When the Dodgers acquired left-hander Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, they expected him to be a big part of their postseason plans. But they didn’t necessarily pencil him in as their Game 1 starter.
After mulling over their options this week, the Dodgers are expected to announce Friday that Skubal will take the mound in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, confirmed a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Their plans for a sweltering 1 p.m. start Saturday against the Braves were first reported by the Athletic.
The rest of the Dodgers’ rotation order was not immediately clear, but right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who had seemed a strong option for Game 1 after his World Series heroics last year — pitched to batters during the Dodgers’ workout Wednesday. If he takes his usual five days of rest, that would line him up to pitch Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday. So, left-hander Blake Snell could pitch Game 2 Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
“To be honest, we can kind of really put all four guys in a hat and run them out there,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday. “But I think there is going to be more thought behind it.”
Skubal, who the Dodgers acquired from the Tigers for three prospects, has posted a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts for Los Angeles. He finished his regular season with a gem against the Giants last week: seven three-hit innings on just 75 pitches.
Tens of thousands of people walk in and out of Dodger Stadium on any given night, paying scant attention to the trees, plants, and other foliage surrounding it on all sides. Chaz Perea made his peace with that a long time ago.
“Getting to Dodger Stadium is not a small thing,” said Perea, 41, the stadium’s landscape manager. “You’ve got to park in this monster,” he said, motioning to the acres of asphalt around him, “and then go find your seat in that monster.”
1
2
3
1.The agave garden sits outside Lot B at Dodger Stadium on Friday.(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)2.Dodgers fans walk past vibrant plants behind photos of former Dodgerss outside center field at Dodger Stadium on Friday.(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)3. A group visits agave island during a tour of Dodger Stadium’s botanic garden on Tuesday.(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
For the past 17 years, Perea and his four-person crew have been responsible for every bit of stadium landscaping that isn’t the field itself. That’s roughly 300 acres, encompassing the parking lots, the hillsides meeting the 110 Freeway, and 149 concrete planters nicknamed “martinis” for their glass-like shape. The planters are original to the stadium’s 1962 construction, and many had crumbled badly enough over the decades to need painstaking repair.
The landscaping isn’t just about plants and planters. Behind a fence beyond the iconic orange 76 ball in the parking lot once sat a hidden garden. Its centerpiece was an eight-foot-tall stone lantern given to then-Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley by Japanese sports columnist Sotaro Suzuki and his wife, Toku, who had attended the stadium’s grand opening in 1962. Suzuki commissioned the 3,921-pound Kasuga-style lantern, which arrived in five pieces in late 1965 and became the centerpiece of a garden that also featured a small wooden bridge and a collection of rocks.
“For years, it was maintained by our gardener with great pride,” said former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, Walter’s son. “But it was remote, and fans couldn’t really get up there easily to see it or sit in the garden. And it got neglected for a few years. Some years later, I forget how many, we had to fence in the whole property.”
In 2024, shortly after the Dodgers signed two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, the club moved the lantern to a place of prominence outside the top-deck gates, overlooking the downtown skyline. The move was an elaborate, delicate production. Bundled and boarded up, the lantern inched across the parking lot on the back of a flatbed truck that climbed a ring road steep enough to cause concern.
“It was like they were moving the Ark of the Covenant,” Perea said.
No one exhaled until the cargo was unloaded, unswaddled, and confirmed to be in one piece.
An 8-foot-tall stone Kasuga-style lantern is displayed at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Perea’s crew works out of a large metal shed at the far end of a parking lot, a shop they affectionately call “the Oasis.” Much of what’s inside was retrieved from a dumpster, or scavenged before it landed in one. Perea, who describes himself as a bargain shopper, is passionate about repurposing whatever he can; many of the succulents at the stadium came from his own clippings.
“My general philosophy is I don’t treat the Dodgers like I’m salaried management,” he said. “I treat them like I’m a contractor that they don’t want to get rid of. So I manage the expenses and the labor as such.”
He doesn’t have much interaction with players and executives, though he’s occasionally been called to their homes to help with landscaping problems. One visit stands out.
“Vin Scully is the coolest one I’d stake a claim to,” he said of the legendary play-by-play man. “He was an unbelievable class act. He had a tree issue. He had us out, and was so attentive and appreciative, it was just stunning to me.”
1
2
3
4
1.Landscape manager Chaz Perea gives a tour of Dodger Stadium’s botanic garden.(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)2.A ceramic dog and monkey sit on a golf cart inside the Dodger Stadium landscape team’s shed on Tuesday.(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)3.A photo of Jim Lefebvre, Dodger player from 1965-1972, is surrounded by plants at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)4.Adolfo Hinojosa checks on the planters near center field at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday.(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
On the hillside above the shop is an open-air lunch area, its seating made from wooden bleachers salvaged from the old right-field pavilion. Peek through the bushes and the stadium is visible in the distance. Inside the shop, the walls are lined with neatly organized shovels, pickaxes, and ladders. Above them hang paintings, art being another of Perea’s passions, most of them made by his friends.
Perea freely admits he’s an odd fit for the job. He’s not a baseball fan; he prefers beach volleyball and mixed martial arts. He had a rough upbringing in Arizona, dropped out of high school, and got by on $6.75 an hour doing golf-course maintenance, supplementing it with landscaping gigs he ran out of his pickup truck before eventually returning to school.
He came back to the classroom with a purpose, not only finishing high school but going on to earn multiple advanced degrees and, ultimately, a Ph.D. He’s now a professor of horticultural science and co-chair of agricultural science at Mt. San Antonio College.
But it’s his day job that draws clusters of Dodger fans willing to pay $52.25 each for his 90-minute botanic garden tour of the grounds. They explore “Agave Island” near the main entrance, a wedge of land planted with nine palm trees to match the number of players on a baseball field, and the planters outside the club-level entrance, where the crew grows chilies (jalapeños, serranos, habaneros), along with basil, mint, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. That garden spawned an annual salsa competition, in which club employees harvest their own ingredients from the planters, make salsa at home, and bring it back to be judged. Perea and his crew make handmade tortillas and quesadillas for the event.
Landscape manager Chaz Perea gives a tour of Dodger Stadium’s botanic gardens on Tuesday.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Two more planted islands are devoted entirely to tequila agave. It takes nearly a decade for the plant to mature, and about 110 pounds of its core to yield a single liter of tequila through processing. Perea and his crew hope to eventually try making some themselves, as an in-house project rather than a commercial one.
The landscape looked very different before Perea arrived. He describes the old look as Disneyland-esque: heavy on lawns and flowers, constantly in need of replacement, and thirsty for water. About two years into the job, he began swapping annual flower beds for drought-tolerant succulents. When one executive noticed and ordered the flowers put back in a particular spot, Perea complied there, then made the same swap a little farther down the hillside, out of view.
Turnover among executives and ownership gave him repeated openings to make wholesale changes, a shift that coincided with California’s drought crisis. Within a few years, he had planted 10,000 cuttings and stripped every flower bed from the property.
“A lot of people look at this as the last unpainted canvas in Los Angeles,” Perea said.
Chaz of Chavez Ravine, perpetually painting the corners.
Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Thursday and his availability is a “day-to-day situation,” manager Dave Roberts announced before the Dodgers’ series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The area around Ohtani’s right biceps and neck was bothering him during the Dodgers’ loss Wednesday, Roberts said.
“It just wasn’t firing the way he wanted it to,” Roberts said. “That’s why I think you saw some grimacing and some kind of shaking of the arm just trying to get it to fire and he couldn’t do that.”
Ohtani was not made available to talk before the game, and he declined requests for comment twice during the Dodgers’ road series in Detroit this past weekend. He last spoke to reporters on Aug. 17.
Ohtani’s health has been scrutinized for much of the season and even more over the last week. He hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of soreness and threw a bullpen session last Friday in hopes of pitching one inning Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. But, not feeling “100%,” as Roberts put it, Ohtani didn’t return to the mound, and his throwing progression stalled.
Though Roberts described Ohtani’s ailment as an overall issue, including his left knee and right biceps, he remained in the lineup. Roberts said then that he’d been given no indication that swinging the bat was affecting Ohtani, but if that changed, the manager would have no problem with sitting the superstar.
Wednesday, as Ohtani went 0 for 4 in the midst of a two-for-23 skid, his body language sounded alarm bells.
“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 8-6 loss to the Cardinals. “I saw the shaking of the arm, I saw the wincing, and clearly the swings aren’t who he is. And so, obviously, there’s some compensation. So I’m going to talk to him, and then I’ll make a decision about his availability.”
Roberts said a stint on the injured list was unlikely “but not impossible.”
“Ideally, he takes it as a mental and physical day,” Roberts said. “And then it’s just getting together with him later [Thursday] and seeing how the day is and how [he responds to] the day of rest. … At that point in time, we can make a decision as far as [Friday].”
Managing Ohtani’s health will continue to be a priority for the Dodgers. He’s been dealing with lingering knee soreness and inflammation since at least mid-June, and his biceps issue has flared several times this season.
Ohtani’s buildup back to pitching has been halted twice since he received an Orthovisc injection to lubricate the knee joint over the All-Star break.
As valuable as Ohtani is to the Dodgers as a pitcher, his offensive impact is needed far more, especially with left-hander Tarik Skubal added to the rotation. If continuing to try to pitch jeopardizes Ohtani’s production with his bat, it may be in the team’s best interest to take pitching off the table for him.
Tommy Edman was penciled into the leadoff spot and will play center field, while Alex Call will be the designated hitter and bat eighth.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was flawless over his first five innings in the Dodgers’ 8-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, giving up no hits with seven strikeouts and one walk.
“It comes down to starting pitching,” Roberts said pregame, after his team gave up 13 runs in a loss Tuesday. “And obviously it’s a young, hungry team out there. Came out last night swinging the bats, so it’d be nice to put up a zero, get a lead, and go from there.”
Roberts’ wish appeared granted, as the Dodgers led 3-0 in the first after Freddie Freeman ended his career-long 47-game homer drought with a three-run blast against Cardinals lefty Brycen Mautz.
But the once-cruising ace encountered turbulence. He later gave up a pair of two-run homers, with the Cardinals’ Thomas Saggese launching the first in the sixth and Leo Bernal the second in the eighth.
“[Tuesday] night I really liked the way we just kind of fought, saw some different arms, got the closer up, and things to build on,” Roberts said pregame.
On Wednesday, not even a Mookie Betts two-run homer in the seventh could lift the Dodgers (82-57) to a win.
Yamamoto’s night was done after seven innings. He threw 93 pitches, had eight strikeouts and gave up five hits, two walks and four runs, a few mistakes away from a completely different outing.
Tanner Scott stepped in for Yamamoto in the eighth, allowing a Joshua Báez double three pitches in. And after Ivan Herrera moved Báez to third via a groundout, Alec Burleson tied the score at five with a sacrifice fly to right.
Jack Dreyer kept things stable with a clean ninth. However, in the 10th, Brock Stewart (0-2) uninspiringly gave up three runs. Orange County native Nathan Church got the Cardinals’ wheels turning iwith a single up the middle, advancing José Fermin to third. Saggese delivering the go-ahead run on an infield single. One pitch later, Báez put the game out of reach with a two-run double
The Dodgers could only get one run back in the bottom of the miserable 10th.
CT3 comes home
Chris Taylor, his wife Mary and son Theo watch a video tribute to his career before the start of Wednesday’s game.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers welcomed back former longtime utility player Chris Taylor to Dodger Stadium and presented him with a video tribute and his third World Series ring.
“It’s pretty much what I identify my career as — over 90% of my entire career was in Dodger Blue,” Taylor said. “This is the place I call home. Always proud to be a Dodger, and it means a lot to me that they would do this for me. So, I’m extremely humbled.”
Taylor, a 12-year veteran who retired earlier this season, said Wednesday night was the first time he was able to watch a game with his family.
Injury Updates
Shohei Ohtani reacts after striking out in 10th inning Wednesday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Roberts said the plan is still for Shohei Ohtani to return to pitching this season. However, there is no timetable for when he’ll throw his next bullpen session, and shutting down Ohtani as a pitcher remains a distant possibility.
“We’re not there quite yet, but it’s certainly an option,” Roberts said.
Roberts also shed light on some of the work Ohtani’s doing to get back on the mound.
“He’s doing plyos,” Roberts said. “He does that a handful of times a week. … That’s kind of where we’re at right now.”
Will Smith was given a breather after going one for five with two RBIs in his first game back from a three-month stint on the IL on Tuesday.
“It was good to see him get a knock,” Roberts said. “I thought he swung the bat pretty well. So, it’s a premeditated day off today. He’ll be back in there tomorrow, but I guess no news is good news.”
It wasn’t a full day off, as Smith pinch-hit for Hunter Feduccia in the ninth and scored the Dodgers’ run in the 10th.
Rōki Sasaki’s blister is healing as planned, and he shouldn’t miss additional time.
“I saw him yesterday at the end of the bench; it’s healing well,” Roberts said. “He’s still moving his arm, playing catch. So I think it’s going to be a shorter term getting him back.”
Roberts doesn’t yet know whether Sasaki will take a spot in the bullpen or rotation upon his return.
Gavin Stone could potentially pitch in September, according to Roberts.
“Gavin’s been good,” Roberts said. “I think right now — and again, this is not talking to the guys in the, you know, player development — but it’s more of just getting him to stay upright, stay healthy, is the win for 2026.”
