Dodgers

PHILADELPHIA — On the mound, he self-destructed in a second inning that nearly placed the game out of his team’s reach.

In the batter’s box, he struck out four times for only the seventh time in his career.

A two-way player for the first time in a postseason game, Shohei Ohtani didn’t save the Dodgers on Saturday night.

Instead, Ohtani was the one being saved in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.

He was saved by Tyler Glasnow, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki, who combined to shut down the lethal Phillies lineup over the last three innings.

He was saved by a two-run double by Kike Hernández in the sixth inning that reduced their deficit to 3-2.

He was saved by a three-run blast by Teoscar Hernández in the seventh that moved them in front, 5-3.

Ohtani said in Japanese of Hernandez’s go-ahead homer: “It was a wonderful moment. I think it was the kind of moment that made you think, ‘This is the postseason.’”

The victory cleared a path for the Dodgers to defend a World Series title that once felt indefensible. By stealing the road win necessary to advance, the Dodgers have taken control of this best-of-five series against the Phillies, who could be the greatest obstacle in their World Series defense.

The Dodgers should have the edge in starting pitching over the next two games, as Blake Snell is scheduled to start Game 2 on Monday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

If a fifth game is required to decide this NLDS, Ohtani will be able to pitch on six-days’ rest.

Who could have imagined the Dodgers would be in this position after a game in which Ohtani staggered through a three-run second inning that left him looking as if he was eaten alive by the notoriously hostile Citizens Bank Park crowd?

“He’s not always going to be perfect,” Roberts said.

That being said, Roberts was quick to point out Ohtani’s contributions.

How after that brutal second inning, Ohtani pitched four scoreless innings to keep the Dodgers within striking distance. How Ohtani showed bunt and stepped out of the batter’s box in his ninth-inning at-bat as part of a plan to buy more time for Sasaki to warm up to close the game.

Ohtani sounded particularly proud of how he struck out NL home run king Kyle Schwarber for the third out of the fifth inning. The Phillies stranded two runners.

“I think it might have been a scene that decided the direction of the game,” Ohtani said.

The Dodgers scored two runs in the next innings and three in the inning after that.

“To kind of look at the at-bats that he took tonight and how he struggled offensively, but to separate that and just be a pitcher and weather that [second] inning and to go out there and give us six innings and keep us in the ballgame, I just don’t know any human that can manage those emotions,” Roberts said.

The comeback was necessary because of a second inning that started with a walk by Alec Bohm. Midway through the at-bat of the next hitter, Brandon Marsh, the Citizens Bank Park crowd started to taunt Ohtani.

Sho-hei!

Sho-hei!

Marsh singled. Ohtani responded by reaching back and throwing a 100.2-mph fastball over the heart of the plate to J.T. Realmuto, who launched a rocket into right-center field.

Heavy-footed right fielder Teoscar Hernandez failed to cut off the ball, which skipped to the outfield wall. Bohm and Marsh scored.

Realmuto reached third and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader.

Just like that, the Dodgers were down, 3-0.

This was not the start envisioned by the Dodgers, who set up Ohtani to be the star of this series.

The Dodgers didn’t send Ohtani to the mound in either of their two games of the previous round against the Cincinnati Reds.

By starting Snell and Yamamoto in the wild-card series, the Dodgers were able to save Ohtani for Game 1 of their series against the more formidable Phillies.

The Dodgers entered the NLDS reveling in the history about to be made by Ohtani, the most valuable player as a designated hitter last season back in the October spotlight to pitch in the postseason for the first time.

“I think as he takes the mound for the bottom half [of the first inning], I’m going to take a moment just to appreciate him doing something unprecedented,” Roberts said before the game.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman went as far to make the case that Ohtani was underrated.

“I just don’t think the human brain can comprehend what he does and how difficult it is and how he is elite at both,” Friedman said. “The passion he has for hitting and the passion he has for pitching, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough passion to go around, but there is with him.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch last season as he was recovering from an elbow operation he underwent in 2023. Friedman recalled the diligence with which he rehabilitated.

“It wasn’t just about pitching for him,” Friedman said. “It was about pitching really well.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch really well on Saturday night, but he will have a chance to pitch really well in the days and weeks ahead.

His team gifted him the opportunity.

PHILADELPHIA — Two innings into Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night, the Dodgers had been punched in the mouth.

The Phillies had scored three runs off Shohei Ohtani in the bottom of the second. Citizens Bank Park was shaking on the scale of a small earthquake. And the Dodgers’ offense was doing nothing against Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez.

In the opening contest of a heavyweight series, the defending champions were down.

But, in their typically resilient fashion, far from out.

In a come-from-behind, statement-sending 5-3 win, the Dodgers did again what carried them a championship last October.

They shrugged off the early adversity, with Ohtani conceding no further damage over a six-inning start, finishing his postseason pitching debut with nine strikeouts and four monumental scoreless innings.

Their lineup chipped away at the deficit, knocking Phillies ace and Cy Young Award candidate Sánchez out of the game on Kiké Hernández’s two-out, two-run double in the sixth.

Then, they landed the actual knockout blow, with Teoscar Hernández flipping the game — and the feel of this best-of-five series — with a two-out, three-run, stadium-silencing home run in the seventh.

Game 2 will be back here in South Philadelphia on Monday night. And the Dodgers will go into it with, given the way Saturday started, an unexpected 1-0 series lead.

It could not have started worse for the Dodgers.

Sánchez was carving them up with wicked sinkers and fall-off-the-table changeups. Ohtani, meanwhile, ran into early trouble in the bottom of the second.

The inning started with a walk to Alec Bohm, when Ohtani missed on a full-count fastball. That was followed by a single from Brandon Marsh, who got a down-the-middle fastball in a 2-and-2 count and shot a base hit to center.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani delivers during the third inning against the Phillies on Saturday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

As Ohtani tried to settle down, a chorus of taunting chants — Sho-Hei! Sho-Hei! — came raining down.

A crowd of 45,777 was ready to explode.

Then, J.T. Realmuto gave them the chance.

After missing with a first-pitch slider to Realmuto, Ohtani left a 100.2-mph heater in the dead heart of the zone. The location rendered the velocity irrelevant. Realmuto barreled it up, sent a line drive screaming into right-center, then chugged all the way to third after the ball got past Teoscar Hernández in the gap.

A fly ball two batters later — which worked for a sacrifice fly thanks to Hernández’s inability to cut the ball off — made it 3-0.

In the moment (and with the way Sánchez was pitching early), the lead felt almost insurmountable.

The Dodgers, however, didn’t wilt.

The turnaround began with Ohtani, who followed Realmuto’s triple by retiring the next 10 he faced. His only other trouble came in the fifth, when the bottom two hitters in the Phillies’ order reached base with one out. But even then, Ohtani buckled down, getting Trea Turner to line out and Kyle Schwarber to swing through a curveball that ended the inning.

Eventually, the Dodgers’ offense found life too.

With two outs in the sixth, and Sánchez having given up only two hits all night, Freddie Freeman sparked a rally with a five-pitch walk. Tommy Edman took a sinker the other way to put two aboard.

That brought up Kiké Hernández, who had already begun reprising his role of October hero with four hits in the team’s wild-card series sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

On cue, Hernández came up clutch again, jumping on a slider from Sánchez that caught a little too much plate and roping it down the left-field line for a two-run double — the latter run coming when Edman ran through a stop sign at third base.

Just like that, Sánchez was knocked out of the game. What had been a raucous crowd earlier in the night suddenly grew tense.

That dread only grew in the next-half inning, when Ohtani completed his start with a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth.

Then, in the seventh, the Dodgers made the comeback complete — getting the biggest swing of the night from another postseason savior, Teoscar Hernández.

Teoscar Hernández celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the seventh inning for the Dodgers against the Phillies on Saturday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

After Andy Pages led off the inning with a single and Will Smith (who entered the game in the fifth inning for his first appearance of this postseason after missing the wild card round with a fractured hand) was hit by a pitch from David Robertson, the Phillies summoned top left-handed reliever Matt Strahm to face Ohtani.

As he did in his prior three at-bats, Ohtani struck out, taking a fastball down the middle, punching out in four-consecutive at-bats in a game for only the second time in his MLB career.

But by getting Strahm on the mound, the Dodgers had favorable right-on-left matchups behind him. Mookie Betts couldn’t take advantage, popping out to third for the second out of the inning. Hernández, on the other hand, didn’t miss.

On an elevated fastball in a 1-and-0 count, Hernández launched a towering fly ball to the right-center field gap. The Phillies outfield went back on it. But the ball kept carrying into the stands. The ballpark went silent. Hernández practically glided around the bases.

The drama didn’t end there.

Projected Game 4 starter Tyler Glasnow came on in relief in the seventh, when he retired the side on a double-play grounder, then returned for the eighth, when he loaded the bases on a single and two walks. That threat was extinguished by left-hander Alex Vesia, who induced a harmless fly ball from pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa to quiet a stirring crowd once again.

The ninth inning then belonged to Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old converted rookie starter who has ascended to closing duties less than two weeks after returning from a months-long shoulder injury. He picked up the save in straightforward fashion, retiring the side in order for his first career save.

PHILADELPHIA — When Clayton Kershaw was left off the Dodgers’ roster for the best-of-three wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds, it marked the first time since his 2008 rookie season that he pitch didn’t in one of the team’s playoff series when healthy.

But on Saturday, ahead of Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Dodgers decided to add Kershaw back in the mix, ensuring he will likely get the chance to take the mound at least one more time before entering retirement this offseason.

Kershaw and fellow left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda were the only two changes the Dodgers made to their NLDS roster Saturday, swapping them in on an 11-man pitching staff in place of multi-inning left-hander Justin Wrobleski (who didn’t pitch in the wild card series) and rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez (who walked two batters and gave up a hit while recording no outs in Game 1 against the Reds).

The Dodgers made no changes to their 15-man position player group from the wild card round, once again keeping three catchers on the roster (as Will Smith continues to recover from a fractured hand) as well as speedy defensive specialists Justin Deal and Hyeseong Kim.

Kershaw’s return was had been expected, even before manager Dave Roberts officially confirmed on Friday that the future Hall of Famer would be on the roster for the NLDS.

First and foremost, the Dodgers will need added left-handed pitching depth to combat a Phillies lineup that includes left-handed threats like Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott. That’s why Banda was included as well.

But Kershaw, who went 11-2 this season with a 3.36 ERA, also gives the Dodgers a steady veteran presence out of the bullpen (where he is expected to pitch).

They missed that in the wild-card round, when a string of younger pitchers struggled to consistently find the strike zone while pitching in relief.

Thus, they will be hoping their 18-year veteran can provide it, in what would be his final career postseason series if the Dodgers don’t advance.

The only other major roster question facing the Dodgers entering this series is at catcher. Roberts said Friday that Smith “will be available to catch” in this NLDS, but was unsure if he’d be able to start right away in Game 1. Smith, who has taken only live at-bats in the last week while nursing his injury, did not appear in the wild-card series despite being on the roster. He took more live at-bats during the team’s Friday night workout at Citizens Bank Park.

In hindsight, Mookie Betts made the mystery of his worst career season sound rather simple.

Looking back on it now, the reasons were right there all along.

There was the stomach virus at the start of the year, which caused him to lose 20 pounds and develop bad swing habits while overcompensating for a decline in physical strength. There was the defensive switch to shortstop, which occupied much of his focus as he learned a new position on the go.

There was also an unfamiliar mental strain, as the former MVP slumped like he never had before.

There was a newfound process of having to flush such frustrations, forcing the 12-year veteran to accept failure, concede to a lost season, and reframe his mindset as the Dodgers approached the fall.

“I just accepted failing, so my thought process on failing changed,” Betts said in an introspective news conference on the eve of the playoffs.

“Instead of sulking on, ‘Well, I tried this and it failed, now I don’t know where to go,’ I just used it as positive things, and eventually turned.”

Betts’ full season, of course, will remain a disappointment. He posted personal low-marks in batting average (.258) and OPS (.732). He spent most of the summer with his confidence seemingly shot.

But from those depths has come a well-timed rebirth.

Amid a year of continuous turmoil, Betts finally found a way to mentally move on.

Over his final 47 games of the regular season, he batted .317 and nearly doubled his home run total, jumping from 11 on Aug. 4 to 20 by the end of the term.

During the Dodgers’ 15-5 finish to the schedule, he was one of the lineup’s hottest hitters, posting a .901 OPS that was second on the team only to Shohei Ohtani.

In the club’s wild-card-round sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, Betts’ production was even more prolific. He had six hits in the two games, including three doubles and three RBIs in the series clincher Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

And afterward, having helped the team book a spot in the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, he reflected on his turbulent campaign again — attributing his recent success to the grind that came before it.

“I went through arguably one of the worst years of my career,” Betts said. “But I think it really made me mentally tough.”

All year, speculation swirled about the root causes of Betts’ struggles, which saw him miss the All-Star Game for the first time in a decade and bat as low as .231 through the first week of August.

His shortstop play was the most commonly blamed public culprit. The correlation, to many, seemed too obvious to ignore.

At the time, Betts pushed back against that narrative. He noted the MVP-caliber numbers he posted during his three-month stint at the position in 2024.

But this week, he finally granted some credence to the dynamic, putting the difficulties of the transition in a different, but connected, context.

“It’s hard to go back and forth,” he said of the balance between learning the fundamentals of shortstop while also trying to work through his offensive scuffles. “It’s a learned behavior going back [and forth] between offense and defense.”

This wasn’t a problem for Betts when he played right field, where he has six career Gold Glove awards.

“When I was in right, I didn’t have to do that,” Betts said. “I was just playing right. I didn’t have to think about it.”

At shortstop, on the other hand, he “had to think about everything,” from how to attack ground balls, to how to remake his throwing motion, to where to position himself for cutoff throws and relay plays.

“I was making errors I never made before,” Betts said. “I had never been in these situations.”

The Cincinnati Reds’ Spencer Steer is forced out at second base by Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts on a ground ball from Gavin Lux during the first inning of Game 2 of the National League Wild Card series on Wednesday.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

It hearkened back to something teammate Freddie Freeman said about Betts early in the season.

“It’s a lot to take on, to be a shortstop in the big leagues,” Freeman said in late May. “But once he gets everything under control, I think that’s when the hitting will pick right back up.”

Eventually, that prediction came true.

By the second half of the season, Betts finally stopped thinking his way through the shortstop position, and developed a comfort level that allowed him to simply play it.

“Now when I go out and play shortstop, it’s like I’m going out to right field,” Betts said. “I don’t even think about it. My training is good. I believe in myself. I believe in what I can do. And now it’s just like, go have fun.”

“Once short became where I didn’t have to think about it anymore,” he added, “I could really think about offense.”

Shortstop, of course, failed to explain the full extent of Betts’ hitting problems. Those started with the stomach virus he suffered at the beginning of the season, which wreaked havoc on his swing as much as his body.

Even after Betts regained the weight he lost, his strength remained diminished. It left his already underwhelming bat speed a tick lower than normal. It rendered his usual swing fixes ineffective as he battled mechanical flaws to which he struggled to find answers.

“It’s just hard to gain your weight and sustain strength in the middle of a season, when you’ve been traveling and doing all these things,” he said.

It felt like one domino kept bumping into the next. To the point where everything was on the verge of falling apart.

“My season’s kind of over,” Betts ultimately declared in early August. “We’re going to have to chalk [this] up for not a great season.”

That, though, is precisely when everything started to turn.

Moving forward, the 32-year-old decided then, he would commit himself to a new mindset: “I can go out and help the boys win every night,” he said. “Get an RBI, make a play, do something. I’m going to have to shift my focus there.”

Suddenly, where there was once only frustration, Betts started stacking one little victory after another. He would fist-pump sacrifice flies and ground balls that moved baserunners. He turned acrobatic plays on defense that refueled his once-dwindling confidence.

“When he kind of said that the year was lost, when he made that admission, that’s when I think it sort of flipped for him,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Just freeing his mind up.”

It helped that, down the stretch, Roberts committed to keeping Betts at shortstop; last year, the Dodgers shifted Betts to the outfield when he came back from injury in August.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” said Betts, who wound up leading all MLB shortstops in defensive runs saved this year. “At the start of the season, I wasn’t sure I would end the season there. I thought there may have to be an adjustment at some point, from lack of trust or whatever. I just didn’t know. So I’m just proud of myself for making it all the way through the year, and actually achieving a goal that I kind of set out to do: Being a major league shortstop, and say I did it and I’m good at it.”

His bat also started to gradually come around. Part of the reason was simple. “I was just able to finally get my strength back,” he said. But much of it was the result of hard work, with Betts spending long hours in the cage with not only the Dodgers’ hitting coaches, but former teammate and longtime swing confidant J.D. Martinez as well (who worked with Betts during both an August trip to Florida and a visit to Los Angeles for Betts’ charity pickleball tournament a few weeks later).

“I didn’t really have to try and add on power anymore,” Betts said. “I could just swing and let it do its thing.”

All of it amounted to one long process of Betts learning to move on. From his early physical ailments. From his persistent mental anguish. From a set of season-long challenges unlike any he’d previously endured.

“Slowly but surely,” Betts said, “started to get better and better.”

And now, entering Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday, it has him back in a leading role for the Dodgers’ pursuit of a second straight World Series title: Starting at shortstop, swinging a hot bat, and having solved the mystery of a season that once looked lost.

“Better late than never,” he quipped Wednesday night. “It’s just one of those things where, you’ve just gotta keep going, man … So now, there’s just a different level of focus.”

PHILADELPHIA — The last time Shohei Ohtani took the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies, it was the first time all year he looked like a true starting pitcher again.

Ohtani, of course, had pitched plenty before that Sept. 16 game at Dodger Stadium, when he spun five no-hit innings against a Phillies team on the verge of a National League East division title. Up to that point, the two-way star had been making starts for the previous three months in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery.

During that stretch, however, Ohtani was under strict limitations. He pitched only one inning in his first two outings, two innings in the pair after that, and continued a slow, gradual build-up over the ensuing weeks. For many of those early starts, the right-hander didn’t even use his full arsenal of pitches, restricting himself to mostly fastballs and sweepers as he tried to hone in on his velocity and sharpen his rusty command.

That was in Ohtani in “rehab mode,” as the Dodgers described it.

The priority remained on protecting his surgically-repaired elbow.

But then came the meeting with the Phillies, in which Ohtani finally looked ready to turn the page.

He completed five innings for only the second all season. He did so with spectacularly dominant ease over just 68 pitches. He used his full mix, from a fastball that topped at 101.7 mph to a slider that induced a 50% whiff rate to a sinker/cutter/splitter combination that had the ball darting different directions to all quadrants of the plate. He collected five strikeouts and walked only one.

“He was phenomenal,” Phillies manager Rob Thompson recalled. “It was the combination of power, control, command, stuff.”

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Three weeks later, Ohtani is set to square off against the Phillies again, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night.

And this time, he won’t be subjected to the workload restrictions that forced him to make an early exit from that previous no-hit bid.

The plan, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, is to “just treat him like a regular pitcher.”

“This is something we’ve been waiting for all year,” Roberts added, while opening the door for Ohtani to go as many as six or seven innings in what will be his MLB postseason pitching debut. “He’s ready for this moment. So, for me, I’m just going to sit back and watch closely.”

“I’m sure I’ll be nervous at times,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “But more than that, I’m just really grateful that I get to play baseball at this time of the year.”

If it hadn’t been for that September start against the Phillies, it’s unclear if Ohtani would be pitching with such freedom now.

That night, Roberts removed Ohtani from his no-hit bid because, as he put it after the game, he didn’t feel comfortable deviating from the the superstars prescripted pitching plan.

What Roberts did do in that game, however, was ask Ohtani how he felt after the fifth inning to gather information the Dodgers could use going forward. Ohtani told Roberts he still felt strong. Thus, in his final regular season start a week later in Arizona, the team allowed him for the first time to pitch into the sixth.

The Dodgers are still trying to be mindful of Ohtani’s two-way burden. He is starting Game 1 of this series (which will be followed by an off day Sunday) because they didn’t want to pitch him early in the wild-card round and then have to hit in subsequent days.

But going forward, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, the club plans to use Ohtani like “a normal starting pitcher now.” No more pre-determined restrictions. No more overbearing health considerations.

“I’m very glad that I was able to end the rehab progression at that moment,” Ohtani said while reflecting back on the September start that signaled he was ready. “Just being healthy is really important to me, so I’m just grateful for that.”

Roster and rotation notes

Roberts said, after Ohtani, Blake Snell would likely start Game 2, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow lined up for Games 3 and 4. Glasnow will be available out of the bullpen for Game 1 as well.

Clayton Kershaw will be on the team’s NLDS roster, after being left off for the wild-card round. Roberts said he will pitch in a relief role out of the bullpen.

Catcher Will Smith is expected to once again be on the roster as one of three catcher, Roberts said, but his availability to start games remains in question. Though Smith’s right hand fractured has healed, he is still in the process of rebuilding strength and stamina after missing the last few weeks. He was scheduled to take live batting practice during the team’s Monday workout.

From Gary Klein: The Rams played the blame game Thursday night.

They pointed plenty of fingers — but only at themselves individually.

Running back Kyren Williams blamed himself for fumbling at the one-yard line on what might have been a winning touchdown run against the San Francisco 49ers.

Coach Sean McVay blamed himself for his call on a failed fourth-and-one running play that ended the game.

And there was plenty more blame to go around: See the Rams’ kicking game, and a defense that put the Rams in an early hole by giving up two touchdowns and made journeyman Mac Jones look like Joe Montana.

But really, blame San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

McVay’s former mentor and his plucky injury–riddled team sent the Rams to a 26-23 overtime defeat before 73,652.

“I’m pretty sick right now,” McVay said.

With good reason.

The Rams fell to 3-2, blowing an opportunity to take over first place in the NFC West before a mini-bye and then heading off to Baltimore and London.

And there was plenty more blame to go around: See the Rams’ kicking game, and a defense that put the Rams in an early hole by giving up two touchdowns and made journeyman Mac Jones look like Joe Montana.

But really, blame San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

McVay’s former mentor and his plucky injury–riddled team sent the Rams to a 26-23 overtime defeat before 73,652.

“I’m pretty sick right now,” McVay said.

With good reason.

The Rams fell to 3-2, blowing an opportunity to take over first place in the NFC West before a mini-bye and then heading off to Baltimore and London.

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NFL Week 5 picks: Eagles stay unbeaten; Jaguars defeat Chiefs

Rams summary

NFL standings

DODGERS

From Dylan Hernández: The Dodgers aren’t ready to call Roki Sasaki their closer, but who are they kidding?

Sasaki is their closer.

When the 23-year-old rookie from the Japanese countryside stepped onto the October stage on Wednesday night, he revealed himself to be more than the team’s best late-inning option.

He showed he was special.

He was Reggie-Bush-exploding-through-the-Fresno-State-defense special.

He was Yasiel-Puig-doubling-off-a-runner-for-the-final-out-in-his-debut special.

“Wow,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “Really, all you can say is wow.”

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MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

National League

Cincinnati at Dodgers
Dodgers 10, Cincinnati 5 (box score)
Dodgers 8, Cincinnati 4 (box score)

San Diego at Chicago
Chicago 3, San Diego 1 (box score)
San Diego 3, Chicago 0 (box score)
Chicago 3, San Diego 1 (box score)

American League

Detroit at Cleveland
Detroit 2, Cleveland 1 (box score)
Cleveland 6, Detroit 1 (box score)
Detroit 6, Cleveland 3 (box score)

Boston at New York
Boston 3, New York 1 (box score)
New York 4, Boston 3 (box score)
New York 4, Boston 0 (box score)

NL Division Series
All times Pacific

Dodgers vs. Philadelphia
Saturday at Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., TBS
Monday at Philadelphia, 3 p.m., TBS
Wednesday at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Thursday at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Saturday, Oct. 11 at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS

Chicago vs. Milwaukee
Saturday at Milwaukee, 11 a.m., TBS
Monday at Milwaukee, 6 p.m., TBS
Wednesday at Chicago, TBD, TBS
*Thursday at Chicago, TBS, TBS
*Saturday, Oct. 11 at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS

AL Division Series

Detroit vs. Seattle
Saturday at Seattle, 5:30 p.m., Fox/FS1
Sunday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at Detroit, TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at Detroit, TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Seattle, TBD, Fox/FS1

New York vs. Toronto
Saturday at Toronto, 1 p.m., Fox/FS1
Sunday at Toronto, 1 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at New York, TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at New York, TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Toronto, TBD, Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: The plan, Luka Doncic said Thursday after the the Lakers’ third day of training camp, is to go “a little bit slower” during these sessions so he doesn’t totally tax his body after a summer of playing hoops with his country’s national team.

About a month ago, Doncic and Slovenia were eliminated from the 2025 EuroBasket in the quarterfinals by Germany, his 39 points not enough to salvage a win.

Doncic, who slimmed down this offseason, had been playing at a peak level then, but now he and the Lakers want to ease him back into things with the hopes of avoiding injuries.

“Yeah, obviously probably take it a little bit slower than the usual,” said Doncic, who will play in the Lakers’ first preseason game Friday night against the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert. “I had a busy summer. I think month, month and a half I was with national team. So, it was kind of a lot. But that got me ready for the preseason and obviously regular season. So, for me, I think it really helps.”

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From Ryan Kartje: After an inconsistent start to the season for USC’s secondary, the defensive coordinator stood in front of a cadre of cameras and didn’t mince words. There were too many coverage busts leading to too many big pass plays, he said. He planned to spend the bye week studying film with microscopic focus in hopes of understanding exactly what had gone wrong.

“The lowlights cannot be that low,” he said. “You can’t just say it happens sometimes. Those things can’t happen.”

That coordinator was Alex Grinch, speaking in September 2023. Six weeks later, he was fired.

The circumstances aren’t quite that dire for the Trojans’ defense — or Grinch’s successor, D’Anton Lynn — in October 2025. But the problems with big pass plays have persisted since then. In fact, they’ve been worse this season than they were under USC’s previous coordinator, in spite of the fact that USC has yet to play a top-40 passing offense.

Through five games, USC has given up 51 pass plays of 10 yards or more. That’s eighth worst in the nation, equating to an average of over 10 such plays per game. And against Illinois, that propensity for allowing explosive plays came back to bite USC in a brutal loss.

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WNBA

From Steve Henson: Napheesa Collier covered a lot of bumpy ground in her lengthy end-of-season statement. Yes, officiating in WNBA games is substandard. Sure, the collective bargaining agreement is about to expire and negotiations could cripple the league’s extraordinary popularity.

But let’s not bury the lead. It was a comment Collier attributed to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert in response to the paltry rookie contracts forced on stars such as Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers that could have lasting impact.

During Indiana Fever exit interviews Thursday, Clark said she was unaware of Collier’s unabashed finger-pointing, which went like this:

“I … asked how [Engelbert] planned to fix the fact that players like Caitlin, Angel and Paige, who are clearly driving massive revenue for the league, are making so little for their first four years,” Collier said Tuesday. “Her response was, ‘Caitlin should be grateful she makes $16 million off the court because without the platform the WNBA gives her, she wouldn’t make anything.’”

Reporters filled in Clark on what Collier said. Then Clark took a breath and responded.

“First of all, I have great respect for [Collier],” Clark said. “I think she made a lot of very valid points. I think what people need to understand is we need great leadership in all levels. … This is a moment we have to capitalize on…. Phee said it all.”

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DUCKS

Jackson LaCombe signed an eight-year, $72-million contract extension with the Ducks on Thursday, keeping the rising young defenseman under contract through the 2033-34 season.

After just two full NHL seasons, the 24-year-old LaCombe has emerged as an elite two-way defenseman who is under consideration for the U.S. Olympic team roster.

The Ducks welcomed LaCombe’s eagerness to commit his long-term future to Anaheim before he reached restricted free agency next summer, and general manager Pat Verbeek signed him to the richest contract ever given out by the team, although others had larger average annual values.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1942 — With a victory in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Whirlaway becomes the first horse to amass more than $500,000 in lifetime earnings.

1971 — Billie Jean King wins the Virginia Slims-Thunderbird tournament in Phoenix to become the first women tennis player to win $100,000 in one year.

1973 — The formation of the World Football League is announced.

1974 — Future Basketball Hall of Fame guard Jerry West (“Mr. Clutch”) retires after 14 NBA seasons with the Lakers; West has 25,192 career points; averages 29.1 ppg in 153 playoff games.

1981 — USC’s Marcus Allen rushes for 223 yards against Oregon State, his fourth straight 200-plus rushing game.

1981 — After a year’s inactivity, American boxer Mike Weaver outpoints countryman James ‘Quick’ Tillis in 15 rounds in Chicago to retain his WBA heavyweight title.

1997 — Sixty-nine-year-old Hall of Famer Gordie Howe skates the first shift with the Detroit Vipers in their International Hockey League opener, becoming the only pro in his sport to compete in six decades.

1998 — Ricky Williams rushes for a school-record 350 yards and five touchdowns to set NCAA records with 65 career rushing touchdowns and career points by a non-kicker (394) as Texas defeats Iowa State 54-33.

2004 — New England Patriots win their 18th consecutive game, beating the Buffalo Bills, 31-17 at Ralph Wilson Stadium; Tom Brady 17-for-30 for 298 yards & 2 TDs.

2009 — Aqib Talib has three interceptions in Tampa Bay’s 16-13 loss at Washington.

2010 — Angel McCoughtry scores 18 points as the United States wins gold at the women’s basketball world championship with an 89-69 victory over the Czech Republic.

2010 — Josh Scobee kicks a 59-yard field goal — the eighth-longest field goal in NFL history and longest in franchise history — as time expires to give Jacksonville a 31-28 victory over Indianapolis.

2012 — Star Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo scores his first Champions League hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win against Ajax in Amsterdam.

2015 — Leonard Fournette highlights his third straight 200-yard game with a 75-yard touchdown run, and No. 9 LSU defeats Eastern Michigan 44-22. Fournette has 233 yards and three touchdowns to become the first player in the history of the Southeastern Conference to rush for 200-plus yards in three straight games.

2021 — Tom Brady becomes the NFL’s all-time leader in career passing yardage eclipsing Drew Brees’ high of 80,358.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1951 — Bobby Thomson hits a three-run homer off Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the New York Giants a dramatic 5-4 playoff victory and the National League pennant.

1974 — Frank Robinson signs a $175,000-a-year player-manager contract with the Cleveland Indians, making him the first Black manager in major league history.

1976 — Future Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder Hank Aaron singles in his last MLB at-bat and drives in his 2,297th run as Milwaukee Brewers lose, 5-2 vs. Detroit Tigers.

1981 — After a year’s inactivity, American boxer Mike Weaver outpoints countryman James ‘Quick’ Tillis in 15 rounds in Chicago to retain his WBA heavyweight title.

1990 — George Brett, Kansas City Royals, become the first player in MLB history to win a batting title in three different decades.

1993 — The Toronto Blue Jays become the first team in American League history to have teammates finish 1-2-3 in the batting race. John Olerud leads the league with a .363 batting average, Paul Molitor finishes at .332 and Roberto Alomar at .326.

1999 — St Louis first baseman Mark McGwire hits his 65th homer of the season in a rain shortened 9-5 win over Cubs at Busch Stadium; wins 2nd straight HR title over Sammy Sosa, who hits his 63rd HR in same game.

2001 — San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds Is walked for the 171st time in 11-8 win at Houston; breaks Babe Ruth’s 1923 MLB single-season record for walks.

2004 — Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki finishes the season with a MLB record 262 hits.

2015 — Max Scherzer pitches his second no-hitter this season for Washington, striking out a team-record 17 and leading the Nationals over the NL East champion New York Mets 2-0 for a doubleheader sweep.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The Dodgers aren’t ready to call Roki Sasaki their closer, but who are they kidding?

Sasaki is their closer.

When the 23-year-old rookie from the Japanese countryside stepped onto the October stage on Wednesday night, he revealed himself to be more than the team’s best late-inning option.

He showed he was special.

He was Reggie-Bush-exploding-through-the-Fresno-State-defense special.

He was Allen-Iverson-crossing-up-Michael-Jordan special.

He was Yasiel-Puig-doubling-off-a-runner-for-the-final-out-in-his-debut special.

“Wow,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “Really, all you can say is wow.”

Watching Sasaki pitch the final inning of a two-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds in their National League wild-card series, the patrons at Dodger Stadium at once recognized the novelty of his act. The same crowd that can’t distinguish home runs from fly balls was chanting his first name throughout the ballpark after just two pitches.

Sasaki threw seven fastballs in the perfect inning, and six of them were faster than 100 mph. The other was clocked at 99.8 mph.

With a forkball that looked as if it were dropping perpendicular to the ground, he struck out the first two batters he faced. Spencer Steer and Gavin Lux had no chance.

“That guy is gross,” reliever Tanner Scott said.

The 11-pitch performance by Sasaki was why the 8-4 victory in Game 2 felt so different from the 10-5 win in Game 1. In both games, the bullpen created messes in the eighth inning. Game 1 left the Dodgers questioning how they could defend their World Series title with such an unreliable group of relievers. Game 2 offered them a vision of how they could realize their ambition.

“That’s what we need right there,” Muncy said.

Sasaki was the last card in the deck for the Dodgers, who gave up on Scott before the playoffs even started. They experimented with some less experienced arms, but none of them performed well. Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer were part of a dispiriting three-run eighth inning against the Reds in Game 1. Converted starter Emmet Sheehan was part of another eighth-inning meltdown in Game 2, as he retired just one of the five batters he faced, and that was on a sacrifice fly that drove in a run. Sheehan was charged with two runs.

By the time Sasaki started warming up in the bottom of the eighth inning, he might as well have already inherited the closer role by default. The other candidates had pitched their way out of consideration.

Never mind that Sasaki had never pitched in relief in either the United States or Japan until he did so on a recent minor-league rehabilitation assignment. Sasaki pitched out of the bullpen twice in the major leagues in the final days of the regular season, and he was about as promising a bullpen possibility as they had.

So when Sasaki emerged from the bullpen against the Reds, fans in every section of Dodger Stadium stood to applaud. Sasaki represented their final hope.

Once on the mound, Sasaki delivered a performance that was as aesthetically pleasing as it was effective.

The high leg kick. The athletic delivery. The velocity and precision of his fastball.

Words couldn’t accurately describe what he did, so his teammates didn’t bother trying.

“You guys saw the same thing I did,” catcher Ben Rortvedt said.

Dodgers management was reluctant to say anything definitive about Sasaki’s role moving forward.

Was Sasaki the new closer?

“He’s going to get important outs for us,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman replied.

Asked the same question, manager Dave Roberts offered an equally ambiguous answer.

“I trust him,” Roberts said, “and he’s going to pitch in leverage.”

As guarded as Friedman and Roberts were, they couldn’t conceal the truth. Something fundamentally changed for the Dodgers on Wednesday night: They found their ninth-inning pitcher.

Sasaki is their closer.

From Jack Harris: The “theater of October,” as Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman often describes playoff baseball, descended upon Chavez Ravine for Game 2 of the National League wild-card series Wednesday night.

There was dramatic adversity early, after Teoscar Hernández’s consequential dropped ball in the first inning created a sudden deficit.

There was climactic tension late, as the Dodgers’ bullpen grinded through more eighth-inning trouble that threatened to squander another comfortable lead.

There were leading performances in the middle, from Mookie Betts (four hits, three doubles, three RBIs), Kiké Hernández (two hits, two runs, one RBI in another postseason masterclass) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto most of all (6⅔ clutch innings that got the game back under control).

At the end, there was even a star turn from rookie phenom Roki Sasaki, who slammed the door shut in an 8-4 victory that completed a wild-card sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

“It was a great test, and we didn’t waver,” manager Dave Roberts said.

“One inning at a time, one pitch at a time,” Betts added. “That’s what I love about this team.”

Indeed, the Dodgers not only advanced to the NL Division Series, where they will face off against the powerhouse Philadelphia Phillies beginning Saturday night. But they did so with the kind of performance that could catapult them through the rest of this month, steeling their resiliency and their resolve in pursuit of a second-consecutive World Series championship.

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It must be October, because Super Kiké Hernández is here. ‘Track record speaks for itself’

Hernández: Can the Dodgers win a World Series with such an unreliable bullpen?

Shaikin: Why the Dodgers don’t need to worry about rested starting pitchers for NLDS

Real estate investor denies improper use of Shohei Ohtani’s likeness

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

National League

Cincinnati at Dodgers
Dodgers 10, Cincinnati 5 (box score)
Dodgers 8, Cincinnati 4 (box score)

San Diego at Chicago
Chicago 3, San Diego 1 (box score)
San Diego 3, Chicago 0 (box score)
Thursday, 2 p.m., ESPN

American League

Detroit at Cleveland
Detroit 2, Cleveland 1 (box score)
Cleveland 6, Detroit 1 (box score)
Thursday, noon, ABC

Boston at New York
Boston 3, New York 1 (box score)
New York 4, Boston 3 (box score)
Thursday, 5 p.m., ESPN

NL Division Series

Dodgers vs. Philadelphia
Saturday at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS
Monday at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS
Wednesday at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Thursday, Oct. 9 at Dodgers, TBD, TBS
*Sunday, Oct. 11 at Philadelphia, TBD, TBS

San Diego or Chicago vs. Milwaukee
Saturday at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS
Monday at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS
Wednesday at SD or Chi, TBD, TBS
*Thursday, Oct. 9 at SD or Chi, TBS, TBS
*Saturday, Oct. 11 at Milwaukee, TBD, TBS

AL Division Series

Cleveland or Detroit vs. Seattle
Saturday at Seattle, TBD, Fox/FS1
Sunday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at Cle. or Det., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at Cle. Det., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Seattle, TBD, Fox/FS1

New York or Boston vs. Toronto
Saturday at Toronto, TBD, Fox/FS1
Sunday at Toronto, 1 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at NY or Bos., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Wednesday at NY or Bos., TBD, Fox/FS1
*Friday, Oct. 10 at Toronto, TBD, Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Two seasons before Puka Nacua joined the Rams, Cooper Kupp made NFL history.

In 2021, Kupp won the so-called triple crown of receiving, was named NFL offensive player of the year and won the Super Bowl LVI most valuable player award.

Not that Nacua, a junior at Brigham Young at the time, monitored Kupp’s statistics.

“Sadly, I don’t recall too much,” he said. “I never was a fantasy player so I never caught the buzz either.”

Four games into this season, the NFL is abuzz about Nacua.

Nearly three quarters of this season are still to be played, but if the Rams keep winning and Nacua keeps producing, the third-year pro could be on a track similar to Kupp’s historic season.

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LAKERS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: When LeBron James was asked about how a former defensive player of the year and a former No. 1 overall pick could elevate the Lakers roster, the superstar instead offered a different offseason addition’s name first.

“And Jake,” James added quickly during his Lakers media day news conference after a question about center Deandre Ayton and guard Marcus Smart.

Jake LaRavia’s signing came with less fanfare than the moves that brought Smart and Ayton to the Lakers, but the 6-foot-7 wing hopes he can be equally as influential in a quiet connector role behind some of the league’s biggest stars.

“We got a lot of dudes on this team that can score, a lot of dudes on this team that can put the ball in the bucket,” LaRavia said Wednesday at Lakers training camp. “So I’m here to complement those players, but to also just bring energy every day on both sides of the ball.”

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THRILLA IN MANILA

From Bill Dwyre: Once all the papers were signed and the fight was officially on, Muhammad Ali knew exactly what to do.

The master quipster, fight-promoting wizard and most famous and outrageous boxer in the world — the longtime heavyweight champion who had trumpeted his boxing style as one to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” — told the media what would happen on Oct. 1, 1975.

“It will be,” he bellowed, “A killa and a thrilla and a chilla when I get to the gorilla in Manila.”

It turned out to be all of that 50 years ago, as well as being offensive, when he called his fight opponent, Joe Frazier, a gorilla. The shortened “Thrilla in Manila” stuck and became the label and the headline for what was to become one of the greatest boxing matches of all time.

Bob Arum will turn 94 in December, and he is still going strong.

In the ‘60s, he was a Harvard-educated lawyer who ended up working for Bobby Kennedy’s justice department. Kennedy assigned him to confiscate closed-circuit TV revenue from the 1962 Floyd Patterson-Sonny Liston fight because information had been leaked to the U.S. government that the promoter, Roy Cohn, was planning to skirt some tax responsibilities by illegally paying Patterson in Sweden.

That’s the same Roy Cohn who eventually became the lawyer and confidant of a young Donald Trump.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1906 — Canadian world heavyweight boxing champion Tommy Burns KOs American challenger ‘Fireman’ Jim Flynn in 15 rounds to retain his title in Los Angeles.

1950 — Jim Hardy throws six touchdown passes, including five to Bob Shaw, as the Chicago Cardinals pound the Baltimore Colts 55-13.

1970 — Fourteen members of the Wichita State football team are killed in a plane crash in the Rocky Mountains.

1980 — Larry Holmes registers a technical knockout in the 11th round against Muhammad Ali to win the world heavyweight title in Las Vegas.

1983 — The Green Bay Packers score 49 points in the first half, including 35 in the second quarter, in a 55-14 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

1988 — Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, wins super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats American Riddick Bowe by 2nd round TKO.

1991 — Steffi Graf becomes the youngest woman to win 500 matches as a pro when she beats Petra Langrova of Czechoslovakia 6-0, 6-1 in the Leipzig International Tournament.

1993 — In the first all-British world heavyweight title fight, Lennox Lewis retains his WBC heavyweight title with a seven-round knockout of Frank Bruno in Cardiff, Wales.

1993 — California rallies from a 30-0 deficit to beat Oregon 42-41. Dave Barr throws three second-half touchdowns, including a 26-yarder to Iheanyi Uwaezuoke with 1:17 left in the game.

1994 — North Carolina’s 92-game winning streak in women’s soccer ends with a scoreless tie in overtime against Notre Dame.

1994 — Don Shula’s Miami Dolphins beat son Dave’s Cincinnati Bengals 23-7 in the first meeting between father and son coaches in pro sports.

2004 — Rice and San Jose State play in the highest-scoring regulation game in Division I-A history, with the Spartans winning 70-63. The 133 points surpass the total from Middle Tennessee’s 70-58 victory over Idaho on Oct. 6, 2001. The schools combine for 19 touchdowns to break the Division I-A record of 18.

2006 — Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth is given a five-game suspension — the longest for on-field behavior in NFL history — for stomping on Dallas Cowboys center Andre Gurode’s head and kicking him in the face.

2009 — Ninth-grader Alexis Thompson shoots a 3-under 69 for a share of the lead with top-ranked Lorena Ochoa and three others after the second round of the Navistar LPGA Classic.

2011 — Dallas has its largest lead blown in a loss in franchise history, frittering away a 24-point third-quarter cushion in a 34-30 loss to Detroit. The Lions turned a 20-point halftime deficit into an overtime win at Minnesota the previous week.

2016 — The United States win the Ryder Cup for the first time since 2008. Ryan Moore two-putts on No. 18 for a 1-up victory over Lee Westwood, giving the Americans a 15-10 lead that seals the win over Europe. The 17-11 victory over Europe is their biggest rout in 35 years at the Ryder Cup.

2016 — Atlanta’s Matt Ryan passes for 503 yards and four touchdowns, while wide receiver Julio Jones has 12 catches for 300 yards and a touchdown in Atlanta’s 48-33 win over Carolina.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1908 — Addie Joss of the Cleveland Indians pitched a perfect game, defeating the Chicago White Sox, 1-0.

1916 — Grover Alexander pitched a 2-0 three-hitter against the Boston Braves for his 16th shutout and 33rd victory of the season.

1920 — The only tripleheader in this century was played, with the Cincinnati Reds defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first two games. The Pirates won the nightcap, which was called after six innings because of darkness.

1938 — Bob Feller struck out 18 Detroit Tigers to set a single-game record that stood until Steve Carlton broke it in 1969.

1968 — Bob Gibson set a World Series record by striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1.

1978 — In a one-game playoff for the AL East title, Bucky Dent hit a three-run homer off Mike Torrez to lead the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

1986 — Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets became the first pitcher in baseball to strike out 200 batters in each of his first three seasons as he fanned seven en route to an 8-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

1991 — The Toronto Blue Jays clinched the American League East title and became the first team in sports history to draw four million fans in one season.

1995 — The Seattle Mariners, behind Randy Johnson’s three-hitter, beat the Angels 9-1 in a one-game playoff for the AL West title.

2001 — Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, becomes the first player in MLB history to hit 60 home runs in three seasons.

2005 — Roy Oswalt got his 20th win to lead the Houston Astros over the Chicago Cubs 6-4, clinching the NL wild-card berth and capping a historic comeback. Houston started the season 15-30 and became the first team since the 1914 Boston Braves to make the postseason after falling 15 games under .500.

2009 — B.J. Upton became the first player in Tampa Bay history to hit for the cycle. He went 5 for 5 with a career-high six RBIs in a 13-4 win over the New York Yankees.

2013 — Tampa Bay posted another must-have win on the road, beating the Cleveland Indians 4-0 in the AL wild-card game. The Rays playing in their third city over four days advanced to the best-of-five division series.

2016 — Baltimore’s Matt Wieters homered from both sides of the plate and Kevin Gausman gave the Orioles a clutch pitching performance to beat the New York Yankees 5-2 and snag a playoff spot on the final day of the regular season.

2016 — Vin Scully called his final Dodgers game after a record 67 seasons.

2018 — Tony Wolters hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the 13th inning, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 in an epic NL wild-card game.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

For Kiké Hernández, the regular season is little more than a six-month warm-up. Real baseball is played when the evening air turns crisp and the leaves begin to change.

And when summer turns to fall few players have stepped up bigger than Hernández, who had two hits, scored two runs and drove in another Wednesday, spurring a Dodger comeback that ended in an 8-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds and a sweep of their National League wild-card series.

That sends the team on to the best-of-five Division Series with the Phillies, which begins Saturday in Philadelphia.

“October Kiké is something pretty special,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “And the track record speaks for itself. He’s one of the best throughout the history of the postseason.”

It’s a reputation he’s earned.

A .236 career hitter in the regular season, Hernández has hit .286 in 88 postseason games. He slashed .203/.255/.366 in an injury-marred regular season this year, but two games into the playoffs he’s hitting .500, leads the Dodgers with three runs scored and ranks second to Mookie Betts with four hits. He also made a splendid over-the-shoulder catch while racing to the warning track in the first inning Wednesday.

“Some guys are built for this moment. He’s definitely one of them,” said third baseman Max Muncy, standing in the middle of the Dodgers’ batting cage during the team’s postgame celebration, his blue T-shirt soaked in champagne as a teammate poured beer over his head.

Hernández, wearing goggles but not a shirt, made a brief appearance at the victory party but departed to celebrate with family before the champagne and beer began to puddle on the plastic sheeting that covered the floor.

His teammates were all too happy to speak about him in his absence.

“He’s a guy who is not shy from the from the moment,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “I feel like the regular season for him is not enough.”

Rojas said he learned that first hand after rejoining the Dodgers in 2023. Although the team’s playoff run was brief, Hernández led the team with two RBIs and was second in hits and average.

“I saw it on TV before. But when I got here I saw that it was real,” he said. “He always wanted the moment and he showed it tonight with a big double to tie the game.”

That came with one out in the fourth, when his line drive to center field scored Muncy from first to tie the score, 2-2. Four pitches later he scored on Rojas’ single, putting the Dodgers ahead to stay.

But Hernández wasn’t finished. Two innings later he led off with a squibber up the third-base line that was going foul before it hit the bag for a single, starting a four-run rally that put the game away. The bottom third of the Dodger lineup — Hernández, Rojas and catcher Ben Rortvedt — combined to go six for 12 with five runs and two RBIs.

“Kiké is Kiké,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said above the din of the celebration. “That’s the guy you get when October starts.”

Before that? Not so much. But for Hernández, the postseason has become redemption time.

“I know they brought me here for these types of moments,” he said before Wednesday’s game.

“The beautiful thing about the postseason is that once we get to the postseason, everything starts at zero. You can have a bad year and you flip the script and you start over in the postseason. You have a good postseason, help the team win, and nobody ever remembers what you did in the regular season.”

Hernández, 34, owes much of his fall heroics simply to the opportunity to play on the sport’s biggest stage. In a dozen big-league seasons, he’s made the playoffs 10 times, playing in 21 postseason series with the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox and winning two World Series rings.

“I’ve been blessed to be on the right team at the right time,” he said. “Being a good postseason player is kind of an individual thing, but not really. You’re on a team that doesn’t make the playoffs, you can’t be a postseason player.

“I just happen to be on a lot of really good teams, and I’ve been fortunate enough to get a lot of chances.”

With his performance Wednesday, he assured himself at least three more chances in the division series with the Phillies. And Rojas expects him to take full advantage.

“He always wants the moment and he wants to be out there,” he said. “I’m learning from him every single day. He’s the most prepared guy that I’ve ever played with.”

Especially in October.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman often refers to the playoffs as the “theater of October.”

On the first day of the month Wednesday night, Game 2 of the National League wild-card series was only four batters old when the Dodgers had some dramatic adversity strike.

With two outs in the top of the first, Yoshinobu Yamamoto induced a routine fly ball down the right-field line. Outfielder Teoscar Hernández positioned himself under it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the inning would have ended there.

This time, however, Hernández committed a horrifying mistake. The ball hit off the heel of his mitt. The Cincinnati Reds suddenly had runners at second and third base. And what should have been a clean opening frame instead turned into a two-run disaster, with Sal Stewart slapping a single through the infield in the next at-bat.

For the Dodgers, it was an immediate test.

Of their mental resolve after a self-inflicted miscue. Of their veteran composure in the face of an early deficit. Of the kind of resiliency that was so key in their World Series run last year, and will need to be again for them to repeat as champions.

In an eventual 8-4 comeback victory, they successfully, triumphantly and assuredly passed.

Behind 6 ⅔ clutch innings from Yamamoto, a go-ahead two-run rally in the fourth inning keyed by a Kiké Hernández double, and a back-breaking four-run explosion in the sixth after Yamamoto had escaped a bases-loaded jam, the Dodgers eliminated the Reds in this best-of-three opening round.

Despite another late tightrope act from the bullpen, which gave up two runs in the eighth before Roki Sasaki finished things off in the ninth, the team booked their place in the NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Dodgers did not make it easy on themselves. They were dealt a full range of October theatrics. But they prevailed nonetheless with a hard-fought victory — the kind that could catapult them into the rest of this month.

Facing their early 2-0 deficit, the Dodgers never panicked.

Ben Rortvedt doubles during the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The turnaround started with Yamamoto, who finally ended the first inning by striking out Elly De La Cruz, then didn’t let another runner reach base for the next four innings.

The offense, meanwhile, chipped away at veteran Reds right-hander Zack Littell, stressing him with constant early traffic before eventually breaking through in the third, when Ben Rortvedt sliced a leadoff double down the left-field line and Mookie Betts scored him with an RBI single.

The Dodgers then went in front in the fourth, thanks to a big swing from a familiar postseason hero. After a leadoff single from Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández smacked an elevated fastball into the right-center field gap. Muncy scored all the way from first to tie the game. Hernández, whom the Dodgers have re-signed each of the past two offseasons thanks largely to his playoff reputation, had his latest moment of fall-time magic.

Hernández would come around to score in the next at-bat, when Miguel Rojas dumped a base hit inside the right-field line.

From there, the score remained 3-2 until the sixth inning — when the game climaxed in two memorable sequences.

First, Yamamoto had to wiggle out of red-alarm danger, facing a bases-loaded jam with no outs after the Reds led off with three-straight singles. At that point, the right-hander’s pitch count was climbing. Blake Treinen started to get loose in the bullpen. But manager Dave Roberts, as he promised entering the playoffs, kept his faith in his starter.

Yamamoto rewarded him for it.

After Austin Hays bounced a grounder to Betts that the shortstop threw home for a forceout, Yamamoto slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts. Stewart fanned on one curveball. De La Cruz couldn’t check his swing on another. Yamamoto celebrated with a primal scream. A crowd of 50,465 erupted around him.

The cheers continued into the bottom half of the inning, as the Dodgers finally pulled away with an outburst from their offense. It started with a single from Kiké Hernández, marking his second-straight two-hit game to begin these playoffs. It was aided by a throwing error from Stewart at first base, allowing Rortvedt to reach safely and put runners on the corners. Shohei Ohtani then knocked in one insurance run on an RBI single. Betts added another with a one-hopper that got past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes for an RBI double.

And fittingly, it was Teoscar Hernández who delivered the death blow, following an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman with a two-run, bases-loaded, redemption-rich double.

The Dodgers eventually stretched the lead to 8-2, when Betts drove in his third run of the game with his third double of the night in the bottom of the seventh — giving him four total hits in a contest for the third time in his career.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts speaks with pitcher Emmet Sheehan before removing him from the game in the eighth inning Wednesday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Then came the bullpen, which once again thrust itself into danger after Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs in the eighth on two singles and two walks; his command so shaky, Roberts decided to pull him in the middle of an at-bat against Will Benson after he nearly plunked the batter in an 0-and-2 count.

However, it was mostly smooth sailing from there. Alex Vesia took over, and retired the side by striking out two of three batters (even though there was another walk in-between).

The ninth inning, meanwhile, belonged to Sasaki, who retired the side in order with 100-mph fastballs and his trademark splitter, ending a night of theatrics by sending the Dodgers to the next round.

Imagine if the Dodgers hadn’t scored a gazillion runs.

Shudder.

Imagine how the majority of spectators would have tensed up when manager Dave Roberts trudged to the mound to remove Alex Vesia if the game was actually close.

Hoo boy.

Imagine the devastation the Dodgers would have experienced if Jack Dreyer’s bases-loaded walk legitimately endangered their chances of winning.

Barf.

The postseason started for the Dodgers on Tuesday night, and their pumpkin of a bullpen didn’t magically transform into an elegant carriage in a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of their National League wild-card series.

On a night when the hitters crushed five home runs and starter Blake Snell completed seven innings, the relievers continued to be as terrible as they were over the last three months of the regular season.

The Dodgers technically moved a win closer to defending their World Series title, but that ultimate goal suddenly looked further out of reach because of a shocking 30-minute top of the eighth inning during which three of their arsonist relievers nearly created a save situation out of an eight-run game.

Can a team possibly win a World Series with such an unreliable bullpen?

Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia reacts during the eighth inning of a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of a National League wild-card series on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Before the game, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he thought so.

“It’s not a talent issue,” Friedman said, but who knows if this was an honest assessment or a disingenuous effort to convince his audience that he hadn’t wasted tens of millions of dollars on a bunch of no-chancers.

Friedman continued, “We’ve seen it time and time again with guys who have scuffled and all of a sudden found it and they roll off a heater.”

That’s not what happened in Game 1.

If anything, the troublesome eighth inning eliminated certain relievers from consideration to pitch in in the highest-leverage of situations.

Suspicions about rookie fireballer Edgardo Henriquez were confirmed, as Henriquez walked a batter to load the bases, walked in a run and gave up a run-scoring single.

The wishful thinking that Dreyer could be a late-inning option was dented, as Dreyer entered the game and walked in another run.

Most disconcerting was the performance of Vesia, the team’s most trusted reliever.

Vesia started the inning, with the Dodgers leading 10-2. The use of Vesia in such a lopsided game spoke to how little Roberts wanted to use any of his other relievers in a game of this magnitude, but the fiery left-hander looked like a rubber band that had been stretched out too many times. Vesia, who pitched a career-high 68 games in the regular season, retired only one batter. He gave up a hit and a walk.

So what now?

Roberts sounded as if the only relievers he trusted were his starters. He said Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan would be in the bullpen for Game 2.

Glasnow was last used as a reliever in 2018. He’s never pitched out of the bullpen in the postseason.

Sheehan has pitched in relief in only five of 28 career games. He has only one career save, and that was in a four-inning appearance in a blowout.

The Dodgers have contemplated deploying Shohei Ohtani out of the bullpen. They could also have other starting pitchers such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Snell pitch in relief instead of throwing scheduled bullpen sessions between starts.

The team’s highest-ceiling late-inning option could be Roki Sasaki, who struck out two batters in each of the two one-inning appearances he made in the final week of the regular season.

But outside of Ohtani, who closed out the championship game of the most recent World Baseball Classic, can any of these starters really be counted on to perform in unfamiliar roles?

Will Yamamoto and Snell really be unaffected in their starts if they also pitch in relief?

It’s unclear.

But what is clear is the Dodgers can’t wait around for the likes of Tanner Scott or Blake Treinen or anyone who pitched in the eighth inning on Tuesday to magically round into form as Friedman envisions. They have to try something new.

From Jack Harris: This year, October started a day early for the Dodgers.

Thanks to their underwhelming regular season, their march toward postseason history began before the month even started.

This season’s team, coaches and players acknowledged repeatedly in recent weeks, had played their way into this spot: Having to begin the playoffs on the last day of September, in a daunting best-of-three wild-card series against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday; facing the slimmest of margins in their pursuit of back-to-back World Series championships, having won the National League West but failed to secure a top-two playoff spot.

That meant, unlike the last three years, the Dodgers did not have a bye to the division series.

It meant, this fall, they had to hit the ground running.

“The pitfalls are just [avoiding] kind of easing your way into a series,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday afternoon.

But, he added declaratively, “I don’t see that as a problem.”

In a 10-5 Game 1 defeat of the Reds at Dodger Stadium, it indeed was not.

Shohei Ohtani led off with a home run. Blake Snell was superb in a seven-inning, two-run start. And in a rollocking two-batter sequence in the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers broke the score wide open, with Teoscar Hernández hitting a three-run bomb moments before Tommy Edman went back-to-back with a solo shot.

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Plaschke: Dodgers flatten overmatched Reds in unwanted first round. But about that bullpen…

‘It’s awesome.’ Blake Snell gives the Dodgers just what they paid for

A ‘really grateful’ catcher Ben Rortvedt is thrust into Dodgers’ postseason plans

Will Smith makes the roster but not Michael Conforto for Dodgers’ wild-card series

Dodgers Dugout: How the Dodgers and Reds match up

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

National League

Cincinnati at Dodgers
Dodgers 10, Cincinnati 5 (box score)
Wednesday, 6 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 6 p.m., ESPN

San Diego at Chicago
Chicago 3, San Diego 1 (box score)
Wednesday, noon, ABC
*Thursday, noon, ABC

American League

Detroit at Cleveland
Detroit 2, Cleveland 1 (box score)
Wednesday, 10 a.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 10 a.m., ESPN

Boston at New York
Boston 3, New York 1 (box score)
Wednesday, 3 p.m., ESPN
*Thursday, 3 p.m., ESPN

*-if necessary

ANGELS

Ron Washington will not return for a third season as the Angels manager, the team announced Tuesday.

Washington missed roughly half of the current season after undergoing quadruple bypass heart surgery. Interim manager Ray Montgomery also won’t be the Angels’ next manager, according to the Athletic.

The 73-year-old Washington was the oldest manager in the majors during his two seasons with the Angels, who hired him in November 2023. The Angels had the worst season in franchise history in 2024, going 63-99 after the free-agency departure of two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

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LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: LeBron James did not participate in the Lakers’ first day of training camp Tuesday because of “nerve irritation in the glute.”

James’ teammates Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent and Adou Thiero were “under either return to play protocols or modified protocols” during the team’s first sessions.

James is entering his NBA-record 23rd season and the goal is to ramp him up to be ready for the regular-season opener Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.

“Yeah, I think it’s probably a little bit longer of a ramp-up leading into opening night for him just obviously in Year 23, it’s uncharted territory here,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “So, I felt, and in talking with performance and in talking with Mike (Mancias, James’ personal trainer) and LeBron, like probably did too much last year in camp, which was great for me as a first-year head coach to get buy-in from him.

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From Ben Bolch: After a disappointing start to the season in which UCLA’s offense ranked among the worst in the nation, the Bruins and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri mutually parted ways Tuesday evening, a university official told The Times.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the move has not been publicly announced.

Sunseri becomes the second coordinator to depart in the wake of coach DeShaun Foster’s dismissal, after defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe left earlier this month in another mutual parting of ways.

Tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel will be the offensive playcaller when the Bruins (0-4 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) face No. 7 Penn State (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday at the Rose Bowl. Plans are underway to finalize additional staff and it is anticipated that former UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone will assume analyst responsibilities, pending completion of the appropriate university processes.

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ANGEL CITY

From Kevin Baxter: The soccer world is about to become a colder, darker and meaner place.

On Tuesday, Angel City’s Ali Riley will announce she is retiring at the end of this season. And when she leaves, all the joy, fun and beauty she brought to the field will leave with her.

Set aside, for a moment, her accomplishments, which are considerable: She played in five World Cups, made five Olympic teams, played in four of the biggest leagues in the world and captained Angel City in the club’s first game.

What she’ll be remembered for the person she is.

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THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1945 — World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis is discharged from U.S. army after being awarded the Legion of Merit.

1967 — Richard Petty continues phenomenal NASCAR winning streak by taking the Wilkes 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway; unprecedented 10th consecutive victory.

1975 — In the “Thrilla in Manila,” Muhammad Ali beats Joe Frazier in 14 rounds to retain his world heavyweight title.

1977 — 75,646 fans come to the Meadowlands to see soccer great Pele play his farewell game. Pele plays the first half with the New York Cosmos and the second half with his former team, Santos of Brazil.

1988 — Flamboyant American sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner wins her third gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious US 4 x 100m relay team.

1988 — Steffi Graf beats Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 to win the women’s singles tennis gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; clinches first and only Golden Slam in history (Grand Slam & Olympics).

1993 — In his first World Boxing Council heavyweight title defense Lennox Lewis beats fellow Londoner Frank Bruno by TKO in 7 at the National Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

1997 — Kevin Garnett agrees to terms with the Minnesota Timberwolves on the richest long-term contract in professional sports history, a six-year deal worth more than $125 million.

1999 — In a blockbuster NBA trade, the Houston Rockets move All Star forward Scottie Pippen to Portland Trail Blazers for Kelvin Cato, Stacey Augmon, Walt Williams, Carlos Rogers, Ed Gray and Brian Shaw.

2000 — NBA stars Ray Allen and Vince Carter each score 13 points as the U.S. beats France 85-75 to win the men’s basketball gold medal at the Sydney Olympics.

2000 — United States wins the most medals (97), and the most gold medals (40) in Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia.

2006 — Tiger Woods matches his longest PGA Tour winning streak of six at the American Express Championship. Woods finishes with a 4-under 67 for an eight-shot victory. It’s also his eighth victory of the year, making him the first player in PGA Tour history to win at least eight times in three seasons.

2011 — Tyler Wilson throws for a school-record 510 yards and Jarius Wright catches 13 passes for a school-record 281 yards as Arkansas turns an 18-point halftime deficit into a 42-38 victory over Texas A&M.

2017 — Frankie Dettori wins an unprecedented fifth Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as Enable caps a memorable season. Enable, the 10-11 favorite, leads for most of Europe’s richest horse race to claim her fifth consecutive victory after wins in the Epsom Oaks, the Irish Oaks, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks. The filly wins by 2 1/2 lengths over Cloth Of Stars.

2017 — Houston’s Deshaun Watson becomes the first rookie to throw four touchdowns and run for another one, since Fran Tarkenton in 1961 and tied an NFL record for most TDs by a rookie quarterback in Houston’s 57-14 victory.

2017 — Todd Gurley scores the go-ahead touchdown on a 53-yard catch-and-run, and Greg Zuerlein kicks a career-high seven field goals to lead the Rams to a 35-30 win over Dallas.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1903 — The Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox 7-3 in the first World Series game. Jimmy Sebring hit the first series home run. Deacon Phillippe was the winning pitcher and Cy Young the loser.

1932 — Babe Ruth, as legend has it, called his home run against Chicago’s Charlie Root in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, won by the New York Yankees 7-5 at Wrigley Field. Ruth and Lou Gehrig each hit two homers for the Yankees.

1946 — For the first time in major league history, a playoff series to determine a league’s championship was played between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Cardinals won the first game 4-2, with Howie Pollet holding the Dodgers to two hits — a homer and RBI single by Howie Schultz.

1950 — The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the NL pennant with a 4-1 10-inning victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers on the season’s last day. Dick Sisler’s three-run homer off Don Newcombe in the top of the 10th inning came after outfielder Richie Ashburn saved the game in the ninth.

1961 — Roger Maris hit his 61st home run against Tracy Stallard of the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. The homer eclipsed Babe Ruth’s 34-year-old single-season home run record. The Yankees won 1-0.

1967 — The Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant with a 5-3 win over the Twins on the final day of the season. Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski went 4-for-4 and finished with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and a .326 average to win the Triple Crown.

1973 — The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 to win the National League East. It was the first game of a scheduled make-up doubleheader at Wrigley Field, a day after the regular season ended. The Mets, 11 1/2 games behind and in last place on Aug. 5, won their 82nd game, the lowest number of victories to win a title.

1978 — The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees 9-2 on the last day of the season to force a one-game playoff between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox won their eighth straight game with a 5-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

1988 — Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 to raise his league-leading batting average to .313 but hurt his hand in a 6-3 victory over the Houston Astros. Gwynn is the first NL batting champion to win the title with an average below .320. The previous low was Larry Doyle’s .320 in 1915.

2000 — Detroit’s Shane Halter became the fourth major leaguer to play all nine positions in a game. He capped his adventure by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Tigers over Minnesota 12-11.

2004 — Ichiro Suzuki set the major league record for hits in a season. He broke George Sisler’s 84-year-old mark with two early singles, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 8-3. Sisler set the hits record of 257 in 1920 with the St. Louis Browns over a 154-game schedule. Suzuki broke it in the Mariners’ 160th game.

2007 — Matt Holliday and the Colorado Rockies scored on Jamey Carroll’s shallow fly, capping a three-run rally in the 13th inning against Trevor Hoffman. He led the Rockies past the San Diego Padres 9-8 in a tiebreaker for the NL wild card.

2018 — Lorenzo Cain hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, Christian Yelich had three more hits, sending the Milwaukee Brewers to their first NL Central title since 2011 by downing the Chicago Cubs 3-1 in a tiebreaker game. Yelich won the NL batting title with a .326 average. He fell one home run and one RBI short of what would’ve been the NL’s first Triple Crown since Joe Medwick in 1937.

2022 — The Dodgers become only the third team in the history of the National League (and seventh in the majors) to win 110 games in a season with a 6-4 win over the Rockies. Only the 1906 Cubs and 1909 Pirates have preceded them in the senior circuit.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The Dodgers are not here for conventional wisdom. The Dodgers are here to win the World Series.

So what if an unforeseen hurdle appeared in front of their October path? The Dodgers are on the verge of turning that hurdle into an unexpected but well-planned advantage on their quest to become baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years.

Conventional wisdom says the odds favor a team with a bye, because that team can set up its pitching rotation for the division series just the way it wants while its opponent burns through its best arms in the wild-card series. The Dodgers are one win away from storming through the wild-card series and setting up their pitching rotation for the division series just fine, thank you very much.

That, it turns out, is what you can do when your star-studded starting rotation is healthy and effective for the first time all season, at precisely the right time.

The Dodgers thoroughly outclassed the Cincinnati Reds, 10-5, in Tuesday’s opener of the best-of-three wild-card series. If the Dodgers win Wednesday, or if they win Thursday, they would advance to what would be the premier matchup in all the National League playoffs: the Dodgers vs. the Philadelphia Phillies.

“I think the biggest downside of playing in a wild-card series, obviously, if you’re able to advance, is what your pitching looks like after that,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “That’s the cost.

“And I think, with our depth, that’s really mitigated.”

It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. If the Angels could go 6-0 against the Dodgers this season, the Reds could win the next two games.

However, the Reds used their best pitcher, Hunter Greene, in Game 1. The Dodgers have their best pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, ready to deploy in Game 2.

And, since the best-of-three wild card format was introduced in 2022, all 12 teams that have won Game 1 have gone on to win the series.

So let’s plan this out. If the Dodgers win Wednesday, Shohei Ohtani could start Game 1 of the division series Saturday. If the Reds force a decisive third game Thursday, Ohtani is the scheduled starter — and, if the Dodgers win, Tyler Glasnow, Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw all could be options for Game 1 of the division series.

Kershaw would be available for sure, as he is not on the wild-card roster and he would be pitching on regular rest.

Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw would be available to pitch Game 1 of the NLDS if the Dodgers advance.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“To have Clayton Kershaw standing there ready, no matter how we deploy our pitching this week, gets at the cost (of playing in the wild-card round) not being as great,” Friedman said.

And the division series includes an off day after each of the first two games, which would enable the Dodgers to use Snell on five days’ rest for Game 2 and Yamamoto on six days’ rest for Game 3.

The Dodgers have so much flexibility, in fact, that manager Dave Roberts declined to say that Ohtani would start Game 1 of the division series if the Dodgers close out the wild-card series Wednesday.

“You’re getting ahead,” Roberts said, “but one of the first two games, probably.”

It is important that Snell held the Reds to two runs in Tuesday’s victory, but it is more important that he pitched seven innings. The Dodgers asked their relievers to cover two innings with an eight-run lead, and it took four of them to do it.

The Dodgers’ road to success is clear: more of the starters, less of the erratic relievers, and less need to lean on Glasnow and Sheehan in an unfamiliar role.

“The deeper that the starters go in the game — one, it means that we’re pitching good; but, two, you’re giving the bullpen a break and a breather, and they get to be 100% every time they come out,” Snell said.

“That makes for a different game that favors us.”

The Dodgers improvised their way to a title last October, with three starting pitchers and four bullpen games. That was not conventional wisdom, either.

This time of year, however, most postseason teams have three or four reliable starters. The Dodgers have six. If they have to play in an extra round, well, what doesn’t kill them makes them stronger.

One way to keep Dodger relievers from ruining the team’s postseason run is to keep the bullpen gate closed for as long as possible.

Blake Snell gave that strategy a whirl in Game 1 of the National League wild-card series Tuesday, pitching a solid — sometimes brilliant —- seven innings. But even then he and his teammates had to wait out the nightly bullpen meltdown before escaping with a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

“Blake was fantastic tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see he was in complete control. The fastball was great. The change-up was plus.

“Kind of mixing and matching and he really was in control the entire game.”

The bullpen? Not so much. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

For Snell, it was that mixing and matching that made him so tough, Cincinnati manager Terry Francona said.

“The big difference-maker was his change-up,” Francona said. “It was his ability to manipulate the change-up, even vary it. He’d throw one that was 87 [mph] and one that was 82. And he threw two, three, four in a row at times at times, all different speeds.

“You throw a 97 [mph fastball] in there, and it becomes difficult.”

Snell was efficient from the start, retiring the side in the first on seven pitches. He set down the first eight Reds in order, then after giving up a double and walk in the third, retired the next 10 in a row, allowing him to pitch deep into the game.

Given the bullpen’s continued struggles, that’s likely to be a blueprint the Dodgers will continue to follow in the playoffs.

“It felt good to go deep in the ballgame,” said Snell, whose seven innings matched a season high. “I felt really in control, I could read swings and just kind of navigate through the lineup.

Dodgers fans cheer for Blake Snell as he walks off the mound in the fifth inning.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“The deeper that the starters go in the game, it means we’re pitching good. But it means you’re giving the bullpen a break. So it just makes for a different game that favors us.”

Tuesday’s start was Snell’s 11th, for three teams, in the postseason. But it was his first since 2022. Getting back to October was one reason why the left-hander signed with the Dodgers 10 months ago (the five-year $182-million contract the team was offered was another reason).

“It’s awesome,” said Snell, who was wearing a blue hoodie emblazoned with the Dodgers playoff slogan “Built For Fall” across the front. “There’s nothing better than pitching a postseason game in front of your home crowd. To be able to enjoy that, it meant a lot.”

And Snell took advantage, breezing into the seventh having given up just a hit. He didn’t give up a run until Elly De La Cruz’s fielder’s choice grounder with two out in the inning.

De La Cruz would score the Reds’ second run on Tyler Stephenson’s double three pitches later.

Snell got the next hitter to end the threat, with the seven innings pitched marking a career playoff best. He had matched his playoff high with nine strikeouts by the sixth inning, which he needed just 70 pitches to complete. He wound up throwing 91 pitches, giving up four hits and a walk, before Roberts went to the bullpen to start the eighth, with predictable results.

Alex Vesia was the first man through the gate and he retired just one of the three batters he faced. He was followed by flamethrower Edgardo Henriquez, who walked the first two hitters and gave up a hit to the third, forcing in two runs.

Jack Dreyer was next and he walked in another run. After entering the inning down by eight runs, Cincinnati brought the tying run to the on-deck circle with one out.

Dreyer eventually settled down, retiring the side, but the three pitchers needed 59 pitches — and 30 minutes — to get through the inning. By the time Blake Treinen came on to finish things off, starter Emmet Sheehan had started warming up.

All told, Roberts needed four relievers to get the final six outs, leaving the Dodgers hoping for a Snell-like performance from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 on Wednesday to avoid straining the bullpen further.

“Those guys are on their heels with the lead we have,” Roberts said of the Reds entering the eighth inning. “When you start being too fine and getting behind, you start giving them free bases, that’s how you can build innings and get momentum. So that’s what I saw in that inning there for sure.

“If we don’t feel comfortable using certain guys with an eight-run lead, then we’ve got to think through some things.”

Maybe Snell will get a chance to finish what he starts next time out. It’s certainly no worse than the alternative.

This isn’t a series, it’s calisthenics.

The Dodgers shouldn’t be here battling baseball’s junior varsity, and they know it, and they’re intent on pounding and pitching their way out of this embarrassing situation as quickly as possible.

Wild card round? The defending champions are nobody’s wild card.

The Cincinnati Reds? Human byes.

October came a day early to Chavez Ravine Tuesday and the shouldn’t-be-here Dodgers welcomed it with their annoyance, tying a club postseason record with five homers and dismantling the Reds 10-5 in the opener of a three-game wild-card series that should be mercifully completed by midweek.

The Dodgers finished 10 games ahead of the Reds in the standings, and won five out of six during the regular season, and only got lumped with the pretenders when their bullpen fell apart and they blew a chance at having the week off.

If the Dodgers had taken care of business they would have finished with one of the two best records in the National League and would have drawn a first-round bye as they did the previous three seasons. But, no, they finished behind Milwaukee and Philadelphia and so, even though they claimed the National League West title for the 12th time in 13 years, they were forced into a three-games-at-home wild card round.

Hello, Reds.

Good-bye, Reds.

The Dodgers will sweep this series with a win in Game 2 Wednesday, and considering they’re sending ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound, a victory seems likely. In any event, there’s no way the Reds are winning two straight at rollicking Dodger Stadium, so book your attention to Philadelphia this weekend for the beginning of the five-game division series against the Phillies.

The only way the Reds made it this far was because the New York Mets lost in Miami on the final day of the season. And if Tuesday was any indication, there’s no way the Reds are getting out of here alive.

The Dodgers knocked them backward on the game’s fifth pitch with a scorching home run by Shohei Ohtani against Reds ace Hunter Greene, the second consecutive year Ohtani has started the Dodgers postseason with a longball.

The Dodgers knocked them flat two innings later with four runs on homers by last season’s playoff heroes Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman.

The game was over within its first hour, and the Dodgers were just getting started.

Hernández later added a second home run and, oh yeah, so did Ohtani, and neither qualified as the game’s hero.

That title belonged to starter Blake Snell, who fooled the Reds into quick swings, wild swings, silly swings, and just four hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings. Perhaps just as important, he lasted 91 pitches, allowing Dodger Manager Dave Roberts to stay out the dreaded bullpen as long as humanely possible.

Of course, Roberts had to eventually crack that left-field door, and disaster very nearly occurred when three Dodger relievers accounted for four walks that led to three eighth-inning runs. But Jack Dreyer managed to get two outs with the bases loaded and Blake Treinen finished the game by allowing just a bloop single in the ninth.

It turns out, even the weakest part of this Dodger team was enough to eventually quiet the visitors, who shouldn’t be here too much longer.

It’s almost as if the Reds were intimidated even before the game began, as the Dodgers buried them in their thickest pregame brine.

Ice Cube was on the video board screaming that it’s time for Dodger baseball. Mariachi Joe Kelly was on the mound delighting the roaring crowd with a ceremonial first pitch that appropriately bounced. Keith Williams Jr. was bringing the chills with his usual falsetto-laden national anthem.

Jason Alexander was on the video board begging the fans to cheer louder… wait a minute. Jason Alexander? Didn’t his Seinfeld character work for the New York Yankees? What was he doing in the heart of Dodgerland? No wonder the fans were ignoring him.

Alexander’s appearance was the only mistake on a night that gave hope that the Dodgers’ late-season steam — they finished 9-2 and led the league in scoring in the final weeks — could carry them far past this miserable little first-round dalliance.

“Momentum is real,” Roberts said, later adding, “I think that whether it’s the Rangers find their way into the postseason to then win the World Series or some team finishing hot and remaining hot or in a particular game, I do believe in a postseason game, momentum is real.”

As usual at Chavez Ravine, that momentum built as the game went along, rare empty seats in the stands but full-throated scream from the fans, yet another reason the Dodgers blew it by not getting home-field advantage in later rounds.

“I do love being at home because a lot of times that’s what perpetuates it, the home crowd, the energy,” said Roberts.

But, seriously, about that bullpen…

Before the game, Dodgers baseball boss Andrew Friedman bravely faced the question of his bullpen, a mess that he created with poor winter signings and unwise midseason inactivity.

Not surprisingly, he defended his guys.

“They’ve had stretches of good, they’ve had some stretches where it’s been really tough and challenging,” he acknowledged. “At the end of the day, as we’re working through it the last couple of weeks, it’s not a talent issue.”

In other words, they’re competent relievers just going through a bad, awful, horrible, season-altering stretch?

“Relievers, kind of like place kickers, are tightrope walkers,” Friedman said. “It’s what they do for a living. They do well, people forget about them. They don’t do well and they’re in the ire of everything. So it’s tough.”

Friedman said it’s a matter of confidence, which is understandable when a group gets hammered all season like these guys.

“And when the confidence is wavering, the execution is off,” Friedman said. “When the execution is off, you get behind and you come in zone and you’re just more likely to take on damage. So it’s kind of that imperfect storm in a lot of ways.”

Storm, is right. What kind of bullpen fools around with an eight-run lead, as the Dodgers reliever did Tuesday night when threatening to ruin everything?

The bullpen survived, but for how long? This series may soon be over, but Philadelphia awaits. This first step into October was an impressive one. It will also be the easiest one.

Despite missing the last three weeks of the season with a fracture on his right hand, catcher Will Smith was included on the Dodgers’ roster for their best-of-three wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds this week, the team announced ahead of Game 1 on Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear if Smith would be able to start Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. Ben Rortvedt was also on the roster, and is expected to start behind the plate if Smith can’t go.

Still, even having Smith’s presence as a potential pinch-hitter will be a boon for the team, which was bracing to begin the playoffs without the two-time All-Star before he made late progress this week in his recovery from his hand injury.

Max Muncy and Tommy Edman, who both missed time last week with minor injuries, were also on the roster as expected.

The other big development from Tuesday’s roster announcement was the absence of outfielder Michael Conforto, the $17 million offseason signing who struggled mightily for much of the regular season but had continued to get playing time through the end of the schedule.

Conforto hit only .199 this season, the lowest mark of any hitter with 450 plate appearances. He also managed just 12 home runs (a full-season career-low), 36 RBIs and struck out 121 times (albeit while drawing 56 walks and keeping his on-base-percentage above .300).

Conforto did finish the season better, batting .228 with a .678 OPS after July 1 and going 15-for-61 (.246 average) in September. As a left-handed hitter, he also appeared to have potential value off the bench.

However, the Dodgers elected to roster trade deadline acquisition Alex Call and defensive specialist Justin Dean (who finished the season in the minors) on their wild card roster. They also kept infielder Hyeseong Kim, who is a speed threat but has been equally inconsistent from the left side of the plate down the stretch.

There were few surprises among the Dodgers’ pitching staff, which included only 11 arms (not including two-way player Shohei Ohtani) for this abbreviated opening-round series.

Rookie phenom Roki Sasaki, who returned from a shoulder injury and impressed in two late-season relief appearances, was on the roster as manager Dave Roberts had hinted the day before.

So too were right-handed veteran Blake Treinen and embattled left-handed closer Tanner Scott, who were major disappointments in late-inning roles this year but flashed some improvement in the final days of the regular season.

The rest of the Dodgers’ bullpen includes converted right-handed starters Tyler Glasnow (who will likely return to the rotation if the team advances to the division series) and Emmet Sheehan, hard-throwing rookie right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, and three other left-handed options in addition to Scott: Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer and Justin Wrobleski.

Anthony Banda was the only snub from the team’s regular-season roster. Clayton Kerhsaw was also left off the roster as expected, but could have a role in future rounds if the Dodgers advance.

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and our long regular-season journey has ended with more October baseball.

The Cincinnati Reds won the final wild-card spot and will face the Dodgers in a best-of-three wild-card series starting today at 6 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN; in fact, all three games will be at 6 p.m. on ESPN (and on the usual Dodgers radio stations).

On paper, the Dodgers should beat the Reds, but we all know what that is worth.

Let’s take a look at how the two teams compare and where they ranked among the 30 teams:

Batting

Runs per game
Dodgers, 5.09 (2nd)
MLB average, 4.45
Reds, 4.42 (14th)

Batting average
Dodgers, .253 (5th)
MLB average, .245
Reds, .245 (18th)

On-base %
Dodgers, .327 (5th)
MLB average, .315
Reds, .315 (16th)

Slugging %
Dodgers, .441 (2nd)
MLB average, .404
Reds, .391 (21st)

Doubles
MLB average, 258
Dodgers, 257 (13th)
Reds, 250 (18th)

Triples
Reds, 23 (10th)
MLB average, 21
Dodgers, 21 (T12th)

Home runs
Dodgers, 244 (2nd)
MLB average, 188
Reds, 167 (21st)

Walks
Dodgers, 580 (2nd)
Reds, 527 (12th)
MLB average, 513

Strikeouts
Reds, 1,415 (9th)
MLB average, 1,355
Dodgers, 1,353 (16th)

Stolen bases
MLB average, 115
Reds, 105 (19th)
Dodgers, 88 (T21st)

Sacrifice bunts
MLB average, 19
Dodgers, 13 (T20th)
Reds, 12 (24th)

Batting average with two out and runners in scoring position
Dodgers, .271 (1st)
MLB average, .233
Reds, .208 (28th)

Pitching

ERA
Reds, 3.86 (12th)
Dodgers, 3.95 (16th)
MLB average, 4.15

Rotation ERA
Dodgers, 3.69 (5th)
Reds, 3.85 (9th)
MLB average, 4.21

Bullpen ERA
Reds, 3.89 (14th)
MLB average, 4.08
Dodgers, 4.27 (20th)

FIP (click here for explainer)
Dodgers, 3.93 (7th)
Reds, 4.11 (18th)
MLB average, 4.16

Walks
Dodgers, 563 (5th)
MLB average, 513
Reds, 494 (20th)

Strikeouts
Dodgers, 1,505 (1st)
MLB average, 1,355
Reds, 1,380 (13th)

Saves
Dodgers, 46 (5th)
Reds, 41 (T15th)
MLB average, 40

Blown saves
Dodgers, 27 (T7th)
MLB average, 24
Reds, 22 (16th)

Inherited runners who scored %
Dodgers, 26.1% (3rd)
MLB average, 31.8%
Reds, 31.8% (14th)

Relief innings
Dodgers, 657.2 (1st)
MLB average, 595
Reds, 569.1 (25th)

Relief wins
Dodgers, 44 (T1st)
MLB average, 33
Reds, 30 (20th)

Relief losses
Dodgers, 33 (T7th)
Reds, 30 (11th)
MLB average, 29

The players

When comparing the main players on the teams, keep in mind that players can move around depending on who is starting and managerial whim. Gavin Lux, for example, has started at left field, DH and second base for the Reds. For a full look at the Reds statistically, click here.

DH
Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani. .282/.392/.622, 25 doubles, 55 homers, 102 RBIs
Reds, Miguel Andujar, .359/.400/.544, 7 doubles, 4 homers, 17 RBIs

Catcher
Dodgers, Will Smith, .296/.404/.497, 20 doubles, 17 homers, 61 RBIs
Dodgers, Ben Rortvedt, .224/.309/.327, 2 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBIs
Reds, Jose Trevino, .238/.272/.351, 20 doubles, 4 homers, 22 RBIs
Reds, Tyler Stephenson, .231/.316/.421, 18 doubles, 13 homers, 50 RBIs

First base
Dodgers, Freddie Freeman, .295/.367/.502, 39 doubles, 24 homers, 90 RBIs
Reds, Spencer Steer, .238/.312/.411, 21 doubles, 21 homers, 75 RBIs
Reds, Sal Stewart, .255/.293/.545, 1 double, 5 homers, 8 RBIs

Second base
Dodgers, Miguel Rojas, .262/.318/.397, 18 doubles, 7 homers, 27 RBIs
Dodgers, Kiké Hernández, .203/.255/.366, 8 doubles, 10 homers, 35 RBIs
Reds, Matt McLain, .220/.300/.343, 18 doubles, 15 homers, 50 RBIs

Third base
Dodgers, Max Muncy, .243/.376/.470, 10 doubles, 19 homers, 67 RBIs
Reds, Ke’Bryan Hayes, .234/.315/.342, 6 doubles, 3 homers, 13 RBIs

Shortstop
Dodgers, Mookie Betts, .258/.326/.406, 23 doubles, 20 homers, 82 RBIs
Reds, Elly De La Cruz, .264/.336/.440, 31 doubles, 22 homers, 86 RBIs

Left field
Dodgers, Michael Conforto, .199/.305/.333, 20 doubles, 12 homers, 36 RBIs
Reds, Gavin Lux, .269/.350/.374, 28 doubles, 5 homers, 53 RBIs

Note: Lately, when a left-hander is on the mound, Steer moves from first to left, Stewart starts at first and Lux hits the bench.

Center field
Dodgers, Andy Pages, .272/.313/.461, 27 doubles, 27 homers, 86 RBIs
Dodgers, Tommy Edman, .225/.274/.382, 13 doubles, 13 homers, 49 RBIs
Reds, TJ Friedl, .261/.364/.378, 22 doubles, 14 homers, 53 RBIs

Right field
Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández, .247/.284/.454, 29 doubles, 25 homers, 89 RBIs
Reds, Noelvy Marté, .263/.300/.448, 17 doubles, 14 homers, 51 RBIs

The three probable starting pitchers

Dodgers
*Blake Snell, 5-4, 2.35 ERA, 61.1 IP, 51 hits, 26 walks, 72 K’s
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12-8, 2.49 ERA, 173.2 IP, 113 hits, 59 walks, 201 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA, 47 IP, 40 hits, 9 walks, 62 K’s

Reds
Hunter Greene, 7-3, 2.76 ERA, 107.2 IP, 75 hits, 26 walks, 132 K’s
*Andrew Abbott, 10-7, 2.87 ERA, 166.1 IP, 148 hits, 43 walks, 149 K’s
*Nick Lodolo, 9-8, 3.33 ERA, 156.2 IP, 138 hits, 31 walks, 56 K’s

The main relievers

Reds
Emilio Pagán, 2-4, 2.88 ERA, 32 saves, 68.2 IP, 41 hits, 22 walks, 81 K’s
Tony Santillan, 1-5, 2.44 ERA, 7 saves, 73.2 IP, 53 hits, 29 walks, 75 K’s
*Brent Suter, 1-2, 4.52 ERA, 67.2 IP, 69 hits, 18 walks, 53 K’s

Dodgers
Tanner Scott, 1-4, 4.74 ERA, 23 saves, 57 IP, 54 hits, 18 walks, 60 K’s
*Alex Vesia, 4-2, 3.02 ERA, 5 saves, 59.2 IP, 37 hits, 22 walks, 80 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 6-3, 2.82 ERA, 73.1 IP, 49 hits, 22 walks, 89 K’s
Blake Treinen, 2-7. 5.40 ERA, 26.2 IP, 30 hits, 19 walks, 36 K’s

The wild-card roster

We know Clayton Kershaw will not be on the wild-card roster, as Dave Roberts announced that over the weekend.

Will Smith is still dealing with a hairline fracture of his right hand. Will he be able to play in the wild-card series? That’s a big question. And if they put him on the roster and have to take him off because he is too injured, then he would also have to sit out the next round.

Max Muncy is ready for the wild-card series; they were just being judicious with his playing time to protect the various sore body parts he has right now.

Brock Stewart won’t be on it. He’s having season-ending shoulder surgery.

Who makes it among Alex Call, Michael Conforto and Hyeseong Kim? If Smith makes the roster, do they add Dalton Rushing as a third catcher? Do they put Tyler Glasnow in the bullpen for this round or go with a true reliever?

Who’s going to win?

The Dodgers have been playing some of their best baseball lately, going 15-5 in their last 20 games. The Reds are a good team, but I think the Dodgers will get past them. Prediction: Dodgers in two.

The folks at baseball-reference.com simulated the postseason 1,000 times, and this is how many times each team won the World Series:

Milwaukee, 216
Philadelphia, 191
Toronto, 134
Seattle, 125
Boston, 68
New York, 52
San Diego, 46
Dodgers, 44
Cleveland, 38
Chicago, 37
Cincinnati, 25
Detroit, 24

Nice moment

Since he is not on the wild-card roster, Clayton Kershaw pitched what could be his final game Sunday in Seattle. He struck out the final batter he faced.

Striking him out seemed apropos, since a strikeout is what put Kershaw on the scene with Dodgers fans.

It was spring training of 2008, and the game was on TV, on a station where everyone could watch it (the good old days). Most fans knew Kershaw was a highly touted prospect, the seventh overall pick in the 2006 draft. But that’s all they knew.

And then Kershaw came in to pitch. Back then, fans didn’t trust anything unless it was told to them by Vin Scully, who was in the booth for the game. Kershaw was wearing not No. 22, but No. 96, as he wasn’t expected to make the team.

Scully was recounting Kershaw’s many accomplishments in high school and the minors when Sean Casey of the Boston Red Sox came up to the plate. Casey was a career .302 hitter, so he was no slouch at the plate. Kershaw got two strikes on him, then broke off his famous 12-to-6 curve. Casey’s knees buckled. Scully said

“Oh, what a curveball. Holy mackerel! He just broke off Public Enemy No. 1. Look at this thing. It’s up here, it’s down there and Casey’s history.”

People were talking about it the next day. “Did you see Kershaw yesterday? Did you hear what Vin said?”

That began the legend of Clayton Kershaw. Hopefully, there’s at least one more magical moment left.

Remember them?

The Dodgers used 25 position players and 40 pitchers this season (some, such as Kiké Hernández and Shohei Ohtani, did both). Do you remember them all? Here’s they are, listed in order of plate appearances and innings pitched.

Position players
Shohei Ohtani
Mookie Betts
Freddie Freeman
Andy Pages
Teoscar Hernández
Michael Conforto
Will Smith
Max Muncy
Tommy Edman
Miguel Rojas
Kiké Hernández
Hyeseong Kim
Dalton Rushing
Alex Freeland
Alex Call
Ben Rortvedt
Austin Barnes
James Outman
Chris Taylor
Esteury Ruiz
Buddy Kennedy
Eddie Rosario
Hunter Feduccia
Chuckie Robinson
Justin Dean

Pitchers
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Clayton Kershaw
Dustin May
Tyler Glasnow
Ben Casparius
Jack Dreyer
Emmet Sheehan
Justin Wrobleski
Anthony Banda
Blake Snell
Alex Vesia
Tanner Scott
Shohei Ohtani
Kirby Yates
Landon Knack
Roki Sasaki
Tony Gonsolin
Matt Sauer
Luis García
Blake Treinen
Lou Trivino
Edgardo Henriquez
Will Klein
Michael Kopech
Alexis Díaz
Noah Davis
Evan Phillips
Kiké Hernández
Miguel Rojas
Bobby Miller
Yoendrys Gómez
Chris Stratton
Brock Stewart
Jack Little
José Ureña
Ryan Loutos
Paul Gervase
J.P. Feyereisen
Julian Fernández
Andrew Heaney

Up next

Tuesday: Cincinnati (Hunter Greene, 7-4, 2.76 ERA) at Dodgers (*Blake Snell, 5-4, 2.35 ERA), 6 p.m., ESPN LA, AM 570, KTMZ 1220

Wednesday: Cincinnati (TBD) at Dodgers (TBD), 6 p.m., ESPN, AM 570, KTMZ 1220

Thursday: Cincinnati (TBD) at Dodgers (TBD), 6 p.m., ESPN, AM 570, KTMZ 1220

*-left-handed

The other postseason games

In case you want to watch how the other teams are doing:

Tuesday
Detroit at Cleveland, 10 a.m., ESPN
San Diego at Chicago, noon, ABC
Boston at New York, 3 p.m., ESPN

Wednesday
Detroit at Cleveland, 10 a.m., ESPN
San Diego at Chicago, noon, ABC
Boston at New York, 3 p.m., ESPN

Thursday*
Detroit at Cleveland, 10 a.m., ESPN
San Diego at Chicago, noon, ABC
Boston at New York, 3 p.m., ESPN

*-if necessary

Note: Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toronto and Seattle have first-round byes.

In case you missed it

Dodgers feel an urgency to deliver another World Series title to L.A.

‘That’s why I came here.’ Dodgers bet on Blake Snell’s potential as a postseason ace

Dodgers-Reds wild-card preview | Dodgers Debate

Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Reds in the NL wild-card series

Plaschke: Dodgers hero Kirk Gibson now tries to be a hero for those battling Parkinson’s disease

Dodgers find out Brock Stewart won’t return this season before win over Mariners

World Series hangover? Dodgers feel battle-tested for October by repeat challenges

And finally

Freddie Freeman removes Clayton Kershaw from his final regular-season start. Watch and listen here.

Until next time…

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Blake Snell did not sound bitter. Somehow, he was not racked with regret.

Rather, when asked at his introductory Dodgers news conference this past offseason about the most infamous moment of his career, he took a brief moment to think. Then, unexpectedly, he expressed gratitude instead.

Five years ago, Snell was pitching the game of his life in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series. With his Tampa Bay Rays facing elimination against the Dodgers, he had answered the bell with five one-hit, nine-strikeout, virtually flawless Fall Classic innings.

What happened next remains controversial to this day. Snell gave up a one-out single in the sixth inning to Austin Barnes. Rays manager Kevin Cash came to the mound with a stunningly quick hook. The Dodgers went on to mount a rally against the Tampa Bay bullpen, ending a three-decade title drought while the left-handed ace watched from the bench. And in the aftermath, the second-guessing of the decision was as immediate as it was decisive.

Almost everyone else in the baseball world thought Snell should have stayed in.

Over time, however, the pitcher himself came to view it as a valuable lesson.

“It was a moment in my life that I’m very appreciative of,” Snell said last winter, donning a Dodger blue jersey for the first time after signing with the club for $182 million as a free agent.

“If I wanted to stay out there longer, I should have done a better job before that game to make that decision easier on Kevin. It’s ultimately up to me to be a better pitcher there in that moment.”

Five years later, he’s about to get his chance for postseason redemption.

Snell’s debut season in Los Angeles did not go as planned this year. He made two underwhelming starts at the beginning of the campaign while quietly battling shoulder soreness. He spent the next four months sidelined on the injured list, returning in time to make only nine more starts down the stretch.

Although his final numbers were strong (a 2.35 ERA, 72 strikeouts in 61⅓ innings, and Dodgers wins in seven of the 11 games he did pitch), his injury left his overall impact limited.

To Snell and the team, though, none of that matters now. Their union was always rooted in postseason success. And on Tuesday night, when the Dodgers open a best-of-three wild-card series against the Cincinnati Reds, it is Snell who will take the bump for Game 1 at Dodger Stadium.

“That’s why I came here,” Snell said amid the Dodgers’ division-clinching clubhouse celebration last week. “Get to the postseason, and see how good I can be.”

It’s an opportunity that’s been half a decade in the making.

Ever since breaking into the majors in 2016, and winning his first Cy Young Award with an immaculate 21-win, 1.89-ERA season two years later, Snell’s raw talent has never been in question. No starting pitcher in the history of the sport (minimum 1,000 career innings) has averaged more strikeouts per nine innings than his 11.2 mark. Even in the game’s modern era, few have possessed such a wicked arsenal, with Snell’s slider and curveball alone boasting a whopping career whiff rate of roughly 50%.

What Snell hasn’t done, however, is prove himself to be a workhorse. He has never had a 200-inning season. He has never gone six full frames in any of his 10 playoff starts. Through the years, he has been dogged by high walk rates and inefficient outings and a tendency to simply waste too many pitches. When Cash came to the mound in that sixth inning of the 2020 World Series, it only reinforced his five-and-dive reputation.

That’s why, when Snell looks back on that moment now, he views it through a lens of valuable perspective.

“I just learned, the manager’s job is to do whatever he thinks is gonna help the team win, and my job is to make him believe I’m the best option for us to win,” Snell said this past weekend, when asked about that ignominious Game 6 again. “And I didn’t do a good job of that, because he took me out.”

Thus, Snell has been on a different mission over the five years since. He not only wants to get back to the World Series and win his first championship. But he wants to do so as a bona fide October ace, the kind of anchor of a pitching staff that can get deeper into outings.

“[The playoffs are] where you want to see: What kind of player are you? How do you handle pressure situations? When everything is on the line,” Snell said. “That’s why I like it. It really allows you to understand who you are as a pitcher, where you’re at, and where you need to grow … How to find advantages to push yourself deeper in the game.”

The last time Snell pitched in the playoffs, such goals remained a work in progress. As a member of the San Diego Padres in 2022, he amassed just 13⅔ innings over three postseason starts, recording a 4.61 ERA while walking nine total batters.

Over the three seasons since then, however, he feels he has made more tangible strides. In 2023, he won another Cy Young by going 14-9 with a 2.25 ERA, averaging close to six innings per start despite a major-league-leading 99 walks. Last year might have been even more transformational, even as he battled injuries with the San Francisco Giants.

During his lone season in the Bay, Snell picked the brain of Giants ace Logan Webb, who has led the National League in innings pitched over each of the last three seasons. Their talks centered on the value of short at-bats, the importance of “dominating the inside part of the plate,” and the significance of executing competitive misses on throws around the edge of the zone.

“That was probably one of my biggest years of growth and development, in the sense of how to go deeper into games,” Snell said.

The results certainly backed that up, with Snell rebounding from an injury-plagued first half to post a 1.23 ERA over his final 14 starts. In an early August trip to Cincinnati (his last time facing the Reds ahead of this week’s playoff series), he threw his first career no-hitter on just 114 pitches.

“That no-hitter was insane,” said current Dodgers outfielder and former Giants teammate Michael Conforto, who like Snell went from San Francisco to Los Angeles as a free agent last offseason. “He just had everything working. He was hitting every corner. He knew exactly where he wanted to put it, and he put it there every time.

“That’s the kind of performance he’s capable of every time he goes out,” Conforto added. “It’s just a very, very tough at-bat. Especially when he’s throwing strikes.”

This year, Snell’s evolution has continued around the Dodgers — where manager Dave Roberts has lauded him as a “next-level thinker” for the way he can read opponents’ swings, figure out their tendencies in the batter’s box, and adapt his plan of attack to what he feels a given matchup requires.

Since returning from his early-season shoulder injury, Snell has increasingly tapped into top form. He has cut down on walks and wasted pitches. He has posted a 2.41 ERA over his nine second-half starts. His last three outings in particular: 19 innings, one run, 28 strikeouts and only five free passes.

The most important development has been his relationship with Roberts, who left Snell in the game after late-inning mound visits in each of his last two starts, and watched him escape high-leverage jams.

Those moments could be invaluable as the Dodgers enter the playoffs, giving Roberts a level of confidence to push his Game 1 starter and cover for what has been an unreliable bullpen.

“He understands his role on this ball club,” Roberts said. “When you put a starter in a position where they know they have to go deeper, you’ve got to just naturally be more efficient.”

It’s a skill Snell has been honing ever since that fateful October night five years ago. Starting Tuesday night, it’s about to be tested again.

“That’s everything,” Snell said of pitching in the postseason again. “To face the best when the stakes are highest, that’s what I’ve always wanted.”

At this time last year, the pressure was palpable.

Up until last October, the Dodgers had a reputation as postseason failures.

It wasn’t an unwarranted distinction. In each of the previous two seasons, the team had been upset in the National League Division Series by lesser opponents in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The fall before that, their title defense flamed out against the underdog Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Yes, they won a World Series in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But outside of that, it’d been more than three decades since they last triumphed under typical circumstances.

That checkered history weighed on them. Their urgency to change it in last year’s playoffs was fervent.

“That kind of sour taste that you have when you make an early exit from the postseason, our guys are tired of it,” manager Dave Roberts said on the eve of last year’s postseason. “So this is another opportunity. I do sense that edge.”

This week, of course, the Dodgers face a different kind of dynamic.

After their memorable run to a championship last year, the team has gotten the monkey of its full-season title drought off its back. And while expectations are still high, with the Dodgers and their record-setting $400-million roster set to begin the playoffs with a best-of-three wild-card round starting Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, the questions about past October disappointments have dissipated.

So, does the pressure of this postseason feel different?

“You would think,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said. “But the pressure’s always going to be there. Especially when you’re this team, when you’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, there’s a lot of expectations around you. There’s a lot of pressure.”

Indeed, after an underwhelming regular season that saw the Dodgers win the NL West for the 12th time in the last 13 years, but fail to secure a first-round bye as one of the NL’s top two playoff seeds, the Dodgers have a new task before them.

Erase the frustrations of their 93-win campaign. Maintain the momentum they built with a 15-5 regular-season finish. And recreate the desperation that carried them to the promised land last fall, as they try to become MLB’s first repeat champion in 25 years.

“For us, the challenge is not letting that pressure get to you and finding our rhythm, finding what’s going to work for us this year,” Muncy said. “Each year the team has to find their identity when they get to this point. You have an identity during the regular season, and you have to find a whole ‘nother identity in the postseason.”

The Dodgers’ preferred identity for this year’s team figures to be the opposite of what worked last October.

Unlike last year, the team has a healthy and star-studded starting rotation entering the playoffs. Also unlike last year, the bullpen is a major question mark despite an encouraging end to the regular season.

For the wild-card series, it means the team will need big innings out of Game 1 starter Blake Snell, Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and (if necessary) Game 3 starter Shohei Ohtani — who is being saved for the potential winner-take-all contest in part to help manage his two-way workload.

Ideally, their production should ease the burden on a relief corps that ranked 21st in the majors in ERA during the regular season, and has no clear-cut hierarchy for its most trusted arms.

“The starting pitching is considerably better” than it was last year, Roberts said Monday. “That’s probably the biggest difference between last year’s team.”

Granted, the Dodgers do feel better about their bullpen right now, thanks to the return of Roki Sasaki, the reallocation (at least for this series) of Emmet Sheehan and Tyler Glasnow from the rotation to relief roles, and recent improvements from Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott.

“[We have] much more confidence than we had a couple weeks ago,” Roberts said of the bullpen. “I think that it’s because those guys have shown the confidence in themselves, where they’re throwing the baseball. I think last week we saw guys more on the attack setting the tone, versus pitching behind or pitching too careful.”

Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott delivers against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 19.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Still, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will pitch in the ninth inning, or be called upon in the highest-leverage moments.

Close, late contests would be best for the Dodgers to avoid.

To that end, the continuation of the Dodgers’ recent uptick at the plate would also help. During a dismal 22-32 stretch from July 4 to Sept. 6, the Dodgers ranked 27th in scoring, struggling to overcome injuries to several key pieces, slumps from some of their biggest stars, and a general lack of consistent execution in situational opportunities. Over their closing 20 games, however, the lineup averaged an NL-best 5.55 runs per game behind late-season surges from Ohtani and Mookie Betts, plus team-wide improvements while hitting with runners in scoring position.

“The team is starting to fire on all cylinders, finally,” Muncy said. “It’s something that we haven’t really felt all year.”

The Dodgers had good news on the injury front during Monday’s team workout at Dodger Stadium. Muncy, who missed the last four games of the regular season while battling leg bruises and what Roberts has described as other “overall body” issues, is expected to be in the lineup. So too is Tommy Edman, who hasn’t played in the field since last Wednesday because of a lingering ankle injury.

The big question remains catcher Will Smith, who has been out since Sept. 9 with a right hand fracture.

Roberts said Monday the team has been “encouraged” with Smith’s recent progress. The slugger was even able to take live at-bats Monday night.

“If he can get through today and feel good,” Roberts said, “then it’s a viable thought” that he could be on the final 26-man roster the Dodgers will have to submit ahead of Tuesday’s game for the wild-card series.

Either way, the Dodgers’ biggest concern remains on maintaining their recent level of play. Erasing past October failures might no longer be a motivation. But, like Muncy, Roberts said the urgency to win another World Series remains the same.

“I don’t know if it’s easier or harder that we won last year,” Roberts said. “But, honestly, all we care about is winning this year.”

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. If all goes as expected, Matt Logan of Corona Centennial will earn career victory No. 300 on Thursday night, becoming the 15th coach in state history to achieve that mark, according to CalHiSports.com records.

The Logan way

Corona Centennial coach Matt Logan is in his 29th season.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s going to be party time in Corona on Thursday night when Centennial hosts Eastvale Roosevelt. Centennial will be a heavy favorite to deliver win No. 300 for coach Matt Logan, who has made his program one of Southern California’s most consistent and perhaps the top public school football program in his 29th season.

Centennial is the last team to win the Southern Section title in 2015 other than St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. His teams have won 10 Southern Section titles and a state title in 2018. His influence has been immense.

Twenty-two former Centennial players have reached the NFL, including five on current rosters. More than 250 players have reached the college ranks. He became a trendsetter with his quick tempo, no-huddle offense that required officials to be in good shape because of the speed in which the Huskies would snap the ball after the whistle had been blown. He became the coach not afraid to play anyone, scheduling home and away games with Mater Dei, playing Florida’s IMG Academy and playing three Trinity League opponents this season.

Through the years, any time there was an opening at a top private school, Logan’s name got mentioned as a candidate. But the Norco High graduate was never going to leave the community he grew up in.

“I don’t think our school district and our area would be recognized without him,” said Anthony Catalano, a former quarterback and current assistant coach. “It changed the outlook of our community and kept a lot of people home. It set the standard for what our expectations are.”

I’ve seen some of Logan’s greatest wins and some of his toughest losses through the years. There was the 62-52 triumph over St. John Bosco in the 2015 Pac-5 championship game. There was the 68-64 playoff victory over Gardena Serra in 2014 that was called “offensive madness.” There was the Division 1 semifinal playoff loss to St. John Bosco 49-47 in 2016.

One moment that is always most memorable comes at the end of the final game or final practice. The whole team lines up to salute every senior. Logan gives a hug to each senior offering words of appreciation and encouragement. That embrace to a teenager preparing to become an adult makes them Matt Logan fans for life.

Quarterback Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica had four touchdown passes in 42-14 win over Hamilton.

(Craig Weston)

The Trinity League begins football action this week. Get ready for a five-week grind that ends on Halloween, with St. John Bosco hosting Mater Dei. On Friday, St. John Bosco is at JSerra, Mater Dei is playing Orange Lutheran at Orange Coast College and Santa Margarita is playing Servite at Santa Ana Stadium.

All six teams remain in contention for the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. The key will be how many teams are chosen for Division 1. Corona Centennial, Mission Viejo and Sierra Canyon are certain selections. If the Southern Section only goes with eight teams, then one Trinity League team won’t make it. Last season there were 10 teams selected. Los Alamitos is 7-0 and a contender going into its three league games against Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo. The rankings are done by hsratings.com.

Monrovia has lost sophomore quarterback Jesse Saucedo for the rest of the season after a knee injury.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame unveiled 6-foot-8 basketball star Tyran Stokes at receiver. Here’s the report.

Los Alamitos earned a long-deserved break after improving to 7-0 with a win over Calabasas. The surprising Griffins don’t play again until their league opener on Oct. 16. They can become a Division 1 playoff team by beating Edison, San Clemente and Mission Viejo over their final three games. Quarterback Colin Creason was 17 of 19 passing for 296 yards and three touchdowns against Calabasas. Talented tight end Beckham Hogland had seven catches for 140 yards.

Taylor Lee of Oxnard Pacifica has 19 touchdowns in his last three games after a 42-14 win over Hamilton. Here’s the report.

Here’s the top performances from last week.

Here’s the top 25 rankings by The Times.

Here’s this week complete schedule of games.

The City Section is closing in on booking L.A. Southwest College to host its Open Division championship game on Nov. 29. Birmingham would host championship games on Nov. 28.

Last week, L.A. Jordan (0-6) forfeited its game to Fremont because of lack of healthy players and first-year coach James Boyd is out. Boyd was a former Jordan standout. Leonard McConico was named interim coach. Also Dymally has officially canceled its season.

Carson had a breakthrough nonleague win over St. Pius X-St. Matthias. Sophomore defensive end Kingston Sula had four sacks.

Palisades receiver Go Moriya makes a sliding catch in the second half of Friday night’s 35-28 intersectional win.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Palisades improved to 5-0 by rallying to beat Mary Star 35-28. Here’s the report.

Birmingham begins West Valley League play this week against El Camino Real and has a 49-game winning streak against City Section opponents.

Crenshaw hosts Dorsey on Friday night in a big Coliseum League game that will decide the main challenger to King/Drew.

Marshall is 6-0 after a 42-18 win over Jefferson. Junior quarterback Nathaniel Cadet has been a key player for the Barristers. Marshall will find out where it stands in a Northern League opener against Eagle Rock on Friday night.

Here’s the City Section top 10 rankings.

Marquez big man on campus

Elyjah Staples is a star junior defensive end for Marquez and also straight-A student.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a tradition for the Marquez High football team to raise a black Gladiators flag up the stadium pole after each victory.

Imagine how often that flag could be raised each time Elyjah Staples, the school’s star outside linebacker, earned an A on his report card? That’s the only grade he’s gotten in three years of classes, no matter taking Chemistry, Algebra 2 or advance placement U.S. History.

He seems to be in a personal competition to keep getting A’s along with sacks at the Huntington Park school. Here’s a profile of a junior with a Stanford offer.

Midseason report

Senior running back Darnell Miller of Santee leads the City Section in rushing with 1,159 yards and 13 touchdowns.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Halfway through the high school football season, Darnell Miller of Santee is leading the City Section in rushing with 1,159 yards.

He has quite a story to tell. A profile and also a look at MVP candidates in Southern California.

It’s the game of the year in high school flag football.

On Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Orange Lutheran, the unbeaten Lancers (18-0) take on unbeaten JSerra (19-0) in a game that should attract a large crowd and produce a memorable matchup.

Orange Lutheran and quarterback Makena Cook are the defending Division 1 flag football champions. JSerra, bolstered by a group of talented freshmen, have been surging and preparing for this showdown. Freshman quarterback Katie Meier and freshman receiver Ava Irwin get to test themselves on a big stage.

Girls volleyball

Venice continues to be a City Section title contender in girls volleyball, handing Palisades its first defeat in Western League play, 25-23, 22-25, 12-25, 25-21, 15-9.

Mira Costa came through with a win over rival Redondo Union to go to 4-0 in the Bay League and 14-7 overall.

Marymount hosts Sierra Canyon on Monday night in the first of two Mission League matches.

Here’s the latest Southern Section power rankings.

Another day, another life saved

San Clemente athletic trainer Amber Anaya helped save a soccer assistant coach who went into cardiac arrest.

(San Clemente HS)

For those high schools in California that still don’t have an athletic trainer, what happened at San Clemente High was another reason why they are so valuable for the safety reasons. And also proven was the requirement that coaches be certified in CPR every two years.

Here’s the report.

Guitar national anthem

Calabasas senior Elie Samouhi took out his electric guitar and played the national anthem before the Calabasas-Los Alamitos football game last week. What a performance. You can hear it here.

Basketball

Fall basketball is picking up steam more than a month away from the official start of the season.

Former St. John Bosco guard Brandon McCoy made his fall debut for Sierra Canyon, which has a number of transfer students that still need to be cleared by the school and Southern Section.

In fact, most of the Mission League is loaded with transfers, and if they’re eligible, it will be quite a league season ahead.

Freshman Nico Mecilli should be a contributor for Sherman Oaks Notre Dame basketball.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame might start a little slow with several players on the football team, including standout Tyran Stokes, but that will only give the newcomers the opportunity to play, such as 6-foot-5 Bishop Gorman transfer Ilan Nikolov and 6-5 freshman Nico Mecilli.

Three of the big risers have been 6-7 junior Kevin Keshishyan of Los Altos, 6-9 junior Nick Welch Jr. of Rolling Hills Prep and senior guard Josiah Johnson of Mayfair.

In girls basketball, Etiwanda and Ontario Christian are gearing up to be the top teams again, but watch for big improvement from Troy, where future Hall of Fame coach Kevin Kiernan has returned after being at Mater Dei and not coaching last season. Oak Park could be on the rise with several transfer students.

Transfer warning

Southern Section commissioner Mike West (left) addressed the Southern Section Council on Thursday.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

I’ve been trying to find a way to educate parents, fans, coaches and players about the ongoing crackdown of Southern Section transfer rules, and commissioner Mike West made a brief presentation at the Southern Section Council meeting to provide an update.

Here’s the report.

In the latest development, five Long Beach Poly football players and one volleyball player have been declared ineligible for two years for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information. Also Victor Valley lost four football players to two-year punishments. Pacific in San Bernardino lost two football players for one year.

Notes . . .

Chris Huber is the new girls lacrosse coach at Newbury Park. . . .

Tressa Beatty of Bonita has committed to Azusa Pacific for women’s basketball. . . .

Softball standout Mireya Gonzalez of La Mirada has committed to Connecticut. . . .

Emilia Krstevski, a 6-4 center at Sierra Canyon, has committed to play women’s basketball at Oregon. . . .

Rio Hondo Prep and Brentwood have moved their football game to SoFi Stadium on Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m. . . .

Outfielder James Tronstein of Harvard-Westlake has committed to Vanderbilt. . . .

Junior outfielder/pitcher Carson Richter of Newbury Park has committed to Michigan. . . .

Junior Ivy Burnham of St. Anthony has committed to Stanford softball. . . .

South Hills softball standout Charli Moreno has committed to Washington. . . .

Junior pitcher Andrew Carlson from Trinity Classical Academy has committed to Texas Christian. . . .

Junior pitcher Tate Belfanti of Cypress has committed to Texas Christian. . . .

Pitcher Owen Shannon of Mater Dei has committed to Pittsburgh. . . .

Adam Goldstein, who has been an assistant baseball coach at Agoura, has emerged as the leading candidate for the vacant head coach position. . . .

Former standout offensive line Mark Schroller from Mission Viejo has medically retired from football at UCLA. . . .

Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame takes off on a touchdown run against Culver City.

(Craig Weston)

Quarterback Wyatt Brown of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to West Virginia. . . .

Linebacker Glenn Baranoski of Newport Harbor has committed to San Diego.

From the archives: Peyton Woodyard

Peyton Woodyard during his St. John Bosco days in 2022.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

Freshman safety Peyton Woodyard, a St. John Bosco grad, is making an impact at Oregon.

It’s no surprise, since Woodyard was a key contributor for St. John Bosco over three seasons.

Here’s a story from 2023 explaining how Woodyard treats people with class and respect.

Recommendations

From the Washington Post, a story on a running back and podcaster in high school.

From the Riverside-Press Enterprise, a story on a running back who used to be a YouTube sensation.

From the San Diego Union Tribune, a story on Torrey Pines having the best girls golf team in the nation.

Tweets you might have missed

Until next time….

Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at [email protected], and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.

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