THE DODGERS WIN 2-1 AND ARE UP 1-0
Blake Snell pitched one of the greatest games in postseason history last night, and his bullpen was literally inches away from blowing it. Snell pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, a Caleb Durbin single in the 3rd, and then picked him off. He struck out ten Brewers and walked no one as he faced the minimum number of batters through eight sparkling innings. He threw 103 pitches. And, it was a tight game throughout. One thing often forgotten about Don Larsen’s Perfect Game was that it was a 2-0 final, and he was more concerned with the win than with his own performance.
Snell has been a force this postseason with nine or more strikeouts in all three playoff starts. He is now the only pitcher in MLB history to have five postseason starts with nine strikeouts and two or fewer hits. His postseason record to 7-3 in 15 appearances (13 starts) with a 2.58 ERA.
Last night, the most reliable of all the stars, Freddie Freeman, got the Dodgers on the board with a long home run in the 6th inning. It was his 10th go-ahead playoff homer, tying Jose Altuve for the most in postseason history. And that was the only scoring until the 9th, when the Brewers repeated a mistake that the Phillies made: they intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to load the bases to face Mookie Betts. When will they ever learn?
Few players are as cool as Mookie is under pressure. In this postseason, he has now had four plate appearances following a Shohei IBB. He is 1-2 (a double) and two bases loaded walks. He has three RBI. During the regular season, following an intentional pass, Betts was 5-15 with two walks, good for eight RBI. When will they ever learn?
NO-SHOW OHTANI
Meanwhile, Shohei continues to be a no-show as this postseason has advanced. In the Wild Card round, Ohtani was 3-9 with two homers and five RBI in the two games against the Reds. Since then, in the five LDS and LCS games, he is 1-20 (.050) with a .290 OPS. He has had one RBI and no extra-base hits. He has walked five times, three of those intentionally, and struck out nine times.
The Dodgers as a team are hitting .203 across the five LDS and LCS games, with a .598 OPS and 15 runs scored. They keep winning because of their great pitching. They are 4-1, with a 2.87 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Batters are hitting .189 against them. They have allowed 16 runs, 15 earned.
MUSCLE MEMORY
Muscle memory is the ability to perform a specific movement automatically and efficiently through repetition and practice. For example, getting out of the way when a very fast baseball is being thrown at you.
Brice Turang knows about muscle memory all too well. The situation was simple for those of us who are not gifted enough to play this marvelous game. The bases were filled with Brewers. They trailed 2-1, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. The odious Blake Treinen is on the mound, and he has no clue where his pitches are going. The first and only other batter he faced in relief of the ineffective Roki Sasaki was William Contreras, and Treinen has walked him.
On the fourth pitch to Turang, Treinen nearly hit him. Had the ball hit Brice, the tying run scores, and with the way Treinen was pitching, it felt inevitable that the Brewers would put Snell’s brilliance for naught. But the muscle memory kicked in. Postgame, Turang said, “It sucks. It is what it is. Natural reaction to kind of get out of the way, and there’s nothing I can do, I can’t go back.” He described what happened as soon as it happened, “Well, if you see me look in the dugout, I’m thinking, ‘Damn.’ I know it. Everybody knows it. I couldn’t tell you why I did it, I just got out of the way. That’s just how it is.”
Turang then compounded his error(?) by swinging wildly on the next pitch to end the game.
IF YOU MISSED THAT BOTTOM OF THE 9TH LAST NIGHT, HERE IT IS
THEN THERE WAS THIS
With the bases loaded, one out in the top of the 4th inning, in a scoreless duel, Max Muncy launched a 1-0 pitch from the Brewers’ Quinn Priester to deep center field. Sal Frelick sprinted back and attempted a leaping catch to stop a potential grand slam. The baseball struck Frelick’s glove, bounced out, and hit the top of the padded wall.
The left field umpire, Chad Fairchild, immediately signaled safe on the play, meaning that he recognized that no out was recorded by Frelick in center. And then all hell broke loose.
“I see [Fairchild] immediately saying, ‘No catch.’ They throw the ball in, and then all of a sudden you turn around and there’s runners everywhere, right? At that point, guys are going back, going forward. The coaches are spinning.” - a spectacular quote from first-base umpire and crew chief James Hoye.
Frelick grabbed the ball, which was still up in the air, and fired it in to Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz, the cut-off man. Ortiz listened for second baseman Brice Turang to shout where to throw the ball. Turang understood what happened in deep center field, kept an eye on Teoscar Hernández at third, and told Ortiz to relay the ball to Contreras at the plate.
Hernández had initially tagged up and started home, but then stutter-stepped and retreated to the bag before continuing on to the plate. That hesitation led him to arrive a moment too late, because Ortiz threw a strike to home, forcing Teo for the second out of the inning. Will Smith (on second) and Tommy Edman (on first base) each began to advance before also retreating to their original base. Muncy, like the rest of us, was unsure what the hell was going on, and he ran through first base. But Contreras knew exactly what was happening, and he meandered up the third-base line and stepped on that base to force Smith out to end the inning.
“From home plate I had a pretty good view of it,” Contreras said. “I could tell pretty much right away that it hit off the wall. Right away, once the ball hits off the wall, you know that ball is playing live. Tremendous job by the guys there just doing what we needed to do to finish that play off.”
I’ll go out on a limb by saying this was the most remarkable and unusual double play in postseason history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, there had never been an 8-6-2 double play in postseason history. Now there has been.
You already know I love Jayson Stark. Here’s his description and research (with help from the great Katie Sharp of Baseball-Reference.com.
MARINERS WIN 10-3, ARE UP 2-0, AND ARE HEADING HOME
In 1995 and again in 2000, the Mariners lost the ALCS, four games to two. Those were the closest the franchise had ever been to the World Series. Today, they have two ALCS wins in the bag and feel a lot closer.
At the top of the 1st, the Blue Jays starter, Trey Yesavage, began the game by hitting Randy Arozarena. Arozarena’s muscle memory allows him to be hit by pitches. He led the majors, having been plunked 27 times this season. Then, Yesavage walked Cal Raleigh, which was followed by a Julio Rodríguez three-run homer. That was the first hit Yesavage allowed this postseason. You might recall he held the Yankees hitless for 5.1 innings in the ALDS.
But Logan Gilbert looked tired as he faced Toronto’s bats, and by the end of two innings, the 3-0 lead had disappeared, and the score was tied, 3-3. It stayed that way until the top of the 5th, when Seattle’s Mr. October 2025, Jorge Polanco, smashed a three-run homer off Luis Varland. Polanco, in seven games, has eight hits, including three homers and eight RBI.
“I think everybody likes to be in those situations. That’s what we play for, to be in those spots,” Polanco said. “That’s what we dream about.”
From that point on, the game wasn’t close.
In postseason history, teams taking a 2-0 lead in any best-of-seven series have gone on to take that series 78 of 93 times (83.9%). In series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams winning both Games 1 and 2 on the road have prevailed in the series 24 of 27 times (88.9%).
IF I WERE NEGOTIATING MLB MEDIA CONTRACTS…
I’d start with ESPN, and I'd tell them that in any deal, you begin your planning by putting Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and Tim Kurkjian in the radio booth for every World Series, and then work backward with the rest of your coverage planning.
Baseball is a game for radio, and the broadcasts these three have been providing, most recently in the ALCS, are simply outstanding. I just want to thank them, and if you know any of these guys, tell them how grateful we are for their work. Listen to them if you can.
I don’t know what to tell you about the John Smoltz problem, which is getting so serious that even mainstream colleagues are writing about it. And as for Joe Davis carving a turkey during the broadcast last night to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, for the dining pleasure of him and Smoltz, well, I’m at a loss for words.
HINCH AND THE TIGERS REMAIN HITCHED
The Detroit Tigers have signed manager A.J. Hinch to a contract extension. Hinch has a 394-416 record after five seasons in Detroit. The Tigers are coming off back-to-back playoff berths. The Tigers do not disclose contract details for coaches and executives.
ROB AND THE PHILS REMAIN THOMPSONED
Rob Thomson is returning as the Phillies manager in 2026, per Jon Heyman. There likely will be coaching changes, according to Bob Nightengale.
R.I.P. SANDY ALOMAR SR.
Former major league player and coach Sandy Alomar Sr. has passed away at 81. The Puerto Rico native played for six different teams across his 15-year playing career. He was an AL All-Star for the Angels in 1970. He was a coach with the Padres, Cubs, Rockies, and Mets. He is the father of 1990 AL Rookie of the Year and six-time All-Star Sandy Alomar Jr. and Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar.
Sandy played his first game for the Milwaukee Braves in 1964. In 1967, he played with the Mets and the White Sox. In 1969, he played with the Sox and the Angels. On June 23, 1969, in his 334th career game, Alomar hit his first MLB homer. It was an inside-the-park homer off Dick Woodson as the Angels defeated the Twins, 5-3. His first homer into the stands wouldn’t come until the following season. Sandy finished his career with 13 homers (eight with the Angels, four with the Yankees, and one with Texas) off 13 different pitchers.
ON THIS DATE, WE WENT CRAZY
Jack Buck was on the call.
On October 14, 1985, the Wizard, Ozzie Smith, hit a walkoff homer in the 9th inning off the Dodgers’ Tom Niedenfuer. It was the first left-handed home run of Smith’s career, which spanned 3009 at-bats. Niedenfuer had given up just 19 home runs over 344 innings. With the win, the Cardinals moved to two days and one game from the NL pennant. Tom, we’ll see you again tomorrow.
MOOKIE BETTS KEEPS ON WALKING
Mookie Betts is a star. Here’s Edwin Starr with an old (reused?) favorite of mine, because he reminds us all to keep on walking.
WRITE TO ME
I’m out of space as usual, so a quick reminder that I want to hear from you.