Season

From Jack Harris: During the first five innings Thursday afternoon, the Dodgers patiently waited.

For impossible shadows to subside on a sunny afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

For Milwaukee Brewers rookie star Jacob Misiorowski to lose steam amid an electric bulk-relief outing.

For the door to crack even slightly open, and give their veteran club — seeking a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series — the opportunity to burst through it.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the moment finally arrived.

And once the Brewers wavered, the relentless Dodgers pounced.

With a two-run rally fueled by professional hitting, aggressive baserunning and a little cat-and-mouse with the pitch clock, the Dodgers broke an early tie, took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and moved to the doorstep of the World Series with a 3-1 win in Game 3 of the NLCS.

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Plaschke: Are these Dodgers the best postseason team in baseball history? They will be

Gold Glove finalist Mookie Betts’ fielding (and hitting) has Dodgers in position for sweep

Shaikin: It’s not easy to repeat as World Series champs, but Dodgers don’t seem to mind

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

NLCS
Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

at Dodgers 3, Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Friday: at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Saturday: at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Monday: at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Tuesday: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

ALCS
Seattle vs. Toronto
Seattle 3, at Toronto 1 (box score)
Seattle 10, at Toronto 3 (box score)
Toronto 13, at Seattle 4 (box score)
Toronto 8, at Seattle 2 (box score)
Friday at Seattle, 3 p.m., FS1
Sunday at Toronto, 5 p.m., FS1
*-Monday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

From Ben Bolch: They’re calling their favorite audible again.

One quarterback guru contacts the other, asking for help in creating a dynamic offense.

The answer is always yes. The results say as much about Jerry Neuheisel and Noel Mazzone’s devotion to one another as they do about their ability to mass-produce yards and points for UCLA.

“No matter what happens,” Neuheisel said in an interview with The Times, “as long as you’re around him you have a smile on your face.”

The latest call came from the longtime apprentice to his mentor.

With the Bruins sputtering toward an 0-4 start, Neuheisel spoke with Mazzone about possibly returning to Westwood to assist with the offense. Just like he routinely had when he was UCLA’s offensive coordinator a decade earlier, Mazzone cultivated the necessary intelligence, learning that Neuheisel would be promoted from tight ends coach to playcaller before Neuheisel did.

Continue reading here

From Ryan Kartje: The call that King and Kaylon Miller waited their whole lives to receive came on their drive back from practice, late in their senior year at Calabasas High.

But Kaylon didn’t pick up. His phone marked the call as spam.

Fortunately for the twin brothers, their dream came with a follow-up text. When they called back, former USC offensive line coach Josh Henson delivered the good news. USC wanted both Kaylon, an offensive lineman, and King, a running back, to join the team as preferred walk-ons.

“We had to stop the car on the side of the road,” King said. “We were going crazy.”

“I turned to King, like, ‘What is life right now?’” Kaylon added. “There’s no way this opportunity is coming up.”

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KINGS

Filip Hallander scored his first career goal to give Pittsburgh the lead and the Penguins rallied to beat the Kings 4-2 on Thursday night.

Hallander, playing in his seventh NHL game, jammed in Rickard Rakell’s rebound at the near post for the short-handed goal at 6:50 of the third period to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the second game of a three-game California swing.

Evgeni Malkin, Connor Dewar and Sidney Crosby also scored, and Arturs Silovs made 30 saves for the Penguins.

Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala scored in the first period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead after one, but L.A. lost its third in a row. Anton Forsberg made 22 saves.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

DUCKS

Seth Jarvis scored his 100th and 101st NHL goals and added an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team with a 4-1 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night.

Alexander Nikishin scored his first NHL goal and Shayne Gostisbehere matched his career high with three assists for the Hurricanes, who improved to 4-0-0 with their second win to start a six-game trip.

Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves against his former team for Carolina. Jarvis scored the Canes’ first two goals, giving him five in four games during his sizzling start.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1948 — The Green Bay Packers intercept seven passes off Bob Waterfield in a 16-0 victory over the Rams.

1954 — Adrian Burk of the Philadelphia Eagles passes for seven touchdowns in a 49-21 victory over the Washington Redskins. Burk completes 19 of 27 passes for 232 yards and his longest touchdown pass is 26 yards.

1960 — The National League formally awards franchises to the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc. headed by Joan Payson and a Houston, Texas, group headed by Judge Roy Hofheinz, Craig Cullinan and R.E. Smith.

1964 — Quarterback Jerry Rhome is responsible for 56 of Tulsa’s 58 points with seven touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in a 58-0 shutout of Louisville.

1974 — The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at the Capital Centre to earn the first victory in franchise history.

1989 — The Calgary Flames tie an NHL record by scoring two goals, both short-handed, in 4 seconds and also three goals in a 27-second span during the third period to pull into an 8-8 tie with the Quebec Nordiques.

1991 — Paul Coffey of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history. Coffey gets two assists in an 8-5 victory against the New York Islanders at the Civic Arena, giving him 1,053 career points (309 goals and 744 assists). Coffey passes longtime Islanders star Denis Potvin.

1991 — Angel Cordero Jr. becomes the 3rd jockey to win 7,000 races.

1992 — Jari Kurri of the Kings scores his 500th goal in an 8-6 win over the Boston Bruins. Kurri becomes the first European-trained player and 18th player overall to reach the mark.

2000 — Patrick Roy sets an NHL record with his 448th career victory as Colorado beats Washington 4-3 in overtime. Roy snaps a tie with Terry Sawchuk, who held the mark since 1970. Sawchuk earned his 447th victory in his 968th game, while Roy wins No. 448 in his 847th game.

2015 — Star forward Cristiano Ronaldo becomes Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer across all competitions, overtaking club legend Raul with his 324th goal in a 3-0 win over Levante.

2015 — Jalen Watts-Jackson scoops up a flubbed punt attempt and lumbers 38 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving No. 7 Michigan State a shocking 27-23 win over No. 12 Michigan at the Big House.

2017 — Boston’s Gordon Hayward breaks his left ankle just five minutes into the season, a grisly injury that overshadows Kyrie Irving’s return to Cleveland and the Cavaliers’ 102-99 win over the shocked Celtics.

2021 — The Chicago Sky defeat the Phoenix Mercury 81-74 to win their first WNBA Championship three games to one. The Sky’s Kahleah Copper is named Finals MVP.

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 debate over whether Mookie Betts can play shortstop was settled long ago.

The debate now is whether Mookie Betts can play shortstop better than anyone in baseball. That discussion may soon be drawing to a close, too.

Because a day after being named a finalist for a Gold Glove, Betts put a huge exclamation point on Thursday’s 3-1 playoff win over the Milwaukee Brewers with a spectacular play to start the ninth inning.

The victory leaves the Dodgers a win away from advancing to their second straight World Series, a journey they could complete Friday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. And a big reason they’re there is the steady defense of Betts, a six-time Gold Glove winner in the outfield who has made the difficult move to the middle of the infield seem easy.

“I think the only person on this planet that believed that Mookie Betts would be in this conversation was Mookie Betts,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s just something that has never been done. I can’t even — it’s incredible. Obviously I’m at a loss for words.”

Betts tried the position last year but Roberts said the confidence wasn’t there, so he moved Betts back to the outfield. There was no chance that would happen this fall.

Few understand the difficulty of what Betts has done more than those who have played the position. Yet Miguel Rojas, the man Betts replaced at shortstop — and a Gold Glove finalist himself this season as a utility player — said he’s not surprised because he has seen how hard Betts works.

“He doesn’t take days off,” Rojas said of Betts, who is frequently among the first players on the field for pregame drills and among the last to leave. “Even when we have an off day, he’ll still go out there and is asking ways to get better. I think it’s a product of being a relentless worker every single day. He’s never satisfied. He’s always trying to get better.

“For me to be there every single day to watch him perform and watch his work ethic, it’s been impressive.”

Part of that work, Betts said, involves watching video of every fielding play he makes. That includes the brilliant ones, like the ninth-inning play Thursday in which he ranged in the hole to backhand Andrew Vaughn’s grounder, then rose up and delivered a strong one-hop jump throw across his body to first baseman Freddie Freeman to get Vaughn easily.

“I go back and watch all my plays, even the routine ones, just to learn what I can do better,” he said.

Asked if he’s ever surprised by what he sees, Betts, who has yet to make an error in the playoffs, shrugged.

Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts makes a leaping, cross-body throw to retire Andrew Vaughn at first base during the ninth inning of Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“I’m just doing my job. I’m just doing my job going out there and playing short, that’s all.

“Once I get to the ball, I believe and trust in my athletic ability to make a play.”

Rojas, who has played six positions in the majors, said shortstop is such a hard place to play because of the mental focus it demands. An outfielder might be able to think about his hitting for a few pitches, but the shortstop, who quarterbacks the infield, doesn’t have that luxury.

“In the middle of the year he was in a slump offensively. But he never let the defense down. And that’s really impressive,” Rojas said. “He always said it to me, ‘Even though I’m sucking right now at hitting, I’m never going to be bad at defense. And I’m going to catch every single ball.’

“That’s the mentality that you have to have to be a really good shortstop.”

In the postseason, he’s become a really good offensive shortstop as well. After slumping to a career-low .258 average in the regular season, Betts is slashing .297/.381/.459 and shares the team lead with 11 hits and five extra-base hits in the postseason.

However, the numbers and the awards mean little to him, he said; Betts cares far more about winning. And as for proving himself at shortstop? Others, including his manager, may be surprised, but he isn’t.

“I know I could do it. I believed in myself. I always have belief in myself,” he said. “It was a goal to be the best I could be. If it came with a Gold Glove, cool. If it didn’t come with a Gold Glove, cool.

“I can go to bed at night knowing that I did everything I could. That’s all I care about.”

Just a season ago there were mornings when he’d get out of that bed wishing he could go back to right field. That doesn’t happen anymore.

“I would say the best athletes are the guys in the dirt,” he said. “It was fun while it lasted. I enjoy being in the dirt now.”

High school basketball in Southern California will be without one of its finest coaches this season.

Stephen Singleton, who guided Eastvale Roosevelt to state and Southern Section Open Division championships last season, announced his retirement from coaching on Thursday after 10 years at Roosevelt and 25 years in the business. He will continue as a teacher.

Singleton intends to spend more time coaching his young son.

He also won a state Division I title in 2017 with Roosevelt and won a state Division II title coaching briefly at Dominguez in Compton in 2001.

He was The Times’ coach of the year for the 2024-25 season.

With official basketball practice starting soon, Roosevelt intends to open the position to all candidates, but there’s two assistants who are teachers at the school that could possibly ease the transition if they are interested in the head coaching position.

They’re calling their favorite audible again.

One quarterback guru contacts the other, asking for help in creating a dynamic offense.

The answer is always yes. The results say as much about Jerry Neuheisel and Noel Mazzone’s devotion to one another as they do about their ability to mass-produce yards and points for UCLA.

“No matter what happens,” Neuheisel said in an interview with The Times, “as long as you’re around him you have a smile on your face.”

Noel Mazzone, then the offensive coordinator at UCLA, looks across the field during a game.

(Don Liebig / UCLA Athletics)

The latest call came from the longtime apprentice to his mentor.

With the Bruins sputtering toward an 0-4 start, Neuheisel spoke with Mazzone about possibly returning to Westwood to assist with the offense. Just like he routinely had when he was UCLA’s offensive coordinator a decade earlier, Mazzone cultivated the necessary intelligence, learning that Neuheisel would be promoted from tight ends coach to playcaller before Neuheisel did.

“He was in the car, I believe, the next morning and he was here that evening,” Neuheisel said, “and it was on to try to beat Penn State.”

Beat Penn State they did, reviving an offense and a team that have become the talk of college football. UCLA’s average of 40 points in its two victories has nearly tripled its previous output during that winless start, spawning reminders of the offense the Bruins ran under Mazzone with Neuheisel as a backup quarterback from 2012-15.

That was just the start of a winning combination.

Not long after they had parted ways at the end of their four seasons together in Westwood, Mazzone reached out to Neuheisel, convincing him to give up playing for the Obic Seagulls of Japan’s X League so that he could help Mazzone in 2017 during his second season as Texas A&M’s offensive coordinator.

“When he gave me the call and said, ‘We’re going to the SEC, we’re going to College Station, Texas,’ ” said Neuheisel, who had long known he wanted to become a coach, “I didn’t even ask questions. I got the next flight home.”

Quarterback Jerry Neuheisel looks to pass the ball during UCLA’s game against Texas Longhorns at AT&T Stadium on Sept. 13, 2014.

(Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

After making the 22-hour drive from Los Angeles to College Station, Neuheisel stayed at a hotel for a week and a half while searching for a place to live — even though he hadn’t been formally hired.

All that mattered was that he was back with his mentor. Now they’re together again, only the roles have been reversed.

“It’s just the first time in my life he’s actually had to listen to all my ideas,” Neuheisel said with a chuckle, “so I have enjoyed the turning of the tables.”

It was only a few weeks ago that Mazzone reconnected with two other former UCLA quarterbacks.

Getting together with Brett Hundley and Mike Fafaul in the Phoenix area to watch some football the weekend that UCLA lost to Northwestern to fall to 0-4, Mazzone and his onetime players let Neuheisel know they were thinking about him.

“They sent a picture from the bar that they were watching us play,” Neuheisel said.

What they didn’t tell him was that they were already considering the possibilities for the 68-year-old Mazzone, who was then the offensive coordinator at Saguaro High in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“At the time, we weren’t doing so great,” Hundley said of the Bruins, “so we were joking that Mazzone would probably be back at UCLA.”

A coaching lifer, Mazzone had made more than 20 stops at the high school, college and NFL levels by the time he agreed to hop into his car and return for his second stint with the Bruins after the team replaced departed offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri with Neuheisel.

Several days later, after hurried preparations and some playcalling debut blunders such as Neuheisel fumbling with the button on his headset that allowed him to talk to his quarterback, UCLA scored on each of its first five drives on the way to a 42-37 victory over then-No. 7 Penn State that qualified as the upset of the college football season.

Jubilant players hoisted Neuheisel onto their shoulders in a scene reminiscent of his greatest moment playing for Mazzone and coach Jim Mora, when he came off the bench to lead a comeback victory over Texas in 2014.

UCLA quarterback Jerry Neuheisel, top, is carried off the field after UCLA’s 20-17 win over Texas on Sept. 13, 2014, in Arlington, Texas.

(Tony Gutierrez / Associated Press)

About a half hour after beating the Nittany Lions, his hair still soaked from the water players had sprayed into the locker room air, Neuheisel revealed what it meant to share this new memory with one of his favorite mentors.

“To have coach Mazzone here has been honestly one of the coolest things ever,” Neuheisel said. “To have him helping with the quarterbacks, to have us to be able to bounce ideas off of him, awesome. Awesome.”

In some ways, the circumstances weren’t that much different when they met.

Neuheisel was the new guy, just trying to prove himself.

In the fall of 2012, he was a freshman quarterback, wanting to show he belonged on the same campus where only a few months earlier his father, Rick, had been fired as the head coach. Mazzone was also a recent arrival after having been hired as part of Mora’s first UCLA staff.

“Jerry’s coming in and you’ve got Kevin Prince, Brett Hundley, Richard Brehaut — I mean, he’s walking into a quarterback room with some studs,” remembered Johnathan Franklin, the running back who would become UCLA’s all-time leading rusher by the end of that season. “All three have played before, and Brett Hundley obviously was a rock star.”

UCLA quarterback Jerry Neuheisel sits on the field before a game against Virginia at the Rose Bowl on Sept. 5, 2015.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

It was a unique kind of pressure for a legacy who had been born at UCLA Medical Center at a time when his father was a Bruins assistant coach, after having starred for his alma mater as a Rose Bowl-winning quarterback.

“I was just there trying to make the team,” Neuheisel said.

What became quickly apparent given his intrinsic savvy and inquisitive nature was that his longterm future would likely be on the sideline.

“Jerry, for sure, you could always tell he was gonna be a coach from Day One,” Hundley said. “It was like his Pops 2.0.”

Equally impressive was the shrewd offensive coordinator who was quick with a quip and an answer for any challenge a defense might present. Mazzone ran an offense short on plays and long on possibilities. He would explain why certain plays worked in given situations and make sure even the quarterback understood blocking schemes so that everyone appreciated each other’s roles.

“It’s pretty much, you get your best players in space and you make a play,” Franklin said of the overriding philosophy. “I remember he used to call the plays, and he’s like, ‘Man, one guy shouldn’t tackle you, so we’re not going to work on blocking that guy — that’s between you and him, you’ve got to make it happen.’ ”

UCLA offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone leans over on the sideline and looks across the field during a game.

(Don Liebig / UCLA Athletics)

UCLA won 29 games in its first three seasons with Mazzone running the offense and Neuheisel playing a reserve role, except for the September day in 2014 when he earned a megawatt spotlight.

With Hundley sidelined by an elbow injury against nationally ranked Texas, Neuheisel came off the bench and threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Payton with three minutes left, rallying the Bruins to a 20-17 victory. His teammates hoisted him into the air and carried him off the field.

“I mean, unbelievable,” Mazzone said after the game. “Jerry went out and handled the situation better than anyone could. I mean, he really did an awesome job. Really proud for him.”

When he called a reporter after 8 o’clock Wednesday night, Neuheisel wasn’t done for the day. It was just a momentary respite from reviewing game video, several hours left to go before he could finally head home.

His schedule has become so crazed since his promotion that tight end Hudson Habermehl recently fielded a call from Neuheisel’s wife, Nicole, asking him to take an Uber Eats delivery order upstairs to Neuheisel’s office inside the practice facility.

Habermehl was happy to do it, a small thank-you gesture for the 33-year-old coach who has done so much for him and an offense that doesn’t resemble the one from earlier this season even though the Bruins are essentially running the same plays.

If it looks more like a Mazzone offense, that’s not by coincidence.

UCLA offensive coordinator Jerry Neuheisel hugs Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava during the Bruins’ win over Penn State on Oct. 4.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“What made Noel’s offense so great and why I loved it is there was a utilization of space on the field,” Neuheisel said, “and I would say that is what we’ve been trying to emulate is trying to create space on the field and trying to create matchups for our players to have success.”

No one has benefited more than quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who has thrown for five touchdowns with no interceptions over the last two weeks while adding three rushing touchdowns. A previously inert running game has picked up considerable speed, averaging 253.5 yards in the victories over Penn State and Michigan State.

“It seems like there’s a new energy on offense,” Hundley said. “You know, it’s not like they got a whole new starting 11 out there. I mean, it’s the same guys that we were talking about in the beginning of the season, but now they’re putting Nico in a position to make plays.”

Habermehl said everyone’s playing freely and instinctively because Neuheisel explained the reasoning for each play and involved all position groups in offensive meetings to provide a universal understanding of concepts.

“When you coach guys,” Neuheisel said, “you need to let them in on the ‘why.’ I think it’s what I always appreciated when I was a player here and any good team I’ve been a part of.”

Neuheisel’s latest success is likely to earn him a permanent offensive coordinator job, if not a head coaching opportunity, next season. His old friend can probably expect a call asking if he’d like to be part of that staff, the answer a given.

“Wherever there’s ball,” Neuheisel said, “he’ll always find his way there.”

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Somewhere in baseball heaven Fernando Valenzuela is saying to himself, “A complete game. What’s the big deal?”

The story of the postseason so far has been the starting pitching. Amazing. Let’s take a look at how the Dodgers’ starters have done:

NL wild-card series vs. Reds

Game 1: Blake Snell, 7 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 10-5
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6.2 IP, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 8-4

NLDS vs. Phillies

Game 1: Shohei Ohtani, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s, Dodgers win 5-3
Game 2: Blake Snell, 6 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 4 walks, 9 K’s, Dodgers win, 4-3
Game 3: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 4 IP, 6 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 2 K’s, Dodgers lose, 8-2
Game 4: Tyler Glasnow, 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 ER, 3 walks, 8 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1

NLCS vs. Brewers

Game 1: Blake Snell, 8 IP, 1 hit, 0 ER, 0 walks, 10 K’s, Dodgers win, 2-1
Game 2: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 9 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk, 7 K’s, Dodgers win, 5-1

In eight games, starting pitchers have thrown 52.2 innings, giving up 24 hits and 13 walks while striking out 63 and posting a 1.54 ERA.

—It’s as if suddenly Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale are taking turns on the mound again. Of course, they always did it in the World Series, as there were no other rounds back then.

—In the 1963 World Series (a four-game sweep of the Yankees), Koufax, Drysdale and Johnny Podres combined to pitch 35.1 innings, giving up 21 hits and five walks while striking out 36 and posting a 1.02 ERA

—In the 1965 World Series, won in seven games against Minnesota, Koufax, Drysdale and Claude Osteen combined to pitch 49.2 innings, giving up 34 hits and 13 walks while striking out 48 and posting a 1.27 ERA.

—Pedro Martinez (can you believe he didn’t choose to wear a Dodger cap on his Hall of Fame plaque) had this to say on X about Snell: “I’ve been part of many postseason games, and I’ve done some great things, but in my career I haven’t seen someone do the amount of things he’s done. It gave me goosebumps to watch him. I think we can all learn from him. He deserves a lot of credit and respect.”

—That leadoff home run in Game 2 seemed to anger Yamamoto.

—Proving himself to be the master of the understatement, Yamamoto said this after the game: “I was able to pitch until the end. So I really felt a sense of accomplishment.”

—This has been like watching old-school baseball. Starting pitchers going deep into games. Dodgers bunting on occasion. Not every run coming on a home run. What is happening?

—Whatever it is, I like it.

—Let’s unpack that crazy Game 1 play. Bases loaded, one out, Max Muncy at the plate. He lifts a fly ball to deep center. Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick leaps, and the ball bounces off his glove and hits the fence on the yellow line before Frelick corrals it again. OK, let’s stop there:

In Milwaukee, the yellow line does not signify a home run. If a ball hits the yellow line, it means ball is in play. Visiting teams are reminded of this rule when they visit Milwaukee.

The left-field umpire immediately signals no catch, ball is in play. Unfortunately, it appears the only person paying attention to him is Brewers catcher William Contreras (also the only person on the field who is naturally facing the outfield to see all of this.)

As far as tagging up on a catch, the rule is you can run as soon as the ball hits the glove. Teoscar Hernández tagged up, started to run, saw the bobble, ran back, tagged up again, and by the time he made it home, the throw had beaten him. Because it wasn’t a catch and the bases were loaded, it was a force play at any base. Contreras, knowing it was a force play, didn’t even try to tag Hernández. He then ran to third to force Will Smith there. Smith, thinking the ball had been caught, had run back to second and told Tommy Edman, who had advanced to second, to go back to first. In the meantime, while Edman was doing that, Muncy passed him on the basepath. So really, the Brewers could have had a triple play, or even a quadruple play if such a thing were possible.

Third base coach Dino Ebel says he told Hernández to go. Hernández took full blame for the baserunning mistake the next day.

Hernández : “I just f— up. It’s that simple. It was one of those plays that if you would have asked me two days ago what would you do in this situation, I would say, as soon as the ball touched the glove, I would go. But in the moment, I got blocked, I think, and there’s not an explanation. I saw it when the ball hit the glove, I went. Then I saw it bounced off the glove. And I just reacted bad. Just one of those moments, you block your mind. But there’s nobody to blame but myself. And it happens.”

Smith also messed up by running back to second and telling Edman to run back to first. It was extremely loud in Milwaukee’s stadium, so apparently no one could hear Ebel.

Everyone on the field seemed confused (except Contreras). Both managers seemed confused at that moment. The TBS announcing crew was confused. People on social media were confused. We finally found something to unite us all: Confusion. It was crazy.

—In some years, the Dodgers would have fallen apart after that and lost the game.

—And then Snell marched out after that deflating half inning and mowed down the Brewers, 1-2-3 in the next half-inning. That’s what aces do.

—Who among you was screaming “Nooooooooooooooooooo!” when Blake Treinen came into Game 1? Roki Sasaki didn’t have it that night. But somehow Treinen got out of it.

—It seemed to make Dave Roberts think twice about pulling Yamamoto in Game 2 though.

—The offense isn’t quite clicking, but they are doing just enough to win. Baserunning gaffe aside, Teoscar continues to come up big in the postseason. As does Super Kiké.

—Now the baton passes back to Tyler Glasnow for Game 3.

—The last Dodger to pitch a postseason complete game was José Lima in 2004, when he shut out the Cardinals on five hits in Game 3 of the NLDS. It was the team’s first postseason win since Game 5 of the 1988 World Series. It was his only season with the Dodgers. He went 13-5 with a 4.07 ERA. His final season in the majors was 2006. He died of a heart attack in 2010. He was 37.

—To think, the Dodgers are doing this with basically a three-man bullpen.

—In Game 2, Muncy hit his 14th postseason home run, setting the all-time Dodgers record. It’s a little misleading, since guys such as Duke Snider only got one round of postseason play, and guys such as Steve Garvey usually got only two. But it’s still a nice accomplishment.

The most postseason homers in Dodger history:

14
Max Muncy (one every 16.1 at bats)

13
Corey Seager (17.9)
Justin Turner (24.2)

11
Duke Snider (12.1)

10
Steve Garvey (18.2)
Kiké Hernández (21)

9
Cody Bellinger (26.9)
Joc Pederson (16.8)
Chris Taylor (25.2)

—The Dodgers seem to have another gear they have shifted into this postseason, while the other teams don’t have that extra gear as of yet.

—The Dodgers have gone 22-6 in their last 28 games.

—But this series is far from over.

Dodgers in the postseason

How the Dodgers are doing this postseason:

Batters

Alex Call, .750 (3 for 4), 2 walks
Ben Rortvedt, .429 (3 for 7), 1 double, 1 RBI, 3 K’s
Kiké Hernández, .379 (11 for 29), 4 doubles, 4 RBIs, 4 walks, 7 K’s
Miguel Rojas, .375 (3 for 8), 1 RBI
Mookie Betts, .303 (10 for 33), 3 doubles, 1 triple, 5 RBIs, 4 walks, 2 K’s
Tommy Edman, .296 (8 for 27), 1 double, 2 homers, 4 RBIs, 1 walk, 7 K’s
Teoscar Hernández, .295 (10 for 34), 1 double, 4 homers, 10 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Max Muncy, .273 (6 for 22), 1 double, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 6 walks, 5 K’s
Freddie Freeman, .242 (8 for 33), 4 doubles, 1 homer, 1 RBI, 3 walks, 8 K’s
Will Smith, .238 (5 for 21), 2 RBIs, 2 walks, 7 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, .147 (5 for 34), 2 homers, 6 RBIs, 6 walks, 15 K’s
Andy Pages, .069 (2 for 29), 1 double, 1 RBI, 6 K’s
Dalton Rushing, .000 (0 for 1), 1 K

Note: Justin Dean has been in eight games but has not batted (he has scored one run); Hyeseong Kim has been in one game, has not batted and has scored a run

Pitching

Tyler Glasnow, 0.00 ERA, 7.2 IP, 4 hits, 5 walks, 10 K’s
Jack Dreyer, 0.00 ERA, 1.2 IP, 2 walks, 1 K
Anthony Banda, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 walk, 2 K’s
Blake Snell, 3-0, 0.86 ERA, 21 IP, 6 hits, 2 ER, 5 walks, 28 K’s
Roki Sasaki, 1.50 ERA, 2 saves, 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 ER, 1 walks, 5 K’s
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 2-1, 1.83 ERA, 19.2 IP, 13 hits, 4 ER, 4 walks, 18 K’s
Shohei Ohtani, 1-0, 4.50 ERA, 6 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, 1 walk, 9 K’s
Alex Vesia, 1-0, 6.00 ERA, 3 IP, 2 hits, 2 ER, 3 walks, 3 K’s
Blake Treinen, 6.75 ERA, 1 save, 2.2 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 1 walk, 3 K’s
Emmet Sheehan, 10.80 ERA, 3.1 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 2 walks, 2 K’s
Clayton Kershaw, 18.00 ERA, 2 IP, 6 hits, 4 ER, 3 walks, 1 K
Edgardo Henriquez, infinity, 0 IP, 1 hit, 1 ER, 2 walks

Poll results

What will be the outcome of the NLCS (poll closed one minute before the first pitch of Game 1)?

After 11,709 votes:

Dodgers in six, 43.3%
Dodgers in five, 25.6%
Dodgers in seven, 19.6%
Brewers in six, 4.7%
Brewers in seven, 3.2%
Dodgers in four, 1.8%
Brewers in five, 1.3%
Brewers in four, 0.5%

Up next

Game 1: Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)
Game 2: Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Thursday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA), 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: Milwaukee at Dodgers (Shohei Ohtani, 1-1, 2.87 ERA), 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Saturday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Monday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Tuesday: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-if necessary

In case you missed it

Shohei Ohtani takes rare on-field BP amid playoff slump, downplays impact of two-way role

Shaikin: Dodgers starting pitchers proving to be the ultimate opposing crowd silencers

In this postseason, Dodgers’ offense starts from the bottom

Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a complete game to NLCS Game 2 | Dodgers Debate

Hernández: The Dodgers’ latest starting-pitching flex? Make the bullpen a non-factor

Just how much are the Dodgers charging for World Series tickets?

Kiké Hernández and Will Smith talk NLCS Game 2 win, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s big night

Shaikin: Blake Snell replicating what Sandy Koufax achieved 60 Octobers ago

It took some luck, but good things finally happen to Dodgers’ Blake Treinen

Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández avoids Milwaukee’s allegedly haunted hotel at wife’s insistence

And finally

Highlights from Game 1 of the NLCS. Watch and listen here. Highlights from Game 2. 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.

With a sixth year of basketball eligibility at UC Irvine, former St. Francis High guard Andre Henry has become so familiar with coach Russell Turner that both consider each other family.

Henry, who was injured last season after nine games, is back healthy, and Turner thinks he’s ready to be a standout on offense and defense this season.

He calls Henry one of the finest recruits he ever signed out of St. Francis in 2020. In 2023-24, he was the Big West Conference defensive player of the year.

“Andre was probably the top-ranked recruit we ever got,” said Turner, in his 16th season. “I watched him elevate his team at St. Francis and he’s still that type of personality. I’m thrilled where is right now and he’s going to have a great season on both sides of the ball. There’s not a limit he can accomplish.”

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UC Irvine men’s basketball coach talks about how Andre Henry has become a standout on the court for the Anteaters.

Turner said he’s grateful for Henry’s loyalty and commitment to the UC Irvine basketball program.

“Andre has become family with me and my staff,” he said. “He’s made great sacrifices to remain in our program. I think he sees we’re committed to him and I certainly see how committed he and his family have been to us. Hopefully, we can write the end to a great story in his sixth year.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

From Jack Harris: At 5:37 p.m. Wednesday night, Michael Buble’s “Feeling Good” blared from the Dodger Stadium speakers.

Shohei Ohtani came strolling to the plate with a bat in his hands.

There was no one in the stands, of course. Nor an opposing pitcher on the mound. The Dodgers, on this workout day after returning from Milwaukee, were still some 22 hours away from resuming their National League Championship Series against the Brewers. For any other player, it would have been a routine affair.

Ohtani, however, is not just any other player.

And among the many things that make him unique, his habit of almost never taking batting practice on the field is one of the small but notable ones.

Which made his decision to do so Wednesday a telling development.

Over the last two weeks, Ohtani has been in a slump. Since the start of the NL Division Series, he is just two-for-25 with a whopping 12 strikeouts. He has been smothered by left-handed pitching. He has made poor swing decisions and failed to slug the ball.

Continue reading here

Hernández: The Dodgers’ latest starting-pitching flex? Make the bullpen a non-factor

Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández avoids Milwaukee’s allegedly haunted hotel at wife’s insistence

Shaikin: Dodgers starting pitchers proving to be the ultimate opposing crowd silencers

ANGELS

From Steve Henson: Witness testimony began Wednesday with an accusation of negligent supervision in the high stakes trial against the Angels by the family of deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Tim Mead, an Angels employee of 40 years, was portrayed by the plaintiffs lawyer, Rusty Hardin, during four hours of direct examination as a well-meaning boss who repeatedly ignored company policy by failing to report the improper conduct of Eric Kay, the team communications director who gave Skaggs the fentanyl pills that killed him.

Hardin brought up a litany of instances where Kay likely violated Angels rules that could have resulted in discipline and even termination long before the July 2019 road trip to Texas during which Skaggs died in his hotel room after chopping up and snorting the illicit drugs provided by Kay.

Mead acknowledged that he knew of Kay’s years-long episodes of bizarre behavior, an extramarital affair with an intern, and problems with prescription medication, but that he never reported any of it to human resources.

Continue reading here

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

NLCS
Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Thursday: at Dodgers, 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Saturday: at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Monday: at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Tuesday: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

ALCS
Seattle vs. Toronto
Seattle 3, at Toronto 1 (box score)
Seattle 10, at Toronto 3 (box score)
Toronto 13, at Seattle 4 (box score)
Thursday at Seattle, 5:30 p.m., FS1
Friday at Seattle, 3 p.m., FS1
*-Sunday at Toronto, 5 p.m., FS1
*-Monday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: Gabe Vincent pulled up for a three-pointer and nailed it. And then Vincent nailed his next three and his next three and his next, giving him four straight made treys.

Vincent was on fire to start the game for the Lakers during their exhibition game against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Before Vincent could even think about getting off his fifth three-pointer, Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg smothered him. Vincent stumbled and fell, scrambling to keep control of the ball. He did and passed it to a teammate.

Continue reading here

KINGS

The Kings have reacquired veteran goalie Pheonix Copley to provide depth while Darcy Kuemper is slowed by a lower-body injury.

The Kings acquired the 33-year-old Copley from Tampa Bay in a trade Wednesday for future considerations.

Copley spent the previous three years in the Kings’ organization, including 42 games last season for the AHL’s Ontario Reign. The former Washington netminder started 35 games for the Kings during the 2022-23 season before missing most of the 2023-24 season because of a knee surgery.

Continue reading here

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1897 — Michigan beats Ohio State 34-0 at Ann Arbor, the first meeting between theses storied rivals.

1909 — In his 4th title defense Jack Johnson KOs Stanley Ketchel in the 12th round at Mission St Arena, Colma, California to retain his heavyweight boxing crown.

1932 — After a 0-0 tie earlier in the season, the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 2-0.

1946 — Detroit’s Gordie Howe scores a goal and gets into two fights in his first NHL game. The Red Wings tie the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-3.

1964 — Babe Parilli of the Boston Patriots passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns in a 43-43 tie with the Oakland Raiders.

1968 — Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos give black power salutes during the medal ceremonies of the 200-meter race and are later banned for life from all Olympic competition by the IOC.

1971 — Norm Ullman of the Toronto Maple Leafs records his 1,000th point in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers. Ullman gets two assists to become the fourth NHL player to reach the milestone.

1976 — Tony Franklin of Texas A&M kicks two field goals over 60 yards for an NCAA record. The distances are 65 and 64 yards as the Aggies beat Baylor 24-0.

1977 — The Denver Broncos intercept seven passes off Ken Stabler of the Oakland Raiders in a 30-7 victory.

1977 — The Minnesota Vikings beat the Chicago Bears 16-10 in overtime with the only successful fake field goal in NFL overtime.

1987 — Mike Tyson retains his undisputed heavyweight title with a seven-round knockout of Tyrell Biggs in Atlantic City, N.J.

1999 — Fourth-ranked Virginia Tech hangs a record-setting 62-0 loss on No. 16 Syracuse. It’s the worst shutout loss by a ranked team in the history of The Associated Press poll.

1999 — Mount Union beats Otterbein 44-20 for its 48th consecutive victory, surpassing Oklahoma’s 42-year-old all-division mark of 47 in a row.

2004 — 17-year-old Lionel Messi makes his league debut for FC Barcelona in a 1-0 win against cross-town rivals Espanyol.

2004 — Mount Union beats Marietta 57-0 for its 100th consecutive regular-season victory. The Purple Raiders’ last regular-season loss was on Oct. 15, 1994, at home against Baldwin-Wallace.

2011 — Danell Leyva becomes the first American man gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Championships since 2003. Leyva wins the parallel bars title to become the first gold medalist for the U.S. since Paul Hamm claimed the floor exercise and all-around titles in 2003.

2011 — Dan Wheldon, 33, dies in a fiery 15-car wreck at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his car flew over another on Lap 13 and smashes into the wall just outside turn 2.

2017 — Louisville’s Athletic Assn. officially fires coach Rick Pitino nearly three weeks after the school acknowledged that its men’s basketball program is being investigated as part of a federal corruption probe. The association, which oversees Louisville’s sports programs and is composed of trustees, faculty, students and administrators, vote unanimously to oust the longtime Cardinals coach after a board meeting.

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.

Raducanu won 28 matches this year and reached the semi-finals in Washington, but her most impressive week was at the Miami Open in March.

The British number one reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event, beating eighth seed Emma Navarro on the way before losing in three sets to fourth-ranked Pegula.

She was coached by Mark Petchey from Miami until Wimbledon, with Roig taking over in time for the US Open.

The initial agreement with Rafael Nadal’s former coach was until the end of the season but the partnership will continue, with a training block pencilled in for the end of the year.

Raducanu told BBC Sport her three-day trial with Roig after Wimbledon was like a “black ops mission” as they tried to keep the meeting secret.

She came very close to beating world number one Aryna Sabalenka at their first tournament together in Cincinnati in August.

Roig was also with Raducanu in New York, where she reached the third round before being beaten by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

“South Park” is bidding adieu to its short-lived but buzzy Season 27.

The sixth episode of the year, which airs Wednesday on Comedy Central, marks the first episode of Season 28, a spokesperson from the network confirmed to The Times. (The episode will stream on Paramount+ Thursday.)

The reason behind the decision to end Season 27, which was originally expected to have 10 episodes, is unclear. But fans of the long-running satire will still get four additional episodes this year, if “South Park” co-creator Matt Stone and Trey Parker stick to the schedule they outlined. Fans had been speculating about the start of a new season after seeing television listings that coded Wednesday’s episode as the first of Season 28.

The new episode, titled “Twisted Christian,” follows a possessed Cartman, who “may be the key to stopping the Antichrist,” according its brief description. A short teaser also shows the students of South Park Elementary engaging with the viral “67” slang, an essentially meaningless phrase that has taken over Generation Alpha.

The recent episodes have been drawing strong viewership and have, as always, poked fun at topical issues and political figures including President Trump, immigration raids, tariffs and the FCC. Even Paramount, which bought the global streaming rights to “South Park” this summer in a $1.5-billion deal, has been the butt of several jokes.

Season 27 had an unusual cadence of episodes, with the first two arriving on a weekly schedule, then biweekly before the arrival of the most recent episode (and the apparent finale of the season), which aired three weeks later on Sept. 25.

The second episode drew criticism for its parody of Charlie Kirk, the slain political influencer, despite the episode airing weeks before his death. Comedy Central, which is owned by Paramount, announced it will not air reruns of the second episode of the latest season after Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 in Utah. The episode can still be found on Paramount+.

The final episode of Season 27 was the first to air after Kirk’s death, but Parker and Stone told the Denver Post the delay was unrelated to its content: “No one pulled the episode, no one censored us, and you know we’d say so if true.” The pair issued a statement on Sept. 17 saying the episode wasn’t finished in time.

Future episodes of “South Park” will air every two weeks through Dec. 10.

Times TV editor Maira Garcia contributed to this report.

The Kings have reacquired veteran goalie Pheonix Copley to provide depth while Darcy Kuemper is slowed by a lower-body injury.

The Kings acquired the 33-year-old Copley from Tampa Bay in a trade Wednesday for future considerations.

Copley spent the previous three years in the Kings’ organization, including 42 games last season for the AHL’s Ontario Reign. The former Washington netminder started 35 games for the Kings during the 2022-23 season before missing most of the 2023-24 season because of a knee surgery.

The Lightning claimed Copley off waivers earlier this month while they were worried about the status of starter Andrei Vasilevskiy, who struggled with an injury in training camp. Vasilevskiy ultimately was healthy enough to play in Tampa Bay’s season opener.

Anton Forsberg is the primary backup to Kuemper, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist last season along with Vasilevskiy.

Forsberg started the only victory in four games this season for the Kings (1-2-1).

Kuemper missed practice Wednesday along with captain Anze Kopitar due to lower-body injuries. Forsberg seems likely to start when the Kings host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

From Jack Harris: He did not scream. He did not pump a fist. He showed hardly any of the emotions the moment seemed to call for, accomplishing something no major league pitcher had achieved in almost a decade.

Instead, after completing MLB’s first postseason complete game since 2017, and the first by a Dodgers pitcher since 2004, Yoshinobu Yamamoto simply walked around the mound, casually removed his glove, and didn’t break into a smile until he looked back at the center-field scoreboard.

“Wow,” he finally mouthed to himself, as the realization of his nine-inning, three-hit, one-run gem finally started to set in.

The reaction came after his old-school, matter-of-fact performance lifted the Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

“I was able to pitch until the end,” Yamamoto said in Japanese afterward. “So I really felt a sense of accomplishment.”

This was a night almost no one saw coming. And not just because Yamamoto failed to complete even one inning in his last trip to American Family Field against the Brewers during the regular season.

In an era of strictly controlled pitch counts and a steadfast reliance on relievers come October, Yamamoto turned back the clock on a night reminiscent of a bygone generation.

Continue reading here

Hernández: The Dodgers’ latest starting-pitching flex? Make the bullpen a non-factor

In this postseason, Dodgers’ offense starts from the bottom

Just how much are the Dodgers charging for World Series tickets?

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

NLCS
Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Thursday: at Dodgers, 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Saturday: at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Monday: at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Tuesday, Oct. 21: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

ALCS
Seattle vs. Toronto
Seattle 3, at Toronto 1 (box score)
Seattle 10, at Toronto 3 (box score)
Wednesday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Thursday at Seattle, 5:30 p.m., FS1
*-Friday at Seattle, 3 p.m., FS1
*-Sunday at Toronto, 5 p.m., FS1
*-Monday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

From Ryan Kartje: His top two running backs had just been carted up the Coliseum tunnel, a nightmare scenario for a team that finally found its groove on the ground, when coach Lincoln Riley was asked at halftime how USC would move forward without the bulk of its backfield. He grinned.

“I might have to carry the ball some,” Riley quipped during NBC’s broadcast.

USC managed to make it through a win over Michigan without much in the way of reinforcements at running back. But with its backfield depth decimated — and the toughest stretch of the Trojans schedule ahead — Riley and his staff will have to figure out how proceed starting Saturday at Notre Dame.

USC will be without leading rusher Waymond Jordan for at least a month after he injured his ankle during the second quarter Saturday. Jordan, who’s currently third in the Big Ten in rushing, underwent surgery on Monday and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Continue reading here

SOCCER

From Kevin Baxter: Christina Unkel was 10 when she became a certified soccer referee. And in all that time, she said she can remember just one instance in which she changed a call after being confronted by a group of angry players.

She was 14, working a youth game in Southwest Florida, when she awarded a throw-in. As the team which lost possession protested vehemently, an opposing player stepped into the scrum and sheepishly confessed to touching the ball last.

“I’m like, ‘OK, well thanks for admitting that. I guess we’ll throw it the other way, right?’” said Unkel who, as an attorney in addition to being an official, knows the value of a confession.

Without that admission, she said, the protesting team’s pleas would have necessarily fallen on deaf ears.

Referees know they don’t always get ‘em right, but imagine the chaos if they left every call up for debate. Yet that hasn’t stopped every soccer player who’s ever laced up a pair of cleats from arguing calls.

Soccer is the only major U.S. team sport in which that’s allowed.

Continue reading here

LAKERS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: He whipped passes through a sea of outstretched arms. He lobbed up a sky-high alley-oop. He canned a step-back three.

Luka Doncic is so back.

The star guard had 25 points, seven rebounds and four assists in his preseason debut Tuesday, but the Lakers crumbled in the second half of a 113-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center.

Fresh off a quarterfinal finish in EuroBasket, where he led the tournament in scoring for Slovenia, Doncic wowed his teammates by zipping passes through microscopic lanes and chucking up one-legged three-pointers. After Doncic missed a free throw, he saved the rebound blindly over his head and the possession ended in a three-pointer from Nick Smith Jr.

Continue reading here

LeBron out, Luka in: Where the Lakers stand one week from opening night

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles, is located a short walk from M&T Bank Stadium, where the Rams began an extended road trip on Sunday with a 17-3 victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

For much of this week, the baseball stadium will serve as the Rams’ home away from home as they prepare for Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London.

This is not the first time that the Rams have played an away game and then remained in the city before traveling abroad.

In 2017, coach Sean McVay’s first season, the Rams defeated the Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla., and then stayed in town before traveling to defeat the Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London.

Several players said they would rely on the Rams’ training staff to help them modify weekly routines that include massage, acupuncture and other bodywork sessions with California providers outside of the organization.

Continue reading here

DUCKS

Chris Kreider scored his second power-play goal in his home debut with 1:27 to play, and the Ducks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Tuesday night for its 10th consecutive victory in home openers.

Cutter Gauthier and Drew Helleson also scored and Lukas Dostal made 23 saves for the Ducks, who matched Boston and Toronto for the NHL’s longest active victory streak in home openers.

Kreider, who also had an assist, is off to an outstanding start with four goals in three games for the Ducks after the Rangers traded their longtime left winger last June to create cap space.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1933 — The Philadelphia Eagles play their first NFL game and suffers a 56-0 loss to the New York Giants.

1961 — Mickey Wright wins her third LPGA Championship with a rout, nine strokes ahead of Louise Suggs. Wright shoots a 3-over, 287 at the Stardust Country Club in Las Vegas for her third major title of the year and her tenth tour victory of the season.

1972 — Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks becomes the sixth NHL player with 1,000 career points. Mikita assists on Cliff Koroll’s goal in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Chicago Stadium.

1983 — The Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs score five goals in 1 minute, 24 seconds to set an NHL record for the fastest five goals by two teams. The Maple Leafs win, 10-8.

1988 — Oklahoma rushes for an NCAA-record 768 yards, including 123 by quarterback Charles Thompson. Thompson scores three touchdowns and passes for one in the first period of a 70-24 rout of Kansas State.

1988 — Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores eight points — two goals and six assists — in a 9-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

1989 — Wayne Gretzky of the Kings passes Gordie Howe as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer in a during a 5-4 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers. Gretzky flips a backhand shot past Oilers goaltender Bill Ranford with 53 seconds remaining to tie the score and pass Howe with 1,851st point. Gretzky wins the game in overtime.

1995 — The Carolina Panthers beat the New York Jets 26-15 for their first NFL victory.

2005 — Michigan gives up a touchdown to Penn State with 53 seconds left, then marches down the field to score on a TD pass from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham with no time remaining for a 27-25 win over the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions.

2005 — USC’s Matt Leinart pushes and spins his way into the end zone with 3 seconds left to cap a chaotic finish to the top-ranked Trojans’ 28th straight victory, a back-and-forth 34-31 win over No. 9 Notre Dame.

2008 — Fabian Brunnstrom scores three goals in his NHL debut to match the league record in Dallas’ 6-4 victory over Nashville.

2009 — Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom becomes the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in the Red Wings 5-2 win over the Kings.

2012 — The Nets bring pro sports back to Brooklyn with a preseason victory, beating the Washington Wizards 98-88 in the first basketball game at the Barclays Center.

2015 — Carey Price makes 25 saves and the Montreal Canadiens make team history by starting a season with a five straight wins, the latest a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

2017 — New England quarterback Tom Brady passes for 257 yards with two touchdowns in the Patriots’ 24-17 win at the New York Jets. Brady, who has 187 regular-season victories, surpasses Hall of Famer Brett Favre (186) and Peyton Manning (186) for the most regular-season victories by a starting quarterback in NFL history.

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.

Bijan Robinson is the best player in football.

That’s what Atlanta Falcons coach Raheem Morris said about his star running back Monday night after a 24-14 win over reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

While Morris may be somewhat biased toward his own player, national TV viewers might have trouble arguing with him after what they witnessed Robinson accomplish on this week’s “Monday Night Football.”

The third-year player tied his career high with 170 rushing yards (the most for a Falcons player during a prime time TV game) in 19 carries. That included a spectacular 81-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that was the longest run of his career as well the longest in the NFL this season. It’s also tied for the second-longest rushing touchdown in Falcons history.

Robinson now has three plays from scrimmage of 50 yards or more this season after having only one longer than 30 yards last year.

“IIt’s just a thing of my game where I want to get better at and continue to get better at every single day,” Robinson said after the game. “And you know, if I can get better at that and breaking those long runs, it’s only helping the team.”

Robinson also caught six passes from quarterback Michael Penix Jr. for 68 yards for a total of 238 yards from scrimmage, the most ever for a Falcons running back.

“There are some people who are just born to be a certain athlete,” Falcons receiver Drake London said after the game. “Like you have certain people who are born to be basketball players, such as LeBron [James]. You have people who are born to be football players, like they have the perfect body shape for it. Now, [Robinson] goes out there, and it’s like art. It’s amazing to see.”

Speaking of James, the Lakers superstar also took notice of Robinson’s performance.

“Bijan so COLD!!!!!!!!!” James posted on X during the game.

A first-round draft pick in 2023 and a Pro Bowl selection last year, Robinson leads the league with 822 yards from scrimmage this season (484 rushing and 338 receiving), and it’s not even all that close.

The Falcons are one of only six teams that have had their bye weeks already, meaning Robinson has compiled his total in five games. The next 11 players on the list — starting with San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey at No. 2 with 780 yards — have all played in six games.

If he keeps this pace, Robinson will finish the season with 2,797 yards from scrimmage, which would break the current record of 2,509 yards set by Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson in 2009. Johnson’s record was set during a 16-game season; Robinson is on pace to have 2,630 yards after his 16th game of the 17-game season.

So maybe Morris wasn’t being all that biased in his post-game comments about Robinson after all.

“He’s the best player in football,” Morris told reporters. “I’ve said it multiple times, I can’t say it enough. You can always have your pick, you can always go out there and figure out who you want to vote for, but in my opinion, he’s the best player in football.”

From Jack Harris: The reason the Milwaukee Brewers are in the National League Championship Series is because of plays like the one that ended the fourth inning Monday night.

A strange, one-in-a-million, 400-foot double play in which one Brewers fielder made a spectacular defensive effort, and another never lost awareness of a wacky situation — highlighting the sound fundamentals that made them baseball’s winningest team this season.

The reason the Dodgers are here, however, is because of how they can respond to adversity — settling the panic with their dominant starting pitching, rallying at the plate with their star-studded lineup and suffocating an opponent with a record $415-million payroll’s worth of talent.

In their 2-1 win in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field, that was ultimately what made the difference.

The evening’s most memorable moment might have been that fourth-inning cluster, when the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out, only to come up empty when Max Muncy had a potential grand slam robbed (but, crucially, not caught cleanly) and two Dodgers runners were retired on forceouts at home plate and third base.

But, the most important contributions were what came after that, with Freddie Freeman’s home run in the sixth inning giving the Dodgers the lead, and Blake Snell’s scoreless eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout master class ensuring they wouldn’t relinquish it — even with some heartburn from the bullpen at the end.

“Obviously, there were some crazy things that happened,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s not going to come easy.”

Continue reading here

Hernández: Dodgers’ Game 1 NLCS win shows financial might can make things right

It took some luck, but good things finally happen to Dodgers’ Blake Treinen

Dodgers add pitcher Ben Casparius to NLCS roster, drop catcher Dalton Rushing

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

NLCS
Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Tuesday: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Thursday: at Dodgers, 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Saturday: at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Monday: at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Tuesday, Oct. 21: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

ALCS
Seattle vs. Toronto
Seattle 3, at Toronto 1 (box score)
Seattle 10, at Toronto 3 (box score)
Wednesday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Thursday at Seattle, 5:30 p.m., FS1
*-Friday at Seattle, 3 p.m., FS1
*-Sunday at Toronto, 5 p.m., FS1
*-Monday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

From Ben Bolch: Fox College Football tweeted that “The Jerry Neuheisel Era has begun with the Bruins.”

ESPN personality Pat McAfee added to the chorus of adoration for UCLA’s new playcaller, tweeting that Neuheisel “just might be a football wizard.”

Other media and sports betting sites tweeting about the Bruins’ turnaround from 0-4 to darlings of the college football world prominently featured pictures of the blond-haired assistant coach.

It was enough to prompt the sports media website Awful Announcing to ask: “Does anyone know that Tim Skipper is actually UCLA’s interim head coach, not Jerry Neuheisel?”

Having been preoccupied with saving a season, Skipper acknowledged being blissfully unaware of any narratives about who’s done what to spark his team’s turnabout.

Continue reading here

From Ryan Kartje: USC was down to two walk-ons in its battered backfield, when Trojans coach Lincoln Riley decided to dress injured sophomore running back Bryan Jackson for the second half of Saturday’s win over Michigan, despite the fact Jackson was listed by the team as out on the Big Ten’s pregame availability report.

Riley explained the decision to play Jackson after the game, describing it as “a unique situation” and “a wellness issue.” But on Monday, the Big Ten chose to slap USC with a fine of $5,000 for violating conference rules regarding its availability reports.

“Although these circumstances were unfortunate, it is critical for availability reports to be accurate,” a Big Ten spokesperson said. “Consequently, the conference is imposing a $5,000 fine and admonishes all institutions to use the “out” designation only if there are no circumstances under which a student-athlete could participate in a game. The conference considers the matter closed and will have no further comment.”

Continue reading here

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: When Luka Doncic plays in his first exhibition game of the season for the Lakers against the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night, Coach JJ Redick said the plan with his star is pretty simple.

“Give him the ball,” Redick said, laughing.

Redick paused for a second.

“You talking about minutes?” he asked.

Redick said they are “still working through what that looks like” with the Lakers’ staff and Doncic’s team.

Continue reading here

KINGS

Marco Rossi scored in the fourth round of the shootout and the Minnesota Wild beat the Kings 4-3 on Monday night after giving up a three-goal lead in the third period.

Power-play goals by Jared Spurgeon, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead late in the first period.

The score remained until the third period when Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield scored early and Adrain Kempe late to send the game to overtime.

Continue reading here

Kings summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1945 — The Chicago Cardinals snap the longest losing streak in NFL history at 29 games with a 16-7 victory over the Chicago Bears.

1949 — Ezzard Charles TKOs Pat Valentino in 8 for heavyweight boxing title.

1951 — Detroit’s Jack Christiansen returns two punts for touchdowns, but the Lions still lose, 27-21, to the Los Angeles Rams.

1962 — Houston’s George Blanda throws six touchdown passes to lead the Oilers to a 56-17 rout of the New York Titans.

1967 — The Kings, led by Brain Kilrea, beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in their NHL debut. The game is held at Long Beach (Calif.) Arena. Kilrea scores two goals, including the first one in Kings history.

1978 — Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs gets seven assists in a 10-7 victory over the New York Islanders.

1979 — Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores his first NHL goal in a 4-4 tie with the Vancouver Canucks. Gretzky beats goaltender Glen Hanlon with the tying power-play goal with 1:09 remaining in the third period.

1990 — Joe Montana passes for career highs of 476 yards and six touchdowns and Jerry Rice ties an NFL record with five scoring receptions as the San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons 45-35.

1991 — New York Rangers right wing Mike Gartner scores his 500th career goal in the first period of a 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals.

2005 — Ryan Newman sets a NASCAR record by winning his fifth consecutive Busch Series race, the Charlotte 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

2006 — Mats Sundin scores his 500th career goal, completing a hat trick with a short-handed overtime game-winner and giving Toronto a 5-4 victory over Calgary. The third goal is Sundin’s 15th in overtime — the most in NHL history.

2007 — Tom Brady of New England passes for 388 yards and a career-high five touchdowns in a 48-27 win over previously unbeaten Dallas. The five TDs gives Brady the NFL mark with at least three in each of the first six games of the season.

2011 — Japan’s Kohei Uchimura becomes the first man to win three titles at the world gymnastics championships in Tokyo. Uchimura finishes with 93.631 points in the men’s all-around, more than three points ahead of Germany’s Philipp Boy.

2012 — Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers sets a career high and ties a franchise record with six touchdown passes, three to Jordy Nelson, and the Packers rout the Houston Texans 42-24. Rodgers completes 24 of 37 passes for 338 yards and ties Matt Flynn’s single-game record for TD passes, set in last year’s regular-season finale against Detroit.

2015 — Sylvia Fowles has 20 points and 11 rebounds as the Minnesota Lynx capture their third WNBA title in five years with a 69-52 victory over the Indiana Fever in Game 5.

2018 — Stephen Gostkowski hit a 28-yard field goal as time expires, and the New England Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 43-40 after blowing a big halftime lead. Tom Brady passes for 340 yards and a touchdown and runs for another score in his 200th victory as a starting quarterback, tops in NFL history. With New England leading 24-9 at halftime, Patrick Mahomes directs an impressive rally by Kansas City in the second half. He finishes 23 of 36 for 352 yards in his first loss as a starting quarterback, with three of his four TD passes going to Tyreek Hill.

2020 — The NFL cancels the Pro Bowl scheduled for January, 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compiled by the Associated Press

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1973 — 42-year-old future Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays′ last MLB career hit, as the NY Mets beat A’s, 10-7 in World Series Game 2 in Oakland.

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.

Dearest gentle reader, Lady Whistledown — voiced by Julie Andrews — is back.

Netflix released a trailer for the fourth season of “Bridgerton” on Monday, and the Ton’s resident gossip columnist promised to have all the delightful details. The teaser also revealed that the next chapter of the Regency-era romance will be released in two parts on Jan. 29 and Feb. 26.

The eight-episode season will follow Benedict Bridgerton’s (Luke Thompson) fairy tale-inspired romance. The beloved second-eldest sibling of the Bridgerton brood is is known for being commitment averse and uninterested in marriage, but, if the trailer is to be trusted, it seems a masked mystery woman he brushes past on a staircase might change that.

“With each passing season, one is known to experience plenty of ups and downs,” Whistledown says in the teaser footage. “So then we must ask ourselves, do we rise to the occasion? As always, time — and this author — will tell.”

Unbeknownst to Benedict, the mystery woman, also known as the Lady in Silver, is Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). According to Netflix’s in-house blog Tudum, the staircase encounter featured in the trailer is the first time the pair cross paths during Lady Bridgerton’s masquerade ball.

Benedict and Sophie’s romance is based on the events in “An Offer From a Gentleman,” the third book in Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” book series. Much like the wicked matriarch in “Cinderella,” Sophie’s stepmother (Katie Leung) is more concerned about her two daughters’ (Michelle Mao, Isabella Wei) societal debut and marriage prospects than whatever her stepdaughter is getting up to.

“Bridgerton” showrunner Jess Brownell previously told The Times that Benedict’s character arc “has a lot to do with being someone who is learning how to exist between society and and being unconventional.”

“Benedict [is] trying to figure out what his place is in the world and how to circumvent certain rules, which is something Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) [taught] him [in Season 3],” she said last year. “I think we will continue telling the story of his [sexual] fluidity going forward.”

The brief “Bridgerton” Season 4 teaser focuses solely on Benedict and Sophie. Those interested in updates about the state of Penelope’s writing career or what Francesca, John and Michaela Stirling have been up to since the end of the third season will have to keep waiting.

Fox College Football tweeted that “The Jerry Neuheisel Era has begun with the Bruins.”

ESPN personality Pat McAfee added to the chorus of adoration for UCLA’s new playcaller, tweeting that Neuheisel “just might be a football wizard.”

Other media and sports betting sites tweeting about the Bruins’ turnaround from 0-4 to darlings of the college football world prominently featured pictures of the blond-haired assistant coach.

It was enough to prompt the sports media website Awful Announcing to ask: “Does anyone know that Tim Skipper is actually UCLA’s interim head coach, not Jerry Neuheisel?”

Having been preoccupied with saving a season, Skipper acknowledged being blissfully unaware of any narratives about who’s done what to spark his team’s turnabout.

“I guess it’s good that I don’t get on social media and all that stuff right now because I don’t feel that way,” Skipper said Monday when asked about the notion that he wasn’t getting proper credit. “But I don’t really know what’s happening in the outside world [because] I’m in this [practice] building so much.

“But I love what I’m doing, I’m just working, man, and I just try to put us in the best position to be successful on Saturday.”

Part of any credit distortion might be associated with Skipper having presided over the Bruins’ 17-14 loss to Northwestern after replacing DeShaun Foster. The next week, Neuheisel was elevated to playcaller, helping the Bruins (2-4 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) revive a dreadful offense and roll up a combined 80 points during victories over Penn State and Michigan State.

In truth, there have been enough fingerprints on UCLA’s resurgence to leave countless smudge marks.

UCLA coach Tim Skipper stands on the sideline during the Bruins’ win over Penn State on Oct. 4.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Skipper has provided energy, meticulousness and drive, and his motivational tactics — including leaving printouts asking “ARE YOU A ONE-HIT WONDER?” on players’ seats on the team plane last week — had their intended effect during a runaway victory over Michigan State.

Neuheisel has undoubtedly elevated an offense that struggled mightily under predecessor Tino Sunseri.

Kevin Coyle, the de facto defensive coordinator who was brought in before the Northwestern game to replace Ikaika Malloe, has unleashed an aggressive, disciplined style that has largely compensated for shortcomings that were previously exposed.

There’s also been a host of other contributors, from the scouting staff that helped identify the weakness leading to a successful onside kick against Penn State, to the security guards outside Drake Stadium who continually encouraged players walking into practice amid loss after loss to start the season.

And, of course, don’t forget the players — quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s leadership and poise alongside a slew of others who have risen to the moment after so much early struggle.

The Bruins are favored against Maryland (4-2, 1-2) on Saturday at the Rose Bowl for the first time since they faced New Mexico, and it might be easy to envision their success snowballing. But Skipper said he wasn’t going to introduce the idea of making a bowl game as his next motivational device.

“I’m all about the moment that you’re in, man,” Skipper said. “… This week, kind of, [the mantra] is the standard is the standard and don’t get bored with success. We have to keep doing what we’re doing and always be on the rise, you know?”

As he neared the one-month mark since his Sept. 14 promotion, Skipper acknowledged having initially worried about keeping his roster intact since players could enter the transfer portal or redshirt.

“When I first took over, it was, like, every time I talked to you guys, everybody was asking about who’s redshirting, who’s going to the portal?” Skipper said. “That was the theme that was, like, the No. 1 question. And we’ve been able to keep the team intact, you know, and that’s an everyday thing. I think we’ve shown them that, hey, we can make it, make it a good environment here, even though we have all this change and stuff, just stick with us and we’re going to be all right.”

A clean locker room and the smiles and excitement that come with winning have been among the big changes in the aura around the team that Skipper said he’s noticed since taking over.

“It looks like the guys are in good spirits and things like that, and they know that tomorrow’s gonna be a work day and they better be ready to go,” Skipper said. “But I think we’re giving the guys the ‘why’ and the reasons why we do things, and that’s helping them know what to expect.”

Put me in, coach

UCLA unveiled a sturdy offensive weapon late in the third quarter against Michigan State.

It was Siale Taupaki, a 337-pound defensive lineman used as a blocker when the Bruins reached the red zone. Going in motion on a direct snap to running back Jaivian Thomas, Taupaki flattened a defender as Thomas scored on the second-and-goal play.

“He was begging to be able to do something on the offensive side,” Skipper said of the redshirt junior, who has vacillated between the offensive and defensive lines during his seven seasons with the team. “Sure enough, he went out there and did his job, so that gave us some juice on the sideline and it was good to see.”

Etc.

Skipper said the team’s improved tackling in recent weeks was more of a function of fundamentals than scheme. “We do drills when we get [individual] time that are specifically to use your weapons — your eyes, feet and hands,” Skipper said, “and we’re learning how to wrap up and move our feet on contact because the hardest thing to do is re-start your feet when they stop.” … The University of California regents are scheduled to meet in a closed session Tuesday in San Francisco to discuss the compensation package that will be made available to UCLA’s next coach.

Brian Callahan has the dubious distinction of being the first NFL coach to be fired this season.

The Tennessee Titans announced Monday they were parting ways with their second-year coach after starting the season at 1-5 with rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the top overall pick in April’s draft, under center. Callahan was 4-19 overall.

“While we are committed to a patient and strategic plan to build a sustainable, winning football program, we have not demonstrated sufficient growth,” Chad Brinker, Titans president of football operations, said in a statement. “Our players, fans, and community deserve a football team that achieves a standard we are not currently meeting, and we are committed to making the hard decisions necessary to reach and maintain that standard.”

Callahan, the son of former Oakland Raiders and Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan, was a backup quarterback at Concord De La Salle High School and served in the same role at UCLA from 2002 to 2005. The former walk-on earned a scholarship his senior year, when he became the Bruins’ holder on field goal and extra-point attempts.

Callahan entered the coaching ranks upon graduation, winning a Super Bowl as a Denver Broncos assistant coach in 2015. He went on to become quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions and Oakland Raiders, then offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2019.

A hot commodity for teams in search of a head coach in 2024, Callahan was among at least nine candidates interviewed by the Chargers (that job ultimately went to former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh) and one of 10 candidates for the Titans job.

Callahan replaced former coach Mike Vrabel, who had been fired after six seasons with the Titans. This weekend, Vrabel will lead the 4-2 New England Patriots into Nashville to play his former team. It remains to be seen who will be on the Titans sideline as interim head coach.

Hi and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and I can picture Vin Scully and Bob Uecker sitting on a cloud, watching this series.

—First, the bad news: In the NLCS, the Dodgers will be facing the team with the best record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers. And the Brewers went 6-0 against the Dodgers this season, outscoring them 31-16.

—The good news: None of that means anything in the postseason.

—This is the seventh time a team has swept an opponent in the regular season and met that same team in the postseason. A look:

2015 NLCS: Chicago swept the Mets in the season, 7-0. Mets swept the Cubs in the NLCS, 4-0.

2014 World Series: Kansas City swept San Francisco in the season, 3-0. Giants beat the Royals in the World Series, 4-3.

2009 ALDS: Yankees swept Minnesota in the season, 7-0. Yankees swept the Twins in the ALDS, 3-0.

2007 ALDS: Yankees swept Cleveland in the season, 6-0. Indians beat the Yankees in the ALDS, 3-1.

2006 World Series: Detroit swept St. Louis during the season, 3-0. Cardinals beat the Tigers in the World Series, 4-1.

2003 ALDS: Yankees swept Minnesota during the season, 7-0. Yankees beat the Twins in the ALDS, 3-1.

—Who will be on the NLCS roster? We should find out a few hours before game time today. With it being a seven-game series, I would expect fewer position players and more pitchers, but which relievers make the team?

—The Dodgers will start Blake Snell in Game 1 and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 against the Brewers, who have not announced a Game 1 starter, but their ace, Freddy Peralta, will start Game 2.

—The Dodgers need another reliever to step up in this series, as it seems unlikely that Roki Sasaki can pitch three innings every game. Will they keep Justin Wrobleski on the roster? Which right-handers will they add? Ben Casparius?

—The biggest question on offense: Can Shohei Ohtani start hitting again? He went one for 18 in the NLDS, with nine strikeouts.

—The Brewers used a ton of lefties against Ohtani. “There were at-bats that didn’t go the way I thought they would,” Ohtani said after the Game 4 victory. “The opposing pitchers didn’t make many mistakes. They pitched wonderfully, in a way that’s worthy for the postseason. There were a lot of games like that for both teams.”

—Dave Roberts’ take: “Hoping that he can do a little self-reflecting on that series, and how aggressive he was outside of the strike zone, passive in the zone. The at-bat quality needs to get better.”

—Not only Ohtani, but the Dodgers overall are much more successful when they remain patient and work the count. It also allows them to get to the other team’s bullpen quicker. Wearing out the other team’s bullpen will be key the longer the series goes.

—The ALCS features teams that joined the league in 1977: Seattle and Toronto. The Mariners are the only current MLB team to never play in the World Series.

—Once again, the Dodgers’ opponent will have home-field advantage.

—I could go on and on with thoughts and reflections, but it doesn’t mean much. The postseason is all new, and anything can happen. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Prediction: Dodgers in 6.

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

Batting

Runs per game
Dodgers, 5.09 (2nd)
Brewers, 4.98 (3rd)
MLB average, 4.45

Batting average
Brewers, .258 (2nd)
Dodgers, .253 (5th)
MLB average, .245

On-base %
Brewers, .332 (2nd)
Dodgers, .327 (5th)
MLB average, .315

Slugging %
Dodgers, .441 (2nd)
MLB average, .404
Brewers, .403 (12th)

Doubles
Brewers, 265 (9th)
MLB average, 258
Dodgers, 257 (13th)

Triples
Dodgers, 21 (T12th)
MLB average, 21
Brewers, 18 (T19th)

Home runs
Dodgers, 244 (2nd)
MLB average, 188
Brewers, 166 (22nd)

Walks
Dodgers, 580 (2nd)
Brewers, 564 (4th)
MLB average, 513

Strikeouts
MLB average, 1,355
Dodgers, 1,353 (16th)
Brewers, 1,266 (26th)

Stolen bases
Brewers, 164 (2nd)
MLB average, 115
Dodgers, 88 (T21st)

Sacrifice bunts
Brewers, 26 (6th)
MLB average, 19
Dodgers, 13 (T20th)

Batting average with two out and runners in scoring position
Dodgers, .271 (1st)
Brewers, .265 (3rd)
MLB average, .233

As you can see, the Dodgers have more power, but the Brewers are more pesky on offense, getting more singles and stealing more bases. They stole two bases in the NLDS, the Dodgers haven’t tried to steal a base in the postseason.

Pitching

ERA
Brewers, 3.58 (2nd)
Dodgers, 3.95 (16th)
MLB average, 4.15

Team ERA after All-Star break
Dodgers, 3.45 (2nd)
Brewers, 3.49 (3rd)
MLB average, 4.28

Rotation ERA
Brewers, 3.56 (3rd)
Dodgers, 3.69 (5th)
MLB average, 4.21

Bullpen ERA
MLB average, 4.08
Brewers, 3.63 (7th)
Dodgers, 4.27 (21st)

FIP (click here for explainer)
Brewers, 3.91 (6th)
Dodgers, 3.93 (7th)
MLB average, 4.16

Walks
Dodgers, 563 (5th)
Brewers, 534 (10th)
MLB average, 513

Strikeouts
Dodgers, 1,505 (1st)
Brewers, 1,432 (5th)
MLB average, 1,355

Saves
Dodgers, 46 (5th)
Brewers, 45 (T6th)
MLB average, 40

Blown saves
Dodgers, 27 (T7th)
MLB average, 24
Brewers, 21 (T21st)

Inherited runners who scored %
Dodgers, 26.1% (3rd)
Brewers, 31.7% (13th)
MLB average, 31.8%

Relief innings
Dodgers, 657.2 (1st)
MLB average, 595
Brewers, 634.2 (4th)

Relief wins
Dodgers, 44 (T1st)
Brewers, 37 (T6th)
MLB average, 33

Relief losses
Dodgers, 33 (T7th)
MLB average, 29
Brewers, 25 (T21st)

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. For a full look at the Brewers statistically, click here.

DH
Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani. .282/.392/.622, 25 doubles, 55 homers, 102 RBIs
Brewers, Christian Yelich, .264/.343/.452, 21 doubles, 29 homers, 103 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
Brewers, William Contreras, .260/.355/.399, 28 doubles, 17 homers, 76 RBIs
Brewers, Danny Jansen, .254/.346/.433, 3 doubles, 3 homers, 17 RBIs

First base
Dodgers, Freddie Freeman, .295/.367/.502, 39 doubles, 24 homers, 90 RBIs
Brewers, Andrew Vaughn, .308/.375/.493, 14 doubles, 9 homers, 46 RBIs

Rhys Hoskins was the Brewers’ starting first baseman when the season begam, but he was injured and sidelined for a couple of months. When he came back, Vaughn had won the job.

Second base
Dodgers, Miguel Rojas, .262/.318/.397, 18 doubles, 7 homers, 27 RBIs
Dodgers, Tommy Edman, .225/.274/.382, 13 doubles, 13 homers, 49 RBIs
Brewers, Brice Turang, .288/.359/.435, 28 doubles, 18 homers, 81 RBIs

Third base
Dodgers, Max Muncy, .243/.376/.470, 10 doubles, 19 homers, 67 RBIs
Brewers, Caleb Durbin, .256/.334/.387, 25 doubles, 11 homers, 53 RBIs

Shortstop
Dodgers, Mookie Betts, .258/.326/.406, 23 doubles, 20 homers, 82 RBIs
Brewers, Joey Ortiz, .230/.276/.317, 18 doubles, 7 homers, 45 RBIs

Left field
Dodgers, Kiké Hernández, .203/.255/.366, 8 doubles, 10 homers, 35 RBIs
Brewers, Jackson Chourio, .270/.308/.463, 35 doubles, 21 homers, 78 RBIs

Center field
Dodgers, Andy Pages, .272/.313/.461, 27 doubles, 27 homers, 86 RBIs
Brewers, Blake Perkins, .226/.298/.348, 6 doubles, 3 homers, 19 RBIs

Right field
Dodgers, Teoscar Hernández, .247/.284/.454, 29 doubles, 25 homers, 89 RBIs
Brewers, Sal Frelick, .288/.351/.405, 20 doubles, 12 homers, 63 RBIs

Of the Brewers listed, Yelich, Turang and Frelick bat left-handed. Perkins is a switch-hitter.

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
Tyler Glasnow, 4-3, 3.19 ERA, 90.1 IP, 56 hits, 43 walks, 106 K’s

Brewers
Freddy Peralta, 17-6, 2.70 ERA, 176.2 IP, 124 hits, 66 walks, 204 K’s
Quinn Priester, 13-3, 3.32 ERA, 157.1 IP, 145 hits, 50 walks, 132 K’s
Jacob Misiorowski, 5-3, 4.36 ERA, 66 IP, 51 hits, 31 walks, 87 K’s
*Jose Quintana, 11-7, 3.96 ERA, 131.2 IP, 120 hits, 50 walks, 89 K’s

The main relievers

Dodgers
*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
Roki Sasaki, 1-1, 4.46 ERA, 36.1 IP, 30 hits, 22 walks, 28 K’s

Brewers
Trevor Megill, 6-3, 2.49 ERA, 30 saves, 47 IP, 36 hits, 17 walks, 60 K’s
*Aaron Ashby, 5-2, 2.16 ERA, 3 saves, 66.2 IP, 54 hits, 24 walks, 76 K’s
Abner Uribe, 3-2, 1.67 ERA, 7 saves, 75.1 IP, 51 hits, 27 walks, 90 K’s
*Jared Koenig, 6-1, 2.86 ERA, 2 saves, 66 IP, 57 hits, 20 walks, 68 K’s
Nick Mears, 5-3, 3.49 ERA, 56.2 IP, 42 hits, 13 walks, 46 K’s

The Brewers used Megill and Ashby as openers in the NLDS against the Cubs, including using Megill, their closer, as the opener in the decisive Game 5. He pitched a perfect inning, then gave way to Misiorowski, who pitched four innings, giving up one run. So the Brewers are not afraid to think outside the box as far as their pitching staff is concerned.

*-left-handed

Poll results

Which team would you rather have the Dodgers face in the NLCS? After 10,236 votes, the results:

Cubs, 89.3%
Brewers, 10.7%

Poll time

What will be the outcome of the NLCS?

Click here to vote in our survey.

Up next

Monday: Dodgers (Blake Snell, 5-4, 2.35 ERA) at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Tuesday: Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 12-8, 2.49 ERA) at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Thursday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 3 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

Friday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Saturday: Milwaukee at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Monday, Oct. 20: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-Tuesday, Oct. 21: Dodgers at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

x-if necessary

In case you missed it

How Roki Sasaki’s transformation from injured starter to closer saved the Dodgers’ season

Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Brewers in the NLCS

Can Shohei Ohtani find it at the plate for NLCS? ‘At-bat quality needs to get better’

Shaikin: Are these the real Dodgers? Why a ‘whole other level’ could emerge in the NLCS

Hernández: Roki Sasaki’s playoff dominance shows why he’s the Dodgers’ future staff ace

And finally

Highlights from the 2024 Dodgers-Mets NLCS. 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.

This week’s City Section top 10 high school football rankings by The Times:

1. BIRMINGHAM (4-3): The Patriots have 51 consecutive victories against City Section opponents, so any computer rankings that don’t have them at the top are ignoring history.

2. CARSON (4-3): The Colts are on collision path to face San Pedro on Oct. 30 to determine the Marine League championship.

3. PALISADES (7-0): Jack Thomas had 460 yards passing and five touchdowns in a 56-54 win over Venice.

4. SAN PEDRO (4-4): Pirates quarterback Seth Solorio has passed the 2,000-yard mark this season.

5. GARFIELD (5-2): The Eastern League championship will be decided Friday night at South Gate.

6. KENNEDY (6-1): In Diego Montes the Golden Cougars trust.

7. EAGLE ROCK (5-2): Northern League title showdown at Franklin on Friday night.

8. KING/DREW (5-1): Sophomore defensive lineman Kenneth Webb is having big season.

9. VENICE (3-4): Joshua Aaron rushed for 170 yards and four touchdowns in loss to Palisades.

10. FRANKLIN (6-1): Senior Albert Cardenas is coming through at quarterback.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — James Franklin is out at Penn State.

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one more stinging than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.

There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is due nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.

“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.

Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for him: Penn State’s next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.

The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself in the role of spoiler.

Johnson writes for the Associated Press. AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who spent the week Googling Ed Gein.

“Monster,” the gruesome and graphic anthology series from longtime collaborators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, has dramatized the chilling story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the highly publicized and complex case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted for the 1989 murder of their parents. The third installment of the Netflix series, which was released last week, puts its twist on the legend of Gein, a killer who inspired fictional villains like Norman Bates and Leatherface. Brennan, who wrote the season, stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the fantastical approach to the season and that “Mindhunter” hat tip.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations include a “Frontline” documentary that continues its chronicle on the lingering impact of poverty and a spinoff of “The Boys” set at America’s only college for superheroes.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Illustration of John Candy with his hands on his cheeks.

(Brian Lutz / For The Times)

‘You never stop thinking about John Candy’: How a pair of projects keep his legacy alive: The beloved actor, who would have turned 75 this month, is the focus of an eponymous biography and “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary directed by Colin Hanks.

With the help of advisors, ‘Boots’ co-stars challenged themselves to portray military life authentically: Actors Miles Heizer and Max Parker trained like Marines and utilized the experiences of the show’s military advisors to ground their characters.

She’s used to finding laughs in catastrophe. But Rose Byrne is only now going to the edge: After stealing focus in everything from “Bridesmaids” to “Insidious,” Rose Byrne unravels beautifully in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

Victoria Beckham sheds Posh persona, gets candid about eating disorder in Netflix doc: The three-part docuseries chronicles the Spice Girls alum’s pivot from pop stardom to high fashion.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

A still from “Frontline: Born Poor,” which filmed over 14 years with kids from three families, from adolescents to adults, to explore how poverty has affected them.

(Frontline PBS)

“Frontline: Born Poor” (PBS.org)

Television is glutted with “reality,” but there are still filmmakers who prefer to look at how people live when they’re not contestants in a dating game or bunked up with competitive strangers. Jezza Neumann’s “Born Poor” is the third installment in a moving documentary series that began 14 years ago with “Poor Kids,” and, like Michael Apted’s “7 Up” films, has visited its subjects in intervals over the years since. Set in the Quad Cities area, where Illinois meets Iowa along the Mississippi River, it follows Brittany, Johnny and Kayli from bright-eyed childhood into chastened, though still optimistic adulthood, as they deal with life on the margins — power lost, houses lost, school impossible, food unpredictable. Now, with kids of their own, all are concerned to provide them a better life than the ones they had. With Washington waging a war on the poor to protect the rich, it’s a valuable watch. — Robert Lloyd

Derek Luh (Jordan Li), from left, Jaz Sinclair (Marie Moreau), Keeya King (Annabeth Moreau), Lizze Broadway (Emma Meyer) in “Gen V.”

(Jasper Savage / Prime)

“Gen V” (Prime Video)

Just two weeks out from its Season 2 finale and the satirical superhero series continues to deliver merciless dark humor and sharp topical commentary on America’s great crumble — inside of a tale about misfits enduring the rigors of college life.

Spun off from the brilliant “The Boys” franchise, this series from Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg and Evan Goldberg follows a group of students at Godolkin University, an institution designed to identify and train the next generation of superheroes. But the co-eds soon discover that their supposed higher education is in fact a clandestine operation to create “Supe” soldiers for an impending war between the super-powered and non-powered humans. Returning to the fold is Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who emerges as the rebel group’s most powerful weapon against the school’s nefarious plot. Working alongside her are Emma (Lizze Broadway), Cate (Maddie Phillips), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh) and Sam (Asa Germann). The wonderfully unnerving Hamish Linklater (“Midnight Mass”) joins the cast as the school’s new dean.

Is “Gen V” just as gory as “The Boys”? Absolutely. Watch with caution. But nothing else is quite as fearless in calling out the contradictions and absurdities of our times, be it corrupt politics, corporate domination or false religiosity. — Lorraine Ali

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein in an episode of “Monster: The Ed Gein Story.”

(Netflix)

“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” stars Charlie Hunnam as the so-called “Butcher of Plainfield,” whose gruesome crimes in 1950s small-town Wisconsin went on to inspire pop culture classics like “Psycho” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” The season leans into Gein’s diagnosed schizophrenia and his legacy in Hollywood to present a deeply fictionalized version of his horrifying activities. All eight episodes of the season are now streaming. Ian Brennan, who co-created the anthology series with Ryan Murphy and helmed the latest installment, stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the season’s approach to fact vs. fiction, that “Mindhunter” nod and the documentary that earns his rewatch time. — Yvonne Villarreal

We often hear from actors about the roles that stay with them long after they’re done filming. Are there elements of “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” that you still can’t shake?

Ed Gein was schizophrenic, and I find the internal life he would have suffered through for decades — alone and hearing voices, primarily that of his dead mother — completely harrowing. He wasn’t medicated until late in his life, and until he was, his mind was a hall of mirrors of images he saw and couldn’t unsee — most shockingly photos of Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust. I believe the only way he could cope was to try to normalize these things — digging up bodies, skinning them, making things from them — and the nagging voice of his mother ultimately drove him to murder at least two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden, maybe more. Ed Gein wasn’t the local boogeyman — his neighbors didn’t find him scary — he was the guy you’d have watch your kids if the babysitter canceled last-minute. And yet, in those four inches between his ears there existed a bizarre, terrifying hellscape of profound loneliness and total confusion. Every day in this country we see what happens when the lethal combination of male loneliness and mental illness goes ignored. The thought of an Ed Gein living just down the street from me is chilling.

“Based on a true story” depictions typically have a loose relationship with the truth due to storytelling needs. This season of “Monster” bakes that idea into the narrative — whether because of Ed’s understanding of events or the way in which he, or his crimes, inspired deeply fictionalized villains like Norman Bates (“Psycho”), Leatherface (“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”) and Buffalo Bill (“The Silence of the Lambs”) — in trying to unpack the “Who is the monster?” question. What questions were swirling in your head as you tried to weave this story together? And how did that inform where and how you took your liberties?

Ed’s story is, in many ways, fragmented — he didn’t remember many details of the acts he committed, and he passed polygraph tests when interrogated about cold cases police suspected he may have perpetrated. So we knew from the very beginning that there would be gaps to fill in when telling his story — and it seemed the obvious way to do it was to let the true story interplay with the fictionalized versions of Ed Gein that he inspired. There’s a subtle thematic bleed between the versions of Ed we see in the series and the monsters in the movies he inspired — in the first three episodes, we see a “Psycho”-inflected Ed Gein obsessed with his mother; next a much more sexualized, violent Ed Gein that would become “Leatherface”; then an Ed Gein who so fetishized the female body and who was made so ill by the repression of that urge that he became obsessed with building a suit made from women’s bodies. These versions of Ed, to me, are like the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant in the parable — each true in their own way, but each also just a fragment of a shattered whole that will probably never be fully understood.

The season finale features a “Mindhunter” nod. Happy Anderson, who played serial killer Jerry Brudos on that show, reprises his role as the Shoe Fetish Slayer, talking to characters meant to be Holden Ford and Bill Tench, though they’re named John Douglas and Robert Ressler, the real FBI agents who inspired the fictional ones. When and why did you realize you wanted to have that hat tip? Was there an attempt to try to get Jonathan Groff or Holt McCallany?

Having written three seasons of this anthology so far, we’ve realized each time that the emotional climax always comes in the penultimate episode and the finales are always particularly difficult to figure out. We knew we needed to top the episodes that had preceded it by shifting the show’s look and tone — and we had in our hands the nugget that John Douglas and Robert Ressler had, indeed, interviewed Ed Gein in person. Ryan and I both find David Fincher’s oeuvre almost uniquely inspiring, so once we pictured an episode that played as an homage to Fincher’s tone and style and narrative approach, it was something I, at least, just couldn’t unsee. If we were going to go down the rabbit hole of what this chapter of Ed’s story might have looked like, I could only really picture it in Fincher’s terms — so your guess is as good as mine as to why casting the “Mindhunter” pair of Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the roles didn’t feel right (we both love both of those actors), but it just didn’t.

There are so many dark moments for the actors. What scene struck you as especially difficult to write and shoot?

I was at once excited and terrified by the challenge of depicting necrophilia on our show. I’m fairly certain it’s never been done before on TV, and I knew it ran the risk of seeming arbitrarily shocking or exploitative (though I think choosing to tell Ed’s story in an easier manner by avoiding this chapter and not showing it would be the actually exploitative choice). Needless to say, even after I’d written the scene, it preoccupied me, as I had to also direct it. I felt greatly helped by the new industry standard of intimacy coordinators on set — and ours, Katie Groves, was spectacular — but still I worried about the scene just playing as cringey or unwatchable. But Charlie Hunnam, as with every scene he acted in on the show, came at the sequence with honesty and deep concern to capture all of the strangeness of the bizarre, disturbing act we were depicting — and what it said about what was going on inside Ed to lead him to commit such an act.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I just saw PT Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” — which was shot by one of our two directors of photography, Michael Bauman — and was just completely floored and delighted. I’m sure it’s rife with homage to films that have gone before, but I could detect no inheritance at all; it felt like a genre to itself — completely original and new. And I still find the time I watched Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest” to be among the most profound experiences of my life. He took what is maybe cinema’s most settled, well-trodden genres and turned it on its head in a way I found shocking and revelatory. If there is a better portrait of the proximity and ubiquity and the banality of human evil, I haven’t seen it. I think it is as brilliant a slice of human ingenuity as has ever been crafted. I have thought about that movie every day since I first saw it.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

It’s annoying to say it, but I don’t watch a lot of television. It’s like spending all day at the sausage factory then coming home to watch sausage footage. But the big exception is Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary “Get Back” [Disney+] chronicling the making of the film and album “Let it Be.” I basically just watch it over and over again. I came late to the Beatles (I loved the Who and resented that they always sat squarely in the Beatles’ shadow), but when they hit me, they hit me hard, and watching them in this documentary at the height of their powers is a master class in the craft of collaboration and the hard work of genius. Also, everything I thought I knew about the Beatles at the end of their stretch as a band is wrong — fighting all the time? A bit but not really. Paul hated Yoko? He actually seems to really like her. I don’t know how many hours the documentary clocks in at, but I wish it were 10 times as long.