LOS ANGELES — Jack Flaherty will start for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series opener against the New York Yankees.
The right-hander opposes Gerrit Cole on Friday night at Dodger Stadium in a matchup of area natives.
Flaherty is from nearby Burbank and attended high school at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles. Cole is from Tustin in Orange County and pitched at UCLA.
“Obviously, Jack’s been really good for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday on a Zoom call with media. “The experience, the way to navigate an outing, he’s seen it all.”
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the $325 million rookie — will start Game 2 on Saturday, Roberts announced, as well. And the manager added there will be a bullpen game during the best-of-seven series, at some point.
Flaherty has started three times in these playoffs with a 7.04 ERA. He struggled in his most recent start against the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series, giving up eight earned runs and four walks in three innings.
Flaherty had dominated in Game 1 against the Mets, allowing two hits over seven innings.
He joined the Dodgers at the July trade deadline from Detroit.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.