Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
Blake Snell (2-1, 2.42) vs. Jackson Kent (1-2, 5.59).
I'm aware that blogger wouldn't let comments publish on last night's Game Thread. I happened to be listening while on a nighttime run, and it was driving me nuts as I heard us squandering scoring opportunities (we only scored our first run on a wild pitch, and ended the game 1-for-9 with RISP) all over the place.
And Miles to go, before we...party? Miles Mikolas gave up a Nationals record 11 earned runs today, including four home runs (Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Andy Pages, and Freddie Freeman). Not a good home opener for Washington, especially when the topper came in the seventh inning, when even Kyle Tucker got on the board with his first home run of the year.
Teoscar Hernandez also went 3-for-4 to raise his team-leading batting average to .320; and Pages (also 3-for-4 today) has an OPS of 1.260 right now. With Emmet Sheehan going a respectable 5.2 IP (7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 2 Ks), the Dodgers coasted to victory in our first road game of the year.
Nice to see the offense finally open up, after a largely sleepy first homestand!
The Dodgers only had four hits all game (to the Blue Jays' eight hits), and even made the game's only error (a Max Muncy misplay). And yet, the Dodgers prevailed in World Series Game 6, 3-1, capping another largely-medicore game at the plate (12 Ks, with three of those coming from Teoscar Hernandez' continual whiffs in his 0-for-4 night) with a very surprising road victory.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had another great postseason start, though his line: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 6 Ks, didn't match up to the amazing standards of a couple of his other complete game postseason starts. Which left the fate of this game to the bullpen, with the Dodgers nursing a two-run lead that came after three runs in the third inning (one-out double from Tommy Edman to get things going; RBI double from Will Smith; and then a clutch two-run single by Mookie Betts):
The Betts single silenced the Rogers Centre crowd a bit, even though the Blue Jays got one back in the bottom of the third to make it 3-1. But the crowd got louder as the Dodgers bullpen buckled, but did not break. Justin Wrobleski yielded a two-out double to Ernie Clement, but then got Andres Gimenez to strike out and end the seventh inning. Roki Sasaki had two on in the eighth with one out, but got Bo Bichette to foul out and then Miguel Rojas fielded a Daulton Varsho bullet to escape that jam.
Sasaki was not so lucky in the ninth, leaving men on second and third--which was fortunate in itself, thanks to late-replacement Justin Dean having the veteran-like wherewithal to raise his hands when Addison Barger's double became lodged under the outfield padding. This forced the umpires to call a dead ball and stop Myles Straw (pinch running for Alejandro Kirk, who was HBP to start the inning) from scoring the Blue Jays' second run. But Sasaki then was pulled for...potential Game 7 starter Tyler Glasnow.
Selecting Glasnow here was a ballsy move by Dave Roberts (as was getting Sasaki to pitch the eighth inning; Sasaki was clearly not sharp with a 25-pitch eighth and a shaky start to the ninth). But credit Roberts for pulling out all the stops tonight--there is no Game 7 if we don't win Game 6 anyway--and so, Glasnow entered with two RISP and none out.
Three pitches later, it was over. Glasnow had some luck to get Clement to pop out to Freddie Freeman. But then the game ended on a crazy 7-4 double play when Gimenez flied to Kike Hernandez in left, a bloop single wiht a 40% probability of being caught--and Kike Hernandez had the composure to not only catch, but then gun the ball back to the infield, where Miguel Rojas caught Barger sleeping off of second base.
Kiké even said, postgame, that he lost that fly ball in the lights:
(and how sweet is it that Kiké is wearing a rotowear Yamamoto shirt! It's here, by the way--and no, we don't get a commission for this link.)
Watching that ninth inning, all I could hear was the echoes of Joe Carter's 1993 Game 6 walkoff home run. It seemed like Toronto was just about to fulfill its destiny there in Game 6.
Instead, we have a Game 7 tomorrow. I'm still in shock having peeled myself off the floor, after watching this one.
Dave Roberts tried to introduce basepaths in Thursday's practice, something the team had not experienced for the last two games.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Kevin Gausman.
The Dodgers' 2025 season is poised to end tonight, and even with Blake Snell's crappy start throwing batting practice at the beginning of Game 5, or Teoscar Hernandez' continual misadventures in right field, or failed double play attempts in the infield, it wasn't those mistakes that ultimately derailed the Dodgers' 2025 World Series bid.
It was the hitting. Or lack thereof.
In a particularly awful time for everyone in the starting lineup to get cold, we've got Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Max Muncy, and Andy Pages all flailing at the plate. The Game 5 lineup--which thankfully did not include Pages--amassed 15 strikeouts and too many first-pitch infield flies to give the Blue Jays any pressure.
So the Dodgers all got out to Rogers Centre today and took batting practice--which the LAT reported that Roberts took as an exciting positive (whoop dee frickin' doo!)--rather than moping in their hotel rooms, I imagine.
There will be plenty of time for moping if our offense continues to be lost tonight.
Let's frickin' go, Dodgers! Show us a treat, not a trick.
They stop serving beers in the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium, in order to make sure that a stadium surrounded by expansive parking lots filled with a sea of cars won't have a slew of inebriated drivers behind the wheels of their vehicles.
In last night's game, however, Dodger Stadium probably could have kept serving beers for a couple more innings. We didn't go home until after Freddie Freeman won the game in the bottom of the 18th inning, in what is now tied for the longest game in World Series history.
That said, I was at Game 3 last night, and I indulged in a full-throttled, 25-ounce beer following Freddie Freeman's amazing walk-off home run. It was glorious, about as much so as a semi-cold Michelob Ultra beer could be.
And this is its own story.
------
Ms. Sax and I got to the game at 4p, about an hour before first pitch, which was a controversy in itself. I would have gotten there at 2p when the gates opened; however, she thought that was nuts. She was probably right; traffic was bad, but not horrible, getting into the Stadium; and we were comfortably in our seats by 4.20p. And it was worth it to have not aggravated Ms. Sax further on this one; this was her first World Series game, and although I was familiar with the majesty of the first World Series home game pre-game show and wanted to see all of it, I didn't want her to be angry going into this one.
(Little did we know that we would be at the Stadium for eight hours!)
Along the way, we stopped at the Home Plate Bar where we splurged on overpriced cocktails: a spicy habanero mule that came smothered in tajin that got all over the place (what a mess!), as well as a spicy margarita. Both were pretty tasty though a little light on the Svedka Vodka. (We now own these two collectible plastic receptacles that I'm sure will sit unused in the back of our bar for a decade or so.)
Cocktails in hand, the pre-game ceremonies were awesome (as always). The fireworks during the starting lineup introduction. The unveiling of the huge flag on the outfield grass. The perfectly-timed flyover, even with the inclusion of the Canadian National Anthem as part of the pre-game routine.
I was happy. Ms. Sax was happy. Let the games begin.
------
I got my first beer after the second inning, following the Dodgers having taken the one-run lead on Teoscar Hernandez' solo home run. When Shohei Ohtani added his own solo shot in the third, we were rocking, despite Freeman getting thrown out by a mile to end that frame.
There was an idiot in our section wearing a George Springer Toronto Blue Jays jersey, and we were riding him (and his namesake player) all game long. Boos, yells of "cheater!", and consistent mocking probably got to both of the people in the Stadium with this unfortunate sartorial choice--Springer was 0-for-3 with 2 Ks before removing himself from the game, mid-AB, in the seventh inning--but this guy was soaking up the vitriol pretty well. And then, following Alejandro Kirk's home run, the fan turned around to our section and held his finger to his mouth, telling us to be quiet. Andres Gimenez added a fourth run, and the Dodgers were suddenly down 4-2. This started the feeling of tension that would not abate for another five hours or so.
We got two runs back in the fifth inning, off a Shohei Ohtani RBI double and a Freeman RBI single, to tie the game. The Blue Jays took the lead again in the seventh inning on a Bo Bichette single to right that Teoscar Hernandez lollygagged (yet again), allowing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to score all the way from first. Tension, again.
And then Ohtani came back and powered "a center-cut fastball" (as Joe Davis put it), depositing it in the Left Field Pavilion to tie the game at five:
It should be noted that Ms. Sax has not been the biggest fan of Ohtani, mostly because he hasn't done much at the games that we happen to attend together. Tonight flipped that script. That second home run, Ms. Sax lost her mind--I think it was the first pitch of the AB--and Ms. Sax could not believe it. Ohtani reached base nine times last night, with four extra base hits (for only the second time even in a World Series game)? I think she's an Ohtani fan now.
And then, the tension began, for the next 11 innings.
So, about that beer....
------
Like any smart Dodger fan, I went back up to the concourse after the top of the seventh, knowing that they would be cutting off alcohol sales soon. After hitting the restroom (and washing my hands, thank you!), I grabbed my second Michelob Ultra can of the night.
When I got back down to our seats, Ms. Sax did not look happy.
"Did you see my text?"
I gulped. "No."
I looked at my phone. She had asked me if I could please not get another beer--a fair ask given I was driving in what I thought would be the next hour (ha!); she knows I love beer; and yeah, it's probably good overall to be drinking less of this wonderful nectar in general, given the obvious health factors.
However, it was too late. I had the beer in hand. So I said I was sorry, and I put the beer in the cupholder in front of me. And there it sat.
Now, Ms. Sax had quickly forgotten about this beer, thanks to the well-timed Ohtani home run. But she was right there with me with the tension and all the missed opportunities that played out in the innings ahead of us.
Roki Sasaki having to come in in the eighth, in a jam, to bail out Jack Dreyer's two-on, one-out situation. Tommy Edman, in one of his many defensive highlights this game (despite an error as well), nailing Isiah Kiner-Falefa at third to preserve a scoreless ninth. Ohtani IBBd in the ninth, only to be caught stealing in front of Mookie Betts (who continued his postseason malaise with a 1-for-8 showing last night, squandering multiple game-winning opportunities).
Davis Schneider thrown out at home in the tenth with a perfect throw by Edman and tag by Will Smith. Clayton Kershaw coming in with the bases loaded to relieve Emmet Sheehan (an admirable 2.2 IP with 2 Ks), to get a clutch ground out (Edman!) in the top of the 11th inning. (This was an especially gut-wrenching moment, as I was pretty certain the baseball gods were going to be cruel to Kershaw once again in the postseason, and yet we amazingly survived.)
And the Dodgers had so many chances that just didn't work out. Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, even Freeman himself all hit deep fly balls that died on the warning track due to the thick marine layer that you could feel like a soup, even from the stands. Said Max Muncy in The Athletic:
But as Game 3 went on, Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy noticed dew on the grass and moisture on top of the dugout railing. After eight seasons with the Dodgers, Muncy knew what that meant. A marine layer had descended on Dodger Stadium, and good luck trying to hit the ball out.
“Nighttime here is really hard to hit,” Muncy said. “I’ve seen it so many times. Balls just die in the night.”
Freeman thought he possibly hit a homer in the 13th, but his 103.9-mph shot fell short of the 395-foot wall in center. He hit another ball to center 104.4 mph at a lower launch angle in the 15th, and got the same outcome.
Other Dodgers experienced similar frustration. Smith dropped his bat as if he hit a homer in the 14th, but his 101.5-mph drive got knocked down. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought Teoscar Hernández’s 101.4-mph blow had a chance in the 16th, but no, that one didn’t go out either.
Leading off the 18th, Freeman got another chance. And when Little left a 3-2 sinker in the heart of the plate, he connected again to center. This time, he hit the ball 107.4 mph at a 34-degree launch angle, the right combination to finally unlock a homer.
Did Freeman think it was gone?
“I was not sure,” he told me in his postgame interview on Fox. “Just because of the other couple. My swings were getting better and better as the game was going on. I’m just glad I was able to get the opportunity again.”
Throughout all these moments, I was just staring at that beer, convinced that if I took one sip, it was going to cost the Dodgers the game. Every time we escaped the top of the inning scoreless--the Dodgers relievers pitched 13.1 scoreless innings following Tyler Glasnow's start--I knew that it was the right choice to abstain. And every time we failed to capitalize on an opportunity to win the game, I stared at that can of Michelob Ultra and wondered how much my jitters would have settled with a swig.
"You ever see the sun rise at Dodger Stadium?", I asked Ms. Sax.
She did not find that very funny. She kept imploring the Dodgers to win it, screaming "I want to go home!". But I did ask (politely, albeit a bit disingenuously) if she wanted to leave early, and there was no way she was going to leave early.
"I'm too invested at this stage," she said. "Let's win this."
Will Klein, the last Dodger pitcher available, entered the game in the top of the 15th inning. This is a guy who wasn't even on any of the other postseason rosters for the Dodgers this year. But we had no other options.
And Will Klein was the man last night.
With every inning that of the four he pitched (72 pitches total, which was twice what he had ever thrown in any major league appearance of his life), more and more of the Dodgers' relief corps were up on the top step of the bullpen, cheering him on and giving him strength. Klein gave up a two-out single to Guerrero in the 15th, then had clean 16th and 17th innings (including a sweet comebacker off of Davis Schneider to end the 17th). And then in the 18th inning, Klein got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out backup catcher Tyler Heineman, to preserve the scoreless frame.
The beer taunted me, throughout Klein's labors.
I resisted.
And then, finally, came the Freeman home run, in the bottom of the 18th inning. Freeman was the first batter of this inning. And I have to say, when he hit it, it looked like it had a shot to win the game--but so had so many of the other fly balls that game, so who knows? Only when Daulton Varsho started climbing the wall in center did I realize that this one was going to clear the fence by enough.
The Dodgers WIN.
The place went nuts. Freeman, in extras, in the World Series, again. The only man to have multiple walkoff home runs in the World Series, ever.
I hugged Ms. Sax. We slapped hands with everyone around us. We watched Freddie stomp on home plate and the team explode. Pandemonium ensued.
And then I grabbed that can of semi-cold Michelob Ultra and drank all 25 ounces in one bacchanalian quaff.
What an amazing ending.
What an amazing game.
What an amazing beer. (And who ever said that about Michelob Ultra?!)
Blake Snell pitched eight innings of no-run ball yesterday? No problem, said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who went the complete game, giving up only one run (off his first pitch, a leadoff HR from Jackson Chourio), with an impressive line of his own: 9.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB and 7 Ks.
That was Yamamoto's first career MLB CG. And a fine time to break out that performance. It was the first Dodgers postseason complete game since Jose Lima in 2004 (NLDS G3 vs. St. Louis), which was so long ago, this blog wasn't even around then!
The Dodgers have solved their bullpen woes by simply not ever going to the bullpen. Amazing.
Teoscar Hernandez had a key home run to strike back after Chourio's blast, and then Andy Pages knocked in Kiké Hernandez (who doubled) to give the Dodgers a quick 2-1 lead.
And though the Dodgers had many other chances in this game, we simply weren't great--2-for-11 with RISP, and 10 LOB--but we continued to just chip away and extend the lead with a trio of fenceposts in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. A 2-1 lead stretched to 5-1; the Brewers had to use five pitches after Freddy Peralta, two of them picking up ER on their own pitching lines, and the Dodgers got another win on the road.
Sloppiness still abounds for the Dodgers. Max Muncy (who also homered in the game--making him the Dodger with the most postseason homeruns, all-time) had his second error of the postseason. And Teoscar Hernandez and Mookie Betts both GIDPd, the latter for the second time this series.
We still aren't firing on all cylinders offensively. But luckily, our starting rotation certainly is.
For a team that couldn't win one game against Milwaukee all regular season, it's remarkable for the Dodgers to get two wins on the road to start out this series.
Credit our starting pitchers, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. If we never have to go to the bullpen, we might actually stand a chance this postseason.
Let's take the Brewers' NLCS Game 1 pitching lineup as an anomaly. The good news is, we've now gotten a good look at six of Milwaukee's relievers, especially Quinn Priester, who pitched innings two through five. And we did get some hits and walks off them (7 H and 8 BB, respectfully), against only 4 Ks, showing better plate discipline than we had against the Phillies in the NLCS.
But today's Game 2 features an actual starting pitcher for the Brewers, Freddy Peralta, and he's a pretty good one at that. Peralta's 5.5 WAR and 2.70 ERA this year ranked him seventh in the majors. Peralta also shut us down in the first of two starts against the Dodgers this year (July 7: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB and 7 Ks), and he earned the win (but was less effective) in his second start against us (July 19: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB and 4 Ks). Perhaps that bodes well for the Dodgers, as he's at least trending in a favorable direction.
(Peralta also started twice in the 2025 NLDS against the Cubs: winning NLDS G1 (5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB and 9 Ks), but losing NLDS G4 (4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB and 6 Ks). Again, trending in a favorable direction.)
But let's not get distracted from some glaring issues with our own lineup. Shohei Ohtani, 0-for-2 (albeit with 3 BBs) yesterday, is now batting .138 in the leadoff spot. Mookie Betts was 0-for-4 and Teoscar Hernadez 0-for-3 yesterday.
Without those three hitting, we barely eked out the two runs we needed to win Game 1--but let's remember, we've scored two runs or fewer against the Brewers in five of seven games this season, and last night's game was the only time we came out with a win.
And Andy Pages, 0-for-3 yesterday, is now batting .037 in the postseason. I mean, I don't hope for Michael Conforto (who thankfully is not on the NLCS roster). But even he can hit better than .037.
Not to mention, Teoscar fricking' TOOTBLANned yesterday, as well.
If the best highlight the Brewers get from the 2025 NLCS is this absurd double play, I'd be thrilled. Unfortunately, I think they'll have many more highlights in this series. Hopefully, just not any Brewers highlights tonight.
And from the plate, the missed opportunities were more glaring. The Dodgers were 1-for-10 with RISP, 11 total LOB, in Game 1. And if not for Freddie Freeman's solo HR in the sixth, and then Betts' bases-loaded walk RBI in the ninth, we would have been shut out altogether by the effective patchwork of Brewers arms.
But Blake Treinen saved Roki Sasaki's lack of sharpness tonight in the bottom of the ninth, staunching the bleeding after the Brewers scored one run and had the bases loaded, by striking out Brice Turang to notch the Game 1 victory.
We won't be able to depend upon game sloppiness and a moribund offense, if we want to win this series.
Not to mention, we won't be able to expect our starters to go eight full scoreless innings and face the minimum number of batters (24), like Blake Snell did tonight. 8.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 10 Ks. Unbelievable outing by Snell, who put the Dodgers on his back for this NLCS Game 1 victory.
We stole this road win. Let's be sharper tomorrow, okay? (I'm looking at you, Teoscar.)
It seems that all the coverage about the Dodgers' NLDS Game 2 victory centers around the "wheel play" that the Dodgers successfully pulled off in the ninth inning, to squash the Phillies' threat, regain a bit of momentum, and maintain the Dodgers' narrow 4-3 lead.
The key play of the game, however, came earlier in the bottom of the ninth, after the Phillies had scored two runs on Nick Castellanos' half-swing bloop double to shallow left field to make it 4-3 with nobody out -- with Castellanos somehow avoiding a tag at second base from Edman, a call confirmed upon replay review. With Alex Vesia entering to face Bryson Stott and the Dodgers expecting a bunt, the Dodgers huddled up and called for the wheel play -- when the third baseman charges hard with the shortstop sprinting to cover third base, a play third baseman Max Muncy said the Dodgers don't even practice in spring training.
"Immediately, Mookie was like, 'Hey, we need to be doing this,'" Muncy said. "It speaks to his baseball IQ and his intuition in that situation. We were all thinking it, but Mookie was definitely the one that brought it up and said we need to do this."
Betts, who just finished his full season at shortstop, explained his thinking. "It's just another learned behavior," he said. "I've got to give that credit to Miggy Rojas. I think we did it earlier in the year in Anaheim, and I remember asking him, 'When's a good time to do it?' He said, 'In a do-or-die situation,' and he and Woody (Dodgers coach Chris Woodward) have really helped me a lot just learning situations."
Manager Dave Roberts gave the go-ahead. If the Dodgers failed, it would put runners on first and third with nobody out.
"I think it just speaks to the experience that a lot of us have been in a lot of these big games before and we have a lot of experience doing these types of things," Muncy said. "Doc trusts us as much as we trust Doc and it's not an easy thing to gain, and so that's why in that moment, Doc heard us talking and right away he was on board with it."
The first pitch to Stott was a slider out of the zone. In a sacrifice situation, the batter's job with a runner on second is to push the ball down the third-base line. With Muncy charging and Betts hustling to third, they were worried they might have blown their cover.
"When it comes to the wheel play as a third baseman, your first job it obviously to field the ball, and then you've got to make a good throw," Muncy said. "But the one thing no one talks about is you got to make sure the guy's there to catch the throw."
Betts got there.
"God blessed me with some athleticism, so I was able to just kind of put in on display there," Betts said.
"It's tag play, too," Woodward explained. "Running the wheel on a force out is a lot easier because the third baseman just has to catch it. But if you have a tag him, it presents a more difficult play. For Muncy to field it, know right away, make a good throw. Mookie hung in there. That was the play of the game."
Get this: The Dodgers didn't have a 5-6 putout all season, the only team in the majors without one, according to ESPN Research.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson went on to discuss the key element to this episode: how Betts' deception made this defensive play even viable in the first place:
In an era with few sacrifice bunts, the attempt itself was debatable strategy. Indeed, the Phillies had just 16 sacrifice bunts all season. Manager Rob Thomson explained the decision: "Just left on left," he said, referring to Stott against Vesia. "Trying to tie the score. I liked where our bullpen was at, compared to theirs. We play for the tie at home."
He praised the Dodgers' execution.
"Mookie did a great job of disguising the wheel play. We teach our guys that if you see wheel, just pull it back and slash because you've got all kinds of room in the middle. But Mookie broke so late that it was tough for Stotty to pick it up."
Here's the LAT's coverage, with Muncy and Betts interviewed in the embedded video:
Awesome stuff. Credit Mookie Betts' IQ and athleticism, but also credit Max Muncy--not always the smoothest at third base--for making a perfect throw.
The Dodgers are up 2-0 in the NLDS, with Game 3 at home Wednesday.
POSTSCRIPT 10/7 8.29a: Fabian Ardaya also had a great breakdown of the wheel play in The Athletic:
All the momentum they’d taken from the Philadelphia Phillies was 180 feet away, with the potential tying run at second base with no one out. That’s when the manager looked at his players during the pitching change.
“You guys figure it out,” Roberts said.
Mookie Betts made a suggestion. The six-time Gold Glove-winning right fielder, making just his fourth career postseason start at shortstop, did not think. He just spoke.
Betts’ comfort at his new position allowed him to propose something the Dodgers had hardly considered since spring training, much less practiced or executed: the wheel play. It’s a scheme that aggressively shifts their defenders around in the middle of a bunt attempt to try to get the lead runner.
It worked. [...]
They’d escaped a disaster because of the trust Roberts put in Betts, the former MVP who made a seemingly impossible transition to shortstop at age 32.
“Somebody’s gotta do it,” Betts said. “I figured if there was ever a good time to make a decision and roll with it, that was the time.”
The Dodgers got that precious last out just as their makeshift bullpen needed it, and it took a strategy they hardly ever attempt.
“For me, that was our only chance, really, to win that game in that moment,” Roberts said.
POSTSCRIPT 10/8 7.54a: I heard Harold Reynolds' breakdown of this play on MLB Radio yesterday, but watching this highlight on television was amazing. Well done, Harold!
One year ago, the Dodgers' bullpen put the team on its shoulders and carried the team to a World Series Championship. This year, the Dodgers bullpen--with some of the very same arms that were incredible last year--threaten to corrode the Dodgers' 2025 chances from the inside.
Blake Treinen was almost the goat tonight, entering the game in the ninth inning with a 4-1 lead, following six scoreless innings from starter Blake Snell and two solid one-run innings from converted starter Emmet Sheehan. Treinen proceeded to shit the bed, yielding a leadoff single to Alec Bohm, then a double to JT Realmuto, and then a two-RBI double from Nick Castellanos, who wasn't even supposed to be in the lineup except Harrison Bader pulled a groin muscle. Treinen left having given up two runs and left one RISP, and not having gotten even one out.
Credit Alex Vesia--the only Dodgers bullpen arm to have recorded an out in two games of the 2025 NLDS--as well as Max Muncy and Mookie Betts for turning a Bryson Stott bunt into an out on the lead runner, Castellanos. Vesia then yielded a single and then got a force out to make it two outs, Phils at the corners.
And then Dave Roberts did the thing that he should have done earlier, and brought in Roki Sasaki (in post-game interviews, Roberts explained that he was worried about leaning on Sasaki as he had never pitched twice in three days before last night--but hey, man, it's the playoffs! Time to sack the hell up!). Sasaki barely got the third out and earned his second save of the NLDS.
(Tommy Edman almost threw the ball away, but Freddie Freeman saved Edman's bacon to close out the game. Said the TBS announcer, "Oh, my. Tommy Edman owes Freddie Freeman the fattest steak dinner he's ever had." Book Maestro's on Tuesday night, stat.)
The post-game banter on the SoSG Whats App channel went like this:
Sax: Alex Vesia is the only non-starter that has gotten outs this NLDS
Nomo: Any discussion of using Treinen again is also a non-starter.
We didn't need that heart attack Monday night, but we got it. And we also got a 2-0 NLDS lead on the road (fangraphs just jumped our odds from ~75% to >90%). I never would have expected this, not after watching Game 2 play out today. Consider ourselves very lucky.
But let's all agree, we won't use Blake Treinen again in 2025, at least not without a 15-run lead.
And I'm not even going to talk about Andy Pages, now 1-for-17 in the postseason, and swinging recklessly and early every AB.
The Dodgers have now won four games in a row, following Wednesday's victory over Colorado, extending their NL West divisional lead back to three games over the Padres, and pundits are already coronating the Dodgers after one full rotation of solid starts:
[Wednesday Dodgers starter Blake] Snell put the finishing touches on a stellar turn through the Dodgers' rotation. Here's how the others fared leading up to Wednesday:
Through Tuesday, the Rockies have been collectively outscored by their opponents, 922-545. Their overall run differential of minus-377 would be the worst ever in the modern era, which began in 1901.
Barring a miraculous turnaround, they will shatter the current mark that has stood for more than nine decades: minus-349, a badge of ignominy set by the Boston Red Sox in 1932.
And Friday? That was another walkoff victory for the Orioles, when Samuel Basallo took Tanner Scott yard to win the game. Scott also came in for Monday's game and gave up a leadoff double to Ryan Ritter of the Rockies, nursing a 3-1 lead, and barely escaped that one, as well.
And even last night, Michael Kopech walked the bases loaded in the seventh, causing the recently-activated Alex Vesia to come in to escape the jam, before Mookie Betts and company opened up the five-run eighth inning.
Our starters, many of whom were injured for some if not all of the year, remain untested. Our bullpen has a trust tree that is more like a full-but-floppy-branched balsam fir rather than a sturdy Douglas fir.
Our lineup, buoyed by the resurgent Mookie Betts (and to a lesser extent, Miguel Rojas), seems to be getting hot, especially with Teoscar Hernandez finally showing signs of life? But Andy Pages and Kiké Hernandez are still swinging after stupid pitches; Max Muncy and Tommy Edman are just back from extended IL stints; and even Freddie Freeman seems like he has cooled off (not to mention, Will Smith is struggling with a hand bruise).
The next ten games include seven against the Giants, fighting for their playoff lives and only two games behind the Mets for the last wild-card spot; and the Phillies, who have a four-game advantage on us for the #2 playoff spot and a first-round bye.
This Dodgers team has some bright spots. But they are still nothing like the dominant juggernaut predicted in the beginning of the season. So let's not let a sweep fo the majors' worst team get us too excited. Really.
I just peeked at this and found it pretty surprising:
Shohei Ohtani 3.6
Will Smith 3.3
Andy Pages 3.0
Mookie Betts 2.7
Max Muncy 2.3
Freddie Freeman 1.9
Teoscar Hernandez 1.6
Tommy Edman 1.5
Michael Conforto -1.1
For substitutes, Hyeseong Kim leads with a 1.1 WAR. Kiké Hernandez has a 0.6 (better than I expected!), and Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing each have 0.3.
Austin Barnes was -0.3 and Chris Taylor was -0.6.
From a pitching perspective, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a 1.9 WAR, and Clayton Kershwaw has a 0.4 WAR. Roki Sasaki is 0.1, as is Tyler Glasnow. Blake Snell has a -0.2 WAR, worse than even Dustin May (-0.1) and Tony Gonsolin (-0.1). Landon Knack has a -0.3 WAR.
Within the relief corps: Ben Casparius has a 0.7 WAR, Alex Vesia is at 0.5, Jack Dreyer is at 0.4, and Anthony Banda is at 0.3. New pickups Tanner Scott is at 0.1 and Kirby Yates is at 0.0.
Today's opposing starting pitcher (with a huge assumption on the gender preferences of the insect).
Dustin May (2-4, 4.09) vs. Tanner Bibee (4-4, 3.57).
Last night, out of the spotlight of nationally-broadcast television, felt like the type of road game the Dodgers should be playing: solid pitching that goes relatively deep with efficiency (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB and 7 Ks across 88 pitches); power hitting (Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith solo HRs) as well as timely hitting (4-for-8 with RISP, including a nice two-out rally in the sixth with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman RBI singles); and only one error (this time, not from Max Muncy!).
The Guardians are solid: behind the Tigers in the AL Central, but in the first wild card position in the American League. Tanner Bibee has also been solid for the Guardians, while Dustin May has shown flashes of brilliance in 2025 but a lack of consistency between starts. Let's see how today plays out.
Ever since the 2024 postseason, the Dodgers seem to have picked up a flair for the dramatic. The comeback series victory over the Padres in the 2024 NLDS. Defeating the Mets in the 2024 NLCS behind Tommy "Tanks" Edman's offensive outburst. Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam to win 2024 World Series Game 1. Vanquishing the rival Yankees in Game 5 following an epic collapse by New York, and an unrelenting, never-say-die Dodger tidal wave.
The second game of the home opener homestand was also fit for the dramatic, with a pre-game World Series Ring Ceremony that was special, followed by one hell of a great game on the field.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto notched a career-high 10 Ks, but was also a little inefficient, racking up 91 pitches to get through five innings of work and yielding solo HR to Dillon Dingler and former Yankee Gleyber Torres. On the other side, 2024 Dodger Jack Flaherty (who will receive his World Series ring at today's game) was carving up the Dodgers through five, on what seemed to be half the pitch count (I remember it being in the 30s during the fourth inning), one-hitting the Dodgers through five frames.
And then, a peek at the drama to come. Mookie Betts reaches with one out in the bottom of the sixth, and Freddie Freeman takes the next pitch yard, tying the game at 2. The Dodgers take the lead in the eighth on a Mookie Betts home run that was so close, it needed to be reviewed to be confirmed. And then new Dodger reliever Tanner Scott looked largely ineffective in letting Detroit tie the game in the ninth, which could have been worse if not for Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman relaying a throw to Austin Barnes, who barely got the third out at home (also reviewed, with the call on the field overturned).
In the 10th, the Tigers look to be done with two on and two out, but Dillon Dingler triples home both baserunners and the Tigers take a daunting two-run lead (5-3) into the bottom of the inning. Not good for Dodgers fans, but no fans seem to be leaving their seats.
And then, it's like the Dodgers just flipped a switch and decided to go back to Dominate Mode, opening up the video game cheat codes on a poor Tigers reliever, Beau Brieske, who was up to some Brieske business. Michael Conforto, whose ill-advised dive in the top of the inning led to Dingler's two-RBI triple, atones for his defensive error with a run-scoring double (Edman was the ghostrunner starting on second). Andy Pages, still looking overwhelmed at the major league level, grounds out for the first out (Pages was 0-for-3 and is batting .182 on the season). And that brings up Austin Automatic-Out Barnes (0-for-3 with 2 Ks in this game).
But in a stroke of brilliance, Dave Roberts pinch hits Will Smith for Barnes, which gives us a chance to win. Smith singles to left, scoring Conforto and tying the game at 5. Shohei Ohtani singes to right for his only hit of the game (1-for-4 with a walk and a K).
And that brings up Mookie Betts, still 15 pounds underweight due to this stomach illness. Mookie takes the count full and then unloads on a home run to left that wins the game with a dramatic walkoff HR. Betts, 3-for-5 with 4 RBI during this game, was exuberant and emotional rounding the bases in a way that one would have thought this was a World Series game. It certainly was dramatic.
But the Dodgers have a flair for the dramatic of late, right? Amazing to see in person (and even better that I could see the whole ring ceremony before, and then get out of the parking lot quickly thanks to a post-game drone show that I skipped).
Clayton Kershaw gets his World Series ring.
The last two games I have seen at Dodger Stadium have been Freddie Freeman's walkoff grand slam in 2024 WS G1, and now Mookie Betts' walkoff home run in the first homestand of 2025. I dont know how it gets better than this!
We're 4-0 for the first time since 1981. Let's keep it rolling, Dodgers!
Kirsten Watson, likely asking Mookie Betts post-game how he is feeling
This year marked the second time Silver Slugger Awards have been given to the best offensive team in each league. The winners -- the Yankees in the American League and the Dodgers in the National League -- were determined by a combination of team offensive statistics. The Yankees and Dodgers led their respective leagues in home runs, OPS and wRC+, among other stats. The Dodgers’ three Silver Slugger Award winners this year are the most in a season in franchise history.
Here's the copy on the three Dodgers Silver Sluggers:
NL winner: Mookie Betts, Dodgers (seventh win)
Along with Altuve, Betts has the most Silver Slugger Awards among active players after winning his seventh for another outstanding offensive campaign. He began the season at shortstop after having played right field for most of his big league career. On June 18, his left hand was fractured as a result of being hit by a pitch, causing him to miss about two months. When he returned to the lineup, he moved back to right field. Despite the injury, he finished with an .863 OPS (145 OPS+) with 19 homers in 116 games. Betts’ four Silver Slugger Awards with the Dodgers are the second-most in franchise history, behind only Mike Piazza’s five.
Teoscar Hernández, Dodgers (third win)
Hernández, after spending most of his career with the Blue Jays, signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers and was crucial to their championship run. The 32-year-old set a career high by slugging 33 home runs and posted an .840 OPS, earning his second All-Star selection in the process -- and even winning the Home Run Derby. Prior to this year, he also won a Silver Slugger Award in 2020 and ’21 with Toronto.
NL winner: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers (third win)
While he couldn’t pitch in 2024 as he recovered from elbow surgery, all of Ohtani’s focus was at the plate, and it showed. He became the first player in MLB history to hit at least 50 home runs (54) and steal at least 50 bases (59) in the same season, putting him in position to win his third career MVP Award. He previously won the honor in 2021 and ’23 with the Angels.
Okay, it's awards week and I'm a bit behind so let me catch up. The All-MLB awards came out last week, and Mookie Betts (outfield) and Shohei Ohtani (designated hitter) both made the first team, while Teoscar Hernandez (outfield) was selected to the second team.
But I haven't seen anyone yet link the Yankees' multiple-position on-field meltdown to the deplorable off-field behavior of Yankees fans, and the Yankee organization, the prior evening in World Series Game 4.
These two events are definitely and inextricably linked. There is no other logical explanation for how the Yankees could have crumbled like that without divine intervention The baseball gods took note of the Game 4 malfeasance, and then, when one least expected it, the baseball gods took action.
And you don't ever want to piss off the baseball gods.
So let's breakdown this story chronologically First of all, here's the Yankees thugs in action in the bottom of the first inning of Game 4, with absolutely reprehensible behavior in the stands molesting Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts:
But don't let that PR diversion distract one from the facts: Yankees fans were way out of line, and the Yankees organization was initially complicit in their turpitude. They loved the action from their goons, and the outcome of that game.
But the baseball gods took note. And they remember.
Mookie was steely-eyed and focused after the Game 4 loss. In the locker room, Betts spoke to the press, including a swath of New York reporters trying to bait him into a hyperbolic comment that could be bulletin board material or fodder for the New York tabloids. Betts wisely just called the play "irrelevant" and remained focused on the next day's task at hand. And you could see he was simmering.
So then we get to World Series Game 5. Gerrit Cole was absolutely dealing through four innings, and the Dodgers didn't even have a hit to that point in the game (just two baserunners, walks to Gavin Lux in the third and Mookie Betts in the fourth). Things looked bleak. Yankee fans were fired up, taunting, cocky, confident--just like those two unrepentant idiots in the stands for Game 4.
And then, the baseball gods struck.
What a fifth inning. An error by Aaron Judge. An ill-advised throw by Anthony Volpe, and a missed catch at third by Jazz Chisholm Jr. Gerrit Cole's failure to cover first base on a grounder to Anthony Rizzo. Solid two-RBI shots from both Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez to tie the game at 5.
Earlier this game, Aaron Judge hit his first World Series HR and appeared if he would finally get that monkey off his back. The gods firmly put that monkey right back in its place. (And I do feel a little badly about this, but that's another post for another day.)
Wow. What an amazing turn of events. I'm going to watch highlights of that inning, and the Game 1 Freddie Freeman walkoff grand slam, forever.
Later in the game, the baseball gods taunted Yankee fans even further, allowing the Yankees to retake the lead in the sixth inning, while the Dodgers appeared to be exhausting all viable pitching options. And Cole heroically soldiered on and kept the Dodgers off the board in the sixth and seventh innings, while the Yankees went up 6-5.
But then, in the top of the eighth inning, two sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts (bookending another fielding gaffe, a catcher's interference call on Austin Wells that allowed Shohei Ohtani to take first base despite clearly having trouble with his swing) put the Dodgers back in the lead. This time, it was for good.
Yankee Stadium was quiet. The baseball gods had spoken.
And the Dodgers pull off the biggest World Series comeback ever in a clinching game, responding to a five-run deficit to earn the crown.
Here's Mookie describing the Game 4 brouhaha on the Game 5 postgame show, when he said (with a laugh) that this was one of the two times in his whole life when he wanted to fight somebody:
We'll see if the Yankees have the spine to actually punish those two season ticket holders further. Maybe other Yankees fans, many of whom want him banned for life, will mete out their own judgment on these two idiots.
All I know is, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series Champions.
I mean, if Freddie Freeman, who is building a great case for the 2024 World Series MVP, can keep mashing home runs each game, like he did in Game 3 to completely silence the Yankees crowd (who were cursing epithets at him at the time):
And if Mookie Betts--now batting .291 with 14 RBI in the 2024 postseason--can keep adding runs on the board:
I almost feel bad for Stanton on that one, he was dead to rights by the time he rounded third base. And check out Will Smith's reaction (and do your own lip reading!) on this amazing field view:
Sure, Shohei Ohtani isn't hitting and has a bum shoulder; Will Smith isn't hitting and who knows what the hell is wrong with him; and Max Muncy is back on one of those bad offensive streaks again. It's not all good in Dodgerville.
But so far this World Series, we've played pretty good defense at all positions, the bullpen has been incredible in all sorrts of weird situations, our starters have outpitched the Yankees' formidable starting rotation, and Dave Roberts is making all the right calls.
And I know we've been successful with bullpen games...but we're starting Ben Casparius for Game 4. Casparius is making his first major league start in the World Series. This is a big stage for Big Ben!
No time to rest. We need to keep the pressure on the Yankees.
The Dodgers just throttled the hell out of the Yankees in the 2024 World Series Game 3, a game which would have bifurcating narratives depending on the outcome. Lose, and the Dodgers see a steamroller of a Yankees team with two more home games and the potential revitalization of a somnambulent offense. Win, and the Dodgers are fully in control of a World Series, up 3-0 in a best-of-seven.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, it was the latter outcome tonight in the Bronx. But what's more, the Dodgers' offense was not necessarily overpowering--fewer than the 6+ run outbursts we've seen from other crooked scores this postseason--but it still sucked the life out of the Yankees and Yankees fans, and the silence was palpable.
Credit Shohei Ohtani for his leadoff four-pitch walk, and Freddie Freeman, for yet his third home run of the series, one each for the first three 2024 World Series games, to silence the crowd with a big swing of his bat. Watching this highlight, you can hear the neanderthal Yankees fans cheering "F' you, Freddie!" before he silences them with this shot:
Also, credit Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman for manufacturing another run in the top of the third inning; and then Kiké Hernandez for poking another RBI to center, scoring Gavin Lux.
And credit Teoscar Hernandez for nailing Giancarlo Stanton at home in the bottom of the fourth inning, ending the inning and spoiling Stanton's one-out double and keeping the Yankees off the board.
But those heroics aside, the most telling moment of tonight's game occurred well after Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler left the mound (5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 Ks). When Alex Verdugo hit a two-run HR in the bottom of the ninth on Michael Kopech, all the body language from Verdugo and the whole Yankees team wasn't about rallying for a comeback. Even by halving the deficit, they looked like a beaten team.
And that play was the dagger. If the Yankees, as a team, don't even feel good about closing the gap to have the tying run on deck--well yes, this series might be over.
I was shocked to see this behavior, but honestly I was even a little shocked that we took the game in the first place. The Dodgers are absolutely rolling--and we haven't even yet had one of the breakout offensive games that we've seen throughout this 2024 postseason. Maybe that outburst i still coming. I'd sure like to think so.
3/27 vs. AZ (W, 6-4): AC
4/11 vs. TEX (W, 8-7): Sax
5/11 vs. SF (L, 3-9): Sax
5/25 vs. COL (W, 5-3): Sax
6/11 @ PIT (W, 8-6): Sax
6/15 vs. TB (W, 4-3): Nomo
7/4 vs. SD (W, 3-0): Orel, Sax
