Category: Baseball

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith already has a lot on his plate, given his team’s 2-0 NLCS deficit against the Milwaukee Brewers with Game 3 arriving on Wednesday.

But baseball pales in comparison to what else just arrived on Smith’s plate: his third child.

Smith’s wife, Cara, made an Instagram post on Wednesday announcing the birth of her and Will’s third daughter.

“Our third October baby girl… Carter,” the post was captioned.

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As Cara alluded to, this is the third daughter she and will have had in the month of October. Their first daughter, named Charlotte, was born in 2022. And second daughter, named Layton, was born in October of 2024. And now there’s Carter being born in October of 2026.

At this rate, it might be safe to bet on Will and Cara having a fourth daughter in October of 2028.

And Cara’s timing could not have been better, as the baby seemed to arrive during the brief break between Games 2 and 3 of the NLCS.

But Will won’t have much time to spend with his new child, as he’ll be back behind the dish on Wednesday in hopes of helping salvage the Dodgers’ season against Milwaukee.

If Los Angeles can’t recover from this 2-0 deficit, Smith will be watching the World Series at home with his newborn instead of competing in it for the third straight season.

Shohei Ohtani was indeed in the Dodgers’ lineup for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, as manager Dave Roberts confirmed on Tuesday amid speculation that the slugger could be benched.

However, Ohtani was dropped down to the No. 6 spot in the order amid his injury-hampered 3-for-20 slump in the playoffs, the lowest he had been slotted in his Dodgers career.

“I think it’s just more of what gives our lineup the best balance,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Shohei’s all on board. Whatever it takes to win.”

The move came with the club facing a 2-0 series hole to the Milwaukee Brewers in the best-of-seven NLCS.

It was another of sign that — despite their proclamations that he is close to turning things around — the Dodgers are uncertain about exactly what they will get from the two-way star, who was coming off his worst performance of the playoffs in an 0-for-4, two-strikeout clunker in Game 2.

Ohtani was not the only change the Dodgers made to their order. Another slumping bat, catcher Will Smith, slid to the seven-hole after starting the postseason in a 1-for-23 rut. Left-handed-hitting third baseman Max Muncy was replaced in the lineup at third base by right-handed-hitting Miguel Rojas, a platoon switch made to combat the Brewers starting left-handed pitcher Robert Gasser.

Elsewhere, Kyle Tucker was moved into the cleanup spot and Andy Pages was shifted to the No. 5 spot.

“I love the length of the lineup,” Roberts said. “I think that Kyle has been –– throughout his career and currently –– agnostic with pitchers, left versus right. Gasser is a guy that they’re probably going to run two times through the lineup, and if it gets a little bit beyond that, I like Kyle there.”

It was all part of the Dodgers’ efforts to shift momentum in the series, and find better answers against a Brewers pitching staff that has held them to just five runs and 10 hits in the first two games of the NLCS.

“We all know what’s at stake … There’s some pressure there,” Roberts acknowledged. “But you’ve got to embrace this. I think for me, it’s just focusing on today. Because I think, when you start thinking about we’ve got to win four games, I get nervous. But I think that we can manage winning a game tonight.”

The NLCS resumes at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, with the Dodgers looking to embark on a comeback down 2-0 in the series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The top three in the lineup remain the same, as Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández hit in the top three spots. The middle of the lineup received an adjustment that comes as little to no surprise with how Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith have hit in the postseason.

Kyle Tucker moves up to cleanup in the starting lineup, the highest spot in the order he’s been placed in this October. After a rough regular season, Tucker has found his stride at the plate at the bottom of the lineup, slashing .300/.391/.500 with a home run and two RBI over six games. Tucker has faced Milwaukee’s Game 3 starter Robert Gasser twice in his career, collecting three hits across six at-bats including a home run.

Andy Pages has also impressed at the plate this postseason, turning the page on what was a historically awful title run at the plate last year. The 2026 All-Star has five hits across 20 at-bats, with his highlights being his go-ahead, two-run single in Game 4 of the NLDS and for getting the Dodgers on the board against Jacob Misiorowski in Game 1 of the NLCS. Pages has gone hitless since his Game 1 RBI single, but he moves up to fifth in the lineup against Gasser, also the highest spot he’s hit in the postseason this year.

The elephant in the room is Shohei Ohtani getting moved all the way down to sixth in the lineup. Ohtani was adamant about playing in Game 3, and Dave Roberts ultimately granted his wish.

“He’s adamant he feels good enough to be in there. He’s close to finding something with his swing. I feel great about it,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday just before the Dodgers workout at Dodger Stadium. “He was very convicted that he is onto something mechanically. He was adamant that he can help us. He’s well enough to help us win a baseball game. So that’s all I needed to hear.”

Try as he might to will his way into the lineup, Ohtani has been a detriment offensively since hitting his final regular season home run on Aug. 18 in Denver, and he’s carried that funk over the team’s six playoff games slashing just .150/.261/.150 with zero RBI. Ohtani had never hit as low as second in the lineup until Game 3 of the NLDS, and it’s the first time Ohtani is hitting sixth in the lineup since Sept. 19, 2020 back when he was with the Angels.

Will Smith has also struggled mightily this October, and he slides all the way down to seventh in the starting lineup. Miguel Rojas gets the start at third base over Max Muncy against the left-hander Gasser, and Tommy Edman gets the start at second base, rounding things out in the lineup. Blake Snell makes his first start since getting the ball for Game 2 of the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.

Mookie Betts understands what Shohei Ohtani is dealing with in this National League Championship Series.

Betts knows what can happen to a once-dangerous swing when a hitter takes the field with physical limitations. 

Two years ago, Betts was struck by a 98 mph fastball and fractured his left hand. 

“It’s really, really hard,” Betts said. “It took me almost like two years before I was able to really kind of feel normal again and get those bad habits out.”

Before he was placed on the injured list in September, Ohtani said he was experiencing discomfort in his right arm and left knee. Asked on Tuesday what was bothering Ohtani, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “It’s everything.”

“When you’re hurt, you just want to play,” Betts said. “So you’ll make adjustments to the swing or to your body so you can play. Then you don’t want to hurt while you play, so you make the adjustments to where your body doesn’t feel it. Sometimes it’s to the detriment of who you are as a player, and you don’t really realize it.”

Betts imagined that navigating the situation would be more difficult for Ohtani because of his stature.

“I couldn’t imagine really kind of having the expectations that he has and falling short in a way that it’s not normal for him. Then having to come back and be present in this postseason knowing how important he is to the boys.”

Ohtani is hitting .150 in the postseason.

“He’s trying,” Betts said. “It’s just really, really hard. It’s really hard to make these slight adjustments in this short amount of time. Like I said, it took me almost two years. I feel for him. I know he’s grinding, he’s working. So we’ll just see. We’ll see how he comes and prepares.

“But I know he’s giving it his all. We know he’s giving it his all. We can at least lay our heads on a pillow at night knowing that we’ve given it everything.”

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo are in full offseason Mets mode, with a focus on free agency and what comes next.

The guys talk Tarik Skubal, Ty France and other free agency options, plus play some voicemails that kick off conversations about Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez, and Bryce Harper. 

"Down on the Farm" features the future for Jefferson Rojas, while the Mailbag delivers questions about how quickly the Mets can turn things around and the potential pursuit of Japanese star slugger Teruaki Sato. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Dodgers return home tonight for Game 3 of the NLCS in must-win mode.

After two games in Milwaukee, the reigning World Series champs are down 0-2 to the 103-win Milwaukee Brewers.

In Monday’s Game 2, the Brewers rallied to overcome three separate deficits for a 7-4 victory. In the win, catcher William Contreras because just the fourth player in MLB history with three separate game-tying or go-ahead hits in a postseason game, and the first since Sandy Alomar did so for Cleveland in the 1997 ALDS.

Now, the attention shifts to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers will look to starting pitcher Blake Snell to save their season after an injury-filled year. Despite a hitting slump, the Dodgers elected to keep Shohei Ohtani in the lineup for Game 3 in the hopes that he can find his swing.

In the history of best-of-seven postseason series, teams holding a 2-0 lead have gone on to win that series 79 times (out of 95 total), so the Dodgers have their work cut out for them to keep hopes for a three-peat alive.

Here’s how to tune in to the Game 3 of the NLCS for free without cable.

Brewers vs. Dodgers start time

Game 3 of the Brewers vs. Dodgers NLCS is scheduled to begin today, Oct. 14, at 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET.

How to watch Brewers vs. Dodgers NLCS Game 3 for free

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the NLCS for free.

DIRECTV is our favorite service for trying live TV for free. Right now, you can take advantage of a five-day free trial before saving $30 on your first month. We recommend the Choice plan, which includes FOX as part of its 125+ channel options.

Brewers vs. Dodgers starting pitchers

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) will start for the Brewers. Blake Snell (4-1, 1.90 ERA) will be on the mound for the Dodgers.

Brewers vs. Dodgers NLCS schedule

• Game 1: Brewers 2, Dodgers 1
• Game 2: Brewers 7, Dodgers 4
• Game 3: Oct. 14, 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET (FS1)
• Game 4: Oct. 15, 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET (FS1)
• Game 5: Oct. 16, 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET (FS1)*
• Game 6: Oct. 18, 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET (FS1)*
• Game 7: Oct. 19, 5 p.m. PT / 8 p.m. ET (FOX or FS1)*

*if necessary

Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post

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I know this was mentioned briefly in James’s Snake Bytes, but I figure it deserves a piece of its own. The nominees for this year’s Gold Gloves were announced this morning, and there are four D-backs among the finalists for the National League. Each team’s manager and up to six coaches on his staff vote from a pool of qualified players in their League and cannot vote for players from their own team. Those votes represent 75% of the final, with a sabermetric component, the SABR Defensive Index, comprising the remaining 25 percent of the total.

Catcher: Gabriel Moreno

Also nominated: Freddy Fermin, San Diego Padres and Luis Torrens, New York Mets. The guy who probably should feel hard done by here, is the Marlins’ Joe Mack, who on Fangraphs’ table, led the league in Def, was the best pitch framer, and was third in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). With him out of the picture, it’s pretty close between the three candidates. Torrens is top in Def, but Moreno has the edge in DRS. He also played 200+ more innings at the position than the two other nominees. On the other hand, might be best for the team if Gabby were not to win, because it would only jack up the price of any contract extension.

Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo

Also nominated: Masyn Winn, St. Louis Cardinals and Dansby Swanson, Chicago Cubs. Again, did Miami somehow irritate the voting committee? Because the Marlins’ Otto Lopez has as good a case as, say, Swanson, matching him in DRS and slightly better in Def. Winn is probably the man to beat here, leading just about across the board in the metrics. He also has the advantage of being the incumbent, after winning the Gold Glove in 2025, and I’d be quite surprised if Perdomo were to prevail, although he did play more innings at short than anyone in the NL this season. Still, a nice honor for a season generally regarded as underwhelming, after his monstrous 2025.

A quick note on the absence of Nolan Arenado among the 3B candidates. While his fielding percentage of .975 was top four, the more advanced numbers were less impressed. He was only sixth by Def, and DRS actually had him in negative territory, at -4. Mind you, Max Muncy was nominated, despite being distinctly “Meh” as well.

Right field: Corbin Carroll

Also nominated: Carson Benge, New York Mets and Seiya Suzuki, Chicago Cubs. It’s definitely gratifying to see how far Carroll’s defense has come. He was a nominee last year, and even that was impressive, considering his arm strength in particular received mediocre grades as a prospect and in his early major-league days. That may still be an issue – his rARM is -3 – Carroll has worked around it very well. While this is likely Suzuki’s award to lose, Carroll did lead the league at the position in Outs Above Average, and was a strong second to Suzuki in DRS (14-12). Def disagrees, however, rating Carroll below average at -0.7, good enough only for sixth place.

Utility: Ildemaro Vargas

Also nominated: Mauricio Dubón, Atlanta Braves and Jared Triolo, Pittsburgh Pirates. This is a relatively new award, having only been added in 2022, and is not one which is voted on by managers and coaches. Instead, utilizing the SABR formula and additional defensive statistics, Rawlings will select one utility winner from each League. So it’s really hard to say how this one will go. Triolo was the 2024 winner here, and Dubón won it in the AL last year, as a member of the Astros. I’ve a feeling it’ll probably be one of them. But if you’d told me at the beginning of the year that Vargas would be a Gold Glove finalist, after winning NL Player of the Month in April… Yeah. #YouCantPredictBaseball

The winners will be unveiled during a one-hour, special-edition Baseball Tonight broadcast on ESPN Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. Arizona time.

For the first time in Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers career, there is doubt surrounding the four-time MVP.

Ohtani will be in the lineup for Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, despite dealing with multiple injuries and in the midst of an offensive drought. His worst performance of the postseason came in NLCS Game 2, where he was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

But the Dodgers evidently still believe in Ohtani and so does a former pitcher.

Alex Wood, who retired from baseball in 2025, scoffed at the drama surrounding the possibility of Ohtani being benched for Wednesday’s game against the Brewers.

“All this Ohtani and being in the lineup nonsense lol. Bet he homers at least once tomorrow,” Wood wrote in a post on X.

Wood pitched for the Dodgers from 2015-2018 and returned for a second stint with the organization in 2020, where he became a World Series champion.

Though the left-hander was a Dodgers player before the Ohtani era in Los Angeles, Wood is evidently confident in Ohtani’s ability to bounce back when it matters most.

The Dodgers are on the brink of elimination with Milwaukee leading the NLCS two games to none.

Wood was apart of the Dodgers team that begun the championship dynasty at the start of the decade. Ohtani and other stars have been tasked with carrying the torch and are on a quest to complete the three-peat, but the fire is quickly dimming if the Dodgers can’t muster a win Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani, who stayed late into the night working on his swing Tuesday night to try to snap out of his two-month slump, was dropped to a career-low sixth in the Los Angeles Dodgers starting lineup Wednesday night in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, or maybe it’s genuine confidence, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts truly believes that he’s about to break out of skid, batting just .150 in six postseason games without an extra-base hit.

“What I saw [Tuesday] was even more focus,’’ Roberts said. “He expects a lot from himself obviously, and he hasn't performed to his expectations. It's up to all of us to do our jobs, but I will say this: this was a different look from Shohei.

“He was determined, and that's an understatement."

Brewers manager Pat Murphy didn’t take the Shohei Ohtani-speculation bait.

But, when asked about Ohtani’s uncertain status coming out of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series this week, outfielder Garrett Mitchell did.

“I’d be shocked,” Mitchell said on Tuesday, when asked about the possibility of Ohtani not being in the Dodgers’ lineup for a critical Game 3 on Wednesday. “He’s the greatest player in the game, arguably going down as the best player ever. This game is very hard. One day you can be on top of the world, and on the next you are hitting the lowest of lows … But I know that whether he’s feeling good or he’s not feeling good, he’s always going to be someone that you have to game-plan for.

“You never know,” Mitchell added. “It takes one swing to come back.”

As it turned out, Ohtani was granted the chance for a big swing on Wednesday.

Despite his woeful performance so far this postseason, and his ongoing struggles with right arm and left knee injuries, Ohtani was kept in the Dodgers’ lineup for Game 3 of the NLCS.

He was, as manager Dave Roberts relayed while announcing the decision on Tuesday, “convicted” and “adamant” in his ability to find something at the plate, and look more like the four-time MVP that has spearheaded the Dodgers’ offense during their run to back-to-back World Series titles the last two years.

“‘I want to be in there. I know I can help the team. I’m close,’” Ohtani told Roberts and top front-office executives Andrew Friedman and Brandon Gomes during a meeting on Tuesday, as Roberts later recounted.

“That,” Roberts added, “is all I need to hear.”

Ohtani’s chances of following through on such optimism, of course, still seemed dubious.

He entered Wednesday batting just 3-for-20 with no extra-base hits or RBIs this postseason. He hadn’t launched a home run since Aug. 18, mired in the longest single-season long-ball drought of his MLB career. He was coming off a particularly poor performance in Game 2, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and several awkward swings in a 7-4 loss that put the Dodgers in a 2-0 series hole.

Still, the Brewers remained wary of the 32-year-old’s capabilities.

They couldn’t help but remember last year’s NLCS, when Ohtani entered Game 4 in a 3-for-29 slump — then delivered perhaps the greatest individual performance in baseball history, hitting three home runs and striking out 10 batters to complete a pennant-clinching sweep.

“There’s proof of that even last year,” Mitchell noted. “Probably didn’t have the greatest series to start, but that Game 4, it just takes one day.”

“You can’t forget that,” Murphy added. “Do you know how tough it is to execute what he did?”

This version of Ohtani, of course, looks nothing like last year’s.

He isn’t pitching. He isn’t slugging. Outside of a few slap singles and a couple walks, he has hardly even posed a threat to reach base.

Has that changed the way the Brewers have attacked him in this NLCS rematch, Murphy was asked: 

“You still have to go at him,” he said, coyly. “You have to go at everybody.”

As for whether Murphy would have been surprised to see Ohtani benched for Game 3?

“That’s out of my hands,” he said. “But surprise? Nothing in this game surprises me, to tell you the truth. Right when you think you know something, be careful; you might not.”

With their season hanging in the balance, the Dodgers are hoping that will prove true with their slumping superstar slugger.

It’s been 12 years since a Met won a Gold Glove Award, marking the second-longest active drought in the majors. But 2026 may finally bring an end to that streak, as Luis Torrens, Nolan McLean, and Carson Benge were all named finalists for a Gold Glove Award at their respective positions on Wednesday afternoon.

Torrens was also a finalist at catcher in 2025, losing to the Giants’ back-to-back winner Patrick Bailey. This year, Bailey was left off the finalist list after being traded midseason from the Giants to the Guardians. Torrens put up a Fielding Run Value of 10 despite playing in just 91 games, ranking second second in the National League behind the Marlins’ Joe Mack (13), and ahead of the fellow finalists: the Padres’ Freddy Fermin (9) and the Diamondbacks’ Gabriel Moreno (7). His 12 Defensive Runs Saved ranked third in the majors, trailing only the Tigers’ Dillon Dingler and Moreno. Torrens would become the first Mets catcher to win a Gold Glove Award.

McLean, meanwhile, has a chance to become the first Mets pitcher to win a Gold Glove Award since Ron Darling in 1989. McLean’s 4 defensive runs saved were tied for third-most in the NL. The Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy led the pack with 5, while Chris Sale, the third finalist, came in behind McLean with 3.

Benge has his sights set on winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award after a late-season tear, but why not grab a Gold Glove Award, too? Nominated alongside the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki and the Diamondbacks’ Corbin Carroll, Benge’s case may be the strongest — and also the strangest — among the Mets’ trio of finalists. His Fielding Run Value of 6 ranks second among NL right fielders behind Suzuki (8), but his arm value (7) was the best among all MLB outfielders thanks to a plethora of pulchritudinous throws. Despite the eye test, Benge’s range is actually what’s hurting him. Statcast has him grading out at -1 Outs Above Average in right field. His 7 defensive runs saved in right field are half that of Suzuki’s 14. If voters value Benge’s cannon of an arm and his highlight-reel-worthy dives, he can expect to take home the hardware. But Suzuki may earn the nod thanks to his more balanced defensive grades.

If either Benge or McLean win, they would become just the second Mets rookie to win a Gold Glove Award after Juan Lagares (who also won the NL Rookie of the Year Award) in 2014. If McLean wins, he would become the first rookie to win a Gold Glove Award at pitcher in MLB history.

The Seattle Mariners put out a historically bad defense in 2026, but one member of the roster is being recognized for floating above the rest of the sinking ship. 2B Cole Young has been named as a finalist for the Gold Glove Award at second base, presented by Rawlings. Young demonstrated a sizable improvement in his footwork and arm accuracy, getting a good deal out of his athleticism and average foot speed. He’s joined on the ballot by a pair of American League Central keystoners: 2B Michael Massey of the Kansas City Royals and 2B Chase Meidroth of the Chicago White Sox.

The Gold Glove Award is allotted based on a combination of votes from managers and coaches (75% weight) and a proprietary Defensive Index formula cultivated by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and Rawlings (25% weight). Young has a curious case for the award, rating clearly as the best defensive two-bagger by Defensive Runs Saved at +16. That not only has him as the best second baseman, but the eighth-best defender in the sport. Meanwhile, via Statcast and Baseball Savant, the Outs Above Average range-gauging metric has a much lower estimation of Young’s play, placing him at -6 OAA and a cumulative -5 Fielding Run Value (FRV) when attempting to gauge more of the player’s skill overall.

The Defensive Index from SABR seems to lean more DRS-ward, and while the data are not perpetually public, the organization reveals monthly snapshots of their leaderboards. Through August 9th, Young was the only 2B listed in the Top-25 American League defenders, giving him a chance at leading in that portion of the award. Given Young was the only defender it felt comfortable to hope a groundball was hit at during the 2026 season, it seems more than appropriate to see him heralded.

Young’s knock has typically been what drove him to second base in the first place: arm strength that rated as 380th out of 388 qualified players across all positions by Baseball Savant. The metric averages the top 5% of velocity throws from each player in an attempt to sample only the throws wherein the player is “trying their hardest,” and Young’s tendency for slow hands that transitioned into floating throws contributed to a M’s infield that struggled to turn double plays. And yet, Young’s accuracy with his arm, even with underwhelming pace, earned positive value from FRV for throwing. Combining these metrics with the less-useful metric of Fielding Percentage, which captures merely what MLB determines an error or not in an increasingly rare ruling, Young’s .990 fielding percentage in his AL-leading 1350.1 innings at the keystone was also best in the American League.

Congratulations to Young on being a finalist, and fingers are of course crossed for his victory, yes. That’s all well and good, but the most important thing is that the dream lives: Lookout Landing Managing Editor Kate Preusser vowed early this year to get a thematic tattoo should Cole Young win a Gold Glove this season. As the season progressed, this went from flippant and funny to plausibly possible. When asked about potential tattoos, Preusser noted she may homage departed infield coach Perry Hill with a bone-themed design, should she see Young’s name called for the award.

Winners will be announced on ESPN on Sunday, November 1st.

Game 4 of the National League Championship Series will start an hour earlier Thursday, Oct. 14, Major League Baseball announced, a result of the significant time change involving the American League Championship Series.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers will start NLCS Game 4 at 5 p.m. PT/8 ET since the time of ALCS Game 3 was moved to 1 p.m. ET due to anticipated inclement weather in Cleveland, where the Guardians will host the Tampa Bay Rays.

Originally, the Brewers and Dodgers were to tip off an hour later to space out the game times for television purposes. Instead, both games will avoid any overlap, though Guardians and Rays fans will have to adjust their schedules for the matinee start.

Wednesday, the ALCS has a travel day while NLCS Game 3 begins at 8 ET. Friday, ALCS Game 4 is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET and NLCS Game 5, if necessary, at 9 ET. Fox Sports is broadcasting the NLCS while TBS has coverage of the ALCS.

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers were much better hitting in road games this regular season, but now have up to three games at home this week to try to keep their championship quest alive. They’ll need to find their offense to do so.

At Dodger Stadium this season, the Dodgers hit .250/.329/.419 with a 107 wRC+ that ranked ninth in the majors, averaging 4.63 runs per game. But on the road they averaged 5.26 runs while hitting .263/.347/.429 with a 114 wRC+, with all of those numbers tops in the majors. Their road batting average was nine points clear of second place (Rays), and their on-base percentage was 16 points better than the next-best (Cubs, Brewers).

But on their four-game road trip — work with me here, since the Dodgers returned home to Los Angeles after the two games in Atlanta before heading to Milwaukee — the club scored only 11 total runs while hitting a paltry .181/.254/.260. The Dodgers on the road did get their only two hits with runners in scoring position this October, both Andy Pages singles (Game 4 in Atlanta, Game 1 in Milwaukee).

The Dodgers needed a lot of help from Logan Henderson’s three bad throws in Game 2 of the NLCS to plate the four runs they scored. The point is, it’s been like pulling teeth for the Dodgers to have folks touch home plate, and they need something, anything to get things going on offense, whether or not their faith in a diminished Shohei Ohtani is justified.

“I’m not too concerned about the urgency. I just want to keep that intensity,” manager Dave Roberts said of the offense on Wednesday. “It’s going to be good to be at home, play in front of the home crowd, again, win a game and then go from there.”

One way to get the offense going might be the long ball, as the Brewers have hit the only two home runs so far in the NLCS. The Dodgers at home in the regular season hit 101 homers, compared to 103 on the road. But per plate appearance, Dodger Stadium was the plate to be, hitting a home home run once every 29.4 plate appearances compared to one every 31.5 PA away from home.

The Dodgers hit five home runs in the first two games of the Division Series against the Braves.

Left-hander Robert Gasser allowed a perfectly normal 15 home runs in his 21 games and 109 1/3 innings this season, and a home run accounted for the only run against him in his four innings in Game 4 of the NLDS in San Diego.

In two starts against the Dodgers this season, the Dodgers hit three home runs against him — Teoscar Hernández in Milwaukee, Andy Pages and Tommy Edman in Los Angeles — while allowing seven total runs in 10 2/3 innings.

“They know me, and I know them. I enjoy having some familiarity with a lineup,” Gasser told reporters Monday in Milwaukee. “Looking back to the game in August and kind of watching those swings, obviously hitters adjust, but being a good guy in the dugout, watching them right now and seeing how they’ve changed to now and trying to build a plan for them.”

Whatever offense the Dodgers get on Wednesday, it will be backing Blake Snell, who walked five in his last time out, in Game 2 against the Braves 10 days ago, while lasting only 3 2/3 innings.

“A big thing is momentum. Once you shift it, especially at home, anything can happen,” Snell said Tuesday. “We saw what happened when we played Toronto. I’m not worried. We’ve just got to get it going. I think, once we do that, we’ll be fine.”

NLCS Game 3 info

• Teams: No. 2 seed Dodgers vs. No. 1 seed Brewers
• Series: Milwaukee leads, 2-0
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 5:08 p.m.
• TV: FS1 (Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal, Tom Verducci)
• National radio: ESPN Radio (Jon Sciambi, Doug Glanville)
• Local English radio: AM 570 (Charley Steiner, Rick Monday)
• Local Spanish radio: KTNQ 1020 AM (José Mota, Luis Cruz)

The 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove awards won’t be announced until November 1, but the list of finalists at each position was released on Wednesday. The Detroit Tigers have two representatives in the group of American League finalists, one with a legitimate shot to win an award, the other a longshot.

Dillon Dingler is the first finalist for the Tigers, and should be favored to take home the Gold Glove award as the game’s best defensive catcher. He’s up against Austin Wells of the New York Yankees and Brandon Valenzuela of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Dingler was worth +15 defensive runs saved (DRS) this season per Sports Info Solutions, and a +16 fielding run value (FRV), which is Statcast’s combined catching metric. eading all qualified catchers by a wide margin. Dingler did this while appearing in 145 games total with 116 games behind the plate. Wells was worth +8 DRS and +7 FRV by comparison. Valenzuela played less, but he was also excellent defensively, posting a +9 DRS and +13 FRV.

This should be Dingler’s award. Obviously this is supposed to be about defense only, but it often hasn’t quite played out that way. On defense alone, Dingler wins. If you take whole impact on their team, Dingler wins and no one is even within sight.

Zach McKinstry is their other Tigers finalist. He’s in the utility category along with the Yankees’ José Caballero and the Rangers’ Ezequiel Duran.

Caballero played just about everywhere this season, other than first base and catcher. Overall he was worth +2 Outs Above Average (OAA). Duran was worth +13 OAA, with most of that value coming at shortstop although he too played all over the infield and outfield for the Rangers this year. McKinstry was at +8 OAA, generating plus values at shortstop, second base, and in right field where he was a bit of a revelation defensively.

Probably Duran takes this one, but McKinstry does match up pretty well against him. Caballero has the advantage of being on the best team of the three, but his numbers don’t stack up well in comparison to either Duran or McKinstry.

On the other hand, this isn’t an award based on DRS or OAA. It’s voted on by managers and coaches from each team around the league. That voting compromises 75 percent of the final points per player. The other 25 percent comes from the SABR defensive index to try and get a more objective measure into the results. You can find a little more on the voting process here.

We’ll have to wait a few weeks to find out the winners. Dingler should have a cakewalk to the award. The utility award is probably more of a wide open race.