Emmet

ST. LOUIS — Dodgers right-hander Emmet Sheehan first met MLB.com researcher extraordinaire Sarah Langs during the World Series last year. But he’d known of her before that.

Langs, who turned 33 on Saturday, made her mark on the industry early in her career. Even as a young writer, her talent for digging up interesting stats, along with her contagious positivity and love for the game, set her apart in a crowded media landscape.

Langs was aware of Sheehan too, not only for his blossoming major league career, but also the message stitched into his glove: “K ALS.”

Langs was diagnosed in 2021 with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Geherig’s disease after the Hall of Fame New York Yankees first baseman. Langs advocates for ALS research, partnering with Project ALS, and frequently highlights others who are raising awareness and funds for the cause.

“Just getting the chance to meet her was awesome,” Sheehan said in a conversation with The Times. “She’s a great advocate and a really smart mind in the world of baseball. So it’s awesome to have her.”

When Sheehan pitches, Langs posts pictures of the message on his glove. For his start Friday, Langs’ post included the caption: “May is ALS Awareness Month. Fitting that Emmet Sheehan is on the mound tonight. His gloves all say ‘K ALS.’ How lucky are we to have that sentiment represented on an MLB mound?!”

The next day, MLB posted a video of Sheehan wishing Langs a happy birthday and letting her know he was gifting her a glove as a token of his appreciation.

“I’m happy I get to be a part of the league where [ALS research and awareness] is kind of a main focus,” Sheehan said Saturday, also highlighting Chicago Cubs broadcaster Jon “Boog” Sciambi’s work through Project Main Street. “It’s been really cool.”

Sheehan has displayed “K ALS” on his gloves since college, when he joined a Boston College program that embraced the cause.

Pete Frates, who popularized the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014, was a former B.C. baseball standout. And he returned to serve as the director of baseball operations in 2012, the year he was diagnosed with ALS.

During Sheehan’s first year at Boston College, he got to spend time with Frates and his family before Frates died in December 2019.

“We talked about it a ton,” Sheehan said. “It was a huge part of our program. So it was a good opportunity to learn about it and just how terrible the disease is and how it can affect people.”

The lesson stuck with him. And now, as a major league player, he’s passing it on.

The boos were already loud when Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman, a member of the scandal-embroiled 2017 Astros, came up to bat in the eighth inning. They swelled when he launched a tying home run off Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen and rounded the bases.

Then in the ninth, Dodgers left-hander Tanner Scott surrendered a two-run home run to Dansby Swanson en route to the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss Friday.

The game flipped dramatically after Dodgers starting pitcher Emmet Sheehan left the game. He was charged with just one run and four hits, receiving a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout with one out in the seventh. He tied his career high with 10 strikeouts.

Sheehan cruised through the first three innings, recording seven strikeouts his first time through the Cubs’ batting order and retiring 10 batters in a row.

He finally gave up back-to-back hits, the first baserunners he allowed, in the fourth inning. But a dart of a throw to home from center fielder Andy Pages cut down former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch to keep the Cubs scoreless.

The only run charged to Sheehan came in the seventh inning, after he’d given up a single to Cubs designated hitter Moisés Ballesteros and then handed the ball over to Alex Vesia.

Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during the third inning against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Vesia surrendered a two-run triple to Swanson and an RBI single to Nico Hoerner, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to one.

The Dodgers had led since Will Smith’s three-run home run in the third inning. Then in the fourth, Hyeseong Kim drove in another run with a two-out single.

After Bregman’s home run, the Cubs came inches away from pulling ahead in the same inning. But with a runner on first, Pages cut off Ballesteros’ double before it reached the wall, and he slung the ball across his body to Kim, whose on-target throw home nabbed the Cubs’ Ian Happ as he slid headfirst toward the plate.

The Dodgers’ offense, however, didn’t score again, allowing the Cubs to extend their winning streak to 10.

Counsell doubles down on Ohtani exemption criticism

Days after Cubs manager Craig Counsell alluded to the rule that designates Shohei Ohtani as a “two-way player,” who doesn’t count against the 13-pitcher roster limit (14 in September), his team came face to face with Ohtani and the Dodgers.

“I was answering a different question,” Counsell said Friday, before the first game of the weekend series. “But what sometimes happens is, when you answer a question, whatever is more interesting about your answer is the part that gets printed.”

With the Cubs’ bullpen hit hard by injury, he was originally asked about the lack of flexibility in the roster makeup.

“I’ve never understood it, either,” Counsell told reporters Monday. “It’s an offensive rule, essentially. It’s a rule to help offense more than anything, if you ask me. And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration, — which is probably the most bizarre rule … for one team.”

His comments took on a life of their own, with a focus on the portion relating to Ohtani.

“Not surprised,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s kind of what happens these days when you say certain things. And I don’t think he meant it really maliciously. I mean, they’re going through it on the pitching side.

“But again, this is a rule that’s applicable to Shohei. It’s not a Dodger rule, right? I mean, this was implemented when he was with the Angels. But not surprising, because he’s a very important player, so it gets a lot of attention.”

Counsell said something similar, while standing firm in his evaluation of the rule.

“Look, this is not a Dodger thing, it’s not an Ohtani thing,” Counsell said. “It is a bad rule.”