The Los Angeles Dodgers may need some help from the Washington Nationals this weekend to secure their playoff future, and manager Dave Roberts is ready to pull out all the stops.
Addressing reporters on Saturday, Roberts, who gave Nats ace Max Scherzer the starting nod in this year’s All-Star Game as the skipper of the National League team, joked that he might call up Scherzer and ask him to repay the favor. Here is what he said, per Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times:
When asked, Dave Roberts said he would consider calling Max Scherzer and asking him to repay the favor for having him start the All Star Game over Jacob deGrom.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) September 29, 2018
The context here is that Scherzer’s Nats are playing the Colorado Rockies, who are one game ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West standings, this weekend. The three-time Cy Young winner is scheduled to pitch in Sunday’s regular season finale, but he may be shut down with Washington eliminated from postseason contention. Scherzer did say Friday though that he was planning to pitch if the game had playoff implications, per Jamal Collier of MLB.com.
Max Scherzer says if the Rockies are playing for playoff implications Sunday, he plans on pitching. But right now it’s up in the air whether the Nats will shut him down or not
— Jamal Collier (@JamalCollier) September 28, 2018
The Dodgers might be able to make the playoffs even without Scherzer’s help, as they are 1.5 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot with two games to play. But it would obviously benefit them to win the division and get a guaranteed postseason spot rather than having to go to the Wild Card play-in game on the road against either the Milwaukee Brewers or the Chicago Cubs.
As for Roberts, he made a bold prediction around the start of the season as to where the Dodgers would end up, and Scherzer could certainly help him make good on his word.
