De Paula played just 11 games after making his major-league debut in September and finished the regular season in Triple-A. But he impressed the Dodgers with his composure and plate discipline, earning a spot on the bench as a left-handed pinch-hit option.
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“The way he came up (to the majors) – obviously we think incredibly highly of him, and to see the calmness in his at-bats, the ability to look over the baseball, the impact, (we) just felt like, as a bullet off the bench in big situations, just being able to trust the pulse and the ability,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.
Kim opened the season with the Dodgers and played 43 games, mostly at second base. But he was sent down to the minors at the end of May and wasn’t recalled until now. He was on the Dodgers’ postseason roster last fall, making just two appearances as a pinch-runner.
“I think for us on this roster specifically, just his positional versatility and his foot speed,” Friedman said. “We have a lot of team strengths, in my mind. Foot speed is not one of them. So there can be opportunities late in games to utilize that in a way to help us score a run.”
In order to make room for Kim on the roster, reserve outfielder Alex Call was not included. Call hit .233 in 88 games this season.
The 12-man pitching staff includes left-hander Kris Bubic, acquired at the trade deadline despite being on the injured list with a shoulder problem at the time. He pitched 4⅔ scoreless innings in September for the Dodgers.
Not on the pitching staff against the Braves are left-handers Jack Dreyer and midseason All-Star Justin Wrobleski.
“Those are really tough decisions,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But looking at the Braves’ potential position player group, that’s what we felt was best. But those are tough ones.”
Here is the Dodgers’ roster for the NLDS:
PITCHERS (12) – LH Tarik Skubal, LH Blake Snell, RH Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RH Tyler Glasnow, RH Roki Sasaki, RH Edwin Diaz, LH Alex Vesia, LH Tanner Scott, RH Evan Phillips, LH Kris Bubic, RH Edgardo Henriquez, RH Brock Stewart
CATCHERS (2) – Hunter Feduccia, Will Smith
INFIELDERS (6) – Freddie Freeman, Miguel Rojas, Tommy Edman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Hyeseong Kim
OUTFIELDERS (5) – Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker, Teoscar Hernandez, Kiké Hernandez, Josue De Paula
DH (1) – Shohei Ohtani
GAME 2
Left-hander Blake Snell will start Game 2 on Sunday night with right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto lined up for Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday. By going with Tarik Skubal, Snell and Yamamoto in that order, the Dodgers can keep Yamamoto on his usual schedule with at least five days off between starts and still have the 2025 World Series MVP available to pitch twice in the next round (Games 2 and 7) if the Dodgers advance.
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“I think we’re all kind of in the prime of our careers, and we’re all evolving and continuing to get better and grow,” Snell said of a starting group that also includes Tyler Glasnow (the likely starter if a Game 4 is needed). “I think the coolest part about the whole group that no one gets to see is really how much we talk about pitching. It’s very unique. It doesn’t happen everywhere.
“For all of us to kind of be pushing for each other to be great, it’s a really cool starting staff to be a part of.”
TREINEN STATUS
When relief pitcher Blake Treinen suffered a shoulder injury while warming up to enter a game in San Francisco last weekend, it seemed to eliminate the veteran as an option this postseason. But Friedman would not rule him out of future rounds.
“It was clear for this round, but we’ll keep monitoring it as we go,” Friedman said.
Treinen has “some shoulder soreness,” Friedman said, but “it’s not surgical.”
DRY HEAT
Temperatures reached 100 degrees during Game 1 on Saturday afternoon, but the Braves were not impressed.
“I feel like this is a little cooler 98 than Atlanta,” reserve outfielder Lane Thomas said with a nod toward “Hotlanta’s” humidity. “So I think our guys will be prepared for it.”
Braves reliever Brent Suter graduated from Harvard with a degree in environmental science and public policy and saw environmental changes at work in the heat wave hitting Southern California.
“I’ve just been kind of like how are we going to deal with the heat now? I haven’t been using it as an alarm bell for environmental causes. We’re a little bit more focused on the game right now,” Suter said. “Definitely in the back of my mind, I’m like ‘100 degrees in October in L.A., that’s definitely not normal.’ Obviously super El Niño is a big thing to do with that. It’s going to be a challenge for both sides to stay hydrated, especially the position players. I don’t know how they do it day in and day out with some of this heat.”
BAD MEMORIES
Braves manager Walt Weiss was the rookie starting shortstop for the Oakland A’s in 1988 when they were upset in the World Series by the Dodgers. Weiss was asked if returning to Dodger Stadium for the NLDS brings back those memories.
“I’ve been here a lot since then. I think it’s diminished somewhat,” said Weiss, who spent four seasons as the Colorado Rockies’ manager before joining the Braves’ coaching staff under Brian Snitker and succeeding him as manager this season.
“If this was my first time back since then, heck yeah, it would be tough, but I’ve been here 12,000 times since ’88. No, I’m good, man.”