With youth making strong cases to stick around for the long haul, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have some roster decisions to make once veterans start to return from injured reserve.
Yes, waivers is an option for veterans - but could the trade market be as well?
Here are four players who could potentially have some value early in the season.
MILWAUKEE — Blake Snell allowed one baserunner in eight shutout innings before Los Angeles' bullpen barely held on in the ninth as the Dodgers opened the National League Championship Series with a 2-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.
Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Dodgers led 2-0 when they handed the ball to Roki Sasaki in the ninth after Snell had thrown 103 pitches. Sasaki had worked 5 1/3 scoreless innings while adjusting to a bullpen role in the NL Division Series against Philadelphia, but he wasn't nearly as sharp Monday.
Isaac Collins drew a one-out walk and Jake Bauers hit a ground-rule double that bounced over the center-field wall. Jackson Chourio hit a sacrifice fly that scored Collins and advanced pinch-runner Brandon Lockridge to third. Christian Yelich walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside.
That's when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removed Sasaki and brought in Treinen.
Yelich stole second to move the potential winning run into scoring position before William Contreras walked on a 3-2 pitch low and outside. After Treinen nearly hit Turang with a pitch - which would have tied the game - Turang struck out swinging at a neck-high 2-2 fastball.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching for Los Angeles and Freddy Peralta starting for Milwaukee in a matchup of All-Stars.
This NLCS is a study in contrasts, with the Brewers playing in MLB’s smallest market while the defending World Series champion Dodgers have the most expensive roster in the game.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy referenced the difference in star power between the two teams by joking during his pregame news conference that “I’m sure that most Dodger players can’t name eight guys on our roster.”
Even so, the Brewers had swept their six regular-season matchups with the Dodgers. All those games came in July, while Snell was on the injured list with shoulder inflammation.
Snell showed Monday how much of a difference he can make. The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out 10 while walking nobody and allowing only one hit - a leadoff single by Caleb Durbin in the third.
Freddie Freeman broke a scoreless tie with a solo homer in the sixth. Freeman's drive came after the Brewers thwarted a couple of Los Angeles opportunities, most notably on a bizarre 8-6-2 double play that was inches away from becoming a Max Muncy grand slam.
Freeman connected on a 3-2 pitch from Chad Patrick and delivered a shot so high that it got tantalizingly close to the American Family Field roof before barely clearing the right-field wall for his first homer of this postseason.
Patrick was coming off an outstanding NL Division Series in which he struck out six and allowed no baserunners over 4 2/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers added what ended up being an essential insurance run in the ninth when Mookie Betts drew a bases-loaded walk from Abner Uribe on a 3-2 pitch outside.
Milwaukee stayed close because of Los Angeles' missed opportunities. The most obvious example came in the fourth, when the Brewers produced one of the strangest double plays in postseason history.
The bases were loaded when Muncy sent a drive off Quinn Priester that was headed out of the ballpark before Milwaukee’s Sal Frelick reached his glove over the center-field wall. The ball popped out of Frelick’s glove and hit the top of the fence before he caught it in the air.
Los Angeles' runners had headed back to their original bases, believing Frelick had made the catch cleanly. Frelick threw to shortstop Joey Ortiz, who threw to catcher William Contreras to force Teoscar Hernández out at home. Contreras then jogged to third to force out Will Smith, too.
Los Angeles also had runners on first and second with one out in the fifth before Betts grounded into a double play. The Dodgers left runners on first and second after Freeman’s homer in the sixth. Freeman hit a one-out double in the eighth but was stranded at third when Tommy Edman struck out swinging against Trevor Megill.
With a few players on injured reserve and some young prospects making some pretty solid cases to stick around for good, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have some tough roster decisions to make in the coming days and weeks.
GM and POHO Kyle Dubas made it clear before the start of training camp that the team would deal with the "ripple effects" with veterans if youth made a true push for the NHL roster. Now that it's happening in real time, what can the organization do about it?
Of course, waivers are an option, and the Penguins were already unafraid to explore that option when they waived veteran defenseman Ryan Graves. But another viable option could be an early-season trade market for some of their role players.
It's unlikely that one of their "big three" trade candidates - Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, and Erik Karlsson - will be shipped out early one in hopes of better return packages at the trade deadline for their best assets. But that doesn't mean a smaller trade cannot occur early, as it did last season when Lars Eller was traded to the Washington Capitals in November.
With that in mind, here are some players folks can, maybe, keep an eye on.
Blake Lizotte
Lizotte, 27, has proven to be a perfectly serviceable - and effective - fourth-line center for the Penguins since the beginning of the 2024-25 season. He signed a two-year deal last summer, and he registered 11 goals and 20 points in 59 games last season, which was a career-best pace.
The 5-foot-9, 176-pound forward may be a bit undersized, but he hardly plays like it. He is relentless on the forecheck, uses his speed, drives the net, and doesn't shy away from contact. Lizotte would be a perfectly solid addition to any contending team's bottom-six, even just to shore up some depth.
And - in case anyone forgot - there was a brief period last season when he saw a stint as the team's third-line center, and he registered five goals and nine points in nine games. Lizotte is capable of elevating the offensive side of his game in the right environment, which is a valuable trait when considering his defensive contributions.
Lizotte is - likely - one of the easiest players for the Penguins to trade, and it might just make some sense for them to both get a passable return and make way for a younger prospect.
To some degree, an argument could be made here for Connor Clifton or Caleb Jones, too. However, Jones's two-year contract may make it a bit more difficult to deal him, and Clifton's $3.3 million contract may hinder any trade without retention.
On the surface, dealing Shea may not make too much sense. If he is dealt, the Penguins would only have two actual left-side defensemen on their roster in Parker Wotherspoon and Jones. Although it's not an ideal situation, both Clifton and Matt Dumba have experience playing the off-side, and they could also recall prospect Owen Pickering.
Even if Shea, 28, may only be a seventh defenseman on other NHL teams, he is still a solid depth piece at a low cap hit of $900,000 for just this season. He should be able to be part of a player-for-player swap relatively easily, should the Penguins entertain it.
Dewar was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs - along with blueliner Conor Timmins, who was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres this summer - just prior to the 2025 trade deadline. And, since his acquisition, he has been a really solid fourth-line player for the Penguins.
He had four goals and seven points in just 17 games with the Penguins last season after putting up just three points in 31 games with the Leafs prior to the deadline. He had a great pre-season and has already registered a point in the first three games, and his defensive conscience as well as the energy he brings could probably help fill out another roster's depth.
Dewar - like Lizotte - is a perfectly fine player to keep around, should the Penguins choose. He has been a good player for the Penguins in his tenure. But he's also the exact kind of player who is blocking a younger, higher-upside prospect from the roster.
Up to this point, Novak has only played in five games for the Penguins, as he was injured after playing just two games for Pittsburgh following his acquisition from the Nashville Predators at the deadline.
As is the case with the other players on this list, Novak has been serviceable in those five games. Sure, he plays a bit on the perimeter, and yes, he could be less shy about taking contact. But the 6-foot-1 center has barely had any runway to develop chemistry with any of his new teammates, and he has a track record of being a solid bottom-six player in Nashville with 49 goals and 117 points in 201 games there. He has also displayed some chemistry with youngster Ben Kindel.
But, again, should his roster spot be filled by someone like Tristan Broz or Avery Hayes, who are six years younger and may be part of the Penguins' future plans? The argument can be made that the Penguins should hold off a bit on Novak to see if he can build some trade value.
But, once again, if the Penguins are serious about a youth movement, they need to consider all options for helping that come to fruition for deserving players, even if that means shipping off someone like Novak a tad bit prematurely.
It was a clean sweep of a brief Western Canada road trip for the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues followed up a second win in as many games after opening at home last Thursday with a solid 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Monday.
Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first two goals of the season and first multigoal game in the NHL; Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist; Nick Bjugstad scored his first goal as a Blue; Jake Neighbours scored his team-leading third this season and Jordan Binnington rebounded from allowing five goals on 21 shots in the opener against the Minnesota Wild to finish with 27 saves for his first win.
Let's break down the observations and key points to this victory that sends the Blues to 2-1-0 on the season:
* Snuggerud has arrived -- You've just kind of been waiting for Snuggerud to crack the net at some point and he did so in a big way in this game.
In the first two games, the rookie started on a line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich before getting flipped with Neighbours, but this time, coach Jim Montgomery started Snuggerud on a line with Pius Suter, playing against the Canucks for the first time since signing with the Blues on July 2, and with Mathieu Joseph and I thought that trio played fantastic in this game.
Each brings something different and unique to the line and it seemed to blend well together.
All three touched the puck on Snuggerud's first goal to put them ahead 1-0 at 8:48 of the first period that happened after a turnover by the Canucks in the offensive zone and quick transition, started by Cam Fowler cross ice to Snuggerud into the zone on the right. Snuggerud has his head up seeing Suter going to the net and just missed the tip in off the pass, but he never gave up on the play, and when Joseph retrieved the puck and shot it in one quick motion, Suter got a stick on it with a touch pass to Snuggerud, who quickly wired a wrister short side on Kevin Lankinen, who the Blues beat for the first time in regulation in five games (3-1-1):
That line had jump all night with Joseph buzzing around, Suter playing his typical responsible game at both ends of the ice and Snuggerud led all players in this game with six shots on goal. That line combined for 10 shots on goal of the Blues' 35 and had 17 attempts.
This is a line Montgomery is likely to stick with moving forward for the time being and should.
* Transition game was crucial -- Montgomery has not been secretive about wanting the Blues to get up and down the ice in five-man units.
The Snuggerud goal started it, but they also got two other transition goals, one from Schenn at 2:10 of the second period for a 2-0 lead and one from Bjugstad at 13:45 for a 4-2 lead.
On the Schenn goal, it started with Logan Mailloux's check in the D-zone that initially freed up the puck for Philip Broberg's beautiful stretch pass to Jordan Kyrou, who didn't try to force a play and instead was patient in waiting for Schenn to fill the slot. Despite Kyrou's pass getting deflected a bit by Drew O'Connor, but Schenn deposited his first into the top of the net:
But the Blues are getting these pucks and going, just like they did on Bjugstad's goal when the Canucks put the puck into a crowded crease that Bjugstad picked up and was off to the races getting it to Alexander Texier. Texier was also patient despite moving it up ice quick, but the key was Bjugstad's middle lane drive that opened up Nathan Walker coming down the interior of the slot and his one-timer got a piece of Bjugstad on the way in:
* Blues had proper answers -- When the Blues would go up by two goals in this game, the Canucks would cut a 2-0 lead and 3-1 lead down to one on each occasion.
The second could have been deflating when Kiefer Sherwood's second of the game came off a mistake/fumbled puck on the power play that turned into a breakaway goal at 12:12 of the second period.
But on each occasion, Snuggerud's second goal, a power-play goal, being the first at 8:13 of the second, and Bjugstad's goal, the Blues responded quickly. Snuggerud's was 1:40 after Sherwood made it 2-1 and Bjugstad's came 1:33 after the Sherwood shorty.
* Change on D looked noticeable -- To start the season, Broberg was paired with his usual partner, Justin Faulk, and Tyler Tucker had been playing with Mailloux. But Montgomery flipped Broberg and Tucker and gave Faulk someone that's more meat and potatoes, and the Broberg-Mailloux pair has more ability to skate freely, and with Mailloux being the bigger of the two, he looked more in control and not out of sorts in this game.
* Bottom six pulled its weight -- Not only was the Joseph-Suter-Snuggerud line solid, so was the Texier-Bjugstad-Walker like. It played roughly 10 minutes in this game, but the three were out there much more in the third period that they were on Saturday in the 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames. They protected pucks, cycled it and didn't give Vancouver any momentum when on the ice. Their last shift was the perfect example of, despite the game well in hand after Neighbours iced it with an empty-netter at 17:47, strong usage of possession and cycle.
* Thomas, Schenn set up power play goal -- The Canucks had been a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill this season, one of five teams entering Monday to not allow a power-play goal. But on Snuggerud's goal that made it 3-1, when Fowler gets the puck in deep, it was Thomas' initial forecheck, then Schenn's that separated Tyler Myers from the puck, and Buchnevichgot it to the net quickly and Snuggerud was there for the finish:
Perfectly executed, something that looks great at 5-on-5, but to see it with the man advantage is going to look great on video for the coaches to show the players.
* Fowler-Parayko shut down Canucks top line -- We focus so much on the offensive side of things, but it has to be noted that when Fowler and Colton Parayko were on the ice, the Vancouver top line of Jake DeBrusk-Elias Pettersson-Brock Boeser was virtually non-existent.
Parayko, who had five shots on goal and three blocks playing 21:21, and Fowler (20:50) with three shots on goal and eight attempts, limited the Canucks top line to four shots on goal, no points and a combined minus-4.
* Binnington bounced back -- I thought Binnington looked sharp in this game. You can tell when he's challenging shooters and at the tops of his crease, he's locked into the game, and as we mentioned for his preseason games, when he makes hard saves look easy, he's in for a good night.
* Hear Montgomery, Snuggerud and Schenn postgame:
“Obviously we’re going to continue to get better, make adjustments, but I like our response.”
Wide receiver Wesley Winn (Boca Raton, Florida/ Saint Andrew’s School), the Boston College commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
Linebacker Shadarius Toodle (Mobile, Alabama/ Cottage Hill Christian Academy), the Georgia commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
Long snapper Trey Serauskis (Frankfort, Illinois/ Lincoln-Way East High School), will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
Linebacker Brayden Rouse (Marietta, Georgia/ Kell High School), the Tennessee commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
The disparity in the payrolls was the focus of the series before the first pitch ever delivered, the handiwork of the manager in charge of the small-market franchise that won more regular season games than any team in baseball.
“I’m sure that most Dodgers players can’t name eight guys on our roster,” joked Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers.
If the preceding six months were a testament to how a team can win without superstars, the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series was a display of the firepower that can be purchased with a record-breaking $415-million payroll.
The Dodgers won a game in which a confusing play at the center-field wall resulted in an inning-ending double play that cost them a run — and very likely more.
They won a game in which they stranded 11 runners.
They won a game in which the Brewers emptied their top-flight bullpen to secure as many favorable matchups as possible.
The Dodgers won because they had a $162-million first baseman in Freddie Freeman, whose sixth-inning solo home run pushed them in front. They won because they had a $182-million starting pitcher in Blake Snell, who pitched eight scoreless innings. They won because they had a $365-million outfielder-turned-shortstop in Mookie Betts, who drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning.
The visions of the Brewers’ small-ball offense overcoming the absence of a Freeman or a Betts or a Shohei Ohtani?
In retrospect, how cute.
The thinking of how the Brewers’ pitching depth could triumph over the Dodgers’ individual superiority?
In retrospect, how delusional.
The Dodgers absorbed the Brewers’ best collective shot, and they emerged with a victory that won them control of the best-of-seven series.
Their $325-million co-ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, will start Game 2 on Tuesday. Ohtani, their $700-million two-way player, and their $136.5-million No. 4 starter Tyler Glasnow will pitch Games 3 and 4 at Dodger Stadium in some order.
The Brewers’ futile effort to stop the Dodgers on Monday night consisted of them deploying six pitchers in a so-called bullpen game. The assembly line of arms was solid, but Snell was exceptional.
Snell yielded only one baserunner over eighth innings — Caleb Durbin, who singled to lead off the third inning.
Snell picked him off.
Against the team with the lowest chase rate baseball, Snell finished with 10 punchouts.
“This,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “was pretty special.”
Only when the Dodgers turned to their bullpen in the ninth inning were they in any sort of danger, with Roki Sasaki looking gassed after his three-inning relief appearance against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the NL Division Series.
Also of concern was the effect the previous series had on the Dodgers’ most valuable property, Ohtani. In the four games against the Phillies, Ohtani was one for 18 with nine strikeouts.
There was no way of knowing whether Ohtani was out of his mini-slump, as the Brewers elected to challenge him as infrequently as possible.
Facing opener Aaron Ashby, Ohtani drew a walk to start the game. He was walked two other times, both intentionally.
He was hitless in his two other plate appearances, as he flied out to left field in the third inning and grounded out to first base in the seventh. His plate discipline was improved, and his third-inning at-bat against Quinn Priester lasted eight pitches.
“I thought Shohei’s at-bats were great tonight,” Roberts said.
Before the game, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman pushed back against the perceptionthat Ohtani was even slumping, describing how the Phillies pitched to him in borderline historic terms.
“I think it was the most impressive execution against a hitter I’ve ever seen,” Friedman said.
Perhaps not wanting to create any bulletin-board material for Ohtani, Murphy also described the mini-slump as a reflection of the excellence of Phillies pitchers Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo and Ranger Suarez.
Defensive back Brandon Lockhart (Chatsworth, California/ Sierra Canyon School), the USC commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
Blake Snell was the story in Game 1 of the National League Championship series between the Dodgers and the Brewers Monday night. The 2023 Cy Young winner threw eight shutout innings allowing just one hit while striking out a postseason career high ten as Los Angeles took the opener, 2-1.
Freddie Freeman launched a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. Mookie Betts drew a bases loaded walkoff of Abner Uribe in the ninth. That base on balls proved pivotal as the Brewers scored in the bottom of the ninth and then loaded the bases with two outs. Milwaukee, though, could not plate the tying run as Blake Treinen struck out Brice Turang to end the threat.
Snell has now started three playoff games for the Dodgers this postseason – all series openers - and won each. He made his postseason debut with the Dodgers on September 30 taking the mound for Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against Cincinnati. He struck out 9 while allowing four hits and two runs over six innings in a 10-5 win. Next, he opened the NLDS for LA last Monday with seven innings of one-hit, shutout ball with nine strikeouts in a 4-3 win over the Phillies. Snell has now pitched 21 innings and allowed a mere six hits and two runs while striking out 28 this postseason.
Game 2 is Tuesday night with Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the mound for Los Angeles against Freddy Peralta for Milwaukee.
Lets dive into the numbers behind the storylines of Game 2 of the NLCS between the Dodgers and the Brewers.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch the first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Game details & how to watch Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Time: 8:08PM EST
Site: American Family Field
City: Milwaukee, WI
Network/Streaming: TBS
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Dodgers at the Brewers - NLCS Game 2
The latest odds as of Monday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Los Angeles Dodgers (-119), Milwaukee Brewers (-102)
Spread: Dodgers -1.5 (+152)
Total: 7.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2
Pitching matchup for October 14, 2025: Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Freddy Peralta
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49 ERA) Last Game: 10/8 vs. Philadelphia – 4IP, 3ER, 6H, 1 BB, 2Ks Yamamoto has started 2 playoff games this postseason and allowed 3 earned runs on 10 hits over 10.2 innings while striking out 11
Freddy Peralta (17-6, 2.70 ERA) Last Game: 10/9 at Cubs – 4IP, 3ER, 3H, 2BB, 6Ks Peralta started two games in the Divisional Series against the Cubs and allowed 5 earned runs on 7 hits with 15 strikeouts over 9.2 innings
Rotoworld has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Dodgers at Brewers - NLCS Game 2
Shohei Ohtani is 3-10 (.300) with 2 HRs in his career against Freddy Peralta
Freddie Freeman is 6-26 (.231) with 1 HR in his career against Peralta
Mookie Betts is 1-12 (.083) with his lone hit being a home run in his career against Peralta
The Brewers as a team have had just 9 ABs against Yoshinobu Yamamoto but are 4-7 (.571) with 2 BBs in those plate appearances
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has zero strikeouts in his career against the Brewers
Shohei Ohtani is 0-11 in his last 3 games and just 1-20 in his last 5 games
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for Tuesday’s NLCS Game 2 between the Dodgers and the Brewers
Rotoworld Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Tuesday’s game between the Dodgers and the Brewers:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play on the Dodgers on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play ATS.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 7.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC Sports.
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Defensive lineman Tristian Givens (Columbus, Georgia/ Carver High School), the Texas A&M commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
Defensive lineman Jerimy Finch (Indianapolis, Indiana/ Warren Central High School), the University of Alabama commit, will be officially honored Wednesday as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Navy All-American Bowl’s Road to the Dome digital series.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are off to a 2-1 start this season, and they have played a bit better than most had expected up to this point.
And their AHL affiliate is off to a hot start, too.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins earned back-to-back victories - first a 2-1 win over the Hartford Wolfpack and then a 4-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. And there are already 12 different players who have been involved on the scoresheet for WBS.
On Saturday, forward Valtteri Puustinen opened the season scoring for the WBS Penguins in the second period with the Penguins trailing Hartford, 1-0. They carried the tie into second intermission, and then, a little more than three minutes into the final frame, defenseman Owen Pickering shot one from the point and through traffic to write the final 2-1 score.
Aidan McDonough registered the first goal of the game on the power play a tick more than four minutes in, and the primary assist came from Tristan Broz, who impressed many with his NHL training camp. Avery Hayes - another camp standout - tallied WBS's second power play goal of the game on a feed from Ville Koivunen, who was playing in his first AHL game since being re-assigned from Pittsburgh.
Helge Grans cut the deficit to 2-1 for Lehigh Valley on a power play of their own late in the second period, but in the third, Broz took it home. In the early part of the third, he pounced on a rebound in the slot off of a Koivunen shot, and then he added the empty-net goal at the end of the night to cap off the 4-1 win - giving him three points on the evening.
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) October 12, 2025
On the young season, there are four players with multiple points on the season in Broz (3), Hayes (2), Koivunen (2), and Sam Poulin (2). WBS's next set of games starts Friday, when they play a weekend back-to-back against Hartford and the Bridgeport Islanders.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell delivers in the eighth inning of a 2-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field on Monday night. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The reason the Milwaukee Brewers are in the National League Championship Series is because of plays like the one that ended the fourth inning Monday night.
A strange, one-in-a-million, 400-foot double-play in which one Brewers fielder made a spectacular defensive effort, and another never lost awareness of a wacky situation — highlighting the underappreciated skillset and sound fundamentals that made them baseball’s winningest team this season.
The reason the Dodgers are here, however, is because of how they can respond to adversity — settling the panic with their dominant starting pitching, rallying at the plate with their star-studded lineup and suffocating an opponent with a record $415-million payroll’s worth of talent.
In their 2-1 win in Game 1 of the NLCS at American Family Field, that was ultimately what made the difference.
The evening’s most memorable moment might have been that fourth-inning cluster, when the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out, only to come up empty when Max Muncy had a potential grand slam robbed (but, crucially, not caught cleanly) and two Dodgers were retired on forceouts at home plate and third base.
But, the most important contributions came after that, with Freddie Freeman’s home run in the sixth inning giving the Dodgers the lead, and Blake Snell’s scoreless eight-inning, one-hit, 10-strikeout master class ensuring they wouldn’t relinquish it — even with some heartburn from the bullpen at the end.
“Obviously, there were some crazy things that happened,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s not going to come easy.”
But, “for us to find a way to get out of that,” Muncy added, “it's huge."
Muncy was in the middle of the night’s craziest play, when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning.
What followed was a confounding, and nearly consequential, disaster. One both self-inflicted by the Dodgers’ lack of awareness, and compounded by the Brewers' ability to do the little things so well.
As Muncy’s ball soared to the wall, Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick jumped, got a glove on it, and then — at least it seemed initially — caught it on a bobble. At third base, Teoscar Hernández tagged up once, then again, before finally breaking for home plate as the Brewers turned a relay play in.
What no one on the Dodgers noticed in the moment: Left field umpire Chad Fairchild waving his arms in the outfield, signaling (correctly, as replay would later show) that the ball had bounced off the top of the wall before Frelick finally secured it. That meant, instead of a sacrifice fly situation, a force play was suddenly on for the defense.
Thus, when catcher William Contreras caught the throw home just ahead of Hernández’s slide, Hernández was out even without a tag. And as the other Dodgers runners stood motionless on base — still thinking Frelick had cleanly made the catch — the ever-aware Contreras ran over to third himself and stepped on the bag, forcing out Will Smith after he had failed to advance from second.
“I'm still kind of confused as to what all went down,” Muncy said.
“All of a sudden, you turn around and there's runners everywhere,” crew chief and first base umpire James Hoye added to a pool reporter.
The big mistake on the play was Hernández’s decision to re-tag third before racing home, a superfluous move thanks to a quirk in MLB’s rulebook. Even if Frelick had made the catch cleanly, Hernández could have left the base as soon as the ball first hit Frelick’s glove (similar to a bobbled sacrifice fly the Dodgers successfully executed in a game against the New York Mets earlier this season).
Instead, Hernández’s delay allowed the throw home to beat him. Afterward, Roberts acknowledged that his outfielder, who did not speak to reporters postgame, “just had a little bit of a brain fart.”
“Teo knows the rule,” Roberts said. “He owned it.”
The other problem was that neither Smith nor third base coach Dino Ebel apparently saw Fairchild, who was out of their sight line deep in the outfield, signal that the ball had not been caught, leaving Smith standing on second as Contreras went to force him out at third.
The Dodgers did challenge the play, but there was no changing the call.
In the scorebook, it went down as a 400-foot, ground-into-double-play.
“That’s really frustrating,” Smith said. “That was really close to being 4-0.”
For a brief moment, it left the team on the verge of falling into a familiar Brewers’ trap: Struggling with Milwaukee’s talented pitching staff, denied by its typically stellar defense, and one mistake away from losing to a team with inferior talent.
Freeman, however, flipped the script with a towering home run that carried just deep enough to right in the sixth inning for his first home run of this postseason.
Freddie Freeman hits a solo home run in the sixth inning for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS against the Brewers on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
And from there, Snell never let the Brewers rally back.
In one of the greatest individual pitching performances in Dodgers postseason history, the already streaking two-time Cy Young Award winner ascended to a different level of dominance, facing the minimum number of batter over his eight-inning annihilation.
He erased his only baserunner, which came on a flare single from Caleb Durbin to lead off the third, by picking him off later in the inning. He struck out 10 batters, setting a personal playoff career high, and did it on just 103 pitches. Of his 69 strikes, 22 came on swing-and-misses against a Brewers offense that was one of the best in baseball this season at making contact. And by the time it was done, he’d added his name into the Dodgers’ October history books.
In what Roberts later acknowledged was a “50/50” decision, he decided to remove Snell for the bottom of the ninth inning, after a bases-loaded walk from Betts had doubled the Dodgers' lead to 2-0. He trusted his newly dominant closer Roki Sasaki for the final three outs.
Only this time, the 23-year-old rookie didn’t have his typical command, or his usual 100-mph velocity.
With one out, Sasaki walked Isaac Collins to start the danger. Then, Jake Bauers hammered a full-count fastball (that only clocked 97.3 mph on the radar gun) for a ground-rule double.
That was followed by a sacrifice fly from Jackson Chourio, and another walk to Christian Yelich. Suddenly, Roberts was trudging out to the mound, taking the ball from Sasaki while summoning Blake Treinen.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts removes reliever Roki Sasaki from the game in the ninth inning against the Brewers on Monday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“He was off just a little bit,” Roberts said of Sasaki, who had not allowed a run previously since joining the Dodgers bullpen the last week of the regular season. “I thought his stuff was still good, but just missing. I don't know if there was carry-over from the three innings [in the NLDS]. ... With the three days off, I felt good with him.”
Treinen didn’t make things easy on himself either, issuing a walk to Contreras that loaded the bases and brought the Brewers’ home crowd roaring to life.
Suddenly, it all felt so similar to the Dodgers’ 2021 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, when they squandered their most recent attempt at a World Series title defense with walk-off losses in the first two games of that series.
This time, though, the Dodgers survived.
Treinen got Brice Turang in a two-strike count, then fanned him on a fastball Turang chased up and out of the zone. Just like that, the fourth-inning double-play was turned into a footnote, ensuring Snell’s historic gem was rewarded with a winning decision.
“We knew from the get-go it was going to be a battle,” Freeman said. “But when you get one for Blake, you're feeling good.”
4 Early Trade Candidates For The PenguinsWith a few players on injured reserve and some young prospects making some pretty solid cases to stick around for good, the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins">Pittsburgh Penguins</a> will have some tough roster decisions to make in the coming days and weeks.
