Buehler to return for a start before playoffs

Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler, the biggest question mark on a club that doesn’t have many, is scheduled to return from the injured list to start Thursday night against Oakland at Dodger Stadium in a final tune-up/test before the postseason.

Buehler is on the injured list for a second time with a right index finger blister that he said first surfaced in his Aug. 21 start against the Rockies, when he struck out 11 in six innings. The right-hander returned Sept. 2 to pitch five scoreless innings against Arizona and tried to pitch again six days later at Arizona but lasted only 2 2/3 innings and allowed two home runs.

Then the Dodgers put him back under wraps on the injured list, managing his bullpen sessions and simulated games at the alternate training site at USC, where Buehler threw a 90-pitch sim game on Saturday, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

• How they got there: Dodgers' 8th straight postseason berth

Prominent in the preseason conversation for the National League Cy Young Award, Buehler is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA, having allowed a significantly higher percentage of home runs and walks than the past two seasons. He arrived at Summer Camp admittedly behind the other starters because of the uncertainty of when the season would actually start, and he never caught up.

Roberts said he was not sure whether Buehler pitched Saturday with the finger covered. Typically, pitchers can practice throwing with blisters bandaged but not in games. Sometimes, they use a fast-drying liquid bandage that forms an artificial layer of skin to protect the blister.

The Dodgers became familiar dealing with blisters in recent years because they were a chronic problem for pitcher Rich Hill.

Bully for bullpen games
If you don’t understand why the Dodgers would deploy a bullpen game -- especially in the postseason -- let reliever Adam Kolarek explain:

“The way our staff is as a whole, we certainly have the arms to make it hard on any team that we face,” Kolarek said. “That’s the beauty of it. Like last night, Rockies hitters never faced the same guy twice. That’s a really hard task for any lineup, especially one that can be as dangerous as Colorado’s.

“They can never get comfortable in there looking at the same type of pitcher. They’re going to see three, four, five different kinds of arms for their night.”

As Kolarek alluded to, in the Dodgers’ victory on Friday, crafty lefty opener Alex Wood was followed by triple-digit righty Brusdar Graterol. Then came lefty sidewinder Kolarek and hard-throwing righty Dylan Floro, after which it was hard-throwing lefty Jake McGee before righties Joe Kelly and Mitch White. No two alike.