Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles Dodgers FULL GAME MLB Playoffs LIVE Stream, Reaction, Scoreboard
Trace Fowler and Nick Kirby will be LIVE for the FULL GAME of Game 1 of the Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and LA Dodgers.
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As the leaves turn in late September, baseball’s autumnal theater ignites with the National League Wild Card Series pitting the scrappy Cincinnati Reds against the juggernaut Los Angeles Dodgers, a matchup that evokes echoes of their lone prior October clash three decades ago. It’s 1995 all over again, when the Reds swept the Dodgers in the Division Series, but this time around, the stakes pulse with modern drama under the Dodger Stadium lights. Game 1 kicks off tonight at 9:08 p.m. ET, followed by Game 2 tomorrow night at the same hour, and if necessary, a decisive third on Friday—best-of-three, no margin for error, all eyes on the defending World Series champions hosting the upstart visitors who clawed their way into the dance on the regular season’s final breath.
For the Reds, this playoff resurrection feels like a fever dream after years in the wilderness. Absent from October since the truncated 2020 campaign—and from a full 162-game postseason since 2013—they stormed back with a blistering late-season surge, outpacing the crumbling New York Mets to snag the third Wild Card spot at 83-79. Credit veteran maestro Terry Francona, the 66-year-old two-time World Series winner who emerged from semi-retirement to steady the ship with his three Manager of the Year rings glinting like talismans. Under his watchful eye, Cincinnati transformed inconsistency into grit, leaning on a rotation that ranked second in the majors in fWAR, a testament to arms that silenced doubters amid the NL Central scrum.
At the heart of the Reds’ fire is Hunter Greene, the flame-throwing right-hander whose triple-digit fastballs have scorched opponents and whose local roots in nearby Dayton infuse every pitch with Ohio River Valley pride. He’ll toe the rubber in Game 1, flanked by southpaw stalwarts Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo, whose All-Star caliber poise has anchored the staff through turbulence. Offensively, the spark ignites with Elly De La Cruz, the 23-year-old shortstop phenom whose electric blend of power, speed, and flair—67 stolen bases in 2024, a cannon arm, and highlight-reel leaps—has redefined dynamism at the plate. Though his 2025 stats dipped slightly to a 108 wRC+ with 37 swipes, his presence electrifies Great American Ball Park crowds and could unsettle Dodger Stadium’s palm-lined serenity. Bolstering the lineup are midseason miracles like Miguel Andujar, the ex-Yankee who exploded for a .359 average in 34 late games after a trade from Oakland, and Ke’Bryan Hayes, whose bat warmed from Pittsburgh chill to Cincinnati heat with an 82 wRC+ revival. Even Gavin Lux, the former Dodger infielder traded away and now thriving in red pinstripes, brings insider edge and quiet resolve to the infield. The bullpen, a Reds’ relative strength, hums with late-inning lockdown potential, offering a counterpunch to any early deficits.
Across the diamond, the Dodgers loom as a colossus, their half-billion-dollar payroll—swollen by tax penalties—the fattest in baseball history, a war chest that fortified a National League West crown despite the wild-card grind’s lack of a bye. Reigning champions enter healthier than last October’s injury-plagued sprint, their regular-season dominance yielding five wins in six against Cincinnati, including a Dodger Stadium sweep where they outscored the visitors 30-15. Blake Snell, the winter prize ace, headlines Game 1, his unhittable curveball a harbinger of command. Yoshinobu Yamamoto follows in Game 2, his Cy Young-caliber mastery a symphony of precision, while a potential Game 3 could unleash Shohei Ohtani’s two-way wizardry or Tyler Glasnow’s towering velocity. Clayton Kershaw, the grizzled icon announcing post-playoff retirement, bowed out with a seven-strikeout gem Sunday, his legacy etched in every Dodger sunset. The offense? A murderers’ row of Mookie Betts’ elegant contact, Freddie Freeman’s clutch thunder, and Will Smith’s backstop savvy, all underpinned by a revamped bullpen featuring Roki Sasaki’s 100-mph splitter and Tanner Scott’s unhittable heat—kinks ironed out just in time for the spotlight.
Season series tilts favored the blue, but Cincinnati’s lone series win at home hints at vulnerability, their youth and hunger clashing against Los Angeles’ pedigree and depth. Francona’s old-school wisdom versus Dave Roberts’ tactical chess; Greene’s raw fury against Snell’s surgical strikes; De La Cruz’s basepath blaze amid Ohtani’s omnipresence.