Category: Baseball

I’m still processing all my feelings over here, and having gone through the Wild Card Series itself already, I find myself back at September’s regular-season games. We saw them go 12-12 on the month, as Chad Tracy allowed players to rest and conserve their energy for the postseason. I am starting to see their September fade not just as a slump, but as a trap they collectively bought—or fell—into.

In these days of three Wild Cards, conventional wisdom basically says all you have to do is get in, use your best two or three reliable starting pitchers for this short playoff round, and get hot at the right time. Conventional wisdom also says that anything can happen in the postseason, but the Sox liked their chances, particularly due to the strength of their top three starters. This was a rotation built to handle a three-game sprint, which was consistently mentioned in predictions prior to the series. (This was true even when the edge was actually given to the Yankees; MLB’s positional breakdown is one example.)

In fact, speculating about who would pitch the crucial Games 1 and 2 in the Wild Card Series became a main focus in September as fans, the manager, and the team turned their attention to the playoffs. With a postseason berth assured and no real chance to take over the division, the Red Sox paced themselves by resting their starters and other players, to ensure they were ready.

Tracy said about Willson Contreras, ““DH’ing yesterday [instead of playing first base] was strictly to manage the load.”

After three losses in a row (to the Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays), he said: “I told the guys before, we earned the right to be in position to be able to line things up.”

What Tracy meant is prioritizing rest and conserving energy ahead of the postseason. I hear some entitlement in this and that doesn’t sit well with me. They drifted through a completely uninspired September because they “earned the right” to do it that way. Where’s the grit? Where’s the burning desire to compete and win?

At one point, I remember Lou Merloni saying that the way Tracy handled the roster down the stretch (shuffling lineups, resting players, and experimenting with matchups and platoon roles) reminded him of a spring training evaluation period instead of a September playoff push.

The Sox finished the final month of the regular season with the fewest runs scored in all of Major League Baseball: a measly 71. The team above them, the spiraling Phillies, scored 89. The Brewers scored the most for the month, with 146. I would argue that when the Sox coasted their way through September, they didn’t conserve energy—they atrophied.

They “earned the right” to glide their way through September, operating under the delusion that momentum can be toggled on and off at will and that the postseason stage would automatically trigger their best selves. There’s that “just get in” mentality.

The Red Sox wrote a hell of a story in 2026. So why didn’t they treat the postseason as the action-packed continuation of that page-turner? Instead of continuing to build toward the climax of that story, they slowed down the pace and gave us an anticlimactic month of baseball. Even off the field, in the last week of the regular season, the front office celebrated prematurely when they handed Tracy a three-year deal and picked up both of Craig Breslow’s contract options. All before the postseason even began. The timing was odd.

The team spent a month resting on the field, with the really unfortunate result of turning their playoff run into an epilogue—a few extra words tacked onto the end of a story that had already said all it needed to say. When they were outscored 18-2 and swept by the Yankees, it was a heartbreaking ending, for sure, but it wasn’t a plot twist. It was the punctuation mark on a sentence they started writing weeks prior.

Behind Tarik Skubal's brilliance and three home runs, the Los Angeles Dodgers took Game 1 of the National League Division Series against Atlanta and the two teams are right back in action on Sunday, Oct. 4 at Dodger Stadium.

The back-to-back World Series champions will another send two-time Cy Young winner, Blake Snell, to the mound in the second game of the best-of-five series. When the series heads back to Atlanta for Game 3, last year's World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will take the mound.

"We could have deployed our starters any way we wanted, but to have Blake going (Sunday) to follow up with what Tarik did (Saturday) and knowing that you got Yamamoto in the holster for Game 3, we're in a good spot," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters. "It all starts with winning Game 1."

Stealing a game in Los Angeles would be huge for Atlanta, with Games 3 (Tuesday) and 4 (Wednesday) at Truist Park in Cobb County, Georgia.

Where to watch Dodgers vs Braves: TV channel, streaming

• Time: 8 p.m. ET
• TV channel: FS1
• Streaming: Fubo and Fox One

Watch Dodgers-Braves on Fubo

Dodgers vs Braves predictions

• Bob Nightengale: Dodgers in 4
• Gabe Lacques: Dodgers in 4
• Kristie Ackert: Dodgers in 4
• Jesse Yomtov: Dodgers in 5

Dodgers vs Braves NLDS schedule

• Game 1 (Saturday, Oct. 3): Dodgers 5, Braves 3
• Game 2 (Sunday, Oct. 4): At Los Angeles, 8 p.m. ET
• Game 3 (Tuesday, Oct. 6): At Atlanta, 6 p.m. ET
• Game 4 (Wednesday, Oct. 7)*: At Atlanta, 6 p.m. ET
• Game 5 (Friday, Oct. 9)*: At Los Angeles, 8 p.m. ET

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Where to watch Dodgers vs Braves today: Predictions, NLDS Game 2 time and channel

Our editors independently choose our recommendations. Some content is produced with paid support from a third party, however our editorial decisions remain independent. If you buy through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices and availability may change.

“Kevin, can you pick up the Player of the Game for Game 1 of the ALDS?”
“Sure… I hope I can write about Gerrit Cole going eight shutty.”

Baseball can be a cruel sport. I suspect we all would have signed up for five innings of one-run ball from Gerrit Cole at The Trop Saturday night. That’s the kind of thing that the vast majority of the time would have put the Yankees in great position to steal home-field advantage from the Rays.

The above is exactly what we got from Cole. Unfortunately, on the other side Drew Rasmussen was basically untouchable, toying with a formerly hot Yankee offense. Cole being merely excellent was therefore not enough. But on a night when nary a hitter was worthy of being honored, Cole’s sterling five innings makes him the Player of the Game, albeit in a losing effort.

His final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

At the end of the day, Cole made one mistake all night, in the third inning – a 2-2 changeup middle-away to Jonathan Aranda that the Rays lefty turned around and drove out to right center for a solo home run, the lone run either team scraped across Saturday. I don’t even hate that location. Just have to tip your cap to Aranda to a certain extent.

Otherwise, Cole gave the Yankees everything they could have asked for, other than perhaps more length. Though the venerable ace was only sitting at 82 pitches through five innings, so likely could have come back out for another frame if needed. But with a fully rested bullpen in a one-run game, it made sense for manager Aaron Boone to be aggressive. To give the skipper his due, his moves worked, and the ‘pen held Tampa scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Much was made coming into Game 1 about the increased induced vertical break (IVB) on Cole’s four-seam fastball at The Trop versus in outdoor environments, where the wind can mess with it. Reportedly, the way Cole’s stuff plays indoors was a key reason for going with him in Game 1.

Since joining the Yankees, Cole’s heater has averaged 19.3 inches of IVB inside Tropicana, compared to 17.7 inches at Yankee Stadium. Saturday, it averaged 17 inches of IVB, down considerably from his average while pitching in Tampa. Despite that drop, the pitch remained effective nonetheless.

Cole got seven whiffs on 27 swings at his heater, and averaged 96.8-mph with it, maxing out at 98.8-mph. Three of his five strikeouts came on the offering, including a 96-mph fastball to Victor Mesa, Jr. that looked like it was still rising as Mesa swung through it.

The curveball was Cole’s secondary weapon Saturday, especially against lefties (he threw the pitch 27% of the time when facing the platoon disadvantage). He racked up his other two strikeouts with the pitch, including one up in the zone that turned Junior Caminero’s knees to jelly.

Cole’s outing on Saturday moves his career playoff ERA since joining the Yankees down to 2.85 in 72.2 innings. Hopefully, he’ll get to appear again this postseason, whether later in this series against the Rays or against an AL Central foe in the ALCS, to bring that already nice ERA even lower.

The Dodgers are better than you. They’re smarter than you. They’re richer and deeper and more popular than you. You know it, they know it, there’s no point pretending otherwise.

So, yes, they went into the National League Divisional Series looking past the threadbare Atlanta Braves and thinking about the National League Championship Series.

Who does that? In the playoffs?

Your two-time World Series champions with the world’s best starting pitching rotation and a 1-0 NLDS series lead, that’s who.

The way the Dodgers did the math, it made sense to save their ace of aces, Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who last postseason went 5-1, had an ERA of 1.45 and 33 strikeouts in six appearances and won the World Series MVP — for Game 3 of the NLDS.

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

Not for the tone-setting Game 1 and, potentially, Game 5 on regular rest.

But Game 3.

Because to the Dodgers, that’s not even much of a calculated risk. It was a math problem specific to them, before they beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 in Game 1 in 100-degree heat Saturday afternoon.

They figured they’d be able to throw two consecutive left-handers at the lefty-averse Braves lineup, starting Saturday with recently acquired two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, followed Sunday by Blake Snell, also a two-time Cy Young winner.

Additionally, this way they could have Yamamoto pitch Tuesday on the road, where his ERA is 1.77 instead of at home, where it’s 3.13. And where he’s given up 14 home runs compared with six on the road, where he’s made four fewer starts.

But mostly the Dodgers’ calculus was that having Yamamoto pitch Game 3 means it will line up so that they’ll have him for Game 2 in the NLCS and, if necessary, Game 6 against the Milwaukee Brewers or San Diego Padres. (Or, if you really want to plan ahead — and the Dodgers with their leaky bullpen absolutely should not — for Game 1 of the World Series.)

“That just sets up the rotation and Yamamoto better looking forward,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained before Saturday’s game.

“Not discounting this series, because you’ve got to win this series first, but you start from the fact that they’re all going to pitch — the three [Skubal, Snell and Yamamoto] are going to pitch for sure ... and then what sets them up going forward.”

It feels like a faux pas, to be that forward-thinking, and to be saying the quiet part out loud!

“If you can kind of line it up in such a way to give guys ample rest, it puts you in a better position for more options down the road,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of some of the math we had.”

I mean, it adds up. And for these Dodgers — whose fourth starter, Tyler Glasnow, was a key cog in last year’s World Series-winning rotation — it’s a fair assessment.

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

Though it’s nice of Roberts to pay enough lip service that he’s not totally discounting the best-of-five current series they’re in.

Predictably on Saturday, Skubal, who previously had a 2.04 ERA, a 0.73 WHIP and 56 strikeouts in 39⅔ playoff innings for the Detroit Tigers, brought his own October heat.

The 29-year-old from Kingman, Ariz., gave up just one run and two hits, walked two and struck out seven — giving him 64 in the postseason, the second most in his first seven postseason appearances behind only Bob Gibson (74), per MLB’s Sarah Langs.

Skubal retired 15 consecutive, hit 101 on the radar gun in the second inning and didn’t have a three-ball count until the fifth inning.

“We knew,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said, “it was going to be a rough ride.”

But Weiss did not know, immediately after Saturday’s loss, when he’d be able to deploy his sole ace, 37-year-old Chris Sale, the 10-time All-Star who just pitched in the Braves’ Game 3 wild-card closeout.

“To me it’s not that big a deal when he pitches,” Weiss said. “The Dodgers can’t win it in two.”

A true statement and a matter of fact: The Dodgers can’t win in two, but they’re not shy about expecting to win.

Read more:Shaikin: Dodgers are forcing Braves to make tough decision about Chris Sale

“It’s prudent to kind of map out potentially how they could line up,” Roberts said Friday. “And that’s just doing your due diligence.

“We are very fortunate because we have four guys essentially that you could really kind of pick through to figure out what’s the best way to deploy all four starters, that’s the exercise. But it starts with having four talented guys.”

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, reveled in the notion that his club might actually be disproving the rule that you can never have enough pitching — at least when it comes to their elite quartet of starters.

And that, Friedman said, “is very impactful for quality of life.”

And the Dodgers aren’t afraid to say it.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Turns out that maybe pursuing Munetaka Murakami may have been the right idea for the Phillies after all. His first career playoff home run led the White Sox to victory and showed other teams yet again that they made a mistake in not going harder after him.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• There are a lot of questions the team needs to answer this offseason. Where Trea Turner plays is at the top of it ($).
• Don Mattingly got a lot of praise from his team for how he handled this season. It might not matter when it comes to his job ($).

MLB news:

• Joe Espada saw his general manager fired with a few weeks left in the season, but he hopes to remain on as Astros manager.
• Apparently, the Yankees had a chance to top the Red Sox’ final trade package to acquire Adley Rutschman from the Orioles.
• What do these insiders think Tarik Skubal will be making once he enters free agency? More important is the who will sign him.

Entering the playoffs, the Yankees knew they’d have to win their share of tight, low-scoring games if they wanted to advance deep into the playoffs. You know, the type of games that became their trademark during the second half of the season, as the offense floundered without Aaron Judge but the team still surged in the standings thanks to a fistful of 3-2 and 2-1 victories.

That was the kind of the game the Yankees had to win last night. Instead, the Rays staff executed just a hair better, and New York will turn to their ace in Game 2 hoping to stabilize in this series rather than take a commanding lead, having missed a massive opportunity to put Tampa on the backfoot.

It’s the kind of missed chance that will sting so much because of how well the Yankees’ pitching strategy for this game worked out. Gerrit Cole wasn’t at his sharpest, but he wasn’t bad either, managing to hold the Rays to just one run over five innings. Aaron Boone then did good work leveraging his bullpen (as he’s done for much of this season), tabbing Ryan Weathers for his postseason debut, and bringing in Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick at opportune moments, getting three no-hit innings from the trio. 

It wasn’t enough, in large part thanks to a superlative performance from Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen. Though the Yankees’ bats showed poorly in this game and made a couple key mistakes (more on that later), the story of this game is Rasmussen. The right-hander carried a no-hitter into the eighth, ultimately shutting the Yankees out over eight innings while allowing one hit, two walks, and striking out ten.

Rasmussen adjusted adeptly facing the lefty-heavy Yankee lineup, ramping up the usage of his cutter and changeup. The cambio in particular devastated the Yankees, the Bombers swinging 18 times at the change and whiffing ten times. Rasmussen’s changeup is a power one, diving beneath hitters’ bats at 89-90 mph, and the Yankees had no chance when he located it well:

He also showed deft control of his heaters, painting the corner to generate a number of called strikes with his cutter and sinker:

The Yankees didn’t do enough to make Rasmussen uncomfortable, only occasionally working deep counts and finding trouble squaring up the ball when they did make contact. But ultimately, Rasmussen is a very good pitcher who turned in the game of his life when the lights were brightest. The Yankees needed someone to break through and make a play, on a night where stringing together a rally against the opposing pitcher was a tall task. Austin Wells tried to be that someone when he roped the line drive down the right-field line that broke up Rasmussen’s no-no, attempting to stretch a double into a triple with two outs in the eighth:

It was an inexplicable decision regardless of the result. Using some back-of-the-napkin win probability math, Wells advancing to third there would’ve raised the Yankees’ chances of winning by roughly one percentage point, while getting thrown out reduced their odds by something like seven or eight percent. To justify going for it, Wells needed to feel he had a nearly 90 percent chance of advancing, something he very clearly didn’t have as Victor Mesa Jr. gathered to throw from right.

This series is far from over after one game, but the Yankees had a real chance to put the Rays in a bind here. They limited the Rays to one run on five hits, a scenario they surely would’ve taken before the game had it been presented to them. Any sort of offense would have resulted in New York taking a 1-0 lead in Tampa Bay, with the presumptive AL Cy Young winner ready to take the ball and bury the Rays in Game 2. Instead, Cam Schlittler will need to shove just to keep his team from falling into a 2-0 ALDS hole for the second consecutive season.

Schlittler will be up for the job, and the Yankees may very well find themselves back in the series come Monday night. But this is a tough, solid Rays squad, one that will be to hard to crack. The Yankees could’ve given themselves a chance to break them, but Rasmussen had other plans.

---

On the site today, Kevin discusses the (Yankees) player of the game from Game 1, Gerrit Cole. Also, Madison recaps the rest of the action from a busy day of playoff baseball yesterday, and John spins through the week in Yankees social media, while Matt’s entry in our Yankees Birthday series highlights Frankie Crosetti.

Today’s Matchup:

Offday.

Newsday: The Yankees dropped Game 1 against the Rays on Saturday night. The story of the game was Tampa Bay starter Drew Rasmussen, who completely shut down the Yankees, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: The Yankees ended up sticking with Gerrit Cole to start game one of the ALDS, despite his struggles at points this season and despite Carlos Rodón’s impressive run to end the season. However, the reason they ended up going with Cole was that they plan on using all four starters during the series and they liked Cole in Tropicana Field and believe his “stuff” would play up better there. While he wasn’t perfect, Cole was hardly the reason the Yankees lost Game 1, allowing one run in five innings.

New York Post | Jon Heyman: Speaking of pitching, Matt Blake’s contract is reportedly up after the 2026 season. After leading the league in ERA this past season and having a pretty stellar pitching staff in general, the Yankees are unsurprisingly hoping to retain him.

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: There’s nothing that can be done at this point, but we did get some intel on the Yankees’ trade deadline, specifically around catcher Adley Rutschman, who ended up going from the Orioles to the Red Sox. Baltimore reportedly would’ve accepted a Yankees’ trade package, but the sticking point on the Yankees’ end was around prospect Yostin Pena, who rocketed onto the scene this past season.

Jacob Misiorowski did not have his best stuff tonight. Far from it, despite the 104.8 MPH velocity on the first pitch of the game. But even with the bumps, he kept things from spiraling too far out of reach and relied on his teammates to pick him up as the Brewers were able to secure the 3-2 win in Game 1 of the NLDS.

Things were looking shaky early with the Padres working Misiorowski’s pitch count up to 25 pitches in the 1st, then the Padres rattled off three straight singles in the 2nd inning to take an early lead. With runners at the corners, Jake Bauers couldn’t cleanly field a hot shot grounder and then threw the ball to home rather than step on first for a sure out. Contreras couldn’t catch it clean either and a run scored to make it 2-0 Padres.

Through one and a half innings, Jacob Misiorowski was at 58 pitches while Robbie Ray was at seven. The momentum was squarely in the Padres favor.

Then things turned in the 3rd inning, after a leadoff broken bat single from Garrett Mitchell, Jackson Chourio stepped to the plate and was swinging away at a first pitch slider.

THIS KID LIVES FOR OCTOBER https://t.co/TxPHOkqb4Tpic.twitter.com/PUXtUNY1a4

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 4, 2026

Jackson Chourio slugged the fifth postseason home run of his young career, already giving him the most in Brewers franchise history. At just 22 years old, Chourio lives for these clutch moments.

“He’s gifted. He’s a beautiful spirit. He’s gifted mentally. He’s smiling every day and nothing gets him down.” Pat Murphy said.

“I’m the type of player that I’m always going to give everything I have. I’m always going to give 100 percent. I like playing in these scenarios. I like playing in these kinds of games.” Chourio said.

That brought the game even a 2-2 and the Brewers then had chances for more. Brice Turang and William Contreras had back-to-back walks, then Jake Bauers dropped in a bloop single and the bases were loaded with one out. Robbie Ray was on the ropes. Christian Yelich then hit a shallow fly to left, too shallow to score Turang, and then Craig Stammen went to his bullpen.

Cooper Pratt grounded into a force out to end the threat in the 3rd. However, both teams would have numerous more chances throughout this game to break the tie. The Padres had 12 runners left on base, the Brewers had nine. But no one could break through.

That was, until William Contreras came up with two outs in the bottom of the 7th against Adrian Morejon.

A GO-AHEAD NUKE FOR WILD BILL https://t.co/FQ7PSppxiIpic.twitter.com/COua5Td2Iq

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) October 4, 2026

Contreras launched his third career postseason home run and each of them have been go-ahead blasts with two outs.

That pushed the Brewers lead to 3-2 and they again had chances to add on. Jake Bauers singled, then Andrew Vaughn pinch hit for Yelich and singled. With two on, and the chance for big insurance, Cooper Pratt struck out to end the inning.

Meanwhile, the Brewers bullpen was picking up Jacob Misiorowski, who lasted just 4 innings and threw 88 pitches. Antonio Senzatela ran into some trouble in the 5th taking over for Misiorowski, but Aaron Ashby was able to come in and get the final out of the inning. Ashby then cruised through the 6th and got the first out of the 7th before turning the ball over to Abner Uribe.

Uribe put some traffic on the bases, which led to DL Hall walking into a bases loaded, two out situation in the 7th inning. Hall got Jackson Merrill to pop out to left to end the threat with no harm done.

Trevor Megill was called upon to make a four-out save. He quickly dispatched Fernando Tatis Jr to finish off the 8th with three straight fastballs to punch him out. In the 9th, Dustin Harris led things off with a single, putting some tension on the big moments. Manny Machado, forever a villain in Milwaukee, struck out for the first out of the inning.

Then things got weird. Ty France lifted a rain-making fly ball down the left field line, it looked like it was probably hooking foul, but before it could, the ball hit the roof cables and was brought down right into the glove of Chourio in the left field corner. After a lengthy conversation from the umpires and review, the ball was judged to have hit the cable in fair territory and by the ground rules, it was a live ball and since it was caught, it was an out.

Oh. My. Goodness.

This ball hit by France looked to potentially be a go-ahead home run, but it hit the roof and was caught, and was ruled an out. pic.twitter.com/E6pnoausP7

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 4, 2026

“Ueck decided to put his hand on it and swat it down so Chourio could catch it. So thanks, Ueck” Pat Murphy said.

“I thought I had a chance on that ball kind of the whole time off the bat. Then the only thing I kind of realized it changed direction a little bit, but i thought I had a beat on it for the majority of the time.” Chourio said.

It came down to the wire in this game, a 3-2 victory with the roof cable wires potentially wiping a home run off the board and for sure leading directly to an out in the 9th inning. They got the big hits when they needed them. The Brewers don’t hit a ton of homers and that’s been a talking point all season, but they hit two in Game 1 and they were the difference in the ballgame.

The Brewers will be back at it Sunday afternoon with a 3 PM first pitch for Game 2. Logan Henderson will be on the mound for the Crew.

After an off day on Sunday, the Yankees will be back in action on Monday night when they face Freddy Peralta and the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS on at Tropicana Field.

New York will aim to secure a win and not fall behind 0-2 in the best-of-five series, and in order to do that it will have to get through Peralta who totally turned his season around after getting traded by the Mets at the trade deadline and joining the Rays.

In 10 starts since leaving Queens, the veteran right-hander is 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA (1.01 WHIP) compared to a 4.99 ERA (1.48 WHIP) in 22 starts during his first season with the Mets.

So what's been the difference?

"This is baseball. Everything changed when I got traded. I said it before that I've been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it. They're working me really well here," Peralta said.

The 30-year-old made sure to mention that he was "happy" with the Mets, but that the results just didn't come.

Now, Peralta has a chance to give his team a resounding lead in the series in a ballpark where he's pitched to a 1.69 ERA in four starts this year.

"I feel amazing on the mound, and in general here, but I'm looking forward to finding a way to give the opportunity to the team to get the win," Peralta said. "No matter how. Don't matter what I have to do or how I have to do it. Just to find a way to get it done."

Despite Peralta getting his season back on track and pitching his best at just the right time, the right-hander hasn't had the most success in the postseason -- something the Yankees would love to exploit.

In nine games (six starts) during the playoffs, all with the Milwaukee Brewers, Peralta is 1-3 with a 4.32 ERA. His team's record in playoff games he's pitched is a surprising 1-8. Meanwhile, in two career outings against the Yankees, Peralta is 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA, including a start this year in which he allowed three earned runs on two hits and six walks as a member of the Mets.

A lot has changed for Peralta since then and he enters the playoffs with a 1.76 ERA over his last seven starts for Tampa Bay. He credits his teammates for their energy and welcoming him from the start and believes this opportunity to fight for a World Series with the Rays is "very special."

"Since I got here I felt something I was looking for, which is the energy, the way that the boys play the game, how they -- when they get into -- like, when I talk about the defense, they are amazing, the way they come into the field, the way they take their bats, too, when I talk about the offense," he said. "It's amazing, and I just -- we just need to keep it that way. Simple."

MILWAUKEE — William Contreras hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the Milwaukee Brewers hung on to beat San Diego 3-2 in their NL Division Series opener Saturday night after a potential go-ahead homer by the Padres’ Ty France hit the American Family Field roof and landed in outfielder Jackson Chourio’s glove for an out.

San Diego had a runner on first with one out in the ninth inning when France hit a towering flyball that struck a railing on the roof before Chourio caught it in fair territory on the left-field warning track.

Under the stadium’s ground rules, any batted ball striking the roof or one of its cables in fair territory is a fair ball that can be caught for an out, so Chourio’s catch retired France. The Padres unsuccessfully challenged that France’s drive was a foul ball.

Ty France is robbed of a potential go-ahead homer as the ball hits the roof and drops back into play pic.twitter.com/UkWjHytIEb

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 4, 2026

Jackson Merrill then lined out to right to end the game.

Chourio also hit a two-run homer as the Brewers won for the 16th time in 19 games. San Diego lost for only the fourth time in its last 24 outings despite chasing Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski after four innings.

This best-of-five series continues Sunday with a Game 2 pitching matchup featuring San Diego’s Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) and Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47).

Contreras had gone just 1 for 20 against the Padres this season before delivering the biggest hit of the game on a 3-2 pitch from Adrian Morejon. As his 406-foot shot cleared the wall in right-center field, the three-time All-Star turned to face Milwaukee’s dugout and celebrate in front of teammates on his way to first base.

Contreras joined Boston’s Willson Contreras to become the fifth set of brothers to homer in the same postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others are Ken and Clete Boyer (1964), Sandy Jr. and Roberto Alomar (1997), Stephen and J.D. Drew (2007) and Bo and Josh Naylor (2025). Willson Contreras homered in Game 2 of Boston’s AL Wild Card Series loss to the New York Yankees.

San Diego wasted scoring opportunities all night, particularly late in the game.

The Padres loaded the bases in the seventh against Abner Uribe before DL Hall retired Merrill on a fly to left to end the threat.

San Diego also put runners on first and second with one out in the eighth after Hall issued a pair of walks, but the Padres again failed to capitalize. Austin Hays hit a fly to right against Hall that advanced pinch-runner Samad Taylor to third, then Trevor Megill struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. on three pitches to strand runners on the corners.

Megill then worked around a leadoff single to Dustin Harris in the ninth to pick up the save while getting a major assist from the roof.

Milwaukee was opening its postseason Saturday after winning a franchise-record 103 games to earn home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Misiorowski played a big role in that success by posting a 1.80 ERA, striking out 252 batters and limiting hitters to a .157 batting average to lead the major leagues in all three categories.

Misiorowski opened his first playoff start by throwing a 104.8 mph strike to Tatis, the fastest postseason pitch since tracking began in 2008.

But the 6-foot-7 right-hander left the game earlier than usual as the Padres fouled off 30 of his 88 pitches — 31 if you count Xander Bogaerts’ popup that was caught in foul territory.

San Diego took a 2-0 lead by scoring a pair of runs off Misiorowski in the second inning.

Bogaerts, Ethan Salas and Luis Campusano hit consecutive one-out singles, with Campusano’s base hit to right driving in Bogaerts. Jake Cronenworth then hit a broken-bat grounder, and first baseman Jake Bauers was unable to throw out Salas at the plate.

San Diego could have done even more damage that inning, but Manny Machado grounded out to leave the bases loaded.

The Brewers responded in the third thanks to Chourio, who already has established himself as one of the game’s top playoff performers at age 22.

With a runner on second and one out, Chourio delivered a 420-foot drive over the wall in left-center for his franchise-record fifth career postseason homer in his 13th playoff game. Chourio had shared the mark with Prince Fielder and Orlando Arcia.

According to MLB.com, the only other players to hit five playoff homers before their 23rd birthday are Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto.

There’s more than one route through October.

Perhaps that’s the ultimate takeaway from what we’ll call the penultimate quadruple-header in Major League Baseball’s playoffs. Day One of the Division Series round saw all four matchups tipping off, and if you’re looking for a hard and fast maxim of What Works and What Is Smart, keep it moving.

Sure, you could pay $60 million a year for a guy to hit just one timely home run, and maybe more to come. Or enter the playoffs with virtually no starting pitchers. Or hand the ball to an ace that’s undergone three major arm surgeries.

All those maneuvers came up aces on Saturday, Oct. 3, when four teams got the jump in this best-of-five round.

Should all four series go at least four games, we’ll do this again Wednesday, when Game 3s in the American League and Game 4s in the National will transpire. For now, let’s isolate some key takeaways from the last guaranteed day of wall-to-wall baseball:

Rays-Yankees looks like the real ALCS

We’re not going to get on a soapbox about the “broken” playoff seeding system. Yeah, it’s not necessarily a great look that the two Division Series matchups will be intra-division battles from the cash-poor Central and the big-boy East.

And perhaps this Tampa Bay Rays-New York Yankees battle deserves the best-of-seven treatment to further separate the two best teams in  the game’s best division.

But MLB’s desire to preserve the sanctity of the division title is fairly worthy. It keeps a carrot dangling for good teams to chase throughout September. That the Cleveland Guardians may not truly be “the two seed” isn’t going to kill anybody.

With that said, this Rays-Yankees series will bring the AL playoffs to a premature apex.

You won’t find a finer-played baseball game than the 1-0 one-hitter Tampa Bay threw at New York in Game 1. So clean: There was a well-defined hero and goat, with Drew Rasmussen nearly no-hitting the Yankees until Austin Wells broke it up with a double down the line – and then got thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Rasmussen, famously fighting for his career after three major arm surgeries, got 16 called strikes or whiffs on his changeup, and tied the Yankees up in knots all night. It was jarring seeing a club that scored 18 runs in the two-game wild-card series get held to zero.

The Yankees must rally quickly. Yet they also have undeterred ace Cam Schlittler going in Game 2 Monday, after an off day. He’s aligned to face Freddy Peralta, who pitched much better in Tampa Bay than with the New York Mets.

This series is probably going five games. Every one should be delectable.

The Dodgers are not automatic

Their largesse was on full display in Game 1: Kyle Tucker, the $60 million lockout-inducing slugger, crushed a two-run home run. Tarik Skubal schvitzed through six innings in 100-degree heat. Teoscar Hernández, like Tucker, carried a red-hot September into their playoff lid-lifter and drilled a two-run homer to start the scoring.

Yet a 5-3 win over an Atlanta team that’d be happy to “steal” the game did not suggest this would be a romp through the playoffs. Tanner Scott got got by Ozzie Albies for a two-run, ninth-inning homer.

Skubal got just one swing-and-miss on his 16 fastballs. They hit three homers, but produced no other extra-base hits against an undistinguished stream of Atlanta relievers.

If Chris Sale wakes up Sunday morning feeling spry, there’s a chance this baby is squared 1-1 going back to Atlanta. There’s also a chance the Dodgers assert their dominance, sweep aside the Braves and return to their regularly scheduled programming.

The Sale game, be it in Game 2 or 3, will be an interesting tell: The Dodgers’ aging lineup against the 37-year-old who nonetheless gets it up to 97 mph coming out of his 6-6 frame.

Bullpen games: Don’t try this at home

Goodness, what a show put on by five Chicago White Sox pitchers, starting with Hagen Smith and ending with four sterling innings from erstwhile closer Grant Davis in their 3-0 quieting of Cleveland.

The White Sox are 3-0 in this postseason, turning conventional wisdom on its ear as they remain, largely, a starter-free zone. Great job by them.

Yet starting pitcher paucities are catching up elsewhere.

The Braves used their two guys – Sale and Tyler Mahle – to escape the Phillies’ grip in the wild-card series. And then they were tapped out, starting Dylan Dodd, who gave them three shutout innings before yielding to Victor Mederos and AJ Smith-Shawver.

Who combined to give up all five runs.

Nope, it’s almost impossible to have five relief arms firing at once. Even the great San Diego Padres bullpen found this out.

This was no bullpen game, but lefty Robbie Ray has been hit hard lately and sure enough, recorded just eight outs in Game 1 at Milwaukee. Yuki Matsui, Bradley Rodriguez and Jason Adam all were on point – and then, for one pitch, Adrian Morejon wasn’t.

The All-Star lefty yielded a seventh-inning, go-ahead homer to the Brewers’ William Contreras. Milwaukee survived a shaky night from Jacob Misiorowski. Yet in Game 2, the Padres get good news: Ace Michael King is on turn.

San Diego’s formula appears clear: It must win on nights King and Nick Pivetta start. Because man cannot live on relief arms alone – except, it appears, the White Sox.

Tonnage is fun

A few online grumblers seemed to shake their heads that this four-game festival was pitted against college football. Counterpoint: It’s hard to beat 11 hours of playoff baseball.

Supposedly the big game this week was in Iowa, though reasonable men and women might’ve sniffed out that that was a fraudulent premise. Meanwhile, Game 1s of the Division Series produced a near no-hitter, and four games that qualified as “close-and-late,” including two one-run affairs.

And while they took their medicine Saturday, MLB’s TV logisticians now have it aligned to avoid Big Football during the World Series. Things break right, we can do it all again Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB playoffs mega day takeaways: Rays-Yanks is real ALCS, Dodgers not a lock

Players and fans alike were left confused in the ninth inning at American Family Field in Milwaukee when Ty France's high fly ball – that might have been a go-ahead home run – struck the roof and was caught by left fielder Jackson Chourio.

Under the stadium's ground rules, a "batted ball striking roof, roof truss or roof cable over fair territory" is considered in play.

The San Diego Padres challenged the call on the field but the ground rules are explicit and the Milwaukee Brewers caught a massive break from their home ballpark to stay in the lead.

With two outs, Trevor Megill retired the next batter Jackson Merrill to end the game and secure the Brewers' 3-2 win in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. The second game in the best-of-five series is Sunday, Oct. 4 in Milwaukee.

Oh. My. Goodness.

This ball hit by France looked to potentially be a go-ahead home run, but it hit the roof and was caught, and was ruled an out. pic.twitter.com/E6pnoausP7

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 4, 2026

However, according to MLB Statcast – using exit velocity, launch angle and other data – the ball would have been a home run in just one of baseball's 30 ballparks: Houston's Daikin Park.

Talking to Fox after the game, Megill said he didn't previously know the ground rule.

"At first, it was, 'Oh, crap,' and then the home-plate umpire came up and said it was live no matter what," Megill said. "Four years in this stadium, I've never seen that before. Just glad it worked in our favor there."

Said Padres manager Craig Stammen: "We joked today at the umpires meeting about what would happen if the ball in the roof. It's unlikely, but it happens."

It's the second time this year that the Padres were victimized by a roof, as the catwalks at Tropicana Field obstructed a Xander Bogaerts drive in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

After review the call stands.

France is out.

Two outs now in the 9th.

Wow. pic.twitter.com/r211Q6SUxm

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 4, 2026

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers saved by their stadium roof as potential HR strikes Milwaukee dome

Without relitigating anything from Saturday, Sunday has to be treated as a game of the utmost importance for the Braves, with no pitching restrictions. All of the Braves’ top arms have had two days to rest now and with an off-day Monday, there is no excuse to hold back. Chris Sale or not, Walt Weiss needs to be aggressive with the bullpen and put the Braves in the best position to win this game going home at the margins.

Braves News

The Braves lost Game 1 of their NLDS matchup 5-3, with a late comeback bid falling short.

Walt Weiss was noncommittal about Chris Sale’s status for Sunday.

Many in Braves Country are looking for more urgency from Walt Weiss in his management, after what felt like a bit of a punt pitching strategy on Saturday.

Atlanta released their NLDS roster, including a few more pitchers than in the Wild-Card.

MLB News

Aaron Judge was excluded from the Yankees’ ALDS roster with his nagging calf injury.

The Rays shut out the Yankees and beat them 1-0, behind a brilliant Drew Rasmussen start.

The Cinderella White Sox took Game 1 in Cleveland for their ALDS in the wide-open AL.

Xander Bogaerts has a new approach at the plate and it’s making a difference. But his secret weapon is no longer a secret.

When NBC analyst Clayton Kershaw pointed out the split grip that Bogaerts was using in the NL Wild Card Series, most had not noted the new technique being used by the Padres shortstop.

During the worst offensive season of his career, with the hope of a postseason run on the horizon, Bogaerts took a suggestion from the coaching staff to try something different.

Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune was able to get some details about Bogaerts’ mechanical adjustment. 

In his Padres Notes on Oct. 2, Sanders traces the change to the road series in Colorado during mid-September. The Padres shortstop had repeatedly rolled over on pitches during the season, leading to weak grounders and lots of outs.

The staff suggested using a split grip on his bat. 

The grip change results in keeping the hands separated by 1-2 inches, which gives better bat control while also helping to keep the bat level through the hitting plane. This helps lift the ball rather than pounding it into the ground.

Clayton Kershaw noticed the grip

After pointing out the change, Kershaw explained the effect the split grip has on the action of the bat. It has been clear that the change has improved Bogaerts’ results late in the season. His incremental decline while a Padre has been discussed at length. Any improvement is welcome, especially for the postseason.

2026 futility

Prior to the All-Star break, Bogaerts was hitting .224 with a .648 OPS. His best month before September was the fast start he had in April, hitting .292 with an .854 OPS.

After slumping in May, Bogaerts has struggled throughout the season, with July being a new low when he hit .167 with a .523 OPS. Starting the season in the top five of the order, Bogaerts found himself hitting in the bottom three.

Blazing to the finish

With the mechanical change made in September, Bogaerts had a .315/.425/.479 batting line with a .904 OPS for the month. He was a vital contributor to the surge that landed his team in the postseason for a record-setting third straight season.

Reluctant to share the details

Bogaerts was one of the three Padres available to the media before their first game of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers. 

Along with manager Craig Stammen and starter Robbie Ray, Bogaerts answered questions about the upcoming series.

Except for any questions about his new batting grip.

When questioned about the origin of the new grip pointed out by Kershaw in the second game of the Wild Card Series, Bogaerts responded, “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s working, so let’s keep it going.”

When pressed further about whether it came out of nowhere, Bogaerts replied, “It didn’t come out of nowhere but it’s hopeful it continues, no?”

Known as a superstitious player, Bogaerts was clearly not keen to discuss the new grip. 

The results speak for themselves. 

Shortly after implementing the change, Bogaerts was a single shy of the cycle in Colorado and went on to hit .400/.500/.800 to finish the season.

When Saunders asked hitting coach Stephen Souza Jr. about the change, Souza said, “He started doing it and he started hitting lasers.”

The prior grip used by Bogaerts

The split grip used since mid-September