For a very few, the season is not yet over. The Arizona Fall League (AFL) beckons, and the invitations given often present signs of where a player stands in an organization and provide an opportunity for a player to redefine that path. Once seen, not so long ago, as a finishing school for top MiLB prospects, more recent versions have taken on a different cast. The league opens play tomorrow (Oct 3) and runs through mid-November. The Cardinal’s prospects will play for Peoria, teamed with players from the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, and Seattle Mariners.

Over recent years, the players invited have tended younger, no longer right on the cusp of MLB. And the reasons for their assignment vary. Some of the more common scenarios that lead to a player being sent to the AFL:

• Players who have lost in-season time due to injury, are healthy now and will use the AFL to accumulate innings or plate appearances;
• Players who have been in the organization long enough that they will be requiring a 40-man roster spot this fall and the team is not 100% sure where they want to go with said player;
• Players who have interesting tools but haven’t quite developed enough to advance them beyond their level. Often, these players are facing a roster crunch at the next level, and the team needs another look to map out where they project this player.

So, who is all going for the Cardinals? And what is their story. Let’s look.

Bringing the 🔥 to the desert!

LHP Brandon Clarke (No. 9), RHP Tekoah Roby (No. 14) and OF Tai Peete (No. 17) lead the #STLCards minor leaguers named to the Peoria roster for the upcoming AFL season.

The 2026 @MLBazFallLeague runs from Oct. 3-Nov. 14. pic.twitter.com/p06QNoE83r

— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) September 15, 2026

With slightly less fanfare, that initial post was followed yesterday by:

RHPs Joseph King and Nolan Sparks have been added to the Peoria AFL roster.

LHP Brandon Clarke will not participate in the AFL and undergo a minor procedure to remove a loose body in his left arm. He will join staff in Jupiter later this month to continue training and be ready… pic.twitter.com/api8pBHSQY

— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) October 1, 2026

Tai Peete, CF, AA, Age 21

Tai Peete was acquired from Seattle last off-season in the Brendan Donovan trade. One of the more mercurial prospects in the Cardinal prospect pipeline, Tai carries a 60-grade FV (from Baseball America) with an Extreme risk rating. BA really likes him, ranking him #10. MLB.com has him #17 and Fangraphs at #21. Quite the range.

He is a player still adjusting to a position change (moving from the dirt to CF) but is viewed as above-average out there already. Tai really only played half a season this year, mostly due to injury, across the High-A and AA levels. Even in the crazy offensive environment of the lower minors, he was 16% above average (wRC+ 116). Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Ability to make more contact will define his level of success. For him, the AFL offers the opportunity to round out his playing time.

Sammy Hernandez, C, High-A, Age 22

Sammy Hernandez was acquired from Toronto (for Genesis Cabrera) in the midst of the 2023 season, so it seems like he has been in the system forever. A development project if there ever was one, he has bounced between Low-A (Palm Beach) and High-A (Peoria) for 3 different seasons now. This season was his best and could be considered a least a bit of an offensive break out. His 17% walk rate suggests he is overcoming major plate discipline and swing decision issues that plagued him earlier. The 18% K rate probably confirms that. Carrying a wRC+ of 140 and lots of other gaudy statistics begins to make this look like an offense-first Catcher in the mold of Ivan Herrera. Sammy falls into category#2. He is rule V eligible this winter for both the MLB and MiLB versions of the Rule V draft (not sure if either will happen). His age works in his favor. His presence in the Cardinal system, seemingly deep with catching prospects, does not. If there is a Rule V draft, he will be eligible for the minor league portion, and some smart team likely takes him. I’d put Anaheim at the top of that list. By and large unranked (in a class of ~53 prospects by FG) by prospect evaluators, the AFL assignment lets the club get one more look at him against what portends to be a bit stiffer competition than High-A. Intriguing.

Cade McGee, Util, AA, Age 23

Cade was a 9th round draft pick in the 2024 draft, so he hasn’t been around all that long, so he doesn’t fit the profile of a player needing a 40-man roster spot this winter. He didn’t get 100 games in this year, so they may well be looking at extending his season to get reps in. I listed him as Util because of the distribution of games played by position: C – 24, 2B – 22, 3B – 18, 1B – 18, DH – 14. Versatility is good, but it limits the reps at any one position, and I suspect the AFL may help fill that gap. I note that since moving to Springfield, he has been confined to 3B and 2B. The hit tool looks OK, not much power (not enough for CIF anyway) but still a wRC+ of 115 across two levels. A very late in the season promotion to Springfield (AA) along with this AFL assignment suggest they may be pushing him a bit.

Brandon Clarke, SP, AA, Age 23

Clarke was acquired in the Sonny Gray trade, which appears to have worked out really well for all sides. He is a 2024 draftee, so there are no Rule V considerations here. His season didn’t start until June after off-season arm surgery to address circulation issues, so he fits the AFL assignment category#1 neatly. Brandon fits anywhere between #5 and #16 on the Cardinals prospect list, depending on which pub you go by. BA is least optimistic on him yet grades his FB at 60 and his slider at 70 (not a grade they hand out often). Note: FG rates that slider at 80. Injury and command issues are his stalking issues. Clarke started his season at High-A, finished pitching at AA and went to the Development List just before season’s end, ostensibly to prepare for the AFL. While the AFL isn’t deep enough to be considered a finishing school, it could well be a launch pad for a pitcher like this.

Authors note: I wrote this brief before it was announced that Clarke would undergo minor surgery and not be able to participate in AFL games. I left it in, obviously.

Tekoah Roby, SP, AAA, Age 25

Roby was acquired from Texas in a multi-player deal that saw Stratton and Montgomery go to Texas and Roby, Saggese, King and International Bonus Cash coming to StL. Not a bad return. Prospect rankings on Roby are very tight, ranging from #12 to #14. All of those are certainly discounted due to injury (and recovery concerns). After ascending to AAA in 2025, Roby got hurt and spent the remainder of 2025 and 2026 recovering and rehabbing. He has been pitching for some time on the backfields at Jupiter, facing hitters. The AFL will allow him to get into game action for the first time and likely sets the stage for a return to AAA next year after a normal off-season. So, he is most definitely AFL assignment category#1. He will look to collect innings, work off rust and the typical command issues that come early in the TJ rehab cycle. Proving health will be key as availability has been his biggest liability up to now.

BA scouting grades (pre-injury) say it all: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 60 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 55

Nate Dohm, SP/RP, AA, Age 23

Dohm was acquired last year from New York in the Ryan Helsley trade. While his current level shows AA, that was a very late season promotion resulting in only one game at the AA level. The rest of the season was spent at High-A Peoria. Nate finished the season on the Development, like Clarke, ostensibly to prepare for the AFL. Nate apears on the FG prospect lists at 34. BA and MLB.com agree, as they do not have them in their Top-30 list. Dohm overall is a 35+ FV, with a 60 grade FB, 50 grade slider and 50 grade command. He is not Rule V eligible this off-season, so he is not AFL assignment category#2 for sure. He got in 25 games, 13 starts and 12 relief appearances for 61 IP, so he ended up a little short on workload, which I imagine they wanted closer to 90 or 100 IP. I suspect the Development Team wants to accumulate more IP but also likely he will workshop some new pitching tools.

Michael Watson, RP, AA, Age 24

Watson came to the Cardinals in 2024 as an unrestricted free agent out of indy ball. He is unranked as a prospect, even on FG’s 53 deep list. He repeated AA this past season after a fairly successful 2025 season across High-A and AA. He is a lefty who is adept at missing bats with a side-arm, mid-tier FB, but lacks command, running a K-BB% at less than 15. His ERA- and FIP- run just slightly better than average for the league he was in. I’d place him in the tweener category — a guy who needs more than the 52.2 IP he got but also needs to show a little more if he wants to make the AAA roster next spring. So, more category#3.

Frank Ellisalt, SP/RP, High-A, Age 24

Ellisalt also came to the Cardinals with Dohm (and Jesus Baez) in the Helsley trade last year. He carries a #47 ranking on the FG prospects list and does not appear on shorter lists. He sports a FB and slider combo both graded at 60 (interesting!), but very poor command. He is not Rule V eligible until next year. Injury derailed his 2026 season and, like Roby, the AFL offers the opportunity to get some competitive pitches in before everyone goes home for the winter. Category#1 on this pitcher. It is good to see he has health back.

Towards the end of November, I’ll provide an update on how these guys did.

Joseph King, RP, AA, Age 25

King was a ninth-round draft pick back in 2022. He has been on the edges of the lengthier FG prospects list and not on anyone else’s top 30. He sports a good FB and power change but struggles with command. This was the first season his BB rate was decent (9.6%), allowing his excellent K rate (30% +) to play. Injuries have played a part, as well, appearing in only 34 games over the past three seasons. Rule V isn’t a concern with him, but making up missed innings is.

Nolan Sparks, RP/SP, AA, Age 24

Sparks was a thirteen-round draft pick in 2024. He does not appear on any prospect lists. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but he strikes out a lot of guys and walks a lot of guys, although this was his first full season. He pitched a few games after being drafted in 2024, pitched in 18 games in 2025 and carried a full load this past season, so catching up on innings doesn’t seem like a big concern. He isn’t eligible for Rule V, so that is not an issue. Since he wasn’t on the original roster, this may be more of a guy assigned to fill out the roster. He seemed to have a prominent role in the AA playoffs. Perhaps they find that 34% K rate at AA intriguing.

In other MiLB news

Also from the Cardinals today,

We have acquired RHP Brian Curley from Arizona as the Player to be Named Later to complete the August 3rd Lars Nootbaar trade. pic.twitter.com/XKQ3xQbX0X

— Cardinals Player Development (@CardsPlayerDev) October 1, 2026

For those of you that watched, you may remember Curley pitched the game of his life against Springfield in the AA playoffs. He was a 2025 3rd round draft pick for the D-backs. Will likely start the 2027 season in the AA rotation right alongside old friend Daniel Eagan. He will slot in the prospect list at around 30-35. For comparison sake, he was #21 on Arizona’s prospect list. Cardinals end up with four Arizona pitching prospects this year. Martinez for Arenado, Eagen, Santana and Curley for Nootbaar. Not hard to notice yet another young pitcher that does not need 40-man protection.

Last but not least

In the fun category, I present this post.

BA staffers drafted power-hitting MLB prospects with one goal in mind: have the team with the most major league home runs ⚾️

Which team do you think will have the most MLB homers between 2027-2030?

(Teams had to have exactly two top-50 prospects, two No. 51-100 prospects, two… pic.twitter.com/UpvilP7epu

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 1, 2026

Of the 24 players selected, 5 of them (5!) are Cardinal prospects. Baez, Gurevitch, Rodriguez, Little Baez and Ragsdale.

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Rafael Lopez, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1966 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers wins his 27th game of the season and the final game of his career. Koufax’s 6-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies clinches the National Leaguepennant for the Dodgers; 1974 – Future Hall of FamerAl Kaline announces his retirement. During a 22-year career with the Detroit Tigers, Kaline compiled 3,007 hits and 399 home runs. He also batted .379 in the 1968 World Series; 1983 – Carl Yastrzemski plays in his 3,308th and final game, hitting a single as the team’s left fielder. After the Red Sox’s 3-1 victory over Cleveland, “Yaz” takes one more “final lap” around Fenway Park and will stay to sign autographs on Yawkey Way for over an hour; and 2016 – Veteran broadcaster Vin Scully calls his final LA Dodgers game, a 7-1 loss in San Francisco, after a record 67 MLB seasons, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1908 – Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps tosses a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox. The future Hall of Famer wins a 1-0 decision over Ed Walsh in one of the greatest pitching duels in major league history. Joss strikes out only three batters, while Walsh fans 15.
• 1919 – The Chicago White Sox lose the second game of the World Series, 4-2, to the Cincinnati Reds. Lefty Williams, one of eight Sox players involved in a Series-fixing scandal, walks three men in the 4th inning. After the game, he is confronted and attacked by Sox catcher Ray Schalk.
• 1921 – The Yankees close the season by beating the Red Sox, 7-6. Babe Ruth hits his 59th home run off Curt Fullerton.
• 1936 – The Yankees even the World Series and set a Series record for runs as they demolish the Giants, 18 – 4. Lefty Gomez coasts to a six-hit win, while every member of the Yankees lineup makes a hit and scores at least one run. Tony Lazzeri hits a grand slam, the first in World Series play since 1920.
• 1938 – Bob Fellerstrikes out 18 Detroit Tigers batters, setting a single-game record that will stand until Steve Carlton breaks it in 1969.
• 1947 – The Dodgers squeak out a 9-8 win over the Yankees, jumping on Bobo Newsom and Vic Raschi for six runs in the 2nd inning. Yogi Berra becomes the first player to hit a pinch home run in World Series history, belting one off Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca in the seventh inning.
• 1949 – Ted Williams loses the batting title as George Kell goes 2 for 3 in Detroit (.3429 to .3427).
• 1963 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers sets a World Series record by striking out 15 batters in Game 1 against the New York Yankees, beating the record set by Carl Erskine ten years ago on this day. The Dodgers win the game, 5-2, behind Koufax’ six-hit pitching.
• 1965 – Sandy Koufax‘s 2-1 win against the Braves clinches the National Leaguepennant for the Dodgers. With 13 strikeouts, Koufax ups his modern major league season record to 382. (Nolan Ryan will do Koufax one K better in 1973).
• 1968 – In one of the most memorable World Series performances ever, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinalsstrikes out 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibson sets the World Series record for most strikeouts in a single game, set on this day in 1963 by Sandy Koufax, and leads the Cardinals to a 4-0 victory over Tigers ace and Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain.
• 1969 – Pete Rose, in the eighth inning of the Reds’ 8-3 win at Atlanta Stadium, clinches the National Leaguebatting title when he beats out a bunt to third base for a hit in his last at-bat of the season. The day starts with the Cincinnati right fielder tied with Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente, who goes 3 for 4 against Montreal but finishes .005 of a point behind (.3447 to .3452) the eventual all-time hits leader.
• 1978 – Bucky Dent‘s unlikely home run helps the New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox in a dramatic one-game playoff at Fenway Park. Trailing by two runs in the 7th inning, Dent smacks a three-run shot against pitcher Mike Torrez into the screen above the Green Monster. The Yankees hold on for a 5-4 victory en route to face the Royals in the ALCS and the Dodgers in the World Series. Following the 2010 season, a panel of experts at the MLB Network voted this game the 11th greatest game of the past fifty years.

Today in Cubs history:

• 1932 – The Yankees sweep the Cubs in the World Series. Tony Lazzeri hits two homers and Earle Combs adds another in the 13-6 laugher.
• 1984 – In a game played with replacement umpires, the Cubs clobber the Padres, 13-0, in Game 1 of the NLCS. Chicago hits five home runs at Wrigley Field, including one by winning pitcher Rick Sutcliffe.
• 2001 – Slugging Sammy Sosa becomes the first player in baseball history to slug 60 home runs in three seasons. The Cubs outfielder connects off Lance Davis in the first inning of the team’s 5-4 loss to Cincinnati at Wrigley Field to reach the milestone.
• 2012 – Seven years after being beaned on the first pitch he saw in his only career plate appearance, derailing a promising career, former Cub Adam Greenberg gets a chance to bat again in the major leagues. The Miami Marlins send him up to pinch-hit in the 6th inning against the Mets’R.A. Dickey. He strikes out on three pitches from the knuckleballer, but the crowd cheers wildly as his story of perseverance has made him a hero to many.
• 2018 – The Rockies defeat the Cubs, 2-1, in 13 innings in the Wild Card Game. After scoring off Jon Lester in the 1st, the Rockies’ bats go quiet, while the Cubs tie it with two outs in the eighth when Javier Baez doubles off Adam Ottavino, scoring pinch-runner Terrance Gore. However, the Cubs, whose bats have gone stone cold of late, waste a number of other chances. Tony Wolters, the Rockies’ third catcher of the game, drives in Trevor Story with a two-out single off Kyle Hendricks in the 13th for the go-ahead run, and Scott Oberg preserves the win as Colorado will continue its travels, moving to Milwaukee, WI for Game 1 of the NLDS, its fourth city in four games.
• 2020 – The National League Wild Card Series are complete as the Marlins eliminate the Cubs with a 2-0 win in Game 2 of the Third Series thanks to a homer by Garrett Cooper off Yu Darvish in the seventh that breaks a scoreless tie.

Cubs Birthdays:Rafael Lopez*, Matt Walbeck, Héctor Villanueva, Dave Beard, Bill Serena, Tom Angley, Scott Stratton.

Today in history:

• 1789 – George Washington transmits the proposed constitutional amendments, known as the United States Bill of Rights, to the states for ratification.
• 1866 – J. Osterhoudt patents the tin can with a key opener.
• 1919 – US President Woodrow Wilson has a stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed.
• 1925 – Josephine Baker first performs in Paris in La Revue Nègre at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
• 1950 – First strip of Charlie Brown, “Li’l Folks,” later “Peanuts,” by Charles M. Schulz is published in seven nationwide papers.
• 1967 – Thurgood Marshall is sworn in as the first Black Supreme Court Justice.
• 1977 – Austrian Ferrari driver Niki Lauda finishes fourth in the US Grand Prix East at Watkins Glen to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship, while Englishman James Hunt wins the race.
• 2002 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin, extending over three weeks.
• 2009 – “Stan Lee Day” declared by County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach.
• 2016 – Kim Kardashian is robbed at gunpoint of $10 million worth of jewelry in her hotel room in Paris.

*pictured.

It’s time for the Brewers’ 2026 playoff campaign to begin!

Anyone who wanted to see a second straight year with a testy intra-division NLDS matchup between the Brewers and Cubs had their hopes quickly dashed on Tuesday and Wednesday as the Padres, one of the hottest teams in baseball, utterly demoralized the North Siders with wins of 8-0 and 4-1. Neither game ever felt all that close.

Now, in their first series in the 2026 postseason, Milwaukee has to face off with the only team in baseball with a better winning percentage than them over the season’s last two months. Since August 1, both the Padres and Brewers won a league-best 35 games, but Milwaukee lost 18 while the Padres lost 17, giving San Diego the best record in the league in that span.

The Brewers also have some unwelcome memories against the Padres this season; in what was otherwise a magnificent regular season, the team’s low point (as well as this website’s comment section’s most anxious moment) came in the wake of a three-game sweep by the Padres in San Diego from August 10-12. Milwaukee held leads in the seventh inning or later in two of those three games, but the bullpen was unable to hold them, and after an 11-inning loss in the last game of that series with the Cubs mounting a serious charge for the division lead, it was a dark moment in an otherwise bright season.

Milwaukee, of course, recovered well — they won three of four against the Dodgers that weekend and played well down the stretch, and by the end of the season the thought that the Cubs were about to catch them felt ludicrous. But the Padres are one of the only teams that can say they had the upper hand over the Brewers this season — though in their other series this year, the Brewers took two out of three in Milwaukee early in the season.

Much of San Diego’s lineup comes in on a high note. Fernando Tatis Jr. was one of the league’s best players over the last two-plus months of the season; after not hitting a home run for the first two months of the season, he hit 25 from May 30 on, and he had a 1.012 OPS over the final 30 days of the season. Xander Bogaerts, Jackson Merrill, and Ty France also had OPS numbers of at least .895 over the last month of the season, even while the first two of those players had generally underwhelming full seasons. France was a bit of a revelation; he hit .295/.363/.502 this season (a 139 OPS+) in 500 plate appearances, the best offensive season of his career, after he’d barely been a replacement-level player from 2023-25.

Much of their newly discovered offensive firepower was on display against the Cubs. Bogaerts went 4-for-8 with a double and a homer. Manny Machado was 3-for-7 with a double and a homer. Merrill went 4-for-7. Tatis homered. Gavin Sheets, who missed almost all of September, hit a massive two-run pinch-hit homer on Wednesday; he’s now homered in two of his last three at-bats going back to the regular season. The full-season numbers suggest that the Padres were a decent but not outstanding offensive team but make no mistake: they’re as hot as anyone in the league right now.

On the other side of the ball, the biggest questions come in the form of the Padres’ starting rotation. Michael King, who was outstanding on Tuesday to the tune of seven one-hit, shutout innings, had a very good season and slots in nicely as their ace. But after that, things are sketchy. Nick Pivetta started Wednesday and held the Cubs to one run, but he was a bit shaky — he allowed three hits and two walks in 3 1/3 innings — and he only managed eight starts during the regular season. Randy Vásquez, who had a 3.90 ERA and 4.24 FIP in 140 2/3 innings, might start a game, but after that things are extremely sketchy. Walker Buehler was second on the team in innings pitched this season, but he wasn’t very effective (4.64 ERA, 4.51 FIP). Casey Mize and Robbie Ray should be filling this role, but both of them have been disastrous since coming over at the trade deadline: Mize, who is on the IL anyway with a sprained ankle, had an 8.72 ERA in five starts, and Ray had a 7.56 ERA in four.

The danger on this pitching staff is in the bullpen. Mason Miller was the game’s best reliever this season. He is one of the only players in the league who can rival Jacob Misiorowski’s fastball velocity, and he finished the season in Statcast’s 100th percentile in xERA, xBA, fastball velo, whiff percentage, and strikeout percentage, with a 98th percentile finish in hard-hit percentage. With 129 strikeouts in 70 innings, Miller averaged 16.6 strikeouts per nine innings; that’s the fourth-highest K/9 rate ever for a player who threw at least 50 innings.

It’s not just Miller, though. Adrián Morejón, like Abner Uribe, is one of the best setup men in the league; he had a 2.37 FIP this season and offers a left-handed compliment to Miller. Yuki Matsui’s advanced numbers are sketchy, but he pitched to a 1.83 ERA in 64 innings this season. Young Bradgley Rodriguez is another flamethrower — he averages 98 mph on his fastball — and he was outstanding in 74 innings. David Morgan and Jhony Brito both had ERAs under 2.50 in September, and Jason Adam, who has had a sneaky great career, is back after missing essentially the entire second half of the season. He threw a perfect inning against the Cubs on Wednesday. Wandy Peralta is out there, too, finishing the season with a 3.61 ERA over 77 1/3 innings.

If the Brewers are going to win this series, they’re going to need to get ahead early in games, because if they find themselves needing to comeback against Rodriguez, Morejón, and Miller, they’re in big trouble. Home-field advantage should help, and the Brewers have been great down the stretch themselves. Several of their offensive players seem to be peaking at the right time, and there are no major health concerns that we haven’t known about for a long time. It will be a fascinating series.

Probable Pitchers

Note: the Brewers have announced Jacob Misiorowski in Game 1 and Logan Henderson in Game 2, but beyond that, neither team has announced anything. There will be a lot of conjecture here.

Game 1: Saturday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m.: RHP Jacob Misiorowski (16-5, 1.80 ERA, 2.17 FIP) vs. RHP Walker Buehler (9-6, 4.63 ERA, 4.51 FIP)

It will be crucial that the Brewers win Game 1. With King and Pivetta unavailable due to the Wild Card series, the Brewers will have a massive starting pitcher advantage in the first game of the series. I’m not at all sure that Buehler will be the starter—he supposedly was going to be if the Cubs had forced a game three in the Wild Card round. Vásquez has been fine as a back-end starter this season, but he’s been about league average, and the Padres left him off of their roster in the Wild Card round and don’t seem to be factoring him into their plans. Ray could get this start if the Padres prefer the lefty matchup, but Ray has been abominable as a Padre and that’s a big leap of faith. Whoever starts, it will be a quick hook, in all likelihood.

Game 2: Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 p.m.: RHP Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA, 3.32 FIP) vs. RHP Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA, 4.13 FIP)

King will almost surely throw in Game 2 after four days rest; his last two starts of the regular season both came on four days so there’s no reason why they’d stop doing that now. As noted above, King is the Padres’ best starter and their best bet to get deep into a game. He’s also the only Padre who has beaten the Brewers in Milwaukee this season; he went 5 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on May 13. He did not pitch in the series in San Diego.

Henderson, of course, is no slouch. The Brewer co-ace did lose in San Diego but he didn’t pitch badly — five hits, one walk, three earned runs and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings on August 10. Two of those three runs came in the seventh inning when Merrill got him for a two-run homer; I would not expect Henderson to still be pitching in the seventh inning of this game no matter how well he’s been pitching before that. Remember, that game in San Diego was near the end of a 17-games-in-17-days stretch.

Game 3: Tuesday, October 6 at 8:30 p.m.: LHP Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA, 4.24 FIP) vs. RHP Nick Pivetta (3-2, 2.86 ERA, 2.21 FIP)

Since the All-Star break, Gasser has made 12 starts. The Brewers are 10-2 in those games, and over 63 innings, he’s got a 2.86 ERA and 3.47 FIP. He has earned this start. Gasser doesn’t have major strikeout stuff and he’s a relatively soft tosser, but like Henderson, he’s managed to just avoid hard contact; he’s amongst the better pitchers in baseball in terms of average exit velocity. He throws five different pitches at least 10% of the time, with four of those in a nearly even split (the sweeper, four-seam fastball, sinker, and cutter are all thrown between 18 and 25 percent of the time), which keeps hitters off balance.

Pivetta, as mentioned above, is a good pitcher, but he was hurt for much of the season and he looked a bit shaky on Wednesday. This is another one in which you would expect a quick hook.

Game 4 (if necessary): Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m.: Bullpen vs. Bullpen

I don’t think we’re going to see anyone on three days rest in this series, so I expect to see dueling bullpens in this one. Maybe we’ll see Aaron Ashby as an opener, which was a common tactic last postseason, but the Cubs and Dodgers both had platoon disadvantages versus lefties, which isn’t really the case with the Padres; aside from Merrill, all their best hitters are right-handed. It feels like this will probably be Dustin May, which I don’t feel great about, but maybe the Brewers can get two or three scoreless innings from him before handing it over to Ashby or Chad Patrick.

Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, October 9 at 3:30 p.m.: RHP Jacob Misiorowski (16-5, 1.80 ERA, 2.17 FIP) vs. RHP Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA, 4.13 FIP)

The extra day off here would enable the Padres to bump King into a potential Game 5 on regular rest. Misiorowski would still have a major advantage as a starter, but the chance to throw King instead of whoever starts game one here is a definite boost for the Padres. Let’s hope the Brewers end this series in four or less, and we are instead thinking about Miz as the Game 1 starter in the NLCS!

How to watch and listen

Saturday, October 3 at 7:30 p.m: watch on FS1, listen on the Brewers Radio Network

Sunday, October 4 at 3:00 p.m: watch on FS1, listen on the Brewers Radio Network

Tuesday, October 6 at 8:30 p.m.: watch on FOX or FS1, listen on the Brewers Radio Network

Wednesday, October 7 at 9:00 p.m. (if necessary): watch on FOX or FS1, listen on the Brewers Radio Network

Friday, October 9 at 3:30 p.m. (if necessary): watch on FOX or FS1, listen on the Brewers Radio Network

Prediction

One could easily make the argument that based on the last two months, this is the “real World Series.” These are the two hottest teams in the league, and while the Padres weren’t nearly as good as Milwaukee in the first half, not much separates them at this point in the season. There’s star power on either side, with Tatis, King, and Miller for the Padres and Brice Turang, Jackson Chourio, and Misiorowski for the Brewers. There’s even an old enemy in the form of Machado — we’re going to hear some of the loudest booing we’ve ever heard at American Family Field when he steps to the plate on Saturday.

The teams are closely matched. I’d give the Brewers a slight advantage offensively — their lineup is a little bit deeper. The Brewers have a good bullpen, but that is San Diego’s greatest strength, and it could end up being a real factor this postseason. Milwaukee is a better defensive team, certainly, and they should have an advantage on the basepaths, as well. But the big separator here is in the rotation: I don’t trust anyone past King for San Diego, while I’d certainly prefer Henderson and probably Gasser to whoever the Padres will use as their number two.

Milwaukee has a major advantage on paper in game one, and I like Henderson against King at home in Game 2. San Diego will probably get one in San Diego — that place was rocking against the Cubs — but I think Milwaukee will steal one on the road to seal the series. Let’s say Brewers in four.

After a glorious playoff win against the Red Sox, the Yankees basked in a glorious offday. In a parallel universe, we may have been sweating out a do-or-die Game 3 against Boston, but in this universe, the Yankees left no doubt, pounding their rivals and giving themselves a chance to enjoy a full reset before this titanic ALDS clash with Tampa Bay. The Rays will be even more rested, but I’m sure the Yankees aren’t concerned with that; they’re rolling into the next round with the wind at their backs, an offense that’s suddenly clicking supporting a league-leading pitching staff.

On the site today, you can catch Andrew’s rundown of the Game 3 clash between the Phillies and the Braves, as well as Jonathan’s entry in the Yankee Birthday series, highlighting pitcher Spec Shea. Also, Andres implores the Yankees not to deploy Trent Grisham in center field, while Madison delivers the answers to this week’s mailbag.

Today’s Matchup:

Offday.

Questions/Prompts:

1. Who would you lean towards for the Game 1 start against the Rays?

2. Did any of the outcomes or performances of the four Wild Card Series particularly surprise you?

Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. The Brewers are set to begin their quest to the World Series this weekend as they have home-field advantage throughout the postseason, starting with the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, who took down the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series this week.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread:

New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: The biggest surprise of the Wild Card Series sweep over the Red Sox was the 18 combined runs scored by the Yankees, not a team known for scoring when Aaron Judge is on the shelf. The way New York put up those runs was surprising too, with a mixture of bunts, base hits, and big home runs all contributing, and the blowout in Game Two sparked by Spencer Jones hustling on a dropped third strike, then stealing second and third. If the Yankees can use all these weapons the same way in the ALDS, it may be a short series for the Rays.

NJ.com | Randy Miller ($): Speaking of Aaron Judge, the Yankee Captain remains optimistic he’ll play a role in the ALDS against Tampa. Judge is in the midst of rehabbing that calf strain, taking BP and running on the field before this week’s Wild Card Games. I’m still skeptical he’ll be available over the next week, but I’ve been surprised before.

New York Daily News | Peter Sblendorio: Right off the bat, the Yankees will have a tough assignment in ALDS Game One. Drew Rassmussen, who could very well end up a Cy Young Award finalist, will get the ball for the Rays, fresh off four regular season starts against the Yankees this year, putting up a 2.86 ERA and striking out 26 in 22 innings. Drew’s one of the best in the AL, but having a righty on the hill does mean the Yankees should be able to put their ideal lineup in to counter.

FanGraphs | Michael Baumann: This got lost in some of the excitement yesterday, but the Yankees’ strategy of stacking the bench at the expense of the bullpen paid off in spades in the Wild Card round. With 16 position players available, Aaron Boone had more buttons to push in specific pitching matchups, and did so fabulously. The team won’t be able to carry quite so many hitters in the ALDS, but with starters that can go deep into games and your high-leverage relievers able to be used more with extra off days, don’t be surprised to see them carry one more potential batter than the Rays might.

As parents of athletes, we learn to be strategic (and realistic) about how to move our son or daughter along the line. Maybe we played sports at some level and can offer guidance.

Del Matthews went into parenting with experience in big league clubhouses. His father, Gary “Sarge” Matthews, was a standout major leaguer who played 16 years, while his brother, Gary Jr., was also an All-Star outfielder who lasted 12 in the majors.

Del, who played in college and the minor leagues, understands how sports experiences can set up your life without you “making it.” He and his brothers played Little League, too.

“I fell in love with the game early,” he tells USA TODAY Sports, “and, really, it was being at the ballpark with my dad and watching him interact with his teammates and watching him win and compete and just emulating what I grew up watching and the conversations that I was hearing, and acting that out with my brothers when we went to the park.”

Del Matthews is now Major League Baseball’s senior vice president of baseball development as part of MLB’s initiatives that include cost-free events and showcases and youth academies in a growing number of U.S. cities to increase baseball and softball accessibility.

Twelve players competing in this year’s postseason are a product of MLB Develops programming, which Matthews helps oversee. He has known many of them since they were 13 or 14.  

“So many things in the (youth) space are tournament based, and pay-for-play, showcase based,” Matthews says, “and so what we try to do is take away the pay barrier for some of these opportunities, but also give kids skill development and things that are going to help them.

“And so whether they go back and play for their high school team or their travel team, they're really equipped with the necessary skills that are going to sustain them through high school, make them better players and hopefully ready to compete at the next level.”

When he says “the next level,” Matthews, 49, doesn’t necessarily mean being in the same room with future Hall of Famers some day, the way his dad was.

He shared perspective on what MLB teaches about trying to get as far as you can in the game, and how that journey can be worthwhile no matter how far you reach.

Poll: Has cost become primary reason parents pull their kids out of sports?

What is MLB Develops?

MLB Develops is a network of baseball and softball intersquad games, showcases and other events aimed at kids through the high school level. Matthews, under former Angels general manager Tony Reagins, has helped reshape MLB youth initiatives over the past decade with more of a development mindset.

They start with grassroots events for younger kids like Play Ball and Pitch Hit & Run. They rise through an MLB ID tour in 18 to 20 cities from eighth grade to high school. GRIT is the same as the ID tour for girls baseball.

Players are identified at ID tour events and invited to larger summer showcases such as the three-day Breakthrough Series and five-day Hank Aaron Invitational. There is also the DREAM Series in January.

There’s the Trailblazer Series for girls baseball and Jennie Finch Classic for softball, as well as a Breakthrough Series and Elite Development Invitational for each.

The majority of these events are done in conjunction with USA Baseball. The women’s space can be a pipeline to the women’s national baseball team and softball team.

More: Little League baseball pioneer encourages other girls to 'do what you love'

Who are the MLB Develops alumni in the 2026 postseason?

When the postseason began, program alumni included infielders Travis Bazzana (Guardians), David Hamilton (Brewers) and George Lombard (Yankees); outfielders Justin Crawford (Phillies), Michael Harris II (Braves), Brice Matthews (Astros), Braden Montgomery (White Sox), Chandler Simpson (Rays), Cam Smith (Astros), Taylor Trammell (Astros); DH Dominic Smith (Braves); and pitcher Carlos Rodón (Yankees).

Matthews (from Houston) and Smith (Compton, California) came out of two of the nine youth academies MLB runs in urban communities, which have provided more than 10 major league players. Other youth academies are located in New Orleans, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Dallas, Kansas City (Missouri), Miami, and Washington, D.C.

The academies are free and open to everyone, typically for grade school through high school kids who live in those communities. They can be a starting ground for players getting recommended for the development events. Kids go through drills and group style workouts but also come in after school for educational and vocational programming, such as SAT prep and broadcasting.

The youth academies gather every All-Star Week to compete in the Commissioner’s Cup (baseball) and Jennie Finch Classic (softball), but the focus is on the everyday aspect of what a commitment to a sport can bring you and what it takes to keep advancing.

“For some kids that don't get selected, what we try to advise is, pick one or two showcases that you want to go to,” Del Matthews says. “You don't have to go to every showcase. You don't have to compete in every single tournament. A lot of parents have the fear of missing out that if maybe another kid on the team was (here) that they missed their opportunity. And that is not really the case. Everybody's development arc is a little bit different and so pick one or two showcases or tournaments you can afford.

“The most important thing is getting an opportunity (on a team) where you can play. … We try to instill the message you want to be ready for the showcase when you go there and pay for it, not just pay for an evaluation. You want to make sure that you have the requisite skills that you're actually ready for it, and that you've shown growth, you've shown improvement, and that you're going to be invited back based upon your skill level and not just the monetary value that the entity is getting from it.”

'You don't have to go to every tournament': What do stories of MLB Develops alumni teach us about the youth sports pipeline?

Harris, the Braves’ 25-year-old starting center fielder in the wild card series, went 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the Braves’ 5-3 Game 1 win over the Phillies. He hit a three-run homer in their decisive Game 3 win.

As a kid growing up in the Atlanta area, he liked to pick flowers in the outfield. In one game, his father remembered for an MLB documentary, he was distracted by the activity and wouldn’t go after the ball.

He played a number of sports as a kid and his mentality changed about baseball as he got bigger, faster and stronger.

He played in MLB’s Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) program, which provides resources and support for underserved communities. He met former Braves star Marquis Grissom, who runs a baseball academy, when he was about 14.

Scouts came out to watch someone playing against Harris and noticed him.

“He actually was a two-way player and was probably a little further along as a pitcher than he was as a hitter,” Del Matthews says, “but he was a standout from the jump and had a chance to play on some of our tournament teams.”

Dana Brown, then the Braves’ vice president of scouting, saw Harris through MLB’s Hank Aaron Invitational. The Braves drafted him in the third round in 2019. He has been in the majors since 2022.

Justin Crawford had more of a pedigree as the son of a four-time major league All-Star (Carl Crawford) but Matthews says he was small and wiry and behind some of the other players when he showed up to the MLB camp. He was motivated to put in more work when he went home to Las Vegas.

“He continued to do drills and practiced some of the things that he had learned in the summer when he would go home in the offseason,” Matthews says. “He would just continue to get better and by the time he became a senior, really worked himself into one of the top players in the country and ended up going in the first round in the draft.”

What do the stories of MLB Develops alumni teach all youth athletes?

We tend to regard major leaguers as specimens born with generational talent. In many cases, they are, but how do they develop their talent?

Academic and psychologist Angela Duckworth closely studied perseverance in her acclaimed book, “Grit.” She argues that while talent is important to achieving success in whatever you undertake, major drivers for achievement are tenacity and repetition of effort.

She puts herself in that category, relaying how her father used to tell her as a kid, “You’re no genius.”

Based on her research and conversations with success stories from sports, the military, business and elsewhere, she came up with a two-part formula for achievement: talent X effort = skill and skill X effort = achievement.

In other words, grit is crucial to success. And, she writes, where there’s no joy, there’s no grit. Think of Harris.

“When he stopped loving the game, I’d stop pushing him,” his father, Michael Sr., said in the documentary, “but he never stopped.”

We often settle on what we do in sports, school and life because it’s our passion.

“If you love the game, our message is, ‘Hey, just keep playing, keep getting better, find an opportunity (in or out of MLB programming) where you can play summer ball, where you can get at-bats, where you can get innings, where you can develop your skills,” Matthews says. “And if you work hard, put in the repetition, good things will happen. It doesn't happen overnight but with baseball the long game is important and if you can enhance your skills over weeks, months and years, you have the best opportunity to continue to get better.”

If there’s something that interests you besides sports, do as much of it as you can to deepen your profile. Montgomery, who went 2-for-4 in Game 1 of the White Sox’s two-game wild card sweep of the Astros, was a high achiever in academics who played at Stanford and Texas A&M.

“He was a great hitter at a very young age, very polished, but more impressive off the field, just well spoken, a great student,” Matthews says. “I think he got a perfect score on his ACT as a sophomore

“Everybody wants to focus on the physical development, but really the academics is what gives you the options (and) opens doors. We emphasize that while you're away playing, if you're gonna be a collegiate athlete, you have to be able to balance being an athlete, but also making sure that you get your work done.”

How can kids get involved in MLB Develops programming?

Check out a youth academy or come out to get a free evaluation at an ID Tour event. They start early in the year and run through April or early May.

MLB Develops events had nearly 2,200 players competing in 2026, with some overlap. Many more kids are impacted through MLB’s grassroots events.

The players for the MLB Develops free events for high schoolers are hand-selected or come recommended. Some kids, Matthews says, will blindly email, send video or have an endorsement from a coach.

The competition for spots is stiff but carries an underlying message that Duckworth, the psychologist and author, can appreciate.

“I think your skills have to take care of themselves, but if you're not selected to participate, keep trying,” Matthews says. “That's really what it's about. Any sport that you play you have to continue to get better and stronger and practice your skills.”

As you work toward a goal, you might end up somewhere you didn’t expect.

Matthews has three sons who have played baseball, and one of them, after playing the sport in high school, developed a passion for the culinary arts.

After those early days in big league clubhouses, and later playing at Texas Southern and in the Milwaukee Brewers organization, his father went back for more secondary education and into a front office career with the White Sox and MLB.

He will tell you what you do with your love of something can benefit a person deeply.

“Everybody's not gonna play at the highest levels,” Matthews says. “Everybody's not gonna get selected to all-star teams, but if you can have a great experience around the game, if you get a chance to go to a showcase and you make friends for a lifetime, that's really what it's about. It's about going to the ballpark and not knowing what you're gonna (see) and potentially something magical happening that day or rooting for your hometown team and having memorable lifetime experiences with your family.”

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He played baseball in high school, rowed in college and spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents to a college and high school baseball player. For his past columns, click here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What stories of MLB postseason heroes teach us about low-cost youth sports

The play-in round is over. The home teams won three of four wild-card series, with the worst team by record the other loser.

So as Major League Baseball’s playoffs get down to business with eight teams remaining, there wasn’t much collateral damage from the made-for-TV best-of-three prelude that shaved a handful of mediocre teams from the field.

Still, some benefited much more from what went down over three games that spanned September into October. And they’ll be that much more aligned for what should be an entertaining quartet of Division Series matchups.

With that, exploring the winners and losers from the 2026 wild-card round:

Winners

Los Angeles Dodgers

Don’t they always win?

Yeah, even while cooling their heels in scalding SoCal, where an afternoon lid-lifter in their NL Division Series against Atlanta will be hella hot. But they got the better piece of the draw: One of the two teams that could conceivably match their starting pitching depth has been eliminated.

No Cristopher Sánchez, no Zack Wheeler, no Jesus Luzardo. And no Chris Sale for at least the first game or two, as he got the final four outs as the Braves polished off the Philadelphia Phillies in three games.

So it will be mix-and-match Atlanta vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal, Tyler Glasnow and perhaps Blake Snell. Other than their great World Series escape at Toronto, a best-of-five against the Phillies was the Dodgers’ sketchiest obstacle in their repeat bid.

This time, Philly won’t be a problem. Just a Braves club whose pitching deficiencies should be greatly exposed – all while the No. 1 seed Brewers should have their hands full with a nascent Padres club.

The threepeat odds just got a little bit better.

Austin Riley

Before we aggressively dismiss the Braves, a pause to note that after the worst season of his career – a .219 average, a .680 OPS, an 80 adjusted OPS – the hulking third baseman locked it in and saved Atlanta’s season.

His three-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning of Game 1 flipped the game and probably the series – a 3-2 deficit becoming a 5-3 victory. That capped three days of excellent plate appearances in which Riley milked three walks and reached base nearly half the time.

Riley’s presence is crucial for the Braves to create dangerous left-right pockets in their lineup to counteract both the Dodgers’ starters and lefty relievers like Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott, Jack Dreyer and Justin Wrobleski. And it’s just a best-of-five. Some timely thunder from Riley could greatly enhance the Braves’ chances of taking out the champs.

George Lombard Jr.

As champagne flew through the air around him after a New York sweep against Boston, the Yankees’ 21-year-old rookie shortstop was asked the most useful advice he received on playoff baseball.

“Just breathe,” he says.

Easy enough. And Lombard was fantastic in his postseason debut, cranking four hits in two nights against the Red Sox and providing a steadying influence in an ever-shifting infield.

These Yankees are different: Almost the entire infield is a platoon situation, from Paul Goldschmidt and Luis García Jr. at first base, to Ryan McMahon and Amed Rosario at third and, increasingly, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Anthony Volpe at second.

Who’s the rock? A shortstop who debuted on Aug. 4 and equaled Derek Jeter’s 1996 feat with four hits in his first two playoff games.

“I feel like every day, you get more experience, see more pitches, see how these games go,” Lombard told USA TODAY Sports of his playoff indoctrination. “Every game is just another learning experience.”

The next classroom? Tropicana Field and a date with the division champion Rays in the ALDS.

White Sox pitching chaos

If the White Sox insist on sticking around these playoffs, we’ll definitely have to figure out what their whole deal is. From afar, their two-game dispatching of the Astros looked like a wild mix-and-match pitching scenario that worked to perfection.

Hagen Smith, drafted fifth overall as a starter yet debuting as a reliever, pitched three flawless innings starting Game 1. Grant Taylor, who saved 10 games this season, pitched 2 1/3 innings of two-hit ball to end it. Game 2 saw Sean Burke, as always,  go as hard as he can as long as he can and in this case, that meant eight strikeouts in four innings.

And then it was lefty starter Anthony Kay getting two key outs in relief to earn the win and Erick Fedde absorbing the final two innings in perfect fashion.

Just what are they doing here? Their five-game AL Central intramural Division Series against Cleveland will be a fascinating case study: John Wholestaff vs. Gavin Williams and Parker Messick. Chaos, indeed.

Losers

Philadelphia Phillies

This was bad. Even the one game they took off the Braves featured a Bryce Harper fielding gaffe and an uncharacteristic five walks from Sanchez. The Game 1 blast Duran yielded to Riley gave their downfall a sense of inevitability.

Yet that came far sooner. The worst offensive team in all of baseball in September – by almost every metric – a nonexistent bullpen and a last-week stumble that forced them to burn Zack Wheeler in Game 162 rather than Game 1 of the wild card put them in a hole before they even tipped off at Truist Park.

Bad team? Seems like it. This is the fifth consecutive year the Phillies and this core have reached the playoffs. That’s good. This is the fifth consecutive year they’ve somehow regressed, failing to reach the NLDS for the first time in this run. That’s bad.

Alec Bohm is gone. They still need a right fielder. They still need a bullpen. Alex Cora seems likely to take over for Don Mattingly.

The old core is signed through at least 2030 and as late as 2033. Wholesale changes aren’t possible. Can top prospect Aidan Miller stay healthy and impact 2027?

Lots of questions. And an abundant feeling the good vibes only have left the scene.

The Astros dynasty, or what’s left of it

So long as Jose Altuve wears No. 27 in Houston, the Spirit of ’17 will stay alive. Yet the dying embers of a franchise that dominated for nearly a decade are fizzling out.

Forget making the playoffs for the ninth time in 10 years, and 10^th in 12. This was an 81-81 team that couldn’t wait to fire its general manager before this season was over.

Now, manager Joe Espada could be following Dana Brown out the door, leaving the Astros with a barren farm system, a group of still unfinished young players at the big league level and shortstop Jeremy Peña entering a walk year.

Will owner Jim Crane ever accept a re-tooling? Or will he insist on keeping this going?

Whomever takes over for Brown will be an interesting tell. And how much autonomy they’ll enjoy may depend on how many of Crane’s trusted lieutenants stick around in this remodel.

Either way, the team most everyone seems to enjoy hating looks to be trending the wrong way.

Boston Red Sox

It’s been eight years since the Red Sox won the World Series and in the time since, they have had moderately encouraging seasons and deeply disappointing ones.

And 2026 had two parts of the latter and one part of the former.

In between a slow start that resulted in World Series-winning manager Alex Cora’s firing and an ugly two-game demolition by the Yankees in the wild-card series, the Red Sox went on a stirring, almost memorable summer run.

Yet in total, this year once again reeked of instability, a consistent undercurrent since Boston last held the trophy.

Whatever good vibes summer engendered seemed to dissipate over two nights at Yankee Stadium, after which veterans Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras voiced significant and pointed concerns over the club’s apparently dogmatic hewing to analytic principles.

Boston lost both games when Gray and rookie lefty Payton Tolle were yanked in the fifth inning of 1-0 games. Disaster followed both nights and the Red Sox were bounced before October could arrive.

So what now? Gray can opt out of his option year. Roman Anthony remains a medical mystery, team and player frustrated by a vexing injury. Permanent manager Chad Tracy can go to school on what worked and didn’t from late April through September.

And where do the Red Sox really land in the AL East pantheon? They look eons behind the Yankees, the Blue Jays should be recovered from a hangover year and the Rays were nearly a dozen games better than them.

A terrible AL provided decent cover for flawed teams. The wild-card round seemed to portend that 2027 could bring even more exposure to the Red Sox.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB wild card winners and losers star do-nothing Dodgers, flailing Phillies

The Atlanta Braves are heading to Los Angeles and they’ve done so by finally getting one over on a Philadelphia Phillies ballclub that has been a thorn in their side for not just this season but for the past few seasons as well.

It’s a huge result for the Braves and one that’s made all the sweeter by the fact that this team’s core delivered in a big way. Michael Harris II got things going with his homer off of Aaron Nola in the first inning, Ozzie Albies gave the Braves some precious breathing room off of Zack Wheeler in the fourth inning, Matt Olson came up huge with a dinger of his own in the seventh and then Chris Sale took it upon himself to go out and finish things off for the Braves in this one.

Apparently, Walt Weiss was prepared not to ask Chris Sale to go out there on two days rest. That was until he got an unexpected visit from Sale himself earlier in the day.

“I knew that if he was hanging, he would tell me,” explained Weiss. “I was not going to bring that up. But literally as soon as I stepped in my office this afternoon, he was sitting in the chair across my desk and he looked at me and he said ‘I feel amazing’ and I said ‘Well, let’s talk.”

“We mapped out a plan and I told him there was a good chance that he was gonna get the top of the order at some point in the eighth and the ninth inning and you know, it worked out that way,” continued Weiss as he laid out what the plan was for Sale’s eventual appearance. He had nothing but praise for the veteran coming out of the bullpen for such a large occasion.

“I was hoping that he’d only had to get one but he had to get four outs. What a warrior, man,” exclaimed Weiss. I’ve run out of superlatives for Chris Sale. He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around. When you take everything into consideration: Teammate, competitor, performer, work ethic. All those things, he’s as I’ve ever been around.”

When Weiss was asked about what this means for Sale as far as the NLDS is concerned, he stated that he was managing in the moment and making sure that they locked down this Wild Card Series against their divisional rivals. “I don’t know, I have no idea,” stated Weiss when he was asked about the immediate future plans for Sale. “[We wanted to] put this thing down and then we’ll have those conversations later…it was all about tonight.”

As far as the reaction from the Phillies go, it didn’t really come as much of a surprise to Phillies manager Don Mattingly that Sale ended up being available after all. I asked him about whether or not he felt the Phillies were ready for a potential Sale appearance (even with the idea that this was one of those ‘Johnny Wholestaff’-type games and he was straightforward in his answer. “ Yeah, I expected him to be a part of the equation if they needed him,” answered Mattingly. “Yeah, for sure you kind of know that everybody is available.”

The other big story was the big performance of both Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II. Both of them had big series in this one and they came up huge in the clincher to put the icing on a solid series. They both also had some big moments against Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler, respectively, in the past — Ozzie has homered three times against Nola and Harris also has three dingers against Wheeler as well. They added two big Postseason homers to their tally and that respective matchup for both parties.

I asked Ozzie about how comfortable he was in that spot and he he talked about the preparation that goes into being ready for a spot like that. “We do our meetings and know what the pitcher is going to attack with,” explained Ozzie. “You look for your pitch, and if he leaves it where you want to take a good swing with that pitch — you saw it today. Like Mike said, too, he was looking for a good pitch and putting his best swing on it, and that’s what we both did tonight.”

Speaking of Mike, he had similar statements to make about what he was looking for. “I obviously had to come through in this situation. Runners on early on in the game, he got behind in the count, couldn’t really find the zone. Just found one pitch to put my best swing on and hopefully we got some runs out of it, and we did,” stated Harris.

As I mentioned in the pregame article, the team was loose but still focused and of Michael Harris II proved it with what he revealed was the topic of the day in the clubhouse ahead of the elimination game. “I think in baseball you can’t do anything but try to stay loose. If you put more pressure on yourself, it’s just going to eat you up. I felt like in the clubhouse today we talked more about fantasy football than baseball,” explained Harris. “It kept us ready. Once we had our meeting, we kind of locked in and knew what we wanted to do when we came out.”

Clearly, the fantasy football talk paid off and it was obvious that they were confident and locked in and ready to do damage against the Phillies. It’s huge to see this team finally get over the hump against a team that’s caused them so much frustration in the recent past and now they can hopefully continue getting it done against the Dodgers going forward. But for now, the Braves were clearly excited to get one over on a team that’s caused them so much grief recently.

“Definitely feels amazing to win against the Phillies because they were the ones that sent us home previous years, and especially at home,” said Ozzie when he was asked about it. “The fans were electric tonight. I’ve got to give the fans a shout out for sure.”

I also asked Walt Weiss about his thoughts on seeing the longest-tenured member of this ballclub set the tone in this series like he did, as Ozzie definitely performed and came up big in this one. “Ozzie’s one of the guys that’s been the heart-and-soul of this club,” answered Weiss. “He’s been here a long time — 10 years I believe, at this point. He’s one of the guys, man. Everyone loves him. He’s always got a smile on his face at all times. Everybody loves Ozzie — and for good reason.”

From the “elder statesman” Ozzie Albies getting it done, to the hometown kid Michael Harris II going from being in the stands to performing on the field with the lights at their brightest and to Chris Sale taking it upon himself to go out there and perform on such short rest, it’s clear that everybody on this ballclub was willing to step their game up when it mattered the most.

There’s still a long and winding road left for the Braves to navigate if they want to keep on having champagne showers all through October but for now, this one feels really good. The Braves are heading to Los Angeles and considering how things have gone for them with their backs against the wall, who’s going to count them out? We’ll see what happens going forward.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ 2026 season died Thursday night in Atlanta, but the body wasn’t even cold when the questions came firing towards Don Mattingly.

“Do you want to come back?"

“Do you think you’ve earned the right to come back?"

“Do you still want to be in baseball in some capacity moving forward?"

“What did you learn during this stint as a manager?"

It was painful with the Phillies’ season just ending with their 6-2 loss to Atlanta in the wild-card round, and Mattingly was left all alone, fending off questions about his future.

It wasn’t his fault he had no reliable bullpen.

It wasn’t his fault they had no cleanup hitter.

It wasn’t his fault there was precious little depth on the roster.

It wasn’t his fault that many of his biggest stars failed to show up when the lights were the brightest.

But, oh, you better believe, he’ll be the one who will pay the price.

Mattingly, who managed the Phillies for five months, will be gracefully dismissed, likely in the coming week.

The Phillies will announce the decision as a mutual parting, and will offer Mattingly the chance to stay in the organization, perhaps as an advisor, where his son, Preston, is the GM under Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations.

But his days of managing are over.

The Phillies want new blood, new energy, a new voice.

Alex Cora, who was fired by the Red Sox in April, checks all of the boxes.

The truth is that Dombrowski wanted Cora all along, and offered him the Phillies’ job before he even fired Thomson. Cora ultimately passed, and the Phillies turned to Mattingly, who was their bench coach.

The promotion of Mattingly ooked like the perfect marriage for a couple of months, but then everything slowly started unraveling, and by the time they reached the postseason, they looked like an old, flawed team that needed a miracle to go deep into October.

It didn’t happen.

Mattingly, 65, the great Yankee first baseman who had two previous stints as manager, was the perfect guy to step in on an interim basis, but simply not for the long term.

“I want the Phillies to do what they need to do,’’ Mattingly said in his press conference, “to set themselves up for success. My stuff doesn’t really matter."

Whether he manages again or not, Mattingly still wants to remain in the game, whether it’s as a manager, coach, adviser, special assistant, or whatever title someone wants to give him.

“I love the game," he said. “I'm comfortable with whatever they want to do. Again, I want the best for the Phillies. I loved being in Philly this year. I actually like playing in that environment. It’s a rough environment, but it's good.

“Again, I think you let the organization evaluate, talk about what they think moving forward, what they should do, and that dictates a lot of different things."

Five consecutive times the Phillies have reached the postseason, and five consecutive times their season came to a screeching halt.

This year wasn’t quite as painful as the past, only because expectations weren’t as high, and with their late season collapse, they honestly were elated just to get in, avoiding perhaps the most embarrassing meltdown in MLB history.

Still, when it was all over, a team with the fifth-highest payroll in baseball, was going home.

Once again.

“Obviously it doesn't end the way we want it to," Mattingly said. “If you don't win the last game, it's a crash landing no matter what. It doesn't matter where it is.’’

The huge question now hovering over the Phillies all winter is whether they can still win with the pieces they have, or will they have to make household changes? Do they want to keep Bryce Harper, who still has five years left on his original 13-year, $330 million contract, or do they want to put him on the trade block? Do they still believe Trea Turner can be a valuable piece, or do they give up on him, even if it means eating a massive chunk of his 11-year, $300 million deal? Do they hang onto starter Aaron Nola? How about DH Kyle Schwarber?

Is it time for a full-scale youth movement?

Where do they go from here?

“I don't think it's the time right now to try to evaluate why or whatever happened,’’ Mattingly said. “What's good? What's bad? It's like any situation. You look at your club, you evaluate it. What went wrong? What went right?  What's the positive? What's the negative? How do you move forward?

“But again, that's not my place to talk about that. I think that's the organization's place. It's Dave's spot…how they build the club.’’

The Phillies, with Dombrowski expected to get an extension, will build it back up this winter, maybe even rebuild it, but it won’t include Mattingly.

He did everything they asked.

It just wasn’t enough.

Once again.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Phillies may need hard reset with Don Mattingly paying the price | Opinion

This was an absolutely unreal baseball contest. I don’t have the right words.

A sold-out crowd and the home Friday red uniforms energized a Braves squad on the brink of elimination, and the boys delivered some Truist Park magic to begin October baseball.

Ray Kerr was magnificent. This lineup – finally and blessedly – let it fly early to cruise to victory. Maybe this is controversial, but I like our chances if we continue to hit one-, two- and three-run bombs.

And Chris Sale slammed the door. You’re reading that correctly.

The exorcism is complete. There will be no Red October this year for Philadelphia.

Making his postseason debut, Ray Kerr outdueled Aaron Nola, who is no stranger to the bright lights of October. Kerr set the tone early with a scoreless top of the first, allowing a single to Kyle Schwarber but leaving him stranded.

The deep familiarity between Aaron Nola and the Braves showed up in a major way nearly immediately. When Drake Baldwin flew out sharply to center on the first pitch he saw, it was looking like it was going to be yet another frustrating day of hard-hit balls that find gloves.

But then Ronald Acuña Jr. walked on five pitches. Matt Olson did the exact same.

Nola’s struggles to find the zone continued as he faced cleanup man Michael Harris II.

Except Michael Harris II wasn’t going to be content taking his base. So he laced a ball miles below the zone 100.5 miles per hour to right center field for an absolutely massive three-run home run to draw first blood for Atlanta. Truist Park erupted.

Michael Harris II! This pitch was 1.11 ft above the ground

That is the:
-3rd-lowest pitch hit for a postseason HR under tracking (2008)

-5th-lowest hit for a HR by a Braves player in reg or post in span

-lowest HR pitch of his career https://t.co/sc6UmeXfpP

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 2, 2026

Michael Harris II was singing along to his own walk-up song moments before hitting a Postseason tank 😌 pic.twitter.com/LhNVp7iloS

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2026

Kerr set the Phillies down in order in the second. Nola rebounded a bit to get Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies to line out. But surrendering a single to our nine-hole designated hitter Dom Smith was the final blow. Don Mattingly lifted him in favor of something we hadn’t seen in Games 1 and 2: an actual Phillies bullpen arm. Reliever Tim Mayza came, got Baldwin to ground out, and was done for the night.

Kerr worked yet another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the third. Zack Wheeler entered for the home half of the third and was greeted rudely by Ronald’s single to left, his first hit of the postseason. But a force out, pop out, and line out kept the Braves from adding on.

With the three-run lead, Kerr came back out in the fourth as Grant Holmes waited in the wings. Kerr issued a leadoff walk to Schwarber before getting Bryce Harper to line into a force out. Walt Weiss made the stroll to the mound to make the change. Truist Park gave Kerr a well-deserved ovation as he beamed and headed back to the dugout. Holmes polished off the top of the fourth with a groundout and strikeout.

Ray Kerr acknowledges the crowd as he exits to a rousing ovation 👏 pic.twitter.com/71o847DFZN

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2026

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Austin Riley worked a fantastic at-bat, seeing nine pitches, fouling off the five that were in the zone, and working a walk. He set the table for another Braves bomb to right center – this one off the bat of Ozzie. This one went 419 feet and made it 5-0 Braves.

Oh My (At)lanta pic.twitter.com/81qxuusjcB

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2026

Another Dom Smith single (!) single prompted another mound visit, but Wheeler got Baldwin to ground into a double play.

Holmes’ first full inning began with two on with no outs, but a JT Realmuto flyout and Justin Crawford double play ended the threat. The following inning, Holmes exited after recording one out and allowing a single to Schwarber. Robert Suarez entered and immediately allowed a double to Bryce Harper. Alec Bohm’s RBI groundout got the Phillies on the board to make it 5-1, but that would be all they get.

Didier Fuentes bounced back from the last two harrowing days with a 1-2-3 seventh.

The Braves got that run back on their third homer of the night. A solo shot by Matt Olson to center field made it 6-1.

Matt Olson has hit 3 of his 5 career Postseason homers against the Phillies 🫡 pic.twitter.com/DZ1kswnKVf

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2026

Dylan Dodd entered for the eighth, but the real story was the cameras panning to the bullpen to show a different left-hander throwing.

Dodd allowed a leadoff triple to pinch-hitter Derek Hill, who came home to score on Trea Turner’s sac fly. After he got Schwarber to fly out to right, Weiss made the call for Christopher Allen Sale. He struck out Harper to finish the eighth… then came back out for the ninth. Bohm led off with a single to try to spark a late rally. But the hope dimmed as Bryson Stott popped out and Bryan De La Cruz struck out. The last hope for the Phillies came in the form of Otto Kemp making his postseason debut as a pinch-hitter. But it didn’t matter. He swung at a slider bearing in on him for strike three.

Chris Sale sends the @Braves to the NLDS! #CLINCHED

(MLB x @BudweiserUSA) pic.twitter.com/gaa66CiYCy

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2026

Before the boys get on the Delta plane to Los Angeles (and before we worry about the roster and logistics for the NLDS)… goggles, champagne, and beer await in the clubhouse. Clinch sweet clinch.

You deserve a drink (or two) of your own after this series. Enjoy this one, Braves Country.

Three sweeps, one series going the distance and the White Sox still playing baseball in October. That’s a pretty good start to the postseason.

The South Siders sent Houston packing for their first postseason series win in 21 years, while the Yankees steamrolled Boston and the Padres shut down the North Side’s supposedly mighty offense. Atlanta and Philadelphia supplied the drama, splitting two tight games to force the only winner-take-all matchup of the Wild Card round.

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Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros — White Sox win series, 2-0
The White Sox made quick work of the Astros, taking both games in Houston and finally giving fans a postseason series victory for the first time since 2005. Timely hitting, some thunder from unexpected places and a bullpen that handled its business? Yes, please.

Chicago White Sox 6, Houston Astros 3 — Game 1
The Good Guys wasted no time getting on the board, manufacturing a first-inning run with a little small ball. Sam Antonacci drew a leadoff walk, Kyle Teel moved him over with a ground out and Miguel Vargas took a free pass before Munetaka Murakami’s sacrifice fly gave Chicago a 1-0 lead.

The Pale Hose added a pair in the second. Back-to-back singles from Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth, followed by a hit-by-pitch for Colson Montgomery, packed the sacks for Antonacci. The rookie delivered a two-run single to left, putting the Sox up 3-0.

Colson supplied the loud contact in the fourth, absolutely demolishing a solo shot 432 feet to center. Another run followed in the fifth, courtesy of a string of singles from Tristan Peters, Braden and Meidroth.

Houston answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but the Sox found a little breathing room in the seventh with help from undercover agent Bennett Sousa. Mune and Randal Grichuk singled, Peters moved them over with a sacrifice bunt and Sousa uncorked a wild pitch to bring Mune home.

The Astros added a tally in the eighth, but that was as close as they got.

Hagen Smith, Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings, while Grant Taylor was an absolute dog, throwing a career-high 54 pitches to help the South Siders finish the job: one down, one to go.

Chicago White Sox 7, Houston Astros 3 — Game 2
The Sox came out with their hair on fire, hanging four runs on Houston before Hunter Brown could even finish the first inning.

Antonacci opened with a double and scored on Teel’s single. The Astros then helped the cause with a pair of errors, including one on a Vargas grounder and another that allowed an extra run to score following an Andrew Benintendi single. Peters capped the outburst with an RBI base hit, and Brown’s afternoon was already over.

Houston eventually clawed back within a run, because apparently Sox fans weren’t allowed to enjoy a completely stress-free clincher. But Meidroth delivered the death blow in the sixth, launching a three-run tank to turn a nervous 4-3 lead into a much more comfortable 7-3 advantage.

The pitching staff took care of the rest. Sean Burke allowed three runs over four innings before handing things to the arm barn. Huascar Brazobán, Anthony Kay, Jordan Hicks and Erick Fedde combined for five scoreless innings, shutting the door on Houston and keeping the South Siders’ October alive.

Next up: Cleveland. The Good Guys open the ALDS at Progressive Field on Saturday at noon CT, with coverage on TBS, truTV and HBO Max.

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New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox — Yankees win series, 2-0
So much for a competitive chapter in this rivalry.

The Yankees outscored the Red Sox 18-2 over two games, and they did it without Aaron Judge. His availability for the ALDS remains uncertain, but Ben Rice had no trouble picking up the slack, going 5-for-9 with two homers and 10 RBIs.

Boston’s second-half comeback was a nice story. Its postseason stay was considerably less inspiring.

New York Yankees 9, Boston Red Sox 0 — Game 1
This one was all Yankees, all night.

Rice went deep twice, including an eighth-inning grand slam that turned an already comfortable lead into a full-blown beatdown.

Cam Schlittler was nails, throwing 6 1/3 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, one walk and just two hits allowed. He needed a career-high 117 pitches, but Boston never found an answer.

The Red Sox managed only three hits all game, with Trevor Story’s double accounting for their lone extra-base hit. It’s hard to win when nobody gets on base and the other side keeps circling.

New York Yankees 9, Boston Red Sox 2 — Game 2
Boston briefly made this one interesting, cutting New York’s lead to 2-1 after six innings. Then old friend Garrett Crochet entered, making his first appearance since April, and things unraveled in a hurry.

Crochet was charged with four runs without recording an out, effectively slamming the door on any hopes of a Red Sox comeback.

The Yankees piled on from there, completing another nine-run performance and sending Boston home. Eighteen runs without Judge is a pretty unsettling thought for the Tampa Bay Rays, who have to deal with this lineup next.

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San Diego Padres vs. Chicago Cubs — Padres win series, 2-0
It was a quick exit for our North Side foes, whose offense picked a spectacularly bad time to disappear.

The Cubs led MLB with 850 runs during the regular season. Against San Diego, they managed one run on eight hits across two games, with just one double to show for their extra-base production.

Likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong went 0-for-7 with a walk and four strikeouts. Meanwhile, the Padres kept their red-hot second half rolling right into October.

San Diego Padres 8, Chicago Cubs 0 — Game 1
The Friars piled up 13 hits, including solo dingers from Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts, making sure this one never became much of a contest.

Machado went 2-for-3 with a homer, a double and two RBIs, while Michael King dominated on the mound. King carried a no-hitter into the seventh before Nico Hoerner finally broke it up with a one-out single.

That hit gave the Cubs something to put in the box score. It did very little to change the game.

San Diego Padres 4, Chicago Cubs 1
Another old friend had himself an October moment.

Gavin Sheets came off the bench and delivered a clutch pinch-hit, two-run four-bagger, extending San Diego’s lead to 4-1. With the Cubs’ bats still missing in action, that was more than enough.

The Padres finished the sweep, and Sheets helped send the North Siders home. A former White Sox player contributing to a Cubs postseason exit? We’ll take that little bonus.

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Atlanta Bravesvs. Philadelphia Phillies — Braves win series, 2-1

Atlanta Braves 5, Philadelphia Phillies 3 — Game 1
Austin Riley picked a pretty good time to turn the page on a miserable regular season.

After slashing just .219/.290/.364 with a .654 OPS, Riley stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth with Atlanta trailing 3-2. One swing later, the Braves were up 5-3, courtesy of a three-run homer.

Raisel Iglesias handled the ninth, although Brandon Marsh made him work a little by leading off with a single. Iglesias promptly induced a double play from Bryan De La Cruz, then got Bryson Stott to fly out and sealed the win.

Philadelphia was four outs from taking the opener. Riley had other plans.

Philadelphia Phillies 4, Atlanta Braves 3 — Game 2
The Braves looked ready to finish the series when they broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the seventh. Drake Baldwin delivered an RBI double off Cristopher Sánchez, and Matt Olson followed with a sacrifice fly to give Atlanta a 3-1 lead.

The Phillies responded with a collective “hold my beer.” Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper went back-to-back, tying the game at 3-3 and wiping out Atlanta’s advantage.

Neither team could finish the job in nine, so off to extras they went. Thankfully, there are no ghost runners in the postseason. Actual baseball!

Alec Bohm kept the home run parade going in the top of the 10th, sending one out to right to put Philadelphia ahead, 4-3.

Then things got hairy for Andrew Painter, who had entered in the seventh to relieve Sánchez. Singles from Mauricio Dubón and Michael Harris II put runners on first and second with two outs, bringing Dominic Smith to the plate. With a 0-2 count, the next pitch was called a ball. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto challenged the call, and the ABS review overturned it for strike three.

Ballgame. Series tied.

Atlanta Braves 6, Philadelphia Phillies 2 — Game 3
The Braves were cooking with gas from the start when Michael Harris II tagged Aaron Nola for a three-run blast in the bottom of the first, putting Philadelphia in an early hole. Phillies skipper Don Mattingly wasted no time with the hook, pulling the veteran with two outs in the second.

Then with Philadelphia’s season on the line, he turned to Zack Wheeler in the third. The 36-year-old got through that inning unscathed, but Ozzie Albies took him deep for a two-run shot in the fourth, giving Atlanta a 5-0 advantage.

The Phillies finally broke through in the sixth. Schwarber singled, Harper doubled and Bohm brought home a run with a ground out. Atlanta promptly took that run back in the seventh on a Matt Olson dinger.

Yet another old White Sox friend, Derek Hill, supplied a little life for Philadelphia with a leadoff triple in the eighth. Trea Turner drove him home with a sacrifice fly, cutting Atlanta’s lead to 6-2. With two outs in the inning, Braves manager Walt Weiss went to the pen for none other than Chris Sale. He wasn’t messing around.

Down to their final three outs, the Phillies went down with a whimper. Bohm singled to open the ninth, but a pop-up and two Ks later, Sale had pulled a Mark Buehrle, coming out of the bullpen to finish it out and send Atlanta to the NLDS.

The deciding game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves played silently on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard Thursday as Dodgers players practiced below.

The Dodgers were less than 48 hours away from the first pitch of the National League Division Series. The “2026 Postseason” decals had been freshly painted up the baselines that afternoon. All that was left to be decided was their opponent — the winner of the game serving as the backdrop of their intrasquad scrimmage.

About a half an hour after the Dodgers cleared the field, the Braves advanced to the NLDS with a 6-2 win over the Phillies. The Dodgers and Braves will open the best-of-five series at Dodger Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT.

Read more:Nine concerns the Dodgers should have about facing the Braves in the NLDS

“We are the team to beat,” veteran utility player Kiké Hernández said. “We are the team that you have to go through. And that’s all nice words and everything, but we got to take care of business on the field. But I feel great about my team.”

The Dodgers are the reigning back-to-back champions and are aiming to become the first National League team to win three World Series in a row.

“Obviously it’s there, but it’s not something we’re really focused on,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said of the three-peat chase. “We’re trying to focus on ourselves getting ready this week, paying attention to whoever we might be playing and just trying to get ready for a postseason series the same way we’ve always gotten ready for it.

“We don’t need to be adding any extra pressure onto ourselves. We’ve been saying that for a long time. When you talk about three-peating, you’re putting that extra pressure on it that doesn’t need to be there. Winning a World Series is already hard enough as it is. So for us, we’re just trying to focus on what we have ahead of us and without the added noise to it.”

So, how did the Dodgers get ready for the postseason? Their bye week consisted of wild-card watch parties, batting practice, live pitching — from a long list of arms on Wednesday, especially — and an open workout Thursday that culminated in a scrimmage. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who’s penciled in to start Game 4 of the NLDS if necessary, started for the home team Thursday.

“Instead of showing up, checking a box to work out, then eject, I think that sacrifice from friends, family, it’s important,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We’re at the home stretch. We’re in the playoffs, and so I think that the more guys spend time with one another, it just lends itself to just more togetherness.”

The Dodgers have figured that out over five postseasons in this format. This is their fourth with a bye — after going through the wild card last year. And they introduced the watch parties in 2024.

“You’ve earned the bye and you should take that time to rest and recover,” Muncy said. “But you don’t want to give guys too much time to be at home and get that taste of what it might be like. That really worked for us back in 2024. You get guys here to the field. You’re not forcing anyone to do anything but you’re making all the guys hang out together for extended periods of time when they could be at home enjoying family time — which is great for everybody but not when you know what’s coming for us ahead.

“You’re going to be facing a team that’s already been through the fire. They’ve already been through the emotions. They’ve already been through the roller coaster which is the postseason. It’s hard to go from an at-home setting to trying to find a way to flip the switch.”

The Braves have, indeed, been through the fire. They claimed the No. 3 seed with a 94-68 record and the NL East title. They took Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Phillies but lost Game 2 in extra innings, forcing a winner-take-all Game 3.

Read more:Shaikin: ‘Hired gun’ Tarik Skubal opens up on the pressure, pain and lessons of October

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Dodgers and Braves have spent plenty of time in the last decade at or near the top of the National League standings. The two teams met in the playoffs three times, highlighted by a pair of exciting NLCS matchups each team used as a springboard to a championship.

Now the matchup is set, the Dodgers are set to play the Braves in the National League Division Series beginning on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

The Braves took care of the Philadelphia Phillies, beating their NL East foes in three games in the wild card round at Truist Park in Atlanta.

This round will mark the first playoff matchup between the Dodgers and Braves in five years, after a pair of near misses. After the Dodgers won it all in 2020 and the Braves captured a championship in 2021, Los Angeles and Atlanta had the two best records in the National League in both 2022 and 2023, but in each year both teams won in triple digits and flamed out in the NLDS. The NLCS rubber match never materialized until now.

During the Dodgers’ title runs in 2024 and 2025, the Braves lost in the wild card round and missed the playoffs altogether last year. But now Atlanta is back, having won the NL East with a 94-68 record.

Five of those wins by the Braves came against the Dodgers in six games, including three one-run wins in a sweep in Atlanta from August 25-27.

Braves ace Chris Sale allowed three runs (two earned) in 16 innings against the Dodgers this season with 18 strikeouts in his two starts. The Dodgers won that first start, on May 8, their only win against Atlanta this season, before a 1-0 shutout by Sale on August 27. Sale pitched Tuesday against the Phillies and presumably wouldn’t be available to face the Dodgers until at least Game 2 on Sunday, which was the thinking before Sale pitched an inning and a third in Game 3.

The 37-year-old Sale has pitched on four days’ rest twice this season, both in April. Now, it’s an open question who Atlanta will slot into the rotation with a day’s break for travel. Meanwhile, by earning the bye, the Dodgers have the luxury to set up their rotation however they see fit for Saturday’s likely blistering Game 1 start.