Browsing: Playoffs

Every October, ballparks take on a different kind of energy amid the heightened stakes of the postseason.

Over the years, certain venues have proven especially tough for visiting teams in the playoffs. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is one such stadium, and that has been the case so far in the National League Championship Series, which the Dodgers lead 3-0 over the Brewers.

Below, you’ll find the top 10 ballparks that have produced the best home records in playoff history.

Note: We’re using a 20-game minimum here, which narrowly excludes Truist Park, where the Braves have gone 13-6 (.684) since 2017.

1. New York Mets, Shea Stadium (1964-2008)
26-13 record (.667)

With all due respect to the 1969 “Miracle Mets,†who clinched the World Series with a Game 5 home win over the Orioles, the most memorable Fall Classic event at Shea Stadium — and maybe at any stadium — took place in 1986. In the bottom of the 10th of a tied Game 6, the infamous Bill Buckner error gave the Mets a walk-off win to keep the series alive. Two days later, also at home, the Mets overcame a 3-0 lead to win Game 7 and finish off a classic series. (At their current home, Citi Field, the Mets have gone 8-8 in the playoffs.)

2. St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium II (1966-2005)
35-18 record (.660)

Many different Cardinals legends played October baseball here, with the list of names ranging from Bob Gibson to Ozzie Smith to Albert Pujols and many others. St. Louis reached the World Series six times during its tenure at Busch Stadium II, and remarkably, five went to seven games. The home team won Game 7 in three of those instances, including the Cardinals†6-3 win over the Brewers in 1982.

3. Philadelphia Phillies, Citizens Bank Park (2004-present)
29-16 record (.644)

Most of these playoff games came during the heyday of the Ryan Howard-Chase Utley-Jimmy Rollins core, including a magical 2008 run when the team finished 11-3 in the playoffs, culminating with a 4-3 win over Tampa Bay to clinch the Fall Classic at home. Since 2022, though, the Phillies have become a postseason fixture once again, giving a new generation of players a chance to create some October magic in front of the Philly faithful.

4. Baltimore Orioles, Memorial Stadium (1954-1991)
19-11 record (.633)

Led by the likes of the legendary Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken Jr., the mid-to-late 20th century was the peak of Orioles history, largely coinciding with the teamâ€s tenure at Memorial Stadium. Both the 1966 and 1970 World Series were clinched with home wins, including an epic 1-0 game in 1966 when Dave McNally outdueled the Dodgers†Don Drysdale as both pitched complete games. However, Baltimore has struggled in home playoff games since Camden Yards was built, going just 7-13.

5. New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium I (1923-2008)
101-60 record (.627)

How ridiculous is it that the Yankees essentially played a full seasonâ€s schedule worth of playoff games at the original Yankee Stadium? Whatever you think the answer to that question is, amplify it even more, because the playoffs only consisted of one round (the World Series) until 1969. There could be thousands of words about the Yankees†preposterous playoff dominance over the 20th century, but the 26 rings won while playing at the original stadium speak for themselves, as do their 101 playoff wins at that park (an MLB record for any home team at one venue).

6. San Francisco Giants, Oracle Park (2000-present)
25-15 record (.625)

Whatâ€s now known as Oracle Park has had several names over the course of the 21st century, but one relative constant has been the Giants†playoff success. Interestingly, all three of the team’s World Series wins this century were clinched on the road (one at Texas, one at Detroit, one at Kansas City), though the 2012 and 2014 NLCS were clinched at home.

7. Los Angeles Dodgers, Dodger Stadium (1962-present)
69-45 record (.605)

8. New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium II (2009-present)
31-21 record (.596)

Yep, the Bronx Bombers crack this list at two different iterations of Yankee Stadium. The Yanks immediately put up their first banner at their new ballpark, closing out the Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series at home. They also wrapped up the 2010, 2012 and 2022 ALDS, the 2017 and 2018 AL Wild Card Games and the 2025 AL Wild Card Series in front of their home fans.

9. Detroit Tigers, Comerica Park (2000-present)
16-11 record (.593)

That World Series loss to St. Louis came many decades before Comerica Park was built, as the Tigers have fared better in the postseason in the 21st century. Though Detroit has not yet won a World Series at the stadium, they clinched the 2006 and 2012 ALCS — both of which were sweeps — with wins at home, the former of which was sealed by a Magglio Ordóñez walk-off home run.

10. St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium III (2006-present)
26-18 record (.591)

The new Busch Stadium opened in St. Louis in 2006. The Cardinals won the 2006 World Series. Coincidence? OK, probably, but the Redbirds have played well in front of their home fans at Busch Stadium III as well as Busch II — which, as you might remember, is No. 3 on this list. The Cards won all three of their home games in the World Series in 2006 and closed out the 2011 Fall Classic with an unforgettable walk-off win in Game 6 and another victory in Game 7.

Honorable mentions:
Kansas City Royals, Kauffman Stadium: 24-17 (.585)
Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park: 51-37 (.580)
Arizona Diamondbacks, Chase Field: 16-12 (.571)
Houston Astros, Daikin Park: 36-27 (.571)
Cincinnati Reds, Riverfront Stadium: 17-13 (.567)
Cleveland Guardians, Progressive Field: 35-27 (.565)
Minnesota Twins, The Metrodome: 13-10 (.565)

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SEATTLE — As the ball rolled rapidly toward the right-center-field wall, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.â€s eyes grew wide. For the fourth time in four at-bats Wednesday in ALCS Game 3, Guerrero had blistered an offering from a Mariners pitcher and was about to reap the rewards.

But this was more than just another well-struck ball. Guerreroâ€s first three hits of the night were a high-bouncing chopper that he legged out for an infield single, a screaming line-drive double that nearly dented the left-field fence and a booming home run to straightaway center field. If Guerrero kicked it into high gear as his fourth batted ball scurried toward the fence and raced for a triple, a cycle — just the second in MLB postseason history — was within reach.

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Alas, it was not to be. As Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez hustled over and hurried the ball in, Guerrero sensibly slowed at second and settled for his second double of the game, recognizing that pushing for a historic individual achievement amid a 12-2 playoff game posed more risk than reward. Still, he turned to his teammates and grinned, knowing what could have been.

“We were all yelling,†infielder Ernie Clement said afterward. “We couldn’t believe it. We wore him out.â€

“I didn’t even realize he was a triple shy,†third baseman Addison Barger said. “And then everybody’s like, ‘Go, go, go! Go to third!†And I said, ‘Why would he go to third? It’s, like, 12 to 2.’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, s***, he would’ve hit for the cycle.â€â€

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“He’s being smart. It could have been a play where he just slides and hurts himself,†conceded backup catcher Tyler Heineman, one of several teammates who was visibly disappointed as Guerrero coasted into second. “… I would have loved to see him do it just because I’ve never seen a cycle. But I’m just happy he had a good night.”

Cycle or not, one thing was clear: The Toronto Blue Jays were having a blast.

[Get more Toronto news: Blue Jays team feed]

Guerreroâ€s four-hit game was the headlining performance of a collective offensive outburst for the Blue Jays†lineup in Game 3, as Toronto emphatically distanced itself from an uncharacteristic no-show in the first two games of the series en route to a decisive 13-4 victory.

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Undaunted by the challenges of traveling cross-continent with a 2-0 series deficit and awakening an offense in the least hitter-friendly ballpark in the majors, the Blue Jays exploded for 18 hits, including five home runs. Every Toronto starter reached base at least once, eight scored at least one run, and six recorded multi-hit games. The 13 runs were the most the Mariners had allowed in a home game since June 30, 2023.

As usual, Guerrero was at the center of it all.

The face of the franchise completely torched the New York Yankees in the ALDS, demolishing any perception of October struggles after six poor games across three previous postseason appearances. But with the stakes higher in the championship series, even Guerreroâ€s spectacular showing against New York was quickly forgotten when he went hitless in both games in Toronto as the Blue Jays fell into a stunning hole to open the series against Seattle. As a whole, the Blue Jays mustered one hit after George Springerâ€s leadoff homer in a 3-1 loss in Game 1, and the offense evaporated again the next night, notching one hit over the final seven innings while the Mariners cruised to a 10-3 victory in Game 2.

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Combined with how formidable the Mariners looked on both sides of the ball in Toronto, the Blue Jays seemed to be in an especially precarious position as they headed west. But the consecutive lackluster showings at the plate were an extreme outlier for this unit, and that offered reason for optimism as the series shifted to Seattle.

“It’s not like we went out there and played our game and lost,†veteran pitcher Chris Bassitt said ahead of Game 3. “We still have a lot of confidence in our game and how we play and what we do.â€

That confidence was rightfully rooted in a full-season sample that indicated the Blue Jays†offense was not to be taken lightly, having led MLB in batting average and on-base percentage while ranking fourth in runs per game. And sure enough, in Game 3, led by Guerreroâ€s humongous display at the plate — the kind that has so often gone hand-in-hand with his teamâ€s success — the Blue Jays got back to playing their game, making this ALCS all the more compelling.

“He’s our heart and soul,†Clement said of his superstar teammate. “He carries the load. The last few years, I’ve seen him struggle, I’ve seen him be the best hitter on the planet. I see the work that he puts in. And to see him have success on the biggest stage, when everybody knows we need him to do it, is special.â€

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Said Barger: “Even if he’s off, he’s still gonna produce with the best of them. But when he’s on, it’s scary — there’s not much they can do. I feel bad for the pitchers.”

Torontoâ€s confidence that the bats would break out proved warranted, as the Blue Jays tagged Seattle starter George Kirby for eight runs Wednesday before adding five more against the underbelly of the Mariners†bullpen. But Torontoâ€s outlook on the mound was less certain entering Game 3. Taking the ball was high-profile trade-deadline acquisition Shane Bieber after his first postseason showing as a Blue Jay went rather poorly, with Bieber recording just eight outs in Torontoâ€s lone loss to the Yankees in the ALDS.

Bieberâ€s second outing didnâ€t inspire much confidence in the early going, either, as Julio Rodriguez destroyed a poorly located fastball in the bottom of the first inning for a quick 2-0 Mariners lead that sent T-Mobile Park into an immediate frenzy. For a Blue Jays team desperate for any semblance of momentum, it was an ominous opening. But Bieber remained confident that he could turn his outing around.

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“It was an unfortunate start, but I came into the dugout and told the guys, ‘Pick me up.†Like, ‘I got good stuff tonight,â€â€ Bieber said afterward. “And they definitely listened and picked me up in a huge way, and I was able to go back out there … and reestablish what I wanted to do.â€

In an era defined by high-end velocity, Bieber, whose fastball maxed out at 93.7 mph in Game 3, thrives on precision and sequencing, rather than rearing back and unleashing hellacious heat. And after his one glaring mistake to Rodriguez — and after the Blue Jays supplied him with five runs of support in the top of third inning — Bieber hit his stride and started to carve through the Mariners†lineup with a balanced diet of his five-pitch mix. The slider was the star, coaxing seven whiffs on a dozen swings. But the changeup, knuckle-curve and cutter all served as valuable weapons, in turn making his fastball more effective as the game went along. The pitchâ€s infrequent and unpredictable deployment actually made it more difficult to handle, despite its pedestrian velocity.

After that first inning, just two more baserunners reached against Bieber, as he completed six frames on 88 pitches with eight strikeouts and just the two runs allowed on the Rodriguez blast. As it turned out, after ace Kevin Gausman had an untimely misstep late in Game 1 and multiple key arms surrendered runs in an ugly Game 2, Bieber served as a much-needed stabilizing force on the mound for Toronto.

“It’s fun to watch guys like that work,†manager John Schneider said afterward. “It was exactly what we needed tonight.â€

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With the tone of the series firmly altered by Torontoâ€s resounding triumph in Game 3, the focus now shifts back to the home team and its ability to bounce back from another postseason pitfall. The Mariners were able to do just that after ALDS Game 4 in Detroit, which followed a similar script to Wednesdayâ€s loss, with an enticing early lead crumbling into a noncompetitive blowout loss.

Seattleâ€s epic effort in the 15-inning Game 5 to take down the Tigers was an encouraging display of the teamâ€s resilience, but it held significant advantages over Detroit from a talent standpoint. In Thursdayâ€s ALCS Game 4 and beyond, the Mariners face a much taller task against the top-seeded Blue Jays, regardless of how the first two games unfolded.

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“Momentum can be a real thing,†Schneider said. “But we’re going to approach tomorrow like the series is 0-0 and continue to try to do everything we can do to win tomorrow.â€

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  Jorge CastilloOct 15, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

SIX MONTHS AGO, just seven games into the 2025 season, the Toronto Blue Jays arrived in Queens with uncertainty hovering over Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s future. New York Mets fans, hopeful that their team could eventually land the impending free agent and partner him with Juan Soto, welcomed the first baseman with notably loud cheers at Citi Field to open the weekend series. Guerrero and the Blue Jays had failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before an arbitrary mid-February deadline, and the drama would not die.

Then, suddenly, it did, hours after the Mets completed a weekend sweep. The deal was historic: 14 years, $500 million without deferrals, the third-largest contract in Major League Baseball history. The Canadian-born Guerrero, signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old with a famous name, would be a Blue Jay for life. Guerrero bet on himself by turning down smaller offers and bet on the Blue Jays by agreeing not to test free agency. And the Blue Jays bet on the homegrown star at a massive price, having whiffed on other marquee talents in recent years. The impact was instant.

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“We didn’t start playing our best baseball until May,” Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer said. “But if that didn’t get settled, it would be this cloud hanging over our season the whole time. The fact that that was resolved just kind of settled everything down. The outside attention is resolved. It’s no longer, ‘What’s going to happen here?’ It kind of took the elephant out of the room.”

Guerrero, 26, responded with his fifth All-Star season, batting .292 with 23 home runs and an .848 OPS in 156 games. His play, coupled with rebound seasons from George Springer and Bo Bichette and a deep roster of contributors, fueled the Blue Jays’ ascension from 74 wins and last place in 2024 to 94 wins, an American League East title and, now, Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

The Blue Jays can point to a few possible turning points on their way to a fourth playoff appearance in six years. There was a three-game sweep in Seattle in early May. There was Bichette’s pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in the ninth inning in Texas later that month. But Guerrero’s agreement a week into the season helped pave the way to where the Blue Jays find themselves Wednesday: four wins shy of their first World Series appearance in 32 years.

Down 2-0 after the Mariners dominated the first two games in Toronto, it’s no easy feat. But the goal Guerrero has set for himself hasn’t changed.

“For me my goal always is to win a World Series, to bring the World Series here,” Guerrero said earlier this postseason. “My father, he never had the chance to win a World Series. That’s one of my goals, always been one of my goals, to do that for me, for him.”

THE JOURNEY TO this breakout postseason for Guerrero and the Blue Jays began more than a decade ago. In January 2015, months before Guerrero was eligible to sign as an international free agent, Edwin Encarnación received a call from Alex Anthopoulos, then Toronto’s general manager: The Blue Jays wanted to see a 15-year-old Guerrero, their top target that year, work out again in the Dominican Republic — and they needed to find a ballpark.

Encarnación, coming off an All-Star season for Toronto in 2014, reached out to his contacts and a workout was arranged to have Guerrero face older free agents from Cuba. With Encarnación and Blue Jays officials, including Anthopoulos and international scouting director Ismael Cruz looking on, Guerrero convinced the decision-makers.

“It was something special,” Encarnación said in Spanish on the field at Rogers Centre on Monday before Game 2 of the ALCS. “Vladdy was better than the Cubans. This kid, at 15 years old, showed off against them. He was special.”

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That July, the Blue Jays used their entire international bonus pool to sign Guerrero for $3.9 million. Worried about the hoopla that came with being the son of a future Hall of Famer, Anthopoulos asked the team’s media department to hold a low-key event when Guerrero, born in Montreal during his father’s time starring for the Expos, was brought to Toronto for the first time. No news conference at the podium. Just batting practice on the field.

“I was concerned with the last name, the hype and the expectations were going to be out of this world,” said Anthopoulos, now general manager of the Atlanta Braves. “And they were anyway, as much as we tried to play it down.”

Guerrero was not immune to the pressure upon arriving for his major league debut in 2019 as the top prospect across baseball at just 20 years old. The years that followed were not a linear progression. After an AL MVP runner-up season in which he clubbed 48 home runs with a 1.002 OPS in 2021, his first year as a full-time first baseman, Guerrero hit 58 home runs with an .804 OPS over the next two years. Then came another breakout last season: a .323/.396/.544 slash line with 30 home runs in 159 games to raise his value heading into his platform year.

“He’s not easily distracted,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said. “He’s still very human, and I think the hardest part, from my perspective and my view, that Vladdy’s had to deal with is the expectation. Not the distractions off the field or the attention. And he embraced the expectations.”

This year, the pressure was on Guerrero to finally perform to those expectations in the postseason. He entered the AL Division Series against the New York Yankees 3-for-22 with two walks, five strikeouts and no home runs in six career playoff games — all losses — spread over three separate wild-card series.

Guerrero quickly discarded that history in Game 1, swatting a solo home run in his first plate appearance of the postseason. In Game 2, he cracked a grand slam that will long be replayed on Rogers Centre highlight reels. He finished the series 9-for-17 with three home runs and nine RBIs as the Blue Jays eliminated New York in four games.

“I think he’s improved a lot in all aspects,” Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk said. “The experience, how he’s matured as a person. He’s no longer the 20-year-old Vladimir when he debuted. Now he’s Vladimir.”

VLADIMIR VASQUEZ WATCHED the Blue Jays close out the Yankees last Wednesday from his restaurant 5 miles north of Rogers Centre. Born in the Dominican Republic, Vasquez moved to Toronto when he was 11 years old in 1990 and quickly became a fan of the early-’90s Blue Jays championship teams. He opened Cabacoa, a Dominican restaurant, a year-and-a-half ago — a sign of the city’s growing Dominican community.

“I’ve been following Vladimir Guerrero Jr. since he was in the minors,” Vasquez said. “It’s funny because his dad was the only older Dominican Vladimir I knew growing up. But it’s important for the community, for the Dominican community, to have somebody who’s that good who’s going to be here long term.”

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It’s part of the responsibility Guerrero shoulders beyond playing first base and batting third. He’s the only Canadian citizen on Canada’s only MLB team. His No. 27 jersey is the one Blue Jays fans wear from British Columbia to Newfoundland. He’s the player the Blue Jays committed to as their cornerstone through his age-40 season in 2039 — 20 years after his debut — with hopes he’ll end up with his own Hall of Fame career.

“I look at Vladdy long term because I’ve gotten to play with the greats,” said Scherzer, an 18-year veteran and three-time Cy Young Award winner. “I’ve gotten to play with so many great, different players over my career. For me, he kind of fits this Prince Fielder-Miguel Cabrera mold. He’s kind of a hybrid between those two.”

In the short term, the agreement was an exhale. Perhaps, as Atkins said he’d like to think, the Blue Jays would’ve found their footing without Guerrero signing the extension. The pieces were in place two years removed from an 89-win season. But that variable, which had lingered from the day Guerrero reported for spring training, was removed.

Six months later, the Blue Jays, behind their franchise pillar, are breaking through.

“I think it kind of showed our fan base and the league kind of what we’re trying to do here short and long term,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “And it just kind of clears a little bit of a cloud around a really good player and allows the team to say, ‘OK, this is our guy, this is what we’re going to do.’ I think it kind of freed everyone up.”

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Oct 15, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

We are two games into both 2025 league championship series, and it’s time for our initial impressions based on what we have seen on the field.

The Seattle Mariners are headed home with a 2-0 ALCS lead after downing the Toronto Blue Jays on consecutive days to start the series.

In the NLCS, the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers have jumped out to a 2-0 road advantage of their own against the Milwaukee Brewers.

What has stood out most so far — and what’s next for the World Series hopefuls? Our MLB experts weigh in.

ALCS: Mariners vs. Blue Jays

What has surprised you most so far?

Jorge Castillo:The assumption was Seattle’s pitching staff, drained after an exhausting ALDS that concluded with a 15-inning Game 5 on Friday, would need at least Sunday’s ALCS opening game to reset. But Mariners pitchers did not relent. Game 1 starter Bryce Miller set the tone, rebounding from a rocky first inning to give the Mariners six crucial innings. The bullpen starred in Game 2, when Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas and Emerson Hancock each tossed two scoreless innings. Tuesday’s off day should only help the Mariners as the series shifts to their cavernous home ballpark.

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Jeff Passan:The lack of competitive at-bats from the Blue Jays. Yes, the Mariners’ pitching is very good. But the Blue Jays — whose high-quality, work-the-count, spoil-pitches approach all season helped deliver them an AL East championship — were practically tweaking to swing at Miller’s pitches in Game 1 and weren’t much better in Game 2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitless. As are Daulton Varsho, Andres Gimenez and Davis Schneider.

Four runs in two games is not going to do it against a lineup as deep as the Mariners’ and with a pitching staff as susceptible as the Blue Jays’ has been this postseason.

How can the Mariners close this out at home?

Castillo:Hitting home runs at T-Mobile Park isn’t easy — the Mariners hit 134 on the road and 108 at home — but long balls are often the difference in October. Such was the case in Game 2, when the Mariners scored eight of their 10 runs on three homers — two three-run home runs and a two-run shot.

The Blue Jays surrendered 209 home runs during the regular season — the sixth-most allowed in the majors and the most allowed by a postseason team. If the Mariners continue hitting mistakes over the fence, the Blue Jays’ chances of winning four of the next five games are slim to none.

Passan:Do not treat this as a coronation. Too much has happened in Mariners history to ever doubt that something can go very wrong. They have existed 49 years and never so much as made a World Series.

The real answer: cut down on the punchouts. The Mariners are striking out more than 30% of the time over the first two games, and it diminishes opportunities compared to Toronto, which is at 13%. Like Jorge said, as long as Seattle is hitting home runs, this might be moot. In the absence of that, though, putting the ball in play can save them.

What can the Blue Jays do to get this series back to Toronto?

Castillo:It starts with scoring more runs. The Mariners’ pitching staff, tired and all, has silenced an offense that demolished Yankees pitching last week. The Blue Jays tallied only four runs in the two games in Toronto. All were scored in the first two innings. In Game 2, the Blue Jays went 1-for-28 with three walks after the second inning.

Nathan Lukes and George Springer are the only Blue Jays with multiple hits in the series. Guerrero is 0-for-7 with one walk after finishing the ALDS 9-for-17 with three home runs. Varsho is 0-for-7. Addison Barger and Andres Giménez are 0-for-6. Springer’s leadoff home run in Game 1 was the only ball Toronto hit over the fence.

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The Blue Jays scored 21 runs in a three-game sweep of the Mariners during the regular season. But that was at home in May, and T-Mobile Park is a pitcher’s haven. It’ll be a quick series if their bats don’t wake up in Seattle.

Passan:Just look at Game 1 of the NLCS. The Dodgers’ offense is struggling, and it really doesn’t matter because Blake Snell threw eight of the most brilliant innings you’ll ever see. And even though Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer, the Blue Jays’ starters in Game 3 and Game 4, are not near Snell’s caliber today, they are both former Cy Young winners who have pitched in huge games. Seattle’s pitching is too good for Toronto to win this series via slugfests. So the Blue Jays are simply going to have to beat the Mariners at their own game: solid starting pitching and enough relief to backfill.

NLCS

What has jumped out to you most so far?

Bradford Doolittle:The Dodgers’ starting pitching has been lights-out. It’s not just all the zeros that Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto put up; the Brewers’ hitters looked overmatched against them most of the time. Milwaukee had a clear plan to ambush Yamamoto as often as possible in Game 2, but after Jackson Chourio’s first-pitch leadoff homer, it just didn’t work. Yamamoto kept pumping in strikes, and the Brewers did nothing with them.

Jesse Rogers:The Dodgers’ starting pitching went from iffy to dominant in the blink of an eye. Part of the reason the Brewers went 6-0 against L.A. during the regular season is that they faced a team piecing together its starting staff. Dave Roberts even admitted to “slow playing” Snell just to have him ready for this moment.

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Not even a first-pitch home run by Chourio off Yamamoto in Game 2 could change the narrative. Yamamoto threw a 111-pitch complete game, giving up only two more hits and a walk after that long ball. On most teams, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani would be the No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers, but the Dodgers will roll them out against Milwaukee at Dodger Stadium later this week. It’s an embarrassment of riches — and it could doom the Brewers’ chances at their first World Series title.

What do the Dodgers need to do to close out this series at home?

Bradford Doolittle:Just keep riding the wave. The L.A. rotation has become the story of the postseason so far, and even though the Dodgers’ offense hasn’t matched the pitchers in terms of dominance, this is the hottest team around right now. And the offense isn’t going to grind this way forever.

Jesse Rogers:Just keep pitching the way they are and maybe get Ohtani going at the plate. Not that they’ve needed him so far, but if he starts to light it up, this series won’t return to the Midwest. Closer Roki Sasaki is also likely to be more comfortable in his home setting than he was in Game 1. All signs point to the Dodgers winning a short series.

What do the Brewers need to get this series back to Milwaukee?

Bradford Doolittle:They need traffic on the bases, especially early in the games. They haven’t been able to showcase their athleticism against the Dodgers because no one has been getting on base. Get on base, hope to unnerve Glasnow and Ohtani and get into that L.A. bullpen by the fourth or fifth inning. The formula isn’t complicated, but the way the Dodgers are going, executing it will be a challenge.

Jesse Rogers:Putting up a crooked number would help. Somewhere along the line, they need one of those Brewers innings — the kind that forces the defense into mistakes while utilizing their speed and ability on the basepaths to create havoc. Easier said than done against this Dodgers starting staff, but if they can get into the underbelly of L.A.’s bullpen, they have a chance. That’s the path forward for the Brewers.

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  Kevin PeltonOct 14, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  • Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
  • Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
  • Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system

How will the NBA season look if my stats-based projections are an accurate measure of team ability?

The purpose of simulating the NBA season ahead of time is generally to see how often various things are likely to happen, from the weakest teams winning the draft lottery to the best ones taking home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

It can also be fun to go through individual runs of the simulation to give an idea of what unlikely events could become reality based on random chance.

In the spirit of ESPN’s NFL tradition of detailing the events of a single simulation, let’s go through the NBA season using simulation No. 620 — chosen because of its interesting outcomes — from opening night to the end of the NBA Finals.

Note, this is not my prediction (or ESPN’s) of how this season will unfold. The outcomes are produced at random via simulation, and everything else, including player stats, takes creative license.

Along the way, we’ll crown an NBA Cup winner, enjoy the action on Christmas Day, determine the final playoff seeds, set the draft lottery and winner, run through the play-in tournament, playoffs and finally, name the 2025-26 NBA champion. Let’s get to it.

Oct. 21: Thunder, Warriors dominate Opening Night

Oklahoma City Thunder over Houston Rockets
Golden State Warriors over Los Angeles Lakers

After getting their championship rings and raising the first banner in the rafters at Paycom Arena, the Thunder showed why they were favored to repeat with an impressive win during Kevin Durant’s Houston debut. Durant scored 27 points against his former team, the first day of the regular season, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams both topped 20 points and Chet Holmgren had five blocks.

Later, the Warriors spoiled Luka Doncic’s first home opener with the Lakers, handing them a 107-99 defeat. Afterward, an ebullient Draymond Green vowed that the Warriors, not Oklahoma City, should be considered the title favorites.

Illustration by ESPN

Dec. 16: NBA Cup final features unexpected matchup

Quarterfinals:

(1) Boston Celtics over (4) Detroit Pistons
(2) Miami Heat over (3) Cleveland Cavaliers
(4) Minnesota Timberwolves over (1) Oklahoma City Thunder
(3) Portland Trail Blazers over (2) Memphis Grizzlies

Semifinals:

(1) Boston Celtics over (2) Miami Heat
(3) Portland Trail Blazers over (4) Minnesota Timberwolves

NBA Cup final (Dec. 16):

(1) Boston Celtics over (3) Portland Trail Blazers

The NBA Cup, running from Oct. 21 to Dec. 16, resulted in an unexpected final in Las Vegas that pitted the Celtics against former guard Jrue Holiday and the Trail Blazers. Boston, off to a 16-10 start without the injured Jayson Tatum, finished as the No. 1 seed in the East play-in and beat the Pistons at home and the Heat in the semifinals in Las Vegas.

The upstart Blazers, also 16-10, took advantage of the Thunder getting upset by the Timberwolves at home during the quarterfinals. Portland also won on the road, in Memphis, and then beat Minnesota in the semifinals.

Alas, the Blazers’ run ended in a 115-103 loss. Portland shot 10-of-36 on 3s, while Derrick White and Payton Pritchard made four apiece for Boston, which immediately shut down talk of referring to the NBA Cup as “Banner 19.” Still, the Celtics were able to match the rival Lakers’ inaugural NBA Cup title.

Dec. 25: Knicks, Lakers stumble on Christmas

Struggling teams were the storyline on Christmas Day. The Cavaliers and Knicks, who entered the season as East favorites, were 11th and seventh, respectively, going into their matchup at Madison Square Garden. The Cavaliers, buried by early-season injuries to the backcourt, got some measure of satisfaction with a win over the Knicks.

There was no such relief for the Lakers, who dropped five games below .500 after losing at home to Houston.

The vibes were better for the top two teams in the West, the surprising Warriors and Thunder, who both won at home. So did the Denver Nuggets behind a 30-point triple-double from Nikola Jokic.

NBA Standings through Dec. 25

Eastern
Conf.WLWin%Western
Conf.WLWin%Orlando
Magic188.692Golden State
Warriors207.741Atlanta
Hawks189.667Oklahoma City
Thunder197.731Miami
Heat179.654Minnesota
Timberwolves1610.615Milwaukee
Bucks1710.630Portland
Trail Blazers1610.615Boston
Celtics1610.615Memphis
Grizzlies1511.577Toronto
Raptors1611.593Houston
Rockets1310.565New York
Knicks1411.560Los Angeles
Clippers1412.538Philadelphia
76ers1411.560Denver
Nuggets1312.520Indiana
Pacers1412.538New Orleans
Pelicans1413.519Detroit
Pistons1313.500Sacramento
Kings1214.462Cleveland
Cavaliers1215.444San Antonio
Spurs1114.440Charlotte
Hornets818.308Dallas
Mavericks1116.407Chicago
Bulls718.280Los Angeles
Lakers1015.400Brooklyn
Nets421.160Phoenix
Suns1016.385Washington
Wizards321.125Utah
Jazz223.080

Feb 15: Warriors all the hype at All-Star break

As the NBA gathered from Feb. 13 to 15 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the Warriors were the talk of the league. Green and Jimmy Butler III joined Steph Curry on the West roster thanks to Golden State’s league-best 42-13 record at the break.

In the rearview mirror of the experienced Warriors there was plenty of youth with the Thunder 4.5 games back in the West and the ascendant Magic top the East with the NBA’s second-best record. After their slow starts, the Knicks and Cavaliers had righted the ships, moving up to second and fourth in the conference, respectively.

The Clippers were tied for fourth in the West, but their crosstown rivals continued to stumble. Now 12 games below .500, the Lakers were all but eliminated from the play-in race at six games back of the Sacramento Kings for 10th. LeBron James mused about taking March off to watch his son Bryce play in the NCAA tournament for the Arizona Wildcats.

NBA Standings through All-Star Break

Eastern
Conf.WLWin%Western
Conf.WLWin%Orlando
Magic3716.698Golden State
Warriors4213.764New York
Knicks3520.636Oklahoma City
Thunder3818.679Indiana
Pacers3322.600Denver
Nuggets3719.661Cleveland
Cavaliers3124.564Los Angeles
Clippers3321.611Milwaukee
Bucks3024.556Memphis
Grizzlies3321.611Atlanta
Hawks3125.554Houston
Rockets3221.604Toronto
Raptors3025.545Minnesota
Timberwolves3224.571Miami
Heat2828.500Phoenix
Suns2926.527Chicago
Bulls2629.473Portland
Trail Blazers2927.518Detroit
Pistons2528.472Sacramento
Kings2828.500Boston
Celtics2529.463New Orleans
Pelicans2729.481Philadelphia
76ers2232.407San Antonio
Spurs2616.407Charlotte
Hornets1243.218Dallas
Mavericks2332.418Washington
Wizards1043.189Los Angeles
Lakers2133.389Brooklyn
Nets746.132Utah
Jazz947.161

Beware the Ides of April…

With less than two weeks left in the regular season, plenty remained at stake, including the top seed in the West. The Thunder had closed within 2.5 games of the still-hot Warriors. The race to avoid the play-in was hard-fought with three teams at 40 wins apiece, albeit with the Blazers two games back in the loss column of Houston and Minnesota.

Two games back in the loss column for the play-in, the Mavericks were still looking to make it with Kyrie Irving’s return to the lineup. In the East, the Celtics — who had gone just 19-30 since winning the NBA Cup — were trying to hold off the Philadelphia 76ers and disappointing Detroit Pistons to reach the play-in.

NBA Standings entering April 2026

Eastern
Conf.WLWin%Western
Conf.WLWin%Orlando
Magic5124.680Golden State
Warriors5619.747New York
Knicks4730.610Oklahoma City
Thunder5422.711Atlanta
Hawks4333.566Denver
Nuggets4927.645Indiana
Pacers4233.560Memphis
Grizzlies4728.627Cleveland
Cavaliers4224.553Los Angeles
Clippers4630.605Toronto
Raptors4134.547Houston
Rockets4035.533Milwaukee
Bucks3936.520Minnesota
Timberwolves4035.533Miami
Heat3937.513Portland
Trail Blazers4037.519Chicago
Bulls3837.507Phoenix
Suns3838.500Boston
Celtics3540.467Sacramento
Kings3838.500Philadelphia
76ers3540.467Dallas
Mavericks3540.467Detroit
Pistons3541.461San Antonio
Spurs3540.467Charlotte
Hornets2155.276New Orleans
Pelicans3343.434Brooklyn
Nets1264.158Los Angeles
Lakers3244.421Washington
Wizards1164.147Utah
Jazz2056.263

April 12: Magic, Warriors top regular-season standings

The Warriors shut down any talk of a Thunder comeback by finishing the season on a 10-game winning streak to reach 63 wins, their most since 2016-17. In the East, the Magic ran away with the top seed and finished seven games clear of the Knicks.

The No. 6 seed in both conferences was decided via a tiebreaker. Cleveland, which fell back off the pace after the All-Star break, ended up in the play-in with the Milwaukee Bucks getting the No. 6 seed.

Meanwhile, Houston won a tie out West, sending the Timberwolves to the play-in a year after they narrowly avoided it. Defiant, Anthony Edwards vowed Minnesota would get back to the conference finals anyway.

NBA 2025-26 Season Final Standings

Eastern
Conf.WLWin%Western
Conf.WLWin%1Orlando
Magic5725.695Golden State
Warriors6319.7682New York
Knicks5032.610Oklahoma City
Thunder5824.7073Atlanta
Hawks4735.573Denver
Nuggets5527.6714Indiana
Pacers4735.573Memphis
Grizzlies5131.6225Toronto
Raptors4636.561Los Angeles
Clippers4834.5856Milwaukee
Bucks4438.537Houston
Rockets4438.5377Cleveland
Cavaliers4438.537Minnesota
Timberwolves4438.5378Miami
Heat4240.512Portland
Trail Blazers4339.5249Chicago
Bulls4141.500Phoenix
Suns4240.51210Boston
Celtics4042.488Sacramento
Kings3844.46311Philadelphia
76ers3745.451San Antonio
Spurs3844.46312Detroit
Pistons3646.439Dallas
Mavericks3646.43913Charlotte
Hornets2359.280Los Angeles
Lakers3646.43914Brooklyn
Nets1369.159New Orleans
Pelicans3448.41515Washington
Wizards1270.146Utah
Jazz2161.256

Play-in tournament

Eastern Conference

No. 7 Cleveland Cavaliers over No. 8 Miami Heat (Cleveland clinches playoffs to face No. 2 Knicks)
No. 9 Chicago Bulls over No. 10 Boston Celtics (Chicago advances; Boston eliminated)
No. 9 Bulls over No. 8 Heat (Chicago clinches playoffs to face No. 1 Orlando; Miami eliminated)

Western Conference

No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers over No. 7 Minnesota Timberwolves (Portland clinches playoffs to face No. 2 Thunder)
No. 10 Sacramento Kings over No. 9 Phoenix Suns (Sacramento advances; Phoenix eliminated)
No. 10 Kings over No. 7 Timberwolves (Sacramento clinches playoffs to face No. 1 Warriors; Minnesota eliminated)

Consider the Chicago Bulls the big winners of the play-in tournament, a place where they’ve got plenty of experience. Not only did Chicago win in Miami to claim the No. 8 seed in the East playoffs, but the Bulls also landed a first-round pick when Portland capped its unexpected season by winning at the Target Center to earn the seventh spot in the West.

Things went from bad to worse for the Timberwolves in the final game of the play-in tournament as the Sacramento Kings handed them a surprise 103-101 loss on a DeMar DeRozan pull-up jumper in the final five seconds. Sacramento players celebrated by donning “Kings of the Play-in” T-shirts, much to the Bulls’ dismay.

There was less drama in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers salvaged the No. 7 seed with a 31-point win over Miami reminiscent of last year’s dominant first-round sweep.

Draft lottery

1. Utah Jazz (from Minnesota Timberwolves)
2. Atlanta Hawks (from New Orleans Pelicans)
3. Brooklyn Nets
4. Washington Wizards
5. Minnesota Timberwolves (from Utah Jazz)
6. Charlotte Hornets
7. Detroit Pistons
8. Dallas Mavericks
9. Los Angeles Lakers
10. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Philadelphia 76ers)
11. San Antonio Spurs
12. Boston Celtics
13. Memphis Grizzlies (from Phoenix Suns)
14. Miami Heat

For the second consecutive year, a team eliminated on the eve of the playoffs won the NBA draft lottery. This time, the Timberwolves didn’t get to enjoy it like the Mavericks did in 2024. A swap from the Rudy Gobert trade sent the top pick to the Utah Jazz, who unsuccessfully attempted to deny their interest in drafting AJ Dybantsa from nearby BYU.

The news wasn’t all bad for Minnesota, which swapped down only to No. 5. Meanwhile, the 34-48 Pelicans didn’t benefit from jumping up to No. 2, sending that pick to the Hawks to complete their deal on 2025 draft night. The Nets and Wizards claimed the next two picks, having entered with the best odds because of their combined 25 wins.

Later on, the playoff-bound Thunder and Grizzlies acquired lottery picks through trades; the Grizzlies had the opportunity to swap for the Suns’ pick in the Desmond Bane trade.

Speaking to reporters before Game 1 of the NBA Finals, commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the league’s competition committee will revisit lottery odds to avoid teams preferring the lottery to advancing through the play-in tournament.

Stephen Curry and the Warriors enjoy a deep playoff run in simulation No. 620. AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis

Playoffs

Eastern Conference Round 1

(1) Orlando Magic over (8) Chicago Bulls, 4-1
(2) New York Knicks over (7) Cleveland Cavaliers, 4-2
(3) Atlanta Hawks over (6) Milwaukee Bucks, 4-1
(5) Toronto Raptors over (4) Indiana Pacers, 4-3

Western Conference Round 1

(1) Golden State Warriors over (8) Sacramento Kings, 4-1
(2) Oklahoma City Thunder over (7) Portland Trail Blazers, 4-0
(6) Houston Rockets over (3) Denver Nuggets, 4-3
(5) LA Clippers over (4) Memphis Grizzlies, 4-2

The most anticipated first-round series — an expected matchup between the Knicks and Cavaliers in the conference finals — ended up fizzling. Banged up from a difficult regular season and play-in appearance, Cleveland was eliminated at home in Game 6. But there was plenty of drama elsewhere.

Two road teams with less experience won their Game 7s. The Toronto Raptors held former star Pascal Siakam to 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting for their first series win since 2020, and the Rockets shocked the Nuggets in Denver thanks to 12 fourth-quarter points from Durant. Houston hadn’t advanced in the playoffs since 2019.

The Clippers were the other lower seed to advance, beating Memphis, which ESPN BET listed as the underdog before the series. After winning Game 1 on the road, the Clippers closed out the Grizzlies at home in six games.

Eastern Conference semifinals

(1) Orlando Magic over (5) Toronto Raptors, 4-2
(2) New York Knicks over (3) Atlanta Hawks, 4-1

Western Conference semifinals

(1) Golden State Warriors over (5) LA Clippers, 4-2
(2) Oklahoma City Thunder over (6) Houston Rockets, 4-3

The top two seeds in both conferences advanced in Round 2. For a second consecutive year, the Thunder needed seven games to reach the conference finals, but the Rockets pushed the defending champs without injured point guard Fred VanVleet. “We’ll be back,” Durant said in a somber Houston locker room.

The Warriors beat the Clippers in a battle of the NBA’s two oldest rosters, and the Magic and Knicks reminded everyone that they’ve been the class of the East all season. Both dropped just three total games en route to a showdown in the conference semifinals.

Conference finals

(1) Orlando Magic over (2) New York Knicks, 4-1
(1) Golden State Warriors over (2) Oklahoma City Thunder, 4-2

The Magic cruised to their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2009, surprising New York at Madison Square Garden in Game 3 to take a 3-0 series lead before completing the gentleman’s sweep.

Meanwhile, in a battle of the NBA’s last dynasty against a team aspiring to become one, the Warriors lived up to Green’s season-long hype. The teams split the first two games of the series before Golden State won the pivotal Game 5 and then closed out Oklahoma City on the road to host the NBA Finals.

And the NBA champion is…

In simulation No. 620, the Orlando Magic win the NBA title. John Raoux/AP Photo

(1) Orlando Magic over (1) Golden State Warriors, 4-3

The Warriors’ magical run to their seventh Finals in the past 12 years finally ran out of gas at home in Game 7, similar to Golden State’s loss to Cleveland in 2016. With Curry playing through a minor injury by the end of the season, the Warriors’ potent offense operated at less than full strength. Orlando took advantage, unexpectedly winning the first championship in franchise history barely a year after upgrading their starting lineup with Bane.

Paolo Banchero completed a breakthrough campaign by scoring 32 points in Game 7 and being named Finals MVP. He split votes with Franz Wagner, who averaged 22 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in the series while defending Butler.

Interviewed on the podium by Lisa Salters, Banchero credited the victory to “620,” which observers interpreted as a remixed version of his native 206 area code.

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  David SchoenfieldOct 14, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  • Covers MLB for ESPN.com
  • Former deputy editor of Page 2
  • Been with ESPN.com since 1995

What an incredible first two weeks of the 2025 MLB playoffs we’ve had. There was the instant classic 15-inning Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners, sending Seattle to its first American League Championship Series since 2001. We saw the Philadelphia Phillies be eliminated by the Los Angeles Dodgers on a bases-loaded error in the 11th inning. We watched the Toronto Blue Jays stomp past the New York Yankees with a barrage of scoring.

Now, we’re in the early stages of the league championship series and down to the final four teams: one team that is trying to make history with back-to-back titles, two teams trying to win their first title and one team trying to bring back its glory days of the early 1990s.

The Mariners surprised everyone by going into Toronto and winning the first two games. The Dodgers held on to a slim lead to take Game 1 in Milwaukee. Let’s take stock of October so far with an edition of Real or Not, looking at storylines on the teams still alive and those that have been eliminated.

Teams that are still in it

The Dodgers are the team to beat … again

Verdict: Real

Look. They’re the defending champs. They have a rotation of All-Stars. They have Shohei Ohtani. They seem to have found a closer in Roki Sasaki. They are the favorite to win it all. Just listen to a few statements Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy made Sunday:

“The Dodgers are a powerhouse, what can you say?”

“I happen to think that Mookie Betts is one of the most underrated stars — I say ‘underrated,’ that’s kind of crazy, right? But I don’t think Mookie Betts gets the credit.”

“Freddie Freeman is like my favorite person, player in the game. He’s ruined Brewers history many times, but I still love him.”

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“My impressions as a pitcher is that [Ohtani is] unbelievable. The game I saw him pitch the other day was, like, uh, a split-finger from the top of the zone all the way to the bottom. Amazing.”

“The other kid is pretty good, the lefty. What’s his name? Shell? [Blake] Snell. I’m joking, of course. I’ve been very disappointed when he’s pitched and I’m in the stadium. He’s really good.”

“And [Tyler] Glasnow is really good. And [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto is really good. The guy at the end — who is the guy at the end throwing 100 with a split? That shouldn’t be fair. We’re going to try to petition the league and see if we can get him suspended for something.”

So, yes, the Dodgers are the favorite. But no team has repeated since the Yankees in 2000. It won’t be easy.

The Blue Jays’ ability to put the ball in play makes them the biggest threat to L.A.’s throne

Verdict: Not Real

The Blue Jays did have the lowest strikeout rate in the majors this season at 17.3% and are coming off a dominant offensive division series against the Yankees. The Brewers, however, had the fifth-lowest strikeout rate and actually scored a few more runs than the Blue Jays this season. Keep in mind that Bo Bichette, one of Toronto’s best offensive players in the regular season, will sit out the ALCS because of a knee injury, and even if the Blue Jays advance without him and he can hit in the World Series, he last played a game on Sept. 6.

As the first game against the Mariners showed, it seems everyone was overreacting just a bit to the Yankees’ series, when the Blue Jays hit .338. I mean, utility infielder Ernie Clement hit .643! That’s not going to continue all October.

That said, team contact rate is a strong October indicator. Look at the leaguewide regular-season strikeout rates (and rankings) of recent World Series winners:

2024 Dodgers: 11th (21.4%)
2023 Texas Rangers: 15th (22.5%)
2022 Houston Astros: second (19.5%)
2021 Atlanta Braves: 16th (22.7%, position players only)
2020 Dodgers: second (20.3%)
2019 Washington Nationals: third (19.8%, position players only)
2018 Boston Red Sox: fifth (19.8%)

Of course, pitching matters, and we’ll see how Toronto’s depth plays out, especially in the bullpen. Milwaukee’s pitching — with the creative and nontraditional ways Murphy deploys it, including in the bullpen — is better than Toronto’s. Let’s call the Blue Jays and Brewers co-upset favorites. Strikeout rate does project as a problem for the Mariners, who ranked 24th in the majors at 23.3%. The Dodgers? They were 12th at 21.9%, so about the same as last season.

Verdict: Real?

Through the division series, it certainly looked as if it was Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit .529/.550/1.059 with three home runs and nine RBIs in four games against the Yankees. Guerrero is exactly what you want for an October lineup anchor: a hitter who hits for a high average with power, an excellent contact rate (he finished 19th in highest contact rate among qualified hitters) and a low chase rate (90th percentile).

But after the Mariners won the first two games in Toronto, a new potential star is brewing thanks to the clutch hitting of Polanco. Check out his big moments so far:

• Hit two home runs off Tarik Skubal in Game 2 of the ALDS, the only runs off Skubal, in a game the Mariners eventually won 3-2.

• Walked and scored the tying run in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the ALDS — and delivered the series-winning walk-off hit in the 15th.

• Delivered the go-ahead, two-out single in the sixth inning of Game 1 of the ALCS and then another RBI single in the eighth in Seattle’s 3-1 victory.

• Went 2-for-5 with two runs and the go-ahead three-run home run in Seattle’s Game 2 win.

Polanco is the first player in MLB history to have a go-ahead hit in the fifth inning or later of three consecutive playoff games. His overall line doesn’t scream domination — .258/.303/.548, three home runs, eight RBIs — but he has been in the middle of the key moments for the Mariners so far as they sit two wins away from their first World Series appearance.

Others off to hot starts:

Guerrero: .375/.429/.750, 3 HR, 9 RBIs

Cal Raleigh: .357/.471/.607, 2 HR, 5 RBIs
Clement: .476/.478/.667, 1 HR, 5 RBIs
Jackson Chourio:.333/.348/.571, 1 HR, 7 RBIs
Teoscar Hernandez:.276/.323/.621, 3 HR, 9 RBIs

How the Dodgers fixed Roki Sasaki

After a disastrous MLB debut, L.A.’s new ninth-inning man has unleashed jaw-dropping stuff in October.
Jeff Passan »

And if you want an October MVP sleeper: Roki Sasaki, who’s doing his best Mariano Rivera impersonation (at least until his shaky performance in Game 1 against the Brewers, in which Blake Treinen had to rescue him to get the final out after Sasaki gave up two walks and one run). The Dodgers entered the postseason with no idea who their closer would be — and Sasaki has stepped up. Check out his first four appearances:

Oct. 1 vs. Cincinnati Reds: Closed out an 8-4 win with a two-strikeout ninth.

Oct. 4 at Phillies: Closed out a 5-3 win.

Oct. 6 at Phillies: After the rest of the pen nearly blew it, he got the final out in a 4-3 win.

Oct. 9 vs. Phillies:Pitched three perfect innings in the Dodgers’ 11-inning, 2-1 win to eliminate Philly.

We’re about to witness Shohei Ohtani’s October breakout

Verdict: Not Real

I could be wrong — you should never bet against Ohtani. Of course, he already has made his pitching breakout, beating the Phillies with six solid innings (three runs, nine strikeouts). He did homer twice in the wild-card opener against the Reds but then went 1-for-18 against the Phillies with nine strikeouts. Granted, he faced three of the toughest lefties in the game in that series — but remember, he was only so-so last postseason (by his own impossible standards), hitting .230/.373/.393. As hard as he pushes himself all season, and now that he’s also pitching again, it’s a lot to ask of him to keep crushing baseball at this regular-season rate.

Consider this nugget of information as well: Ohtani ranked second overall in the majors in OPS in the regular season (1.014); but against pitches of 97 mph or faster, he drops to 21st in OPS (.889). That’s still awesome. Just not quite as awesome. The Brewers have four pitchers who average 97-plus with their fastballs in Jacob Misiorowski, Trevor Megill, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby, plus Jared Koenig (averages 96, touches 99), Nick Mears (averages 95.4, touches 98) and Freddy Peralta (averages 94.8, touches 97-98). Two of those are lefty relievers — Ashby and Koenig — and they’re going to face Ohtani a lot in this series. Ohtani knows what he’s going to get. Let ‘er rip (on both sides).

The Mariners’ vibes are enough to power them through October

Verdict: Real

Well, vibes don’t necessarily win games, but home runs, good starting pitching and strong bullpens do. Sunday’s game was unbelievably huge for Seattle, as the Mariners were coming off that exhausting 15-inning game to beat Detroit, flying from Seattle to Toronto, having to use their No. 5 starter Bryce Miller, who had a 5.68 ERA in the regular season, against Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman — and winning.

It was interesting that Toronto manager John Schneider pulled Gausman after a two-out walk to Julio Rodriguez (which came after the Cal Raleigh home run that tied the score), despite Gausman having thrown only 76 pitches. Rodriguez then scored on a wild pitch and Jorge Polanco ‘s go-ahead single. Miller, meanwhile, also issued a two-out walk in the bottom of the sixth, but Seattle manager Dan Wilson left him in and he got the final out of the inning. The bullpen then finished it off with three hitless innings over only 24 pitches.

Game 2 hinged on another critical Schneider decision when he elected to intentionally walk Raleigh with no outs after Randy Arozarena led off the fifth by reaching second base on an infield single and throwing error. A no-out intentional walk increases the potential for a big inning and that’s exactly what happened. Schneider pulled Trey Yesavage and brought in Louis Varland, who struck out Rodriguez but then got taken deep by Polanco, who blasted that three-run home run to make it 6-3.

The Big Dumper … and some magic?

Seattle has never won a World Series. Or even an American League pennant. Could a little bit of alchemy change that? Alden Gonzalez »

That’s certainly one way to create good vibes.

Look, the Mariners strike out a lot. Even in the Game 1 victory against the Blue Jays, they fanned 11 times compared to only four for Toronto. They struck out 20 times in the 15-inning win against the Tigers. Eugenio Suarez is 4-for-29 in the postseason with 12 strikeouts. Rodriguez is 6-for-29 with 13 strikeouts. Maybe the strikeouts will eventually end up as the Mariners’ fatal flaw. So far, their pitching and power has carried them. But keep in mind that they scored only 32 fewer runs than the Blue Jays in the regular season, despite playing at pitcher-friendly T-Mobile Park. If they stay hot at the plate the way they were in Game 2, they can power their way into the World Series.

Blake Snell looks like The Man on the mound this postseason

Verdict: Real

Some years, the postseason is all about the bullpens. And some years, we get a red-hot starter who delivers all October, like these pitchers from past World Series-winning teams:

2023: Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers (5-0, 2.95 ERA)
2022: Framber Valdez, Astros (3-0, 1.44 ERA)
2019: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals (5-0, 1.98 ERA)
2017: Justin Verlander, Astros (4-1, 2.21 ERA)
2014: Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants (4-1, 1.03 ERA, one big save)

This might be Snell’s October to remember. Against the Reds in the wild-card round, he gave up two runs in seven innings, taking a shutout into the seventh. Against the Phillies he picked up another win with six scoreless innings in a duel against Cristopher Sanchez. Then, Snell delivered maybe the best starting pitcher performance this decade with his brilliant one-hit, 10-strikeout game over eight innings to beat the Brewers and run his record to 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA in the postseason.

Snell made only 11 starts in the regular season, sitting out four months, and L.A. manager Dave Roberts said before Game 1 that the Dodgers probably did slow-play Snell’s return to have him ready for October.

“Could he have probably pitched earlier? Possibly,” Roberts said. “But when you’re talking about that kind of arm, the term of the contract, the shorter term, the season, making sure that he is raring to go for the postseason, through the postseason. So that was certainly part of the math.”

For Snell, he’s determined to keep pitching deeper into games. Before this year, he had made 10 career postseason starts and never completed six innings.

“I think it’s just mindset,” said Snell, who was notoriously unhappy with Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash pulling him in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series after 73 pitches with a 1-0 lead, only to see the Rays lose the game. “As you get older, you learn a lot more, you understand pitching, you understand how important belief is. And you just get better just with age and understanding the game and situations and what pressure really is and how awesome these moments are.”

Teams that have been eliminated

The Phillies will look vastly different when we see them next

Verdict: Not Real

Offseason questions for eliminated teams

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After the tough four-game loss to the Dodgers, the discussion was how this might be the end of an era for the Phillies. Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto and Ranger Suarez — all key members of the core group that has made four consecutive playoff appearances and remained remarkably intact — are all free agents after this season, as is Max Kepler and perhaps Harrison Bader (he has a $10 million mutual option). Six of the regular position players are older than 30. And, quite simply, this group hasn’t gotten it done in the postseason the past three years, especially at the plate.

Thus: Blow it all up! Or at least some of it. But I just don’t see it. This was a 96-win team, and it’s certainly not in the DNA of owner John Middleton and top executive Dave Dombrowski to do anything except keep pushing for a World Series title. Most people in baseball can’t see the Phillies letting Schwarber leave, although there will obviously be interest in him coming off a 56-home run season (the New York Mets, no doubt, are a potentially interested party). Realmuto is a risky signing as he turns 35, but the Phillies don’t have a good alternative at catcher. Suarez is probably the one most likely to leave, just because of the demand for pitchers in free agency.

If there are changes, it might be with Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm. Stott has hit .179 with four RBIs in his past 17 postseason games. In his 38-game postseason career, Bohm has hit .225 with only two home runs and 14 RBIs — often hitting third or fourth in the lineup. The Phillies would probably like to move on from Nick Castellanos, who will make $20 million in the final year of his contract, but there won’t be any trade interest in a player coming off a minus-1.0 WAR season. So, different? Maybe a bit. Vastly different? Probably not.

Having a true ace no longer guarantees October success

Verdict: Real

Tarik Skubal? Gone. Garrett Crochet? Gone. Cristopher Sanchez? Gone. Those three ranked first (Sanchez), third (Skubal) and fourth (Crochet) in Baseball-Reference WAR among pitchers (Paul Skenes, whose Pittsburgh Pirates didn’t make the playoffs, was second).

Look, all three pitched great in October. Skubal gave up four runs in three starts and struck out 36 batters in 20â…” innings; the Tigers lost two of those games anyway. Crochet won his start in the wild-card series, but the Boston Red Sox lost the other two games to the Yankees. Sanchez gave up three runs over two starts against the Dodgers, but the Phillies lost both after he departed.

Though the aces weren’t to blame — you still need your offense to score runs — their inability to pitch deeper into games played a role here as managers are increasingly likely to pull their starter before 100 pitches, even if he’s one of the best starters in baseball. In his Game 5 start against Seattle, Skubal was pulled after six innings and 99 pitches. The Mariners tied the score in the seventh. In his first start against the Dodgers, Sanchez couldn’t quite make it through the sixth inning, giving up two runs and leaving after 94 pitches with a lead, but the Dodgers beat the Phillies’ bullpen. Perhaps it’s instructive that the Red Sox won Crochet’s start 3-1, in part because he threw 117 pitches and left only four outs to the bullpen.

Aces are still enormously valuable. But they’re less valuable than they used to be if they’re only throwing six innings and 90-something pitches.

Aaron Judge finally silenced his October critics — for good

Verdict: Not Real

Judge had a terrific postseason, hitting .500/.581/.692 with seven RBIs in seven games. His .500 average was the third highest in a single postseason (minimum 30 plate appearances) and his 253 wRC+ is in the top 15.

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But silence his critics? Nope. This is New York and — fair or not — until Judge helps lift the Yankees to a World Series championship, he’ll face the pressure of expectations every October in which he plays. Consider Ted Williams. He played in one World Series, hit .200 with one RBI and spent the rest of his career with the reputation that he wasn’t clutch. Consider Barry Bonds. He was terrible in three NLCS with the Pirates early in his career and even after one of the greatest postseasons of all time in 2002 (.356, eight home runs, 1.556 OPS), critics will point out that he wasn’t clutch in the playoffs and never won a ring.

That’s the burden Judge has to carry as one of the greatest hitters of all time.

This was the San Diego Padres’ last best shot at a deep postseason run

Verdict: Real

Never say never, but the future path to continued success for the Padres is littered with mega-contract-sized potholes. First, in the immediate future, they’ll have to address their starting rotation with Michael King, Dylan Cease and Nestor Cortes heading to free agency. The problem: The farm system is weak and the payroll more bloated than two servings of the “Cardiff crack” nachos at Petco Park.

Next up, the contracts: Manny Machado made $17.1 million this season but his salary jumps up to $39 million in 2027 — and his contract runs through 2033; Xander Bogaerts, at $25 million a year and coming off an 11-homer season, is signed through 2033; Fernando Tatis Jr.’s salary eventually jumps from $20.7 million in 2025 to $35.7 million in 2029. Joe Musgrove (two more seasons) and Yu Darvish (three more) are still under contract. The Padres are getting older and more expensive. Maybe they’ll try to stretch it one more year behind their bullpen, but the bottom here — when it arrives — might not be pretty.

The state of Ohio had two playoff teams — two more than it’ll have in 2026

Verdict: Not Real

The Cleveland Guardians are coming off their shocking 88-win division title and the Reds won 83 and made the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2013. It’s easy to dismiss both team’s chances in 2026: Cleveland had trouble scoring runs all season and Cincinnati didn’t exactly roll out the Big Red Machine on offense. The Guardians have the advantage of playing in the AL Central, where no team except Cleveland in the past four seasons has won more than 87 games (the Guardians have done it three times). Both teams will enter 2026 relying again on run prevention while lacking the committed owners needed to invest in some upgrades on offense.

I would still put the odds of at least one of them making the playoffs next season at better than 50% and I especially like where the Reds sit with their rotation. With Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer, they finished third in FanGraphs WAR among starting rotations. But then they have two big arms to add in 2026: Chase Burns, the No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft who debuted with the Reds this season and struck out 67 batters in 43 innings; and Rhett Lowder, the seventh pick in 2023 who debuted with the Reds in 2024 but sat out much of 2025 because of a forearm strain and then an oblique strain.

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With Nick Martinez headed to free agency after making $21 million in 2025, the Reds can invest that money in some offense. Sal Stewart, who looked good in 18 late-season games with the Reds, has a chance to be an impact rookie, either at third base or first. Noelvi Marte’s midseason transition to right field was pretty seamless, although his bat went away in September (.191, 32 strikeouts, three walks) after he hit well in July and August. They’ll certainly need more power production from Elly De La Cruz, who finished with 22 home runs after somehow hitting only one in a 74-game stretch over the summer.

Playing in the same division as the Brewers and Chicago Cubs isn’t an easy assignment, but if the young hitters can improve — of course, we’ve been saying that about Cincinnati for the past decade — to back up this rotation, the Reds can return to the postseason.

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TORONTO — Every so often in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse, the “Top Gun Anthem,” full of soaring guitar notes and pick-me-up vibes, will randomly blast from inside a locker. Everyone knows the culprit. Jorge Polanco, the Mariners’ veteran second baseman, is not a fan of silencing his phone.

“But he loves Maverick and Iceman,” Mariners star Cal Raleigh said.

Nobody really minds. When a player is doing what Polanco has done this postseason — rescuing the Mariners from the danger zone seemingly daily, with his latest trick a go-ahead three-run home run that paved the way for Monday’s 10-3 victory — his ringtone could be Limp Bizkit and nobody would utter a peep.

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Instead, it’s the perfect soundtrack for this Mariners run, which currently sees them up two games to none against the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series. The “Top Gun Anthem” is an epic ballad filled with the sorts of ups and downs that personify an organization that has spent 49 years alternating among the desolation of mediocrity and the heartbreak of underachievement. The only team in Major League Baseball to never to play in a World Series, Seattle is two wins away from capturing its first American League pennant and is heading home to T-Mobile Park for Game 3.

The Mariners’ dominant position is in large part thanks to a 32-year-old infielder whose feats have earned him the right to be called Iceman himself — and yet that’s not the nickname Polanco wears these days.

“He’s George Bonds,” M’s catcher Mitch Garver said.

Yes, Polanco’s alter ego is the anglicized version of his first name and the surname of Major League Baseball’s all-time home run leader. He earned it earlier this season, Garver said, when “everything he hit was 110 [mph] in a gap or over the fence. It was unbelievable.”

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Particularly when considering that last winter, Polanco didn’t know whether he would be healthy enough to keep hitting major league pitching. Polanco, who had struggled for years with left knee issues, underwent surgery in October 2024 to repair his patellar tendon. A free agent, Polanco drew limited interest on the market and wound up re-signing with the Mariners for one year and $7.75 million.

“It’s been a journey, man,” Polanco said. “That’s the way I can put it. I wouldn’t say it’s been bad. I wouldn’t say it’s been easy. I think God just prepared me for this year. I’ve been hurt a little bit, so yeah; but now we here, and I’m glad to be back.

“You just have to have faith. You overcome. Come back stronger.”

Polanco’s strength has been on display all October. It first appeared in the second game of Seattle’s division series against the Detroit Tigers when he hit two home runs off ace Tarik Skubal, who is about to win his second consecutive Cy Young Award. It continued three games later in a winner-takes-all Game 5 when he lashed a single into right field in the 15th inning that advanced the Mariners to their first ALCS since 2001. It didn’t stop there, with Polanco’s go-ahead single in the sixth inning of Game 1 against the Blue Jays on Sunday.

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Then came Monday’s fifth-inning blast off Toronto reliever Louis Varland, who fed a 98 mph fastball over the plate and watched it leave the bat at 105.2 mph, flying 400 feet to turn a 3-3 tie into a 6-3 Seattle lead.

“He’s always been a great hitter,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “His swing right now is very short. That ball tonight, I wasn’t sure it was going to go out of the ballpark, but I think he’s just getting that kind of spin on it right now where it stays up.”

That is no accident. Polanco arrived in the major leagues with the Minnesota Twins in 2014 at age 20, a bat-to-ball savant whose ability to hit from both sides of the plate carved him out a regular role with the team.

“He wasn’t George Bonds before,” Garver said. “He was Harry Potter. Because he was a wizard. He’d just make hits appear.”

Polanco found power five years into his career, and he maxed out with 33 home runs for the Twins in 2021. But the degradation of his knee sapped the juice in his bat and left him flailing too often at pitches he’d have previously spit on. Last year, in his first season with the Mariners, his numbers cratered, but the organization appreciated Polanco’s even-keeled demeanor and believed fixing his knee would fix his swing too.

The Mariners were right. George Bonds was born during a ridiculous first month of the 2025 season when he whacked nine homers in 80 plate appearances. Polanco had embraced the M’s ethos of pulling the ball in the air. Raleigh led MLB with a 1.594 OPS on balls pulled. Third baseman Eugenio Suarez was second at 1.497. Polanco hit 23 of his 26 home runs this season to the pull side, and both of his homers off Skubal (hit from the right side) and the one against Varland (left) were met in front of the plate and yanked over the fence.

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“Throughout the years, I hated going to Minnesota just solely because of him,” said shortstop J.P. Crawford, the longest-tenured Mariner. “The guy single-handedly beat us so many times. We all know the type of player he is when he is healthy, and it’s clearly showing right now.”

Never in the game’s 150-year history had a player logged three consecutive game-winning hits in the fifth inning or later during the postseason. It’s the sort of performance teams need to win pennants — and championships. As brilliant as Raleigh has been in a could-be-MVP campaign and as conflagrant as Julio Rodriguez was in the second half and as dominant as Seattle’s pitching has been en route to this point, winning playoff baseball takes more.

Like, say, a guy who over the winter was an afterthought now hitting cleanup and never wavering, even in the highest-leverage situations.

“What’s most impressive is bouncing back after a rough year last year,” said Seattle pitcher Bryan Woo, who will start Game 3 on Wednesday against Toronto’s Shane Bieber. “Especially for a guy on his second team, back half of his career. To do what he’s doing — get healthy, come back, help the team like he has — is even more impressive than just playing good baseball.”

Playing good baseball helps too. Polanco has helped get Seattle in a place that barely a month ago looked impossible to conceive. From mid-August to early September, the Mariners lost 13 of 18, trailed the Houston Astros by 3½ games in the AL West and held a half-game lead on the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot. From there, the M’s went 17-4, won the West, earned a first-round bye and charted a course for history.

They’re not there. And yet even Polanco admitted that Seattle players can’t ignore the team’s history and recognize what it would mean to get to the World Series.

“Yeah, we think about it,” he said. “We’ve heard it a lot. We know.”

The knowledge hasn’t deterred them. Raleigh is raking. Rodriguez is slugging. Josh Naylor, who grew up in nearby Mississauga, Ontario, blasted a two-run home run in Game 2 of the ALCS. And George Bonds has shown up in style, cold as Iceman, cool as Maverick, perfectly happy to eschew silent mode in favor of loud contact.

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MILWAUKEE — When the Dodgers signed Blake Snell last offseason, it was to be a bona fide ace. But not just an ace — one who could lead L.A.â€s pitching staff through the postseason in big moments.

“Everyone wants to pitch in October,†Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said before NLCS Game 1. “I think for some it is literally a part of their identity and what they yearn for more than anything. And I think Blake is one of those guys.â€

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Snell is no stranger to big games, and his postseason résumé backs that up, with a 2.92 ERA across 12 postseason starts entering Monday. So when the Dodgers were deciding who would take the ball for Game 1 of the NLCS, there was little question whom theyâ€d turn to.

[Get more L.A. news: Dodgers team feed]

And sure enough, in L.A.â€s 2-1 victory over the Brewers, the two-time Cy Young Award winner did what he has done his entire career: Dominate.

“I feel like the whole postseason, I’ve been pretty locked in, pretty consistent,†Snell said after his masterful performance. “The last three, I felt really good, really locked in.â€

Coming off an NLDS performance in which he allowed just one hit over six innings against the Phillies, the Dodgers†left-hander was even better in Game 1 against the Brewers.

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Snell set the tone from the first frame, getting both Christian Yelich and William Contreras to strike out swinging. From those two at-bats alone, it was easy to see that Snell had everything in his arsenal working.

“This is as good as I can remember [from Snell] in the postseason against a very gritty team [that] puts the ball in play,†Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “The changeup was the pitch of the night. His command was great. And you’re not going to see too many performances like that, certainly in the postseason. This was pretty special.â€

Said Brewers manager Pat Murphy: “I think it’s the most dominant performance against us. And I’ve been here 10 years.â€

After that first inning, the two-time Cy Young winner continued to cruise, getting into a rhythm and setting down Brewers hitters one by one. Snell had his full repertoire working against Milwaukee, but as his manager observed, the pitch that stood out was the changeup. Of Snellâ€s 22 swing-and-misses Monday, 14 came on the pitch.

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“Coming into the game, I want all four pitches to feel good, to just have some kind of feel,†Snell said. “[But] when I come out to the game, it’ll be different. This is what I’m seeing — I’ll go more changeups to this hitter or more sliders. But the whole goal is to feel confident I can strike all four.â€

In his outing Monday, Snell was not only dominant but also efficient. The Dodgers†ace got through eight shutout innings while facing the minimum. The only baserunner he allowed was on a Caleb Durbin third-inning single. After that, Snell promptly picked off Durbin trying to steal.

“When you face a power pitcher that can locate three plus pitches, you know it’s going to be tough,†said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who broke the scoreless tie and gave the Dodgers a lead with a sixth-inning solo homer. “How he pitched tonight is probably not going to be how he pitches the next time. It’s hard to scout. It’s hard to feel good against someone like that. You might have success in one game, and it will be completely thrown out the door, and you’re going to strike out three times.â€

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The Dodgers†bullpen made it dramatic in the end, surrendering three walks, a double and the Brewers†only score in the bottom of the ninth. But they just barely held on to secure the third win of the postseason for the Dodgers†southpaw, whose final line included striking out 10 and not walking a single batter.

The 10 strikeouts marked a postseason career high for Snell, who has a penchant for strikeouts, and made him the first pitcher in MLB postseason history with at least 10 strikeouts, one or fewer hits allowed and zero walks in a start of at least eight innings. And according to MLB.comâ€s Sarah Langs, it was the first postseason start in which a pitcher faced the minimum through eight innings since Don Larsenâ€s legendary World Series perfect game in 1956.

The Dodgers signed Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal in December because they believed he was a pitcher who could help them not only get back to the World Series but also become the first team in 25 years to repeat as champions. It doesnâ€t matter that he pitched only 61 â…“ innings in the regular season; when an ace is on a roll like Snell is right now, donâ€t expect that to slow down anytime soon.

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Throughout his career, L.A.â€s ace has heard the chatter about what he is or isnâ€t as a starting pitcher, but he tends to let his performances do the talking. And if he keeps performing like this, the next stage will be the World Series, and Snell will be the Dodgers†leading man.

“Every situation’s a pressure situation [in the postseason],†he said. “The deeper you go into the postseason, the more that doubt will creep in … there’s always a way to find a flaw in something. And it will be said.

“[But in the] postseason, if you dominate and you do great, no one can say anything. And that’s probably the best feeling is you get to prove yourself right.â€

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Tyrese Haliburton may not have a specific MLB team he roots for, but he certainly isn’t a fan of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Indiana Pacers star has made it clear he’s not rooting for the Brewers in the MLB playoffs in recent days. He wore a Chicago Cubs jersey to a Pacers preseason game on Saturday and wore a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey to Indiana’s game on Monday during Game 1 of the NLCS.

Haliburton is from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which is just about an hour away from Milwaukee, so if he were to have an MLB team, it would seemingly be the Brewers. However, he’s clearly grown to dislike Milwaukee—or at least its sports teams—in recent years.

The Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks are division rivals and see each other four times a year. Their rivalry has intensified over the last two years as well, since Indiana has eliminated Milwaukee in the playoffs in each of the last two years.

As if Haliburton didn’t have enough of a reason not to like the Bucks, his former teammate Myles Turner signed with Milwaukee this offseason after spending the first 10 years of his career in Indiana. Turner also called out Pacers fans following his exit.

Haliburton won’t have the chance to take on the Bucks during the season since he’s out for the year with a torn Achilles he suffered in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The 25-year-old is coming off a season in which he averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 assists before putting together one of the most memorable postseason runs in recent memory.

Maybe Haliburton isn’t trolling the Brewers and just happens to be a fan of both the Cubs and Dodgers, though that seems unlikely. If Milwaukee advances to the World Series and Haliburton wears either a Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays jersey, fans will know for sure his intention behind the jerseys.

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TORONTO — Only five days had passed since Cal Raleighâ€s last home run, but for these Seattle Mariners, it felt like an eternity.

That made sense, considering the circumstances. Quite a bit transpired between Raleighâ€s blast in ALDS Game 3 on Tuesday in Detroit and his game-tying big fly in Seattleâ€s 3-1 ALCS Game 1 win on Sunday in Toronto.

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Hereâ€s an exhausting, inexhaustive list.

The Mariners jumped to an early lead in ALDS Game 4, wasted that golden opportunity with an untimely bullpen implosion, flew home to Seattle, participated in one of the wonkiest, most unforgettable playoff games this century, drank some beers, sprayed some Champagne, basked in the joy of a city in revelry, caught a few hours of precious shuteye, located their passports, endured a lengthy flight delay caused by a mechanical issue on the team charter, jetted across the continent and readied themselves to compete for a trip to the World Series.

[Get more Seattle news: Mariners team feed]

And while the entire experience has been draining for everybody in navy and teal, nobody has shouldered more of the load — physical and emotional — than Raleigh. He is, of course, the de facto leader of this bunch, the heart, soul and cushioned backside of the 2025 Seattle Mariners. The MVP contender caught all 15 innings of that Game 5 thrill ride, rising from and lowering into his squat before and after all 209 pitches from Mariners†arms. The Big Dumperâ€s lower half, despite its heralded girth, was surely sore and achy the next day.

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“The mental part of it is definitely more exhausting than the physical,†Raleigh said on Saturdayâ€s off day. “Obviously, you’re physically tired, but mentally, having to deal with new pitchers and trying to face guys six, seven, eight times — whatever amount it was — it gets to be tough.â€

But on Sunday in Toronto, Raleigh showed absolutely no signs of weariness.

“If he is tired, he never says anything about it, that’s for sure,†Mariners pitcher Emerson Hancock told Yahoo Sports after the game. “He shows up every day, gets his work in, and he’s ready to rock and roll.â€

Raleigh, unsurprisingly, was Seattleâ€s driving force once again in Game 1 of the ALCS.

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His sixth-inning, two-out laser tied the score at one, jolting awake a Seattle offense that looked understandably tired in the early going. It also kept the inning alive, allowing the Mariners to score again two batters later on an RBI single from Jorge Polanco, the hero of Game 5.

But Raleighâ€s jack was a vintage Big Dumper swing, controlled but powerful. The long ball, his 62nd of the year, was Seattleâ€s first since Raleigh went yard way back in the ninth inning of ALDS Game 3. It was another enormous moment in a season full of them.

“I don’t want to say we feel accustomed to it, because obviously it’s special, but I think it’s just what he expects of himself,†Mariners starter Brian Woo told Yahoo Sports afterward. “So yeah, you know, we’re not surprised.â€

“We’ve seen Cal do that so often in a big situation there to get us back tied,†Mariners skipper Dan Wilson said in his postgame media conference. “I thought that was a big lift in terms of our dugout and getting us back in it.â€

Raleigh also got the Mâ€s going with a single in the top of the first, but Jays starter Kevin Gausman was able to work out of trouble. Gausman proceeded to retire the next 15 Mariners he faced. Seattle hitters were perplexed by the right-handerâ€s trademark splitter, and it seemed like Gausman was in line to deliver a legendary performance in front of a hopping home crowd.

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As it turned out, the only run support the lanky right received came on the very first pitch seen by a Blue Jay on the night: a leadoff tank from DH George Springer that sent Rogers Centre into a frenzy. After that blemish — Springerâ€s 21st career postseason tater — Mariners starter Bryce Miller also cruised through six relatively uneventful innings.

Miller, forced into a start on short rest after Seattle used multiple starters in relief during the ALDS clincher, was outstanding, scattering three walks and just one additional base hit as he shut down a Toronto offense that was firing on all cylinders last round against the New York Yankees. The 27-year-old righty, who burst onto the scene last season, had an uneven, injury-impacted 2025, scuffling to a 5.68 ERA across 18 starts. No qualified pitcher in baseball surrendered a higher average exit velocity than Miller this season. But he seems to have rediscovered his good stuff at just the right time, first with a solid showing in ALDS Game 4 and now with a masterful outing in ALCS Game 1.

“Really give Bryce credit — going on short rest and going six innings like that. It was really huge, especially for our bullpen, who threw a lot of pitches the other day,†Raleigh gushed afterward.

But Seattleâ€s bullpen — or, at least, the relievers who threw in Game 1 — didnâ€t seem particularly impacted by the heavy workload. Gabe Speier, Matt Brash and Andres Muñoz combined to twirl three perfect innings, finishing Millerâ€s gem and propelling the Mariners to an unlikely and invigorating 1-0 lead in this ALCS.

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On Monday in Game 2, Seattle will turn to Logan Gilbert, fresh off a seven-strikeout, zero-walk masterpiece in ALDS Game 3. Heâ€ll go up against Toronto rookie Trey Yesavage, who baffled the Yankees into oblivion in his fourth career big-league start last week.

Raleigh, certainly, will have an impact on the evenings of both men.

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