Ben Casparius will start for the Dodgers in Game 4, but that's not really the point, is it?

For the fourth time this postseason, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts starts a bullpen game. Twice the Dodgers won these bullpen games – Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres and Game 6 of the NLCS against the Mets – and in Game 2 of the NLCS, which they lost.

Ryan Brasier started the first two of those bullpen games, Michael Kopech the other. In these three games, as many as eight pitchers appeared in a game and only five. Brasier has appeared in all three, as has lefty Anthony Banda. Kopech, Daniel Hudson, Landon Knack and Evan Phillips starred in two of them. Phillips will not appear tonight as he is not in the squad.

Alex Vesia, who along with Banda represents the left-handed part of the Dodgers' bullpen, appeared in the first game.

The outlier of the three games is the loss to the Mets in Game 2 of the NLCS, when Brasier gave up a run in the first and Knack allowed five runs in the second, leading to a 7-3 Mets win.

In the other two games, Kopech, who ended Game 3, pitched the third inning of the game he did not start. As a starter, he oversaw one inning.

In the victories, no pitcher went more than two full innings, and the only pitcher to go two full innings was Blake Treinen, who won Game 6 of the NLCS by six runs.

Unless the Yankees attack the Dodgers early and turn it into a blowout, it's unlikely New York hitters will take a second look at either pitcher.

And yes, Casparius is nominally the starter. The 25-year-old right-hander was the second pitcher in Game 6 of the NLCS, going 1 1/3 innings and allowing two hits and no runs. Casparius secured victory in the decisive game.

Casparius started the season in Double A and spent most of his year as a starter in Triple A. The Dodgers called him up in late August and he debuted on August 31. When he throws his first pitch tonight, he will have made more postseason appearances in the major leagues for the Dodgers than regular-season games. He's still considered a starter and throws four pitches, but he relies primarily on his four-seamer and his slider out of the bullpen. He will also occasionally throw a curveball. Over the course of his three appearances in the NLCS, he threw the four-seam fastball 42.9 percent of the time, the slider 31.4 percent of the time and the curveball 11.4 percent of the time.