Author: Rowan Kavner

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LOS ANGELES — Yankees–Dodgers is a World Series matchup made in history, so it’s fitting that Game 1 was an instant classic. Here are four takeaways from the Dodgers’ 6-3 win in 10 innings.

1. Freddie Freeman delivers a swing for the ages

All he needed was the fist pump.

In a swing reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s iconic blast in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman, unable to play in the last game of the NLCS due to his injured ankle, conjured memories of Gibson’s blast with a walk-off home run in the first game of the 2024 World Series.

Freeman missed both Games 4 and 6 of the NLCS because the issues with his injured ankle, which he had dealt with all postseason, was starting to leak into his swing. In the days leading up to Game 1, however, he said there was no doubt he’d be in the lineup. He had just six hits this October, all singles, prior to Friday night.

He delivered his first extra-base hit of the postseason with a surprising triple off Gerrit Cole in the first, then saved the best for last. With the Dodgers down to their last out in the 10th inning, Freeman delivered the lasting blast in a Game 1 thriller with a grand slam off Nestor Cortes.

2. In battle of Los Angeles products, Giancarlo Stanton delivers

It was clear from Jack Flaherty’s first pitch, a 96.4 mph fastball out of the gate to Gleyber Torres, that this start would be different for the local kid pitching for his hometown team.

Coming off seven scoreless innings in Game 1 of the NLCS, Flaherty didn’t have it his last time out. The Mets tagged him for eight runs in three innings in Game 5. He walked four, didn’t record a strikeout, and perhaps most troublingly saw his fastball velocity descend to 91.4 mph, which he usually attributes to a timing issue.

With a week off to rest and figure out any mechanical tweaks needed, he figured it out.

At least, until another local product unloaded. 

Friday night was setting up for a dream outing for Flaherty, who once dominated the fields of Sherman Oaks Little League. Through five innings, he had bested last year’s American League Cy Young winner, leading 1-0 while going toe-to-toe against Cole.

And then came one gigantic swing from a different Sherman Oaks legend.

Giancarlo Stanton, as he so often has at the stadium he used to attend growing up, authored his own homecoming party.

In 25 career regular-season games at Dodger Stadium, Stanton had a 1.086 OPS. He once hit a ball out of the stadium. Two years ago, he obliterated a 457-foot home run into the left-field pavilion, where he used to sit as a kid hoping to get balls thrown to him from any player roaming the outfield, to earn All-Star Game MVP honors.”

“That Cali air, man,” Stanton quipped before the start of the World Series. “Grew up with it.”

On Friday, there wasn’t any ballpark in the major leagues that would have contained his game-changing shot. Once again, he was the one sending a souvenir to a fan in left field when he tagged a Flaherty curveball 116.6 mph off the bat 412 feet into the sky for a go-ahead two-run shot. There was no doubt about it, as the Yankees slugger continued a torrid October stretch. He has now homered in four straight playoff games and leads all players this postseason with six.

3. With all the focus centered on two patient, powerful offenses, Game 1 was a pitchers’ duel

Flaherty’s fastball wouldn’t sit at 96 mph all night, but even somewhere between 93-94 mph would represent a marked improvement from where it was and plenty to give the Dodgers an opportunity against Cole.

More importantly, he commanded it well, which made his curveball — which got 12 swings and misses — all the more effective against a patient Yankees lineup until Stanton’s blast.

That was all the support Cole needed to depart with a lead after six innings.

It did not appear, from the start, that it would go that way.

Shohei Ohtani crushed the first pitch he saw from Cole 373 feet and 106 mph off the bat, but it died in center field. One batter later, Mookie Betts sent a deep drive that was tracked down at the warning track. Then came the unlikeliest of triples as Freeman, whose right ankle was too hurt to play on in the NLCS clincher, booked it around the bases with some assistance in left field from Alex Verdugo. The Dodgers couldn’t bring Freeman home, but it appeared they were seeing Cole well.

Then the Yankees veteran ace, in his 21st career playoff start, locked in.

Cole retired the next 11 Dodgers batters until another triple, this one off the bat of October sensation Kiké Hernández, who legged it to third after Juan Soto tried to make the catch instead of play the ball off the wall. A sacrifice fly from Will Smith plated the first run of the night. That’s all the Dodgers would scratch across against Cole. After allowing four free passes his last time out in the ALCS, he was not as forgiving against the hardest lineup he has faced this October. He has now allowed two runs or fewer in 14 of his 21 career postseason starts.

The defense behind him, however, continued to offer costly gifts to the opposition.

Cole departed with a lead after Stanton’s sixth-inning blast that lasted until the eighth inning, when Ohtani sent a changeup from Tommy Kahnle off the right-field wall. He should have been held to a double, but Torres misplayed Soto’s throw to second base, allowing Ohtani to take third. The Dodgers, who didn’t have a hit with a runner in scoring position until Freeman’s blast, didn’t need one to score their second run of the night on a game-tying sac fly by Betts.

Verdugo, however, would make up for his earlier gaffe with an incredible grab that sent him head-over-heels into the stands with a crucial play against Ohtani in the 10th to bring the Yankees within an out of victory.

4. Watch your fingers

Torres nearly won the game in the ninth inning with a two-out drive off Michael Kopech that reached the seats … with some help.

The ball was caught by a Dodgers fan, who reached over the wall to make the play. Upon review, fan interference was ruled and Torres returned to second base. The Dodgers then elected to walk Juan Soto, who had reached twice on the night, to get to Aaron Judge with Blake Treinen set to come in. The Dodgers’ decision paid off, as Treinen got an inning-ending popout from Judge, who finished 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge paused for a moment as he considered a question this week. The Yankees slugger, whose 2022 MVP season was sandwiched in between two from Shohei Ohtani, was asked this week what he admires about his award-winning counterpart “other than the obvious.”

A smile began to form across his face. 

“Other than the obvious?” Judge repeated with a chuckle before continuing. “I feel like everything’s obvious. He hits for average. He hits for power. The speed, doing what he did this year with the 50 stolen bases, it got talked about a lot, but I don’t think it got talked about enough. He’s an impressive athlete, the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for the sport.”

Ohtani said Thursday, a day before he faces off in a star-studded World Series against the man who paid him the compliment, that he was honored by Judge’s words. 

Most years, no one could question Judge’s proclamation. Because most years, no one in the sport could hit a baseball more than 450 feet while spinning a wicked sweeper and firing triple-digit heat off the mound, the way Ohtani can when he’s functioning at full capacity. 

This year, though, with that latter ability removed from the equation, the title of “best player in the game” is at least up for debate. Unable to pitch, Ohtani still offered a compelling case by delivering MLB’s first ever 50/50 season, finishing his first year with the Dodgers with 54 homers and 59 steals. He led all players in runs scored and total bases in a career year offensively and will soon become the first full-time DH to win MVP. 

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]

“He stays through the zone for such a long time,” Judge said. “Even when you think you got him, you don’t got him.” 

Judge, meanwhile, outpaced Ohtani in every slash line category and led all qualified players in homers, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, walks and WAR, among a number of statistics. He finished just four home runs shy of the AL-record mark that he set two seasons ago. 

As staggering as his .701 slugging percentage was, Judge’s career-high .322 batting average was just as noteworthy to Ohtani. 

“Although I’m not as tall as him, I can relate to the fact that being a taller, bigger player, your strike zone’s going to be naturally bigger,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “For him to post a high batting average, he has to be very efficient with what he does, so I’m very impressed at how he’s been able to do both — hit for average and hit for power.”

In doing so, Judge has built a strong case as the best player in the sport this season, even if that’s a title he has already ceded to Ohtani, who will finish the year strictly as a DH. (Despite the progress Ohtani has made in his throwing program this year, manager Dave Roberts confirmed Thursday that there’s “no possibility” he pitches in this Fall Classic.) 

With the two stars now in different leagues, though, it’s a distinction that doesn’t need to be made. They both made a run at a triple crown, and they’re both the runaway favorites to win MVP in their respective leagues, which is one of the many facets that sets this star-studded World Series apart. 

“We had our battles throughout the regular season over the years when he was with the Angels,” Judge said. “It was kind of back and forth, seeing him hit homers over my head and having some good series. But getting a chance to be on the biggest stage in the biggest moments, I think that’s going to be pretty cool to watch.” 

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Juan Soto, already a four-time All-Star and World Series champion, turned 26 years old Friday and could make upward of $600 million in a couple of months. Mookie Betts is an eight-time All-Star and former MVP capable of playing either middle infield spot in addition to right field, where he won six Gold Gloves and is back playing after starting the year at shortstop. Freddie Freeman is an MVP, too, a year removed from leading the majors in doubles. Gerrit Cole, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, will take the mound Friday at the same venue where his teammate and fellow Southern California native Giancarlo Stanton, another former MVP, was named the 2022 All-Star Game MVP.

If Freeman is able to suit up, as he intends to do on his hobbled ankle Friday at Dodger Stadium, it will mark the first time ever that five MVPs appear in a World Series. It could have been six had a toe injury not sidelined Clayton Kershaw for the season. 

And yet, in this juggernaut championship matchup, the likes of which the sport has never seen, none of those talents are even the most highly-regarded superstars on their respective teams. 

Because this World Series — in addition to featuring the two top seeds in each league, from the two most populous cities in the country, in the first Fall Classic between the Dodgers and Yankees in 43 years — will feature Judge and Ohtani, baseball’s two premier talents on the sport’s pinnacle in a premier matchup that will draw the attention of millions, whether they love or hate the teams they’re watching. 

You’d have to go back to Duke Snider’s Dodgers and Mickey Mantle’s Yankees, back in 1956 when the former team was still in Brooklyn, to find the last time a World Series was played with the home run leader from each league. 

“You’re talking about two of the classic franchises, two teams that have the sport’s biggest stars,” Max Muncy said. “On our team, you’ve got Shohei, Freddie, Mookie. On their team, you’ve got Aaron Judge, Giancarlo, Juan Soto. You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage? As a fan, how special is this, man?”

It’s been 12 years since the presumptive MVPs from each league battled in a World Series, when Buster Posey faced Miguel Cabrera in 2012. That year, both AL wild-card teams had more wins than Cabrera’s Detroit Tigers, while Posey’s San Francisco Giants had the fewest wins of the three NL division winners. 

That won’t be the case when Ohtani’s Dodgers and Judge’s Yankees, the two best teams in the sport this season, meet in the World Series for the first time since 1981. They’re not exact replicas of each other, especially considering the status of the Dodgers’ ravaged starting rotation, but their strategies for offensive success are similar. They homered more than any team in their respective leagues. They also chased less and walked more than any other teams in the majors.  

And they were carried by the most prolific offensive forces in the game. 

“Obviously, I’ve gotten to see Aaron now for seven years, got to know him well,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.  “Just the reverence I have for the person, excited that he’s going to get to go be on this stage. Of course, I know playing against Shohei what an amazing talent he is, and obviously going to the Dodgers this year and having the kind of season he’s put out there, I think it’s great for the sport, great for baseball.”

The Dodgers designated hitter has dominated the sport since coming all the way back from his first Tommy John surgery. He hit 46 homers and went 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA in an MVP 2021 season. Judge followed by passing Roger Maris for an AL-best 62 home runs in an MVP 2022 season. Ohtani answered back last year, still thriving on the mound while enjoying a career year at the plate to earn his second MVP. 

But despite all the success, Ohtani had never been to the playoffs before this year. And Judge, for all that power and production, had never gotten the Yankees to the World Series. He also, to this point, hasn’t replicated his usual offensive output when the calendar flips to October. 

Both have a chance to write new chapters in their prolific careers, the way the Yankees captain imagined when he decided to stay in pinstripes and the way Ohtani envisioned when he joined the Dodgers on a record deal this offseason, a year after winning the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan. 

“He’s such a great ambassador for this game,” Judge said. “He plays the game the right way. You see him hustling around the diamond, I think that sets such a great example for our youth and all the kids that are going to be watching this series. So, definitely looking forward to this.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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The Dodgers‘ superstars have delivered this postseason, at times overwhelming the competition. That advantage might not manifest or be as pronounced in the Fall Classic, as Los Angeles takes on the American League’s top-seeded New York Yankees.

The heavyweight matchup is sure to test the depth of both rosters. Here are five X-factors who could swing the 2024 World Series in the Dodgers’ favor.  

1. Freddie Freeman, first baseman

Freeman said it’ll be “100 percent go” for him in Game 1, though it’s hard to know exactly what to expect. The Dodgers have survived two rounds of the playoffs despite a clearly diminished and hobbled version of their All-Star first baseman, who returned nine days after an ankle sprain and bone bruise that he said would typically require a 4-6 week recovery.

Every step in the NLDS and NLCS appeared labored. When he managed to truck home from second to score a run in Game 1 of the NLCS, he needed Mookie Betts to catch him after crossing home plate. It’s the only run he has scored this postseason. He has gritted through the pain to start eight playoff games, serving as a source of inspiration within the clubhouse in the process, but he has finished only three of them. He missed two of the last three games of the NLCS, including the deciding Game 6.

RELATED: Yankees’ 5 biggest X-factors vs. Dodgers in 2024 World Series

Though he began the playoffs 6-for-17, all six of those hits were singles. He then went 1-for-15 over his final three games of the NLCS. Manager Dave Roberts noted that Freeman’s ankle appeared to be compromising his swing the longer the series progressed. If the week off can have him looking more like himself at the plate, it would be a gigantic boost to a juggernaut Dodgers offense that just set an NLCS record with 46 runs against the Mets.

2. Walker Buehler, starting pitcher

This year has been a grind for Buehler, who hasn’t missed bats or commanded the baseball the way we’re accustomed to seeing in his return from a second Tommy John surgery. A strikeout rate that hovered above 26% in each of his first five seasons in the big leagues was down to a career-low 18.6% this year, and his 5.38 ERA told the story of a pitcher who could no longer overpower his opponents.

But after a lengthy search to find his mechanics, something seemed to click for him in a bullpen session in late August. He was far from perfect after that, but a 4.35 ERA over his final six regular-season starts represented a substantial improvement — enough for him to earn a spot in the club’s beleaguered playoff rotation. That, plus the Dodgers trusted his postseason pedigree. In 2018, he clinched the NL West for the Dodgers by winning a Game 163 tiebreaker, then threw seven scoreless innings in the World Series. Two years later, he struck out 10 in his lone start of the World Series to help the Dodgers best the Rays.

RELATED: Yankees-Dodgers: Ranking the 24 best players of the 2024 World Series

The bigger the game, the more he tends to rise to the occasion. In his last start of the 2024 regular season, Buehler was on the mound as the Dodgers clinched the division against the Padres. His first start of the postseason looked worse than the six runs in the box score displayed, as he was let down by his defense. In his last start, he found success with his breaking balls and struck out six Mets batters in four scoreless innings while getting 18 whiffs — his most in a game since the 2021 season. That’s a version of Buehler that could win a World Series game and end a sour season on a sweet note before he hits free agency.

3. Kiké Hernández, second baseman

Ever since Hernández started visualizing his postseason success in the 2017 NLCS, when he launched three homers in the game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, he has been one of baseball’s best postseason performers. This year is no exception.

Really, though, his upward trend this year began shortly after the All-Star break, when he was diagnosed with astigmatism in his right eye and began wearing prescription glasses on the field. He had a .766 OPS in the second half and has carried that crescendo into another extraordinary October. He went from not starting any of the Dodgers’ first three games of the postseason to being a mainstay in the starting lineup after Miguel Rojas went out with injury, homering in a do-or-die Game 5 of the NLDS, going deep again in Game 3 of the NLCS, and hitting .303 overall this postseason. In his regular-season career, he has homered once every 29 at-bats. In his postseason career, he’s homering twice as often — about once every 14 at-bats. 

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Even if Rojas and Gavin Lux are healthy enough to play in the World Series, the Dodgers might have to continue starting Hernández every night, considering the way he has performed. He transforms into an entirely different force this time of year, and odds are he’ll add another defining moment at some point this series.

4. Will Smith, catcher

While Yankees rookie catcher Austin Wells is getting his first taste of the playoffs, Smith is a seasoned veteran this time of year. Smith enjoyed some huge moments in postseasons past, including a home run in Game 5 of the 2020 NLCS against the Braves reliever who shared his same name, a hit that might have saved the Dodgers’ season en route to a 3-1 comeback in the series and a World Series triumph. There was no question at the All-Star break that Smith and Brewers catcher William Contreras were the two best players at their position in the National League.

RELATED: How Yankees, Dodgers should pitch to each other’s stars: Smoltz’s World Series preview

Since then, though, Smith has endured some uncharacteristic struggles. His .838 OPS in the first half was more than 200 points lower the rest of the way. Those struggles continued into October. He enters the World Series hitting .158 this postseason. However, two of his six hits have left the yard, including a home run in the NLCS clincher that could help get the scuffling catcher back on track. He has been one of the best hitters at his position since entering the league in 2019, and his experience and poise in these spots could prove useful.

5. Tommy Edman, shortstop

There was a lot of attention at the All-Star break on the additions of Jack Flaherty and Michael Kopech, considering the way they could help lift the Dodgers’ depleted pitching staff. But it was a more under-the-radar acquisition who became the NLCS MVP. In Edman, the Dodgers added a versatile defensive piece who, at the time of the deadline, had not yet played a game this season as he rehabbed a surgically-repaired wrist and an ankle injury. His ability to play both center field and shortstop was additive to a Dodgers team that needed help at both spots.

RELATED: Who makes Yankees’, Dodgers’ all-time World Series starting lineups?

It then became essential with starting shortstop Miguel Rojas banged up in October. What Edman has provided with his bat, though, has been the surprise. He led all players in the LCS with 11 hits and tied Corey Seager’s NLCS franchise record with 11 RBIs. If a left-hander’s on the mound, Edman is a force. The switch-hitter had a 1.299 OPS against southpaws this year compared to a .523 mark against righties. He went 7-for-12 with four extra-base hits against lefties in the NLCS, taking advantage of his opportunities against left-handed starters Sean Manaea and Jose Quintana, while he was 4-for-15 with no extra-base hits against righties. While he could struggle against the Yankees’ more right-handed heavy rotation, Edman’s matchup against the left-handed Carlos Rodón will be one to watch.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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Before the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees get set to meet in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1981, we spoke about the matchup with John Smoltz, who pitched in five different World Series during his Hall of Fame tenure with the Atlanta Braves.

Smoltz talked about how he’d try to approach facing the red-hot Giancarlo Stanton, how Juan Soto has changed the Yankees’ lineup, which relievers he’d use against Aaron Judge late in games, whether the Yankees’ right-handed pitchers can learn anything from Yu Darvish’s success against Shohei Ohtani and which Dodgers starter might be best equipped to take on the patient Yankees lineup.

The MLB on FOX analyst also gave his thoughts on the Dodgers’ bullpen games — which are likely to continue this series — if Yoshinobu Yamamoto should keep the same approach that brought him success earlier this year in the Bronx, and possible World Series MVPs.

Kavner: Giancarlo Stanton is having another big postseason. Why do you think he seems to find another gear in October? How would you go about pitching to him?

Smoltz: When he’s healthy and he’s on time, he’s one of those unique hitters — so strong. He looks like he never uses anything but his upper body. But obviously, his legs are very important to him, and when he’s out of balance, it looks like he’s on roller skates, and his legs and feet are all over the place. When he’s in balance and on time, he can hit a 100 mph fastball at the top of the zone. He can hit 100 mph at the bottom of the zone. But you’ve really got to be able to get your secondary pitches out of the zone. If he doesn’t chase, you’re in trouble. 

Right now, I don’t know what this time off is going to do for everybody, especially the Yankees. They’ve had longer time off, but he has been a tough out, and that’s what the Yankees have to have, because behind Aaron Judge is the key. If those hitters are able to be, let’s just say, normally good, then the Yankees are a tough lineup. But if the guys behind Judge don’t do the things that allow you to capitalize with men on, then you’re going to see Judge not pitched to a lot. 

So, it’s a good thing for the Yankees that they got a couple guys behind him hot — I know they had to move Austin Wells down because he was not hot behind Judge — but that’s the secret. I mean, they’ve got the top-heavy, probably the two and three best hitters in the game, back to back. You can make an argument that when Freddie Freeman is healthy, the Dodgers’ top three are just as equal, if not better.

Kavner: Who would you be more careful with right now on the mound, Juan Soto or Aaron Judge?

Smoltz: The key any time that you’re facing them is don’t have traffic on base. So, early in the game, you’re navigating possible solo home runs. You want to stay away from the three-run homer, the two-run homer. And so, when Soto’s on his game, he’s much tougher to pitch to. Judge has the absolute monster ability of power and average. But again, if you’re going to pitch around anybody, after you’ve gone through Soto, you’ve got to pitch around Judge. 

But it’s not an easy answer either way, because they bat back-to-back, and it doesn’t matter right or left. That’s the thing. Soto is so complete at a young age, and he’s so intense to the strike zone. He’s the reason they traded for a game-changing lineup. He literally changed the entire lineup for the New York Yankees single-handedly.

Kavner: The Dodgers have done a pretty good job of lining up their high-leverage relievers late in games to attack specific matchups. Who would you plan to use against Judge?

Smoltz: I think what they’re going to do is they’re not going to let any one guy face him three times. This is going to be a bullpen series again for the Dodgers. I like Evan Phillips’ breaking ball against Judge, the way that he angles and throws it, and Judge is so big that the bottom part of the strike zone gives him issues. And that’s really the key, depending on what umpire gives him the bottom of the zone. That could change how Dave Roberts utilizes him.

Blake Treinen, he’s got the equalizer going both ways. The interesting thing about Michael Kopech is he throws a lot of fastballs, even though he has the slider, and you can maybe get them at the top of the zone against Judge. But again, I think the breaking ball is the key on being able to get the angle that you want to get, to get Judge to swing outside of the plate.

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Kavner: We saw the Padres have Tanner Scott face Shohei Ohtani late in games in the NLDS, while the Mets didn’t exactly have the kind of left-handed weapon in their bullpen. Do you expect the Yankees to use Tim Hill as a possible Ohtani neutralizer? For their right-handed starters, is there anything they can learn from Yu Darvish’s success against him?

Smoltz: Yes on Hill. As far as the Yankees starters go, they don’t really have those kinds of pitches that Darvish has. Obviously, Garrett Cole is a stud. When he’s on his game, he can handle anybody. But it’s going to be a challenge, no doubt, because there’s no lefties in that rotation. If Nestor Cortes is going to be on the roster, he possibly comes into play, he’s funky enough that I don’t know if they’ll ID him as someone who could face Ohtani, but Hill for sure is going to be on Ohtani. 

It’s going to be the same narrative for the Dodgers in this World Series — can the bottom of the lineup for the Dodgers create chaos so that it makes it much more difficult for Aaron Boone to navigate when that lineup turns over? At the start of the game, it is what it is. Ohtani didn’t get on base a ton when nobody was on until late in the series. He’s on a historic run with runners on. I would look for the Yankees to look at video and really dial in on what was happening with runners on with Ohtani versus what was happening with nobody on. There’s freedom to pitch to him with nobody on, and it gets a lot more stressful when there’s runners on.

Kavner: Which of the Dodgers’ three starting pitchers do you think is best equipped to have success against this very patient Yankees lineup? Is there any matchup you’d give the Dodgers the starting pitching edge in this series?

That’s going to be tough, because those guys have been up and down. I think Jack Flaherty has the opportunity to go to the deepest if he’s on. He just has more pitchability, he’s a starter that is closer to a throwback. I don’t think they’re going to let anybody go six innings at any point. That just doesn’t happen. I think the way the Dodgers are going to navigate this, in the games they have a chance to win, they’re going to push the throttle way down. They’re going to exit the starter and go right to the pen. And then the games that don’t look like they have a high chance of winning, they’re going to go a different route. 

It’s not throwing away games, that’s not what I’m saying. It’s just navigating what you have and the best way to use your resources. I think they did it unbelievably well in the Mets series, but the games allowed them to do that. I don’t know that the games are going to allow them to do that in this series. That’s why it’s going to be much tougher for Dave Roberts — he did a fantastic job last series — but this will be his toughest challenge, because I don’t think the games are going to be lopsided like we saw in the last series.

Kavner: We know bullpen games can work in a vacuum, but the concern over time is that it’s just not a sustainable method. While Dave Roberts did a good job of making sure the high-leverage guys were well-rested during the NLCS, do you expect the Dodgers’ success with bullpen games to continue in the World Series?

When this started eight years ago, everybody got excited that this was a new age and a way to get it done. There’s certain markets that made this very popular. But you know what started happening? All those relievers started going down with Tommy John and getting hurt. It’s an unsustainable long-term philosophy — but the Dodgers don’t have any choice right now. Let’s not forget, they put together a superstar rotation that just happened to get hurt. They had a lot of guys in the mix. They had eight or nine starters. Now they’re down to three, and so this was not their desire. This was not in the plans, but it’s the only way they can go now. It’s the only way for them to be successful. 

But it is not a blueprint. With this playoff system, it is not a blueprint to get through the whole postseason like this. These guys are gassed, and they’re doing an incredible job. But I promise you, the Dodgers would do backflips if a starter were to go six or seven innings. They would be the biggest cheerleaders in the world. I’ve been in both of those worlds, and there has never been a more exhausting time for me personally than when I was the closer. I got up and down and used, and people forget all that. So, to answer that question, there is no other choice for them. But this is not the blueprint they were looking for. Give them credit, though, for backlogging their bullpen as well with as many arms, just in case this were to happen.

Kavner: Yoshinobu Yamamoto had the best start of his young MLB career against the Yankees earlier this year in the Bronx. When you’ve had success against the team that you’re facing in the postseason, how much did that lift your confidence? Also, were you tempted to attack them the same way, or do you have to find a different way because they’ve already seen it?

If you’re simply healthy and you’re able to do the things you did last time, then you don’t make a change. But if you’re not as healthy, or things are different, or it’s a long time ago, you’re seeing a totally different pitcher, maybe. I only changed when I saw teams a lot. I remember seeing the Cincinnati Reds a lot during the year, and then I got them in the postseason, and I completely flipped the script. I know my pitching coach was having a heart attack because I didn’t throw one slider. I threw 35 straight fastballs or something to start the game when it was a heavy right-handed lineup, and he goes, “Are we going to throw a slider anytime soon?” And I said, “Absolutely, but I got a plan. I’m going to pitch them backwards.”

So, that’s the time you make ultimate changes. But I think the bottom line is you don’t really do it often. If you’ve had success, your mindset is an absolute: make the other team change before you necessarily change. Especially when — Yamamoto is starting Game 2 — it’s not in New York. It’s a little bit different in L.A., and the World Series is so much different than a regular-season game — and he was electric in New York.

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Kavner: I just covered the NLCS where, amid all the Dodgers’ superstars, Tommy Edman ended up being the NLCS MVP. Any predictions right now for MVP of the World Series?

It’s going to be heavy, heavy on the superstars. But this is what happens that you get guys that shine, they do things because the other team makes them be the guy. For the Yankees, I could see somebody like maybe Anthony Volpe doing something similar to what Edman did if he were to be in enough RBI situations. But you’re always looking for that player that nobody’s paying attention to.

For the Dodgers, I would be interested to see if Will Smith, with the way this rest lined up and his home run in his last game, I know the Dodgers are hoping he can get unlocked. Because if he can get unlocked, wow, does that lineup really go to another place. So, it’s all going to be heavy on the stars, and the MVP is probably going to be a star. But just like you said, Edman, great trade, great player that fits the mold for what the Dodgers needed.

John Smoltz, a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award winner, is FOX MLB’s lead game analyst. In addition to calling the network’s marquee regular-season games, Smoltz is in the booth for the All-Star Game and a full slate of postseason matchups which include Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series assignments.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

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Editor’s note: This story was originally published in February of 2023 upon news that the Dodgers would retire Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34. That was a break from franchise tradition — the team would previously reserve such an honor for Hall of Famers — and spoke to his impact on both the team and the city of Los Angeles. Valenzuela died on Tuesday night at the age of 63. 

No Dodgers player has donned the No. 34 since Fernando Valenzuela in 1990. 

It was set aside informally for the past 33 years, a gesture carried on in reverence to the left-handed phenom from Etchohuaquila, Sonora, Mexico who sparked “Fernandomania” and rallied the Mexican community in Los Angeles and abroad with his scintillating play. 

One of the most impactful Dodgers since the franchise moved west 65 years ago, Valenzuela seemed unfazed by the pressure when injuries to other members of the rotation forced him into an Opening Day start in 1981. The calm, precocious 20-year-old won each of his first eight games, pitching seven complete games and five shutouts. “El Toro” surrendered just two runs in 63 innings during that time, bringing fans out in flocks to witness the phenomenon.

It’s fitting, then, even decades later, that fan persistence eventually helped convince the Dodgers to eschew tradition and permanently reserve No. 34 for Valenzuela. 

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten announced Saturday that the team will retire Valenzuela’s number this summer as part of a three-day weekend celebration, beginning with a Ring of Honor ceremony on Aug. 11.

“I walk through the stands every night,” Kasten said. “I get all kinds of comments … but the question I get more than any other is about retiring Fernando’s jersey. That convinced us this is the right thing to do.”

With the exception of Jim Gilliam, who passed away suddenly in 1978, the Dodgers had followed a long-held unofficial policy of only retiring the numbers of Hall of Famers.

Now — finally — there are two exceptions to the rule.

“I was hoping that they would do it,” said Hall of Fame broadcaster Jaime Jarrí­n, who served as a translator for Valenzuela during “Fernandomania” and later worked alongside him in the Dodgers’ Spanish-language booth. “I don’t know why they waited. They could have done this several years ago. But … it’s fantastic. It’s great.”

Valenzuela, a member of the Dodgers’ Spanish-language broadcast team since 2003, found out the news Tuesday. 

He thought he was being called in to Dodger Stadium to talk about the upcoming season’s broadcast. Instead, in a meeting on the mound, Kasten informed him of the club’s decision.

“Really?” Valenzuela responded incredulously before cracking a smile. He kept the secret for the past week, allowing the Dodgers to make the announcement at their annual FanFest. 

“They got me by surprise,” Valenzuela said Saturday. “But then I realized, ‘Well, I’ve been waiting for this.’ It’s the best feeling.”

For years, fans would ask Valenzuela when the team was retiring his number. He would tell them it was out of his hands. Demands only grew when the Dodgers celebrated the 40-year anniversary of Fernandomania in 2021. But he hadn’t met the team’s criteria, much to the chagrin of the Los Angeles faithful. 

Valenzuela is not among the Dodger players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame — he was dropped from the ballot after earning only 3.8% of the votes during his second year of eligibility in 2004 — though he remains one of the most beloved. Fans and friends continue to support his cause. 

“The things he did for the community, for baseball, I think he deserves to be in the Hall,” Pepe Yñiguez, Valenzuela’s broadcast partner, said Saturday. 

Like Jackie Robinson, Fernando is among a handful of Dodgers greats who could be recognized by first name alone. The late Vin Scully once referred to Fernandomania as “almost like a religious experience.” He was a main attraction.

The Dodgers averaged 42,523 fans per game in 1981. The next closest was the Yankees at 31,654. Valenzuela’s starts were a different type of spectacle. On Opening Day, he shut out the Astros in front of 50,511 fans. By his eighth start, a group of 53,906 fans watched Valenzuela toss a complete game against the Expos on a Thursday. 

Even opposing crowds grew exponentially. He drew 46,405 fans at Stade Olympique in Montreal on May 3 and 39,848 fans in a shutout win at Shea Stadium in New York five days later. The average attendance at those respective venues that season: 27,403 and 13,543. 

Guided by his signature screwball — a pitch he learned from fellow Dodger Bobby Castillo to complement his fastball and curveball — Valenzuela became the only pitcher ever to win Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in the same season. His magical season ended with a World Series title, thanks in part to his complete-game victory in Game 3 against the Yankees. 

More than 40 years after the start of Fernandomania, fans haven’t forgotten the spectacle. 

“If people sense his name is going to be mentioned in some way, or his picture’s going to be on the screen, right away they turn and look at my booth there looking for Fernando,” Jarrí­n said. “Then the applause. People love him.”

Valenzuela’s rookie season ended with 11 complete games, eight shutouts and a major-league-leading 180 strikeouts. He helped grow the game worldwide and became a cultural icon in the process, so much so that longtime clubhouse manager Mitch Poole didn’t want to give away his number after Valenzuela’s departure from the Dodgers. 

Something similar had happened before. Three years before Robinson’s No. 42 was retired by the Dodgers, it belonged briefly to a reliever named Ray Lamb in 1969. Poole wasn’t going to let that mistake be replicated. As Yñiguez recalled Saturday, Manny Ramirez once asked for No. 34 after joining the Dodgers in 2008. The No. 24 that Ramirez wore with the Red Sox had already been retired in honor of Walter Alston, so his next choice was the number of his friend and former Boston teammate David Ortiz. But Ramirez understood when his request was denied.

“‘OK, I respect The Toro,’” Yñiguez recalled Ramirez saying. “‘Don’t give me that, give me 99.’”

Now, there will be no confusion. No need to skirt around the rules. 

Valenzuela finished his 11-year Dodgers career with six All-Star appearances, 141 wins and one no-hitter. He ended his 17-year big-league career as the all-time leader in wins (173) and strikeouts (2,074) among players from Mexico.

Those numbers haven’t made him a Hall of Famer yet. But, at least at Dodger Stadium, his number will forever live alongside them.  

“He belongs there,” Jarrín said. 

Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner. 

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LOS ANGELES — When Shohei Ohtani met with the Dodgers‘ brass in the offseason, baseball’s most coveted free agent was allured not only by a superstar roster and an auspicious farm system but also by the way the club thought about the past, a decade of sustained success that included 10 straight trips to the postseason. Despite all the winning, they had only one World Series ring from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to show for it. They told him they considered it a failure. 

Those words stuck with Ohtani when the two-way sensation chose where to spend the next decade of his life. He believed so much in the group constructing the Dodgers’ operation that he tied his future to their decision-makers. A clause in his record 10-year, $700 million contract stipulated that the only way he could opt out is if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman left the team. He trusted the leaders of the Dodgers to build a winner, and when he deferred $680 million from the most lucrative contract in the sport’s history, pressure mounted on them to do so immediately.  

“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,” Friedman said. 

Ten months later, the Dodgers bested the Mets on Sunday to return to the World Series for the first time in four years — not only because of Ohtani, who has thrived in his first postseason and is likely to add a third MVP trophy to his mantle this year, or the other superstars they added in the winter, but also because of the medley of moves Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office made to complete a roster in flux. 

“This is as challenging of a season, in terms of the injuries and adversity and things that popped up, as I can remember,” Friedman, soaked in a concoction of Korbel champagne and Budweiser, said from the home clubhouse Sunday night.

After signing Ohtani in December, the Dodgers upped their free-agent spending over $1 billion by adding pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto late that month. In January, they brought in Teoscar Hernández on a one-year, $23.5 million deal and watched him develop into an All-Star and Home Run Derby champion. They already had three other former MVPs on the roster in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, who was expected to return from offseason shoulder surgery in the second half. 

And yet on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, it was a bullpen game and an unheralded midseason addition that would send them to the World Series with a 10-5 win in Game 6 of the NLCS. 

“We have so many different guys who can come through on any given day,” NLCS MVP Tommy Edman said. “I think that’s why we’re so successful.”

For all the money the Dodgers spent, they could never have imagined their playoff roster would look the way it does, with only one starting pitcher from the Opening Day roster available, with only three starting pitchers they can trust to start games in Yamamoto, midseason acquisition Jack Flaherty and a rebounding Walker Buehler, and with Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas too hobbled to play. 

The Dodgers lost Betts for nearly two months and Yamamoto for nearly three. Kershaw returned from his shoulder issue in July only for his toe to sideline him down the stretch after making just seven starts. Young standout starting pitchers Gavin Stone, Dustin May, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan were all lost for the year, too. 

“This is as determined of a group as I’ve been around,” Friedman said, “and they needed every ounce of it.”

The moves Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes made at the trade deadline ended up turning depth pieces into starring contributors. 

A day before trading for the most coveted starting pitcher on the market in Flaherty, the Dodgers swung a three-team deal to acquire a struggling reliever and a versatile position player who hadn’t played all season. Three months later, Michael Kopech would start the bullpen game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, while Edman would knock in four runs from manager Dave Roberts’ cleanup spot in the Game 6 clincher. 

“It’s something that you always think about, always dream about,” Edman said. “It’s not necessarily something I was expecting.” 

Flaherty went from an important depth piece in the rotation to the club’s most-trusted headliner on the mound. Edman helped lengthen a lineup that needed help both in the outfield and at shortstop. The addition of Kopech, who emerged as one of Roberts’ most trusted high-leverage arms, assisted a scuffling bullpen. 

But the injuries seemed endless, threatening to derail the Dodgers’ hopes. 

“I think there were times during the year with some of the injuries that we had where it was a little bit deflating,” Friedman said. “I think Doc did a great job getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group.”

In September, the Dodgers found out an elbow issue would officially end Glasnow’s All-Star season. At the time, the Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta. The Padres and Diamondbacks were closing in on their division lead. Roberts could sense his players were starting to get demoralized.

So he gathered them together for a meeting that Hernández said “changed everything.”

“We realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we’re still the Dodgers,” Hernández said.  

“I just got a feeling that there was some kind of a little, ‘Woe is me,'” Roberts explained, “and that’s just not who we are.”

The skipper shared a message that he couldn’t believe in his players more than they believed in themselves. 

“We had a meeting and said, ‘Guys, look around, we still have Hall of Famers in this room, we still have All-Stars in this room, we have guys that were paid a lot of money in this room, we can still do this,'” Max Muncy explained. 

The Dodgers went 11-3 the rest of the season, holding off the Padres, who would later push them to the brink in the NLDS. 

Facing elimination in San Diego, the players got together again in the visiting clubhouse of Petco Park to spread a similar message, laced with a few more four-letter words.

That day, Edman filled in for the injured Rojas at shortstop while a group of relievers linked together to hold the Padres off the board in a bullpen game. The Dodgers returned home and spun another shutout started by Yamamoto in the deciding Game 5, ensuring this team was different, more together, more resilient, than the two before it that had bowed out in stunning first-round exits.   

“When you’re in that dugout this time of year, if you’re not together as a team, you can tell night and day,” Muncy said. “When you’re talking about 13, 14, 15 guys in that dugout, and they’re all hanging on every pitch, hanging on every single swing with you in the batter’s box, and you can hear them and you can feel them, it makes a big difference.”

The Dodgers outscored the Padres 10-0 in the final two games of the series, then outscored the Mets by 20 runs in the NLCS while plating a series-record 46 runs. And in a series full of former and hopeful MVPs, it was Edman, a deadline addition who didn’t play his first game this year until Aug. 19, who led everyone with 11 hits and 11 RBI. 

“You’re talking about a guy that’s Gold Glove level at numerous positions, bats from both sides, steals bases, lays down bunts, gets hits, hits for power,” Muncy said. “You’re talking about an absolute gamer.”

Edman was a league-average hitter with a plus glove at multiple defensive positions in his five years with the Cardinals. This year, offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain during his rehab sidelined him for the entire first half. Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office were undeterred. They still wanted him, as they had for years. 

“To know that I was valued and coveted by them, it’s a good feeling,” Edman said. “It gives me confidence.”

Down the stretch, he played primarily center field and offered Rojas the ability to get off his feet at shortstop. On six different occasions, he played both positions in the same game. That ability is especially crucial now. After starting in center the first three games of the NLDS, Edman has played shortstop every game since. He has also hit in five different spots in the Dodgers’ order this postseason. 

“I never imagined once we acquired him, he’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game,” Roberts said. “But I trust him. The guys trust him.”

With the Mets turning to lefty Sean Manaea, it allowed the switch-hitting Edman to hit from the right side, where he has excelled this year. On Sunday, he delivered a two-run double his first time up and a two-run homer his next time up. The Dodgers tagged the Mets for 10 runs for the second time in three games, while their fourth game with at least eight runs tied another postseason record. 

Edman’s 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied him with Corey Seager (2020 NLCS) for the most in a postseason series by a Dodgers player. Kopech, meanwhile, became a key piece of a makeshift pitching staff that at one point tied a playoff record with 33 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, dating back to the end of the NLDS. 

The Dodgers’ scoreless innings streak ended in Game 2 of the NLCS, when a bullpen game went awry. On Sunday, Roberts utilized the strategy again to better effect, having saved most of his most trusted arms for the occasion. 

“To go from a season that I was struggling on a team that was struggling, to be able to have success on a team that’s having a lot of success means the world to me,” Kopech said. “To be a part of this, where guys are doing what they’re doing, guys like Shohei, Mookie and Freddie putting his whole body on the line to go out there and play for as much as he can this postseason, for guys like Tommy to show up and be more than a role player and be the star that I think he is, it’s really special.”

Entering Game 6, Kopech, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson had each pitched only once this series, not only keeping them fresh but also limiting their exposure to Mets hitters. Blake Treinen and Anthony Banda were plenty rested, too. With the offense exploding for 10 runs, the bullpen game’s five runs would suffice. 

Ohtani reached base three times and scored twice. Hernández, who was hitless in the first five games, and Will Smith snapped out of their slumps. Betts had an RBI double in the eighth that put the game away. And there was Edman, who had multiple hits for a third straight game. 

“You look at what happened in the offseason, you sign Shohei, and you’ve got so many superstars on the team, it’s kind of the expectation to have success,” Edman said. “I think to have those expectations and come through on all those is impressive and says a lot about the group we have here.”

In an MLB season without a 100-game winner, a ravaged Dodgers club still emerged as the top seed in the National League with the best record in baseball. Beyond their superstars, some shrewd deadline additions and a bevy of relief arms helped mask their deficiencies to start the postseason. 

Now, a marquee matchup against the American League’s top seed awaits, with the Dodgers and Yankees meeting Friday in the first World Series clash between the storied franchises since 1981. 

“You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Muncy said. “As a fan, how special is this, man? 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

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LOS ANGELES — When Shohei Ohtani met with the Dodgers‘ brass in the offseason, baseball’s most coveted free agent was allured not only by a superstar roster and an auspicious farm system but also by the way the club thought about the past, a decade of sustained success that included 10 straight trips to the postseason. Despite all the winning, they had only one World Series ring from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to show for it. They told him they considered it a failure. 

Those words stuck with Ohtani when the two-way sensation chose where to spend the next decade of his life. He believed so much in the group constructing the Dodgers’ operation that he tied his future to their decision-makers. A clause in his record 10-year, $700 million contract stipulated that the only way he could opt out is if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman left the team. He trusted the leaders of the Dodgers to build a winner, and when he deferred $680 million from the most lucrative contract in the sport’s history, pressure mounted on them to do so immediately.  

“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,” Friedman said. 

Ten months later, the Dodgers bested the Mets on Sunday to return to the World Series for the first time in four years — not only because of Ohtani, who has thrived in his first postseason and is likely to add a third MVP trophy to his mantle this year, or the other superstars they added in the winter, but also because of the medley of moves Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office made to complete a roster in flux. 

“This is as challenging of a season, in terms of the injuries and adversity and things that popped up, as I can remember,” Friedman, soaked in a concoction of Korbel champagne and Budweiser, said from the home clubhouse Sunday night.

After signing Ohtani in December, the Dodgers upped their free-agent spending over $1 billion by adding pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto late that month. In January, they brought in Teoscar Hernández on a one-year, $23.5 million deal and watched him develop into an All-Star and Home Run Derby champion. They already had three other former MVPs on the roster in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, who was expected to return from offseason shoulder surgery in the second half. 

And yet on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, it was a bullpen game and an unheralded midseason addition that would send them to the World Series with a 10-5 win in Game 6 of the NLCS. 

“We have so many different guys who can come through on any given day,” NLCS MVP Tommy Edman said. “I think that’s why we’re so successful.”

For all the money the Dodgers spent, they could never have imagined their playoff roster would look the way it does, with only one starting pitcher from the Opening Day roster available, with only three starting pitchers they can trust to start games in Yamamoto, midseason acquisition Jack Flaherty and a rebounding Walker Buehler, and with Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas too hobbled to play. 

The Dodgers lost Betts for nearly two months and Yamamoto for nearly three. Kershaw returned from his shoulder issue in July only for his toe to sideline him down the stretch after making just seven starts. Young standout starting pitchers Gavin Stone, Dustin May, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan were all lost for the year, too. 

“This is as determined of a group as I’ve been around,” Friedman said, “and they needed every ounce of it.”

The moves Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes made at the trade deadline ended up turning depth pieces into starring contributors. 

A day before trading for the most coveted starting pitcher on the market in Flaherty, the Dodgers swung a three-team deal to acquire a struggling reliever and a versatile position player who hadn’t played all season. Three months later, Michael Kopech would start the bullpen game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, while Edman would knock in four runs from manager Dave Roberts’ cleanup spot in the Game 6 clincher. 

“It’s something that you always think about, always dream about,” Edman said. “It’s not necessarily something I was expecting.” 

Flaherty went from an important depth piece in the rotation to the club’s most-trusted headliner on the mound. Edman helped lengthen a lineup that needed help both in the outfield and at shortstop. The addition of Kopech, who emerged as one of Roberts’ most trusted high-leverage arms, assisted a scuffling bullpen. 

But the injuries seemed endless, threatening to derail the Dodgers’ hopes. 

“I think there were times during the year with some of the injuries that we had where it was a little bit deflating,” Friedman said. “I think Doc did a great job getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group.”

In September, the Dodgers found out an elbow issue would officially end Glasnow’s All-Star season. At the time, the Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta. The Padres and Diamondbacks were closing in on their division lead. Roberts could sense his players were starting to get demoralized.

So he gathered them together for a meeting that Hernández said “changed everything.”

“We realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we’re still the Dodgers,” Hernández said.  

“I just got a feeling that there was some kind of a little, ‘Woe is me,'” Roberts explained, “and that’s just not who we are.”

The skipper shared a message that he couldn’t believe in his players more than they believed in themselves. 

“We had a meeting and said, ‘Guys, look around, we still have Hall of Famers in this room, we still have All-Stars in this room, we have guys that were paid a lot of money in this room, we can still do this,'” Max Muncy explained. 

The Dodgers went 11-3 the rest of the season, holding off the Padres, who would later push them to the brink in the NLDS. 

Facing elimination in San Diego, the players got together again in the visiting clubhouse of Petco Park to spread a similar message, laced with a few more four-letter words.

That day, Edman filled in for the injured Rojas at shortstop while a group of relievers linked together to hold the Padres off the board in a bullpen game. The Dodgers returned home and spun another shutout started by Yamamoto in the deciding Game 5, ensuring this team was different, more together, more resilient, than the two before it that had bowed out in stunning first-round exits.   

“When you’re in that dugout this time of year, if you’re not together as a team, you can tell night and day,” Muncy said. “When you’re talking about 13, 14, 15 guys in that dugout, and they’re all hanging on every pitch, hanging on every single swing with you in the batter’s box, and you can hear them and you can feel them, it makes a big difference.”

The Dodgers outscored the Padres 10-0 in the final two games of the series, then outscored the Mets by 20 runs in the NLCS while plating a series-record 46 runs. And in a series full of former and hopeful MVPs, it was Edman, a deadline addition who didn’t play his first game this year until Aug. 19, who led everyone with 11 hits and 11 RBI. 

“You’re talking about a guy that’s Gold Glove level at numerous positions, bats from both sides, steals bases, lays down bunts, gets hits, hits for power,” Muncy said. “You’re talking about an absolute gamer.”

Edman was a league-average hitter with a plus glove at multiple defensive positions in his five years with the Cardinals. This year, offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain during his rehab sidelined him for the entire first half. Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office were undeterred. They still wanted him, as they had for years. 

“To know that I was valued and coveted by them, it’s a good feeling,” Edman said. “It gives me confidence.”

Down the stretch, he played primarily center field and offered Rojas the ability to get off his feet at shortstop. On six different occasions, he played both positions in the same game. That ability is especially crucial now. After starting in center the first three games of the NLDS, Edman has played shortstop every game since. He has also hit in five different spots in the Dodgers’ order this postseason. 

“I never imagined once we acquired him, he’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game,” Roberts said. “But I trust him. The guys trust him.”

With the Mets turning to lefty Sean Manaea, it allowed the switch-hitting Edman to hit from the right side, where he has excelled this year. On Sunday, he delivered a two-run double his first time up and a two-run homer his next time up. The Dodgers tagged the Mets for 10 runs for the second time in three games, while their fourth game with at least eight runs tied another postseason record. 

Edman’s 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied him with Corey Seager (2020 NLCS) for the most in a postseason series by a Dodgers player. Kopech, meanwhile, became a key piece of a makeshift pitching staff that at one point tied a playoff record with 33 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, dating back to the end of the NLDS. 

The Dodgers’ scoreless innings streak ended in Game 2 of the NLCS, when a bullpen game went awry. On Sunday, Roberts utilized the strategy again to better effect, having saved most of his most trusted arms for the occasion. 

“To go from a season that I was struggling on a team that was struggling, to be able to have success on a team that’s having a lot of success means the world to me,” Kopech said. “To be a part of this, where guys are doing what they’re doing, guys like Shohei, Mookie and Freddie putting his whole body on the line to go out there and play for as much as he can this postseason, for guys like Tommy to show up and be more than a role player and be the star that I think he is, it’s really special.”

Entering Game 6, Kopech, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson had each pitched only once this series, not only keeping them fresh but also limiting their exposure to Mets hitters. Blake Treinen and Anthony Banda were plenty rested, too. With the offense exploding for 10 runs, the bullpen game’s five runs would suffice. 

Ohtani reached base three times and scored twice. Hernández, who was hitless in the first five games, and Will Smith snapped out of their slumps. Betts had an RBI double in the eighth that put the game away. And there was Edman, who had multiple hits for a third straight game. 

“You look at what happened in the offseason, you sign Shohei, and you’ve got so many superstars on the team, it’s kind of the expectation to have success,” Edman said. “I think to have those expectations and come through on all those is impressive and says a lot about the group we have here.”

In an MLB season without a 100-game winner, a ravaged Dodgers club still emerged as the top seed in the National League with the best record in baseball. Beyond their superstars, some shrewd deadline additions and a bevy of relief arms helped mask their deficiencies to start the postseason. 

Now, a marquee matchup against the American League’s top seed awaits, with the Dodgers and Yankees meeting Friday in the first World Series clash between the storied franchises since 1981. 

“You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Muncy said. “As a fan, how special is this, man? 

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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The faces in the crowd told the story. In the eighth inning Thursday night, many of the 43,882 fans at Citi Field found the exits. Those who remained were mostly staring straight ahead, stone-faced, seemingly in shock and disbelief, save for a moment when they offered a round of sarcastic cheers after their pitchers finally managed to retire Max Muncy. 

The New York Mets, who had demonstrated so much resiliency and fortitude to get to the National League Championship Series, endured another thorough beatdown at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who followed up an 8-0 shellacking in Queens in Game 3 with a 10-2 thrashing at the same venue in Game 4. 

Here are three takeaways as the Dodgers put the Mets on the brink and moved one win away from returning to the World Series for the first time since winning it all in 2020. 

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1. Has the Mets’ magic run out? 

The Mets’ unyielding nature is what got them here. They were 11 games under .500 on June 2. From that point on, no one in baseball was better. A McDonald’s mascot became a lasting image of an ascending squad and a changing vibe. As the team started winning, “OMG” became their anthem. They were not only good, they were fun.

Francisco Lindor ensured that aura would last into October with his game-winning homer that sent them to the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. When Pete Alonso followed in the wild-card series with the team down two runs, two outs away from elimination with a game-winning homer against one of the best closers in baseball, this seemed to be a team of destiny. 

Until they ran into the Dodgers, who have outscored them by 21 runs through four games. 

The Mets hit .265 with an .808 OPS with runners in scoring position during the regular season. In the NLCS, they’re hitting .138 with a .541 OPS and seven RBIs in those situations. The Dodgers, meanwhile, are batting .333 with a .942 OPS and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position. 

In Game 4, the Mets had 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position and failed to record a hit in all of them. Their most flagrant offense came in the sixth inning, after Mookie Betts sent one of his four hits on the night out for a homer to increase the Dodgers’ lead to five. The Mets answered back in the bottom half of the frame by loading the bases with no outs. 

And then? 

Jose Iglesias struck out. Jeff McNeil sent a fly ball to center field that might have been deep enough to score Brandon Nimmo if not for the plantar fasciitis that has hobbled the Mets outfielder throughout the series. He did not even try to score. When Jesse Winker’s promising drive to right field died short of the warning track, it was all but over. 

At the start of September, the Mets’ odds to make the playoffs were just 29.6%. If they’re looking for some motivation, that percentage is not far off from the odds of winning an LCS with three elimination games to go. Teams that have gone up 3-1 have won 82% of the time. 

If the Mets can somehow find a way to dig out of the hole they’ve created here, it’ll be their greatest trick yet in a season that seemed magical until this point. 

2. The Mets’ biggest advantage has not played out. 

The tone for the series was set quickly when Jack Flaherty spun seven scoreless innings in the best start of his Dodgers tenure while Kodai Senga allowed as many runs (four) as outs recorded in Game 1. But considering Senga’s lack of innings this year, that was the one matchup that seemed to be in the Dodgers’ favor. The Mets were supposed to be the group with the starting pitching depth. 

Sean Manaea demonstrated as much in Game 2, carving through the opposing lineup as the Mets foiled the Dodgers’ bullpen game plans, ending Los Angeles pitchers’ streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings and flipping all the momentum with the series going to New York. 

They had to feel good with Luis Severino and Jose Quintana going against Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto the next two nights. 

Then the Dodgers annihilated them in both matchups, walking four times against Severino in Game 3 and four more times against Quintana in Game 4 as a disciplined L.A. lineup forced both Mets starters out early. It was a tough assignment for Quintana, who lives for chase, against a team unwilling to leave the strike zone. 

Buehler and Yamamoto, meanwhile, combined to strike out 14 batters and allow two runs in 8.1 innings. 

RELATED: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts make Dodgers look unbeatable: ‘You’re facing Hall of Famers’

The Mets hadn’t faced Yamamoto since April 19, when he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings. He didn’t throw any sliders in that meeting. In Game 4, he switched it up, throwing 14 of them, which represented a season high. The Mets whiffed on half of their 10 swings against the pitch, which was responsible for four of Yamamoto’s eight strikeouts. 

It was that same pitch that Yamamoto used to flummox Yankees hitters the last time he was in New York, when he tossed seven scoreless innings on June 7 in a game many referenced before the playoffs as an example of his ability to thrive with the lights at their brightest. There was some thought that the increased usage of his slider, however, might have also contributed to the shoulder issue that sidelined him for three months not long after that start against the Yankees. But there’s no denying the effectiveness of the pitch and how it plays with the rest of his arsenal, and he clearly felt OK about it Thursday night. 

After Buehler got 18 swings and misses in Game 3 — his highest total of the season — Yamamoto followed with 16, his third-highest total of the year, in just 4.1 innings of work. That’s all the Dodgers needed before turning the game over to their pen, where they hold the clear advantage. 

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza elected to save David Peterson despite Quintana’s struggles Thursday. Now, with their season on the line, that’s who they’ll turn to in a do-or-die Game 5, perhaps with less of a leash than Mendoza was willing to grant Quintana as his night unraveled Thursday. 

3. The Dodgers’ MVPs thrived. But there’s much more to this unrelenting lineup. 

With one former MVP out of the lineup, two more took starring roles. With the Dodgers giving Freddie Freeman a night off to rest his injured ankle, the rest of the Dodgers’ lineup picked up the slack.

“There was no excuse,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We were expecting to win this game tonight.”

It started from the top. Shohei Ohtani and Betts each reached base four times, with both going deep and the latter finishing a triple short of the cycle. 

Ohtani entered the night 17-for-20 dating back to the end of the regular season with runners in scoring position, a record in the live-ball era. Strangely, it was a far different story with no one on base. He was 0-for-22 with the bases empty entering Thursday, when he immediately ended the peculiar skid by crushing a Quintana sinker 117.8 mph off the bat for a 422-foot home on the second pitch of the game. 

He got on base three more times via walk, which meant pitching to another MVP, who often made them pay. Betts went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs, bringing Ohtani home with a double in the fourth and a homer in the sixth. 

There was nowhere for Mets’ pitchers to rest. Tommy Edman had two hits and knocked in three runs, October legend Kiké Hernández added two more hits and Muncy reached base each of his first four times up, running his on-base streak to an MLB postseason record 12 straight plate appearances before striking out in the eighth. 

“I wasn’t even aware of that,” Muncy told FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci after the game. “That’s pretty cool. The biggest thing, to me, is that means I’m getting on base for my teammates.” 

Up and down the lineup, the Dodgers have worked the Mets pitchers. 

After walking five times in a Game 1 win in the NLDS, the Padres stopped gifting the Dodgers free passes, issuing no more than three walks in a game in any subsequent matchup. Against the Mets, the Dodgers have walked at least seven times every game. At the time of Betts’ two-run double in the fourth inning, all four of their run-scoring hits had come with hitters ahead in the count. 

The Dodgers have 16 hits and 24 RBIs with runners in scoring position in the NLCS. The other three teams in the LCS have combined for 11 hits and 20 RBIs with runners in scoring position. 

“Right now, I’m still kind of enjoying it a little bit, but I’m already thinking about Peterson tomorrow,” Roberts said. “Yeah, we’ve still got some work to do.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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In a billion-dollar Dodgers offseason, a one-year, $4 million move is making all the difference. 

It wasn’t until weeks into spring training that the Dodgers brought back Kiké Hernández, but they did it with this time of year in mind. Now, the career .238 hitter is once again morphing into an October sensation. 

After homering in the winner-take-all Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the Padres, Hernández added to his growing list of postseason heroics with another home run Wednesday night in Game 3 in Queens. In an 8-0 trouncing of the Mets that put the Dodgers back ahead in the NLCS, manager Dave Roberts called Hernández’s blast — the 15th postseason home run of his career — the biggest hit of the game. 

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“This guy always rises to the occasion,” Roberts said before the series. “The reason we got him this year was to win 11 games in October.”

Every night before playoff games, Hernández practices visualization. As he’s going to sleep, he envisions every situation he can think of that might come up the following day, and he imagines himself succeeding. 

It’s a practice he began after a couple postseason failures. 

In the decisive Game 5 of the 2015 NLDS, Hernández went hitless and grounded into a double play in a one-run loss. The following year, he walked three times in the NLCS against the Cubs but went hitless in his eight at-bats as the Dodgers lost in six games. 

So, the following year, facing the same team, he decided to switch gears. 

Entering Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, he was 6-for-29 with one extra-base hit in his postseason career. It was a tumultuous time in his life personally, having just lost his grandfather and watched Hurricane Maria wreak havoc on his native Puerto Rico. 

And yet, through the chaos, the visualization techniques began. 

“I was like, I’m tired of feeling, ‘What if?'” Hernández recalled. 

He thought about not only delivering in the biggest moments but also how he would answer questions after putting the team into the World Series. Less than 24 hours later, he did just that. Hernández launched three home runs and knocked in an LCS-record seven of the Dodgers’ 11 runs in a rout at Wrigley Field. 

“And I haven’t looked back since then,” Hernández said earlier this postseason. “You’ve just got to understand that there’s only two ways it can go: You can either have success or you can fail. You just can’t be afraid of failure. And you’ve just gotta want the moment, gotta want the at-bat.”

With that, his October legend began. 

He has now launched 15 home runs in his past 62 playoff games, tied with Babe Ruth and Jayson Werth for the 18th most in postseason history.

Of the 20 players with at least 15 postseason homers, Hernández’s 13.33 at-bats per home run trail only Nelson Cruz, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Mickey Mantle for the best mark in postseason history. He’s hitting a home run more than twice as often in the playoffs as he does in the regular season (once every roughly 29 at-bats). 

With each standout swing, his visualization techniques help him quell any anxiety he might be feeling. 

“You just find a way, whatever it is that you’ve got to find so that when the moment shows up, when the big moment shows up and you step up to the plate or whatever it is, you don’t let the moment get too big,” Hernández said. 

After six years with the Dodgers, Hernández sought an everyday opportunity in Boston. In the 2021 postseason, Hernández homered in Games 2 and 3 of the ALDS with the Red Sox. Then he homered three times in the first two games of the ALCS. Though the Red Sox lost in six games to the Astros, Hernández finished the 2021 postseason hitting 20-for-49 with 10 extra-base hits. 

“I feel confidence is a choice,” Hernández said. “It’s a thought. It’s a feeling. If you can find your way to feel differently about that, everything is going to change, your body language is going to change and good things — when you carry yourself with good body language, confident body language, confident energy — more times than not, good things tend to happen.”

Last year, Hernández returned to the Dodgers at the trade deadline. He was close to a league-average hitter in the second half, which represented a  jump from his struggles of the first half in Boston. This spring, he was still a free agent when the Dodgers sent Manuel Margot, who was acquired two months prior in their trade for Tyler Glasnow, to Minnesota. A reunion with a super utility player with a penchant for postseason production made sense. 

Hernández’s playoff success with the Dodgers continued into 2024. 

But the first half was again a slog for Hernández, who entered the break hitting .191. Around that time, he found a remedy. Hernández learned he had astigmatism in his right eye and began wearing prescription glasses on the field for the first time. He caught fire in the second half, slashing .274/.307/.458 after the break. 

Still, on a deep Dodgers roster, he had only two at-bats through the first three games of the NLDS. He did not get his first start this postseason until Game 4, when shortstop Miguel Rojas was too injured to continue. Before the game, with the Dodgers facing elimination, Hernández delivered a message to the team that would serve as a rallying cry. 

The gist?

“F— them all,” Max Muncy explained succinctly. 

Added Gavin Lux: “Kiké has the best mentality when it comes to playoffs, and I think everybody kinda feeds off his energy. I absolutely feed off of it.” 

In his first start of the NLDS, Hernández recorded two hits in an elimination game. He has started every game since. The Dodgers are outscoring their opponents 30-7 in games that Hernández has started this postseason. 

His career regular-season OPS is .654; in the postseason, it’s now over .900. 

“The fact that I’ve had a pretty good track record in October, I can’t help but [have it] bring me confidence,” he said after Wednesday’s win. “And it just makes you believe that you take your game to another level.”

At the time of Hernández’s 378-foot shot on the sixth pitch of his sixth-inning at-bat against Mets reliever Reed Garrett, Game 3 of the NLCS was still up for grabs. The Dodgers led by two runs with the bullpens set to decide the matchup the rest of the way. 

As it has gone so often this October for the Dodgers’ relievers, that played in their favor. Hernández’s two-run homer gave them some breathing room, doubling the lead. 

It wasn’t quite the same as his homer in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS, when he began to earn his reputation, or the one from Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS, when he helped spark a trip to the World Series with a game-tying sixth-inning blast. But it once again was a difference-maker for a group of Dodgers players hoping to bring another title to Los Angeles. 

This time, there’s an added incentive for Hernández and his teammates, who want to celebrate a championship with their fans the way they couldn’t after their pandemic-shortened 2020 success. 

“If there’s something that this crowd is, it’s hungry,” Hernández said. “They want a championship. … We know how bad they want it.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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As the National League Championship Series shifts to New York, so does MLB on FOX analyst John Smoltz, who’ll be in Queens to continue covering an even series between the Dodgers and Mets.

Before Game 3, the Hall of Fame pitcher shared his thoughts on a Dodgers Game 2 bullpen game that unraveled on them, what makes Sean Manaea and Game 3 starter Luis Severino so productive this year, whether he’d move Shohei Ohtani out of the leadoff spot, if he thinks certain players are built specifically for October, what’s impressed him most through two games and more.

Kavner: Through two games, who do you think has the upper hand right now between the Dodgers and the Mets? 

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Smoltz: The advantage, for sure, goes to the Mets and the starting pitching. That’s kind of an obvious, just because of what the Dodgers don’t have. But it all comes down to, this series and the past series, especially with the Dodgers, a lot of it has been determined through four innings. And if you think about baseball being played in the regular season, that was never the case. You would be a little more patient. I think the Dodgers are in a position now to really use leverage guys if they are up early, and they won’t wait around to get anybody in trouble. 

Now, what happened in Game 2 was not the protocol they were hoping for. But you think about what both teams did, it wasn’t really a typical starter for either team. Game 1 for the Mets, you could say they used a starter, but he wasn’t going to go more than two or three innings. He didn’t have it. The game got out of hand. For the Dodgers, I think the fact that the way they were going to have to use their bullpen, if the score was different, maybe they use higher leverage guys in situations that they didn’t use because the score got out of hand. So, you’re really seeing managerial decisions based on the early — or lack thereof — execution by both clubs. 

Kavner: It seemed like Dave Roberts had been pushing all the right buttons in terms of pitching matchups this postseason. Did you like the decision to go with a bullpen game for Game 2, and were you surprised that the Dodgers saved their best arms once they fell behind? 

Smoltz: I think I was surprised a little bit by the order. If they would’ve lost Game 1, I think the order would’ve changed, and I don’t think you would have seen that scenario play out. Now, you’re hoping Landon Knack does his thing. He didn’t, and the grand slam broke the game open. That changed the whole narrative of how and who he used after that. So, I think that they didn’t have the full resources. Of course, they’ve lost Alex Vesia, which hurts, and they probably didn’t have a couple of guys that weren’t ready based on using them the day before. 

So, that’s the problem the Dodgers face. Now you have three games in a row where they have to use their leverage guys, and they’re hoping to use them in winning situations, and not just to keep it close. That’s the nightmare for the Dodgers. Now, on the flip side, their offense can take care of a lot of things if they do their thing, but the Mets are going to have something to say about that with Luis Severino, Jose Quintana. They got their guys ready to go to battle a totally different strategic game than what the Dodgers are going to be playing. 

Kavner: We at least know the starters for the next two games: Walker Buehler versus Luis Severino and Yoshinobu Yamamoto versus Jose Quintana. When looking at those two matchups specifically, who do you think has the advantage? 

Smoltz: What the Mets have been able to do is show that they were a pretty darn good starting staff in the second half. They stayed healthy; they got it done; they’ve got guys on a roll. You know, the postseason is a different monster. You still got to be able to go out and execute your pitches. And I think with Severino, he’s one of the most dynamic arms in all of baseball. When he’s healthy, he could do some pretty incredible things. He has every weapon to get any hitter out. And I think for the Mets, they’re going to rely heavily on that, and they’re going to rely on the calm, cool, left-handed, not-throwing-hard pitcher in Jose Quintana. I think he’s an under-the-radar-pitcher that nobody really pays attention to until he goes to a streak that he’s been through in this year. 

On the flip side, the Dodgers are going to have two pitchers that when they’re healthy, they’re equally as dominant as these two pitchers we’re talking about. Buehler, now on the second time having Tommy John, he’s just a tick off, and we saw what Yamamoto can do when he’s healthy. Now, the challenge is going to be, do they pitch him at a rest that’s not typically the normal rest that he is used to? I think they have to, and I think that this last game gives them confidence in what he’s able to do. 

Kavner: We saw Sean Manaea carve through the Dodgers lineup with his lowered arm slot. Is it that simple, as far as what makes him such a difficult matchup right now? Does another Mets starter pose as great of a threat?

Smoltz: I think the biggest thing for Manaea, my goodness, he’s got that fastball that hitters just don’t see because the arm angle throws across his body. Now, what Severino does, he has three different fastballs. He’s got the two-seamer, the fastball, the four-seamer, and then the cutter. And I think the ability to manipulate the baseball on both lanes and both sides of the plate is what makes him so difficult. And if he stays out of the middle, then he’s going to be a tough, tough out. And I think that’s the one dynamic when he first broke into the league, 98 mph fastball that has two different movements to it. Man, that is such a luxury, and he’s showing, when he’s healthy, what kind of pitcher he can be. 

Kavner: In light of Shohei Ohtani‘s dramatic splits with runners in scoring position compared to when no one is on, would you consider moving him down in the lineup or keep him in the leadoff spot? 

Smoltz: You got to keep him there just because of the threat. When he gets on base with nobody on, he’s going to be an absolute beast. We haven’t seen the running game because he’s always hitting with people in scoring position when he’s doing his damage. So, yeah, you leave him there. You know that this is just a numerical oddity, and you think it’s going to turn and when it does turn, it will certainly bode well for the Dodgers.

Kavner: Sticking with some numerical oddities, I know we’ve seen some guys who seem to thrive this time of year while others who might be superstars struggle. Do you think there are certain players who are built for October, or is that just a year-to-year, small-sample deal that will always fluctuate? 

Smoltz: I know everybody that is in the business of stats wants to put an absolute on things. You can’t do that when it comes to the postseason. There are guys whose heartbeat, whose mind, whose concentration goes to the next level, that just doesn’t do so in the regular season. And some people say that when you float the regular season, you kind of go through the long battle, then, all of a sudden, you get in a lockdown and think about things differently. And so, there is such a thing as clutch. I know that’s a hard thing to quantify for people, but there is such a thing. And guys are built differently. 

The guys who are kind of more ADD, that seems to lock them in the postseason versus the entirety of a season. It’s just a hyper focus, and then there’s a heartbeat, and a heartbeat gets faster when there’s pressure and there are games that matter a little bit more, and you’re asked questions. You’ve got to be able to handle the narratives of all the things that come with the postseason that aren’t rightfully fair. You just have to learn how to deal with that and be in the moment, present, and not afraid to fail. You would be shocked how many people are afraid to fail because of the notoriety. Everyone wants to be known for something great. They don’t want to be known for something bad, like, “How could you make that play? How could you drop that ball? How did you strike out five times in a row?” 

Those are the things that get magnified. So, 100 percent, there are guys who historically can come up big that normally, maybe in the regular season, they’re just kind of average. And I think that’s the human nature, and that’s the beauty of the postseason that everyone wants to quantify, but can’t really grasp. How does that happen? 

Kavner: Finally, I know we’re excited to see what could be a lengthy series. But through two games, has anything in particular surprised or impressed you from either side?

Smoltz: The Dodgers’ ability to respond. All the pressure in the world’s on them. If I’m the Mets, I’m going to keep putting as much pressure on them. But the thing that has surprised me is not that the Dodgers are built differently, but this attitude, like, we know that all the pressure’s on us, but we’re going to find a way to win. That’s not a Dodger model that was in spring training. The Dodger model was, “We are better than you. We’re built better than you. We got stars, we got studs, and we’re going to roll.” They put together an incredible team, and I think it’s an interesting dynamic now, going all the way back to Game 4 against the Padres, where there were so many stories being ready to be written that had to be thrown away. 

And so there’s a little bit of that attitude that I know Dave Roberts likes, and you match that with the unprecedented, unexplainable New York Mets‘ journey, where they’re sitting there with their chest out going, “You know what, nothing’s going to bother us. We’ve already been through the car washing.” I know that’s an intangible, but I think it’s something that you wouldn’t associate with the Dodgers, fair or not, because of their roster and their payroll. It’s not part of their DNA. It’s like, they’re just better, and now they’re having to deal with things that other teams are going, “Yeah, see, guess what? We got to deal with that, but we don’t have the reserves and the quantity. Good luck doing that.” 

I’m interested in that mindset of how they come out in Game 3. What do they do if they fall behind? And we’ve seen a special sauce that both teams have in different routes, different ways to get it done.

John Smoltz, a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer, eight-time All-Star and National League Cy Young Award winner, is FOX MLB’s lead game analyst. In addition to calling the network’s marquee regular-season games, Smoltz is in the booth for the All-Star Game and a full slate of postseason matchups which include Division Series, League Championship Series and World Series assignments.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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