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Dodgers News: Roberts Expects Julio Urias Back in the Rotation for NLDS

It looked like the Dodgers were doing it again to Julio Urias in the Wild Card series… after a full season in the starting rotation for the first time in his career, the lefty once again found himself coming out of the bullpen for LA in the playoffs.

It turns out that was by design. After Tuesday night’s opener last week, Dave Roberts said that his plan was to have Julio pitch in the game at some point. That point came seamlessly in relief of Walker Buehler in the 5th inning.



Doc followed up by saying Urias will be back in the rotation for NLCS.

As we hopefully get into the next series, he’ll make a start, which will be great for him.

Notably, he said this before the Dodgers punched their ticket to the Texas bubble with a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Julio’s next postseason start will be his first in nearly 4 seasons. In his rookie campaign in 2016, he got a start against the eventual World Champion Chicago Cubs in game 4 at Dodger Stadium. He allowed 4 runs in 3.2 innings pitched in a losing effort.

In 2020, Urias was the most consistent Dodger starter not named Clayton Kershaw. Despite well documented first-inning struggles, El Culichi posted a 3-0 record with a 3.27 ERA in 55 innings pitched over 10 starts and 1 relief appearance.

He’ll be eying that third spot in the rotation after Buehler and Kershaw, but has competition in the form of rookie right-handers Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May.

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Clint Pasillas

Clint Pasillas has been writing, blogging, and podcasting about the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2008. Under Clint's leadership as the Lead Editor, Dodgers Nation has grown into one of the most read baseball sites in the world with millions of unique visitors per month. Find him online on Twitter/X or his YouTube channel!

3 Comments

  1. Let’s review ERA’s:

    Gonsolin 2.31
    May. 2.57
    Urias. 3.27

    So that means Urias should jump ahead of Gonsolin and May? I don’t think so.

  2. ERA, just like batting average/RBIs and HR totals doesn’t tell the entire story…But don’t worry: in this series with no off days, we’ll need AT LEAST 4 starters… And we’ll need one of the 5 to tag along with Buehler > who can only pitch 4 innings (5 max. if we’re lucky…). On the other hand, considering how well Urias filled the role as starter-B in support of Buehler, maybe he should stay there (and also be available for the same role if needed for either May or Gonsolin). The 5th starter should be a bullpen game as the Dodgers are seemingly even better equipped than the Padres (fingers-crossed) to deal with this possibility. We shouldn’t even think about using Alex Wood in that role. If indeed Buehler, May and Gonsolin go deeper than expected in their starts, Urias could also be an option for this day.

  3. I’m 78, female and usually don’t watch baseball but for Julio pitching, he caught my interest as I thought he was an excellent pitcher, better than all the rest. The Dodgers should give him at least 5 more million a year. Good Luck, Julio, you are great!

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