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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.

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Blood, bias and the Battle of Florida: how the NHL’s dirtiest rivalry exposed hockey’s old-boy rot

Florida Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis, bottom, and Tampa Bay Lightning Dylan Duke scuffle during the third period of an NHL preseason game on Saturday in Sunrise, Florida.Photograph: Lynne Sladky/AP

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.

Related: The NHL preached inclusion. So why has it got into bed with Donald Trump?

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.

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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.

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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.

Oilers' Roster Battle Moves to the Regular Season

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. 

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. 

Stuart Skinner misplayed the puck on the third goal of the game, then stopped most shots until Nazem Kadri scored the shootout winner. Photo by  © Perry Nelson Imagn Images

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.

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'You get a new game every day.' Clayton Kershaw tries to put Game 3 debacle behind him

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 8, 2025: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw reacts after giving up a two run home run by Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber Game 3 of baseball's National League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Clayton Kershaw reacts after giving up a two-run home run to Kyle Schwarber in the eighth inning. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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.”

Clayton Kershaw bends over during a tough eighth inning.
Clayton Kershaw bends over during a tough eighth inning. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

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."

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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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.

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Kyle Schwarber hits two homers to lift Phillies over Dodgers 8-2 and avoid sweep in NLDS

LOS ANGELES — Kyle Schwarber homered twice, his first towering shot clearing the right-field pavilion in a three-run fourth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided a sweep with an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on Wednesday night.

It was the first Schwarbomb of the postseason for the NL's leading home run hitter and the first allowed by the Dodgers in these playoffs. Schwarber snapped an 0-for-8 skid in the NLDS, slugging a 96-mph fastball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto 455 feet.

“It’s ridiculous how far that ball went,” Phillies shortstop Trea Turner said. “Sometimes it’s hard to create your own momentum, and you’ve got to build off things like that. No better way than the ball leaving the stadium.”

Schwarber became just the second player to homer over the pavilion, joining Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell, who did it in 1969 and 1973. Fans standing near the back railing pointed as the ball went out.

“I didn't even see where it landed,” Schwarber said. “I was looking in the dugout, trying to get the guys going.”

Schwarber's 23 career postseason homers rank third all-time and are the most among left-handers.

Game 4 of the best-of-five series is Thursday at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers clinging to a 2-1 lead.

“It’s pretty close to being flushed already,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I feel good with where we're at.”

After Philadelphia's Aaron Nola pitched the first two innings, Ranger Suárez came in and allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.

“Ranger did a fantastic job,” Schwarber said. “Kept everyone right there for us to eventually crack through and have a beginning.”

The Phillies tacked on five more runs in the eighth - including a solo shot by J.T. Realmuto and a two-run drive by Schwarber - off three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw in his first postseason relief appearance since 2019.

Six of the Phillies' 12 hits came off Kershaw in his 18th and final season with the Dodgers before retiring at season's end.

“I was battling command,” Kershaw said. “It's hard when you're trying to throw strikes in the postseason to get people out.”

Yamamoto retired nine of his first 10 batters before the Phillies jumped on him in the fourth. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm followed with singles and Harper scored on center fielder Andy Pages' throwing error. It skipped away from third baseman Max Muncy and into the Dodgers dugout, moving Bohm to third. He scored on Brandon Marsh's sacrifice fly to left for a 3-1 lead.

The Phillies chased Yamamoto with back-to-back singles by Bryson Stott and Turner in the fifth.

Reliever Anthony Banda came in and worked out of a bases-loaded jam. He struck out Schwarber after Stott and Turner's double steal. Harper flied out and Bohm was intentionally walked before Banda got Marsh on a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

The Dodgers led 1-0 on Tommy Edman's homer on the first pitch by Suárez leading off the third.

The Dodgers had the potential tying runs on first and second in the sixth but Max Muncy grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Kershaw allowed three runners in the seventh, but none scored. Another left-hander, 89-year-old Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, was on his feet applauding as Kershaw jogged to the mound.

Dodgers sluggers Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman were a combined 0 for 8 with three strikeouts. Mookie Betts tripled and singled in four at-bats.

LHP Cristopher Sánchez, who started Game 1 of the series, goes for the Phillies on Thursday against Dodgers RHP Tyler Glasnow, who pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief in Game 1.

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Kings Battle Back to Escape In A Shootout Win Over the Golden Knights

© Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Kings suffered an embarrassing loss last night in their season opener against the Colorado Avalanche. 

Every aspect played out last night on the ice, both offensively and especially on defense; Los Angeles looked very weak and out of it. So, coming into a back-to-back, the Kings were looking to avoid a 0-2 start desperately. 

But, tonight, against another Western Conference contender in the Vegas Golden Knights, who introduced Mitch Marner and recently signed Jack Eichel to an 8-year extension, Los Angeles looked very good early on, until their power play defense and penalties let them down, ending in a high-scoring thriller with the Kings scrapping by a 6-5 win. 

First Period Recap: Kings Come Out Strong

After the tripping call was made on Golden Knights center William Karlsson, who gave the Kings a power play opportunity. 

The Kings responded with a 1-0 lead in Vegas, capitalizing on the power play opportunity. Andrei Kuzmenko buried the goal five minutes into the period off the assist from Anze Kopitar. 

Vegas struggled to generate any goals against Anton Forsberg under the net, stopping every shot that came at him. 

The Golden Knights' best look came when Quinton Byfield was called for that unsportsmanlike conduct midway through the first period, but Los Angeles remained strong and didn’t let it get in their heads like last night. 

Just a few minutes later, Quinton Byfield extended the lead with an unassisted goal, giving LA a 2-0 lead. Despite Vegas having control of the puck for most of the possession and winning faceoffs, Los Angeles stayed ready and strong on the ice.

The period ended with the Kings holding a 2-0 lead, energized by their early intensity on both defense and offense, which enabled them to take an early lead. However, Vegas remained a threat heading into the second period despite trailing. 

Second Period: Golden Knights Dominate the Power Play

The Kings extended their lead to 3-1 early in the second period against the Vegas Golden Knights. Joel Armia put up his first goal as the newly acquired Los Angeles King from the middle of the ice against a solid amount of traffic in front of him.

Vegas managed to get back in the game in the second period, scoring three goals, including one by Pavel Dorofeyev on the power play and a fast break earlier in the period, to tie the game 3-3.

One glaring weakness in the Kings' last two games was their power play defense and ability to execute fast break plays. The defense just doesn’t look strong in the closing moments when the game starts to get tight and close, reminiscent of the choke job against the Oilers in the last playoffs, when they blew a 2-0 series lead. 

The Golden Knights were one of the best power plays ever, finishing second in the NHL, and in this game, they looked much better when they were in the power play, whipping the puck around the zone against what should be a Penalty kill. 

This period wasn’t a good one for the Kings. From what looked like a commanding 3-1 lead and a different team committed to bouncing back from the ugly loss at home last night, they got outplayed entirely by one man on the other side of the ice in one period.  

Third Period: Kings Battle Back

The third period was looking like it was going to be a big meltdown for the Kings, with another disappointing loss and back-to-back embarrassing games. 

Early in the third period, the Golden Knights were dominating the puck and scoring off the Kings' foolish penalties, but were getting outplayed in the power play, trailing 3-5 early in the period. 

The story of the game was looking like the Kings were repeating the same old things from last season, blowing leads and failing to capitalize on close, competitive games that came down to the wire. 

However, Los Angeles battled back thanks to Trevor Moore and Brandt Clarke, both of whom notched a goal to tie the game 5-5, sending it to overtime. 

Clarke, Byfield, and Kuzmenko were especially impressive, showcasing their toughness and grit, executing in the big moments when called upon.

All three players were reliable for the Kings in the clutch and, in overtime, gave some big minutes on the ice to help scrape by the Golden Knights. 

In overtime, LA squeaked by with a 6-5 win in a much-needed game that was theirs for the taking all game. It certainly would’ve been a horrible loss for the Kings, given the lead they had and how poorly their defense performed against the Golden Knights' offense for the rest of the game.

But give credit to the Kings' ability to respond to adversity and capitalize on key moments that will be crucial as they continue their push for a Stanley Cup.  

Fans can look forward to more exciting matchups as the Kings aim to build their momentum against Winnipeg on Saturday, Oct 11 at 1:30 p.m. EST.  

  

 

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Somber Yankees clubhouse reflects on season after another abrupt October ending

Aaron Judge was still wearing his pinstripes, 45 minutes or so after the Yankees had lost to the Blue Jays Wednesday night, as he stood under an electronic sign in the Yankee clubhouse, doing interviews. The sign relayed prep details about Game 4 – the lineups, pitchers and such. 

But there was another item that stuck out, especially considering what had just happened on the field: It was the plan for a potential travel day Thursday, when the Yankees would fly to Toronto. Departure: TBA. 

Of course, the Yanks aren’t going to Toronto. There are no more tomorrows for the 2025 Yankees. There is no Game 5 in their ALDS because the Jays took the series in four games, punctuated by their 5-2 victory Wednesday that sealed another year in Judge’s prime that will go by without a World Series championship. 

“We didn’t do the job, didn’t finish our goal,” Judge said, a sentiment that was echoed in a somber Yankee clubhouse after the game. 

“It’s still kinda hard to process everything,” added Max Fried. 

Judge was not the only one still wearing his uniform. Some players walked around, sharing hugs or shaking hands. Clubbies put together boxes – the squeal of packing tape being applied to cardboard was background noise to multiple media scrums – to ship belongings to players at their offseason homes.

The Yankees have not won the World Series since 2009. They finally got back to the Fall Classic last year, lost to the Dodgers and then endured a dramatic winter. They did not re-sign Juan Soto, enacted a Plan B that made them believe they’d have a long October run and then persevered through a challenging season where their fundamentals wobbled and they squandered a division lead. But they got it together and, at the end, were convinced they were a real title threat. 

Then, abruptly, it was all over.

“Very disappointed,” Jazz Chisholm said. “You know, I feel like we all – everybody in here – believed that we had such a great team and, really, the team to beat. And we believe so much in each other. 

“It’s just heartbreaking.” 

“The ending’s the worst, right?” Aaron Boone said in his post-game press conference. “Especially when you know you have a really good group and a group of guys that really came together so well at the right time, the final couple months. 

“This was a team. It's a team that played for one another, did a lot of really good things, and we got beat here.

“Credit to the Blue Jays and the year they've had. They beat us this series, simple as that. It doesn't make it any easier. It's a beat-up room in there (the clubhouse). They're still sharing with one another.”

Judge watched a little of the Blue Jays celebrating on the field at Yankee Stadium. It wasn’t easy. “Just showing respect,” he said. “Not happy about it. You don’t want to see somebody celebrate on your field.” 

This one should be hard to get over. It should sting. Boone has said several times this October that he believes this was the Yankee team in his tenure as manager that had the best chance to thrive in the playoff gauntlet. The Yankees improved during the season, added necessary pieces at the deadline and cleaned up their defense. And they got healthy. 

They still lost. Does that dim Boone’s hopes for a pinstriped title one day? “No,” he said. “I'm confident we'll break through, and I have been every year, and I believe in so many of the people in that room. 

“That hasn't changed. The fire hasn't changed. It's hard to win the World Series. Been chasing it all my life.”

Questions about Yankee feelings or mood weren’t the only ones that were asked. There were other potentially uncomfortable queries. Chisholm had to talk about a key error in Game 4, a ball he normally fields easily.

Boone was asked if he had any reason to believe he might not be managing the team next year – his job status is annual red meat for a certain segment of Yankee fans.

“No,” Boone replied. “I’m under contract, so I don’t expect anything.” 

Bellinger was asked about his potential free agency – he has an opt-out. “Obviously, things to discuss with family and the agent and the business side of it all,” he said. “But tonight, you know, I’m just gonna soak it all in and just be a part of the group one more time.” 

Judge lamented the idea that the Yanks had blown a chance to win with this particular group, since change is such a part of baseball’s winter cycle. 

“Just sucks for the guys that it might be their last time wearing pinstripes and not being able to have a long run with them,” Judge said. “Disappointed we let all those guys down.” 

Judge got let down, too. It feels like that’s an even bigger deal this year because he had such a huge playoffs, going 13-for-26 (.500) with two doubles, a homer and seven RBI. He had a .581 on-base percentage, a .692 slugging and a 1.273 OPS. For years, he’s been criticized for his postseason play; this year, he was an enormous reason the Yanks got as far as they did. His Game 3 homer was one for the ages, a breakthrough blast that helped key a huge comeback. 

Bellinger even acknowledged that the club wanted to go further, in part, for Judge, who will be 34 in April. The Yankees must capitalize on the prime of one of the greatest players in even their storied history. 

Judge sounds like he feels the urgency himself. What’s his off-season going to be like?

“I want to get back out there right now,” Judge said. “Wish spring training was in a couple of weeks.”

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Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. regrets error that gave Blue Jays cushion to take Game 4 of ALDS

The Yankees' season a year ago ended because of their poor defense and it felt familiar in 2025.

While the offensive woes are largely to blame for the Yankees' season-ending 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 4 of the ALDS, one defensive play in particular helped Toronto blow the game open.

In the sixth inning, with the Blue Jays up just 2-1, starter Cam Schlittler allowed a one-out single to Ernie Clement before getting Andres Gimenez to hit a sharp grounder to Jazz Chisholm Jr. The ball skipped up on the second baseman and went into the outfield, putting runners on the corners with one out. Manager Aaron Boone brought in Devin Williams to try and get out of the jam, but after a George Springer strikeout, Nathan Lukes singles into left-center to drive in two runs.

Even though the deficit was just three runs, with just two Yankees hits against the myriad of Blue Jays relievers up to that point, it felt like 10.

“Didn’t think it would play the way it played and just missed it," Chisholm said of the play after the game. "Been thinking about it since the play happened, still thinking about it now, can’t get it out of my head. Got to move on eventually, have three months to move on. Will probably think about this when the season starts next year."

"Just ball hit sharply, but one he's going to turn all the time," Boone said. "Just missed -- it just kicked off. Sharply hit ball, but a one-hopper, one he's going to turn all the time. And it just looked like it skipped off his glove."

Although the Yankees played relatively clean baseball in the ALDS, against a team like the Blue Jays extra outs and mistakes -- allowing runners to take extra bags -- came back to hurt New York. When asked why the Yankees fell to Toronto, Aaron Judge pointed to those types of plays.

"It comes down to the little things. Making little plays, come up with the big hit. If you don't do that, give teams extra outs, they're going to capitalize on it." Judge said. "What a season for the Blue Jays. Doing their thing, winning the division, winning the DS. For us, we have to clean a couple of things up and come right back here."

Chisholm lauded this Yankees team as being the top in the American League, despite the ups and downs of the season. While he does still believe they were the best team, the Yankees infielder attributed their elimination to the Blue Jays outplaying them and baseball doesn't always reward the best teams.

"I wouldn’t say [we underachieved], we all thought we were the team to win the World Series, but baseball’s baseball," he said. "Baseball can take a turn in any way; baseball favors nobody. For us, we have to keep rolling with the punches."

 

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Yankees' Aaron Judge on disappointment of being eliminated from playoffs: 'It's tough to describe'

Aaron Judge had yet another dominant season in 2025, taking home his first career batting title, recording his fourth career 50-plus HR season, and more than likely winning his third AL Most Valuable Player Award. 

But, just like the past 10 seasons of his career, he and the Yankees won't be celebrating a World Series title at the end of the year.

New York fell short again, getting eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS on Wednesday after four games.

"It's tough to describe," Judge said of the team's feeling after the loss. "We didn't do our job, didn't finish the goal. Had a special group in here, lot of special players that made this year fun. But we didn't get the ultimate prize, so we came up short."

Judge did all he could against the Jays, hitting .600 (9-for-15) with one home run, six RBI, four walks, and five runs scored. Overall in the postseason, he went 13-for-26 (.500) with seven RBI in seven games. Still, it wasn't enough.

"I think once again it comes down to the little things," Judge said. "Making the little plays, coming with the big hit. If you don't do that, give teams extra outs, they're going to capitalize on it. What a season for the Blue Jays, doing their thing, winning the division, winning the DS.

"For us, we got to clean a couple things up and we'll be right back here."

Manager Aaron Boone was asked similar questions regarding not winning a title with Judge and what he says to him after another special season.

"That's sports," Boone said. "It doesn't mean it's not going to happen, and he and I wholeheartedly believe that it will. Again, you keep working your tail off to get back to this position and punch through."

"Again, I don't take anything for granted in this game. Being in it my whole life, I know how hard it is to win in the end. I have too much respect for the sport and the competition of it for that."

Judge was asked if it gets harder as he gets older to not end the season in victory, saying he's ready to work even more in the offseason to accomplish that goal. The slugger called the 2025 team a "special group" and was upset to let them down, acknowledging the roster will look a bit different next season.

"Yeah, it's what you play for, you play to win. And when you don't win, it's not a good year," Judge said. "Just got to put in more work, review the season, see what I can keep doing to try to help this team, put them in the best position to win every single night."

He added: "I felt like we were a complete team, up and down the lineup... I liked our chances all year. It was a special group. Just sucks for the guys that might be their last time wearing pinstripes and not being able to have a long run with them and end it in the championship... disappointed we let all those guys down."

Among the potential free agents are Cody Bellinger and Trent Grisham, who both had "incredible years" per Judge, adding he'd like to see them back in the Bronx. 

The team captain is still unsure what the team is missing to get over the hump, but is ready to "go back to work" and start spring training.

"That's tough to say right now," Judge said. "Once I'll review the season and go through it, I'm gonna have a better answer for you. We had our ups and downs. Tough couple weeks, tough couple months, good months. Just felt like we were just starting to get going here at the end and have a nice little postseason run, but it didn't go our way."

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Plaschke: Dodgers blow surefire win in NLDS Game 3 vs. Phillies, and now they could blow the season

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 8, 2025: Dodger players look on from the dugout as Game 3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium winds down with the Philadelphia Phillies up 8 - 1 on October 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Dodger players look on from the dugout as Game 3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium winds down. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

They had them down. They let them up.

They squeezed them down to their last gasps. They backed off and gave them new life.

In any ordinary five-game playoff series, a team leading two-games-to-none can lose a game and maintain a clear advantage. But the heavyweight happenings here between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies is no ordinary series. And by losing a potential clinching Game 3 Wednesday night at a stunned and boo-filled Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers are suddenly and dangerously close to blowing it.

The 8-2 defeat to the Phillies in the National League Division Series factually means the Dodgers still lead two-games-to-one with two more chances to close out their favored foe.

But realistically, the Dodgers now face a must-win Game 4 at Dodger Stadium Thursday, as a loss would return the series to Philadelphia Saturday for a deciding Game 5 at baseball’s toughest place to play.

Yes, the Dodgers won twice at Citizens Bank Park to start this series, but could they do it one more time? And, even with both Shohei Ohtani and Blake Snell available, would they want to even try?

No, the season is realistically now riding on Thursday and Tyler Glasnow against Phillies' ace Cristopher Sánchez because, on a long and frustrating Wednesday night, the Dodgers couldn’t get it done when they should have gotten it done.

Afterward Dodger manager Dave Roberts preached calm.

“It's pretty close to being flushed already,” he said. “If you look back going into this series and said we'd be up 2-1, we would have banked it with Glas going in.”

He added, “I feel good with where we're at… And it's certainly flushed.”

But it was the Phillies who were supposed to be flushed. The Dodgers had every advantage. Their ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was on the mound. Their offense was in full gear. The champagne was nearby. They even took a one-run lead after three innings on a Tommy Edman homer.

But Yamamoto blew up, and the Phillies blew past, and then Clayton Kershaw took the mound in the seventh inning and, sadly for the retiring star, things really got ugly.

Read more:Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Dodgers quickly lose control in NLDS Game 3 loss to Phillies

By the time it ended, the once-unhittable Yamamoto had allowed three runs in four innings, the Hall of Famer Kershaw allowed four earned runs in two innings, and some notably struggling Phillies at the top of their order had gotten healthy.

Kyle Schwarber had two home runs including one that seemed to disappear off the right-field pavilion roof. Trea Turner had three hits. Bryce Harper had two hits. Two Phillies undercard pitchers, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez, allowed one run in seven innings.

Dodger fans were so upset with everything that many of them walked out after Kershaw got hammered in a five-run eighth inning.

It was ugly. It was awful. And now it’s a problem, because the once down-and-out Phillies are revived and refreshed and believing.

That’s trouble, that believing part, and before the game, two Dodgers warned about what happens when that happens.

“Obviously we want to finish this tonight, and we don't want to let anything slip away from us,” Max Muncy said. “That's one of those things, when you talk about momentum, if you don't finish it tonight, you feel like it's slipping away.”

Yeah, well, he’s right, now it’s slipping away.

Despite his postgame optimism, before the game Roberts warned of the same ominous signs.

“You have these guys on their heels, and you're at home,” said the Dodger manager. “We expect a great, boisterous crowd. We have one of our aces on the mound. So the way we're playing, we want to put these guys away and don't let them up for air.”

Oh, they gave them plenty of air, beginning in the fourth inning when Schwarber led off with a 455-foot homer off the roof of the right-field pavilion. Then the Phillies’ piled on, a Harper single, an Alec Bohm single that scored Harper on a bad throw from center fielder Andy Pages, then a run-scoring fly ball from Brandon Marsh.

The Phillies pitching held, but their lead was still 3-1 when Kershaw dramatically took the mound in the seventh and survived a wild rally for one inning.

The Phillies put two runners on base against Kershaw on a Turner single and Schwarber walk, but, with the crowd roaring with every pitch, Will Smith picked off Schwarber and Kershaw survived the threat.

Then, an inning later, he didn’t, as JT Realmuto led off with a home run and the inning didn’t end until Schwarber had also homered again, sandwiched around a walk, a botched grounder by Muncy, and a single.

And to think, it all started so sweetly.

The evening began when World Series hero Steve Garvey threw out the first pitch and then, during the traditional pregame greeting, added an adjective by saying, “It’s time for Dodger championship baseball.”

Read more:Dodgers have no answers for Kyle Schwarber and Phillies in Game 3 loss

Spoke too soon?

The game’s honored veteran was 100-year-old World War II vet Jimmy Hernandez, and the standing ovation was one of the night’s loudest.

The ensuing game only felt like it lasted 100 years.

And now the Dodgers season has been rudely whittled to two more days.

Actually, one.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.