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Hernández: Why has Shohei Ohtani gone missing at the plate for the Dodgers?
The familiar sound reverberated throughout Dodger Stadium.
Crack!
The baseball soared into the October sky, Shohei Ohtani gliding down the first-base line as he watched it travel back, back, back …
… only to be caught a few inches in front of the left-field wall by Max Kepler.
So close.
Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dodgers quickly lose control in NLDS Game 3 loss to Phillies
So close to a seventh-inning home run that could have made Game 3 a game. So close to a home run that could have revitalized baseball’s best player in this National League Division Series.
Ohtani is now one for 14 with seven strikeouts in this best-of-five series, in which the Dodgers’ lead was reduced to two games to one after an 8-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
While Ohtani was hitless in five at-bats on Wednesday night, Phillies counterpart Kyle Schwarber launched two homers, including a 455-foot blast in the fourth inning that changed the complexion of the game and series.
The heart of the Phillies’ order awakened, the Dodgers’ didn’t, and that was more or less the difference in the game.
Ohtani is the Dodgers’ failsafe, and the failsafe is failing. The Dodgers remain in control of this NLDS, but considering the shortcomings of their present roster, they almost certainly can’t win a World Series with him being as ineffective at the plate as he was for extended stretches of the postseason last year.
The Dodgers did everything in their power to ensure Ohtani’s transformation into Oh-fer-tani wouldn’t become an annual event.
By not sending him to the mound in either of the first two games of their wild-card series, the Dodgers were able to delay his first start as a pitcher until Game 1 of this series. Because the schedule called for a day off between Games 1 and 2, Ohtani didn’t have to play the day after making a start, a situation in which he has difficulty hitting. In the regular season, Ohtani batted just .147 on the days following his starts.
If the Phillies can send this series back to Philadelphia for Game 5 on Saturday, Ohtani would be the Dodgers’ starting pitcher. Under that scenario, he also wouldn’t have to hit the next day. The NL Championship Series doesn’t start until Monday.
However, the team’s assistance hasn’t benefited the left-handed-hitting Ohtani in the batter’s box, as the Phillies have shut him down by deploying a series of hard-throwing left-handed pitchers against him.
Ohtani has taken 15 plate appearances in this series and 12 of them were against left-handed pitchers. Of his three plate appearances against right-handed pitches, two were against closer Jhoan Durán, who is armed with a 100-mph fastball.
Cristopher Sánchez, who will start for the Phillies on Thursday in Game 4, struck out Ohtani each of the three times he pitched to him in Game 1. Jesús Luzardo, a candidate to start a potential Game 5, didn’t allow a hit to Ohtani in any of the three at-bats in which they faced each other.
“I think the lefties are part of it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I just think his decision making hasn’t been good.”
Phillies left-handers have attacked Ohtani with sinkers that come in on his hands.
“You can see it’s balls in, off the plate, and he’s not really giving himself a chance to hit a mistake,” Roberts said. “I just think he’s in between a little bit, but the swing decisions are just not where they need to be right now.”
Ohtani answered as many questions about his mini-slump as he had hits Wednesday. Approached in the clubhouse after the game, Ohtani offered nothing more than a blank stare.
The image-conscious two-way player doesn’t like to say to reporters directly that he won’t speak, as doing so after, say, a hitless game could make him look as if he is skirting accountability. Ohtani instead entrusts the team’s public relations staff to decline interviews on his behalf.
On this particular night, a Dodgers security guard ran interference for Ohtani, pointing to nonexistent rules against speaking to him without the public relations staff’s permission. (Baseball’s media access regulations are set by the collective-bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ union, not any particular team. There are no restrictions on approaching players in the clubhouse, but players have the right to refuse to answer questions.)
In a nearby interview room, Phillies manager Rob Thomson was careful to not celebrate his team’s success against the NL’s likely most valuable player.
“I really don’t want to comment on that because, I mean, he can explode at any time,” Thomson said.
Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers blow surefire win in NLDS Game 3 vs. Phillies, and now they could blow the season
Ohtani’s only hit of the series was an important one, a single in Game 2 that drove in what turned out to be the winning run.
“He’s that great of a hitter,” Thomson said. “But we have pitched him well.”
There is no player who moves on from an abysmal performance as well as Ohtani. To that point, before the failed attempt to ask him about his offensive troubles, Ohtani shared a laugh with Justin Dean and bumped fists with the reserve outfielder.
Ohtani looked as if he had already placed the 0-for-five night behind him, which had to be a relief for the Dodgers. He will have to hit at some point this October, if not in this series, in the next, or the one after that.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
No one cheats like college football. Now there’s an NCAA snitch line. What could go wrong?
Rest easy, everyone. The new college football snitch line is here to save the day.
What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch
What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It’s time for the next round of the 2025 MLB playoffs.
The American League and National League pennants will be decided in the coming days, with the Championship Series set to begin once the Division Series wraps up.
In the AL, the No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays locked up the first spot in the ALCS with their four-game victory over the No. 4 New York Yankees. Their opponent is yet to be decided, as the No. 2 Seattle Mariners and No. 6 Detroit Tigers head to be winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday.
The NLCS spots are still completely up for grabs — with both NLDS matchups entering Game 4 on Thursday. The No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers lead the No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, and the No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers lead the No. 4 Chicago Cubs, 2-1.
So, while there are still three teams left to clinch their Championship Series berth, we do know plenty of details about the upcoming pennant fights.
From the matchups to the schedule and how to watch, here’s what to know about the Championship Series:
What are the 2025 ALCS, NLCS matchups?
Given the matchups in the Division Series, we are guaranteed to have non-divisional matchups in the Championship Series.
The AL East champion Blue Jays will have home-field advantage over the AL West champion Mariners or AL wild card Tigers. In the NL, home-field will be determined based on who advances — the NL Central champion Brewers will claim it if they can beat their division rival Cubs. If Chicago comes back, the winner of the NL East champion Phillies and NL West champion Dodgers will get home-field.
Here’s a full look at the bracket:
American League
- No. 2 Seattle Mariners/No. 6 Detroit Tigers vs. No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays
National League
- No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies/No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers/No. 4 Chicago Cubs
How many games are in the ALCS, NLCS?
Following best-of-three Wild Card Series and best-of-five Division Series, the postseason moves to a best-of-seven format in the Championship Series and World Series. The higher seed hosts Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 6 and 7.
What is the 2025 ALCS, NLCS schedule?
Here’s a series-by-series look at the Championship Series schedule:
American League
Mariners/Tigers vs. Blue Jays
- Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 12, time TBA
- Game 2: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 15, time TBA
- Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Sunday, Oct. 19, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
National League
Phillies/Dodgers vs. Brewers/Cubs
- Game 1: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 14, time TBA
- Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 4: Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 18, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Tuesday, Oct. 21, time TBA
What TV channels are the ALDS, NLDS on?
ALCS games will air on FOX and FS1.
TBS will broadcast the NLCS games.
How to stream the ALDS, NLDS live online
The ALCS action can be streamed on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app.
NLCS games can be streamed on TBS.com, the TBS app and HBO Max.
What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch
What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It’s time for the next round of the 2025 MLB playoffs.
The American League and National League pennants will be decided in the coming days, with the Championship Series set to begin once the Division Series wraps up.
In the AL, the No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays locked up the first spot in the ALCS with their four-game victory over the No. 4 New York Yankees. Their opponent is yet to be decided, as the No. 2 Seattle Mariners and No. 6 Detroit Tigers head to be winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday.
The NLCS spots are still completely up for grabs — with both NLDS matchups entering Game 4 on Thursday. The No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers lead the No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, and the No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers lead the No. 4 Chicago Cubs, 2-1.
So, while there are still three teams left to clinch their Championship Series berth, we do know plenty of details about the upcoming pennant fights.
From the matchups to the schedule and how to watch, here’s what to know about the Championship Series:
What are the 2025 ALCS, NLCS matchups?
Given the matchups in the Division Series, we are guaranteed to have non-divisional matchups in the Championship Series.
The AL East champion Blue Jays will have home-field advantage over the AL West champion Mariners or AL wild card Tigers. In the NL, home-field will be determined based on who advances — the NL Central champion Brewers will claim it if they can beat their division rival Cubs. If Chicago comes back, the winner of the NL East champion Phillies and NL West champion Dodgers will get home-field.
Here’s a full look at the bracket:
American League
- No. 2 Seattle Mariners/No. 6 Detroit Tigers vs. No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays
National League
- No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies/No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers/No. 4 Chicago Cubs
How many games are in the ALCS, NLCS?
Following best-of-three Wild Card Series and best-of-five Division Series, the postseason moves to a best-of-seven format in the Championship Series and World Series. The higher seed hosts Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 6 and 7.
What is the 2025 ALCS, NLCS schedule?
Here’s a series-by-series look at the Championship Series schedule:
American League
Mariners/Tigers vs. Blue Jays
- Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 12, time TBA
- Game 2: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 15, time TBA
- Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Sunday, Oct. 19, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
National League
Phillies/Dodgers vs. Brewers/Cubs
- Game 1: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 14, time TBA
- Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 4: Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 18, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Tuesday, Oct. 21, time TBA
What TV channels are the ALDS, NLDS on?
ALCS games will air on FOX and FS1.
TBS will broadcast the NLCS games.
How to stream the ALDS, NLDS live online
The ALCS action can be streamed on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app.
NLCS games can be streamed on TBS.com, the TBS app and HBO Max.
Brandin Podziemski hopes to one day lead Warriors after Steph, Draymond retire
Brandin Podziemski hopes to one day lead Warriors after Steph, Draymond retire originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Brandin Podziemski isn’t your average 22-year-old.
The Warriors guard, who was drafted by the team No. 19 overall in 2023 and has started multiple high-stakes games for Golden State over the past two seasons, already is thinking about the future and is ready to take that next step in his career.
While he’s had the luxury of learning from some of the best in the game, such as Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, his next goal is having those same players — plus the Warriors’ top decision-makers — trust him enough to leave him the keys to the franchise when they’re gone.
“When they leave this thing, they got to leave it with somebody,” Podziemski told The Athletic’s Nick Friedell in an exclusive interview. “How can I have their trust? And they can go to [owner] Joe [Lacob] and [general manager] Mike [Dunleavy] and be like, “Hey, we want to leave it with him. He’s going to continue what we’re leaving.
“So, I think about that all time, and I set myself up in that position to have that. And there’s a lot of other things than just skill that you need to be in that position.”
There has been much chatter about life after Steph, and what that could look like.
Would the franchise turn to Podziemski? Jonathan Kuminga? Whose team would it be?
Curry, 37, made it clear he still has plenty of gas in the tank as he aims for ring No. 5, but he’s also acknowledged that he’s approaching the tail end of his career.
Podziemski knows he has some growing up to do, emotionally, to gain that trust.
“There’s a next step in evolving emotionally, and as a leader,” Podziemski told Friedell. “Having confidence from your teammates is one thing, especially the vets, but them trusting you in big moments that could define their career. Could add another piece to their career. For them to have trust in you is a different thing, and you got to earn that over time, and I think that’s a goal of mine going into this season.”
Over the last two-plus years, Podziemski has noticed how hard everyone plays for Curry and the Warriors vets. He’s one of those players.
But someday, he hopes younger players do the same for him.
“Nobody wants to play so hard for Steph [just] because he can shoot the s–t out of the ball,” Podziemski told Friedell. “Nobody wants to play hard for Draymond [just] because his voice is the loudest. It’s doing the right things consistently, being at the right place, the right time, always taking young guys under their wing, showing them the way. That’s the reason why game days, people play so hard for Steph. If someone knocks him down we’re always right there, got his back.
“It’s not because he can shoot the ball that that’s the case. It’s so many other things. So, you want to take that and grab your own version of it and apply it. So, when the younger guys come in, and this is my team, if I get that opportunity, they have a reason to play hard for me too.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr has been impressed with what he’s seen from Podziemski thus far as the young guard is set to enter Year 3. Speaking to the media after Day 1 of training camp practice, Kerr applauded Podziemski for taking a “big leap” during the second half of last season.
But when asked what those next steps look like for Podziemski to take another leap in his third NBA season with Golden State, Kerr also acknowledged that emotional maturity is one of the main things.
“Honestly, you’ll laugh,” Kerr began. “But leaving the refs alone. That’s important. It’s important to his energy, his mindset, it’s important for our team’s mindset. And taking that next step in terms of being more even-keeled. One of the hardest lessons I ever learned as a player is when you have that bad night you have to move on quickly, and you can’t let it get to you. You can’t carry it over into the next day’s practice.”
Podziemski admitted it’s become a “conscious effort” to think about keeping his emotions in check.
Once he masters that, whenever that might be, he hopes that will help give him a better chance of one day being the leader of the Warriors.
Blood, bias and the Battle of Florida: how the NHL’s dirtiest rivalry exposed hockey’s old-boy rot
The Florida Panthers–Tampa Bay Lightning rivalry was once a regional sideshow, a quirky matchup between two southern expansion teams playing to half-empty arenas and polite indifference. But in the space of just a few years it has mutated into the nastiest, most revealing feud in hockey: one that’s exposed the NHL’s double standards, cronyism and cultural divide.
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Preseason hockey is meaningless by design, a handful of perfunctory tune-ups that even hardcore fans barely notice in the run-up to opening night, when the games finally start to count. Yet in the past week the Panthers and Lightning turned a pair of exhibition contests into three-hour fever dreams of violence: 114 penalties totaling nearly 500 minutes in the box, 16 game misconducts and one ejected player who somehow picked up an assist on an eighth goal that shouldn’t have counted. It was all-out bedlam before the season even began, but the uneven fallout has raised uncomfortable questions around the sport.
It all kicked off last Thursday when Florida’s AJ Greer sucker-punched Tampa’s Brandon Hagel in the head – a callback to last spring’s playoff meeting between the teams, when Hagel’s borderline hit on Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov sparked Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad’s retaliatory headshot that left Hagel concussed. Greer’s cheap shot, punished with only a $2,000 fine, broke hockey’s unspoken code: you never go after a player with a known concussion history, especially one you’ve already injured.
So on Saturday, Tampa iced a lineup of AHL enforcers and spent the night exacting frontier justice. The league’s response? Heavy fines and suspensions for the Lightning, none for Florida.
The ugly scenes revived an old suspicion: that the NHL’s disciplinary system protects its favorites. The Panthers’ connections only make the optics worse. The league’s director of hockey operations, Colin Campbell, is a longtime power broker whose son is a minority owner and assistant general manager of – you guessed it – the Panthers. The head of player safety, George Parros, is a former Panther himself. A decade ago Campbell’s leaked emails showed him berating referees for not giving Florida preferential treatment. Nothing changed.
Across the NHL, this latest bloodbath looked like business as usual: a vivid reminder that hockey’s old-boy network pulls the strings on a two-tiered system of justice.
The bad blood has been brewing for years. For most of their existence the Panthers were an afterthought, overshadowed by the more successful Lightning, who won the first of their three Stanley Cups in 2004. Then they traded for Matthew Tkachuk – a brilliant, agitating forward – and hired a coach who encouraged the chaos. Overnight, the franchise became an almost comically ratty heel team: relentlessly annoying, gleefully abrasive and somehow good enough to win anyway. They ran goalies, took liberties after whistles, and seemed to delight in their role as the villains of modern hockey.
Tampa, by contrast, had built its dynasty on cool precision: a team that mixed speed, skill and structure to win back-to-back Cups in 2020 and 2021. To Lightning fans, Florida’s rise represented something else: the triumph of cynicism, of hockey as provocation rather than craft.
The long-simmering tensions finally exploded in April’s postseason meeting. When Hagel flattened Barkov with what looked like a clean shoulder check – a hockey play at playoff speed gone wrong – the officials ruled it illegal because Barkov hadn’t touched the puck. Hagel was slapped with a one-game suspension. The next night Ekblad, who’d already served a lengthy ban earlier in the season for performance-enhancing drugs, hunted him down and delivered a full-force shot to the head, concussing him – a retaliatory hit that earned just two games. Florida went on to win the series and their second straight Cup, while Tampa were left muttering about double standards.
So when Greer targeted Hagel again – during a meaningless September preseason game, no less – the Lightning saw red. Coach Jon Cooper rested his stars and called up six players from the minors – two known enforcers among them – to ice a full lineup without exposing his smaller, skilled forwards. Within minutes, 32-year-old bruiser Scott Sabourin leveled Ekblad with a single punch that dropped him to his knees. From there the night descended into absurdity: brawls after nearly every whistle, fights in the penalty box, more than 300 combined penalty minutes and so many ejections that both teams ended with nine skaters. At one point, Florida’s Niko Mikkola even picked up an assist despite having been sent off minutes earlier. It’s not every night an ejected player somehow helps to extend an 8-0 lead before anyone notices.
The next day, the discipline meted out by the NHL’s department of player safety came down squarely on Tampa. Six players fined, two suspended, the organization docked $100,000 and Cooper fined another $25,000. Florida’s Greer kept his token $2,000 fine. The perception was plain as day: the Panthers could do no wrong. And that sense of impunity is what has turned a once-anodyne cross-state rivalry into something much darker: a microcosm of how the NHL still protects its insiders and punishes its critics.
That defiance fits neatly with the Panthers’ broader identity. Under owner Vincent Viola – a billionaire financier and one-time Donald Trump nominee for secretary of the army – the franchise has cultivated an overtly Maga aesthetic. After their first Cup win, team executives proudly visited Trump at the White House, presenting him with a custom “45–47” jersey. Viola’s longtime business partner and minority owner Douglas Cifu, the Panthers’ vice-chairman and alternate governor, also runs Virtu Financial, the high-frequency trading firm he co-founded with Viola. In May, Cifu was suspended indefinitely by the NHL after an inflammatory social-media exchange with a Canadian fan where he invoked the Israel-Palestine conflict and Trump’s 51st state taunts, a move that did little to distance the team from its hard-right image.
Across the state, the Lightning’s ownership has taken the opposite tack: removing a Robert E Lee statue from downtown Tampa, supporting diversity initiatives and hosting some of the league’s most inclusive heritage nights.
In miniature, the Battle of Florida now mirrors the United States itself: grievance and aggression on one side, progressive branding on the other, both locked in a fight over what the sport, and the country, should be.
The irony is that all this has unfolded during what’s meant to be the NHL’s modern age of enlightenment. League executives boast about player safety and mental-health awareness, and evolving beyond the blood-and-guts spectacle of decades past. Yet its disciplinary machinery still operates with the opaque impunity of an old boys’ club. When New York Rangers owner James Dolan semi-publicly condemned the league’s refusal to suspend Washington’s Tom Wilson in 2021, the NHL didn’t revisit the call; it fined the team $250,000 for daring to question it. Commissioner Gary Bettman scolded the Rangers for “demeaning” a league executive and declared such criticism “unacceptable”. The message was clear enough: silence is rewarded, dissent is punished and the culture that enables violence is the one most fiercely protected.
This time, though, the silence has cracked. Around the league, executives and players are said to be quietly rooting for Tampa – not because they condone vigilante justice, but because they recognize the futility of appealing to a system stacked against them. The Panthers may have won the Stanley Cup for two years running, but they’ve also become the embodiment of a league that rewards swagger and punishes accountability.
That the NHL’s biggest controversy of the year erupted before a single regular-season game had been played says it all. The sport that keeps promising to modernize still can’t stop celebrating its own anarchy: a league where power, not principle, decides who gets away with what – and who gets left bleeding on the ice.
Pete Carroll suggests that he’s not satisfied with Chip Kelly’s play calling
Asked about Geno Smith's struggles, Carroll said, "He’s not calling the plays."
England beware: terminally obsessed Marnus Labuschagne has gone back to basics | Jonathan Liew
Australian batter, an evangelical Christian who believes this is all written out in advance, may force his way back for the Ashes
Marnus Labuschagne carefully spreads butter on both sides of a slice of white bread. “That’s the key,” he tells the camera as he brings down the lid of his sandwich grill. “Boom. Then you get it crisp on both sides.” He lifts the lid to reveal a golden square of pure toasted goodness, the melted cheese happily bubbling away inside. “So this is the trick of the trade,” he announces. At which point, he does something horrific and unspeakable.
Already, I sense, a glaze of ennui is beginning to form across your eyes. The red lights of sportswriting pretension are flashing wildly. You’re probably aware that Labuschagne scored 160 for Queensland this week and is being feverishly talked up for an Australian Test recall before the Ashes.
Continue reading...Skinner’s Miscue Costs Oilers in Shootout Loss to Flames
The Edmonton Oilers were heading into the 2025-26 with a sense of calm. That might surprise some, considering the team was coming off two consecutive Finals losses. Still, the team approached a new season relaxed.
Perhaps they were too relaxed, at least after getting out to a 3-0 lead.
As expected, the narrative is one game at a time. Having said that, the Oilers are often guilty of not playing a full 60 minutes, and they were guilty of it again on Wednesday as their three-goal lead turned into a 3-3 tie, then a loss in a shootout.
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The Stanley Cup isn't won in October. Still, a hot start is also being talked about a lot inside the dressing room, and that should have started with a victory over the Calgary Flames in Game 1 of the regular season.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner took responsibility for the score being what it was. "I just had to make a quicker decision," he said when trying to explain the gaffe on the third goal for Calgary that tied the game. "The game happens fast down there, and there was just kind of a miscommunication and I was slow to react...
Head coach Kris Knoblauch wasn't ready to blame Skinner alone. "Turnovers," he said when asked what happened. "As soon as we made it 3-0, we got really sloppy with the puck. Before that, I thought we were outstanding with it. That was the turning point right there."
The Game Action
Ike Howard and David Tomasek took their "rookie" laps, seeing as it was the first game in the NHL for both players.
The first period started a bit slowly, with both sides feeling each other out. It wasn't until a delay of game penalty on Morgan Frost that things got interesting. The Oilers made quick work of the power play as Connor McDavid passed down low to Leon Draisaitl, who hit Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in front for the goal.
Tomasek took a minor for tripping at 11:04. The Oilers killed it off, with McDavid and Draisaitl getting some time on the second penalty-killing unit.
On the Oilers' second goal, Andrew Mangiapane made an outstanding play as he got tangled up near the blue line. He did a great job staying onside, and McDavid got him with a pass, and he roofed a wrist shot past Dustin Wolf.
McDavid already had two points on the night. Nugent-Hopkins got the second assist, giving him two points in the first.
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The second started much like the first, a little slowly. Things picked up around five minutes in. Skinner made a couple of solid saves, and Noah Philp got a solid chance on goal.
The Oilers started buzzing and the top line hemmed Calgary in, forcing them to take a penalty. Adam Klapka got two minutes for hooking.
The Oilers scored on the power play again, this time it was Nugent-Hopkins to Tomasek who made a sweet pass between Wolf's legs and right to Draisaitl. With that, it was a 3-0 lead and the game looked in hand for the Oilers.
With the goal, Draisaitl had potted his 400th in the NHL.
Congrats to Leon Draisaitl on 400 career goals! 🚨 #NHLFaceOff
— NHL (@NHL) October 9, 2025
Milestones powered by @ServiceNowpic.twitter.com/Jc9sve6i2Q
The Flames got on the board as Matvei Gridin spun and fired a puck it into the slot. It bounced off Philp and got past Skinner.
On the second Flames goal, Tomasek got called for a high-sticking penalty. The Flames didn't take long to score on the power play, getting a goal off a questionable Connor Zary high stick. The officials reviewed the goal and determined that it was a good goal.
Just like that the lead was cut to 3-2.
In the third period, Skinner misplayed a dump-in and got his signals crossed with Evan Bouchard. Blake Coleman got credit for the goal, and it was 3-3.
Regulation ended at three goals each. In overtime, there were no goals, but some interesting opportunities. Ultimately, the game went into a shootout that took eight rounds to declare a winner. Nazem Kadri scored to give Calgary a 4-3 win.
The Notables for the Oilers:
- Dustin Wolf was excellent for the Flames in goal.
- Andrew Mangiapane scored his first as an Oiler and the shot was incredible.
- Tomasek had a pretty assist on the power play goal by Draisaitl, who had his 400th point. Draisaitl's shootout goal was one of the prettiest we'll see this season.
- Stuart Skinner flubbed the third goal, but he was solid otherwise
- The Trent Frederic experiment on the top line may not have a long shelf life. It was a great mix in one preseason game, but the trio has struggled a bit beyond that. Frederic was pulled off that line late in the game, with Mangiapane getting a bump up.
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What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch
What to know for the ALCS, NLCS: Matchups, schedule, format and how to watch originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
It’s time for the next round of the 2025 MLB playoffs.
The American League and National League pennants will be decided in the coming days, with the Championship Series set to begin once the Division Series wraps up.
In the AL, the No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays locked up the first spot in the ALCS with their four-game victory over the No. 4 New York Yankees. Their opponent is yet to be decided, as the No. 2 Seattle Mariners and No. 6 Detroit Tigers head to be winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday.
The NLCS spots are still completely up for grabs — with both NLDS matchups entering Game 4 on Thursday. The No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers lead the No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1, and the No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers lead the No. 4 Chicago Cubs, 2-1.
So, while there are still three teams left to clinch their Championship Series berth, we do know plenty of details about the upcoming pennant fights.
From the matchups to the schedule and how to watch, here’s what to know about the Championship Series:
What are the 2025 ALCS, NLCS matchups?
Given the matchups in the Division Series, we are guaranteed to have non-divisional matchups in the Championship Series.
The AL East champion Blue Jays will have home-field advantage over the AL West champion Mariners or AL wild card Tigers. In the NL, home-field will be determined based on who advances — the NL Central champion Brewers will claim it if they can beat their division rival Cubs. If Chicago comes back, the winner of the NL East champion Phillies and NL West champion Dodgers will get home-field.
Here’s a full look at the bracket:
American League
- No. 2 Seattle Mariners/No. 6 Detroit Tigers vs. No. 1 Toronto Blue Jays
National League
- No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies/No. 3 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. No. 1 Milwaukee Brewers/No. 4 Chicago Cubs
How many games are in the ALCS, NLCS?
Following best-of-three Wild Card Series and best-of-five Division Series, the postseason moves to a best-of-seven format in the Championship Series and World Series. The higher seed hosts Games 1, 2 and, if necessary, 6 and 7.
What is the 2025 ALCS, NLCS schedule?
Here’s a series-by-series look at the Championship Series schedule:
American League
Mariners/Tigers vs. Blue Jays
- Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 12, time TBA
- Game 2: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 15, time TBA
- Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Sunday, Oct. 19, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
National League
Phillies/Dodgers vs. Brewers/Cubs
- Game 1: Monday, Oct. 13, time TBA
- Game 2: Tuesday, Oct. 14, time TBA
- Game 3: Thursday, Oct. 16, time TBA
- Game 4: Friday, Oct. 17, time TBA
- Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, Oct. 18, time TBA
- Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, Oct. 20, time TBA
- Game 7 (if necessary): Tuesday, Oct. 21, time TBA
What TV channels are the ALDS, NLDS on?
ALCS games will air on FOX and FS1.
TBS will broadcast the NLCS games.
How to stream the ALDS, NLDS live online
The ALCS action can be streamed on FoxSports.com and the Fox Sports app.
NLCS games can be streamed on TBS.com, the TBS app and HBO Max.
'You get a new game every day.' Clayton Kershaw tries to put Game 3 debacle behind him
If Wednesday’s game proves to be the last one in a Dodgers uniform for Clayton Kershaw, it will do little to tarnish his legacy, said teammate Mookie Betts.
“He's gonna have a statue, so we have to kind of keep that in mind,” Betts said. “In the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best pitchers to ever do it.
“So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, then you don't know baseball.”
But, Betts confessed, Kershaw’s relief appearance in Game 3 of the National League Division Series was hard to watch. In those two innings he gave up six hits, five runs, walked three and did not strike out a hitter, turning a tight game into an 8-2 rout for the Philadelphia Phillies, who staved off elimination and extended the best-of-five series to a fourth game Thursday.
“He just didn't have a great slider tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Clayton pitches off his slider. He was working behind, too. The command wasn't there tonight.”
Kershaw, who went 11-2 as a starter during the regular season, was left off the roster for the wild-card series and hadn’t pitched in nine days when he started warming up in the sixth inning Wednesday. He hadn’t gone that long between appearances all year.
“I did everything I could in between,” he said. “It's been a while but, you know, I threw [off] flat ground as best I could. It wasn't there tonight.”
Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers blow surefire win in NLDS Game 3 vs. Phillies, and now they could blow the season
That was obvious from the first batter he faced. Kershaw, who walked a batter every 3.2 innings during the regular season, threw three straight balls to Trea Turner before giving up a single. He would give up two more walks, one intentional, in the inning but escaped harm thanks to a poor baserunning decision by the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber and a nice catch by right fielder Teoscar Hernández.
But with Tanner Scott unavailable for personal reasons and Alex Vesia having already pitched twice in the series, Roberts had few other good options against the left-handed-heavy Phillies. So he sent Kershaw out for the eighth and that’s when things really got out of hand.
J.T. Realmuto led off the inning and drove Kershaw’s second pitch — a slider — over the wall in left-center. The Phillies would send eight more men to the plate in the inning, scoring four more times, with two of those runs coming on Schwarber’s second homer of the night.
Kershaw threw first-pitch strikes to just four of the 14 batters he faced and missed the zone with 26 of the 48 pitches he threw overall. That won’t stop the Dodgers from building a statue of him when he retires this fall but it didn’t move him any closer to a second straight World Series ring either.
“I wasn't throwing strikes, and it's hard to pitch behind in the count,” he said.
Kershaw said he felt fine physically but added, “I just wasn’t finding it.”
That wasn’t a problem for the top of the Philadelphia lineup, which found little success in the first two games of the series. The Phillies’ first four hitters — Turner, Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Alex Bohm combined for just three hits, all singles — in 27 at-bats, striking out 12 times. They matched that hit total against Dodger starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the span of 11 fourth-inning pitches Wednesday, with Schwarber homering off the roof of the right-field pavilion and Harper and Bohm following with singles.
They finished the night nine for 16 with five runs scored and five RBIs, with Schwarber’s two homers traveling a combined 863 feet.
“We just had a little quick meeting. Nothing crazy, but just focus on the game, win today,” Turner said. “We all know we were kind of pressing as a group in the first two games and wanting to win so bad.”
Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dodgers quickly lose control in NLDS Game 3 loss to Phillies
If Turner and the Phillies win again Thursday, the series returns to Philadelphia and raucous Citizens Bank Park — where the Phillies had the best home record in baseball — for a decisive Game 5 on Saturday. If the Dodgers win, they move on to the NL Championship Series, where Kershaw could get a chance to end his career on a more sonorous note than the clunker he played Wednesday.
“That’s the great thing about baseball,” he said. “You get a new game every day."
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Tigers rally to beat Mariners 9-3 and force decisive Game 5 in AL Division Series
DETROIT — Riley Greene and Javier Báez homered in a four-run sixth inning and the Detroit Tigers kept their season alive with a 9-3 win over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
The Tigers forced a Game 5 by winning at Comerica Park for the first time in more than a month. They went 0-8 after Tarik Skubal’s 6-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 6, including Seattle's 8-4 win on Tuesday.
The decisive game of the series will be Friday in Seattle, with Skubal facing George Kirby.
“One of the easiest and most exciting things I get to do is hand the ball to the best pitcher in baseball,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We're getting on a plane across the country with a lot of optimism because of Tarik Skubal.”
The Tigers’ nine runs are their most in a postseason game since scoring 13 in Game 6 of the 1968 World Series.
After Detroit tied the game with three runs in the fifth, Greene gave the Tigers a 4-3 advantage with a leadoff homer off Gabe Speier in the sixth. The 454-foot homer was the second-longest home run of Greene's career, regular season and postseason, and longest at Comerica Park since a 453-foot shot by Gleyber Torres on Aug. 29, 2023.
“That felt great,” Greene said of his first postseason homer. “I hadn't hit a ball like that in a while.”
Spencer Torkelson followed with a double and scored Detroit's fifth run on Zach McKinstry's single before Báez made it 7-3 with his sixth postseason homer.
Gleyber Torres became the third Tigers All-Star to homer when he led off the seventh with a shot to right before Báez's eighth-inning groundout brought in Detroit's ninth run.
“They were able to get to our bullpen today, but those guys have bounced back all season,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “There's no better place to do that than back at home on Friday.”
Troy Melton, Detroit's Game 1 starter, picked up the win with three scoreless innings of relief.
The first 4 1/2 innings looked like another Tigers disaster.
Casey Mize allowed one run while striking out six batters in the first three innings, but needed 54 pitches to do it. That may have played a part in A.J. Hinch's decision to send lefty Tyler Holton to the mound for the fourth inning.
The decision didn't work - Holton faced three batters and left with the bases loaded and no one out. Hinch brought in set-up man Kyle Finnegan, who got Victor Robles to ground into a run-scoring double play before J.P. Crawford popped out.
The Mariners, though, got to Finnegan in the fifth. Randy Arozarena led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch and scored on Cal Raleigh's single - his seventh hit of the series. That made it 3-0, increasing the booing from an angry home crowd.
“I've heard boos my whole career, so I don't mind them,” Báez said. “That's just showing the passion of our fans.”
Dillon Dingler's RBI double got the Tigers on the board with one out in the fifth - the first run Detroit had scored against Mariners starter Bryce Miller in 23 1/3 innings.
Speier came in, but Jahmai Jones lined his first pitch down the left-field line for a pinch-hit double to make it 3-2 before Báez tied the game with a base hit.