Dodgers Seem to Be Treating Yankees Series Like More Than a Regular Season Game

Maren Angus-Coombs | Jun 7, 2024

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

A historic baseball rivalry is being renewed this weekend.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading into Yankee Stadium for a three-game series, and the game is taking on unusual proportions for a June series. Apple TV+ is streaming the game, while regional sports networks for both sides — SportsNet LA for the Dodgers and YES for the Yankees — are taking the rare step of stepping on Apple's territory by picking up the game as well.

The clash of the two baseball giants has also encouraged the Dodgers to treat this series a little differently.

Manager Dave Roberts is sending starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow to the mound on Sunday for his first start this season on “regular” rest – four days off between starts. The starting rotation has been operating on an extra day of rest for most of the season. Only three pitchers have started on regular rest — Gavin Stone (twice), James Paxton, and Bobby Miller (once each).

Both Stone and Paxton had underwhelming starts on regular rest, but Roberts isn't going into Glasnow's start Sunday concerned by precedent.

“I’m not going to go into it of that mind,” Roberts told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. “It’s the last day of a six-game set. He’s our ace. Yeah, it’s short rest. But I’m going to read and react. It’s not going to be kind of where James or with Gavin shorten them up a little bit. It’s kind of – let Tyler go do what he does and help us win a game.”

Glasnow isn't worried about his rest between starts. It was never a conversation when he agreed to his contract with the Dodgers and he wants to do whatever is best for the team.

“I don’t think we even need to. That’s super cool with me,” he said. “I feel like when you are a starting pitcher you just always assume you’re going to be on a five-day (schedule). Given the circumstances now, I’m on it. But I’m always trying to be ready for a five-day. So if they need me to go five in a row on a five-day, that would be no problem.”

All three games of the series will be nationally televised — Apple TV+ on Friday, FOX (Ch. 11) on Saturday and ESPN on Sunday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball on Friday night with the first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. PT.