NLCS

From Jack Harris: During the first five innings Thursday afternoon, the Dodgers patiently waited.

For impossible shadows to subside on a sunny afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

For Milwaukee Brewers rookie star Jacob Misiorowski to lose steam amid an electric bulk-relief outing.

For the door to crack even slightly open, and give their veteran club — seeking a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series — the opportunity to burst through it.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the moment finally arrived.

And once the Brewers wavered, the relentless Dodgers pounced.

With a two-run rally fueled by professional hitting, aggressive baserunning and a little cat-and-mouse with the pitch clock, the Dodgers broke an early tie, took a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and moved to the doorstep of the World Series with a 3-1 win in Game 3 of the NLCS.

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Plaschke: Are these Dodgers the best postseason team in baseball history? They will be

Gold Glove finalist Mookie Betts’ fielding (and hitting) has Dodgers in position for sweep

Shaikin: It’s not easy to repeat as World Series champs, but Dodgers don’t seem to mind

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

All times Pacific

NLCS
Dodgers vs. Milwaukee

Dodgers 2, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Dodgers 5, at Milwaukee 1 (box score)

at Dodgers 3, Milwaukee 1 (box score)

Friday: at Dodgers, 5:30 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Saturday: at Dodgers, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Monday: at Milwaukee, 2 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

*-Tuesday: at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max, AM 570, KTMZ 1220, ESPN radio

ALCS
Seattle vs. Toronto
Seattle 3, at Toronto 1 (box score)
Seattle 10, at Toronto 3 (box score)
Toronto 13, at Seattle 4 (box score)
Toronto 8, at Seattle 2 (box score)
Friday at Seattle, 3 p.m., FS1
Sunday at Toronto, 5 p.m., FS1
*-Monday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox/FS1

*-if necessary

From Ben Bolch: They’re calling their favorite audible again.

One quarterback guru contacts the other, asking for help in creating a dynamic offense.

The answer is always yes. The results say as much about Jerry Neuheisel and Noel Mazzone’s devotion to one another as they do about their ability to mass-produce yards and points for UCLA.

“No matter what happens,” Neuheisel said in an interview with The Times, “as long as you’re around him you have a smile on your face.”

The latest call came from the longtime apprentice to his mentor.

With the Bruins sputtering toward an 0-4 start, Neuheisel spoke with Mazzone about possibly returning to Westwood to assist with the offense. Just like he routinely had when he was UCLA’s offensive coordinator a decade earlier, Mazzone cultivated the necessary intelligence, learning that Neuheisel would be promoted from tight ends coach to playcaller before Neuheisel did.

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From Ryan Kartje: The call that King and Kaylon Miller waited their whole lives to receive came on their drive back from practice, late in their senior year at Calabasas High.

But Kaylon didn’t pick up. His phone marked the call as spam.

Fortunately for the twin brothers, their dream came with a follow-up text. When they called back, former USC offensive line coach Josh Henson delivered the good news. USC wanted both Kaylon, an offensive lineman, and King, a running back, to join the team as preferred walk-ons.

“We had to stop the car on the side of the road,” King said. “We were going crazy.”

“I turned to King, like, ‘What is life right now?’” Kaylon added. “There’s no way this opportunity is coming up.”

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KINGS

Filip Hallander scored his first career goal to give Pittsburgh the lead and the Penguins rallied to beat the Kings 4-2 on Thursday night.

Hallander, playing in his seventh NHL game, jammed in Rickard Rakell’s rebound at the near post for the short-handed goal at 6:50 of the third period to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead in the second game of a three-game California swing.

Evgeni Malkin, Connor Dewar and Sidney Crosby also scored, and Arturs Silovs made 30 saves for the Penguins.

Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala scored in the first period to give the Kings a 2-0 lead after one, but L.A. lost its third in a row. Anton Forsberg made 22 saves.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

DUCKS

Seth Jarvis scored his 100th and 101st NHL goals and added an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes remained the NHL’s only unbeaten team with a 4-1 victory over the Ducks on Thursday night.

Alexander Nikishin scored his first NHL goal and Shayne Gostisbehere matched his career high with three assists for the Hurricanes, who improved to 4-0-0 with their second win to start a six-game trip.

Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist and Frederik Andersen made 23 saves against his former team for Carolina. Jarvis scored the Canes’ first two goals, giving him five in four games during his sizzling start.

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Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1948 — The Green Bay Packers intercept seven passes off Bob Waterfield in a 16-0 victory over the Rams.

1954 — Adrian Burk of the Philadelphia Eagles passes for seven touchdowns in a 49-21 victory over the Washington Redskins. Burk completes 19 of 27 passes for 232 yards and his longest touchdown pass is 26 yards.

1960 — The National League formally awards franchises to the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club Inc. headed by Joan Payson and a Houston, Texas, group headed by Judge Roy Hofheinz, Craig Cullinan and R.E. Smith.

1964 — Quarterback Jerry Rhome is responsible for 56 of Tulsa’s 58 points with seven touchdown passes, two rushing touchdowns and a 2-point conversion in a 58-0 shutout of Louisville.

1974 — The Washington Capitals beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 at the Capital Centre to earn the first victory in franchise history.

1989 — The Calgary Flames tie an NHL record by scoring two goals, both short-handed, in 4 seconds and also three goals in a 27-second span during the third period to pull into an 8-8 tie with the Quebec Nordiques.

1991 — Paul Coffey of the Pittsburgh Penguins becomes the highest-scoring defenseman in NHL history. Coffey gets two assists in an 8-5 victory against the New York Islanders at the Civic Arena, giving him 1,053 career points (309 goals and 744 assists). Coffey passes longtime Islanders star Denis Potvin.

1991 — Angel Cordero Jr. becomes the 3rd jockey to win 7,000 races.

1992 — Jari Kurri of the Kings scores his 500th goal in an 8-6 win over the Boston Bruins. Kurri becomes the first European-trained player and 18th player overall to reach the mark.

2000 — Patrick Roy sets an NHL record with his 448th career victory as Colorado beats Washington 4-3 in overtime. Roy snaps a tie with Terry Sawchuk, who held the mark since 1970. Sawchuk earned his 447th victory in his 968th game, while Roy wins No. 448 in his 847th game.

2015 — Star forward Cristiano Ronaldo becomes Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer across all competitions, overtaking club legend Raul with his 324th goal in a 3-0 win over Levante.

2015 — Jalen Watts-Jackson scoops up a flubbed punt attempt and lumbers 38 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the game, giving No. 7 Michigan State a shocking 27-23 win over No. 12 Michigan at the Big House.

2017 — Boston’s Gordon Hayward breaks his left ankle just five minutes into the season, a grisly injury that overshadows Kyrie Irving’s return to Cleveland and the Cavaliers’ 102-99 win over the shocked Celtics.

2021 — The Chicago Sky defeat the Phoenix Mercury 81-74 to win their first WNBA Championship three games to one. The Sky’s Kahleah Copper is named Finals MVP.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Shohei Ohtani has done next to nothing in the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers could sweep their way into the World Series on Friday, with Ohtani as a footnote in the NLCS story, but baseball’s best player has a flair for the dramatic.

Bring on the latest Babe Ruth comparison!

Baseball’s contemporary two-way superstar can do something Friday that baseball’s original two-way superstar never did.

Ruth started three postseason games as a pitcher, never hitting a home run in those games. Ohtani starts his second postseason game as a pitcher Friday, looking for his first postseason home run as a pitcher.

He could hit a home run and be the winning pitcher Friday, because why not?

“I feel like Shohei is a superhero character,” Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said.

In the division series, Ohtani had one hit in 18 at-bats, with nine strikeouts. After the Dodgers clinched, this was catcher Will Smith: “He didn’t do much this series. I expect next series for him to come out and hit like five homers. That’s just who he is.”

In this series, Ohtani has two hits in 11 at-bats, with five strikeouts. Over the NLDS and NLCS, he is batting .103 with no home runs, and he has struck out in 48% of his at-bats.

He has not hit five home runs in this series, as Smith had optimistically anticipated.

“I’m hoping he will tomorrow,” Smith said Thursday.

If a player has a rough week or two in June and changes up his routine, you might hear about it for a couple of minutes on the pregame show. Ohtani had a rough week or two in October and decided to take batting practice on the field instead of in the indoor cages Wednesday, and it became MAJOR BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS.

Not just for fans, the ones that have made his jersey baseball’s best seller, and the ones set to flock to the grand opening of a Tokyo pop-up gallery Friday, featuring vinyl albums that pay homage to the walk-up songs and anthems of Ohtani and other major league stars.

Ohtani’s teammates came out to watch that rare outdoor batting practice. The sound guys cranked up an extra dose of Michael Bublé. And, because it was Ohtani, he hit a ball off the roof of the right-field pavilion.

So, no, the Dodgers aren’t worried. And, no, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn’t about to move Ohtani down in the lineup.

“Obviously, Shohei’s not performing the way he would like or we expect,” Roberts said. “But I just know how big of a part he is to this thing.

“We’ve got a long way to go. But I just like the work he’s putting in. And I’ll bet on him all day long.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani runs the bases on a leadoff triple against the Brewers in the first inning of Game 3 of the NLCS on Thursday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

For Ohtani’s hitting, pitching has been his kryptonite this season. In his 15 starts, including the one in the NLDS, he is batting .207, and he has struck out in 43% of his at-bats.

“I don’t necessarily think that the pitching has affected my hitting performance,” Ohtani said Wednesday. “Just on the pitching side, as long as I control what I can control, I feel pretty good about putting up results. On the hitting side, just the stance, the mechanics, that’s something that I do. It’s a constant work in progress.”

There was some progress Thursday, when Ohtani tripled to lead off the first inning. On the next pitch, Mookie Betts doubled him home.

“It’s kind of like the Bulls playing without Michael Jordan sometimes,” Betts told TBS after the game. “So we get him going and then it’s really going to be hard to beat. You see what happens immediately. As soon as he gets a hit, good things happen. But he’s going to be there.

“He’s going to be there when the time is right. We all trust and believe in Shohei.”

Before the NLCS, Roberts was blunt about Ohtani’s offensive struggles.

“We’re not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance,” Roberts said.

That sort of performance has continued, and the Dodgers are undefeated since then. That makes it easier to believe in Ohtani, and in what he might deliver on Friday.

“I’m expecting nothing short of incredible,” infielder Max Muncy said.

“All in all, I’m expecting Shohei to pitch a great game, and whatever he does offensively is just kind of icing on the cake at that point. It’s a tough thing to pitch and hit in the same game, especially in a postseason game. He’s going to be fine.”

The Ruth comparison only goes so far. When he pitched in the postseason, he was primarily a pitcher, twice batting ninth. He made 145 pitches in his first postseason start, a 14-inning complete-game victory.

That is about all we can say Ohtani will not do. The Dodgers are so deep that, Roberts’ fear notwithstanding, they could win the World Series with a slumping Ohtani. They did that last year, in fact.

However, with one mighty swing, Friday’s storyline could be less about what he did not do and more about what Ruth could not do. Champagne showers are in the forecast.

MILWAUKEE — He did not scream. He did not pump a fist. He showed hardly any of the emotions the moment seemed to call for, accomplishing something no major league pitcher had achieved in almost a decade.

Instead, after completing MLB’s first postseason complete game since 2017, and the first by a Dodgers pitcher since 2004, Yoshinobu Yamamoto simply walked around the mound, casually removed his glove, and didn’t break into a smile until he looked back at the center-field scoreboard.

“Wow,” he finally mouthed to himself, as the realization of his nine-inning, three-hit, one-run gem finally started to set in.

The reaction came after his old-school, matter-of-fact performance lifted the Dodgers to a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

“I was able to pitch until the end,” Yamamoto said in Japanese afterward. “So I really felt a sense of accomplishment.”

This was a night almost no one saw coming. And not just because Yamamoto failed to complete even one inning in his last trip to American Family Field against the Brewers during the regular season.

In an era of strictly controlled pitch counts and a steadfast reliance on relievers come October, Yamamoto turned back the clock on a night reminiscent of a bygone generation.

He dominated the Brewers with ruthlessness and efficiency. He controlled the game with a steady rhythm and confident demeanor. He gave up a home run on his first pitch, a fastball that Jackson Chourio launched to right field, then barely looked stressed for the 110 throws that followed.

He struck out seven batters. He walked only one. And he left manager Dave Roberts with an easy ninth-inning decision, going back to the mound to finish what he started.

“He’s got true confidence from me that [even the] third time through, at pitch 90, he feels that he’s the best option,” Roberts said. “For me, that just gives me that confidence. … The way he was throwing, I felt really good about him starting the ninth.”

Yamamoto’s outing wasn’t quite like what Blake Snell did in Game 1 of this series, when the team’s other co-ace dazzled with virtually unhittable stuff in a scoreless eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout gem — a start in which he probably could have also gone the distance, had Roberts not turned to his shaky bullpen in the ninth.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during Game 2 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Rather, Yamamoto collected outs much in a more industrious manner — giving the Brewers plenty to hit, with the confidence they wouldn’t punish him.

“From the start, I felt they were being very aggressive,” Yamamoto said. “And I threw pitches that took advantage of that.”

Early on, it did take time for the 27-year-old right-hander to find his footing. After Chourio’s homer, he had to work around baserunners in each of the next four innings.

But eventually, Yamamoto dialed in his trademark splitter, found a groove while sharing pitch-calling duties with catcher Will Smith, and finished the night by retiring the final 14 batters.

He made it all seem so easy and simple, the way modern postseason pitching is no longer supposed to be.

“What he did tonight,” Smith said, “that was just domination.”

So much so, Kiké Hernández joked he got “bored” playing left field.

It had been eight years to the day since Justin Verlander tossed the majors’ last complete game in the playoffs. Not since José Lima’s shutout in the 2004 NL Division Series had a Dodgers starter accomplished the feat.

Of the 23 postseason complete games in the club’s Los Angeles history, Yamamoto’s three hits given up were tied for the fewest. His four baserunners allowed were fewer than Sandy Koufax or Orel Hershiser or Fernando Valenzuela had ever yielded in such an outing.

“Good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week,” said future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, who has never thrown a complete game in the playoffs. “And you’re seeing that right now.”

It helped that the Dodgers had plenty of good hitting themselves, staking Yamamoto to a lead by the time he returned to work in the second.

Teoscar Hernández hits a solo home run for the Dodgers in the second inning against the Brewers on Tuesday in Game 2 of the NLCS.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

After Chourio’s home run, Teoscar Hernández tied the score with a solo home run in the second inning. Andy Pages added a two-out RBI double three batters later, putting Brewers ace Freddy Peralta in a hole he wouldn’t dig out of.

Peralta’s final pitch led to another run in the sixth, with Max Muncy taking him deep with what was his 14th career postseason homer, setting a franchise high.

In the seventh and eighth, the Dodgers added on again, including an RBI single from Shohei Ohtani that snapped his one-for-23 drought since the start of the NLDS.

“Right now, our entire team is playing the best baseball we’ve played all year,” Roberts said. “We’re peaking at the right time.”

Still, all the Dodgers really needed on Tuesday was the brilliance they got from Yamamoto.

After working around an error from Muncy in the second, then third- and fourth-inning singles before a walk in the fifth, the pitcher was in total control by the night’s end.

From the fifth inning on, the Brewers only hit two balls out of the infield as Yamamoto mixed curveballs, cutters and sinkers to go along with his late-biting splitter and high-riding fastball. The Brewers’ plan was to be aggressive, but all it did was allow Yamamoto — who never threw 20 pitches in a single inning, and needed just 46 total for the final four — to stay on the mound.

“Sometimes,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, “great pitching brings out the worst in you.”

“Just super efficient tonight,” Smith added. “That was really special.”

Highlights from the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS.

The outcome has the Dodgers in total command of this series, leading 2-0 and having hardly even exposed their bullpen.

Tyler Glasnow is set to start Game 3 at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. Ohtani will follow him in Game 4. Even if things go sideways, Snell and Yamamoto will be back on deck for the two games after that.

Technically, this remains a battle for a pennant. But really, it has become a showcase for a Dodgers rotation that has a 1.54 ERA in the playoffs — and the first complete game in recent postseason memory.

“All of them are throwing the ball amazing, but we kind of knew that,” Kershaw said, describing this starting staff as the best he’s ever seen in his 18 years with the Dodgers. “Snell did it, and you can’t pitch much better than that. And then what Yama did today was amazing.”

Tyrese Haliburton was once a Milwaukee Brewers fan.

Now he’s possibly their biggest troll.

On Saturday, the injured Indiana Pacers star sat on his team’s bench during a preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder wearing a Chicago Cubs jersey. It just so happened that the Cubs were playing the Brewers that day in Game 5 of their National League Division Series.

Two days later, Haliburton arrived at the Pacers’ preseason game against the San Antonio Spurs rocking a Dodgers jersey (reportedly that of L.A. superstar Shohei Ohtani). Again, certainly by pure coincidence, the two-time NBA All-Star was representing a team that was facing the Brewers in a high-stakes postseason game, this time Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.

The Brewers are playing for only the second World Series berth in team history, and a high-profile athlete who grew up less than two hours from Milwaukee in Oshkosh, Wis., is actively rooting against them.

The reason, it seems, is because of an alleged snub that took place in the summer of 2024. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in April, Haliburton said he had been scheduled to throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers game last summer … until he and the Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks during the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs.

Injured Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton wore Chicago Cubs gear during a preseason game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 11.

(Andy Lyons / Getty Images)

“I was a Brewers fan,” he said, “and then I was supposed to throw the first pitch last summer, and they X’ed that after the playoff series. So I said, ‘You know what? I’m no longer a Brewers fan.’”

After that, Haliburton said, he became a “free agent” as a baseball fan.

Haliburton must have been thrilled with the result of Game 1 of the NLCS, a 2-1 Dodgers win, but he might want to track down jerseys for the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays just in case — the Brewers are still just four wins away from facing one of those teams in the World Series.

MILWAUKEE — The disparity in the payrolls was the focus of the series before the first pitch ever delivered, the handiwork of the manager in charge of the small-market franchise that won more regular season games than any team in baseball.

“I’m sure that most Dodgers players can’t name eight guys on our roster,” joked Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers.

If the preceding six months were a testament to how a team can win without superstars, the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series was a display of the firepower that can be purchased with a record-breaking $415-million payroll.

The Dodgers won a game in which a confusing play at the center-field wall resulted in an inning-ending double play that cost them a run — and very likely more.

They won a game in which they stranded 11 runners.

They won a game in which the Brewers emptied their top-flight bullpen to secure as many favorable matchups as possible.

The Dodgers won because they had a $162-million first baseman in Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning solo home run pushed them in front. They won because they had a $182-million starting pitcher in Blake Snell, who pitched eight scoreless innings. They won because they had a $365-million outfielder-turned-shortstop in Mookie Betts, who drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.

Talent wins.

The Dodgers can buy as much of it as they want.

The visions of the Brewers’ small-ball offense overcoming the absence of a Freeman or a Betts or a Shohei Ohtani?

In retrospect, how cute.

The thinking of how the Brewers’ pitching depth could triumph over the Dodgers’ individual superiority?

In retrospect, how delusional.

The Dodgers absorbed the Brewers’ best collective shot, and they emerged with a victory that won them control of the best-of-seven series.

Their $325-million co-ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, will start Game 2 on Tuesday. Ohtani, their $700-million two-way player, and their $136.5-million No. 4 starter Tyler Glasnow will pitch Games 3 and 4 at Dodger Stadium in some order.

How can the Brewers match that?

Bring on the Seattle Mariners.

Bring on the World Series.

The Brewers’ futile effort to stop the Dodgers on Monday night consisted of them deploying six pitchers in a so-called bullpen game. The assembly line of arms was solid, but Snell was exceptional.

Snell yielded only one baserunner over eighth innings — Caleb Durbin, who singled to lead off the third inning.

Snell picked him off.

Against the team with the lowest chase rate baseball, Snell finished with 10 punchouts.

“This,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “was pretty special.”

Only when the Dodgers turned to their bullpen in the ninth inning were they in any sort of danger, with Roki Sasaki looking gassed after his three-inning relief appearance against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the NL Division Series.

Also of concern was the effect the previous series had on the Dodgers’ most valuable property, Ohtani. In the four games against the Phillies, Ohtani was one for 18 with nine strikeouts.

There was no way of knowing whether Ohtani was out of his mini-slump, as the Brewers elected to challenge him as infrequently as possible.

Facing opener Aaron Ashby, Ohtani drew a walk to start the game. He was walked two other times, both intentionally.

He was hitless in his two other plate appearances, as he flied out to left field in the third inning and grounded out to first base in the seventh. His plate discipline was improved, and his third-inning at-bat against Quinn Priester lasted eight pitches.

“I thought Shohei’s at-bats were great tonight,” Roberts said.

Before the game, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman pushed back against the perceptionthat Ohtani was even slumping, describing how the Phillies pitched to him in borderline historic terms.

“I think it was the most impressive execution against a hitter I’ve ever seen,” Friedman said.

Perhaps not wanting to create any bulletin-board material for Ohtani, Murphy also described the mini-slump as a reflection of the excellence of Phillies pitchers Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo and Ranger Suarez.

“Those guys are really, really good,” Murphy said. “So I don’t consider Ohtani struggling. I don’t.”

Murphy behaved like it, his fear of Ohtani healthy enough to where he walked him intentionally to load the bases in the ninth inning.

The move backfired when Betts walked to push in an insurance run.

Ohtani wasn’t the only big-money player on the team.

MILWAUKEE — Entering this week’s National League Championship Series, the Dodgers’ pitching plan seemed simple.

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow started the final two games of the team’s NL Division Series victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell were next in line for Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers.

All the Dodgers needed to do was slot Snell in for Game 1 on Monday, making him an option to pitch again on four days’ rest in Game 5. Then, they could have Ohtani go in Game 2 on Tuesday, allowing him to pitch before Wednesday’s scheduled off-day (which has been the team’s preference for the two-way star) and be available for another start if the series returns to Milwaukee for Games 6 and 7.

On Sunday, however, manager Dave Roberts announced a different plan.

Snell will indeed go in Game 1, trying to build upon the 1.38 ERA he posted in his first two outings this postseason.

But instead of Ohtani in Game 2, it will be Yamamoto who gets the ball — pushing Ohtani’s next pitching appearance to sometime later this series, Roberts said.

“We just don’t know which day,” Roberts said of when Ohtani will get the ball. “But he’ll pitch at some point.”

That alignment came as a surprise, but also had benefits from the Dodgers’ perspective.

Unlike Ohtani, who has gotten at least six days off between every one of his pitching outings since the start of July, Yamamoto has routinely pitched on five days’ rest this season. By starting him in Game 2, he can stay on that same schedule to pitch a potential Game 6 — something the Dodgers would have been less comfortable having Ohtani do.

By pushing Ohtani back to at least Game 3, of course, the Dodgers will sacrifice their ability to get him two starts in this series. However, even if he pitches in one of the Dodgers’ home games later this week, Ohtani could come out of the bullpen in a potential Game 7 — the kind of relief opportunity the team had hinted at for weeks down the stretch this season.

Because Ohtani will make just one pitching start in the NLCS, Roberts said it’s not as imperative that it come before an off-day, either.

“You have two other guys that potentially can pitch on regular rest,” Roberts said. “So [it’s about] how do you get your best pitchers the most innings in a potential seven-game series?”

Outside of pitching considerations, however, there’s another reason delaying Ohtani’s next pitching outing could also make sense.

In the NLDS, Ohtani went one for 18 at the plate with nine strikeouts. He looked particularly out of sorts in Game 1, when he struck out four times in what was his first career playoff game both hitting and pitching.

Coming out of the series, Roberts emphasized the need for Ohtani to “recalibrate” at the plate, noting that the team was “not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance” from its biggest star.

And while Roberts insisted on Sunday that Ohtani’s offensive slump had “no bearing” on the team shuffling its rotation, giving Ohtani two games at the start of the NLCS to focus soley on hitting certainly won’t hurt his efforts to straighten out his swing.

“I expect a different output from Shohei on the offensive side this series,” Roberts said.

For at the least the next couple days, that will be his only objective.

When Shohei Ohtani was asked about his woeful performance at the plate in the Dodgers’ National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies last week, he first gave credit to the opposition.

Then, after a series that saw the Phillies counter him with one left-handed pitcher after the next, he was also quick to point out that he wasn’t alone.

“It was pretty difficult for left-handed hitters,” Ohtani said in Japanese amid the Dodgers’ clubhouse celebration following their Game 4 victory. “This was also the case for Freddie [Freeman].”

The Phillies did indeed make life tough on the Dodgers’ best lefty bats.

Freeman was only three for 15 in the series, albeit with a key Game 2 double and a .294 on-base-percentage.

Max Muncy was four for nine in the series, but spent most of it waiting on the bench, not getting a start in any of the three contests the Phillies had a southpaw on the mound.

And as a team, the Dodgers hit just .199 with 41 strikeouts in the four-game series.

However, no one’s struggles were as pronounced as Ohtani’s — the soon-to-be four-time MVP winner, who in the NLDS looked like anything but.

Ohtani struck out in each of his first four at-bats in Game 1. He didn’t get his first hit until grounding an RBI single through the infield in the seventh inning of Game 2.

After that, Ohtani’s only other time reaching base safely was when the Phillies intentionally walked him in the seventh inning of Game 4.

His final stat line from the series: One for 18, nine strikeouts and a whole lot of questions about what went wrong.

Ohtani, who was coming off a three-hit, two-homer wild-card round, did acknowledge Thursday night that “there were at-bats that didn’t go the way I thought they would.”

But, he quickly added: “The opposing pitchers didn’t make many mistakes. They pitched wonderfully, in a way that’s worthy for the postseason. There were a lot of games like that for both teams.”

The real question coming out of the series was about the root cause of Ohtani’s unexpected struggles.

Was it simply because of the tough pitching matchups, having faced a lefty in 12 of his 20 trips to the plate? Or had his faltering approach created more legitimate concerns, the kind that could threaten to continue into the NL Championship Series?

“I think a lot of it actually was driven by the left-handed pitching,” manager Dave Roberts said Saturday, as the Dodgers awaited to face either the Chicago Cubs or Milwaukee Brewers in an NLCS that will begin on Monday.

However, the manager also put the onus on his $700-million superstar to be better.

“Hoping that he can do a little self-reflecting on that series, and how aggressive he was outside of the strike zone, passive in the zone,” Roberts said. “The at-bat quality needs to get better.”

For the Dodgers, the implications are stark.

“We’re not gonna win the World Series with that sort of performance,” Roberts continued. “So we’re counting on a recalibration, getting back into the strike zone.”

From the very first at-bat of Game 1 — when he was also the starting pitcher in his first career playoff game as a two-way player — Ohtani struggled to make the right swing decisions.

He chased three pitches off the inside of the plate from Phillies lefty Cristopher Sánchez, which Roberts felt “kinda set the tone” for his series-long struggles, then took a called third strike the next two times he faced him.

From there, the 31-year-old slugger could never seem to dial back into his approach.

He went down looking again in Game 1 against left-handed reliever Matt Strahm. He led off Game 2 with another strikeout against another lefty in Jesús Luzardo. On and on it went, with Ohtani continuing to chase inside junk, flailing at pitches that darted off the plate the other way, and finding his only reprieve in a rematch with Strahm in Game 2 when he got just enough on an inside sinker.

Roberts’ hope was that, moving forward, Ohtani would be able to learn and adjust.

“Understanding when he faces left-handed pitching, what they’re gonna try to do: Crowd him in, off, spin him away,” Roberts said. “He’s just gotta be better at managing the hitting zone. I’m counting on it. We’re all counting on it.”

Roberts also conceded that Ohtani’s at-bats on the day he pitched in Game 1 seemed to be especially rushed.

“[When] he’s pitching, he’s probably trying to conserve energy, not trying to get into at-bats,” Roberts said. “It hasn’t been good when he’s pitched. I do think that’s part of it. We’ve got to think through this and come up with a better game plan.”

After all, while Ohtani might not have been the only struggling hitter in the NLDS, his importance to the lineup is greater than anyone’s. The Dodgers can only endure without him for so long.

From Jack Harris: Andy Pages hit a ground ball to the mound.

Orion Kerkering picked it up and threw away the Philadelphia Phillies’ season.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Thursday, that’s how the Dodgers secured a walk-off, series-clinching 2-1 win that sends them to the NL Championship Series.

On a throwing error from Kerkering, who initially booted the broken-bat grounder before retrieving the ball in front of the mound.

On a toss home that went sailing to the backstop, even as catcher J.T. Realmuto motioned for Kerkering to get the sure out at first base.

On a brutal, inexplicable decision from the Phillies’ 24-year-old reliever, one that allowed Hyeseong Kim to score from third and pandemonium to be unleashed inside Dodger Stadium.

“Instant classic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“That ranks up there,” third baseman Max Muncy added.

Continue reading here

Dodgers box score

Plaschke: A wild finish propels the Dodgers into NLCS and past their toughest playoff test

Tommy Edman and Andy Pages put struggles aside to be key part of decisive Dodgers’ inning

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

NL Division Series
All times Pacific

Dodgers vs. Philadelphia
Dodgers 5, at Philadelphia 3 (box score)
Dodgers 4, at Philadelphia 3 (box score)
Philadelphia 8, at Dodgers 2 (box score)
at Dodgers 2, Philadelphia 1 (11) (box score)

Chicago vs. Milwaukee
at Milwaukee 9, Chicago 3 (box score)
at Milwaukee 7, Chicago 3 (box score)
at Chicago 4, Milwaukee 3 (box score)
at Chicago 6, Milwaukee 0 (box score)
Saturday at Milwaukee, 5 p.m., TBS, truTV, HBO Max

AL Division Series

Detroit vs. Seattle
Detroit 3, at Seattle 2 (11) (box score)
at Seattle 3, Detroit 2 (box score)
Seattle 8, at Detroit 4 (box score)
at Detroit 9, Seattle 3 (box score)
Friday at Seattle, 5 p.m., Fox

New York vs. Toronto
at Toronto 10, New York 1 (box score)
at Toronto 13, New York 7 (box score)
at New York 9, Toronto 6 (box score)
Toronto 5, at New York 2 (box score)

*-if necessary

LAKERS

From Broderick Turner: Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James will miss the season opener with what the team said was a sciatica nerve injury on his right side, the team announced after practice Thursday. The Lakers said James will be re-evaluated in approximately three to four weeks and that further updates will be provided at that time.

James, who is entering an NBA-record 23rd season, was limited to mostly individual workouts while dealing with nerve irritation in the glute during training camp. He didn’t play in the Lakers’ first two preseason games.

The Lakers open the regular season Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors, but fans won’t get to see legends James and Stephen Curry share the court together at Crypto.com Arena.

Continue reading here

Fan is suing LeBron James for ‘fraud, deception’ after Lakers star teased ‘Second Decision’

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Matthew Stafford has been regarded as one of the NFL’s top arm talents since he was selected No. 1 overall in the 2009 draft. The 17th-year pro ranks among the top 10 all-time in several passing categories.

But the Rams star quarterback has never finished a season No. 1 in yards passing.

Stafford, 37, came close a few times during his 12-season tenure with the Detroit Lions. He finished third behind Drew Brees and Tom Brady in 2011, second behind Brees in 2012, third behind Peyton Manning and Brees in 2013, and third behind Brady and Philip Rivers in 2017.

And in 2021, his first season with the Rams, he was third behind Brady and Justin Herbert.

Could this be the year Stafford finishes at the top?

Continue reading here

DUCKS

Mason Marchment scored in his Seattle debut, Joey Daccord made 35 saves, and the Kraken beat the Ducks 3-1 on Thursday night to win their season opener for the first time in team history.

Vince Dunn and Jared McCann also scored for the Kraken, who had gone 0-3-1 in their previous four openers, including a 5-4 overtime loss to the Ducks in 2022.

Daccord, who last Friday became the first player in Arizona State hockey history to have his number retired, made 16 of his saves in the first period on 17 shots.

Beckett Sennecke scored for the Ducks in his NHL debut and Lukas Dostal made 28 saves.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1920 — The Chicago Cardinals play to a 0-0 tie with the Chicago Tigers in their first American Professional Football Association game. The game is held at Cubs Park, later renamed Wrigley Field.

1936 — Ohio State trumpet player John Brungart dots the ‘i’ in “Script Ohio” for the first time during halftime of the Buckeyes’ 6-0 loss to Pittsburgh at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. After Brungart, the honor began to go exclusively to sousaphone players, with exceptions made for well-known fans of the Ohio State program, like John Glenn, Jack Nicklaus and Bob Hope.

1964 — John Henry Johnson of Pittsburgh rushes for 200 yards to lead the Steelers to a 23-7 triumph over the Cleveland Browns.

1974 — Danny Gare of Buffalo scores 18 seconds into his first NHL game as the Sabres beat the Boston Bruins 9-5.

1979 — Quebec’s Real Cloutier scores three goals in his first NHL game, but the Nordiques lose 5-3 to the Atlanta Flames.

1981 — USC’s Marcus Allen rushes for 211 yards, his fifth straight 200-plus rushing game, in a 13-10 loss to Arizona.

1987 — Columbia sets an NCAA record with its 35th straight loss, 38-8 to Princeton.

1998 — New Hampshire’s Jerry Azumah becomes the first back in NCAA Division I-AA history to run for more than 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons. He has 165 yards and one touchdown in a 22-13 loss to Richmond.

2004 — New England wins its 19th straight game, setting an NFL record for consecutive wins — counting the playoffs — with a 24-10 victory over Miami.

2011 — NBA Commissioner David Stern cancels the first two weeks of the season after owners and players are unable to reach a new labor deal and end the lockout. Games originally scheduled to be played from Nov. 1 through Nov. 14 are wiped out.

2011 — Anthony Calvillo becomes pro football’s all-time passing leader in spectacular fashion with a 50-yard TD pass to Jamel Richardson that cements the Montreal Alouettes’ 29-19 win over the Toronto Argonauts. Calvillo needed 258 yards to break Damon Allen’s all-time CFL record of 72,381 yards.

2017 — The United States are eliminated from World Cup contention with a shocking 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad scores a pair of first-half goals and the United States will miss the World Cup for the first time since 1986. The 28th-ranked Americans needed merely a tie against 99th-ranked Trinidad, which lost its sixth straight qualifier last week.

2017 — The Vegas Golden Knights win their home opener and remain unbeaten three games into their inaugural season with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Marc-Andre Fleury makes 31 saves for the Golden Knights, who become the first team in NHL history to begin their debut season with three straight wins.

2020 — 19 year-old Iga Swiatek of Poland wins her country’s first singles major title as she beats American Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 at the French Open.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

1920 — Cleveland Indians second baseman Bill Wambsganns completes an unassisted World Series triple play.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

No, he didn’t.

Yes, they did!

No, it’s inconceivable that Philadelphia Phillies’ reliever Orion Kerkering would botch a grounder and throw it away with the season on the line.

Yes, it happened with the bases loaded and the Dodgers scored to steal a National League Division Series clinching 2-1 victory in 11 taut innings Thursday at Dodger Stadium!

Clinched, just in time.

Clinched, when they could have clenched.

Clinched, like a champion.

With their backs quickly approaching the wall, faced with a loss that would return the series to Philadelphia for a deciding Game 5, the Dodgers dug in and lashed out and, at the last possible minute, shoved the talented and favored Philadelphia Phillies out of their path to take a three-games-to-one series win and clear the way toward their second consecutive World Series title.

And they did it with a mad, mindless throw from a frozen, frightened reliever.

Has any postseason series ended with such an error?

It happened in the 11th, after Tommy Edman hit a one-out single to left, then moved to third one out later on a single by Max Muncy. Kiké Hernández walked to load the bases, bringing up the struggling Andy Pages, who entered the day with an .053 playoff average and had gone hitless in four previous at-bats.

He proceeded to hit into his fifth out… except Kerkering muffed the grounder. When the pitcher finally picked up the ball, he still had plenty of time to throw out Pages at first. Instead, he panicked and threw it home, launching it far over catcher JT Realmuto’s head.

Pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim scored the winning run as Kerkering stood stunned on the mound and the Dodgers danced wildly across the field.

How the Dodgers defeated the Phillies in the 11th inning in Game 4 of the NLDS.

They now advance to the National League Championship Series, where they will be heavy favorites against either the Milwaukee Brewers or Chicago Cubs.

A victory in that seven-game set will land them back in the World Series, where they will be even heavier favorites against whatever inferior team the American League can muster.

Yeah, the rest of their journey should be the easy part, the Dodgers already conquering their Goliath equal in a Phillies series that was essentially the World Series.

Remember last fall when they defeated the San Diego Padres in a tense five-game fight before cruising to the title? This was that. This was the two best teams in baseball. This was the Dodgers once again swallowing all the pressure and refusing to relent.

After a breathtaking six-inning scoreless pitching duel between the Dodgers’ Tyler Glasnow and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez, the Phillies struck first in the seventh with a single, an error by reliever Emmet Sheehan, and a double by Nick Castellanos.

The Dodgers countered in the bottom of the seventh with two walks and a single followed by a bases-loaded walk drawn by Mookie Betts against closer Jhoan Duran.

This set the stage for the Error Heard ‘Round The World. This set the stage for what should absolutely be a second consecutive World Series championship.

Before these playoffs there was a lot of talk about the Dodgers’ late-season struggles that were symbolized by that blown no-hitter in Baltimore. They had no bullpen depth. They had no offensive patience. They were headed for another early October exit.

At least, that’s what outsiders thought. That’s not what the veteran, pressure-proof Dodgers thought.

“I think it boils down to the guys we have in the clubhouse,” said Max Muncy earlier this week. “We have a lot of experience, a lot of really good players. We’ve been there before. We accomplished it.”

Turns out, nobody knew the Dodgers like the players wearing the uniform.

“We knew who we are as a team all year long,” said Muncy. “Even though we weren’t playing up to it at certain points, we trusted who we were. Like I said, we knew who we were in the clubhouse, not one person faulted in there, even in the rough times.”

They were impressive in the four games against the Phillies. Here’s predicting they’re going to get even better before the month ends.

“I still think there’s another gear in there,” said Muncy. “I don’t think we fully reached where we can be at. And that’s not saying we are, and that’s not saying we aren’t. But I still think there’s a whole other level in there we haven’t reached yet.”

The Times’ Bill Shaikin quickly asked, “What would tell you you’ve reached it?”

“I think you would know,” said Muncy.

The media laughed. The rest of baseball shivered.