It’s a great idea, an 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 guns and no one needs to play more than 20 games from May to September. At six innings per game, that’s no more than 120 innings during the regular season, so the top five is fresh for October, the bullpen rested and Walker taking the ball when it matters most.
Peter Maradudin
Seattle
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In 1963, when the Dodgers defeated the Yankees in the World Series, every player in the starting lineup, except Yankees import Bill Skowron, was a homegrown Dodger. Now, 61 years later, only two players fit that description, Will Smith and Gavin Lux. It’s not that Ohtani is an agent of change, as Dylan Hernández suggests, it’s deep ownership that has turned the sport into an annual tragic display of the haves and have-nots.
Bill Waxman
Simi Valley
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I know I’m dating, but I remember in 1966 the two greatest pitchers were Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. Both star pitchers were pushing for $100,000 contracts. Both pitchers ended up winning this feud with the Dodgers.
Fast forward to today’s news. Blake Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract works out to about $36 million per season. Assuming Snell is able to reach his prime years of 180 innings pitched, his income would come out to $200,000 per inning. At best, Snell makes as much in one inning as Koufax and Drysdale make in an entire season combined. And by the way, in 1965 both Koufax and Drysdale pitched over 300 innings.
Fred Gober
Playa Vista
A win for letter writers
In his typical hyperbolic prose, Bill Plaschke characterized the Trojans’ win over the Bruins as a “massive victory.” In reality, the win was anything but massive: The Bruins’ beleaguered defense held the Trojans to just one touchdown, while their middling offense racked up more passing and rushing yards than the Trojans while averaging more yards per carry and a higher pass completion rate. These statistics suggest that the Trojans were simply lucky to win.
Noel Johnson
Glendale
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When Lincoln Riley was hired, my dream of returning the Trojans to glory was not a spot in the Maybelline Mascara Bowl against the Scottsdale Artichokes. Ah, Clay Helton, we hardly knew you.
Denys Arcuri
India
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“The other school,” which Bruins coach DeShaun Foster called less intelligent than UCLA, somehow fooled its wiseguys in a trick game to help win the city championship.
Who is smarter now?
Brian Robinette
Van Nuys
Marking of start times
I thought with UCLA and USC joining the Big Ten it would improve the scheduling with more games available at an earlier time. But nothing seems to have changed. Gone are the days when rival fans would get together in the afternoon to watch the game and rib each other and see who had the last laugh. Now we watch it alone and sometimes we don’t even finish the game at 11:30 at night.
Luis Cruz
La Mirada
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What is wrong with this picture? I watch the Cal and Arizona State home games on TV at 3:30pm EST but have to wait until 10:30am to watch USC vs. UCLA.
Mitchell Cohen
East Windsor, NJ
Eager trainers
In one season, the Chargers defense transformed from a train wreck to a top 10 in the NFL under new defensive coordinator Jesse Minter with the same personnel. With Minter’s roots now firmly planted in SoCal, would it be so far-fetched to see Minter become USC’s new head coach when Lincoln Riley negotiates a bailout for the Dallas Cowboys? Minter also has Big Ten coaching experience.
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 Rivalries on the Sidelines.” The conclusion I’ve come to is that the Chargers have the wrong Harbaugh.
Vaughn Hardenberg
Westwood
Brake show
Here’s what coach JJ Reddick had to say about the Lakers’ loss to Denver: “We stopped playing.” Are they too tired after 15 games? Are they not paid enough? Is Reddick getting paid enough to explain what that means?
Both losses at home, against Orlando and Denver, were against teams they had played the night before, and Orlando’s best players were out. I don’t understand 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 angels
Despite the optimism reflected in some of the Angels articles last week, nothing will happen to improve their playoff chances until Arte Moreno sells the team. It doesn’t matter what Mike Trout can or can’t do, or how the new pitcher puts on a rant. As long as Arte is at the helm, the Angels are doomed.
Susan Stann
Temecula
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.