Tony Gonsolin stepped off the Dodgers’ workforce bus Saturday carrying a T-shirt that includes “PAWS” in huge, daring letters, a parody of “Jaws,” the legendary shark-attack thriller. On the T-shirt, a menacing cat lurks underwater, poised to rise from the ocean and inflict terror upon unsuspecting inhabitants on the floor.

“It’s a fairly good shirt,” Gonsolin mentioned. “I really feel prefer it’s aggressive. That’s what we have to do right now: be aggressive.”

And they also have been. The Dodgers’ second and third batters of the sport, Corey Seager and Justin Turner, hit back-to-back house runs, placing the workforce forward to remain in a 3-1 victory and forcing a decisive Sport 7 of the Nationwide League Championship Collection on Sunday.

The Atlanta Braves named Ian Anderson as their beginning pitcher. The Dodgers didn’t announce a starter, and all that supervisor Dave Roberts would say was that there was “an excellent likelihood Gonsolin will take down an excellent little bit of it.”

The Dodgers can be as aggressive because the evil cat on Gonsolin’s shirt, and as imaginative as their possibilities can dictate.

Left-handers Julio Urías and Clayton Kershaw present choices to begin, if the Dodgers desire to make use of Gonsolin within the center innings. In aid, Kenley Jansen could be throwing for a 3rd consecutive day, though he made simply six pitches Saturday. Brusdar Graterol didn’t pitch in Sport 6. He might pitch an inning late within the recreation — or he might pitch the primary inning, as an opener.

And, after all, Kershaw was the nearer the final time the Dodgers performed a Sport 7.

In that recreation, the finale of the 2018 NLCS, Walker Buehler was the beginning pitcher, in his first season within the Dodgers’ beginning rotation. He was adopted by Urías, who already had began a postseason recreation at age 20.

That is the place we tip our caps to the Dodgers, and to their ever-flowing pipeline of younger expertise.

Anderson is a rookie too, however the Braves didn’t plan for him to be on this place. They signed four-time All-Star Cole Hamels for that. Hamels received a World Collection 12 years in the past, however he’s injured now.

The Dodgers did plan for Gonsolin to be right here, and for Urías, and for Dustin Could.

“It simply speaks to the intelligence of those younger guys, and understanding the worth they’ve in no matter function we see match,” Roberts mentioned. “They usually’re thriving, all of them are.”

The secure play in baseball is to signal veterans, to provide your younger pitchers time to develop and defend your self from speeding them. A rebuilding workforce can afford the rising pains of a younger starter, however a contending workforce can not.

With that in thoughts, think about the Dodgers’ offseason selections to bid farewell to playoff-tested veteran pitchers Wealthy Hill, Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu. The Dodgers weren’t simply speaking up their pitching prospects for Baseball America fodder; they really have been clearing area for Gonsolin, Could and Urías.

They did purchase veterans David Value and Alex Wooden, however look what occurred: Value opted out of the pandemic-shortened season, Wooden is within the postseason bullpen, and the Dodgers traded swingman Ross Stripling. Are you able to think about some other group basically shedding six starters? To tank, positive. However to win?

Whereas basic managers like to drop the phrase “sustainable success” right into a dialog about organizational aspirations, the Dodgers are the residing, respiratory mannequin of sustainable success.

Their younger pitchers don’t implode.

Gonsolin posted a 2.31 earned-run common this season, with Could at 2.57 and Urías at 3.27. The ERA+ statistic, wherein 100 represents the league common and better is healthier, had all three pitchers at 130 or extra — that’s, at the least 30% higher than the league common.

Gonsolin is the oldest, at 26. The Angels have just about been auditioning pitchers for years now. The final time the Angels had even one starter at 26 or youthful, with higher than a 3.27 ERA and a 130 ERA+?

That might be Garrett Richards, in 2014. The time earlier than that? Jered Weaver, in 2006.

Sustainable success? That might be the Dodgers’ 2016 draft. They chose catcher Will Smith within the first spherical, Could within the third, Gonsolin within the ninth.

Mitch White, their second-round choose, may very well be their subsequent nice younger arm. Infielder Gavin Lux, the primary of the Dodgers’ three first-round picks, might grow to be their subsequent second baseman.

And two different arms drafted that yr have been traded for midseason reinforcements: Devin Smeltzer (fifth spherical) for Brian Dozier, and Dean Kremer (14th spherical) within the package deal for Manny Machado. Each Smeltzer and Kremer have made the majors.

Or think about the Dodgers’ 2016 roster for his or her Class-A affiliate, the Nice Lakes Loons. A exceptional seven pitchers from that roster have made the majors.

Buehler is one, and he received Saturday. Gonsolin is one other, and he might put the Dodgers into the World Collection on Sunday. Paws up, and cue the ominous music.

Shaikin reported from Los Angeles.

This story initially appeared in Los Angeles Occasions.