LOS ANGELES — (AP) — Shohei Ohtani will get his wish to see Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto face off against San Diego’s Yu Darvish in Game 5 of the National League Division Series.
Darvish will start for the Padres in the winner-take-all game Friday night at Dodger Stadium, where fans tossing balls and trash on the field caused a 12-minute delay in Game 2 last week.
“I’m really excited that he’s going to perhaps be facing Yoshinobu and being able to see Darvish potentially,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
It will be the first matchup of Japanese-born starting pitchers in Major League postseason history.
Ohtani had been anticipating the matchup earlier in the series, when Yoshinobu was slated to start Game 2 against Darvish. But the Dodgers switched Yoshinobu to Game 1 instead.
Darvish gave up one run and three hits — all singles — over seven innings in the Padres’ 10-2 win in Game 2. He …