Big MLB details where the Yankees have the lead over the Dodgers in the World Series

Baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz said Friday that he thinks so New York Yankees have one big lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

The eight-time All-Star talked about the Yankees’ advantage when he joined OutKick”Don’t @ me with Dan Duck.”

“I think the Yankees have an advantage in the starting rotation. They have four players in the starting lineup. We haven’t seen four players in the starting lineup all year. “The Dodgers are going to play in the bullpen again, but the Yankees could throw out four,” Smoltz said.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

“If (the Yankees starters) do their job and have a nice little streak. I read something in the stats and I had to repeat it because it seems so simple. But the Yankees have seven straight games of four innings and two runs or Less.

“Four innings isn’t a lot, but it just speaks to where we are in the game in terms of what’s valued and what assets certain teams have or don’t have.”

The four starters the Yankees have used this season are as follows Gerrit ColeCarlos Rodon, Clark Schmidt and Luis Gil.

Cole starts Game 1 and manager Aaron Boone announced that Rodon and Schmidt will start Games 2 and 3.

Because the Yankees won Cleveland Guardians in five ALCS games, it gave them the ability to set up the rotation however they wanted. Had they lost Game 5 in Cleveland, Cole would have started Game 6 and would not have been able to start until Game 3 or 4 of the World Series.

FOLLOW GAME 1 OF THE WORLD SERIES ON FOX SPORTS

Dodgerson the other hand, only three starters: Jack Flaherty, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler. Through 11 games, Dodgers starters have just thrown 40 innings, relying heavily on the bullpen.

Smoltz said manager Dave Roberts has to be smart about how he runs his bullpen.

“The Dodgers really have an extremely deep bullpen right now, and they’re going to rely heavily on it in games they can win,” Smoltz said. “They are very lucky. Dave Roberts did an incredible job of focusing on the games he could win versus the games they lost, and he didn’t have to use highly leveraged guys. But when you throw 70 percent of your innings or more and the streak goes six or seven innings to win that series, I think the Dodgers have the edge.”

In the NLCS, the smallest margin of victory for the winning team in each game was four runs, so it was easy for Roberts to make decisions about who to bring in from the bullpen because the games weren’t very close. Smoltz doesn’t expect the World Series to play out the same way.

YANKEE-DODGERS WORLD SERIES SET FOR PERFECT END TO MLB DREAM SEASON

“I think it’s going to be a tighter World Series and Dave Roberts is going to have to make some very tough decisions. Let’s say in the fifth inning, down by one, you know, or even down by two, he has a spread that he thinks if he’s down by three or more, he’s probably not going to use those guys to stay in the game Smoltz said.

“He’s going to hope he can stay in the game with other relievers, but he’s got to keep his top five or four relievers in position for knockout hits. So that’s where the Yankees can really make a tough story for Dave Roberts.”

Cole enters Game 1 and is 1-0 in three postseason appearances with a 3.31 ERA in 16.1 innings.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Flaherty is starting in Game 1 for the Dodgers and was more mixed, going 1-2 in three games with a 7.04 ERA in 15.1 innings. Flaherty pitched seven shutout innings against the Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS, but was rocked in Game 5, giving up eight runs in three innings.

Roberts announced that Yamamoto will start Game 2 for the Dodgers, but a decision has not yet been made as to whether Game 3 will be Buehler’s start or a bullpen game.

The World Series will officially begin with Flaherty’s first pitch at Dodgers Stadium on Friday at 8:08 PM ET on FOX.

Follow Fox News Digital sports coverage on Xand subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.