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Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are set to be at Yankee Stadium on Monday night for Game 1 of the ALCS between the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians, per multiple reports. 

The couple was most recently spotted in NYC on October 11 and 12.

It’s a bye week for Kelce’s undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, while Swift has a few more days off before she returns from a two-month break and takes the stage at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Friday to kick off the final leg of The Eras Tour.

Kelce, a Cleveland native, has shown his support for the Guardians in the past, including throwing the ceremonial first pitch before a 2023 game against the Kansas City Royals — although his attempt did hilariously send pitcher Shane Bieber and the Guardians mascot running for cover. 

Swift also has baseball ties, most notably when she sang the national anthem before Game 3 of the 2008 World Series between her hometown Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays.

The couple’s rumored appearance comes after the pair attended the US Open men’s final in New York, alongside Patrick Mahomes and his wife, last month.

Swift attended Kansas City’s first two games of the season. She was absent from the next two road games before returning to Arrowhead Stadium in Week 5, marking her 16th regular-season Chiefs game. Kelce recorded a season-high nine catches for 70 yards in that 26-13 victory.

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Swift will likely miss Kelce’s next game, as the Chiefs head to San Francisco for a Super Bowl rematch with the 49ers. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX, with Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt on the call. 

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Clayton Kershaw won’t take the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers again this year, regardless of how much further the team goes in the postseason. But he plans to return in 2025 and make the most of his surgically repaired shoulder, he told the MLB on FOX pregame show before Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

“Mentally, I feel great,” Kershaw said in response to a question from David Ortiz. “I had shoulder surgery last offseason, and my shoulder, elbow, everything — my arm feels great. Obviously, I had some tough luck with my foot this year, but I want to make use of this surgery. I don’t want to have surgery and shut it down. So I’m gonna come back next year and give it a go and see how it goes.”

Kershaw underwent shoulder surgery soon after the Dodgers’ elimination in the 2023 National League Division Series at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The recovery from that operation sidelined him until he made his season debut on July 25. He only made seven starts, however, exiting his last one on Aug. 30 in the second inning due to a toe injury. 

Kershaw attempted to rehab the injury in time to rejoin the Dodgers’ shorthanded starting rotation in the playoffs, but failed to do so and was ruled out for the rest of 2024.

“Clayton has done everything he can to keep this thing moving forward and giving himself a chance to participate in the postseason,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters then. “But where he’s at right now, physically, the foot, the toe just is not cooperating. It’s actually getting worse.”

The 36-year-old Kershaw had a 4.50 ERA over those seven starts, easily the fewest number of starts and highest ERA the 10-time All-Star has registered in his career.

Despite his absence from the playoffs, the Dodgers’ pitching staff tied an MLB postseason record with 33 scoreless innings with Kershaw watching from the dugout every step of the way. That includes a dominant 9-0 win over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday behind seven scoreless innings from Jack Flaherty, an L.A.-area native who grew up watching Kershaw.

“Just the collective effort, that’s been the coolest thing to see,” Kershaw said. “It’s been everybody. Obviously having ‘Flare’ throw last night, getting to go through seven innings, it really sets up our game today for a bullpen game, obviously. You’ve got to give our bullpen a ton of credit, what they were able to do starting with that bullpen game in San Diego [in Game 4 of the NLDS] all the way through to now. You can say so much about every guy, man. It’s been awesome to watch.”

Kershaw, both personally and as the longest-tenured member of the Dodgers, has been no stranger to playoff disappointment over the years. L.A. looked headed down a similar path, down 2-1 in the NLDS against the rival San Diego Padres. But that’s when their pitching staff’s scoreless streak started, allowing the Dodgers to rattle off three consecutive wins to not only advance to the NLCS but also take the early series lead over the Mets.

That prompted Derek Jeter to ask Kershaw what made this Dodgers team different from past years.

“It’s hard to compare years,” Kershaw said. “I feel like we’ve had great teams in the past, and no disrespect to different teams that I’ve played on in the past, too. But this year, this group of guys, it just feels really resilient. There’s no quit, whether we’re down 6-0, whether we’re up 6-0. It’s that same fight every single inning. It’s been a lot of fun to be a part of, especially taking a step back and being on the sidelines watching this group of guys, you can really tell there’s a heartbeat there. It’s kind of one collective.”

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The last time the New York Yankees were in the World Series, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter were manning the left side of the infield for the 2009 superteam that won the franchise’s record 27th title.

Now, both former teammates — reunited as MLB analysts at FOX Sports — are bullish on New York’s chances of making it back to the Fall Classic for the first time in 15 years, as the Yankees begin the 2024 ALCS against Cleveland on Monday.

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“You never want to say you have an … easy road to the World Series, but if the Yankees could pick and choose their [playoff] opponents,” Jeter said on FOX Sports’ postgame show after Game 1 of the NLCS. “I think they got the two that they would pick and choose because of their success against the AL Central.”

To Jeter’s point, the Yankees went 4-2 against the Guardians in the regular season. They went 5-2 against their division series opponents, the Kansas City Royals, in the regular season, then dispatched K.C. in four games in the ALDS. 

The Yankees have made four ALCS trips since they last won it all in 2009, but they’ve lost each time — once to the Detroit Tigers and three times to the Houston Astros. Despite that, Rodriguez is optimistic about the team’s chances this year.

“You don’t have to say it, I’ll say it — the Yankees have an easy road to the World Series,” Rodriguez said. “It’s never easy, but this is the clearest path in 20 years.”

While the Yankees have the AL’s best record at 94-68, the Guardians were only two wins behind them at 92-70. 

Cleveland boasts a characteristically underrated pitching staff led by star closer Emmanuel Clase as well as a lengthy lineup headlined by perennial All-Star closer Jose Ramirez. The Guardians dispatched the AL Central rival Detroit in five games in their ALDS series.

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Major League Baseball’s postseason is averaging 3.33 million viewers going into the league championship series, an 18% increase over last year’s average of 2.82 million.

The division series averaged 3.56 million viewers for 18 games, a 14% increase from last year.

Friday’s night NLDS Game 5 between the Dodgers and San Diego Padres averaged 7.5 million on FOX, FOX Deportes and streaming, the most-watched division series game since 2017.

Saturday afternoon’s deciding game between the Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers averaged 3.42 million on TBS, the most-watched division series matchup in a day game window (pre-4 p.m. start) in 17 years.

The game was originally slated to be played at night, but was moved up to the afternoon due to the threat of inclement weather.

FOX and FS1 averaged 4.09 million for the National League games, their highest numbers since postseason baseball began airing on FS1 in 2014. Fox also benefitted from the Phillies-Mets being the other series. The Mets advanced in four games.

TNT Sports averaged 3 million for the ALDS series games on TBS and TNT. The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals in four games in the other series.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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LOS ANGELES — Before Jack Flaherty took the mound Sunday night, he noticed his mom taking her seat behind home plate. In the crowd, a group of his lifelong friends from Sherman Oaks Little League offered their support. 

Entering his second playoff start with his childhood team, he felt at ease. 

Eleven years after the Harvard-Westlake junior fired seven scoreless innings in the Southern Section Division I championship game at Dodger Stadium, the local product was back on the same mound, doing the same thing, only with considerably different stakes and circumstances. 

Instead of delivering his high school team a championship, Flaherty was orchestrating the most consequential victory of his eight-year big-league career with seven shutout frames in the Dodgers‘ 9-0 victory to begin the National League Championship Series against the Mets. 

“I’m sure every single one of us has done it and put ourselves in the scenario,” Flaherty said. “It’s the same thing, same game. You’ve just got to look at it as fun and try not to make things bigger than they are, not let your imagination get in the way.”

Flaherty’s Game 1 gem put the Dodgers in the driver’s seat of the series, ensuring there wouldn’t be an emotional letdown coming off a spirited series against the rival Padres in which the Dodgers staved off elimination twice. It also etched his team in the record books. 

Sunday’s victory ran the Dodger pitching staff’s consecutive scoreless innings streak to 33, tied with the 1966 Orioles for the most in MLB postseason history. 

Just as important, it allowed manager Dave Roberts to save his arms. 

Given their lack of starting pitching options, the Dodgers will need to use bullpen games at some point. In a seven-game series, that can be especially taxing. 

Because of Flaherty’s work, the Dodgers can now confidently deploy their highest-leverage relievers in a Game 2 bullpen game Monday afternoon. With an off day Tuesday, their relievers can then reset, with Walker Buehler and Yoshinobu Yamamoto well-rested for Games 3 and 4 in New York. 

“Incredible,” Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech said. “We know we’re going to be relied on heavily down there in the bullpen. We don’t know exactly when that is or how it’s going to be, but we know there’s games we’re going to have to cover some innings. For him to go out there and dominate Game 1, and to only use two other arms, there’s not really words for it.”

The past two years, the Dodgers have been uncharacteristically deprived of starting pitching in October. It doomed them in 2023. This year, the pitching staff has made it work. 

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In a do-or-die Game 4 in San Diego, it was eight relievers who cobbled together a shutout. The bullpen was crucial again in the deciding Game 5, following Yamamoto’s five scoreless innings with four more spotless frames. 

But at some point, especially in a seven-game series, the Dodgers needed length from a starter. Their prized deadline acquisition delivered. 

“This is certainly a childhood dream for him and his family,” Roberts said. “You just feel that he can handle this market, handle pitching in a playoff game, starting a playoff game.” 

In the hours and days leading up to the trade deadline, the Dodgers had some back-and-forth with Detroit about Flaherty before moving on to other fronts, thinking the Tigers would go in a different direction. With less than an hour to go, Detroit got back to the Los Angeles front office. The Dodgers got the frontline starter they coveted. 

At that point, they figured Flaherty would be additive to their postseason rotation. Instead, with Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone out for the year, he has become essential. 

Prior to Flaherty’s masterpiece, the Dodgers had not gotten even six innings from a starting pitcher in their previous 20 playoff games. The last one to do it was Max Scherzer in Game 3 of the 2021 NLDS. That year, the Dodgers also staved off elimination against a division foe by winning back-to-back do-or-die games in the NLDS to advance. But they had also exhausted all their energy battling back. They followed by dropping the first two games of the NLCS to the Braves.

On Sunday, Flaherty’s pristine work provided a more auspicious start to the NLCS, fulfilling a childhood dream in the process. 

“I usually have been able to keep it together no matter what, even if it’s the end of an outing,” Flaherty said.

This time, with 53,503 fans from his favorite childhood team giving him a standing ovation?

“Yeah,” Flaherty admitted, “it’s hard not to smile there.” 

If he was trying to stay grounded for his second playoff start with the Dodgers on Sunday, the familiar sights in the crowd helped. 

Flaherty grew up going to Dodgers games, sitting in the reserve level with his mother, Eileen. In 2015, then in pro ball in the Cardinals’ system, the first-round pick got back to Dodger Stadium to see the NLDS with his little brother. He was there when Chase Utley fractured Ruben Tejada’s leg on a hard slide, and he was there the night prior, when Jacob deGrom fired seven scoreless innings. 

Nine years later, Flaherty delivered the same type of performance. 

Max Muncy spotted him an early lead with a two-run double in the first inning, bringing a hobbled Freddie Freeman home from second base. The first baseman had a smile on his face as he touched home plate with his good foot. Sliding can create problems for his sprained right ankle, and so can stopping abruptly, so instead, he ran into the arms of a waiting Mookie Betts to slow his speed. 

The Dodgers continued to pile on with a Shohei Ohtani RBI single in the second. They jumped all over Kodai Senga, who had no control. By the time they tacked on three more in the fourth inning, it was a rout. 

Flaherty thought he had tried to do too much the past couple of times out. In front of friends and family, he felt relaxed. His defense was flawless behind him. The Mets mustered just four baserunners against him and did not help themselves when they got their few chances. Their best came at the start of the fifth inning, when they got two singles off Flaherty to start the frame only for Jesse Winker to run into an out at third base. 

Flaherty then retired the last eight batters he faced.  The Dodgers have now outscored their opponents 23-0 since the Padres plated six runs against them in Game 3 of the NLDS. 

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Roberts said. 

On Flaherty’s walk back to the dugout after his 98 pitches, Ohtani waited to slap his hand from the top step. Roberts gave the pitcher a hug. So did one of his childhood idols. 

That game Flaherty attended in 2015, when deGrom threw seven shutout innings? It came against Clayton Kershaw, who struck out 11 in that performance. Five years later, Kershaw struck out 13 batters in eight scoreless innings in a wild-card game against the Brewers en route to a Dodgers championship.

Kershaw’s outing in 2020 was the last time a Dodgers pitcher threw at least seven shutout innings in a playoff game — until Sunday.

“Getting a hug from him afterwards and him letting me know it was a really good job is special,” Flaherty said. “Things that you can’t make up.”

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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Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

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Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports

Video Details

Link to Original Article - on Fox Sports