Category: MLB

Doctor details how Bryce Eldridge's left wrist injury could impact his batting originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Bryce Eldridge‘s road to recovery officially is underway after undergoing surgery Thursday on his left wrist to remove a bone spur.

His recovery is estimated to take eight weeks, and the Giants’ No. 1 prospect should be good to go come 2026 spring training.

Stanford Medicine’s Amy Ladd, M.D., spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area’s Tristi Rodriguez more in-depth about Eldridge’s injury and further broke down the different ways in which a bone spur can develop.

“So, a bone spur is an extra piece of bone, and it can either come from a bone because you were born with it –sometimes you can have little ‘pebbles’ as you might call them, which are extra bones adjacent to a normal bone you’d expect, and sometimes they exist because of traction,” Dr. Ladd said. “Traction is pulling, so if there’s a tendon or a ligament that’s been pulling on it from a chronic tendinitis, for example, or there’s been an injury where there’s kind of a pull-off of a bit of a bone and it creates in its wake a little spur, a little extra bone.”

Dr. Ladd also explained the stages Eldridge will go through after the surgery that will lead up to him eventually being cleared to return to the field.

“Probably what will happen is the bone spur will be removed, and he will be immobilized,” Dr. Ladd said. “He’ll be in some sort of a splint for a few weeks with progressive range of motion, but not strengthening, not resistance training. And that [strength training] usually happens in month two, so somewhere between four and eight weeks is strengthening and return to play.

“And that latter part is reproducing motion, throwing, catching, fielding, etc. would be in that rehab leading up to the eighth week.”

Eldridge missed the first month of the 2025 season in the minors with a left wrist injury that occurred during spring training. But he was lights out upon his return, playing 34 games at Double-A before being promoted to Triple-A, where he finished with 18 home runs in 66 games.

After much anticipation, the former No. 16 overall draft pick finally joined the big-league roster in mid-September in an effort to help San Francisco make a late postseason push. But the 6-foot-7 first baseman struggled with his bat during his short-lived majors debut campaign as he finished the season with a .107 average in just 10 games played.

Dr. Ladd also discussed the possibility of Eldridge, who bats left and throws right-handed, potentially reinjuring or reaggravating his left wrist.

“So, it may be somehow that the batting is the most aggravating,” Dr. Ladd said. “I don’t know the details, but any time you put a wrist or a finger or something in an extreme position, then you’re more likely to, what we call ‘impingement,’ to impinge, to kind of catch. So, if there were a crowding from a bone spur, that’s where you’d probably see it.

“So, batting may be more of an issue. So, he bats left-handed, which would mean he puts extreme wrist motion on the left hand. And he throws right-handed, so he catches with his left hand. So, same kind of impact in catching.”

The Giants will hold their breath during Eldridge’s recovery, and keep their fingers crossed for two months.

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After two months, the Dodgers have found a closer, in the rookie from Japan. Roki Sasaki mowed down the Reds in order in the ninth inning. Now, the Dodgers have a facsimile of a bullpen as they play the Phillies.

Wayne Muramatsu
Cerritos

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Dylan Hernández commented on the Dodgers' unreliable bullpen. The Dodgers have their closer right in front of their big Blue nose: Kiké Hernández. No one can throw a 45-mph fastball like Kiké.

Brent Montgomery
Long Beach

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All bullpen issues aside, after brushing aside the Reds, the Dodgers are looking mighty formidable. So my big L.A. fan brother-in-law asks me, "Would YOU want to have to play the Dodgers ?" Me: "With a minimum MLB salary of $760,000, of course I would!'

Joe Kevany
Mount Washington

Tears of joy

The greatest pitcher of our generation, Clayton Kershaw, throws 5 1/3 scoreless innings. One last strikeout. One last win. One class act taking the ball from another class act one last time. Witnessing that, if your eyes didn't well up just a bit you're not a Dodgers baseball fan. Thanks for the memories, Clayton.

John Tsutsui
Hurricane, Utah

Boiling point

My blood pressure can’t take watching Trojan football as it is today. In my lifetime of watching we’ve had some truly great teams and great head coaches such as John McKay, John Robinson and Pete Carroll. Currently, and for the last 16 years (since Carroll), we’ve had misfire after misfire as head coach. It’s unfortunate our current $10-million-a-year head coach is too expensive to fire.

Robert J. Gagliano
Palos Verdes

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You guys are being too tough on Lincoln Riley. I mean, he's probably already established
an NCAA record — for blowing fourth quarter leads!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

Super blunders

Talk about a lack of will — the Rams came out like lambs against the 49ers. The defensive game plan was poorly conceived and stubbornly inflexible. No push from the defensive front. No press coverage against the Niners' dink-and-dunk game. The offense was thin and predictable. Not one screen. Not one jet sweep. Fourth and one with a predictable call.  The kicking game was once again woeful. Fumbles. Critical mistakes. Senseless penalties. Being sloppy and ill-prepared is not how you get to the Super Bowl.

David Griffin
Westwood

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While watching the Rams-49ers game Thursday they showed Rams owner Stan Kroenke. I guess as the owner you’ll just keep counting your money while looking at all the 49er fans in the building. I realize you gotta pay your athletes and all the teams you own, but I find it disgusting that all home games end up being a road games for the Rams. How about lowering ticket prices so the average fan can maybe afford season tickets or even a few games?

Phillip Trujillo
Ontario

Trading places

Regarding last Sunday's loss to the Giants: It's official, the Charges are the Clippers of the NFL.

Jesse Guevara
Pico Rivera

Low standards

Bill Shaikin’s analysis of the Angels could not have been more accurate.

There is no way this organization can succeed under Arte Moreno and his incompetent sycophants (we’re looking at you, John Carpino). You had your opportunity as owner, Arte, for many years, but your batting average says it all.

Jim Fredrick
Manhattan Beach

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I read where Angels manager Ron Washington was told he was being let go for “performance-related reasons.”

By that standard, how is it that GM Perry Minasian and owner Arte Moreno are still employed?

Bob Kargenian
Yorba Linda

Was that a typo?

When I saw UCLA’s game against Penn State was being designated a “Blue Out,” I figured it had to be a typo. Surely, you meant blowout, right?

Steve Ross
Carmel

Bigger than Sports

Bill Plaschke has now written two marvelous columns related to Parkinson’s Disease and his experience with it. These articles should be in a more general section, not just Sports. There are readers of the paper who may not read the Sports section. Everyone should read these articles.

Alice King
Sacramento

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The Los Angeles Times welcomes expressions of all views. Letters should be brief and become the property of The Times. They may be edited and republished in any format. Each must include a valid mailing address and telephone number. Pseudonyms will not be used.

Email: sports@latimes.com

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Red October revival: Phillies, Dodgers NLDS preview originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Red October has touched down once again at Citizens Bank Park.

The Los Angeles Dodgers face the Phillies in the National League Division Series tonight at 6:38 p.m. ET. Grab your popcorn.

Game 1

Cristopher Sánchez (13-5, 2.50 ERA, 32 GS) takes the ball in Game 1, making his third career postseason start. The left-hander put together a masterful 2025, becoming just the third southpaw in Phillies history to post a sub-2.50 ERA with 200-plus innings and 200 strikeouts.

At home, he was even sharper: a 1.94 ERA across 15 starts with 115 punchouts in 97 ⅔ innings.

He’ll be opposed by Shohei Ohtani (1-1, 2.87 ERA, 14 GS), making his long-awaited postseason pitching debut in his eighth big league season. After starting his season in an opener role, Ohtani has recently stretched out — three of his last four starts went five innings or more.

This best-of-five series marks the first Phillies-Dodgers playoff meeting since 2009. The defending champions arrive looking to extend Philadelphia’s 16-year title drought.

Who are the Dodgers, anyway?

Los Angeles finished 93-69, capturing its 12th straight NL West crown. Their offense led the league in runs per game (5.09), homers (244), RBIs (791) and OPS (.768).

At the center of it all: Ohtani, who crushed a career-high and franchise-record 55 homers. He’s all but assured of his fourth MVP in five years.

Around him are two more MVPs — Freddie Freeman, who at 36 still slashed .295/.367/.502, and Mookie Betts, who turned around a sluggish first half (.657 OPS through August 4th) to hit .317 with an .892 OPS during the final stretch.

Will Smith (.901 OPS), Andy Pages (27 HR), Teoscar Hernández (25 HR) and Max Muncy (.846 OPS) round out one of baseball’s deepest lineups.

Their pitching was not as fabulous. The Dodgers sat middle-of-the-pack in ERA and WHIP, but their arms led the MLB in strikeouts per nine (9.40).

On Wednesday, they swept the Reds in the Wild Card Series — their 13th straight Division Series appearance.

The numbers game: How do the Phils beat L.A.?

Obviously, limiting the damage when Ohtani steps in gives the Phillies a great shot, but it’s more complicated than that — and the stats back it up.

Don’t lengthen L.A.’s lineup.

Last October, the Dodgers’ top four hitters carried the load, producing a combined .878 OPS and 16 homers in 16 playoff games. Their 5-9 hitters, meanwhile, hit just .211 with a .653 OPS.

But in this year’s Wild Card round, Cincinnati couldn’t buy an out at the bottom of the order. Dodgers hitters 5-9 combined to hit .400 with three homers and a 1.130 OPS, as Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernández and Miguel Rojas all did damage.

If the Phillies do pitch around the stars, they’ll need to attack the rest of the order or risk the same fate as the Reds.

Limit the free passes.

The Dodgers’ patience is elite: they led the NL with a 9.4% walk rate.

But Phillies pitching may have the answer. Philadelphia ranked second in the league in walks per nine (2.72), and their bullpen issued the fewest free passes (189).

The difference shows in the splits. In hitter’s counts (1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-1), L.A. slugged a league-best 75 homers and posted a 1.164 OPS.

Stay ahead, and the Phillies can keep this lineup in check.

Turn the page, sorta.

The Phillies went 4-2 against the Dodgers this season, including a series win in Los Angeles three weeks ago. 

But Dodgers starters dominated that set: Emmet Sheehan (followed the opener), Ohtani and Blake Snell combined for 17 ⅔ innings of one-run ball with 24 strikeouts.

Ohtani’s five no-hit frames stood out, but the Phillies still managed to crack LA’s bullpen to take the series.

And that could be key again. Since Sept. 5, Dodgers relievers own the fourth-worst ERA in baseball (5.08) with the most walks allowed (54).

Who are the X-factors?

In many playoff series, there is a player that sticks out more than the rest and oftentimes, it’s someone who flies under the radar.

Dodgers: Roki Sasaki

After missing five months with a shoulder impingement, the 23-year-old flamethrower has been lights out in relief.

In three appearances since returning — including his postseason debut Wednesday — he’s thrown three scoreless innings with six strikeouts.

Whether Dave Roberts keeps him in one-inning bursts or expands his role, Sasaki could be LA’s stopper.

Phillies: Nick Castellanos

Amid outfield rotation questions after the trade deadline, Castellanos looms as a potential difference-maker. He hit .333 with RISP in September and capped the season with a walk-off sac fly.

Since the start of the 2023 postseason, he’s hit six homers with a .594 slugging percentage in 17 games.

Entering what could be his final October in Philadelphia, Castellanos has the chance to add to his legacy.

Final thoughts

Utley, Rollins, Ruiz and Victorino.

What do they all have in common?

They wore Phillies red before donning Dodger blue — and in 2008, they helped take down Los Angeles on the way to the franchise’s second World Series title.

Now it’s 2025, and Philadelphia is still searching for its first championship since.

Many believe the Phillies’ window is closing. With a veteran-heavy roster, they might be right.

Of all the Phillies teams since Rob Thomson took over, this might be the strongest. They’ll miss Zack Wheeler, but the bullpen is deeper than at any point in recent memory.

The Phillies and Dodgers stand as the two heavyweights in The Show, and whoever emerges from this series will be favored to win it all.

Thomson is likely to lean on his trio of lefties — Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo — to challenge L.A.’s lineup. Each has shown poise under the lights before, and they’ll need to do it again in the NLDS.

The last time Shohei Ohtani took the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies, it was the first time all year he looked like a true starting pitcher again.

Ohtani, of course, had pitched plenty before that Sept. 16 game at Dodger Stadium, when he spun five no-hit innings against a Phillies team on the verge of a National League East division title. Up to that point, the two-way star had been making starts for the previous three months in his return from a second career Tommy John surgery.

During that stretch, however, Ohtani was under strict limitations. He pitched only one inning in his first two outings, two innings in the pair after that, and continued a slow, gradual buildup over the ensuing weeks. For many of those early starts, the right-hander didn’t even use his full arsenal of pitches, restricting himself to mostly fastballs and sweepers as he tried to hone in on his velocity and sharpen his rusty command.

That was in Ohtani in “rehab mode,” as the Dodgers described it.

Read more:'Better late than never.' How Mookie Betts salvaged the worst season of his career

The priority remained on protecting his surgically-repaired elbow.

But then came the meeting with the Phillies, in which Ohtani finally looked ready to turn the page.

He completed five innings for only the second all season. He did so with spectacularly dominant ease over just 68 pitches. He used his full mix, from a fastball that topped at 101.7 mph to a slider that induced a 50% whiff rate to a sinker/cutter/splitter combination that had the ball darting different directions to all quadrants of the plate. He collected five strikeouts and walked only one.

“He was phenomenal,” Phillies manager Rob Thompson recalled. “It was the combination of power, control, command, stuff.”

Three weeks later, Ohtani is set to square off against the Phillies again, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night.

And this time, he won’t be subjected to the workload restrictions that forced him to make an early exit from that previous no-hit bid.

The plan, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, is to “just treat him like a regular pitcher.”

“This is something we've been waiting for all year,” Roberts added, while opening the door for Ohtani to go as many as six or seven innings in what will be his MLB postseason pitching debut. “He's ready for this moment. So, for me, I'm just going to sit back and watch closely.”

“I'm sure I'll be nervous at times,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “But more than that, I'm just really grateful that I get to play baseball at this time of the year.”

Read more:Hernández: Is Roki Sasaki the Dodgers' closer now? 'That's what we need right there'

If it hadn’t been for that September start against the Phillies, it’s unclear if Ohtani would be pitching with such freedom now.

That night, Roberts removed Ohtani from his no-hit bid because, as he put it after the game, he didn’t feel comfortable deviating from the superstar's prescripted pitching plan.

What Roberts did do in that game, however, was ask Ohtani how he felt after the fifth inning to gather information the Dodgers could use going forward. Ohtani told Roberts he still felt strong. Thus, in his final regular season start a week later in Arizona, the team allowed him for the first time to pitch into the sixth.

The Dodgers are still trying to be mindful of Ohtani’s two-way burden. He is starting Game 1 of this series (which will be followed by an off day Sunday) because they didn’t want to pitch him early in the wild-card round and then have him hit in subsequent days.

But going forward, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, the club plans to use Ohtani like “a normal starting pitcher now.” No more pre-determined restrictions. No more overbearing health considerations.

Read more:It must be October, because Super Kiké Hernández is here. 'Track record speaks for itself'

“I'm very glad that I was able to end the rehab progression at that moment,” Ohtani said while reflecting back on the September start that signaled he was ready. “Just being healthy is really important to me, so I'm just grateful for that.”

Roster and rotation notes

Roberts said, after Ohtani, Blake Snell would likely start Game 2, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow lined up for Games 3 and 4, respectively. Glasnow will be available out of the bullpen for Game 1 as well.

Clayton Kershaw will be on the team’s NLDS roster, after being left off for the wild-card round. Roberts said he will pitch in a relief role.

Catcher Will Smith is expected to once again be on the roster as one of three catchers, Roberts said, but his availability to start games remains in question. Though Smith’s fractured right hand has healed, he is still in the process of rebuilding strength and stamina after missing the last few weeks. He was scheduled to take live batting practice during the team’s Monday workout.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Ahead of Saturday's Game 1 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Blue Jays, manager Aaron Boone spoke about a number of topics...

Latest on Cody Bellinger

One development from last night's Game 3 win in the Wild Card series was the health of Bellinger. The Yankees outfielder was visibly limping coming out of the box in his final at-bat Thursday, and although he finished the game in the outfield, there was some concern.Bellinger said after the game that he expects to be readyfor Saturday's Game 1, but Boone was asked about his player in his media availability on Friday."He should be okay," Boone said of Bellinger's ailment. "He bruised his heel. Yeah, we think he should be good to go."Boone said that Bellinger reaggravated his bruised heel when he ran for home and scored the first run in the fourth inning of Game 3.

"Just kind of jammed his heel a little bit when he was rounding third," Boone explained. "He should be all right. He should be good to go."

Bellinger has been great for the Yankees in his first season in pinstripes. He batted. 272 with 29 home runs and drove in 98 runs while playing plus-defense in left field. In the three-game series with the Red Sox, Bellinger went 3-for-12 with a double, a walk and two runs.

Improved infield defense

The last time the Yankees were in Toronto, they were swept in their four-game series, allowing the Blue Jays to overtake them in the AL East. In seven games in Toronto this season, the Yankees made 11 errors that led to eight unearned runs. Those gaffes led some in the Toronto market to criticize how the Yankees play. 
Boone was asked how much better he feels his infield defense is since they were last in Toronto and the Yankees skipper was confident it would be different this time around.
"Obviously, Anthony [Volpe] is playing really well over the last couple months there. Obviously, what [Ryan McMahon] has brought, Jazz [Chisholm Jr.] being full-time at second base now. We got a good club. We got a good defense, impactful defenders. Still got to go play well," Boone said. "The times when we were here in the summer, a couple times wasn't at our best, certainly, and still working through some things. I feel like, obviously the last couple of months we've really started to play really well. Contrary to some thoughts up here, we're a really good team."Boone was referencing comments made by Blue Jays color commentator Buck Martinez in early September. 

"I know Buck had some thoughts. That's all I was responding to," Boone said. "He's wrong. But it doesn't matter. We've got to go play, and we've got to go perform, as everyone does this time of year. We feel really good about our team. We're playing well. All that's in the past now. We've got to play well moving forward. We have the challenge of a new series against another really good team and a really good opponent that has earned the opportunity to wait out this first series.

"We're excited, looking forward to it, and it should be a great series."

The Yankees will send Luis Gil to the mound to start Saturday's ALDS Game 1 against the Blue Jays.

“Just feel like he’s ready for this. He’s in line for it," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said on Friday. "For now, want to keep [Will] Warren an option in the pen and Luis is ready to go.”

"It means a lot, especially an important game for us in the series," Gil said via an interpreter about starting. "But I think we've just got to keep doing what we've been doing, stay locked in, and go out and compete and ask God to help us out."

SNY's Andy Martino reported after the Yankees' Wild Card series-clinching win over the Red Sox on Thursday night that Aaron Boone and the organization were torn between Gil and Warren for Saturday's game, with the "slight lean" going toward Gil.

Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, had a delayed start to his sophomore year after suffering a right lat strain in the offseason. He made his 2025 debut in early August and made 11 starts, pitching to a 3.32 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. 

"I feel really good. I finally feel that I'm 100 percent," Gil said of his health. "Like I mentioned a moment ago, right now you just have to go and battle. But as far as maturing and where I'm at today throughout my career, I think experience plays a big part of that. Growing and maturing as a pitcher, I think has allowed me."

The 27-year-old does have postseason experience, making two starts in last year's playoffs, but did not have much success. He allowed two runs in four innings against the Guardians and then four runs in four innings against the Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series, an 11-4 win for the Yankees.

Gil has faced the Blue Jays once this season, allowing one run in six innings at home against Toronto on Sept. 6.

Boone confirmed that Max Fried will start Game 2 on Sunday but did not name his Game 3 starter, which is set for Tuesday at home.

 

It had to be this way in the ALDS, didn’t it? After the Yankees and Blue Jays tied for the best record in the league during the regular season and chased each other all year, it’s only right that they meet now with their playoff lives at stake.

And it’s a tasty matchup, too, with New York's raw might clashing with Toronto’s less-brawny-but-mighty-effective offense. The Yanks and Jays ranked first and fourth, respectively, in MLB in runs per game this year. 

The Blue Jays are rested, thanks to owning the division tiebreaker with the Yankees. They claimed the season series, beating them in eight of 13 games and outscoring them, 70-59. Home field advantage could be big in this series, too, considering the Blue Jays won six of seven at Rogers Centre and the Yankees took four of six in the Bronx. 

Toronto has some rotation questions, but New York's starters are on a heater. Does Vladimir Guerrero Jr. alter his personal postseason narrative? Or does Aaron Judge, who knows a few things about having a postseason rep, lead the Yanks by destroying the series with longballs?

WHAT THE YANKEES HAVE GOING FOR THEM

It’s always worth starting with Judge, the fulcrum of the game’s best offense. The Yanks hit 274 home runs this season and Judge smashed 53 of them, while also leading the universe in rate stats -- so much so that the AL MVP race might be neck-and-neck between Judge and Cal Raleigh, the Mariners catcher who hit 60 (!) homers.

Judge went 4-for-11 (.364) as the Yankees topped the Red Sox in their best-of-three Wild Card series. All of his hits were singles, but he did raise his career October average to .212.

It’s also worth noting that the homer-centric Yankees hit only two in three games against the Red Sox and still won. That’s how good their rotation was (1.33 ERA in 20.1 innings). 

Max Fried was exceptional in the opener, delivering 6.1 shutout innings, and Cam Schlittler was so good in his dominant Game 3 start that his name will probably be a forever-pejorative in his native Boston, alongside Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone. 

Schlittler threw eight shutout innings and struck out a dozen, sending researchers deep into the record books to produce stat links to names such as Waite Hoyt, Spec Shea and Roger Clemens.

Overall, the Yankees' rotation has been soaring. In 52 starts since Aug. 5, their starters have a 2.80 ERA and have allowed two earned runs or fewer in 41 of those games. Luis Gil or Will Warren figure to have an impact early in this series, depending on how Boone lines up his arms. If the rotation can give a sometimes-shaky bullpen fewer innings to cover, that could pump up the Yankees’ chances in the series.

WHAT THE BLUE JAYS HAVE GOING FOR THEM

Guerrero has struggled in his first six career postseason games, batting just .136 with a .422 OPS and one extra-base hit. Perhaps it’s not a surprise that the Blue Jays are 0-6 in those games. 

And he’s not exactly blazing right now – he has not hit a home run since Sept. 21 and he’s got only a .596 OPS in that span, well below his season mark of .848. Still, he’s a huge talent who figures to loom in this series. 

So does George Springer, who has 19 career postseason home runs -- including two against the Yankees dating back to his Astros tenure -- and an .875 October OPS. Springer had a .959 OPS with 32 homers this season, a nifty bounce back. His OPS last season was nearly 300 points worse.

As a whole, the Blue Jays may have hit 83 fewer home runs than the Yankees, but they excel at putting the ball in play. They had the most hits in MLB, 1,461 (90 more than the Yankees). Their 17.8 percent strikeout rate was the lowest in baseball (the Yankees were at 23.5 percent). They were tied for third in OPS (.761, 26 points lower than the Yankees) and tied for seventh in slugging. 

They may not have the same kind of boldface names as the Yanks, but they still put up runs. They could be without another star, shortstop Bo Bichette, who has a left knee sprain. 

Their rotation will be fronted by Game 1 starter Kevin Gausman and Shane Bieber, with help from celebrated rookie Trey Yesavage. Max Scherzer has a 9.00 ERA over his last six starts and Chris Bassitt has been dealing with a back issue, so who knows what either can provide.

THE YANKEES WILL WIN THE SERIES IF…

They can keep it clean. Part of the reason they lost so many games in Toronto this year is that they made 11 errors in the seven games there, leading to eight unearned runs. Some of those were made by players who won’t have an impact on this series. But shortstop Anthony Volpe made three of them.

The Yankees weren’t nearly as sloppy toward the end of the season and did not make an error in the ALDS. But they know how much poor defense hurts – they benefited from some defensive botches by Boston.

They added Ryan McMahon at the trade deadline and he’s been terrific at third, as evidenced by the catch he made of a foul pop in Game 3, secured while going face-first over the Red Sox dugout railing. “That’s routine for him,” Schlittler said afterward.

The Blue Jays are far less likely to give defensive gifts to the Yankees – they made 30 fewer errors than Boston during the season and eight fewer than the Yankees. They boast at least two outstanding defenders – Andrés Giménez, who will sub at short for Bichette, and center fielder Daulton Varsho. That puts even more pressure on Yankees sluggers to mash.

Giancarlo Stanton, an October monster for years, was only 1-for-11 against Boston. He thought his one hit was a homer, but it didn’t get out and his trot had to turn into a sprint to secure a double. The good news for those sluggers: The Blue Jays gave up 209 home runs during the season, the most by any team in the playoffs.

Maybe Volpe, who had a nice 2024 postseason, is a big offensive factor again. He was 4-for-11 with one of the Yankees’ two homers (Ben Rice hit the other) against Boston and he’s reached base in 16 of 17 career postseason games. His October average is .300 and his OPS is .850. Not bad.

THE BLUE JAYS WILL WIN THE SERIES IF…

The bullpen drama falls their way. If they can quickly inflate the pitch count of Yankees starters, getting into their relief corps might be a path to success. That's how the Red Sox won Game 1, when Luke Weaver could not hold the lead that Fried handed him. The Yankees' bullpen had a 5.13 ERA over the final month of the season, and even after a deadline makeover, they entered October with the highest bullpen ERA of any playoff team.

Then there’s the Blue Jays’ closer, Jeff Hoffman. He had the third-most saves in the AL (33), but he also blew seven and gave up 15 home runs in 68 innings, slightly under two homers per nine innings. Does that sound like a great match against the Yankees, who had 10 players with at least 10 homers and hit 30 more home runs than the next-closest team, the Dodgers? 

And they already have one game-winner off Hoffman – Rice hit a tie-breaking solo shot in the ninth inning back on July 22, their only victory in Toronto this season.

PREDICTION

Yankees in five games. 

Judge goes boom (it’s going to happen in one of these series; he’s too good not to wreck one sometime), Schlittler continues to emerge as a star, and the bullpen does enough to back the rotation.

And the Yankees spike the narrative that this year’s pinstriped model can’t win north of the border. 

“The best lineup and bullpen we've had”: Phillies ready for Dodgers in NLDS originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies know the challenge in front of them. The defending-champion Dodgers arrive with aspirations of repeating last year’s tune, but the Phils believe they’re just as battle-tested.

“This is probably the best lineup and bullpen we’ve had since I’ve been here,” J.T. Realmuto said. “Obviously it’s tough losing Wheeler, you can’t replace a guy like that, but our starting pitching is still very deep. We’ve got guys that have had success at this stage. I do feel like this is probably the best team we’ve had.”

Sánchez draws the spotlight

Cristopher Sánchez will get the ball in Game 1, facing Shohei Ohtani in a marquee pitching matchup. For Realmuto, the lefty’s rise has been about more than just pure stuff.

“His confidence has just grown and grown,” Realmuto said. “He’s always had really good stuff, but his command has gotten better, and that in turn has given him more confidence. He’s able to throw all three pitches where he wants, and that’s made him take another step.”

Sánchez admitted he’s leaned on Wheeler, calling him his favorite pitcher. With Wheeler sidelined, the veteran’s support hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“He was here yesterday,” Sánchez said. “He was really excited for me and everything that’s been going on with my career recently. … As far as myself, I just have to go out there and compete.”

Asked about facing Ohtani again after a rough matchup in Los Angeles, Sánchez kept it simple: “I’m focusing on controlling my emotions and performing out there.”

Ohtani and the Dodgers’ test

The Phillies already saw Ohtani dominate them in September, tossing five no-hit innings at Dodger Stadium. Realmuto didn’t play in that game, but he’s heard the reviews.

“Obviously his stuff is really good,” Realmuto said. “He mixed really well and kept guys off balance. The fastball plays up, the breaking balls are sharp. It’s obviously going to be a challenge, but hopefully seeing him a second time will help our guys.”

Alec Bohm echoed that it can’t just be about waiting for the long ball. “Especially when the playoffs roll around, every arm you’re facing is the best of the best,” Bohm said. “Guys can kind of lose themselves trying to be the hero, but it’s the little things — moving the ball around, limiting strikeouts, manufacturing runs — that wins in the end.”

Thomson on adjustments and rest

Manager Rob Thomson, who will announce his Game 2 starter on Saturday, said the key is adapting quickly.

“When you see an opponent a second time, whether it’s a pitcher seeing another lineup or an offense seeing another pitcher, it helps,” he said. “That’s when you have to make adjustments.”

He expressed that both clubs enter evenly matched. “Good starting pitching, a lot of thump in both lineups, and really good bullpens. Both teams are very evenly matched.”

Thomson isn’t concerned about rust a number of days off. “The guys are highly motivated, so I’m not worried about the mindset,” he said. “We did more velocity training, more breaking ball training, really focusing on strike-zone control. And the intrasquad game the other night did a lot for us.”

The gameplan

The Dodgers bring one of the deepest lineups in baseball, and Thomson knows it’s not just about Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Ohtani.

“They proved in the Wild Card round they can win without slugging,” he said. “They’ve got veteran hitters that grind at-bats, know the strike zone, don’t chase. You have to pitch them very, very well.”

For the Phillies, the offensive approach will be about balance.

“Our goal, no matter who we’re facing, is to get the starter out as soon as we can,” Thomson said. “But we can’t be too passive. We’ve got to keep the ball in the strike zone. That’s how you build pitch counts.”

Max Kepler said the team is ready after a long week of prep. “I feel great,” he said. “Everything we did was essential and necessary to what we have to do tomorrow. Having fans in here for the scrimmage made it feel more real. We’re ready to go.”

Urgency and unfinished business

Realmuto brushed off any suggestion that expiring contracts might alter the urgency in the clubhouse.

“We’ve always had a sense of urgency here,” he said. “Every year the ultimate goal is to win the World Series, and at the end of the day that’s all that matters.”

Bohm added that experience will matter most. “Everybody knows the games are big, but the first time around it can be a little overwhelming,” he said. “Now we’ve been through it, and I think that familiarity helps.”

Falkirk manager John McGlynn remains "wary" of struggling Rangers as he expressed sympathy for under-pressure counterpart Russell Martin.

The second-bottom Bairns trail Rangers - who have one league win in six games - by just two points before Sunday's meeting at the Falkirk Stadium.

"You can't hide from the fact that Rangers are not in a place that they want to be, but put them down at your peril," McGlynn said.

"There's no way we'll be taking it lightly at all. I'm looking for a response to the game last week.

"It wouldn't have mattered if it was Rangers or whoever we're going to be playing tomorrow. On Sunday, we'd be looking for a response from the players. That's my main theme here."

Falkirk have impressed at times in their return to the top flight, but they were well beaten 3-0 by Hearts last weekend at Tynecastle.

"It's probably the first time we've let ourselves down," the Bairns manager said. "However, I do understand that we wouldn't have been the only one that day [to get well beaten], Hearts were in a particularly good place, they were ready for whoever on that day.

"They'd just been to Ibrox and won for the first time in 14 years, sitting proudly on top of the league. They'd had a lot of time to prepare for the game, and we had a short time to prepare, and we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were good, we were a little off it."

Rangers were beaten 2-1 by Sturm Graz in the Europa League on Thursday, a sixth defeat in 16 games for boss Martin, who continues to face abuse from his own supporters.

"Of course you [feel sympathy for him], because you're a human being," McGlynn said.

"You do feel for him. There's abuse and there's going too far. I've seen with another manager [Stuart Kettlewell at Motherwell] last season, he came away from it because of that.

"Sometimes you get guys saying to you, 'I don't know how you do it'. But we love the game. It's a huge part of it. I have a lot of sympathy because sometimes it's going too far. You can't be doing that type of thing. You shouldn't be [having to get] escorted to training and such."

In hindsight, Mookie Betts made the mystery of his worst career season sound rather simple.

Looking back on it now, the reasons were right there all along.

There was the stomach virus at the start of the year, which caused him to lose 20 pounds and develop bad swing habits while overcompensating for a decline in physical strength. There was the defensive switch to shortstop, which occupied much of his focus as he learned a new position on the go.

There was also an unfamiliar mental strain, as the former MVP slumped like he never had before.

Read more:Hernández: Is Roki Sasaki the Dodgers' closer now? 'That's what we need right there'

There was a newfound process of having to flush such frustrations, forcing the 12-year veteran to accept failure, concede to a lost season, and reframe his mindset as the Dodgers approached the fall.

“I just accepted failing, so my thought process on failing changed,” Betts said in an introspective news conference on the eve of the playoffs.

“Instead of sulking on, ‘Well, I tried this and it failed, now I don't know where to go,’ I just used it as positive things, and eventually turned.”

Betts' full season, of course, will remain a disappointment. He posted personal low-marks in batting average (.258) and OPS (.732). He spent most of the summer with his confidence seemingly shot.

But from those depths has come a well-timed rebirth.

Amid a year of continuous turmoil, Betts finally found a way to mentally move on.

Over his final 47 games of the regular season, he batted .317 and nearly doubled his home run total, jumping from 11 on Aug. 4 to 20 by the end of the term.

During the Dodgers’ 15-5 finish to the schedule, he was one of the lineup’s hottest hitters, posting a .901 OPS that was second on the team only to Shohei Ohtani.

In the club’s wild-card-round sweep of the Cincinnati Reds, Betts’ production was even more prolific. He had six hits in the two games, including three doubles and three RBIs in the series clincher Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

And afterward, having helped the team book a spot in the National League Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, he reflected on his turbulent campaign again — attributing his recent success to the grind that came before it.

“I went through arguably one of the worst years of my career,” Betts said. “But I think it really made me mentally tough.”

All year, speculation swirled about the root causes of Betts’ struggles, which saw him miss the All-Star Game for the first time in a decade and bat as low as .231 through the first week of August.

His shortstop play was the most commonly blamed public culprit. The correlation, to many, seemed too obvious to ignore.

Read more:It must be October, because Super Kiké Hernández is here. 'Track record speaks for itself'

At the time, Betts pushed back against that narrative. He noted the MVP-caliber numbers he posted during his three-month stint at the position in 2024.

But this week, he finally granted some credence to the dynamic, putting the difficulties of the transition in a different, but connected, context.

“It's hard to go back and forth,” he said of the balance between learning the fundamentals of shortstop while also trying to work through his offensive scuffles. “It's a learned behavior going back [and forth] between offense and defense.”

This wasn’t a problem for Betts when he played right field, where he has six career Gold Glove awards.

“When I was in right, I didn't have to do that,” Betts said. “I was just playing right. I didn't have to think about it.”

At shortstop, on the other hand, he “had to think about everything,” from how to attack ground balls, to how to remake his throwing motion, to where to position himself for cutoff throws and relay plays.

“I was making errors I never made before,” Betts said. “I had never been in these situations.”

It hearkened back to something teammate Freddie Freeman said about Betts early in the season.

“It’s a lot to take on, to be a shortstop in the big leagues,” Freeman said in late May. “But once he gets everything under control, I think that’s when the hitting will pick right back up.”

Eventually, that prediction came true.

By the second half of the season, Betts finally stopped thinking his way through the shortstop position, and developed a comfort level that allowed him to simply play it.

“Now when I go out and play shortstop, it's like I'm going out to right field,” Betts said. “I don't even think about it. My training is good. I believe in myself. I believe in what I can do. And now it's just like, go have fun.”

“Once short became where I didn't have to think about it anymore,” he added, “I could really think about offense.”

Shortstop, of course, failed to explain the full extent of Betts’ hitting problems. Those started with the stomach virus he suffered at the beginning of the season, which wreaked havoc on his swing as much as his body.

Even after Betts regained the weight he lost, his strength remained diminished. It left his already underwhelming bat speed a tick lower than normal. It rendered his usual swing fixes ineffective as he battled mechanical flaws to which he struggled to find answers.

“It's just hard to gain your weight and sustain strength in the middle of a season, when you've been traveling and doing all these things,” he said.

It felt like one domino kept bumping into the next. To the point where everything was on the verge of falling apart.

“My season's kind of over,” Betts ultimately declared in early August. “We're going to have to chalk [this] up for not a great season.”

That, though, is precisely when everything started to turn.

Moving forward, the 32-year-old decided then, he would commit himself to a new mindset: “I can go out and help the boys win every night,” he said. “Get an RBI, make a play, do something. I'm going to have to shift my focus there.”

Suddenly, where there was once only frustration, Betts started stacking one little victory after another. He would fist-pump sacrifice flies and ground balls that moved baserunners. He turned acrobatic plays on defense that refueled his once-dwindling confidence.

“When he kind of said that the year was lost, when he made that admission, that's when I think it sort of flipped for him,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Just freeing his mind up.”

It helped that, down the stretch, Roberts committed to keeping Betts at shortstop; last year, the Dodgers shifted Betts to the outfield when he came back from injury in August.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” said Betts, who wound up leading all MLB shortstops in defensive runs saved this year. “At the start of the season, I wasn't sure I would end the season there. I thought there may have to be an adjustment at some point, from lack of trust or whatever. I just didn't know. So I'm just proud of myself for making it all the way through the year, and actually achieving a goal that I kind of set out to do: Being a major league shortstop, and say I did it and I'm good at it.”

His bat also started to gradually come around. Part of the reason was simple. “I was just able to finally get my strength back,” he said. But much of it was the result of hard work, with Betts spending long hours in the cage with not only the Dodgers’ hitting coaches, but former teammate and longtime swing confidant J.D. Martinez as well (who worked with Betts during both an August trip to Florida and a visit to Los Angeles for Betts’ charity pickleball tournament a few weeks later).

“I didn't really have to try and add on power anymore,” Betts said. “I could just swing and let it do its thing.”

Read more:Dodgers showcase their mental resolve and beat Reds to advance to NLDS

All of it amounted to one long process of Betts learning to move on. From his early physical ailments. From his persistent mental anguish. From a set of season-long challenges unlike any he’d previously endured.

“Slowly but surely,” Betts said, “started to get better and better.”

And now, entering Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday, it has him back in a leading role for the Dodgers’ pursuit of a second straight World Series title: Starting at shortstop, swinging a hot bat, and having solved the mystery of a season that once looked lost.

“Better late than never,” he quipped Wednesday night. “It's just one of those things where, you've just gotta keep going, man … So now, there's just a different level of focus."

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Trade Duran? Re-sign Schwarber? Exploring bold Red Sox offseason moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox are a good baseball team … that could be a whole lot better.

That much was evident over the last three days, which saw the Red Sox take Game 1 of their American League Wild Card series vs. New York Yankees thanks to a dominant outing by ace Garrett Crochet, only to falter in Games 2 and 3 due to a combination of subpar defense, a light-hitting lineup and a lack of pitching depth.

The good news is that Boston should get a boost in 2026 from the returns of injured position players Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer and Triston Casas, as well as pitchers Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford. But if this team is serious about making a deep postseason run, then more investment is needed in a roster that simply had too many holes this season.

So, what moves should chief baseball officer Craig Breslow make this offseason to help Boston take the next step?

MLB reporter Joon Lee joined Boston Sports Tonight from Yankee Stadium after Game 3 on Thursday night to propose two roster-altering decisions for the Red Sox.

Change of scenery for Jarren Duran?

Jarren Duran is one of Boston’s longest-tenured players and can be a tone-setter on offense when he’s at his best. But he’s also prone to offensive cold streaks and defensive lapses. If the Red Sox want to add an impact starting pitcher, perhaps they’d consider trading Duran and rolling with an outfield of Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu in 2026.

“I am curious to see what the future of Jarren Duran on the Red Sox looks like, because that Game 2 mistake is unacceptable,” Lee said, referring to Duran’s costly drop of a fly ball that allowed a Yankees run to score.

“I know that he is a cult hero in Boston at this point, but there’s so many things where there are mistakes on the margins that add up and in big moments really, really expand, and I think that Duran has had so many of those opportunities this season where he has kind of dropped the ball.

“I think it would be good for a change of temperature within the club, given how much weight they’ve put on him and how much I think the team really rides his emotional ups and downs throughout the course of the year.”

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Reunion with Kyle Schwarber?

All Kyle Schwarber has done since the Red Sox let him walk in 2021 free agency is mash 187 home runs (tied for the second-most in baseball behind only Aaron Judge) and drive in 434 runs (fourth-most in baseball).

And while the 32-year-old should command a relatively large contract this winter after a career year with the Phillies — 56 home runs and an MLB-leading 132 RBI — he can probably be had on a short-term deal.

“I think Kyle Schwarber is a guy that they should go out and try to get, because whether it’s at first base or at designated hitter, we’ve seen him play in Boston already,” Lee said. “We know that he steps up in those big moments and he can hit those home runs.

“He’s at a point in his career where the game has changed and his game is actually going to age pretty well, especially if he continues to only play first base and designated hit. He’s got the power-hitter swing. He’s got the bat speed, he’s not relying on his athleticism, and I think he’s relatively going to age well and not cost $50 million a year. Like, this isn’t a Juan Soto contract situation.

“So, if you can keep a lot of that offensive core that I think elevated this team this past offseason and bring in a guy like Kyle Schwarber, I think that’s what will help take the team to the next level.”

Check out the video below for more from Lee and co-hosts Mike Felger and Tom Giles on the Red Sox offseason: