Mets infielderRonny Mauricio's relatively small taste of the majors in parts of three seasons can be summed up pretty easily: His chances have been sporadic and his performance at the plate has been largely ineffective, but he has displayed enough eye-popping exit velocities and light-tower power to keep your eyebrow raised just a bit.
Still just 25 years old, Mauricio has also been bitten by the injury bug.
He missed the entire 2024 season and a chunk of the 2025 campaign after tearing his ACL while playing winter ball.
This past season, when it looked like Mauricio would get a long look at shortstop while Francisco Lindorrecovered from a serious calf injury, he fractured his left thumb on a headfirst dive into first base.
Given a chance in the last two games of the 2026 season, Mauricio went off, going 4-for-7 with three homers, six RBI, and a walk. Mauricio's two home runs on Sept. 26 put an exclamation point on New York's final victory of the season, and his blast in Game 162 the next day gave the team something more to think about heading into the winter.
With Mauricio out of minor league options, it's now or never for him to stick.
Will the Mets move on from him ahead of the 2027 season? Should they?
Apr 24, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets third baseman Ronny Mauricio (0) singles during the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO MOVE ON FROM MAURICIO
Three years removed from his MLB debut, Mauricio is still the same kind of offensive player he was back in 2023.
In 107 games spanning three seasons (he missed 2024 due to the ACL injury), Mauricio has never had a batting average over .248. He has never had an on-base percentage higher than .296. He has never had an OPS+ that was even league average.
Some of that can be chalked up to inexperience and infrequent chances at the big league level, but it also has a lot to do with Mauricio's inability to lay off pitches outside the strike zone.
"He missed a lot of time, that was a nasty knee injury," Mets manager Andy Green said when discussing Mauricio after the 2026 season ended. "He’s come back and the athleticism has returned. I don’t see any residual effect from that -- from my vantage point, people come back from injuries all the time.
"Does it make life harder? Sure. Does he have every opportunity to still turn this into a good career? Sure, he does. The path forward for him is to impact the baseball consistently, and if he can, minimize the chase."
When it comes to the chase issue, Mauricio was near the very bottom of the league in 2023, 2025, and 2026 in chase percentage while unsurprisingly also being near the bottom of the league in strikeout percentage. The strikeout rate has actually ticked up each of his first three seasons, from 28.7 percent to 29.3 percent to 32.3 percent.
While bouncing around the infield and getting starts at third base, second base, and shortstop, Mauricio's defense has been a mixed bag. He might not be the best fit to play shortstop regularly, but that wouldn't be an issue with the Mets because of the presence of Lindor.
What could impact Mauricio, though, is that the Mets will be set on the left side of the infield if third baseman Bo Bichette opts in. At second base, New York has three highly thought of prospects at the upper levels of the minors -- Jefferson Rojas, Mitch Voit, and Émilien Pitre -- who could push Marcus Semien for the job early next season.
/ IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
WHY IT COULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP MAURICIO
When Mauricio squares a ball up, it often explodes off his bat.
In his three seasons in the bigs, Mauricio has consistently posted elite exit velocities with impressive bat speed to match. During Mauricio's 20-game look in the majors this past season, his barrel percentage was elite.
To drill down a bit more, here's a deeper dive on Mauricio's big league home runs over the last two seasons:
As far as Mauricio's potential fit, it could come as a backup infielder and designated hitter option.
Brett Baty figures to be in New York's plans in 2027, and could be in a super utility role. Beyond Baty, though, no one on the 40-man roster stands out as a clear backup infielder who can also be part of the DH mix.
Jared Young could be the backup first baseman or part of a timeshare situation at the position, and Jorge Polanco profiles best as a DH -- but Polanco being a contributor in 2027 is health-dependent. When it comes to Mark Vientos, it feels like his days as a Met could be coming to an end.
Regarding Mauricio's contract status, he is under team control through 2030 and won't be eligible for arbitration until 2028.
New York Mets shortstop Ronny Mauricio (0) is congratulated by shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) after hitting a home run against the New York Mets during the ninth inning at Nationals Park. / Brad Mills-Imagn Images
VERDICT
The Mets don't have to be in a rush when it comes to making a decision on Mauricio.
Unless there's a team out there that views Mauricio highly via trade, New York can simply have him come to spring training (whenever it begins, given the expected lockout) and take things from there.
It's possible a crowded 26-man roster situation could squeeze Mauricio out, but that would likely mean that Young is on the bench, Baty is on the bench, and Polanco is healthy (along with every other expected Opening Day position player).
The likeliest outcome with Mauricio is that he doesn't seriously reduce his tendency to chase, resulting in him never being an average or better offensive performer in the majors.
But a 25-year-old switch-hitter with this kind of power potential should be given every last opportunity to reach his ceiling before the Mets move on.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 07: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after a strike out against the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning in game four of the National League Division Series at Truist Park on October 07, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The watching Braves baseball portion of our year has ended. Now it’s the offseason. We’ll watch the rest of MLB’s postseason with you here. But outside of that, we will be into offseason programming. We’ll have player reviews soon. We’ll slowly perform an autopsy of the season. After that, it’s a lockout. The owners seem determined not to start the season on time. I would expect them to start at least a month late, then have an abbreviated Spring Training. Heh, if we get a shorter Spring, then maybe it won’t be terrible.
I guess I’m asking what would you all like to do in the meantime. I have some ideas for spending the time while we wait on the lockout to end:
Let’s start the Community Prospect List selection. This has been a tradition for a decade, but during 2025 no one was interested. Does anyone want to run it this year? I don’t mind, but I would rather someone else run with the ball on this one. It consists of setting up a Feed post asking who should be ranked number one. You tally the vote by recs, then continue until you reach number 25 or 30. If you’re interested, we may be able to set you up so that you have access to create polls in the Feed, which mere commenters can’t do.
While we’re voting, does anyone want a Commenter of the Year contest? I’ll organize that, if so.
I know lots of you like the version of football that is played on Saturday. Does anyone want an official Battery Power Alleged College Football Pick’em?
I have been kicking around starting a series on random/forgotten Braves over the years. I was thinking about a daily-ish Braves interesting post from years before. I may be hitting the Feed with that soon.
That’s what I have unless you guys want to play Yahtzee.
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 01: Zack Wheeler #45 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches during Game Three of the National League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Thursday, October 1, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Let’s say there is a scenario in which the Phillies had an offer on the table to improve their moribund offense. That incoming player was a guaranteed 3-4 WAR player at a position of need – third base, outfield, pick your poison. The only catch is that there had to be something of value going back to the trading team, and that something of value was from a position they did not want to move from.
Would you trade one of Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez or Jesus Luzardo in order to get a piece for the offense that improved it substantially?
There needs to be some creativity this offseason to get the Phillies back into a position where they are fighting for a World Series title. Maybe this is the creativity that is required.
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 12: Luke Williams #37 of the Atlanta Braves stands ready in the ninth inning during the game against the Cleveland Guardians at Truist Park on April 12, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
No, this isn’t a post that was delayed four months.
That Atlanta Braves have begun their off-season roster machinations with the team’s transaction page showing that utilityman Luke Williams has been designated for assignment while left-handed reliever Danny Young has been selected to the roster.
This follows a slew of transactions on October 8 to activate players from the IL and recall players on the 40-man roster.
Williams has seen action with the big league team since being acquired by Atlanta in 2023, but only appeared in two games this season – walking in his only plate appearance – although he was on the team’s Wild Card Series roster. He spent most of the season with Triple-A Gwinnett.
Young appeared in 16 games with Atlanta this past season after seeing action nine times across the 2022 and 2023 seasons. After a solid start as a low-leverage option in the bullpen, he allowed nine runs in his final four appearances with Atlanta and was designated for assignment in mid-August.
With a lockout likely by December, there may be a small window for trade and free agent activities after the World Series.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his RBI triple next to Andrew Vaughn #28 of the Milwaukee Brewers during the third inning at Dodger Stadium on August 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Off the field, owners and players are digging in for what promises to be a painful and shameful labor dispute. But before we get to that, we still have some action to settle on the field. Specifically, an NLCS matchup that almost perfectly prepares us the imminent conflict.
Yes, in classic baseball fashion, the sport has once again found a way mirror the issue of the day. Namely: Does MLB need a salary cap?
In one corner, we have the Dodgers and their Pacific rim empire. They have all of the money, all of the stars, and are gunning to become the first three-peat champions of this century. Just as importantly, a large segment of MLB fans from coast to coast believe the only reason they’re this close to a three-peat is because they have all of the money and all of the stars. This means — whether these beliefs are true or not — the Dodgers also might hold the keys the owners need to sell a salary cap to the fans.
That may sound crazy at first glance, but if the Dodgers don’t win, we instantly morph into an entirely different landscape. Consider the following:
1) The three American League teams to enter the season with the lowest payrolls were the Guardians, White Sox and Rays. They are now the last three teams standing on AL side of the board. (In other words, you’re guaranteed to have at least one small market / low payroll team in the World Series.)
2) The Mets spent over $350 million this year and finished in last place. (In a vacuum, a strong case that Dodger level spending isn’t necessarily an automatic ticket to success.)
3) The Brewers play in Milwaukee, which is MLB’s smallest market.
Could the stakes be any higher for the owners and players in terms of how the upcoming winter work stoppage is going to play with the general public? If the Brewers win, you’re guaranteed an all small market/low payroll World Series. Any rational argument for a salary cap is dead on arrival (although the owners will still be trying like hell to implement one). In short, the owners could be picking the worst possible year to make their case for a cap.
But if the Dodgers win, the owners can and will sell the following narrative to a receptive and captive audience: “It’s not fair! The big bad billionaire behemoths are blowing everybody out of the water.” In short, a third straight Dodger World Series win would make the owners’ case for a cap in the name of maintaining competitive balance — Even though we know the real reason is they just want more money.
I’m of course oversimplifying things, but those two scenarios are very different worlds. Right or wrong, the outcome of Brewers vs. Dodgers will change the public perception on this issue, and which side the public puts more pressure on during the stoppage matters.
Make no mistake, a lockout is coming no matter what. Both sides are going to draw a line in the sand and retreat to their trench. However, whether that happens in a world where the Dodger dynasty is at the peak of its power or in a world where two small market teams prove you can win on limited resources might tip the scales. It’s basically the difference between starting a war on a sunny day or starting a war trying to invade Russia on the first day of winter.
The background conditions will play a huge roll in the upcoming negotiations, and while fans have no seat at the table, it looks like the baseball gods will get to decide which way the wind is blowing when the owners and players fully engage in their pissing match.
CHICAGO, IL - OCTOBER 07: A general view of Rate Field during Game Three of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, October 7, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jessie Alcheh/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Meet the Mets
Teruaki Sato, NPB’s first Triple Crown winner since Munetaka Murakami, could make the jump to MLB next season, and he’s been linked to the Mets.
I try very hard to fight back against apathy. In politics, the economy, media, the world begs for your apathy. Don’t make a fuss, let it all just happen. It’s all going According to Plan. The state apparatus depends on your apathy. Do not give them that gift.
And yet, not quite 48 hours after the Yankees once again lost in the ALDS, lost to a team seeded higher than them, lost to a team that is just so fundamentally annoying that thinking about them raises my blood pressure a point or two…I don’t feel much at all.
I’ve always tried to hedge my reactions to bad sports news. The Don LeGreca-style rants make for good radio and some of the longer, more unhinged comments we get here are fun to scroll past, but at the end of the day I consume baseball for my own entertainment. Letting yourself get mad over something you say you enjoy while having 0 control over it hasn’t made a whole lot of sense to me. Let sports lift you up, not press you down.
And true to form, I’m not mad about the 2026 Yankees. I’m beige. The Yankees dogwalked the Red Sox last week only to find themselves canine-ized by the Rays, swept out of the ALDS in what’s actually a worse result than last year. (They lasted a whole four games against the Blue Jays!) Aaron Boone put the worst leadoff hitter in baseball atop the lineup, telling us that he liked the potential for action on the basepaths ahead of the only batter who showed up in the series, and that leadoff hitter went 0-for-5 as the team died—with him as the final out—because of course he did.
I don’t quite know why I’m so numb to all of this. The Yankees won 93 games, the second-best record in the AL, without the game’s best player, while actively rehabbing three pitchers in their starting rotation, while Austin Wells was locked in the trunk of a car for four months, while shortstop was an open question until the season’s final few weeks. It should be kind of remarkable that they were even in the dance in the first place?
But the AL was so bad, the table so uncompetitive, that the Yankees didn’t really outrun the other guy being chased by the bear. There was no bear at all. The team wasn’t good enough to chase down the Rays, dooming themselves to an additional two playoff games while the Rays got to rest, prepare, and welcome the Yankees to the Trop for the start of the series. The same offense we’d seen sleepwalk through the year for weeks at a time showed themselves, they lost, and I don’t really care.
Supposedly at the staff level the organization is starting to pick at itself like an under-stimulated pet bird. This annual tradition of “just be good enough to make it before 26 people who should be among the best in the world at what they do collectively forget what their jobs are” might finally be sinking in. At the top level though we’ll be told not to worry, There is A Plan, these guys are having good at bats actually, it’s right in front of us.
Congratulations to the New York Yankees. You’ve managed to accomplish something my government and AI companies haven’t. Sure, man, whatever you say, I shrug my shoulders and I walk down the street.
MILWAUKEE, WI - OCTOBER 14: Enrique Hernández #8 of the Los Angeles Dodgers slides safely into home plate to score off an RBI double hit by Andy Pages (not pictured) in the second inning during Game Two of the National League Championship Series presented by loanDepot between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Aaron Gash/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Here are a few other postseason notes, as we wait for Saturday night’s finale of the Division Series, with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians deciding their ALDS vying for a shot at the Tampa Bay Rays.
“The Brewers will be fresher than they were a year ago, when the Dodgers swept an exhausted team. In this rematch, Milwaukee will also feature the sport’s most disciplined offense, the hardest-throwing pitching staff and, after Wednesday’s smothering of the Padres, the belief they can win big games on the road.”
Scoring has been down this postseason, with both teams scoring at least four runs in only one of 24 games thus far (Game 4 of Guardians-White Sox on Thursday). Bradley Woodrum at Baseball Prospectus looked at the reasons behind the low scoring and the numbers behind the “magical fourth run.”
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Coby Mayo #16 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates with Colton Cowser #17 after scoring in the first inning during game two of a double header against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 23, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning Birdland,
There was no baseball yesterday, and it seems like the Orioles avoided stepping on yet another rake. So, there is little content on which to blog. But we will prevail!
There will be a decisive Game 5 in the ALDS this evening. The White Sox and Guardians will face off at 8 p.m. in Cleveland. TBS/HBO Max has the broadcast.
University of Maryland product Sean Burke will start for the ChiSox. He was quite good this season (11-7, 3.34 ERA, 172.1 IP, 4.2 bWAR). What has allowed him to excel? Well, according to Burke himself: “This is my life. I don’t have family, no girl, no kids. This is all I do.” I suppose that does give you more time to hone your craft…but, like, are you going OK, Sean?
Burke later clarified that he didn’t literally mean he had no family. In fact, a bunch of them celebrated on the field with him when the White Sox clinched the playoffs. Rather, he seems to have meant that he doesn’t have a current long-term romantic relationship or kids. He gave an individual shoutout to his mom, so I would bet she in particular did not love the quote. Probably good that he got all of that sorted out before Thanksgiving rolls around next month.
Back to the baseball. My rooting interests are with the White Sox tonight. If they win, that will mean it is a White Sox/Rays ALCS, two teams that the Orioles had winning records against this season. It just feels fitting that this mediocre American League yields a World Series representative that our frustratingly sub-par favorite team handled in the regular season and yet it was the rest of the field that gave them so much trouble. It could be you guys out there!
Links
Sonny Gray Plans To Pitch In 2027 | MLB Trade Rumors This is not Orioles-related, but it could be! We know Mike Elias loves to sign old starting pitchers. Gray seems to prefer East Coast teams. And he has said he wants to win a World Series. Now, let’s admit that the Orioles are NOT the team you think of when dreaming about the postseason, but maybe they could be? Gray had a 2.72 ERA over 169 innings in 2026. He has thrown 166 innings or more in four straight seasons.
How Cowser believes he can return to form for O’s in ’27 | Orioles.com Ah yes, Colton Cowser, the topic of the rift between Jim Palmer and Craig Albernaz. He is a player that will be under the microscope a bit in 2027. His glove is so good that he needs to be in the lineup pretty much everyday regardless of matchup, but he has serious trouble with left-handed pitching. They should try to fix that.
Taking another look at the bullpen | Roch Kubatko This is one area of the team that feels pretty good going into the offseason. They should not just assume they will continue to ascend in 2027, but it’s a good starting point. At the very least, Félix Bautista, Ryan Helsley, and Yennier Cano should be a solid veteran trio you can trust most nights. Rico Garcia should have his spot as well. They probably need to go find a lefty that they feel similarly about, though Josh Walker and Grant Wolfram have their backers.
Kyle Goon: Are the Orioles listening? Their fans think they aren’t. | The Banner The Orioles have not been a winning baseball team for two full seasons now, and they completely fell apart back in 2024. Meanwhile, Elias has gotten a promotion and spoken about making his department bigger this offseason, the new owner who has presided over the losing is writing books about being an owner, and the employees that actually make Camden Yards an enjoyable experience have gotten fired. So yeah, it doesn’t feel fair, and the Orioles should have some sense of that when they make these decisions.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
Luis Vázquez turns 27 today. The utility infielder has emerged in Baltimore occasionally in each of the last two seasons, though he played in just one game in 2026.
Nick Vespi is 31 years old. He pitched out of the Orioles bullpen for parts of three seasons from 2022 through ‘24, compiling a 3.88 ERA over 53.1 total innings.
The late Gordie Sundin (b. 1937, d. 2016) was born on this day. He pitched in one big league game, which took place with the Baltimore Orioles in 1956.
This day in O’s history
1979 – The Orioles score five runs in the first inning of Game 1 of the World Series, and cling onto those runs in order to prevail 5-4 over the Pirates.
1996 – The O’s even up the ALCS at one game apiece with a 5-3 win over the Yankees. Rafael Palmeiro hits a seventh inning homer to help lock down the victory.
2012 – Raul Ibańez, who pinch hits for a struggling Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth inning, goes on to hit two key home runs. First, he smacks a game-tying homer off of Orioles closer Jim Johnson in that ninth inning, and then hits a walk-0ff solo shot in the 12th inning off of Brian Matusz to give the Yankees a 3-2 win in Game 3 of the ALDS.
2014 – The O’s drop Game 1 of the ALCS to the Royals 8-6 in extra innings. The Royals score three runs on two homers in the top of the 10th inning to pave the way toward a win.
2023 – The Orioles get swept out of the ALDS by the eventual champion Texas Rangers. Dean Kremer gets knocked around early, while Nathan Eovaldi dominated the Baltimore lineup.
CLEVELAND, OH - OCTOBER 03: A general view of Progressive Field prior to Game One of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Saturday, October 3, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Leigh Bacho/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
The 2026 MLB Playoffs continue today, and it looks like my complaining from yesterday paid off, because we’ve finally got a Game 5! The American League Division Series between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians will conclude tonight, one way or another.
As of the time this is being written, only the White Sox have announced a starting pitcher, which will be right-hander Sean Burke.
Tonight’s game starts at 5:00 p.m. and will air on TBS/HBO Max, with national radio coverage available on ESPN Radio.
Personally, I think I’m rooting for the White Sox still, although it was brought to my attention that Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948. So I don’t think I’ll be unhappy with either result, since I don’t actually have a vested interest in either team.
Baseball: NL Wild Card Playoff: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred with Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort on field before game vs Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Chicago, IL 10/2/2018 CREDIT: Jeff Haynes (Photo by Jeff Haynes /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X162181 TK1 )
Good morning, Rockies fans!
Major League Baseball is apparently interested in giving us a little less baseball.
On Thursday, MLB unveiled its latest proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, including a reduction of the regular season from 162 games to 154 beginning in 2029. The 154-game schedule was once baseball’s standard, before the American League expanded to 162 games in 1961 and the National League followed in 1962.
For the Colorado Rockies, that would mean 77 home games at Coors Field and 77 on the road, instead of 81 each. That, of course, would also make a .500 record 77-77 instead of 81-81.
The number of games isn’t the only proposed change. MLB also wants a scheduled weekly off-day, generally on Mondays, and four doubleheaders against division opponents, further reducing the number of days teams would take the field. The additional rest could benefit Colorado’s pitching staff, although those doubleheaders could create their own challenges.
So, just how important are eight games?
The Rockies have never won the NL West. The closest they have ever come was in 2018, when they finished tied with the Dodgers for first place after 162 games, only to lose Game 163.
After Game 154, Colorado was 84-70 and 1.5 games behind Los Angeles. The Rockies then won seven of their final eight games to force the tiebreaker.
Of course, for a franchise accustomed to looking up at the rest of the division, a shorter season might just mean eight fewer games spent doing so.
Despite a fourth consecutive 100-loss season, Maddy Dickens believes the Rockies have enough encouraging pieces to justify an aggressive offseason. With Hunter Goodman leading an improving offense and some positive developments in the bullpen, Dickens argues that addressing the starting rotation should be a priority for Paul DePodesta. It’s an optimistic assessment of where Colorado stands heading into 2027.
With Paul DePodesta preparing for his first full offseason leading the Rockies, changes to the roster seem inevitable. Sports Illustrated’s Ben Fisher examines which Colorado player could be on the move as the organization looks toward 2027. The question isn’t simply who might be available, but what kind of return the Rockies could get as they reshape the roster.
FanGraphs’ Brendan Gawlowski included Rockies prospect Andy Perez in his Arizona Fall League scouting notebook. Perez’s bat-to-ball skills caught his attention, but so did his aggressive approach at the plate. The ability to make contact is there, though improving his swing decisions could go a long way toward determining how much offensive value he ultimately provides.
Jared Thomas is making some noise in the Arizona Fall League. The Rockies’ No. 10 prospect launched his first home run for the Salt River Rafters, sending the ball 417 feet. After an injury-interrupted season, Thomas is getting some valuable extra playing time this fall, and this is a pretty good way to make use of it.
The White Sox and Guardians have spent all season battling for supremacy in the AL Central, and now it comes down to one game. In their 17 meetings this year, eight have been decided by a single run, including four walk-offs. Will Leitch looks at the biggest storylines heading into Saturday night’s winner-take-all Game 5, including José Ramírez’s resurgence and Chicago’s unconventional pitching strategy.
Following an entertaining Division Series between the Brewers and Padres, Matthew Roberson takes a look back at the best Division Series in MLB history. Since the format became a permanent part of the postseason in 1995, there have been plenty of memorable October moments. Roberson ranks the ten best series, giving baseball fans something to debate while we wait for the next round.
J.J. Cooper examines how the Brewers and Padres combined for the hardest-throwing game of the pitch-tracking era, averaging 95.3 mph across all pitches on October 3. It’s an interesting look at how much velocity has increased across baseball.
Should a team save its ace for a potential Game 7, or use him earlier to improve its chances of getting there? Ben Clemens examines the math behind postseason pitching decisions and whether teams are better off using their best starters early or saving them for the biggest possible moments.
There are a few known and lesser-known Cubs prospects in this entry of Cub Tracks.
Go, Clevelanders!!! The Guardians are one game from advancing to the ALCS. We owe the fans of Cleveland for 2016, when they became the organization with the WS longest drought. Go Everyone Associated with Cleveland!
Iron Mike (RIP):
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Lockout on Everyone’s Mind:
Matthew Nethercott (Diamond Centric): Here’s Why MLB Owners Will Avoid A Lengthy 2027 Lockout. “Baseball’s looming labor dispute could threaten the 2027 season, but a little-discussed provision involving MLB’s television contracts may give owners a powerful incentive to reach an agreement.”
Matthew Nethercott (Diamond Centric): MLB Owners Propose Major Changes to Regular Season & Postseason Format. “A 154-game regular season, seven-game Division Series and a new system allowing teams to select playoff opponents are among the proposed changes tied to a salary cap agreement.”
Minors/Pipeline:
Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): MLB Pipeline Names Its Cubs Prospects of the Year. “Ayers’ breakout year certainly deserves the nod, but so does that of Josiah Hartshorn and his incredible pro debut. My guess was that we would see various platforms go in either direction.”
Cory Sparks (North Side Baseball): Cubs Farmhand Miguel Useche is Surging, Against All Odds. “From independent ball to Double-A, Miguel Useche has already come a long way. Can he complete an improbable journey to the big leagues?”
Free Agents/Arbitration:
Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Ranking the Cubs’ Contract Option Decisions, from Easiest to Toughest. “Eight members of the Cubs have options in their contract for 2027. Most of them will be declined, in one way or another, but for the team, the decisions break in each direction—and, mostly, they figure to be pretty easy.”
Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): How Cubs Should Handle Their 11 Arbitration-Eligible Players This Fall. “The Cubs won’t have to fork over big money for their fistful of arbitration-eligible players this offseason. That’s the good news. The bad news is, they’d really love to have to pay some of them more.”
Carson Wolf (Just Baseball): Where the Cubs Stand After an Abrupt End to the 2026 Season. “The Cubs’ 2026 season ended abruptly after entering the postseason with World Series aspirations. Now, several questions need answers this offseason.”
Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Nico Hoerner on What the Cubs Can Take Away from a Two-Game Wild Card Sweep. “Among the topics about which I most wanted to hear is the dichotomy between the playoffs being THE PLAYOFFS, and also being just two games. How much can a player take away from something like that?
In the early 1960s, Butterfield met aspiring blues guitarist Elvin Bishop. Bishop recalled:
He [Butterfield] was playing more guitar than harp when I first met him. But in about six months he became serious about the harp, and he seemed to get about as good as he got in that six months. He was just a natural genius. This was in 1960 or 1961. By this time Butter had been hanging out in the ghetto for a couple of years, and he was part of the scene and getting accepted.
Eventually, Butterfield, on vocals and harmonica, and Bishop, accompanying him on guitar, were offered a regular gig at Big John’s, a folk club in the Old Town district on Chicago’s near North Side. With this booking, they persuaded bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay (both from Howlin’ Wolf’s touring band) to form a group with them in 1963. Their engagement at the club was highly successful and brought the group to the attention of record producer Paul A. Rothchild.
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Quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers opened the season winless through four games. (David Becker / Associated Press)
I’ve been a Justin Herbert fan since his days in Oregon. I kept believing he was going to lead the Chargers to new heights, even after all the leadership changes he’s been through. He’s talented, tough and all-in. I gave him every benefit of the doubt. But now, I can conclude only that Justin Herbert is the problem. Inconsistent, often slow to react, but mostly he’s unable to finish. He’s lost more games in the fourth quarter than he’s won.
So far this season the Chargers have the greatest negative point differential in the fourth quarter in the NFL. The pattern is consistent regardless of the coach. Is it all on Herbert? No. But he is the common denominator through all of this.
First, the fumbling. Thank you, Derius Davis. Your inability to simply complete a fair catch led directly to a Seahawks touchdown. How many points did your team lose by?
Next, the bumbling. Call it a banged up offensive line, (AGAIN!), a moderately skilled and depleted receiving core, or a lost, interception prone Justin Herbert, the Charger offense remains sketchy, inconsistent, and self-destructive.
Finally, the stumbling continues … as they cannot beat teams they should or pull out potential victories over the more challenging ones.
Good luck turning this around!
Rick Solomon Lake Balboa
I don’t care much about the Chargers. I rarely read stories about them and would be elated if they’d return to San Diego where they belong.
But, much like a car accident on the 405 that you instinctively know you shouldn’t stare, I just can’t seem to avert my eyes from the wreck the Chargers have become.
Ron Yukelson San Luis Obispo
Here is a modest proposal: Lincoln Riley and Jim Harbaugh waive their buyout clauses and swap jobs. It might be the rare trade that improves both organizations. It is difficult to see how it could make things worse.
Paul Hunt Sierra Madre
Lincoln’s log
Lincoln Riley is a classic trust fund kid who inherited a billion-dollar program from Bob Stoops and a perennial power at USC. Bob Chesney inherited a teardown from DeShaun Foster at UCLA and has turned it into a Malibu Mansion.
Mark S. Roth Playa Vista
The commandments
Since when has The Times become a religious newspaper? That’s what came to mind as I read Eric Sondheimer’s “Bible” dealing with the ethical dilemmas and tough calls in high school sports. His article should be required reading for all high school athletes, their parents, coaches, and athletic directors. The answers are not always easy, but until we start thinking about these matters we will not move forward towards a better high school sports experience for the many participants.
Mark Kaiserman Santa Monica
Recent history
Dodgers’ dinosaurs: Still roaming. Padres: Extinct. History class dismissed.
Steve Ross Carmel
Bill Plaschke wrote that the Dodgers are “now just eight wins away but, given how mediocre the American League playoff teams appear, they could realistically be just four wins away.” Is he serious? Hey Bill, have you not watched the Tampa Bay Rays at all this year? They just swept the Yankees. Their pitching staff is deep and talented, they play exceptional defense, and they have an offensive attack that does all the little things well.
The Dodgers will have to beat two excellent teams to three-peat. I’m sure the Dodgers know this, even if Plaschke doesn’t.
Steve Kehela Studio City
Wrong answer
The MLB’s proposed reduction of games for the season from 162 to 154 to allow them to expand the divisional playoffs from a five-game series to a seven-game series is not the right solution. Baseball teams have 30 spring training exhibition games. This is way too many. No other sport has that many exhibition games before the season. All MLB needs to do it cut 10 days off of spring training to bring the number of spring training games down to a little more than 20 games and this will allow them the time to extend the divisional playoffs.
Steve Shaevel Woodland Hills
Guiding hand
It was October 1988 and Orel Hershiser pitched well in the World Series. Kirk Gibson was limping but homered. Tommy Lasorda was making the on-the- field decisions, but it was GM Fred Claire who put the Dodgers in position to win their sixth World Series.
We lost Fred this week on his 91st birthday. We will always remember him for 1988 and even more for his kindness.
Fred Wallin Westlake Village
Dollars and sense
Regarding the Buss siblings’ fighting over the potential sale of their shares in the Lakers, I honestly hope that they can resolve this. Frankly, I lose a lot of sleep at night worrying that the family will be doing OK financially!
Jack Wolf Westwood
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.
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 30: Brandon Marsh (16) of the Philadelphia Phillies bats during the Atlanta Braves versus Philadelphia Phillies game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on September 30, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
There is a game five tonight with the White Sox going back to Cleveland to take on the Guardians to see who will be playing the Rays in the ALCS. Chicago might be on fumes with their pitching staff though as their idea of “pitching chaos” is starting to get exposed.
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - JULY 16: Shohei Ohtani #17 of Los Angeles Dodgers waves to Christian Yelich #22 of the Milwaukee Brewers prior to the 94th MLB All-Star Game presented by Mastercard at Globe Life Field on July 16, 2024 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images) | Getty Images
“Here we go again,” says the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in what is now a popular meme. For the third time in nine years, the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers face off in the National League Championship Series, and Brewers fans are hoping that this time they can get past the well-funded boogeymen who reside in the LA hills.
On paper, this year’s version of the Dodgers do not seem to be in as strong a position as they have the past two years, in which they’ve won back-to-back World Series titles. Yes, the starting rotation is formidable, as good as any we’ve seen in baseball in recent years. But Shohei Ohtani is banged up, key contributors in the lineup are a year older, and questions remain about the team’s bullpen.
Let’s take a position-by-position look at what each team has to offer, and determine who might have the edge in the series. I’ll list a few regular season stats with each players and give a quick breakdown, then determine who has the advantage.
Catcher
Brewers: William Contreras (2.9 bWAR, 108 OPS+, 18 HR), Gary Sánchez (0.6 bWAR, 112 OPS+, 12 HR)
Dodgers: Will Smith (1.7 bWAR, 115 OPS+, 10 HR), Hunter Feduccia (0.5 bWAR, 75 OPS+, 1 HR)
Contreras’s full-season numbers don’t look as good as they have in previous years — his 108 OPS+ was his worst in any of the five seasons in which he has played over 52 games. That doesn’t quite tell the whole story, though; Contreras was mired in a brutal slump that lasted most of July and August before he hit .292/.359/.562 over his last 23 games and then went 6-for-16 (.375) with two homers against the Padres in the Division Series. Sánchez is a capable backup who should get plenty of action as a pinch hitter in this series: by OPS+, Sánchez had his best season since 2019, and against left-handed pitching this season he hit .238/.366/.436. Sánchez also posted a career-best 16.7% walk rate, an elite mark, and showed the value of that patience during his at-bat against Mason Miller in the ninth inning of NLDS Game 2 on Sunday.
Smith has been one of the league’s premier catchers since his debut in 2019; from 2021-25, he had five straight seasons with at least 3.3 WAR and made three All-Star teams. But he struggled with health this season — an inflamed disc in his neck limited him to just 73 games, by far the fewest in any season since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Smith, who is now 31, still performed well when on the field, with a 115 OPS+ and 10 homers in those 73 games. After missing nearly three months with his neck injury, Smith returned to the lineup on September 1, and hit .290/.400/.548 over the final month, though he struggled in the NLDS, managing just a single in 16 at-bats.
Feduccia, acquired from the Rays at the trade deadline, was meant to be LA’s third-string catcher — a temporary backup to Dalton Rushing, who took over the starting job when Smith was injured. But Rushing is dealing with an elbow injury and cannot catch, and did not make the NLDS roster, so Feduccia is on the roster as a “break glass in case of emergency” backup.
Advantage: Brewers, but it’s slight. Contreras raked in the NLDS and Smith was awful, so this is mostly based on recency bias. I wouldn’t count on Smith staying down for long, though, as he was quite good for the entire month of September. Sánchez has way more value as a backup than Feduccia has; don’t be surprised if there are a couple of important Sánchez at-bats in the series.
First Base
Brewers: Jake Bauers (3.3 WAR, 140 OPS+, 26 HR), Andrew Vaughn (1.5 WAR, 130 OPS+, 6 HR)
Dodgers: Freddie Freeman (2.7 WAR, 118 OPS+, 16 HR)
Bauers and Vaughn combined for one of the more potent platoons in the majors this year. Bauers, in a surprising season, was amongst NL leaders in on-base percentage and OPS, finishing seventh among qualified NL hitters in OPS+. Vaughn was a capable complement, and after missing some time at the beginning of the season had what was, by rate stats, his best season, over 331 plate appearances. Vaughn has been used pretty strictly as a platoon player of late, and Pat Murphy chose to use him as a high-powered pinch-hitter against the Padres, so he got only two plate appearances in that series. With more lefties available for the Dodgers, Vaughn may get a start or two, but there is some logic to Murphy’s approach, giving him maximum flexibility to play defense and keeping a good defensive unit while keeping Bauers in the lineup.
Freeman is, of course, well on his way as a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. He also recently turned 37 years old, and that age finally appears to be slowing down one of the best hitters of the 21st century. Freeman still had a good year — one of the iron men of modern baseball, Freeman played in 153 games (he’s played in at least 90% of his team’s games in every season since 2017) and was solid, with a .288/.362/.430 batting line, 32 doubles, and 16 homers. But that’s his worst season by OPS+ (118) since he was 22 years old way back in 2012, and his 2.7 WAR was his lowest total since that same 2012 season (even including 2020, when he played only 60 games but won the NL MVP). Freeman remains a dangerous hitter who has a ton of playoff experience, which showed in the NLDS, when he homered twice against his former team.
Advantage: Brewers, but again, it’s slight. Bauers and Vaughn’s combined performance was definitely better than Freeman’s over the course of the season, but I’m not about to doubt Freddie Freeman in the playoffs.
Second Base
Brewers: Brice Turang (7.3 WAR, 124 OPS+, 21 HR)
Dodgers: Tommy Edman (1.6 WAR, 97 OPS+, 8 HR), Miguel Rojas (0.8 WAR, 93 OPS+, 4 HR)
Turang was the league’s best second baseman in 2026, by a comfortable margin. He’s become a good offensive player with pop, he still runs the bases well, and he’s one of the league’s best defensive players. The only question here is whether Turang can shake whatever is bugging him in the postseason; since his offensive awakening during the summer of 2025, Turang has been unable to translate that success to the playoffs. In 55 plate appearances since the start of the 2025 postseason, Turang has just six hits (.118/.182/.196). He hit singles in each of the last two games of the Padres series and looked a little more comfortable at the plate in Game 4, so hopefully this is beginning to turn. The Brewers need him.
Edman is one of those guys who doesn’t seem threatening when he’s on almost any other team but then he joins the Dodgers for nothing and you can’t help but wonder how LA was allowed to get a guy like him. Edman is a versatile role player who, outside of his first couple of full seasons with the Cardinals in the early 2020s, hasn’t done a whole lot in the regular season. But he’s been a crucial part of the Dodgers’ World Series teams the last two years; he won NLCS MVP in 2024, and coming into this season was a .273/.303/.435 hitter in 32 playoff games with the Dodgers (in that same timespan, he hit .229/.280/.392 during the regular season). Edman went 0-for-7 against Atlanta, so hopefully the magic dust has worn off a bit.
Rojas is 37 and doesn’t figure to be a major part of this series, but he’s absolutely the kind of guy who you can’t believe just homered.
Advantage: Brewers. It’s not going to be an easy series for Turang, with Blake Snell and Tarik Skubal in LA’s rotation, but if he can find a way to break out offensively, it could be a key to the series.
Third Base
Brewers: Joey Ortiz (2.6 WAR, 101 OPS+, 9 HR), David Hamilton (1.8 WAR, 80 OPS+, 4 HR)
Dodgers: Max Muncy (4.1 WAR, 128 OPS+, 29 HR), Kiké Hernández (-0.1 WAR, 82 OPS+, 4 HR)
Ortiz had a roller-coaster season but hit .329/.379/.532 in 51 games after the All-Star break, a real sample. He also might be the Brewers’ best defensive player. Hamilton is one of this team’s more divisive players, but it certainly looks like Murphy prefers him in matchups versus right-handed pitching at the moment. Hamilton is not the defensive player that Ortiz is, and while he’s a better hitter against righties (.668 OPS), he still wasn’t as good statistically against them as Ortiz, the right-hander, was (.768 OPS, significantly better than against LHP). Ortiz mostly didn’t look good against the Padres — just one hit in 11 PA — but he did hit the ball hard into outs a couple times.
Muncy, who turned 36 at the end of August, somehow just had one of his best seasons. He graded as a solid defensive third baseman, hit for his highest batting average since 2018, and slugged 29 homers, the fifth time in his career he’s had at least that many. By WAR, it was the fourth-best season of Muncy’s 11-year career and his highest total since 2021. Qualitatively, he’s just one of those guys who it feels like he’s going to pop a homer every time he swings the bat. I hate it.
Speaking of things I hate: Hernández is 34, and over the last five seasons is a .225/.281/.360 hitter. In that same timespan, in the playoffs, he is a .271/.317/.411 hitter. He went just 1-for-6 in the NLDS, but his one hit was, of course, a homer. There’s a very good chance he does something extremely annoying during this series.
Advantage: Dodgers. Muncy is a dangerous hitter. Ortiz’s defense will help, but this is the most likely spot on the roster to be a complete offensive black hole.
Shortstop
Brewers: Cooper Pratt (1.7 WAR, 99 OPS+, 3 HR)
Dodgers: Mookie Betts (3.9 WAR, 113 OPS+, 23 HR), Hyesong Kim (0.5 WAR, 81 OPS+, 1 HR)
Pratt debuted in mid-June when Ortiz’s season had hit a low point. Most expected him to be a good defensive player who would struggle offensively. As it happened, Pratt held his own offensively — he was just about exactly a league average hitter in 74 games, and the defense was as advertised. At least until the NLDS, when Pratt committed as almost as many errors in four games — three — as he had in his 74 regular season contests (five). Pratt did pick up a few hits, including a ground-rule double, against San Diego, though, and looked like he belonged.
At shortstop we meet the Dodgers’ second future Hall-of-Famer, one of the best defensive right fielders of all time, Mookie Betts. Betts looked on his way to an underwhelming season at the plate, but he salvaged his season with a scorching-hot September; he hit .337/.438/.674 with seven homers and nine doubles in 23 games. Perhaps beneficial for the Brewers, that didn’t seem to carry over into the NLDS, where he was 3-for-14 with three singles and three walks.
Kim doesn’t matter much — if he’s not replaced on the NLCS roster, he’s probably just here as a pinch-runner and potential defensive substitute.
Advantage: Dodgers. Pratt is a nice player and Betts, who turned 34 on Wednesday, isn’t what he used to be. But if he’s anything like the hitter he was in September, he could carry the whole Dodger offense on his back.
Outfield
Brewers: Jackson Chourio (4.9 WAR, 129 OPS+, 25 HR), Garrett Mitchell (3.4 WAR, 112 OPS+, 11 HR), Sal Frelick (-0.5 WAR, 70 OPS+, 4 HR), Luis Lara (1.2 WAR, 77 OPS+, 1 HR)
Dodgers: Teoscar Hernández (1.0 WAR, 108 OPS+, 16 HR), Andy Pages (6.0 WAR, 122 OPS+, 23 HR), Kyle Tucker (0.7 WAR, 97 OPS+, 17 HR, $60 million), Josue De Paula (0.5 WAR, 198 OPS+, 1 HR)
Chourio’s batting line in the NLDS (3-for-16, a homer, six RBIs) belies the fact that he was on everything. Chourio looked like a star in the series, even if he only had three hits — all three of them major, clutch, run-scoring hits that either tied the game or gave the Brewers the lead — to show for it.
Mitchell should be coming into the NLCS feeling confident. After a tepid showing in the NLDS’s first three games (a couple of hits, but six strikeouts in 12 plate appearances), Mitchell was the star of the show in the clincher, where he hit a triple and an RBI single, scored a run, and robbed Manny Machado of the game-tying homer in the eighth. Frelick, battling a series of nagging injuries, had an awful season, but he looked like the vintage version of himself against the Padres, when he started three of four games, hit .333 with a couple RBI, a stolen base, and a couple runs scored, and threw out a runner at third base. Lara struggled to hit down the stretch (an abysmal .188/.243/.203 in September) but worked a walk and saw a lot of pitches in his one start in the Padres series and will always give you elite defense in right field.
Pages is the Dodgers’ best outfielder and their best position player under 30. Depending on your preferred defensive metric, he grades as one of the best defensive outfielders in the league (DRS has him even higher than Pete Crow-Armstrong) and he’s a good hitter. He started incredibly hot, though — he had an OPS over 1.000 after about a month — and hit a much more modest .259/.343/.414 from June 1 until the end of the season. He missed about a month toward the end of the season after fracturing a bone in his hand but hit well over the season’s last week after he returned. He had four singles and a couple RBIs against the Braves.
Hernández is slowing down — he turns 34 next week, and he’s seen a significant downturn offensively in the last two years from his peak seasons (2020-24). He remains a potent weapon versus lefties — .303/.392/.515 this season — so the Brewers will need to prioritize matchups in his case. Tucker is one of the bigger disappointments in recent years after signing an immense contract before the season; he looked like a shell of himself, and after five straight seasons with between 4.5 and 5.5 WAR, he looked lost at the plate for most of the season and, despite being healthy, finished with an OPS that was nearly 100 points lower than any other season of the last six years. His defense, a traditional strength (he won a Gold Glove in 2022) also graded out poorly. Tucker is only 29 — not sure what happened.
De Paula is a mega prospect who was promoted straight from Double-A to the big leagues when Ohtani went on the IL late in the season. He hit .323/.500/.581 in 42 plate appearances, and went 0-for-1 with a walk against the Braves.
Advantage: Brewers. Let’s call Chourio and Pages a wash (though I’d rather have Chourio); Mitchell was far better than anything the Dodgers got from Hernández or Tucker this season, and if Frelick looks like he did in the Padres series, he’s better than either of those guys, too. LA’s “other” guys have the ability to change a game with a homer, but are likely to be net negatives, especially over a longer series.
Designated Hitter
Brewers: Christian Yelich (0.1 WAR, 91 OPS+, 12 HR)
Dodgers: Shohei Ohtani (3.2 WAR as hitter, 143 OPS+, 26 HR)
Yelich struggled this season. We know it, he knows it. He turns 35 soon, and this is probably just how it’s going to be for him moving forward. But Yelich, who was better in the second half than the first and flashed some solid indicators for quite a while, was lively in the NLDS — he hit .357 (5-for-14) with a double and an RBI, he stole a couple of bases, he walked a couple times, and he had a couple of bad-luck hard-hit balls — a shot to deep center that looked like it was going to tie the game in Game 2 but was caught, and his 107-mph game-ending double play in Game 3.
Even whatever optimized version of 34-year-old Yelich is going to be at a disadvantage against the game’s biggest star, though. Ohtani is banged up — he’s been dealing with knee and biceps injuries, neither serious enough to threaten his season but bad enough that he had an IL stint late in the season to try to get healthy. He doesn’t look healthy. In early summer, it looked like he was on his way to a fourth straight MVP — he was hitting .296/.412/.542 at the end of June and pitching as well as we have ever seen from him. But the pitching went first — his last appearance as a pitcher came on July 3, and while he stayed in the lineup after that, there was a downturn in results that accelerated as we got closer to the end of the season. The former home run champ hasn’t hit one out since August 18, and in 18 games from then to the end of the season he hit just .157/.289/.214. He hit two singles and walked twice in 16 plate appearances against Atlanta, and batted fifth and fourth in the lineup in the series’ last two games, after batting first or second in literally every time he’d been in the Dodger lineup the last three years.
Advantage: Dodgers. I’m still giving it to Shohei, but it really doesn’t seem like he’s healthy, and there’s a real chance Yelich outperforms him.
Starting Pitching
Brewers: Jacob Misiorowski (6.5 bWAR, 1.80 ERA, 2.17 FIP), Logan Henderson (3.3 bWAR, 2.47 ERA, 3.32 FIP), Robert Gasser (1.3 bWAR, 3.87 ERA, 4.24 FIP), Dustin May (0.3 bWAR, 5.65 ERA and 5.06 FIP with Brewers)
The Brewers might have the best pitcher in this series, but the Dodgers are boasting a gauntlet unlike we’ve seen in the majors in some time — who was the last No. 4 starter as good as Glasnow? I’ve ordered LA’s pitchers here in the order that they pitched against Atlanta. Skubal, who of course was heavily tied to the Brewers in trade rumors, mostly shut down the Braves for six innings in Game 1; he allowed two hits, two walks, and a run while striking out seven. Skubal has a long history of postseason performance, too; he has a 1.97 ERA and 2.18 FIP in 45 2/3 career postseason innings.
Snell wasn’t sharp against the Braves — he held them to one run but walked five guys in 3 2/3 innings. But during the regular season (which, aside from one rough outing in May, didn’t start for Snell until August 11), Snell was as sharp as he has ever been: over eight starts since permanently joining the rotation in August, Snell allowed only five runs — never more than a single run in one outing — in 39 2/3 innings (a 1.13 ERA). He struck out 50 and walked 14, looking every bit of the guy who’d won Cy Youngs in Tampa and San Diego. Those who haven’t blocked it out will also remember that Snell utterly dominated Milwaukee in last year’s NLCS, when he struck out 10, walked zero, and allowed only one hit in eight shutout innings in Game 1.
Yamamoto is the Dodgers’ No. 3, a guy who finished third in Cy Young voting and won the World Series MVP last season. He was just as good this year as he was last year and shut down the Braves in his one start in the NLDS. Glasnow, the fourth starter, had a 3.53 ERA and 2.74 FIP in 74 innings this season and held the Braves to one run in 4 2/3 innings in the series clincher on Wednesday.
On the Milwaukee side, Misiorowski will look to get past his shaky start versus the Padres — two runs in four innings, in which he needed 88 pitches despite just one walk. Miz handled the Dodgers in his only start against them this season, when he allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts.
Henderson was a bit shaky as well at the beginning of his outing against San Diego but settled in nicely. He allowed two runs, but he had no help from his defense (only one of those was earned). Gasser pitched well against the Padres and on paper he’s got a better matchup against the Dodgers, who rely on more lefties than the Padres do — I’d definitely slot him in ahead of May in this series. Milwaukee will probably need a fourth starter — I’d be surprised if Misiorowski pitched on three days’ rest in game four — and that might be the longtime Dodger May, but they also might just do a bullpen game (or effectively do a bullpen game with May getting a shot once through the order, or something like that).
Advantage: Dodgers. This is one of the best four-man rotations I’ve ever seen. Misiorowski can beat any of them, but LA has three different guys who can match him on any given day. The Brewers will have their work cut out for them, and their best bet in this series is to grind out at-bats against the starters and try to get to the bullpen as quickly as possible.
In the NLDS, there was a lot of talk about the Padres and their league-best bullpen heading into the series. But the Brewers got to Adrián Morejon in Game 1 and Mason Miller in Game 2, while their own bullpen — which at this point might be flying under the radar a bit as a major strength — allowed just one earned run in 19 innings against San Diego. Both Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe may have gotten away with a couple of near homers, but Aaron Ashby looked as good as he’s ever looked in game four, and the Brewers got solid work from DL Hall, Antonio Senzatela, and JoJo Romero, as well. With the higher concentration of lefties that the Dodger lineup presents, expect Shane Drohan and Kyle Harrison to have roles in this series, as well. Chad Patrick may have fallen off the trust tree with his September control issues, but we’ll see.
The Dodgers aren’t in as bad of shape here as they have been at times in the past, but I wouldn’t call the bullpen a major strength. After a disaster of a season in 2025, lefty Tanner Scott fixed himself, and had an excellent season in which he saved 25 games.
It wasn’t Scott closing games in the NLDS, though: the Dodgers went with the right-handed Edwin Díaz, despite his 8.68 ERA during the regular season. Díaz is one of the best closers of his time — he’s got a solid argument as the best reliever in his league at least twice — and he was really good for the Mets in 2025. But after his big contract in LA, something has been wrong. He’s spent some time on the injured list but there doesn’t seem to be a major injury issue — he just started walking guys and giving up hard contact. The Dodgers gambled a bit by using Díaz to close back-to-back games in Atlanta after he pitched a scoreless inning in LA’s Game 2 loss, and he’s now riding three straight scoreless outings in which he hasn’t walked anyone into the NLCS. If Díaz is fixed, that’s bad news for the Brewers… but his strikeouts are also down (three strikeouts in three innings in the postseason, well below his typical numbers) and Ozzie Albies got him for a double off the wall on Tuesday, so who knows. It’s a major wildcard in this series.
Other notables here include the flamethrowing Henriquez, the reliable lefty Alex Vesia, and converted-ish starters Sasaki and Bubic. The Dodgers only carried eight relievers in the NLDS, and it’s very possible that they’ll replace either De Paula or Kim with another reliever (Jack Dreyer? Justin Wrobleski?) for the longer NLCS.
Advantage: Brewers. Milwaukee has more depth in their pen. Scott is really good and there are a few good pitchers here, but there are some questions about roles, and Díaz is a major question mark. The Brewers also match up well with all the left-handed hitters (Ohtani, Freeman, Muncy, Tucker) in the Dodgers’ lineup.
Wrapping up
I accidentally wrote 4,000 words, so I’ll keep this brief:
Catcher: Brewers First Base: Brewers Second Base: Brewers, big time Third Base: Dodgers Shortstop: Dodgers Outfield: Brewers Designated Hitter: Dodgers, maybe, unless Ohtani is as hurt as he looks Starting Rotation: Dodgers, big time Bullpen: Brewers
The Brewers are better at more places on the field, but the Dodgers’ rotation is a major equalizer. Overall, these are two pretty evenly matched teams. If the Brewers can be pesky against the Dodgers’ starters and force them to throw a lot of pitches, I like their chances. But if they can’t find a way to get through Skubal, Snell, and Yamamoto (they couldn’t last year, at least in the case of the latter two) and into the bullpen, it may not matter much.
