major league playoff start in a series opener, not after watching Yamamoto pitch in seven scoreless innings of a nationally televised game allowed two hits in the June 7 game at Yankee Stadium.

“To go into such a hostile environment and see him step up his game… we talked about it back then, it's not an easy thing,” Friedman said. “He has experienced pitching in a lot of big games and we are really confident that this moment will not affect him. He’s going to take it in, feed off that adrenaline and do what he does.”