pair

Though the Dodgers would eventually break open the game via the long ball, and despite the Atlanta Braves being forced to throw a bullpen game coming out of a taxing wild-card round, Game 1 of the NLDS began as a pitching duel.

Braves left-hander Dylan Dodd held the Dodgers to just two hits through three scoreless innings. But Dodgers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal was even more impressive, despite the heat. He set the Dodgers up for a 5-3 victory to take control of the series.

“A really good starting rotation obviously is really helpful, but it is very impactful for quality of life,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before the game. “We have gone through years where our starting rotation hasn’t been as good. In ’24 that wasn’t a strength of our roster. We won the World Series. The quality of life is way more difficult than being able to pencil in a Skubal, a [Blake] Snell, a [Yoshinobu Yamamoto], and a [Tyler Galsnow.]”

The temperature at first pitch was 100 degrees, and still climbing, making it the second-hottest recorded first-pitch temperature in postseason history, behind only Game 1 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Astros (103), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The announced attendance was over 50,000, but far fewer fans were in their seats in the dangerous temperatures.

Skubal’s command wasn’t at its sharpest in the first inning, with his changeup consistently missing high. But he adjusted before the second and went on to limit the Braves to one run through six innings.

The difference was clear when contrasting Braves leadoff hitter Drake Baldwin’s first and second at-bats against Skubal.

Skubal fell behind with his first pitch of the game, a fastball below the zone. He worked back, with another fastball for a strike and a foul-tipped changeup low and away. But then, in a two-strike count, Skubal missed his spot, giving Baldwin a thigh-high changeup that he could drive.

That sharp single through the middle of the infield was one of just two hits he gave up Saturday. And after it, he retired 15 straight batters.

By the time Skubal faced Baldwin again, with two outs in the third, his whole arsenal was dialed in. Four of the last five outs he’d recorded were strikeouts, with a different putaway pitch for each: slider, sinker, curveball, changeup.

This time, Skubal was the aggressor, getting to a 0-2 count with a slider and sinker inside. Then Baldwin avoided chasing a pair of sliders to even the count. Skubal came back inside with a fastball that Baldwin fouled off.

So, to end the at-bat, Skubal went to his signature changeup, which he’d regained feel for the previous inning. It dove out of the bottom of the strikezone, and Baldwin swung through it, ending the inning on a strikeout.

Skubal strutted off the mound, hit the palm of his glove twice, and slapped hands with catcher Will Smith.

Skubal didn’t allow another baserunner until the sixth inning, when Sean Murphy launched a top-rail sinker for a solo homer.

Dodger pitcher Tarik Skubal is congradulated by Will Smith after making quick work of the Braves in the second ining.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers’ lead, however, remained intact. Two innings earlier Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández broke up the scoreless tie with a two-run homer.

Hernández knows how to fire up a crowd in a big postseason moment. And he seized his chance when he got a cutter down the middle from Braves reliever Victor Mederos. Hernández tossed his bat back toward the home dugout, and it sliced through the air end-over-end.

With the Dodgers’ lead cut to one run, Skubal labored through the rest of the sixth inning, issuing a pair of walks, his first of the game. Smith and pitching coach Mark Prior came out for separate mound visits. But manager Dave Roberts stayed in his seat and trusted his Game 1 starter to face Braves cleanup hitter Matt Olson for a third time.

Skubal escaped the inning by getting Olson to chase an outside fastball and fly out to left field.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Dodgers’ bats came alive. Right fielder Kyle Tucker, in his first postseason game as a Dodger, hit a two-run home run. And Max Muncy joined in with a solo homer of his own.

Dodgers relievers Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each retired the side in order, in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Lefty Tanner Scott, whom Roberts plans to use in a fireman role, surrendered a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the ninth. But right-hander Evan Phillips came in to record the final out.

“Dancing With the Stars” pro Witney Carson on Wednesday shut down rumors that she wants her celebrity pairing to be voted off the new season.

Following Week 3 of the competition — which bid farewell to Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart on Tuesday — the 32-year-old dancer took to social media to address suggestions that she wished to be voted off with her celebrity partner, Guillermo Rodriguez.

Since Season 35 of DWTS premiered Sept. 15, the two have been in the bottom three couples each week, but avoided elimination. Some online fans have interpreted her facial expressions as disappointment upon learning her pair was safe.

“[Being in the bottom three] doesn’t necessarily mean all those couples have the lowest votes, but it does mean that you don’t get to celebrate that you’re safe. You only get to hear who’s going home,” Carson explained in a TikTok video uploaded Tuesday night. “So my face, what you’re seeing, is genuinely sad for the people going home and then excitement.”

The professional ballroom dancer also slammed rumors that she was at all dissatisfied with her celebrity pairing alongside 55-year-old Rodriguez, the talk show sidekick to Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“I am truly so grateful to continue on in this competition week after week with Guillermo because he really deserves it. He is genuinely a kind person, he genuinely wants to get better, he never gives up,” Carson continued on TikTok. “Anytime I’m resting in rehearsals, he’s practicing… What you see on Tuesdays, that is his best…”

Last year, Carson took home the top prize alongside Australian conservationist Robert Irwin; in 2014, she took home her first Mirrorball Trophy alongside actor Alfonso Ribeiro, the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” actor who now co-hosts the show alongside dancer Julianne Hough.

Rodriguez too has become a crowd favorite, with various fans noting his improvement each week — including Kimmel, who last week on his talk show joked that his co-star has won the popular vote “more times than Donald Trump.”

Earlier this week, the pair wowed “DWTS” fans during “Yacht Rock Night” with a foxtrot performed to “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” Rodriguez finished the routine with a funnyman stunt by revealing himself in a coconut bra and inked-belly with the words: “Dancing 4 the People.”

Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson appear on “Dancing With the Stars” Season 35’s Yacht Rock Night.

(Eric McCandless / Disney)

“I think there’s a lot to say about someone who may not have the skills, but is willing to learn and put in the work. That’s an amazing thing and he deserves it,” Carson added.

Carson also used the social media video to tame buzz that she wants to go home because of her pregnancy, she said, “I’m doing all the things that my doctor has approved of, so you guys can rest easy.”

In August, the dancer made headlines when she revealed on “Good Morning America” that she would participate in this new season while pregnant, a scenario that the mother of two admitted was not on her “bingo card,” but that she would stick with it to see what her body was capable of.

“I know how far to push my body and the baby’s health has always been my number one priority,” Carson reiterated in her TikTok video. “So I have no reserve when it comes to speaking up about physically overdoing it.”

Wedding bells are ringing for Paul “DJ Pauly D” DelVecchio and his longtime girlfriend Nikki Hall.

The “Jersey Shore” alum proposed to the Jamaican-born influencer over the weekend while DJing at the Omnia Dayclub at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The popular party destination posted the proposal on Instagram on Sunday with the caption, “Things just got serious,” alongside a video of DelVecchio bringing Hall onto a stage and getting down on one knee.

Although a techno remix of Bruno Mars’ “Marry You” was blasting in the video, the DJ’s lips are seen mouthing, “Will you marry me?” Hall nods enthusiastically in response, and bikini-clad models appear in the background carrying signs overhead that read “Congratulations on the engagement! Yeah Buddy!”

Through a series of clips and photos shared on DelVecchio’s Instagram stories, it appears the two celebrated the engagement with Italian food and a hotel room decked out with red rose petals and balloons.

“We’ve spent these years choosing each other, growing together, building a life we love, and never rushing a chapter just because the world was ready to read it,” Hall posted on Instagram, adding that saying yes to DelVecchio was “the easiest YES” she’s ever said.

DelVecchio celebrated in the replies of the post, writing, “She said yesssssss!!!!!”

The pair met back in 2019 on MTV’s “Double Shot at Love,” a reality dating show hosted by DelVecchio and fellow “Jersey Shore” alum Vinny Guadagnino, in which 20 women competed to capture the hearts of both Pauly and Vinny, respectively.

The early days of their relationship played out on the series, with both Hall and DelVecchio smitten from the start. Their season ended with a twist when DelVecchio chose to say goodbye to Hall and “roll solo for now.” But clearly, his decision didn’t stick, and in 2020, the pair quarantined together during the pandemic, a revelation that arose when eagle-eyed fans noticed their social media content had identical backgrounds.

CRUZ Beckham has achieved what the Spice Girls failed to do — get mum Victoria back into a recording studio.

Posh Spice, 52, recorded a track with her musician son.

And sharing this selfie online, Cruz, 21, wrote: “Yeah we got posh back in the studio.”

Posh lives up to her name even on a step machine, posting a clip of herself — in skirt and heels.

We revealed earlier this month how Cruz and girlfriend Jackie Apostel appear to be firmly in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, judging by a cheeky selfie shared online.

The 21-year-old couldn’t keep his hands to himself as the couple posed for a bathroom mirror selfie, with Jackie smiling for the camera.

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Cruz shared the snap to his Instagram as the pair got ready for a glam night out at London Fashion Week.

The son of David and Victoria Beckham has been dating German-Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer Jackie, 30, since 2024.

Jackie previously revealed they met when their managers put them in a studio to write songs together.

The model said their work turned into a friendship before it became anything romantic and that she was Cruz’s “biggest fan forever”.

The loved-up snap comes after Cruz released his debut EP, Wear & Tear, last month.

He also performed with his band The Breakers at Reading Festival, with parents David and Victoria watching from the side of the stage.

California Deputy Atty. Gen. Marissa Roy has a lead in the race to replace Los Angeles City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, who lost her seat in a historic primary rout this spring, new polling shows.

Among likely Los Angeles voters, Roy leads by 10 percentage points over her rival, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. John McKinney, following the pair’s shocking electoral upset in June, according to a poll released last week by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

The spread closely mirrors City Councilmember Nithya Raman’s breakaway lead in her bitter fight to unseat Mayor Karen Bass, who has outraised her for months.

But that’s where the similarities end.

The mayor’s contest has been called a “knife fight” for its no-holds-barred campaigning. It has also drawn sustained — and occasionally sensational — national attention since Raman’s buzzer-beating entrance in February.

By contrast, the city attorney’s race remains all but unknown: More than two-thirds of likely voters are still undecided, versus about a third who remain uncommitted in the mayor’s contest, polling showed.

L.A.’s top litigator commands a budget of nearly $200 million, plays a role in shaping city ordinances, and wages court battles on behalf of the public. The city attorney also prosecutes misdemeanors — a job most other cities keep separate. Each year, the office weighs some 120,000 violations, deciding whether to file charges and how to pursue them.

More recently, city attorneys across the country have championed activist litigation, spearheading suits against the Trump administration, among others.

Yet, few local voters know the job exists, and fewer still know the candidates by name.

Seventy percent of likely voters said they had no opinion of either McKinney or Roy — a fairly typical result for a down-ballot race, experts note.

Still, new data about voter priorities could signal how those undecideds might shake up the race in its final weeks.

Roughly a third of L.A. voters rank “moving homeless people indoors” and “crime and public safety” as top priorities, respectively; just slightly less say “fixing streets, sidewalks, streetlights and other city infrastructure” is essential.

McKinney, 58, pitches himself as a law-and-order moderate with plans to use the city attorney’s prosecutorial power to reduce disorder and move unhoused people off the streets. He manages more than 300 people at the district attorney’s office and spent decades in the courtroom securing high-profile convictions — advantages that he contends outweigh his lack of civil litigation experience.

Roy, 34, campaigns with an aura of sunny progressive pragmatism, arguing that the city can rein in ballooning liability in part by tackling its vexing infrastructure issues. She nods to the recent $17-billion settlement with Meta — a case her team at the attorney general’s office led — as evidence of the kind of ambitious, public interest litigation a large municipal attorney’s office could join.

Those disparate visions — along with crucial endorsements and influxes of cash — helped the pair define clear brands and constituencies going into the primary.

Both also got a boost from nationwide anti-incumbent fervor, staking sides across a mutual opponent whose name recognition had turned sour while rarely taking aim at each other.

But the general election is a different animal.

Although the Los Angeles electorate has been moving leftward for years, primary voters typically skew older and more conservative than those who show up for the general election, experts said.

Polls suggest that fact could create an uphill battle for McKinney, whose sway is biggest among conservatives, about 19% of the city’s electorate.

Some 21% of Republicans and nearly 30% of self-identified MAGA voters favored McKinney in the most recent poll, while Roy is favored by 25% of Democrats and by 3 in 10 voters who identify as progressive or democratic socialists.

By contrast, about a quarter of Republican voters now say they favor Bass for mayor, while Raman has a 14-point lead among Democrats. (Both are about equally underwater with MAGA voters.)

Like Raman, Roy has deep ties to the city’s insurgent democratic socialist political machine and hard-won endorsements from its progressive clubs. She has also successfully courted L.A.‘s influential unions and got an early boost from the L.A. County Democratic Party when it endorsed her this spring.

McKinney is endorsed by the city’s powerful police union and championed by L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman.

THINGS seem to be going from strength to strength for Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks as they enjoyed a loved-up weekend together after spending time apart.

The couple cuddled up for a mirror selfie in a lift, with Pete holding up his phone as Olivia leaned into him.

Shared by Pete on Instagram, the presenter’s £26k Hermès bag could also be seen at her side as they posed for the cosy snap.

Olivia, 35, recently spent time in New York for Fashion Week while Pete, 37, remained in the UK.

The pair had made their red carpet debut as a couple at the National Television Awards just days before she flew out.

They shared a kiss in front of the cameras at London’s O2 Arena, after keeping their romance a secret from fans for months.

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Olivia and Pete were first pictured kissing in March, following her split from footballer husband Bradley Dack in January.

Pete finally made their relationship Instagram official in July with a series of cosy snaps from a trip to Ibiza. Alongside them, he wrote: “I guess someone has to go first.”

Their romance grew out of a long friendship, and the pair previously hosted The Sunday Roast together on KISS. 

Olivia has described being with the former Towie star as “the easiest thing I’ve ever done”.

And their latest loved-up picture suggests the couple are definitely pleased to be back together after Olivia’s trip across the Atlantic.

TWO years ago, Cat Deeley was in a very different place to where she is now.

The TV presenter, 49, who had replaced Holly Willoughby on This Morning in March, was grappling with a punishing work schedule, the pressure to save the ITV show from its tarnished reputation and a marriage faltering under the pressure of two “tricky” work schedules.

In the three month period she became tearful three times on screen, and appeared at times “visibly overwhelmed.”

And speaking five months after stepping into her new hosting role, she admitted the scrutiny she was under had “shocked her.”

However, the popular star has rebuilt her life after her divorce from Patrick Kielty, 55, with a second National Television Award under her belt with This Morning, a series of lucrative commercial deals and new man Charlie Coleman, who she hopes to spend Christmas with.

And friends of the star this week told how ex Patrick’s new relationship with businesswoman Michelle McManus – the pair were seen cosying up at a North London boozer – is the icing on the cake – saying she told them: “She seems nice, and she is doing me a favour, he’s a better person when he’s happy.”

One said: “Cat’s attitude is: ‘Good luck to them. At the end of the day, that’s the whole point of separating in the first place.’

“She is genuinely happy for him, and knows it’s good for them that he’s happy and positive.

“Cat herself is in a great place and that’s where she wants to stay.

“She and Charlie are getting on really well and are already talking about spending this Christmas together, though they will have to work out the practicalities as she and Paddy share the childcare arrangements 50/50.”

Former So You Think You Can Dance? host Cat – who swapped her $5 million family home in Beverly Hills for a £4.9 million five-bedroom house in Hampstead in 2020 – joined This Morning during a period of extreme turbulence.

Former host Phillip Schofield had quit ITV in May after an “unwise but not illegal” affair with a younger co-worker was revealed.

Holly, who appeared on This Morning for 14 years prior to her exit, stepped back from the spotlight in October, following stalker Gavin Plumb’s terrifying plot to kidnap, rape and murder the TV star being uncovered.

Plumb was jailed for life in July following an eight-day trial.

Against this challenging backdrop, Cat and Ben Shephard, 51, took the reins of the popular daytime show.

Sources told how the pair appealed to bosses as a “safe pair of hands” who could steer them out of a crisis.

But even her early interviews showed signs she feared wading in too deep, as she said: “If it gets too much for me, I’m going to quit. I don’t need to do it – I could be a mum for most of the year and go and do the shows in America.”

And in one interview she opened up about juggling work and motherhood: “I do the juggle – the juggle is real, the struggle is real. You know, we know, we’re all just trying to make everything work. It’s all a juggle.”

Cat shares two sons, Milo and James, with ex husband Patrick – who she was married to for almost 13 years before they announced their split in July 2025.

But sources say the fault lines had appeared in late 2023, when the pair were struggling to balance their schedules.

Patrick – the host of RTE‘s The Late Late Show in Ireland – commuted to film the show in Dublin, while Cat’s So You Think You Can Dance? schedule had also created issues, requiring her to jet back to the US for long stretches.

Her move back to UK television was supposed to lessen the pressure on the duo – one of TV’s power couples.

But fans noticed that the star appeared increasingly emotional on the This Morning set.

In March 2024, just days after she joined as host, Cat burst into tears backstage upon meeting Buddy, an autism assistant puppy introduced to the studio.

She explained to viewers that meeting Buddy triggered her grief over losing her family dog, Lilly, the previous summer.

Weeks later in April, while introducing guest Kerry Irving – whose late springer spaniel Max had helped him overcome depression – Cat broke down in tears and had to ask co-host Ben to take over reading her lines.

And two months later Cat fought back tears during an interview with the family of William Reckless, eight, who had to have both of his legs and nine fingers amputated due to a severe battle with sepsis and scarlet fever.

Her 48th birthday broadcast in October also caused the presenter to break down in tears, after she was surprised by a recorded message from British poet Pam Ayres – who she said had inspired her as a child.

But 2025 seemed to bring a more positive standpoint – and a bombshell, as Cat and Patrick announced their divorce in July.

Both were keen to insist that they remained amicable, and stressed that no third parties were involved in their decision to split.

They also made clear their intention to share the parenting of their children, Milo, 10, and James, eight.

A few months later, September brought an incredible boost for the star – when This Morning won the National TV Award for Daytime, after the repeated scandals engulfing the programme had seen it lose the title in 2023 and 2024.

After the cast and crew were seen going wild in the audience, Cat said on stage: “We are so lucky to get to do this show, we all love it.

“Every single person who comes on, we love this show and it’s like having a family.”

Sources told how the award was “a shot in the arm” for the entire team behind the show – appearing to signal they were back on track.

And in the months to follow, Cat was to build up a relationship with Amazon MGM exec Charlie Coleman – who she was spotted with at a Hyde Park Lewis Capaldi gig in July.

Two months later, she spoke out about how she was thriving as a single mum – saying it was about being “as organised as you can be.”

She also admitted she had an “amazing nanny” to keep their lives on track around her busy schedule.

And she added: “Everybody is doing their best.”

In the same month Paddy – who has signed a new deal with The Late Late Show which will see him host until 2028 – said he was “pretty good” adding that the divorce was “part of the tapestry of life.”

And now, with him also moved on with new love Michelle, it seems another piece of the tapestry is complete.