Category: Sports News

In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the first game of the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox. The offense couldn’t muster anything against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the team suffered a 2-0 shutout.

The next day, the bats woke up and the two teams engaged in a forgotten classic with Tampa Bay coming out on top thanks to a BJ Upton sacrifice fly and the blazing speed of Fernando Perez.

After two games, the series was split and the Rays lost their home field advantage.

It didn’t matter as the Rays decimated the Red Sox in games three and four and were a few outs from winning game five. They eventually took the series in seven games.

The two games couldn’t not have been more different from the current ALCS but the stage remains the same as the Rays head from the comfy confines of Tropicana Field and head up to Ohio where the weather will be a factor. Bad weather in the postseason quickly brings back painful memories of the 2008 World Series, but MLB is attempting to be proactive during the ALCS as they have already moved up the first pitch for Game 3 to 1:00pm.

Currently, the forecast for the Cleveland area shows to be an overcast cool today with the rain not expected to develop until later in the night, thus allowing the two teams ample time to complete the game.

Tampa Bay will have a tough task ahead of them as 27-year old Gavin Williams take the mound. The four-year veteran of the Guardians staff has been solid throughout his career but broke out during the 2026 campaign with a newfound ability to generate strikeouts. Entering the season, the former 2021 first round pick Williams had a 24.1 K% over 325.2 IP. Williams soared to new heights over 184.1 IP in 2026 as he struck out 33.2% of opposing hitters. Gavin Williams had the highest BB% of qualifying starting pitchers 2025 (11.8%) but he managed to drop that to 8.2% in 2026 wihich is in the middle of the pack. Thanks to his high strikeout totals and improvement in command, Williams ranked 3rd among starting pitchers in K-BB%.

Overall for the 2026 season, Williams finished with a 3.76 ERA | 3.47 FIP with the aforementioned 33.2 K% & 8.2 BB% over 184.1 IP.

There will be an immovable object versus unstoppable force energy going as Williams is among the best in baseball in getting whiffs. Among 178 pitchers with at least 80 IP in 2026, Williams had the 4th lowest contact% with hitters only connecting 69.3% of the time. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays as a whole were elite at making contact, easily leading the MLB with a 18.3 contact%.

Williams has already made three appearances this postseason, pitching in three games of the ALDS against the Chicago White Sox. He carved through the South Side hitters with ease, striking out 52.2% of the opposing hitters over 11.2 IP. Williams was an integral to Cleveland’s game five victory as he hurled 5.2 shutout innings, while allowing just one hit, walking two, and striking out 12.

Going to the mound for the Rays will be Griffin Jax, making his first start since September 26th when he pitched three innings against the Philadelphia Phillies during the final weekend of the regular season.

The former reliever turner starter has shown flashes of brilliance during his outings this season but has also been infuriatingly inconsistent. Over 34 appearances – 23 starts – Jax has compiled a 3.53 ERA | 3.76 FIP with a 25.3 K% & and 7.6 BB% over 112.1 IP. Jax’s most recent outing game during game three of the ALDS against the New York Yankees where he allowed a run on one hit, while he struck out four over two innings pitched.

The Rays have managed to win four of their five games this postseason, despite an overall lackluster showing from their offense. The team has averaged just over three runs a game and currently opposing pitching staffs have a 2.14 ERA against them. Yandy Diaz is currently hitting just .238 over 22 PA while Jonathan Aranda is hitting .222 over his 21 PA. As a whole, the team is hitting .215/.271/329 during the playoffs.

A bright sign is the team’s K% is roughly the same as the regular season (18.6% postseason compared to 18.8% regular season). The Rays BABIP luck from the regular season has failed to transfer to October thus far as the team maintained a .296 BABIP over the 162 schedule to a lowly .246 over their 5 playoff games.

First pitch will be a 1:00pm

Today’s Reflections

Hello, everyone.

Just letting you know I came across two new articles about the outfield positioning experiment. The first one is a good, thorough article with a lot of interesting info, and it also led me to the following item: The author of the second article noticed something weird happening on the field, asked questions and even went onto the field after the game and tested it. Cool article, and probably has the best way to approach this change for now.

I appreciate your reading.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

The Change MLB is Considering That Would (potentially) Damage Baseball, Part 2:

• Ian Miller (Outkick.com): Major League Baseball is experimenting with new rules this fall to fundamentally change the sport. “Batting average on fly balls has dropped 35 points since 2019 as teams use data to place fielders with increasing precision.”
• Eric Longenhagen (Fangraphs): Major League Baseball Piloting Experimental Outfield Positioning Rules in Arizona Fall League. “But across 18 innings of baseball, I’m digging this.”

Free Agency/Trades/Arbitration Stories:

• Chris Pownall (DaWindyCity): Early prediction: Cubs could make massive $93 million offseason roster shakeup. “The Chicago Cubs have a chance to do something this winter that Jed Hoyer hasn’t always had the flexibility to do: change a substantial portion of the roster.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs’ second chance at Freddy Peralta looks more intriguing after Rays’ ALCS breakthrough. “Chicago needs big arms and that’s what Peralta looked like on Tuesday night.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Maybe Tarik Skubal to the Cubs Isn’t ENTIRELY Out of the Question? “The Cubs SHOULD be involved on Skubal, given how obviously he fits their needs. I could argue there’s no single team in baseball more improved by adding Skubal than the Cubs.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Cubs Look Like Tarik Skubal Fit on Paper, Other Than How Much Paper He’ll Command. “As with many other free agents at the top of nearly every Cubs fan’s wish list, Tarik Skubal is going to draw a lot of attention over the next several months.”
• Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs On SI): A Cubs Run at Tarik Skubal Shouldn’t Be Ruled Out This Offseason. “With the starting rotation in flux, the Chicago Cubs could still look to target one of the best names in baseball.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): 5 Impending Free Agents Cubs Fans Should Watch Closely During Championship Series. “The Cubs have been left with their noses pressed to the window during the League Championship Series round for nine straight seasons. There’s plenty to see there, at least, for a team that knows a big shopping spree lies ahead.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 7 Cubs Free Agents to Target for 2027. “Go nuts, Tom and Jed. If you don’t, we’ll just be in the same position (or worse) again next year.”
• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs predicted to trade away Matt Shaw to land Mariners’ All-Star starter. “This trade prediction for the Cubs is a bold one, but it makes a lot of sense.”
• Alexander Rosquez (LastWordOnSports): Matt Shaw Trade Could Help Cubs’ Rotation, But Would Be Costly. “A Matt Shaw trade is still a scenario, not a reported negotiation.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 17 Cubs Trade Targets for 2027. “Although the 2027 Chicago Cubs will this offseason, it is absolutely not time to let off the gas.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Padres, Cubs could find themselves going head-to-head in free agency after playoffs showdown. “These National League foes could square off in the pitching market this offseason.”
• Aldo Soto (SportsMockery): Chicago Cubs Brace for Arbitration Avalanche Heading Into 2027. “Let’s go over the list of players and pinpoint the easy choices, a few fringe guys, and the handful of player who will not return next season.”

Pitching Stories:

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Have Most of the Pieces of a Good 2027 Bullpen On Hand. “There’s so much the Cubs have to accomplish this offseason that it’s tempting to think they’re starting from scratch, outside their key, high-dollar position players. They do have the bones of a better bullpen on the roster, though.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Our Expectations for Pitcher Command Are Probably Too High. “We think of these things as in competition with each other, but a lot of times, analytics merely confirms what a player’s gut was telling him anyway!”
• Jason Ross (North Side Baseball): Shota Imanaga’s 2026 in Review: A Successful (Final) Season in Chicago. “Shota Imanaga played under the qualifying offer in 2026. What should we make of an up-and-down season for the lefty?”

Hitting Stories:

• Ryan O’Rourke (Cubbies Crib): Pete Crow-Armstrong draws impressive comparison from Andrew McCutchen that Cubs fans will love. “PCA’s fellow MVP had a lot of love to share.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramírez and the Cubs’ Shaky 2027 Outfield Plans. “The Cubs will have to fill at least one of their corner outfield spots from within next season. They have two young, controllable players with prospect pedigree in position to take the job, but it’s not clear that either can handle it.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Which of These 3 Paths Will Cubs Take to Address Vacant Corner OF Spots? “The Cubs have repeatedly borne witness to that as they continue to trail the Brewers year after year in spite of a much deeper pool of resources.”
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Dansby Swanson Is Still A Streaky Hitter, But Those Streaks Are Cold More Often Than Not. “Dansby Swanson just endured the worst offensive season of his Cubs tenure. Is this the new normal for the once-star shortstop?”

Thorough Catcher Analysis:

• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Did Miguel Amaya Do Enough in 2026 to Be Cubs’ Main Catcher in 2027? “Miguel Amaya was above-average at the plate for a second straight year and roughly average behind the plate. Did he do enough in 2026 to get a shot at the No. 1 gig next spring?”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Need to Find the Next Carson Kelly, But This Winter, That Player Doesn’t Exist. “From the moment the Cubs agreed to signed Carson Kelly in December 2024, it was fairly clear that they’d found the perfect fit. Now, Kelly is an impending free agent, but re-upping with him isn’t the right move. They need this winter’s Carson Kelly. Good luck with that.”

Assorted Stories:

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Signed Prints of JJ Weinberg’s ‘Field of Dreams’ Cubs Championship Painting Available. “Artist and Cubs fan J.J. Weinberg put himself on the map for Cubs fans when he gifted his father, Jerry, his original painting of the Cubs celebrating their 2016 World Series win.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): These players stood out in Cubs’ farm system in ‘26. “Let’s run through some of the developments in the Cubs’ farm system from this last season.”

Special Hitting Analysis articles:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Why the Ideal Bat Path is the Ideal Bat Path. “I really loved this visualization of a good bat path from Eric Kozak, the Hitting Coordinator at Driveline.”

(The following article was linked in the one above. I don’t believe I caught it at the time, so I’m linking it separately just in case.)

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman Are Doing Some Impressive (and Impressively Similar) Things. “I was blown away by the similarities at various points in the two guys’ swings.”

Food For Thought:

Born and raised in Mississippi, Eddie Cotton Jr. is a modern torchbearer of the blues, blending soulful vocals, masterful guitar work, and deep-rooted tradition. His passion for music was sparked in the church, where his father was a preacher, and it was there that he honed his signature style—one that seamlessly fuses gospel influences with the raw energy of the blues. Cotton’s journey into the blues world was shaped by the legends who came before him, including B.B. King, Albert King, and Buddy Guy. His breakout moment came in 2015 when he won the prestigious International Blues Challenge, cementing his place among contemporary blues greats.

Cotton delivers a sound that is both fresh and timeless, filled with electrifying guitar riffs, heartfelt storytelling, and a groove that keeps audiences coming back for more. Whether performing on festival stages or in intimate venues, his music resonates with both seasoned blues lovers and new listeners alike. Eddie Cotton Jr. isn’t just playing the blues—he’s living it, breathing new life into a genre that remains as powerful as ever.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

Thursday brings us two games on the postseason schedule, both of which had their start times altered due to bad weather in Cleveland.

Game 3 of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians was originally slated for a 6 p.m. local start at Progressive Field in Cleveland (3 p.m. PT), but on Wednesday was moved to a 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) start in an effort to get ahead of a storm coming through.

The ALCS is tied at one game apiece, and Gavin Williams starts for Cleveland, after two starts with double-digit strikeouts during the Division Series, plus a scoreless inning of relief mixed in between. The right-hander has a 1.54 ERA with 24 strikeouts in his 11 2/3 innings this October.

Right-hander Griffin Jax will be first on the mound for Tampa Bay.

The ALCS moving to much earlier in the day also caused a switch in the NLCS, with Game 4 between the Dodgers and Brewers shifting from a 6:08 p.m. start time to 5:08 p.m. at Dodger Stadium. Tyler Glasnow starts Game 4 on Thursday, as the Dodgers try to keep their season alive.

Fox Sports has the NL playoffs this year, with TBS televising the AL side.

Thursday Championship Series schedule

10 a.m. PT: Rays at Guardians
Series tied 1-1
ALCS Game 3: Griffin Jax vs. Gavin Williams
TBS (Brian Anderson, Ron Darling, Jeff Francoeur & Lauren Shehadi)

5:08 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Brewers
Milwaukee leads, 3-0
NLCS Game 3: Tyler Glasnow vs. TBA
Fox (Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal, Tom Verducci)

Hello, friends.

There are now 160 days until the next scheduled Orioles game. Will there be a game on March 25, 2027 between the O’s and Rays? Only labor negotiations in December, January, and February can answer that question.

For now, there are the playoffs. The Rays and Guardians will play their third game today, while the Dodgers and Brewers play their Game 4 in Los Angeles. The ALCS game begins at 1pm, with the start time moved up due to the forecast for rain in Cleveland. Tough luck for anyone who paid excessive costs for those tickets and has to change their plans on short notice. They’ll probably feel better about it if they get to watch their team win. I would like to see the Guardians win in that series.

The Brewers mounted a comeback on the road against the Dodgers last night to put the two-time defending champions on the brink of being swept out of the NLCS. I can only guess that the other 29 teams fans are pulling for the Brewers to finish off the Dodgers today. It’s time for somebody else to get a turn.

In Orioles news, or rather non-news, the top three finishers for this year’s Gold Glove awards were announced on Wednesday afternoon. There were no Orioles on the list. At most positions on the diamond, this isn’t surprising, as O’s defense was chaotic, bad, or both just about everywhere. One notable exception was at first base, where Pete Alonso played some pretty darn good defense. I don’t know what more he would have had to do to end up in the top 3.

The actual top 3 at the position are Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino, and Houston’s Christian Walker. The winners will be announced on November 1.

Anybody who spent time watching the Orioles this year knows that the defense needs to be better next year. Will the only person whose opinion matters – that is, Mike Elias, in his capacity as the president of baseball operations – take the actions that need to be taken to shore it up? We cannot know at this juncture, only hope.

If the post-mortems of the 2026 Orioles that have trickled into Orioles media are to be believed, manager Craig Albernaz wants to clean things up next year. I am skeptical that there is anything he didn’t try this year that is left to be tried next year. Somebody can probably clean it up even if most of the same roster comes back. I just have no confidence Albernaz is the guy, or that Elias is the guy who is going to prioritize it in his roster construction.

It’s not just how frequently it was bad – although, frequently, it was – but that it was so often unbelievably stupid, like how can a major league player do something that dumb. I will be thinking about “lose a fly ball in the sun while the sunglasses are on their hat instead of their face” for a long time. And that happened more than one time, and it wasn’t the same player each time it happened!

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Pete Alonso passed the eye test. Should he be a Gold Glove finalist? (The Baltimore Banner)
The Banner’s Andy Kostka looked at the common public defensive metrics and concluded that Alonso would probably not have been a deserving finalist. We can, of course, still be happy that the Orioles signed him, and don’t need any validation from Rawlings to have that feeling.

Looking at Orioles through the eyes of opposing scouts (School of Roch)
This one appeared in yesterday’s Bird Droppings too, so if you’ve already seen it, sorry! Slim pickings this time of year, and they’re going to get slimmer in December. I wonder what the real level of interest is for Heston Kjerstad and Jeremiah Jackson to have been mentioned as having gotten basic inquiries on trade availability.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1970, the Orioles beat the Reds in Game 5 of the World Series, taking down the team’s second championship in its history. It was a 9-3 victory in what ended up being the final game. Brooks Robinson was the MVP for the series. Maybe some day we’ll see the Orioles win it again.

In 1997, the Orioles lost an ALCS game to the then-Indians by a 1-0 score in 11 innings, with the lone run scoring as a solo home run hit off Armando Benitez in extras. Bummer. The lack of offense wasted eight brilliant innings from Mike Mussina.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2023 pitcher Jack Flaherty, 2018-20 pitcher Cody Carroll, 2004 outfielder Chat Mottola, 1982-83 infielder Glenn Gulliver, and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer. Today is Palmer’s 81st birthday. Happy birthday to him! Hopefully Albernaz sends him a birthday text.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you as well! In addition to the franchise legend, your birthday buddies for today include: Russian author Mikhail Lermontov (1814), philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844), author P.G. Wodehouse (1881), actress Penny Marshall (1943), and musician Tito Jackson (1953).

On this day in history…

In 1529, forces of the Holy Roman Empire broke an Ottoman siege of the city of Vienna after two weeks, blunting a period of European expansion for the Ottomans.

In 1888, a letter supposedly sent by mass killer Jack the Ripper, dubbed the “From Hell” letter, was received by those investigating the killings.

In 1956, the first computer programming language, FORTRAN, was shared with the public, or at least the very small part of the public that was interested at this time.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 15. Have a safe Thursday.

In case you somehow missed the news yesterday, the Phillies have a “new” manager. The team announced yesterday that they removed the interim tag from Don Mattingly and named him their permanent manager with a new two-year contract. Later last night, it was reported that they will have a new hitting coach and infield coach, as Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson will not be back under Mattingly. With that news the team also finally scheduled their end of season press conference for today at 10:30 am. There we will be able to hear from Dave Dombrowski himself for the first time since the Phillies season ended two weeks ago.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Despite retaining Mattingly, there will be changes in the dugout, as Kevin Long and Bobby Dickerson will reportedly not be returning to the Phillies coaching staff.
• More on the process that led the Phillies back to Mattingly. ($)
• Before they came to settle on Mattingly, the Phillies reportedly had serious interest in former outfielder Raúl Ibañez before the latter decided to remain in his current role in the Dodgers front office.
• The Phillies best chance to improve their roster will likely involve Trea Turner moving off of shortstop. ($)

MLB news:

• If you’ve watched any of this postseason so far, one of the biggest stories is that Shohei Ohtani looks like a shell of himself. Can the injured superstar right the ship in time?
• The Astros will not be retaining manager Joe Espada when his contract expires at the end of this month.
• For all of you defense afficionados, here are the finalists for the 2026 Gold Glove awards.

Today is Teoscar Hernandez’s 34th birthday.

When Teoscar arrived from the Astros, few could have predicted he’d develop into such a powerful slugger.

During his six seasons with the Jays, he posted a .263/.320/.503 slash line with 129 home runs. He ranks 13th in franchise history for home runs and 24th in RBIs.

The trade that sent him to the Mariners was unexpected. Erik Swanson excelled in the bullpen for us in 2023, though he struggled in 2024. Adam Macko made 16 starts for New Hampshire and one for the Bisons this year, tallying 105 strikeouts and 35 walks over 93.1 innings, with a 3.63 ERA.

Teoscar joined the Dodgers ahead of the 2024 season. Over his three seasons in Los Angeles, he has hit .262/.320/.462 with 74 home runs and collected two World Series rings. However, unless the Dodgers stage an impressive comeback against the Brewers, a third ring seems unlikely this year.

Happy Birthday, Teoscar. I wish you the best, but I hope your team loses. Sorry.

Today is Carlos Garcia’s 59th birthday.

You might recall that Carlos had a particularly rough season with the Jays. In November 1996, Toronto traded for Garcia, Orlando Merced, and Dan Plasac from the Pirates. Initially, we sent Brandon Cromer, Jose Pett, and Jose Silva to Pittsburgh, followed by Mike Halperin, Abraham Nunez, and Craig Wilson in December to complete the deal. For the record, I was never a fan of then-GM Gord Ash.

In 1997, Garcia batted .220/.253/.309 over 103 games, primarily at second base. He managed 3 home runs, 29 runs, 23 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases. Unfortunately, his defense was also underwhelming, and the Jays paid $2.55 million for that performance. By WAR, it was one of the worst seasons by a non-pitcher in team history.

Following that season, Garcia signed with the Angels as a free agent but hit only .143 in 40 at-bats. He then moved to San Diego, where his struggles continued, and soon after, he was out of baseball.

Garcia’s lone solid year in the majors came as a rookie with the Pirates, when he hit .269/.316/.399. He did have 12 home runs and 47 RBIs in 1993, making it difficult to understand what the Jays expected from the trade.

As for the players the Jays sent to Pittsburgh:

Craig Wilson went on to have a respectable MLB career, playing seven seasons—six with the Pirates—and hitting .262/.353/.474 with 99 home runs. His best year was 2004, when he played 155 games and posted a .264/.354/.499 line with 29 homers.

Abraham Nunez enjoyed a 12-year career, spending eight seasons with the Pirates. Over 1,030 games, he hit .242/.313/.314, primarily as a utility infielder.

Jose Silva pitched seven MLB seasons, finishing with a 25-28 record and a 5.41 ERA over 154 games, including 53 starts.

Happy Birthday, Carlos.

Today marks Chad Mottola’s 55th birthday.

Chad was an outfielder who appeared in just 59 MLB games over five seasons, 13 of them with the Blue Jays.

He spent much of his playing career in the minors. In 2007, his final minor league season, he played Triple-A for the Jays and hit .267/.324/.467. At 35, he began transitioning into coaching.

In 2008, he became the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast League Jays. By 2009, he was the roving minor league hitting coach, and from 2010 to 2012, he coached hitters for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. In 2011, he earned the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in player development.

In 2013, he was promoted to the Blue Jays’ major league staff, but was let go at the end of the season. One year he was praised as a miracle worker, the next he was out—the unpredictable life of a coach.

The Rays hired him as a roving instructor, and in 2017, he became their major league hitting coach—a role he still holds today.

Happy Birthday, Chad.

Holy moly, that was some kind of playoff game last night in LA. A first-pitch homer by Jackson Chourio was the only scoring until an Abner Uribe meltdown allowed the Dodgers to jump back in front, 2-1. But Jake Bauers—yes, the same 2023 Yankees legend—put in his second epic at-bat of the offseason to win an 11-pitch battle with Blake Snell on a two-run blast that turned the game upside down. Garrett Mitchell immediately followed with a lefty/lefty homer of his own.

Now suddenly the Brewers are on the verge of avenging last year’s NLCS sweep at the hands of the Dodgers by giving LA a taste of its own medicine. It would be the first World Series appearance since 1982, when they were still in the American League. They have never won it all. They’ll get multiple shots at it, but best to just step on the Dodger blue-shaded cockroach now and not give it a chance at survival, right? Here we go Brew Crew, here we go. (Oh, and don’t forget to root for Cleveland to take a series lead on Tampa Bay now that they’re back in Ohio, too.)

Our eyes are mostly focused on the day/night playoff action today, but we still have material for you! Peter will recap NLCS Game 3 in greater detail, Dani will discuss Joe Girardi’s recent appraisal of his successor as Yankees skipper, and Jonathan well celebrate the birthday of the man known as “Babe Ruth’s Legs” (no, really).

Today’s Playoff Matchups:

American League Championship Series Game 3
(Series tied 1-1)

Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays
(RHP Gavin Williams vs. RHP Grifin Jax)

Time: 1:00 p.m. EST [they pushed the start time back due to bad weather in the forecast]

TV: TBS/HBO Max/truTV

Venue: Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

National League Championship Series Game 4
(Milwaukee leads 3-0)

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers
(RHP Tyler Glasnow vs. TBD)

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

TV: FOX/FS1/FOX ONE

Venue: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

Questions/Prompts:

1. Does the Brew Crew finish off the sweep tonight or do the Dodgers survive?

2. What do you think of the Phillies’ decision to bring back Don Mattingly for another two years as skipper?

You probably don’t believe the slumping Dodgers can come back from this gaping 3-0 deficit to beat the surging Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series.

And you probably didn’t believe that manager Dave Roberts should continue penciling in Shohei Ohtani — flailing and failing and having gone three for 20 this postseason entering the Dodgers’ 6-2 loss in Game 3 — as his designated hitter.

But Ohtani rejected Roberts’ invitation to remove himself — after a season of fighting biceps and knee issues — from the lineup.

Read more:Plaschke: The Dodgers are done. After putting up a fight, the champs are out of gas

Because Ohtani is an athlete whose belief in himself knows no bounds.

Exactly the kind of guy a team on the brink of elimination needs.

Remember back in 2018, most of baseball’s foremost brainiacs thought there was no way the 23-year-old hot-shot prospect from Japan would actually be able to do what no one in nearly a century had: both pitch and bat in the big leagues.

The majority of major league scouts believed Ohtani’s swing was flawed in balance and mechanics, that his bat-to-ball skills weren’t going to be good enough.

You know what happened: Ohtani only went on to become the first MLB player to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

He became the first two-way All-Star starter.

And last year he gave us the greatest game ever, striking out 10 and hitting three home runs in Game 4 of the NLCS, sending Milwaukee home and the Dodgers back to the World Series, on the way to a second consecutive championship.

This is someone for whom the impossible is probable. Someone who’s made us all believe in unicorns. An audacious, delusional, radical optimist.

And with Wednesday’s defeat having backed them into the corner, the Dodgers should be glad to have Ohtani, for whom all things are possible, still working and tinkering and trying his best.

Read more:'How do we bounce back?' Dodgers collapse and fall into 3-0 NLCS hole vs. surging Brewers

Ohtani drove the Struggle Bus into Game 3, having struck out seven times in 22 playoff at-bats, with only three singles and no extra-base hits and no RBIs.

But he wasn’t dissuaded: “It’s a constant, ongoing process that’s headed in the right direction,” he said Tuesday, through interpreter Will Ireton, adding several times in an impromptu interview: “I take full responsibility.”

Ohtani stayed late Tuesday night working on his swing, Roberts said: “Out with the guys, talking about things on how we’re going to beat these guys … and I will say this, this was a different look from Shohei. Determined, and that’s an understatement.”

And then, while the debate around him raged — should he or shouldn’t he play — Ohtani clocked in and got to work.

The superstar who deferred most of his record 10-year, $700 million salary so as to enable — to obligate — the Dodgers to build a championship roster around him reached base in three of his four plate appearances Wednesday.

As a team, the Dodgers went one for six with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base — including Ohtani those three times.

He took one for the team, getting hit by a pitch on the backside in the fourth inning. He drew a Josue De Paula-esque five-pitch walk in the sixth. And then in the eighth, Ohtani knocked a single up the middle that came off his bat with an exit velocity of 113.5 mph, one of his four hardest balls of the whole season.

Ohtani didn’t, however, pop one out of the park; he hasn’t homered since Aug. 18.

The live-by-the-slug, die-by-the-slug Dodgers have hit zero home runs in the NLCS. But the small-market Brewers known for their small-ball approach have hit five — including three off Blake Snell on Wednesday.

As a team, the Dodgers have much of their massive $415 million payroll going to hitters who are collectively batting .188 this postseason. They’re three for 32 with runners in scoring position.

Call it quiet-quittin’ hittin’, because the Dodgers’ bats and their stadium got so quiet you could hear “Let’s Go Brewers!” chants in the Ravine — and probably from as far away as Racine, Wisc.

And if it appears that L.A.’s hit baseball show is about to go on hiatus, its main actors are telling us they still believe in miracles.

“At the beginning of this year, we set out to do something historic,” Max Muncy said. “It looks like we’re going to have to make a little more history along the way if we want to accomplish that.”

“It’s certainly possible,” said Roberts, MLB’s only manager to have experienced a 3-0 postseason series comeback as a player when his Boston Red Sox did it against the New York Yankees in the ALCS.

Read more:Shaikin: Here's how Dave Roberts explained all the Dodgers' moves that backfired

“I’ve lived it, and I think the thing is that our guys have been battle-tested, as was that team I was a part of … it’s just you’ve got to win tomorrow. It’s an elimination game. We’ve played in a lot of elimination games. We’ve just got to get a win.”

Four wins, actually. In a row.

Does that seem impossible? Seems like Ohtani’s type of challenge.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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