When Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media at his scheduled session Thursday afternoon, he did not have a starting pitcher chosen for Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Friday.
The Dodgers and the Padres then conducted their workouts, with only one side (at most) knowing who would start the winner-take-all game in the best-of-five series.
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Then, late Thursday night, the Dodgers issued the announcement via social media: Yoshinobu Yamamoto would start their most important game of the season.
With Yu Darvish previously scheduled to start for San Diego, the matchup suddenly became historic. It’s the first time two Japanese-born pitchers have started opposite one another in a major league postseason game. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Darvish, 38, is no stranger to high-stakes games at Dodger Stadium. He started the decisive Game …