Rangers' hunt for a new head coach to replace Russell Martin is still ongoing, with more than two candidates on the shortlist after Steven Gerrard withdrew from the process.
But is the solution to their problems "staring them in the face"?
Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl appears to be one of the candidates on the list after he reportedly held talks with the the club's hierarchy last week.
Yet Daily Record sports writer Scott McDermott and former Rangers striker Rory Loy both believe the 36-year-old, who has had spells as an assistant with RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and the German national team, is not the answer for Rangers.
Instead McDermott thinks current Hearts boss Derek McInnes would make a better replacement for the departed Russell Martin, who lasted just 17 games after being appointed in June.
"We know Rangers have spoken to Danny Rohl, they spoke to him before they appointed Russell Martin, so he's obviously been on their radar for a while," McDermott told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.
"Is he the right guy for Rangers? Not for me, not for what Rangers need at the moment.
"He's a very highly rated young coach. Sheffield Wednesday is the only managerial gig so far, but he has worked at a high level with Germany and Bayern Munich.
"In Rangers' situation at the moment, the predicament they find themselves in both in the league but also just historically with lack of success and trophies in the past 10 to 15 years, they need a specific type of manager.
"With all due respect, I'm not sure a 36-year-old coach coming from the English Championship is exactly what they need.
"For me, the answer is staring Rangers in the face. The answer for Rangers is Derek McInnes at the moment."
Loy says there are parallels that can be drawn between Martin and Rohl and feels Rangers fans would want to steer clear of a repeat of the last four months.
But the right person for the job remains unclear to him.
"There are some similarities in that Martin and Rohl have both managed in the English Championship," Loy told the podcast.
"But Barry Bannan saying he's the best coach he's ever worked with, I just don't think Rangers fans want to hear that again.
"It's good for players to be saying that but that's one thing the board said about Russell Martin before appointing him and those words haunted him.
"Rohl and Martins' backgrounds are so similar so you don't need to have experience and understand the club to know that that profile of manager isn't going to work.
"You need a manager that's going to come in, win trophies, have this aura, have this presence first and foremost away from being a coach.
"But who is that? Where do you get him? Can you afford him? And does he want the job?"
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers during a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field on Monday night. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Sixty years ago, the only pitcher with a statue at Dodger Stadium delivered the most dominant postseason performance in franchise history.
With apologies to Orel Hershiser and his classic run in 1988, the three postseason starts put up by Koufax in 1965 practically mirror the three postseason starts put up by Snell so far in 2025.
Koufax: 24 innings, 13 hits, two runs, five walks, 29 strikeouts.
Snell: 21 innings, six hits, two runs, five walks, 28 strikeouts.
For this year’s Dodgers, winning the World Series would require four postseason rounds, which could allow Snell to deliver the most sustained streak of October dominance in the history of a franchise built upon a foundation of pitching.
Snell shut out the Milwaukee Brewers for eight innings on Monday, the undisputed star as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory. If the Dodgers win the World Series, Snell figures to have two or three more starts.
If you are a free agent that wants to play in the postseason and measure yourself against the best, as Snell did, you sign with the team that has made the playoffs 13 years running.
“I wanted to be a Dodger and play on that team,” Snell said. “To be here now, it’s a dream come true.
“I couldn’t wish for anything more. I’m just going to do the best I can to help us win a World Series.”
There was only one thing Snell failed to do Monday, and the failure was on the Dodgers, not on him. The failure very nearly cost the Dodgers the game.
Sandy Koufax pitches for the Dodgers in Game 2 of the 1965 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. (Associated Press)
In the 1965 postseason, Koufax pitched two complete games. In 1988, Hershiser pitched three.
Snell could have pitched one Monday. He could have pitched the ninth, he said, but he trusted his manager to make the call.
He is a victim of the modern game. The Dodgers had no complete games this season. In 222 regular season starts, Snell has one — and he had to throw a no-hitter to do it.
On Monday, he faced the minimum 24 batters over eight innings, giving up one hit and then picking off the runner. The last pitcher to face the minimum over eight innings of a postseason game: Don Larsen of the New York Yankees, in his 1956 perfect game.
Pat Murphy, the Brewers’ manager, called Snell’s outing “the most dominant performance against us” in the 10 years he has coached or managed here.
Milwaukee scored more runs than any NL team besides the Dodgers.
The Brewers are terrific at putting the ball in play — only two NL teams struck out fewer times than Milwaukee — and yet Snell struck out 10. His other 23 outs: 11 ground balls, a fly ball, a foul out, and that pickoff.
No other Dodgers pitcher — not Koufax, not Hershiser, not Clayton Kershaw — has pitched at least eight innings and given up one hit or fewer in a postseason game.
“We’ve all known this: Blake, when he’s right, is the best pitcher in the game,” Kershaw said. “It’s pretty fun to watch.”
Snell had made 103 pitches through eight innings. His season high was 112. The Dodgers led, 2-0, with the bottom of the Brewers order coming up.
Snell had not pitched into the ninth inning since that no-hitter 14 months ago. The Dodgers plan to use him on regular rest in Game 5 of this series. Roberts summoned the closer of the moment, Roki Sasaki.
“I thought it was 50-50,” Roberts said. “Roki has been throwing the ball really well.”
The rap that has dogged Snell throughout his career: peerless stuff with erratic control, leading to him too often making 90 to 100 pitches in five innings rather than seven or eight. In 2023, the season in which he won his second Cy Young award, he led the NL in walks.
In the nine regular-season starts since the Dodgers activated him from the injured list in August, Snell made two starts of five innings and 90 pitches. In the other seven starts, he posted a 1.28 earned-run average.
In his past six starts, postseason included, he has pitched at least six innings each time. His record: 5-0, with a 0.68 ERA.
“My last three years, I’ve been pretty consistent,” Snell said, “and I could throw the ball, do what I want with the ball.
“But the narrative has always been, ‘He’s a wild pitcher, he walks a lot of guys.’ I laugh at it because I know it’s not true. I know that because I’m the one throwing the ball.”
He is throwing the ball as well as he ever has, on the biggest stage, where Dodgers legends are made.
“Postseason, if you dominate and you do great,” Snell said, “no one can say anything.”
Blake Treinen reacts after striking out Brice Turang for the final out of the Dodgers' 2-1 win. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Blake Treinen’s first save of the postseason was hardly a memorable performance.
He threw more balls than strikes. He walked the first batter he faced and nearly hit the second. And he got the final out on a pitch that was well out of the strike zone.
But he did get the final out, preserving the Dodgers' 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the opening game of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
And for Treinen and the bullpen he’s supposed to be anchoring, that counts as major progress.
“We've been putting in a lot of work to try to get some things in a better place with myself,” Treinen said. “Today, I thought I executed almost every pitch.”
The fixes, he said, were simple mechanical tweaks that helped set up his pitches.
“Sometimes through catch-play and touching the mound a little bit, things start to click. And you’re kind of shocked at how a subtle tweak can change everything,” he said.
In the Dodgers’ World Series run last season, Treinen was as vicious as an ill-tempered Doberman, going 2-0 with three saves, a 2.19 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 12 1/3 innings.
This year, not so much. In his first four playoff appearances more batters got a hit than struck out and five of the 12 men he faced reached base. That followed a disastrous September in which he went 1-5 with a 9.64 ERA.
He wasn’t so much putting out fires as he was starting them. The poor performances began to build on one another.
“At times this year, when it hasn't gone well, th[ings] can speed up a little bit in your mind,” he said. “That's the hard part, to carry the thoughts and focus on what you're good at.”
But manager Dave Roberts, who has had Treinen for the last five seasons, kept giving him chances to turn things around.
“I think the best way to for me to kind of view it is whether you're a position player slumping or a pitcher maybe not getting the outs at the clip that you want, we all know what our abilities are,” Treinen said. “Dave’s seen me at my best and at my worst, and so when he calls my name, I'm grateful that he has confidence in me.
“And I have confidence that he's putting me in situations for the team to win. So there's a lot of peace in that.”
Treinen may have been at peace but he didn’t have much wiggle room when he replaced Roki Sasaki on the mound Monday with two out in the ninth and the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead.
Sasaki, the team’s surprise playoff closer, had been lights out in the postseason, with just one of the 17 hitters he faced reaching base. Against the Brewers, he gave up two walks, a ground-rule double and a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the span of two outs. When Treinen entered, Milwaukee had the tying run on first and the winning run on third — and the right-hander immediately made things worse by walking William Contreras on six pitches to load the bases.
Treinen quickly got ahead of Brice Turang, the Brewers’ left-handed cleanup hitter, but courted disaster again when he sailed a 1-2 sweeper that nearly hit Turang. That would have forced in the tying run had Turang not instinctively danced out of the way, eliciting a groan from the sold-out crowd.
“It’s a natural reaction,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “When the ball is coming towards you, it’s a breaking ball, your natural reaction is to do that.
Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers in the ninth inning against the Brewers in NLCS Game 1 on Monday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It happens. He’ll learn from that situation. But it’s hard.”
For Treinen, whose only luck lately has been bad luck, the break was one he quickly cashed by getting Turang to chase the next pitch, which was head high, to end the game.
That swing brought equal measures of joy and relief for Treinen, who has supplied little of either for the Dodgers this postseason. This time, he said it felt good to finally be able to contribute.
“Our guys have been playing great baseball,” he said. “Our bats are doing a great job. Our starters have been amazing. So [I’m] just doing my job to finish the game.”
He also did his job in picking up Sasaki, the hero of the NL Division Series win over the Phillies, who stood to be the goat if the Dodgers lost Monday.
“Any time as a professional, when you have the ability to pick up your teammates, there's a lot of pride in it,” Treinen said. “You just want to do your part because it's a team game.
“I've certainly had guys pick me up this year. To have the opportunity to pick someone else up, it feels good.”
And it’s been a long time since Treinen has felt that.
MILWAUKEE — Blake Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before Los Angeles' bullpen barely held on in the ninth as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Dodgers led 2-0 when they handed the ball to Roki Sasaki in the ninth after Snell had thrown 103 pitches. Sasaki had worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings while adjusting to a bullpen role in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia, but he wasn't nearly as sharp Monday.
Isaac Collins drew a one-out walk and Jake Bauers hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall. Jackson Chourio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside.
That's when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed Sasaki and brought in Treinen.
Yelich stole second to move the potential winning run into scoring position before William Contreras walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside. After Treinen nearly hit Turang with a pitch - which would have tied the game - Turang struck out swinging at a neck-high 2-2 fastball.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching for Los Angeles and Freddy Peralta starting for Milwaukee in a matchup of All-Stars.
This NLCS is a study in contrasts, with the Brewers playing in MLB’s smallest market while the defending World Series champion Dodgers have the most expensive roster in the game.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy referenced the difference in star power between the two teams by joking during his pregame news conference that “I’m sure that most Dodger players can’t name eight guys on our roster.”
Even so, the Brewers had swept their six regular-season matchups with the Dodgers. All those games came in July, while Snell was on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
Snell showed Monday how much of a difference he can make. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 while walking nobody and allowing only one hit - a leadoff single by Caleb Durbin in the third.
Freddie Freeman broke a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the sixth. Freeman's drive came after the Brewers thwarted a couple of Los Angeles opportunities, most notably on a bizarre 8-6-2 double play that was inches away from becoming a Max Muncy grand slam.
Freeman connected on a 3-2 pitch from Chad Patrick and delivered a shot so high that it got tantalizingly close to the American Family Field roof before barely clearing the right-field wall for his first homer of this postseason.
Patrick was coming off an outstanding NL Division Series in which he struck out six and allowed no baserunners over 4 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers added what ended up being an essential insurance run in the ninth when Mookie Betts drew a bases-loaded walk from Abner Uribe on a 3-2 pitch outside.
Milwaukee stayed close because of Los Angeles' missed opportunities. The most obvious example came in the fourth, when the Brewers produced one of the strangest double plays in postseason history.
The bases were loaded when Muncy sent a drive off Quinn Priester that was headed out of the ballpark before Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick reached his glove over the center-field wall. The ball popped out of Frelick’s glove and hit the top of the fence before he caught it in the air.
Los Angeles' runners had headed back to their original bases, believing Frelick had made the catch cleanly. Frelick threw to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who threw to catcher William Contreras to force Teoscar Hernández out at home. Contreras then jogged to third to force out Will Smith, too.
Los Angeles also had runners on first and second with one out in the fifth before Betts grounded into a double play. The Dodgers left runners on first and second after Freeman’s homer in the sixth. Freeman hit a one-out double in the eighth but was stranded at third when Tommy Edman struck out swinging against Trevor Megill.
The disparity in the payrolls was the focus of the series before the first pitch ever delivered, the handiwork of the manager in charge of the small-market franchise that won more regular season games than any team in baseball.
“I’m sure that most Dodgers players can’t name eight guys on our roster,” joked Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers.
If the preceding six months were a testament to how a team can win without superstars, the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series was a display of the firepower that can be purchased with a record-breaking $415-million payroll.
The Dodgers won a game in which a confusing play at the center-field wall resulted in an inning-ending double play that cost them a run — and very likely more.
They won a game in which they stranded 11 runners.
They won a game in which the Brewers emptied their top-flight bullpen to secure as many favorable matchups as possible.
The Dodgers won because they had a $162-million first baseman in Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning solo home run pushed them in front. They won because they had a $182-million starting pitcher in Blake Snell, who pitched eight scoreless innings. They won because they had a $365-million outfielder-turned-shortstop in Mookie Betts, who drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.
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.
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.
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.
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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
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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
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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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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 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.
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 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.”
With the contest still scoreless, Game 1 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and Brewers came to a stunning halt in the fourth inning Monday, as Max Muncy's fly to deep center with the bases loaded and one out led to mayhem on the field and several minutes of figuring out what had just happened.
As was correctly ruled, Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick missed out on a jumping catch, with the ball bouncing off the wall and back into his glove. None of the men on base seemed to notice that, though, and with only the left-field umpire making any sort of ruling, the Dodgers' runners were just left to guess where to go next.
Still, while it's understandable that the players on first and second weren't sure what was going on, the runner who really shouldn't have had much of an issue was Teoscar Hernández at third base. Hernández ought to have been standing on third base and ready to score whether the ball was caught or not. However, in the confusion, he left initially and then went back to tag, giving the Brewers enough time to retire him on a force out at home plate. Brewers catcher William Contreras then ran the ball to third for an extremely unlikely double play.
To reiterate, if Frelick had simply caught the ball, the Dodgers would have taken a 1-0 lead on a sac fly. If Hernández had done his job, it also would have been 1-0, with the Brewers probably still getting an out at third base. If there had been two outs when Muncy hit, rather than one, the Dodgers would have scored two or three runs, since the runners would have been off with the ball in play. Instead, it's 0-0, and poor Muncy, an extreme fly-ball hitter who very rarely hits into double plays, gets tagged with the GIDP on a 404-foot fly that should have been a double.
TORONTO — Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco hit three-run homers, Josh Naylor added a two-run drive and the Seattle Mariners took a 2-0 AL Championship Series lead by routing the Toronto Blue Jays 10-3 on Monday.
Seattle, the only big league team never to host a World Series game, headed home for Wednesday’s Game 3 needing two more wins in the best-of-seven series to end that drought.
Toronto had just six hits, only one after the second inning, and had eight hits in the first two games. Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was 0 for 3 with a walk and is hitless in the series.
Rodríguez homered for a 3-0 lead three batters in against rookie Trey Yesavage, a 22-year-old making just his fifth big league start.
Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk had RBI singles in the bottom half off Logan Gilbert, and Lukes’ run-scoring single tied the score in the second.
Polanco’s three-run homer off Louis Varland put Seattle back ahead 6-3 in the fifth. J.P Crawford added an RBI single in the sixth and Naylor had a two-run homer in the seventh against Braydon Fisher.
Six of Polanco’s first seven hits this postseason drove in runs. He had the game-ending single in the 15th inning of Friday’s Division Series clincher against Detroit and went 2 for 4 with two RBIs in Seattle’s 3-1 opening ALCS win, Polanco’s two previous home runs this October both came off Detroit's Tarik Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner.
The roof was open on a breezy 62-degree day on the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday, but the sellout crowd of 44,814 had little to celebrate.
Seattle's bullpen has combined for nine scoreless innings in the series, allowing just one hit. Winner Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas and Emerson Hancock each pitched two innings.
Naylor, born in Mississauga, Ontario, fouled a ball his right foot in the first inning and looked uncomfortable in the batter’s box in the fifth, prompting manager Dan Wilson to come out and check on him. With Miles Mastrobuoni getting ready to come into the game if needed, Naylor convinced Wilson to leave him in and homered in the seventh.
Yesavage, who took the loss, gave up three runs and four hits in four-plus innings. He set a Blue Jays postseason record by striking out 11 Yankees in 5 1/3 hitless innings in ALDS Game 2 but had two swings and misses on his splitter, down from 11 against New York.
Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander was scratched from the lineup because of a sore lower back. Davis Schneider replaced him and went 0 for 3 with a walk.
Mariners RHP George Kirby is expected to start against Blue Jays RHP Shane Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, in Game 3. Kirby struck out six and allowed one run and three hits in five innings Game 5 of the Division Series . He doesn’t have a decision in two postseason starts. Bieber gave up three runs, two earned, and five hits in 2 2/3 innings in Game 3 against the Yankees.
Jul 31, 2011; Toronto, ON, Canada; Sandy Alomar Sr. the father of former Toronto Blue Jays player Roberto Alomar (not pictured) acknowledges the crowd during his son’s number 12 retirement ceremony before the game against the Texas Rangers at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-Imagn Images
Tom Szczerbowski-Imagn Images
Sandy Alomar Sr., an All-Star infielder during his playing days in the 1960s and '70s who went on to coach in the majors and manage in his native Puerto Rico, has died. He was 81.
A spokesperson for the Cleveland Guardians said Monday that the team was informed by Alomar's family about his death. Sandy Alomar Jr., who along with Hall of Fame brother Roberto played for their father in winter ball and in the minors, is on the Guardians' staff.
"Our thoughts are with the Alomar family today as the baseball community mourns his passing," the Guardians said on social media.
Alomar broke into the big leagues in 1964 with the Milwaukee Braves, one of six teams he played for. He also spent time with the New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, California Angels, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers before calling it a career in 1978.
Known more for his speed and fielding than his hitting, Alomar batted .245 with 13 home runs and 282 RBIs in 1,481 regular-season games.
He was named an All-Star in 1970. He stole 227 bases, including a career-high 39 in 1971, when he led the American League with 689 at-bats and 739 plate appearances, and took part in one playoff series with the Yankees in '76.
Alomar went into coaching in San Diego's system in the ‘80s and was the Padres third-base coach from 1986-90. He coached for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies and the Mets in the 2000s.
Mike Shildt is retiring after two seasons as the San Diego Padres’ manager.
The Padres confirmed the 57-year-old Shildt’s decision Monday. In a letter to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Shildt said he is retiring because “the grind of the baseball season has taken a severe toll on me mentally, physically and emotionally.”
Shildt went 183-141 and led San Diego to two postseason appearances during his brief tenure. The Padres won 90 games this season and finished second in the NL West before being eliminated by the Chicago Cubs this month in a tense three-game wild-card playoff series.
Padres general manager A.J. Preller issued a statement praising Shildt.
“His dedication and passion for the game of baseball will leave an impact on our organization, and we wish him the best in his next chapter,” Preller said.
Preller will begin looking immediately for his fifth full-time manager since taking over the Padres' front office in 2014.
Before joining the Padres organization in early 2022 as a player development coach, Shildt was the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2018-21, posting a winning record in each of his three full seasons. He was the NL Manager of the Year in 2019 after leading the Cards to 91 wins, the NL Central title and an NLCS appearance.
Shildt won at least 90 games in each of his four 162-game seasons with St. Louis and San Diego, and his teams made the playoffs in every one of his five full seasons in charge.
But Shildt said he began to contemplate retirement during the current season, and he finalized his decision after the Padres' painful elimination at Wrigley Field. San Diego's high-priced roster scored just five total runs in its three games in Chicago.
“While it has always been about serving others, it’s time I take care of myself and exit on my terms,” Shildt wrote.
Shildt, who never played professional baseball, took over in San Diego in November 2023 after Bob Melvin left the Padres to manage the San Francisco Giants, who fired him last month.
Melvin, Shildt and Jayce Tingler - who managed the Padres from 2020-21 - have presided over the longest stretch of sustained contention in team history despite the turnover in the dugout. The Padres have made four playoff appearances in the last six seasons and won four playoff series, reaching the NLCS in 2022.
The Padres have also persevered after the death of popular owner Peter Seidler, whose aggressive spending and charisma energized the San Diego fan base and powered Preller's ability to build a long-struggling team into a consistent winner. John Seidler became the Padres' chairman after his brother's death in November 2023.
The Padres’ new manager will be the eighth person to lead the dugout since Preller fired Bud Black in June 2015. Their chief rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been managed by San Diego County product Dave Roberts since November 2015.
San Diego becomes the eighth MLB team with a managerial opening and the ninth to change managers in this offseason. Texas has already hired Skip Schumaker, but there are openings with the Padres, Angels, Braves, Orioles, Twins, Giants, Nationals and Rockies.
DETROIT — Detroit Tigers general manager Scott Harris said he extended manager A.J. Hinch’s contract during the 2025 season and insisted ownership will provide the resources necessary to sign ace Tarik Skubal to a long-term deal.
Harris and Hinch had a news conference, wrapping up their season that ended with a 3-2, 15-inning loss at Seattle in Game 5 of the AL Division Series and looking ahead to next year and beyond.
“I wish we weren’t here right now,” Harris said. “I wish we were in Toronto, preparing for Game 2 of the ALCS.”
Harris said he approached Hinch during the season, his fifth in Detroit, about extending his contract for a second time and they reached a deal quickly. Harris also signed Hinch to a long-term contract in 2023.
“He’s one of the best managers in the game,” Harris said.
Harris declined to say how long Hinch is under contract.
“We want him to be here as long as he’s willing to be here,” Harris said. “I want to work with him as long as I can possibly work with him.”
The Tigers also would like to have Skubal report to work in Detroit for years to come, but know that will be costly. He won the AL Cy Young Award and was the league’s pitching Triple Crown winner in 2024. He followed that with a career-low 2.21 ERA and a career-high 241 strikeouts.
“He’s the best pitcher in baseball,” Harris said. “He’s hopefully going to win a second Cy Young.”
Skubal signed a one-year, $10.15 million contract during the last offseason — avoiding salary arbitration — and he’s set to become a free agent after the 2026 season.
To keep him off the market, team owner Chris Ilitch would have to spend many millions.
Harris insisted Ilitch will support the organization with what is needed for payroll, including what it would take to keep the 28-year-old lefty long term.
“I have no concerns about that,” Harris said.
Harris does have concerns about why the Tigers collapsed in September, when they blew the biggest lead in division or league history, and their poor performance at the plate in the postseason.
“I deserve to get those questions and we deserve the negative narrative that is swirling around this team,” he said.
Detroit had the best record in baseball for much of the season, then slumped into the trade deadline when Harris did not make a major move.
While Harris did not regret passing on pitchers he was offered, he said it is fair to question why he didn’t add a bat to the lineup.
The Dodgers last season took down the New York Yankees to win the franchise’s second World Series title in five years and first in a full season since 1988. Los Angeles’ 2020 championship triumph came in a COVID-shortened campaign.
And Dave Roberts’ club has a chance this postseason to snap MLB‘s decades-long drought without a back-to-back World Series winner.
Has an MLB team won back-to-back World Series?
There have been several repeat champions in MLB history, but it’s been over two decades since the last one.
Who was the last MLB team to win back-to-back World Series?
The Yankees won three straight World Series titles from 1998-2000, standing as the most recent team to win consecutive championships.
How many MLB teams have won back-to-back World Series?
Since the Fall Classic debuted in 1903, there have been 14 instances of a team winning at least two straight World Series.
What are the most World Series won in a row?
The longest championship streak belongs to the Yankees, who won five straight World Series from 1949-53. The Yankees also own the second-longest World Series title streak, winning four straight from 1936-39.
List of back-to-back World Series champions
Here’s a full look at all of the World Series championship streaks in MLB history:
New York Yankees: 3 straight from 1998-2000
Toronto Blue Jays: 2 straight from 1992-93
New York Yankees: 2 straight from 1977-78
Cincinnati Reds: 2 straight from 1975-76
Oakland Athletics: 3 straight from 1972-74
New York Yankees: 2 straight from 1961-62
New York Yankees: 5 straight from 1949-53
New York Yankees: 4 straight from 1936-39
Philadelphia Athletics: 2 straight from 1929-30
New York Yankees: 2 straight from 1927-28
New York Giants: 2 straight from 1921-22
Boston Red Sox: 2 straight from 1915-16
Philadelphia Athletics: 2 straight from 1910-11
Chicago Cubs: 2 straight from 1907-08
How many World Series have the Dodgers won?
The Dodgers own eight World Series titles: 1955, 1959, 1963, 1965, 1981, 1988, 2020 and 2024.
MILWAUKEE — Pat Murphy and his Milwaukee Brewers adopted an underdog mentality even as they produced the best regular-season record in the major leagues this year.
Their NL Championship Series matchup with the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers enables them to embrace that approach even more. The series starts with Game 1 in Milwaukee.
The Dodgers are seeking their third World Series title in six years, boast the game’s biggest star in three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani and have a record spend of payroll and luxury tax totaling $509.5 million. The Brewers play in the smallest market in the major leagues, have never won a title and made their lone World Series appearance in 1982.
One more indication of the contrast between these teams: The Dodgers’ projected luxury tax bill of nearly $168 million exceeds Milwaukee’s entire payroll of $124.8 million.
“The Dodgers are a powerhouse. What can you say?” Murphy said.
BetMGM has established the Dodgers as minus-220 favorites, meaning it gives the Dodgers a 68.8% chance of winning the series. Someone would have to bet $220 on the Dodgers to win $100 if they take the series.
“It doesn’t matter what people say,” Brewers second baseman Brice Turang explained. “It matters what we believe in here.”
There’s one problem with the Brewers’ underdog narrative. They won all six of their regular-season meetings with the Dodgers.
No wonder Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts takes umbrage with the notion that this is a David vs. Goliath matchup.
“They’re just gritty,” Roberts said. “They’re tough. And they take on Murph’s personality. They’ve got some guys that can slug. They’ve got some athleticism. They really defend well. They can pitch well. So it’s like they’re going to be in every game. They’ve got complete buy-in, and so they’re hungry. So those things are components that are scary.”
When teams meet in postseason after sweep
The 2003 New York Yankees went 7-0 against Minnesota in the regular season and 3-1 against the Twins in the ALDS. Six years later, the Yankees went 7-0 against the Twins again in the regular season and swept them in the ALDS.
But the New York Mets swept the Chicago Cubs 4-0 in the 2015 NLCS despite going 0-7 against them during the regular season. And the 2007 Yankees went 6-0 in the regular season against Cleveland, which won their ALDS matchup 3-1.
San Francisco beat Kansas City in a seven-game 2014 World Series after going 0-3 again the Royals in the regular season. Detroit swept St. Louis in the 2006 regular season before getting swept by the Cardinals in the World Series.
Who’s pitching?
Roberts said the Dodgers plan to start Blake Snell in the opener. Murphy didn’t announce a Game 1 starter but mentioned the possibility of using an opener.
Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta and Los Angeles’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 2.
Ohtani’s hitting slump
Ohtani is expected to win his fourth MVP award after batting .282 with 55 homers and 102 RBIs in the regular season, but he went 1 for 18 with nine strikeouts in the Dodgers’ NL Division Series win over Philadelphia.
He homered three times in the Dodgers’ six meetings with the Brewers.
Roberts said he plans to have Ohtani pitch in one game this series. He added that Ohtani’s hitting slump isn’t the reason the Dodgers opted against having him pitch Game 1.
“I expect a different output from Shohei on the offensive side this series,” Roberts said. “But, yeah, pushing him back was no bearing on the offensive performance.”
Sasaki’s surge
The Brewers will be getting their first look at Dodgers rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki, who was injured for both of Los Angeles’ regular-season series with Milwaukee.
Sasaki has been spectacular in a bullpen role during the postseason. He has struck out five while allowing one hit and no walks in 5 1/3 shutout innings.
Brewers’ shot at revenge
Milwaukee was a win from a World Series appearance in 2018 before losing 5-1 at home to the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS. This marks Milwaukee’s first NLCS berth since.
Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich was the NL MVP during that 2018 season. The only other Brewers remaining from 2018 are pitchers Brandon Woodruff and Peralta. Woodruff isn’t expected to pitch in the NLCS as he deals with a right lat strain.
Who’s hot, who’s not
Jackson Chourio batted .389 with six RBIs in Milwaukee’s NLDS win over the Cubs, though he did much of his damage early in that series. Andrew Vaughn and William Contreras homered twice in the NLDS. Chad Patrick threw 4 2/3 shutout innings, while Jacob Misiorowski allowed one run over seven innings.
Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz batted .154. Turang homered in Game 5 but went 3 of 20 in the series.
Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández has hit .308 with three homers and nine RBIs in six playoff games. Mookie Betts is hitting .385 during the postseason. Snell is 2-0 and has allowed just two runs over 13 postseason innings. Tyler Glasnow threw 7 2/3 shutout innings in the NLDS.
Will Smith has gone 2 for 13 and Andy Pages is 1 of 24 in the playoffs.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts watches his team work out at American Family Field in Milwaukee on Sunday ahead of the NLCS against the Brewers. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had indicated the Dodgers would likely add a pitcher for the NLCS, which is a best-of-seven round with only two off days.
In Casparius, they did so with a right-hander capable of pitching multiple innings at a time (he bounced between the rotation and bullpen earlier this year) and being used as an option against right-handed-heavy parts of an opposing lineup.
Casparius, a 26-year-old rookie who played a minor role in last year's postseason’s run to a World Series, became one of the Dodgers’ biggest success stories during the first half of the season. Over his first 20 appearances (all but one of which came in relief, and included 14 that went beyond one inning), he had a 2.54 ERA, a .194 batting average against, and 44 strikeouts to only seven walks.
His production was so impressive, the Dodgers eventually moved him into the rotation in early June.
From then on, however, his season started to turn.
In his five outings as a starter or bulk-man following an opener, Casparius had an 8.24 ERA and gave up six home runs 19 ⅔ innings; all while at times, the Dodgers believed, potentially tipping his pitches on the mound.
Eventually, he returned to a strictly relief role, but appeared to run out gas down the stretch, posing a 4.50 ERA from July 9 to Sept. 5 before being demoted to triple-A.
Although Casparius has not been back in the majors since then, his time in the minors seemed to help. He got back to dominating right-handed hitters. He gave just two runs in five outings. And he has been back around the Dodgers during each of the first two rounds of the playoffs, when the team carried only 11 pitchers (not including two-way player Shohei Ohtani) because of the shorter series.
Adding Casparius meant the Dodgers had to trim someone from their position player group. They did that by taking Rushing off the roster, with the team no longer needing three catchers in the NLCS thanks to Will Smith’s recovery from a fractured hand.
Rushing, a former top prospect who had a difficult rookie season, was largely a non-factor in the first two rounds of the playoffs, getting just one pinch-hit at-bat at the end of a Game 3 blowout against the Philadelphia Phillies last week.
Removing Rushing does leave the Dodgers with one less left-handed bat on the bench, especially after they elected to keep Justin Dean and Hyeseong Kim (who are defensive and base-running specialists) on the roster over outfielder Michael Conforto (who would have been a more legitimate candidate for the NLCS given the Milwaukee Brewers’ more right-handed-heavy pitching staff).
But the Dodgers decided to largely stick with the group that has gotten them this far, adding an extra arm ahead of a best-of-seven showdown that represents the next step in their World Series title defense.
