the smoke is clearing
The Dodgers went 1-5 against the Braves, including getting swept in Atlanta. Atlanta also finished with one of the stronger run differentials in the NL.
The White Sox and the Yankees won their Wild Card Series in the AL, and the Padres swept the listless Cubs in the NL. The only Wild Card Teams left are the Braves and the Phillies, who are tied at 1-1. Winner takes all tonight to decide who plays the Dodgers.
Dodgers NLDS schedule:
Game 1: Saturday, Oct. 3 at Dodger Stadium, 1:00 PM Pacific / 4:00 PM Eastern
Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 4 at Dodger Stadium, 5:00 PM Pacific / 8:00 PM Eastern
Game 3: Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Atlanta or Philadelphia
Games 4 and 5 if necessary.
If Philadelphia wins tonight: that is the team the Dodgers handled better this year, going 4-2 against the Phillies. Philadelphia still has serious thunder with Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, and both homered in Game 2 yesterday. Their bullpen has also already been pushed, with Andrew Painter throwing three innings in relief.
If Atlanta wins: the regular-season history is much uglier. The Dodgers went 1-5 against the Braves, including getting swept in Atlanta. Atlanta also finished with one of the stronger run differentials in the NL.
There is one potentially important wrinkle: Atlanta's rotation is pretty battered right now. They are reportedly looking at Grant Holmes/Ray Kerr plus the bullpen for Game 3 tonight, rather than having a rested frontline starter.
So from a purely factual matchup standpoint, the contrast is pretty stark:
One thing I’d really watch tonight is how many pitchers the winner has to burn. The Dodgers are sitting at home while Philadelphia and Atlanta play a winner-take-all game. If tonight turns into an 11-inning bullpen barbecue, that could matter almost as much as which team survives.
And based strictly on the season series, Atlanta gave the Dodgers substantially more trouble than Philadelphia did. However, this is the playoffs... so anything can happen.
I think you might see a different Dodger team in the playoffs, insofar as the hitting goes. Some think that DePaula AND Kim could make the playoff roster. Some think the Dodgers could go with 12 pitchers and 14 position players. We shall find out soon...
Discussion (34)
Disagree, not disagreeable
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Kim makes sense as a pinch-runner and not much else. Unless he's been working on his bunting.
I think he gets traded in the offseason to the Angels or Seattle.
We lost 3 1 run games In ATL ANY of those games could have went the other way.
I dont care who we face.
I would rather play the Braves due to the Phillies starting pitching. The regular season match-ups don't matter much to me. The Dodgers manage (rest) the staff al season, so it's hard to get a read. Case in point, the Brewers swept the Dodgers during last year's regular season.
I said it before and I’ll say it again - who did what yesterday means nothing. What matters is now.
The Dodger team was built for this moment. It’s now, finally, October. If they do what they are paid to do, they will win.
It doesn't matter to me who we will play Saturday. Show up and win!
Doesn’t matter who they play. If they hit , they win. The pitching will be superb. Doc will manage like he has for the past 2 World Series. HIT! HiT! HIT!!!!!. That’s the key to winning another championship. A rested Freddie. A motivated Mookie. A rejuvenated Teo. A healthy Will Smith. A rested Pages. A determined Max. And a Tucker , who I believe comes up big in the playoffs! Ohtani? Will he be in beast mode? Or will he be in bust mode? I’m thinking BEAST mode. Bring on whomever!
Another podcast previewing the AFL, this one from Baseball America:
Open on podcasts.apple.comhttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/baseball-america/id201539011?i=1000792538079Quintero love YOLO the Davalan to 2B trial. They mention how previously the Dodgers development only considered CD an OF, but what's the downside to trying him at 2B?!?!?
Time for Shohei to show PCA what a real MVP does in the playoffs!
Alec Thomas declared for free agency.
I think I'd prefer the Phils. Their starters scare me a little, especially if the Dodgers still have a residual hitting funk with Ohtani and Freeman still banged up. It's a decent matchup. The strengths of both teams are their starters. Relief is a flaw with the Phils.
That Sale shutout and sweep by the Braves still has a lingering residue, and I'd prefer the Dodgers don't match up with them.
...
Looking at Fangraphs, the Phils weren't great offensively this year at all.
Open on www.fangraphs.comhttps://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2026&season1=2026&ind=0&team=0%2Cts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&stats=bat&month=0As others have mentioned here already, I'm confident in the starters and the relief corps. The hitting needs to show up.
You can throw out all regular season head to head results when the playoffs begin. Meaningless. Look what we did last year to the Brewers in the postseason . Or what we did to the 88 Mets after we went winless against them during the regular season. Many more examples to the negative side are out there too.
Players must be activated and released from their MiLB option to be added to the playoff rosters. With Edgardo Henriquez, Hyeseong Kim, and Ronan Kopp all activated, the current active LAD roster stands at 31. That is 31 currently eligible for the playoffs. I do not expect any of the pitchers currently on the 60-day IL to be activated and eligible for the playoffs.
8 additional players are currently still optioned to OKC and are not eligible to be activated until their 10 or 15 days are up. Josue De Paula was optioned September 23, meaning he can be activated October 3, the day the roster needs to be turned in. Activate him and then put him on the roster. Players who could be activated for the NLDS:
• Paul Gervase optioned September 16, eligible to be activated October 1 • Eliézer Alfonzo optioned September 21, eligible to be activated October 1 • Landon Knack optioned September 18, eligible to be activated October 3
Players who are currently not eligible to be activated, but could be eligible for the NLDS replacing an injured player.
• Seth Halvorsen optioned September 20, eligible to be activated October 5 • Alex Freeland optioned September 27, eligible to be activated October 7 • Emmet Sheehan optioned September 23, eligible to be activated October 8 • Kyle Hurt optioned September 23, eligible to be activated October 8
All four of these players should be activated and eligible for the NLCS. If the Dodgers advance to the NLCS they will have 39 players activated to select from.
I think I prefer playing Atlanta because their pitching is far less scary, in my opinion, than Phillies. Sale is great but he may be the only scary one. Their bullpen is mediocre. Iglesias always creates drama….never makes it easy on Braves’ fans’ hearts.
Phillies have 4 very strong starters as we all know and a decent bullpen and a great closer. I know they have struggled scoring runs this past month but they do have some long ball threats we all know about.
Give me Atl.
Great Katie Woo piece ($$$$): https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7647810/2026/10/01/dodgers-dynasty-freddie-freeman-last-ride/?unlocked_article_code=1.FVE.SBMw.c5V2a9MWxQuK&source=emp_shared_article&smid=ta-ios-share
Freddie: “I don’t have that many years left of playing, so you take a step back and realize how special it is to come to the field every day for the chance to win a championship every year,” Freeman said. “You look around, you’ve been with certain guys for those multiple titles, and you do realize that.”
Mookie: “Half of us ain’t even playing three more years, you know? As hard as it is, as hard as the game is becoming, with all the changes I’m sure that are about to come, stuff like this just doesn’t come around.”
Atlanta up 3-0 in the first. Harris III hit a 3-run homer.