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UCLA football fans are accustomed to watching the Bruins struggle, so it took some time to believe new coach Bob Chesney really could back up his inspirational messages.
After a big road win against longtime nemesis Oregon, video posted online showed Chesney delivering a fiery speech to his team in the tunnel before facing the Ducks. He relayed the story of Hernán Cortes telling his crew to burn boats behind them so that there was no way out but forward. The Bruins, he said, had to burn the boats and fight through the Ducks.
“His speech before the Oregon game — where he talked about burning boats — that just fires you up. It makes me want to run through a wall,” said Brian Jacobsen, a 1987 UCLA graduate.
A fan with a UCLA themed Star Wars storm trooper mask dances during the Bruins’ win over Wisconsin at Rose Bowl on Saturday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
UCLA fan Luis Flores, 54, grew up watching the Bruins and said he can’t recall feeling this excited about the team.
“It’s the culture and the way the coaches have these kids going the right direction. Where they are disciplined, they believe in [Bob] and they believe in the Bruins,” Flores said.
Jacobsen and Flores were among the 36,045 fans at the Rose Bowl Saturday during UCLA’s 17-7 win over Wisconsin. The Chesney train is picking up steam, but the Rose Bowl was still far from sold out Saturday.
Joel Fierberg, music director of the UCLA Alumni Band, has seen the football program’s highs and lows during his 30 years leading the band.
“There have been some up-and-down years, but I am excited for what’s been happening,” Fierberg said.
Fierberg values fans who have stayed with the Bruins through thick and thin, especially now that the program has given them wins to celebrate.
“There are a lot of fans, including a lot of my band [members], who are here every week regardless,” Fierberg said. “It’s always exciting for them, having lived through the difficult times, to have something to be excited about.”
UCLA fans haven’t seen this kind of dominance since the Bruins opened the 2022 season 6-0.
Jeremiah Calvillo, 15, said he remembers the Chip Kelly era, but he couldn’t be more excited about what this UCLA team has done for him.
“[Chesney] is a very good coach who is leading this program to better things,” Calvillo said.
UCLA running back Anthony Woods and quarterback Ty Dieffenbach celebrate after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
UCLA alum Garry Sakson enjoys seeing all the praise the Bruins have received on social media after beating Oregon in Eugene. Sakson attended as many games as possible during the Kelly era at UCLA.
“The mindset this team has is different,” Sakson said. “With Chesney, it’s the way he acts and carries himself.”
Fans are cautious about discussing UCLA’s chances of making the College Football Playoff, despite the Bruins becoming the last undefeated team in the Big Ten and SEC. That superstitious approach shows how quickly Chesney has raised expectations.
“I’m very optimistic about Chesney in his first year, but talking about the playoffs already is wild. Still, it’s amazing that we’re even in this position,” said 2009 UCLA alum Tim Dawson.
Dawson was a freshman when the Bruins started the 2005 season 8-0 and finished 10-2, during coach Karl Dorrell’s third year.
That season, the Bruins were known for their high-scoring offense and their ability to pull wins out, until they fell to Arizona in Week 9.
This season, the Bruins have a potent rushing game, a dynamic new starting quarterback and defense that has delivered explosive plays. Dawson said this feels different than the 2005 team because the defense is strong.
The players are proud of how quickly they shifted from going 3-9 last season to a 6-0 start.
Fans watch UCLA face Wisconsin at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
“Think the progress that we made from January, when we all arrived, till now is just out of this world,“ UCLA wide receiver Landon Ellis said. “It’ll be hard to look back into history and find teams that have turned it around this fast. So if you’re not all the way in, I don’t know what you are doing,”
Chesney said a bruising win over Wisconsin that shows UCLA can hold its own against brawny Big Ten terms should win over more fans unaccustomed to success.
“I think this win changes things a little bit,” Chesney said. “We won games in different ways, whether it be the offense or defense, but I think [Saturday] was a tough, physical game of football that you got to have a lot of pride in. And I think this should be the one that gives them a lot of confidence to understand just exactly what we are doing.”
Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. I’m Eric Sondheimer. It’s week nine of the high school football season and time to see which teams are on the verge of being in the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
Division 1 contenders
Homer King Webb of unbeaten Sierra Canyon.
(Craig Weston / For The Times)
Barring late-season collapses or major upsets, the Southern Section Division 1 playoff teams are looking pretty easy to identify.
It starts with No. 1 Santa Margarita (8-0), which is in the driver’s seat to win the Trinity League championship after a 21-7 win over St. John Bosco last week. No. 2 Sierra Canyon (8-0) remains on a path to finish 10-0 and win the Mission League title.
After that, it’s St. John Bosco (6-2), Corona Centennial (5-3), Mater Dei (6-2), Orange Lutheran (5-3), San Clemente (7-0) and Mission Viejo (6-1). JSerra (4-4) and Servite (3-5) meet on Oct. 30 to decide what might be a final spot. Bishop Amat (7-1) is also in the picture with a game against Sierra Canyon on Oct. 30.
Does it really matter which teams make it? Maybe not the way Santa Margarita, the defending champion, is improving on a weekly basis similar to last season when the Eagles separated themselves and cruised to victory.
Fletch Palmer to Grant Mosley. Football royalty. Santa Margarita 21, St. John Bosco 7. https://t.co/gLA4sGFnFH
Sierra Canyon, of course, wants its chance to challenge the powers in the playoffs. With a dominant defensive line and the ability to run the ball, the Trailblazers certainly deserve respect. Centennial finally got back its best player, safety/kicker Jaden Walk-Green, so the Huskies will be dangerous come playoff time.
King/Drew players getting excited in the first half of a 39-6 win over Crenshaw.
(Nick Koza / For The Times)
King/Drew took a giant step toward winning its first Coliseum League championship with a 39-6 win over Crenshaw. Quarterback Gerald Torres completed 16 of 23 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns. Damico Martin had six receptions for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
Cleveland (8-0) and Marshall (8-0) remained unbeaten in the City Section. The Cavaliers had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a win over Taft. Quarterback Nathaniel Cadet passed for 256 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns in Marshall’s win over Lincoln.
Carson and San Pedro routed Narbonne and Gardena, respectively, setting up a Friday showdown at Carson to decide the Marine League championship.
Ryan Rakowski to Jalen Flowers. Courtesy Interscholastic Films. https://t.co/rrJO3YVy7j
Birmingham, with a new starting quarterback in former Sierra Canyon JV quarterback Delvin Young, rolled to a 32-8 win over Granada Hills. The Patriots will finish second in the West Valley League and could be an intriguing first-round matchup in the City Section Open Division playoffs.
Palisades picked up a huge win over Hamilton to move closer to a Western League title. Here’s the report.
In the Southern Section, the big upset was Capistrano Valley handing Corona del Mar its first defeat 21-17 in a Saturday game after the Norte Fire in San Clemente forced a change in days and also caused several games to be canceled, including San Clemente vs. Mission Viejo.
JSerra quarterback Kate Meier reaches across the goal line for the winning touchdown an instant before her flag is pulled last season.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
The Southern Section flag football playoffs begin this week. Can anyone defeat unbeaten JSerra (24-0)?
The Lions are seeded No. 1 in the Open Division tournament and begin action Wednesday at home against Sierra Canyon, which happens to have former Orange Lutheran quarterback Makena Cook, who lost to JSerra in last year’s final.
There are seven divisions, with divisions 1 through 6 beginning Tuesday.
The JSerra passing duo of Kate Meier and Tessa Russell has been unstoppable. Seven points is the closest an opponent has gotten to JSerra, with Orange Lutheran losing 19-12 in a regular-season finale last week.
The City Section regular season doesn’t end until the day before Halloween. The big competition is in the Northern League, where Eagle Rock is 3-0 and L.A. Wilson is 3-1.
Long Beach Poly sisters McKennah, left, and Ellie Iamaleava are two of eight siblings who have played volleyball.
(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)
McKennah Iamaleava, the sister of UCLA quarterbacks Nico and Madden Iamaleava, has been a big-time player for Long Beach Poly entering this week’s playoffs. Here’s a profile.
Divisions 2-4-6-8-10 begin on Tuesday. Divisions 1-5-7-9-11 start on Wednesday. The finals for all divisions will be Nov. 7.
In Division 1, there will be pool play for the eight teams, with Mater Dei seeded No. 1 and Sierra Canyon No. 2.
Looking back: Joe Hillman
Former Hoover High and Indiana basketball player Joe Hillman speaking to the Glendale Quarterback Club.
(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)
Former Hoover High basketball standout Joe Hillman averaged 41.3 points his senior year in 1984. Then he became an experiment — the first player west of the Mississippi River to play for coach Bob Knight at Indiana.
The rest is history. He won an NCAA championship in 1987 and got to tell lots of stories about Knight. He returned to the area last week.
At the Ventura County championships, Viggo Bortolin of Foothill Technology won the boys’ individual final in 15:15.1. Sabina Cruz of Westlake won the girls’ title in 17:67.2….
The peristyle end of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
(Melody Nishida)
The Memorial Coliseum will be the site for the Southern Section Division 1 championship football game Friday, Nov. 27. The Rose Bowl was used last season….
2016: won a high school state championship together 🏆
2026: teammates in the NBA 🙌 https://t.co/SlBSwtF9hb
Former Crespi teammates De’Anthony Melton and Brandon Williams are having fun being teammates with the Golden State Warriors…..
Guard Josiah Nance of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame has committed to SMU, where former USC coach Andy Enfield is head coach….
Joseph Saenz is the new baseball coach at Wilmington Banning….
Junior Emilio Young of Mater Dei has committed to UCLA for baseball….
Receiver Gavin Honore of Mater Dei has committed to Oregon State….
From the archives: Aidan Chiles
Former Downey quarterback Aidan Chiles is the starting quarterback for Northwestern. He has passed for 1,398 yards and nine touchdowns. He signed with Oregon State, then transferred to Michigan State, then Northwestern.
Aidan Chiles deserves so much more attention for the year he’s having at Northwestern.
1,172 passing yards, 9 TDs, ZERO interceptions and a 71.4% completion rate.
He’s completely transformed his game under Chip Kelly, and Northwestern is sitting at 4-1.
From Substack, a story on San Mateo Serra’s long time football coach announcing he is staying indefinitely.
From Yahoo Sports, a story on a high school football coach in Oregon being fired for his team’s onside kicks in a game that wasn’t close.
From ESPN, a story on pro athletes coaching their sons and daughters in youth sports.
From Oaks Christian, a story on former Lions quarterback Nate Bennett at Baylor.
From the Los Angeles Times, a story on how a baseball coach led a tennis team to a JC championship.
Tweets you might have missed
The Terry Donahue Memorial Showcase that allows high school football seniors to show off their skills placed 69 players at DII, III or NAIA schools at its latest showcase and 150 on college or JC rosters. The next one is scheduled for Feb. 20, 2027 at Great Park in Irvine. It’s free.
Sneak peek at Edison’s new Luxedo System. First in OC. Shows will change for season of sport. Going to be awesome for season!! @ocvarsity @latsondheimer @SteveFryer @HBUHSD @EdisonSportsNet @ocvarsityguy https://t.co/B3USkFddtP
UCLA assistant basketball coach Darren Savino was at the John Wooden preseason lunch for coaches. Asked about former Harvard-Westlake guard Trent Perry, he said he keeps getting “better and better.” That was the mantra for Perry when he was in high school. Every year he was better.
Instead of new transfer rules in California, what is needed is coaches with teaching credentials being full-time employees as head coaches. That will clean up cheating, discipline issues, make them more accountable and lead to better life lessons being taught instead of just trying to win. That’s not a broad brush. No one is perfect but it’s a way forward. Old school.
You might not want to face Corona Centennial in the football playoffs. Jaden Walk-Green is back to kick field goals, PATs and disrupt on defense. https://t.co/akXnydelDA
Mr. and Mrs. Mosley take a bow. One son is at Texas. Another at USC. And the third only a junior at Santa Margarita doing things only Mosley genes allow.
To everyone who thinks Carson Palmer will be the next USC football coach: Asked if he’s enjoying coaching high school football, Palmer said, “Love it.”
Have a question, comment or something you’d like to see in a future Prep Rally newsletter? Email me at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latsondheimer.
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No. 9 UCLA football picked up its sixth win of the season Saturday night at the Rose Bowl, defeating Wisconsin 17-7, making the Bruins bowl eligible and the sole undefeated team in the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference.
Some penciled in a Bruin loss to the Badgers — who were the leading vote getters outside the top 25 in last week’s Associated Press poll — with starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered against Oregon.
But UCLA’s newest conductor, senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach, exceeded expectations against a relentless Wisconsin defense, leading the Bruins to victory in his first FBS start.
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Let’s take a look at the three takeaways from the Bruins’ fourth conference win, as the idea of a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff appearance becomes increasingly viable.
Ty Dieffenbach isn’t going anywhere
Heading into his first start at the Power Four level, there was still talk from coach Bob Chesney that there was a battle for Iamaleava’s replacement between Dieffenbach and Madden Iamaleava.
But after Saturday’s victory Dieffenbach more than secured his starting spot for the time being.
His final output was nothing to write home about, throwing for 264 yards to no touchdowns and one interception, but Dieffenbach more than passed the eye test.
Dieffenbach was on point from the first whistle to the last, unafraid to make difficult throws over the middle of the field and on the boundaries. Arguably his most valuable contribution was his play in high-leverage situations, consistently converting on third down through the air, and having his best drive backed up in his own end zone.
The quarterback’s pocket awareness also impressed, consistently moving up in the pocket as edge rushers converged from the outside. He also was willing to roll out when the interior of the pocket collapsed, and for the most part, excelled with off-platform throws and scramble plays.
Dieffenbach does not have to contend for a Heisman Trophy for the Bruins to be an elite team.
And he proved that he is more than capable of game-managing, effectively spearheading the UCLA offense against a formidable Wisconsin defense without the running game carrying the offense like it has in the past.
In fact, it was the passing game that led the Bruins to victory, with Dieffenbach’s throws marching the Bruins downfield and putting the running backs in position to convert in the end zone.
What separated Dieffenbach from previous quarterback play was his ball protection, largely keeping it out of harm’s way, and really only taking one avoidable sack. His one interception, which came on a Hail Mary for the last play of the first half, was his worst throw of the night.
Dieffenbach not only displayed that he can efficiently manage the offense, but the ceiling for the former Cal Poly and Pittsburgh quarterback may be higher than previously thought.
Colin Hitschler’s defense holds its own
UCLA defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Defensive coordinator Colin Hitschler’s unit makes the list for the third consecutive game.
The “Bruin Bullies” held the Badger offense to just seven points and 214 yards of offense. And while quarterback Colton Joseph is not a pocket passer, the former Old Dominion signal-caller threw for only 66 yards and completed just six passes.
UCLA’s secondary dominance is becoming more of a pattern and less of a coincidence. The back end of the defense has limited gashing throws since the Purdue game, and has made the simple passes difficult with defensive backs blanketing pass catchers in coverage across the field.
The Bruins’ pass rush also created problems for Joseph and the Badger offensive line all night. UCLA pressured Joseph on 52.4% of his dropbacks, failing to complete a pass on any of the pressures.
Fifth-year linebacker Jalen Wood’s sack forced a deep field-goal attempt that missed wide and fifth-year defensive back Mason Rivera’s sack forced the Badgers to punt, putting the final nail in the coffin, as the Bruins ran out the clock.
While Joseph was productive with his legs, garnering 71 yards and one touchdown, the Bruins were effectively stopping the run — a theme consistent throughout the season — limiting the Badger running backs to 54 yards.
What impressed most about Hitschler’s unit was the ability to dominate defensively with no turnovers, the first time all season the Bruins finished a game without a takeaway. Although UCLA forced two fumbles that were recovered by Wisconsin, the Bruins proved that the influence of their defense does not lie solely in its ability to capitalize on others’ mistakes.
The process works
Chesney and his staff say it all the time — it all comes back to the process.
And the Bruins’ coach has proved it.
When Nico Iamaleava went down, it was the next-man-up mentality. Even outside of Iamaleava, UCLA played Saturday without starting outside cornerback Rodrick Pleasant and starting left tackle Jordan Davis. And the duo’s replacements did not miss a beat. Sophomore Osiris Gilbert proved to hold his own on the 23 snaps he played, splitting time with senior Dante Lovett.
On the blindside of the offensive line, junior Jensen Somerville and fifth-year Mack Indestad split time replacing Davis with 45 and 32 snaps, respectively. Despite the tandem getting their highest snap counts of the season, they did not skip a beat, with the offense allowing one sack, which came from the right side of the line.
Outside of injury, Saturday’s win guaranteed the Bruins something that has been absent the last two seasons — a bowl game. And it is not going to stop there.
Like Chesney promised during his introductory news conference, the Bruins have real playoff and Big Ten championship aspirations.
But turning a program from 3-9 to a playoff contender does not happen overnight.
It all comes back to the process.
“You gotta believe in yourself,” Chesney said. “I believe in these guys. I told them back in the spring that there’s fibers of a really high-level football team that exist within this program, and we just need to put it all together and test it in fire, and compete, and that’s just the way this program works … When they end up with a failure, it’s never fatal or final. It’s a chance to refine.”
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Women’s volleyball is on a roll
The UCLA women’s volleyball team extended its win streak to five matches with two big home victories.
The Bruins defeated No. 15 Penn State 3-2 on Friday and Ohio State 3-2 on Sunday.
During the upset of the Nittany Lions, the Bruins won the first set, dropped the next two and rallied to sweep the final two. UCLA had 79 digs, eight aces and 53 assists.
UCLA now prepares for the biggest test of the season, with a match at Nebraska on at 4 p.m. PDT Thursday. The showdown will be broadcast on FS1.
Bruins on deck
Here is this week’s UCLA athletics schedule. All Times are PDT.
Monday, Oct. 19
Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, All day
Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, All day
Men’s soccer at Northwestern, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 20
Women’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, All day
Men’s tennis at ITA Regional Championships, All day
Wednesday, Oct. 21
Men’s basketball vs. California Baptist (exhibition), 7 p.m.
Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Sports editor Iliana Limón Romero contributed to this report.
After spending years as an assistant football coach at Sylmar and San Fernando, Boo Williams arrived at Sun Valley Poly this season with a mission to turn around a program that always seemed to have talent but rarely put together many victories.
In his rookie season, Williams has Poly with a 7-1 overall record and a 5-0 mark in the East Valley League going into the final games against Verdugo Hills and Arleta.
Justice Brown has rushed for more than 1,000 yards. King Exudus has been an impact player on defense.
Two things can be true: The Dodgers’ season ended prematurely and, for Shohei Ohtani, the offseason couldn’t come soon enough.
Thursday’s elimination — a no-doubt-about-it sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, who vanquished the Dodgers in the same fashion Ohtani and Co. had summarily eliminated them last season — was apparently the only way to get the two-way superstar out of the lineup.
Now he can get some much-needed rest and recovery, a reality check and, possibly, some surgical procedures to repair the knee and biceps injuries that plagued him this season.
Ohtani didn’t rule anything out in his postgame scrum, several rows deep, in front of his locker after the Dodgers’ 6-4 defeat in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
“Hard to tell at this point,” the 32-year-old Ohtani said in Japanese, via interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s something that’s going to be analyzed, discussed over the offseason, and see if that’s a viable thing to do.”
Hopefully, for the Dodgers’ sake and for baseball’s, Ohtani and his team will see their way to a reasonable load management plan. Hopefully they’ll find a viable injury management strategy.
Especially if he continues to pitch, as Ohtani said he plans to: “Yes, definitely, and looking forward to having a better season.”
Hopefully this bumpy season — his first as a Dodger to end short of the championship following the 2024 and 2025 title runs — will make Ohtani better. Wiser. More willing to listen to his body and to communicate what it’s telling him with the ball club that relies on him so much.
“I’ll always trust Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s the best player on the planet, and he’s not completely healthy. But I just give him a lot of respect for not running from it, still wanting to participate, still wanting to play when he’s not 100%.”
But hopefully when Ohtani’s knee barks next time, he won’t pitch through it. Hopefully when his right arm tightens up, he’ll step out of the box. Even — or especially — if it takes longer than a 15-day IL stint to make him right.
Hopefully he’s learned that irrespective of a sense of duty or pride or a selfish streak, the cold-hitting fact is that a compromised version of Ohtani leaves the Dodgers’ whole team — a $400 million investment — compromised, as it was this postseason.
“I don’t really want to take it for granted for the opportunity to be able to play with these guys,” Ohtani said. “But honestly, I think I’m just very disappointed.”
In eight playoff games against the Atlanta Braves and Brewers, Ohtani hit .192 (five for 26). He struck out 10 times. He didn’t get an extra-base hit or drive in a run until Thursday, in the season finale, which reminded us of Ohtani’s power — he walloped his first home run since Aug. 18, a three-run missile in the second inning that traveled 428 feet — and his pain.
Roberts looked, for a moment, like a genius for continuing to keep Ohtani in the lineup — and to pencil him in as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter after batting him sixth on Wednesday.
For that one shining moment.
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the second inning of the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
But Ohtani also struck out three times Thursday — made to look foolish in a much-too-familiar way.
The Dodgers needed a healthy Ohtani to deal with a young, hungry ballclub like the Brewers.
To have a chance against a team that was, as Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández said, “almost playing perfect baseball,” they needed him dialed in and not tinkering, not staying late searching.
They need the version of him that delivered the perfect game a year ago, his three-home-run, 10-strikeout masterpiece that sent Milwaukee home in Game 4 of the NLCS.
“Ohtani is arguably the best player in the world,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.
“He’s proven that to us. He had the greatest game I’ve ever seen played by an individual player last year against us.”
The Dodgers need that guy striking fear into opponents. Not him striking out, or getting stranded helplessly on base.
Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a three-run home run against the Milwaukee Brewers during the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
And they got a glimpse of that guy Thursday with that second-inning home run, a shot that had him throwing his arms up and screaming toward his dugout, as emotive as we’ve seen him, relieved and exulting after giving the Dodgers a 4-0 lead — and a fleeting expectation that they’d play a Game 5 on Friday.
“It was a lot of pent-up anger, frustration,” Roberts said. “It was the best ball he hit in probably two, three months, and it was a big hit.”
“It was like,” Max Muncy said, “that’s the swing we’ve been waiting for.”
Now we all wait for baseball to return — and then to learn what this season taught Ohtani, one of the most unique athletes in the history of the game.
“Not quite satisfied with how things shaped up on the pitching side at the end of the year,” Ohtani said. “… I haven’t been able to really come to grips in terms of what I’ve learned overall. It’s something that I’m going to kind of go back to the drawing board in terms of treatment, training program, and see what I can come up with for next season.”
The Dodgers’ offseason began at 8:07 Thursday night. Heavily favored to win a third straight World Series, they were swept into winter by the Milwaukee Brewers.
The final score doesn’t really matter, but for the record it was 6-4 Brewers. It wasn’t really that close.
The Dodgers led in every game of the National League Championship Series. They didn’t win any of them. No team has ever done that while getting swept in a best-of-seven series. So while the Dodgers didn’t three-peat, they made history just the same.
“They were relentless with everything that they did,” Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said of the Brewers. “They just strung together good at-bat after good at-bat. That’s usually what we do.
“We didn’t do it this series and they did.”
The Dodgers’ starting rotation, the most expensive in history, gave up 16 hits and 13 runs in 18 innings for a 6.50 earned-run average. The bullpen was nearly as bad, posting a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings.
The Brewers’ relievers, on the other hand, were spectacular. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy went to his bullpen 14 times and just twice did a reliever give up a run. All four victories against the Dodgers and all seven Brewers wins this postseason have gone to a reliever, with the bullpen posting a 1.33 ERA in 40⅔ innings.
“Pitcher after pitcher came in and executed,” Muncy said. “When one of their pitchers faltered, the next guy came in and picked up the slack.”
And each time the Dodgers took a lead, the Brewers waited no more than two innings to cut into the deficit. Milwaukee trailed 4-0 after two innings Thursday. By the top of the fifth, the score was tied. An inning later, the Brewers went ahead to stay, becoming the first team with six comeback wins in their first eight postseason games.
“They respond,” Murphy said of his players. “We’ve talked about it all year long. You have a bad week, you have a bad game, you have a bad at-bat, you bounce back.”
“I love the Dodgers. I love their players. They’ve got legendary players,” he continued. “But we came in with a group that would not be denied. They were hungry, very hungry.”
The two-time defending champion Dodgers, meanwhile, appeared to be full. They hit with runners in scoring position as often as they hit into double plays, going four for 27 and stranding 24.
“We had our opportunities. We just didn’t get the job done,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We won two [titles]. We came up short on the third.
Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell, right, celebrates with Cooper Pratt after hitting the go-ahead home run in the sixth inning of a 6-4 win over the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“There’s a lot of hurt at the end of the season. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s just kind of how it goes. You have to give credit to the Brewers. They played really good baseball.”
A year ago the Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS. This fall the results were reversed.
“The sadness is we just didn’t accomplish our goal,” Muncy said. “The goal every year is to be the last team standing. This year we had a chance to do something historic, and we didn’t accomplish it. And every single time you’re not the last team standing, it’s heartbreak and it’s failure and it’s not what you’re looking for.”
The Dodgers’ clubhouse was closed for more than 35 minutes after the game, partly to process that heartbreak but also to give manager Dave Roberts and veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, who announced his retirement, a chance to address the team. When the doors finally opened, nearly every player was sitting in front of his locker, most still in uniform, waiting to explain what seemed to be inexplicable.
How did the greatest team money can buy wind up so flat when the stakes were so high?
“We’ve been grinding all season long,” said right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who retired the first 10 Brewers in order, but lasted just one more inning. “No one slacked off at all. Everyone just came in and worked hard. They just played a lot better than us. They were hitting on everything. It wasn’t our year.”
“Not every time it’s gonna be us,” left fielder Teoscar Hernández added through a forced smile. “It’s not fair for us to be doing the same thing over and over every year. Teams are going to learn from their losses the same way we’re gonna learn from this one.
“So hopefully we come back next year stronger.”
Speaking of next year, no one would.
Half the players on the Dodgers 26-man NLCS roster are on expiring contracts. The core of the team — Mookie Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández along with pitchers Blake Snell and Glasnow — are 33 or older. The Dodgers could look very different when spring training starts — if spring training starts — in February.
“There’ll come a time when we think about next year,” Muncy said. “But that’s not right at this moment.”
The Dodgers have an extra-long winter to get through first.
What we don’t know: What the future holds, in what could be a turbulent winter for the Dodgers and for all of Major League Baseball.
Here are four things we don’t know about the Dodgers, but well worth keeping an eye on:
Shohei Ohtani
Just three short months ago, we wondered whether Ohtani would win his fifth most valuable player award and his first Cy Young Award. Has the time come for the Dodgers to consider curtailing his pitching?
As the Dodgers trudged through the playoffs, we endured daily drama over where in the lineup Ohtani would bat (first, second, fourth, fifth or sixth) and what he could produce despite playing through multiple injuries.
We’ll soon get a better understanding of those injuries, and whether rest, rehabilitation and/or surgery might be recommended for each one. We’ll also get a better sense of what the future might hold for Ohtani as a two-way player, and for his potential to perform at an elite level on both sides of the ball.
Ohtani said he plans to resume pitching next year. He is 32. He just completed his 14th professional season.
Ohtani has pitched more than 132 innings once since 2016, when he was 22 and playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters.
In his three seasons with the Dodgers, this was the first that did not involve rehabilitation from elbow surgery. He started 14 games before a knee injury prevented him from pitching any more this season.
Payroll
Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal walks off the field during Game 1 of the NLDS.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Major league owners are poised to shut down the sport this winter, in pursuit of a salary cap designed to restrain the Dodgers, since they won’t restrain themselves.
The owners’ initial proposal set a salary cap of $245 million next year. The Dodgers already have $347 million committed to 14 players next year, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Under a cap, the owners have promised a transition period to account for existing commitments, and an actual negotiated cap could be higher.
Even if the players do not agree to a cap — and they insist they won’t — whatever economic system that would emerge from collective bargaining would be almost certain to make it painful for the Dodgers to spend so freely.
Whatever the case, the Dodgers could face the kind of difficult roster choices they often have papered over with money this decade. Two closers for $141 million? Good luck with that.
And would they be able to fit soon-to-be free agent Tarik Skubal into their payroll? Skubal might well sign before the lockout is expected to start in December, but there is nothing agent Scott Boras loves more than pitching a marquee free agent to a new owner. The two other Southern California teams — the Angels and San Diego Padres — both have one.
Age
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, and general manager Brandon Gomes have decisions to make about their aging roster.
(Luke Hales / Getty Images)
When Andrew Friedman made his name as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, he did it in large part by taking advantage of one market inefficiency within the American League East: He beat up on the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees because they were stuck with rosters crowded with aging stars on big contracts. The Rays couldn’t have done that even if Friedman had wanted to.
He didn’t want to do it too much in Los Angeles, because it compromises roster flexibility. But, after seven National League West titles and no World Series championships, ownership went all in: Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million), Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Tyler Glasnow (five years, $137 million), Blake Snell (five years, $182 million), Will Smith (10 years, $140 million) and Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million).
It worked: three rings in six years. Now the bill comes due.
The Dodgers fielded the oldest group of position players in the major leagues this season. Ohtani and Betts are under contract through their age-39 seasons; Smith will be 38 when his deal’s up, Yamamoto and Max Muncy 37, Snell 36, Glasnow 35.
Something to watch this winter: Freeman is 37, signed through next year. He would like to play until 40 and finish his career here. That would take a two-year extension. Would the Dodgers say no?
Ownership
Mark Walter’s insurance empire is under investigation by federal authorities — and the subject of discussions with state regulators — over allegations the businesses he controls failed to properly follow laws designed to protect investors.
Walter’s company has denied wrongdoing, and neither Walter nor his businesses have been charged with a crime. He is, however, a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits in which insurance policyholders claim he and several of his companies committed fraud and breach of contract.
Walter may need more than $20 billion to satisfy regulators by recapitalizing insurance companies. He abruptly sold the Lakers in August, in a deal that valued the team — not just Walter’s controlling interest — at $12.5 billion. He and fellow Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly also sold a small stake in English soccer club Chelsea FC last month for about $1.27 billion, the Financial Times reported. It is uncertain how Walter would provide the rest of the money for recapitalization.
“Regarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be clear, the team is not being sold,” Walter’s holdings company said in a statement last month.
It is uncertain whether a resolution with insurance regulators would satisfy the Department of Justice, which reports to President Trump. In July, when the Dodgers visited the White House, Walter presented Trump with an official World Series championship ring with his name engraved on it. He also sold the Lakers to former Disney chief Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
Major League Baseball is monitoring the situation and could conduct its own review after the state and federal matters are concluded.
Eyo-Dae Kim and Susan Kim attended the University of Southern California decades ago, two international students with little money and no family in the U.S. On Friday, their son, Beong-Soo Kim, stood before an Alumni Park crowd and was formally installed as the 13th president of their alma mater.
“It is wonderful to have you here, Dad, facing the same library where you and Mom studied together at USC,” Kim, 53, said to his father, who took doctoral courses in economics. Kim’s late mother fled during the Korean War and earned a USC master’s degree.
“They certainly would never have imagined, as international students, that this day could possibly come,” Kim had said earlier.
In a wide-ranging interview before the event, Kim — who was appointed in February after holding an interim presidential role — said he leads USC at a time of promise and deep challenges:
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, leased and operated by USC, will be a showcase site for the 2028 Olympics. A recent $200-million gift is fueling a university-wide push into artificial intelligence. USC admitted 12.6% of first-year applicants this fall for sought-after slots.
Beong-Soo Kim was formally installed as USC’s 13th president during an investiture ceremony Friday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Yet he faces steep hurdles. The former federal prosecutor who spent five years as USC’s general counsel inherited a deficit of more than $200 million. Among his first actions, Kim approved the layoffs of more than 900 workers and ordered deep cost-saving measures. USC is still recovering from years of scandal and controversy that scarred its national reputation, including a $1.1-billion payout to settle sexual abuse allegations against a campus gynecologist, its involvement in the “Varsity Blues” admissions bribery scheme and its handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Then there is Trojan football.
Fans chanted this month for the firing of football coach Lincoln Riley — after years of underachieving — though the Trojans have defeated Washington and Penn State after an Oregon loss.
Although fans and analysts have soured at times on Riley — whose pay exceeds $11 million and whose reported buyout is about $70 million — Kim declined to say whether USC could afford a coaching change, saying, “We’re not thinking about that.”
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Amid fan chants to fire Trojan football coach Lincoln Riley, USC President Beong-Soo Kim declined to say whether USC could afford a coaching change, saying “we are laser-focused on the next game.”
“We are laser-focused on the next game, and then the game after that, and really having the best possible season that we can have in football,” he said.
After the stinging rounds of layoffs, Kim said, the university expects to “significantly exceed” the roughly $30-million surplus he forecast for USC earlier this year during his state-of-the-university speech, though final numbers are pending.
In his speech, Kim said that public trust in universities has declined and “we must regain trust by earning it.” USC is among the elite universities targeted last year by the Trump administration over alleged campus antisemitism, though it has not faced major federal funding freezes or lawsuits as the UC system has.
On Friday, deans and faculty in academic regalia processed into Alumni Park, where the Trojan Marching Band accompanied the national anthem as temperatures climbed toward the 90s during the nearly two-hour ceremony.
USC religious life dean Varun Soni opened an invocation by describing the cello’s sound post — a small wooden piece called its “soul” in Italian and French — and comparing it to the soul of a university. Kim, a cellist, later joined USC Thornton School of Music students to play “Prelude,” the first movement of Grieg’s “Holberg Suite,” Op. 40, as Kaufman School of Dance students performed.
Morton Schapiro, Northwestern’s president emeritus and a former USC dean, represented visiting academic delegates and praised Kim’s “creativity, character and commitment to community” before Suzanne Nora Johnson, chair of the Board of Trustees, formally installed Kim. Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and humanist blessings closed the ceremony. In the afternoon, a “Trojan Family celebration” in McCarthy Quad was scheduled to feature food stalls and performances by singer-songwriters Aloe Blacc, a USC alumnus, and Allen Stone.
Money, medicine and priorities
When he took over as interim president in 2025, upon the departure of Carol Folt, Kim immediately confronted the university’s financial crisis. The campus had long spent more than it brought in, an imbalance driven by rising athletics costs, pandemic expenses and major legal settlements. A weak year for USC’s health system deepened the shortfall. Kim maintained a hiring pause, stopped merit raises and took “a hard look at a lot of our administrative expenses and our operations,” he told The Times.
Keck Medicine of USC took a significant hit in the layoffs after running a deficit in the tens of millions in recent years. Last month, dozens of layoffs took place at the Viterbi School of Engineering.
Kim said Keck’s performance “has been good, but it can get better.” The health system is “making very positive progress” to cut expenses while focusing on “patient care, patient quality.”
Across campus, he credited staff and faculty with “stepping up, asking how can we do more with less.”
USC is also challenging a faculty union before the National Labor Relations Board. Non-tenure-track faculty voted in June to join United Faculty-UAW, with about 70% in favor. USC has asked the labor board to review the decision that allowed the vote, arguing the union is too broad. Faculty leafleted Friday during Kim’s event.
Kim said he wants USC to build strong partnerships with Los Angeles industries, including entertainment, biotechnology, sports and “the new space economy.”
He cautioned in his speech that “great universities do not become greater by trying to do everything.”
During the interview, he did not say which university programs need to shrink but said such decisions will come through a strategic plan that will “engage the whole community.”
“One of the things that I frankly pride myself on as a university president is that I readily admit that I don’t have all the answers, and certainly not the best answers,” he said.
Beong-Soo Kim speaks at USC’s commencement in May.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Admissions
A pressing debate — particularly within the University of California system — is whether standardized tests should be required for admissions. Many of the nation’s most elite institutions have recently turned away from test-blind or test-optional admission policies. UC, which does not consider SAT scores in admissions, is reviewing whether to resume SAT and ACT requirements.
Kim said USC, which is test-optional, is studying the issue too. USC considers SAT and ACT scores if applicants submit them but does not require them.
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As the University of California evaluates whether to reintroduce SAT and standardized testing requirements for admission, USC President Beong-Soo Kim said USC is also looking at the question. He said USC, which is test-optional, has not made a final decision.
“It’s absolutely something that has been under discussion, particularly with respect to STEM students,” he said, referring to science, technology, engineering and math majors. He cautioned that no final decision has been made and that the new provost, David Madigan, will be looking at the issue.
Kim said UC’s test-blind policy is “one of the contextual factors that we have to consider.” Many California students who plan to apply to UC skip the tests, and many of them also apply to USC, he said.
USC said last year it would keep weighing applicants’ family ties to the university despite a state ban on legacy and donor preferences. In 2024, while the ban was pending, USC said it would “comply with state law” if it were signed. Schools that keep the preferences are listed publicly as out of compliance and must report more admissions data to the state.
Kim said USC chose to keep “considering whether someone is a member of the Trojan family” as one of many factors. He said he is “actually quite proud” that USC maintained its “holistic admissions practices” in a way that “provides more transparency about our admissions.”
Image and trust
Legacy preferences have fed a stereotype of USC as a college for the wealthy and well connected. Kim disputed that image.
He pointed to USC’s transfer students, Pell Grant recipients and first-generation students. USC opens its doors to “so many people in California, throughout the country, and throughout the world,” he said.
Still, Kim acknowledged that trust in education has fallen, though he said that trust in American institutions “across the board has been declining.”
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USC violates state law by considering legacy and donor ties in admissions, a practice President Beong-Soo Kim defended as part of a holistic review while touting the university’s transparency in reporting admissions data to the state.
“Some might have to do with events from several years ago,” he said.
He did not say which events, though USC has had its share. As general counsel, Kim helped steer it through the aftermath of the national Varsity Blues admissions bribery scandal and the sex abuse payout to former patients of campus gynecologist George Tyndall, the largest in higher education history.
His answer to falling trust has been the Open Dialogue Project, which he launched in October 2025 to bring clashing views to campus. Guests have included National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, former ACLU President Nadine Strossen and legal scholar Jonathan Turley.
In September, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression gave USC its top “green light” rating for several speech policies. After the group recalculated its college free speech rankings, USC rose from 198th to 37th out of 261 schools.
White House pressure
Last fall, the Trump administration invited USC and eight other universities to sign a higher education compact offering favorable access to federal research grants. Signers would cap international undergraduates at 15%, require the SAT or ACT and freeze tuition for five years.
USC rejected the compact last October — about two weeks after the administration offered it.
Some faculty viewed USC’s initial reluctance to reject the overture as a sign it was unwilling to openly challenge Trump’s education demands. They also point to USC’s closure of its university-wide Office of Inclusion and Diversity last year amid a federal anti-DEI push and its removal of pages for cultural heritage months from its “Culture Journey” website earlier this year.
Kim disagreed that USC bends quickly to the White House.
“It would have been highly presumptuous for me just to make a rash decision about what we were going to do without listening,” he said of the compact.
International students have also faced pressures, as the government restricts some visa programs and significantly increases costs for others.
About 26% of USC students are international, with 15% of the undergraduate population coming from other nations. Kim said international students “have been part of USC for decades” and called their presence “a win-win.”
AI risks
USC is also leaning into artificial intelligence, with a $200-million gift from Nvidia board member Mark Stevens and his wife, Mary Stevens, meant to infuse AI across the campus and recruit AI researchers.
But leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic have warned that the technology’s fast development poses serious risks to jobs and human existence.
“We have to take those warnings very seriously,” Kim said. Universities, he said, can help clarify what it means for AI to be “aligned” and “safe.”
Kim said USC wants to make sure its students “are leading in terms of how to use it ethically, how to use it morally.”
The future
On July 14, 2028, the Coliseum — USC’s campus-adjacent home stadium — will share the Olympics’ opening ceremony with SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
Kim said he hopes Olympic visitors will see “a university that has an incredible Olympic tradition,” but also one whose reach goes well beyond sports.
The Games will also bring alumni and students “from across the globe,” he said. “I think that’s going to make for a very magical moment.”
Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell, sitting next to soon-to-be free agent Tarik Skubal at their lockers in the aftermath of their team’s elimination from the National League Championship Series elimination, made a promise:
“I’ll be recruiting,” he interjected with a smile, as Skubal declined to comment on free agency, saying it was too soon to try to predict what the future would hold for him.
That would be Snell’s side project between rounds of video games — 2K specifically. (Skubal admittedly “sucks” at the game, but Snell says his teammate “has heart, though.” The rest can be taught.)
The expected lockout, and MLB’s insistence on a salary cap in their CBA proposals, have also cast doubt on what the system will look like next year — whenever the season begins.
Not to mention, the stars in the Dodgers’ lineup, already the oldest in the majors (weighted by at-bats and games played), will be another year older.
Could this be the end of an era?
“I don’t feel that at all,” Skubal said. “It’s hard to win the World Series, and this group has done it the last two seasons. Obviously, not this year, but … I think that this group is incredibly talented. And the preparation and the work ethic that this group has — I don’t buy into that narrative.”
Said Snell: “We’re only getting better.”
Plenty of people outside of the Dodgers’ downcast clubhouse Thursday evening saw the Brewers’ four-game sweep of the defending back-to-back champions as the fall of a dynasty. But the players inside fervently disagreed.
“When you have Shohei Ohtani on your team, Yoshinbou Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and the years ahead of these guys, you can never think that it’s going to be the end,” Rojas said. “And I know this organization so well, they’re not going to be satisfied with this loss. I think they’re going to move forward and continue to improve the team in any capacity, and I believe that we’re going to be even better next year.”
Said Hernández: “I don’t know what’s going to happen with me personally, moving forward for next year. But this team is well-positioned to keep winning and keep competing deep into October. So not only is this locker room very talented, but there’s a lot of guys knocking on the door in the minor-league system that can be really impactful players. So the organization is in good hands.”
Rookie Josue De Paula showed down the stretch, and with his plate discipline even in high-octane moments in the postseason, just how impactful the young players in the Dodgers’ system could be. And there are more behind him.
This offseason, the Dodgers front office will try to strike a balance between continuity and fresh faces. For some of their impending free agents, who spoke highly of the organization, that meant uncertainty in the immediate aftermath.
“I love this place,” Hernández said. “I’ve played for three other teams, but every time I look at my career, I obviously go back to this place. I’ve been here the longest. I hope I get back. I feel like I have a lot left. … I would love to have one more try, trying to win another one. But I don’t really know what’s going to happen.”
Vesia, too, said he’d love to return.
“From the coaching staff, to the front office, to the players that have taken me under their wing, have helped mold and shape me into who I am and how I carry myself, how I go about my business,” Vesia said of his six years in the organization. “And if it wasn’t for the people in this room, I would not be where I’m at today. So, very thankful. This whole experience has been life-changing.”
Skubal is in a unique situation. In line to be the top free agent pitcher in this year’s class, he held his cards closer to the vest. But he gave a glowing review of his time with the Dodgers.
“It was an honor and a privilege to be here and compete with these guys, and to wear L.A. across your hat and across your chest,” he said. “It’s something that I took a lot of pride in. And, obviously, didn’t end the way that I wanted it to. But that’s life. That’s baseball. I had a ton of fun here, and I loved competing with these guys.”
“I was like, ‘Hey, what do I need to know about him?’” Evans said. “‘Is there anything special he wants with holds?’”
Evans is accustomed to the research.
In 2023, the Rams replaced Brett Maher during the season with Lucas Havrisik, and then eventually re-signed Maher. Last season, Harrison Mevis replaced Joshua Karty at midseason, and now Grupe replaces Mevis.
Special teams miscues — including surrendering a 70-yard kickoff return, a missed field-goal attempt and a blocked field-goal attempt — helped doom the Rams again Monday in a 37-34 overtime defeat by the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium.
On Sunday, the struggling 2-3 Rams will attempt to bounce back against the struggling Arizona Cardinals (1-4).
“I want to see this get fixed,” coach Sean McVay said of special teams breakdowns, adding, “Let’s have solves, let’s have solutions and let’s give our players a chance to be able to have 11-as-one executed in each phase as consistently as possible.
“That’s what we’re going to keep striving for,” he said before quipping, “and I’m hopeful that it does happen so I don’t have to keep talking about it.”
Said special teams coordinator Bubba Ventrone: “It ultimately comes down to reverting back to your fundamentals and your techniques that enable you to be able to protect, block, tackle, all of those things.”
After playing four of their first five games against teams that made the playoffs last season, the Rams will face a Cardinals team coached by former Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
LaFleur is the latest former Rams offensive assistant to be hired as a head coach. His older brother Matt LaFleur coaches the Green Bay Packers, Zac Taylor the Cincinnati Bengals, Kevin O’Connell the Minnesota Vikings and Liam Coen the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Former Rams defensive coordinators Brandon Staley and Raheem Morris also parlayed their time under McVay into head coach roles.
“As much as I love Sean, haven’t really thought of him too much,” Mike LaFleur told Arizona reporters this week, “and I’m sure he’s kind of feeling the same way about me right now.”
McVay said he talks with LaFleur “a lot.” But had not this week, “just because it’s been busier than normal, but I will talk to him at some point.”
McVay was busy releasing Mevis and signing Grupe, and dealing with the NFL’s suspension of left tackle Alaric Jackson.
The league initially suspended Jackson for two games for striking Bills linebacker Bradley Chubb in the face on the field after the Rams’ defeat. The suspension was reduced to one game on appeal.
Veteran David Quessenberry, a ninth-year pro who last started a game in 2023, will start in place of Jackson as quarterback Matthew Stafford’s blindside protector.
“This is kind of why I’m here — when things like this happen,” Quessenberry said. “So I’m ready to go. This is what I’ve worked for … I’m fired up.”
Andres Perea scored a goal and Matt Freese had two saves for New York City FC on Saturday night in a 1-1 tie with LAFC.
Perea slammed home a header off a corner kick played in by Nicolás Fernández to make it 1-1 in the 59th minute.
NYCFC (8-12-10) is winless, with three losses, in its last five games.
Leo Walta, acquired Aug. 31 by LAFC on loan, scored his first career MLS goal in his fourth appearance. The 23-year-old midfielder put away a straightaway free kick from 30 yards out to open the scoring in first-half stoppage time.
Filo Tiatia’s men have made a strong start to the season but that might not necessarily translate into a bigger contingent in Tandy’s squad.
Lock Ben Carter is a shoo-in, tight-head prop Dillon Lewis will hope to pick up where he left off in the summer and in-form hooker Elliot Dee would love to battle Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias for action.
The Perpignan fixture highlighted the qualities of Dragons’ grafters with blind-side flanker Shane Lewis-Hughes, who won three caps in 2020, continuing his strong start to the season.
Wales contact coach Dan Lydiate was a guest at Dragons training last week and would have been impressed as Lewis-Hughes put in 27 tackles against the French side’s big carriers.
But the forward, like team-mate Harri Keddie, is competing in a position of real depth.
The same applies for wing Rio Dyer, who is yet to score this season but has been lively with ball in hand and impressive in the aerial game.
Dragons’ man of the match against Perpignan was Aneurin Owen, so often the side’s glue from inside centre.
He carried strongly to go with his distribution skills, while he was strong in defence and came up with two turnovers.
Owen, who turns 26 the day before Tuesday’s squad announcement, was a member of the Wales squad under Wayne Pivac in the summer of 2021 but remains uncapped.
There might be an opening at 12 due to Ben Thomas’ injury should Tandy look to see if a quality operator at club level can take the next step.
“Aneurin knows I love him,” said Dragons boss Filo Tiatia. “He has outstanding leadership and there is lots more to come from him.
“He wants to improve, is coachable and is strong at challenging the coaches.”
Match of the Day pundits Shay Given and Dion Dublin analyse Brighton’s emphatic 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace, with Dublin saying the Seagulls could be in the title race.
CLEVELAND — Drew Rasmussen allowed one run over seven innings for his second postseason win, Tampa Bay’s offense kept on constant pressure and the Rays beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead in the American League Championship Series.
The Rays will try to capture their third AL pennant and first since 2020 on Monday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Since the ALCS expanded to seven games in 1985, road teams winning Game 5 for a 3-2 lead have won the series four of five times.
Game 7 if needed would be Tuesday, and the World Series starts Friday at NL champion Milwaukee.
Cleveland has not won an ALCS when trailing 3-2.
Tampa Bay scored single runs in each of the first three innings, the first two off Parker Messick and the third against Tim Herrin.
Rasmussen shut down the Guardians’ offense after allowing two runs over six innings in the opener. After Chase DeLauter’s two-out single in the first, the 31-year-old right-hander retired nine straight batters and allowed only one other baserunner through the sixth.
Rasmussen gave up four hits, walked one and struck out six. He is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in three postseason starts, striking out 23 and walking three.
Cam Booser and Tyler Wells worked the eighth, with Wells striking out José Ramírez to strand a runner.
Bryan Baker came in for the ninth and converted his 35th straight save chance, his fifth of this postseason. Jo Adell was on second base when Travis Bazzana hit a game-ending groundout.
Steven Kwan had two of Cleveland’s five hits and made two fine defensive plays: He threw out Taylor Walls trying to score from second base on Jonathan Aranda’s fourth-inning single to left and made a leaping catch at the center-field wall on Victor Mesa Jr.’s eighth-inning drive, saving a run.
Tampa Bay’s leadoff hitter reached base in the first four innings — scoring in the first three frames — and six times overall. Rays’ leadoff batters have reached in 10 of 14 innings dating to Saturday.
Yandy Díaz had three hits while Aranda and Liam Hicks both had two hits and drove in a run.
Díaz scored on a bases-loaded walk by Messick to Jonny DeLuca in the first inning. Díaz led off with a line-drive double over center fielder Petey Halpin that rolled to the wall.
Aranda’s single drove in Ben Williamson for a 2-0 lead in the second, and Hicks looped a curveball from Herrin to center to score Chandler Simpson in the third.
Cleveland finally threatened in the seventh when Kwan and Ramírez singled to put runners at the corners and DeLauter grounded an RBI single between first and second.
Messick had the shortest outing of his big league career and didn’t make it past the third inning for the second time in four postseason starts. The 25-year-old left-hander went two innings and allowed two runs, five hits and three walks over two innings, throwing just 34 of 57 pitches for strikes.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chargers hit the road to face the undefeated, AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs, still looking for their first victory of the season.
They were unsuccessful, falling 22-6 on Sunday evening at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chargers are 0-6 to start the season for the first time since 2000, when they finished 1-16. They’ve also lost nine straight games since last season, tying a franchise mark for most consecutive losses.
“I truly believe and was confident that we would win this game,” coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters. “We have to address everything, guys, and especially offensively.”
The Chargers’ offense, already weakened by a series of injuries to its offensive line and receiving corps, struggled mightily, recording their second-lowest output of the season at 259 total yards. They also lost wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who was ruled out midway through the second quarter with a concussion. He had just one catch in his return from a foot injury that kept him out last week against Denver.
Additionally, it marked the first time the Chargers failed to score a touchdown this season, likely putting first-year offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s job in further jeopardy. They have just five touchdowns through six games.
Harbaugh did not give a conclusive answer when asked directly if McDaniel would continue calling plays, saying the team would review “everything.”
“I see the effort, I see the work being put in in the meetings, on the practice field, to get that to transfer to the field is what’s necessary,” Harbaugh said.
Chiefs quarterback and two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes was in exceptional form, completing 23 of his 30 passes for 272 yards. He did not score a touchdown, either, opting to hand off to running back Kenneth Walker for two scores. Walker finished with 128 yards in 19 carries.
Justin Herbert led the Chargers in rushing with 26 yards and threw for 204 yards on 22-for-37 passing. Quentin Johnston had a team-high 57 receiving yards — all from one catch.
The Chiefs had a chaotic first drive that included two offensive penalties, but took a 3-0 lead with a 44-yard field goal by Harrison Butker. After a Chargers punt, the Chiefs struck again with a 33-yard scoring run up the middle by Walker. The Chargers caught a small break with Butker missing the extra point, but they never got back to within a possession of the Chiefs.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert listens to a question during a news conference after a 22-6 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday.
(Ed Zurga / Associated Press)
The Chargers did get on the board later in the first quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker off an 11-play, 60-yard drive. The Chargers forced a punt on the Chiefs’ next possession and traded interceptions in the second quarter before giving up an 80-yard drive that ended with a two-yard run by Walker.
After another punt, the Chargers left the Chiefs with the ball and 25 seconds left in the half. Mahomes completed two more passes and Butker nailed a 50-yard field goal to push the lead to 19-3.
Starting from their own 45-yard line, the Chargers began the second half with their most promising drive of the game. Herbert completed passes to KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Johnston and Kimani Vidal to take them down to Kansas City one-yard line, but an offensive hold and two incomplete passes meant they had to settle for another field goal.
Chiefs linebacker Drue Tranquill, center, tackles Chargers running back Kimani Vidal during the fourth quarter Sunday.
(Jamie Squire / Getty Images)
The Chargers’ defense stopped Kansas City at the goal line in the third quarter, forcing a turnover on downs at the one-yard line before Caleb Murphy recovered a fumble on a Chiefs punt return. But the Chargers went nowhere on the ensuing possession.
Butker kicked a 30-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter. The Chargers then had one final chance to score, driving to the Kansas City eight-yard line, but Herbert could not find a receiver on back-to-back throws and was sacked twice, leading to a turnover on downs.
In addition to McConkey’s injury, cornerback Deane Leonard left in the third quarter with a concussion.
Rams tight end Colby Parkinson scores a touchdown in front of Cardinals safety Andrew Wingard at SoFi Stadium Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
First-year Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur, the Rams former offensive coordinator, outcoached and outmaneuvered friend and mentor Sean McVay.
With just more than a third of the season complete, the Rams are 2-4.
The Rams failed to bounce back from their overtime defeat by the powerful Buffalo Bills and lost to a Cardinals team that entered the game having given up at least 31 points in each of its last four.
Only six players from the team that won Super Bowl LVI are still on the roster: Quarterback Matthew Stafford, defensive lineman Aaron Donald, tight end Tyler Higbee, center Coleman Shelton, left tackle Alaric Jackson and receiver Tutu Atwell.
During the offseason they added two players with two Super Bowl rings each: cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford looks to pass the ball against the Cardinals at Sofi Stadium on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
But they have not looked anything like a Super Bowl contender.
An offense that went into the game as the league’s most productive from a yardage standpoint managed only a field goal and two touchdowns.
Stafford completed 25 of 33 passes for 222 yards.
With left tackle Alaric Jackson suspended for the game for punching Bill linebacker Bradley Chubb on the field after the Rams loss, veteran David Quessenberry started for the first time since 2023.
The Cardinals predictably brought pressure and blitzed, sacking Stafford three times and hitting him seven times.
Safety Quentin Lake intercepted a pass for a defense that was without All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie because of a groin injury. The defense gave up only field goals and gave the offense multiple opportunities.
And special teams continued to be a disaster.
New kicker Blake Grupe, signed this week after the Rams released struggling Harrison Mevis, kicked a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter. But on the ensuing kickoff, Devin Duvernay returned Grupe’s kick 40 yards before the 5-foot-7, 156-pound Grupe hurled his body to stop him. Grupe suffered a knee injury and did not return.
The Rams managed Grupe’s 44-yard field goal and Corum’s touchdown for a 9-9 tie at halftime.
The Cardinals consumed nearly nine minutes of the third quarter before kicking a field goal for a 12-9 lead.
The loss of Grupe then came into play again late in the third quarter. On a fourth-and-one at the Cardinals’ 27-yard, McVay opted to go for it. Davis Allen lined up in the backfield and took a handoff from Stafford, but the Cardinals stopped him for no gain.
The Cardinals added another field goal with 9:28 left for a 15-9 lead.
The Rams then put together a lively drive, but Higbee fumbled with just under eight minutes left.
They got the ball back with just less than seven minutes remaining. They drove into Cardinals’ territory with about three minutes left but a false-start penalty gave them a fourth-and-eight situation, and Stafford’s pass to running back Kyren Williams fell incomplete.
But the Rams got one more chance when they got the ball with 2:48 left.
Stafford escaped pressure and found Nacua, for a mid-range pass that he turned into a 32-yard gain. Stafford connected again with Nacua for 16 yards to the Cardinals’ 13-yard line.
Stafford’s six-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson tied the score, and punter Ethan Evans came on to kick the extra point to give the Rams the lead.
But the Cardinals came back with the help of a personal-foul penalty after a completed pass. And Ryland’s sixth field goal finished the Rams.
When Joe Cascione walked into the athletic director’s office at Los Angeles Mission College with the idea of starting a women’s tennis team, he knew how it would sound. He had spent his entire life in baseball—27 years as a coach—and had never coached women or a racquet sport.
“I told him, ‘I have an idea. I’d love to start a women’s tennis team. I don’t have any background in tennis, but I think I can surround myself with people who know the technical side of the sport, and I love it so much that I think we can do well,’” recalled Cascione, a successful former baseball player at Pierce College and Cal Lutheran.
It was understandable that few understood the decision.
“Everyone thought I was going through a midlife crisis,” Cascione said with a laugh. “They’d say to me, ‘What are you doing? You’re having a breakdown.’”
College administrators also wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have a women’s soccer team, given the demographics of the San Fernando Valley. But Cascione presented them with a list of potential players who could attend Mission College.
“At first I was against it,” recalled Steve Ruys, director of athletics at Mission College. “I told him that women’s soccer was better for this area. But he was persistent.”
In the front row, from left to right, bottom, are the Mission College sophomores: Jaelyn Rivera, Priscilla Grinner, CiCi Díaz, Kirsten Bonzon, Amy Nghiem and Natalia Ponce. In the second row, from left to right, top, are the four new team members: Dsyray Chan, Daisylynne Castaneda, Julieta Sierra and Lena Onejeme.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Four years later, the gamble paid off in a big way. Last April, the Mission College Eagles won the first California Community College Athletic Assn. (CCCAA) state team championship in the school’s history, and they did so with a perfect 25-0 record.
Not only did they win the community college’s first championship, but they did so with local players and against powerhouse schools—some of which even fielded international players. Unlike other schools, Mission College does not have its own tennis courts and rents courts at a nearby park to practice and play its home matches.
In CCCAA tennis, colleges face off against each other in team matches. Each match consists of a set number of singles and doubles matches, and the winner is determined by the team’s cumulative score.
In the final of a four-day tournament in Ojai, Mission College faced Sierra College — the top seed from Northern California and also undefeated — and won a dramatic match. The Eagles dominated the doubles, but Sierra fought back in the singles and took a 4-3 lead.
Then, Genesis Nochez (West Ranch) tied the series at 4-4, and everything came down to Josilyn Rivera (Birmingham) in a head-to-head match against Autumn Holmes of Sierra. To add to the drama of the day, Rivera lost the first set, bounced back with a 6-1 victory in the second and clinched the championship in a tiebreak she won without giving up a single point, for a final score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0).
In addition, the duo of Jaelyn Rivera (Birmingham) and Priscilla Grinner (Granada Hills) were crowned state doubles champions after defeating a Chabot College pair.
Amy Nghiem takes a shot during Mission College practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“I had always thought about winning the Ojai tournament, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Grinner, 19, a two-time CIF champion with Granada Hills.
“Winning that tournament meant everything to me and my family; it was like giving back to the community where I grew up, and that meant so much to me,” said Jaelyn, 20, Josilyn’s older sister.
Amy Nghiem was one of Mission College’s key players. The Granada Hills Charter alumna joined the Eagles alongside her teammates Grinner and América Fragoso, both from Granada Hills.
Cascione was also named Western State Conference coach of the year.
For the players, the sense of teamwork that the coach instilled was vital to building a competitive program.
“The coaches encourage us to be our best. Without our teammates, without that connection, without that camaraderie, and without all the time we spent together, it wouldn’t have been possible,” Grinner said of the championship.
Jaelyn Rivera serves during her team’s practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Cascione stepped down as head baseball coach at Mission College in 2019 after 19 years at the helm of the program. Then came the pandemic — and with it, a year and a half to reflect on what the next step in his athletic and professional life would be. The answer lay in the other sport he had loved since childhood, as he had always played tennis in his free time.
“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably choose to play tennis instead of baseball,” confessed Cascione, who was twice named State West Conference coach of the year in baseball. “Baseball was my life, and I owe it everything. But there’s something about tennis. When I was seven, I’d watch it on TV and enjoy every minute of it.”
But convincing the first female players to join a new tennis program — in the midst of a pandemic and without its own courts — was no easy task. In the community college system, recruitment is crucial, and competing against schools such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, and Pierce—which have their own facilities—is always an uphill battle for Mission College.
“I couldn’t tell them, ‘We’re going to be a good team,’’ Cascione said. “I really didn’t know. ”
Nor was it easy to convince a tennis player to join a program led by a baseball coach. That’s where another of Cascione’s strengths came into play: his candor.
“The only thing I kept telling them was, ‘You’re going to work hard, and you’re going to have a coach who’s going to push you to your limits and who’s going to be there for you every time we’re on the court,’” Cascione said. “There has to be a belief that, even when things go wrong, you’ll hear your teammates cheering you on. And that’s not something you mention just once or twice; it’s something we talk about almost every day in this program.”
Seven young women accepted the challenge in the first year and nine in 2023. Faced with a lack of dedicated facilities, Cascione applied the same philosophy he used when his baseball team had to rent a field: adapt and overcome the obstacle.
In its first season, in 2022, the team surprised everyone by finishing second in its division in the State Western Conference. Since that first season, Cascione has worked to bring the team-oriented mindset he preached in baseball over to tennis.
“I think he’s very articulate,” said Grinner, who hopes to transfer to Cal Lutheran after this year to play alongside her teammate Jaelyn. “He’s able to explain things to you and encourage you even when you’re feeling really, really down, and I think that’s one of his best qualities.”
Said assistant coach Yulia Zhytelna, “First and foremost, he’s a baseball coach, and on the court he shows exactly who he is — in the way he talks, how he cheers, and how he addresses the girls. He doesn’t try to hide anything; that’s just who he is, and I’ve loved that about him.”
Recruiting the talented Nghiem was one of the championship team’s greatest successes. Cascione himself gave her a tour of the school.
“It’s not a very big school, but they’ll go above and beyond for you. They’ll stand by you,” said Nghiem, who also highlighted the team’s culture of camaraderie. “We all went to practice every day. Even if you were sick, you were there. You didn’t have to practice, but you were there. You always supported each other.”
Mission College, located in an area with a strong Latino presence in the northern San Fernando Valley, competed against programs with a long history, their own facilities and international players —such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Santa Monica — so the coaching staff was key to instilling a positive mindset in the players, without letting them get pigeonholed.
“Not many people see us as a community capable of achieving something this big,” said Jaelyn. “So being able to bring the title home to this community really shows the people around us—our peers, our community, and our ethnic group — that it’s possible to achieve something when you put in all your effort.”
Cascione, originally from New York, has lived in the San Fernando Valley since childhood and attended St. Genevieve High in Panorama City. He emphasizes that his coaching staff, which is also deeply rooted in the community, understands the realities of their players’ lives.
“Many of these young women face challenges in various ways. Many hold down two jobs; some come from broken homes and need our support,” said Cascione, who was mentored by Bob Lofrano at Pierce College and Rich Hill at Cal Lutheran.
His assistants, Porfirio Cervantes and Zhytelna — a former Cal State Northridge player who is now a professional — also maintain strong ties to the Valley community.
“I’ve seen the girls’ motivation, especially among the freshmen,” said Zhytelna, the female voice on the coaching staff and a mentor to the players. “I’ve seen in their eyes that they want to give their best.
“At the end of the day, tennis is just a game, and you have to enjoy it — because that’s how the best experiences come about, when you’re enjoying yourself.”
At a community college, where the players change every one or two years, continuity depends on the culture being passed down from one generation to the next.
“The most effective way is through the players themselves,” explained Cascione. “The sophomores pass it on to the newcomers. We talk almost every day about being a great person, a great sister, a great daughter and they have to believe that all of that contributes to making a great tennis player and a great team.”
For Cascione, the success of the tennis program at Mission College — a school with fewer than 10,000 students — boils down to one word: belief.
“The moment you let someone tell you that you can’t, you’re letting negativity in,” said the coach. “Here, we dream big. Sometimes we’ll fall short, but we’re always going to give it our all.”
The results are already beginning to show across the entire athletics department. Mission College recently launched its men’s tennis program — also featuring local players — using the same formula that led to the women’s team’s success.
Mission College is currently in the first phase of construction on its own facilities, which will include soccer and softball fields. Phase two will include tennis courts.
