Injured All-Star Corey Seager left off Dodgers NLCS roster

All-Star shortstop Corey Seager was left off the Los Angeles Dodgers roster for the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs because of a back injury, a surprising omission that left the NL West champions without one of their key players in the lineup and in the field.

"It was just unrealistic to think that I would be able to go," Seager said.

Charlie Culberson replaced Seager in the lineup. Culberson famously homered to clinch the Dodgers' NL West title last year, but he had only 15 plate appearances in the big leagues this season.

Seager complained of back soreness during the Dodgers' Division Series clincher at Arizona on Monday after sliding into second base in the first inning. The 2016 NL Rookie of the Year didn't run or participate in team workouts this week, and he had an epidural shot Tuesday.

"It improved, but [not] enough to warrant him being out there," manager Dave Roberts said Saturday. "It's still sore. [Seager] hasn't hit, hasn't moved around, and to [decide whether] he can not only take the field but be effective out there, I think that we had to weigh everything."

The lower back pain clearly frustrates Seager, who can't understand how it happened on an innocuous play. "It was a very normal slide," he said. "I watched it over and over again to see if I landed awkward, hit awkward. I mean, it was extremely normal. Felt it on the slide right away."

Instead, Seager likely can't play again this postseason unless the Dodgers reach their first World Series since 1988. Seager theoretically could be added back to the NLCS roster if a teammate was seriously injured, but Roberts downplayed that possibility before Game 1.

Chicago made only one change from the NLDS, adding righthanded reliever Hector Rondon and removing lefthander Justin Wilson.

Seager led the Dodgers with 159 hits this season, batting .295 with 22 homers and 77 RBI while playing in 145 games. He went 3-for-11 with four walks and two RBI in the division series, batting second in the lineup in all three games.

Marwin Gonzalez, who made a run-saving outfield assist in Houston's 2-1 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the ALCS, dashed to the hospital after the game to be with his wife, Noel, for the birth of his third child.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said the boy was born in the early morning hours Saturday. It's his second son and his oldest child is a daughter.