NLCS Roster?

[adambr2]

Any reason it should look any different than the NLDS?

Any chance for Woodruff? Replace May? 

[kestrel79]

It's going to be exactly the same.

[PlayerHader]

Just now, kestrel79 said:

It's going to be exactly the same.

We didn't use Patrick, Drohan, or Harrison. Do we drop a pitcher and add a position player maybe?

[trwi7]

We should drop at least one pitcher, maybe two.  Naylor so we can use Sanchez as DH against Skubal/Snell.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think the calls for May to be dropped  are kind of just throwing stuff at the wall. He sucks, and I hope he doesn't pitch, but they're probably going to need something out of him to win. Even if it's just 2 innings, but something.

[adambr2]

8 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I think the calls for May to be dropped  are kind of just throwing stuff at the wall. He sucks, and I hope he doesn't pitch, but they're probably going to need something out of him to win. Even if it's just 2 innings, but something.

Why? They didn’t throw Patrick, Harrison or Drohan this entire series. It’s not like they couldn’t have eaten up May’s 3 innings between the 3 of them. 

And that was with none of our 4 starters really giving us any length. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

2 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Why? They didn’t throw Patrick, Harrison or Drohan this entire series. It’s not like they couldn’t have eaten up May’s 3 innings between the 3 of them. 

And that was with none of our 4 starters really giving us any length. 

Because if they win, it's likely in at least 6 games. There could be a 13-inning game. It would be lovely if he never pitches, I just don't think it's likely. There is probably going to be at least one low or medium leverage situation where they turn to him due to fatigue of others. Really doubt they have 3-4 pitchers that never play.

[Vgmastr]

SD's roster is pretty righty heavy.  With Ohtani. Freeman, Tucker and Muncy I want as many lefty pitchers on the roster as we can.  I'd consider using Drohan or Harrison as a starter instead of May.

[baseball101]

12 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Because if they win, it's likely in at least 6 games. There could be a 13-inning game. It would be lovely if he never pitches, I just don't think it's likely. There is probably going to be at least one low or medium leverage situation where they turn to him due to fatigue of others. Really doubt they have 3-4 pitchers that never play.

This. They didn’t use any of those pitchers because the series only went four games. In no scenario do I see May being dropped for anyone especially Woodruff who hasn’t pitched competitively in a couple of months.

[adambr2]

19 minutes ago, baseball101 said:

This. They didn’t use any of those pitchers because the series only went four games. In no scenario do I see May being dropped for anyone especially Woodruff who hasn’t pitched competitively in a couple of months.

I fully expect May on the roster, and fully realize we are going to keep trying with this guy til the bitter end, but he also hasn’t pitched competitively in some time. 

They’d get by just fine if they left him off. It doesn’t even have to be Woodruff. They’ll likely get just as many innings out of one or two Grant Anderson appearances in a 7 game series than they’ll get out of one May start. 

[baseball101]

8 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I fully expect May on the roster, and fully realize we are going to keep trying with this guy til the bitter end, but he also hasn’t pitched competitively in some time. 

They’d get by just fine if they left him off. It doesn’t even have to be Woodruff. They’ll likely get just as many innings out of one or two Grant Anderson appearances in a 7 game series than they’ll get out of one May start. 

I don’t disagree. May has not been great to say the least. Hopefully he has one really good outing against the Dodgers because unfortunately I do think he will get a start.

[DonBarclay]

1 hour ago, trwi7 said:

We should drop at least one pitcher, maybe two.  Naylor so we can use Sanchez as DH against Skubal/Snell.

This series has back to back to back games without a day off in games 3-5. Have to assume you cannot throw the A bullpen in the way they did against SD over that stretch. They’ll need a deeper bullpen, and Drohan and Patrick will be used. 

[long ball]

44 minutes ago, Vgmastr said:

SD's roster is pretty righty heavy.  With Ohtani. Freeman, Tucker and Muncy I want as many lefty pitchers on the roster as we can.  I'd consider using Drohan or Harrison as a starter instead of May.

Totally agree.

 

I would predict the roster to be the same (barring some unknown injury)

[SeaBass]

30 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I fully expect May on the roster, and fully realize we are going to keep trying with this guy til the bitter end, but he also hasn’t pitched competitively in some time. 

They’d get by just fine if they left him off. It doesn’t even have to be Woodruff. They’ll likely get just as many innings out of one or two Grant Anderson appearances in a 7 game series than they’ll get out of one May start. 

I think there's a place for May. I don't really want him starting a game but I think he could be used for 1 inning potentially or, more likely (and hopefully not), could be used in a game where the Brewers are getting blown out to just eat innings and save the good pitchers.

Ideally they wouldn't need him at all but I think he'd be ok for an emergency type situation. He is capable of pitching well, he just really hasn't sustained a good multi-inning stretch for this team.

[tmwiese55]

Something to note I don't think I saw yet as to why you can't get rid of pitchers is that the middle games are 3 in a row.  So its not as easy to have every BP arm available every game like in the round that just ended.  In addition, Dodgers have so many big lefties that there will be a lot more match up related switches.  It would be nice to have Naylor so Sanchez could PH vs a lefty, but I don't think they can give up the pitching depth which is their biggest strength. 

[adambr2]

16 minutes ago, SeaBass said:

I think there's a place for May. I don't really want him starting a game but I think he could be used for 1 inning potentially or, more likely (and hopefully not), could be used in a game where the Brewers are getting blown out to just eat innings and save the good pitchers.

Ideally they wouldn't need him at all but I think he'd be ok for an emergency type situation. He is capable of pitching well, he just really hasn't sustained a good multi-inning stretch for this team.

At this point I don’t know how you can trust him. If he has to pitch in the NLCS I’d prefer it be for an inning or two at the very most out of the pen against a righty heavy stretch of the lineup. 

He has shown to have good stuff in short spurts but similar to Sproat once he loses command things tend to unravel for him quickly.  I don’t think you can count on getting any sort of length from him anymore even if things appear to be going well for a couple innings. 

[adambr2]

18 minutes ago, tmwiese55 said:

Something to note I don't think I saw yet as to why you can't get rid of pitchers is that the middle games are 3 in a row.  So its not as easy to have every BP arm available every game like in the round that just ended.  In addition, Dodgers have so many big lefties that there will be a lot more match up related switches.  It would be nice to have Naylor so Sanchez could PH vs a lefty, but I don't think they can give up the pitching depth which is their biggest strength. 

Yeah, I don’t see a spot for Naylor. There’s just not enough value to burn an entire postseason roster spot for an emergency 3rd catcher as an injury insurance policy for a pinch hitter. They carried two catchers without issue all year and PH Sanchez in the 9th the other day. I don’t think the lack of a 3rd catcher is going to be any factor at all if they see a spot for Sanchez to PH late. 

Agree on carrying 13 pitchers again, even if they’re not all needed. If this team is going to the World Series it’s because they had a pitching staff that was fresh and deep. Not because of anything they’re going to get out of Bo Naylor or Brandon Lockridge. Its a luxury, but a necessary one, that they are in a good position with their staff right now where they can afford to have anyone on a short leash. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Is it really so much to ask that the Dodgers just fall flat like they did constantly from 2015ish-2023 and get swept?

[Brewin]

The over the top takes regarding Dustin May are borderline funny. I would guess not only is he on the roster, but he starts either G3 or G4. The Brewers believe in experience and the stuff he possesses way more than the posters on this board do. Was he great in G3? No, but he certainly wasn't the train wreck that he's being portrayed on here

[liveforoctober]

2 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Because if they win, it's likely in at least 6 games. There could be a 13-inning game. It would be lovely if he never pitches, I just don't think it's likely. There is probably going to be at least one low or medium leverage situation where they turn to him due to fatigue of others. Really doubt they have 3-4 pitchers that never play.

Would we trust May in a multi-inning role out of the pen more than Grant Anderson? 

[CheezWizHed]

In retrospect, for a 5-game series, we did carry too many pitchers.  But I don't think that will work for a 7-game series. So probably still 13 pitchers.

@Jake McKibbin did a nice job explaining how (at least in theory) May matched up well against the Padre's batting weaknesses so I wasn't upset at May over Gasser in Game 3.  

But I don't think he lines up against the Dodgers well.  I tend to think Miz, Henderson, Gasser, Drohan/Patrick/Harrison game looks better than trotting out May as a starter.  

Yes, if Woody was back to 92-94 MPH again, I'd take that over May. Anderson over May wouldn't make sense. 

If you have to carry May...cap him at 2 innings. 

[Brewin]

I agree with CheezWizHed opinion above as I thought May was a better matchup against SD than Gasser mainly due to Tatis & Machado. Against the Dodgers, Gasser is better on paper because of Ohtani/Freeman/Muncy but I still believe there is a 2-3 inning role for May in the NLCS.

May has the ability to be dominant, like the first two innings in G3, but he does tend to unravel quickly so he should be on a short leash against the Dodgers

 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I expect the trend of 3-4 inning starts to continue against the Dodgers, so I think that May likely makes the NLCS roster mainly because he's another high-octane arm they can use for a 2-inning stint.