The Los Angeles Dodgers opened a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night with Shohei Ohtani out of the lineup, but the bigger development was what came next: he was expected back Friday, when the series really starts to tilt toward the lineups on both sides. Los Angeles used a bullpen game in the opener, with Edgardo Henriquez taking the start.
That is why Red Sox Vs Dodgers is drawing attention now. The Dodgers had just taken two of three from the Seattle Mariners and were beginning a nine-game homestand, while Boston arrived after winning seven series in a row and sitting in third place in the AL East, seven games behind the Tampa Bay Rays at 57-51 through 108 games. The Red Sox have been one of the steadier teams in the AL lately, and their bullpen is built to protect leads, with five relievers in the 92nd percentile or higher in expected ERA.
For Boston, the concern is not the front end of the staff but the back end of it. Aroldis Chapman is the closer, and Greg Weissert could be unavailable for Friday’s game after heavy usage in the previous two games against the Athletics. That matters because the opener against Los Angeles is being managed from the first pitch, not the ninth, and the Dodgers are making the same kind of calculation in reverse.
Los Angeles is also navigating the bicep issue that kept Ohtani out Thursday. The expectation is that he returns Friday, but the Dodgers are still protecting the rotation structure by going with a bullpen game in the series opener. The timing is awkward for Boston, because Ranger Suarez is starting for the Red Sox and is also on a controlled workload as he comes back from injury. He is 4-3 with a 3.02 ERA, threw 64 pitches in his last outing Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, and is projected to work around 75-80 pitches, or roughly five innings.
That leaves both clubs trying to win the early innings without asking too much of the same arms. Tanner Scott and Edwin Diaz most likely will not be involved for Los Angeles because they also have heavy usage in their last two games, which turns Friday into a test of depth more than star power. The Dodgers nearly met Boston in last year’s World Series, but this one starts with a more immediate question: whether Ohtani is back in the lineup and whether either bullpen has enough left to make that return matter.
