Hours before their playoff opener on Saturday afternoon, the Dodgers announced their 26-man roster for their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
It included few big surprises.
All the obvious names were there, from Game 1 starter Tarik Skubal to less-than-100% superstars Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
So too were some of their consensus fringe roster candidates, most notably rookie slugger Josue De Paula and speed specialist Hyeseong Kim.
Previously injured reliever Edgardo Henriquez was also active, as expected, despite missing the last couple weeks of the regular season with a back strain.
Among the snubs: Left-handed pitchers Justin Wrobleski and Jack Dreyer, outfielder Alex Call and banged-up catcher Dalton Rushing (who would have only been available to hit because of an elbow injury, and was effectively beat out by De Paula for the left-handed bench bat role).
As manager Dave Roberts forecast on Friday, the team went with a 14-position player/12-pitcher split for the best-of-five series.
They will be hoping the group is enough to get past a surging Braves squad, and take their first step toward a third-consecutive World Series championship.
Here is the team’s full 26-man roster.
Designated hitter: Shohei Ohtani, Josue De Paula
Catcher: Will Smith, Hunter Feduccia
Infield: Freddie Freeman, Tommy Edman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas, Hyeseong Kim
Outfield: Teoscar Hernández, Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker, Kiké Hernández
Starters: Tarik Skubal, Blake Snell (who the Dodgers announced will be their Game 2 starter), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who will likely start in Game 3), Tyler Glasnow
Right-handed reliever: Roki Sasaki, Evan Phillips, Brock Stewart, Roki Sasaki, Edgardo Henriquez
Left-handed reliever: Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott, Kris Bubic
