Dodgers reveal full 28-man playoff roster for Wild Card Series

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 14: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 14, 2020 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 14: Clayton Kershaw #22 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches during the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 14, 2020 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Dodgers roster is officially out for the first round of the 2020 MLB Playoffs!

Ladies and gentlemen: It’s time. For Dodger. Baseball.

In about eight hours, the Los Angeles Dodgers will officially hit the reset button and begin their pursuit of the strangest championship in MLB history, with an unprecedented 13 victories in front of an unprecedented zero fans required to take home the title.

When the boys in blue take the field at a hollow Dodger Stadium Wednesday, Walker Buehler will be on the mound, and he’ll be flanked by a slightly-expanded roster that still looks fairly familiar.

Exhale, Dodgers fans. There’s nothing terribly surprising here.

The luxury of a 28-man crew also makes fringe decisions easier to make, like the call to bring Terrance Gore onto the roster. He’ll be valuable as a postseason pinch-runner for the rest of time, and with a deep bullpen filled with starting-caliber pitchers (even Brusdar Graterol is a starter by trade!), you can absolutely afford to sacrifice an “extra arm” to bring Gore along for the ride.

Same with the whole “three catchers” thing — you never know when top prospect Keibert Ruiz will come in handy, even behind the catching tandem of the red-hot Will Smith and Austin Barnes.

As for the Dodgers’ opponent in this series, they unfortunately can’t say the same about a lack of surprises. Already down ace Corbin Burnes, the team revealed on Wednesday afternoon that rookie bullpen ace Devin Williams, a Rookie of the Year contender, would miss the series with an arm injury.

Needless to say, that changes the equation tremendously.

The goal here, as always, should be to end the series as quickly as possible. Buehler and Clayton Kershaw would really love to end things before the “TBDs” get involved in Game 3, when anything can happen.

There’s as good a chance as ever that the Dodgers break their title drought this year, and pending any issues, this will be the core group responsible. Game on.

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