Category: MLB

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hasn’t done much at all since returning from the injured list in the final week of the regular season, and his presence in the middle of the batting order has been more symbolic than actually productive.

Now, the team is considering sitting Ohtani as the National League Championship Series moves to Los Angeles, per Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic:

“Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good,” manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic on Monday, after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.

“I’ll have (that conversation) with him tomorrow.”

As someone who has practice in Robertsese, that means Ohtani won’t be starting in Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

Ohtani’s second half has been marred by various maladies. First came the left knee irritation in June, which caused the team to pause his pitch after July 3, and he missed the All-Star Game to get treatment on the knee. As he slowly worked his way back on the pitching side, Ohtani developed a right biceps issue as well, which caused various starts and stops of his pitching program.

By early September it became clearer that Ohtani was affected by the injuries, and he finally landed on the IL with biceps inflammation. How long exactly Ohtani has been dealing with the injuries isn’t clear, but he last homered on August 18 at Coors Field, and has driven in one run in the 110 plate appearances since.

There’s been an open question of how forthcoming Ohtani has been with his injuries as well. Before the NL Division Series, when asked about his injuries, Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, “I haven’t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this. I think that process is going to happen during the off-season when I’m going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it. But as of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage.”

There was a time with some hope on September 24, when Ohtani had four hard-hit balls which led to a single and double, but that’s his only extra-base hit in 41 plate appearances since returning fro the IL. In the postseason, the hard contact has all but disappeared. Ohtani has three singles in 20 at-bats plus three walks and seven strikeouts, hitting just .150/.261/.150. His expected numbers, based on his batted-ball data, aren’t much better, just .187/.315/.255.

Roberts at various times in October has mentioned Ohtani clearly isn’t 100 percent. He moved him to second in the order, then to fifth, and has batted Ohtani fourth in the last three games. Now, Ohtani might sit.

Woo and Rosenthal report that Josue De Paula would be “the top candidate” to take over at designated hitter if Ohtani does not start.

We’ll surely find out more about this during media availabilities at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday’s off day.

MILWAUKEE –– Entering Monday night, the Dodgers were not giving serious consideration to removing Shohei Ohtani from their lineup.

One big loss, and four ugly at-bats later, however, that previously steadfast plan suddenly seemed capable of changing.

Following a 7-4 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers that put the Dodgers in a two-game hole in their National League Championship Series, the team was set to re-evaluate Ohtani’s status ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday.

Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic that the team would have “a conversation” with Ohtani about whether or not he would be in the lineup for the contest. A source with knowledge of the situation said the decision would come down to whether Ohtani still felt healthy enough to remain the starting designated hitter, as ESPN also reported.

The development came after Ohtani’s worst performance this postseason, in which he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Over six games in these playoffs, the four-time MVP is now just 3-for-20 with only three singles, two walks and seven strikeouts while battling ongoing right arm and left knee issues –– playing at what the team has repeatedly acknowledged is well less than 100%.

Despite all that, the Dodgers have also been holding out hope for a revival from their two-way superstar. Roberts promised he would “come to life” eventually. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman predicted that “at some point, it’s going to click for him.”

Now, however, the Dodgers can’t afford to keep waiting around for Ohtani magic.

After back-to-back losses to open the NLCS in Milwaukee this week, they return home to Los Angeles just two more defeats away from elimination –– and only one from a 3-0 deficit that just one team in MLB history (Roberts’ iconic Boston Red Sox squad in the 2004 American League Championship Series) has ever come back from.

“Can we [come back in this series]? Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But it’s just, you want to get that first [win].”

Prior to Monday, Ohtani had at least reached base safely in each of his first five playoff games.

Instead of continuing to progress with his swing, however, his 0-fer in Game 2 represented a notable step back.

Before the game, the injury-hampered 32-year-old took batting practice on the field for a third-straight day –– a drastic, and telling, change of routine for someone who normally never hits outside of the indoor batting cages.

During his BP sessions, coaches had also been encouraged by the look of his swing, optimistically noting the fact he was driving the ball to the big part of the field.

“I feel good [with] where he’s at,” Roberts said Sunday. “[He is] certainly not 100 percent, but it’s good enough.”

That, however, was no longer the case in Tuesday’s demoralizing loss, when the Dodgers’ offense as a whole managed just three hits, made outs in all 15 of their at-bats against Brewers relievers, and suddenly looked like a unit in desperate need of a jolt.

Ohtani didn’t provide one. Instead, he looked even more lost than ever before.

He ended the first inning with a three-pitch strikeout, chasing an elevated fastball from Brewers rookie Logan Henderson. He stranded a runner at second to end the second, flailing at another high fastball for a softly hit grounder to third. Then came the sixth, when Ohtani was so fooled by a slider from left-handed reliever JoJo Romero that his bat flung out of his hands on his unsuccessful attempt to check his swing.

He would make one more out in the ninth, lifting a harmless fly ball to left field off top Brewers southpaw Aaron Ashby.

Once again, he did address reporters postgame, still yet to speak publicly since before the start of the NLDS.

If the Dodgers were to drop Ohtani from the lineup for Game 3 –– when the Brewers will start left-hander Robert Gasser –– the team would have several potential ways to fill his void at DH.

The most obvious one: rookie sensation Josue De Paula.

The 21-year-old has only logged 45 total big-league plate appearances since being called up straight from double-A back in September, but has reached safely in more than half of them.

That includes a pair of impressive walks as a pinch-hitter in recent days; one that helped set up a game-winning rally in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and another in an ultimately failed ninth-inning comeback bid in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.

Granted, swapping even a diminished version of Ohtani for someone so inexperienced would undoubtedly be a stunning decision on the surface. And if this series weren’t 2-0 for the Brewers, the calculus would be different.

But right now, De Paula might be just as much of an on-base threat, and (given he is fully healthy) is perhaps an even more likely candidate to potentially slug the ball.

And, at this increasingly dire stage, the Dodgers might not be able to risk another empty performance from their biggest star.

If not De Paula, the Dodgers could also use the DH spot to potentially fit October hero, and right-handed hitter, Kiké Hernández back in the lineup, after he was dropped back to the bench for Game 2 in favor of Tommy Edman. Perhaps it could also be a way to get Miguel Rojas in as another extra righty bat, especially while he nurses a back injury he suffered in the NLDS.

None of these scenarios, of course, are what the Dodgers wanted to be contemplating so soon into their World Series three-peat bid.

But suddenly, with the stakes rising higher and Ohtani’s performance trending in the opposite direction, all options might need to be on the table.

The best player in baseball, at least in his current physical condition, might need to be benched.

Truly top to bottom, this was Cleveland Gaurdians taking the Rays to school. The pioneers of dragging old school small ball baseball into the modern era kicking and screaming show why the original is oftentimes the best.

Matchups make fights, and one thing is certain after tonight: the Cleveland Guardians are a much scarier and intimidating matchup than the New York Yankees ever were.

Cleveland played an extremely Guardian and Rays style of game, and just beat the Rays to the punch. They were able to come through with the big hits from the unlikely sources at the bottom of the order. They had their young slugger have a tremendous breakout game. They got sharp pitching from start to pen keeping Rays hitters off balance and without any real threat for the majority of the night.

Overall, the first ALCS game played in the Trop in 18 years was an abysmal disappointment and at several times truly embarrassing night. It was so bad, that late in this game I was cursing the Catholic heavens for abandoning their chosen sons of the White Sox, in letting the Guardians advance.

Rays were able to come out looking not at all rusty, jumping all over Foster Griffin. Yandy jumped out with a blistering double directly to and past Kwan in LF. Aranda next in extremely Rays fashion dropped down a pure sac bunt, setting up Junior Caminero with a sharp single past the drawn in infield to get the Rays up early 1-0. Singles from Victor Mesa JR and then Johnny DeLuca would add on and push the Rays lead to 2-0.

That would be it for the Rays after Taylor Walls struck out on 3 pitches.

And ultimately that would be the best threat the Rays would mount the rest of the night. 4 hits and 5 total baserunners for that 1st inning, while the rest of the game the Rays would only generate another 3 hits and 2 baserunners.

On the pitching side, you knew runs would be hard to come by for both clubs. Rasmussen didn’t need more than 1 last time out, but this ain’t the Yankees. leveland to their credit made Rasmussen work all night. Ras took a bit to get into his groove, and the Guards hitters were fouling off pitches everywhere. Cleveland came in with a good gameplan and they were putting on some good swings on Ras.

To his credit, and the reason Rasmussen is an ace, he battled and kept the Rays in this game. Hard contact and some nifty glovework behind him, Rasmussen would get through 5 innings scoreless.

When a pitcher doesn’t have their best stuff, the ability to battle and grind it out, make the key pitches to just give your team a chance is so huge. Rasmussen showed the flashes of the true ace, but his grinding was much appreciated and was the only reason the Rays had even a fleeting hope of winning this game.

In the 6th Rasmussen would finally get tagged for a run, with Chase DeLauter (who had a mosnter game) would take a high fastball the otherway for a solo bomb.

After that though, Ras would buckle down and get through the 6th keeping the Rays in the lead.

Kevin Cash is known for a lot of things, but perhaps the most is his quick hook with starters. We have litigated the Blake Snell World Series Game 4 decisions for years, and while I still contend it was the right call, tonight we can maybe see some more evidence of why that is.

To the shock of most: Rasmussen would come out for the 7th. He’d have a battle of a night, giving up screaming contact, which thankfully most found gloves. Often the old adage of better to be a batter early than a batter late in pulling a starter, and well Cash left Ras in for what turned out to be one batter too many.

I do think the situation of this being game 1 of a 7 game series and Rasmussen being basically the only starter you can count on to give length, makes this choice a bit tricky for Cash. You have a well somewhat over-rested bullpen. It’s also a bullpen that is significantly worse than every remaining bullpen in the playoffs by most metrics. Ras was set to face the bottom of the Guardians order, which he had handled very smooth earlier in the game.

Patrick Bailey just hit the longest HR of his career to tie the game and suck the entire life out of Tropicana Field. At some point you can only tip your cap. But you can also see why Cash has in the past really leaned on being agressive with his hook.

The second half of the inning the Rays had a chance to respond. You show a lot of character in how you handle adversity. How do you respond to giving up the lead?

Rays had a pinch hitting Liam Hicks, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Caminero to respond. Hicks and Aranda would line and fly out missing their pitches. Yandy would single, and set up Junior Caminero to face Hunter Gaddis and see if he can re-find that power stroke that has eluded him for weeks. And well, it eludes him for longer.

Gaddis pitched him really cool. Using his changeup that he rarely uses ever vs righties, he was able to get strike one with a floating change that Junior watched. He finished it off with a cookie of a change-up right into the center that Caminero whiffed on that I can’t help but think over on the Guards side Jose Ramirez or DeLauter would have served into the Ray Tank.

After that, all life was gone from this home crowd. Still a tied game, at home, but seeing their young superstar strikeout, lead get surrendered, and generally feel on the ropes it just seemed that darkness loomed.

Top of the 8th Tyler Wells would make his first appearance in weeks after his late season injury. One of the key trade deadline acquisitions, Wells was nails all second half until the arm fatigue set in. He was not as sharp tonight, facing Jose Ramirez (who singled) and then DeLauter (who doubled) immediately the Rays were into danger zone.

Wells was able to get the sharp grounder right into the drawn in infield to keep Ramirez at 3rd and the score tied. Wells would then depart, for Ian Seymour to face up a lefty lefty matchup vs former Ray Nathaniel Lowe.

On an 0-2 pitch, Seymour could not elevate the fastball enough and Lowe would break the game open with a 2 run single giving the Rays their first deficit of the 2026 postseason.

The bottom half of the inning would provide the last spark of life and joy for the Rays, when out of nowhere Cedric Mullins would deliver his own lefty on lefty 2 strike magic with a solo HR to bring the Rays within a run.

Unfortunately, that indeed was it for the Rays and it would only get uglier and more humiliating from there.

Top of the 9th, Cole Sulser would get the ball and not do much good with it. Base hit, balk, and then a scary outfield crash and the 2nd best hit of the night for Caminero.

Neither Caminero or DeLuca would come out of the game, so looks like this was one element of luck that went the Rays way. But that would be it, as Sulser got two more outs, and then proceed to get beat again by the great Jose Ramirez.

And then from bad to worse as Kevin Kelly would get the grounder he was looking for against Jo Adel, but Jose Ramirez fully tricked Junior Caminero into covering 3rd for some unknown reason, allowing the grounder to roll on by and balloon the lead to an insurmountable 7-3.

Easy and short 9th from Cade Smith would send the Rays bats down without any threat, giving Cleveland a huge game 1 win in St Pete.

In the postseason, especially in the ALCS, you cannot play sloppy ball. You cannot pitch poorly. And you have to have your stars come through with some big hits. Rays could not get any of that to happen, and the Guardians did all of that.

Cleveland deserved to win game 1. They were the far and away better team in every aspect of the game. What is slightly dispiriting is, it didn’t feel nearly as close as the score was for the majority of this one.

Maybe that’s the good thing and a positive to take away. The Rays nearly won this game if they make some better bullpen choices, or played sharper defense, or gotten at he big hit when it came around. The moments were there, and there’s a world where they are able to hold the 2-1 lead or even keep it tied and win in extras.

If the Rays are to get back into this series, and give the Guardians the fight they deserve, they are going to have to play much better in every way.

The Rays need to figure out a way to beat a left handed starter, a struggle they have had all season.

The Rays bullpen needs to be sharper, a struggle they have had all season.

Up next is Parker Messick, another left handed pitcher, Plant City native and former Seminole, getting the start for Cleveland tomorrow night.

This is a 7 game series. It’s a long series and this is just game 1. But if the Rays can’t find a way to give a hell of a better effort, it’s not gonna be that long.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nathaniel Lowe snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Guardians rallied past the Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night. 

Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in a three-game sweep of the Yankees in their AL Division Series. 

“It’s been a while since we lost, so I think that’s a good thing, and I know the guys will come back and respond tomorrow,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. 

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for Cleveland, and right-hander Freddy Peralta takes the mound for the Rays. 

Five relievers combined for five innings of one-run, two-hit ball for the Guardians, who became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series with a victory over the White Sox on Saturday night. 

Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games against Chicago, tossed a perfect ninth. 

“Obviously we came off an emotional series, had a quick turnaround. But these guys come ready to play every day. Couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got punched early. And our pitching staff, credit to them, for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. And the offense came alive.” 

Rasmussen took a 2-0 lead into the sixth before DeLauter led off with an opposite-field homer to left-center. Bailey started the seventh with a towering shot to center that went a projected 436 feet, ending Rasmussen’s night. 

Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. 

José Ramírez opened the eighth with an infield single off Tyler Wells, and DeLauter ripped a double to right. After Wells retired Jo Adell on a grounder to second, Ian Seymour entered. Lowe lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to drive in two, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead. 

Mullins connected off Erik Sabrowski for a solo shot in the bottom half. 

Ramírez, whose two-run homer lifted Cleveland to a 2-0 win in Game 5 versus Chicago, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Cole Sulser. Ramírez helped the Guardians get two more by breaking for third with two outs and two strikes on Adell. Caminero ran to cover the bag and was out of position when Adell hit a sharp grounder toward third. The ball rolled into left field for a two-run double. 

A crowd of 35,361 fans waved yellow rally towels and rang cowbells at Tropicana Field in the Rays’ third appearance in the ALCS in the franchise’s 29 season-history. 

They were fired up when the 98-win Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the first and Rasmussen battled to keep it there until the sixth. 

Coming off that dominant performance against the Yankees, Rasmussen went six-plus tough innings, allowing a hit to the second batter he faced and eight total, striking out seven. 

Guardians starter Foster Griffin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings. 

MILWAUKEE – Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations, scurried down the staircase Sunday night with several of his staff members as blaring chants from the crowd in the American Family Field concourse pierced his ears.

Let’s Go Brewers.

Let’s. Go. Brewers.

LET’S! GO! BREWERS!

Friedman descended into the Dodgers' clubhouse after the Milwaukee Brewers' 7-4 victory where there was nothing but dead silence.

The Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions, are on the ropes.

They boarded the team bus at 8:20 p.m. local time for the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport for a return flight to Los Angeles, trying to make sense of what just happened.

The Dodgers certainly weren’t taking the Brewers for granted, not after winning 103 games this season, but they never imagined that their high-powered offense would be suffocated like this, trailing the Brewers 2 games to 0, with their dynasty on the brink.

“It’s hard to win,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame shortstop Mookie Betts said, “when you get only three hits.’’

“It’s tough to hit,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame first baseman Freddie Freeman said, “when their bullpen is throwing 100 mph with different arm angles.’’

“It’s just tough to beat those guys,’’ Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “They play hard. They never give up. You know, they play clean baseball. That’s the thing, we’ve got to play a better game.’’

The Dodgers certainly put up a brave front in the clubhouse, reminding everyone that they have two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell going in Game 3, playoff experienced Tyler Glasnow in Game 4, with two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal returning for a potential Game 5.

Yet, they are in deep trouble, trailing 2 games to 0 for the first time in a postseason since the COVID 2020 NLCS against Atlanta, which they came back to win in seven games.

They also came back from a 3-games-to-2 deficit in the World Series last year to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Still, this feels different.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, their World Series MVP who yielded a 1.07 ERA in his last five postseason starts, lasted just 2⅔ innings Monday, and coming just a day after the two-time Cy Young winner Skubal lasted only five innings.

“It was tough,’’ Betts said. “But he’s a human being, too, you know. I think everybody’s so used to him being a robot that if he didn’t go eight innings, no hits, whatever, then he wasn’t Yamamoto.

“So, it just shows he’s a human being. It’s playoff baseball.’’

The Brewers aren’t getting length from their starters, either, but their bullpen has made the Dodgers look absolutely silly.

The Brewers bullpen came into the game in the fifth inning, and promptly retired 15 consecutive batters, setting a postseason record. Their bullpen is yielding a 0.31 ERA this postseason. And the Dodgers, who have seen six different Brewers’ relievers, are hitting just .067 with just two singles off their bullpen.

If the Brewers didn’t pose enough problems, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was left being second-guessed Monday for the way he deployed his bullpen, All-Star catcher Will Smith was being second-guessed for not challenging enough pitches, and then there was the $700 million question:

What is wrong with Shohei Ohtani?

Ohtani, the greatest talent in the game, who has come through again and again for the Dodgers whenever they’ve needed him, has disappeared.

He last hit a home run on Aug. 18 at Coors Field.

He has hit .157 since Aug. 19 with one RBI, three extra-base hits and a .503 OPS.

He hit .154 (2-for-13) with four strikeouts and no extra-base hits in the four-game NL Division Series against Atlanta.

And now, he’s 1-for-7 in the two games against the Brewers with three strikeouts, lowering his postseason batting average to .150.

The greatest player in the game has become such a non-factor in the Dodgers' lineup that Roberts plans to speak to Ohtani on Tuesday, according to The Athletic, with the possibility he could be benched for Game 3 on Wednesday.

“It’s hard, it’s hard to see,’’ Betts said. “We know he’s working, but that’s a big one. We need him. We need him for sure.’’

The Dodgers won’t come out and say it, and Ohtani refuses to address it, but certainly something is wrong. It might be his sore left knee. His strained right biceps. But he doesn't appear to be healthy, not performing like this. He’s not driving the ball with power, he’s not pulling the ball, he’s getting beat on the fastball, and is just trying to get on base with walks or soft singles. He even squared off to bunt in the sixth inning off Brewers left-hander JoJo Romero.

“I mean, it’s tough,’’ Hernández said. “We obviously need him.  You know, he’s a big, big part of this team, and he’s really important. I feel bad for him. You know what he’s capable of. He’s been dealing with some stuff in the past. We don’t know if it’s still there, but you know, it’s Shohei. Any moment he can come through.’’

The Brewers still believe he’s dangerous, and are pitching him carefully as if he’s the same dominant hitter who won four MVP awards, but nobody has seen him struggle like this, at least not since joining the Dodgers.

“Everybody knows he’s struggling right now,’’ Hernández said. “But they’re being careful the same way as he was doing his MVP season. It’s not that he’s getting pitches to hit, so it’s going to be even tougher, especially when you’re in a slump like that.’’

The Dodgers can only hope to quickly regroup and try to save their season with Game 3 scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 14 at Dodger Stadium.

They insisted to everyone who’d listen that their confidence has not waned, even with their deficit, not with their star-studded rotation lined up nicely with the next three games in Los Angeles.

“It’s still a pretty good scenario we’re in,’’ Freeman said. “It’s going to be a great series. They know they’ve got a lot on their hands, too. We just got to come out and play better.’’

The Dodgers, with just one extra-base hit this series, believe they’ll start hitting once home in their friendly confines. They’ve got the experience. They’ve certainly got the hardware. And they still have the belief they can become the first National League team to win three consecutive World Series championships.

“I don’t think there’s much doubt going on,’’ Betts said. “I think we just have to regroup and figure out what we need to do individually. But there are no doubts …

“They’re a really good ballclub, really good arms. They’re swinging it. They’re playing really well. So we have to be ready to go. The mindset can’t really change. Can’t add more pressure. There’s already enough as it is.

“There are no secrets.

“We’ve just got to figure out a way to get those hits.’’

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers insist they're not panicking, but there's concern about Shohei Ohtani

The Dodgers spent $163 million on the back end of their bullpen the past two years. The Milwaukee Brewers did not.

So two games into the National League Championship Series, guess which team’s relief corps has been lights out and which one has been lit up? (Spoiler alert: it’s not the team with all the money.)

Milwaukee sent a parade of four relievers to the mound for a second straight game Monday, and for a second straight game they didn’t give up a run, retiring the last 15 Dodgers in order in a 7-4 win that gives Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, which moves to Dodger Stadium for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers’ bullpen has pitched 9 2/3 innings in the series, yielding just two hits — both off Abner Uribe — and three walks. That’s it. Both wins have gone to relievers, DL Hall in the opener and JoJo Romero in Game 2.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

Dodger relievers, meanwhile, have pitched 9 1/3 innings in the two games, giving up four runs on nine hits. Reliever Brock Stewart took the loss Monday.

In a series that’s rapidly shaping up as a battle of the bullpens, the Dodgers clearly aren’t getting what they paid for.

“I don’t have an answer,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shrugged when asked why the Dodgers relievers have struggled while the Brewers have shined. “I know that they’ve got good arms; so do we. I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”

Slugger Max Muncy has a theory on the same question.

“They’re really good,” he said.

The Brewers’ 48 bullpen wins was the most in baseball during the regular season and its 3.40 ERA was best in the National League. And it has been even better in the postseason, giving up just one earned run in 28 2/3 innings against the Dodgers and San Diego Padres. In the divisional era (since 1969), only the 1991 Minnesota Twins have a lower bullpen ERA through six playoff games and with a reliever earning the victory in all five of Milwaukee’s postseason wins, the Brewers have done something only the 2014 Kansas City Royals had done previously.

“There’s a reason they’re where they’re at right now and the bullpen’s a big piece of that,” Muncy said. “If there is a positive, you can say that a lot of our guys are starting to get looks at their back-end guys. But when they’re as good as they are, I don’t know how much that helps.

“They’re all throwing 100 [mph] plus and they all have really nasty stuff.”

Especially Aaron Ashby, who has pitched in both games, holding the Dodgers to a walk in 3 2/3 innings, striking out three. He’s the Brewers’ best-paid reliever, earning $5.5 million this season.

The Dodgers have three relievers making at least twice that — and one of them, Blake Treinen, didn’t even make the postseason roster. One of the others, Tanner Scott, gave up twice as many runs in his first postseason appearance as the Brewers’ bullpen has given up this month.

“They attack the hitters,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said of Milwaukee’s relievers. “They throw strikes. They got good stuff. They throw hard. We’ve just got to do a better job.”

Hernández then echoed Muncy in pointing out the Dodgers have now seen six of Milwaukee’s nine relievers, with Ashby and Uribe throwing in both games. And while the Dodgers haven’t done anything against them yet, that familiarity could help going forward.

“We know what we’re going to get,” Hernández said.

Brewers manager Pat Murphy conceded the point — sort of.

“Familiarity, as the numbers tell us, does provide an edge,” he said. “So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re one-inning guys.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

“Can’t always do that.”

Sometimes you can, though. Uribe, who has appeared in all six Brewers games this postseason, has already faced eight Dodger hitters in the series, but only one of them, Andy Pages, twice. And when he does face someone a second time, Murphy said with a smile, who’s to say he’ll him pitch the same way?

“Uribe might have something up his sleeve based on how those other times went,” he said. “Like, well, I never gave him this.’”

That would count as a surprise. However the dominant performance of the Brewers’ bargain-basement bullpen would not. Because even in baseball, the Dodgers are finding out, there are some things money can’t buy.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This time, Jose Ramírez didn’t hit a majestic home run to decide the game. An innocent infield dribbler was enough to light an eighth-inning fuse that sent the Cleveland Guardians to a startling 7-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

Nathaniel Lowe’s line-drive single up the middle drove in Ramírez and Chase DeLauter with the go-ahead runs in the top of the eighth and the Guardians struck for seven runs over the final four innings of the game to stun the Rays, who took a 2-0 lead into the sixth.

Yet from there, DeLauter and Ramírez - who each had three hits - and Cleveland’s pitching staff took over.

DeLauter hit an opposite-field homer to cut the Guardians’ deficit in half and then doubled in the eighth for his third hit, the rookie setting the stage for Lowe’s heroics.

In the ninth, Ramírez tacked on an RBI single off reliever Cole Sulser and Joe Adell rapped a two-out, two-run double for the Guardians' final runs. 

That decisive eighth inning began with right-hander Tyler Wells on the mound and he induced a soft grounder from Ramírez. But it bunny-hopped along the Tropicana Field turf long enough for Ramírez to scamper to first base.

After DeLauter’s double and a groundout, Wells was lifted for lefty Ian Seymour. But Lowe, who was drafted by the Rays and spent the first two years of his career in Tampa Bay, sent a fastball right back up the middle to plate the go-ahead runs.

Cedric Mullins’ solo homer in the eighth pulled Tampa Bay within one, but the Guardians' add-on runs in the ninth made it simple for closer Cade Smith, the sixth Cleveland pitcher of the night, who powered through the Rays in the ninth. 

The Guardians certainly might feel like they stole this one.

Rays ace Drew Rasmussen took a shutout into the sixth inning but was dinged by DeLauter's opposite-field solo homer to make it 2-1. Patrick Bailey's homer to center leading off the seventh ended Rasmussen's night.

Meanwhile, starter Foster Griffin – who hung around to complete four innings - and five relievers combined to hold Tampa Bay to one run over the final eight innings, yielding just two hits.

Perhaps this is just a quick-strike surprise from the Guardians, still running on adrenaline after Ramírez’s two-run shot powered their winner-take-all Game 5 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. The Rays won 98 games to the Guardians’ 85, were rested and had their ace going.

But perhaps the Guardians’ offense, perceived as less potent than Tampa Bay’s, is timelier and more playoff-built than perceived. In Game 1, they at least proved that if their pitchers simply stay in the game, they can counterattack quickly.

As always, that started with Ramírez. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guardians steal ALCS Game 1 vs Rays. Or maybe they're just that good?

The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a 0-2 deficit in the NLCS and could do the unthinkable.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Katie Woo of The Athletic, manager Dave Roberts is considering benching Shohei Ohtani, who is in the midst of an egregious slump.

“Yeah I mean obviously it hasn’t been good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.”

Rosenthal and Woo went on to report that Roberts said he would go ahead and have a conversation “with him tomorrow.”

This time last year, Ohtani had one of the greatest games in baseball history, when he struck out 10 batters and hit three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers.

But given his performance this postseason, it might be the right thing to do.

Through seven games in the playoffs, Ohtani is 3-for-20 and hasn’t had an extra-base hit.

In Monday night’s 7-4 loss, Ohtani lowered his postseason batting average to .150 after going 0-for-4 at the plate and striking out twice.

On top of that, the four-time MVP was recently dropped to fifth in the lineup and attempted to lay down a bunt to lead off the sixth inning against Brewers left-handed pitcher Jojo Romero.

He’s spent a majority of the season dealing playing hurt, including a bicep and knee injury that he suffered at the midway point of the year.

Prior to his postseason slump, his struggles date back to the regular season, as he has not hit a home run since August 18.

Between August 19. and September 7. Ohtani had not driven in a single run for the Dodgers and landed on the team’s injured list a few days later.

He was reactivated two weeks later and hit an RBI in his second game back, but still didn’t look like himself.

Rosenthal and Woo wrote that if the Dodgers elect to sit Ohtani, rookie Josue De Paula would be the top candidate to take his spot as the designated hitter in the starting lineup.

The two reported that the Dodgers have been impressed with De Paula’s “elite plate discipline.”

It’s unknown what the outcome of Game 2 of the NLCS would have been if Will Smith had utilized two ABS challenge opportunities against the Milwaukee Brewers.

But the fact of the matter is, he didn’t, and now Los Angeles is facing a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS following a 7-4 loss on Monday night.

Smith had two missed ABS challenges against Brice Turang in the first and third innings, costing the Dodgers a chance change the game.

The first missed opportunity happened after starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was about to pick up his second strikeout of the game when he worked Brice Turang to an early 0-2 count.

Yamamoto threw a 91.2 splitter to the bottom corner of the strike zone and it was ruled a ball.

Smith had a chance to ABS challenge the pitch but ultimately decided to check with the third-plate umpire if Turang’s bat crossed the plate.

The umpire ruled that his bat didn’t, keeping his at-bat alive.

“Will’s got a great view of that; you try to defer to your catchers for challenges,” Roberts said. “If you look back, that changes the outing.”

A Will Smith challenge here could have changed the bottom of the first inning https://t.co/3ZdG3Obt52pic.twitter.com/fXfvRFjpAn

— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 12, 2026

Three pitches later, after the botched attempt, Turang reached base on a double, then was brought home in the next at-bat, following an RBI single by William Contreras.

Yamamoto eventually got out of the inning after the missed challenge opportunity from Smith by getting Jake Bauers and Christian Yelich to hit out.

Smith’s second chance to get Turang to strike out came in his second at-bat, when he was facing a full count.

After Yamamoto threw a cutter in the middle-outside part of the zone, the pitch was ruled a ball, and Smith had a chance to challenge the call but elected not to.

Smith said during postgame that he went and looked at the two missed opportunities.

“It was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes,” Smith said. “I figured we could get him out there. The walk one was a bummer. But it happens. It’s baseball.”

After Turang was walked, the Brewers offense exploded in the third inning, after Christian Yelich drove in two runs, sending Yamamoto to the showers early after he threw 75 pitches in 2 ⅔ innings.

When the game was over, the Dodgers remained with their two ABS challenges at their disposal.

Aside from the struggles on defense, Smith is 1-for-23 in the playoffs with one walk and eight strikeouts.

MILWAUKEE — Some people play do crossword puzzles for fun, other people listen to podcasts. Jake Bauers works opposing team's aces until their arms are ready to fall off.

Bauers drew a 12-pitch walk off Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, Oct. 12. His at-bat lasted more than seven minutes, and he'd fouled off six pitches before finally getting the fourth ball.

"It was a blast, honestly. It was a blast. Any time you can get that locked in doing anything, it's, to me, one of the most enjoyable experiences I think a human being can have," Bauers said after the game, a 7-4 win that gives the Milwaukee Brewers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

More importantly, the at-bat changed the momentum of the game. The two-out walk to Bauers loaded the bases, and Christian Yelich followed with a two-RBI single. Though the Dodgers would re-take the lead with two runs in the fifth, it was obvious to everyone at American Family Field that it was temporary.

Bauers' had put the Brewers in control, of the game and maybe the entire series.

"That changes the game," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "It was a huge at-bat. How many pitches? A 12-pitch walk? It took seven minutes, somebody told me. You think about that and what it does to a pitcher. (Yamamoto) can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He's one of the best pitchers in the land.

"It was a great at-bat," Murphy added. "I think a turning point, I really do."

Bauers took two called strikes in the first four pitches he saw from Yamamoto. After a ball on the fifth pitch, he started fouling. One pitch after another. The Dodgers had a chance to put an end to it, with one ball dropping between Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez near the tarp down the third-base line and another dropping between Muncy and Will Smith.

"It just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode. A little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow, a little bit competing," Bauers said. "I knew that was a moment where the guys needed something, the team needed something. It was either I'm going to get something to hit here or I'm going to see enough pitches to take a walk."

More: Believe in the Brewers yet? Milwaukee in dreamland, Dodgers desperate after wild Game 2

Yamamoto said he was trying to work the edge of the strike zone, but Bauers wasn't giving an inch.

"He just stayed on it. He did a good job," Yamamoto said.

As Yelich waited in the on-deck circle, he said he knew he couldn't let Bauers' at-bat go to waste. He took the first pitch for a ball, then laced a curveball in the middle of the zone into left-center.

"You want to follow a great at-bat like that with a good at-bat," Yelich said. "I wanted to make sure I was going to swing at a good pitch and put a good swing on something, and fortunately I was able to do that."

For the second consecutive game, the Brewers had chased a Dodgers ace early. Yamamoto's 2⅔ innings matched his shortest postseason start, and the three runs were the most he's allowed in his last five starts.

"As the at-bat was going on, I was just enjoying it," Bauers said. "I was honestly just having a blast."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jake Bauers' at-bat 'changes the game' and he had a blast doing it

Another Brewers playoff game, another nine innings filled with stress and heightened blood pressure across the state of Wisconsin. Game 2 of the NLCS was a back and forth affair, with both teams scoring in the first, third, and fifth innings. But it was once again the Brewers who came out on top 7-4.

The Dodgers were able to strike first without the benefit of a base hit. Mookie Betts was able to overturn a strikeout with an ABS challenge and then work a walk from it. He then reached second on a grounder from Freddie Freeman and a wild pitch from Logan Henderson allowed Betts to reach third. Teoscar Hernandez’s job was simple and he did it, lifting a sacrifice fly to center and it was 1-0 Dodgers.

But the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half. Brice Turang ripped a double down the left field line and then William Contreras drove him in with a single to tie the game at 1-1.

Then in the 3rd, the Dodgers were able to get another run after a Cooper Pratt misplay at shortstop turned what could’ve been a double play ball into a single with runners now at the corners. Henderson then made a poor pickoff attempt at first and the ball got away, allowing the Dodgers to take the lead again.

Once more, the Brewers answered right back. David Hamilton started the rally with a single and then stole second base. Brice Turang then walked to put two runners on. Jake Bauers then had the at-bat of the night against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, working a 12 pitch at-bat that culminated in a walk.

“That changes the game. We’ve seen him do that before… Yeah, you think about that and what it does to a pitcher. He can get through an inning in less than seven minutes, and he does all the time. He’s one of the best pitchers in the land. It was a great at-bat. I think a turning point, I really do.” Pat Murphy said.

“Yeah, it just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode. A little bit of like blackout, just kind of in the flow a little bit competing.” Bauers said.

That loaded the bases for the Captain, Christian Yelich, who delivered the big hit.

THE CAPTAIN DELIVERS AND THE BREWERS LEAD pic.twitter.com/fsePHInawQ

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

After going multiple years without an RBI in the postseason, Yelich has come through a couple of times for the Brewers this year.

However, the Dodgers would still answer back in the 5th inning. After Henderson had retired six straight, Kyle Tucker led off with a double. Then Tommy Edman dropped a sacrifice bunt down to get Tucker to third, but Henderson sailed the throw to first base, allowing the run to score and Edman to reach second base. Pat Murphy was out to make the pitching change immediately.

Dustin May came in and settled things down, though he did allow a sacrifice fly to Freeman that brought in Edman and gave the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Jackson Chourio did make it close, though. The Brewers challenged the safe call, but were unsuccessful.

But just like the first and third innings, the Brewers would answer right back in the bottom half, with William Contreras supplying the very loud answer.

WILD BILL GOES OFF THE SCOREBOARD pic.twitter.com/tLgKSYREhX

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

“He’s a pitbull” Logan Henderson said.

Then, finally, the Brewers were able to score without having to make it an answer to the Dodgers. In the bottom of the 6th inning, Hamilton led things off with a hit by pitch. He then reached second on a failed pickoff attempt. Hamilton moved to third on a ground ball to the right side by Chourio. With the go-ahead run on third, the Dodgers chose to intentionally walk Brice Turang to face William Contreras.

A bold strategy that did not pay off. Contreras jumped all over the first pitch and lifted a single to put the Brewers on top for good.

A MAN THAT CAN'T BE STOPPED pic.twitter.com/eAXctrMZgu

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 12, 2026

Contreras becomes just the fourth player in MLB history to hit three game-tying or go-ahead base hits in a single postseason game. He joins George Brett, Steve Garvey, and Sandy Alomar Jr on that list.

“Fourth guy ever? Seems pretty good.” Cooper Pratt said.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was absolutely carving up the Dodgers lineup. After Dustin May came in to relieve Henderson two batters into the fifth inning, the Dodgers did not get a single baserunner. It was five perfect innings to finish out the game

“I don’t know that you’re necessarily planning to do that, that’d be awesome if you could. We’re in a really good spot right now with the way things are going in our bullpen.” Aaron Ashby said.

Abner Uribe was able to get four outs, he set up Aaron Ashby to get five outs to end the game. The Brewers were able to avoid using Trevor Megill for a second consecutive night.

The Brewers also added some insurance runs in the 8th inning to finally extend the run differential to more than two runs for the first time this postseason. David Hamilton singled and stole second, then Brice Turang singled to add the first insurance run. Contreras then walked and Jake Bauers singled home a second run to make it 7-4.

A little breathing room went a long way as the Brewers now extend their series lead to 2-0 over the Dodgers. They are just two wins away from the World Series and are at the very least guaranteed a return trip home to play at American Family Field.

The series now pivots to Los Angeles for Game 3. Robert Gasser will get the start for the Brewers and look to put the Brewers up 3-0 over LAD and further confirm their control over this series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are facing a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS after Yoshinobu Yamamoto was sent to the showers following the worst postseason performance of his career.

After Monday’s 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Yamamoto isn’t sure what went wrong in the third inning.

“I don’t know the exact reason yet, I need to check the videos on what happened today,” Yamamoto said. “I wanted to get through the third inning but couldn’t.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.2 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 75 P) discusses his struggles against the Brewers lineup in the 7-4 game 2 loss in the #NLCS. pic.twitter.com/gODJLlK4OL

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) October 13, 2026

Yamamoto tossed 2 ⅔ innings on 75 pitches, while giving up four hits, three runs, two walks and only striking out one batter.

The Dodgers World Series hero from a year ago was pulled in the middle of the third inning, when Christian Yelich gave Milwaukee a 3-2 lead from a two-run RBI single.

Before Yelich came up to bat, the Brewers were relentlessly working Yamamoto, making him throw 22 pitches between David Hamilton, Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras.

Turang was down 0-2 in the count, then saw four pitches go past him for a walk.

During the at-bat, Yamamoto tried to get Turang to chase outside but couldn’t get him to bite.

He attempted to challenge the final pitch of the at-bat but was denied, leaving him appearing frustrated while on the mound.

Two at-bats later, Yamamoto had his biggest challenge yet of the postseason. Jake Bauers.

In two at-bats against Yamamoto, Bauers saw a total of 17 pitches against the Dodgers star, including a 12-pitch at-bat in the third inning, where he threw five different pitch sequences in the final six pitches of the at-bat.

“I was trying to work on the edge of the zone, some pitches were really good,” Yamamoto said. “He just stayed on it. He did a good job.”

Yamamoto was on the verge of getting out of the inning by forcing Bauers into a 3-2 count until Bauers fouled off six pitches and forced his way on base with a walk, setting the stage for Yelich to take the plate with the bases loaded.

Alex Vesia was brought in afterward, and he got Garrett Mitchell to go down swinging.

After the half inning was over, Dave Roberts told Ken Rosenthal during a live interview during the game that he “felt we had to stop the damage right there.”

Los Angeles tacked on three more runs after Yamamoto’s departure but couldn’t match the Brewers as Contreras went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs, including a game-tying home run in the fifth and a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth.

The Brewers tacked on two more runs in the eighth on RBI singles from Hamilton and Bauers to give the game its final score.

Heroes, zeros and other observations from the Dodgers’ 7–4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series:

Zero: The whole Dodgers’ offense –– but especially Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith

Really, the 7-4 scoreline in Monday’s Game 2 loss flattered the Dodgers. They managed just three hits. All of their scoring required the help of either a wild pitch or a throwing error from Brewers starter Logan Henderson. And once Milwaukee turned to the bullpen, their relievers retired all 15 batters they faced the rest of the way.

Still, as has been the case all postseason, it was Ohtani and Smith whose struggles once again loomed largest. 

From the Nos. 4-5 spots of the order –– after Smith was bumped down from the three-hole pregame –– they combined to go 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. Overall in the playoffs now, Ohtani is 3-for-20 without any extra-base hits, while Smith is now an unthinkable 1-for-23 with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Even worse for Smith, Monday included a couple of regrettable moments from behind the plate.

In both the first and third innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw what should have been called third strikes against Brice Turang. But both times home plate umpire Chris Segal missed the call –– and, most crucially, Smith elected against trying to challenge.

Manager Dave Roberts didn’t want to second-guess his catcher postgame, while Yamamoto also described both pitches as being “too fine a line on the [edge of the] strike zone” to challenge.

Still, both times, they missed ABS chances backfired, with Turang doubling and later scoring in the first, then walking and later scoring in the third.

“It was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes,” Smith said, explaining his thought process. “I figured we could get him out there [without risking the challenges].”

Hero: The Brewers’ bullpen

The Brewers’ bullpen also figured to be one of their strengths in this series.

But two games in, their dominance has shifted the scales of the series.

In Game 1, four Brewers relievers (DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill) combined for 4 ⅔ scoreless innings while working out of several jams with a one-run lead.

In Game 2, the group was even more dominant, with four arms (Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Uribe and Ashby again) going 15 up, 15 down over five perfect closing innings.

The Dodgers’ hope is that, as the series wears on, their lineup will benefit from repeated looks at the group. However, they will have to find some sort of answer to the unit’s premium stuff first.

As of Monday night, Roberts was still searching for one.

“I know that they’ve got good arms,” Roberts said. “But I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”

Unsung hero

Fifteen months ago, the Dodgers traded May away as an excess piece of their pitching staff.

On Monday, he was the one Brewers pitcher to inherit some danger out of the bullpen, but found a way to limit damage in what would prove to be the Dodgers’ final rally.

After Henderson’s second error of the game –– on an errant throw while fielding a bunt from Tommy Edman –– allowed a tying run to score and left Edman standing on second, May retired Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández in order. Betts’ grounder did move Edman to third, while Freeman’s sacrifice fly got him home for a brief 4-3 lead.

But May’s performance set the tone for the rest of Milwaukee’s bullpen dominance.

And now, he could turn around and be available to start Game 4, in what would be his first outing back at Dodger Stadium since being shipped away by the team.

Key stat: Four

As in, the number of misses Yoshinobu Yamamoto generated from 33 Brewers swings.

The resulting 12% whiff rate was tied for the second-lowest of Yamamoto’s career. More consequentially, it stressed his pitch count and prompted his eventual early exit from the game, leaving too large a workload for the Dodgers’ bullpen (which gave up four runs in its 5 ⅓ innings of work) to withstand at a raucous American Family Field.

Quote of the night

“They had much better at-bats than we did across the board, top to bottom. And then they put the ball in play, created havoc. That’s what they do, and we didn’t do that.”

That was Roberts’ overall summation of the Dodgers’ Game 2 loss. It captured the many, but ultimately simple, reasons they find themselves facing a daunting two-game deficit as the series shifts back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday night.