The first plot twist of the National League Division Series already

LOS ANGELES —arrived and the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers have not even played a game.The Dodgers announced that Hyun-Jin Ryu and not Clayton Kershaw will start Game 1 of the series on Thursday at Dodger Stadium http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , even though Kershaw will be on regular rest after last pitching Saturday in San Francisco.A Braves team that finished 18 games below .500 last year and burst upon the scene in 2018 is actually the one with more predictability surrounding it in a series against the defending National League champions. Right-hander Mike Foltynewicz will take the ball in Game 1 as expected for Atlanta.Article continues below ...At face value, the Dodgers’ move to Ryu in Game 1 makes sense because it keeps their rotation in order.Ryu missed 3 1/2 months of the season with a groin strain, then returned Aug. 15 to post a 1.88 ERA in 52 2/3 innings. The left-hander has worked just 82 1/3 innings all season.But his move to the series opener bumps a Dodgers pitching legend to Game 2. Kershaw might not be as overpowering as he once was, but he still finished the season with a 2.73 ERA. And Kershaw can still pitch in a deciding Game 5, if necessary, on regular rest.Kershaw did have a 3.89 ERA in six September starts and gave up a combined eight earned runs in two key starts down the stretch, including five against the Giants on Saturday in a must-win game that the Dodgers ultimately won 10-6.There is no parsing the numbers for Foltynewicz, who emerged this season with a 2.85 ERA and a 1.082 WHIP in 183 innings. His strong late-season run was interrupted when an aggressive St. Louis Cardinals lineup roughed him up for six runs in 4 2/3 innings, but Foltynewicz finished the regular season with two strong starts against the Philadelphia Phillies.“We’ve wanted Folty to be ‘the guy’ for a couple years, and right now, I think he’s establishing himself as our legit first guy,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, according to mlb.com. “It wasn’t a hard decision at all.”Foltynewicz’s roughest stretch all season came in a four-start span when he gave up 18 earned runs in 23 1/3 innings. It concluded when he gave up four runs and six hits in five innings, including two home runs, in a 4-1 loss to the Dodgers.Despite vastly different lineups in the second half depending on whether they are facing a right-handed pitcher or a lefty Felix Hernandez Jersey , the Dodgers still managed to hit an NL-leading 235 home runs. They were sixth in the NL with 1,436 strikeouts.The Braves were 13th in the NL with 1,290 strikeouts and eighth with 175 home runs. But they cashed in their chances, finishing fifth in runs with 759. The Dodgers led the category with 804.The Dodgers won the season series 5-2, scoring 5.0 runs per game to the Braves’ 2.6. The Dodgers’ starters also had a 2.20 ERA in the seven games and the Braves were at 4.69.The Dodgers might have lost a Game 7 in the World Series last year and they got off to a slow start this year at 16-26 on May 16, but they are a confident bunch now.“Dodgers, we are going for more,” Yasiel Puig said in the Dodgers’ celebratory clubhouse Monday on Spectrum SportsNet Los Angeles. “Hey, Atlanta, we’ll see you soon, baby. And the next one … no matter who’s going, we’re going to beat (them). And we’re going to the World Series again. And this time we’re going to win the World Series. In 2018, the big party is here in Los Angeles.” Though Rocco Baldelli’s time as a player was cut short by physical ailments, his career in baseball was only beginning to take off.The mind and the heart can be powerful forces.Seeking a fresh voice for their underachieving young players, the Minnesota Twins made the 37-year-old Baldelli the youngest manager in the major leagues on Thursday by hiring a sought-after candidate who interviewed for vacancies with four other teams.The former Tampa Bay Rays player Hisashi Iwakuma Jersey , assistant and coach will be a first-time manager, the first in the major leagues born in the 1980s. He replaces Paul Molitor, who was fired after four seasons with a 305-343 record .“I like to have fun. I like for the players to love showing up to that environment, to that clubhouse,” Baldelli said, adding: “I feel like when guys are relaxed and having fun out on the field, they play their best.”Baldelli spent the last four years on the staff of Rays manager Kevin Cash, the first three as first base coach. His role for 2018 was a newly created position called major league field coordinator, helping Cash and bench coach Charlie Montoyo with in-game strategy, working with the outfielders and focusing on the continued development of the team’s young players. Montoyo was hired as manager Thursday by Toronto.Baldelli’s most recent experience fit perfectly with what Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and general manager Thad Levine sought. They were effusive with their praise of Molitor for his acumen, character and flexibility, but the closest Falvey and Levine came to articulating a specific reason for Molitor’s dismissal when they announced it a little more than three weeks ago was a desire for deeper connections with millennial players in hopes of more productivity on the field.“He connects exceptionally well to people. His humility, his open-mindedness, but also there’s a strong sense of opinion there. He has a lot of ideas as how to help players,” said Falvey Ken Griffey Jersey , who is just 35.Joined at a news conference at Target Field by his parents, two brothers, longtime girlfriend and a close childhood friend, Baldelli won over Falvey, Levine and the dozens of others who met him in the organization with his honesty and affability.“He’s going to meet one-on-one with guys and find opportunities to enhance whoever they are as a player. I think that’s what today’s manager needs to do,” Falvey said. “They need to connect to each player on an individual level.”Twins pitcher Jake Odorizzi, who was acquired from the Rays, made an unsolicited endorsement of Baldelli to Falvey after his candidacy was reported.“One thing Jake really said that stood out was players want to come to him to learn about what he’s thinking about their game,” Falvey said. “That’s about as resounding a statement as you’re ever going to hear.”Whether or not the 62-year-old Molitor could have done more, the 2018 season was a mess for center fielder Byron Buxton and third baseman Miguel Sano, the two players long groomed to be the franchise cornerstones. The Twins finished 78-84 after making the AL wild-card game in 2017.The 24-year-old Buxton was again affected by injuries and struggled anew at the plate, so much that he spent the last four months in Triple-A. Though Buxton won a Gold Glove Award in 2017 and has 46 steals in 51 career attempts, his on-base-plus-slugging percentage is just .672 in 306 major league games.The 25-year-old Sano also had a career-worst season in 2018 after making the All-Star team the year before. He spent six weeks in the minor leagues for a midseason reconditioning of his work habits and hitting approach and struck out 115 times in 299 plate appearances with the Twins.Prior to joining the coaching staff with the Rays, Baldelli was a special assistant in the front office of the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2000 out of high school in Rhode Island. Baldelli debuted with the Rays at age 21 in 2003, finishing third in the AL Rookie of the Year Award voting after batting .289 with 51 extra-base hits and 27 stolen bases. He picked up the nickname “Woonsocket Rocket” for his birthplace city and his speed on the field.The only year as a professional he spent apart from the Rays was 2009 http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authentic-edgar-martinez-jersey , when he played in 62 games for Boston. In 2008, he drove in the go-ahead run for the Rays in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series against the Red Sox and homered in Game 5 of the World Series the following week. Injuries hounded him for most of his career, however, and a rare disorder that caused muscle fatigue ultimately forced him to retire after the 2010 season.Baldelli will be the 14th manager for the Twins since the franchise relocated from Washington in 1961, only their fourth manager since 36-year-old Tom Kelly took over in 1986 and their first manager hired outside the organization since Ray Miller in 1985.Cash, who is 40, is the next-youngest manager behind Baldelli. The Twins under Falvey and Levine over the last two years have dived much more deeply into the data-driven era of the grand old game, with a particular admiration for what the Rays have pioneered. They hired Rays pitching analytics expert Josh Kalk as a senior analyst before the 2018 season, during which the Twins began copying Tampa Bay’s experiment of starting games with relief pitchers to maximize matchup advantages.“The people there have prepared me to do anything, and I feel like that,” Baldelli said. “They’ve counseled me. I’m talking about personal things on top of baseball things. They prepared me in every way to feel confident in myself to go out in the world, whether it’s in baseball or not, and do whatever it is that I want to do.”