Oct 8, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Cleveland Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez (11) and the rest of the Guardians celebrate after beating the Chicago White Sox in game four of the ALDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The final spot in the best-of-seven League Championship Series will be decided tonight as the Cleveland Guardians face the Chicago White Sox in Game 5 of their Division Series. The winner will advance to face the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League pennant. In the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers will look to avenge last fall’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the same round. That series begins Sunday, with the ALCS starting Monday.
Cleveland Guardians vs Chicago White Sox (8:00 PM EDT)
Tonight, the MLB spotlight will be on Cleveland, where the AL Central rivals will meet in the most important game of their season. The White Sox won the regular-season series against the Guardians 7-6, as the two teams struggled to gain an edge over one another down the stretch.
It is fitting, then, that this series comes down to a winner-take-all Game 5. The road team has won each of the first four games. Will the Guardians buck that trend and win in front of their home fans, or will the White Sox win their third straight playoff game in Cleveland?
Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams, who came out of the bullpen Friday to record the final three outs of Game 4, will make his third appearance and second start of the series. He started Game 2 and received a no-decision after allowing two runs on four hits over five innings while striking out 11.
After failing to clinch a postseason series win at home for the first time since 1906, the White Sox are dropping the opener strategy for the first time this round. Right-hander Sean Burke, who was Chicago’s best starting pitcher this season, will start for the visitors. He outdueled Williams in Game 2, allowing one run on one hit over 5 1/3 innings of bulk relief following the opener.
How deep both starters go into the game will likely depend on their performance and the score. As this series has shown, White Sox manager Will Venable and Guardians manager Stephen Vogt are willing to turn to their bullpens early and often.
Which team will win? Will it be a blowout, or a close, dramatic game?
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 30: Starting pitcher Tyler Mahle (54) of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the Atlanta Braves versus Philadelphia Phillies game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on September 30, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It would be hard to find a Washington Nationals fan who would be against the idea of adding pitching this offseason, especially with the emergence of multiple key offensive pieces.
The free agent pool isn’t filled with many high-tier arms outside marquee starter Tarik Skubal, but it does include a handful of the exact type of pitcher Washington would love to add: middle-of-the-rotation veteran starters.
Names like former San Diego Padre Michael King and former Chicago Cub Kevin Gausman have already been floated as potential fits. Still, one player whose recent play could skyrocket him up the Nats’ wish list is 32-year-old Tyler Mahle.
Injuries severely threatened the righty’s MLB career in recent years, causing him to throw just over 100 innings from 2023-2025. His attempt at a career revival with the San Francisco Giants in 2026 got off to a rough start with an ERA above 5.00 through 18 starts, but everything changed after he was dealt to the Atlanta Braves prior to the trade deadline.
Atlanta needed any healthy arms to add to the rotation, but Mahle gave them so much more than just that. Averaging over 6.00 innings per start, his 9 regular-season appearances with the Braves were simply spectacular, throwing to a 1.99 ERA in the second half. He took it to another level in his first career taste of the postseason, shutting down two of the most feared lineups in baseball (Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers) with 13.1 innings of 2-run ball.
Going into the 2025 season, it wasn’t a guarantee that Mahle would be pitching in MLB for much longer, but now, he may be just what Washington needs. The revamped pitching development program flexed its muscles with the reclamation project that was Foster Griffin, and they have all the tools to repeat their success by carrying Mahle’s second-half performance into 2027 and beyond.
His price tag undoubtedly rose after he proved the October stage wasn’t too big for him, and the high demand for pitching could result in him landing a sizeable deal. The Nats will certainly have competition for Mahle, but, just like him, their 2025 season proved that they’re worth investing in.
Tyler Mahle might not have the best stuff anymore, but he has the willingness to throw his best pitch in any situation and the mentality to step up when the stakes are highest.
The Braves asked for the world from him tonight, and he delivered when they needed him most. pic.twitter.com/oVLpIapUOL
Washington’s front office should be all over him once free agency opens up. The question marks are still there, with his lengthy injury history and lack of extended recent success. Opening the checkbooks and making a legitimate push to raise the ceiling of the rotation needs to be the top priority this offseason.
It’s time for Paul Toboni and company to begin shelling out serious money for free agents who can take this team back to the playoffs, and that comes with taking chances. Mahle has proved that he can be an integral part of a playoff rotation, and that should be exactly what the Nats are looking to build.
The path to a successful offseason begins with adding a quality arm, and Mahle checks a lot of boxes for what this team is missing.
Randal Grichuk may be the Best Dad Ever, but Sean Burke represents Chicago’s only hope to advance to the ALCS. | (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
After a detestable start to the season, logic-defying climb to .500, command of the AL Central after the All-Star Break, September swoon, desperate attempt to claw back to first place, dominant start to the playoffs and utter collapse in front of a rabid and hungry home crowd, the White Sox head to Cleveland for only the second winner-take-all postseason game in their history and a chance at the first win in such a game.
No biggie, White Sox, just 126 years of history on your backs.
But, thanks to the strange twist at the end of Cleveland’s Game 4 rout, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt opted to use Cade Smith unnecessarily for a second straight two-inning stint (OK, the eighth inning of Game 3 made some sense), burning his closer for two innings again. The decision came back to bite him, and now not only has Vogt exposed Smith’s stuff to the White Sox needlessly (for the record, I don’t buy into a “book” hitters write on elite high-leverage arms like Smith and Grant Taylor, certainly not when the bigger factor is overworked pitchers getting tired and losing sharpness, something Taylor seemed to directly acknowledge after Game 4), but he forced Game 5 starter Gavin Williams in “close out” a 9-3 win.
Remember when Cleveland had such an “advantage” heading into the end of the series, with starters Parker Messick and Williams on full rest to finish things up? Well, throw that advantage out now, as a full inning of pitches on Wednesday certainly will affect Williams today — if not in efficiency, in durability. What could have been a six-innings target for the K machine is a more realistic four-five inning “open” now.
Therefore it’s advantage, White Sox, as Sean Burke (a better starter in the regular season than Williams, to begin with) starts Game 5 on full rest and coming off of the best outing of five-plus innings anyone’s had in this series.
Burke set a White Sox postseason record with 13 straight batters retired in Chicago’s Game 2 win in Cleveland, going 5 ⅓ innings total and allowing just one run on one hit. If that is the Burke we get on Saturday, the Guardians are in trouble.
Not sure it Miguel Vargas murdering Williams offsets Steven Kwan having great numbers against Burke, but perhaps Andrew Benintendi owning Williams as well flips some of the key matchups in our favor?
As you well know, though, advantages are all relative in 2026 between the White Sox and Guardians. Through 17 games, the White Sox still lead the season series, 9-8, but with the “blowouts” in Chicago the Guardians now have outscored Chicago in 2026 by all of five runs. Thirteen of 17 games in 2026 between the two clubs were decided by three runs or fewer, eight were one-run games and four ended on walk-offs. The White Sox were in first place for 96 days in 2026, Cleveland 89. And of course, the two teams finished one game apart in the standings after Cleveland’s hot finish to the season.
With Williams pitching, the White Sox will utilize their (stronger) lefty-heavy lineup, taking away any temptation to play Tommy Pham for significant innings and rendering him a pinch-hitting bat off the bench. However, in a twist, Braden Montgomery is benched for Game 5 despite facing a right-handed pitcher.
Cleveland, licking its chops at getting a righty starter in Burke, hopes to prove tonight how wise it was for Venable to dance with four consecutive lefty openers in the series — or, if the Guards fall back to the punchless offense they were in Games 1 and 2, expose such paranoid thinking as a ruse.
As to the pressure of the game, it’s hard to determine whose backs are more against the wall. Given that only three teams have ever rallied back to win after losing two straight home games to open the series, you’d think the pressure is weighing heavily on the White Sox. But here’s where their frat-boy dopeyness could help: If Colson Montgomery didn’t realize he was on the precipice of an infamous season strikeout record or that such a record even existed, do we think the clubhouse cares a whit about “pressure” to win in Game 5?
This idea was addressed, as much of this game thread was, in our pregame podcast, if you care to have a soothing voice calm your nerves as we near game time:
So friends, here we are, with a third chance to close out the Guardians. Let’s make it stick tonight.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 08: José Ramírez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts during the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox in game four of the American League Division Series at Rate Field on October 08, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Dodgers, Brewers, and Rays are all into the league championship round. On Saturday night at 8:00 p.m. ET on TBS, the final team will be decided in Cleveland in an AL Central matchup as the White Sox square off with the Guardians in a decisive Game 5.
Like any Game 5 scenario, this is a real toss-up as RHP Gavin Williams (14-8, 3.76 ERA) takes on the White Sox’s RHP Sean Burke (11-7, 3.34 ERA). Williams boasts one of the highest strikeout rates of any starter in the game, but he is a little more home run prone than Burke. Things aren’t as flashy on Burke’s side of the equation, but he had a really good season as well and has tended to keep the ball in the park more effectively. Like most games, there’s a good chance this comes down to who gives up homers and who doesn’t.
The White Sox offense is theoretically much better, as the Guardians were one of the worst scoring teams in baseball this season. However, with Jose Ramirez perking up after a rough season in which he dealt with a hook hamate fracture and surgery at mid-season, the Guardians lineup is probably better than it looks on paper.
Everyone is getting gassed this time of year, but the White Sox have also had to lean really hard on their bullpen in this series, and it hasn’t gone well for them after taking a 2-0 series lead. They’ll need to build a lead and keep it, as coming back in the late innings against the Guardians bullpen is no easy task.
The NLCS will get underway on Sunday with a heck of a pitching matchup as Tarik Skubal squares off against Jacob Misiorowski and the Brewers.
So, on Sunday, the scenario the Brewers most hoped to avoid comes true: Instead of starting for them in Game 1 of the NLCS, Skubal starts against them.
If the Dodgers win the series, the Milwaukee winter could be cold and long, with fans tortured by visions of Skubal and presumptive Cy Young winner Jacob Misiorowski starting four games in the series.
“Obviously, that wouldn’t be very fun to come in here and face Miz then Skubal,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said.
Instead, the Dodgers could get four starts out of Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“Every night when you play these guys, you know you’re going to face a Cy Young-caliber pitcher,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “It’s the reason why they’ve been so good as a team.”
In the alternate reality, the Dodgers start Yamamoto — perhaps the world’s best big-game pitcher — followed by Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and maybe Emmet Sheehan. Snell and Glasnow each starred last October, but each walked five in his division series start while failing to complete five innings.
In actual reality, the Brewers are expected to follow Misiorowski with rookie Logan Henderson, with whom they would not part in the Skubal trade. That’s no easy assignment for the Dodgers: Henderson posted a 2.47 earned-run average in 18 games this season, better than Yamamoto (2.53) and Skubal (2.72).
If Henderson can outshine the bigger names, the Brewers could be OK. But, if the Brewers fall behind in the series, they could be faced with coming back behind the likes of ex-Dodger Dustin May and rookie Robert Gasser.
Not surprisingly, Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold had little to say about his team facing Skubal in Game 1 rather than trading for him — and keeping him away from the Dodgers.
“Every team was looking to acquire good players at the deadline,” Arnold said, “and, ultimately, they landed a really good one there in Tarik Skubal.”
Said Misiorowski: “The dude’s insane. I’m just hoping that these guys can do their job and handle business with him and let me do my thing and try to get that side taken care of.”
It is entirely rational that the Brewers decided six years of Henderson would be more successful and certainly more cost-effective than two months of Skubal, who is eligible for free agency and is likely to receive the largest contract ever awarded to a pitcher (the current record: Yamamoto’s $325-million deal with the Dodgers).
It is unfortunate, too, in the sense that the Brewers are not some plucky underdog but the team that won the most games in the NL this year and last year.
“We’ve been expecting having to play them in this round since spring training,” Yelich said.
Flags fly forever. The Brewers, founded in 1969, never have won the World Series. If you’re not going all-in during a season in which you won a franchise-record 103 games, when are you?
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to compete against the Dodgers, because they obviously have proven to be a dominant baseball organization,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “You can complain or explain or say it’s this or it’s that, but the opportunity to get in the ring and do that is pretty special.
“That’s the way you’d want this storybook ending — when you’re writing the last words of the Milwaukee Brewers championship, you’d want it to go through the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s the way it has to be if it’s an incredible story, for lack of a better adjective.”
The Brewers should be offended at the premise behind the owners’ push for a salary cap. The owners claim small-market teams cannot compete effectively or consistently without one. The Brewers — the team that plays in baseball’s smallest market — have won a division championship for four consecutive years, and five out of six.
“Nobody here is worried about that right now,” Arnold said. “We’re focused on trying to win, and I think we have for awhile. Regardless of what the economics look like, the guys in there believe, and so do I.”
The owners have argued the system needs reform because a small-market team has not won a World Series in 11 years. Do the Brewers consider their run of success as a failure?
“I wouldn’t,” Arnold said. “I would consider it an opportunity to go win it this year.”
In the big picture — what this all means to Major League Baseball — this series makes no difference. The owners are hell-bent on their demand for a salary cap whether the underdog Brewers win, or the big, bad Dodgers do.
In the local picture here, the Brewers have to ask what every manager or coach does: Did we put our players in the best position to win?
If the Brewers win this series, good for them. If they don’t, they got their answer on Aug. 1.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 04: Didier Fuentes #72 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game two of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on October 04, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Just because the Atlanta Braves are done for the year here in 2026, that doesn’t mean that the rumor mill needs to stop. In fact, apparently we’re still learning new details about trades that didn’t happen all the way back in August around the Trade Deadline.
We learned a while back that the Braves were reportedly willing to send Spencer Strider out to Texas in exchange for Jacob deGrom and now we’re learning about a player who they were willing to keep when trying to swing a deal for the biggest name of the deadline, Tarik Skubal.
According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Braves refused to include Didier Fuentes in any trade talks with the Tigers for Skubal. The words that Abraham used is that the Braves “wouldn’t part” with Fuentes. I’d imagine that if Alex Anthopoulos is unwilling to move the 21-year-old hurler for a pitcher the caliber of Skubal then that means that Fuentes is likely set to be here for the long haul and could be an important part of the team going forward.
The good news for the Braves is that it’s not like pitching was the issue for them – especially during their Postseason run. Sure, Fuentes had an up-and-down experience in October, himself, but that’s to be expected from someone as young as he was. Plus, the “up” was a massive flash of brilliance in Game 2 of the NLDS which is when Fuentes retired 11 batters in a row during a crucial part of the contest. Walt Weiss repeatedly contended that Fuentes was his “best” reliever and the faith that was placed in him during the playoffs was proof of that belief.
It also seems to indicate that the Braves have bigger plans for Fuentes. After all, he did initially start life as a big leaguer in 2025 as a starter and this appears to be an indication that Fuentes could return to that role in some point. I don’t think they’d be willing to hold on to him if they figured that he was simply going to be a high-leverage reliever going forward.
There’s also no telling as to who all else was involved in the trade talks – though MLB Trade Rumors did name JR Ritchie and AJ Smith-Shawver as prospects who were deemed to be available. We’re likely not going to hear Anthopoulos lay out the whole trade discussion between the Braves and the Tigers unless he decides to randomly drop a bombshell during some random appearance on the radio (similarly to how he sort of randomly revealed earlier this Summer that the Braves were close to acquiring Kyle Schwarber a few years ago) so we likely won’t get to know whether or not Fuentes was the difference between Skubal wearing navy blue-and-red instead of Dodger blue any time soon.
Either way, it seems like everyone involved got their way. The Braves held on to a very talented hurler with a bright future, the Dodgers added to their constellation of stars and the Tigers got a return that they’re happy with. It’s a very interesting story and all we can do is wait to see how the long-term situation plays out.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 05: Giancarlo Stanton #27 and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees look on from the dugout during the second inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game two of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 05, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Remember the line from “The Great Gatsby” in which the protagonist fights the notion of being unable to repeat the past? Although it is a slippery slope, the Yankees, more than any other team in baseball, must—in the first step towards a journey to the top spot in the sport—look to their past. It isn’t about trying to recreate exactly what we once saw because that can never be done; it’s a necessary effort to understand the disconnect between the fan base and management as to what exactly dictates desired success and how far off they are from each other.
Before the late ’90s dynasty, the Yankees had lean years as a trigger-happy team in the hands of George Steinbrenner. Winning it all was all that mattered, and the inability to see certain moves through created plenty of turmoil. That is not what we want, but nearly as disappointing is the current feeling that the front office is content with a ticket to the dance and let it be what it will once it arrives.
The Yankees are now coming up on nearly two decades without a World Series title. And with a winning club for the entirety of this run plus resources second to none in the American League, it is unfathomable that not only have they not won a title, but they also haven’t come close to one—going down 3-0 before losing the World Series in five in misery back in 2024, their sole appearance to the Fall Classic since 2009.
Plenty of the Yankee teams in this period have been good, even very good, but have any of them been great enough long enough that you could justify management’s conformism with just running it back enough times until they eventually pull through? There are tough breaks here and there, but if we look through the list of the most dominant teams in the sport over the past 10 years or so, how many Yankee teams could make the list? How many times did it truly feel like an injustice that they came up short? It has routinely seemed like the 2018 Red Sox, the 2020 Dodgers, and the 2022 Astros have been more well-rounded, naming a few.
So much of the focus is on Aaron Boone for continuously dropping playoff series against teams with a better record. Obviously he has a lot of blame there, but can we stop to figure out why the Yankees keep coming up against superior opposition in the postseason in the first place? Take these last two seasons, for instance: the Yankees couldn’t even be the best team in their division. And it’s not as if, outside of Aaron Judge’s missed time, you could point to a high level of underperformance in the regular season that’s a factor among other sustained contenders. In fact, several of the key players performed well above expectations, such as the likes of Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler.
Disappointment comes in different shapes and sizes. The one from the last two seasons is much more about the built-up frustration of a long drought than the letdown of a team you truly believed would win it all. The here we go again feeling has gotten a little too familiar.
That said, the Yankees don’t have a talent issue, but you can count on one hand the number of times during this run that they fell short of a title, and you truly felt like they got the short end of the stick as the top team. That should be the goal—not to build just one of the very good teams, but to be the absolute best, and then if you are, eventually the breaks are going to go your way—eventually you’ll make your own breaks.
There’s a school of thought which suggests that the Diamondbacks “broke” the Dodgers, by beating them in the 2023 National League Division Series. Not just by the defeat, but by the manner of it. It was a sweep, with Arizona outscoring Los Angeles 19-6, never trailing in any game at any point, and leading by two runs or more, at the end of 25 of the 27 innings played. That winter, the Dodgers engaged beast mode, giving contracts worth over a billion dollars in total to Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto alone, and haven’t stopped spending since. Including a staggering $183 million in luxury tax penalties – more than a dozen teams paid in payroll – their 2026 salary bill was over $616 million.
I can’t argue they have not spent effectively, winning three division titles, and averaging 97 wins. But it has been in the post-season where their dominance has become near-total. Remember, in the playoffs, you’re facing the best teams the rest of baseball has to offer. But since the Diamondbacks gave them the bum’s rush out of the 2023 post-season, the Dodgers have won eight consecutive playoff series, and are 27-10, a .730 win percentage. Again, this is not facing the Colorado Rockies, but other division winners and wild-card teams. If the Brewers or (probably) Rays can’t stop them, they’ll become the first team to three-peat since 2000.
Under normal circumstances, I would be cheering wholeheartedly for their opponents, as has been the case in the last two seasons. #TeamAnyoneButLA. But this year, there’s a concern that might over-ride this. Specifically, that if anyone except the Los Angeles Dodgers wins the World Series – especially a relatively small-market team like the Brewers or the Rays – it might mute demands for a salary cap in the upcoming CBA negotiations. That’s something I feel is essential to the basic survival of major-league baseball, in terms of competitive balance. But a Rays/Brewers victory could potentially be used by the players as proof everything is fine. “See? You can’t buy success!”
It’s not really the case. The problem has never been the post-season, where randomness plays a significant factor. Let’s be honest. The 2023 Diamondbacks who won 83 games were not a “better” team, by any objective measure, than the 92-win Brewers, 100-win Dodgers or 90-win Phillies. But Arizona went 9-3 against that trio, including 6-2 on the road, on their way to the World Series. This is baseball. Get “hot” at the right time, and who knows what can happen. The issue is the regular season. The NL West has turned into six months of grinding and irrelevant tedium, a procession where non-Dodger fans look at the Central and East standings more than their own division.
This predates the 2023 NLDS. The Dodgers have taken 13 of the last 14 division titles – and won 106 games the sole season they didn’t come first. It’s only when you look at the standings since 2013, that the degree of Los Angeles’s domination becomes clear. Over the roughly 13 1/3 seasons in that time (2020 being the one-third), they have won over a hundred games more than any other team. Not “any other NL West team”, any other team. The second-placed Yankees are closer to the tenth-placed Cubs, than they are to the Dodgers. Here’s the average standings in the NL West, from 2013-2026.
Los Angeles Dodgers: 99-63
San Francisco Giants: 80-82
San Diego Padres: 80-82
Arizona Diamondbacks: 78-84
Colorado Rockies: 69-93
Over a fourteen-year period – bold font, please – the Dodgers have averaged 99 wins per season, while every other team in the division is below .500. Their win percentage of .610 over that time is the best in the integrated era. To find anything higher, you need to go back to the 1947-1960 Yankees, who had a .622 win percentage in the regular season, and won eight World Series during that span, including five in a row. In other words, the Dodgers under their current ownership are the most powerful major-league team in over sixty years. Arguably more: that Yankees dynasty failed to win their division twice, in 1954 and 1959; the Dodgers only once.
That’s what “competitive balance” looks like, according to the players’ union. The Brewers winning the World Series is not going to change this, or the fact that the Dodgers’ current television deal alone [$8.35 billion over 25 years, an AAV of $334 million] is worth more, according to Forbes, than every revenue stream the D-backs possess. The LA Times reports, “By the time the deal ends in 2038, the Dodgers will be getting more than $500 million per year” – and making things worse, it’s largely exempt from revenue sharing.
It’s simply impossible for anyone else in the NL West to compete under the current system, A third consecutive Dodgers’ World Series win would underscore this, and hopefully make it almost impossible for any eventual agreement between the owners and players not to include a salary cap (and floor, of course). Would LA coming up short make a difference? Hard to say. ESPN recently had an interesting article looking at this very topic, asking executives and players what impact (if any) the results of the World Series would have on negotiations. The general opinion: a three-peat for LA would entrench positions. To quote an NL player:
It’ll be bad. The league is going to dig in a lot more. And we know the union isn’t going to go for a cap, so it’s going to get really bad. Nobody wants to see the Dodgers win. No owner does. None of the fans do. But I think it’s going to make this all worse.
Conversely, an NL executive said, “A small-market club [with a strong front office] winning the World Series going into an adversarial offseason would likely allow players to make the argument that the game is in a healthy place from a parity standpoint.” Personally, I’ve already reached acceptance that, if it’s necessary for us to lose games next year – or even the entire season – in order to get significant change, then so be it. It’s a price I’m willing to pay. I’m beginning to feel that, if the Dodgers winning the World Series helps achieve the necessary change, then I might be forced to suck it up, hold my nose and – in a thoroughly non-political sense – “Vote blue, no matter who.”
PHILADELPHIA, PA - SEPTEMBER 22: General Manager Sam Fuld of the Philadelphia Phillies smiles prior to the game against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on September 22, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves 1-0. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s that time of year where teams are shaking up their front office structure and interviews are happening. We know that Sam Fuld was in the running to take the A’s president of baseball operations position, but that has apparently not come to pass.
Sam Fuld was offered the A’s job as president of baseball operations but declined to take it and has withdrawn from consideration, sources tell ESPN. Fuld, who was previously GM of Philadelphia, will remain in his current role as president of business operations for the Phillies.
Being tasked with leading the A’s into Las Vegas was apparently something that Fuld was not interested in, so he will remain with the Phillies. Of note, he is still the president of business operations with the Phillies, not baseball operations. One wonders if that job will be his if/when Dave Dombrowski decides to finally hang them up here in Philadelphia.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 13: Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers laughs with Christian Yelich #22 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium on August 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It felt inevitable even in the early stages of the season that the two best teams in MLB would be on a collision course for a seismic encounter in the NLCS. The Brewers and Dodgers were the only two teams to finish with at least 100 wins, and by the time both teams jumped out to comfortable leads atop their respective divisions by mid-July, you could sense we were destined for a rematch of last season’s NLCS. It should be a far more competitive series than last October, when rampant Dodgers squad swept the Brewers by holding Milwaukee to just one run in each of the four games.
There’s no easing into this series — all signs are pointing to a dream matchup of Tarik Skubal vs. Jacob Misiorowski in Game 1, pitting the two-time defending AL Cy Young against this season’s presumptive NL Cy Young winner. There was a not insignificant chance that the two aces could have shared a rotation, Milwaukee showing legitimate interest right up until the Dodgers swooped in and acquired Skubal from the Tigers at the deadline. Los Angeles has also tabbed 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start Game 2 while the Brewers have yet to select a starter beyond Game 1.
This year’s Dodgers remains the juggernaut they’ve been during this World Series-winning run, but make no mistake, this is a young Brewers squad with an extra year of experience under their belts and the hunger to avenge last year’s sweep and make it to their first World Series since their one and only appearance in 1982.
Los Angeles Dodgers
Regular season record: 100-62 (1st, NL West)
(Beat Braves in NLDS, 3-1)
This is just as complete a Dodgers team as the one who secured back-to-back World Series titles, Los Angeles keeping their championship core largely intact while making a Cy Young-sized upgrade to the starting rotation. Their offense placed second in MLB behind the Cubs in wRC+ (111) and fWAR (26.9) and is a blend of contact and power, their .257 team batting average and .424 slugging also second-best in MLB. Their starting rotation was tops in the Majors in fWAR (18.7) and second behind the Yankees in ERA (3.43) and FIP (3.69), the group of Skubal, Yamamoto, Blake Snell, and Tyler Glasnow posing comfortably the highest ceiling of any starting staff in the land. The biggest improvement over last year is their bullpen, which ranked second in MLB in strikeout rate (26.2-percent) and third in FIP (3.67).
Offense
The Dodgers advanced past the Braves pretty handily despite Shohei Ohtani remaining mostly absent for the series. It was part of a protracted slump to end the year for the four-time MVP, Ohtani mustering just a 72 wRC+ in September and a 106 mark in the second half. His last home run was on August 18th, the downturn in form likely the result of left knee and right biceps injuries that convinced the Dodgers to remove him from the rotation to DH full time in early July. He went 2-for-13 in the NLDS and will have his streak of three straight NL MVPs snapped by Pete Crow-Armstrong.
Also largely absent from the NLDS were Mookie Betts and Andy Pages. Betts got red-hot to end the regular season but couldn’t carry that into the series against the Braves, where he had a 75 wRC+ in 17 plate appearances. Pages established himself as one of the game’s premier center fielders this year and last, but was only good for a 77 wRC+ in 15 plate appearances.
Instead, the onus was on Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman, and Kyle Tucker to carry the load against Atlanta. Ever-reliable postseason performer Max Muncy led the way with three home runs and three RBIs to extend his lead atop the franchise postseason home run list to 19. Freeman hit a pair of home runs and drove in a pair against his former team to earn a 174 wRC+ while Tucker batted .333 with a 151 wRC+.
Starting rotation
The Dodgers provided a blueprint for how they might deploy their four-headed rotation monster of Skubal, Yamamoto, Snell, and Glasnow with each pitcher making one start in the NLDS. With Skubal and Yamamoto already lined up for the first two games, I imagine Snell and Glasnow will start Games 3 and 4, respectively, based on rest.
Skubal pitched to a 2.61 ERA and 2.36 FIP in ten regular season starts for LA and allowed a run on two hits and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings in the Dodgers’ Game 1 win over the Braves. Yamamoto was even better in Game 3, holding Atlanta to a run on four hits and a walk with ten strikeouts in seven innings following a brilliant regular season in which he went 14-9 in 28 starts with a 2.53 ERA, 3.33 FIP, and 182 strikeouts in 185 innings. Snell was limited to just nine regular season starts in another injury-plagues season, but was dominant to the tune of a 1.90 ERA and 1.72 FIP without giving up a home run in 42.2 innings. He started their lone loss of the NLDS, lasting just 3.2 innings in Game 2 after allowing a run on three hits and five walks. Like Snell, Glasnow was largely unavailable in the regular season, making just 13 starts with a 3.53 ERA and 2.74 FIP, but he helped seal the series in Atlanta by pitching 4.2 innings of one-run ball on one hit and five walks with five strikeouts in the decisive Game 4.
Bullpen
Often the one shaky unit of their playoff runs, the Dodgers bullpen has looked far more settled this postseason. Edwin Díaz returned from a disastrous regular season that saw him demoted from the closer role and suffer elbow and neck injuries to make three scoreless appearances and secure two saves against the Braves. Roki Sasaki, Brock Stewart, and Alex Vesia didn’t allow a run in their combined five innings of relief while Edgardo Henriquez’s fastball has touched as high as 104 mph. Only Tanner Scott struggled, allowing two runs in 2.2 innings, but he still struck out four of the 11 batters he faced.
Milwaukee Brewers
Regular season record: 103-59 (1st, NL Central)
(Beat Padres in NLDS, 3-1)
The Brewers were the class of MLB, pacing the league with 103 wins. They are what every team aspires to be, blending a cutting edge analytics department with robust player development successes to both produce homegrown cornerstone talent and squeeze as much surplus value out of every player who joins the organization — proof that you do not need a salary cap to make small market teams competitive.
Their offense remained remarkably consistent relative to last year. In 2025, they posted a .257 average, .736 OPS, 166 home runs, a 107 wRC+, and 28.4 fWAR. In 2026, they posted a .257 average, .743 OPS, 154 home runs, a 107 wRC+, and 26.1 fWAR, their offense ranking third right behind the Dodgers in wRC+ and fWAR. Their starting pitching took a big step forward as you might expect when led by a historic campaign from The Miz, the unit finishing fourth in MLB in FIP (3.73) and fWAR (15.6) and fifth in ERA (3.61). The bullpen remained an undeniable strength as it does every year, placing in the top-four in ERA (3.40) and FIP (3.70).
Offense
The Brewers were led by ascending superstar Jackson Chourio, who became the all-time franchise leader with five postseason home runs at only 22 years old. Despite just a 73 wRC+ in the series overall, he hit the game-tying two-run homer in Game 1 and the walk-off RBI single with two strikes and two outs off Padres closer Mason Miller in Game 2. He batted .291 with 25 home runs and a 130 wRC+ in the regular season and drove in six in just four games against San Diego.
Their most consistent contributor against the Padres was William Contreras, who went 6-for-16 with two home runs, two RBIs, and a 225 wRC+. Christian Yelich was 5-for-14 with a 162 wRC+ while Jake Bauers and Sal Frelick were on-base machines in that series. Brice Turang, Garrett Mitchell, Joey Ortiz, and Cooper Pratt were all above average by wRC+ during the regular season but none of that quartet did much of anything in the NLDS. If Turang in particular can find his swing after posting a 6 wRC+ in 18 PAs, you’d like their chances a lot more against an LA starting rotation that’s in a league above the Padres.
Starting rotation
If the Brewers are going to have any chance of advancing to the World Series, it’s going to come down to pitching, specifically Jacob Misiorowski. He will likely run away with the NL Cy Young after leading MLB in ERA (1.80), FIP (2.17), strikeouts (252) and fWAR (6.6). He allowed two runs on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in four innings in the Brewers’ Game 1 victory, and in all likelihood will have to start twice and probably make a relief appearance against the Dodgers. He struck out nine in five innings of two-run ball in Game 3 of last year’s NLCS against LA.
The quality of options in the rotation after him thins out significantly with Robert Gasser, Logan Henderson, and Dustin May each making one start in the NLDS. Henderson pitched to a 2.47 ERA and 3.32 FIP in 18 regular season starts, the rookie holding the Padres to two runs on two hits and three walks in five innings of a Game 2 walk-off win. Gasser posted a 3.87 ERA and 4.23 FIP in 20 regular seasons starts and held San Diego to a run on three hits and a walk in four innings of the series-clinching Game 4 win. May is the clear black sheep of the bunch, struggling mightily in ten starts after joining from the Cardinals at the deadline and getting tagged for two runs on three hits and two walks of a Game 3 loss.
Bullpen
In my opinion, the X-factor of this series will be the Brewers bullpen, who was taxed heavily in their four games against San Diego, yet have still posted the second-lowest bullpen ERA of any playoff team at 1.80. I expect Milwaukee to continue to lean on the high leverage, high velocity dual threat of Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill, the pair combining to toss nine scoreless innings and secure two saves against San Diego. DL Hall, Anthonio Senzatela, and Abner Uribe might not strike out ten-percent of batters they faced but the three held San Diego scoreless across 7.2 combined innings. The unit as a whole is a ground ball generating machine facing a Dodgers team that posted the third-lowest ground ball rate in the majors.
Feb 25, 2024; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Sam Fuld talk in the dugout before a game against the New York Yankees at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Well the list of potential new GM’s for the A’s got a little smaller on Saturday morning. Jeff Passan reports that Phillies General Manager Sam Fuld has turned down an offer by the A’s to take over the front office, opting to instead remain in Philadelphia where he’ll be second fiddle to Philly President Dave Dombrowski:
Sam Fuld was offered the A’s job as president of baseball operations but declined to take it and has withdrawn from consideration, sources tell ESPN. Fuld, who was previously GM of Philadelphia, will remain in his current role as president of business operations for the Phillies.
Fuld was considered one of the stronger candidates to take over the A’s operations but evidently he’d prefer to stay put and wait for a different opportunity down the line. It’s never a good feeling to see your team rejected like this. The A’s apparently made not only the offer of General Manager, but offered the title of President of Baseball Operations. He would have been able to staff out an entire front office to his vision, but evidently the Athletics’ job was one that he did not want to take.
While Fuld is now out of contention, there’s a name that is gaining traction, again according to Passan. Red Sox AGM Taylor Smith may now be the option as of now:
Boston assistant general manager Taylor Smith remains a top candidate to take over as head of baseball operations for the A’s, sources tell ESPN. Cardinals assistant GM Rob Cerfolio, another finalist, is expected to remain with St. Louis.
Smith began his career with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 with their research and development team but was poached by the division-rival Red Sox in 2024, getting the title of assistant GM to Craig Breslow. Over the past couple of years he’s been in charge of their analytics department. That Tampa organization really does pump out staffers to other organizations at an incredible rate, and Smith was among those that was highly regarded and viewed as a future GM, even by the Red Sox. He has been one of several lieutenants for the former A’s reliever-turned-GM in their collaborative front office approach.
He wouldn’t have anyone else to report to if he does end up getting the A’s job since the Passan report indicates he’d be given the President title. That’d mean he’d have free reign to shape the team as he sees fit and hire who he wants to staff his front office. Presumably the first order of business will be to address the pitching, or lack thereof. That’ll be the top priority for whoever the A’s select but Smith seems like as good as any candidate to bring in fresh outside ideas into the organization, something the organization could certainly use. He’s a bit on the younger side in his early 30’s (there’s no public information on his exact age), and he doesn’t have the most experience, but if the A’s feel he’s their guy then what are we waiting for?
And one more tidbit from Passan is that St. Louis AGM Rob Cerfolio is likely to remain with the Cardinals. That’s not especially surprising considering what’s going on over there. Chaim Bloom is ascending to President, meaning that Cerfolio will get his own promotion to GM. He’ll still be the second-in-command but that was always expected.
The wait to find out who will be the next voice of the Athletics’ front office seems to be winding down. We should hopefully know the choice by the end of the weekend, or at the latest early next week. Who do you guys want to be the selection?
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 06: Los Angeles second baseman Miguel Rojas (72) warms up prior to the start of the NLDS game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves on October 6th, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Veteran infielder Miguel Rojas took ground balls and hit in a few rounds of batting practice during the Dodgers workout at Dodger Stadium on Friday, still nursing back and hip pain suffered Tuesday in Atlanta, with the hope he could be ready to go for the start of the National League Championship Series on Sunday in Milwaukee.
“Today was encouraging. He had imaging, and a lot of it was stuff that he’s had prior history. We’ve still got a flight to get on, and we’ll see how he comes in [Saturday] for the workout there. So there’s nothing definitive, but I will say today was a step in the right direction,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on a Friday Zoom call. “That was good to see.”
The veteran Rojas was one of the Dodgers’ most effective batters against left-handed pitchers this season, hitting .293/.340/.469 with a 121 wRC+. Rojas started twice in the NLDS, both against left-handed starting pitchers (Ray Kerr opened Game 2, followed by Chris Sale in Game 3).
The 37-year-old also led the team with 40 pinch-hit plate appearances, 15 more than any other player on the team. His presence among the reserves is felt, and the Dodgers will have a shorter bench in the NLCS, as the team plans to carry 13 pitchers in the best-of-7 NLCS after only using 12 pitchers in the Division Series, Roberts confirmed on Friday.
During the NLDS, the Dodgers bench included Rojas and Kiké Hernández, each of whom started twice during the series, plus backup catcher Hunter Feduccia, who did not play, rookie Josue De Paula, used twice as a pinch-hitter, and speedster Hyeseong Kim, who was used as a pinch-runner in Game 5 and played the final inning at second base.
Rojas spent the last few days getting treatment for his injury, and the Dodgers still have until Sunday morning to determine whether he’ll be on the NLCS roster.
“We’ve just got to be certain that if he do have him on [the NLCS roster], he can stay healthy, so you don’t lose him for the potential World Series,” Roberts said Friday. “We certainly have a couple other good options if it doesn’t happen, and he can’t post. But I’m encouraged with what I saw today.”
If the Dodgers were to put Rojas on the NLCS roster but need to replace him due to injury within the series, Rojas would then be ineligible for the next round, which in this case is the World Series.
The Dodgers have three options if Rojas isn’t available for the NLCS. They could keep the same rest of the bench as the NLDS, without Rojas: Hernández, Feduccia, De Paula, and Kim. Or they could replace Kim with Alex Freeland, a switch-hitting infielder who hits better from the left side. Outfielder Alex Call could be the choice over Kim, offering a right-handed hitter on the bench. Either way, the versatility of Hernández and Tommy Edman gives the Dodgers flexibility when making late-inning defensive replacements, moving around the infield or outfield as needed.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 07: Trent Grisham #12 of the New York Yankees bats against the Tampa Bay Rays during the third inning in game three of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 07, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Batting order alone doesn’t dictate a team’s fortune, but it does make a difference. This is especially so in short series, where even the tiniest edges and flaws are magnified. And no place in the lineup matters more than the top spot. Suffice it to say that Aaron Boone and the Yankees faced an extremely important decision when choosing the leadoff man for Game 3 with the season on the line.
So why in the world did they land on Trent Grisham?
To state the obvious, Grisham did not have a good year in any shape or form. He had a .308 OBP. His wRC+ was 98. And these numbers are what he recorded before landing on the IL at the start of September with a strained hammy. To his credit, Grisham did record two hits during the party against the dregs of the Red Sox bullpen in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series, but he was a non-factor in Games 1 and 2 of the Division Series. This isn’t the resume of someone to whom you’d like to entrust the leadoff spot in an elimination game . And yet, that’s precisely what the Yankees did.
Of course, it’s easy as an armchair manager to fall into the trap of hindsight. It would be wrong of me to point to Grisham’s 0-for-5, three-strikeout night and say, “I told you so.” But that’s not what I’m going to argue. My point is that hitting Grisham first was the wrong call, even if it had worked out, because the decision-making process had a fatal flaw — one that explains so much about this current era of Yankees baseball.
That flaw is this: the Yankees’ way of evaluating players has become far too rigid. Once they make up their mind about a player’s true talent, they will adhere to it adamantly, even if the on-field results suggest that something is wrong. It takes a mountain of evidence to pile up for them to consider recalibrating their view of that player, and by the time that happens, the damage has already been done.
Trent Grisham is but the latest example. When asked postgame whether he regretted placing Grisham in the leadoff spot, Aaron Boone had this to offer:
“No. I mean, look, obviously, we really struggled to score runs in the first two games, and I was pretty convicted on trying to find a way to be able to get Benny a chance to come up with runners on or be in a position to do that more often tonight…it’s a decision I made to try and create a little bit of traffic, and obviously it didn’t work. But you’re going to live with that.”
I get wanting to give Ben Rice more chances to hit with men on base. But even if that made sense, Grisham was not the answer. The man isn’t a high-OBP guy. Not counting 2020, his career high over a full season is the .348 mark he posted last year; in all other years he’s failed to reach .330. He’s a high-walk guy, I’ll give him that, but his abysmal batting averages have generally dragged his OBP down to unremarkable levels. To wit: Grisham’s career walk rate is a robust 12.1 percent, but his career OBP is a pedestrian .319.
Boone’s reasoning only makes sense if you assume that Grisham’s superb 2025 represented a new baseline for him, and that version of him was still somewhere within him, despite his subpar 2026 numbers and his late-season injury. It seems, in short, that Boone and the Yankees were clinging to the best version of Grisham in their minds, a version detached from reality.
When viewed in this way, the Grisham decision turns from an isolated blunder to the latest case of a widespread issue. Recall how the Yankees kept running Austin Wells out until June, despite him hitting for a 26 wRC+ for the entire month of May. The team only took action when Wells went to them, suggesting that they might have been unaware that something was ailing Wells if he hadn’t.
I don’t think it’s too farfetched to theorize that they viewed Wells’ disastrous offensive performance as merely a bad slump, and that they were planning on simply running him out there until he experienced positive regression, without making any inquiries into his health. The Yankees had an idea of how Austin Wells was supposed to hit, and when the on-field results weren’t there, they assumed that their idea of Wells would eventually translate to reality, rather than readjusting their evaluation of Wells given recent results.
Wells’ case is reminiscent of how the Yankees handled Anthony Rizzo’s concussion in 2023. It took 46 games of Rizzo hitting .172/.271/.225 for the Yankees to do anything, and even then, Rizzo had to go to the team, not the other way around. And this goes beyond how the Yankees have mismanaged injuries; in 2024, we saw them keep trotting out Alex Verdugo in left field when it was clear by mid-July that it wasn’t working out. In 2025, they stubbornly kept on using Devin Williams in high-leverage situations, a crucial factor in them losing the division race. Then there’s the ongoing shortstop question, with the Yankees being stubborn at various points about both Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Anthony Volpe’s abilities. Time and time again, the Yankees of recent years have shown a reluctance to change their minds about their own players.
Admittedly, there is something to be said for not overreacting to small sample sizes. Even superstars can have bad weeks and months; look at how Pete Crow-Armstrong and Fernando Tatis Jr. started their respective years, compared to the numbers they finished with. Closer to home in 2024, Aaron Judge followed an awful April with a preposterous .352/.488/.777 triple slash with 52 homers in 127 games as he won MVP. Making rash, drastic changes based on the tiniest fluctuations in performance is not a winning formula by any means.
However, there needs to be a balance. Teams can, and should, try to constantly update their understanding of players’ abilities based on new data, while keeping in mind that small sample size caveats apply. Right now, the Yankees’ modus operandi appears as though it’s set in stone. If that’s due to a philosophical stance about trying not to be influenced by granular data points, then that stance needs to be relaxed. And if that’s due to complacency and hubris, then I’d like to remind them that it’s been 17 years since their last title. Something needs to change.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 24: Garrett Whitlock #22 of the Boston Red Sox following his nomination for the 2026 MLB Roberto Clemente Award before the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Fenway Park on September 24, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by CJ Gunther/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Friday morning, a picture was posted to Instagram from Garrett Whitlock’s wife, Jordan, showing an offseason beach picture of Garrett, overlooking the beach, with the hashtag #thriving. Less than notable, living his best life. Except for, you know, the walking boot that Whitlock was wearing.
Garrett Whitlock with some type of boot on. Not the same leg as his knee injury from over the summer. Notable. pic.twitter.com/nEENu0nhMv
We learned later on Friday from Gabrielle Starr that Whitlock had been pitching with “a fractured right tibia that was not properly diagnosed until after the Red Sox were eliminated from the postseason last week, the 30-year-old reliever told the Herald on Friday.”
This season, we also had Garrett Crochet’s shoulder and lat soreness that lingered from late April into September. We had Roman Anthony’s hand/wrist injury which, as Matt Gross outlined in great detail, was a wrist sprain (day-to-day), and then a minimum IL stint, which was actually a ligament in his ring finger for a bit more than a minimum IL stint, which was also a sprained right hand/wrist progressing slower than expected, to not swinging a bat a month later, to getting sent to Fort Myers which may or may not have been to send a message, to missing nearly four months of MLB game action.
During Monday’s press conference, when asked about why Anthony did not get any additional imaging after early July, Breslow pushed back asking why they would need to do that if the player hadn’t asked for it.
Good for Garrett Whitlock pitching through his injury to the tune of a 0.00 ERA in September, but perhaps this team’s medical staff needs to be a little bit more proactive when it comes to identifying injuries and not just trusting the player that “they’re fine.”
Discuss this, and whatever else you have on your mind about baseball in October in the comments, and be good to each other.
The numbers from last year’s National League Championship Series speak for themselves.
Runs: Dodgers 15, Brewers 4
Hits: Dodgers 32, Brewers 14
Home runs: Dodgers 6, Brewers 1
Innings led: Dodgers 26, Brewers 1
Wins: Dodgers 4, Brewers 0
“They were utterly embarrassed last year,” a rival scout said of the Brewers this week while reflecting on the Dodgers’ pennant-sealing NLCS sweep last October. “They had the best record in the National League, and they just got their a– handed to them.”
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki and catcher Will Smith celebrates their win against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of baseball’s National League Championship Series, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. AP
Now, 12 months later, they will have a chance for redemption.
The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate in the locker room after defeating the Atlanta Braves in game four of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia, Thursday, October 8, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Thus, this week, the California Post spoke to two rival NL scouts to ask if this year’s series could play out differently.
The short answer: Yes, with both evaluators seeing a pathway for the Brewers to pull off a payback-minded upset.
“It just feels like a different team [this year],” Scout 1 said.
“I think a big part of this entire season for them is the redemption factor,” Scout 2 added.
Ahead of Game 1 on Sunday night in Milwaukee, here are the factors that could decide who reaches the World Series:
The Miz-ing Piece
Jacob Misiorowski was part of the Brewers’ playoff push last year. He even threw five innings of tantalizing bulk relief in a nine-strikeout effort during Game 3.
This year, though, he represents that biggest difference between this Brewers squad and those of failed Octobers past.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski reacts after pitching in the fourth inning against the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The breakout 24-year-old star is the presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner. He is expected to start Game 1 opposite Tarik Skubal. And if Milwaukee is to challenge the Dodgers, it’s likely to begin with a couple strong outings from him.
“It’s elite stuff,” Scout 1 said, stating the obvious of a 6-foot-7 right-hander with a 105 mph fastball.
But …
“The Dodgers know how to take at-bats against elite pitching,” he added.
“They’re gonna step into that box and just say, ‘We probably aren’t going to beat this guy, but we just need to get him out of the ballgame as early as possible,’” Scout 2 said. “They could just wear him down, fouling pitches off, taking pitches.”
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski throws during the first inning in Game 1 of a National League Divisional baseball playoff series against the San Diego Padres, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, in Milwaukee. AP Photo/Kayla Wolf
Misiorowski faced a similar grind in the NLDS, when he needed 88 pitches just to get through four innings of two-run ball against the Padres.
But, his track record against the Dodgers is nonetheless promising. In addition to last year’s NLCS appearance, he has a pair of six-inning, one-run starts against them in the last two regular seasons, combining for 18 strikeouts in those two wins.
“I absolutely wouldn’t be shocked if he pitched a two-hitter, struck out 11 and the Brewers win 3-1 that first game,” Scout 1 said. “But if he doesn’t get out of the third because he’s thrown 65 pitches, [I’m not] going to be shocked, [either].”
Another year wiser
The real question in this NLCS is whether the Brewers can hit Dodgers pitching, after they batted a stunning .118 in last year’s matchup.
This October, Milwaukee’s lineup is roughly the same but also notably different.
Jackson Chourio has graduated from young talent (who was also battling an injury last October) to bona fide star. Brice Turang and William Contreras are another year older and more experienced. And others like Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell have emerged as dependable complementary pieces. Even former MVP Christian Yelich, coming off a career-worst regular season, showed signs of renewed life in the NLDS.
Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell (5) and catcher William Contreras (24) drench left fielder Jackson Chourio (11) with Gatorade after Chourio hit the game-winning hit against the San Diego Padres in Game 2 of the NLDS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
To Scout 1, it has made the Brewers reminiscent of another current contender that had to grow from repeated playoff setbacks.
“I think that they’re like the Dodgers, when the Dodgers were a lot younger,” he said. “They grind out at-bats. They’re hard [to pitch to]. Obviously not as talented from one to nine … but they have the same kind of mentality.”
Indeed, the Brewers were best in MLB this season in batting average (.258), on-base-percentage (.341), walk rate (10.6%) and chase rate (a league-low 26.6%). Though they hit the second-fewest homers in the majors, they scored the second-most runs.
“To beat a team like the Dodgers, I think they’re going to have to work counts, [make] no easy outs,” Scout 1 added. “You might still not get a run off of Skubal, but if you can get him out of the game in the sixth inning, and you get to the bullpen, you’re in a tight game.”
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal celebrates the last out against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of Game 1 of the NLDS, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Los Angeles. Wally Skalij for CA Post
The Brewers, of course, failed to do that last year.
But, as Scout 2 noted, their pitching staff — which also includes standout rookie starter Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA) and a deep bullpen that ranked third in reliever ERA (3.40) — may be better positioned to put their own clamps down on what’s been a homer-reliant Dodgers offense.
“You need to be able to manufacture runs, so I would be more concerned about the [Dodgers’] approach, where you’re relying on the long ball,” Scout 2 said.
Echoed Scout 1, while referencing the Dodgers’ NLDS against the Braves: “The Braves kind of [kept games close]. They just didn’t get the big hit … So it’ll be the same kind of principle, but I think the Brewers are better at it than the Braves are. It just feels like they’ve been there.”
No Sho’ thing
One other key difference in this year’s NLCS: The reigning series MVP is nowhere near his normal self.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout against the Atlanta Braves during the seventh inning in game four of the National League Division Series at Truist Park in Atlanta, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. Getty Images
The Dodgers were able to compensate for that in their defeat of the Braves. Other stars like Max Muncy (three home runs), Freddie Freeman (two home runs) and even the recently resurgent Kyle Tucker (5-for-15) helped pick up the slack.
Still, at some point, Ohtani’s lack of production could threaten to trip them up.
“If you don’t have your legs, then you look like he looks,” Scout 1 said. “There’s times when he’s healthy, you throw him a mistake and he’s fooled, but it’s in the zone and he can still hit it 400 feet because he’s healthy. But he’s not doing that right now. He can’t get his legs under him. He just doesn’t look healthy to me.”
Scout 2 concurred, noting the mechanical disconnect Ohtani’s injuries seem to be causing.
“He’s still producing bat speed,” Scout 2 said. “But the effort that it’s taking him right now to get there, that’s what’s holding him back.”
It was just one more reason why both scouts were bullish on the Brewers’ chances.
They thought Milwaukee’s lineup is better equipped to handle Dodgers pitching than last year. That the combination of Misiorowski, Henderson and a deep and talented bullpen could frustrate LA’s own offense. And that in a series likely to be full of tight, low-scoring games, the Brewers’ ability to do the little things could tip the scales.
“Would I be shocked if they got swept? No, because you’re, they’re going to face four Cy Young Award [contenders],” Scout 1 said. “But if the Brewers get one of those games at home to start the series, I think they win in six.”
“They got to win one of the first two games,” Scout 2 agreed. “Then they got to come to Dodger Stadium and they got to win a three-game series, which they’re more than capable of doing. So they win a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, they go back and they close it out in Game 6 at home.”
