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The Padres and Mets are a win away from advancing, and three more teams have taken their broadcasts to the mothership. We have four games today: buckle in. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
On the Ropes, Part I: This series keeps delivering
Padres 6, Dodgers 5: It all looked very familiar for a couple of innings. Mookie Betts led off the game by hitting a ball to nearly the exact same spot where Jurickson Profar had robbed him in Game 2. But this one tipped off Profar’s glove for a home run.
Then the Padres — fueled by a frustrating-but-legal (and frankly, very smart) base-running swerve by Manny Machado — rattled off six runs in the second inning, the same number they combined to score in the eighth and ninth innings Sunday. Fernando Tatis Jr. homered again (more on him in a minute). But this game also took a turn: Teoscar Hernández’s grand slam in the top of the third made it a one-run contest.
What was next? More heated jawing back and forth? More moments to be caught on grainy film and examined the next day like the Zapruder film?
Actually, no. It all settled down after that. Walker Buehler and Michael King righted their respective ships, the bullpens locked it down and nobody else scored the rest of the way. The one constant: The Padres emerged victorious again, and the Dodgers are now one loss away from elimination.
Game 4 is tonight (9:08 p.m. ET, FS1), and the Padres will send Dylan Cease to the mound on short rest. The Dodgers are going with a bullpen game. Yikes.
Stream the MLB playoffs on Fubo.
Ken’s Notebook: Tatis meeting the moment
From my latest column:
David Ortiz. That was Xander Bogaerts’ comp for Fernando Tatis Jr.
For Bogaerts, it was a legitimate frame of reference. His rookie season with the Boston Red Sox was 2013, the year in which Ortiz won World Series MVP.
In 85 postseason games, Ortiz was a career .289 hitter with a .947 OPS. Tatis, 25, obviously has a long way to go to match Big Papi. But his performance in his first postseason before fans has been nothing short of electrifying, a vivid reminder of the player Tatis was when he first entered the majors, and can be for the majority if not the entirety of his contract, which extends through 2034.
“David did it a long time,” Bogaerts said Tuesday night after the San Diego Padres moved within one game of the National League Championship Series with a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. “But for how young (Tatis) is, you don’t see many people doing what he’s doing right now. He’s really putting us on his back right now. It’s special to see.”
Tatis’ only previous appearance in the postseason was in 2020, when fans were not allowed inside ballparks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was terrific in the wild-card round, but largely ineffective in the Padres’ Division Series loss to the Dodgers. But that October was not one anyone cares to remember.
This October, playing in packed ballparks both at home and on the road, Tatis is elevating his game beyond where it was even during his resurgent regular season. More than most players, he thrives in these moments. And it shows. Man, does it show.
In five games this postseason, Tatis is 10-for-18 with four homers, including his two-run shot that capped off the Padres’ six-run second inning Tuesday night. In the first three innings alone, he is an astonishing 7-for-8 with three homers. The games in the Division Series, in particular, resemble heavyweight fights. And Tatis is providing early knockout blows. Shohei Ohtani has struck out six times, Tatis none.
Tatis waited a long time for this. Injuries cost him time in four of his last five full seasons. His 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs spanned 2022, when the Padres advanced to the NLCS, and ‘23. It’s difficult to say Tatis has pent-up energy when he’s always bursting with energy. But now, he’s playing as if on a pogo stick, bounding from one achievement to another.
“It’s just beautiful,” Tatis said. “Definitely rewarding through everything I’ve been through, through what we’ve been through as a group. Building together to get over here is just really, really hard work from the front office, from the players, getting involved, putting their heart into it.
“And, man, when you play baseball like this in the postseason, you get all those memories back. You just feel grateful where you’re at. And just embracing every single moment and definitely not taking it for granted.”
More here.
On the Ropes, Part II: An unusually normal win
Mets 7, Phillies 2: Talk about unpredictable: Just when we figured out the Mets’ MO — games designed in a lab to extract maximum adrenaline — they won Game 3 by leading it wire-to-wire.
Pete Alonso continued his October resurrection by homering yet again, then the Mets kept piling on throughout the game. The Phillies came to life a bit in the late innings, scoring two runs in the top of the eighth, but it was far too little and far too late.
But the big story of Game 3 was Sean Manaea:
- Hours after learning of his aunt’s passing, Manaea allowed just one run (an inherited one after he left in the eighth) on three hits in seven-plus innings, striking out six and walking two.
- Armed with a new cross-body delivery (he credits watching Chris Sale), the 32-year-old Manaea had his best season in the big leagues this year, after six years with the A’s and one each with the Padres and Giants. Now he has the Mets one win away from the NLCS.
The Phillies’ backs are now firmly against the wall, and after a huge, emotional walk-off in Game 2, they looked eminently beatable yesterday. They’ll need a win today to avoid another October disappointment and bring the series back to Philly. They’ll send Ranger Suárez to the mound in Queens to face Jose Quintana. (5:08 p.m. ET, FS1)
More Mets: If the series goes five games, Kodai Senga will take the mound with the season on the line. Eno Sarris digs in on what we can expect.
Messes, Continued: MLB assumes trio of TV rights
Ahead of today’s hearing in the Diamond Sports/Bally bankruptcy saga, news broke yesterday that MLB would be handling the TV broadcasts for three more teams: the Brewers, Guardians and Twins. In addition, the Rangers are also not returning to Bally (the team is still exploring its options).
With those three new teams added into the fold, MLB holds the broadcast rights to six teams, also including the Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies.
A few important notes:
- Goodbye, blackouts. Fans of these six teams will finally be free of local blackouts. Local streaming was previously available in five of Bally’s 12 markets, but for the other seven, the only option was a cable TV subscription.
- The games will still appear on television. MLB will negotiate with cable providers the same way that Bally and other RSNs do.
- The start of something bigger? Commissioner Rob Manfred has previously indicated that he would like to launch a national, blackout-free streaming service, but felt that 14 teams would be the minimum. MLB currently only has six, but …
- Eight other teams’ rights are currently up in the air. The Tigers and Rays have already been dropped by (but could renegotiate with) Bally, and, as Evan Drellich reports: “Diamond also intimated in court that if the Los Angeles Angels, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals and Miami Marlins do not accept renegotiated deals, Diamond will eventually walk away from them as well.”
We’ll almost certainly have more on this tomorrow after the hearing.
Handshakes and High Fives
In addition to the NLDS Game 4s, the AL will play both Game 3s today.
- Yankees-Royals: Jazz Chisholm Jr. said the Royals “got lucky” in Game 2. Aaron Boone walked that back. Either way, New York will need more power from its sluggers. In Kansas City, with Salvy Perez as the constant — and Patrick Mahomes in the team’s corner — the Royals have a chance to shock the world. (7:08 p.m. ET, TBS)
- Guardians-Tigers: Every unlikely playoff run needs a local legend. In Detroit, it might be the guy who makes the “Don’t Let the Tigers Get Hot” signs. (Or maybe it’s catcher Jake Rogers.) Meanwhile, the Guardians hope Alex Cobb can make good on his long-awaited playoff start. (3:08 p.m. ET, TBS)
The Astros are in an unfamiliar position: eliminated before the ALCS. Chandler Rome says they got away from their offensive identity, and tries to point the way home.
Luis Tiant died yesterday at 83 years of age. Steve Buckley eulogizes the legend, and the joy he brought to the game.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Our ranking of the best ballparks for playoff action among this postseason field.
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(Top photo: Denis Poroy / Imagn Images)
