SHOWDOWN: Los Angeles Dodgers CLASH with Cincinnati Reds in EPIC Wild Card Series | UPSET ALERT?

SHOWDOWN: Los Angeles Dodgers CLASH with Cincinnati Reds in EPIC Wild Card Series | UPSET ALERT?

Well, one of these teams is getting ready to take care of business, and another team is just happy to be here. We’ll let you decide which one’s which. [Music] You are Locked On MLB Crossover, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome on into this NL wildcard locked on MLB crossover. My name is Jeff Carr. I’m one half of Locked on Reds. And with me is Harry Reise, one half of Locked on Dodgers. And we are going to get you set for the NL Wildcard for the ages between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers. We’re going to begin with the strengths of both teams and the reasons that each team could win this series. We’re going to look at the weaknesses and how each team could lose this series. And later on, we’ll give you our predictions as to what’s going to happen. And I’ll give you a little bit of a teaser. You might laugh at me. That’s all coming up on this Lockdown Mo crossover that is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Download FanDuel today. And Harry, where we will begin? I mean, Dodgers, Reds, it doesn’t have the same luster like it did back in the 70s and the 80s, but there is at least a little bit of something here. The last time that the Reds won a playoff series in 1995, they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, but here they are a very, very different ball club. And it looks like the Dodgers are just getting started. I kind of I kind of hearken back to like the Patriots of the mid 2000s. Like Dodger season doesn’t get started till October, right? Exactly. It’s 162 games of hey, we’re going to be playing in the playoffs. It just depends on where we’re going to be starting. If it’s in the divisional series, if it’s in the wild card, which the only time they’ve played in the wild card uh this kind of way is when the 2020 season happened when you had the Dodgers having to host that mini wild card series that they won and then went to Texas and had their residency in Arlington before winning the World Series against the Rays. Now they get this situation where it’s a two out of three where you’re playing against a team that in my opinion is playing with house money. You go against a Reds team that a month ago didn’t have this kind of aspiration and they took advantage. They capitalized on the Mets choking royally and I know I’ve read you already got one of the highest payrolls in baseball beating them for a spot in the playoffs and now you want to take the spot from the defending World Series champions. I think it’s going to be very hard. But look, if there’s one team that I wanted to play was the Reds. That way I had an another opportunity to have a crossover episode with you. One of my favorite people in sports media. So, let’s get it rocking and rolling. Jeff, I’m ready for it, man. This is going to be a fun one. And and I know that people are going to look at the season series and say, “Well, obviously we know who’s going to win this one.” But I want can we we’ll talk about some of the strengths here between each ball club because I think that they match up well and that’s the starting pitching of the Reds and the lineup of the Dodgers. It it feels like the Reds right now are really poised to make some noise. As much as nobody’s given them a chance, nor should they. I mean, the Dodgers are here and they’re ready to get going. This is the beginning of their journey and if they’re tripped up by the Reds, it’s going to shock the world. So, like you said, house money, we’re just happy to be here. Let’s see if we can make some noise. It starts with Hunter Green and it starts with Andrew Abbott who should be pitching in the second game and then I believe Nicolola will be pitching in the third game. Albeit he weirdly did a relief appearance on the you know, you’re removing all the stops type game on Sunday. So, he’s probably going to pitch on three days rest. But, I I think that it’s we know it’s Hunter Green to start. The starting pitching is really where the Reds are their strongest. So the Tito Francona confirmed it’s going to be Zack Latell game two and Andrew Abbott in a potential game three. Nicloo will be in the bullpen for you guys. So that’s the strategy y’all have. It’s going to be an interesting one. And you look at the Dodgers and we we’re going to talk about the strength of this team and compared to last year when we didn’t have but two starters available to be able to rock and roll in the postseason. This year we have an embarrassment of riches. You have Blake Snell going in game one. You got Yoshi Yamamoto going in game two. You got Shi Otani available in case you need to go in game three. And Tyler Glass now is going to be there in case you have that emergency to need an extra starter to use in a piggyback situation. EMTT Sheen has been killing it for the last month and a half. He’s going to be available, too, because we know that the bullpen has been rocky. We’ll talk about that coming up. But man, the biggest strength for the Dodgers is their starting pitching. And we’re talking about a team that has Shi Otani leading up who’s going to win his third consecutive MVP, his second in the National League. You got Muki Betts, a multi-time World Series champion. You got Freddy Freeman, a multi-time World Series champion. I mean, you’re talking about a team with that with three MVPs at the top of the lineup and they’re not even the strength of this team. It’s the starting pitching, which you guys experienced it playing the Dodgers not long ago. It’s going to be hard to get hits off of these guys. Your biggest possibility is hopefully they’re not under control and they give a lot give up some walks which has been the case for them that they get runners on scoring and runners on base and then you guys are great on the base paths. That’s my only uh my only fear. It’s like if we give them walks we know that Ellie de la Cruz can end up in third base two pitches later. That’s the funny thing, too. Like, the Reds have not been as aggressive with the stolen base, and I’ve been critical about that, but their efficiency has really ratcheted up. They’re very efficient on the base paths and where they advance and where they take their steals and things like that. So, that will be something to work with. The interesting part about that, and we’ll get into the lineup here in a bit, is that what happens when they get guys on base and when they get those runners in scoring position, they’ve been very, very inconsistent. So, it’s gonna be about the run prevention in this series and at least to lead up to the end of the season. It really felt like Terry Francona was setting his lineup up for run prevention rather than really skewing toward run production. He was getting the gloves in rather than the bats because Matt Mlan has not had a good year with his bat. Pretty good year with his glove. Key Hayes gonna be another gold glover. Has not hit very well at all between both the Pirates and the Reds. I think his OPS plus on the season is 65. So I if you get anything out of those two guys at the plate, you’re you’re just you’re just happy. But it’s all about how they prevent the runs. And that’s really what failed them in that series there at the end of August where there were a couple of pitches that got clobbered over the wall. I’m thinking of a couple that Andy Pahes just really loved. And then there was definitely one that um I think was Freddy Freeman clocked, but there were a couple of home run. And then Michael Conforto just I get it. He’s had a bad season, but Michael Conforto seemed to love to play against the Reds for some reason. So there’s going to be a lot about this that if the Reds can play the clean baseball that they’ve played at the end of the ball at the end of the regular season, that’s where they will have a chance to shock the world. And it’s it’s a possibility. It’s a two out of three game series. It’s not you got to beat the Dodgers four times. No, you don’t have to beat them three times. No, you got to beat them just twice. I know it’s in LA. I know it’s a Dodgers stadium. I know that the Dodgers have absolutely everything in their favor apparently. But at the same time, it’s like you you never know. And I always feared playing in the wild card round because of this kind of situation. And I go back to 2022 against the Podgers in the divisional series. The Dodgers ousted in four games. I go back to 2023 against the Arizona Diamondbacks where the Dbacks, they scored six runs in the first inning against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers never recovered from that and that was on a three-game series. If the Reds come out hot, it could be dangerous. But at the same time, I seriously doubt that you guys against the left-handed pitcher and Blake Snell are going to be able to get that kind of production as fast and furious to kick off the series. With all due respect for everybody listening that’s a Reds fan, I find it very very difficult to happen. And right now my confidence is very high just because of the way the starting pitching has been throwing the ball over the last month and a half where it was the bullpen blowing games, but the starting pitching put the Dodgers in a position for success. And look, they ended up winning their division. They ended up with 90 plus wins. I don’t feel that that was the goal for the Dodgers this season. when they had all those signings, it was like, man, we we’re going to break the record for most wins in Major League Baseball. You didn’t even end with a top two record in the National League this season. So, the expectations weren’t met in the regular season, but at the end of the day, that wasn’t the goal. The goal was to win the World Series, and they still have that goal reachable, attainable, and the Reds are the first team in their way. And like I said, everything is in the Dodgers’s favor, but in a two out of three series, anything can happen. That is true. Like I’ve been talking about the fact that it feels like the Reds have the best chip on their shoulder as far as sports is concerned where, you know, nobody believes in them. But it feels like the second best chip in sports, chip on your shoulder in sports is everybody thinks that you’re not as good as you should be. And that’s where the Dodgers are. That’s where people are are really looking at this Dodgers team are like when they’re over under like 103 and a half. They weren’t even close to that. How’d that happen? And so I think that they’ve definitely they’re definitely coming in hungry and ready to go. All that being said, I think that the big difference here is in the bullpen because I love what the Reds bullpen has been doing. Albeit that it seems like they’ve worked really hard here at the end of the ball at the end of the regular season, but I think at the end of the day they’ve gotten an advantage there. And I want to discuss the Dodgers bullpen situation coming up next and why the Reds lineup it’s it’s going to be interesting. You’ve probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, “Sure, like that actually works.” There’s so many products out there and it’s hard to know which ones are actually going to do anything. But that’s why you need to give Neutrifall a closer look. 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I want to thank you for making Lockdown Reds and Lockdown Dodgers part of your everyday routine. If you’re not in every day of each podcast, make sure you hit subscribe because we’re with you all throughout the season. Regular season, postseason, off season, spring training, everywhere in between, you know, Lockdown Reds and Lockdown Dodgers has you covered for all the best news, rumors, and all the best talk about your favorite ball clubs. All right, we talked about the strengths, Harry. The weaknesses, and this is where I have a little bit of hope for the Reds lineup. Albeit the Red’s lineup is their biggest weakness and that is if they can get into the Dodgers bullpen, that’s where I feel like there is an opportunity to at least score more than a couple. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you look at the Dodgers when they went offseason shopping after winning a World Series, Andrew Freriedman had his wallet completely open and said, “Go buy whoever you want. You find any weakness on this team, go cover it.” and he went for two all-star relievers. He brought in Tanner Scott. He brought in Kirby Yates. And everybody in Dodgerland thought that was the solution that we weren’t going to have any type of situation where you already had Blake Try and you already had Bruce Arcado. You already had Alex Vesia. You felt that you were in the best spot possible out of the bullpen. And man, you end up with Tanner Scott being the pitcher with the most blown saves in Major League Baseball despite missing almost a month being in the injured list. You have Kirby Yates who just can’t find the strike zone. And when he does, he gets rocked for a home run left and right. You got Blake Trinan who was one of the heroes in the World Series last year. He was the one that bridged the starting pitcher to Walker Buer in game five of the World Series, doing a fantastic job stretching as long as he could and possibly do it. And the Dodgers still didn’t have a reliable Blake training for most part of the final month of the regular season. And even Alex Vesia, who had been one of the most reliable arms, he started failing the team in the last couple of weeks of the season after he himself came back from the injured list. So right now the Dodgers I don’t feel they have much trust in the bullpen and yes in the Mariners series where the Mariners weren’t fighting for absolutely anything they did a good job including striking out the last nine batters on Saturday’s game which was electrifying which was great but at the same time against a team that wasn’t competing for absolutely nothing. I liked what I saw over the last series but I’m also concerned from what I saw over the last month of the season and that’s the weakness of LA right now. They’re going to try to cover it with starters. They’re going to try to cover it with Emtt Sheen who won’t be starting in the postseason who will be available out of the bullpen where if you look at this Jeff, you have Blake Snell pitching six to seven innings and then put then put Emi in three two to three innings and you won’t need the bullpen in that scenario or a reliever. You use another starter. But then you got to plan, okay, what happens if Yoshi No Yamamoto can’t go nine, which he more than likely won’t be able to. If he goes seven, then who covers the other two innings? Do you trust Blake Trinan right now? Do you trust Alex Vasia? Even if you don’t, you’re going to have to use him. If if the Reds can get to Yamamoto in that game, too, it’s going to be interesting with Zack Latell starting for the Reds because the one thing that he has done really well is limit base runners. The one thing he’s done very poorly is give up home runs. So, like there’s a lot of solo homers in there, but yeah, he gives up the long ball a lot and we know the Dodgers love themselves some long ball. So that’s going to be an interesting little bit of weakness that I wasn’t prepared for to be honest with you until you had mentioned that and I just saw that tweet about you know Terry Francona naming new starters and things like that. But I think for me the biggest weakness has to be the lineup and that’s for everybody in Red Sketcher. We asked back in March before opening day we said all right are they going to hit enough? And then we asked at the end of April all right they going to hit enough. And then we found ourselves asking at the end of September okay are they going to hit enough? We don’t know. And and there’s been a couple of games where they have, you mentioned as we were getting ready to record, like their last seven game, six of the last seven games they failed to score six runs or four runs or whatever. Um they have such a they have such a weird split where if they score four or more, they’re ridiculously over 500. When they score three or less, it’s almost an automatic loss. And it’s it’s it’s a very big difference between those two numbers for this lineup. Albeit they’re pretty good at run prevention here at the end of the season, I still don’t know that you can bet on limiting the Dodgers to less than three runs in their home ballpark. That’s just not something that you should be betting on. And so, how are you going to get those runs? They’ve they brought up the rookie South Stewart at the beginning of September and he showed a little bit of pop. Something that this lineup is desperately needed. LA Dela Cruz has started to write the ship and I’m really hoping he’s turning it around because man, the month of August was that was a slog for him because he made it a point that he wanted to play every ball game this year and not take a day off and to his credit he didn’t. And that was even including whenever he, you know, his sister passed away and he made the trip home to be with his family and there was this uh postponement because of weather and so he was able to get back the next day to play in that game. Like his dedication to this team is undeniable. It’s just it really has sapped him of his strength down the stretch. And without him, this lineup is toothless, at least on a consistent basis. So who steps up for them? Quite frankly, you could put them all up on a on a board on the wall and throw a dart and just be as right as me trying to predict anybody right now because there’s been a lot of disappointments in in the performances in this lineup all year long. But at the same time, it’s the postseason and heroes sometimes pop out of nowhere. Look at the Dodgers. Kik Hernandez in the regular season, he doesn’t get great numbers, but then the calendar turns into October and he converts into a completely different player. Tell me how many people, Jeff, bet last year that Tommy Edmond would be the NLCS MVP that that that that series. I would be very sure to say besides his parents, nobody else would even put that bet in. Definitely not our friend JD Haffron over at Lockdown Cardinals. He said, “No, not happen.” Exactly. And with a team that had Show Otani, Mookie Betts, and Freddy Freeman, Tommy Edmond ended up becoming the hero for the Dodgers in the NLCS last season against the Mets. So, it’s the postseason. You never know what’s going to end up happening. And I’ll put this right here. A weakness for the Reds that is a strength for the Dodgers is the experience in the playoffs. The Dodgers players have been there, done that as recently as last year. And you look at how many consecutive seasons now it has been for LA over 10 years making it to the playoffs. And I know the only guy that has been on this on the team that long is Clayton Kershaw. And he won’t be pitching in the wild card series. He’s off of the roster because he pitched on Sunday. But man, that right there is a huge plus for the Dodgers and something that the Reds I mean, you already have them playing on the road each game of this series. And then you put the the lack of experience in there. That’s the reason why you look at the odds and you guys are the biggest underdogs in the wild card round right now. 100%. and and they should be because as as fun as it is and quite frankly this has been a rebuild and and some Reds fans will say, “What are you rebuilding from?” But this has been a a build that has taken forever and and they’ve gotten this core that really came up in 2023 and things were looking really really exciting that year. They missed the playoffs just by a little bit and then in 2024 they fell off the they just fell off any sort of competition in the month of May and the rest of the season was a bit of a slo and so you’re like okay how are they going to come back this year? It feels like this is when we’ve been looking for the window to open. So now here they are. What are they going to do with this opportunity? That experience like you said so key for a team like the Dodgers that are just going to be like welcome into Dodger Stadium. Well, you’re probably going to have some guys on the Red’s roster that are like, “We’re here.” And then next thing they know, it’s like the fifth inning and they’ve got to catch up. So, that’s going to be a tough thing for me. I I agree with you. That’s a great point that, you know, what are the Reds going to do with something like that? I tell you this, though, we’re going to give you our predictions. I’m sure they’re going to be exactly what’s going to happen because we’re probably going to completely agree. And if you think, you know, if you think you’ve got a prediction about this series, you got to head on over to FanDuel right now because the odds quite frankly are ever in the Dodgers favor. I mean, looking at where they are right now, at least for tonight’s game. The Dodgers are minus 196 on the money line. I mean, that’s crazy. I almost don’t even want to put anything on that. You’re not going to get much of a value. The Reds, on the other hand, plus 164. But what really intrigues me is the total runs scored. Over under set at seven. It actually started at seven and a half. It’s come down. I wonder if it’s going to go down any more. You got to go on over to FanDuel and check it out. By the way, new users can place a $5 bet and if it wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets. That’s some odds right there to run with on over to FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app today and get started because FanDuel is America’s number one sports book. All right. Uh, by the way, make sure you check out Lockdown MLB Game Night. They are going to be with you every game, every night, all through the World Series covering every single thing going on in these playoffs. Uh, that they’ve got it covered over on the Lockdown MLB channel. Go check them out after this crossover. Jeff, Sunday after I I I broadcast NFL games for all our friends over at Locked on Reds, I got home and I I only watched the Dodgers game on my tablet during a pregame show. During the game, I had the tablet. It was Kershaw’s ass game. I got home and I was like, “Wait, who the heck are we playing?” So, Googled it and I was like, “Oh, we got the Reds. Okay, my guy Jeff, that’s going to be fun being able to talk with him.” But then I see all the other matchups and you definitely got to check out MLB Game Night because as a baseball fan, I’m going to be stuck to my TV from 10:00 a.m. all the way to 9:00 p.m. watching baseball. This is the season right now for everybody, which I would have preferred the Dodgers making it straight to the NLDS, but then I’m like, hey, I get to watch the Dodgers a couple of more games compared to last year. So, I’m down for it. And it’s three home games, too. Like the You got three home games for the Dodgers, you got three home games for the Cubs, right? The Cubs are the higher seed than the Padres’s. Um, and then of course on the the AL side, yeah, you’ve got well the the Guardians hosted. Sorry, the Guardian flip, which that’s that’s crazy, too, right? Like the Guardians come back, have this furious comeback, and then Oh, yeah. By the way, you get three more games against the team that you just came back against. So, chance for revenge for the Tigers. We’ll we’ll see how that all plays out. But, a lot of fun stuff going on in the playoffs. Lockdown MLB game night got you covered every night. All right. I I don’t know. You might you might laugh. You might not. You might think, “Okay, this is pretty obvious.” But I have written the Reds off a couple of times this year. I I would love to say that I stuck with my playoff prediction that I had back in the preseason all the way through. Quite frankly, after they got swept by the A’s, boy, I was down. And then the Pirates came to town when it was like, “Okay, you just swept the Cubs. Got some big time now. Let’s see what we got.” Then you lose the first two to the Pirates and you’re like right back there again. And then Noelie Marte robs the home run and I’m like okay this might happen. They’re in the playoffs. So I’m done doubting them. I’m done. I think it’s going to take three games. I don’t think they’re going to do it in two. But I think that the Reds get the series win. It’s going to be a shock and nobody nobody’s going to pick them, nor should they. I understand it. But I think that they will win games one and three and they will head to the division series. It’ll be the first playoff series win in 30 years. And I hate the fact that I have to say 30 years for for a playoff series win. But man, that’s going to feel good. I I I think it’s going to happen though, Harry. How crazy am I? Very. Nobody besides you believes that the Reds are going to win this series in LA. that you look at the way that they have been trying to crawl runs out of everywhere and be like, “Give me one here, give me one there,” over the last week. And you think that they’re going to be able to get that type of power out of the Dodger, like be able to get power off of their Dodgers pitching. It’s impossible, man. I I I’m sorry to burst your bubble. The Dodgers are going to sweep this series. And I know it’s the most predictable thing in my opinion to happen and baseball is the most unpredictable sport. So anything can happen. But for the Reds to beat the Dodgers, they’re going to have to get through Blake Snell in game one. If that’s what you think that you just said, they’re going to win game one and three. Get through Blake Snell. When you look at the splits, how do the Reds play against left-handed pitchers? Not very well. Then you would have to go, okay, we’re better against right-handed pitching. And you would have to go against Yoshi Nou Yamamoto, an ace, a player who’s gonna get votes for the National League Sai Young. He ain’t gonna win it, but he’s gonna get votes for National League Sai Young. The most consistent Dodger starter all season long. You had players going in and out of the IIL for the Dodgers. Blakes now, Tyler Glassnell, Clinton Kershaw coming in late, Emma Chian coming in late, and Yoshi No Yamamoto. He went from opening day in Japan all the way through game 162 healthy being the best player out of the Dodgers rotation. Go ahead, beat him. I think it’s impossible. And then if by any case you’re able to win one of those two games, you got Shay Otani pitching in game three who has been incredible at home. He has been an absolute beast on the mound at Dodger Stadium. Good luck. Dodgers sweep the wild card series. Sorry, Jeff. Like I said, you’re one of my favorite person, my my favorite people in all of sports media. But hey, you you’re here. You got an extra two, three days of shows with that locked on Reds in the season. Feels good. It feels good. Welcome to the party. To be honest with you, like that game two scares the heck out of me. Especially I mean even before they announced that Zack Lattell was going to start that. I I think what’s liable to happen in that game though is that Zack Latell starts at pitches like three innings, maybe four, but I bet it’s three opener situation and then Chase Burns comes in and Chase Burns pitches two or three innings and if he can keep it under control, then that game’s going to go better than I think it will. But that that that one and Yamamoto mowed him down. I think it was at Cincinnati earlier on in the season. I don’t think it was in LA. And I know Otani held him hitless for like five innings in LA. So as much as he pitched at Great American Ballpark and the Reds scored a couple of times off of him, he got them back and he got him good at Dodger Stadium. So it it’s going to be tough. Um there’s a little bit of uh my deep deep analysis is they’re due. Uh it’s like because that’s how I looked at the Brewers series. I was like, there’s no reason that the Reds should beat the Brewers to end the season and they ended up winning two out of three. But I I just got this feeling and it’s not like a team at destiny or nothing like that. It’s it’s I I just think there’s a little bit of something with Terry Franon. As much as there are fans that have complained about him and there’s certain moves that he has made and and things that are questionable. I mean, Santiago Esanol has 301 at bats on the season and you and I have as many home runs as he does. Um, so there is something to some questionable side of that, but there’s this unquantifiable thing that he has just done with this roster and I I just don’t know that it’s going to end. But quite frankly, I be surprised if you weren’t right. Hey, look, Tito is an OG, man. He knows how to get the best out of his players and he’s in a completely different situation than Dave Roberts is. I mean, I feel like I could manage the Dodgers and get them to the the World Series. With the way that you got that type of talent in there, it doesn’t take a genius to get them over the hump, to get them into the postseason, to get them into the into the World Series. And I mean, he’s been with the team for nearly a decade and he’s trying to get them to the World Series for a fourth time because this front office spends money. This ownership group, they have no limit. In a sport with no no cap space, you just keep on going, spending, spending, spending. Okay, we got Shay Otani. Let’s go. Okay, Yoshi No Yamamoto, too, and pay him a record amount of money for a starting pitcher. That’s the type of baseball there is. And I respect the Reds. I mean, I know they they were the last team to sneak themselves into the playoffs, and y’all needed the Mets to lose that final game to for it to happen. And that that you don’t have that safety blanket right now, Jeff. you won’t be able to like, okay, hopefully the Padres’s beat the Cubs and that way if we lose, we’re still able to make it to the next round. No, it’s all on you. Are you able to do it? I hope that it’s an entertaining series. But man, the way I’ve seen the Dodgers starting pitchers just mow down everybody and be able to get six, seven, eight innings deep into games. I feel that’s that is very hard. That’s your only chance in my opinion, Jeff, if you’re able to get the Dodgers pitchers to the starting pitchers to pitch 100 to have 100 pitches through five innings through six innings and then get to the bullpen early. That would be your best opportunity that I hope it doesn’t happen. And even so, for one game, the Dodgers will have Mitchian available out of the bullpen to be able to get them multiple innings. So, I hope it’s entertaining. I hope it’s fun. I’m sorry, but I do think the Dodgers win it in with a sweep. And I think that is where we will end today’s crossover. Thank you so much for checking out today’s lockdown movie crossover about this in a wild card series. We’re going to be with you after every game and during every or before every game and all the time because we’re talking about your favorite team whether it’s the Dodgers or the Reds. You can follow Locked on Dodgers and Locked On Reds. Make sure you subscribe. Make sure you follow us on your favorite podcast app because we are free and available on all platforms because we are part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day.

The Cincinnati Reds face a tough Wild Card showdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hunter Greene and Andrew Abbott lead the Reds’ pitching staff against the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman. Jeff Carr and Harry Ruiz, hosts of Locked On Reds and Locked On Dodgers respectively, break down team strengths, bullpen concerns, and lineup challenges. Will the Reds’ young talent overcome the Dodgers’ playoff experience? Can Cincinnati’s efficient base-running exploit Los Angeles’ recent bullpen struggles? Discover key matchups, potential breakout performers, and bold predictions for this high-stakes series. Get the full scoop on this thrilling postseason clash – listen now!

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For your next listen, check out the Locked On MLB podcast. Get Sully’s take on MLB! He has it all covered every single day. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

0:00 NL Wild Card Locked On MLB Crossover

5:48 Cincinnati Reds’ baserunning efficiency and defense

12:17 Dodgers’ bullpen struggles and potential weakness

17:21 Postseason heroes can emerge unexpectedly

21:28 FanDuel odds and Locked On MLB Game Night

25:57 Predictions for the Reds-Dodgers Wild Card series

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