World Series Game Four Thread
Can the Dodgers Wrap Up the 2024 Season Tonight?
Will the Yankees World Championship dreams crash back down to earth, or will the dream be fulfilled for the Dodgers tonight at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx? That’s the question to be answered in Game Four of the 2024 World Series.
With the first pitch being tossed at 5:08 PM PDT (8:08 PM EDT), we aren’t too far from an answer to that and these pressing questions. Will the nearly silent bats for the New Yorkers continue or will having their backs to the wall wake them up from their 3-game nap? Will Freddie Freeman extend his World Series home run streak to six? And most importantly, will the 2024 baseball season end tonight or will it last for another day?
The Dodgers and their fans are hoping for a sweep and the opportunity to celebrate in the visitor’s clubhouse tonight. But they’ll have to do so without a traditional starter opening the game. Manager Dave Roberts announced even before the first pitch of the series that there could be as many as two “bullpen games” if the series went seven games, and tonight is the first. While it’s easy and even conventional wisdom to question this move in the World Series, Roberts has managed his pitching staff brilliantly so far. The starters have given up three earned runs in the series and the relievers just four. Roberts kept his high leverage relievers out of the game Monday to give them an extra day of rest and to give the Yankees less of an opportunity to figure them out. And while the Yankee’s batters seem generally lost at the plate, credit must be given to the LA hurlers.
The Dodgers will send 25-year-old right-hander Ben Casparius to the mound as the opener tonight. Casparius is 1-0 in the post season with a 0.00 ERA during 4.1 innings of work. Since making his MLB debut on August 31st, he is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 innings.
Aaron Boone will send 26-year-old righty Luis Gil to the bump to attempt to keep the Dodgers hitters at bay. Gil is 0-0 in the 2024 post season with a 4.50 ERA over four innings. He did, however, pitch well in the regular season, going 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA and 171 strikeouts during 151.2 innings and twenty-nine starts.
Gil will face the following lineup for the Dodgers that once again, despite some awkward and grimace inducing swings, will have Shohei Ohtani in the leadoff spot:
Casparius and the cadre of relievers that will surely follow will face this lineup for New York. Boone has swapped Stanton and Chisolm Jr. in the batting order and re-inserted Wells as the catcher.