The hot start continues for Linus Ullmark, Tim Stützle and the Ottawa Senators.
Ullmark ran his personal record to 5-0 as the Senators (5-1-0) defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at Prudential Center in Newark. Tim Stützle had a goal and an assist and now has 10 points in his first six games.
Shane Pinto and Stephen Halliday each scored in the second period, which was all the scoring the Sens needed, as Ullmark made 29 saves for the win.
As has so often been the case this season, the victory came with a price, as Nikolas Matinpalo was hurt in the first period on a hit from behind. The Sens played the final 50 minutes of this game with just five D.
Steve Warne talks about the Sens commitment to defensive structure in the ealryl days of the season
The Devils (2-3-0) came out looking to intimidate early, with veteran defenceman Brendan Dillon running around in the opening minutes.
Then came the nasty hit from behind by Anthony Mantha on Matinpalo.
Mantha got a five-minute major for boarding, giving the Senators a chance to take control of the game. But their struggling power play failed to capitalize.
The Senators wasted little time breaking the scoreless tie in the second period.
Just nine seconds after the opening faceoff, Pinto scored his first goal of the season, with Michael Amadio and Claude Giroux picking up the assists.
The Sens doubled their lead at 8:40 when Halliday scored his second of the season, finishing off a play set up nicely by Stützle. Brett Pesce blew a tire, giving Halliday, on a holiday Monday, the gift of all the time he needed to pick his spot.
It was a welcome bit of success for a struggling Sens power play that went 1 for 5.
The Devils pushed back in the middle frame, outshooting the Sens 12-10, but their high-danger chances were limited.
By the end of the second period, the Senators had also outhit the Devils 14-9, showing they were more than willing to push back on the Devils' early physicality.
The Senators tried to park the bus in the third period and were badly outshot in the period 14-3, but it worked out. The Sens didn't get their first shot on goal until midway through the period, and it was Stützle with a perfect tip-in off a Thomas Chabot slap shot.
The Devils didn't give up, though. They thought they'd gotten on the board, but their goal was overturned following a successful Ottawa challenge for goaltender interference. That was a gutsy call by the Sens, who were only up by two and risked giving the Devils a power play if the challenge was unsuccessful. But that paid off, too.
The Devils finally did get on the board on a goal by Arseny Gritsyuk, who ruined the Ullmark shutout bid, but that's as close as they would get.
The Senators had three tries at an empty net, including one by Ullmark, before Tyler Kleven put one in to seal the deal.
With Matinpalo going down, this is the fourth win this season that's been blemished by an injury concern. The others were Jake Sanderson on opening night in Toronto, Ullmark in Boston, and William Eklund against the Flyers. Best guess on Matinpalo's injury is a concussion after the side of his head struck the boards first.
On the bright side, the Sens are now 5-1 to start a season for the first time since the 2007-08 season. They'll head back home now to face the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 12: Kyshawn George #18 of the Washington Wizards drives to the basket during the game against the Brooklyn Nets on October 12, 2026 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Washington Wizards are no longer perfect in the preseason, falling to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday in a 131-122 affair at Capital One Arena.
Defense was optional in the first half. The Nets shot nearly 60% from the field in the first two quarters, with both teams making exactly 50% of their attempts from beyond the arc. Tre Johnson, Bilal Coulibaly, and Kyshawn George combined for eight triples before the break.
George led the way with 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting. Coulibaly came out aggressive offensively, scoring 15 points on a 6-for-7 clip. Johnson connected on a logo triple off a behind-the-back pass from Trae Young, as is customary. The Wizards trailed 73-72 at the half.
AJ Dybantsa shook off a shaky start with a stellar third quarter. He connected on his first triple of the preseason, threw down a putback dunk that got the bench off their seats, and also finished off a pick-six for another jam.
Trae Young seemed to be forcing things to close out the third. The All-Star guard gave up a few unforced turnovers, allowing Brooklyn to end the period on a 15-2 run. Washington entered the final quarter down 103-94.
The bench mob tried to work their magic again to end the game. Bub Carrington went off for 11 fourth-quarter points, but it wasn’t enough as Washington lost 131-122.
George paced the Wizards with 21 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals, while Coulibaly finished with 19 points on a 7-for-11 clip. Dybantsa and Carrington tallied 14 points apiece.
The Wizards close out their preseason slate Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Zero: The whole Dodgers’ offense –– but especially Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith
Really, the 7-4 scoreline in Monday’s Game 2 loss flattered the Dodgers. They managed just three hits. All of their scoring required the help of either a wild pitch or a throwing error from Brewers starter Logan Henderson. And once Milwaukee turned to the bullpen, their relievers retired all 15 batters they faced the rest of the way.
Still, as has been the case all postseason, it was Ohtani and Smith whose struggles once again loomed largest.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani returns to the dugout after grounding out during the third inning of Game 2. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
From the Nos. 4-5 spots of the order –– after Smith was bumped down from the three-hole pregame –– they combined to go 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. Overall in the playoffs now, Ohtani is 3-for-20 without any extra-base hits, while Smith is now an unthinkable 1-for-23 with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Even worse for Smith, Monday included a couple of regrettable moments from behind the plate.
In both the first and third innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw what should have been called third strikes against Brice Turang. But both times home plate umpire Chris Segal missed the call –– and, most crucially, Smith elected against trying to challenge.
Home plate umpire Chris Segal, center, talks with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and catcher Will Smith, right, during the third inning. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
Manager Dave Roberts didn’t want to second-guess his catcher postgame, while Yamamoto also described both pitches as being “too fine a line on the [edge of the] strike zone” to challenge.
Still, both times, they missed ABS chances backfired, with Turang doubling and later scoring in the first, then walking and later scoring in the third.
“It was kind of early in the game, we kind of had him on the ropes,” Smith said, explaining his thought process. “I figured we could get him out there [without risking the challenges].”
Hero: The Brewers’ bullpen
The Brewers’ bullpen also figured to be one of their strengths in this series.
But two games in, their dominance has shifted the scales of the series.
In Game 1, four Brewers relievers (DL Hall, Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby and Trevor Megill) combined for 4 ⅔ scoreless innings while working out of several jams with a one-run lead.
In Game 2, the group was even more dominant, with four arms (Dustin May, JoJo Romero and Uribe and Ashby again) going 15 up, 15 down over five perfect closing innings.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Abner Uribe reacts while walking to the dugout after a pitching change against the Los Angeles Dodgers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Dodgers’ hope is that, as the series wears on, their lineup will benefit from repeated looks at the group. However, they will have to find some sort of answer to the unit’s premium stuff first.
As of Monday night, Roberts was still searching for one.
“I know that they’ve got good arms,” Roberts said. “But I think they’re just finding ways to win pitches better than we are.”
Unsung hero
Fifteen months ago, the Dodgers traded May away as an excess piece of their pitching staff.
On Monday, he was the one Brewers pitcher to inherit some danger out of the bullpen, but found a way to limit damage in what would prove to be the Dodgers’ final rally.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Dustin May throws during the fifth inning of Game 2. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
After Henderson’s second error of the game –– on an errant throw while fielding a bunt from Tommy Edman –– allowed a tying run to score and left Edman standing on second, May retired Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández in order. Betts’ grounder did move Edman to third, while Freeman’s sacrifice fly got him home for a brief 4-3 lead.
But May’s performance set the tone for the rest of Milwaukee’s bullpen dominance.
And now, he could turn around and be available to start Game 4, in what would be his first outing back at Dodger Stadium since being shipped away by the team.
Key stat: Four
As in, the number of misses Yoshinobu Yamamoto generated from 33 Brewers swings.
The resulting 12% whiff rate was tied for the second-lowest of Yamamoto’s career. More consequentially, it stressed his pitch count and prompted his eventual early exit from the game, leaving too large a workload for the Dodgers’ bullpen (which gave up four runs in its 5 ⅓ innings of work) to withstand at a raucous American Family Field.
Quote of the night
“They had much better at-bats than we did across the board, top to bottom. And then they put the ball in play, created havoc. That’s what they do, and we didn’t do that.”
That was Roberts’ overall summation of the Dodgers’ Game 2 loss. It captured the many, but ultimately simple, reasons they find themselves facing a daunting two-game deficit as the series shifts back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday night.
As the worst offensive team in the NHL on a goals-per-game basis, the Philadelphia Flyers desperately need to find ways to add offense to the struggling group, and they have yet to really do that.
After signing Michael Bunting to a one-year contract, the Flyers sent prospect Alex Bump back to the AHL after he went without a point in his first three games of the season.
Bump, however, scored in his first game back with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, then added a goal and an assist in his second game back.
Despite that, the 22-year-old will remain in the AHL for the time being, as the Flyers instead decided to call up veteran Jack Studnicka, with Carl Grundstrom being re-assigned to the Phantoms.
Studnicka, 27, gives the 0-5-2 Flyers an additional right-handed center option to complement Noel Acciari, but he was held off the scoresheet entirely in 19 games with the Florida Panthers last year.
He does have a goal and two assists in three games with the Phantoms, but if the Flyers were really looking for offense, they would have turned to Bump, who made the team out of training camp and has consistently drawn rave reviews for his shot and willingness to make individual plays by leveraging his skills with the puck.
Instead, the Flyers have gone with the older, more experienced Studnicka, who played 52 games for Rick Tocchet's Vancouver Canucks between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.
And, despite the familiarity with Tocchet, Studnicka didn't even survive Tocchet's first full season in Vancouver, having been traded to San Jose for Nick Cicek and a sixth-round pick on Dec. 15, 2023.
Whether it's positional versatility, familiarity, or veteran leadership, the Flyers find themselves still looking for the wrong things, even from their in-house AHL call-ups.
Even Oliver Bonk, who can chip in some offense from time to time, got pressed into top-pair action next to Travis Sanheim against Carolina on Sunday night, and it went about as poorly as could be.
If the Flyers were looking for some defensive stability with Rasmus Ristolainen out, Bonk, at his age, was never going to provide it.
If the Flyers are looking for more offense with Travis Konecny out, Studnicka is never going to provide it, while Bump continues to wait in the wings for his next opportunity.
On the same night head coach Mike Sullivan bumped Pavel Dorofeyev to the first line in search of more 5-on-5 production from his top six, he also dropped Dorofeyev — acquired from the Golden Knights in June and then inked to a $77 million contract — to the second power-play unit for the third period of their 6-2 win over the Canucks on Sunday.
He has collected just one goal and a pair of assists through the opening seven games after recording 72 goals the past two seasons.
Gabe Perreault took Dorofeyev’s spot with the top unit and assisted on Alexis Lafrenière’s goal during the Blueshirts’ lone chance with the man advantage during the final frame.
“I thought Pav was fighting it a little,” Sullivan said postgame Sunday, “and sometimes, players have those nights. We thought we’d make a little tweak and see if we could get it going a little bit, and obviously, Gabe was a part of the goal, so we were happy about that.
New York Rangers Pavel Dorofeyev (16) takes a slapshot against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images
“But it was just situationally based on how we thought guys were going throughout the course of the night.”
From the first power-play drill of training camp, when the Blueshirts began working on special teams during the condensed preseason, their top unit consisted of Dorofeyev, Mika Zibanejad, Adam Fox, J.T. Miller and Lafrenière.
Pavel Dorofeyev (16) of the New York Rangers passes the puck against the Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, October 11, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images
Perreault, who spent time on the top power-play line last year and finished with six points with the man advantage in 2025-26, opened the year on the second unit.
And Sullivan, after the top unit generated just one goal through the first five games, had said Thursday that they planned to be patient and let the group work through early growing pains.
The next wrinkle with the power play, which entered play Monday still ranked No. 7 in the NHL with a 26.3 percent success rate, will involve whether that change was temporary or for longer than one night.
Dorofeyev, who tallied 20 power-play goals last year, was signed to enhance that unit, to give the Rangers another one-timer alongside Zibanejad.
But so far, he has just six shots on goal across nearly 22 minutes of power-play ice time.
Lafrenière was named the NHL’s third star of the week after collecting five goals and two assists across the Rangers’ three games.
He leads the Blueshirts in both categories, and his latest goal unfolded on the power play Sunday night — when he sent a pass from Perreault near the net past Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen.
He also added an assist in the first period, sending a pass to Tye Kartye that led to the Rangers taking a 1-0 lead just 27 seconds into the game.
Lafrenière became the second Blueshirts player to pick up a weekly award in the opening two weeks of the season, joining goaltender Igor Shesterkin — who sustained a season-ending right knee injury last week.
The Rangers have only trailed after three periods through their opening seven games. … Liam Greentree, who was the prospect returning to the Rangers in the Artemi Panarin trade last season, scored in consecutive games for AHL Hartford over the weekend to mark the first professional goals of the 20-year-old’s career.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — You could hear a pin drop in Grand Casino Arena during the first period of Monday's game against the Vegas Golden Knights after another Minnesota Wild player was struck in the head by a hockey puck.
The first time it happened was in the Wild's final preseason game against the Dallas Stars when Brock Faber was hit in the head by Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen's shot.
On Monday, in the first period, Nico Sturm was struck in the head by Jared Spurgeon's point shot.
The veteran forward instantly went down holding his head while head athletic trainer John Worley rushed on the ice.
After being on the ice for a minute, Sturm was helped up by Michael McCarron and Worley and escorted off the ice into the locker room.
Nico Sturm had to leave the game after taking a puck to the head.
The Wild have already lost Brock Faber for an extended period after he took a puck to the head and fractured his skull. pic.twitter.com/epPbsEzJlK
Sturm, 31, was playing in his third game of the season for the Wild. The 6-foot-3 center has played in 383 career NHL games.
Obviously, a scary scene for Wild fans and the Wild, considering the status of Faber after he was hit in almost the same spot, just on the other side of the head.
*** This story will be updated when more news comes.
Update: Sturm ruled out for rest of the game with an upper-body injury.
Update 2: According to a source, Sturm was stable and on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance in Grand Casino Arena.
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The Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani strikes out in the first inning of Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday at American Family Field. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts slapped his bat with his free hand after tipping a slider from Brewers right-hander Abner Uribe back into catcher William Contreras’ mitt.
Betts had been setting the tone from the leadoff spot all postseason, taking good at-bats against some of MLB’s best starting pitchers. But there wasn’t much even he could do against a sinker-slider mix like Uribe’s.
Uribe shuffled off the mound, and the home crowd roared.
Then, with Dodgers left-handed hitter Freddie Freeman coming up to the plate, the Brewers had an answer for him, too. Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy signaled to the bullpen, and left-hander Aaron Ashby emerged, and he struck out Freeman on four pitches, only one of which touched the strike zone.
“They all throw 100 [mph] from different angles,” Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-4 loss to the Brewers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday.
Those back-to-back strikeouts in the eighth inning were part of five perfect innings thrown by the Brewers bullpen — an MLB postseason record. And the Dodgers’ inability to rally against the Brewers’ relievers, paired with the shortest start in Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s career, sunk the Dodgers’ chances at evening the series.
The NLCS heads to Los Angeles with the Brewers leading 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.
The Dodgers’ performance against the Brewers bullpen on Monday magnified how much the star-powered lineup hasn’t been clicking with Shohei Ohtani struggling at the plate. He went 0-for-4 in the cleanup spot in Game 2, bringing his postseason total to three hits, all singles, in 20 at-bats.
Manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic after the game that he would “have a conversation” with Ohtani Tuesday to determine “what’s best for him, what’s best for [the team].”
Factoring into the decision of whether the situation has become dire enough to bench Ohtani is an understanding that the superstar designated hitter likely is not completely healthy, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Ohtani has dealt with left knee and right biceps issues for much of the year. But it’s been difficult since he returned from the injured list to determine whether health, bad swing habits caused by earlier injuries, or some combination of the two have been to blame for his poor performance.
Ohtani hasn’t addressed the media since the day before Game 1 of the NLDS.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.
The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.
Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.
The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.
Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.null
The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.
That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.
The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.
After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.
Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.
Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.
Neither starter lasts long
The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.
In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.
This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.
Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.
Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.
Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.
Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.
After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.
Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.
Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.
Up next
Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.
The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.
Pittsburgh Penguins' general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas is well-known for targeting players who haven't been given a chance to blossom elsewhere and who could benefit from a change-of-scenery.
And he executed a trade Monday that fits that mold.
The Penguins acquired left defenseman Ryan Johnson from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for defensemen Caleb Jones and Daniel Laatsch. Jones, 29, had appeared in four games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS) Penguins of the AHL this season, totaling three assists, while Laatsch, 24, was previously assigned to the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, whose home opener is set for Oct. 17.
The departure of both opened up two NHL contract slots for the Penguins, one of which is now occupied by Johnson, who is signed for two more years at $875,000.
Johnson, 25, was selected 31st overall by the Sabres in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound blueliner has not yet seen a large NHL sample, appearing in just six NHL games in the past two seasons and 47 games total in his career, with seven assists that all came during his rookie season in 2023-24.
Aside from those three games last season, Johnson spent the season with the Rochester Americans of the AHL, recording five goals and 19 points to go along with a minus-12 in 56 games. In four games with Rochester this season, he had no points.
The trade helped to not only clear contract space - the Penguins now have 47 of 50 slots full, according to Puckpedia - it also helped clear a little bit of the left defensive logjam at the minor league level. The WBS Penguins had the recently waived Ilya Solovyov, Jake Livanavage, Owen Pickering, Maleek McGowan, and Jones on the roster, and Laatsch was blocked from the AHL roster as a result.
As of now, Johnson is not part of Pittsburgh's NHL active roster, and it's unclear where he will be assigned. Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk was placed on injured reserve Monday, and he is not making the Penguins' four-game road trip that starts Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The team has not ruled out van Riemsdyk joining the team for the back part of the road trip.
They have also not ruled out calling on another defenseman to take van Riemsdyk's place, as his IR designation leaves the NHL club with just six active defensemen. Pittsburgh only has 21 players on its active roster, with one of those slots expected to be occupied by forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who currently has non-roster status but was a full participant in practice Monday.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the sixth inning of Game 2 of baseball’s National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Milwaukee. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
Held without a home run in the first two games of this National League Championship Series.
Shohei Ohtani?
Reduced to being blown away by mid-90s fastballs.
The Dodgers are behind by two games in this race to four wins, and in the wake of their 7-4 defeat in Game 2 at American Family Field, they have to be praying for the Brewers to run out of gas before they reach the finish line.
“It’s certainly a challenge,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Before the Dodgers can win this series, they will have to get back into it first. They will play at home over the next three games. They have Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow lined up to pitch in Games 3 and 4, respectively.
“Still a pretty good scenario we’re in,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said.
Sending Snell and Glasnow to the mound won’t mean anything, however, if the Dodgers don’t start hitting. An error or wild pitch by the Brewers played a role in every run scored by the Dodgers, who collected only three hits, all of them coming against starter Logan Henderson. The four relievers deployed by Brewers manager Pat Murphy combined to pitch five no-hit innings.
The Dodgers will have to jumpstart their offense with a version of Shohei Ohtani who remains physically diminished.
Ohtani was 0 for 4 in Game 2, failing to reach base in a game for the first time this postseason. Pitching as if they didn’t think that Ohtani couldn’t hurt them, the Brewers attacked the four-time Most Valuable Player, leading to a couple of strikeouts in which he looked completely overmatched.
Henderson struck him out with three fastballs in the first inning. Left-hander JoJo Romero tricked him into waving at a sweeper that ended up in the batter’s box on the other side of home plate in the sixth.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto watches a single hit by Milwaukee Brewers third baseman David Hamilton during the third inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Ohtani is batting .150 in the playoffs without a single run batted in. He’s struck out seven times in 20 at-bats. His last home run was on Aug. 18.
“It’s hard to see,” Betts said. “We know he’s working and hopefully he gets out of it. We need him. We need him for sure.”
Ohtani alone couldn’t take down the Brewers, regardless how well he was playing. In addition to a relentless bullpen, they have an unspectacular but industrious offense. They have the kind of edge that makes it obvious they believe they can take down the two-time defending World Series champions.
Game 2 was a prime example of that. If there was a game the Brewers were expected to drop, it was this one. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was pitching for the Dodgers.
The Brewers didn’t just beat Yamamoto. They wore him down, pushed him out of the game after only 2 ⅔ innings and forced Roberts to empty his bullpen. Tarik Skubal lasted only five innings against them in Game 1.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman reacts after striking out during the eighth inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The result was an unmitigated disaster for the Dodgers, who have made it an annual tradition to have the Japanese right-hander bail them out of trouble at this time of the year.
The Dodgers were intimately familiar with the script from which the Brewers read.
Run up the pitch count of the starter.
Force him out of the game early.
Get into the other team’s bullpen.
Only this time, the Dodgers weren’t the team executing the game plan. They were the team against which the plan was being executed, and Yamamoto was the target of the attack.
Once the game morphed into a battle of the bullpens, the game was decided. The Brewers were able to play to their greatest strength. The Dodgers had to expose their greatest weakness.
To win the World Series last year, the Dodgers had to overcome a three-games-to-two deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays. Their title run the previous year started with them reversing a two-games-to-one deficit against the San Diego Padres.
The Dodgers have overcome deficits before.
But the Brewers are presenting them with the sort of problems they might not even be able to solve.
Milwaukee, WI - October 12, 2026: Milwaukee Brewers William Contreras celebrates his home run in the fifith inning. The LA Dodgers play the Milwaukee Brewers in game two of the National League Championship Series at American Family Field, Milwaukee, WI on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Best laid plans went awry very early in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, the sloppiest and wildest game of the Dodgers postseason to date. In a game with four lead changes and two ties, the Dodgers couldn’t get a big hit to save their life, while William Contreras had three different run-scoring hits in the Brewers’ 7-4 win at American Family Field on Monday afternoon in Milwaukee.
The Dodgers head home to Los Angeles down two games to none, with their largest series deficit since the 2023 NLDS.
Chaos to start
It took until the 23rd half-inning of the series for one of these teams to score more than once in a frame, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Both Jacob Misiorowski and Tarik Skubal labored in big innings in Game 1, but limited the damage to just one run in the rallies.
After single runs for both teams in the first inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto ran into trouble. David Hamilton singled and stole second base. Brice Turang, who battled back from an 0-2 count and an unchallenged potential third-strike ball call for a double to score in the first inning, worked his way back from an 0-2 count again to walk in the third.
With two outs and two on, first baseman Jake Bauers fouled off six full-count pitches before earning a walk to load the bases.
It took only two more pitches for Yamamoto to hang a curveball to Christian Yelich — in easily the worst of his 14 major league seasons — who singled home two to turn a Dodgers lead into a Dodgers deficit. It also ended Yamamoto’s day, stunningly after needing 75 pitches to get only eight outs, the shortest of his 11 postseason start with the Dodgers.
The dozen pitches to Bauers were the most in any single plate appearance in Yamamoto’s three years in the majors, the entire battle taking seven minutes, 15 seconds per the Fox broadcast.
Only way the Dodgers scored
Brewers starter Logan Henderson allowed only three hits, one of them a ball booted by shortstop Cooper Pratt. Henderson also walked two, but it was three errant throws that proved his undoing. His wild pitch in the first inning put Mookie Betts on third base directly before scoring on a sacrifice fly.
Henderson in the third inning with runners on the corners threw wildly on a pickoff attempt of Betts at first base, allowing Tommy Edman to score from third base. After Kyle Tucker doubled to lead off the fifth inning, Henderson had another throwing error when Edman tried to sacrifice, not only scoring Tucker but putting Edman on second base. He would later score on another sacrifice fly, on a play so close at the plate it required replay review to confirm.
Getting the big hits, or not
Contreras, the Brewers three-time All-Star catcher, singled home a run off Yamamoto in the first inning to tie the game, homered off left-hander Kris Bubic in the fifth inning to tie the game, then singled home a run off Brock Stewart in the sixth to give the Brewers the lead.
It was the third multi-hit game in these playoffs for Contreras, who has three home runs this October.
The Dodgers’ three-time All-Star catcher, Will Smith, was dropped to fifth in the batting order on Monday and was hitless in four at-bats. Smith has one single in 23 at-bats this postseason, with eight strikeouts.
Shohei Ohtani, still batting fourth, was hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts in Game 2, and has three singles in 19 at-bats plus three walks this postseason.
The Brewers tacked on insurance runs in the eighth inning off Edgardo Henriquez and Justin Wrobleski with three singles and a walk. That put the Brewers up 7-4, the first time either team led by more than one run in this series.
Game 2 of the NLCS was just the second of 27 games this postseason in which both teams scored at least four runs.
Against Henderson the Dodgers were hitless in all of four total at-bats with runners in scoring position, dropping them to 2-for-26 with runners in scoring position this postseason. But once he left with no outs in the fifth inning, the Brewers bullpen completely shut things down the rest of the way.
Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe, and Aaron Ashby faced 15 batters and retired them all. Ashby pitched in multiple innings for a second straight day, this time earning the save.
The Dodgers now face a major uphill battle once they get back home.
The NLCS moves location to Los Angeles beginning with Game 3 on Wednesday evening (5 p.m., FS1). Blake Snell probably starts for the Dodgers, though Dave Roberts earlier Monday wasn’t willing to confirm their plans just yet. Left-hander Robert Gasser starts on the mound for the Brewers.
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Welcome to the Game Thread. Veterans of the Game Thread know how we do things around here, but for all you newbies we have a few rules. Our community guidelines apply and basically say be cool, no personal attacks, don’t troll and don’t swear too much. The rule against trolling also applies to members of this site that visit other fan sites.
It’s still preseason, isn’t it? Well, the regular season is here in a little over a week, and tonight’s game will be one of your last chances to see Jon Elmore in a Spurs uniform. You have to respect a guy who’s still chasing his dream of playing professional sports at 30, and I hope he gets at least a cup of coffee in the big leagues before he goes back to being a stockbroker or whatever his real career turns out to be.
The usual preseason disclaimers are in effect for tonight’s game. The starters are just in there for some early work and a bit of cardio before the bench squad and training camp bodies are subbed in and play of curious brand of summer league basketball in the fall. You just hope the starters can look good for a quarter or so and everyone stays healthy. Carter Bryant looks to have tweaked an ankle on Saturday night against the Suns, and probably won’t go tonight. It didn’t look all that serious, so hopefully he will be ready to go for the season opener against the Thunder on the 20th.
This game is on DAZN, so hook up your apps, or log in on your Smart TV. Let’s GO Spurs!!! For at least most of the first half.
Game Prediction:
John Elmore scores a career first double-double tonight, although it won’t be recorded as an official stat because preseason stats do not count.
San Antonio Spurs at Utah Jazz (Preseason) October 12, 2026 | 8:00 PM CT Streaming: DAZN, League Pass TV: DAZN Reminder: It is against site policy to post links to illegal streams in the comments.
Do you believe that there was no fluke that the Brewers won 103 games this season, the most in the major leagues?
Now, do you believe the Brewers are on their way to reaching the World Series for the first time since 1982, and trying to win their first in franchise history?
Well, the entire state of Wisconsin sure does, watching their beloved Brewers rolling out the barrel over the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4 Monday afternoon, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series in front of a frenzied sellout crowd at American Family Field.
This is the first time in the Brewers 58-year history that they have ever taken a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series.
The last time the Dodgers won a postseason series when trailing 2 games to 0 was in the COVID postseason of 2020 when they came back to beat Atlanta, and ultimately won their first World Series since 1988.
But in a full season, the Dodgers haven’t managed to pull off the feat since the 1981 World Series against the New York Yankees.
Losing Game 1 of this National League Championship Series rematch against the Milwaukee Brewers was one thing. Dropping Game 2 on Monday, however, threatened to put their season in suddenly dire straits.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates after hitting a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fifth inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectLos Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the sixth inning. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
This time, after all, they weren’t facing a presumptive Cy Young Award winner like Jacob Misiorowski. This time, more importantly, they had their own postseason stalwart, reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on the hill to calm the waters.
But in a 7-4 defeat at American Family Field, an unexpected thing happened.
Yamamoto, despite entering with a five-game playoff win streak and the second-lowest postseason ERA in the last 100 years, couldn’t steady the two-time defending champions.
The Brewers, who allowed Yamamoto to throw a complete game against them on the very same mound in Game 2 of last year’s NLCS sweep, turned the tables decisively with long, relentless, unforgiving offensive rallies.
“They had much better at-bats than we did across the board, top to bottom, and then they put the ball in play, created havoc,” manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s what they do, and we didn’t do that. That’s the difference in the game … They did what needed to do tonight.”
Indeed, Yamamoto would last only 2 ⅔ innings in a 75-pitch grind against Milwaukee’s pesky, opportunistic offense. Despite being handed a pair of early one-run leads, he would depart the mound with the Dodgers behind.
It was a demoralizing turn of events –– keyed by a couple missed ABS challenge opportunities for Will Smith, an epic 12-pitch battle by Brewers slugger Jake Bauers, and a go-ahead two-run single from former MVP Christian Yelich that ultimately chased Yamamoto from the game.
While the contest would go back-and-forth from there, Yamamoto’s early exit gave the Dodgers’ bullpen too tall a task to withstand, sending the team back to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday desperately needing a response to a stunning two-games-to-none deficit.
“We got a lot of experience, we’ve been through everything before,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “So we’ll regroup tomorrow and go get ’em on Wednesday.”
Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith meets with pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound during the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Dodgers did open the scoring Monday, manufacturing a first-inning run after Mookie Betts drew a leadoff walk, took second on a grounder, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a Teoscar Hernández sacrifice fly.
However, the Brewers responded with a rally of their own in the bottom of the first –– one that set the tone for their plan of attack against Yamamoto on Sunday.
With one out in the inning, Yamamoto seemed to freeze Brice Turang for a called third strike. But, home plate umpire Chris Segal inaccurately ruled it a ball, and Smith declined to use an ABS challenge behind the plate. Three pitches later, it would prove costly, with Turang getting a full-count fastball in the zone and slicing into left for a double. In the next at-bat, William Contreras came up and somehow stayed on a 2-2 slider less than a foot off the dirt, lofting a line drive just over Max Muncy’s head at third for an RBI single.
“It was kind of early in the game,” Smith said of the ABS decision. “We kind of had him on the ropes where we could just [try to] get him out there [even without the challenge].”
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras hits an RBI single against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the sixth inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
A similar story would play out in the third, as the Brewers erased a 2-1 lead the Dodgers took on an errant pickoff throw from Brewers starter Logan Henderson in the top half of the frame.
That inning began with a David Hamilton single. Then, after he stole second, Turang would again benefit from a missed ABS challenge opportunity –– with Smith declining to appeal another potential third strike in a full count, even as Yamamoto seemingly suggested he do so by pointing at his head himself on the mound.
“In that spot, Will didn’t feel like it was a strike,” Roberts said, trying not to secong-guess his catcher. “But obviously if you look back, [if] that’s a called third strike … that changes the outing.”
Once again, it set a disaster in motion. With an extra out to get, Yamamoto failed to complete the inning.
Instead, Bauers stepped up with two outs and forced Yamamoto into the longest plate appearance of his MLB career, drawing a walk from a grueling dozen-pitch battle.
After working a full-count, Bauers fouled off the next seven pitches he saw, chopping balls off the plate, to the backstop, into the seats, and –– twice –– just out of the reach of Dodgers fielders in foul territory.
The seven-minute duel went on so long, the battery in Yamamoto’s PitchCom device died after his 11th pitch, causing a delay while he was brought a replacement from the dugout.
“It just got to a certain point where it was straight compete mode,” Bauers said. “A little bit of a blackout, just kind of in the flow a little bit competing.”
Finally, on pitch No. 12, Bauers took a curveball in the dirt, loading the bases.
In the next at-bat, a clearly fatigued Yamamoto hung a curveball to Yelich, who lined his two-run single to center to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher William Contreras celebrates his home run with teammate Jake Bauers during the fifth inning of Game 2. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
That would be the end of Yamamoto’s day, marking the shortest outing of his playoff career. It would also leave too many innings for the Dodgers’ bullpen to cover –– even after the team retook the lead with a two-run rally in the fifth that was keyed by another throwing error from Henderson.
In the bottom of the fifth, Contreras greeted left-hander Kris Bubic with a towering game-tying home run that clanged off the bottom of the center-field scoreboard.
In the sixth, it would be Contreras again to push the Brewers back in front, lining a first-pitch single to left against Brock Stewart –– who had made his own mess by hitting a batter and firing an errant pickoff throw to first –– that gave the Brewers’ star catcher his third RBI of the day.
This time, the Dodgers wouldn’t have an answer, nor be gifted another pathway back into the game.
Rather, for a second-straight night, they were completely shut down by the Brewers’ bullpen, going 15 up, 15 down without a single baserunner after Henderson’s exit to finish the game with just three hits.
The Brewers, meanwhile, tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth, removing any pretense of late-game drama before a jubilant sell-out crowd.
Now, the Dodgers face a two-game hole they would have never imagined. Alarm bells are ringing. Their season, and World Series three-peat hopes, are dangerously close to being dashed.
“For me, I felt we had to stop the damage right there,” Roberts told Ken Rosenthal during a live interview on the Fox broadcast.
Yamamoto had the shortest postseason outing of his career on Monday night, after he threw 75 pitches in 2 ⅔ innings while giving up three runs, four hits, two walks, and having only one strikeout.
Los Angeles Dodgers manager reveals why he pulled Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the third inning. AP Photo/Abbie Parr
The decision to pull him came after Christian Yelich put the Brewers ahead 3-2 on a two-RBI single.
In the at-bat before Yelich, Yamamoto faced the longest at-bat of his career, where he threw 12 pitches and had six of them fouled off in a 3-2 count against Jake Bauers.
Before Bauers, Yamamoto threw 22 pitches to David Hamilton, Jackson Churio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras.
“Obviously they’re at home, they feel the momentum, Hamilton leads off, steals a base, and they kind of feed off of that,” Roberts said. “We just gotta reset, regroup. We’ve got six innings of baseball to play.”
Dave Roberts reveals why he pulled Yoshinobu Yamamoto after throwing 2 ⅔ innings against the Brewers in Game 2 of the NLCS. AP Photo/Ashley LandisYoshinobu Yamamoto pulled after 2 ⅔ innings in Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday night. AP Photo/Ashley Landis
After Yamamoto exited, Alex Vesia came in the game and got Garrett Mitchell down swinging.
The Dodgers regained the lead in the fifth when Logan Henderson committed a throwing error in the fifth that allowed Kyle Tucker to score. Freddie Freeman brought home Tommy Edman two at-bats later on a sacrifice fly.
Milwaukee tied the game at 4 after Contreras hit a no-doubt, solo home run over the center field fence.
