Category: MLB

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Austin Wells spared the Yankees the infamy of being no-hit in Game 1 of the ALDS. 

What he did next was almost worse and all but guaranteed that Saturday night still ended miserably for the Yankees. 

Wells recorded the Yankees’ first hit off Drew Rasmussen with two outs in the top of the eighth, but then was thrown out easily trying to stretch a double into a triple, delivering one more gut punch on the way to a 1-0 loss to the Rays and a 1-0 deficit in the best-of-five series in front of a rowdy sellout crowd of 40,542 at Tropicana Field. 

“We didn’t really have much going on there in the game, so every 90 feet matters,” Wells said in a quiet visiting clubhouse. “I was committed to being there and thought I had a good chance to get there. Can’t hang your head too much. They pitched incredible tonight and just trying to make something happen.” 

The Aaron Judge-less Yankees lineup that beat up on the Red Sox for 18 runs in the wild-card series went missing in the first game of the series against their other divisional rivals. Their bats might as well have, too, because they could hardly touch Rasmussen. When they did, the balls found gloves every time. 

With the Yankees four outs away from becoming the fourth team in postseason history to be no-hit, Wells got them off the schneid, ripping a line drive that landed on the right field line. He thought he saw the ball kick off the wall more than it did and was just over halfway to second base when third base coach Luis Rojas threw up a stop sign. But by the time Wells saw him after he passed second, “I was already committed,” he said. The slow-footed catcher was thrown out easily at third base on a relay from right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. to shortstop Taylor Walls to third baseman Junior Caminero. 

“Just obviously not a good decision there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “But the biggest issue is just Rasmussen shutting us down. Obviously, a handful of guys hit some balls on the screws, Austin being one of them a couple times there. But we just didn’t generate enough, obviously.” 

Instead of Ryan McMahon, or possibly a pinch hitter, coming up with a man on second base — which would have been only their second at-bat all night with a runner in scoring position — the inning was over, and soon the game was, too. 

The play sent the packed house — unlike plenty of games here against the Yankees, the Rays fans actually drowned out the swaths of visiting fans — into a frenzy, as Rasmussen continued his dominance of the Yankees with a whale of a game: eight shutout innings, 10 strikeouts and two walks. 

“I feel like he was just not giving in,” said Jazz Chisholm Jr., who walked and stole second with two outs in the second inning but was stranded there when Trent Grisham struck out looking at a changeup, a pitch that fueled Rasmussen’s big night. “He didn’t miss his spots today, he was all over the corners, he didn’t leave much pitches middle.” 

Boone gave Giancarlo Stanton a chance for a dramatic moment in the top of the ninth, pinch hitting him for McMahon against righty closer Bryan Baker for his first at-bat since April 24. But Stanton struck out on five pitches, as Baker retired the side in order to finish the one-hit shutout. 

The Yankees will try to rebound in Game 2 on Monday, with Cam Schlittler on the mound, though their ace won’t matter much unless their bats wake up. 

Gerrit Cole gave them a chance to win in Game 1, allowing only a solo shot to Jonathan Aranda across five innings before Ryan Weathers, Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick combined to keep it a one-run game the rest of the way. But other than a handful of hard-hit balls — two on deep flyouts by rookie George Lombard Jr. — the Yankees’ offense was nonexistent, save for Wells’ double that was instantly erased by his baserunning blunder. 

“That wins and loses games,” Wells said. “You have to take risks, but in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong.”

And now we present the forecast for the Atlanta Braves, brought to you by Yogi Berra: It gets late early out there.

The Dodgers can cloud the outlook for anyone. The Braves left Dodger Stadium in an uneasy spot Saturday, with one big decision to make: Do they risk putting themselves in the uncomfortable position of facing three consecutive elimination games without using their best pitcher in the first two games of this National League Division Series, or do they start Chris Sale on Sunday?

“We’re expecting to see him,” Dodgers infielder Tommy Edman said.

The Dodgers have four aces. The Braves have one.

“We’ve got the ace of all aces in Chris Sale,” Braves pitcher Brent Suter said.

So why were the Braves publicly noncommittal about using him?

Read more:Plaschke: Kyle Tucker becomes unlikely NLDS hero with Dodgers poised for series sweep

The Braves deployed him Thursday, for the final four outs of the deciding game of the wild-card round. He started and pitched into the seventh inning on Tuesday.

The four days between starts is traditional — as is throwing once between starts, albeit generally in a pregame workout — but the 37-year-old Sale has not done that since April.

“The deciding factor is always going to be how Chris is feeling,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “When we came in the other night, the first words out of his mouth were ‘I feel amazing.’ If he were to come in [Sunday] morning and say ‘I feel amazing,’ there’s a chance he pitches.”

Sale, a 10-time All-Star, posted a 2.16 earned-run average this season, trailing only projected Cy Young winners Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler. In two appearances against the Dodgers, he posted a 1.13 ERA, with no walks and 18 strikeouts in 16 innings.

“He’s the ace over there, and we’re ready to see him two times this series, regardless of whether he is starting or coming out of the bullpen,” Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said. “We all know he is going to be out there at some point.

“If it’s [Sunday], we will be ready. If it’s Game 3, we will be ready. If it’s [Sunday] out of the ‘pen, we will be ready.”

Weiss should be concerned. If he is, he would not publicly admit to it.

“To me, it’s not that big a deal when he pitches,” Weiss said. “He’s going to pitch in this series.

“Dodgers can’t win it in two.”

The Braves risk overthinking this. If Sale starts Sunday, he also could start on traditional rest in a potential Game 5. If the Braves hold him back until Game 3, he presumably would not start a potential Game 5 on two days’ rest.

So, if the Braves get that far, would they want to limit Sale to, say, four outs?

“Even if he throws Game 3, I think he’s still available for Game 5 in some way, shape, or form,” Weiss said.

The Dodgers could push Yoshinobu Yamamoto to Game 3 because they had Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell to start the first two games. Money buys you the best of options.

The Braves’ most likely options for Game 2, if Sale does not start: a second consecutive bullpen game, or Grant Holmes, 30, a Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2014, and three years later, part of a three-prospect package sent to the Oakland Athletics for Rich Hill and Josh Reddick.

Read more:'He's a competitor.' Tarik Skubal's dominant outing stakes Dodgers to NLDS Game 1 win

The way Weiss looks at it, he can win three out of the next four games with his top two starters (Sale and Tyler Mahle) yet to be used, and all his high-leverage relievers fresh.

The way we look at it, who says the series extends to four or five games? The Braves either try to win with Sale on Sunday, or risk needing to sweep three games started by Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Skubal, in that order. Wouldn’t be prudent.

“We know Sale is their best pitcher,” Rojas said. “So we are ready for him, at some point.”

That point should be Sunday, a little after 5 p.m.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL − Austin Wells saw the hands go up. He kept running anyway.

The Yankees catcher ripped the team's first hit of the night with two outs in the eighth inning Saturday. It was a liner that stayed just fair down the right-field line and ended Drew Rasmussen's no-hit bid. Then Wells tried to turn a sure double into a triple. He ran through the stop sign thrown up by third-base coach Luis Rojas.

A perfect relay from Victor Mesa Jr. to shortstop Taylor Walls to third baseman Junior Caminero easily cut him down at third base.

"After I was passing second base, I saw his hands up," Wells said, "but I was already committed."

The Yankees' best scoring chance, with slugger Giancarlo Stanton ready to pinch hit, was cut down there. The Rays held on to win Game 1 of the American League Division Series 1-0 and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Mesa protect this house #ForTampaBay | #Postseasonpic.twitter.com/v7surKX3lV

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 4, 2026

Replays showed Rojas' arms up well before Wells turned at second and Yankees manager Aaron Boone did not dress it up.

"Just obviously not a good decision there," Boone said.

Wells knows the rules as well as anybody. You don't make the third out at third base. With two outs and a runner on second, a player usually scores on a single anyway − and Stanton was ready to step in there.

He didn't argue that playing it safe was the better play there.

"I mean, yeah, that's probably a smart approach there," Wells said. "But in the moment, us being aggressive, like I said, we didn't really have much going on there in the game, so every 90 feet matters."

He was not wrong there. The Yankees were without Aaron Judge, who was left off the ALDS roster with a calf strain, and they were shut down for 7⅔ innings by Rasmussen. They did need a spark, but Wells lit the whole thing on fire.

"I can't tell you if I would go again, because the situation will be different," he said. "But obviously, took the risk and it didn't work out.

"I was committed to being (at third) and thought I had a good chance to get there," Wells continued. "So, can't hang your head too much."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Austin Wells breaks up no-hitter but baserunning blunder hurts Yankees: What happened?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Luis Rojas raised his arms straight up to form the universal sign for “stop.” Stop signs are irrelevant, though, if they are not seen in time. 

Austin Wells only picked up his third base coach when he had rounded second base and was “already committed,” he said, which turned the best moment of the Yankees’ night into the worst within seconds. 

Wells broke up Drew Rasmussen’s no-hitter with two outs in the eighth, only to get thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple in the type of mistake the Yankees simply cannot make in October, which helped lead to a 1-0 loss to the Rays in Game 1 of the ALDS at Tropicana Field. 

“Just obviously not a good decision there,” manager Aaron Boone said of the overaggression from the normally heady Wells, who saw the Yankees lineup was inept against Rasmussen and tried to take a risk that backfired. 

Entering the at-bat, Rasmussen had retired 23 Yankees and only let two reach base on walks. He had struck out 10. He was about as dominant as a pitcher can be. A one-run deficit, on the strength of a Jonathan Aranda home run, felt insurmountable. 

And then Wells stepped up and provided life, energy and joy — for all of about 10 seconds. 

The Yankees catcher blistered a rare Rasmussen miss, a sinker that cut across the middle of the plate, 107.8 mph down the right field line and kept it fair by maybe a foot. The ball pinballed from a wall in foul territory to another facing of the wall in fair territory. 

“I thought it kicked off [the wall] more than it did,” said Wells, who may have underestimated the arm of right fielder Victor Mesa Jr. 

The owner of one of the most potent cannons in the majors, Mesa threw a strike to cutoff man Taylor Walls, who did not even have to rush a throw to third: He threw, but did not fire, to third baseman Junior Caminero, who had plenty of time to tag Wells. 

Baseball traditionalists will scoff at a player making the third out of an inning at third. Scouts will tell you not to test Mesa or a solid Rays defense. 

Wells will tell you the Yankees lineup had done nothing all game, so he was going to try something different. 

“Two outs there, trying to make something happen, be aggressive with not much going on in the game,” said Wells, who added that the biggest benefit to being on third rather than second would be scoring without question on a single, important especially at a ballpark with slick turf that helps singles reach the outfielders faster. “You have to take risks. But in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong.” 

Wells remained on the dirt for a few seconds, and it would have been understandable if he dug a hole and remained there for the rest of a game in which the Yankees would not record a second hit.

Heroes, zeros and the inside pitch from the Dodgers’ 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series:

Hero

The Dodgers have had plenty of key contributors during their run to back-to-back World Series titles the last couple years. Few, however, have delivered big swings as consistently as Teoscar Hernández.

The first game of this October’s postseason was no exception.

After three quiet innings to begin the day from the Dodgers offense, Hernández flipped the momentum in the bottom of the fourth inning, belting a two-run home run to give the Dodgers the lead.

The veteran slugger now has nine home runs in the playoffs the last three years (second-most on the Dodgers after Shohei Ohtani) and 27 RBIs in 34 games (most on the team in that stretch).

“Teo is good in big moments because he’s not afraid to fail,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he has a short memory in the sense of, if something doesn’t go well, he has a way to just kind of reset, recalibrate. I think he just focuses a little bit more.”

Hernández had to have a short memory a lot this year, slumping so bad after returning from a hamstring strain that the club at one point considered platooning him in left field.

“I was fighting for my life,” he said, “just to help this team to win games.”

Down the stretch, however, he rediscovered his swing, hitting .341 over his final 11 games. And now, he has added to his long list of big postseason moments.

“I always want to be the guy to be in those moments,” Hernández said. “I worked really hard for it, and I think the bigger the moment, the more focused I get.

Zero

Roberts didn’t name a designated closer entering the playoffs. But he had Tanner Scott’s name at the top of the list.

Whether that remains the case going forward is now to be seen, after Scott flirted with disaster in the top of the ninth inning by giving up a home run to Ozzie Albies that cut the Dodgers’ 5-1 lead in half, and was later removed with two outs in the inning.

Roberts did defend the left-hander –– who was 25-for-29 in save opportunities as the de facto closer during the regular season –– by insisting Scott’s “stuff was good” and that his trust in the southpaw is “not going to waver.”

But after the former $72 million signing missed all of last year’s playoffs because of poor performance and a medical procedure, Saturday was not the postseason Dodgers debut he had in mind.

It leaves the bullpen potentially unsettled, as well.

Unsung hero

Tommy Edman had a quiet day at the plate, going 0-for-2 with a walk. But he made a couple key plays defensively at second base, including a diving stop on a Ronald Acuña grounder in the fourth inning during a streak of 15 consecutive batters retired by starting pitcher Tarik Skubal.

“His defense today was outstanding,” Skubal said. “Just to keep those balls in the infield is one thing, but to get outs, that’s huge.”

Key stat

101.1: That was the velocity on one of Skubal’s fastballs in the second inning, marking the hardest he has thrown a pitch all year. 

“I think I was just trying to match the temperature out there,” Skubal joked, after pitching in 100-degree heat for most of the day. 

“I think the juices flow a little bit different in postseason games,” he added.

Quote of the night

Skubal was later asked if Saturday was the hottest game he’s ever played in.

“I played a Little League game in 127 [degrees] in Lake Havasu,” the Kingman, Arizona native quipped. 

So then, this must have been nothing, right?

“Well,” he laughed, “[this was] a little bit different game.”

LOS ANGELES — Kyle Tucker hit one of the Dodgers three home runs in Saturday afternoon’s 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium, carrying over his strong September play into October.

“I’m just trying to swing at good pitches, trying to put the barrel on the ball, having competitive at-bats, and keep the line moving,” Tucker said on Saturday, after hitting his seventh home run in his last 23 games. “Our pitching staff has done a good job all year long giving us opportunities to win games, so we’re just trying to do our part.”

The home run came in the sixth inning, two innings after Tucker singled and stole second base.

Power and speed have been a part of Tucker’s game throughout his career, averaging 27 home runs and 21 stolen bases in his previous five seasons before signing with the Dodgers in January, including three years with at least 22 home runs and 25 steals.

Even with the strong finish to his season, Tucker finished with 17 home runs in 154 games, his lowest power output since 2020. He was more opportunistic when running, stealing only 12 bases but was never caught trying.

In 73 career postseason games, Tucker is up to 10 home runs and eight steals now, but Saturday was his first time in the playoffs doing both in the same game.

“It’s been well talked about, the struggles he had this year. I give him a lot of credit for grinding through it, not running from it, always posting and kind of getting to the other side of it,” manager Dave Roberts said of Tucker. “Obviously for us it’s about winning a championship. Our fans, they really remember what you do in the postseason. So this is certainly a way to change the story for a season in 2026.”

Hitting a home run and stealing a base has only been done 14 times in Dodgers postseason history, from Wes Parker in Game 4 of the 1965 World Series to Freddie Freeman in the 18-inning marathon Game 3 of the 2025 World Series, and now Tucker.

Davey Lopes and Max Muncy are the only Dodgers with two postseason games with a home run and steal. Lopes did it in Game 4 of the 1977 World Series and Game 6 of the 1978 World Series. Muncy did it in Game 1 of the 2018 NLDS and Game 2 of the 2024 NLCS.

Twelve of the 14 Dodgers homer/steal postseason games have come at Dodger Stadium, and four were against the Braves, including Muncy and Kiké Hernández in the same contest, Game 1 of the 2018 NLDS.

This season I have probably watched more Braves baseball than any other season. And one of the recurring themes of this season and some of the previous seasons is the idea of “punting”. It’s saving your best pitchers, or designating which three of four of the bottom end of the bullpen will only pitch that particular game. It rubs many of you the wrong way.

To be honest, to me a punted game in May is disappointing but somewhat expected. To survive a 162-game season over 6 months, you need to reserve your strength. You don’t have to major in it as was done in 2024, and have it bear no fruit fruitlessly in the penultimate game. But it’s a cost of doing business. To survive, you may have to utilize you 12th or 13th best pitcher on your roster more than you would like. Or in some cases, 17th and 18th best. We at Battery Power are aware of this because we write up every roster move.

But Walt, this isn’t May, June, or even September.

What is this?

Or this? Why is objectively your 12th best pitching option serving meatballs in a NLDS game?

We can’t have this. This game deserved Dylan Dodd for three, Brent Suter for three, and perhaps AJ Smith-Shawver if necessary for three hitters or less. Then you see where you are in the seventh. If you are down, maybe downshift. If it’s remotely close then upshift.

Because for exactly this reason here.

The only excuse for today would be if Chris Sale cannot pitch Game 2. If he can’t, today could make sense. If he can, it’s absolutely infuriating and completely unnecessary. You saved your premium options only for Chris Sale to possibly go into the eighth inning tomorrow.

I am going to tell you that I really like AJ Smith-Shawver. He should not lose heart. He should absolutely be ready to mow down three hitters right now and break into the starting rotation in 2027. I love Victor Mederos. I think he’s been a revelation and I love his enthusiam. But we scrimp and save for seven months just for the opportunity to get into the Postseason. The Braves should spend their options lavishly and perform with their best players when we get there. If Sale is available tomorrow, I don’t want to hear it.

Weiss told reporters that “today was going to be tough for us to chase from behind because of how we emptied the tank on Thursday night.” I don’t know, Walt. if it was so tough, why pursue it with Brent Suter for two innings in the eighth? Walt did reveal later, “Look, you’ve got Sale and Mahle still. Tomorrow a much more rested bullpen. Yeah, I don’t have any worries about … having enough pitching. We’ve got plenty of pitching.” And also, “We weren’t going to pitch Fuentes from behind. It would have been 4 out of 5. Then he’s at risk tomorrow in a game that we’re up. Suarez was down because of the elbow, missing three months. We weren’t going to use him at all.” It rather sounds as if he approached this game as if Sale would not pitch, and the punt was on.

It’s been hard enough for Atlanta in the Postseason as it is. It’s harder when you don’t have your best options available, or decline to use them.

Max Muncy continues to thrive in October.

During the Dodgers’ 5-3 NLDS Game 1 victory against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday, Muncy extended his team postseason home-run record to 17 after blasting a solo shot to the right-field bleachers in the sixth inning.

Muncy originally became the team leader for home runs in the postseason during Game 1 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers last year, surpassing Corey Seager, who was previously tied with Muncy for the team record at 13.

In the postseason, Muncy now has a career batting average of .217, with 38 RBIs and 57 hits.

“It’s awesome,” Muncy told Ken Rosenthal during a postgame interview on Fox. “It means a lot to me. The thing about that, that means the most to me is it means I’ve had a lot of opportunities to play in October, and that’s obviously what this is all about, is you want to have a chance to win the World Series.”

Muncy’s solo shot came just after his teammate Kyle Tucker knocked a two-run shot to give them a commanding 4-1 lead. Teoscar Hernandez was the first player on the team to homer with a 2-run blast in the fourth inning.

Like Muncy, Tucker has also built a reputation for thriving in baseball’s postseason, as he is a former World Series champion with the Houston Astros in 2022.

Both Muncy and Tucker have a combined 27 home runs in the postseason.

The Atlanta Braves have opened up this five-game series on the short-end of the stick to start things off, as they took a 5-3 loss on the chin against the Los Angeles Dodgers to begin the 2026 NLDS.

It’s a bit of a flattering result, since Tarik Skubal spent most of the game in complete control and the Braves were down by as much as four after AJ Smith-Shawver gave up a pair of dingers that really gave the Dodgers serious control of the game.

As far as the questions go about who did or didn’t pitch for the Braves today, it’s clear that Walt Weiss had bullpen load management in mind with some of the decisions that he made today. “It’s a challenge. Even today was going to be tough for us to chase from behind because of how we emptied the tank on Thursday night,” said Weiss when he was asked about how the bullpen is looking for the rest of the series.“

“We weren’t going to pitch Fuentes from behind. It would have been 4 out of 5. Then he’s at risk tomorrow in a game that we’re up. Suarez was down because of the elbow, missing three months. We weren’t going to use him at all.”

When Weiss was asked about whether or not the Braves have enough pitching to make it through this series, Weiss remained bullish about the pitching staff. “Look, you’ve got [Chris] Sale and [Tyler] Mahle still. Tomorrow a much more rested bullpen,” stated Weiss. Yeah, I don’t have any worries about that, about having enough pitching. We’ve got plenty of pitching.“

Speaking of Chris Sale, his potential availability for the Los Angeles portion of this series has been a big question. Obviously, the Braves would like to steal one on the road and gain home field advantage for the rest of the series and it’ll be a big question as to whether or not Sale can or will be fully effective since he’s already taken on a heavy workload here in the Postseason.

Weiss was asked directly about his pitching plan for Game 2 and whether it involved Chris Sale started and he explained that it’s too soon to figure it out. “We still haven’t decided yet. The game just got over,” said Weiss. “We’ll have some conversations about this. So not sure who’s going to start. That’s where we’re at right now.”

I’d imagine that they’re going to think it over and wait until tomorrow afternoon to announce who the starter is. If it’s Sale, then I’d imagine that it’d be a similar case to what happened the morning of Game 3 where Sale barges into Weiss’s office and tells him that he’s good to go. If it happens, it’ll be very intriguing to see how long he goes and how effective he’ll be. It’ll certainly be one of the future Hall-of-Famer’s biggest tests of his career — and doing so at age-37, no less.

Either way, it’s tough to win games when the offense lies dormant for most of it and that was the case for the Braves. All of the runs today were scored via the long ball, but Atlanta was unable to really do much of anything to Tarik Skubal while he was out there (outside of Sean Murphy’s homer) and then only Ozzie Albies’s ninth-inning dinger kept the score respectable in the end. The offense will have to be more consistent — easier said than done, I know, but it’s the Postseason. The job’s gotta get done.

Either way, Weiss tipped his cap to Skubal and the performance he put on against Atlanta’s lineup today. “[Skubal] looked like he was in top form today. He’s obviously a really good pitcher. Yeah, he was tough,” said Weiss when he was asked about Skubal’s start. “We knew it was going to be a rough ride, but yeah, he did a helluva job.”

It’s not going to get much easier going forward considering the quality of LA’s pitching staff but again, there’s no choice but to execute and the lineup has to get better going forward. Momentum is a bit overrated in my opinion but hopefully what the Braves were able to do in the ninth inning of Game 1 will carry over to Game 2. Otherwise, Atlanta might be in a hole once they return to Cobb County. We’ll see what happens, folks.

After a well-deserved week of rest, the Milwaukee Brewers are finally set to start their postseason action. A week filled with preparation, simulated games and workouts all leads up to the Crew’s first ever postseason matchup against the San Diego Padres.

The Brewers will have their ace on the mound in Jacob Misiorowski. The leading NL Cy Young contender, Misiorowski led the league in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (252). The Padres will have the veteran left-hander Robbie Ray on the bump. Ray pitched to a 3.59 ERA this year, making 30 starts. He was a deadline acquisition from the San Francisco Giants. In Ray’s nine starts with the Padres, he had a 5.02 ERA.

The Padres used their two best starters to get through the Cubs in the Wild Card series. We’ll see just how deep into the game the Padres are looking to have Ray go against this Brewers lineup.

Even though there’s a left-handed starter on the mound, Pat Murphy elected to not put Andrew Vaughn in the starting lineup and went with Christian Yelich as the DH. When asked for the calculus as to why, Murphy said “I don’t think there’s calculus involved in that one.” Referring to Yelich’s body of work over his career as a large factor in the decision.

Murphy went on to say that Jake Bauers is still dealing with the toe and shin injuries and that if Bauers were 100% healthy, that he could have been an option in the outfield and put Vaughn at first. But the “risk of less defense” led him to keep Bauers at first base and put Lara in right.

That wasn’t the only interesting lineup decision from Murphy for Game 1. Cooper Pratt is batting 6th in the starting lineup, marking the first time in his young career that he has started higher than 7th. Pratt has been hitting .315 with a .794 OPS over the last 28 days, so he’s on a hot streak.

“You’re considering the other team, your own team, your individual player, his psyche, the options it gives you later, the mindset of who’s pitching” Murphy said. “We feel like with what we’re facing, Cooper is the best option there and letting Joey [Ortiz] hit down in the order.”

Brandon Woodruff also shared an update pregame that he will start throwing off a mound soon, though he does not have an exact date. The earliest he could possibly return would be if the Brewers made it to the World Series.

The Padres are staggering four lefties throughout their lineup against Jacob Misiorowski: Dustin Harris (2nd), Jackson Merrill (5th), Ethan Salas (7th) and Jake Cronenworth (9th). But mixed in between are some heavy hitters with Fernando Tatis Jr, Manny Machado, Ty France, Xander Bogaerts, and Luis Campusano.

Game 1 is here. The Brewers have their ace on the mound and need him to set the tone. We’ve seen Misiorowski step up in big moments before, and the energy of the playoffs will light up the radar gun.

Though the Dodgers would eventually break open the game via the long ball, and despite the Atlanta Braves being forced to throw a bullpen game coming out of a taxing wild-card round, Game 1 of the National League Division Series began as a pitching duel.

Braves left-hander Dylan Dodd held the Dodgers to just two hits through three scoreless innings. But Dodgers left-handed starter Tarik Skubal was even more impressive, despite the heat. He set the Dodgers up for a 5-3 victory to take control of the series.

“A really good starting rotation obviously is really helpful, but it is very impactful for quality of life,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before the game. “We have gone through years where our starting rotation hasn’t been as good. In ’24 that wasn’t a strength of our roster. We won the World Series. The quality of life is way more difficult than being able to pencil in a Skubal, a [Blake] Snell, a [Yoshinobu Yamamoto], and a [Tyler Glasnow.]”

The temperature at first pitch was 100 degrees, and still climbing, making it the second-hottest recorded first-pitch temperature in postseason history, behind only Game 1 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Astros (103), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

The announced attendance was over 50,000, but far fewer fans were in their seats in the dangerous temperatures.

Skubal’s command wasn’t at its sharpest in the first inning, with his changeup consistently missing high. But he adjusted before the second and went on to limit the Braves to one run through six innings.

The difference was clear when contrasting Braves leadoff hitter Drake Baldwin’s first and second at-bats against Skubal.

Skubal fell behind with his first pitch of the game, a fastball below the zone. He worked back, with another fastball for a strike and a foul-tipped changeup low and away. But then, in a two-strike count, Skubal missed his spot, giving Baldwin a thigh-high changeup that he could drive.

That sharp single through the middle of the infield was one of just two hits he gave up Saturday. And after it, he retired 15 straight batters.

By the time Skubal faced Baldwin again, with two outs in the third, his whole arsenal was dialed in. Four of the last five outs he’d recorded were strikeouts, with a different putaway pitch for each: slider, sinker, curveball, changeup.

This time, Skubal was the aggressor, getting to a 0-2 count with a slider and sinker inside. Then Baldwin avoided chasing a pair of sliders to even the count. Skubal came back inside with a fastball that Baldwin fouled off.

So, to end the at-bat, Skubal went to his signature changeup, which he’d regained feel for the previous inning. It dove out of the bottom of the strikezone, and Baldwin swung through it, ending the inning on a strikeout.

Skubal strutted off the mound, hit the palm of his glove twice, and slapped hands with catcher Will Smith.

Skubal didn’t allow another baserunner until the sixth inning, when Sean Murphy launched a top-rail sinker for a solo homer.

The Dodgers’ lead, however, remained intact. Two innings earlier Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández broke up the scoreless tie with a two-run homer.

Hernández knows how to fire up a crowd in a big postseason moment. And he seized his chance when he got a cutter down the middle from Braves reliever Victor Mederos. Hernández tossed his bat back toward the home dugout, and it sliced through the air end-over-end.

With the Dodgers’ lead cut to one run, Skubal labored through the rest of the sixth inning, issuing a pair of walks, his first of the game. Smith and pitching coach Mark Prior came out for separate mound visits. But manager Dave Roberts stayed in his seat and trusted his Game 1 starter to face Braves cleanup hitter Matt Olson for a third time.

Skubal escaped the inning by getting Olson to chase an outside fastball and fly out to left field.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Dodgers’ bats came alive. Right fielder Kyle Tucker, in his first postseason game as a Dodger, hit a two-run home run. And Max Muncy joined in with a solo homer of his own.

Dodgers relievers Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each retired the side in order, in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Lefty Tanner Scott, whom Roberts plans to use in a fireman role, surrendered a two-run homer to Ozzie Albies in the ninth. But right-hander Evan Phillips came in to record the final out.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Braves had a mountain to climb as heavy underdogs against Tarik Skubal and the Death Star Dodgers, with a bullpen game opened by Dylan Dodd on tap.

The story of the first couple innings was a horrid strike zone being called by home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz. There was a flurry of challenges and missed calls against both teams, but it was really an embarrassment for MLB on this big of a stage. Dylan Dodd matched Skubal with 3.0 scoreless innings on 4 strikeouts, throwing 46 pitches. That’s a massive performance from Dodd, following in Ray Kerr’s footsteps from Thursday.

Skubal continued to cruise through the fourth with a little bit of BABIP luck, while Victor Mederos took over for Atlanta. The Mederos experience did not go well, as he recorded one out before walking Freeman on four pitches and giving up a massive two-run homer to Teoscar Hernandez. He then allowed a bloop single to Tucker before giving way to Smith-Shawver. AJ did well to stabilize things, keeping it at 2-0 going into the sixth inning. Sean Murphy brought one back with a big solo homer off of a 99 MPH Skubal sinker at the top of the zone to lead off the sixth.

Ha-Seong Kim chipped in with a walk, following Murphy, driving up Skubal’s pitch count and giving them a baserunner for the top of the order. Baldwin and Acuna chopped out, but avoided the double play. Ozzie was able to draw a walk, with Skubal struggling for command a bit. Olson flied out after a decent AB to end the inning, but the Braves now were only down by 1 run and had Skubal’s pitch count up near 100. Unfortunately, AJ allowed a single and two homers to Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy, giving the Dodgers a strong 5-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth and giving Murphy’s homer right back and more. The decision to leave Smith-Shawver in long enough to see Tucker and especially Muncy is definitely a debatable one, given what was a close game coming into the inning.

The Braves offense didn’t have anything to offer against the first arm out of the LA bullpen and sent the game on to the bottom of the seventh. Brent Suter got the bottom of the inning, perhaps with an eye towards covering multiple innings in the absence of offense. Suter worked around a Freeman single to get the job done in a scoreless inning, but the Braves were running out of time to show up on offense. The offense instead put up another 1-2-3 frame in the eighth and Suter came back out for another frame and continued to do his job with a scoreless frame.

Ronald singled to lead off the ninth against Tanner Scott and Ozzie hit a homer swinging from the right side to give the Braves a glimmer of hope now down 5-3 with no outs in the ninth. Olson and Harris gave Scott two quick groundouts, but the Dodgers went to Evan Phillips to face Dubon for the platoon split out of the bullpen. Dubon drew a walk, making Austin Riley the tying run at the plate with two outs in the ninth. Austin took a hanging breaking ball at the start of his plate appearances and grounded out to end the game.

There are fair questions to ask about the lack of urgency in terms of bullpen management from Weiss, but 3 runs seems unlikely to win a game against the Dodgers in a bullpen game started by Dylan Dodd. Perhaps the Braves win this game with more aggressive bullpen management when they got within one run with Skubal departing, but we still need to see more from the offense for this season to be winnable. Two home runs from Murphy and Albies is an encouraging sign to that point. We also really need a better home plate umpire.

Join us again tomorrow at 8 PM ET for a critical Game 2 before the series heads back to Atlanta.

LOS ANGELES — It took a while for the Dodgers offense to get going, but they eventually did feast on the underbelly of the Atlanta Braves relief corps, backing a strong start by Tarik Skubal in a 5-3 win in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on a toasty Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

Injuries and ineffectiveness wreaked havoc on the Braves rotation down the stretch, and they needed the full three games to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild card game. So Saturday was always going to be a scramble for Atlanta.

“The advantage for us is we have an opportunity to not let their pitching staff come up for air, and how do you do that? You have to exhaust the starter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “You have to get in their pen, and you have to have them deploy arms as soon as possible and get that carousel going and continue to beat starters. Then you can suffocate them.”

But the Braves got three scoreless innings and four strikeouts out of left-hander Dylan Dodd to open Game 1 against the Dodgers in what had to be a best-case scenario, similar to the 10-out shot in the arm provided by Ray Kerr on Thursday night to beat Philadelphia.

The suffocating began once Dodd left.

Freddie Freeman walked with one out in the fourth off right-hander Victor Mederos, then Teoscar Hernández smashed a two-run home run into the left field pavilion to open the scoring.

The home run by Hernández traveled 431 feet, long enough to satisfy a requirement for fans to sign up to receive a free soft drink out of the deal, as Dodger Stadium public address announcer Todd Leitz announced to the crowd during the pitching change shortly after Hernández’s (baja) blast.

Production from corner outfielders was a problem for the Dodgers for most of the season. But beginning with an August 30 home run in Detroit, Hernández ended his season on a hot streak, with 10 extra-base hits while hitting .352/.433/.582 with a 179 wRC+ over his last 25 games of the regular season.

Hernández also singled in the sixth inning off AJ Smith-Shawver, bringing up Kyle Tucker, who similarly came alive in September, hitting .262/.354/.536 with a 140 wRC+ and six home runs. Tucker also hit a two-run home run, just his sixth at Dodger Stadium all year compared to 12 long balls hit on the road.

Max Muncy added a solo shot, also in the sixth inning off Smith-Shawver, to widen the Dodgers lead. Muncy’s 17 postseason home runs are the most in Dodgers history, as are his 143 home runs at Dodger Stadium in the regular season and postseason combined.

Skubal’s first postseason start with the Dodgers — and the first time in seven career postseason starts that he pitched at home — was a good one, with seven strikeouts in his six innings.

“The biggest thing with him is just his presence of commanding the ball,” Game 2 starter Blake Snell said of Skubal on Saturday. “If he’s throwing it and he’s confident, it’s going to be a tough day for any offense.”

Atlanta got just two hits off Skubal, a single by leadoff batter Drake Baldwin in the first inning, then a solo home run by Sean Murphy to open the sixth. In between, Skubal retired 15 in a row. The sixth was the only truly taxing inning for Skubal, who had only one three-ball count in the first five innings but had three in the sixth inning, including walks of Ha-Seong Kim and Ozzie Albies.

Both were stranded, but the 28-pitch inning ended Skubal’s outing on a 100-degree day in Los Angeles, the second-hottest postseason game in Dodger Stadium history.

Skubal has lasted at least six innings in all seven of his career postseason starts, with a minuscule 1.97 ERA with 63 strikeouts (a 37-percent strikeout rate) against only seven unintentional walks in 45 2/3 innings. Pretty much exactly what the Dodgers hoped for when they traded for him in August.

Brock Stewart in the seventh and Alex Vesia in the eighth each pitched perfect innings. Tanner Scott ran into some trouble in the ninth, allowing a leadoff single to Ronald Acuña Jr. before Ozzie Albies hit a two-run shot to cut the Dodgers lead in half. Scott retired his next two batters before giving way to Evan Phillips.

Phillips, who has 46 career saves with the Dodgers and has never allowed a run in his now 13 postseason appearances, walked Mauricio Dubón before inducing an Austin Riley groundout to record his first postseason save.

Notes

• The Dodgers improved to 25-8 (.758) when hitting at least three home runs in a postseason game, including wins in their last six such games dating back to the 2024 World Series.
• Since 2013, the Game 1 winner in the Division Series has won 42 of 52 series (.808).

NLDS Game 1 particulars

Home runs: Teoscar Hernández (1), Kyle Tucker (1); Sean Murphy (1), Ozzie Albies (2)

WP — Tarik Skubal (1-0): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts

LP — Victor Mederos (0-1): 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk

Sv — Evan Phillips (1): 1/3 IP, 1 walk

Up next

The Dodgers tapped another left-hander in Blake Snell to start Game 2 on Sunday evening (5:03 p.m., FS1). The Braves might go with ace left-hander Chris Sale, but after heavy usage this week might not decide that until Sunday morning to see how Sale feels, manager Walt Weiss said Saturday.

When the Dodgers won the World Series last year, three of their four starters pitched in relief in the playoffs. The other started a game on short rest.

Would Tarik Skubal be up for doing something like that this October if the situation called for it?

“Yeah,” he said. “Absolutely.”

In that case, Skubal should start mentally brace himself for the possibility.

Because while Skubal was spectacular in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday in Game 1 of their National League Division Series, the bullpen looked as if it could be as combustible as it was last year.

After Skubal retired 15 consecutive batters and limited the Braves to a solitary run over six innings, manager Dave Roberts’ most-trusted reliever turned what should have been a comfortable win into a nerve-wracking experience.

Assigned to take down the last three outs of a four-run game, Tanner Scott reverted to his form from his disastrous first season with the Dodgers last year.

Scott started the inning by throwing a fastball over the middle of the plate to Ronald Acuña Jr., who singled to center.

The very next pitch delivered by Scott was also down the middle – this one a 97-mph fastball that Ozzie Albies blasted into the left-field pavilion.

Suddenly, a 5-1 lead was down to 5-3.

Scott collected himself and retired the next two batters, but Roberts didn’t want the left-hander to the right-handed-hitting Mauricio Dubón. 

Evan Phillips entered the game and made the one mistake he couldn’t make: He walked Dubón.

With former All-Star Austin Riley due up, the Braves were within a swing of leveling the score.

The nightmare scenario never materialized, as Riley grounded out to end the game, but the problem that was exposed by the inning remained.

Roberts said he “was not going to waver” on his thoughts of how to approach the ninth inning, but common sense indicates changes will be made. Roki Sasaki, who came out of nowhere to become the primary closer in the playoffs last year, figures to be next in line to get a shot at closing. 

Beyond that, the most likely choice figures to be displaced $69-million closer Edwin Díaz, who finished the season with a 8.68 earned-run average. 

The Dodgers could be forced to do what they did last year, which will be to have their starters pitch as many innings as possible, whatever the role.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto famously pitched the final 2 ⅔ innings of Game 7 of the World Series a day after making a six-inning start in Game 6.

The pitcher who covered the 1 ⅓ innings before Yamamoto entered that Game 7?

Blake Snell, who will start for the Dodgers on Sunday in Game 2 of this NLDS.

The Dodgers’ other starter in this postseason, Tyler Glasnow, was used as a reliever three times last October, including in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.

Two-way player Shohei Ohtani, who won’t pitch in these playoffs because of right arm and left knee problems, started the final game of the World Series last year on three-days’ rest.

The Dodgers could soon be asking Skubal to make a similar sacrifice, even though he is a pending free agent who is expected to land a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Skubal embraced the October spotlight on Saturday.

Taking the mound in 100-degree heat, Skubal joked that he’d pitched in hotter environments before. Skubal grew up in Arizona.

“I played a Little League game in 127,” he said with a smile. “Lake Havasu, yeah.”

Skubal seemed unaffected, giving up a single to Drake Baldwin to open the game but proceeding to retire the next 15 batters.

He touched 101 mph with his fastball and struck out seven.

Skubal encountered a scare in the sixth inning, which he started by serving up a home run to Sean Murphy that reduced the Dodgers’ lead to 2-1.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner followed that up by walking the No. 9 hitter, Ha-Seong Kim.

“I can’t walk Kim there,” Skubal said.

He got a couple of force outs at second base, then fell behind in the count against Albies with a runner on first base. Liking his chances against the left-handed-hitting Matt Olson on deck, Skubal didn’t take any chances with Albies and walked him.

“Just understanding the situation,” Skubal said. “A walk isn’t the worst thing in the world there.”

Olson flied out to left field, and the Dodgers preserved their advantage.

That kind of thinking will serve Skubal well this month – whether he’s starting or pitching in relief.