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.”
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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.
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.”
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.
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.
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…
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