Dodgers set Opening Day roster

The Dodgers announced their opening day roster on Thursday, which doesn’t include too many surprises. OK, maybe one surprise ...

Dustin May was optioned on Thursday, which shelves any idea of May as a piggyback starter the first time through the rotation. Walker Buehler is scheduled to start the Dodgers’ fifth game of the season, next Tuesday in Houston, and hasn’t been as stretched out as the rest of the staff. Buehler earlier this week said he planned to pitch three or four innings in a simulated game on Wednesday, so that must have went well enough for the Dodgers to not feel the need another stretched-out starter as a long man behind him.

Optioning move makes room on the active roster for Terrance Gore, giving the Dodgers a pinch runner to deploy in late-inning situations. Gore was on a minor league deal, and adding him fills the 40-man roster.

With a hastened restart to the season and a truncated summer training camp, active roster limits are expanded to 30 for the first two weeks of the season, then down to 28 players for two more weeks before settling at 26 players for the rest of the season.

The Dodgers are going with 16 pitchers and 14 position players.

One of the 11 relief pitchers on the roster is Jake McGee, who signed a one-year contract on Tuesday after getting released by the Rockies last week. McGee said he drove from Denver to Los Angeles to avoid commercial air travel, staying overnight on Sunday in St. George, Utah.

McGee is one of four left-handers in the Dodgers bullpen, along with Adam Kolarek, Caleb Ferguson, and Scott Alexander.

David Price, who opted out of playing this season on July 4, is on the restricted list, and Jimmy Nelson, who had back surgery on July 7, is on the 45-day injured list. Neither pitcher counts against either the 40-man roster or 60-man club player pool.