Will Smith was in the Dodgers lineup on Saturday, then out of it before first pitch. A stiff neck forced the catcher to be scratched for the Dodgers game, a late change that altered Los Angeles’ plans without changing the opponent.
The move matters now because the Dodgers are in the middle of a stretch that leads straight into a three-game series against the Angels starting Friday night. The club had already mapped out the weekend around a rotation of home games, with Roki Sasaki set to face Reid Detmers in the opener and the focus already shifting to the next matchup on the calendar.
Smith’s absence leaves a noticeable gap for a team that has treated every lineup spot as part of a larger push. Justin Wrobleski and the Dodgers are also aiming for their third straight win, which makes even one scratch more than a footnote when the margins are tight and the schedule is moving fast. For readers tracking the game chat around Dodgers-Angels, the update on Smith was the kind of news that lands quickly and changes the shape of the day.
The wrinkle is that Smith was initially listed to play, then pulled after the neck issue surfaced. That leaves the immediate question of how much longer he might be out unanswered, even as the Dodgers keep moving toward Wednesday’s visit to Chase Field against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The next confirmed test comes Friday night, when the Angels arrive and the lineup, with or without Smith, will tell the real story.
