Category: Baseball

A cursory glance at the numbers over the past two seasons will tell you that William Contreras is still a good major-league catcher, but that he’s taken a little step back. After he was the league’s best catcher in 2024 at age 26 (he made First Team All-MLB and finished fifth in NL MVP voting), one could find a way to be disappointed with his two follow-up seasons; his OPS+ dropped from 130 in ‘24 to 111 in ‘25 to 108 in ‘26. Maybe he was hurt, maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was being overused, maybe he wasn’t. But the numbers were declining earlier than you’d expect them to.

But those following the Brewers know how valuable he’s been to the team. While Christian Yelich is universally acknowledged as the team’s leader and Jake Bauers has had a couple of important leadership moments this season, Contreras brings a different dimension to this team: swagger, confidence, soul. Even during the moments when his offense has struggled—he went through a brutal slump this season, in which he hit just .159/.248/.506 for six weeks between the beginning of July and mid-August—he still brought that dimension to the team.

Well, his offense is back. Since his OPS bottomed out at .702 on August 14, Contreras hit .321/.384/.557 over the regular season’s last six weeks—in 33 games in that stretch, Contreras had 10 doubles, seven homers, and more than an RBI per game (35). More importantly, he’s kept it rolling in the postseason. Against the Padres, Contreras went 6-for-16 (.375) with two solo homers. He was 0-for-3 with a walk in Game 1 on Sunday, and followed that up with a monster game on Monday in which he was 3-for-4 with a massive solo homer and a pair of RBI singles. All three of Contreras’s run-scoring hits either tied the game or gave the Brewers the lead, which makes him just the fourth player ever to have three such hits in a postseason game.

Should we look at them all? Let’s look at them all. First, a first-inning RBI knock to tie up the game after the Dodgers got out to an early lead:

Next was an absolute blast, a 436-foot missile off the scoreboard that tied the game at four in the bottom of the fifth:

An inning later, Contreras bat-flipped on an RBI single that gave the Brewers a 5-4 lead which they did not relinquish:

The result is that the Brewers are headed to Los Angeles with a 2-0 lead in the NLCS, as good a position as they could possibly be in. There have been several games this postseason—even games that the Brewers won, like the first game against the Dodgers and game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres—where there was plenty of traffic and plenty of hard-hit balls, but the big hits just weren’t falling. On Monday, Contreras made those hits fall.

It hasn’t always been easy for Contreras in the postseason. He’s had his moments—he homered twice in the NLDS victory over the Cubs last season, for instance. But coming into tonight Contreras was a .241/.308/.410 lifetime postseason hitter (compared to .272/.354/.442 in the regular season), and while he had four homers he had only seven RBI in 91 plate appearances and was a negative Win Probablity Added player in the playoffs.

I suspect the WPA numbers will look much better once they’re updated.

There is no shortage of heroes through the Brewers’ first six postseason games; Aaron Ashby has been the most impressive member of a bullpen that has been, almost literally, unhittable, and they set a postseason record by throwing five perfect innings on Monday. Jake Bauers and Yelich both had big moments in game 2. Brice Turang has been huge so far in the NLCS. David Hamilton had one of his best games as a Brewer when it mattered most.

But Contreras is the reason why they won game 2, and he was a huge part of the reason why they defeated the Padres. He’s on one right now, and when he does that he is more than willing to let the whole team jump on. We’ll see how long he can keep carrying the team, but right now, Wild Bill is this group’s major driving force.

As we inch closer and closer to the offseason, the more we try to pick apart what the roster picture looks like as of right now and how that picture could be manipulated before opening day to give the Cardinals their best chance to win in 2027. Perhaps I’ve been too gullible in believing them when they say they expect Nathan Church to open 2027 as the starting center fielder. But the devil’s advocate of that stance is that they’re being extremely transparent in their approach to the offseason, and they truly believe that they don’t need to commit any substantial resources to the position. The latter of those two viewpoints has drawn the ire of a majority of the readers, which led me to create this piece today that will explore outside additions that are both realistic and have the capacity to overachieve what the incumbent might be capable of.

The question of “Could the Cardinals upgrade in center field?” is one that is easy to answer. Could they? Yes, fairly easily. Will they? TBD. We can argue about the who of it all day long, but unless they choose to take action, it’s all a moot point.

Nathan Church in 2027 slashed .247/.290/.364 -> .654 OPS; his .288 wOBA was actually higher than his .283 xwOBA, which means that, for as underwhelming as his offense was, it actually slightly outproduced what his expected production was. Further evidenced by his 81 wRC+ and his 0.7 fWAR. His +2 OAA and 90.8 MPH were both above-average rated defensive outputs, and his 28.5 MPH sprint speed rated in the 81st percentile in baseball according to Baseball Savant. Those are replacement-level stats, and I came into the season viewing Church as a 4th outfielder long-term, and his performance did not move me off that stance.

The Cardinals have pieces in their pipeline they’re excited about long-term: Tai Peete, Josiah Ragsdale, and Trevor Condon, who might eventually force the issue. Peete and Ragsdale likely will start the season in Triple-A Memphis, and if they get off to hot starts, they could be realistic options by June/July. Condon, who was just drafted 13th overall as a prepster, is likely 3-4 years away from knocking on that big league door.

The other name worth mentioning here is 2023 1st-round pick Chase Davis, who primarily plays CF and has not quite been what the Cardinals had expected when they drafted him. He parallels a lot of what Nathan Church does: a really solid defender in CF, flashes occasional power, and they go about their at-bats a little differently, with church swinging early and often; Davis is far more passive, somewhat like what some fans’ frustrations were surrounding Lars Nootbaar and his patience bordering on passivity. Davis is R5 eligible this offseason, so the Cardinals will be forced to make a decision on him. Might he instead be part of a package to get an established CF, or do they protect him and continue to throw numbers at the position and see who sticks?

I identified a few options that might intrigue you based on your current belief in the internal options. If you believe that Ragsdale/Peete are solutions, perhaps a 1-year short-term stopgap might be your best bet. If you aren’t sold on those guys and you think that Trevor Condon is the more likely future CF, perhaps a medium-term guy with years of control might be better. And perhaps if you think prospects are overrated and waiting for them to ascend is just a foolish waste of time, then young MLB-experienced long-term pieces are what might appeal to you the most.

I’ll try to provide a little something for everyone and put the onus on you, the reader, to decide what path you like the most. None of these players project to be stars, face of the franchise, or organizational direction-altering players, but guys who could factor in as everyday contributors/fringe all-star caliber depending on upside. We’ll work from short-term (most likely) to long-term.

SHORT TERM PLACEHOLDERS

CF/LF Steven Kwan – ARB 3 (1 year /11.5 million projected salary)

Kwan is the ideal 9-hole hitter in modern baseball. The subsequent 2nd lead-off hitter in a lineup as it turns over and rolls back into the top of the lineup. Kwan has no power, but that’s okay because he does everything else so exceptionally well that he still makes an impact. For fans who love throwback-style hitters who don’t strike out, put the ball in play, use their speed to manufacture hits, and can play above-average defense and steal bases. This guy is a “whiteyball” fan’s dream. .282/.382/.349 -> .731 OPS, Kwan was 15th in the AL in hits and 7th in the AL in walks. He only struck out 62 times this season and has never done so more than 75 times in a season in his career. He produced 3.8 fWAR and is a 2x All-Star in ’24 and ‘25 and has won 4 consecutive Gold Gloves. So, why would Cleveland trade him? He’s entering his final season of Salary Arbitration, and at 11.5 million, that’s a little pricey, especially when they have 12 other arb-eligible players and a team that routinely carries a bottom-10 payroll in baseball. They also have guys like Angel Martinez, Chase DeLauter, and Daniel Schneeman who can cover CF. It might cost the Cardinals some future value, but of the short-term options, he would be the best of the bunch.

CF Trent Grisham – FA

After a 2025 season in which Grisham hit 34 home runs and earned the qualifying offer, he followed it up with a performance that saw him hit .211/.308/. 395 -> .703 OPS and still managed to blast 18 home runs into the New York sky. The underlying data suggests that there wasn’t a marked difference between what he did in 2025 and what he produced in 2026. He produced a .311 wOBA that was 26 points below his .337 xWOBA and still managed a slug that was nearly .400 and an OPS that was 50 points higher than Nathan Church in 2026. Grisham produced 0.7 fWAR this season, and his defense has taken significant steps back since he went to New York, producing -5 OAA, which is a complete 180 from his 2023 in SD when he produced a +6 and was one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. I’m not totally sure what to make of that, given that he is still only 29 years old, so it shouldn’t be age-related decline. Perhaps an indictment of the Yankees’ coaching staff? A 1-year flier on a guy looking to bump his value back up, and to work with an excellent outfield coach in Jon Jay, could help him look to cash in during the 2028 offseason after all of the CBA hubbub is behind the league.

MEDIUM TERM PLAYERS WITH UPSIDE

OF Colton Cowser ARB 1 (1 year/2.2 million projected salary)

After an impressive breakout 2024 season, Cowser has followed it up with back-to-back underachieving seasons in Baltimore. Slashing .226/.317/.370 -> .687 OPS. On the one hand, that’s pretty underwhelming, and the 30% K rate and lack of consistently squaring up the ball (17.5%) does give some pause. Considering his .144 ISO, he still produced slightly above-average power, produced an 11.7 BB%, which was 81st percentile, and was credited with a +10 OAA, which means he can really go get the baseball. Cowser is Nathan Church with power potential, and that’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked. It seems as though Cowser would benefit from a change of scenery, where in Baltimore the outfield picture is very crowded, and in St. Louis he could be given every opportunity to take hold of an everyday OF job. Would the Orioles entertain a Cowser for Gorman swap and engage in a challenge trade? Maybe. Gorman could serve as quite the complement for Coby Mayo and Pete Alonso.

CF Jake McCarthy ARB 2 (1 year/4.6 million projected salary)

Jake McCarthy showed what he can do when given a chance to play every day after leaving the complex outfield picture in Arizona. Slashing .291/.334/.475 -> en route to an .809 OPS and 2.7 fWAR. He is a real spark plug of an offensive piece and can cause havoc on the bases at the big league level in the way that fans had hoped Victor Scott would provide. He stole 32 bases and ran at 30.0 ft/s, which is in the 98th percentile. Paying for guys’ career years coming out of Coors Field will generally cause fans and analysts to pause, but when you consider that what he produced was just a continuation of what he showed in AZ, he was able to recreate what he did in ‘24 and exceeded it because of volume, not necessarily because of ballpark factor alone, which should reconcile some of those concerns, and you also consider what kind of havoc he was able to create in their 3-game series in St. Louis in August. Perhaps on days the offense struggles to get going, as it did at times in ‘26, a spark plug like McCarthy to wake the guys up a little might be something worth investing a couple of resources in.

LONG TERM INVESTMENTS

CF Jakob Marsee – Pre-Arb

2026 wasn’t quite the encore to the 2025 cup of coffee that Marsee obtained in 2025 when he slashed .292/.363/.478 -> .841 OPS in 234 PA. In 2026, his first full season, Marsee slashed .231/.348/.359 -> .707 OPS and produced 2.5 fWAR. A lot of the power and impact Marsee showed in 2025 didn’t carry over to 2026 due to multiple injuries suffered throughout the season; to Marsee’s credit, he continued to post and do what he could to help his team win. A quality this Cardinals organization finds endearing, perhaps to the players’ detriment, Marsee had UCL surgery on his left elbow (non-throwing) arm this month and is expected to have a 6-month recovery timetable that should put him on track for a May return in 2027; considering potential labor strife that might eat up all of April, he theorhetically, could be available for most of the season. The Cardinals would likely have to include multiple young players to pry Marsee away from Miami, though they’ve never been known to be a particularly difficult organization to pry players away from.

CF Drew Gilbert – Pre-Arb

2026 was Gilbert’s first real taste of big league baseball, and he showed really well in his opportunities. Slashing .238/.330/.394 -> .724 OPS and produced 1.7 fWAR. After being drafted by the Houston Astros and traded multiple times to the New York Mets and now the San Francisco Giants, Gilbert is no stranger to being moved around, and he could find a long-term home in St. Louis. Defensively, he was a +4 OAA and displayed an above-average throwing arm, more of an average runner in terms of sprint speed, and underlying metrics in terms of whiff%, chase%, and BB% are all positive indicators, as well as the ability to display some sneaky raw pop, producing a max EV of 110. The Giants have more young SS than they know what to do with, which could lead to one of them finding their way to CF long term, and that follows a modern philosophy of roster building, which could then theoretically make Gilbert gettable for the right price after a disaster of a 2026 season as a team; they should be open to anything.

The Cardinals don’t have many glaring holes on their roster from an offensive perspective heading into 2027, but one of the more persistent ones that continued to frustrate fans throughout the season was the play of Nathan Church in CF. Your perception of where you think the Cardinals are in their build will likely lead you to which of these plausible options could be the right answer. The Cardinals could argue their belief in Nathan Church to be capable of playing on par with some of the names listed above, and thus they don’t see a great need to make a change in CF at the start of the 2027 season. I’m somewhat indifferent on the topic, as I can see the rationale for both sides. Though I will always lean towards the direction of the higher upside just because I believe that the more high-upside players you can obtain, the greater the likelihood you are to be successful in a 162-game marathon season. I’d like to know your thoughts on the article, if there was someone presented you hadn’t really thought of, or if there’s someone you really have your eye on you think would be a perfect fit.

-Thanks for reading

They’re down, but no way are they out.

Just ask the vanquished foes of past postseasons how difficult it is to bury the Los Angeles Dodgers. They might have a few cautionary words for the Milwaukee Brewers, who were opportunistic and practically perfect from the mound in grabbing a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Now, the Dodgers are going home, which should help. Yet they will need to clean up a lot – and try something new – to prevent the Brewers from celebrating their first World Series trip since 1982 at Chavez Ravine.

With that, three turnarounds the Dodgers will need to get back in this NLCS:

It’s all on Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow

In losing both Tarik Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s starts, the Dodgers not only forfeited a significant advantage, but put themselves in a hole. Against the odds, Blake Snell must dig them out of it.

His Game 2 NLDS start against Atlanta – 3 ⅔ innings, five walks, setting the stage for a Dodgers loss that momentarily jeopardized their season – simply can’t be repeated or L.A. will again be back on the brink. Snell was brilliant last postseason, never better than his eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout performance at Milwaukee in the NLCS, showing that despite health woes, Snell got right just in time.

He looked to be on track to pull off that trick again this year. And then, the clunker in the NLDS. The Brewers will take a 3-0 lead if he’s that shaky in Game 3.

As for Glasnow, he was good in his first playoff assignment, giving up just one run yet only recording 13 outs. But he must go deeper this time. Yamamoto’s 2 ⅔-inning start in Game 2 creates a problem for the Dodgers that was originally supposed to a Brewer conundrum: Too many relievers forced to face too many batters too many times.

The Dodgers need quality from Glasnow. They also need length.

Tarik Skubal, the crown jewel of the trade deadline. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the biggest of big-game pitchers in two countries.

The Dodgers mapped out their National League Championship Series rotation before they even started the division series: Skubal in Game 1, Yamamoto in Game 2, and the World Series on deck.

You can call it logic or you can call it hubris, but reality bites.

The Milwaukee Brewers dumped the Dodgers in the first two games of the NLCS, and now the Dodgers might not need to map out a World Series rotation. If the Dodgers lose the next two games, Skubal and Yamamoto each have already made their final start this season.

Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, Dodger Nation turns its lonely eyes to you.

Read more:Dodgers Debate NLCS Game 2: Did the Dodgers forget how to hit?

“It’s certainly a challenge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Some aces are portrayed as more equal than others. For two months, the Dodgers have talked about their four aces, but the headliners have been Skubal and Yamamoto, even with Snell a two-time Cy Young winner.

Glasnow stood at his locker late Monday night and pronounced himself “very excited” for the challenge. He’ll start Game 4, following Snell‘s start in Game 3.

“We’re down two, but none of us have lost the faith,” he said. “We’re a confident group of people. We’re ready to go.”

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

In fairness, the Dodgers cannot win on pitching alone.

Yamamoto’s performance was catastrophic. He got as many outs as he did pitching in relief in Game 7 of last year’s World Series, but he threw more than twice as many pitches. He pitched back-to-back complete games last October, but the Dodgers needed seven relievers behind him on Monday.

“He’s a human being too,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “I think everyone is so used to him being a robot that if he didn’t go eight innings with no hits or whatever, then it wasn’t Yamamoto.”

Skubal’s performance in Game 1 was satisfactory, but neither him nor Yamamoto would have had much chance of winning with whatever passes for offense among the Dodgers this October.

The Dodgers are batting .193, the lowest of any of the nine postseason entrants to play at least three games. The on-base percentages, compared: .363 for the Brewers, .263 for the Dodgers.

On Monday, the Dodgers had three hits. So did the Milwaukee catcher.

From the No. 2 through the No. 7 spots in the batting order, the Dodgers went 0 for 20.

The star attraction and current cleanup batter, Shohei Ohtani, is compromised by injuries. He is batting .150 this postseason, with no extra-base hits and seven strikeouts in 20 at-bats. The Dodgers are not committed to starting him in Game 3.

“Everybody knows he is struggling right now,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “They’re being careful the same way as if he was doing an MVP season. It’s not like he has been getting pitches to hit.

“It’s going be even tougher, especially when you are in a slump like that, to come through, because they are not going to let you get hot.”

The absence of hitting puts the pressure squarely on the shoulders of Snell and Glasnow. The last thing a starting pitcher needs is to worry that he might get no more than a run or two of support and, well, here we are.

In his lone start in the NLDS, Snell lasted 3 2/3 innings and walked five.

“You need Snell to go out there and give us some length,” Roberts said, “give us a typical Blake Snell outing and let us deploy guys with a lead.

“I know Blake has a bad taste in his mouth from that last outing against the Braves. So you’re going to see a locked-in, focused Snell.”

In his lone start in the NLDS, Glasnow lasted 4 2/3 innings and walked five.

The Dodgers started this NLCS with Skubal and Yamamoto, lost both games, and now?

“Now we’ve got Blake and Glasnow,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Still a pretty good scenario we’re in. We’ve just [got] to get better on Wednesday.”

Hernández pronounced the state of his team as “still good,” even as Snell and Glasnow can determine the fate of the season.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

“If you put them on any other team, they’re going to be No. 1,” Hernández said. “We’ve got a lot of trust in those guys and our team. I think we’re going to be OK.”

Maybe. No team since the 1923 New York Yankees has been swept by a postseason opponent one year and beaten that same opponent the next October, and those Yankees had Babe Ruth.

In the seventh inning of games here in Milwaukee, after “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” the Brewers and their fans sing the “Beer Barrel Polka,” better known as “Roll Out the Barrel.”

The line that stood out: “We’ve got the blues on the run.”

The Brewers certainly do. It will be up to Snell and Glasnow to stop them.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

We got double-LCS action on Monday and both games delivered, the Dodgers and Brewers exchanging haymakers before Milwaukee walked away with a 2-0 series lead and the Guardians pouring it on late against the Rays to take Game 1 on the road. The NL teams will take a break as the series shifts over to Los Angeles, but the defending champs have to feel like they’re on the ropes at least a little after taking two clean shots to the face with their best pitchers on the mound. Meanwhile, Cleveland taking the opener with Drew Rasmussen pitching into the seventh inning is as good a sign as they could ask for to compete against the AL’s top team. Both matchups should give us plenty to be excited for as baseball fans, even if the best Yankees fans can hope for is schadenfreude at this point.

It’s relatively quiet day on our front, as we’ll have a couple things going up in the morning for you to check out. Matt has a double-feature, first going more in-depth on those two playoff results before diving into Charlie Silvera’s playing career on his birthday. In-between, Michael will attempt to rank the top moments of this strange and silly season the Yankees played.

Today’s Playoff Matchups:

American League Championship Series Game 2

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cleveland Guardians
(RHP Freddy Peralta vs. LHP Parker Messick)

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

TV: TBS/HBO Max/truTV

Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL

Questions/Prompts:

1. Is Shohei Ohtani too much of a liability at the plate to play right now? Are the Dodgers doomed if he doesn’t get it together?

2. Does Cleveland stealing Game 1 on the road from the Rays make them favored to win the series now?

We’ve weirdly gotten used to seeing Shohei Ohtani look mortal over the last several weeks.

But Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

None of us saw him unraveling, certainly not Will Smith.

The Dodgers’ struggling catcher — now one for 23 this postseason at the plate — could have altered the course of Monday’s NLCS Game 2 disaster if he hadn’t kept both of his team’s ABS challenges in his pocket.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers' three-peat dreams are on life support as the deflated heroes return home

But once the Milwaukee Brewers got going, unimpeded, there was no looking back. They outclassed the two-time defending World Series champions, winning 7-4, and lead the best-of-seven series 2-0 as it heads back to L.A.

The Dodgers have learned to lean on Yamamoto. But this time, the 28-year-old right-hander lasted only 2⅔ innings — as long as his scoreless, 34-pitch relief appearance in Game 7 of the World Series last year, but with a vastly different outcome.

In that span Monday, Yamamoto made 75 pitches and gave up three runs on four hits. This time, he really could have used even a little bit of help from his friends — at the plate, where the Dodgers got only three hits, and behind it.

Yamamoto would’ve benefited from fielders with enough foots peed to track down pop fouls (two of which fell to extend at-bats), and from a catcher with a sense of urgency to stop the bleeding before they needed a tourniquet.

But Smith said he assumed Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ ace of the aces and last year’s World Series MVP, had everything under control. Smith assumed those challenges would better serve the team in the later innings.

Read more:Dodgers will consider sitting Shohei Ohtani after offense struggles in Game 2 NLCS loss

But Smith also failed to respect how dangerous and dug-in the Brewers are. Didn’t appreciate that the time to stop Milwaukee is now or forever hold your peace.

The Dodgers not only left Milwaukee with both challenges remaining (both Mookie Betts and Kyle Tucker successfully challenged strike calls), but the Brewers’ Brice Turang got the benefit of a first-inning double and third-inning walk when those at-bats instead should have ended in strikeouts.

“It was kind of early in the game. We kind of had him on the ropes,” Smith said of Turang. “I figured we could get him out there. The walk one was a bummer. But it happens. It’s baseball.”

A successful challenge and strikeout would have saved a run in the first inning, because Turang came right around to score on William Contreras’ single.

A second successful challenge and strikeout — and Yamamoto seemed to want to challenge, pointing to his head — would have helped the Dodgers evade the waking nightmare of the third inning.

Yamamoto made 36 pitches and got only two outs in the inning, a taxing tally that included, two batters after Turang, a 12-pitch walk to Jake Bauers, which was a career high for both pitcher and hitter. Yamamoto exited with the Dodgers trailing, 3-2.

“I thought about [challenging],” Yamamoto said, through an interpreter, of his sixth pitch to Turang, which appeared to catch the corner. “But that was too fine a line on the strike zone. So I just didn’t know.”

The Dodgers’ steadiest pitcher and coolest cat actually seemed miffed on the mound when Smith didn’t challenge — as shocking a sight as his early exit.

Yamamoto’s performance was a gut punch and a psyche-rattling blow for the Dodgers. A parachute not opening. An emergency call going unanswered.

The Dodgers’ starting pitching is what we expected would give them a real shot at a three-peat, despite them going 36-36 against .500 or better ballclubs this season.

Instead, the Brewers got to Tarik Skubal, last year’s American League Cy Young winner, in Game 1. And in Game 2, they got to Yamamoto, who had the second-best WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched, .087) in the big leagues this season behind only Brewers star Jacob Misiorowski.

Yamamoto held hitters to a .182 batting average, third-best in baseball.

He came into Monday’s game having earned the win and given up one run or none in each of his last five postseason appearances, tied with Curt Schilling (1993-2001) for the longest such streak in history, per OptaSTATS.

Read more:In the NLCS, the Dodgers are seeing what money can’t buy: a bullpen such as Milwaukee’s

And Yamamoto had Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy raving about his diverse pitching arsenal — “He can cut you, he can sink you” — only for his Brewers to remind us Yamamoto bleeds and that there are days when his splitter doesn’t cut it.

“He’s a human being too,” Betts said. “I think everyone is so used to him being a robot that if he didn’t go eight innings with no hits or whatever then it wasn’t Yamamoto. It shows that he’s a human being and playoff baseball is hard.”

“Our job now,” third baseman Max Muncy said, “is to win several games and give him another chance because I know that next time out he’s going to dominate.”

It’s only right that the Dodgers retain faith in Yamamoto, but they should have learned that they shouldn’t have too much — sometimes he could use a challenge too.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The 2026 Pittsburgh Pirates experienced an up-and-down relationship with their catching rotation.

Three catchers made a significant impact on a club that finished 82-80, the team’s best record since 2018. All three will likely return in 2027, if there is a season, to patrol the Pirates’ backstop.

Pittsburgh received a mix bag of production depending on the player, and there remain questions for each to answer and prove.

Henry Davis

The No. 1 pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, Henry Davis is currently one of the biggest busts in franchise history. A career -1.0 WAR player, Davis has struggled at the plate after being drafted for his bat. An offense-first catcher at Louisville whose knock was defense, the opposite is true in the majors. 

Davis slashed .172/.272/.313 with a .585 OPS in 256 at-bats. He set career highs in home runs (10) and RBIs (38) but his batting average would have ranked worst in baseball if he met the necessary qualifications.

His defense makes him a positive WAR play and has become one of the best in the National League behind the plate, earning the trust of multiple Pirates pitchers. Davis threw out 17 of 37 (45.9%) of attempted base stealers this season, the best in all of baseball.

Davis caught a career-high 744.2 innings and recorded a .995 fielding percentage. He recorded eight defensive runs saved but did allow six passed balls in 95 games. 

If Davis could hit around .230 or even .215 and drive in around 50 runs, the Pirates would play him more often and trust him. The lack of contact with a 22.1% square up rate and 32.3% chase rate, hampers the bottom of the Pirates’ lineup. 

Tasked as Paul Skenes’ personal catcher for all but one start, Davis must improve at the plate if he is going to stay in the big leagues. His worth ethic and mentality are all there, but it hasn’t all come together. 

Rafael Flores Jr.

The biggest surprise in the catcher unit, Rafael Flores Jr. has the best power potential of the three. Flores Jr. crushed six doubles and 11 home runs in 148 at-bats. Seven of the 12 home runs came over his last 30 games. 

In 47 games, Flores Jr. slashed .264/.331/.527 with an .858 OPS. He showed a patient approach at the plate, walking 15 times compared to 45 strikeouts. Flores Jr. drove in 25 runs during his first extended season in the major leagues. 

Defense remains an issue for Flores Jr.. Acquired in the David Bednar trade, Flores is a bat-first catcher who needs work behind the plate, but improved during the final weeks. Overall, he ranks in the 19th percentile in blocks above average (-5), 35th in caught stealing above average (-1), 53th in framing (1), and 53rd in pop time (1.94). 

There’s a lot to like about the potential Flores showed in September. Following a disappointing August (.212 batting average), Flores hit .313 and got on base at a .361 rate over 67 AB’s. He recorded eight runs batted in and moved up in the lineup, especially against left handers. Pittsburgh will more than likely begin 2027 with Flores as the starting catching and David as his running mate for situational starts.

Endy Rodriguez

One viewed as a potential long-term answer behind the plate, Endy Rodriguez may not play again behind the plate. The 26-year-old switch hitter only played 45 games due to a multitude of factors.

Rodriguez made his season debut on May 14 after beginning the year at Triple-A Indianapolis. He stuck with the club for two months before suffering a left glute strain that kept him out nearly three weeks. Rodriguez suffered a significant left hip injury on August 10 that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. The injury required surgery and Rodriguez is expected to resume baseball activities in seven to nine months.

He seemed to have turned a corner during his third MLB season. Rodriguez slashed .267/.373/.467 with six doubles, seven home runs, and 20 RBIs in 45 games (135 total at-bats). A solid athlete that has played multiple positions, Rodriguez also stole six bags. 

Defense can be a struggle for Rodriguez, who ranks in the 29th percentile in blocks above average (-3) and 24th in caught stealing above average (-2). His pop time is one of the best in baseball (1.89 in the 80th percentile), but the injury may force Rodriguez to play other positions if he is going to continue his career. He has experience at first, second, and the outfield in professional ball.

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Don’t forget about Joey Bart and Shawn Ross. They were the only other catchers that appeared for the Pirates this season. Bart began the year on the Opening Day roster but was traded to the Atlanta Braves on June 18. Bart hit two homers and drove in six over 21 games. Ross only saw five at-bats, but hit a two-run homer on July 26 in the 8-7 win against the Cubs. The Pirates have intriguing options and could add a more established player, but may start Flores after a great end to the season. 

Roundtable | Matthew Schmidt: The Yankees entered the year with many question marks on their bullpen, yet they managed to post the second-best relief pitching ERA in the majors after the Boston Red Sox. However, there could be a massive exodus in free agency: closer David Bednar, Tim Hill, John Schreiber, Ryan Yarbrough, and Paul Blackburn are all set to hit the market when the World Series ends. Schmidt suggests the Yankees might have to get creative putting together the group for next year.

NJ Advance Media | Adam Zagoria: Former Yankees outfielder Cameron Maybin, who wore the pinstripes in 2019 and posted a 128 wRC+ and 1.6 fWAR that year, suggested that the Bombers should try to acquire fellow outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. from the Atlanta Braves via trade.

“Do the Yankees move [on] from my guy big G this offseason, and move Aaron Judge to primary DH/RF to keep him healthy and go after Ronald Acuña Jr.?” he wrote on X. “I still believe… and I’ll die on this hill, some players need the pinstripes to bring out the best in them. It may not be the best, but call me crazy… I still think Ronald still has some of that magic in him and would turn up in the Bronx! He’s a showman, and what better stage to perform on.” Acuña played 107 games this year, hitting 20 homers, stealing 21 bases, and posting a 120 wRC+. He had another unsuccessful postseason, though, and was heavily criticized for it.

Newsday | David Lennon: Back in 2016-17, the ‘Baby Bombers’ era represented hope for the future. They couldn’t deliver a World Series title, but Aaron Judge, Gary Sánchez, Greg Bird, Luis Severino, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andújar, and even Clint Frazier brought excitement. Well, most of them, at least.

Lennon notes that a new batch of Baby Bombers is blossoming, and this one might stick for a while. “Cam Schlitter (age 25) is going to win the American League Cy Young Award in his second season, Ben Rice (27) should finish among the top five for MVP, George Lombard Jr. (21) is giving off early A-Rod vibes three months in, Spencer Jones (25) is a tailor-made Bronx slugger who improves by the day, and comeback kid Anthony Volpe (25) returned as a cult hero, most likely cementing a spot for the future. Austin Wells (27) and Will Warren (27) deserve honorable mention, too,” he wrote.

There are still many expensive veterans on the Yankees, but the young core is impressive.

SNY | Anthony McCarron: While others compete for the World Series trophy, the Yankees are already gearing up for some key roster decisions. They have multiple impactful free agents to be, one of them being second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. The flamboyant infielder has stated his desire to return to the Bronx, yet McCarron suggests the Yanks should simply move on at this point, saying that he “is a terrific talent and could be good elsewhere, but it feels like his time in pinstripes is over. If they don’t want him back, the Yankees should think long and hard about even extending him the $23-plus million qualifying offer.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hasn’t done much at all since returning from the injured list in the final week of the regular season, and his presence in the middle of the batting order has been more symbolic than actually productive.

Now, the team is considering sitting Ohtani as the National League Championship Series moves to Los Angeles, per Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal at The Athletic:

“Yeah, I mean, obviously it hasn’t been good,” manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic on Monday, after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2. “He doesn’t feel great. I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us. He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.

“I’ll have (that conversation) with him tomorrow.”

As someone who has practice in Robertsese, that means Ohtani won’t be starting in Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

Ohtani’s second half has been marred by various maladies. First came the left knee irritation in June, which caused the team to pause his pitch after July 3, and he missed the All-Star Game to get treatment on the knee. As he slowly worked his way back on the pitching side, Ohtani developed a right biceps issue as well, which caused various starts and stops of his pitching program.

By early September it became clearer that Ohtani was affected by the injuries, and he finally landed on the IL with biceps inflammation. How long exactly Ohtani has been dealing with the injuries isn’t clear, but he last homered on August 18 at Coors Field, and has driven in one run in the 110 plate appearances since.

There’s been an open question of how forthcoming Ohtani has been with his injuries as well. Before the NL Division Series, when asked about his injuries, Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, “I haven’t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this. I think that process is going to happen during the off-season when I’m going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it. But as of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage.”

There was a time with some hope on September 24, when Ohtani had four hard-hit balls which led to a single and double, but that’s his only extra-base hit in 41 plate appearances since returning fro the IL. In the postseason, the hard contact has all but disappeared. Ohtani has three singles in 20 at-bats plus three walks and seven strikeouts, hitting just .150/.261/.150. His expected numbers, based on his batted-ball data, aren’t much better, just .187/.315/.255.

Roberts at various times in October has mentioned Ohtani clearly isn’t 100 percent. He moved him to second in the order, then to fifth, and has batted Ohtani fourth in the last three games. Now, Ohtani might sit.

Woo and Rosenthal report that Josue De Paula would be “the top candidate” to take over at designated hitter if Ohtani does not start.

We’ll surely find out more about this during media availabilities at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday’s off day.

MILWAUKEE –– Entering Monday night, the Dodgers were not giving serious consideration to removing Shohei Ohtani from their lineup.

One big loss, and four ugly at-bats later, however, that previously steadfast plan suddenly seemed capable of changing.

Following a 7-4 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers that put the Dodgers in a two-game hole in their National League Championship Series, the team was set to re-evaluate Ohtani’s status ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday.

Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic that the team would have “a conversation” with Ohtani about whether or not he would be in the lineup for the contest. A source with knowledge of the situation said the decision would come down to whether Ohtani still felt healthy enough to remain the starting designated hitter, as ESPN also reported.

The development came after Ohtani’s worst performance this postseason, in which he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Over six games in these playoffs, the four-time MVP is now just 3-for-20 with only three singles, two walks and seven strikeouts while battling ongoing right arm and left knee issues –– playing at what the team has repeatedly acknowledged is well less than 100%.

Despite all that, the Dodgers have also been holding out hope for a revival from their two-way superstar. Roberts promised he would “come to life” eventually. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman predicted that “at some point, it’s going to click for him.”

Now, however, the Dodgers can’t afford to keep waiting around for Ohtani magic.

After back-to-back losses to open the NLCS in Milwaukee this week, they return home to Los Angeles just two more defeats away from elimination –– and only one from a 3-0 deficit that just one team in MLB history (Roberts’ iconic Boston Red Sox squad in the 2004 American League Championship Series) has ever come back from.

“Can we [come back in this series]? Absolutely,” Roberts said. “But it’s just, you want to get that first [win].”

Prior to Monday, Ohtani had at least reached base safely in each of his first five playoff games.

Instead of continuing to progress with his swing, however, his 0-fer in Game 2 represented a notable step back.

Before the game, the injury-hampered 32-year-old took batting practice on the field for a third-straight day –– a drastic, and telling, change of routine for someone who normally never hits outside of the indoor batting cages.

During his BP sessions, coaches had also been encouraged by the look of his swing, optimistically noting the fact he was driving the ball to the big part of the field.

“I feel good [with] where he’s at,” Roberts said Sunday. “[He is] certainly not 100 percent, but it’s good enough.”

That, however, was no longer the case in Tuesday’s demoralizing loss, when the Dodgers’ offense as a whole managed just three hits, made outs in all 15 of their at-bats against Brewers relievers, and suddenly looked like a unit in desperate need of a jolt.

Ohtani didn’t provide one. Instead, he looked even more lost than ever before.

He ended the first inning with a three-pitch strikeout, chasing an elevated fastball from Brewers rookie Logan Henderson. He stranded a runner at second to end the second, flailing at another high fastball for a softly hit grounder to third. Then came the sixth, when Ohtani was so fooled by a slider from left-handed reliever JoJo Romero that his bat flung out of his hands on his unsuccessful attempt to check his swing.

He would make one more out in the ninth, lifting a harmless fly ball to left field off top Brewers southpaw Aaron Ashby.

Once again, he did address reporters postgame, still yet to speak publicly since before the start of the NLDS.

If the Dodgers were to drop Ohtani from the lineup for Game 3 –– when the Brewers will start left-hander Robert Gasser –– the team would have several potential ways to fill his void at DH.

The most obvious one: rookie sensation Josue De Paula.

The 21-year-old has only logged 45 total big-league plate appearances since being called up straight from double-A back in September, but has reached safely in more than half of them.

That includes a pair of impressive walks as a pinch-hitter in recent days; one that helped set up a game-winning rally in Game 4 of the NL Division Series, and another in an ultimately failed ninth-inning comeback bid in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday.

Granted, swapping even a diminished version of Ohtani for someone so inexperienced would undoubtedly be a stunning decision on the surface. And if this series weren’t 2-0 for the Brewers, the calculus would be different.

But right now, De Paula might be just as much of an on-base threat, and (given he is fully healthy) is perhaps an even more likely candidate to potentially slug the ball.

And, at this increasingly dire stage, the Dodgers might not be able to risk another empty performance from their biggest star.

If not De Paula, the Dodgers could also use the DH spot to potentially fit October hero, and right-handed hitter, Kiké Hernández back in the lineup, after he was dropped back to the bench for Game 2 in favor of Tommy Edman. Perhaps it could also be a way to get Miguel Rojas in as another extra righty bat, especially while he nurses a back injury he suffered in the NLDS.

None of these scenarios, of course, are what the Dodgers wanted to be contemplating so soon into their World Series three-peat bid.

But suddenly, with the stakes rising higher and Ohtani’s performance trending in the opposite direction, all options might need to be on the table.

The best player in baseball, at least in his current physical condition, might need to be benched.

Truly top to bottom, this was Cleveland Gaurdians taking the Rays to school. The pioneers of dragging old school small ball baseball into the modern era kicking and screaming show why the original is oftentimes the best.

Matchups make fights, and one thing is certain after tonight: the Cleveland Guardians are a much scarier and intimidating matchup than the New York Yankees ever were.

Cleveland played an extremely Guardian and Rays style of game, and just beat the Rays to the punch. They were able to come through with the big hits from the unlikely sources at the bottom of the order. They had their young slugger have a tremendous breakout game. They got sharp pitching from start to pen keeping Rays hitters off balance and without any real threat for the majority of the night.

Overall, the first ALCS game played in the Trop in 18 years was an abysmal disappointment and at several times truly embarrassing night. It was so bad, that late in this game I was cursing the Catholic heavens for abandoning their chosen sons of the White Sox, in letting the Guardians advance.

Rays were able to come out looking not at all rusty, jumping all over Foster Griffin. Yandy jumped out with a blistering double directly to and past Kwan in LF. Aranda next in extremely Rays fashion dropped down a pure sac bunt, setting up Junior Caminero with a sharp single past the drawn in infield to get the Rays up early 1-0. Singles from Victor Mesa JR and then Johnny DeLuca would add on and push the Rays lead to 2-0.

That would be it for the Rays after Taylor Walls struck out on 3 pitches.

And ultimately that would be the best threat the Rays would mount the rest of the night. 4 hits and 5 total baserunners for that 1st inning, while the rest of the game the Rays would only generate another 3 hits and 2 baserunners.

On the pitching side, you knew runs would be hard to come by for both clubs. Rasmussen didn’t need more than 1 last time out, but this ain’t the Yankees. leveland to their credit made Rasmussen work all night. Ras took a bit to get into his groove, and the Guards hitters were fouling off pitches everywhere. Cleveland came in with a good gameplan and they were putting on some good swings on Ras.

To his credit, and the reason Rasmussen is an ace, he battled and kept the Rays in this game. Hard contact and some nifty glovework behind him, Rasmussen would get through 5 innings scoreless.

When a pitcher doesn’t have their best stuff, the ability to battle and grind it out, make the key pitches to just give your team a chance is so huge. Rasmussen showed the flashes of the true ace, but his grinding was much appreciated and was the only reason the Rays had even a fleeting hope of winning this game.

In the 6th Rasmussen would finally get tagged for a run, with Chase DeLauter (who had a mosnter game) would take a high fastball the otherway for a solo bomb.

After that though, Ras would buckle down and get through the 6th keeping the Rays in the lead.

Kevin Cash is known for a lot of things, but perhaps the most is his quick hook with starters. We have litigated the Blake Snell World Series Game 4 decisions for years, and while I still contend it was the right call, tonight we can maybe see some more evidence of why that is.

To the shock of most: Rasmussen would come out for the 7th. He’d have a battle of a night, giving up screaming contact, which thankfully most found gloves. Often the old adage of better to be a batter early than a batter late in pulling a starter, and well Cash left Ras in for what turned out to be one batter too many.

I do think the situation of this being game 1 of a 7 game series and Rasmussen being basically the only starter you can count on to give length, makes this choice a bit tricky for Cash. You have a well somewhat over-rested bullpen. It’s also a bullpen that is significantly worse than every remaining bullpen in the playoffs by most metrics. Ras was set to face the bottom of the Guardians order, which he had handled very smooth earlier in the game.

Patrick Bailey just hit the longest HR of his career to tie the game and suck the entire life out of Tropicana Field. At some point you can only tip your cap. But you can also see why Cash has in the past really leaned on being agressive with his hook.

The second half of the inning the Rays had a chance to respond. You show a lot of character in how you handle adversity. How do you respond to giving up the lead?

Rays had a pinch hitting Liam Hicks, Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Caminero to respond. Hicks and Aranda would line and fly out missing their pitches. Yandy would single, and set up Junior Caminero to face Hunter Gaddis and see if he can re-find that power stroke that has eluded him for weeks. And well, it eludes him for longer.

Gaddis pitched him really cool. Using his changeup that he rarely uses ever vs righties, he was able to get strike one with a floating change that Junior watched. He finished it off with a cookie of a change-up right into the center that Caminero whiffed on that I can’t help but think over on the Guards side Jose Ramirez or DeLauter would have served into the Ray Tank.

After that, all life was gone from this home crowd. Still a tied game, at home, but seeing their young superstar strikeout, lead get surrendered, and generally feel on the ropes it just seemed that darkness loomed.

Top of the 8th Tyler Wells would make his first appearance in weeks after his late season injury. One of the key trade deadline acquisitions, Wells was nails all second half until the arm fatigue set in. He was not as sharp tonight, facing Jose Ramirez (who singled) and then DeLauter (who doubled) immediately the Rays were into danger zone.

Wells was able to get the sharp grounder right into the drawn in infield to keep Ramirez at 3rd and the score tied. Wells would then depart, for Ian Seymour to face up a lefty lefty matchup vs former Ray Nathaniel Lowe.

On an 0-2 pitch, Seymour could not elevate the fastball enough and Lowe would break the game open with a 2 run single giving the Rays their first deficit of the 2026 postseason.

The bottom half of the inning would provide the last spark of life and joy for the Rays, when out of nowhere Cedric Mullins would deliver his own lefty on lefty 2 strike magic with a solo HR to bring the Rays within a run.

Unfortunately, that indeed was it for the Rays and it would only get uglier and more humiliating from there.

Top of the 9th, Cole Sulser would get the ball and not do much good with it. Base hit, balk, and then a scary outfield crash and the 2nd best hit of the night for Caminero.

Neither Caminero or DeLuca would come out of the game, so looks like this was one element of luck that went the Rays way. But that would be it, as Sulser got two more outs, and then proceed to get beat again by the great Jose Ramirez.

And then from bad to worse as Kevin Kelly would get the grounder he was looking for against Jo Adel, but Jose Ramirez fully tricked Junior Caminero into covering 3rd for some unknown reason, allowing the grounder to roll on by and balloon the lead to an insurmountable 7-3.

Easy and short 9th from Cade Smith would send the Rays bats down without any threat, giving Cleveland a huge game 1 win in St Pete.

In the postseason, especially in the ALCS, you cannot play sloppy ball. You cannot pitch poorly. And you have to have your stars come through with some big hits. Rays could not get any of that to happen, and the Guardians did all of that.

Cleveland deserved to win game 1. They were the far and away better team in every aspect of the game. What is slightly dispiriting is, it didn’t feel nearly as close as the score was for the majority of this one.

Maybe that’s the good thing and a positive to take away. The Rays nearly won this game if they make some better bullpen choices, or played sharper defense, or gotten at he big hit when it came around. The moments were there, and there’s a world where they are able to hold the 2-1 lead or even keep it tied and win in extras.

If the Rays are to get back into this series, and give the Guardians the fight they deserve, they are going to have to play much better in every way.

The Rays need to figure out a way to beat a left handed starter, a struggle they have had all season.

The Rays bullpen needs to be sharper, a struggle they have had all season.

Up next is Parker Messick, another left handed pitcher, Plant City native and former Seminole, getting the start for Cleveland tomorrow night.

This is a 7 game series. It’s a long series and this is just game 1. But if the Rays can’t find a way to give a hell of a better effort, it’s not gonna be that long.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nathaniel Lowe snapped an eighth-inning tie with a two-run single after Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey homered off Drew Rasmussen, and the Guardians rallied past the Rays 7-3 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night. 

Junior Caminero and Jonny DeLuca had RBI singles in the first and Cedric Mullins hit a solo homer for the Rays, who never trailed in a three-game sweep of the Yankees in their AL Division Series. 

“It’s been a while since we lost, so I think that’s a good thing, and I know the guys will come back and respond tomorrow,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. 

Game 2 is Tuesday night at Tropicana Field. Rookie left-hander Parker Messick starts for Cleveland, and right-hander Freddy Peralta takes the mound for the Rays. 

Five relievers combined for five innings of one-run, two-hit ball for the Guardians, who became only the 11th team to overcome an 0-2 deficit in a best-of-five playoff series with a victory over the White Sox on Saturday night. 

Cade Smith, who pitched in all five games against Chicago, tossed a perfect ninth. 

“Obviously we came off an emotional series, had a quick turnaround. But these guys come ready to play every day. Couldn’t be more proud of them,” Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said. “We got punched early. And our pitching staff, credit to them, for stopping it and keeping us in the game as long as they did. And the offense came alive.” 

Rasmussen took a 2-0 lead into the sixth before DeLauter led off with an opposite-field homer to left-center. Bailey started the seventh with a towering shot to center that went a projected 436 feet, ending Rasmussen’s night. 

Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees. 

José Ramírez opened the eighth with an infield single off Tyler Wells, and DeLauter ripped a double to right. After Wells retired Jo Adell on a grounder to second, Ian Seymour entered. Lowe lined an 0-2 pitch up the middle to drive in two, giving Cleveland a 4-2 lead. 

Mullins connected off Erik Sabrowski for a solo shot in the bottom half. 

Ramírez, whose two-run homer lifted Cleveland to a 2-0 win in Game 5 versus Chicago, provided an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth off Cole Sulser. Ramírez helped the Guardians get two more by breaking for third with two outs and two strikes on Adell. Caminero ran to cover the bag and was out of position when Adell hit a sharp grounder toward third. The ball rolled into left field for a two-run double. 

A crowd of 35,361 fans waved yellow rally towels and rang cowbells at Tropicana Field in the Rays’ third appearance in the ALCS in the franchise’s 29 season-history. 

They were fired up when the 98-win Rays jumped ahead 2-0 in the first and Rasmussen battled to keep it there until the sixth. 

Coming off that dominant performance against the Yankees, Rasmussen went six-plus tough innings, allowing a hit to the second batter he faced and eight total, striking out seven. 

Guardians starter Foster Griffin allowed two runs and five hits in four innings. 

MILWAUKEE — If you can't appreciate William Contreras and everything he brings to the Milwaukee Brewers, you might be a Los Angeles Dodgers fan.

His savvy behind the plate. His timely hitting. And his long, slow trots around the bases that give his teammates the opportunity to jump on and enjoy his ride.

"He's underrated. Whatever people think about him, he's underrated," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said of his catcher. "He's that good."

The Brewers have put the Los Angeles Dodgers – the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers – in an 0-2 hole in their best-of-seven National League Championship Series, and Contreras is a large part of the reason why. He's been the conductor for a pitching staff that's allowed four runs and 10 hits in the first two games, and he had a solo homer and drove in the go-ahead run in a 7-4 win in Game 2 on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

He is hitting .391 this postseason, with three homers and four RBIs. The three homers give him five for his postseason career, tying him with Jackson Chourio for Milwaukee's franchise record.

"I think it's the confidence that Milwaukee instilled in me from day one when they acquired me. Going out there and letting me play the game that I do and letting me play the way that I do," said Contreras, who spent the first eight seasons of his career in the Atlanta Braves organization before being traded to the Brewers in December 2022.

"(I'm) just very appreciative to the organization for what they've been able to do," he added. "I think I've been able to have the best years of my career here."

MILWAUKEE – Andrew Friedman, Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations, scurried down the staircase Sunday night with several of his staff members as blaring chants from the crowd in the American Family Field concourse pierced his ears.

Let’s Go Brewers.

Let’s. Go. Brewers.

LET’S! GO! BREWERS!

Friedman descended into the Dodgers' clubhouse after the Milwaukee Brewers' 7-4 victory where there was nothing but dead silence.

The Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions, are on the ropes.

They boarded the team bus at 8:20 p.m. local time for the Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport for a return flight to Los Angeles, trying to make sense of what just happened.

The Dodgers certainly weren’t taking the Brewers for granted, not after winning 103 games this season, but they never imagined that their high-powered offense would be suffocated like this, trailing the Brewers 2 games to 0, with their dynasty on the brink.

“It’s hard to win,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame shortstop Mookie Betts said, “when you get only three hits.’’

“It’s tough to hit,’’ Dodgers future Hall of Fame first baseman Freddie Freeman said, “when their bullpen is throwing 100 mph with different arm angles.’’

“It’s just tough to beat those guys,’’ Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández said. “They play hard. They never give up. You know, they play clean baseball. That’s the thing, we’ve got to play a better game.’’