Hernández: Dodgers' Game 1 NLCS win shows financial might can make things right

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

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

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

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

Read more:Blake Snell gem helps Dodgers overcome double-play chaos in NLCS Game 1 win

They won a game in which they stranded 11 runners.

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

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

Talent wins.

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

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

In retrospect, how cute.

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

In retrospect, how delusional.

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

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

How can the Brewers match that?

Bring on the Seattle Mariners.

Bring on the World Series.

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

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

Snell picked him off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more:Blake Snell's dominant performance carries Dodgers to NLCS Game 1 win over Brewers

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

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

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

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

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Dodgers at Brewers – NLCS Game 2 prediction: Odds, expert picks, pitching matchup, betting trends, and stats

Blake Snell was the story in Game 1 of the National League Championship series between the Dodgers and the Brewers Monday night. The 2023 Cy Young winner threw eight shutout innings allowing just one hit while striking out a postseason career high ten as Los Angeles took the opener, 2-1.

Freddie Freeman launched a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. Mookie Betts drew a bases loaded walkoff of Abner Uribe in the ninth. That base on balls proved pivotal as the Brewers scored in the bottom of the ninth and then loaded the bases with two outs. Milwaukee, though, could not plate the tying run as Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang to end the threat.

Snell has now started three playoff games for the Dodgers this postseason – all series openers - and won each. He made his postseason debut with the Dodgers on September 30 taking the mound for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Cincinnati. He struck out 9 while allowing four hits and two runs over six innings in a 10-5 win. Next, he opened the NLDS for LA last Monday with seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball with nine strikeouts in a 4-3 win over the Phillies. Snell has now pitched 21 innings and allowed a mere six hits and two runs while striking out 28 this postseason.

Game 2 is Tuesday night with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the mound for Los Angeles against Freddy Peralta for Milwaukee.

Lets dive into the numbers behind the storylines of Game 2 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and the Brewers.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch the first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.

Game details & how to watch Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2

  • Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
  • Time: 8:08PM EST
  • Site: American Family Field
  • City: Milwaukee, WI
  • Network/Streaming: TBS

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Odds for the Dodgers at the Brewers - NLCS Game 2

The latest odds as of Monday courtesy of DraftKings:

  • Moneyline: Los Angeles Dodgers (-119), Milwaukee Brewers (-102)
  • Spread:  Dodgers -1.5 (+152)
  • Total: 7.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2

  • Pitching matchup for October 14, 2025: Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Freddy Peralta
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49 ERA)
    Last Game: 10/8 vs. Philadelphia – 4IP, 3ER, 6H, 1 BB, 2Ks
    Yamamoto has started 2 playoff games this postseason and allowed 3 earned runs on 10 hits over 10.2 innings while striking out 11
  • Freddy Peralta (17-6, 2.70 ERA)
    Last Game: 10/9 at Cubs – 4IP, 3ER, 3H, 2BB, 6Ks
    Peralta started two games in the Divisional Series against the Cubs and allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits with 15 strikeouts over 9.2 innings

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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2

  • Shohei Ohtani is 3-10 (.300) with 2 HRs in his career against Freddy Peralta
  • Freddie Freeman is 6-26 (.231) with 1 HR in his career against Peralta
  • Mookie Betts is 1-12 (.083) with his lone hit being a home run in his career against Peralta
  • The Brewers as a team have had just 9 ABs against Yoshinobu Yamamoto but are 4-7 (.571) with 2 BBs in those plate appearances
  • Yoshinobu Yamamoto has zero strikeouts in his career against the Brewers
  • Shohei Ohtani is 0-11 in his last 3 games and just 1-20 in his last 5 games

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

Expert picks & predictions for Tuesday’s NLCS Game 2 between the Dodgers and the Brewers

Rotoworld Best Bet

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Tuesday’s game between the Dodgers and the Brewers:

  • Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play on the Dodgers on the Moneyline.
  • Spread: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play ATS.
  • Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.

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WBS Penguins Start Strong, Take Both Games Of Weekend Swing

The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a 2-1 start this season, and they have played a bit better than most had expected up to this point. 

And their AHL affiliate is off to a hot start, too.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins earned back-to-back victories - first a 2-1 win over the Hartford Wolfpack and then a 4-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. And there are already 12 different players who have been involved on the scoresheet for WBS.

On Saturday, forward Valtteri Puustinen opened the season scoring for the WBS Penguins in the second period with the Penguins trailing Hartford, 1-0. They carried the tie into second intermission, and then, a little more than three minutes into the final frame, defenseman Owen Pickering shot one from the point and through traffic to write the final 2-1 score.

Then, in game two against the Phantoms, one of the young forwards who nearly cracked the NHL roster out of training camp really shone through.

Aidan McDonough registered the first goal of the game on the power play a tick more than four minutes in, and the primary assist came from Tristan Broz, who impressed many with his NHL training camp. Avery Hayes - another camp standout - tallied WBS's second power play goal of the game on a feed from Ville Koivunen, who was playing in his first AHL game since being re-assigned from Pittsburgh.

Helge Grans cut the deficit to 2-1 for Lehigh Valley on a power play of their own late in the second period, but in the third, Broz took it home. In the early part of the third, he pounced on a rebound in the slot off of a Koivunen shot, and then he added the empty-net goal at the end of the night to cap off the 4-1 win - giving him three points on the evening.

Penguins' Prospect Shines In First KHL Action Of SeasonPenguins' Prospect Shines In First KHL Action Of SeasonThere are several Pittsburgh Penguins' prospects who have been making headlines as of late. 

On the young season, there are four players with multiple points on the season in Broz (3), Hayes (2), Koivunen (2), and Sam Poulin (2). WBS's next set of games starts Friday, when they play a weekend back-to-back against Hartford and the Bridgeport Islanders.

It's Only Been Three Games. But Kindel And Brunicke Should Be In Pittsburgh To Stay.It's Only Been Three Games. But Kindel And Brunicke Should Be In Pittsburgh To Stay.Going into Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp this season, it's safe to say that most folks did not have 2025 11th overall pick Ben Kindel making the NHL roster out of the gate.

Bookmark THN - Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab  to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!     

Blake Snell gem helps Dodgers overcome double-play chaos in NLCS Game 1 win

Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the eighth inning of a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the eighth inning of a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field on Monday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The reason the Milwaukee Brewers are in the National League Championship Series is because of plays like the one that ended the fourth inning Monday night.

A strange, one-in-a-million, 400-foot double-play in which one Brewers fielder made a spectacular defensive effort, and another never lost awareness of a wacky situation — highlighting the underappreciated skillset and sound fundamentals that made them baseball’s winningest team this season.

The reason the Dodgers are here, however, is because of how they can respond to adversity — settling the panic with their dominant starting pitching, rallying at the plate with their star-studded lineup and suffocating an opponent with a record $415-million payroll’s worth of talent.

In their 2-1 win in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field, that was ultimately what made the difference.

The evening’s most memorable moment might have been that fourth-inning cluster, when the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out, only to come up empty when Max Muncy had a potential grand slam robbed (but, crucially, not caught cleanly) and two Dodgers were retired on forceouts at home plate and third base.

But, the most important contributions came after that, with Freddie Freeman’s home run in the sixth inning giving the Dodgers the lead, and Blake Snell’s scoreless eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout master class ensuring they wouldn’t relinquish it — even with some heartburn from the bullpen at the end.

“Obviously, there were some crazy things that happened,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s not going to come easy.”

But, “for us to find a way to get out of that,” Muncy added, “it's huge."

Muncy was in the middle of the night’s craziest play, when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning.

What followed was a confounding, and nearly consequential, disaster. One both self-inflicted by the Dodgers’ lack of awareness, and compounded by the Brewers' ability to do the little things so well.

As Muncy’s ball soared to the wall, Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick jumped, got a glove on it, and then — at least it seemed initially — caught it on a bobble. At third base, Teoscar Hernández tagged up once, then again, before finally breaking for home plate as the Brewers turned a relay play in.

What no one on the Dodgers noticed in the moment: Left field umpire Chad Fairchild waving his arms in the outfield, signaling (correctly, as replay would later show) that the ball had bounced off the top of the wall before Frelick finally secured it. That meant, instead of a sacrifice fly situation, a force play was suddenly on for the defense.

Thus, when catcher William Contreras caught the throw home just ahead of Hernández’s slide, Hernández was out even without a tag. And as the other Dodgers runners stood motionless on base — still thinking Frelick had cleanly made the catch — the ever-aware Contreras ran over to third himself and stepped on the bag, forcing out Will Smith after he had failed to advance from second.

“I'm still kind of confused as to what all went down,” Muncy said.

“All of a sudden, you turn around and there's runners everywhere,” crew chief and first base umpire James Hoye added to a pool reporter.

The big mistake on the play was Hernández’s decision to re-tag third before racing home, a superfluous move thanks to a quirk in MLB’s rulebook. Even if Frelick had made the catch cleanly, Hernández could have left the base as soon as the ball first hit Frelick’s glove (similar to a bobbled sacrifice fly the Dodgers successfully executed in a game against the New York Mets earlier this season).

Instead, Hernández’s delay allowed the throw home to beat him. Afterward, Roberts acknowledged that his outfielder, who did not speak to reporters postgame, “just had a little bit of a brain fart.”

“Teo knows the rule,” Roberts said. “He owned it.”

The other problem was that neither Smith nor third base coach Dino Ebel apparently saw Fairchild, who was out of their sight line deep in the outfield, signal that the ball had not been caught, leaving Smith standing on second as Contreras went to force him out at third.

The Dodgers did challenge the play, but there was no changing the call.

In the scorebook, it went down as a 400-foot, ground-into-double-play.

“That’s really frustrating,” Smith said. “That was really close to being 4-0.”

For a brief moment, it left the team on the verge of falling into a familiar Brewers’ trap: Struggling with Milwaukee’s talented pitching staff, denied by its typically stellar defense, and one mistake away from losing to a team with inferior talent.

Freeman, however, flipped the script with a towering home run that carried just deep enough to right in the sixth inning for his first home run of this postseason.

Freddie Freeman hits a solo home run in the sixth inning for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS.
Freddie Freeman hits a solo home run in the sixth inning for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

And from there, Snell never let the Brewers rally back.

In one of the greatest individual pitching performances in Dodgers postseason history, the already streaking two-time Cy Young Award winner ascended to a different level of dominance, facing the minimum number of batter over his eight-inning annihilation.

He erased his only baserunner, which came on a flare single from Caleb Durbin to lead off the third, by picking him off later in the inning. He struck out 10 batters, setting a personal playoff career high, and did it on just 103 pitches. Of his 69 strikes, 22 came on swing-and-misses against a Brewers offense that was one of the best in baseball this season at making contact. And by the time it was done, he’d added his name into the Dodgers’ October history books.

Since José Lima’s NL Division Series shutout in 2004, Clayton Kershaw had been the only other Dodgers starter with a scoreless eight-inning start in the postseason.

No one in franchise history had ever spun an eight-inning start of one hit or fewer in the playoffs.

“You’re not gonna see too many performances like that, certainly in the postseason,” Roberts said. “This was pretty special.”

“The whole postseason,” said Snell, who has allowed a run in just one of his 21 innings this October, “I've been pretty locked in, pretty consistent.”

Read more:Hernández: Dodgers' Game 1 NLCS win shows financial might can make things right

At the end, the Dodgers almost wasted it.

In what Roberts later acknowledged was a “50/50” decision, he decided to remove Snell for the bottom of the ninth inning, after a bases-loaded walk from Betts had doubled the Dodgers' lead to 2-0. He trusted his newly dominant closer Roki Sasaki for the final three outs.

Only this time, the 23-year-old rookie didn’t have his typical command, or his usual 100-mph velocity.

With one out, Sasaki walked Isaac Collins to start the danger. Then, Jake Bauers hammered a full-count fastball (that only clocked 97.3 mph on the radar gun) for a ground-rule double.

That was followed by a sacrifice fly from Jackson Chourio, and another walk to Christian Yelich. Suddenly, Roberts was trudging out to the mound, taking the ball from Sasaki while summoning Blake Treinen.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removes reliever Roki Sasaki from the game in the ninth inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removes reliever Roki Sasaki from the game in the ninth inning against the Brewers on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“He was off just a little bit,” Roberts said of Sasaki, who had not allowed a run previously since joining the Dodgers bullpen the last week of the regular season. “I thought his stuff was still good, but just missing. I don't know if there was carry-over from the three innings [in the NLDS]. ... With the three days off, I felt good with him.”

Treinen didn’t make things easy on himself either, issuing a walk to Contreras that loaded the bases and brought the Brewers’ home crowd roaring to life.

Suddenly, it all felt so similar to the Dodgers’ 2021 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, when they squandered their most recent attempt at a World Series title defense with walk-off losses in the first two games of that series.

This time, though, the Dodgers survived. 

Treinen got Brice Turang in a two-strike count, then fanned him on a fastball Turang chased up and out of the zone. Just like that, the fourth-inning double-play was turned into a footnote, ensuring Snell’s historic gem was rewarded with a winning decision. 

“We knew from the get-go it was going to be a battle,” Freeman said. “But when you get one for Blake, you're feeling good.”

Read more:It took some luck, but good things finally happen to Dodgers' Blake Treinen

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Emil Andrae Emerges As Real Solution to Flyers' Defensive Carousel

(Photo: Eric Canha, Imagn Images)

Unsurprisingly, the Philadelphia Flyers may have finally stumbled on an answer to their defensive woes, even if it's only temporary.

Continued struggles prompted the Flyers and head coach Rick Tocchet to make a change on defense, with Egor Zamula getting swapped out for Emil Andrae, who was only just called up from the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms, against the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

Andrae, 23, played just 10:22 - the second-lowest amount of ice time on the Flyers, against the Panthers, but that is, to a degree, a byproduct of needing to earn Tocchet's trust.

With Andrae on the ice at 5-on-5, the Flyers actually out-attempted the back-to-back Stanley Cup champs by a 7-1 margin, according to Natural Stat Trick. Andrae's astounding 87.5% Corsi share at 5-on-5 was tops on the Flyers by over 16%.

On paper, the heavy and physical Panthers were a nightmare matchup for the 5-foot-9 Swede, but instead, he stood tall in the limited minutes Tocchet gave him. First test passed.

Rick Tocchet Admits Matvei Michkov is Playing Catch-Up Due to Offseason InjuryRick Tocchet Admits Matvei Michkov is Playing Catch-Up Due to Offseason InjuryWhile Philadelphia Flyers phenom Matvei Michkov hasn't looked quite like himself to start his second season in the NHL, there is, at least, a reason for that, according to head coach Rick Tocchet.

"Yeah, that's a tough situation for him to come into, first game coming up from the minors," Tocchet said of Andrae after the game. "I thought he did a really nice job. Give the kid a lot of credit."

Andrae's placement in the lineup may not be permanent, as Cam York's return from injury looms, and Rasmus Ristolainen is expected to eventually come back, but he was a lineup staple for the Flyers last year even when those two were healthy.

How Tocchet chooses to arrange his blueline in that scenario remains to be seen, but Adam Ginning and Noah Juulsen have continued to struggle to move the puck and make plays.

With Andrae, that's not a concern, and that's why he played against the Panthers. That gamble paid off in spades as the Flyers ran off with an impressive 5-2 win in their home opener in front of a raucous crowd.

The 23-year-old didn't give Tocchet and the Flyers any reason to remove him from the lineup, so expect Andrae to continue to build on a very solid season debut at the NHL level.

Knicks, resting key players, get worked over by Wizards, 120-103, for first preseason loss

The Knicks, playing without a single starter and several key reserves, got worked over by the Washington Wizards, 120-103, for their first preseason loss of the year on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

In their fourth preseason game of the year, the Knicks decided to sit Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Ariel Hukporti, Mitchell Robinson, and Landry Shamet. Head coach Mike Brown said before the game that he intended to start Hukporti and play Shamet, who is one of three veteran players on a non-guaranteed contract fighting for one roster spot, but both were ruled out due to illness.

In their place, Malcolm Brogdon, Deuce McBride, Jordan Clarkson, Pacome Dadiet, and Guerschon Yabusele went out as the starting five with the plan to give the players of the second unit and those on the roster bubble an extended run.

“I thought our starters did not bring the energy,” Brown said after the game. “This is probably our worst basketball game overall. We did it in spurts: we weren’t very good to start the game, we weren’t very good to start the third quarter.”

Washington capitalized by shooting the lights out, 68.3 percent in the first half and 53.7 percent for the game. New York made up for the lack of defensive production with a rough shooting night, 41.9 percent in the first half and 44.4 percent for the game.

The plus-minus for the starting five was not pretty: Clarkson minus-29 in 21 minutes, Dadiet minus-20 in 24 minutes, Yabusele minus-33 in 23 minutes, Brogdon minus-30 in 18 minutes, McBride minus-26 in 28 minutes.

But, always the teacher, there was a positive to take from a game that didn't go their way.

“Great film to learn from because we made a lot of mistakes that have been uncharacteristic of who we've been so far, even in practice, we've played a lot better than this in terms of what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively,” Brown said. “Great learning experience, we’ll all grow from it, and, hopefully take that step forward instead of just thinking we took a step backwards because we didn’t play well tonight.

Here are the takeaways...

- Dadiet took advantage of some good early looks, knocking down a pair of early threes. There were a few times when the 20-year-old looked a bit lost on the defensive end. He finished with eight points on 2-for-7 shooting (2-for-6 from deep) with six rebounds (two offensive).

 Ahead of the game, Brown highlighted how the Knicks are going to look for opportunities this year to get Dadiet time as they really like his upside.

"He's just gotta continue to understand how big he is," Brown said. "He's long. He's a big wing. And at times, he doesn't utilize it. We always talk about playing big, playing big, playing big. And he doesn’t utilize it all the time. And that’s just being young. At times, he’s a little quiet and he’s a little unsure of what he should be saying or doing. 

"So we keep trying to throw him into the fire as much as possible. It’s something that I’d like to do come regular season. I don’t know how many minutes he’s gonna get per game. But he definitely has a chance to be a player in this league for a long time, and you wanna help try to speed that development up because you see a lot of good things. 

"You see he can run, you see he can cut, he’s big… you see he does a petty good job of finishing and shoot the basketball. And you couple that with his ability to play defense, and you have a pretty good young prospect, especially for his age.”

- An area of concern: The Wizards were able to get good looks and forced an early timeout by Brown. The defense is still a work in progress for this bunch of Knicks as they learn the new head coach’s system and Washington took advantage, connecting on 65 percent from the floor (13 of 20) in the first quarter for a 36-26 lead. That continued in the second, with the visitors making seven of their next 10 field goals en route to shooting 71.4 percent in the period (15 of 21 and 5 of 9 from three) for a 75-52 halftime edge. Naturally, the Wizards opened the third with an 11-0 run on their way to building a 34-point lead at one point before the Knicks clawed their way back to a more respectable deficit.

- Clarkson connected on three of his first five attempts (2-for-4 from three) in the first. He led the Knicks with 10 first-half points (4-for-7 shooting) and should have had a few assists if some open looks had gone down. It wasn't a great shooting night from deep,  7-for-24 (29.2 percent) in the first half and 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) after the interval. Clarkson finished with 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting (2-for-5 from deep) with one rebound, four turnovers, and zero assists.

Brown said the Wizards didn’t do anything “tricky,” they were “just in the right spot defensively.”

“They tried to play the way that we’ve been playing throughout the preseason, every day in practice and it showed at times to be very good basketball,” he said, adding that overall, it wasn’t good enough. “We needed to do better collectively as a unit when it came to doing the little things, starting with boxing out we weren’t great at it. Defensively, we weren't great in our shifts, and we’d been pretty darn good in those two area so far.”

- One of the culprits hurting Clarkson's assist numbers was McBride, who was 1-for-5 in the first half, missing all four of his attempts from three, with two turnovers and two fouls in the first half. McBride found his range at the start of the fourth with consecutive threes to cut the deficit to 19. He finished with 11 points on 4-for-12 shooting (2-for-9 from three) with two assists and a rebound.

- Brogdon, another one of the three vets on a non-guaranteed deal, got off to a cold start shooting (2-for-7 from the floor) in the first and committed three fouls; he did add three assists. He appeared a step slow on the offensive end. His night ended with four points on 2-for-7 shooting with three assists, two rebounds, and a steal.

- Yabusele made his first three of the preseason in the first to go along with two assists in the early goings, and showed off a jump hook in the second. The new Knick made another three midway into the third, just the team’s second field goal out of their first 12 attempts of the quarter, which cut it to a 30-point deficit. He ended with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting with five rebounds (four offensive) and two assists.

- Tyler Kolek had a solid second quarter with seven points, three assists, and a steal. He had a nice run of three straight buckets to end the third, cutting the deficit to 100-75. Kolek finished with a team-high 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting (1-for-5 from three) with six assists, four rebounds, and a steal. He finished a plus-10.

“I thought the guys coming off the bench, they did a great job, Tyler gave us great minutes," Brown said.

- Trey Jemison III added nine points with four rebounds and was a plus-11 in 15 minutes. Tosan Evbuomwan had seven points and four rebounds and was a plus-17 in 15 minutes. 

Highlights

What's next

The Knicks conclude their preseason slate with a Friday night tilt against the Charlotte Hornets at MSG. Tip is set for 7:30 before New York opens the regular season on Oct. 22.

Penguins' Prospect Shines In First KHL Action Of Season

There are several Pittsburgh Penguins' prospects who have been making headlines as of late. 

But there is one prospect who has quietly been putting up numbers.

Forward Mikhail Ilyin, 20, is in his fourth season with the Severstal Cherepovets of the KHL. So far this season, Ilyin has registered three goals and nine points in 14 games, and he has continued to impress. 

Selected by the Penguins in the fifth round (142nd overall) in 2023, the 6-foot, 180-pound right wing is known for his playmaking ability as well as his hockey IQ. Ilyin has been playing in a league of grown men since he was 17 years old, and he continues to get better and better with each passing year. 

Pretty much every scoring play Ilyin is involved in nowadays involves dangling, maneuvering, net-crashing, and elite playmaking vision. The forward - who we ranked 12th on our Top-20 Penguins' Prospects 2025 List - is certainly showing some NHL potential up to this point.

Ilyin signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins this summer, and he is playing for Severstal on loan this season. He attended Penguins' Prospect Development Camp in July.

Top-20 Penguins' Prospects 2025: Don't Sleep On This Russian WingerTop-20 Penguins' Prospects 2025: Don't Sleep On This Russian WingerHeading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.

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