The Yankees were prepared for the possibility that a reliever like Louis Varland would serve as an opener for Toronto in Game 4 of the Division Series. That much was obvious in advance of a bullpen game.
In the wee hours on Wednesday, the Jays indeed named Varland -- who throws 100 mph gas but allowed home runs Tuesday night to Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. -- their starter.
The Yankees are also aware that starter Kevin Gausman has not yet thrown his standard between-starts bullpen session. That means that he is still fresh to provide bulk innings on three days rest on Wednesday, rather than start a potential Game 5 on Friday with an extra day rest.
Gausman has experience as a reliever earlier in his career, but has lately said that an extra day’s rest makes him more effective. The Jays might not be eager to burn him on Wednesday, but by holding him back from his bullpen, they have at least created the option for him.
It is also worth nothing that Wednesday would probably be Trey Yesavage’s throw day.
“Everyone is available tomorrow,” Jays manager John Schneider said after Game 3.
With or without Gausman pitching Wednesday night, manager Aaron Boone will counter the pen game strategy with lefty/righty balance.
“I'll probably lean towards a little more true balance in the order … [to] try and make them make some tough decisions throughout,” Boone said after Game 3.
More concretely, this means that the Yanks will use a lineup of five left-handed hitters and four righties, in alternating order, I’m told. That will make it more challenging for Schneider to stick with a given reliever for long stretches.
LOS ANGELES — Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are mired in the same kind of postseason slump that wrecked the Los Angeles Dodgers two years ago.
Back then, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were a combined 1 for 21 as the Dodgers were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 NL Division Series. Their lone hit was an infield single by Freeman.
Harper and Schwarber are 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts, putting the Philadelphia Phillies on the brink of elimination. They trail 2-0 in the best-of-five NLDS with Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
“I think the postseason you’ve got to flush as quick as possible because any at-bat can change the course of a game or change the course of a series,” Harper said.
Betts remembers the frustration he felt knowing how much the Dodgers were counting on him and Freeman, but nothing they tried made a difference.
“When you get in that rut and it seems like it’s quicksand, it’s tough,” Betts said. “Hell, I didn’t get out of it, so I have no advice or anything. Good luck to those guys and we’ll see if they have the answer.”
Only two teams have ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in the NLDS.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson was bench coach for the New York Yankees in 2017, when they rallied from a 2-0 deficit against the Cleveland Guardians in the ALDS to win and advance to the AL Championship Series.
“You’ve got to slow things down — one inning at a time, really, and come out and relax and be yourselves,” Thomson said. “Don’t try to do too much.”
Betts is not discounting the Phillies.
“They got on the plane with full intentions of going back for a Game 5,” he said. “We’ve got to be able to withstand the punches that they’re going to throw and be able to throw some back.”
Wheel play
The Dodgers successfully executed a defensive wheel play in the bottom of the ninth in Game 2.
With Nick Castellanos on second, third baseman Max Muncy rushed home plate to field a bunt by Bryson Stott, turned and perfectly threw to shortstop Betts, who was covering third. Betts got the out while being upended by a sliding Castellanos.
“It’s such a basic play,” Betts said. “It would be like the Lakers. They won the NBA championship running the 2-3 zone. That’s how I view it. It’s just we ran it in a big spot and we were able to do it right. We executed it really perfectly myself, just the timing of it.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts wasn’t surprised at Betts’ execution of the play named for the wheel-like rotation of the infielders.
“I think that especially as an outfielder for the most part of his career to then come into the infield, he’s got a lot of feel,” the manager said. “He’s got a lot of belief in his ability. He made a great play, a really, really great play.”
Even Thomson had to concede the Dodgers’ aggression paid off.
“Mookie Betts did a heck of a job by breaking very late so the hitter can’t adjust to the slash,” he said. “It’s tough for Nick to get a proper secondary or bigger secondary because Betts is sitting right behind him. It was a good play.”
Injury updates
Phillies center fielder Harrison Bader will be a game-time decision.
He left Game 1 early with a groin injury and came off the bench in Game 2 to deliver a pinch-hit single during the Phillies’ ninth-inning rally.
“He said he feels a little bit better today,” Thomson said.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith also is a game-time decision, although Roberts said he feels “more confident” that Smith will be able to start. Smith came off the bench in Game 2 and hit a crucial two-run single in the seventh. He’s been nursing a hand injury since last month.
Dodgers backup shortstop Miguel Rojas left Game 2 with hamstring tightness, aggravating an injury that had been bothering him recently. He won’t be in the lineup.
Even as an opponent in the NBA Finals, Warriors center Al Horford was a fan of his new team.
Speaking to assembled media on Tuesday, Horford expressed his longtime admiration for the Warriors’ organization and explained what drew him to sign with Golden State in the offseason.
“The two things that I saw [were] consistency—with this group, they’ve been great for so long—and then just the way that they play,” Horford said. “You know, that ball movement…and how these guys are getting to their spots, their positions, and really trying to play team basketball. It’s something that I’ve always respected and enjoyed watching them.”
No NBA team has recorded more assists since the start of Steve Kerr’s tenure as coach than the Warriors. Having lost the 2022 NBA Finals to Golden State in six games while playing for the Boston Celtics, Horford knew how effective that approach could be.
“It’s so difficult to defend, that type of style,” Horford said. “And that’s the one thing that really got my attention here.”
Of course, it isn’t just the offensive system itself that Horford feels is a fit. It’s also the players that make the system go.
“When you have guys that are just such smart basketball players…Draymond [Green]…Steph [Curry]…making reads and the passes, they’re already anticipating before the defense is even [ready],” Horford said. “Just all those things, it was really attractive to me to come here.”
Horford, a 6-foot-10 center who can pass and shoot well from 3-point range, is expected to play a significant role in Kerr’s motion offense this season, which tips off Oct. 21 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
More than 75 Big Ten men’s and women’s basketball games will stream exclusively on Peacock for the 2025-26 season, including regular-season and early round Big Ten Tournament games.
LOS ANGELES — The loud booing by angry Philadelphia Phillies fans at their home ballpark likely drowned out similar noise Bryce Harper was making.
The Phillies slugger has a single and three strikeouts in the NL Division Series, which Philadelphia trails 2-0 against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I love our fans. I boo myself when I get out,” Harper said.
Game 3 is at Dodger Stadium, with the Phillies facing elimination in the best-of-five series.
“I will probably get booed tomorrow night, too,” Harper said.
He didn’t agree that a change of venue — away from their frustrated fan base — is a good thing for the slumping Phillies.
“We’ve got some of the best fans in baseball and they make me play better, so I enjoy it,” Harper said. “They show up for us every day. They spend their hard-earned dollar to come watch us play; they expect greatness out of us and I expect greatness out of myself and my teammates as well.”
Third baseman Nick Castellanos came up big in a wild ninth inning that nearly saw the Phillies steal a win. The fan reaction whipsawed between huge cheers and deafening boos in the 4-3 loss.
“I think that the stadium is alive on both sides, right?” Castellanos said. “When the game is going good, it’s wind at our back, but when the game is not going good, it’s wind in our face. The environment can be with us, and the environment can be against us.”
Harper was glad to be in sunny Los Angeles, not far from his hometown of Las Vegas where he was a Dodgers fan.
He became a father for the fourth time when his wife, Kayla, gave birth to a son.
“I’ve got an incredible wife, man. She pushed that thing out in three pushes and 30 seconds,” Harper said. “She’s an absolute monster doing it. Women. Man, what a breed. I’m serious, it’s an incredible thing. Being able to hold your son for the first time is something. It’s one of the greatest moments of my life.”
The couple now has two boys, Krew and Hayes, and two girls, Brooklyn and Kamryn, all of whom are age 6 and under.
Harper said he loves baseball but his family means the most.
The Milwaukee Brewers have clearly been the superior team through the first two games of their National League Division series against the Chicago Cubs. Jackson Chourio and co. have outscored the Cubbies 16-6. After a day off for travel, the scene shifts today to Wrigley Field as Chicago looks to stay alive and keep their championship hopes alive. Quinn Priester is slated to take the mound for Milwaukee against Jameson Taillon for Chicago.
Offense has not been a problem for the Brew Crew. The aforementioned Chourio is hitting .714 through the first two games of the series going 5-7 with nine total bases. Christian Yelich is batting .500 (4-8) and William Contreras is 4-9 (.444).
While Milwaukee seems to be hitting everything thrown at them, the Cubs are struggling to make contact at the plate. Through five playoff games, Chicago has struck out 58 times. Pete Crow-Armstrong is hitting .222 and Kyle Tucker just .176 in the postseason.
Perhaps the friendly confines of Wrigley Field will wake up the bats for the hometown team but lets dive into Game 3 and see what the numbers forecast.
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 Brewers at Cubs - NLDS Game 3
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Time: 5:08PM EST
Site: Wrigley Field
City: Chicago, IL
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 Brewers at the Cubs - NLDS Game 3
The latest odds as of Wednesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Milwaukee Brewers (-102), Chicago Cubs (-119)
Spread: Brewers -1.5 (+172)
Total: 6.5 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Brewers at Cubs - NLDS Game 3
Pitching matchup for October 8, 2025: Quinn Priester vs. Jameson Taillon
Brewers: Quinn Priester (Regular Season: 13-3, 3.32 ERA) Last outing: 9/26 vs. Cincinnati - 5IP, 3 ER, 9H, 1BB, and 4Ks
Cubs: Jameson Taillon (Regular Season: 11-7, 3.68 ERA) Last outing: 10/2 vs. San Diego - 4IP, 0 ER, 2H, 0BB, and 4Ks
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 Brewers at Cubs - NLDS Game 3
Jackson Chourio is 7-13 (.538) in his career against Jameson Taillon
Christian Yelich is 13-37 (.351) in his career against Taillon
Nico Hoerner is 4-10 (.400) in his career against Quinn Priester
Michael Busch is 2-8 with 4 RBIs in his career against Priester
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 today’s NLDS Game 3 between the Brewers and the Cubs
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 Wednesday’s game between the Brewers and the Cubs:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Milwaukee Brewers at -1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 6.5.
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
CHICAGO — For the second time in a week, the Chicago Cubs play a win-or-go-home game, this time against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 in their best-of-five NL Division Series.
Once again, the Cubs will turn to Jameson Taillon.
Taillon tossed four scoreless, two-hit innings against the San Diego Padres and Chicago went on to take the deciding Game 3 of their Wild Card Series 3-1. The right-hander was focused, striking out four and walking none before five relievers wrapped it up.
This time, the Cubs need to prevail in three straight elimination contests to keep their season alive. The Brewers have a 2-0 lead in the series following 9-3 and 7-3 wins in Milwaukee when they ambushed Chicago’s thinned pitching staff and limited the Cubs to 10 total hits.
“I mean, look, we’ve had experience with it,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We just did it on Thursday. And now we’re going to have to do it three times.”
Teams falling behind 2-0 in a best-of-five postseason series have won just 10 out of 90 times. Any Cubs recovery starts with the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Taillon.
“It starts tomorrow, and obviously being a starting pitcher, hopefully I can do my job and set the tone and see where that can take us,” Taillon said.
“So how that pertains to me is just doing my job, going out there and setting the tone, preparing the right way, taking notes, watching video, going about my process the right way, and making sure I’m buttoned up and ready to go. “
Taillon was 11-7 with a 3.68 ERA in the regular season, his ninth in the majors. He was on the injured list twice, in July with a right calf strain and in August with a groin strain.
The 33-year-old must hold Milwaukee in check early. The Brewers scored nine runs the first two innings in Game 1 and seven on three homers in the first four innings of Game 2.
Taillon hopes to channel energy from Wrigley Field fans, even if he won’t show it on the mound.
“I think it’s a good lesson to myself when the crowd is that electric and the moment is that big and the pressure is that big and important, an executed pitch is still the best pitch,” he said. “I don’t need to be out there pounding my chest.
“If I gain a mile an hour from adrenaline, that is not really going to matter. What is going to matter is whether I sequence right and execute pitches the right way. I kind of plan on just doubling down with that again.”
Counsell is banking on it.
“I think what you want from all your players is just the best version of themselves and to, as much as you can, be yourself and kind of let the moment elevate you,” Counsell said. “I think that’s what (Taillon) did. He pitched like he pitches, didn’t try to do something different than he’s good at.
“I think he did let, kind of, the moment take him to another place and that’s exactly what you want.”
Meanwhile, Cubs hitters have to bust out of their funk.
At the All-Star break, Chicago was 57-39 and second in the majors in runs scored with 512. In the second half, the Cubs went 35-31 and scored 281 times as marquee players — most notably All-Stars Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker — slumped for long stretches. Tucker still seems to be dealing with a left calf strain that sidelined him most of September.
But Chicago has no more room for error.
“But part of being great at this is responding to the bad stuff and running towards it, man,” Counsell said. “That’s part of this. You can’t be afraid of it. We put ourselves in a hole this series; no question about it. We get to decide how the story ends.”
The New Jersey Devils have made a roster move in preparation for their 2025-26 regular season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 9.
The Devils have recalled forward Zack MacEwen from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Utica Comets.
MacEwen was acquired by the Devils from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Kurtis MacDermid last week and was then placed on waivers. Now, with this call-up, the gritty forward is set to start the 2025-26 season on the Devils' NHL roster.
MacEwen appeared in 21 games last season for the Senators, where he recorded two goals, one assist, 21 penalty minutes, and 49 hits. He also recorded seven goals, nine assists, 16 points, and 29 penalty minutes in 23 games last season with Ottawa's AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
In 237 career NHL games split between the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, and Senators, MacEwen has recorded 17 goals, 17 assists, 34 points, 323 penalty minutes, and 523 hits. It will be interesting to see how he improves upon these career stats with the Devils this season from here.
Part of the draft process for fantasy managers is to identify their "guys," players they may be higher on than the consensus.
With that in mind, Rotoworld basketball staffers Cole Huff, Noah Rubin, Raphielle Johnson and Zak Hanshew have decided to identify their guys, picking two players each that they're high on for the 2025-26 season.
We'll be doing a similar exercise with players we're fading this season, so stay tuned.
Cole Huff’s picks: C Myles Turner (Milwaukee Bucks) and F Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans)
In his 11th NBA season, Turner will be playing for an organization that isn't the Indiana Pacers for the first time in his career. While he thrived as a floor-spacing center alongside Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam in the Pacers' recent deep postseason run, those same opportunities to flourish should present themselves with Giannis Antetokounmpo consistently attracting multiple defenders and finding open shooters. He'll essentially play the Brook Lopez role for the Bucks this year. With his sustained abilities to shoot near 50.0 percent from the field, make threes on high volume, and consistently erase shots at the rim, I think Turner will perform even better than where he's being projected as a top 45-50 fantasy player in nine-category leagues.
As for Zion, this isn't so much about me buying into his physical transformation during training camp as it is about me understanding that he's an elite talent when he's on the court, regardless. The former first-overall pick saw his points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals per game all increase from the 2023-24 season to the 2024-25 campaign, despite averaging fewer than 30.0 minutes for the first time since his rookie season. I'd expect the numbers to climb once again as Williamson presumably logs more minutes per game than he did a season ago, which leaves me incredibly optimistic on how high he could rank come season's end, if healthy. There has to be some good injury luck at some point, right?
Noah Rubin’s picks: F Ausar Thompson (Detroit Pistons) and G Brandin Podziemski (Golden State Warriors)
I'm all aboard the hype train for an Ausar breakout season. Last year, we enjoyed his brother Amen Thompson's breakout, and when comparing the twins' per-possession stats, Amen got the slight edge in most categories, but Ausar was a much better source of steals. The difference is that Ausar only played 22.5 minutes per game, while Amen got 32.3. Ausar is now locked in as a starter and should see a bump in minutes. Foul trouble was an issue for him last season, which could be a frustrating factor at times, but I think his production when he is on the floor will outweigh that. The shot will likely continue to be an issue, but he does more than enough as a defender, passer and cutter to compensate for it.
Podziemski was in and out of the starting lineup early last season and struggled to find his footing while battling injuries. However, he became a fixture of the starting unit in February and averaged 15.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.7 three-pointers per game over the rest of the season. Golden State took a while to fill out the rest of the roster, but they didn't add anyone who should impact Podz's place in the rotation. The Warriors have a ton of old guys on their roster, so the spry 22-year-old should be relied on often to help keep the veterans fresh.
Nikola Jokić headlines Rotoworld’s Preseason Top 200, but key injuries across the league make this one of the most unpredictable fantasy seasons in years.
Raphielle Johnson’s picks: F Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic) and F OG Anunoby (New York Knicks)
While Magic forward Paolo Banchero has been tabbed by many as a breakout candidate this season, I think there's a better fantasy option on his team's roster. That would be Wagner, who offered top-40 per-game value in eight- and nine-cat formats last season. In 60 games, he averaged 24.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 three-pointers, posting career-high marks in each category. If there's a concern regarding Wagner, who shot 46.3 percent from the field and 87.1 percent from the foul line, it's the three-point shooting. He only made 29.5 percent of his attempts last season and has shot below 30 percent each of the last two years. However, three-point percentage isn't a scoring category in default fantasy leagues, so there's no need to lose sleep over this.
Anunoby is my other choice, due mainly to the change that brought in Mike Brown to serve as the Knicks' new head coach. In Brown's two full seasons in Sacramento, the Kings were ranked in the top half of the NBA in offensive rating and pace, leading the league in the former category in 2022-23. While the Knicks were fifth in offensive rating last season, they were 26th in pace. Brown has vowed to speed things up, which may benefit a wing like Anunoby. A top-40 fantasy player last season, he averaged 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.9 blocks and 2.3 three-pointers in 74 appearances. If Brown successfully combined a faster pace with allowing his wings to make more plays on the ball, Anunoby should exceed his Yahoo! ADP (66.1) easily.
Zak Hanshew’s picks: G Cam Thomas (Brooklyn Nets) and G/F Kyshawn George (Washington Wizards)
Come on, what's not to like about Cam Thomas? Over the final 18 games of the 2023-24 season, he broke out with averages of 26.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.7 triples on 45/37/89 shooting splits. He got off to a blistering start in 2024-25 before injuries derailed a promising season. Coming off a shortened campaign in which he averaged 24 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 triples, Thomas will look to continue his ascension. After lengthy contract negotiations, he ultimately took a qualifying offer from Brooklyn, so he'll be playing for pride and a new contract. Expect a monster season from a guy still looking to prove that he's more than just "empty stats." He's my favorite fantasy player for the 2025-26 campaign, and I'll be looking to roster him wherever I can.
As for George, he played solid rotation minutes for Washington as a rookie, logging 26.5 per night and starting 38 of 68 appearances. He took only eight shots a night, but 5.2 came from beyond the arc, highlighting his love of the deep ball. At 6-foot-9, George can play on the wing and at either forward position, and he's equally versatile on the defensive end. His stats got a noticeable bump in games where he played at least 30 minutes, and he could see plenty of those this season. The former Miami Hurricane could open the season as a starter due to Bilal Coulibaly's thumb injury, but even as a reserve, George should be one of the first guys off the bench. He can provide meaningful stats in several categories, and improvements in shooting percentages would be huge for his fantasy value.
The NHL world is
still buzzing over center Connor McDavid's two-year contract
extension with the Edmonton Oilers. His two-year, $25-million deal
stunned most observers.
Despite Kirill
Kaprizov signing an eight-year, $136-million extension with the
Minnesota Wild last week, most observers agreed it wouldn't affect
McDavid's negotiations with the Oilers. They were right, but not
completely in the way they expected.
It was believed
that McDavid, 28, sought a salary worthy of a player of his caliber,
while leaving some money on the table to give the Oilers some
salary-cap flexibility to maintain a Stanley Cup contender.
Most observers
anticipated the next contract for the Oilers' captain would come in
between two and four years, but the average annual value was assumed to be between $16
million and $18 million. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman was among the
few who predicted it would be lower, but not even he guessed that it
would be the same $12.5 million as his current contract.
It's no
coincidence that the Oilers announced that defenseman Jake Walman
agreed to a seven-year extension worth $7 million annually soon after
McDavid's deal was reported. Without the latter's extension, the
Oilers might've had difficulty getting the 29-year-old Walman under
contract. Mattias Ekholm also signed a three-year contract extension on Wednesday with a cap hit of $4 million, a drop from his current $6.25-million cap hit.
Soon after
Kaprizov re-signed with the Wild, pundits predicted his new contract
would affect other stars eligible for UFA status next summer.
Pierre LeBrun of
The Athletic believes some NHL teams could use McDavid's new contract
to make the argument that their stars should follow the Oilers
captain's example and accept less money to help the team win.
However, he believes most player agents will argue that McDavid's
situation was unique, involving a player in a class by himself.
Look no further
than Sidney Crosby for a good example. The Pittsburgh Penguins'
captain has been underpaid for years, partly because of his
superstition over his No. 87 resulting in him accepting an average annual value of
$8.7 million since 2008-09, and partly because he was on an unusually
long contract (12 years), the kind that are no longer available due
to contract term limits imposed since 2013-14.
During those 12
years of Crosby's previous contract, player salaries have steadily
climbed. Today, Cap Wages indicates that there are 45 active NHL
players with higher AAVs than the Penguins' longtime superstar.
For
action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue,
subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by
subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on
THN.com.
Wednesday afternoon the Seattle Mariners will look to advance to the American League Championship series when they take the field in Motown against the Detroit Tigers. Bryce Miller is slated to take the mound for Seattle against Casey Mize for Detroit.
Last night, Eugenio Suarez went yard against Jack Flaherty for the fourth time in just 28 career plate appearances and the Seattle Mariners doubled up the Tigers, 8-4, to take a two games to one lead in the series.
The home run by Suarez was one of three smacked by the Mariners in the game. Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford also went deep. Logan Gilbert allowed just one run over six innings to earn the win for Seattle.
Lets dive into Game 4 and see what the numbers tell us.
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 Mariners at Tigers - ALDS Game 3
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Time: 3:08PM EST
Site: Comerica Park
City: Detroit, MI
Network/Streaming: FS1
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 Mariners at the Tigers
The latest odds as of Wednesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Seattle Mariners (-106), Detroit Tigers (-115)
Spread: Mariners -1.5 (+154)
Total: 8.5 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Mariners at Tigers - ALDS Game 4
Pitching matchup for October 8, 2025: Bryce Miller vs. Casey Mize
Mariners: Bryce Miller (Regular Season: 4-6, 5.68 ERA) Last outing: 9/28 vs. Dodgers - 4IP, 4 ER, 5H, 2BBs, and 2 Ks
Tigers: Casey Mize (Regular Season: 14-6, 3.87 ERA) Last outing: 10/1 at Cleveland - 3IP, 1ER, 1H, 2 BB, and 1K
Rotoworld still 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 Mariners at Tigers - Game 4 ALDS
Jorge Polanco is 6-16 (.375) with 2 HRs in his career against Casey Mize
Cal Raleigh has struck out in his 2 ABs in his career against Mize
Riley Greene is 2-6 (.333) in his career against Bryce Miller
Javier Baez is 2-7 (.286) in his career against Miller
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 today’s Game 4 between the Mariners and the Tigers
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 Wednesday’s game between the Mariners and the Tigers:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Seattle Mariners at -1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.5.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page fromNBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Thanks to wins in the first two games of their series in Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Dodgers are on the brink of sweeping the Phillies as the National League Division series moves to Chavez Ravine for Game 3. Aaron Nola is slated to take the mound for Philadelphia against Yoshinobu Yamamoto for Los Angeles.
Through two games, each team has 13 hits - six each in Game 1 and seven each in Game 2. The Dodgers have hit in the clutch, and the Phillies have not. It is not that simple but maybe it is. The top four hitters in Philadelphia's lineup are a combined 3-27 through two games. LA's top four in the lineup are a combined 7-32. Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper have one hit between them. That needs to change if Philly is going to climb back in this series.
Finding offense will not be easy tonight as the Phillies face one of the stingiest pitchers of late. Yoshinobu Yamamoto has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts spanning 17 innings. Aaron Nola was excellent in his last start (one earned run over eight innings with nine strikeouts) but that was back on September 26. How will he respond to nearly two weeks removed from that outing?
Lets dive into the numbers of Game 3 and find a sweat or two.
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 Phillies at Dodgers - NLDS Game 3
Date: Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Time: 9:08PM EST
Site: Dodger Stadium
City: Los Angeles, CA
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 Phillies at the Dodgers - NLDS Game 3
The latest odds as of Wednesday courtesy of DraftKings:
Moneyline: Philadelphia Phillies (+152), Los Angeles Dodgers (-187)
Spread: Dodgers -1.5 (+113)
Total: 7.5 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Phillies at Dodgers - NLDS Game 3
Pitching matchup for October 8, 2025: Aaron Nola vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Phillies: Aaron Nola (Regular Season: 5-10, 6.01 ERA) Last outing: 9/26 vs. Minnesota - 8.0 IP 1 ER, 2H, 0 BB, 9 Ks
Dodgers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Regular Season: 12-8, 2.49 ERA) Last outing: 10/1 vs. Cincinnati - 6.2IP, 0 ER, 4H, 2 BBs, and 9 Ks
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 Phillies at Dodgers - NLDS Game 3
Philadelphia is a combined 7-26 (.269) against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his career
Harrison Bader is 4-7 in his career against Yamamoto
Mookie Betts is 9-23 including 2 HRs against Aaron Nola in his career
Enrique Hernandez is 4-11 including 3 HRs in his career against Nola
The Dodgers are a combined 54-246 (.220) against Nola in his career
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 tonight’s Game 3 between the Phillies and the Dodgers
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 Wednesday’s game between the Phillies and the Dodgers:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Philadelphia Phillies at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Well, it's here. The 2025-26 season has officially kicked off. This year's version of the Metropolitan Division has people all over wondering how it will shake out. Some people think the Metro is the weakest it's ever been, while some people think it'll be ultra-competitive despite the apparent weaknesses.
Last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are predicted to finish last in the Metro by most people, shut out the New York Rangers at MSG by a score of 3-0. This could be one of "those" seasons. So, stay tuned and buckle up.
Spencer and I are going to take a crack at how we think the Metro Division will shake out.
Jason's Metro Predictions
Carolina Hurricanes
New Jersey Devils
Washington Capitals
Columbus Blue Jackets
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
New York Islanders
Pittsburgh Penguins
Spencer's Metro Predictions
Carolina Hurricanes
New Jersey Devils
Columbus Blue Jackets
New York Islanders
Washington Capitals
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
So how do you think we did?
Personally, I think the Hurricanes do what Washington did last year and run away and hide in the Metro. The Capitals rode the Ovechkin wave last year, but this year, I feel like they will take a slight step back. As long as they have Ovi, he will push that team to be as good as they can.
Some national NHL guys have Columbus as high as third in the Metro, just as Spencer does. Now, while I feel like the Jackets will be improved again this year, I think the Devils will perform much better than last year and will put some space between them and the next two teams.
Can the Blue Jackets push through and make the playoffs? The answer to that question relies on two players - Elvis Merzļikins and Jet Greaves.
Stay updated with the most interesting Blue Jackets stories, analysis, breaking news, and more!
Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News and never miss a story.
Of all the storylines lingering over the 2025-26 season, perhaps none carries more intrigue than what lies in front of the Milwaukee Bucks: Do they trade Giannis Antetokounmpo or not?
By almost all accounts, Antetokounmpo represents one of the three-best players in the NBA. He ranks third best in the Estimated Plus-Minus prediction metric, behind only reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić.
SGA plays for the defending champion and title favorite Thunder. Jokić’s Nuggets are close behind them. Antetokounmpo’s team, on the other hand, is … closer to the bottom. His supporting cast is among the worst in the sport. According to BetMGM, the Bucks’ win total sits at 42.5 for the 2025-26 season, a pitiful mark for an Eastern Conference team with an MVP candidate in his prime. It’s the least-confident betting forecast for a Giannis-manned squad since 2016-17, when the Bucks, coached by Jason Kidd, were expected to win just 36.5 games.
The Bucks are understandably reluctant to part with the all-time great whom they drafted in 2013. According to ESPN reports on Tuesday, the Knicks weren’t able to get traction in Giannis talks this summer. But it’s time for Milwaukee to pull the plug and seek a trade package in which a team throws the kitchen sink at it: multiple first-round picks and players who can step in right away.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, kitchen-sink deals work out more often for the seller than the buyer. The past three NBA champions (OKC, Boston and Denver) were built in large part due to unloading superstars at the right time.
In order to get back to title contention, it’s time for the Bucks to trade Giannis to the highest bidder.
(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
OKC is the model
In the summer of 2019, Thunder president of basketball operations Sam Presti faced a similar situation as the one in front of Bucks general manager Jon Horst. Then, when the Los Angeles Clippers came calling about Paul George, Presti took a pragmatic look at the franchise. Like Antetokounmpo, George finished third in the MVP race that season. But Presti saw an opportunity to build through the draft and traded him for a king’s ransom, the package including a boatload of picks and Gilgeous-Alexander, the future MVP and Finals MVP.
And Presti didn’t stop there. Less than a week later, he traded the team’s other version of Antetokounmpo, OKC’s face of the franchise, Russell Westbrook, whom it also drafted and developed into an MVP. It would be easy to think the Thunder could have tried to convince Westbrook they could still contend for a title, but the franchise did right by Westbrook, emotional ties and all. The Thunder moved him to Houston for Chris Paul, two first-round picks and two first-round swaps.
“We recently had conversations with Russell about the team, his career, and how he sees the future,” Presti said in a statement after the trade. “Through those conversations we came to the understanding that looking at some alternative situations would be something that made sense for him. As a result, and due to his history with the Thunder, we worked together to accommodate this.”
Six years later, it’s the Thunder who are the reigning champs — not George’s Clippers or Westbrook’s Rockets. In fact, neither George nor Westbrook — the stars in the OKC trades — is still with his respective team. Meanwhile, OKC is the envy of the league, landing at No. 1 in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings and the heavy favorite to win the 2025-26 championship.
The team currently with the next-rosiest future, the Rockets, finds itself there because it followed Presti’s playbook and also decided to pivot and sell its superstars to the highest bidders. Westbrook lasted just one season in Houston before he was traded to Washington for John Wall and a protected first-round pick. A few months later, the Rockets unloaded their franchise cornerstone, James Harden, and sent him to Brooklyn for another kitchen-sink deal. Now, with a young core of Amen Thompson, Alperen Şengün and Jabari Smith Jr., they’ve built a growing powerhouse in the Western Conference.
Not every superstar seller can climb to title contention so quickly. Utah and Brooklyn are still pulling themselves out of the league cellar after each hit the reset button in 2022 and 2023, respectively. But the team with the darkest timeline of them all, the Suns, is the cautionary tale of being on the other side of a kitchen-sink deal.
The Gut Tax
It was a little over two years ago when then-new Suns owner Mat Ishbia traded for Kevin Durant in February 2023. The KD trade wasn’t a cannonball leap into a pool; this was a meteor hitting an ocean.
Ishbia and his front office decided to go all-in for Durant, giving up not one but four unprotected first-round picks, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and a 2028 first-round pick swap in order to add the 34-year-old who was sidelined with a knee injury at the time.
How risky was the deal? In the wake of the trade, Ishbia told Sports Illustrated, “I think there is no risk. I don’t look at it as a risk at all.”
Gulp. In ESPN’s annual Future Power Rankings, the Suns now rank dead-last among all 30 teams. After paying a league-high $152 million in luxury tax payments and missing the playoffs in Durant’s third season with the club, the Suns pulled the plug and traded Durant to Houston in July. The Suns now have a middling, mishmash roster and still almost no draft assets. They have the worst of both worlds, with little hope now or down the line.
There’s no such thing as a risk-free trade no matter what your exuberant new owner might claim. Kitchen-sink deals have the potential to doom the star-chasing franchise for a cocktail of reasons, but primarily because of a very obvious, yet overlooked reason:
You have to give up a lot to get said star. Call it the Gut Tax.
The nice thing about free agency is that teams don’t have to pay the Gut Tax to get their star. The Warriors didn’t have to trade Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in order to land Durant in the summer of 2016. They took advantage of a cap spike that summer and added him to an existing championship core.
What would the Knicks have looked like if they had waited for Carmelo Anthony in free agency instead of trading the farm for him? In 2011, the Knicks gutted their team by sending Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov to Denver along with two first-round picks. As luck would have it, Denver posted a better record than the Knicks during their Melo era. Making matters worse, in 2016, Denver used one of those Knicks first-round picks to select Jamal Murray, the team’s second-best player on the 2023 title team. With Anthony, the Knicks never got past the second round.
Looking at recent champions is a study in how teams benefited by selling their stars at the right time. OKC moved off Westbrook and George in 2019 and won a title in six years. The Boston Celtics drafted their championship-winning duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, thanks to the infamous 2013 Nets trade that netted the Celtics four future first-round picks for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Another big reason why the blockbuster deal doesn’t always pan out for the higher-profile star: star veterans are injury-riddled more than ever. In win-now situations, Durant’s recent superteams struggled to stay healthy. It was the same for the Antetokounmpo/Damian Lillard/Khris Middleton Bucks.
Khris Middleton, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo didn't win a playoff series together. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)
Cole Burston via Getty Images
This is not to say that teams haven’t won it all after trading for a big fish. The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 championship in the first season following the Anthony Davis trade with New Orleans. Other teams seemed to follow their lead, with mixed results.
In a span beginning with the summer of 2019, when Davis and George were traded from their small-market clubs, to 2023, we’ve seen 11 kitchen-sink deals, which I’m defining as trades involving multiple first-round picks and at least one player.
The 11 Superstar “Kitchen Sink” Trades, 2019-23
2023 POR trades Damian Lillard to MIL
2023 BRK trades Kevin Durant to PHX
2022 BRK trades James Harden to PHI
2022 UTA trades Donovan Mitchell to CLE
2022 UTA trades Rudy Gobert to MIN
2022 SAS trades Dejounte Murray to ATL
2021 HOU trades James Harden to BRK
2020 NOP trades Jrue Holiday to MIL
2019 OKC trades Russell Westbrook to HOU
2019 OKC trades Paul George to LAC
2019 NOP trades Anthony Davis to LAL
While the superstar-acquiring teams have had dynastic dreams, none of those 11 blockbuster deals has resulted in more than one championship. Only two — Milwaukee trading for Jrue Holiday and the Lakers getting Davis — resulted in even one title banner. The nine other deals haven’t even resulted in a Finals appearance at any point for the teams that acquired new superstars. Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell and Minnesota with Rudy Gobert would like to change that.
Perhaps even more troubling is that many of these star acquisitions have ended up being little more than a rental. The Durant era in Phoenix didn’t even last three full seasons. Was there even a Harden era in Brooklyn? Or Philly? You’d be forgiven if you didn’t remember Dejounte Murray making the playoffs in Atlanta during any of his two seasons. All in all, six of the 11 star tenures lasted fewer than three seasons with the acquiring team. The majority of them had little staying power.
On the other side of the ledger, the rebuilding teams may have to wait longer to win their titles, but it’s hard to say they’re definitively worse off. Both of Presti’s kitchen-sink deals in moving off of Westbrook and George helped them build the 2025 Finals team; Gilgeous-Alexander, 2025 All-NBA member Jalen Williams and Aaron Wiggins were directly or indirectly acquired in those trades.
Houston learned the hard way that superteams aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, and its homegrown talent was essential to demonstrate leverage in this summer’s Durant trade talks with Phoenix. The Rockets gave up just one first-round pick, locked at No. 10 in a down draft, to get KD. Sure, Houston may end up trading for Giannis this season, but there’s no indication the Rockets have chased him at all up to this point. As is, they project to be title contenders for years to come.
What will Milwaukee do? First, it has to look in the mirror.
Where Milwaukee goes from here
The Bucks should heed the lesson of the Suns and how doubling down can doom their franchise. But one thing Phoenix did manage to do was trade Durant while he was still healthy. Antetokounmpo, who is turning 31 in December, has missed 14 games on average over the last five seasons and battled injuries in postseasons’ past. Moving a healthy Antetokounmpo sooner than later could help them extract maximum value.
Injuries are a variable that Milwaukee has struggled to control. Part of the overall cynicism around the Bucks is a result of the blockbuster trade for Lillard that went awry. In the summer of 2023, the Bucks traded Holiday, a 2029 unprotected first-round pick and two swaps (2028 and 2030) to the Trail Blazers only to waive him less than two years later following a devastating Achilles tear.
The irony of the Blazers-Bucks deal is that a player of Lillard’s offensively tilted skill set would be perfectly paired with a defensive-minded guard like Holiday. As it happens, Holiday and Lillard are now on Portland’s roster, not Milwaukee’s, this upcoming season.
Not only did the Bucks give up a key player from their 2021 championship squad, they also gave up their opportunity to pivot. By giving up tons of draft capital, the Bucks pushed themselves into a corner with almost nowhere to go.
Like Durant and the Suns, the Bucks never reached the heights they envisioned when they gave up the farm for the superstar. Lillard was supposed to be the missing piece, but the Bucks failed to get out of the first round in each of Lillard’s two seasons due to injuries to both Lillard and Antetokounmpo (and Middleton).
Unlike Durant and the Suns, the Bucks had little recourse but to waive-and-stretch Lillard’s deal once he suffered a career-altering injury and eat the dead money left on his contract for the next five seasons. If Lillard were healthy, they could have pivoted more easily if Antetokounmpo asked out. Instructively, the Suns traded Durant for much less than they got him for, but they did net Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and the No. 10 pick (Khaman Maluach) in this year’s draft.
The Bucks don’t have a proper co-pilot for Antetokounmpo. The team wants Myles Turner to be that guy after he played in the NBA Finals, but the former Pacers center averaged a measly 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in the team’s Cinderella run to the Finals. Without Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam’s heroics in late-game situations, would we think of Turner the same way?
Because of the weak supporting cast, Antetokounmpo may have been wise to wait for any sort of trade demand. If the Bucks do sputter out of the gate, he’ll have more justification for asking out. In addition, as ESPN reported Tuesday, his monster $200-million-plus extension can be signed up until October 1, 2026, only if his team has employed him for at least six months. Teams will be motivated to acquire him ahead of the trade deadline rather than wait for this summer.
Though the Knicks undoubtedly would love to have a player like Antetokounmpo, they don’t have an unprotected first-round pick to offer until this summer when their 2033 pick is unlocked. Like the Anthony deal in 2011, the Knicks would have to cannibalize their own team in order to meet Milwaukee’s asking price. Barring the Knicks trading Karl-Anthony Towns or OG Anunoby for longer-term assets, it’s hard to see how the Knicks and Bucks check off each other’s boxes.
The Warriors could get in the mix with three unprotected first-round picks (2026, 2028 and 2032) at their disposal, but a third team would likely have to be involved in order to make the money work. After Phoenix chased Jimmy Butler last season, could a three-way deal involving Giannis to Golden State and Butler finally going to Phoenix work? In this scenario, Phoenix would reroute the bulk of the KD haul — Green and Brooks — to Milwaukee along with Golden State’s picks.
The Cavaliers may be another team to watch. After another disappointing finish to the season, would Cleveland put Evan Mobley in a deal for Antetokounmpo if it got off to a slow start? The Bucks undoubtedly would covet the 24-year-old Defensive Player of the Year as the future of their franchise. The Cavs would also have two unprotected first-round picks in 2030 and 2032 at the ready if the Bucks were at all uneasy about Mobley’s five-year, $224 million contract.
If suitors are willing to commit multiple unprotected first-round picks and a young player, the Bucks have to listen. Milwaukee might think it’s unthinkable for a small-market team to trade the face of its franchise in his prime. But the other side can bring a much brighter horizon. Just ask Sam Presti.
Raphielle Johnson
