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MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee is going absolutely nuts. The Brewers have sold out Game 3 and Game 4 of the World Series.

The Tampa Bay Rays will host those games, but the Brewers invited fans to come to their stadium and watch on the big screen. The Brewers sold more than 31,000 tickets to each of their watch parties at $15 apiece. On Friday morning, StubHub offered them for resale, starting at $168.

There is nothing quite like a city uniting behind a team that never has won a World Series. Ask Logan Henderson.

Henderson, the Brewers’ starting pitcher Saturday in Milwaukee, grew up a huge fan of the Houston Astros. He was 15 when he saw his first World Series game.

“My parents had always said, if we were fortunate enough to be able to watch them go to the World Series, we’re going to do everything we can to get there,” Henderson said. “I was blessed that my parents got tickets to go to the games.

“There’s nothing like it. I’m on the other side of it now. I was a spectator and a fan, now I’m a player. It’s definitely surreal.”

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Logan Henderson follows through on a pitch during Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers in Milwaukee on Oct. 12.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

His first World Series game as a spectator and fan? Game 4 of the 2017 World Series.

“I went to the one before the crazy one,” he said. “L.A. ended up winning that game.”

In the crazy one, the Dodgers blew two four-run leads, tied the score with three runs in the ninth inning and lost in the 10th.

If we knew then what we know now, Game 4 would be the crazy one: Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood constantly changing his signs, suspicious that the Astros might be up to something, whatever that might be.

Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood delivers from the mound during Game 4 of the World Series against the Astros on Oct. 28, 2017, in Houston.

(Pool / Getty Images)

Wood was vindicated three years later, when a league investigation revealed the Astros had been cheating in 2017, stealing signs from a television monitor next to the dugout and relaying them to batters by banging on trash cans. The practice, according to the report issued by commissioner Rob Manfred, was refined during the regular season and extended “throughout the postseason.”

The scandal outraged the Dodgers and their fans. The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to demand Manfred award the 2017 championship to the Dodgers. Their players wanted nothing to do with that. A real championship, after all, would come with champagne and beer in the clubhouse and a parade through the streets.

Still, the players did not turn the other cheek.

“Everyone knows they stole the ring from us,” Cody Bellinger said.

“They cheated,” Kike’ Hernández said. “They got away with it. They got a ring out of it.”

When the Astros’ team buses arrived at Dodger Stadium for games during the pandemic season of 2020, when ballparks were closed to the public, Dodgers fans gathered outside to boo.

Dodgers fans boo Jose Altuve of the Astros after he struck out in a game on Aug. 3, 2001, at Dodger Stadium.

(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

Those were Henderson’s guys inside those buses: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Lance McCullers Jr. Those were the guys that brought home the Astros’ first World Series championship, as Henderson’s Brewers are trying to do for Milwaukee.

“Personally, as a fan, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston really hard, and the Astros brought a championship to the city,” Henderson said.

“That meant absolutely everything to the city. I hope that means what it did for me to the fans in Milwaukee here.”

The Rays also are trying to bring their first championship home to Tampa Bay. In 2017, hard as this might be to believe today, the mighty Dodgers had not won a championship in 29 years.

And now, as a major leaguer, Henderson has an acute appreciation of the little things that can mean the difference between victory and defeat, between a parade and another plaintive chorus of “wait ‘til next year.”

It could be a pitcher that blows a throw he could make in his sleep, sending his team home for the winter. It could be a defense perfectly executing a seldom-seen play. It could be a ball that clanks off the roof and into play instead of flying into the stands for a home run.

It could be stealing signs and banging on trash cans.

“I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming,” Wood tweeted after Manfred’s report on the Astros’ cheating.

Henderson knows how hard this is to do. The Brewers haven’t appeared in the World Series in 44 years, and owner Mark Attanasio said nervous fans already are wondering whether their next appearance will be 44 years away.

So I asked Henderson if, all these years later, the scandal changed how he felt about those Astros.

He paused.

He exhaled.

He paused again.

“Maybe a little bit,” Henderson said. “It’s unfortunate. I try not to think about it or talk on it too much. I think now, being in the game, my perspective on it is a little different.

“I think for the kid in me — and the huge baseball fan I was — that team will always have a special place in my heart.”

When coach JJ Redick announced his starters for the Lakers’ final preseason game Friday night, he was asked if those same players would start opening night Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors.

Redick paused before answering, not quite willing to commit. He started Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams and Walker Kessler.

Quentin Grimes, who had started the first four preseason games and had been solid in his role, was not among them.

“I know that there’s a chance Quentin is gonna have an opportunity to start,” Redick said. “This was the original plan we were gonna have for the Sacramento game with Collin [Sexton] out. … We just wanna get a look on that tonight, and we’ll see. But nothing definitive for next week.”

Grimes averaged 12.3 points, 2.5 assists and shot 53.3%, including 41.2% from three-point range, in 24.3 minutes per game in the preseason.

Redick said he was “still open to both” when asked if he could start Grimes and stagger his time with the starters on the bench.

In his first five NBA seasons, Grimes has mostly been a reserve, starting 146 of 318 games.

Grimes started the second half for the Lakers and scored 11 points in a 121-106 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.

“I think you’re looking for balance in lineups and you’re looking for players that complement and fit each other,” Redick said. “He’s going to start a lot of games for us. That’s just the reality of it. I don’t know who our base starting group is yet, but we’re going to look at this tonight.

“We wanted to get a look on this first game because Collin was out. That fourth ballhandler for us hasn’t been great. I said that the other night and talked to those guys … I don’t say anything out here that I don’t tell my players. So Quentin is also going to maybe have some looks as a ballhandler.”

Doncic, who didn’t play in the second half, finished with 15 points.

Reaves scored 19 points, Williams had 14, Kessler had six and Thybulle had seven.

Injury update

Sexton didn’t play in any preseason games because of a lower right leg injury. Redick said Sexton has been able to practice more.

“He continues to trend in the right direction,” Redick said.

Adou Thiero (maintenance) and Cameron Carr (contusion) didn’t play.

ATLANTA — Who would you rather have starting an October game for the Dodgers than Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

No one, right? And you wouldn’t be the only one thinking that.

Tarik Skubal thought so too.

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told Skubal he would start the team’s playoff opener, Skubal responded with a question.

“Why?”

Skubal was honored with the assignment, but he also was worried.

“I was like, ‘Is Yoshi OK?’” Skubal said Tuesday.

He is, as the Atlanta Braves found out the hard way. Yamamoto pitched the Dodgers to within one game of the National League Championship Series, setting a postseason high with 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 victory.

In seven innings, Yamamoto gave up one run on four hits, all of them singles. In only one of those innings did Atlanta advance a runner beyond first base.

“I just have a lot of respect for him and for what he means here in L.A. and what he has accomplished here,” Skubal said. “I know we have a lot of good starting pitching, and I know there is a lot of thought that goes into it, but I just assumed he would be the Game 1 guy.”

You could say Yamamoto rises to the October occasion, but Mookie Betts would not say that, if only because Yamamoto rises to the occasion on just about every occasion.

“I don’t see it any different,” Betts said. “I think he does it all year, too.

“He just has so many weapons. He throws a lot of strikes with a lot of pitches. He’s hard to hit.”

Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, is brilliant in October.

In seven postseason appearances, he has a 1.97 earned-run average. He gave up five runs in one inning, and he has given up five runs in the other 44⅔ innings. The Dodgers’ grand prize from the trade deadline was hardly a reckless choice to start Game 1 of the division series.

Yamamoto has a 2.14 ERA in 11 playoff appearances, the fourth-lowest of any pitcher since 1903 to make at least 10 postseason starts. He drains the life out of an opposing crowd as well as anyone in major league history, with a 1.42 ERA in six road playoff outings.

“I’m a fan of this game as much as I am a player,” Skubal said. “So, when I watch guys do really impressive things and do great things, I understand what it takes because I also play the game.

“When he goes out and performs like he does, it’s almost like I expect it. And now, being a teammate of his, it’s not surprising at all why he goes and performs like he does, because the way he prepares is as good as anybody in this game. It’s just a ton of fun to be on the same side of it.”

Yamamoto admitted to feeling nervous, even if you would never sense it from watching him. That’s part of the way he prepares, too.

“During the preparation and before the game, then I do get nervous,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter, “but at that time, I personally think that’s very important.”

And then the game starts, the nerves dissipate, and the opponent is methodically slayed.

“He just has a way to just make pitches, calm his heartbeat,” Roberts said.

Highlights from the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the NLDS.

The Dodgers have played seven postseason series with Yamamoto, and they have won them all.

We’ll always cherish last October. In 76 regular-season starts with the Dodgers, he has one complete game. In back-to-back starts last October, he threw a complete game both times.

Of the Dodgers’ four victories in the World Series, Yamamoto earned three — including Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever, with no day of rest in between.

“I got goosebumps watching that,” Skubal said. “I didn’t know how he was doing it. That’s what I was thinking: How is this going to work?

“His stuff looked even better than it did in Game 6, which is insane to say. But it did. When I was watching on TV, I was like, ‘Holy … he looks better today than he did yesterday, and he did pretty well the day before.’ It’s incredible.

“Hopefully, we’re not having to do that again to him.”

That is one big reason why the Dodgers acquired Skubal. If Tyler Glasnow wins Wednesday — and the Dodgers won in all six of Glasnow’s postseason appearances last October — they are off to the NLCS.

The Game 1 starter could be Skubal, followed in Game 2 by Yamamoto. That’s a tall order for opposing batters and, so far, a winning order for the Dodgers.

A look at the top 25 high school football teams in the Southland after Week 6:

Rk. School (record) result; Next game; last week’s ranking

1. SANTA MARGARITA (6-0) def. Mater Dei, 14-7; vs. Servite at Saddleback College, Friday; 1

2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (5-1) def. JSerra, 40-14; vs. Orange Lutheran, Friday; 2

3. SIERRA CANYON (6-0) def. Loyola, 41-0; at Gardena Serra, Friday; 3

4. CORONA CENTENNIAL (3-3) def. Vista Murrieta, 65-14; vs. Murrietta Valley, Friday; 4

5. MATER DEI (4-2) lost to Santa Margarita, 14-7; at JSerra, Friday; 5

6. MISSION VIEJO (4-1) def. Huntington Beach Edison, 42-14; at Yorba Linda, Thursday; 6

7. ORANGE LUTHERAN (4-2) def. Servite, 56-21; at St. John Bosco, Friday; 7

8. SAN CLEMENTE (6-0) def. Yorba Linda, 28-0; at Los Alamitos, Friday; 8

9. PALOS VERDES (6-0) def. Long Beach Millikan, 42-7; vs. Inglewood, Friday; 10

10. JSERRA (4-2) lost to St. John Bosco, 40-14; vs. Mater Dei, Friday; 11

11. SERVITE (3-3) lost to Orange Lutheran, 56-21; at Santa Margarita, Friday; 12

12. CORONA DEL MAR (6-0) def. Villa Park, 24-10; vs. Tustin, Friday; 13

13. BISHOP AMAT (5-1) def. Gardena Serra, 27-26; vs. Chaminade, Friday; 14

14. LA SERNA (5-1) def. Warren, 27-3; vs. La Mirada, Friday; 15

15. CREAN LUTHERAN (4-2) def. Tustin, 21-7; vs. Capistrano Valley, Friday; 16

16. CARSON (5-1) def. Gardena, 57-0; at Banning, Friday; 17

17. OXNARD PACIFICA (5-1) def. Oaks Christian, 38-17; at Newbury Park, Friday; 18

18 . CHAMINADE (5-1) lost to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 28-21; at Bishop Amat, Friday; 9

19. GARDENA SERRA (3-3) lost to Bishop Amat, 27-26; vs. Sierra Canyon, Friday; 19

20. HUNTINGTON BEACH (6-0) def. El Modena, 24-21; at Dana Hills, Friday; 22

21. SAN JACINTO (6-0) def. Temescal Canyon, 49-0; vs. Tahquitz, Friday; 24

22. ORANGE (6-0) def. El Dorado, 42-14; vs. Segerstrom, Friday; 25

23. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (6-0) def. Chaminade 28-21; at Loyola, Friday; NR

24. CAPISTRANO VALLEY (6-0) def. La Habra, 42-20; at Crean Lutheran, Friday; NR

25. YORBA LINDA (4-2) lost to San Clemente, 28-0; vs. Mission Viejo, Thursday; 23

When the Dodgers acquired left-hander Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline, they expected him to be a big part of their postseason plans. But they didn’t necessarily pencil him in as their Game 1 starter.

After mulling over their options this week, the Dodgers are expected to announce Friday that Skubal will take the mound in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, confirmed a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Their plans for a sweltering 1 p.m. start Saturday against the Braves were first reported by the Athletic.

The rest of the Dodgers’ rotation order was not immediately clear, but right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who had seemed a strong option for Game 1 after his World Series heroics last year — pitched to batters during the Dodgers’ workout Wednesday. If he takes his usual five days of rest, that would line him up to pitch Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday. So, left-hander Blake Snell could pitch Game 2 Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

“To be honest, we can kind of really put all four guys in a hat and run them out there,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday. “But I think there is going to be more thought behind it.”

Skubal, who the Dodgers acquired from the Tigers for three prospects, has posted a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts for Los Angeles. He finished his regular season with a gem against the Giants last week: seven three-hit innings on just 75 pitches.

SAN FRANCISCO — Stop me if you’ve heard this a million times, but the Dodgers are trying to become the first team to win three consecutive World Series championships since the New York Yankees, from 1998 to 2000.

Those Yankees had a Hall of Fame closer. In 1998, Mariano Rivera got the final four outs of the clincher. In 1999, he got the final four outs. In 2000, he got the final three outs.

These Dodgers? Their closer? Your guess is as good as theirs.

“I do not know,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.

This might be a good time to know, no? The regular season is over. The postseason is upon us.

“I feel very confident that we’re going to be going into October with arguably the deepest and best pitching staff that we’ve had,” he said. “Exactly what their roles will be and how things will be ordered, I don’t know right now.”

Perhaps the Dodgers are overthinking this. They have done that before.

Tanner Scott converted 25 of 29 save opportunities this season, including saves Friday and Saturday.

But the strongest hitters on the Dodgers’ possible division series opponents are left-handed — Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin and Michael Harris II on the Atlanta Braves; Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber on the Philadelphia Phillies — and the Dodgers may not hesitate to use the left-handed Scott against those guys in the seventh or eighth inning.

In theory, these Dodgers have three candidates as closer: Scott, their marquee closer signing for 2025 and actual closer for most of 2026; Edwin Díaz, their marquee closer signing for 2026; and Roki Sasaki, their accidental closer last October.

Yet Friedman said he could envision scenarios where Evan Phillips could close, or even Brock Stewart, or perhaps Alex Vesia against a run of left-handed hitters. The Dodgers hope to activate Edgardo Henriquez for the playoffs. The starters could close, too, especially a well-rested Tyler Glasnow early in the first round.

“We’ve got a number of guys that we really trust,” Friedman said. “Depending on who we’re playing, how deep our starter goes, there are a lot of factors that would go into it. But, more than who will be that pitcher on the mound, is the fact that we have so many candidates we feel really good about.”

That the Dodgers have improvised an October relief corps, transformed a rookie starter into a postseason closer and run bullpen games in elimination games might lead you to conclude Friedman does not really believe in the concept of a designated closer. In a world where “high leverage” is the trendy jargon, maybe a closer is more of an anachronism than a necessity.

That the Dodgers invested $72 million in Scott and $69 million in Díaz in consecutive winters would lead you to conclude Friedman does indeed believe in the concept of a designated closer. In fact, he does.

“I think it’s extremely helpful,” he said.

The Dodgers do not hold splashy news conferences to introduce closer candidates. When the Dodgers introduced Díaz last December, Friedman proudly introduced the three-time All-Star as the closer.

“For us, we have a high bar,” Friedman said then. “To name someone the closer, you have to be one of the best. You have to be elite and dominant at what you do.”

Díaz’s season went awry, limited to 18⅔ innings after elbow surgery and then a neck injury. But in five September appearances since his activation from the injured list, he gave up no runs and one hit in five innings, striking out nine of the 17 batters he faced. (In the same span, Scott has given up no runs and two hits in five innings, striking out nine of the 19 batters he faced.)

Dodgers reliever Edwin Díaz high-fives teammates in the dugout after pitching against the San Diego Padres on Sept. 22.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“What we’ve seen out of Díaz recently has been really encouraging,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “What that ultimately means, we don’t know yet.

“Of course, if you have a reliever who is really hot in October, that can be extremely valuable. It doesn’t mean you use him exclusively in the ninth. But, by and large, that’s how you would use him.”

Roberts saluted Díaz for working hard to get back to an uncertain assignment.

“I’m really proud of Edwin, given the deal he signed, to work it out, to go to the minors, to come back and pitch in whatever role we ask of him, that shows a lot of character,” Roberts said.

“He could have mailed this year in. That’s something that has not gone unnoticed. And we’ll see how October plays out.”

The Dodgers could be forgiven for believing it will all work out in the end. Their final pitcher in each of the World Series clinchers under Friedman, all starters: Julio Urías in 2020, Walker Buehler in 2024, Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2025.

The pitchers to record a postseason save in those championship seasons: Kenley Jansen, Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen and Urias in 2020; Alex Vesia, Treinen and Buehler in 2024; Glasnow, Sasaki and Treinen in 2025.

The organizational flexibility can lead to some uncomfortable discussions within the clubhouse, as Roberts and coaches keep the relievers updated on the latest plan for how they might be used.

“It is tricky,” Roberts said. “These are constant conversations. They are ever-evolving. They are ongoing.”

If all goes right for the Dodgers, those conversations will be ongoing for another month.