LOS ANGELES – The great Sandy Koufax, who averaged almost eight innings in his seven postseason starts, took his usual lower box seat to watch another Dodgers relay race of pitchers take place. Imagine if Truffaut were around to watch Tik Tok videos and you get a sense of how much playoff baseball has changed.
By now the Dodger October postmodern script is familiar: pull the starting pitcher as the lineup turns over a third time and match up a cadre of relievers against certain “runways” of hitters in the opposing lineup. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts, for the 71st time in running 78 postseason games, yanked his starter without letting him throw 100 pitches.