Dodgers: How to best handle eight starting pitchers

Tony Gonsolin and Urias, Stripling, May, Maeda

This, for me, is an important distinction. Right now, Gonsolin seems deserving of a postseason start more so than any of the other four pitchers in this section.

Urias is only just now beginning to be stretched out, as is Stripling. May has had effectiveness problems on top of his recent injury. And Maeda, though I love him in the starting rotation, is a proven asset in the bullpen, as the past two postseasons have shown us.

So, on to Gonsolin. He has 20 innings in August, with four starts. Unlike Ryu, who has an ERA over 7.00 in that span, Gonsolin’s in the same span is under 2.00, as he checked in at 1.80 for the month. Better yet, three of the four starts came against potential playoff opponents in the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and Atlanta Braves.

He’s good, plain and simple, and he’s even got strikeout potential, as he racked up seven against the Cards back at the beginning of August. He’s allowed one run or less in all but one of his last five appearances, one of which was a four-inning save at Coors Field, in which he allowed one single run.

If Gonsolin earns the fourth starter position for the postseason, all four of the other pitchers on this slide could follow him after his first two or three times through the order, as all have better stuff than the low-end of the current Dodger bullpen (sorry Josh Sborz).

For me, the coolest combination stuff wise would be to back up Gonsolin with Urias for an inning before going back to Maeda or Stripling or May to bridge to Kelly or Baez in the eighth or Jansen in the ninth.

This starter-bolstered bullpen has me very excited.

And we haven’t even gotten to one of the best postseason pitchers on the roster.