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Two things can be true: The Dodgers’ season ended prematurely and, for Shohei Ohtani, the offseason couldn’t come soon enough.

Thursday’s elimination — a no-doubt-about-it sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, who vanquished the Dodgers in the same fashion Ohtani and Co. had summarily eliminated them last season — was apparently the only way to get the two-way superstar out of the lineup.

Now he can get some much-needed rest and recovery, a reality check and, possibly, some surgical procedures to repair the knee and biceps injuries that plagued him this season.

Ohtani didn’t rule anything out in his postgame scrum, several rows deep, in front of his locker after the Dodgers’ 6-4 defeat in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

“Hard to tell at this point,” the 32-year-old Ohtani said in Japanese, via interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s something that’s going to be analyzed, discussed over the offseason, and see if that’s a viable thing to do.”

Read more:Plaschke: The Dodgers had everything needed to three-peat. This is why they failed

Hopefully, for the Dodgers’ sake and for baseball’s, Ohtani and his team will see their way to a reasonable load management plan. Hopefully they’ll find a viable injury management strategy.

Especially if he continues to pitch, as Ohtani said he plans to: “Yes, definitely, and looking forward to having a better season.”

Hopefully this bumpy season — his first as a Dodger to end short of the championship following the 2024 and 2025 title runs — will make Ohtani better. Wiser. More willing to listen to his body and to communicate what it’s telling him with the ball club that relies on him so much.

“I’ll always trust Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s the best player on the planet, and he’s not completely healthy. But I just give him a lot of respect for not running from it, still wanting to participate, still wanting to play when he’s not 100%.”

But hopefully when Ohtani’s knee barks next time, he won’t pitch through it. Hopefully when his right arm tightens up, he’ll step out of the box. Even — or especially — if it takes longer than a 15-day IL stint to make him right.

Hopefully he’s learned that irrespective of a sense of duty or pride or a selfish streak, the cold-hitting fact is that a compromised version of Ohtani leaves the Dodgers’ whole team — a $400 million investment — compromised, as it was this postseason.

“I don’t really want to take it for granted for the opportunity to be able to play with these guys,” Ohtani said. “But honestly, I think I’m just very disappointed.”

In eight playoff games against the Atlanta Braves and Brewers, Ohtani hit .192 (five for 26). He struck out 10 times. He didn’t get an extra-base hit or drive in a run until Thursday, in the season finale, which reminded us of Ohtani’s power — he walloped his first home run since Aug. 18, a three-run missile in the second inning that traveled 428 feet — and his pain.

Roberts looked, for a moment, like a genius for continuing to keep Ohtani in the lineup — and to pencil him in as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter after batting him sixth on Wednesday.

For that one shining moment.

But Ohtani also struck out three times Thursday — made to look foolish in a much-too-familiar way.

The Dodgers needed a healthy Ohtani to deal with a young, hungry ballclub like the Brewers.

To have a chance against a team that was, as Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández said, “almost playing perfect baseball,” they needed him dialed in and not tinkering, not staying late searching.

They need the version of him that delivered the perfect game a year ago, his three-home-run, 10-strikeout masterpiece that sent Milwaukee home in Game 4 of the NLCS.

“Ohtani is arguably the best player in the world,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said.

“He’s proven that to us. He had the greatest game I’ve ever seen played by an individual player last year against us.”

The Dodgers need that guy striking fear into opponents. Not him striking out, or getting stranded helplessly on base.

And they got a glimpse of that guy Thursday with that second-inning home run, a shot that had him throwing his arms up and screaming toward his dugout, as emotive as we’ve seen him, relieved and exulting after giving the Dodgers a 4-0 lead — and a fleeting expectation that they’d play a Game 5 on Friday.

“It was a lot of pent-up anger, frustration,” Roberts said. “It was the best ball he hit in probably two, three months, and it was a big hit.”

“It was like,” Max Muncy said, “that’s the swing we’ve been waiting for.”

Now we all wait for baseball to return — and then to learn what this season taught Ohtani, one of the most unique athletes in the history of the game.

“Not quite satisfied with how things shaped up on the pitching side at the end of the year,” Ohtani said. “... I haven’t been able to really come to grips in terms of what I’ve learned overall. It’s something that I’m going to kind of go back to the drawing board in terms of treatment, training program, and see what I can come up with for next season.”

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 Dodgers’ offseason began at 8:07 Thursday night. Heavily favored to win a third straight World Series, they were swept into winter by the Milwaukee Brewers.

The final score doesn’t really matter, but for the record it was 6-4 Brewers. It wasn’t really that close.

The Dodgers led in every game of the National League Championship Series. They didn’t win any of them. No team has ever done that while getting swept in a best-of-seven series. So while the Dodgers didn’t three-peat, they made history just the same.

“They were relentless with everything that they did,” Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said of the Brewers. “They just strung together good at-bat after good at-bat. That’s usually what we do.

“We didn’t do it this series and they did.”

Read more:Plaschke: The Dodgers had everything needed to three-peat. This is why they failed

The Dodgers’ starting rotation, the most expensive in history, gave up 16 hits and 13 runs in 18 innings for a 6.50 earned-run average. The bullpen was nearly as bad, posting a 4.50 ERA in 16 innings.

The Brewers’ relievers, on the other hand, were spectacular. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy went to his bullpen 14 times and just twice did a reliever give up a run. All four victories against the Dodgers and all seven Brewers wins this postseason have gone to a reliever, with the bullpen posting a 1.33 ERA in 40⅔ innings.

“Pitcher after pitcher came in and executed,” Muncy said. “When one of their pitchers faltered, the next guy came in and picked up the slack.”

And each time the Dodgers took a lead, the Brewers waited no more than two innings to cut into the deficit. Milwaukee trailed 4-0 after two innings Thursday. By the top of the fifth, the score was tied. An inning later, the Brewers went ahead to stay, becoming the first team ever with six comeback wins in their first eight postseason games.

“They respond,” Murphy said of his players. “We’ve talked about it all year long. You have a bad week, you have a bad game, you have a bad at-bat, you bounce back.”

“I love the Dodgers. I love their players. They’ve got legendary players,” he continued. “But we came in with a group that would not be denied. They were hungry, very hungry.”

The two-time defending champion Dodgers, meanwhile, appeared to be full. They hit with runners in scoring position as often as they hit into double plays, going four for 27 and stranding 24.

“We had our opportunities. We just didn’t get the job done,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “We won two [titles]. We came up short on the third.

“There’s a lot of hurt at the end of the season. Sometimes you just get beat. That’s just kind of how it goes. You have to give credit to the Brewers. They played really good baseball.”

A year ago the Dodgers swept the Brewers in the NLCS. This fall the results were reversed.

“The sadness is we just didn’t accomplish our goal,” Muncy said. “The goal every year is to be the last team standing. This year we had a chance to do something historic, and we didn’t accomplish it. And every single time you’re not the last team standing, it’s heartbreak and it’s failure and it’s not what you’re looking for.”

The Dodgers’ clubhouse was closed for more than 35 minutes after the game, partly to process that heartbreak but also to give manager Dave Roberts and veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, who announced his retirement, a chance to address the team. When the doors finally opened, nearly every player was sitting in front of his locker, most still in uniform, waiting to explain what seemed to be inexplicable.

Read more:Dodgers' three-peat dream dies with Game 4 NLCS loss to 'relentless' Brewers

How did the greatest team money can buy wind up so flat when the stakes were so high?

“We’ve been grinding all season long,” said right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who retired the first 10 Brewers in order, but lasted just one more inning. “No one slacked off at all. Everyone just came in and worked hard. They just played a lot better than us. They were hitting on everything. It wasn’t our year.”

“Not every time it’s gonna be us,” left fielder Teoscar Hernández added through a forced smile. “It’s not fair for us to be doing the same thing over and over every year. Teams are going to learn from their losses the same way we’re gonna learn from this one.

“So hopefully we come back next year stronger.”

Speaking of next year, no one would.

Half the players on the Dodgers 26-man NLCS roster are on expiring contracts. The core of the team — Mookie Betts, Freeman, Muncy, Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández along with pitchers Blake Snell and Glasnow — are 33 or older. The Dodgers could look very different when spring training starts — if spring training starts — in February.

“There’ll come a time when we think about next year,” Muncy said. “But that’s not right at this moment.”

The Dodgers have an extra-long winter to get through first.

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

This wasn’t supposed to be how the Dodgers’ 2026 season ended.

There was supposed to be more champagne, a trophy to raise, and the first World Series three-peat by a National League team to jot down in the history books.

Instead, the Dodgers ran into the team with the best regular-season record. And the Milwaukee Brewers proved they weren’t just some plucky underdog anymore, as they felled a giant on their way to the World Series.

“This is a special group,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said Thursday night in a solemn clubhouse. “It’s kind of hard to put into words how much this hurts right now. We all know what we did out there; we didn’t play well. But for three years straight, we left it all out there. The train finally ran out of steam, I guess. It just sucks.”

Read more:Plaschke: The Dodgers had everything needed to three-peat. This is why they failed

An autopsy of the ousted Dodgers, taken down in a four-game sweep in the National League Championship Series, would reveal several weaknesses — aging stars, Shohei Ohtani’s nagging ailments, an offense that never quite clicked against the Brewers’ overwhelming pitching staff.

Maybe, however, it’s simpler than all that.

Maybe, as Muncy said, the Dodgers just ran out of steam.

“We’ve seen how difficult it is to repeat,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, when they clinched the NL West title. “It’s even more difficult to do it three in a row. We know everyone is coming for us, and we get that. So for us it’s about putting our heads down and doing everything we can to win — hopefully it’s 11 games in October.”

They won three.

“I personally told our guys that there’s no apologies, there’s no sorries,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We gave it everything we had, and it wasn’t good enough. That’s part of life.”

A major aspect of the challenge is simply workload. The Dodgers not only have played more games than any other team the last two years, but their schedule has included grueling travel.

The Dodgers started both the 2024 and 2025 seasons early and overseas, playing in the Seoul Series and Tokyo Series in consecutive years. And both years ended with coast-to-coast travel for the World Series, as the Dodgers won titles over the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

The team’s collective age — the Dodgers carried the oldest lineup in the majors this year, according to Baseball Reference, weighted by at-bats and games played — may not have helped. But the roster was deep enough for the Dodgers to absorb injuries in the regular season and still win 100 games.

The Dodgers had mostly returned to health by the postseason, when experience was expected to be an advantage.

“This group, we’ve been through a lot together,” veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Been all over the world together. Done some really, really cool things in this game together. But we came up short on the three-peat.

“But we’ll keep our heads high, knowing we accomplished some cool stuff and get back at it.”

While Freeman seemed to overcome the knee tendinitis that flared in September, with treatment and a little extra rest, Ohtani still didn’t look like himself entering the playoffs.

The Dodgers tend to be proactive in their approach to injuries in the regular season. But as Ohtani battled nagging pain in his left knee and a recurring problem with his right biceps, the team didn’t shut down his attempts to return to pitching until the end of August. And they didn’t put him on the injured list until early September.

The two sides appeared to still be ironing out their lines of communication through the process. Should Ohtani have been more transparent about what he was feeling? Should the Dodgers have taken the decision of whether to keep playing out of his hands?

The lack of clarity on the root of his ailments complicated the balancing act on both sides. And regardless of who should take more of the blame, the result was the same: a compromised version of Ohtani entered the postseason.

It’s not fair to blame the Dodgers’ offensive woes on one player, but his struggles transformed the lineup, even as Roberts dropped him in the batting order to mitigate the effects — up until the last game, when he batted leadoff and hit his first home run in nearly two months.

The Dodgers’ trade deadline acquisition of two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal covered the loss of Ohtani in the rotation. But there was no replacing him on offense.

“I haven’t been able to really come to grip in terms of what I’ve learned overall this season,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “It’s something that I’m going to kind of go back to the drawing board in terms of treatment, training program. and see what I can come up with for next season.”

With Ohtani struggling, the juggernaut Dodgers looked beatable. And the Brewers rebounded from being swept last year by the Dodgers in the NLCS, to put together a more complete team that not only could win 103 games in the regular season, but also sustain a deep postseason run.

“I’ve watched all their interviews,” Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell said earlier this week. “I’ve noticed how they talk. A lot of one-on-one competition is like a key for them. Even the way that Pat [Murphy] talks and how he talks to the team is way different than last year.”

The underdog schtick from the year before had faded. This time, the Brewers played like they expected to win.

“They played much better than we did,” infielder Miguel Rojas said in Spanish. “It’s a team that has been consistent throughout the year. They deserve it. Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers, to that entire organization. They deserve to be in this position. They’re a team that has been special throughout the entire year.”

Read more:Dodgers' three-peat dream dies with Game 4 NLCS loss to 'relentless' Brewers

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 1990s Yankees can rest a little easier after last night, as the two-time defending champion Dodgers were officially eliminated by the Milwaukee Brewers in a convincing sweep. It was a complete reversal of last year’s NLCS, as the Brew Crew exacted revenge for getting swept back then while making history in the process. Now that there will be no more attempt at a three-peat, the dynasty Yankees remain the only team in MLB history to have accomplished this feat in the last half-century, and the chances of their run ending any time soon grow incredibly small considering how long it took for a repeat champion to even emerge.

We’ve got a full schedule ahead of us for today, starting with Andrew going over all the ups and downs of that thrilling conclusion to the NLCS alongside the Guardians picking up the win in the ALCS. John goes over some of the most egregious errors the Yankees made defensively this season, Jonathan takes us back to the days of Tim McCarver on his birthday, Josh ponders the Yankees’ impending free agent class, Jeremy relives the biggest surprises of the season, and Andres evaluates Brian Cashman’s work in 2026 to close out the afternoon slate.

Today’s Playoff Matchups:

American League Championship Series Game 4
(Cleveland leads, 2-1)

Cleveland Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays
(TBD vs. RHP Nick Martinez)

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST

TV: TBS/HBO Max/truTV

Venue: Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH

Questions/Prompts:

1. With the news that the Yankees reportedly aren’t going to offer Jazz Chisholm Jr. the qualifying offer, is that curtains on his time in the Bronx? Is there any chance he re-signs in free agency?

2. Now that the Brewers have made it back to the World Series for the first time since 1982, how good are their odds to win it all against Tampa or Cleveland?

LSU is back for week 2 of fall baseball with another set of scrimmages on deck. Day 1 was on Thursday evening and there was plenty of important info to take from the 6 innings.

Before we get going, I’ll list off the lineups for each team and who pitched. We’ll then transition to some bullet point notes.

Lineups

Gold (visitors)

1.) 2B – Malachi Washington

2.) RF – Angel Laya

3.) C – Omar Serna

4.) DH – Lucas Nawrocki

5.) 1B – Mason Braun

6.) 3B – John Pearson

7.) LF – Jack Ruckert

8.) SS – Parker Loew

9.) CF – William Patrick

SP – William Schmidt

RP – Zion Theophilus

RP – Bradyn Cupit

Purple (home)

1.) DH – Jason Wachs

2.) 3B – Dawson Park

3.) LF – Dominic Santarelli

4.) C – Cade Arrambide

5.) SS – Steven Milam

6.) 2B – Cade Kurland

7.) CF – Nate Davis-Cleary

8.) RF – Eddie Yamin

9.) 1B – Dylan Minnatee

SP – Cooper Sides

RP – Jonah Aase

RP – Jordan Martinez

RP – Ethan Plog

Scrimmage notes

• Both starting pitchers were great. Threw a ton of strikes and looked untouchable outside of one swing.
• Cooper Sides final line: 3.0 IP / 1 H / 4 K / 1 BB / 35 pitches (25 strikes, 71%)
• Sides once again flashed a 3-pitch mix including a fastball up to 96, along with a slider in the mid-80s and a curveball in the mid-70s. It looked like he started to wear down in his third inning, walking William Patrick on only 5 pitches, but he locked back in to battle through. His fastball velocity was down around 94 by the end, but that’s two phenomenal performances through the first two weeks of fall ball for the incoming freshman. It’s easy to see why folks made such a big deal about him passing on the MLB draft to come to LSU.
• William Schmidt final line: 2.0 IP / 0 H / 4 K / 0 BB / 27 pitches (19 strikes, 70%)
• Schmidt struck out the side looking in his first inning of work. Also showed a 3, possibly even a 4-pitch mix. Fastball was up as high as 97, but the intriguing pitch was an 89-90 mph cutter/slider. We saw him throw a hard slider in the mid 80s last year and a curveball even slower than that, so I’m not exactly sure what it is. It looks good, though, and could take his growth to the next level. Through two performances, though extremely early, he looks as if he can challenge for the Friday night role.
• Lucas Nawrocki had a great night and has been the only player to get a solid barrel on Sides through the first two weeks. He blasted a near 400 foot homerun in to the Diamond Deck in right field on a slider. The freshman has true two-way capabilities according to Jay Johnson and we got to see the hitting side on Thursday night.
• Nate Davis-Cleary’s speed was on full display once again. He laid down a sacrifice bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd that was perfectly placed between the 3rd base line and the grass of the infield. His speed forced a rushed throw from John Pearson that was off target, allowing a run to score. On the very first pitch of the next at-bat, he stole 2nd without a throw. His speed is a weapon.
• Zion Theophilus continued to look improved. He was up to 94 with a filthy slider. It looks like it has potential as one of the best pitches on the staff if he can present it well. His first inning of work was one of the innings that they placed two runners on base to start the inning and after both moved up to 2nd and 3rd, he struck out the side to prevent a single run from scoring. Command slipped in his second inning, but otherwise looked pretty good.
• After a super impressive 3-inning performance in his first mound time in 2 years, Jonah Aase came back to earth a little. He was falling behind hitters in his first inning of work, while throwing a lot of offspeed. His second inning was much better, though. The command issues are to be expected for a guy coming back from elbow surgery and not having thrown for so long. Expect more up and down performances as he continues to shake off the rust.
• Dawson Park at 3rd base is a luxury. He has all of the talent and ability to start at shortstop, but will likely be at 3rd due to Steven Milam.
• Dominic Santarelli is faster than you may think. While he’s massive, he’s athletic and can move. He turned a routine single in to right-center field in to a double with his hustle.
• Angel Laya got jammed on a fastball and still hit it just short of the warning track in center field. I’m excited to see more of his power potential. He started in RF, but later moved to CF and that’s when he crashed in to the wall very hard in left-center trying to chase down a ball that hit off of the wall. The thud was very loud and he stayed on the ground for about a minute, sending Head Trainer Isaac Trujillo out to check on him. He got up, walked it off, and stayed in for the rest of the inning, but stayed out of the game for the final inning. He looks like a tough kid.
• Malachi Washington has a cannon. He, again, moved to 3rd base after playing the first 4 innings at 2nd. He fielded a slower grounder that called for a stronger throw and he gunned it over right in to John Pearson’s chest, who was then at 1st. He added a hard hit opposite field single later.
• Dylan Minnatee is the one who hit the ball that sent Laya in to the wall. It was a rope to the opposite gap and he turned it in to a triple. While his path to the field may be tough during his freshman season, he’s an intriguing player that was one of the lesser-talked about incoming freshman.
• John Pearson hit a ball that still may not have landed. He teed off and hit a bomb that just missed to the left of the scoreboard. If it had been about 10 feet to the right, it would have hit the top of the scoreboard. It was a 3-run blast, giving him 4 RBIs on the night.
• Jordan Martinez got beat up pretty good tonight. He is another two-way player, reaching up to 94 mph with his fastball. He both pitched and hit last week, so I’d expect him to swing a bat on Friday. His talent is noticeable, though.
• Jack Ruckert played much of the night in the outfield, which I find very interesting. With the large influx of infielders, we’ll have to keep an eye out on if this is just temporary to get him on the field for scrimmages or if it’s something they’re testing as a possibility to find more ways to get him on the field in 2027. He’s been swinging a hot bat through the first two weeks and had a great battle with Martinez tonight. Ruckert fouled off 4 straight 3-2 pitches before earning a walk.
• Parker Loew and William Patrick both executed perfect hit-and-runs with line drives through gaps on the infield. Loew’s was much-needed after he made an error on a routine groundball at shortstop that allowed a run to score.
• Bradyn Cupit worked 2 innings and while he allowed 2 runs in his first inning, he was much improved in his second. He went straight at Cade Arrambide, Steven Milam, and Cade Kurland for a 1-2-3 inning.
• Ethan Plog came in for the 7th and after striking out Davis-Cleary, things went a little awry. He gave up the single to Washington, then walked Serna and hit Nawrocki, which is when Johnson called the game.

Defensive movements

Yamin LF to C

Minnatee 1B to LF

Santarellig LF to 1B

Washington 2B to 3B to CF

Davis-Cleary CF to RF

Ruckert LF to 2B to RF

Pearson 3B to 1B

Braun 1B to LF

Laya RF to CF

Player of the night

Lucas Nawrocki finished 2-2 with the 2-run HR, a single, a walk, and a hit by pitch. The homerun was even more impressive considering how good Cooper Sides has been through two appearances.

Next up

LSU will play two more scrimmages this weekend. Friday at 6 pm and Sunday at 4 pm. As always, entry and parking are free to the public. Entry is at gate 2 behind home plate, which opens 15 minutes before first pitch. I will be back out there on Friday for more play by play. Follow me on X @DCBilliotJr to keep up with the action!

MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: The Yankees have a pair of qualifying offer decisions to make with Jazz Chisholm Jr. and David Bednar hitting free agency (Paul Blackburn also becomes a free agent but is not a realistic candidate for the QO). According to Jon Heyman, the Yankees are expected to issue the QO to Bednar but not to Jazz, whom he claims they are inclined to let walk in free agency. The value for the QO in 2027 will be $23.15 million, with the Yankees in line to recoup a draft pick after the fourth round (130-135 overall range) should a player decline the QO. Bednar solidified the closer role that had been on shaky ground the last handful of seasons, while Jazz regressed at the plate and with the glove and had several high profile lapses in concentration during the season. My colleague Josh will delve into these QO decisions in finer detail later today.

Yahoo! Sports | TJ French: After the Yankees got swept out of the ALDS by the Rays, Aaron Judge publicly implored ownership to commit more payroll over the winter toward going all in. The captain was left off the postseason roster after suffering a late season calf strain and likely feels some added urgency entering his age-35 season following another injury-riddled campaign. These comments apparently ruffled the feathers of the Yankees’ higher-ups, who were said to be “taken aback” and “slightly-to-somewhat annoyed.”

That being said, the face of the franchise still enjoys excellent rapport with ownership and members of the front office.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: One of the biggest decisions the Yankees face this winter concerns the future of Giancarlo Stanton. The soon-to-be 37-year-old slugger appeared in just 24 games in 2026 after suffering calf strains in both his legs and has missed over 200 games to injury the last two seasons. He is owed $25 million in 2027 while the club holds a $25 million option for 2028 with a $10 million buyout, the Marlins paying the Yankees $10 million in each of 2027 and 2028.

The Yankees have to decide whether to keep him on the roster for his final guaranteed year or eat the $15 million in dead money that remains like they did with the final $22 million on DJ LeMahieu’s deal in 2025, $27 million on Aaron Hicks’ deal in 2023, and $26 million on Jacoby Ellsbury’s deal in 2019. (Dani wrote about this for us yesterday as well.)

ESPN: Oswaldo Cabrera agreed to a one-year, $1 million deal with the Reds on Thursday, avoiding arbitration. He was claimed off waivers from the Yankees by Cincinnati in September after spending most of the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was never a regular on the big-league roster last season after having his 2025 campaign cut short by a gruesome broken ankle in May of that year. His time with the Yankees will be remembered for his infectious smile and as one of the real genuine good guys to put on the pinstripes in recent memory. So good for him on getting some guaranteed coin from Cincy.

Lastly, congratulations to the Brewers for ousting the two-time defending champion Dodgers in an unceremonious sweep. They won their first pennant since 1982 and will face either the Rays or Guardians in the World Series. LA was bidding for MLB’s first three-peat since the dynasty 1998-2000 Yankees, but they will remain unequaled across the last 50 years of baseball history.

Now, if only we could get these 2020s Yanks to win even one…

LOS ANGELES — The tears had mostly dried in the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse.

About 30 minutes had elapsed after the Dodgers got swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. Their hopes for a third straight World Series title officially died with a 6-4 defeat Thursday, Oct. 15 at Dodger Stadium.

What had taken place before those clubhouse doors opened to the media?

Miguel Rojas, the Dodgers’ veteran second baseman, looked misty-eyed. He is retiring and expressed gratitude to the team because his years with the Dodgers organization changed his life – not just as a player, but as a husband and father.

He said he received emotional hugs from teammates, with Rojas headed into retirement.

Max Muncy, the Dodgers’ third baseman, referred to unseen emotion.

“Right now we’re trying to soak in what we got in this clubhouse," he said. “We’re all trying to tell each other that we love each other and thank each other. There’s going to come a time where we’ll worry about next year, but it’s just right not now."

Actually, the worry can start now.

Shohei Ohtani will not compete for another World Series title after the Los Angeles Dodgers were swept in the National League Championship Series.

The Milwaukee Brewers prevented the Dodgers’ opportunity at a three-peat with a 6-4 victory over the Dodgers in Game 4. Ohtani hit a three-run home run in the game to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, but it wasn’t enough as Milwaukee scored six straight runs to earn the win.

Ohtani told reporters after the game that it is “hard to tell” if he will need surgery during the offseason.

The four-time MVP had not been healthy for a good portion of the season.

Ohtani had been dealing with knee inflammation and biceps discomfort. The injuries limited his ability to pitch; leaving him unable to get on the mound for a start since July 3 due to his injuries.

The two-way star indicated to reporters that he did plan on pitching again in 2027.