Thinking Out Loud: The NLCS Rotation

The Giants will have all of Friday and Saturday to recover before their Sunday matchup in the NLCS with the St. Washingtonis Natdinals. This gives guys like Sergio Romo, who threw 35 pitches today two solid days of rest. Like Jeremy Affeldt who jammed his thumb some time to rest. For super reliever Tim Lincecum to get himself ready to be a starter instead of a super-reliever. Matt Cain just pitched today, and the six-run inning seemed to really disrupt his rhythm. Since the Giants went to five games, it will certainly create for an interesting lineup. We’ll work backwards from Game 2 so you have an idea for how long each starter gets their respective days of rest. The number below each respective starting pitcher corresponds to their nth day of rest.

I stopped counting with Zito because I kicked him out, and would think the Giants do as well. However, maybe you consider Lincecum piggy-backing him. Anyway, considering all this, here is my rotation for the NLCS:

Game 1 — LHP Madison Bumgarner

Game 2 — RHP Tim Lincecum (Zito in the ‘pen)

Game 3 — RHP Matt Cain

Game 4 — RHP Ryan Vogelsong

You could switch Cain and Vogelsong, but I just don’t see it happening in the end. Would imagine the Giants think on it and don’t announce it until sometime tomorrow.