After six long months of competition, the Major League Baseball season reaches its climax. The playoffs get underway on Tuesday with the Wild Card games in both circuits, in which eight teams will be fighting to advance to the Divisional Series, where Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Toronto and Seattle are already waiting.
It’s rare not to see the Dodgers among those “seeded” teams, as they are MLB’s defending monarchs and one of the most complete nines in baseball history. But a complex year with multiple injuries has pushed the Angels into the wild card, where they will face Cincinnati, a team that has surprised by eliminating the Mets and has absolutely nothing to lose.
Honours
- Cincinnati Reds: 5 World Series, 9 National League titles. They last won a championship in 1990
- Los Angeles Dodgers: Eight World Series, 25 National League titles. They are the current champions and are looking to repeat the crown, something no team has achieved since the Yankees’ treble between 1998 and 2000
Head-to-head
- Historic matchup: 1,082 wins for the Dodgers, 1,032 wins for the Reds and 11 ties in the regular season.
- Showdown in 2025: the Dodgers dominated the head-to-head matchup 5-1, allowing just 15 runs in six games.
- Postseason clashes: They have only crossed paths once in the postseason (1995 Division Series) and the Reds swept in three games.
- Home factor: The Dodgers have a 573-475 record as hosts against the Reds. This dominance was evident this year, when they swept them in a three-game series at Chavez Ravine.
The stars
Elly de la Cruz (Reds): He again proved that he is a man of steel and played all 162 regular season games, although he could not improve his totals due to a second half of the season well below his level. The Dominican shortstop hit 18 home runs and drove in 63 runs in the first part of the season, with an OPS of .854, but in the final stretch he collapsed and only hit four home runs in his last 65 games, with an OPS of .666. In any case, no one on the Reds reaches his levels of speed and power or has as many tools to change the fate of a game.
Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers): There are no words or praise to show the dimension of what the Japanese phenomenon is doing, who will now play his first postseason as a two-way player. This only means that Ohtani will be able to be decisive both from the mound and from the offensive rectangle, key news for the Dodgers and a headache for the Reds. The Japanese is projected as the team’s third starter, although it cannot be ruled out that Dave Roberts surprises and uses him as a closer. This would not be a strange role for Ohtani, who already served as Japan’s closer in the World Baseball Classic final.
Keys
It feels like the Dodgers are going to head into the season with the most complete team they’ve had all year. While they still have some names on the injured list, they have managed to get back some important figures in the pitching area. Blake Snell has shown to be in good shape and Roki Sasaki has joined the staff. The most important thing at this point will be to see how Dave Roberts uses these powerful arms, considering that he will need support for the bullpen after the unstable performance of Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott.
Despite all this potential, the Dodgers should not be complacent against Cincinnati, a team that advanced to the postseason quietly. In the regular season, none of their players reached 25 home runs or 90 RBIs. No one hit more than .270 and the highest OPS was .777 (Elly De La Cruz). Despite all this, they are very dangerous under the leadership of Terry Francona, a manager who knows the playoff field very well.
Prediction
Dodgers lead 2-0
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