The Dodgers aren't fully healthy either. Their bullpen has been thinned out by injuries to Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Edwin Diaz, and Will Smith is still without a timetable behind the plate. Still, LA took game one of this series 2-1 in the Bronx, its first trip back to Yankee Stadium since the 2024 World Series, and that result alone says this club can win in this building even when it's not at full strength.
Zoom out and the form lines tell two different stories. The Dodgers own the best record in baseball at 62-36 but limped out of their last homestand, getting swept by Arizona right before the break. Yamamoto's turn in that series went sideways too — 6 earned runs in 6 innings — though he's still been one of the most dominant strikeout arms in the league all year. The Yankees, meanwhile, had won 4 straight before Friday's loss, a stretch that came without their best hitter in the lineup, which says plenty about the pitching staff carrying them.
That pitching staff is exactly why this nightcap is interesting. Schlittler has quietly turned into one of the better stories in the AL East, and beating the sport's best team behind him would be the loudest statement of his season. For the Dodgers, it's about answering the bell after getting run out of Arizona and proving game one wasn't a fluke.
Doubleheaders have a way of exposing thin spots, and both benches are shorter than usual. Whoever's bullpen holds up on short rest by the late innings probably decides this one.