TORONTO — Seeking to spark a scuffling Dodgers offense, manager Dave Roberts shook up his lineup one more time with the season on the line in Game 6 of the World Series on Friday night at Rogers Centre.
Mookie Betts moved down another spot, from third to fourth. Tommy Edman started in center field for the first time this postseason, opening up second base for Miguel Rojas in the nine-hole. The Dodgers are hoping that a change at the bottom of the order can spark something for the top, as leadoff hitter Shohei Ohtani has taken only seven plate appearances with runners on during the World Series.
As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. With the Dodgers one loss away from falling short of their title defense, this would certainly qualify.
The last time Betts batted cleanup was Sept. 29, 2017. The Dodgers’ shortstop is hitting just 3-for-23 (.130) with no extra-base hits through the first five games of the World Series, and he has been frank about how he’s performed.
“I don’t want to speak on anybody else,” Betts said after Game 5. “But for myself, I’ve just been terrible.”
While Betts has strong career numbers against Blue Jays Game 6 starter Kevin Gausman — 15-for-49 (.306) with an .869 OPS — most of that success came when they were facing off more regularly as AL East opponents in 2018 or earlier. Betts went 0-for-3 against Gausman in Game 2.
Meanwhile, Edman starts in center field for the first time since Sept. 24. The Dodgers lost a lot of lineup flexibility when a nagging right ankle that landed Edman on the injured list twice this year limited him to playing second base for most of the postseason.
In the 18-inning marathon that was Game 3, Edman played the final five innings in center field out of necessity. He came out of that well enough that he was feasibly an option in center once more, although the Dodgers showed some reluctance to start him there, especially while playing on turf at Rogers Centre.
But an elimination game means that anything is on the table, and giving Rojas a look was worth the risk for the Dodgers. Rojas has not started since NLDS Game 2 in Philadelphia, and he has a .364 on-base percentage in a meager sample of 12 plate appearances.
