The Yankees will face the pitcher they nearly acquired at the trade deadline in Game 1 of the World Series.
Jack Flaherty will get the ball for the Dodgers on Friday to open the Fall Classic, manager Dave Roberts announced Tuesday, setting him up to square off against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
“They’re really damn good,” Flaherty said of the Yankees lineup, which he has not faced this season.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, whom the Yankees also tried to sign in the offseason, will start Game 2, Roberts said, before the Dodgers use (in some order) Walker Buehler and a bullpen game in Games 3 and 4.
The Yankees were interested in landing Flaherty from the Tigers at the deadline, but a potential deal fell apart because of concerns over his medicals, allowing the Dodgers to swoop in — and use former Yankees prospect Trey Sweeney as part of the package to get him.
“It’s crazy to think I could have been on the other side of this, but I’m happy for the situation that I’m in and being part of this team,” Flaherty said.
As a Dodger, Flaherty pitched to a 3.58 ERA in 10 starts to finish the regular season and has given up 12 earned runs in 15 ¹/₃ innings across three playoff starts.
“At the end of the day, I would have brought Jack Flaherty in if I could have matched up,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said shortly after the trade deadline passed. “I had difficulty matching up and that was the reason I don’t have him. Simple as that.”
Freddie Freeman expects to “be a 100 percent go” for Game 1 on Friday after having a few days off this week to rest his sprained ankle.
The Dodgers star first baseman has not been in the lineup for three playoff games so far this month because he is compromised, but said the time off this week has been valuable.
“Every day that I get off my feet and not running and treating this is huge,” Freeman said on a Zoom call Tuesday. “I can still hit, I can do all that kind of stuff. It’s more of once I take that first run step, a few days ago, that’s when everything flares up in my ankle. I’ve now had three straight days of not running and only treating it, so every day is going to be better.”
In mid-September, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had left the door slightly open for Shohei Ohtani to pitch in the postseason after the two-way superstar spent the regular season strictly hitting following offseason elbow surgery.
On Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone said he had not given much thought to the possibility of that happening in the World Series.
“But if that’s the case, we’ll be ready for everything,” Boone said. “We know what everyone they have throws and what they feature, things like that. We’ll be prepared for everything.”
The Yankees are considering carrying 13 pitchers and 13 position players on their World Series roster as opposed to the 12 pitchers and 14 position players they had for the ALCS.
Doing so would allow them to add Nestor Cortes to the roster without taking any pitcher off of it, though they would have to subtract a position player.
Trent Grisham, who has not yet appeared in a game this postseason, would appear to be the most likely candidate.