Editorials

Preview: Zack Greinke Makes Final Start Of Season; Bid For Cy Young

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Dodgers received some help Saturday afternoon as the Washington Nationals won the first of their doubleheader against the New York Mets. As such, the Dodgers’ now take the field against the San Diego Padres with a one-game lead over the Mets.

A Dodgers win and second Mets loss on Saturday will give Los Angeles home-field advantage in the National League Division Series that begins Friday, Oct. 9. Zack Greinke looks to continue with the string of strong outings from Dodgers pitchers, and also make one final case for the NL Cy Young Award.



Greinke has arguably been the most consistent pitcher in all of baseball this season as he put together an 18-3 record and leads the Majors with a 1.68 ERA and 0.85 WHIP; he’s second with a .188 opponents’ batting average. Should Greinke turn in a quality start, it would be his 30th of the season.

He’d become the first Dodgers pitcher to record that many in one season since 1969, when Claude Osteen had 31 and Bill Singer had 30. The last player with that many quality starts in a season was Felix Hernandez in 2010, the same season he won the American League CY Young.

With eight strikeouts on Saturday, Greinke would also bolster his numbers and reach 200 on the season for the second straight year and the fifth time in his career. If Greinke reaches it, he and Clayton Kershaw will be the second Dodgers’ duo to post back-to-back seasons with 200 strikeouts. Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax accomplished the feat from 1962-1965.

Opposing Greinke on the mound is southpaw Robbie Erlin. On the year Erlin has put together a 1-1 record with a 6.30 ERA, a 2.54 FIP and 1.30 WHIP. In his previous outing on the year the 24-year-old went 7 innings and did not allow a run off two hits.

Erlin is 1-0 in his career against the Dodgers with a combined 8.1 scoreless innings thrown in two games (one start). The Dodgers received a boost as Yasiel Puig was reinstated from the 15-day disabled list. Puig missed the last 34 games and enters with a 10-game hitting streak.

Dodgers Lineup:

CF: Kiké Hernandez

2B: Howie Kendrick

3B: Justin Turner

1B: Adrian Gonzalez

LF: Justin Ruggiano

RF: Yasiel Puig

C: Yasmani Grandal

SS: Jimmy Rollins

P: Zack Greinke

Padres Lineup:

2B: Cory Spangenberg

CF: Melvin Upton Jr.

3B: Yangervis Solarte

SS: Jedd Gyorko

1B: Brett Wallace

LF: Alexi Amarista

C: Austin Hedges

RF: Travis Jankowski

P: Robbe Erlin

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