Category: Baseball

In the top of the ninth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers' NL division series opener, fate intervened during a fly ball off the bat of San Diego Padres first baseman Ty France.

His high drive to left field shockingly struck part of the roof at American Family Field and dropped straight down into the glove of the Brewers' Jackson Chourio.

A possible go-ahead two-run homer went down as a routine fly out in the scorebook.

For many Brewers fans, it wasn't a wire or a part of the infrastructure that saved the game – it was the spirit of beloved late broadcaster Bob Uecker.

"I'm telling you, Ueck reached up there and knocked that ball down like a basketball center rejecting a ball, you know what I mean?" Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "I think Ueck was involved."

More: Brewers pay tribute to franchise icon Bob Uecker in touching ceremony

The Yankees are not facing elimination in Game 2 on Monday, but Derek Jeter warned the team cannot look at it that way.

“It’s a must-win [game],” Jeter boldly asserted during Fox Sports’ postgame coverage after the Yankees’ 1-0 loss in Game 1 of the ALDS to the Rays Saturday night.

The Yanks were shut down by Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, who tossed eight shutout innings, struck out 10 batters and allowed just one hit, a double to catcher Austin Wells, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

With likely American League Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler slated to start Game 2, the Yankees legend said the club must capitalize on the matchup.

“That’s the approach you have to have,” Jeter added. “You have Schlittler on the mound — you must win that game.

“Tampa has been the best team in the American League all year, they are tough to beat, especially in that stadium. You cannot go down 0-2, I don’t care if you’re back to New York or not, and expect to win three [in a row].”

After dominating the Red Sox across two games of the Wild Card series, the Yankees’ offense could not muster much in Game 1.

Gerrit Cole allowed only a solo home run to Jonathan Aranda across five solid frames, which was not enough on a night where the offense was lifeless — and later compounded by Wells’ baserunning blunder.

“That Wellsie mistake, is that the reason they lost? Probably not,” Alex Rodriguez said during the postgame show.

“But when you look at the first six months, it’s a dress rehearsal for October…If you’re not accountable April through September, these mistakes are not a surprise.”

The Yankees are set to face former Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta, who was acquired by the Rays at the trade deadline in Game 2.

There is probably no one in baseball history more decorated than Frankie Crosetti. Across his years as a player and then as a coach, he was part of 17 World Series championship teams, all of which were as a Yankee. While he wasn’t a bad player — 27.8 career fWAR — he was hardly ever the star of the championship teams he played on, nor was he the manager of the teams he coached on. However, he was quite clearly helpful to have around in several capacities.

On this, “Crow’s” 116th birthday, let’s look back at the life and times of the serial winner.

Frank Peter Joseph “Frankie” Crosetti
Born: October 4, 1910 (San Francisco, CA)
Died: February 11, 2002 (Stockton, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1932-48

Crosetti was born in San Francisco, the son of an Italian immigrant father and a mother whose parents were immigrants themselves. He would end up being one of a couple Italian-American Yankees from the Bay Area, as future teammates Joe DiMaggio and Tony Lazzeri were San Francisco-born children of immigrants themselves.

As a child, Crosetti learned baseball with his brother, using a whittled down board as a bat and the end of a corncob as a ball. He never much loved school and eventually dropped out when he was 16. He started playing semi-pro baseball out on the west coast and soon caught the attention of the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals. While the Seals appreciated his talent, they thought he was a bit too small and began sending deliveries of milk to his house every morning. He soon packed on 10 pounds and began playing for the Seals in 1928.

Over the next couple seasons, Crosetti became a very good player in San Francisco. In 1930, he hit .334 with 27 home runs, while also being regarded as a very good fielding shortstop. That caught the eye of Yankees’ scout Bill Essick, who was credited with signing DiMaggio, Lefty Gomez, and others for the team. Essick convinced the Yankees to sign Crosetti.

Even after the signing, Crosetti spent 1931 with the Seals, but reported to the Yankees for 1932. Early in the season, manager Joe McCarthy stuck with the veteran Lyn Lary at short with Crosetti at third, but by midseason Crosetti was starting at short and would hold onto that spot for much of the next decade.

The Yankees won the 1932 World Series, but Crosetti got his career off to a bit of a slow start in that season and over the next two, as the Yankees fell back to the pack in the standings. Ahead of the 1935 season, Crosetti worked with the University of California track coach and came into the season bigger, faster, and stronger than he ever had been. While he played well the following year, Crosetti went down with an injury during the season, requiring surgery on his knee.

Crosetti was seemingly running out of chances going into 1936, but he managed to keep hold of his spot in spring training. In the regular season, he then turned in probably the best year of his career. In addition to his always reliable defense, he hit .288/.387/.437 with a career-high 15 home runs. He was named an All-Star for the first of two times in his career. With that, plus Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, and a rookie DiMaggio, the Yankees returned to the World Series, winning the AL pennant and then beating the Giants in six games for Crosetti’s second championship.

Crosetti would never match those offensive exploits again, but he remained a reliable part of the Yankees’ roster for years to come. Besides his defense, he also became known as the most vocal Yankee in the field, with his “Crow” nickname being more than just a play on his last name. In addition to ‘36, he was part of the Yankees four-peat from 1936-39. In 1938, he would’ve had an argument for World Series MVP had it existed, as he OPSed 1.056 in the series, made a couple crucial defensive plays, and hit an eighth inning home run in Game 2 that gave the Yankees the lead for good as they eventually swept the Cubs.

As the calendar turned into the 1940s, Crosetti would start to lose some playing time, as a young shortstop named Phil Rizzuto arrived on the scene. He did get his spot back for a little bit while Rizzuto was serving in the military during World War II, but was never a regular again after that. The Yankees kept him around as a bench player and then a player-coach as the mid to late 40s came along. He would add three more championships to his collection as part of the Yankees 1941, ‘43, and ‘47 teams.

Crosetti gave up playing after 1948 and became a full-time coach, holding a role with the Yankees through 1968. He became the team’s third base coach and won another nine World Series titles over there. He was valued not only for helping younger players along, but also because he never held any ambitions to manage himself. He turned down managerial opportunities from other teams and kept with the Yankees through several managers.

After 1968, the Yankees were mired in what would become arguably the worst period in franchise history. Crosetti resigned from the team desiring to spend more time with his family on the west coast. He joined the Seattle Pilots coaching staff in their one year of existence, and then spent two seasons as a coach for the Twins. He left the MLB ranks after 1971, settling back down in California. He still stayed in the game though, and even did some high school coaching. Crosetti remained in California until he passed away at age 91 in 2002.

There have been many Yankees who have been better players than Crosetti, but based on the way baseball works nowadays, I don’t think anyone will ever become more decorated than Crosetti.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

LOS ANGELES — On a day in 100-degree heat, the second-highest temperature ever for a postseason game at Dodger Stadium, Tarik Skubal reared back and fired a 101.1-mph fastball to Austin Riley in the second inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

“ I think I was just trying to match the temperature out there,” Skubal joked after the game. “It was a hot one.”

Skubal threw three pitches at least 100 mph in the 2026 regular season, topping out at 100.4 mph on April 1 in his second start of the season while still with the Detroit Tigers. In 2025 Skubal threw 31 pitches in triple digits, including five 101 mph or higher, topping out at 102.6 mph. That was over 31 starts, but in the 2025 postseason Skubal packed 22 pitches in triple digits into just three starts.

That was just one of 94 pitches thrown by Skubal on Saturday, and the only one in triple digits, though he had four others between 99.6-99.8 mph, which could be reasonably rounded to 100. Skubal for the game averaged 98.1 mph on his 12 four-seam fastballs and 97.6 mph on his 15 two-seamers, up from his regular season averages of 96.8 mph and 96.7 mph, respectively.

“I think the juices flow a little bit different in postseason games,” Skubal said. “So when I reach back a little bit in postseason stuff, there’s some good counts to kind of let it go in the second inning. … I think environment and adrenaline and the juices flowing kind of always help.”

Skubal, who went to high school in Arizona and currently lives in the state, the heat was something he’s used to. He said as a kid he played a Little League game once in Lake Havasu in 127-degree heat. Skubal stayed hydrated on Saturday and got into a groove, retiring 15 straight batters after a leadoff single to open the game, before allowing a solo home run and two walks in the sixth inning for his only run allowed. The left-hander struck out seven in six innings, lowering his career postseason ERA to 1.97 in seven starts.

Skubal was so focused on pitching, he wasn’t even thinking about the temperature.

“I didn’t really think it was that hot out there until I got done and I walked back in the dugout. I asked — I forget who was sitting, I think it was Snell. I was like, ‘Has it been this hot all game?’ He was like, ‘Yeah,’” Skubal said. “Wow, it’s amazing what your brain can do in certain circumstances and moments. It’s amazing what you can control and kind of eliminate.”

Skubal’s performance helped eliminate one of the three wins the Dodgers need to advance, with Blake Snell waiting to pitch in Game 2 and then Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday in Atlanta for Game 3.

“To have Blake going tomorrow to follow up with what Tarik did today and knowing that you got Yama in the holster for Game 3, we’re in a good spot,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It all starts with winning Game 1.”

Good morning, folks…

Evan Grant, Time Cowlishaw and Kevin Sherrington make their predictions for the four LDS series that kicked off yesterday.

Ty France’s potential go-ahead homer for the Padres in Milwaukee hit a roof cable and ended up being caught by Jackson Chourio for an out. Sam Miller noted, as an aside, that the Padres’ #2 hitter in NLDS game one was a player who was released in August…by the Padres.

That player? Former Texas Ranger Dustin Harris.

David Laurila has his Sunday Notes column up at Fangraphs.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Cardinals fans and fans across the country.

Happy Sunday morning one and all.

This one is going to be even more interesting after this is over, because Tuesday when we do this one again, I am very interested to see where people are.

Going into the Arizona Cardinals matchup with the New York Giants they are 2.5-point favorites according to our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook, the first time this season they are favored, so will that play into things if they somehow do not win this game?

Let’s take a look at how you all voted this week in our Reacts polls.

The Cardinals and their fans are going the wrong direction in terms of confidence in the direction of the franchise, but wins are the only thing that will get fans on board.

Meanwhile, the reason they are so concerned is because of the Arizona Cardinals defense.

It is interesting how most people, specifically the hardcore fans, saw this defense as the issue all along, so are you more discouraged than you expected to be with the defense?

I am interested to hear your reasoning before they kickoff in a couple of hours.

The Phillies have been eliminated from the playoffs. I didn’t expect anyone to be happy about that, but it certainly seemed like some fans had a bit of a “I told you so” skip in their step about their failings. Even if you dislike the president of baseball operations, hoping that his moves fail is bizarre behavior. (I assure you that calling Dave Dombrowski “Dumbrowski” is extremely clever, but you don’t have to constantly remind us of how clever you are by doing it every time you talk about him.)

Obviously, the team wasn’t good enough this season, and that ultimately falls on Dombrowski’s head. But it feels like people are a little off on why they’re angry with him. The biggest criticism I’ve seen is that they took a team that failed the previous four seasons and “ran it back.”

They mostly did run it back, but that’s because they are largely locked into their core. Really, most people didn’t actually want to break up the core. Instead, they wanted to turn over much of the supporting cast like J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, and others.

The problem is, replacing over half the lineup and revamping almost the entire bullpen in one year isn’t really feasible. I suppose it is feasible, but the problem is that the presumption is that you’d replace those players with better players, and that’s the tricky part.

Free agency was largely a wasteland this past offseason. For example, nobody besides Realmuto’s agent liked the team giving him a third year, but he certainly looked like the best option at catcher heading into 2026. Don’t think I don’t remember the “Sign Victor Caritini and platoon him with Rafael Marchan” talk.

I know some people wish the team had signed Pete Alonso and moved Bryce Harper to right field. But after seeing Harper play right field the past two months, does anyone – including Harper – want that to be the norm over the next five years? And there’s also a strong possibility that Alonso’s five-year contract ages poorly.

The same issue existed with Luis Arraez. Arraez did have a good year defensively, but he also showed us why a multiple-time batting champion was readily available in free agency.

Next, take a look at the outfielders who were available in free agency, and you see it wasn’t a pretty picture. The big-ticket guys were Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, and it seems like both of them were heart set on going to the Dodgers and Yankees respectively. You could make the case that the Phillies should have made a press to sign Bellinger instead of re-signing Kyle Schwarber and maintain some positional flexibility. But does that swap change much in the big picture?

Aside from that, the available players largely consisted of veterans like Austin Hays, Harrison Bader, and Rob Refsnyder.

Perhaps the Phillies could have been clever with trades, but they were sorely lacking in viable trade chips. Both of their top prospects – Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller – had some red flags attached, and they were already counting on both Painter and Justin Crawford to fill spots on the major league roster.

That brings us to the real problem: The farm system is not providing them with nearly enough. It would have been nice to plug in a home-grown player into one of the outfield spots and have him be a positive contributor, but instead, we got Crawford. (I know Crawford has his defenders, and this merits a separate article. But ask yourself this question: What is Crawford good at?)

Andrew McFarlane was a great addition to the bullpen, but the Phillies needed far more than just him from the farm. What we got was Gabriel Rincones, Jr., Alan Rangel, and Felix Reyes.

When Dombrowski was hired, he had two missions: Get the major league team back into the playoffs and rebuild the farm system that was a disjointed mess before his arrival. He succeeded on the first part, but it sure doesn’t look like he accomplished the second. And unless he can make progress on that front soon, his successor may soon be hired with the same directives.

We had some fun games yesterday. The vile Yankees were shut out by the slightly less (?) vile Rays. The vile Dodgers staved off a comeback attempt by vile Atlanta. And not especially vile Milwaukee and Chicago won fairly close games against also not especially vile San Diego and Cleveland. In the Rays game, we got the curious spectacle of a no-hitter-bid-ending double where the batter made the third out stretching for a triple, meaning Drew Rasmussen left the game without having had a hit on base.

Today we only have the NL games. The Padres and Brewers go at 4:00pm ET, and the Barves and Dodgers are slated for 8:00. Michael King (12-10, 3.21) will take on Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47) in the early game. Blake Snell (4-1, 1.90) will go for LA in the nightcap, while Atlanta hasn’t announced a starter yet.

Josh Hart was going through it on Saturday night.

The Knicks star, hoping his Yankees can repeat what he and his teammates did a few months ago, shared his roller-coaster of emotions during the Bombers’ 1-0 ALDS Game 1 loss to the Rays in which they recorded just one hit.

Hart was excited at the start, writing “Let’s go Yanks!” on X along with “Let’s get it 4-5,” referring to starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

With Rays ace Drew Rasmussen mowing the Yankees down early, Hart tried to remain positive.

“Alright let’s put some hits together!” Hart wrote.

As the innings wore on, Hart appeared to be getting nervous that the Yankees would be on the wrong end of history.

“Please don’t get no hit,” he wrote.

And he said what every Yankees fan must’ve said when catcher Austin Wells finally broke up Rasmussen’s no-hitter with two outs in the eighth, only to get easily thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple, ignoring third base coach Luis Rojas’ signal to stop at second.

“WHY ARE YOU GOING FOR THIRD??” Hart wrote in his final thought shared about the game.

Wells said after the game that he didn’t see Rojas’ signal until after he had passed second base, and he “was already committed” to trying to get to third.

“You have to take risks. But in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong,” Wells said.

The Yankees, who swept the Red Sox in the best-of-three wild-card round, will try to bounce back in Game 2 on Monday, when their soon-to-be Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler takes the mound.

Their Aaron Judge-less lineup will have to get more than one measly hit, though, to get back to The Bronx with a split.

Hart, meanwhile, is in the middle of training camp as the Knicks prepare to defend their first NBA championship in 53 years.

Choosing how much to take from a single game in the postseason is a challenge. Tarik Skubal did what you expect from baseball’s most talented pitcher. The Dodgers out-homered the Braves three to two with the superior offense. Kyle Tucker hopefully started his redemption tour with a homer in his first playoff affair for the Dodgers. And the Game 1 win came on a scorching-hot day in Los Angeles.

Traditionally, what might be described as a commanding win comes in a blowout result or with a team overcoming glaring obstacles. For this specific matchup, the Dodgers might have managed to secure one over the Braves without any of that, simply by materializing well-established facts regarding these two clubs.

Through the middle of the sixth inning, the Dodgers led by just one run after Sean Murphy delivered Atlanta’s first and only blow to Tarik Skubal with a solo shot. The Braves generated some action in that inning, but Skubal stranded a pair and helped the Dodgers maintain the lead. With all of their offense in the first half of this game coming from Teoscar Hernández’s two-run shot, punishing a mistake-breaking ball in the fourth, the Dodgers’ hitters were playing down to their competition.

The game had gotten shorter, and it was still close, but the moment it became dangerously close with Murphy’s homer and the subsequent trouble Skubal ran into, the Dodgers turned on the jets—giving themselves the cushion to eventually survive a ninth inning scare. Instead of a shutdown inning, the Braves saw the game slip from their hands, allowing a pair of homers in the bottom of the sixth.

The Braves made it close against Tanner Scott in the ninth with a two-run bomb by Ozzie Albies. Even then, it’s not as if Scott were the recipient of unwavering trust from Dave Roberts, a reflection of this bullpen’s depth. In fact, he didn’t even wait and see if Scott could finish the game without allowing the tying run to get an at-bat, bringing in Evan Phillips for the final out. Under normal circumstances, an elite closer has a little more faith than getting pulled because of a single bad pitch, but then again, it’s not a one-off occurrence.

With the scoreline showing 5-3, the prevailing sentiment is that Atlanta played as well as it could have against a dialed-in Skubal apart from one shaky inning, and it still wasn’t enough. While Mookie Betts reached base a couple of times, it was Hernández and the bottom of the order getting it done for Los Angeles. It’s the bottom of the order, but that’s only because someone has to be there, because we’re talking about the likes of Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy. It feels redundant at this point, but the depth to be able to reasonably hit Muncy — the franchise leader in postseason home runs — in the eighth spot is absolutely unparalleled.

Contrasting the depth of the two clubs, Murphy’s home run was the only hit recorded by a batter in the lower half of the Braves lineup. Scott’s troubles in the ninth will be a sticking point, but Skubal’s sixth-inning woes allowed for other bullpen names to come in and prove themselves in this setting. For this one, it was Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia contributing key outs, but for the next one, it could very well be Edgardo Henríquez and Kris Bubic, both of whom warmed up but didn’t enter this game—evidently trusted in high-leverage spots.

Today represents the first minor league recap of the Arizona Fall League, as the league got underway yesterday. The Braves action got underway with Briggs McKenzie returning from injury to make the start.

Salt River Rafters 9, Glendale Desert Dogs 4

• Briggs McKenzie, SP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K
• Logan Samuels, RP: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Owen Hackman, RP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
• Tyler LaPorte, RP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Boxscore

Briggs McKenzie made his first appearance since June 25th and got off to a strong start, though his command was a bit scattered the entire time. In the first inning he got two strikeouts swinging with his fastball and changeup, and also a weak infield ground ball. In his second inning he got another strikeout and weak ground out, but allowed a run via two walks and two singles, though was taken out of the game as his pitch count for the inning approached 30. He did return for the start of the third inning, getting a pair of fly outs and a hit by pitch before leaving the game. In total he threw 49 pitches with 31 being for strikes.

Briggs was relieved by Logan Samuels, who allowed an unearned run on three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Tanner Bauman came in and allowed five runs (three earned) over a third of an inning. Owen Hackman pitched an inning and two thirds, allowing a hit and a walk. Tyler LaPorte went an inning and a third, allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

The first day of the Division Series is done and recency bias is working on me big time because I am struggling to see how any of the four 0-1 teams can overcome the deficit in these five-game series. I’ve always said the MLB playoffs are the best playoffs because it isn’t necessarily who has the best team, but who has the hot hand. “Momentum” is a vastly overplayed sentiment, but, I’ll be good and gosh darned if I can envision any of the 1-0 teams failing to advance. I do so love being wrong though.

Happy Sunday everyone. Go Hawks!

In Mariners news…

• Josh Naylor reflected on his first full season with the Mariners and admitted that he didn’t perform up to his own standard.

Around the league…

• I find myself in my day-to-day life remembering a specific phrase. It was a phrase that I’d certainly heard before I heard it in this specific context, but the way FilmJoy delivered “no one knows what they’re doing” cemented the notion very firmly in my brain. Some things remind me of it more than others. My service industry day job gets me thinking about it almost every day, but that doesn’t have the same meaning as it does when an entire industry of supposedly smart people are collectively wrong about one thing. That one thing was Munetaka Murakami, whose entire market was tanked by everyone whose job it is to see the forest getting Blair Witch level lost in the trees.
• What you’re seeing in the video below is footage of the only hit the Yankees had against Drew Rasmussen in yesterday’s game. It doesn’t take a ton of scrolling to find people on the timeline questioning Austin Wells’ decision to go for third, but all I can think about watching him hit second base is how base-rounding is a lost art. A perfect cut of the bag probably still wouldn’t have gotten him to third before the relay, but it certainly would not have hurt his chances. Am I forcing a narrative here? Maybe, but it’s my publication, leave me alone.

• Who could’ve foreseen that the best player traded at the deadline this season would be able to single-handedly swing a playoff game? Oh everyone could? That was the whole thing he was sold on? Got it got it got it.
• Unconfirmed reports of Padres fans carrying garden shears trying to attain access to the catwalks at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Stay tuned here for updates on the rumors I’m starting.

• Houston may have made the playoffs this season, but the Astros roster heading into 2027(?) leaves a lot of questions that a new general manager are going to have to answer, in addition to a potential manager vacancy.

Nick’s pick…

• This video makes me want to rewatch Jaws. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s the truth.

The Yankees’ postseason run had seen them erupt for nine runs in both of their Wild Card Series wins over the Red Sox, but they were completely shut down by Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 of the Division Series. The Rays’ ace tossed eight shutout innings and had a no-hitter going through 7.2 innings before Austin Wells ripped a double down the line to finally break that up… only to get thrown out trying to extend it into a triple. Gerrit Cole took the hard luck loss allowing a solo homer to Jonathan Aranda in his five innings of work, and that was your ballgame.

Elsewhere, the Division Series kicked off across the league, so let’s see what the rest of the field accomplished on Saturday night.

AL Division Series Game 1

Chicago White Sox 3, Cleveland Guardians 0
(Chicago leads, 1-0)

Call it divine intervention, but these White Sox are looking to go on a deep run after sweeping the Astros in the Wild Card Series and they went out and stole Game 1 from Cleveland on the road. Parker Messick enjoyed a fabulous first full season for the Guardians, pitching to a 2.56 ERA in 186.1 innings, but his Postseason debut didn’t go as well. He managed to work around a pair of baserunners in the first inning and then cruised through the second and third, but in the fourth Miguel Vargas led off with a single bringing Munetaka Murakami to the plate. Messick gave him a first-pitch sinker up and in the zone, and Murakami deposited it 440 feet out to right field.

That would be all the run support Chicago’s pitching staff needed as they worked their second bullpen game of the playoffs well enough to shut Cleveland out. Hagen Smith was the opener and provided 2.2 innings, issuing three straight walks in the third to end his outing before Bryan Hudson entered and got him out of that jam. Jordan Hicks took over to start the bottom of the fourth and got two quick outs before issuing a walk of his own, passing the baton over to Anthony Kay. Travis Bazzana greeted him by ripping a double out to right field to put runners in scoring position, and Kay walked Austin Hedges to again load the bases with two outs before Brayan Rocchio bailed him out by flipping a middle-middle sweeper harmlessly into the glove of Braden Montgomery.

Kay would get through the fifth without further incident, turning the ball over to Grant Taylor to start the sixth. Taylor delivered on some postseason magic, pitching four shutout innings to more than earn the save going deeper into a game than he had all season by more than a full inning. Taylor struck out six along the way and allowed just a pair of hits, a double and a single in the sixth and seventh respectively. Along the way, his offense gave him some more breathing room as Kyle Teel walked in the seventh and Colton Montgomery doubled to bring him home and make it 3-0. Taylor had it well in control though, ending his marvelous appearance by striking out the side in the ninth.

NL Division Series Game 1

Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Atlanta Braves 3
(Los Angeles leads, 1-0)

The two-time defending champs opened up their October with Tarik Skubal on the mound, and their deadline acquisition delivered six strong innings of one-run ball. Sean Murphy was the only one able to do any damage to the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, launching a home run to lead off the sixth, but despite a couple of walks issued after his at-bat the rest of the Braves couldn’t rally to hang a crooked number on Skubal. They needed a bigger spark too, because LA was already up when Skubal closed out his night and the lead was about to grow further.

Atlanta chose to go with a bullpen game after needed to go three games deep to best the Phillies in the Wild Card Series, and Dylan Dodd was their choice for the opener. Dodd was one of their best relievers this year, pitching to a 2.54 ERA in 49.2 innings, and he gave them a shot to go toe-to-toe with the champs by tossing three shutout innings. Unfortunately, the pitchers that followed him couldn’t say the same. Victor Mederos was tasked with the fourth inning once Dodd’s day was done, and after getting Will Smith to fly out he walked Freddie Freeman on four pitches bringing Teoscar Hernández to the plate. Hernández got a cutter over the middle of the plate and punished it, putting the Dodgers up 2-0.

After Atlanta answered with their run, the Dodgers were back at it in the bottom of the sixth. Hernández singled ahead of Kyle Tucker, playing his first postseason game for Los Angeles after a season to forget following his massive four-year, $240 million contract in free agency. Tucker got hot in September though, and he started his October off with a two-run bomb to extend the lead. Max Muncy stepped up two batters later and got involved in the home run parade with a solo shot to make it 5-1 Dodgers.

The game wasn’t over yet, however, as Atlanta gave Dodgers closer Tanner Scott their best shot. Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the finale frame with a single and Ozzie Albies crushed the first pitch he saw for a two-run blast to bring the Braves within two, but Scott calmed down from there. He recorded two consecutive outs before Dave Roberts went back to his bullpen and got Evan Phillips to face Mauricio Dubón. Phillips tossed every pitch he knew down and away to Dubón but he laid off enough to work a lengthy walk and took second base on defensive indifference. Phillips finally closed out the game by getting Austin Riley to ground out, securing the 1-0 series lead for LA.

NL Division Series Game 1

Milwaukee Brewers 3, San Diego Padres 2
(Milwaukee leads, 1-0)

The Brewers were heavy favorites for their opening game of the postseason with Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski on the mound, but The Miz wasn’t his usual sharp self in his first career postseason start. The Padres struck first with three straight singles in the second inning to plate the first run of the game, and brought home another as Jake Cronenworth grounded out to first for a fielder’s choice with the throw home coming late.

Milwaukee had their ace’s back though, getting those runs back in the third inning. Facing Robbie Ray, the Brew Crew got a leadoff single ahead of Jackson Chourio, who launched one for a game-tying two run blast. After a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases, the Padres were forced to pull Ray after just 2.2 innings, but Milwaukee couldn’t convert any more as Bradgley Rodriguez escaped the jam with a groundout.

Misiorowski only lasted four innings in this game, but the Brewers’ bullpen held firm despite needing to get 15 more outs. Milwaukee used five relievers to get it done, and they allowed a fair bit of traffic to exist with three hits and three free passes, but the Padres couldn’t convert going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position overall. Meanwhile, in the seventh inning facing Adrian Morejon with two outs William Contreras brought the crowd to their feet with a long ball to straightaway center.

The two home runs were just barely enough for Milwaukee to take this one, Trevor Megill coming on for the four-out save, but both sides had to draw deep into their bullpen to try and take the opening game.

After a wild opener, the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres are back in action for Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday, Oct. 4.

Milwaukee overcame a 2-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 3-2 after William Contreras’ go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning at American Family Field.

Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA) starts for the Brewers while right-hander Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) goes for the Padres.

“It always feels good when Michael's on the mound,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We felt good when he's on the mound all season. He's definitely been our leader on the pitching staff.”