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Happy birthday to Jose Cardenal*, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 2001 – On the last day of the season, Rickey Henderson of the San Diego Padres bloops a double down the right field line off Colorado Rockies pitcher John Thomson to become the 25th major leaguer to collect 3,000 career hits. Tony Gwynn, who is playing in his last major league game and is also a member of the 3,000 hit club, meets Henderson at home plate in front of a sell-out crowd at QualComm Park, and 2015 – The Cubs defeat the Pirates, 4-0, in the Wild Card Game thanks to a four-hit shutout by Jake Arrieta and homers by Kyle Schwarber and Dexter Fowler off Gerrit Cole. The Bucs are out of the postseason after a 98-win season. and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1904 – Jack Chesbro gets his 41st victory of the season as the New York Highlanders defeat the Boston Americans, 3 – 2. The 41 wins are a modern major league record.
• 1925 – Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators opens the World Series in Pittsburgh. A fifth-inning home run by Pie Traynor is the only damaging blow as Johnson strikes out 10 batters for a 4-1 Washington victory.
• 1928 – In the World Series, Lou Gehrig hits two home runs to lead the New York Yankees to a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, giving them a 3-0 lead.
• 1950 – At Yankee Stadium, rookie pitcher Whitey Ford, with ninth-inning help from Allie Reynolds, beats Bob Miller and the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2, as the Yankees complete the World Series sweep of the Phillies’ “Whiz Kids.” Jerry Coleman wins the Babe Ruth Award as the Series MVP. The sweep of the Phillies gives the Yankees their 13th World Championship.
• 1952 – In Game 7 of the World Series, second baseman Billy Martin makes a dramatic running catch on a high infield pop with the bases loaded as the New York Yankees win their fourth consecutive World Championship by downing the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-2.
• 1961 – At Crosley Field, the New York Yankees’Roger Maris wins Game 3 of the World Series with a ninth-inning home run off Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bob Purkey. The Yankees win, 3-2.
• 1968 – In Game 5 of the World Series at Tiger Stadium, Detroit Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich leads, 5-3, over the St. Louis Cardinals, when Lou Brock tries to score standing up on Julian Javier‘s single and is gunned down by Willie Horton‘s throw. Al Kaline‘s bases-loaded single drives in the deciding runs.
• 1978 – In Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers win the pennant as Bill Russell‘s 10th-inning single scores Ron Cey. Dusty Baker collects four hits as Los Angeles beats the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3.
• 1995 – Edgar Martinez of the Seattle Mariners hits a tie-breaking grand slam in the eighth inning and drives in seven runs – the most ever in a postseason game to date – leading the Mariners past the New York Yankees, 11-8, and sending the ALDS to a decisive Game 5.
• 2009 – In the first ALDS, New York beats Minnesota, 7-2, in the first postseason game to be played in New Yankee Stadium. Just like old times, Derek Jeter has a key hit, a game-tying home run off Brian Duensing in the 2nd inning. The Yankees and CC Sabathia roll from that point on, with Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, who blasts a two-run homer, collecting the key hits in the fifth inning.
• 2011 – The Cardinals cause a huge upset by shutting out the Phillies, 1-0, in Game 5 of the NLDS. Chris Carpenter is the hero, tossing a three-hit complete game on the road and besting Phillies ace Roy Halladay. The Cards score the game’s only run in the 1st inning when Rafael Furcal leads off the game with a triple and Skip Schumaker follows with a double.
• 2012 – Russell Martin‘s homer off closer Jim Johnson sparks a five-run ninth inning as the Yankees take the first game of the ALDS, 7-2, in Baltimore. CC Sabathia pitches 8.2 innings for the win.

Today in Cubs history:

• 1933 – Flags are at half staff for Game 5 to honor William L. Veeck, Chicago Cubs president, who died suddenly. On the field, the World Series comes to a close when Mel Ott hits a home run in the 10th inning for a 4 – 3 New York Giants victory over the Washington Senators.
• 1935 – Goose Goslin of the Detroit Tigers drives in Mickey Cochrane to win the World Series. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, Goslin’s hit gives the Tigers a 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.
• 1945 – Hank Greenberg hits three doubles to lead the Detroit Tigers to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead in the World Series.
• 1984 – The San Diego Padres win the National Leaguepennant with a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the final game of the NLCS. The Padres win three straight after dropping the first two at Wrigley Field.
• 2017 – In Game 2 of the NLDS, Chicago has a 3-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, thanks to a solo homer by Willson Contreras and a two-run shot by Anthony Rizzo, both off Gio Gonzalez, but Washington explodes for five runs against Carl Edwards and Mike Montgomery to take a 6-3 win and even the series at one apiece.

Cubs Birthdays:Kohl Stewart, Adrian Sampson, José Cardenal*, Morrie Steevens, Sammy Drake, Grady Hatton, Red Adams, Frank Baumholtz, Fred Fussell, Ernie Ovitz, Frank Donnelly. Also notable: Chuck Klein HOF.

Today in history:

• 1492 – Christopher Columbus misses Florida when he changes course.
• 1916 – Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, defeats Cumberland 222-0, achieving the most lopsided score in the history of US college football.
• 1960 – JFK and Richard Nixon‘s second presidential debate.
• 1973 – Scotsman Jackie Stewart wins his third Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship despite withdrawing from the season-ending US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen; wins the title by 16 points from Emerson Fittipaldi.
• 1984 – Walter Payton passes Jim Brown as the NFL’s career rushing leader.
• 2008 – Music, podcast, and video streaming service Spotify is launched by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon.
• 2018 – Jodie Whittaker debuts in her first full episode as the 13th and first female Doctor Who on BBC television.

*pictured.

Good morning Birdland,

Yesterday was just the latest in a recent run of bad days for the Baltimore Orioles. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner reported on Tuesday afternoon that the organization was laying off a significant number of business operations staff. He quoted one source calling it a “bloodbath” and relaying that the number of employees let go was at least in the teens.

Kostka explained on social media that they layoffs included members in business operations, brand, content, and game presentation. And according to an internal statement from Catie Griggs, the team’s President of Business Operations, that Kostka obtained for the story, the layoffs include several people with more than a decade of service to the organization.

It gets worse, as Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic provided additional details. She confirmed that the firings were actually 24 or more in total, including Mr. Splash and the person that portrays The Oriole Bird mascot, as well as the team photographer, people in ticket sales, graphic design, and food and beverage, among others.

What no one knows for sure at this point is why the Orioles made these layoffs. Attendance at Camden Yards this past season was slightly up, though modestly. The team tends to do quite well with local TV ratings, and 2026 was their first full season with an option to stream MASN locally.

There is an ongoing CBA negotiation that threatens to delay, shorten, or even cancel the 2027 season, which could factor in here. But if that were the reason, then something like a furlough would make more sense than a full on layoff, and an announcement on that would probably come closer to the actual season.

What feels like more of a possibility is that the Orioles are reallocating their resources elsewhere in the organization. Specifically, they plan to focus on the baseball front office. Mike Elias said near the end of the season that the team’s current baseball operations staff is “on the smaller side” and that he “would like to explore outside help and outside talent.” in order to “enhance the department, get bigger, get better.”

I can buy that the Orioles front office is relatively small and could use more help. What’s tougher for me to square is the reality that the on-field product was much better just a couple of years ago with this smaller staff, and that the answer to 2.5 years of disappointment is to double down on the leadership that got us to this point while another department gets gutted.

Again, that is not a confirmation of what is being done and why. But it is a logical connection of dots. More on the topic is sure to come out as either Griggs or someone else is willing to talk about it with reporters.

Links

Orioles laying off members of business operations | The Baltimore Banner
In case you skipped the opening diatribe, here is Kostka’s original article on the layoffs.

Oriole Bird mascot, Mr. Splash employees among layoffs in Baltimore | The Athletic
And then here is Ghiroli’s additional notes, which includes the information that Mr. Splash and the Oriole Bird were among the cuts.

5 questions facing the Orioles this offseason | Orioles.com
Yeah I have a question. First of all, how dare you?

This, that and the other | Roch Kubatko
Roch has some notes on the potential changes coming to the front office, specifically how the team thinks about analytics.

Orioles birthdays

Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!

• Yusniel Dìaz turns 30 today. The outfielder was the centerpiece of the trade package that sent Manny Machado to the Dodgers back in 2018. Upon joining the Orioles organization, he almost immediately started to struggle, and would end up playing in just one game for the big league squad, which came in 2022.
• Alex Cobb is 39 years old. Signed to be a difference-maker in the rotation ahead of the 2018 season, Cobb was instead a big disappointment, then spent most of 2019 on the IL, before salvaging his stint a bit in 2020. The Orioles eventually traded him to the Angels for prospect Jahmai Jones.
• John O’Donoghue turns 87. He spent nearly a decade in Major League Baseball, including the 1968 season in Baltimore, where he had a 6.14 ERA over 22 total innings.
• The late Grady Hatton (b. 1922, d. 2013) was born on this day. His time in Baltimore came near the end of his 12-season big league career. In 1956 he played in 27 games for the O’s, providing solid defense at second and third base.

This day in O’s history

2012 – The Yankees takes Game 1 of the ALDS, beating the Orioles 7-2 in Baltimore thanks to a five-run ninth inning that sees O’s closer Jim Johnson get knocked around quite a bit. CC Sabathia tosses 8.2 innings to notch the win.

2023 – The Orioles play from behind all day long against the Rangers in Game 1 of the ALDS, eventually falling 3-2 in the series opener.

See what happens when teams take a patient approach to Chris Sale? Maybe the Phillies should have taken a lesson or two from teams that actually had success.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• The offense is probably the thing that is most in need of fixing. What are some of the ways that can be done?
• If ever there was a time for the Phillies to jump into the Japanese free agent market, this is the offseason to do so.
• As we talked about yesterday for a bit, Aidan Miller is going to get a chance to show his health in Arizona.

MLB news:

• Curtis Mead has the inside track on being the Red Sox’ second baseman whenever 2027 begins.
• It’s that time of year where we hear about all the players getting surgeries they needed all season long. Today, it’s Cal Raleigh’s time to get it.
• Speaking of injuries, Roman Anthony really shouldn’t need surgery this offseason for his hand issues.

The Dodgers were horrible. The Angels were great.

No, that’s not a dispatch from topsy-turvy land. It’s their report cards following the first season Major League Baseball has utilized the Automated Ball-Strike system (ABS), courtesy of Baseball Savant’s calculations of the total run value of overturns on challenges.

ABS is the review process that uses cameras to track the precise location of a pitch in real time. Batters, catchers and pitchers can contest a ball or strike call by immediately tapping their cap or helmet. When a call is overturned, Baseball Savant measures the difference in run expectancy between the situation before the pitch/challenge and the situation after the call is flipped.

Overall, ABS overturned 54% of challenged calls. Catchers succeeded on 59% of their 5,792 challenges — changing an umpire’s “ball” call to “strike,” while batters succeeded on only 49% of their 4,765 challenges — changing a “strike” to a “ball.” Pitchers made 182 challenges — only 1.7% of the 10,557 total attempts — and only 72 were overturned (39.6%).

That shouldn’t be surprising. Catchers have a stationary view of a pitch from directly behind the plate, while batters track pitches standing from the side. Pitchers deliver the ball with their heads and several other body parts in motion.

Read more:Fred Claire, former Dodgers GM whose team won the '88 World Series, dies

“It’s like a new muscle for players to learn,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters. “You have instincts over what to do in certain situations. This is a new instinct of knowing when to challenge and instinctively within a second, oh, that’s a ball. What’s the situation?”

Takeaways from this high-tech, high-stakes MLB add-on that became instantly popular with fans and something of a poker hand for players:

Batters best at winning challenges didn’t necessarily produce at the plate:Jose Altuve topped all batters with 5.6 projected runs gained, followed by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh at 4.6. Yet Altuve, a .300 lifetime hitter, had his lowest batting average in 15 full seasons at .250, and Raleigh inexplicably hit only 23 homers while batting .182 one year after setting a record for catchers with 60 homers while batting .247.

Batters poor at challenges can lose their privileges: Dodgers third-year outfielder Andy Pages showed vast improvement in his patience at the plate this season, drawing 49 walks compared to the 29 he totaled in each of his first two seasons. Yet he is so bad at ABS challenges that manager Dave Roberts forbade Pages from challenging pitches after his unsuccessful challenge in the NL Division Series opener Monday.

“We talked about obviously a lot this year with Andy’s success rate or lack thereof,” Roberts said. “I didn’t revisit it before Game 1, so that’s my fault. I did have a conversation today. So, yeah, we’ve managed that one going forward.”

Pages challenged more pitches (25) than any other Dodger during the regular season, yet was unsuccessful on 14 of them, giving him an underwater success rate of 44%, roughly the same as similarly challenge-challenged teammates Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Dalton Rushing and Miguel Rojas.

Players adept at challenges need to tap their helmets more often: Each team starts the game with two challenges. Teams lose the ability to challenge after they do so incorrectly twice. That makes some players challenge-shy, especially early in a game.

Read more:Bob Fontaine Jr., a legendary scout who drafted the Angels' 2002 championship core, dies at 73

Freddie Freeman (71%) had the highest success rate among Dodger regulars, yet he challenged only seven pitches all season. He desperately wanted to challenge a pitch during a game in June, but could only shake his head in frustration after a strike three call he believed was a ball. Pages had wasted the Dodgers’ second challenge on a clear strike moments earlier.

Mookie Betts was successful on 12 of 18 challenges, yet found himself tap-tied as well as tongue-tied in Game 1 of the Division Series when he led off by striking out looking on a full-count pitch clearly outside. He gave plate umpire Roberto Ortiz an astonished look and walked to the dugout shaking his head. What he didn’t do was tap his helmet to trigger a challenge.

Coming down hard on Pages was a change of tune for Roberts, who early in the season encouraged Dodgers hitters to be more aggressive making challenges. They finished the season 25th with 310 challenges and a 54.5% success rate. The Minnesota Twins led MLB with 460 challenges and the Cincinnati Red had the highest success rate at 61.6%.

Losing teams can be adept at challenges: The Reds also led MLB with 16.8 runs added through challenges, yet finished last in the NL Central. The Angels were next at 14 runs added, but that didn’t keep them from racking up 100 losses for the first time in franchise history. The Athletics (12.3) and Twins (10.1) were third and fourth in runs added, respectively, but also had losing records.

Angels aging superstar Mike Trout treated ABS challenges like a new toy, asking for four in the first five games of the season. Three were successful. Trout was expected to benefit big-time from ABS because he has always had an excellent walk rate and boasts a .405 on-base percentage in 16 seasons. Yet after the initial burst, he challenged only 10 more pitches all season, finishing with a 64% success rate.

Angels youthful hitters Nolan Schanuel and Zach Neto were among the top 10 MLB players in challenges, and their success rates were better than league average at 56%. Reds infielder Sal Stewart, the odds-on favorite to win the NL rookie of the year award, led MLB with 51 challenges and was successful 28 times.

Read more:Woeful Mets outspend the Dodgers while Rays, Guardians and White Sox win on the cheap

Early in the season, Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said he wasn’t going to impose hard-and-fast rules on his players that might prevent them from making a challenge they believe in. The Angels finished 11th in MLB with 369 challenges and had a 53.7% success rate.

“If you feel 100% strongly that it’s a ball,” Suzuki told the Athletic, “go ahead and challenge it.”

Winning teams can be poor at challenges: The three teams with the best records in baseball were challenge challenged. The Dodgers (100 wins) were worse than all but four of the 30 teams at minus-8.5 runs, followed by Tampa Bay (98 wins) at minus-7.8. Milwaukee (103 wins) was 20th at minus-2.4.

The worst team at challenges was Cleveland at minus-13.4, yet the Guardians won the AL Central.

What does it mean? ABS challenges produce an infinitesimal W or L, a momentary shot of euphoria or thin slice of humble pie. Yet there is little correlation between a batter’s ability to crush the ball and his ability to discern a ball from a strike when a pitch is only an inch or so inside or outside the strike zone.

The player who accumulated the most unsuccessful challenges? Future slam-dunk Hall of Famer Bryce Harper with 26. His success rate was only 45%.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Who would you rather have starting an October game for the Dodgers than Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

No one, right? And you wouldn’t be the only one thinking that.

Tarik Skubal thought so too.

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told Skubal he would start the team’s playoff opener, Skubal responded with a question.

“Why?”

Skubal was honored with the assignment, but he also was worried.

“I was like, ‘Is Yoshi OK?’” Skubal said Tuesday.

Read more:Plaschke: Rejuvenated Dodgers beat Braves, ignore awful tomahawk chop in series that feels over

He is, as the Atlanta Braves found out the hard way. Yamamoto pitched the Dodgers to within one game of the National League Championship Series, setting a postseason high with 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 victory.

In seven innings, Yamamoto gave up one run on four hits, all of them singles. In only one of those innings did Atlanta advance a runner beyond first base.

“I just have a lot of respect for him and for what he means here in L.A. and what he has accomplished here,” Skubal said. “I know we have a lot of good starting pitching, and I know there is a lot of thought that goes into it, but I just assumed he would be the Game 1 guy.”

You could say Yamamoto rises to the October occasion, but Mookie Betts would not say that, if only because Yamamoto rises to the occasion on just about every occasion.

“I don’t see it any different,” Betts said. “I think he does it all year, too.

“He just has so many weapons. He throws a lot of strikes with a lot of pitches. He’s hard to hit.”

Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, is brilliant in October.

In seven postseason appearances, he has a 1.97 earned-run average. He gave up five runs in one inning, and he has given up five runs in the other 44⅔ innings. The Dodgers’ grand prize from the trade deadline was hardly a reckless choice to start Game 1 of the division series.

Yamamoto has a 2.14 ERA in 11 playoff appearances, the fourth-lowest of any pitcher since 1903 to make at least 10 postseason starts. He drains the life out of an opposing crowd as well as anyone in major league history, with a 1.42 ERA in six road playoff outings.

“I’m a fan of this game as much as I am a player,” Skubal said. “So, when I watch guys do really impressive things and do great things, I understand what it takes because I also play the game.

“When he goes out and performs like he does, it’s almost like I expect it. And now, being a teammate of his, it’s not surprising at all why he goes and performs like he does, because the way he prepares is as good as anybody in this game. It’s just a ton of fun to be on the same side of it.”

Yamamoto admitted to feeling nervous, even if you would never sense it from watching him. That’s part of the way he prepares, too.

“During the preparation and before the game, then I do get nervous,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter, “but at that time, I personally think that’s very important.”

And then the game starts, the nerves dissipate, and the opponent is methodically slayed.

“He just has a way to just make pitches, calm his heartbeat,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers have played seven postseason series with Yamamoto, and they have won them all.

We’ll always cherish last October. In 76 regular-season starts with the Dodgers, he has one complete game. In back-to-back starts last October, he threw a complete game both times.

Of the Dodgers’ four victories in the World Series, Yamamoto earned three — including Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever, with no day of rest in between.

“I got goosebumps watching that,” Skubal said. “I didn’t know how he was doing it. That’s what I was thinking: How is this going to work?

“His stuff looked even better than it did in Game 6, which is insane to say. But it did. When I was watching on TV, I was like, ‘Holy ... he looks better today than he did yesterday, and he did pretty well the day before.’ It’s incredible.

“Hopefully, we’re not having to do that again to him.”

That is one big reason why the Dodgers acquired Skubal. If Tyler Glasnow wins Wednesday — and the Dodgers won in all six of Glasnow’s postseason appearances last October — they are off to the NLCS.

The Game 1 starter could be Skubal, followed in Game 2 by Yamamoto. That’s a tall order for opposing batters and, so far, a winning order for the Dodgers.

Read more:'He shows up when you need him.' Kiké Hernández helps lift Dodgers to 2-1 NLDS lead

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

“Brave of you to boo Freddie.”

That was from the Dodgers — via the social media site X — to Atlanta’s fans, with love.

Left untweeted, but understood: Thank you. Thank you so much.

Like all of the booing Braves fans rooting against Freddie Freeman in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory Tuesday in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, their counterparts in L.A. also remember well that Freeman became a Dodger in 2022 only after his painful split with the Braves.

Read more:Plaschke: Rejuvenated Dodgers beat Braves, ignore awful tomahawk chop in series that feels over

If those contract talks with Atlanta hadn’t stalled, Freeman, the so-so-clutch 37-year-old with the 1950s flat top, wouldn’t have provided Angelenos with so much joy and so many incredible postseason moments — including Tuesday’s solo home run off Atlanta ace Chris Sale.

If the Braves hadn’t pulled their offer and abruptly pivoted away from their fan favorite, the guy they drafted in the second round in 2007 out of El Modena High School in Orange, the Dodgers don’t even have an opening to invite him back to Southern California, or to sign him to a six-year, $162 million deal.

If the Braves don’t trade instead for Matt Olson, the Dodgers don’t have a hobbled Freeman hitting his walk-off, 10th-inning grand slam against the New York Yankees in the World Series.

Don’t have him providing the final blow with a 406-foot walk-off solo shot in last season’s 18-inning marathon of a World Series game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

And they don’t have him hitting his fifth career postseason home run at Truist Park — this one the first against the Braves instead of for them.

Boo your front office too, Braves fans, for not wanting to play ball with Freeman.

Tuesday’s 399-foot solo shot off of Sale’s sinker pushed the lead to 3-0 — a margin that no team has yet overcome against Dodgers’ ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

And for whoever is studying for the history test later, it also gave Freeman the most lefty-on-lefty home runs in MLB playoff history (eight). It was his 18th career postseason home run — nine of them with the Dodgers, thank the Braves very much — which nudged him back ahead of teammate Kiké Hernández, whose two-run home run two batters earlier was the 17th of his playoff career.

It also was Freeman’s second home run in three NLDS games — after he hit only one in the final 66 regular-season games he played in.

The man wasn’t kidding when he told us he’d figured something out.

“Yeah, the first couple of days of the bye week, you’re just trying to figure out and looking at the video what’s worked in the past, what it looks like in setup,” Freeman said after Tuesday’s victory. “We found something where my shoulders were a little too turned. All I really did was open my shoulders a couple inches.

“Baseball,” he reminded us, “is a game of inches.”

Ain’t that the truth; Freeman would’ve had two home runs Tuesday if Braves left fielder Mauricio Dubón hadn’t robbed him of one in the third inning with a sprinting, leaping catch at the wall.

“Dubón made a great play on the one at-bat,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “ … but (Freeman) just takes great at-bats.

“And no moment’s going to be too big for him.”

The Dodgers can count on Freeman to come through big at the plate; his home run in Sunday’s Game 2 loss wasn’t enough in the end, but the solo home run off Braves reliever Grant Holmes tied the score 1-1 and gave a subdued Dodger Stadium crowd a much-needed jolt.

The Dodgers also count on Freeman in the field.

Smooth and sure-handed, Freeman has the third-best fielding percentage among active first basemen (.997). On Tuesday, he finished off the game with a nifty pick, securing the squirrely throw from shortstop Mookie Betts to get Mike Yastrzemski for the final out, stranding Ozzie Albies at third.

“He does whatever it takes to win,” Roberts said. “That was a tough play. Yaz runs decent … you never know, I might have had to make a pitching change. You get (Austin) Riley who has come up with big hits. Just to be able to make that play was big.”

As for his reception, less welcoming than usual from the Atlanta faithful?

Freeman said he didn’t even hear the boos: “To be honest, I don’t really hear much out there. It’s just noise because it’s so loud.”

Read more:'He shows up when you need him.' Kiké Hernández helps lift Dodgers to 2-1 NLDS lead

And hearing about them didn’t leave him boo-hooing.

“I’ve got a gray uniform on, I expect boos. It’s OK,” he said, flashing that bright smile. “Like I’ve always said, I’ve enjoyed my 12 years in this organization. … I’ve had wonderful experiences with the white uniform on here, and I loved every second of it. I get it. This is a game. We’re trying to win the game. They want to win it for their team…

“It’s all love. I still love everybody here.”

But it’s baseball. There’s a thin line — just inches — between love and boos.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The first two games of the American League Division Series were an utter disaster for the Yankees, from nearly getting no-hit to idiotic baserunning decisions and heinous errors in the field. They very much deserve their 0-2 hole. They ran it back with the 2025 team, and perhaps it’s fitting that they would also stare down a possible ALDS sweep against the surprising rival that beat them out for the division title. Those Yanks managed to force a Game 4 thanks to some Aaron Judge heroics before meeting their ultimate fate. Can’t get a shot at a you-never-know Game 5 without winning Game 3, right? Look, I’m not terribly optimistic, but let’s see if we can’t get some Masahiro Tanaka/Greg Bird-esque Game 3 magic, if not only to jab a finger in the Rays’ eye.

Today on the site, Josh will rue the Yankees’ self-inflicted mistakes that may have already ruined the season, Matt will run through the NLDS action from yesterday during toe ALDS offday, Nick will celebrate the 94th birthday of a somewhat-recently departed 1960s champion, and Dani will set us up for the do-or-die Game 3 tonight.

Today’s Matchup:

American League Division Series Game 3

New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

TV: TBS/HBO Max, TruTV, Univision

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Questions/Prompts:

1. Simple enough: Do the Yankees force a Game 4 tomorrow? And if yes, do you think they’ll bring the series back to the Trop for Game 5?

2. Which non-Ben Rice hitter do you feel best about at the moment?