Category: Sports News

The Dodgers are in an unfamiliar position entering Thursday, teetering on the brink of elimination after having dropped the first three games of the NLCS to the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Dodgers managed to get some production with runners in scoring position in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead, only to have it short-lived with a pair of home runs against Blake Snell in the top of the seventh inning. The Dodgers once again are reshuffling things for Game 4, and the most prominent change was moving Shohei Ohtani back into his usual leadoff spot.

Ohtani showed some improvements at the plate on Wednesday, going 1-2 with a single and a hit-by-pitch. His flyout against left-hander Robert Gasser came off the bat at 90.3 miles per hour before roping a blistering single up the middle against DL Hall at 113.5 miles per hour, the hardest hit ball by a Dodger this postseason. The move comes as a surprise to Ohtani, as Dave Roberts didn’t communicate with the two-way superstar about his change in the lineup, per David Vassegh of AM 570.

Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman continue to fill the top of the lineup, this time moving down to their no. 2 and no. 3 slots respectively. Betts has struggled at the leadoff position this postseason, slashing just .231/.355/.231 with zero extra-base hits and zero RBI. Freeman has lost himself at the plate since his heroics against his old team in the NLDS, slashing .091/.083/.091 with one RBI across 12 plate appearances.

Will Smith provided the lone bout of offense against Milwaukee in Game 3, and he goes from hitting seventh on Wednesday to moving up to the cleanup spot. Kyle Tucker remains in the middle of the lineup, hitting one slot down from Wednesday at fifth. Tucker has been one of the only consistent bats for the Dodgers this October, as after a nice showing against Atlanta, Tucker is hitting .250 with an .830 OPS. Teoscar Hernández falls down to the sixth in the lineup after two consecutive hitless games.

In what might be the final game of his big league career, Miguel Rojas gets the start at second base batting seventh. Rojas has posted the best offensive numbers for any Dodger over the past seven games, hitting .333 with a .929 OPS and a double over just seven plate appearances. Rojas once again gets the start against a left-hander— this time being Shane Drohan— over Max Muncy. Andy Pages slides down to the eight spot, and Kiké Hernández gets the start over Tommy Edman at the nine spot manning third base. Tyler Glasnow gets the ball looking to save the Dodgers’ season for at least one more game.

After a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers in the 2025 NLCS, the Brewers are looking to reverse the sweep in 2026, as they have a 3-0 series lead heading into Thursday night’s Game 4 at Dodger Stadium.

To get to this point, the Brewers have displayed a balanced (and surprisingly homer-heavy) attack from the offense while the pitching staff, anchored by the bullpen, has kept them in the game until the offense can put it away.

After a 2-1 win in Sunday’s series opener, the Brewers won a back-and-forth affair in Game 2 by a final of 7-4, with five perfect innings from the bullpen putting an exclamation point on a 2-0 series lead. Last night was more of the same — after a leadoff homer by Jackson Chourio, the Brewers couldn’t get to Blake Snell in the middle innings. Abner Uribe had a bit of a misstep in the bottom of the sixth, allowing a two-run double by Will Smith, but DL Hall shut down that rally before Jake Bauers and Garrett Mitchell retook the lead with a pair of homers in the seventh, as Milwaukee ultimately won 6-2.

Tonight, it’ll be lefty Shane Drohan getting the ball for Milwaukee in his first career postseason appearance and first time on the mound since the regular season finale on September 27. For the year, Drohan went 7-5 with a 4.19 ERA, 3.73 FIP, and 125 strikeouts over 124 2/3 innings, splitting time between the rotation (19 starts) and bullpen (14 relief appearances). He made three appearances (one start) against the Dodgers this year, totaling 9 2/3 innings with six runs allowed (five earned) on six hits and five walks, striking out 12.

Drohan figures to be out there for one turn through the order, with Dustin May, Aaron Ashby, and the rest of the bullpen likely to take the bulk of the work.

Opposite Drohan is L.A.’s No. 4 starter (also their fourth All-Star starter), Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow, in his 11th MLB season, has dealt with injuries throughout his career, and 2026 was no exception. He made 13 regular season starts this year, going 5-2 with a 3.53 ERA, 2.74 FIP, and 98 strikeouts across 74 innings. He then went 4 2/3 innings in the NLDS last week against the Braves, allowing one run on one hit and five walks, striking out five in the Dodgers’ series-clinching 4-1 victory.

Glasnow has made nine career regular season appearances (five starts) against the Brewers, going 0-3 with a 4.55 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 31 2/3 innings. He also pitched against them in last year’s NLCS, going 5 2/3 innings with one run allowed and eight strikeouts in a no-decision.

Behind Drohan, Pat Murphy is rolling out another matchup-heavy lineup. Chourio is in his usual leadoff spot, followed by Brice Turang, William Contreras, and Bauers. Christian Yelich is back at DH after Andrew Vaughn got the start last night, with Garrett Mitchell batting sixth. Cooper Pratt, Sal Frelick, and David Hamilton round things out.

Los Angeles has moved Shohei Ohtani back into the leadoff spot after he batted sixth last night. He’s followed by Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith. Kyle Tucker bats fifth and Teoscar Hernández bats sixth. The bottom third of the order features Miguel Rojas, Andy Pages, and Kiké Hernández.

First pitch is slated for just after 7:00 p.m. CT on FS1 and FOX One, as well as the Brewers Radio Network.

It’s a tale as old as time: An All-Star left-handed starter for the Los Angeles Dodgers is dominating in a playoff start until it gets to the 7th inning. He throws a lot of pitches, maybe gets a little tired, and meanwhile Dave Roberts or Don Mattingly leaves him until disaster strikes.

Usually, that pitcher is Clayton Kershaw. Now that Kershaw has retired to focus on broadcasting a reclaiming the symbol of the rainbow, the burden of being Roberts’ victim has fallen on one-year San Francisco Giants sensation Blake Snell.

In the 7th inning of the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Snell was cruising along through six innings. After giving up a home run to Jackson Chourio on the first pitch of the game, Snell gave up only one more hit in the next six innings, retiring 14 Brewers in a row at one point. Then he walked Andrew Vaughn on seven pitches. Then, Jake Bauers started fouling pitches off.

Bauers fought off five two-strike pitches before going deep on Snell’s 11th pitch of the at-bat, giving the Brewers a 3-2 advantage.

That took Snell’s pitch count to 99. Though Snell is notorious for not going deep into games, Roberts chose to keep him in to face the left-handed Garrett Mitchell, even though a lefty had just taken Snell deep. It took only two more pitches for Roberts to regret his inaction.

It was immediately reminiscent of the 2019 Division Series between the Dodgers and Washington Nationals, when Kershaw came out of the bullpen and gave up back-to-back homers to Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto, the second another lefty-on-lefty matchup.

The common thread is that Roberts simply doesn’t trust his bullpen in October a lot of the time. He may have been right to, since relievers Rory Sasaki and Justin Wrobleski let two more runs score in the 8th and 9th innings. Last season, Roberts got through a rough start by Shohei Ohtani in Game 7 of the World Series by using four starting pitchers in relief, including Snell, with Wrobleski the only full-time reliever entering the game.

Snell had some control issues in his first playoff start, walking five Atlanta Braves in 3.2 innings, though he only gave up one run. With the Dodgers trailing 3-0 in the series, he and Roberts may not get a chance to redeem themselves before the 2027 season.

Note: Snell may be in his second season pitching for the Dodgers, but the Giants still had to pay him $17M this year thanks to a deferred signing bonus from his 2024 contract. Maybe that’s the reason he collapsed in the biggest moment. Simply getting a check from the 2026 Giants is enough to taint anyone in baseball with their 97-loss stink.

After a disappointing postseason that left more to be desired from the Yankees’ heavy hitters, it’s unclear what the future may look like for veterans like Giancarlo Stanton.

The nearly 37-year-old designated hitter was injured for the majority of the regular season, suffering a calf injury in late April and another in August from running the bases. He was added to the Yankees’ postseason roster, which came as a surprise to some, and made his first appearance as a pinch-hitter against the Rays in the ALDS. He ultimately went 0-for-2 in the series and failed to help continue the chase for 28 in his limited role.

Nearing the end of his 13-year, $325 million extension he signed with the Marlins in 2014, Stanton is due to make $25 million next season, with Miami responsible for $10 million. If the Yankees decide to part ways with the potential Hall of Famer before next season, they’ll have to cover the remaining $15 million.*

*There’s also a $10 million buyout for Stanton’s $25 million club option for 2028, but the Marlins are already obligated to cover $10 million for 2028 as well, so the Yankees are effectively off the hook for that.

It’s undeniable that the 2024 ALCS MVP remains one of the most intimidating hitters in the league, but his susceptibility to injuries has become impossible to ignore. In 1,356 games during his nine seasons with the Yankees, he’s seen action in only 764, according to MLB Trade Rumors. That’s likely one of the main reasons that the Yankees would decide to go separate ways.

It’s also worth noting that Aaron Judge will be healthy going into next season if all the stars align, and we’ll probably see him take a good share of time at the DH spot when he’s not in right field. Ben Rice also dominated in the position throughout the postseason, so it’d be wise for the Yankees to keep him as an option for the slot if they don’t decide to put him at first base. Luis García Jr. had his opportunity at DH last season as well with both the Yankees and Nationals when he wasn’t at first, but we’ll likely see him stay in the infield with Judge back on the roster. Keeping Rice and Judge alternating as DH starters doesn’t leave enough room for Stanton to make much of an impact.

Looking back on his career in pinstripes, Stanton helped inspire Judge’s stout demeanor and mindset as he stepped into leadership and became a three-time MVP, both leading the Yankees to their first pennant since they won the 2009 World Series. However, his proclivity to injury may give the Yankees some hesitance to keep Big G around until the end of his contract. They’ll have to weigh the pros of keeping him around, bringing more power and intimidation to the plate, and the cons, which could put the Yankees in a tough position if he gets injured again in 2027.

After moving Shohei Ohtani down in their batting order during his injury-hampered slump this postseason, the Dodgers reversed course with their season on the line in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

For the first time this October, Ohtani returned to his customary leadoff spot in the lineup.

“Just seeing the work the last couple days, I like where his head is at,” manager Dave Roberts explained, with Ohtani coming off one of his best recent performances in Wednesday’s Game 3 by reaching base three times and hitting a 113 mph single in his last trip to the plate.

“I liked the at-bats yesterday,” Roberts added. “Trying to shake it up a little bit.”

The move comes with the Dodgers facing a three-games-to-none deficit against the Milwaukee Brewers –– and in spite of Ohtani’s .182 batting average (4-for-22) in these playoffs, in which he has also failed to record an extra-base hit or an RBI.

Previously, those struggles saw him drop to the two-hole, then the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 spots in the previous four games.

But now, he will spearhead their offense once again, with the Dodgers electing to ride-or-die with the four-time MVP at the top of their lineup.

“I feel good about him taking five at-bats,” Roberts said, “and giving us our best chance to win and produce runs today.”

In other lineup changes Thursday, the Dodgers moved Will Smith –– who snapped out of his own playoff slump with a two-run double in Game 3 –– back up to the cleanup spot after he had been dropped to seven-hole previously.

Miguel Rojas also got the start at second base and Kiké Hernández at third base, with Max Muncy and Tommy Edman being dropped to the bench against Brewers left-handed starter Shane Drohan.

“What do we have to lose?” Roberts said of the team’s mindset entering the first of (what they hope is) four-straight elimination games. “I just don’t want us to be uptight. We have been here before as far as playing elimination games. There might not be a tomorrow, so we have to play like that, and I expect we will. With that, you’ve got to play free and easy. That’s imperative.”

Here is the Dodgers’ full lineup for Game 4:

1. Shohei Ohtani, DH

2. Mookie Betts, SS

3. Freddie Freeman, 1B

4. Will Smith, C

5. Kyle Tucker, RF

6. Teoscar Hernández, LF

7. Miguel Rojas, 2B

8. Andy Pages, CF

9. Kiké Hernández, 3B

SP: Tyler Glasnow

LOS ANGELES — Facing elimination and another left-hander to start Game 4, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shook up his lineup, returning Shohei Ohtani to the leadoff spot.

With southpaw Shane Drohan opening the game for the Brewers, Roberts has six right-handed hitters in his lineup with Miguel Rojas starting at second base and Enrique Hernandez at third.

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow is starting Game 4 for the Dodgers as the back-to-back World Series champs fight to stay alive in this best-of-seven National League Championship Series.

Dodgers lineup today

RHP Tyler Glasnow

1. Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
2. Mookie Betts (R) SS
3. Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
4. Will Smith (R) C
5. Kyle Tucker (L) RF
6. Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
7. Miguel Rojas (R) 2B
8. Andy Pages (R) CF
9. Enrique Hernández (R) 3B