Dodgers already changing NLDS pitching plans for Games 1 and 2 can't be good

Just a day from the start of the NLDS, the Dodgers still have a few too many question marks hanging around them. Will Tony Gonsolin pitch? Will Freddie Freeman be ready? Who's getting pushed off the roster?

The only issue that seemed to have been settled for some time was the Game 1 starter assignment; last week, Dave Roberts said Jack Flaherty was likely to get the ball. Roberts did leave some room for flexibility there with the initial announcement, but when Flaherty's picture popped up in MLB's gameday matchups for Saturday's opener against Dylan Cease, it seemed like a done deal.

However, on Thursday afternoon, the Dodgers switched it up, announcing from their official Twitter account that Flaherty and Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be flipping their starts. Yamamoto for Game 1, Flaherty for Game 2.

Andrew Friedman shed a little more light on the decision, explaining that Yamamoto at the top of the rotation means he would get an extra day of rest for a potential Game 5, like he's been getting all year.

Dodgers flip Game 1 and 2 starters for NLDS vs. Padres; Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch in the opener with Jack Flaherty to follow

Yamamoto saw the Padres twice during the regular season -- first in Seoul for his Major League debut, when he was absolutely trampled and only got through one inning (five earned runs) before he was pulled, and then again in April, when he lasted five innings and gave up three runs.

A lot of time has passed, and he's put up much better starts against other teams since then, even with a long absence on the IL. What the Dodgers really need to worry about, though -- not just with Yamamoto, but with all of their starters except perhaps Flaherty -- is length. Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, and Landon Knack don't look like they're prepared to give the club six solid innings in any of their starts, which will force the Dodgers to exhaust the bullpen. That unit slipped a little in September.

But there's really nothing the Dodgers can do at this point, other than hope Yamamoto will be good and will be able to get a little revenge on the team that got him branded as "overpaid" and "washed" from his first MLB start. The bullpen very well might find themselves in a position where they have to work overtime, but that's just the unfortunate state of Dodgers pitching right now.