Dodgers #3 Starter: Alex Wood or Brett Anderson?

Sep 29, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers teammates spray champagne on starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) in the locker room after clinching the NL west after a win against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Who gets the ball?

In all likelihood, neither option is going to outpitch Harvey in a game three. Harvey hasn’t pitched incredibly in any of his four career starts against the Dodgers, but he’s a better pitcher than Wood or Anderson and will pose the only pitching advantage the Mets will really have in the series.

The whole time I’ve been writing this piece, I figured that by the end of it I would have an answer for who I would want on the hill in game three. I still don’t really know. I think we all know what to expect from Anderson (most likely around six innings, three runs), but with Wood there’s a lot more potential. He could get lit up and not make it out of the third inning, but he could also throw eight shutout innings and it wouldn’t surprise me.

I think my determining factor is which pitcher I would rather use in the bullpen during the duration of the series. Wood has made 32 relief appearances in his three-year career, and Anderson has made 11 in seven seasons. Wood’s arm action makes me think he would be a tougher reliever out of the bullpen for lefties like Michael Conforto, Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson. For this reason, I think I would rather have Anderson start game three? I’d feel pretty comfortable either way, and it might get to a point where the Dodgers use one in game three and one in game four, which makes these last 1,000 words completely irrelevant. Both pitchers ideally give the Dodgers’ offense the chance to get to Harvey and should be able to keep the game close.