Post-2025 NLWC Game 2 Thread: Dodgers Advance to NLDS @ Philadelphia

Here's what Dodger pitchers see for the strike zone in the eighth inning.

DODGERS 8, REDS 4
DODGERS WIN NLWC 2-0

The other Wild Card series today were pure chaos. Cleveland rose from the dead, scoring five in the bottom of the eighth inning, to tie their series 1-1. San Diego punched back in Chicago, with Manny Machado hitting a key two-run HR in the fifth, to tie their series 1-1. And then Jazz Chisholm's speed saved the Yankees' bacon, with New York downing Boston 4-3, to tie their series 1-1.

That left the Dodgers/Reds series, with the Dodgers up 1-0 in the series. It sure looked like the baseball gods wanted another WC series tie, when Teoscar Hernandez boffed a lazy fly ball in the first inning to put the Reds up 2-0 and drive Yoshinobu Yamamoto's pitch count up by almost double.

But the Dodgers battled back to take a 3-2 lead in the fourth, and then opened up for four runs in the sixth to make it 7-2 Los Angeles. In the seventh inning, Mookie Betts doubled in another run; Betts went 4-for-5 with 3 RBI and was the player of the game. Betts batted .667 with a 1.700 OPS in this NL Wild Card series, which is just unreal, even with the small sample size.

Meanwhile, despite being behind from the start, Yamamoto perservered and had an outstanding outing: 113 pitches, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB and 9 Ks. The 113 pitches was his season high.

Leave it to the Dodgers to crumble in the eighth--again!--with Emmet Sheehan getting only one out and giving up two ER (and two walks), before Alex Vesia (who was hopeless last night) came in mid-AB and got a one-pitch striekout before striking out TJ Friedl (the tying run!) to escape a bases loaded jam.

I think I heard Rick Monday say that the Dodgers used 100 pitches to get through the two eighth innings in this NLWC series. That is just not going to cut it.

Roki Sasaki had a clean ninth inning to close out the game, which is a good sign. The Dodgers had three errors in this game: Teosscar Hernandez' error, then Kiké Hernandez and Ben Rortvedt joined the sloppy parade.

That lousy bullpen and lazy fielding ain't gonna cut it in Philadelphia. We need to regroup, fast.

And I'm not even going to talk about Andy Pages being 0-for-9 with 2 Ks this series.

2025 NL Wild Card Game 2 Rally Towel: LET'S DO THIS!

2025 NL Wild Card Game 2 Thread: Oct 1 vs. Reds, 6p

I love how the Dodger Stadium field is beautified in the postseason.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Zack Littell.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a 5.0 WAR this season (second highest on the team, only to Shohei Ohtani). Yamamoto pitched against Cincinnati on July 28, going 7.0 IP (4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB and 9 Ks), earning his ninth victory of the season.

Zack Littell (3.2 WAR) was picked by the Reds at this year's trade deadline from the Rays. He went 2-0 with the Reds across 10 starts, sporting a 4.39 ERA which was a bit worse than his 3.58 ERA with Tampa Bay (where he went 8-8). He did not face the Dodgers this season.

I've got mixed feelings about last night's victory, given it showed our clear strengths (starting pitching and the home run firepower) as well as our weaknesses (most of the bullpen). Let's get the win today so we can wrap this up; I'd realy hate for a Game 3 to happen.

Random MLB Wild Card Series Statistics

I was curious this morning as to what happens to Wild Card series and its participating teams after Game 1. Since the MLB Wild Card expanded to its current format in 2022, the team that wins Game 1 has won the series 100% of the time (12 out of 12 possible outcomes).

The Wild Card series has gone to a decisive third game only twice (both in the NLWC), and in both cases, the team that won Game 1 prevailed.

Five out of the six Wild Card series involving a #6 seeded team have been decided in a two-game sweep. The #6 team has won four of the #6 - #3 series, though in the National League Wild Card series, the #6 seed has advanced (over the worst divisional winner and #3 seed) all three times.

Yikes.

Like the Dodgers in their 10-5 win yesterday, only one other team has scored 10 runs in a Wild Card game (current format): the Seattle Mariners, in a 10-9 victory over Toronto in G2 of the 2022 ALWC. Seattle advanced based on that game.

Let's go, Dodgers!

Post-2025 NLWC Game 1 Thread: The Leakiest of Pens

2025 NLWC GAME 1: DODGERS 10, REDS 5

For the second straight outing, Blake Snell's seven solid innings (7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9 Ks) should be the story. But it's not, because our bullpen is a disaster--and actually let the Reds back into this game because of their absolute ineptitude.

Alex Vesia entered the game in the eighth. 22 pitches, 13 strikes. He saw three batters and got one out. Both of his runners scored.

Edgardo Henriquez came into the game, and was even worse. He saw three batters and got no outs, walking in two runs.

Jack Dreyer came into the game, and barely escaped. He saw three batters, walking in a run on his own, and got a strikeout and then a pop out to first, to escape the jam.

That's three pitchers, 59 pitches, and three runs yielded--all in one inning. This bullpen is pathetic.

During that eighth inning, we had to rush Emmet Sheehan to get warm in the bullpen, given the implosion that was happening on the field. Thankfully, we had scored 10 runs by then: three RBI from two Shohei Ohtani HRs; four RBI from two Teoscar Hernandez HR; a solo shot from Tommy Edman; and an RBI from Ben Rortvedt. (An Alex Call single with a two-run error from Noelvi Marte led to the other run, but no RBI was awarded.)

So we went to the ninth inning up 10-5, with Blake Treinen in for the ninth. He got two Ks, then gave up a single to Gavin Lux, but got Miguel Andujar for the final out. Whew.

If our starters can't go eight innings, we don't stand a chance, not with this leaky pen. We should be happy with a series-opening 10-5 win. But this isn't good.

I'm not even going to dwell on Andy Pages' 0-for-5.

2025 NL Wild Card Game 1 Rally Towel: LET'S DO THIS!

This was given away at the ballpark for today's Game 1.

Apparently it isn't very absorbent. So there will be NO CRYING today! (I'm looking at you, Blake Snell!)

2025 NL Wild Card Game 1 Thread: Sept 30 vs. Reds, 6p

Blake Snell vs. Hunter Greene.

The Reds may have backed into the playoffs with a loss in their final game and a 83-79 record (10 games worse than the Dodgers), but it doesn't matter now--they're on level ground with the winners of the NL West. And since anything can happen in the playoffs--the Reds have a 31.4% chance of advancing, according to Fangraphs--I'm already pretty nervous (as usual).

The fact that we're starting Blake Snell for Game 1 doesn't settle my stomach much, either. Snell, who missed almost all of the first four months of the season with assorted boo boos, did not pitch against Cincinnati this year.

Notre Dame Sherman Oaks graduate Hunter Greene pitched one game against the Dodgers this season, on August 25, 2025. He took the loss having pitched 5.0 innings: 6 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 HR (both by Andy Pages), 2 BB and 3 Ks. Michael Conforto, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith all struck out against Greene, but Conforto and Freeman also had doubles against Greene before he exited, and Smith's walk against Greene in the bottom of the sixth (with none out and one on) chased Greene from the game.

Pages knocked in five runs in that game. I assume he will be in the starting lineup today.

And of course, this game marks another return to Dodger Stadium for former Dodger and 2024 World Series Champion, Gavin Lux. Lux, whose -0.2 WAR paled in comparison to (his replacement) Hyeseong Kim's 1.6 WAR, still had a respectable year, with a 97 OPS+ of .724 (relative to Kim's OPS .699 / OPS+ 95). So maybe trading Lux was a wash? He still has a mean ultimate frisbee forehand.

But the one to watch in Cincinnati's lineup has to be Elly De La Cruz, who played in every game for the Reds this year, batting .264 with a .777 OPS (109 OPS+, to lead the team). He mashes (a team-leading 22 HR), but also strikes out a lot (a team leading 181 Ks--which to be fair is six fewer than Shohei Ohtani). We need to keep him off the basepaths this series, or there will be no more plane rides for us this year.

(Lux photo: John Hefti-Imagn Images, from Sports Illustrated)

UPDATE 9.30 2p: Will Smith makes the NL Wild Card roster. Justin Dean grabs an outfielder spot, alng with Alex Call; Michael Conforto does not make the cut. Also, on the pitching side, Roki Sasaki makes the roster; Clayton Kershaw, who pitched the last game of the regular season, will not be on the NLWC squad (as has been widely reported for days now).