The teams who opened the season together in South Korea seemed to be “on a collision course” all year, and now they will square off in a best-of-five series for the third time in five years.

The switch makes Yoshinobu Yamamoto available for a potential Game 5 on an extra day of rest as he’s had for every outing this season, with Andrew Friedman saying the moves are about creating

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told reporters Thursday that Jack Flaherty will no longer take the ball in Game 1. Instead, the Dodgers will send rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the bump on Saturday in order to have the 26-year-old available to pitch in a possible win-or-go-home Game 5.