It’s a brilliant idea, the eight-man starting rotation. Think about it: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May and now Blake Snell.
Talk about a battery of arms, and no one needs to pitch more than 20 games from May through September. At six innings per game, that’s no more than 120 innings through the regular season, leaving the top five fresh for October, a rested bullpen, and Walker taking the ball when it matters most.
Peter Maradudin
Seattle
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In 1963, when the Dodgers swept the Yankees in the World Series, every player in the starting lineup, except for Yankees import Bill Skowron, was a homegrown Dodger. Now, 61 years later, only two players, Will Smith and Gavin Lux, fit that description. It is not that Ohtani is an agent of change, as Dylan Hernández suggests, it is the deep-pocketed ownership that has made the sport a tragic annual display of the haves and have-nots.
Bill Waxman
Simi Valley
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I know I’m dating myself, but I remember back in 1966 the two greatest pitchers were Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Both those star pitchers held out for contracts worth $100,000 each. Both pitchers eventually won that dispute with the Dodgers.
Fast-forward to today’s news. Blake Snell’s five-year, $182-million contract works out to approximately $36 million per season. Assuming Snell is able to reach his best years of 180 innings pitched, his income would work out to $200,000 per inning. In the best-case scenario Snell will earn in just one inning as much as Koufax and Drysdale earned in an entire season combined. Oh, and by the way, in 1965, both Koufax and Drysdale pitched more than 300 innings.
Fred Gober
Playa Vista
A victory for letter writers
Bill Plaschke, in his typical hyperbolic prose, characterized the Trojans’ win over the Bruins as a “massive victory.” In fact, the win was anything but massive: The lowly Bruins’ defense held the Trojans to only one touchdown, while their middling offense accumulated more passing and rushing yards than the Trojans while averaging more yards per carry and a higher passing completion rate. These stats suggest the Trojans were simply fortunate to prevail.
Noel Johnson
Glendale
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When Lincoln Riley was hired, my dream of the Trojans’ return to glory was not a berth in the Maybelline Mascara Bowl against the Scottsdale Artichokes. Oh, Clay Helton, we barely knew ye.
Denys Arcuri
Indio
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The “other school” that Bruins coach DeShaun Foster downgraded as less intelligent than UCLA somehow fooled his wise guys on a trick play to help win the city championship.
Who’s smarter now?
Brian Robinette
Van Nuys
Sign of the start times
I thought that when UCLA and USC joined the Big Ten it would improve the scheduling with more games available at an earlier time. But it looks like nothing has changed. Gone are the days when rival fans would get together in the afternoon and watch the game together and rib each other and see who got the last laugh. Now we watch it by ourselves and sometimes don’t even finish the game at 11:30 at night.
Luis Cruz
La Mirada
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What’s wrong with this picture? I am watching Cal and Arizona State home games on TV at 3:30 p.m. EST, but must wait till 10:30 to watch USC vs. UCLA.
Mitchell Cohen
East Windsor, N.J.
Coveting coaches
In one season, the Chargers defense has transformed from a train wreck to the top 10 in the NFL under new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, with the same personnel. With Minter’s roots firmly entrenched in SoCal now, would it be that far-fetched to see Minter become USC’s new head coach, once Lincoln Riley negotiates a buyout to bail to the Dallas Cowboys? Minter also has experience coaching in the Big Ten as well.
Eric Weinsheink
Beverly Hills
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I read Sam Farmer’s excellent article about coaches Jim and John Harbaugh, “Brothers in arms keep rivalry on sidelines.” The conclusion I reached is that the Chargers have the wrong Harbaugh.
Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood
Brake show
This is what coach JJ Reddick said about the Lakers losing to Denver: “We stopped playing.” Are they too tired after 15 games? Are they not paid enough? Is Reddick paid sufficiently to explain what that means?
Both losses at home, against Orlando and Denver, were against teams that had played the night before, and Orlando’s best players were out. I don’t get it. I never just stopped working. These spoiled millionaires make more in one game than most fans make in a year.
Can someone explain to the fans what is wrong with the Lakers?
Steven Lee Jacobs
Oxnard
Arte and the Angels
Despite the optimism reflected in some of the articles about the Angels this past week, nothing is going to happen that will improve their chances of making the playoffs until Arte Moreno sells the team. It matters not what Mike Trout can or can’t do, nor how the new pitcher performs yada yada yada. As long as Arte is at the helm the Angels are doomed.
Susan Stann
Temecula
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