What you need to know
Dodgers show their offensive might in Game 4 win over Mets
Dodgers take 10-2 lead over Mets in the eighth inning
Dodgers take 7-2 lead on Mookie Betts’ two-run home run
Dodgers show their offensive might, blowing out Mets to move a win away from World Series
When the Dodgers dug into their lineup’s postseason problems at the end of last year, they noticed a strange October-wide trend.
Teams that swung freely seemed to advance more often in the playoffs, while more disciplined clubs like the Dodgers tended to flame out.
It was an observation that stuck with some Dodgers hitters, third baseman Max Muncy among them, over another long winter last year.
“The teams that are making it to the World Series, they’re going up there and they’re getting their swings off,” Muncy told Foul Territory last October, “whereas we’re being too disciplined.”
Dodgers defeat Mets 10-2 to take 3-1 lead in NLCS
⚾ Dodgers 10, Mets 2 — FINAL
Top of the ninth: Mookie Betts grounded out to second before Mets reliever Danny Young struck out Kevin Kiermaier. Tommy Edman grounded out to end the frame.
Bottom of the ninth: Francisco Lindor struck out and Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso hit back-to-back singles. Brandon Nimmo grounded into a force out at second. Starling Marte popped out to first base to end the game.
Dodgers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 heading into Game 5 at 2:08 p.m. PDT on Friday at Citi Field.
Dodgers take 10-2 lead over Mets in the eighth inning
⚾ Dodgers 10, Mets 2 — Eighth inning
Top of the eighth: Facing Mets reliever Danny Young, Mookie Betts singled for his fourth hit of the game. Teoscar Hernández drew a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Kevin Kiermaier.
Tommy Edman hit a double down the left-field line, scoring Betts and Kiermaier to give the Dodgers a 9-2 lead. Max Muncy struck out, ending his streak of reaching base on consecutive plate appearances at 12. Will Smith then drove in Edman on a single to center field to make it 10-2 Dodgers.
Andy Pages flied out and Chris Taylor walked to load the bases. Shohei Ohtani fouled the ball off his left leg before striking out to end the frame.
Bottom of the eighth: Dodgers reliever Edgardo Henriquez walked J.D. Martinez before getting Jose Iglesias to pop out to first base. Tyrone Taylor grounded into a force out at second, then promptly stole second base with Luis Torrens at the plate. Torrens popped out to send the game to the ninth inning.
Dodgers lead Mets 7-2 heading into the eighth inning
⚾ Dodgers 7, Mets 2 — End of the seventh inning
Top of the seventh: Max Muncy led with a single to center field off Phil Maton, who then struck out Will Smith. Andy Pages took an 88 mph pitch off his hand and went to first after a brief injury delay. After Chris Taylor struck out, Shohei Ohtani grounded out to second for the third out.
Bottom of the seventh: Francisco Lindor led off with a single up the middle off Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen. Mark Vientos grounded into a force out at second. Pete Alonso struck out, Brandon Nimmo singled and Starling Marte flied out.
Dodgers take 7-2 lead on Mookie Betts home run
⚾ Dodgers 7, Mets 2 — End of the sixth inning
Top of the sixth: Chris Taylor flied out to right and Shohei Ohtani drew his third walk of the game. Facing Mets reliever Phil Maton, Mookie Betts followed with a two-run home run to left field to give the Dodgers a 7-2 lead. Betts is a triple short of the cycle.
Teoscar Hernández drew the Dodgers’ seventh walk of the game. Tommy Edman reached base but grounded into a force out at second. Kiké Hernández was called out on strikes.
Bottom of the sixth: Brandon Nimmo led with a single to left field off Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips. Starling Marte zipped a liner off the glove of diving third baseman Kiké Hernández for a single. Phillips walked J.D. Martinez to load the bases with no outs.
Phillips struck out Jose Iglesias. Pinch-hitter Jeff McNeil flied out to right-center field, but it wasn’t enough to bring home Nimmo, whose speed on the basepaths has been compromised by plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen took over on the mound and got out of the jam by getting Jesse Winker to fly out to right field with the bases loaded.
Max Muncy sets MLB postseason record in scoreless fifth inning
⚾ Dodgers 5, Mets 2 — End of the fifth inning
Top of the fifth: Kiké Hernández struck out. Max Muncy drew his third walk of the game, becoming the first player in MLB postseason history to reach base in 11 consecutive plate appearances. Will Smith lined out to center and Andy Pages struck out to end the frame.
Bottom of the fifth: Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto hit Francisco Alvarez with a pitch to lead off the inning, prompting the Dodgers to warm up Evan Phillips in the bullpen.
Yamamoto responded by striking out Francisco Lindor with a 95-mph fastball at the top of the zone. It would be his final pitch, with Phillips coming in relief. Yamamoto gave up four hits, two runs, struck out eight and walked one over 4 ⅓ innings.
Phillips struck out Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso grounded into a force out at second to end the inning.
Dodgers extend their lead on Mookie Betts’ two-run double
⚾ Dodgers 5, Mets 2 — End of the fourth inning
Top of the fourth: Andy Pages lined out before Chris Taylor reached first on a grounder to third, just beating Mark Vientos’ throw after hustling down the baseline. Shohei Ohtani drew a walk, prompting Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to bring in reliever José Buttó for Jose Quintana.
Mookie Betts doubled to the left-field wall off Buttó, bringing home Taylor and Ohtani to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead.
Teoscar Hernández popped out to left field and Tommy Edman struck out to end the frame.
Bottom of the fourth: J.D. Martinez flied out to right, Jose Iglesias grounded out softly to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Harrison Bader struck out.
Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández push Dodgers ahead in third
⚾ Dodgers 3, Mets 2 — End of the third inning
Top of the third: Chris Taylor lined out to right field, falling to 1 for 20 at the plate in the postseason. Mets starter Jose Quintana walked Shohei Ohtani, then gave up a single to Mookie Betts before striking out Teoscar Hernández.
Tommy Edman then doubled into left-center field to score Ohtani and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Kiké Hernández drove in Betts on the next at-bat when he sent a grounder to short that was too much for a diving Francisco Lindor to make a play on. He did manage to stop the ball, which forced Edman to hold at third base.
Max Muncy drew a walk to reach base in 10 consecutive plate appearances. Will Smith popped out behind home plate to leave the bases loaded.
Bottom of the third: Francisco Alvarez led with a single to right field off Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Francisco Lindor then singled to center, much to the boisterous approval of the Mets’ faithful at Citi Field.
Mark Vientos, who hit a home run in the first inning and a grand slam in Game 2, struck out. Yamamoto walked Pete Alonso to load the bases, prompting a mound visit from pitching coach Mark Prior.
The Dodgers thought Brandon Nimmo hit into an inning-ending double play to second, but Edman’s throw from second to first was just a hair late, allowing Alvarez to score from third. The play was initially ruled a double play until overruled on review.
The inning ended when Starling Marte hit a grounder to Edman at short, who quickly threw to Chris Taylor at second base to force out Nimmo.
Dodgers and Mets tied 1-1 heading into the third inning
⚾ Dodgers 1, Mets 1 — End of the second inning
Top of the second: Kiké Hernández flied out to right field before Max Muncy drew a walk. Will Smith reached first after he hit a grounder to Mets pitcher Jose Quintana, who threw out Muncy at second base. Jose Iglesias tried to turn a double play, but Smith just beat the throw. Andy Pages then grounded into a force out at second to end the inning.
Bottom of the second: Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out Starling Marte and then struck out former Dodger J.D. Martinez on three pitches. Jose Iglesias followed with a single to left field. Yamamoto struck out Harrison Bader for the final out. Five strikeouts for Yamamoto so far.
Shohei Ohtani leads off with home run before Mets strike back
⚾ Dodgers 1, Mets 1 — End of the first inning
Top of the first: Shohei Ohtani led off with a home run to right-center field on the second pitch he saw from Mets starting pitcher Jose Quintana. The 422-foot blast was his third homer of the postseason.
The Dodgers went down in order after Ohtani’s home run, with Mookie Betts flying out to right field, Teoscar Hernández grounding out to short and Tommy Edman striking out.
Bottom of the first: Francisco Lindor grounded out before Mark Vientos hit a solo home run to right-center field off Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to tie the game 1-1. It was Vientos’ fourth home run of the postseason.
Yamamoto struck out Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo to cap the inning.
Dodgers poised to defeat Mets in a New York minute after dominant Game 3 win
NEW YORK — Start spreading the news ...
The Dodgers are on the verge of finishing the National League Championship Series before you can say New York twice.
They’re turning the Mets into little-town blues that are melting away.
They’re defrocking the Mets down to their vagabond shoes that are longing to ... oh, forget it, one shouldn’t need to crib from a corny song to describe what is happening here.
Fact: The Dodgers are a thoroughly better team than the Mets. Fact: The Dodgers are perfectly set up to finish this shebang by the end of the week.
On a chilly, wind-blown Wednesday night at Citi Field, the Dodgers were acting like kings of the hill on top of the heap — sorry, can’t help it — in a dominating 8-0 victory, giving them a 2-1 lead with their two best starting pitchers on deck.
After a season full of lessons, Walker Buehler adapting to his post-Butane era
NEW YORK — Walker Buehler held his glove up to his chest and screamed into the October night.
Bases loaded, two outs, full count and Buehler had struck out Francisco Lindor with … a curveball?
On what turned out to be the most important pitch in an 8-0 victory over the New York Mets in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, Buehler revealed the kind of pitcher he could be moving forward.
By contributing four scoreless innings in a win that resulted in a two-games-to-one series lead for the Dodgers, Buehler demonstrated the gradual transformation he made over the most testing season of his career.
Nothing encapsulated Buehler’s evolution as much as his second-inning strikeout of Lindor, which preserved a two-run lead.
Kiké Hernández adds another homer to impressive October résumé
NEW YORK — A stiff breeze with gusts up to 16 mph blew from left field to right field in chilly Citi Field on Wednesday night, knocking down a pair of Francisco Lindor drives that died on the warning track in center field in the first inning and left field in the fifth, and a 388-foot Mark Vientos drive that fizzled at the center-field wall in the fifth.
So even though Dodgers utility man Kiké Hernández felt like he barreled up a cut fastball from New York Mets reliever Reed Garrett in the top of the sixth, sending a high-arcing drive to deep left field, there was no guarantee that what looked like a sure home run off his bat would leave the yard.
Only when the ball cleared the glove of leaping left fielder Brandon Nimmo and settled into the first row of seats above the wall was Hernández assured of a two-run blast that turned a two-run lead into a four-run lead, providing much-needed breathing room in the Dodgers’ 8-0 National League Championship Series Game 3 victory .
Freddie Freeman not in the starting lineup for Game 4
Freddie Freeman was not in the Dodgers starting lineup for Game 4 of the NLCS, left out of the batting order for just the second time this postseason as he continues to battle a sprained ankle.
With Freeman out, the Dodgers moved Max Muncy from third to first base, and Kiké Hernández from center field to third.
Andy Pages entered the lineup as the new center fielder. Chris Taylor also replaced Gavin Lux at second base, giving the Dodgers a right-handed-heavy lineup against Mets left-handed starter Jose Quintana.
Manager Dave Roberts said he called Freeman after the Dodgers’ Game 3 win on Wednesday to suggest he take Thursday off.
Roberts noticed Freeman laboring more than usual at the end of his 1 for 5 performance Wednesday. And, with the Dodgers holding a series lead and facing back-to-back games Thursday and Friday, he felt it would make sense to give Freeman’s ankle some needed rest.
“[We’re] just trying to kind of make a decision of what puts him in the best position for the games going forward,” Roberts said. “I wanted him to take full advantage of — when he put his head on the pillow [last night], that no, he wasn’t going to be in there tomorrow.”
Roberts said Freeman would still be available to pinch-hit in Game 4, if he felt OK after getting pregame treatment.
Roberts also laughed about how, when he called Freeman on Wednesday night, the veteran jokingly asked “if he was being benched.”
In reality, the Dodgers are just replicating what they did in the NLDS, when Freeman got a pre-planned off day in Game 4, then returned to the lineup for Game 5.
“I don’t think my respect could be any more for Freddie,” Roberts said. “What it takes for him to get ready for a ball game these days is a huge undertaking.”
Full lineup below:
Dodgers spent $1 billion on Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It’s payoff time
NEW YORK — This could be the night the Dodgers truly reap a return on investment.
Not in the gift shop. Not in advertising sales. Not in international tourism. That is all secondary to the product on the field.
The Dodgers lavished a billion dollars upon Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for moments like these. If they win Thursday, with Yamamoto pitching and Ohtani sparking the offense, the Dodgers will be one victory from the World Series.
“If those two guys are going, it’s going to be tough,” Dodgers infielder Max Muncy said.
For the New York Mets, he meant, as if the Dodgers have not been tough enough on the Mets in this National League Championship Series. The series lead — 2-1, in favor of the Dodgers — does not feel nearly as imposing as the the series itself.
Dodgers follow their October script to perfection in NLCS Game 3 win
NEW YORK — Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations, often refers to the playoffs as “the theater of October.”
But when his team executes its preferred postseason game script, it can suck all the theatrics right out of the equation.
In a pivotal Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night, that’s exactly what happened in the Dodgers’ 8-0 win over the New York Mets.
They caught an early lead from their lineup. They got a solid, albeit short outing from their starter. And then they called upon a parade of dominant relievers from the bullpen, racking up nine more zeroes as much of the Citi Field crowd headed for the exits early.
Dodgers vs. Mets: How to watch and betting odds for Game 4
The Dodgers continue the postseason Thursday when they face the New York Mets in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Citi Field in New York. The Dodgers lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.
The game is scheduled to start at 5:08 p.m. PDT and will air on FS1 and Fox Deportes. Radio broadcasts of the game will be on 570 AM and 1020 AM (Español) in the Los Angeles area.
Here are the betting odds for Game 4:
Here’s the TV schedule for the remaining games in the series (all times Pacific):
Friday: Game 5 — Dodgers at New York Mets, 2:08 p.m. | FS1, FOXD
*Sunday: Game 6 — New York Mets at Dodgers, 5:08 p.m. | FS1, FOXD
*Monday: Game 7 — New York Mets at Dodgers, 5:08 p.m. | Fox, FS1, FOXD
*—if necessary