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The Dodgers roared back for a blowout in Game 3, and … the White Sox are for sale? Are they? Are they? Plus: Ken on Kiké Hernández’s heroics. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!
NLCS Game 3: Dodgers blank Mets to take 2-1 lead
Dodgers 8, Mets 0: Remember when the Dodgers pitchers had piled up a 33-inning scoreless streak? Well, after allowing six runs in the first two innings of Game 2 of the NLCS, they have allowed just one more run in the subsequent 16 innings.
Remember: This is the team that was going to have to hit their way through the NLDS. That link isn’t to get Fabian Ardaya featured on @OldTakesExposed; he was right when he said it! The Dodgers’ pitching staff is missing Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone — oh, and Shohei Ohtani, lest we forget.
And yet, they have allowed zero runs in 48 out of their last 51 innings. The latest pitching miracle: Walker Buehler, whose struggles this year have been well-documented as he returned from his second Tommy John surgery and dealt with a hip issue.
The worries were laid to rest early last night. Buehler was fantastic. After getting no strikeouts in his NLDS outing against the Padres, he struck out six in four shutout innings last night, then handed it off to a fresh Dodgers bullpen, which ran off and hid with a lead that grew from two to four, then seven then eight runs.
Two weird stat line notes:
- What the heck is going on with Ohtani? His eighth-inning home run came with two runners on, meaning he is now 7-for-9 with two home runs this postseason when there are runners on base. When the bases are clear? 0-for-22.
- In his last eight plate appearances, Max Muncy is 3-for-3 with a single, two home runs and five walks.
As for the Mets, don’t expect much change in the lineup tonight. “I’m going to continue to ride our guys,” manager Carlos Mendoza said last night.
NLCS Game 4: Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Jose Quintana (8:08 p.m. ET, FS1. Stream the MLB playoffs on Fubo.)
Ken’s Notebook: Hernández’s playoff heroics symbolic of Dodgers’ next-man-up success
From my latest column:
NEW YORK — Dodgers people keep saying they brought back Kiké Hernández to help them win 11 games in October. Really? Hernández didn’t even start the team’s first three playoff games, entering the lineup only when shortstop Miguel Rojas could bear to play with his torn left adductor no more.
So, in the wake of Hernández’s 15th career postseason homer, a two-run shot that extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0 in Game 3 of the NLCS last night, the question begged to be asked:
If Rojas was healthy, would Hernández even be playing?
“That’s a good question. I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, smiling. “He’s in there now.”
He’s in there, all right, embodying the one-for-all, all-for-one ethos of the 2024 Dodgers. Granted, it’s a lot easier to count on interchangeable parts when your payroll is $325 million. But the Dodgers began doing this in spring training, when they moved Gavin Lux to second and installed Mookie Betts at short, costing Rojas his starting job. Rojas helped Betts adapt to his new position, then returned to short for the rest of the season after Betts fractured his left hand on June 17.
“That’s the mojo of this team,” Rojas said.
Betts missed nearly two months, returning in right field. Third baseman Max Muncy, who reached base five times and hit his second home run of the series in Game 3, was out more than three months with a strained left oblique. First baseman Freddie Freeman played 147 games, his lowest total since 2017, due to his son Max’s illness, a broken finger and severely sprained right ankle that continues to hamper him. And of course, an entire documentary could be written about the Dodgers’ pitching maladies, which include the placements of 12 starting pitchers on the injured list.
Still, the Dodgers have enough. They always seem to, don’t they? Walker Buehler, coming off a frustrating regular season in his return from his second Tommy John surgery, recaptured his October magic last night, crafting four scoreless innings. Game 4 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto missed nearly three months with a strained right rotator cuff, only to pitch brilliantly in the winner-take-all game of the Division Series.
That’s the least the Dodgers should expect from their $325 million free agent, the most expensive pitcher in major-league history, but what makes this franchise so brutally efficient is that it wins on the margins, too. All three of its deadline acquisitions — Jack Flaherty, Tommy Edman and Michael Kopech — have emerged as major contributors. And Hernández, a $4 million signing on Feb. 26, after the start of spring training, is again rising to the moment. At age 33. After three straight sub-par offensive campaigns.
More here.
Big Deals: White Sox (also) for sale?
It’s been a big October for the AL Central. The Guardians are in the ALCS. The Royals and Tigers played more baseball games in 2024 than any of us would have guessed. And this week — just a couple of days after the announcement that the Twins were being put up for sale, Britt Ghiroli reports that White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf is ”open to selling” the team.
Honestly, this isn’t the worst relegation system I’ve ever heard. Make the playoffs or sell the team? I could get behind it.
As Ghiroli reports, “The 88-year-old Reinsdorf is in active discussions with a group led by former big leaguer Dave Stewart.” Stewart, you may remember, has been a big part of the movement to bring an MLB expansion team to Nashville, Tenn.
It’s not definitive that a sale would necessarily mean a relocation, but it’s worth remembering that Reinsdorf has been attempting to get approval for public funding for a new stadium. Call me cynical, but it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard a sports owner use “We might sell to the guy who might move the team” to grease the wheels.
But the timing is curious to me. Why now? After a modern-record 121 losses? It doesn’t seem to be the best time to capitalize on the team’s value — either in a sale or in an attempt to get public funding.
There’s still a lot we don’t know yet, but fortunately, we have Jon Greenberg to help make sense of what we do.
You Should Know About: The journeys of two ALCS pitchers
As we look forward to Game 3 of the ALCS, we have two profiles today on pitchers who could play big roles in the remainder of this series: Cade Smith of the Guardians and Clarke Schmidt of the Yankees.
- For Smith, Zack Meisel reminds us that it wasn’t even a foregone conclusion that the rookie would make the Opening Day roster. After having success in High A and Double A, Smith had a 4.87 ERA in 40 2/3 innings in Triple A, all last year. But this year? He was one of just six relievers to log more than 100 strikeouts, and his ERA was a sparkling 1.91. I’ll let Meisel take it from here:“Smith’s fastball rated as the most effective pitch in the sport in 2024, per Statcast, ahead of Chris Sale’s slider and (Emmanuel) Clase’s cutter. It averaged 96 mph, but with elite extension, it might as well be a marble zipping toward the plate at 106 mph.”
- Meanwhile, in New York, Schmidt was once also something of a gamble. In 2017, the University of South Carolina pitcher was still recovering from Tommy John surgery when the Yankees took him with the 16th pick of the draft. There’s never 100 percent certainty that a pitcher will return to form after the surgery, but as Brendan Kuty tells us, the team believed in the kid they had scouted since his sophomore year of high school.It paid off. Schmidt was very good early in the season before a strained right lat kept him sidelined from late May through early September. He was good after that, too, finishing the season 5-5 with a 2.85 ERA. His first postseason start was good but short — two runs in 4 2/3 innings in a 3-2 win that put the Yankees a game away from eliminating the Royals.He could do the same to the Guardians tonight.
ALCS Game 3: Schmidt vs. Matthew Boyd (5:08 p.m. ET, TBS).
Handshakes and High Fives
On June 25, Luis Arraez of the Padres was hitting .310 when he injured his thumb sliding into second base. The injury was worse than we knew — he revealed yesterday that he had surgery to repair it. For what it’s worth, Arraez batted .319 after the injury.
Speaking of strong second halves: Dansby Swanson’s finish to the season should provide the Cubs with some hope, says Sahadev Sharma. Just so long as they don’t let it fool them into thinking they don’t need to add talent.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Our news story on the Gold Glove award finalists.
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(Top photo: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
