Having a tough time following along with the MLB postseason? Just want to relive the best moments?
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:
The Brewers are in trouble
The Dodgers are now up 3-0 in the NLCS, because the Brewers can’t hit to save their season. It’s not that Los Angeles is just throwing random pitchers out there — their rotation is very expensive and is doing what it is being paid to do, and they haven’t even gotten to starting Shohei Ohtani yet — but Milwaukee has hit well all season regardless of opponents. The Dodgers’ rotation is on fire at the right time, though, and the Brewers are suffering for it.
Mookie Betts doubled in a run in the bottom of the first to put the Dodgers up 1-0, driving in Ohtani, and then Jake Bauers tied things up in the bottom of the inning. That’s where the score stood for some time — Aaron Ashby was replaced on the mound in the first inning after giving up that run to Betts, with Jacob Misiorowski replacing him, and the rookie then retired 15 of his first 16 batters while striking out nine Dodgers.
He couldn’t retire them all, however. In the bottom of the sixth, Tommy Edman singled, driving in Will Smith and putting Freddie Freeman at third base.
Abner Uribe would come on in relief, and while he struck out Teoscar Hernandez to pick up the second out of the inning, he then had a throwing error on a pickoff at first, which allowed Freeman to score.
As the Brewers never scored another run, the Uribe error didn’t end up mattering that much in the end, but it’s still representative of the kind of series that they have had. They were so close to winning in Game 1, which they lost 2-1 after Blake Treinen only nearly hit Brice Turang with a pitch instead of actually hitting them, and in Game 3, which was a poor opening performance by Ashby and a botched pickoff away from still being tied late. They are down 3-0, and the Dodgers look unstoppable in that regard — which isn’t helped by how dominant their pitching has been — but the actual performance in the series has been much closer than that implies. It’s not like the Dodgers’ lineup is crushing it, either.
Whether Milwaukee can turn things around is in question, since the Dodgers can blow three games in a row and still win a Game 7. The Brewers have to worry about winning Game 4 before they can think about the odds or probabilities or anything like that, however. And they will have to get by Shohei Ohtani at 8:38 p.m. ET on Friday to do that.
Jays even up the ALCS
The Brewers would like to experience a little bit of what the Blue Jays are feeling right now — after losing the first two games of the ALCS at home, they have evened up the series with the Mariners by winning their first two road games. Josh Naylor let the Mariners strike first with a solo shot in the bottom of the second, but the Jays quickly answered when Andres Gimenez went yard to put Toronto up 2-1 in the third.
Things got worse before they got better: starting pitcher Luis Castillo would allow Nathan Lukes, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk on base following the home run, which forced the Mariners to bring in reliever Gabe Speier. His postseason troubles continued, as he walked the first batter he faced, Daulton Varsho, giving Toronto another run.
The next pitching change in the fourth went just about as well, as Matt Brash entered for Speier and then let a run score on a wild pitch to put Toronto up 5-1. Don’t worry, the Blue Jays also played some good defense out there, too.
It was just piling on at this point, but having Andres Gimenez drive in four runs from the nine hole is one of those things that is just going to haunt a fan base forever, if the Mariners end up losing the ALCS, anyway. If they win, well, that’s just a thing that happens sometimes. If they lose… haunting.
The Blue Jays will send Kevin Gausman to the mound on Friday at 6:38 p.m. ET on FS1, to take on Bryce Miller in their attempt to take a series lead. This doesn’t mean anything in terms of projections or predictions, but it should be noted that the Mariners have never won more than two games in an ALCS before — if they win on Friday in Game 5, that will be the first time they’ve managed the feat.
Mad Max
Max Scherzer didn’t get a mention above, but that’s because he deserves his own little section, both for his turn-back-the-clock performance — 5.2 innings with 5 strikeouts, 3 hits and just 2 runs allowed — as well as for putting the fear of Mad Max into his teammates and manager, John Schneider.
“Conversation” is doing a lot of work there — Schneider came to the mound to pull Scherzer, and Max let him know, very emphatically, how he felt about that. Schneider promptly walked back to the dugout, and Scherzer struck out his man.
Isaiah Kiner-Falefa said of the mound visit that, “I was nervous. I’m always nervous around Max when he’s pitching. I was told not to touch him, not to talk to him … for me to see that fire and for him to finish the inning, I think that was the coolest part.”
Postgame, Schneider told the assembled media that, “It was awesome, I thought he was going to kill me, it was great.
Scherzer told FOX Sports’ Derek Jeter after the game that he “wanted the ball and I basically told him that in a little bit different language.” Schneider passed Scherzer in the hall heading to the postgame presser, and, per MLB, clapped him on the back and said, “All right, you f—— psycho, get in there.” Just incredible vibes all around. Who knows what’s in his future, as he’s 4 years old, but he got to go Maximum Scherzer for at least one more playoff start.
Per Sarah Langs, the Blue Jays are the sixth team that Scherzer has started a postseason game for in his career, giving him the most of any player. It’s also tied for the most teams for a player to appear in a playoff game for, with David Wells, Kenny Lofton, Josh Donaldson and Fernando Rodney making up the rest of the list.
Vlad gets his own record
Guerrero went deep, again, on Thursday.
That gave him five home runs in these playoffs, tying Jose Bautista for the most by a Blue Jays batter in a single postseason, per Sarah Langs. Guerrero has at least two more games to try to take that record for himself, too.
Q: When is Josh Naylor like Ken Griffey Jr.?
A: When he hits his second homer of the postseason after already having multiple stolen bases — they are the only two Mariners to accomplish the feat, per Langs.
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