world series

TORONTO — The Dodgers announced Thursday that reliever Alex Vesia is away from the team as he and his wife “navigate a deeply personal family matter,” and manager Dave Roberts said his availability for the World Series is uncertain.

Vesia, who has been the Dodgers’ top left-handed pitcher in the bullpen this season, was not present at the team’s World Series media session on Thursday, and was not seen at the club’s open workout at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

Roberts said that the club was reviewing its options within MLB’s postseason roster rules, but that for now Vesia’s status was considered day-to-day.

“We have a little bit of time — I think 10 o’clock tomorrow or something like that — to finalize our roster,” Roberts said. “But, yeah, we’re going through the process of trying to backfill his spot on the roster.”

One potential option for the Dodgers would be to place Vesia on MLB’s Family Medical Emergency List, which would require him to miss a minimum of three days but make it possible for him to rejoin the active roster later in the World Series.

For now, however, Roberts said “we’re just going day-to-day with really no expectations.”

In the Dodgers’ team statement, the club said “the entire Dodgers organization is sending our thoughts to the Vesia family.”

From the hot tub in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse, Yoshinobu Yamamoto saw his interpreter on his way to take a shower.

Yamamoto called out to him.

“What are those colors?” Yamamoto asked him.

Yoshihiro Sonoda, 48, wore only a pair of boxers that depicted a rabbit with rainbow-colored lasers shooting out of its eyes.

Sonoda explained bashfully, “These are my shobu pantsu.”

For more than a year, Sonoda had worn shobu pantsu — or game underwear — for each one of Yamamoto’s starts.

Sonoda chuckled as he recalled the incident. Several weeks have passed since then, and the superstitious interpreter still wears his lucky boxers on days Yamamoto pitches.

When Yamamoto takes the mound for the Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday in Game 2 of the World Series, beneath Sonoda’s team-issued sweatpants will be the rabbit and rainbow-colored lasers.

The kid is a little different.

Sonoda recalled thinking that last year on the first day of spring training. On a grass field near the players’ parking lot, he watched Yamamoto throw javelins as part of his workout routine.

When the Japanese right-hander was finished, Sonoda started collecting the projectiles.

Yamamoto stopped him.

“Please, you’re my interpreter,” he said. “You’re not my servant.”

Yamamoto picked up his javelins and carried them back to the clubhouse.

In the months that followed, Sonoda noticed how Yamamoto treated others. He wasn’t kind only to other players. He was also conscientious of the organization’s rank-and-file employees.

“He pretends he’s not watching, but he’s watching,” Sonoda said. “He seems like he’s not listening, but he’s listening.”

Every day the Dodgers are on the road, Yamamoto has Starbucks coffee delivered to the team hotel. He always orders something for Sonoda.

“I think Yamamoto is quite the gentleman, quite the high character,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He treats everyone from Hiro to myself to all the support staff with the highest of respect.”

Two days into the job as Yamamoto’s interpreter, Sonoda wanted to resign.

A former collegiate judo standout in Japan, Sonoda spent the previous two decades working in the entertainment industry as a lighting engineer, his credits including “Men in Black,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Succession” and “Nurse Jackie.”

He had no previous experience as an interpreter and was by no means a baseball expert. He was apart from his wife, who remained in her native Texas.

“I don’t want to quit, but I can’t do this,” Sonoda told traveling secretary Scott Akasaki.

Akasaki, who was once an interpreter for Hideo Nomo, asked Sonoda to reconsider.

Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, left, speaks to reporters with his interpreter, Yoshihiro Sonoda, in a press conference before Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS against the San Diego Padres.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

“You can learn about baseball if you study it,” Sonoda recalled being told by Akasaki. “But Yoshinobu chose you for a reason, and that’s something no other person has.”

Sonoda never shared his insecurities with Yamamoto, instead throwing himself head first into his work. He was taught how to interpret ball-tracking data by assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness and performance science manager Tyler Duncan. He consulted with veteran interpreters, including Shingo Horie of the San Diego Padres and Hiro Fujiwara of the New York Mets.

Last year at World Series media day, Yamamoto was asked about Sonoda.

“We were both rookies this year,” Yamamoto said. “Sonoda-san especially, he came from a different industry and I would think he endured a lot of hardship. But he didn’t let on about that being the case.”

Standing by Yamamoto’s side, Sonoda fought back tears.

Sonoda has a small notebook in which he tracks every pitch thrown by Yamamoto. In a night game in Baltimore last month, Sonoda took notes as usual, jotting down pitches types and their locations.

Yamamoto carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning.

When there were two outs, Sonoda had Shohei Ohtani on one side of him and trainer Yosuke Nakajima on the other.

Sonoda stopped taking notes.

“I thought I should prepare to celebrate,” he said.

Jackson Holliday homered, and the no-hitter was gone.

Sonoda blamed himself.

“If only I had taken notes on that at-bat …” he said.

Sonoda was a significantly better interpreter this season than he was last season. On his commutes to Dodger Stadium, he listens to audio of Horie interpreting for Yu Darvish or Fujiwara for Kodai Senga.

Yamamoto noticed.

“His efforts in the shadows have been to where I can feel them,” Yamamoto said. “He’s a very pure and straightforward person. I think he’s really wonderful.”

Last year, Sonoda received a set of national-park-themed underwear from his wife, who knew of his affinity for the outdoors. The Yellowstone Park pair featured a roaring bear, which reminded Sonoda of Yamamoto screaming on the mound. Sonoda started wearing the boxers on days Yamamoto pitched, switching to a different pair for the next start if he lost or didn’t pitch well.

A new season called for a new set of underwear, but a stretch of inadequate run support prompted Sonoda to unretire a pair he wore on the Dodgers’ World Series run last year, the ones with the rainbow-emitting rabbit.

“I’m very superstitious,” Sonoda said.

Sonoda is also grateful.

“I think there are 14 or 15 Japanese interpreters in the majors leagues,” he said. “I feel like I’m the most blessed.”

Blessed because Akasaki talked him out of resigning. Blessed because of the baseball education he received from McGuiness and Duncan. Blessed because he has mentors such as Horie and Fujiwara. And above all, blessed because he was paired with a player whom he considers as good a person as he is a pitcher, the kind of high-character individual for whom he would wear radiant underwear in the off chance it could improve his fortune.

For much of the year, the Dodgers’ starting rotation felt broken.

In large part, because the pitcher acquired to be its anchor was struggling to find himself.

It’s easy to forget now, with Blake Snell in the midst of a historic October performance that has helped lead the Dodgers back to the World Series. But for most of his debut season in Los Angeles, the two-time Cy Young Award winner and $182 million offseason signing was grappling with frustration, enduring what he described recently as “the hardest year of my career.”

First, there was well-documented early adversity: A shoulder problem that Snell quietly pitched through in two underwhelming starts at the beginning of the campaign, before sidelining him on the injured list for the next four months.

Then, there was an ordeal Snell detailed last week for the first time: In late August, on the same day his wife Haeley gave birth to the couple’s second child, Snell got so sick in the hospital that he fainted, was taken to the emergency room, and kept overnight hooked up to IV fluids.

“This is awful,” he thought to himself then.

Which now, has made his dominant postseason — including an 0.86 ERA in his first three playoff outings, and a scheduled Game 1 start in the World Series on Friday night — all the more gratifying.

“It’s been a lot,” Snell told The Times last week, while reflecting on a difficult season now primed for a triumphant final act. “But that’s what this is all about. Find the best in yourself. Fight through all the doubt, the bull—. And figure it out.”

In many ways, figuring things out has been the story of the Dodgers’ entire season. From their inconsistent and injury-riddled offense. To their underperforming and injury-ravaged bullpen. To their ever-evolving rotation, most of all.

Early in the year, that group dealt with its own rash of injuries, losing Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and others in a harrowing flashback to 2024.

This time, most of their top arms returned healthy. But up until six weeks ago, they still faced genuine questions for the fall.

At that point, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mired in an up-and-down stretch following his All-Star selection in the first half of the year, raising worries he could be tiring en route to making a career-high 30 starts.

Glasnow had returned from his early-season shoulder problem, but grinded through six starts from July 29 to Aug. 30 with an ERA above 4.00.

And while Shohei Ohtani was pitching well, he was also continuing to build up in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery.

Suddenly, it all left Snell to be the linchpin for the pitching staff — thrusting him to the center of the late-season resurgence that was soon to come.

“With every great starting staff, you got to have that anchor,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Having him get back to pitch the way he did, sort of raised the bar for everyone.”

This past winter, the Dodgers made Snell their top priority for a reason.

They looked at the patchwork rotation that nearly derailed their 2024 World Series run, and decided the year’s staff needed another star to build around.

Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani already provided a well-established foundation. Clayton Kershaw, Emmet Sheehan, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May offered plenty of depth to withstand a 162-game marathon.

What was missing, however, was another bona fide ace; the kind capable of swinging postseason series and transforming October fortunes. In Snell, they saw such potential. His presence, they hoped, would complete their title-defense blueprint.

“As we were talking about ways that we could put ourselves in the best position to win a World Series in 2025,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the day Snell was introduced by the club, “all conversations kept coming back to Blake.”

For most of the year, of course, Snell’s impact was limited. After his two injury-hampered starts at the beginning of the season, he remained out of action until after the trade deadline.

During that time, the Dodgers slow-played Snell’s recovery — putting him through a meticulous process (similar to their handling of Glasnow and Ohtani) that was designed to have him ready for the stretch run of the season, and hopefully peaking in time for the start of the playoffs.

Upon his initial return in early August, Snell seemed to be on track, with the left-hander posting a sub-2.00 ERA in his first four outings off the IL.

Then, however, came another unforeseen setback, after he rushed home from an Aug. 22 outing in San Diego for the birth of his child.

By the time Snell’s wife went into labor later that week, the 32-year-old arrived at the hospital feeling “extremely sick,” he recounted last week. At one point, as he got up from a couch to go hold his newly born baby, he said he passed out and fainted right there in the room.

Snell was taken to the emergency room and stayed there overnight, getting two IVs to combat an unspecified illness undoubtedly compounded by exhaustion.

“I couldn’t really stand,” he said. “I just felt awful.”

And yet, a few days later, there Snell was back atop the Dodger Stadium mound; making sure that, after his extended absence earlier in the campaign, he wouldn’t miss another start.

“That’s what I signed up to do,” Snell said. “When I pitch, I just forget about it. I don’t allow a lot of excuses.”

Snell’s illness was unknown at the time, but the physical toll it had taken quickly became obvious. His velocity was noticeably down in a three-run, 5 ⅓ innings start on Aug. 29 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Six days later, he toiled again during a “frustrating” outing in Pittsburgh, yielding a season-high nine hits and five runs to the lowly Pirates.

Pushing through those games, though, gave Snell a key to hone in on for the rest of the season. “If this is who you are today, figure it out,” he told himself. And finally, with no more disruptions to his routine, improvement flowed quickly.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell puts his arm around catcher Ben Rortvedt as they walk back to the dugout together on Sept. 17.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Snell struck out a season-high 11 batters over six scoreless innings in a Sept. 10 win against the Colorado Rockies. He topped that a week later with 12 punchouts in seven scoreless frames against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Snell said after that outing, which was followed by one more six-inning, one-run start in his regular-season finale in Arizona: “[I’m] starting to be able to play catch with more intent and work on stuff … Coming through in the push to the postseason, and being able to make it, that’s what the whole season is for.”

The old adage in baseball is that hitting can be contagious.

In the case of this year’s Dodgers, starting pitching evidently can be, too.

As Snell got hot in September, so did the rest of the team’s resurgent rotation. Yamamoto rediscovered his early-season form, winning National League pitcher of the month with an immaculate 0.67 ERA in four starts. Glasnow finished the month with a 2.49 mark, after finally refining the mechanics of his throw. Ohtani, meanwhile, got stretched out to six innings, maintaining his two-way dominance over repeated full-length appearances.

The bar had been raised, with the constant cycle of gems continuing to push it a little bit higher.

The pitchers rode off the momentum and relished in their shared success; to the point that Roberts joked they almost seemed to be competing to outdo one another.

“I think we’re all good,” Glasnow said. “So it was just a matter of time until all of us did good at the same time.”

But in these playoffs, no one has been more lethal than Snell. In his 21 innings so far, he has thrown a scoreless frame in all but one.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell walks off the mound after striking out the last batter of the second inning of Game 2 of the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

He was good in his first start, producing seven innings of two-run ball against the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card round. He was superb in the next, going six scoreless against the Phillies in a hostile road environment.

His masterpiece, however, came in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series, when he tossed eight scoreless innings, struck out 10 batters, and ruthlessly toyed with a Milwaukee Brewers lineup helpless to adjust to his manipulative changeup.

“We’ve all known this: Blake, when he’s right, is the best pitcher in the game,” Kershaw, his future Hall of Fame teammate, said afterward. “To have a guy that can do that, set the tone, and just have a guy that you can count on like that, it’s huge.”

For his part, Snell continues to insist that “I feel like I could be way better.” After his repeated setbacks earlier this year, he claims that, “even now, I’m still battling.”

The numbers, of course, tell a different story. In the live-ball era (since 1920), only three other pitchers with 20 or more innings in a postseason had at least 20 strikeouts and a sub-1.00 ERA (Sandy Koufax in 1965, John Smoltz in 1996 and Justin Verlander in 2013).

On Friday night, Snell will be on the bump once again, trying to continue a dazzling streak for himself and his rotation.

What once felt like the hardest year of his career, is now four wins away from being the most fulfilling.

“It’s what you have to go through to win a World Series,” he said. “You can find an excuse, or you can find a way to figure it out.”

If this World Series is going to turn into a food fight about the economics of baseball, Dave Roberts tossed the first meatball.

The Dodgers had just been presented with the National League Championship trophy. Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager, had something to say to a sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium, and to an audience watching on national television.

“They said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,” Roberts hollered. “Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball.”

The Dodgers had just vanquished the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that did everything right, with four starting pitchers whose contracts total $1.35 billion.

The Brewers led the major leagues in victories this year. They have made the playoffs seven times in the past eight years, and yet their previous manager and general manager fled for big cities, in the hope of applying small-market smarts to teams with large-market resources.

The Dodgers will spend half a billion dollars on player payroll and luxury tax payments this year, a figure that the Brewers and other small-market teams might never spend in this lifetime, or the next one.

The Brewers will make about $35 million in local television rights this year. The Dodgers make 10 times that much — and they’ll make more than $500 million per year by the end of their SportsNet LA contract in 2038.

Is revenue disparity a problem for the sport?

The owners say yes. They are expected to push for a salary cap in next year’s collective bargaining negotiations. A cap is anathema to the players’ union. At the All-Star Game, union executive director Tony Clark called a cap “institutionalized collusion.”

The union could say, yes, revenue disparity is the big issue and propose something besides a cap.

But that is not what the union is saying. The union does not agree that revenue disparity is the issue, at least to the extent that the players should participate in solving it. Put another way: Tarik Skubal should not get less than market value in free agency to appease the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the most part, the union believes the owners should resolve the issue among themselves.

And the fundamental difference might be this: To most of the owners, the Dodgers’ spending is the big problem, or at least the symptom of a big problem. This was Commissioner Rob Manfred at the owners’ meetings last February: “Do people perceive that the playing field is balanced and fair and/or do people believe that money dictates who wins?”

To the union, the problem is not one of perception. The union believes the problem is that the Dodgers’ spending exposes other owners who would love a salary cap that would give them cover — not to mention cost certainty that could increase profits and franchise values.

“Players across the league show up every day ready to compete and ready to win,” Clark told The Times. “Excuses aren’t tolerated between the lines, and they shouldn’t be accepted outside them either.

“When decision-makers off the field mirror the competitive drive exhibited on it, everybody wins and baseball’s future is limitless. Fans and players alike deserve — and should demand — far more accountability from those to whom much is given.”

Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players’ Assn., speaks during a news conference in New York in March 2022.

(Richard Drew / Associated Press)

In its annual estimates, Forbes had the Dodgers’ revenue last season at a league-leading $752 million and the Pirates’ revenue at $326 million. The Pirates turned a profit of $47 million and the Dodgers turned a profit of $21 million, according to those estimates.

The Pirates — and other small-market teams — make more than $100 million each year in their equal split of league revenue (national and international broadcast rights, for instance, and merchandising and licensing) and revenue shared by the Dodgers and other large-market teams. That means the Pirates can cover their player payroll before selling a single ticket, beer, or Primanti sandwich stuffed with meat, cheese and fries.

“The current system is designed so larger markets share massive amounts of revenue with smaller markets to help level the playing field,” Clark said. “Small-market teams have other built-in advantages, and we’ve proposed more in bargaining — and will again.”

The union would be delighted to get a salary floor — that is, a minimum team payroll. The owners would do that if the union agreed to a maximum team payroll — that is, a salary cap.

Whether the owners believe recent and potential future changes — among them a draft lottery, more favorable draft-pick compensation for small-market teams losing free agents, providing additional draft picks for teams that promote prospects sooner and for small-market teams that win — can begin to mitigate revenue disparity is uncertain. Whether the players can condition revenue sharing on team progress also is uncertain.

And, perhaps most critically to owners, the collapse of the cable ecosystem means many teams have lost local television revenue that might not ever bounce completely back, even if Manfred can deliver on his proposed “all teams, all the time, in one place” service.

Whatever the issues might be, fans are not throwing up their hands and walking away. The league sold more tickets this year than in any year since 2017. Almost every week brought an announcement from ESPN, Fox or TNT about a ratings increase, and the league did not complain about the outstanding ratings the Dodgers and New York Yankees attracted in last year’s World Series.

Dodgers fans celebrate after Shohei Ohtani hits the second of his three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 17.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Payroll is under the control of an owner. Market size is not.

Of the top 15 teams in market size, six made the playoffs. Of the bottom 15 teams in market size, six made the playoffs.

Is that a reasonable exhibition of competitive balance? Would the Dodgers winning the World Series in back-to-back years define competitive imbalance, even if they would become the first team in 25 years to repeat? The only other team currently dedicated to spending like the Dodgers — the New York Mets — has not won the World Series in 39 years.

The Kansas City Chiefs have played in the Super Bowl five times in six years, winning three times. That is because they have Patrick Mahomes, not because the NFL has a salary cap.

In the past three years, the Dodgers are the only team to appear in the final four twice — more diversity than in the final four in the NFL, NBA or NHL, each of which has a salary cap.

The league used to happily distribute information like that. After the winter chants about the Dodgers ruining baseball, the league started talking about how no small-market team had won the World Series in 10 years.

Payroll itself should not define competitive balance, but that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if an owner decides competing with the Dodgers would be no less futile by spending another $25 million on players.

It is premature to count heads now. However, at this point, you wonder whether any team besides the Dodgers and Mets would lobby against the league pursuing a salary cap in negotiations. If the owners really want a salary cap, they need to be prepared to do what the NHL did to get one: shut down the league for an entire season.

We should be talking about the magic of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts. Instead, on its grandest stage, the talk around baseball will be all about whether its most popular team is ruining the game to the point of depriving us of it come 2027. Well done, everyone.

The Blue Jays’ bullpen, frankly, has not been very good in this postseason. Entering Monday’s Game 7, the group had a 6.02 ERA and only one successful save.

In that Game 7, however, the Blue Jays showed the ability that still resides in that group.

Louis Varland, a right-hander acquired at the trade deadline, recorded four outs while giving up just one run, and has a 3.27 ERA in the playoffs. Seranthony Domínguez, another right-handed deadline acquisition, pitched a scoreless inning to lower his October ERA to 4.05.

Toronto used a couple starters from there, getting scoreless innings from Gausman and fellow veteran Chris Bassitt.

But at the end, the final three outs belonged to veteran right-hander Jeff Hoffman, a 2024 All-Star who had a disappointing debut season after signing in Toronto this offseason, but now has both of their postseason saves.

The Blue Jays’ one big bullpen weakness is its lack of dominant left-handed depth. Mason Fluharty has been their best southpaw, but has a 6.23 ERA in the playoffs. Brendon Little, Eric Lauer and ex-Dodger Justin Bruihl are also on their roster, but haven’t been any more effective.

If you crossed “see the Dodgers in the World Series” off your bucket list last year, here’s a bucket list update for you: See the Dodgers in the World Series, from the comfort of a hotel room with a full view of the field.

Not at Dodger Stadium, of course. In Toronto, however, where a hotel is built into the ballpark and 55 rooms allow you to open the curtains and catch the game without a ticket.

During the World Series, the nightly rate for these rooms starts at $3,999 (in Canadian dollars, or about $2,850 in U.S. dollars).

A view of the field from one of the rooms at the Toronto Marriott City Centre.

(Toronto Marriott City Centre.)

That is a lot of money. Then again, the rooms sleep up to five people, and good luck getting five World Series game tickets for that price.

You have to get to Toronto, and that costs a lot of money too. But you don’t need to pay separately for game tickets and a hotel, and you can get room service instead of standing in line at concession stands.

The rooms include chairs that face the field, so you don’t have to stand on your bed to catch the action. And you never know: a player could toss you a ball during batting practice, right through your window. Take a look:

Information and reservations: Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel.

TORONTO — George Springer put Toronto ahead with a three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Toronto Blue Jays advanced to the World Series for the first time since 1993 by beating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night.

It was the first go-ahead homer in Game 7 history when a team trailed by multiple runs in the seventh inning or later.

The Blue Jays will host Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night when the World Series comes to Canada for the third time. The defending champion Dodgers swept Milwaukee in the NLCS.

The Blue Jays were playing in a Game 7 for the first time since losing at home to Kansas City in the 1985 ALCS.

Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez each hit a solo home run for the Mariners in the team’s first Game 7 but Seattle failed to reach its first World Series, leaving the heartbroken Mariners as the only major league team without a pennant.

Addison Barger walked to begin the seventh and Isiah Kiner-Falefa followed with a single. Seattle right-hander Bryan Woo was removed after Andrés Giménez advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Springer greeted Eduard Bazardo with his fourth homer of this postseason, a 381-foot drive to left field that got the sellout crowd of 44,770 roaring.

Toronto went 54-27 at home in the regular season and 4-2 at home in the AL playoffs.

Making his first bullpen appearance since Game 5 of the 2021 Division Series, Kevin Gausman pitched one inning of scoreless relief, working around three walks, to earn the win for Toronto.

Fellow starter Chris Bassitt pitched a perfect eighth and Jeff Hoffman finished for his second save this postseason.

Rodríguez opened the game with a double and scored on a one-out single by Josh Naylor. Daulton Varsho tied it with an RBI single off George Kirby in the bottom half before Rodríguez restored the lead for Seattle with a leadoff homer in the third.

Raleigh, who led the majors with 60 homers in the regular season, made it 3-1 with a leadoff homer against Louis Varland in the fifth.

Raleigh has 10 home runs in 15 career games at Rogers Centre, three of them in the postseason. He also homered at Toronto in Game 1 of a 2022 wild-card series and Game 1 of this year’s ALCS.

Naylor was called out to end the first after umpires ruled he interfered with Ernie Clement’s relay to first base on a double play by jumping into the throw and deflecting it.

Kirby yielded one run and four hits in four innings. He walked one and struck out three.

Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber permitted two runs and seven hits in 3⅔ innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. arrived at the stadium wearing a Maple Leafs hockey jersey with Auston Matthews’ name and number. The star forward is 0-6 in Game 7s with Toronto during his 10 seasons in the NHL.

From the outside, the Dodgers know the easy narrative to their season.

About how, after beginning the campaign with the highest expectations imaginable, they spent much of the year failing to live up to the hype.

How, during what was already a dismal second-half slump, they seemed to reach rock bottom when they squandered a no-hitter and three-run lead in a stunning ninth-inning loss in Baltimore last month.

How, in the six weeks since, they’ve looked like a rejuvenated and refocused club, following that nightmarish defeat with a 15-5 finish to the regular season and torrid march through October — going 9-1 en route to a National League pennant and return trip to the World Series, which will begin with Game 1 on Friday night.

In hindsight, however, the Dodgers also insist the story isn’t that simple.

The peaks and valleys of this season, they felt, were never as extreme as they appeared.

“Obviously, the season went the way it went,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said of a 93-win campaign that, despite including another NL West title, qualified as a disappointment compared to their preseason prognostications. “It’s a long season. It’s a lot of games. We dealt with a lot.”

But, Muncy added as beer and sparkling wine were sprayed all around him in the Dodgers’ clubhouse Friday night, in celebration of the team’s fifth Fall Classic trip in the last nine seasons: “We always knew what we had in the clubhouse. We always knew what we had on the field. Now, you’re starting to see it.”

This, indeed, was always the plan. One that, even in their worst moments, they believed would happen all along.

Last fall, the Dodgers’ run to a World Series championship truly did feel surprising. Their starting rotation was ravaged. Freddie Freeman entered the playoffs with ankle and rib injuries. And there were genuine October doubts to overcome, after upset first-round eliminations the two previous years.

That team also had identifiable turning points, from a belief-instilling clubhouse meeting called by manager Dave Roberts in mid-September, to an NL Division Series comeback against the San Diego Padres that catapulted them through the remainder of the playoffs.

When they finally reached the mountaintop, led by a hobbled Freeman and heroic performances from an overachieving bullpen, it was an accomplishment of determination and perseverance; a triumph that, even internally, not everyone always saw coming.

This year, by contrast, the Dodgers viewed their path differently.

On paper, the defining point of the season appeared to be that Sept. 6 loss to the Orioles — a day that began with another clubhouse meeting from Roberts, who gathered his team amid a stunning 22-31 slump that stretched to early July; then ended in disastrous fashion, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost a no-hit bid with two outs in the ninth, before a withering bullpen imploded to lose the game in a walk-off meltdown.

“Losing that game, to a team that’s not even in playoff contention, you started thinking, ‘What’s wrong with us?’” infielder Miguel Rojas recalled.

But looking back last week, several other teammates said, the Dodgers never fully felt the panic that was swirling around them.

Instead, they trusted the talent of their record-setting $415-million roster to eventually rise to surface. They banked on getting healthy, then eventually turning the ship.

“We’ve been there before,” Freeman said. “We knew we were OK.”

“At some point, we were gonna start clicking,” Muncy added. “[We just needed] guys coming back and getting healthy.”

Early in the season, after all, the Dodgers had been healthy and clicking. Their 8-0 start was better than any defending champion in MLB history. Their 29-15 record through mid-May had them on a 107-win pace.

“You look at the start of the season, when we had everybody, we were playing really good,” Muncy said. “If our team was our team the whole year, maybe we would’ve lived up to those expectations.”

The Dodgers, of course, did not have their full team for much of the next three months, when they played exactly .500 baseball (49-49) from May 16 through that Sept. 6 loss in Baltimore.

On the mound, the rotation was battered by injuries to Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin. That put added strain (and innings) on a bullpen still feeling the aftereffects of the previous October.

The lineup also dealt with its own injury problems. Freeman started the year still nursing his ankle, which required surgery over the offseason. Mookie Betts was behind the eight ball from the start following a spring-training stomach virus. In the summer, Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernández and Kiké Hernández each missed time, then returned playing less than 100%. Muncy was in and out of action during the second half, too, suffering a knee injury in July and oblique strain in August.

In retrospect, Muncy noted, it was a dynamic that the Dodgers (who have MLB’s oldest average lineup age at 30.7 years old, and were coming off a physically taxing postseason run the previous year) always figured to grapple with.

“The reality of it is — and we all know this, everyone up top knows it — our team wasn’t going to make it through the full season without breaking at some point,” he said. “So it was just, how do you weather those [low] moments?”

Problem was, they didn’t always do that well, either.

For much of July and August, the Dodgers had one of the lowest-scoring offenses in baseball, suffering from an occasional lack of focus and intensity some people in the organization later attributed to a World Series hangover.

Their faulty bullpen only made matters worse, contributing to a 5-20 record in games decided by two runs or less from early July to early September.

When Roberts called for his pregame clubhouse meeting that day in Baltimore, it was only the latest in a string of speeches he’d delivered to different groups of players on the team in prior weeks. By that point, efforts to snap out of the second-half malaise had been ongoing for a while.

“We’re doing everything in our power, having closed meetings, doing everything that we can, to try to right the ship,” Shohei Ohtani said through an interpreter on the night the Dodgers fell to second place in the division after being swept by the Angels in August. “We just have to do a better job.”

“There’s no sugarcoating this,” Freeman echoed a few weeks later, when another confounding sweep to the Pittsburgh Pirates in early September was followed by another walk-off loss to the Orioles in team’s series-opener in Baltimore. “We need to figure this out, and figure this out quick.”

That, however, is where the 2025 Dodgers differed from the previous year’s team.

Even at their lowest, they didn’t feel hopeless.

Once they got healthy again, they believed better play would follow.

“Everyone was like, ‘We’re going to hit. We’re going to pitch well out of the bullpen. It’s just going to happen,’” Freeman said. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll get there.”

The main driver of the turnaround since was the pitching. Snell and Glasnow had already returned from their injuries by September, but didn’t find a rhythm until the final weeks of the year. Yamamoto also got hot, giving up just one run in his three starts after the near no-hitter. Emmet Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw, who had been out at the start of the year recovering from surgeries, flourished to give the rotation added depth.

Ohtani (while posting MVP numbers offensively) also built his way up to a full starter’s workload, after previously being limited to short outings coming off his second career Tommy John surgery.

Sasaki, meanwhile, made a late-season return in the bullpen, giving that group an anchor it had previously been missing.

“We started winning because our starting pitching was just so good,” Freeman said, after the group produced a 2.07 ERA in September and 1.40 mark in the first three rounds of the playoffs.

“As an offense, when you see your starting pitcher just throwing zeros over and over and over again, it’s like, ‘C’mon, just get one, get two, get three.’”

That kind of consistent production indeed began to reemerge too.

There was better health and improved individual performances, especially from Ohtani, Betts and Freeman (who combined for 22 home runs and 54 RBIs during the Dodgers’ resurgence in September). There was renewed emphasis from the coaching staff on quality at-bats and team offense (helping the Dodgers average 5.6 runs per game over their final 20 contests).

There was also increased accountability the players placed on one another, challenging themselves to elevate their game the closer they got to postseason baseball.

“We always knew we were going to be a really, really good team in October,” Muncy said. “Once you get to October, it’s, ‘Alright, it’s game time.’ That’s how we’re taking it.”

That mindset has continued to manifest in the playoffs, where many of the Dodgers’ biggest moments — from the wheel play they turned in Philadelphia, to the 11-inning marathon that sent them to the NLCS, to the string of low-scoring victories they pulled out against the Milwaukee Brewers — have been born of veteran poise and a battle-tested composure.

“It’s an advantage to having such a veteran group,” Kiké Hernández said. “We’ve played in a lot of big games together.”

And now, they’ll do so again in yet another World Series appearance, playing the kind of baseball just like they expected all along.

“Showing up to spring this year, it was, ‘Hey, we need to repeat,’” Muncy recalled. “It wasn’t like we wanted to repeat. It was like, ‘Hey, we need to’ … Because that’s just how good we are.”

Wow, what a week in sports. USC defeats Michigan, a Dodger pitches a complete game for the first time in the postseason since 2004 and they sweep the Brewers to go to the World Series for the second consecutive year after being 0-6 against Milwaukee during the regular season. Perhaps Michael Conforto will be added to the roster and win MVP in the World Series.

Jeff Hershow
Woodland Hills

While basically sleepwalking through the first three games of the NLCS, Shohei Ohtani saves his best for last. He goes “Hollywood” and produces the single greatest performance in MLB history as the final curtain comes down on the Milwaukee Brewers and extends the Dodgers’ magical journey to repeat as World Series champions.

Stay tuned for the sequel!

Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa

It’s a bird, it’s a plane … no, it’s superhuman Shohei! He pitches a shutout, strikes out 10, and hits three tape-measure home runs. Wow!

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

In the history of Major League Baseball, has there ever been a player like Shohei Ohtani? I don’t think so. Shohei is the best ever. Enough said.

Chris Sorce
Fountain Valley

Now that the Dodgers have effortlessly powered their way back into the World Series, it’s quite obvious that $400 million actually does buy what it used to!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

At last, the second coming of the Dodgers has happened. We’ve been waiting for it and hoping for it, and now it’s here. Great offense, great defense and superb pitching. Our new chant should be “all the way L.A., all the way.”

Cheryl Creek
Anaheim

Statistically speaking, there is a case to be made in comparing the postseason accomplishments of Sandy Koufax and Blake Snell. From a historical perspective, there is no comparison.

Koufax is a legendary lifetime Dodger who pitched until he physically was no longer able to do so. Snell famously refused to take the ball in his last Giants start to save himself for a free agency money windfall.

Bill Waxman
Simi Valley

Stop the presses! The world is still spinning on its axis! Holy Toledo, Dave Roberts finally figured out a starting pitcher’s arm doesn’t fall off after 100 pitches. Too bad he didn’t come to that revelation during Blake Snell’s Game 1 performance, but better late than never as the saying goes.

Ken Blake
Brea

Max Muncy stood in the middle of what is normally an underground batting cage. But on Friday, moments after the Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, it had been transformed into the most exclusive drinking spot in the city, the place where the players came to toast their return to the World Series.

Cheap champagne and even cheaper beer flowed freely — mostly over people’s heads — before forming deep puddles on some plastic sheeting that had hastily been laid along the floor.

“You never get tired of this. You can’t ever take this for granted,” Muncy, the Dodger third baseman said, as he clutched a lit cigar in one hand and two red Budweiser bottles in the other. “This is the whole reason that you play baseball. You want to be in this moment.

“You want to play postseason baseball. And to be able to do it for as many times as I’ve done it, it’s just truly a blessing.”

The moment Muncy referred to is the alcohol-infused postseason series victory celebration, a tradition that dates to the 1960 World Series when members of the Pittsburgh Pirates chose not to drink the champagne that had been wheeled into their victorious clubhouse, but began spraying it on one another instead.

As baseball’s postseason format expanded, so did the number of champagne celebrations; Friday’s was the Dodgers’ fifth in 29 days and 10^th in less than two years. And it may not be the last since they’ll open the World Series next weekend with a chance to become the first repeat champion this century.

“It’s a grown man acting like a little kid. You look forward it,” reliever Blake Treinen, who has played for seven playoff teams in his career, said as he leaned on a giant red cooler stuffed with mostly empty bottles of champagne.

When the Dodgers qualified for the playoffs last month, they toasted that achievement at home, then toasted themselves again six days later in Arizona when they clinched the division title. This month they’ve beaten the Cincinnati Reds in the wild-card series, the Philadelphia Phillies in the Division Series and now the Brewers in the LCS.

And with each victory, the celebrations have grown in fervor and joy.

“It gets better and better each round,” pitcher Tyler Glasnow agreed.

As soon as Caleb Durbin’s fly ball settled in Andy Pages’ glove near the right-field bullpen gate Friday night, extending the Dodgers’ season while ending the Brewers’, fireworks filled the air and Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared from the stadium’s sound system. As a small army of workers rushed to set up a temporary wooden stage behind second base, the players pulled on gray t-shirts with words National League Champions and the script Dodgers set against a baseball diamond outlined in yellow.

On their heads they wore black caps that read World Series 2025. But the public ceremony on the stage, in which chairman Mark Walter was presented with the league championship trophy and Shohei Ohtani was handed the series MVP trophy, was short and tame compared to raucous fiesta that started in the batting cage a few minutes later.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani celebrates in the clubhouse after the team’s NLCS-clinching win over the Brewers at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“These kinds of celebrations, you can never have too many,” infielder Miguel Rojas shouted in Spanish over a loud soundtrack of percussive music that played in a loop. “A moment like this is really important, really beautiful.

“Five times this year. We’ve got one to go.”

A few feet away outfielder Teoscar Hernández surrounded himself with a handful of journalists in an unsuccessful attempt to hide from the champagne sprays directed at him by teammates.

“I don’t think there’s anybody that gets tired of this. I’m not tired,” he said. “I want to get one more, and then five more next year.

“This is the only time that you can get to celebrate something, to be free, not thinking about your job, not thinking about what you got to do tomorrow.”

As the party began to wane and players left the batting cage to join their families in a quieter gathering on the field, Muncy looked down at the thick victory cigar between his fingers and turned reflective. The celebration wasn’t about champagne or beer or victory cigars. It wasn’t even about winning.

It was more about surviving the crucible of the longest schedule in pro sports and celebrating that with the people who were with you every step of the way.

“It’s amazing, is what it is,” he said. “This is one of the best parts about being in the postseason. You grind with your teammates and your brothers for seven, eight months, all the way back to spring training.

“This is just like a culmination of all your collective efforts.”

Who wouldn’t want drink to that?

Two days ago, Shohei Ohtani rolled into Dodger Stadium as a man on a mission.

After struggling for the previous couple weeks — mired in a postseason slump that had raised questions about everything from his out-of-sync swing mechanics to the physical toll of his two-way duties — the soon-to-be four-time MVP decided it was time to change something up.

Over the previous seven games, going back to the start of the National League Division Series, the $700-million man had looked nothing like himself. Ohtani had two hits in 25 at-bats. He’d recorded 12 strikeouts and plenty more puzzling swing decisions. And he seemed, in the estimation of some around the team, unusually perturbed as public criticisms of his play started to mount.

So, during the team’s off-day workout Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, ahead of Game 3 of the NL Championship Series, Ohtani informed the club’s hitting coaches he wanted to take batting practice on the field.

It was a change from his normal routine — and signaled his growing urgency to get back on track.

“If this was a regular-season situation and you’re looking at an expanse of small sample — eight, nine games, whatever it might be — he probably wouldn’t be out on the field,” manager Dave Roberts said later.

But “with the urgency [of] the postseason,” the manager continued, Ohtani “wanted to make an adjustment on his own.”

Whatever Ohtani found that day, evidently (and resoundingly) clicked. He led off Game 3 with a triple. He entered Game 4 looking more comfortable with his swing. And then, in one of the incredible individual displays ever witnessed in playoff history, he lifted the Dodgers straight into the World Series.

In a 5-1 defeat of the Milwaukee Brewers that completed an NLCS sweep and gave the Dodgers their 26th pennant in franchise history, Ohtani hit three home runs as a hitter, and struck out 10 batters over six-plus scoreless innings as a pitcher.

Shohei Ohtani pitches during Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers. Ohtani struck out 10 over six scoreless innings for the Dodgers.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

He made his previously disappointing playoffs a suddenly forgotten memory, earning NLCS MVP honors and to the astonished amazement of all 52,883 in attendance.

And he delivered the kind of game the baseball world dreamed about when the two-way phenom first arrived from Japan, fulfilling the prophecy that accompanied him as a near-mythical prospect eight years earlier.

Back then, Ohtani’s 100-mph fastball and wicked off-speed repertoire had tantalized evaluators. His majestic left-handed swing had tortured pitchers in his home country.

Not since Babe Ruth had the sport seen anything like him.

There were some early growing pains (and injuries) during his transition to the majors. But over the last five years, he blossomed in the game’s definitive face.

A look at the three home runs Shohei Ohtani hit in Game 4 of the NLCS on Friday.

All that had been missing, in a resume chock full of MVPs and All-Star selections and unthinkable records even “The Great Bambino” never produced, was a signature performance in October. A game in which he dominated on the mound, thrilled at the plate, and single-handedly transformed a game on the sport’s biggest stage.

During that Wednesday workout this week, Ohtani got himself ready for one, stepping into the cage during his on-field batting practice — as his walk-up song played through the stadium speakers and teammates gathered near the dugout in curious anticipation — and swatting one home run after another, including one that soared to the roof of the right-field pavilion.

On Friday, in an almost unimaginable showcase of his unprecedented talents, he managed to do exactly the same thing.

After stranding a leadoff walk in the top of the first with three-straight strikeouts, Ohtani switched from pitcher to hitter and unleashed a hellacious swing. Brewers starter José Quintana left him an inside slurve. Ohtani turned it into the first leadoff home run ever by a pitcher (in the regular season or playoffs). The ball traveled 446 feet. It landed high up the right-field stands.

Three more scoreless innings of pitching work later, Ohtani came back to the plate and hit his second home run of the night even farther. In a swing almost identical to his titanic BP drive two days prior, he launched a ball that darn near clipped the pavilion roof again, a 469-foot moonshot that landed in the concourse above the seats in right.

Somehow, there was still plenty more to come.

With the Dodgers up 4-0 at that point, Ohtani then did his best work as a pitcher, following up two strikeouts that stranded a leadoff double in the fourth — and had him excitedly fist-pumping off the mound — with two more in both the fifth and the sixth.

His fastball was humming up to triple-digits. His sweeper and cutter were keeping the Brewers off balance. His splitter wasn’t touched once any of the five times they tried to swing at it.

Shohei Ohtani runs the bases after hitting his third home run of the game against the Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Anything he did immediately became magic.

Ohtani’s loudest roar came in the bottom of the seventh, after his pitching start had ended on a walk and a single led off the top half of the inning.

For the third time, he flung his bat at a pitch over the plate. He sent a fly ball sailing deep in a mild autumn night. He rounded the bases as landed beyond the center field fence.

Three home runs. Six immaculate innings. A tour de force that sent the Dodgers to the World Series.

All of it, just two days removed from Ohtani being seemingly at his lowest.

All of it, when the baseball world was most closely watching.

Dodgers players and coaches celebrate after sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS at Dodger Stadium on Friday night.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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.

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.

Imagine if the Dodgers hadn’t scored a gazillion runs.

Shudder.

Imagine how the majority of spectators would have tensed up when manager Dave Roberts trudged to the mound to remove Alex Vesia if the game was actually close.

Hoo boy.

Imagine the devastation the Dodgers would have experienced if Jack Dreyer’s bases-loaded walk legitimately endangered their chances of winning.

Barf.

The postseason started for the Dodgers on Tuesday night, and their pumpkin of a bullpen didn’t magically transform into an elegant carriage in a 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of their National League wild-card series.

On a night when the hitters crushed five home runs and starter Blake Snell completed seven innings, the relievers continued to be as terrible as they were over the last three months of the regular season.

The Dodgers technically moved a win closer to defending their World Series title, but that ultimate goal suddenly looked further out of reach because of a shocking 30-minute top of the eighth inning during which three of their arsonist relievers nearly created a save situation out of an eight-run game.

Can a team possibly win a World Series with such an unreliable bullpen?

Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia reacts during the eighth inning of a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of a National League wild-card series on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Before the game, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said he thought so.

“It’s not a talent issue,” Friedman said, but who knows if this was an honest assessment or a disingenuous effort to convince his audience that he hadn’t wasted tens of millions of dollars on a bunch of no-chancers.

Friedman continued, “We’ve seen it time and time again with guys who have scuffled and all of a sudden found it and they roll off a heater.”

That’s not what happened in Game 1.

If anything, the troublesome eighth inning eliminated certain relievers from consideration to pitch in in the highest-leverage of situations.

Suspicions about rookie fireballer Edgardo Henriquez were confirmed, as Henriquez walked a batter to load the bases, walked in a run and gave up a run-scoring single.

The wishful thinking that Dreyer could be a late-inning option was dented, as Dreyer entered the game and walked in another run.

Most disconcerting was the performance of Vesia, the team’s most trusted reliever.

Vesia started the inning, with the Dodgers leading 10-2. The use of Vesia in such a lopsided game spoke to how little Roberts wanted to use any of his other relievers in a game of this magnitude, but the fiery left-hander looked like a rubber band that had been stretched out too many times. Vesia, who pitched a career-high 68 games in the regular season, retired only one batter. He gave up a hit and a walk.

So what now?

Roberts sounded as if the only relievers he trusted were his starters. He said Tyler Glasnow and Emmet Sheehan would be in the bullpen for Game 2.

Glasnow was last used as a reliever in 2018. He’s never pitched out of the bullpen in the postseason.

Sheehan has pitched in relief in only five of 28 career games. He has only one career save, and that was in a four-inning appearance in a blowout.

The Dodgers have contemplated deploying Shohei Ohtani out of the bullpen. They could also have other starting pitchers such as Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Snell pitch in relief instead of throwing scheduled bullpen sessions between starts.

The team’s highest-ceiling late-inning option could be Roki Sasaki, who struck out two batters in each of the two one-inning appearances he made in the final week of the regular season.

But outside of Ohtani, who closed out the championship game of the most recent World Baseball Classic, can any of these starters really be counted on to perform in unfamiliar roles?

Will Yamamoto and Snell really be unaffected in their starts if they also pitch in relief?

It’s unclear.

But what is clear is the Dodgers can’t wait around for the likes of Tanner Scott or Blake Treinen or anyone who pitched in the eighth inning on Tuesday to magically round into form as Friedman envisions. They have to try something new.

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres are headed back to the playoffs for the fourth time in six seasons.

The Padres clinched a playoff berth with a 5-4, 11-inning win against the three-time NL-Central champion Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.

Freddy Fermin, acquired from Kansas City at the trade deadline on July 31, singled in automatic runner Bryce Johnson with one out in the 11th to set off a wild celebration in front of a sellout crowd of 42,371 at Petco Park.

The Padres pulled within 2½ games of the idle Dodgers in the NL West race and 2½ games behind the idle Chicago Cubs in the race for the National League’s first of three wild-card spots.

Manny Machado, shirtless, wearing sunglasses and drenched with beer and Champagne, says he feels good about the team’s chances in the playoffs.

“Everything is different. But we’ve got heart,” Machado said. “Everybody wants it. It’s always a challenge. Baseball’s a challenge. It’s hard.”

Fermin was being interviewed when Machado stopped by and poured a shot of tequila into his mouth.

“I believe with this staff we have, we are going to the World Series,” said Fermin, the catcher. “It is very special, this moment. I don’t have words for this moment. Very special. First step, we’ve got to keep rolling this.”

The Padres’ road appears to be tougher than last year, when they swept the Atlanta Braves in a home wild-card series to earn a shot at the rival Dodgers. San Diego led 2-1 before their bats went so cold that they didn’t score in the last 24 innings as they lost the series in five games. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series.

“What this group has done this year, and even last year, to put this into place, and for us to go to the postseason two years in a row for the first time since 2005-06, is truly special,” second baseman Jake Cronenworth said.

If the current standings hold, the Padres would visit the Cubs for a best-of-three wild-card series. The winner would move into the division series against the Brewers, who clinched their third straight division title on Sunday and are in the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons.

It’s been an interesting season for the Padres, who led the division for much of April before slipping back as they played .500 ball in May and sub-.500 ball in June. The Dodgers never could open a big lead, but the Padres never could regain the lead, except for brief stretches in August.

General manager A.J. Preller pulled off a major overhaul at the trade deadline, acquiring reliever Mason Miller from the Athletics, Fermin from the Royals and outfielders Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano from the Orioles.

The Padres became the first big league team to send three relievers to the All-Star Game when Jason Adam, closer Robert Suarez and left-hander Adrián Morejón were selected for the Midsummer Classic. Adam went down with a season-ending quadriceps injury on Sept. 1.

The Padres were prone to offensive slumps, particularly on the road.

But there were some defensive highlights, including several home run robberies by right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.

Tatis missed the clincher with an undisclosed illness, but Machado included his teammate in the postgame celebration via FaceTime on his phone.

Wilson writes for the Associated Press.

It’s year No. 49 covering high school sports in Southern California. Let me tell you how it started.

Cut from the Madison Junior High basketball team, I discovered writing for the school newspaper offered more power and influence than sitting on a bench. Everyone likes to see their name mentioned, so now I knew I had a big responsibility going forward.

It was the time of Watergate and new heroes such as journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovering corruption at the highest level, inspiring future journalists. While attending Poly High in Sun Valley, Pete Kokon, the sports editor of the San Fernando Sun, offered to pay me $15 a week to write a story about high school sports. It was the first lesson of a sportswriter — don’t worry about the money, bask in the spotlight of having your name appear in a byline.

Kokon was the most entertaining character I’ve ever met. He owned an apartment building in Sherman Oaks and lived in his “penthouse,” which consisted of entering a screen door that was never locked and seeing a small room on the top floor. He’d leave his keys in his unlocked car under a mat. He used to cuss out Ronald Reagan whenever his name was mentioned. He taught me how to bet at the race track, saying, “Give me a dollar,” before going to the window to place a $2 bet.

Eric Sondheimer giving a speech in 1989 at the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame at Knollwood Country Club.

(Bob Messina Photography)

He taught me how to play golf, inviting me to Woodland Hills Country Club and shouting out his club ID number to pay for everything from food to shirts to drinks. He’d write all his stories on an ancient Royal typewriter. He smoked cigars and once was a boxing promoter. Two of his best friends were Hall of Famers Don Drysdale and Bob Waterfield, fellow Van Nuys High graduates. Everyone knew him, appreciated him and feared him whenever he got angry.

Pete Kokon covered high school sports in the San Fernando Valley for more than 60 years.

(Valley Times)

For more than 60 years, he covered high school sports. I never thought I’d challenge his record. But after becoming a stringer for the Daily News in 1976 and being hired full time in 1980 after turning down the job of sports information director at Cal State Northridge, I learned there was a need to cover local sports and it became my passion to make a difference. Yes, I’ve covered the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the 1984 Olympic Games, the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the Breeders’ Cup, the Little League World Series, but nothing has provided more satisfaction than telling the stories of teenagers rising up in the face of adversity or overcoming doubts from peers to succeed.

There have been tough stories through the years. I’ll never forget staying awake until 11:30 p.m. to see the lead story on ESPN SportsCenter detailing possible NCAA rule violations by the University of Kentucky after a package sent to a high school basketball star in Los Angeles had money inside. That was a story helped by others at the Daily News.

I’ve always treated high school sports as different than college or pros. These are teenagers, with criticism of coaches and athletes mostly off limits. But times are changing. Players are getting paid. Coaches are engaging in ethical lapses. It’s a growing challenge. I will continue to respect the tradition of high school sports being about having fun but insist on rules being followed.

Eric Sondheimer interviews Corona Centennial’s Eric Freeny at the end of the state championship in Sacramento in March 2022. Freeny is now a freshman at UCLA.

(Nick Koza)

There are so many stories of coaches getting mad. Sometimes it takes time for them to understand I’m just trying to do my job as a fair, dedicated journalist who understands my responsibilities and remembers my role.

Let me give an example. At one point years ago, Sylmar basketball coach Bort Escorto stopped reporting scores. Maybe it had something to do with writing about transfers. Maybe not. But today, he always answers my calls, “I didn’t do it.”

You know you’ve won any argument when someone claims your bias for one school over another. That used to be the weekly debate years ago among Crespi and Notre Dame fans. Signs were made, barbs were shouted. It made me laugh. Now it’s about sharing selfies.

What keeps me coming back every season are the many new stories to tell. No area has a larger, more diverse collection of top athletes from a variety of sports than Southern California.

Eric Sondheimer interviews sophomore Tajh Ariza after a basketball game in 2022.

(Nick Koza)

There was a time more than a year ago that I got frustrated with the negativity going on in the world. I needed to do something to change my perspective. That’s when I vowed to write something positive every day about high school sports. Prep Talk was created to help inspire me and hopefully others that a positive message can break through in an era of social media nonsense.

To the readers through the years, you’ve helped me stay employed and stay dedicated to telling stories that resonate around the Southland. Newspapers are in trouble, but I can only control what I can control, so thank you for being loyal customers at a time of upheaval.

Eric Sondheimer interviews coach Ed Azzam of Westchester in 2020.

(Nick Koza)

Through the years as technology changed, I’ve adapted, such as sprinting from games to find a rotary telephone in a locked P.E. office or driving to a phone booth to call in a story under deadline pressure. I’ve climbed fences after being locked in as the last person in a stadium. I’ve sat on a gym floor in darkness writing a story. One night at Bishop Alemany, I lost my cellphone on the football field. I was ready to throw up in embarrassment. The athletic director, Randy Thompson, found it. My story was saved. I’ve learned to take videos and shoot photos and speak in front of audiences (thank you to speech class 101 at CSUN).

Today’s world for high school sports reporters is about not getting kicked out by security after games when everyone has left and staying calm when security doesn’t want to let you in before games or on a sideline with a press pass to do your job. Common sense is disappearing in the name of following orders.

I already have gold passes from the Southern Section and City Section, which means if I step away, I’ll still be able to attend events.

When and how this ends has yet to be decided. Pete Kokon died at age 85 in 1998 when he was found with his TV on and the channel tuned to ESPN in his penthouse apartment.

As long as a level of professionalism remains among stakeholders, I will continue to do my best to tell stories. My job is about serving the public, not myself, and that will be my mission forever.

The announcement could not have been more unfortunately timed. On the morning after the Dodgers had been swept by the Angels and fallen out of first place in the National League West for the first time in 108 days, the email to media members started this way: “Ever wonder how a player like Mookie Betts gets in the zone for the MLB Postseason?”

This is not on Betts, not at all. He is simply the front man for a campaign in which Corona Beer and its advertising partners had pre-timed an otherwise harmless press release for 6 a.m. PT Thursday. The headline on the press release: “Corona Teams Up with Mookie Betts to Bring the Beach to the Ballpark Through a First-of-its-Kind Soundtrack for the MLB Postseason.”

One of the keys to Betts’ success: an even keel that sometimes frustrates fans who want every player on their team to be as visibly frustrated as they are. In the aftermath of the Angels’ sweep, this is what Betts said Wednesday night: “It is what it is. Can’t change it right now.”

The promotional photo distributed with the press release shows Betts relaxing on a beach towel, next to home plate, headphones on. The soundtrack “fuses the iconic sounds of the ballpark with the relaxing vibe of the beach.”

Betts helped to pick seven minutes and 54 seconds of “home run blasts, in-stadium crowd waves and announcer calls from his most memorable postseason moments … combined with ambient ocean breezes and crashing waves.”

The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts teamed up with Corona for a baseball-themed soundtrack campaign called “Playa Sounds.”

(Corona)

You can hear the soundtrack here. From the press release: “The entire mix is tuned at 432hz — a frequency commonly associated with enhanced clarity.”

“As a player, you need to be in the right head space to show up when the lights are brightest,” Betts said in the press release. “I worked with Corona to make sure this soundtrack accurately captures the energy of the postseason and channels that into something both the guys in the dugout and fans can use to prepare for the season’s biggest upcoming moments.”

In last year’s postseason, Betts batted .290, hitting four home runs and scoring 14 runs in 16 games. After the World Series, on an episode of his podcast, he and several teammates broke down the Dodgers’ championship run, including a discussion of the New York Yankees’ fundamental flaws in the World Series.

The World Series could end in November this year. Major League Baseball can do without all the “Mr. November” jokes, so the league took a creative step last year: a flexible start date for the World Series.

It’s not easy to cram a four-round postseason in a month. But it’s even less ideal if the World Series teams roll through the league championship series, then sit around for close to a week before the World Series starts.

MLB unveiled this creative reform last year: If both World Series teams complete the league championship series in no more than five games, the start of the World Series would move up three days. Nothing kills interest in an everyday sport like a week off before the most important games of the season.

The reform did not come into play last season. Although the New York Yankees won the American League Championship Series in five games, the Dodgers needed six games to complete the NLCS.

When MLB announced its postseason schedule Tuesday, the flexible start date for the World Series was gone. With the Dodgers coming within one victory of making that happen last season, league officials and television partners had the chance to prepare for two possibilities for the start of the World Series. The uncertainty of what date to promote, and the need for alternate travel plans and hotel blocks, left the parties with the thought that a fixed date for the World Series remained a better plan.

The World Series this year is set to start on Friday, Oct. 24, with a possible Game 7 on Saturday, Nov. 1.

The wild-card round starts Tuesday, Sept. 30, with the division series round starting Saturday, Oct. 4. The teams with the top two records in each league earn a bye in the first round and advance directly to the division series.

If the postseason started Tuesday, the Dodgers (68-51) would be the No. 3 seed in the NL, behind the Milwaukee Brewers (74-44) and the Philadelphia Phillies (69-49). The wild card teams, in order of seed, would be the Chicago Cubs (67-50), San Diego Padres (67-52) and the New York Mets (63-55).

In that scenario, the Dodgers and Mets — the NLCS combatants last season — would meet in the wild-card round this season.

It took until August, but the starting rotation the Dodgers envisioned in spring training is intact and delivering.

Vowing not to revisit the predicament they found themselves in last postseason, when only two true starters and a stacked bullpen somehow patched together enough innings to win a World Series, the Dodgers added two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell to a rotation that already boasted four potential aces and several other candidates coming off injuries or ascending from the minor leagues.

Snell complained of shoulder inflammation April 2 after his second start and took his sweet time recovering — four months, to be precise. But if his performance against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium is a fair indication, the wait was worthwhile.

Snell struck out 10 in five scoreless innings of a 9-1 Dodgers victory, living up to the Snellzilla nickname he stole from his older brother as a brash 11-year-old and still uses as his Instagram handle. In two starts since coming off the injured list, the left-hander has 18 strikeouts in 10 innings.

The Dodgers offense was fueled by the long ball early on, with Max Muncy belting a two-run, opposite-field home run in the fourth inning and Shohei Ohtani absolutely crushing his 40th homer of the season 417 feet to dead center in the fifth with nobody on base.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits his 40th home run of the season Saturday against the Blue Jays.

(Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

A six-run rally an inning later put the game away. Two hit batters and two walks set the table, and Dalton Rushing and Mookie Betts each delivered two-run singles with none out. Andy Pages drove in the last two with a two-out double, his second hit of the inning.

The win was the second in a row against Toronto (68-50), which remain in first place in the American League East. The series concludes Sunday with another formidable starter — Tyler Glasnow — taking the mound for the Dodgers (68-49).

Glasnow took a similar if less pronounced path than Snell this season, going on the injured list before the end of April and not returning until July 9. He has given up only one run in four of his five starts since returning and most recently went seven strong innings against the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s clear that Snell and Glasnow are healthy, their arms as fresh and live as would be expected coming out of spring training. The same is true of Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw, two future Hall of Famers whose recoveries from injuries also were methodical and unhurried. Both are pitching well.

And so is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the only starter whose health hasn’t cost him time off. He’s made 22 starts, going 10-7 with a 2.51 earned-run average and leads National League starters with eight scoreless outings.

The Dodgers employ a sixth starter to give Ohani and Yamamoto five to seven days off between starts. The job belonged to Dustin May until he was traded to the Red Sox at the deadline, creating an opportunity for Emmet Sheehan, who was impressive over 60 innings as a rookie in 2023, but had Tommy John surgery in May 2024.

He’s pitched well, posting a 3.00 ERA over 30 innings, giving the Dodgers a luxury they haven’t enjoyed in recent memory: trotting out a starting pitcher every night that can prevent runs through the middle innings.

That leaves the bullpen to finish the job, and injuries and inconsistency continue to riddle the relief corps. Roberts said help is on the way, with several key relievers on the mend. If they return as effective as the starters, pitching could be a Dodgers strength entering the postseason.