Category: MLB

Today’s Reflections

Hello, everyone.

Just letting you know I came across two new articles about the outfield positioning experiment. The first one is a good, thorough article with a lot of interesting info, and it also led me to the following item: The author of the second article noticed something weird happening on the field, asked questions and even went onto the field after the game and tested it. Cool article, and probably has the best way to approach this change for now.

I appreciate your reading.

---

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

The Change MLB is Considering That Would (potentially) Damage Baseball, Part 2:

• Ian Miller (Outkick.com): Major League Baseball is experimenting with new rules this fall to fundamentally change the sport. “Batting average on fly balls has dropped 35 points since 2019 as teams use data to place fielders with increasing precision.”
• Eric Longenhagen (Fangraphs): Major League Baseball Piloting Experimental Outfield Positioning Rules in Arizona Fall League. “But across 18 innings of baseball, I’m digging this.”

Free Agency/Trades/Arbitration Stories:

• Chris Pownall (DaWindyCity): Early prediction: Cubs could make massive $93 million offseason roster shakeup. “The Chicago Cubs have a chance to do something this winter that Jed Hoyer hasn’t always had the flexibility to do: change a substantial portion of the roster.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs’ second chance at Freddy Peralta looks more intriguing after Rays’ ALCS breakthrough. “Chicago needs big arms and that’s what Peralta looked like on Tuesday night.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Maybe Tarik Skubal to the Cubs Isn’t ENTIRELY Out of the Question? “The Cubs SHOULD be involved on Skubal, given how obviously he fits their needs. I could argue there’s no single team in baseball more improved by adding Skubal than the Cubs.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Cubs Look Like Tarik Skubal Fit on Paper, Other Than How Much Paper He’ll Command. “As with many other free agents at the top of nearly every Cubs fan’s wish list, Tarik Skubal is going to draw a lot of attention over the next several months.”
• Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs On SI): A Cubs Run at Tarik Skubal Shouldn’t Be Ruled Out This Offseason. “With the starting rotation in flux, the Chicago Cubs could still look to target one of the best names in baseball.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): 5 Impending Free Agents Cubs Fans Should Watch Closely During Championship Series. “The Cubs have been left with their noses pressed to the window during the League Championship Series round for nine straight seasons. There’s plenty to see there, at least, for a team that knows a big shopping spree lies ahead.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 7 Cubs Free Agents to Target for 2027. “Go nuts, Tom and Jed. If you don’t, we’ll just be in the same position (or worse) again next year.”
• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs predicted to trade away Matt Shaw to land Mariners’ All-Star starter. “This trade prediction for the Cubs is a bold one, but it makes a lot of sense.”
• Alexander Rosquez (LastWordOnSports): Matt Shaw Trade Could Help Cubs’ Rotation, But Would Be Costly. “A Matt Shaw trade is still a scenario, not a reported negotiation.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 17 Cubs Trade Targets for 2027. “Although the 2027 Chicago Cubs will this offseason, it is absolutely not time to let off the gas.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Padres, Cubs could find themselves going head-to-head in free agency after playoffs showdown. “These National League foes could square off in the pitching market this offseason.”
• Aldo Soto (SportsMockery): Chicago Cubs Brace for Arbitration Avalanche Heading Into 2027. “Let’s go over the list of players and pinpoint the easy choices, a few fringe guys, and the handful of player who will not return next season.”

Pitching Stories:

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Have Most of the Pieces of a Good 2027 Bullpen On Hand. “There’s so much the Cubs have to accomplish this offseason that it’s tempting to think they’re starting from scratch, outside their key, high-dollar position players. They do have the bones of a better bullpen on the roster, though.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Our Expectations for Pitcher Command Are Probably Too High. “We think of these things as in competition with each other, but a lot of times, analytics merely confirms what a player’s gut was telling him anyway!”
• Jason Ross (North Side Baseball): Shota Imanaga’s 2026 in Review: A Successful (Final) Season in Chicago. “Shota Imanaga played under the qualifying offer in 2026. What should we make of an up-and-down season for the lefty?”

Hitting Stories:

• Ryan O’Rourke (Cubbies Crib): Pete Crow-Armstrong draws impressive comparison from Andrew McCutchen that Cubs fans will love. “PCA’s fellow MVP had a lot of love to share.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramírez and the Cubs’ Shaky 2027 Outfield Plans. “The Cubs will have to fill at least one of their corner outfield spots from within next season. They have two young, controllable players with prospect pedigree in position to take the job, but it’s not clear that either can handle it.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Which of These 3 Paths Will Cubs Take to Address Vacant Corner OF Spots? “The Cubs have repeatedly borne witness to that as they continue to trail the Brewers year after year in spite of a much deeper pool of resources.”
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Dansby Swanson Is Still A Streaky Hitter, But Those Streaks Are Cold More Often Than Not. “Dansby Swanson just endured the worst offensive season of his Cubs tenure. Is this the new normal for the once-star shortstop?”

Thorough Catcher Analysis:

• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Did Miguel Amaya Do Enough in 2026 to Be Cubs’ Main Catcher in 2027? “Miguel Amaya was above-average at the plate for a second straight year and roughly average behind the plate. Did he do enough in 2026 to get a shot at the No. 1 gig next spring?”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Need to Find the Next Carson Kelly, But This Winter, That Player Doesn’t Exist. “From the moment the Cubs agreed to signed Carson Kelly in December 2024, it was fairly clear that they’d found the perfect fit. Now, Kelly is an impending free agent, but re-upping with him isn’t the right move. They need this winter’s Carson Kelly. Good luck with that.”

Assorted Stories:

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Signed Prints of JJ Weinberg’s ‘Field of Dreams’ Cubs Championship Painting Available. “Artist and Cubs fan J.J. Weinberg put himself on the map for Cubs fans when he gifted his father, Jerry, his original painting of the Cubs celebrating their 2016 World Series win.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): These players stood out in Cubs’ farm system in ‘26. “Let’s run through some of the developments in the Cubs’ farm system from this last season.”

Special Hitting Analysis articles:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Why the Ideal Bat Path is the Ideal Bat Path. “I really loved this visualization of a good bat path from Eric Kozak, the Hitting Coordinator at Driveline.”

(The following article was linked in the one above. I don’t believe I caught it at the time, so I’m linking it separately just in case.)

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman Are Doing Some Impressive (and Impressively Similar) Things. “I was blown away by the similarities at various points in the two guys’ swings.”

Food For Thought:

Born and raised in Mississippi, Eddie Cotton Jr. is a modern torchbearer of the blues, blending soulful vocals, masterful guitar work, and deep-rooted tradition. His passion for music was sparked in the church, where his father was a preacher, and it was there that he honed his signature style—one that seamlessly fuses gospel influences with the raw energy of the blues. Cotton’s journey into the blues world was shaped by the legends who came before him, including B.B. King, Albert King, and Buddy Guy. His breakout moment came in 2015 when he won the prestigious International Blues Challenge, cementing his place among contemporary blues greats.

Cotton delivers a sound that is both fresh and timeless, filled with electrifying guitar riffs, heartfelt storytelling, and a groove that keeps audiences coming back for more. Whether performing on festival stages or in intimate venues, his music resonates with both seasoned blues lovers and new listeners alike. Eddie Cotton Jr. isn’t just playing the blues—he’s living it, breathing new life into a genre that remains as powerful as ever.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

In part 1 of this series, I looked at the past 30 years or so of teams and what we might generally expect based on little more than knowing how good a team’s best two players.  Today, in part 2, we’ll pick up with a question that wonders if it should matter that De La Cruz and Burns were paid so little, relative to the overall team payroll.

Question #5: What does the percentage of payroll represented by a team’s top two players tell us about their win expectancy?

To answer this question, I first narrowed the set of teams to include.  In short, I pulled only those teams from the past 30 years for which both their top position player and top pitcher ended the year somewhere between 4.5 and 6.5 WAR.  This is meant to give an approximate range that we can suitably compare against the performance of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns.  There are 129 such teams in this data set and while the range of wins from these teams spanned from 62 to 107, we can still see a general trend line within this specific subset:

Incidentally, there were five teams with such a profile in 2026 (Reds, Braves, Guardians, Dodgers, and Rays).  Four of them won their respective division.

The relationship is not terribly strong, however, and I posited that the variance within this group could be better explained by how much of a team’s payroll is assigned to those two players.

A quick data note here to say that historical team payroll data is probably not the most reliable information in the baseball universe.  Sites that do track payroll, most notably Spotrac, don’t include data that goes back as far as 1996.  I was able to find payroll data that stretches back that far from The Baseball Cube, and I was reasonably satisfied that the payroll data is directionally accurate, if not perfectly so. 

Nonetheless, data does exist and I used it to create a new point of comparison: For the 129 teams graphed above, how do team wins compare against the proportion of payroll paid to just the top position player and top pitcher?

The answer: nothing.

Within this data range, the amount paid to the top hitter and top pitcher explains none of the variance in wins.

In 2017, the Arizona Diamondbacks operated with a payroll of a little over $90M.  They paid Paul Goldschmidt $8.75M and received 6.1 WAR in return.  They paid Zack Greinke $31M and received 5.8 WAR in return.  Basically 12 WAR for 44% of the team’s payroll.  The team won 93 games.

In 2001, the Houston Astros operated with a payroll of a little over $60M (coincidentally, both teams’ payrolls were right around half of the highest team payroll from those respective seasons).  Their best players were Lance Berkman (6.5 WAR) and Wade Miller (5.3 WAR), who the team paid $305K and $241K, respectively.  Basically 12 WAR for less than 1% of the team’s payroll.  The team won 93 games.

These two examples are emblematic of the overall data.  Moreover, when I look at different ways to measure payroll, I see only marginal improvements to the predictability of win totals.  Here, for example, are those 129 teams graphed so as to compare team wins to how close each team’s payroll was to the highest in the league:

Yeah, it’s better to be a high payroll team than not…but you won’t make a ton of money betting strictly on that info.

So, then: if the payroll attributed to the best two players is not a predictor of success, what categories might make sense to view the 2026 Reds through?  And what historical teams had similar situations to what the Reds had with Elly and Chase and what might we learn from their examples?

Here are seven categories that we should examine these teams through, starting with the 2026 Reds:

Injuries:

• Hunter Greene pitched just five games in 2026 due to assorted arm troubles.  While he has yet to appear in more than 26 games in a season, Greene contributed 4.2 WAR in 2025 and 6 WAR in 2024.
• Nick Lodolo had blister issues at the beginning of the season, limiting him to 20 starts and 103 innings for the year.  He was coming off a 4.7 WAR, 131 ERA+ season, but managed just 1.1 WAR and 83 ERA+ in 2026.  Obviously, it’s tough to know how much of the sharp decline is injury related.
• Closer Emilio Pagan missed most of May and all of June.  His 2026 has been serviceable, (1.2 WAR, 119 ERA+), but is a downgrade from 2025 (1.9 WAR, 152 ERA+).
• Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes missed more than 40 games from May to July.  He was barely above replacement level in his Reds tenure in 2025 and has been below replacement in 2026.  It would be a stretch to suggest that Hayes’s injury has hurt the team.
• Utility player Spencer Steer missed the final two-plus months of the season.  He ended the year with 0.2 WAR.
• Summary: Greene was a huge loss, clearly.  The timing of his March elbow surgery precluded any robust contingency moves by the team, to the extent that they would have pursued one.  That injury, plus Lodolo, put a strain on the pitching staff throughout the year.  In general, the team was not especially cursed with bad injury luck, although the pitching was certainly impacted.

Dead Weight:

• Jeimer Candelario, released midway through the 2025 season, still made up 10% of the Reds payroll in 2026.

Surprising Breakthrough:

• The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable.  In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
• Elly De La Cruz was entering his 3rd full time season in 2026 and posted WAR totals of 5.2 in 2024 and 3.6 in 2025.  He definitely exceeded expectations in 2026 but his season was not outside a reasonable projection range.
• Chase Burns was a prospect with a high pedigree and he pitched 43 innings at the big league level in 2025 after dominating at the AA and AAA levels.  It’s not like no one saw him coming, but a 5 WAR season would have been deemed unlikely by all but the most supportive of relatives.

Position Player Depth:

• The Reds were disastrous at 2B, 3B, and all three OF positions.  Matt McLain has been a tantalizing but ultimately disappointing second baseman since a shoulder injury in 2024.  Ke’Bryan Hayes is widely seen as the worst every day player in baseball.  An assortment of flotsam and jetsam in the outfield combined to be 29^th out of 30^th in terms of Wins Above Average.
• First baseman Sal Stewart has had an excellent counting stat season, but doesn’t register well in the WAR category.  He’s young and has a good hitting profile though.
• The Reds were not above average at any position but shortstop.

Starting Pitcher Depth:

• Other than Burns, no starter had an ERA+ above 90.  Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer both fell short of expectations, with Singer bordering on unpitchable.
• Hunter Greene’s injury-plagued year forced Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson into more innings than would have been normally expected.  Both were sub-replacement level.

Relief Pitcher Depth:

• A below average outfit overall, the Reds had some OK-to-decent pieces to rely on (Pagan, Brock Burke, Tejay Antone, Julian Garcia), but nearly all other arms in the pen were flat out bad.
• The bullpen inefficacy was compounded by the lack of quality arms in the rotation.  The bullpen threw more innings than average relative to the rest of MLB.

Did the 2026 Reds fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns?

We’ll come back to this one.  In part 3, we’ll look at some five historical teams which had similar top hitter/pitcher combinations and payroll impacts as the 2026 Reds and will wrap up with some final thoughts and conclusions.

Thursday brings us two games on the postseason schedule, both of which had their start times altered due to bad weather in Cleveland.

Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians was originally slated for a 6 p.m. local start at Progressive Field in Cleveland (3 p.m. PT), but on Wednesday was moved to a 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) start in an effort to get ahead of a storm coming through.

The ALCS is tied at one game apiece, and Gavin Williams starts for Cleveland, after two starts with double-digit strikeouts during the Division Series, plus a scoreless inning of relief mixed in between. The right-hander has a 1.54 ERA with 24 strikeouts in his 11 2/3 innings this October.

Right-hander Griffin Jax will be first on the mound for Tampa Bay.

The ALCS moving to much earlier in the day also caused a switch in the NLCS, with Game 4 between the Dodgers and Brewers shifting from a 6:08 p.m. start time to 5:08 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow starts Game 4 on Thursday, as the Dodgers try to keep their season alive.

Fox Sports has the NL playoffs this year, with TBS televising the AL side.

Thursday Championship Series schedule

10 a.m. PT: Rays at Guardians
Series tied 1-1
ALCS Game 3: Griffin Jax vs. Gavin Williams
TBS (Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, Jeff Francoeur & Lauren Shehadi)

5:08 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Brewers
Milwaukee leads, 3-0
NLCS Game 3: Tyler Glasnow vs. TBA
Fox (Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal, Tom Verducci)

Hello, friends.

There are now 160 days until the next scheduled Orioles game. Will there be a game on March 25, 2027 between the O’s and Rays? Only labor negotiations in December, January, and February can answer that question.

For now, there are the playoffs. The Rays and Guardians will play their third game today, while the Dodgers and Brewers play their Game 4 in Los Angeles. The ALCS game begins at 1pm, with the start time moved up due to the forecast for rain in Cleveland. Tough luck for anyone who paid excessive costs for those tickets and has to change their plans on short notice. They’ll probably feel better about it if they get to watch their team win. I would like to see the Guardians win in that series.

The Brewers mounted a comeback on the road against the Dodgers last night to put the two-time defending champions on the brink of being swept out of the NLCS. I can only guess that the other 29 teams fans are pulling for the Brewers to finish off the Dodgers today. It’s time for somebody else to get a turn.

In Orioles news, or rather non-news, the top three finishers for this year’s Gold Glove awards were announced on Wednesday afternoon. There were no Orioles on the list. At most positions on the diamond, this isn’t surprising, as O’s defense was chaotic, bad, or both just about everywhere. One notable exception was at first base, where Pete Alonso played some pretty darn good defense. I don’t know what more he would have had to do to end up in the top 3.

The actual top 3 at the position are Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino, and Houston’s Christian Walker. The winners will be announced on November 1.

Anybody who spent time watching the Orioles this year knows that the defense needs to be better next year. Will the only person whose opinion matters – that is, Mike Elias, in his capacity as the president of baseball operations – take the actions that need to be taken to shore it up? We cannot know at this juncture, only hope.

If the post-mortems of the 2026 Orioles that have trickled into Orioles media are to be believed, manager Craig Albernaz wants to clean things up next year. I am skeptical that there is anything he didn’t try this year that is left to be tried next year. Somebody can probably clean it up even if most of the same roster comes back. I just have no confidence Albernaz is the guy, or that Elias is the guy who is going to prioritize it in his roster construction.

It’s not just how frequently it was bad – although, frequently, it was – but that it was so often unbelievably stupid, like how can a major league player do something that dumb. I will be thinking about “lose a fly ball in the sun while the sunglasses are on their hat instead of their face” for a long time. And that happened more than one time, and it wasn’t the same player each time it happened!

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Pete Alonso passed the eye test. Should he be a Gold Glove finalist? (The Baltimore Banner)
The Banner’s Andy Kostka looked at the common public defensive metrics and concluded that Alonso would probably not have been a deserving finalist. We can, of course, still be happy that the Orioles signed him, and don’t need any validation from Rawlings to have that feeling.

Looking at Orioles through the eyes of opposing scouts (School of Roch)
This one appeared in yesterday’s Bird Droppings too, so if you’ve already seen it, sorry! Slim pickings this time of year, and they’re going to get slimmer in December. I wonder what the real level of interest is for Heston Kjerstad and Jeremiah Jackson to have been mentioned as having gotten basic inquiries on trade availability.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1970, the Orioles beat the Reds in Game 5 of the World Series, taking down the team’s second championship in its history. It was a 9-3 victory in what ended up being the final game. Brooks Robinson was the MVP for the series. Maybe some day we’ll see the Orioles win it again.

In 1997, the Orioles lost an ALCS game to the then-Indians by a 1-0 score in 11 innings, with the lone run scoring as a solo home run hit off Armando Benitez in extras. Bummer. The lack of offense wasted eight brilliant innings from Mike Mussina.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2023 pitcher Jack Flaherty, 2018-20 pitcher Cody Carroll, 2004 outfielder Chat Mottola, 1982-83 infielder Glenn Gulliver, and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer. Today is Palmer’s 81st birthday. Happy birthday to him! Hopefully Albernaz sends him a birthday text.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! In addition to the franchise legend, your birthday buddies for today include: Russian author Mikhail Lermontov (1814), philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844), author P.G. Wodehouse (1881), actress Penny Marshall (1943), and musician Tito Jackson (1953).

On this day in history…

In 1529, forces of the Holy Roman Empire broke an Ottoman siege of the city of Vienna after two weeks, blunting a period of European expansion for the Ottomans.

In 1888, a letter supposedly sent by mass killer Jack the Ripper, dubbed the “From Hell” letter, was received by those investigating the killings.

In 1956, the first computer programming language, FORTRAN, was shared with the public, or at least the very small part of the public that was interested at this time.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 15. Have a safe Thursday.

In case you somehow missed the news yesterday, the Phillies have a “new” manager. The team announced yesterday that they removed the interim tag from Don Mattingly and named him their permanent manager with a new two-year contract. Later last night, it was reported that they will have a new hitting coach and infield coach, as Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson will not be back under Mattingly. With that news the team also finally scheduled their end of season press conference for today at 10:30 am. There we will be able to hear from Dave Dombrowski himself for the first time since the Phillies season ended two weeks ago.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Despite retaining Mattingly, there will be changes in the dugout, as Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson will reportedly not be returning to the Phillies coaching staff.
• More on the process that led the Phillies back to Mattingly. ($)
• Before they came to settle on Mattingly, the Phillies reportedly had serious interest in former outfielder Raúl Ibañez before the latter decided to remain in his current role in the Dodgers front office.
• The Phillies best chance to improve their roster will likely involve Trea Turner moving off of shortstop. ($)

MLB news:

• If you’ve watched any of this postseason so far, one of the biggest stories is that Shohei Ohtani looks like a shell of himself. Can the injured superstar right the ship in time?
• The Astros will not be retaining manager Joe Espada when his contract expires at the end of this month.
• For all of you defense afficionados, here are the finalists for the 2026 Gold Glove awards.

Today is Teoscar Hernandez’s 34th birthday.

When Teoscar arrived from the Astros, few could have predicted he’d develop into such a powerful slugger.

During his six seasons with the Jays, he posted a .263/.320/.503 slash line with 129 home runs. He ranks 13th in franchise history for home runs and 24th in RBIs.

The trade that sent him to the Mariners was unexpected. Erik Swanson excelled in the bullpen for us in 2023, though he struggled in 2024. Adam Macko made 16 starts for New Hampshire and one for the Bisons this year, tallying 105 strikeouts and 35 walks over 93.1 innings, with a 3.63 ERA.

Teoscar joined the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. Over his three seasons in Los Angeles, he has hit .262/.320/.462 with 74 home runs and collected two World Series rings. However, unless the Dodgers stage an impressive comeback against the Brewers, a third ring seems unlikely this year.

Happy Birthday, Teoscar. I wish you the best, but I hope your team loses. Sorry.

---

Today is Carlos Garcia’s 59th birthday.

You might recall that Carlos had a particularly rough season with the Jays. In November 1996, Toronto traded for Garcia, Orlando Merced, and Dan Plasac from the Pirates. Initially, we sent Brandon Cromer, Jose Pett, and Jose Silva to Pittsburgh, followed by Mike Halperin, Abraham Nunez, and Craig Wilson in December to complete the deal. For the record, I was never a fan of then-GM Gord Ash.

In 1997, Garcia batted .220/.253/.309 over 103 games, primarily at second base. He managed 3 home runs, 29 runs, 23 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. Unfortunately, his defense was also underwhelming, and the Jays paid $2.55 million for that performance. By WAR, it was one of the worst seasons by a non-pitcher in team history.

Following that season, Garcia signed with the Angels as a free agent but hit only .143 in 40 at-bats. He then moved to San Diego, where his struggles continued, and soon after, he was out of baseball.

Garcia’s lone solid year in the majors came as a rookie with the Pirates, when he hit .269/.316/.399. He did have 12 home runs and 47 RBIs in 1993, making it difficult to understand what the Jays expected from the trade.

As for the players the Jays sent to Pittsburgh:

Craig Wilson went on to have a respectable MLB career, playing seven seasons—six with the Pirates—and hitting .262/.353/.474 with 99 home runs. His best year was 2004, when he played 155 games and posted a .264/.354/.499 line with 29 homers.

Abraham Nunez enjoyed a 12-year career, spending eight seasons with the Pirates. Over 1,030 games, he hit .242/.313/.314, primarily as a utility infielder.

Jose Silva pitched seven MLB seasons, finishing with a 25-28 record and a 5.41 ERA over 154 games, including 53 starts.

Happy Birthday, Carlos.

---

Today marks Chad Mottola’s 55th birthday.

Chad was an outfielder who appeared in just 59 MLB games over five seasons, 13 of them with the Blue Jays.

He spent much of his playing career in the minors. In 2007, his final minor league season, he played Triple-A for the Jays and hit .267/.324/.467. At 35, he began transitioning into coaching.

In 2008, he became the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Jays. By 2009, he was the roving minor league hitting coach, and from 2010 to 2012, he coached hitters for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. In 2011, he earned the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in player development.

In 2013, he was promoted to the Blue Jays’ major league staff, but was let go at the end of the season. One year he was praised as a miracle worker, the next he was out—the unpredictable life of a coach.

The Rays hired him as a roving instructor, and in 2017, he became their major league hitting coach—a role he still holds today.

Happy Birthday, Chad.

Holy moly, that was some kind of playoff game last night in LA. A first-pitch homer by Jackson Chourio was the only scoring until an Abner Uribe meltdown allowed the Dodgers to jump back in front, 2-1. But Jake Bauers—yes, the same 2023 Yankees legend—put in his second epic at-bat of the offseason to win an 11-pitch battle with Blake Snell on a two-run blast that turned the game upside down. Garrett Mitchell immediately followed with a lefty/lefty homer of his own.

Now suddenly the Brewers are on the verge of avenging last year’s NLCS sweep at the hands of the Dodgers by giving LA a taste of its own medicine. It would be the first World Series appearance since 1982, when they were still in the American League. They have never won it all. They’ll get multiple shots at it, but best to just step on the Dodger blue-shaded cockroach now and not give it a chance at survival, right? Here we go Brew Crew, here we go. (Oh, and don’t forget to root for Cleveland to take a series lead on Tampa Bay now that they’re back in Ohio, too.)

Our eyes are mostly focused on the day/night playoff action today, but we still have material for you! Peter will recap NLCS Game 3 in greater detail, Dani will discuss Joe Girardi’s recent appraisal of his successor as Yankees skipper, and Jonathan well celebrate the birthday of the man known as “Babe Ruth’s Legs” (no, really).

Today’s Playoff Matchups:

American League Championship Series Game 3
(Series tied 1-1)

Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays
(RHP Gavin Williams vs. RHP Grifin Jax)

Time: 1:00 p.m. EST [they pushed the start time back due to bad weather in the forecast]

TV: TBS/HBO Max/truTV

Venue: Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

National League Championship Series Game 4
(Milwaukee leads 3-0)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers
(RHP Tyler Glasnow vs. TBD)

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

TV: FOX/FS1/FOX ONE

Venue: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

Questions/Prompts:

1. Does the Brew Crew finish off the sweep tonight or do the Dodgers survive?

2. What do you think of the Phillies’ decision to bring back Don Mattingly for another two years as skipper?

You probably don’t believe the slumping Dodgers can come back from this gaping 3-0 deficit to beat the surging Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series.

And you probably didn’t believe that manager Dave Roberts should continue penciling in Shohei Ohtani — flailing and failing and having gone three for 20 this postseason entering the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss in Game 3 — as his designated hitter.

But Ohtani rejected Roberts’ invitation to remove himself — after a season of fighting biceps and knee issues — from the lineup.

Read more:Plaschke: The Dodgers are done. After putting up a fight, the champs are out of gas

Because Ohtani is an athlete whose belief in himself knows no bounds.

Exactly the kind of guy a team on the brink of elimination needs.

Remember back in 2018, most of baseball’s foremost brainiacs thought there was no way the 23-year-old hot-shot prospect from Japan would actually be able to do what no one in nearly a century had: both pitch and bat in the big leagues.

The majority of major league scouts believed Ohtani’s swing was flawed in balance and mechanics, that his bat-to-ball skills weren’t going to be good enough.

You know what happened: Ohtani only went on to become the first MLB player to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

He became the first two-way All-Star starter.

And last year he gave us the greatest game ever, striking out 10 and hitting three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS, sending Milwaukee home and the Dodgers back to the World Series, on the way to a second consecutive championship.

This is someone for whom the impossible is probable. Someone who’s made us all believe in unicorns. An audacious, delusional, radical optimist.

And with Wednesday’s defeat having backed them into the corner, the Dodgers should be glad to have Ohtani, for whom all things are possible, still working and tinkering and trying his best.

Read more:'How do we bounce back?' Dodgers collapse and fall into 3-0 NLCS hole vs. surging Brewers

Ohtani drove the Struggle Bus into Game 3, having struck out seven times in 22 playoff at-bats, with only three singles and no extra-base hits and no RBIs.

But he wasn’t dissuaded: “It’s a constant, ongoing process that’s headed in the right direction,” he said Tuesday, through interpreter Will Ireton, adding several times in an impromptu interview: “I take full responsibility.”

Ohtani stayed late Tuesday night working on his swing, Roberts said: “Out with the guys, talking about things on how we’re going to beat these guys … and I will say this, this was a different look from Shohei. Determined, and that’s an understatement.”

And then, while the debate around him raged — should he or shouldn’t he play — Ohtani clocked in and got to work.

The superstar who deferred most of his record 10-year, $700 million salary so as to enable — to obligate — the Dodgers to build a championship roster around him reached base in three of his four plate appearances Wednesday.

As a team, the Dodgers went one for six with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base — including Ohtani those three times.

He took one for the team, getting hit by a pitch on the backside in the fourth inning. He drew a Josue De Paula-esque five-pitch walk in the sixth. And then in the eighth, Ohtani knocked a single up the middle that came off his bat with an exit velocity of 113.5 mph, one of his four hardest balls of the whole season.

Ohtani didn’t, however, pop one out of the park; he hasn’t homered since Aug. 18.

The live-by-the-slug, die-by-the-slug Dodgers have hit zero home runs in the NLCS. But the small-market Brewers known for their small-ball approach have hit five — including three off Blake Snell on Wednesday.

As a team, the Dodgers have much of their massive $415 million payroll going to hitters who are collectively batting .188 this postseason. They’re three for 32 with runners in scoring position.

Call it quiet-quittin’ hittin’, because the Dodgers’ bats and their stadium got so quiet you could hear “Let’s Go Brewers!” chants in the Ravine — and probably from as far away as Racine, Wisc.

And if it appears that L.A.’s hit baseball show is about to go on hiatus, its main actors are telling us they still believe in miracles.

“At the beginning of this year, we set out to do something historic,” Max Muncy said. “It looks like we’re going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that.”

“It’s certainly possible,” said Roberts, MLB’s only manager to have experienced a 3-0 postseason series comeback as a player when his Boston Red Sox did it against the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Read more:Shaikin: Here's how Dave Roberts explained all the Dodgers' moves that backfired

“I’ve lived it, and I think the thing is that our guys have been battle-tested, as was that team I was a part of … it’s just you’ve got to win tomorrow. It’s an elimination game. We’ve played in a lot of elimination games. We’ve just got to get a win.”

Four wins, actually. In a row.

Does that seem impossible? Seems like Ohtani’s type of challenge.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Sign up for Sportico's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Pittsburgh Pirates finished with a top-15 farm system in baseball after opening up the year as the preseason third-best farm system in Major League Baseball. Throughout their minor league ranks there were several standout players and names to be looking for as their careers progress.

Triple-A Indianapolis

Ronny Simon was named the Indianapolis Indians official team MVP for the 2026 season as he was one of the best hitters in the International League. He ranked first in batting average (.334), hits (141), second in doubles (33), on-base percentage (.426), sixth in OPS (.898), stolen bases (35) and tenth in total bases (199). Simon was an all-around star for the Indians as he appeared in 115 games for the club before a brief stint with the Pirates to end his 2026 season at the Major League level.

Pitcher Beau Burrows was also recognized as the team’s pitcher of the year. The team’s closer led the league in saves with 14. He also had a dominant 16-game stretch where he had a 0.83 ERA and 23 strikeouts. He also converted all nine of his save opportunities in that span.

Double-A Altoona

The Altoona Curve named Lonnie White Jr. their team MVP this season. White Jr. hit 26 homers in 2026, 19 of them being with Altoona. It’s the most home runs he’s hit in a single season in his career and it ranked third among Pirates’ prospects in 2026. He also had a career high 67 RBIs and had a team leading 23-game on base streak.

Lonnie White Jr. had a BREAKOUT season in 2026 🔥 pic.twitter.com/vkqkZMxIsE

— Bucco Bantr (@BuccoBantr) October 13, 2026

Connor Wietgrefe took home pitcher of the year honors for the Curve as he was one of their best arms all season long. He had a 3.51 ERA with Altoona this year and had a 4-1 record with the club before being promoted to Indianapolis. Wietgrefe won four straight starts with the Curve and finished his year with 127 strikeouts. He finished his time in Altoona with 18 straight scoreless innings.

High-A Greensboro

Very few players at the lower minor league levels within the Pirates’ organization were as exciting in 2026 as Wyatt Sanford. The 20-year old shortstop played 72 games with the Greensboro Grasshoppers and proved to be a dynamic blend of speed, athleticism and power. He hit 17 home runs with the club (19 overall) and had 33 stolen bases. He finished the year with a .292/.423/.551 slash line and had a .974 OPS. Sanford was invited to play for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall league.

Low-A Bradenton

In just his first season since being drafted sixth overall by the Pirates a year ago, Seth Hernandez has come on the scene firing on all cylinders. Hernandez was named the Florida State League player of the year after just six games with Bradenton before being promoted to Greensboro in May. He recorded 50 strikeouts in 28 innings, then finished the year with 118 strikeouts and a 2.43 ERA over 74 innings across both levels. With the Marauders he had an incredibly low 0.96 ERA, a 3-0 record and only allowed three earned runs during his time in the FSL.

Seth Hernandez turned in a stellar pro debut season:

6-1 W-L, 74 IP, 2.43 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 118 SO

Hernandez, BA's No. 8 overall prospect, was moved to the 60-day IL Monday. More on the Pirates' top prospect:https://t.co/RmtRW81AdEpic.twitter.com/gGNoGGl8PV

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) August 20, 2026

Hernandez has an incredibly high ceiling. He’s the ninth overall prospect in baseball and is the top prospect in the Pirates’ system.

MLB.com: The three AL Gold Glove finalists at each position were announced Wednesday, with three Yankees earning nods. Cody Bellinger, who led all left fielders with 21 DRS despite missing time to injury, is in play for his first Gold Glove since 2019, when he won one for his work in right with the Dodgers, plus the first for a Yankees outfielder since 2016 Brett Gardner. Austin Wells, who had a woeful season at the place, remains an elite framer and blocker. And José Caballero is up for the utility iteration of the award after posting 12 DRS while playing every position besides first base and the battery.

New York Post | Christian Arnold: ($) Aaron Boone got a public vote of confidence from his predecessor on Tuesday. “I think you could argue this was his best year of managing,” said Joe Girardi of the embattled Yankees skipper during an appearance on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.” “I think he got the most out of this team during the course of the season with all they had to deal with.”

Girardi, who now serves as a broadcaster with YES, instead directed blame towards injuries and a lineup that went cold in October once again.

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: ($) In addition to uncertainty surrounding its manager, the Yankees have several key roster decisions this offseason. The first Kuty outlines is whether to move on from 37-year-old Giancarlo Stanton, whose injury problems kept him from contributing this year. The Yankees would have to eat $15 million and lose one of their clubhouse leaders in addition to one of the most prolific power bats of his generation. Still, his fit on the ‘27 roster is unclear. A similar question is what to do with Ryan McMahon, who’s owed $16 million next year but took a step backward defensively and was a nonentity at the plate this season. The Yankees could try to find a taker to eat part of his contract if they choose to part ways. The third is whether Ben Rice can develop from a full-time DH to a part-time first baseman, a move which could create a window to keep a healthy Stanton involved as well as provide half-days off for Aaron Judge, who’ll turn 35 next year and has struggled with his own run of health issues in recent years.

Yankees Magazine | Robert Hudson: Wednesday was the 50th anniversary of Chris Chambliss’ walk-off homer to clinch the ‘76 pennant. Chambliss takes the opportunity to reminisce about one of the most iconic moments in Yankees history, from his approach at the plate through Willie Randolph clearing a path through the mob so he could try to reach home. “Just the imprint of the plate [was there], so I put my foot on that area and touched it, and we went back into the clubhouse,” Chambliss says of his attempt to score, which eventually resulted in a rule change to account for fan obstruction. “Some people say the umpires were there, but I doubt it.” 

LOS ANGELES — Milwaukee Brewersowner Mark Attansio leaned against the visiting clubhouse wall Wednesday night, standing under a picture of clouds hovering over Dodger Stadium, and feeling as if he were on Cloud 9 himself, reached for his cell phone.

He looked at the time. He hesitated.

And decided to make the call.

He telephoned Bud Selig, who brought the Brewers from Seattle in 1970, and whose family owned the Brewers for 35 years.

Selig answered the call at 10:48 Central Time in his Milwaukee home.

“Commissioner, can you believe this?" Attanasio said.

Attanasio apologized for the late call, and said that he worried he woke him up, only for Selig to say, “How can I sleep after that?"

“What a remarkable story," Selig said. “What a remarkable story."

The Brewers, in the smallest market in baseball, have completely dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers in this National League Championship Series, and are on the verge of reaching the World Series for the first time in 44 years.

They won 6-2 in front of a subdued non-sellout crowd of 50,708, and lead the Dodgers, 3 games to 0, with the potential clinching game Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers are done, with only one team in baseball history ever recovering from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, and these aren’t the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

The Brewers, who were swept by the Dodgers a year ago in the NLCS without leading a single inning, now are returning the favor in front of a stunned Los Angeles team that was trying to become the first National League club to win three consecutive World Series titles.

The Brewers are squashing that dream for all of the baseball world to see.

One more victory and the Brewers will join the 1923 New York Yankees as the only team to be swept by a team in the previous postseason and win a postseason series against the same team the next season. And no one has ever been swept and come back to sweep the same opponent the following season.

Oh, what a difference a year makes.

The Brewers not only remember that sweep, but used it the entire season to motivate them, knowing that anything less than a World Series appearance would be a failure. Brewers manager Pat Murphy vividly remembers the words he told his team after being swept in Los Angeles last year.

“Hey guys, remember this. It hurts, remember it,’’ Murphy said. “I think they remembered so far."

Oh, do they ever.

“It’s a real thing,’’ Brewers second baseman Brice Turang said. “I don’t think any player wants that feeling ever again.

Outfielder Sal Frelick has been to the postseason four consecutive years with the Brewers, but every single year October has brought heartbreak. They were swept in the wild-card series in 2023 by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They lost in 2024 to the Mets on Pete Alonso’s dramatic game-winning homer in the ninth inning of the deciding game. They finally won a series last year when they ousted the rival Cubs in five games, but then came the Dodgers sweep.

“It just leaves you with such a sour taste in your mouth,’ Frelick said.

But now here they are, knowing they are on the brink of history, joining that illustrious 1982 team that reached the World Series before losing in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

For the first time in 44 years – yes, that’s Hank Aaron’s number – they can be pennant winners.

“I didn’t even know that number," Frelick said. “I’m not really thinking about stuff like that. We don’t even think about stuff like that. It’s just confined within these walls, keeping to ourselves."

So, no thoughts at all about the euphoria of reaching the World Series, and what it would mean to Milwaukee?

“I haven’t heard that in here," Frelick said. “No one’s even mentioned it"

Says Megill: “We’re not talking about that. We’ve got one more game to go. Then we can talk about it all you want"’

Murphy, in fact, will barely even concede that they’re in the driver’s seat, knowing the Dodgers’ glorious history.

“The Dodgers are an incredible team that's won back-to-back championships," Murphy said. “You think they're not good enough to come back and win a game against us or come back and play well? I mean, I know how good they are. Our guys know how good they are. Our guys know what we're up against."

Well, pardon everyone else in Milwaukee thinking about the World Series and knowing that this team could be remembered forever.

There are Brewer fans that can tell their grandkids about Jake Bauers, who two years ago planned to retire – only to change his mind when he learned his wife was pregnant and needed health insurance – to become the hero for a second consecutive game, this time hitting a go-ahead home run off two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell on the 11^th pitch of the at-bat. One batter later, left-handed hitting Garrett Mitchell homered too, becoming the first pair of left-handed hitters to hit back-to-back homers off a lefty in the LCS or World Series since Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1928 World Series.

“We play for each other, it’s as simple as that, man," Bauers says. “When you have 26 guys that are bought into that and believe that and show up every day, completely selfless, playing for each other, it's a special thing to be a part of."

They will talk about a bullpen that has given up just three runs this entire postseason, with a closer, Trevor Megill, that was picked up from the scrap heap by the Minnesota Twins.

They will talk about a team that has only one player on the roster earning more than $10 million beating up a filthy rich team with 15 players making at least $10 million, including a $700 million man in Shohei Ohtani.

They’ll talk about a former boxer who became a college baseball coach, who was hired by one of his former players to be the Brewers bench coach, with Pat Murphy now on the precipice of being the Brewers’ version of Vince Lombardi.

“It’s almost too much to take, right?" Attanasio said. “What’s great about this group is that they’re young enough that they don’t get caught up in history, so they don’t get burned by history."

It’s hard for it sink in now, Attanasio says, but in 15, 20 years, they may all be reminiscing, talking about the good ol’ days, and repeating Selig’s refrain.

“Hopefully," Attanasio said, “I’ll be able to say just like Commissioner Selig: 'It’s a remarkable story.' "

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One win from World Series, these Milwaukee Brewers are simply 'remarkable'

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers are still woozy from the gut punch suffered in Game 3, but now face a sobering reality that their odds are long and the Milwaukee Brewers have several chances to deliver the knock out blow in the National League Championship Series.

“This one’s up there. The only one I can think of like that was maybe probably Game 5 against the Nationals in ‘19, but yeah, this one was tough,” said Kiké Hernández, whose 97 postseason games with the Dodgers are the most in franchise history. “It felt like once Will got that double, we were kind of gonna break out, and get back in the series. Now we dug an even bigger hole for ourselves.”

Will Smith’s sixth-inning drive looked like a potential home run but instead hit off the left field wall for a two-run double. Either way it was cathartic for Smith, who had just one hit in 26 at-bats in the postseason before that double gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.

“It’s really hard to put into words, because you feel like you finally break through and Will with the big hit, you feel really good for him, because we all know he’s been struggling at the plate,” said shortstop Miguel Rojas, who had one of the Dodgers’ five hits in Game 3. “When that ball hit the wall, you feel like you could have gotten more, you know? That’s been the story of the series so far. Offensively we haven’t done our job, and it feel like we lost all the room for error we had earlier in the series. But we can’t do anything about it, we just have to come here tomorrow and win every pitch. That’s the mentality we have to have.”

After the double, the Dodgers still had runners on second and third with only one out. Hernández, pinch-hitting, struck out, as did Tommy Edman.

“For me, I took two strikes and swung at a ball,” Hernández said. “It’s just one of those points in time where it happens to go that way, and it just happens to be at the worst time of the season.

“We just weren’t able to put a couple more at-bats together in that sixth inning, and that was it. We didn’t add on, like they have in all three games, and that’s just the story of it.”

“I think with their pen, I felt it was important to try to get a lead, which we did with Will, and then get an opportunity to get some breathing room to tack on,” manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s certainly urgency where you want to keep their back end of the guys in the pen. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that.”

Blake Snell was cruising, with only 81 pitches through six innings having retired 14 batters in a row. Manager Dave Roberts’ plan was to leave Snell in to face the three left-handed batters to open the seventh inning before turning things over to right-hander Evan Phillips.

Snell walked Andrew Vaughn on seven pitches, then Jake Bauers battled for 11 pitches before hitting the two-run home run that turned the game around. Two pitches later, Garrett Mitchell homered too. Snell was done, having retired none of the three lefties, now trailing 4-2.

Bauers is only two years younger than Snell, and was in the Tampa Bay Rays system from 2015-18. Bauers played 96 games in his first major league season for the Rays in 2018, the year his teammate Snell won his first Cy Young Award. Now in his seventh organization, Bauers had his best season this year with the Brewers and just turned 31 last week. He turned around Games 2 and 3 in this NLCS with long battles, including a 12-pitch walk by Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday in Milwaukee.

“I’ve seen all the ups and downs he’s been through, and it’s been a lot of downs. For him to go through this right now, he’s earned it. Hats off to him, what an at-bat,” Snell said of Bauers. “I threw everything I had, and then a fastball down the middle. If I could locate that better, who knows what would have happened? This is the best I’ve ever seen him play. It’s a good at-bat. Hats off to him, but the walk’s what really frustrated me, with Vaughn.”

Snell did not allow a home run this season, totaling 10 starts and 46 1/3 innings before giving up three home runs on Wednesday night.

“Three home runs in a game, and I didn’t give up one the whole year. To have three in a game is pretty frustrating but it’s something I’ve gotta learn from,” Snell said. “It’s part of their journey, too. It’s only gonna make me better along mine.”

Long and the short of it

The Dodgers have scored seven total runs in the three games of this NLCS, while the Brewers have scored seven runs in the seventh inning or later. After the three runs off Snell in the seventh inning of Game 3, Milwaukee tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth innings.

The Dodgers have scored in five different innings in three games, and after four of those innings, the Brewers scored immediately in their next time up.

Milwaukee, tied for 28th in the majors with 154 home runs in the regular season, has five home runs in three games in the NLCS. The Dodgers, tied for seventh in the majors with 204 homers this year, haven’t yet hit one in this series.

Los Angeles has two hits in 16 at-bats (.125) with runners in scoring position in the NLCS, while Milwaukee has nine hits in 27 such at-bats (.333).

“We have an amazing pitching staff, and it’s really hard to pitch when you have no run support. That’s on us offensively,” Rojas said. “We haven’t done what we’re supposed to do, and keep building the momentum and getting more runs at the times we have the opportunities with runners on base. I don’t care how good you are, it’s really hard of having to be perfect with every pitch. So far it’s been the offense’s fault.”

“It’s a pretty simple answer,” said Max Muncy, who struck out with two on in the sixth inning. “We’re playing like shit, and they’re playing great. It’s as simple as that.”

LOS ANGELES — Even the most demoralized fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers must understand it’s likely going to get worse than this – and soon.

Not just the end of a quest to win a third straight World Series championship. Those hopes further dimmed when the Dodgers lost to Milwaukee Brewers, 6-2, in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series and fell behind 3-0 in the best-of-seven series.

The season could come to an end Thursday, Oct. 15, or soon after. And for those who think the Brewers are scary, let’s not forget about something else – the Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission.

rBoth are conducting parallel investigations of Mark Walter, controlling owner of the Dodgers, for potential financial improprieties at two insurance companies controlled by Walter and at Guggenheim Partners, where Walter is chief executive officer, Bloomberg has reported. The Department of Justice has not disputed the investigation and Walter's companies have said they're working with the government.

And the sales have begun.

In August, Walter agreed to sell his controlling stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for a valuation of $12.5 billion. In September, Walter and business partner Todd Boehly sold their share of approximately 13% in the Chelsea soccer team for more than $1 billion, according The Financial Times.

Dodgers CEO Stan Kasten adamantly denied the Dodgers are for sale. But Will Walter and his parters still be in positions to build teams with massive payrolls?

Other financial troubles loom

Let's say Walter and his companies are right. They did nothing wrong. The Department of Justice and Securities Exchange Commission gave them a clean bill of health and a note of apology for all of the aggravation.

Trouble still looms.

Major League Baseball is pressing for a hard salary cap that would rip away a massive advantage for Los Angeles. So hard that it's likely the sport will suffer from a strike or a lockout. Understandably, baseball fans must relish watching Los Angeles, the league's second biggest market, losing to Milwaukee.

Things figure to get tougher for the Dodgers if they're forced to give up one of their biggest advantages – economic power.

But the concerns extend further for Los Angeles.

After the Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS, manager Dave Roberts lavished his team with praise.

"There's no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers," the three-time World Series-winning skipper boasted. "It's the best organization in sports, top to bottom. We're smarter, we're better, and we're tougher." 

Interjected outfielder Teoscar Hernandez, “And we're dinosaurs!"

Hernández is 33 and part of the undeniable reality. They might not be dinosaurs, but their age has begun to expose them.

That includes Ohtani, who at 32 is facing concerns about his own durability. Issues with his left knee forced him to stop pitching in early July and issues with his right bicep and neck left him on the injured list for 12 days in September.

He failed to recover power at the plate, although did show progress in Game 3. He ripped a single up the middle and also reached base after being hit by a pitch and drawing a walk while going 1-for-2. Scrutiny over Ohtani's slump is legitimate but masks larger problems.

What's wrong with the race car

The Dodgers are a race car with a broken clutch. They lose 2-1 in Game1 after failing to seize on Jacob Misioroski’s struggles. They took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth of Game 3, then immediately gave up three runs in the top of the seventh on back-to-back homers.

There have been no public appearances by Walter during the playoffs, which now look like one of the most disappointing Octobers since he and Guggenheim Partners bought the Dodgers in 2012. And about that purchase…

The Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast reported instances of alleged self-dealing when Walter and Guggenheim Partners bought the Dodgers in 2012 for $2.15 billion.

Walter and his companies have denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

On stagger the Dodgers, against daunting challenges beyond the Brewers as their remarkable reign is about to end.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dodgers' nightmare may soon extend far beyond a Brewers sweep | Opinion

You don’t want to hear from me. You want to hear from Dave Roberts, the Dodgers’ manager.

The Dodgers are one loss from an abrupt ending to their season, and from a National League Championship Series sweep by the Milwaukee Brewers.

Let’s take you through the critical decisions Roberts made Wednesday night, the ones you second-guessed at home. They all pretty much backfired on him.

Situation: In the third inning, and again in the fifth inning, Tommy Edman comes to bat with Miguel Rojas on first base, none out, and the Dodgers trailing, 1-0. By the end of the fifth, the Dodgers had gone nine consecutive innings without scoring, and with a game plan of getting ahead before the Brewers’ vaunted bullpen could take over. Roberts does not ask Edman, one of the team’s most accomplished bunters, to sacrifice the runner into scoring position.

Roberts: “I just didn’t feel like giving up an out right there. … We could have bunted, but I felt I wanted to give Tommy an opportunity to drive in a run. … We haven’t been getting hits with runners in scoring position (3 for 32 in the postseason). To give up an out, to bank on getting a hit with runners in scoring position, I’d rather just try to maybe slug, hit a double.”

Result: Edman flied out both times. The Dodgers did not score in either inning.

Read more:Commentary: Plaschke: The Dodgers are done. After putting up a fight, the champs are out of gas

———

Situation: In the sixth inning, with the Dodgers still trailing, 1-0, the Brewers turn to Abner Uribe, who had faced 26 batters and walked two in the postseason. Uribe walks the first two batters, and Roberts deploys his primary left-handed bench threat, Max Muncy. That takes right-handed Andy Pages out of the game; the only Dodgers with more hits than Pages this October are Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts.

Roberts: “Abner is death on righties. You’re trying to guard against — you want to keep the inning going, and you don’t want a double play ball. Muncy’s not starting, and you want to fire that bullet in a leverage spot. First and second base, nobody out, it gives us the best chance to keep the inning going, in my opinion, and it gets Shohei up, and you have a chance to build an inning.”

Result: Muncy struck out.

———

Situation: After Muncy, Ohtani walks to load the bases, and Will Smith follows with a two-run double to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. With the right-handed Rojas due up, Roberts opts for the left-handed Josue De Paula as a pinch-hitter. Brewers manager Pat Murphy promptly replaces Uribe with left-hander DL Hall, who had been warming up. Roberts counters with the right-handed Kiké Hernández.

Roberts: “It’s a decision: Do I want Uribe facing Rojas? Then I chose De Paula, and they made the move. At that point in time, I felt we had the matchup advantage with Kiké. … For me, all the experience that Kiké’s had, I feel very confident with Kiké taking a bat with a guy on second and third, infield in.”

Result: Hernandez struck out, and so did Edman. The inning was over, and the Dodgers would not advance another man past first base the rest of the evening. The Dodgers could have used De Paula to bat against right-handed closer Trevor Megill in the ninth inning, but Roberts had already burned him.

Murphy said Uribe was coming out after Smith’s double no matter what — at that point, Uribe had thrown six strikes and 14 balls — so Roberts could have saved De Paula had he waited to see what Murphy would do.

———

Situation: Blake Snell has retired 14 consecutive batters entering the seventh inning, with the Dodgers leading, 2-1. It’s the first time the left-handed Snell has pitched beyond the sixth inning this season, with the right-handed Andrew Vaughn leading off and the left-handed Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell to follow. Evan Phillips is warming up in the Dodgers bullpen.

Read more:Dodgers Debate NLCS GAME 3: Dodgers stare down a sweep

Roberts: “His stuff was really good. I don’t think they were seeing him well. I was trying to get him three more hitters. We had Evan for that fourth hitter.”

Result: Vaughn walks, on six pitches. Bauers homers, on 11 pitches. The Brewers have the lead, 3-2.

Roberts: “Hasn’t given up a homer all year, but it just — it’s baseball. For me, I felt good with where Blake’s stuff was at. You’ve got to give Bauers credit.”

Situation: By that time, Snell is at 99 pitches, two shy of his season high, after the exhausting battles with Vaughn and Bauers. Roberts sticks to his plan: Snell for Mitchell, then Phillips for the right-handed Cooper Pratt.

Result: Mitchell homers, giving the Brewers a 4-2 lead. Hall and Megill combine for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and the Dodgers are one defeat from winter vacation.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.