Tigers manager AJ Hinch talks about the rollercoaster 2025 season
AJ Hinch: “We want more and we know that we can do more.”
Los Angeles – Tommy Edman hit a tiebreaking single off hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski in a two-run sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-1 on Thursday to take a 3-0 lead in their NL Championship Series.
Los Angeles moved within one win of becoming the first defending champion to reach the World Series since the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies. No team has won consecutive titles since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees took three in a row.
Game 4 is Friday. The only one of the 41 teams that overcame a 3-0 postseason deficit was the 2004 Boston Red Sox against the Yankees, sparked by current Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Shohei Ohtani tripled off Andy Ashby to start the bottom of the first and scored on Mookie Betts’ double to put the Dodgers ahead, but Jake Bauers tied the score with an RBI single in the second.
That was the only run allowed by Tyler Glasnow, who has combined with Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to give Dodgers starters a 1.54 postseason ERA during an 8-1 postseason spurt.
Misiorowski replaced Ashby with two on and one out in the first, and struck out Edman and Teoscar Hernández. The 23-year-old right-hander topped 100 mph with 17 pitches and struck out a Brewers postseason rookie record nine, but his fastball velocity dropped to 98-99 mph slightly in the sixth.
Will Smith singled with one out on an slider in the middle of the strike zone and Freddie Freeman walked after falling behind 1-2 in the count. Edman, who had struck out twice against Misiorowski, lined a low slider into center, and Smith scored for a 2-1 lead as Sal Frelick made a week throw.
Abner Uribe relieved and struck out Hernández, then made a wild pickoff throw past first as Freeman scored, the second straight game with an error by the Brewers closer.
Glasnow allowed three hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings while striking out eight, leaving to a standing ovation from the crowd of 51,251.
Alex Vesia followed Glasnow and got two outs for his second win of the playoffs.
Roki Sasaki pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the postseason, finishing a four-hitter. Dodgers relievers allowed one hit of 3 1/3 innings.
Milwaukee, which swept the Dodgers 6-0 during the regular season, has lost its last 10 postseason road games dating to 2018. The Brewers have three runs and nine hits in the series, and dating to the Division Series finale the Dodgers are the first team to allow no runs or one run and four hits or fewer in four straight postseason games.
Up next
Ohtani, 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in the postseason, makes his second postseason start after the right-hander struck out nine over six innings against Philadelphia in the NL Division Series. The two-way star was 1 for 4 with two strikeouts and is hitting .158 (6 for 38) with one homer and six RBIs in nine postseason game. Milwaukee has not announced a starter.
Miller to start Game 5 for Mariners
Seattle – Seattle Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller will start Game 5 of the AL Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday while All-Star Bryan Woo will be available out of the bullpen.
“Obviously, pitched well against Toronto in the first game and we’re looking forward to giving him the ball tomorrow,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Thursday,
Miller, 27, went 4-6 with a 5.68 ERA during the regular season, limited to a career-low 18 starts due to a pair of injured list stints caused by right elbow inflammation. He won Sunday’s ALCS opener at Toronto with six innings of one-run ball and has a 2.61 postseason ERA in two outings.
Woo, a 25-year-old right-hander, was a career-best 15-7 with a 2.94 ERA in 30 starts, leaving his most recent appearance on Sept. 19 after five innings because of pectoral tightness. He was left off the Division Series roster against Detroit.
“I just know I’m ready to get in the game, and the last box to check is just to get my name called,” Woo said on Tuesday.
Woo led the Mariners in wins, innings (186 2/3) and strikeouts (198), and his ERA was lowest among qualifed Seattle starters.
“He’s in a good spot. He’s feeling good,” Wilson said, “I think at this point that’s where we’re going to see him, coming out of the ‘pen.”
Woo hasn’t made a relief appearance other than an All-Star Game since April 11, 2021, in his final outing for Cal Poly.
“This is the time of year where you ask people to do things that they’re not as comfortable doing or they haven’t done as much,” Wilson said. “But he’s got a wealth of people that will help him. (Luis Castillo), Logan Gilbert did it recently. They can help. So I think he’ll be in good shape and, again, I think he’s excited to get back out there.”
Can Harper ever be elite again?
Philadelphia – Bryce Harper turned 33 on Thursday, and the celebration for the new father of four just might not stretch very far inside Philadelphia’s front office.
Harper’s .844 OPS was his lowest since 2016 and his .261 average was his worst since 2019, prompting Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to analyze whether the two-time NL MVP can return to form with six seasons left on his $330 million, 13-year deal.
“He’s still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star caliber player,” Dombrowski said Thursday. “He didn’t have an elite season like he’s had in the past. I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good.”
That scouting report could sting a player who in 2022 helped carry the Phillies into the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Harper missed a month this season as he recovered from a wrist injury. Harper was 3 for 15 with no RBIs in the four-game loss to the Dodgers in the NL Division Series.
“Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer,” Dombrowski said. “He’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else. I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. Again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think of one of the top-10 players in baseball and I don’t think it fit into that category.”
Harper moved from right field to first following Tommy John surgery in November 2022.
“I think he’s highly motivated to have the best season of his career next year,” manager Rob Thomson said.
“What I’d like to see is just him be himself, try not to do too much,” he added. “Really focus on hitting the ball the other way. When he stays on the ball, he is such a great hitter. I think he just gets in the mindset that he tries to do a little too much because he knows that he’s Bryce Harper.”
Seeking Philadelphia’s first title since 2008, Dombrowski has a roster that includes several key potential free agents He’s not necessarily feeling pressure for a shake up.
“Need to be more change? We won 96 games,” Dombrowski said.
Who’s staying
Thomson will return for his fifth season as manager and Dombrowski said the Phillies likely would reach a one-year extension beyond the 2026 season. Thomson has one year left on his deal.
The entire coaching staff – including embattled hitting coach Kevin Long – will return, though the Phillies are looking for a new bench coach. Mike Calitri will become a major league field coordinator, and the Phillies want to add someone with managerial experience to take his place.
Philadelphia has increased its wins total each of the last four years (87-90-95-96) while postseason runs have shortened: they reached the 2022 World Series, the 2023 NLCS and consecutive NLDS.
NL home run and RBIs champion Kyle Schwarber, veteran catcher J.T. Realmuto and rotation stalwart Ranger Suárez are all potential free agents. Outfielder Harrison Bader, who raised his value with a dynamic two months with the Phillies, has a mutual option he is sure to decline.
“It’s probably impractical we’re going to have all four of them back,” Dombrowski said.
Philadelphia holds a $9 million club option with a $500,000 buyout on left-handed reliver José Alvarado, whose season was interrupted by an 80-game suspension following a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance. Dombrowski said the Phillies could decline the option and work out a new deal.
“I’d be surprised, without making any announcements, that Alvarado’s not back with us,” Dombrowski said.
Dombrowski said ace Zack Wheeler could return to the major leagues after May as he recovers from surgery and complications from a blood clot. Wheeler is set to begin his rehabilitation next week.
Philadelphia owner John Middleton allowed a $291.7 million payroll and a projected $55.9 million in luxury tax but the Phillies failed to snap out of their October pattern of frigid bats.
“We have a very substantial big league payroll and I don’t see that that’s going to change,” Dombrowski said. “John is very supportive of that. We have a good club with a lot of good players. But you don’t have unlimited (funds). I read some places where how they get better is they sign this guy, they sign that guy. I don’t think we’re going to have a $400 million payroll. I just don’t think that’s a practicality.”
Who’s going?
Right fielder Nick Castellanos has one season left in the $100 million, five-year deal signed ahead of the 2022 season and seemed unhappy, citing personal issues with Thomson after losing his starting job late in the season.
Dombrowski said he became involved and settled the issue. There was no firm commitment Castellanos will return.
Outfielder Max Kepler will not return after he hit just .216 in his lone season on a $10 million deal. Reliever Dave Robertson also will not return.
Phillies are still here for Orion Kerkering
Kerkering made a wild throw past home instead of tossing to first that cost the Phillies Game 4 and the series. The only highlight replayed as much in Philadelphia than Kerkering’s brain cramp of a throw was the sight of Thomson and many of his teammates consoling him.
“He will get whatever assistance, and we will offer him whatever assistance that he needs,” Dombrowski said. “We’ll continue to work with him to try and get him through that. I think he can do that, but I also know it’s a challenge for him and we’ll keep in contact with him on a continued basis.”
Talking about practice
Reliever Matt Strahm drew attention after the Phillies were eliminated on Kerkering’s error when he said there wasn’t routine pitchers’ fielding practice.
“The only thing I can think of is, if you don’t routinely practice it, how do you expect to make it happen every time?” Strahm told The Athletic.
Let Dombrowski have the last word.
“We did plenty. Actually, as it turns out, we did do PFPs in the postseason. He didn’t do them. But we did them,” he said.
Yankees’ Judge doesn’t need surgery
New York – Yankees star Aaron Judge won’t need surgery on his elbow but shortstop Anthony Volpe and left-hander Carlos Rodón had operations this week and could be sidelined until May.
Judge’s throwing was limited after the two-time AL MVP hurt the flexor tendon in his right elbow in July. Manager Aaron Boone said Thursday an MRI after the team was eliminated last week showed “no surgery is going to be needed.”
“He’ll take some time off and continue to do strengthening things and rehab and stuff, but felt like he finished the season in a pretty good place as we saw continued improvements,” Boone said.
Volpe and Rodón are projected to start the season on the injured list and could be sidelined until May, Boone and general manager Brian Cashman said at their end-of-season news conferences.
Volpe, the Yankees shortstop since 2023, had arthroscopic surgery Tuesday with head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad to repair the labrum in his left shoulder. Boone said Volpe can start hitting in four months but can’t dive on the shoulder for six months.
“The cleanup was more severe than the MRI result,” Cashman said.
Rodón was operated on Wednesday by Los Angeles Dodgers head team physician Dr. Neal ElAttrache to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur. He has eight weeks of no throwing.
Giancarlo Stanton, who didn’t make his season debut until June 16 because of right and left elbow epicondylitis, does not need surgery.
“He’s in a pretty good place,” Boone said. “He’ll treat it and everything but nothing expected for Big G.”
Gerrit Cole, returning from Tommy John surgery in March, will throw lightly off a mound next week and could be available not far after opening day.
New York has a record 27 World Series titles but none since 2009. After beating Boston in the Wild Card Series, the Yankees lost a four-game Division Series to Toronto.
“It’s just playing at the highest level at the most important time and you’ve got to maintain that and do that for the entire month of October,” said Boone, the manager since the 2018 season.
After losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series, New York started the season 35-20, slumped during a 25-34 stretch as its bullpen struggled, then closed 34-14 and lost the AL East to Toronto on a tiebreaker.
“Could I have been more creative in some of the things that I could have done in those games in the middle of the season where we were a little short?” Boone asked out loud.
Boone’s contract runs through 2027.
“He’s one of the better managers,” Cashman said. “Because of our environment, he’s someone that can be second-guessed 10 million times over. And I don’t care who you put in that, that would be the same, whoever else would be there. I trust him. I think he’s a good man. I think he works his tail off.”
Among potential free agents, Cashman said the Yankees would like to retain Cody Bellinger.
“We’d love to have him with our team moving forward,” he said.
Bullpen coach Mike Harkey and first base/infield coach Travis Chapman won’t return for 2026, assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler won’t be in that role and minor league hitting coordinator Jake Hirst will be taking that job. Cashman said third base coach Luis Rojas was given permission to interview for Baltimore’s manager opening and hitting coach James Rowson was allowed to interview for Minnesota’s manager job.
Judge hurt his elbow making a throw at Toronto on July 22. The 33-year-old came back on Aug. 5 from a 10-day stint on the injured list caused by the strained flexor tendon in his right elbow and threw gingerly upon his outfield return on Sept. 5. He gradually built up arm strength.
Judge led the major leagues with a .331 average and 1.145 OPS, hitting 53 homers with 114 RBIs and 124 walks. He hit .500 with one homer, seven RBIs and four walks in the postseason.
Volpe hurt the shoulder on May 3 in an unsuccessful attempt for a backhand stab on Christopher Morel’s eighth-inning single, which sparked a two-run rally in Tampa Bay’s 3-2 win. He returned to the lineup two days later but struggled for much of the season.
Volpe, 24, had a cortisone shot during the All-Star break and a second one on Sept. 10, three days after aggravating the shoulder while making a diving stop on Isiah Kiner-Falefa in a 4-3 win over Toronto. Volpe hit .212 with 19 homers and a career-high 72 RBIs and then .192 with one homer, two RBIs and 16 strikeouts in seven postseason games. He went 1 for 15 with 11 strikeouts in the AL Division Series, making out in his last 13 at-bats.
In the field, Volpe made a career-high 19 errors, tied for third-most among major league shortstops.
“The offense is really in line with what he’s done the first two years. For him to become that frontline shortstop, that’s got to improve. He understands that. We understand that,” Boone said. “He’s 24 years old.”
Rodón, who turns 33 in December, was 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA. Cashman said the team learned recently of the need for surgery.
Jasson Domínguez remains in the outfield mix after a down season in his return from Tommy John surgery and may play winter ball. Spencer Jones, a 24-year-old power-hitting, strikeout-prone outfielder, would have a chance to win a roster spot in spring training.
Division SeriesAmerican League (ALCS)
(Seattle 2, Toronto 1)
Sunday, Oct. 12: Seattle 3, Toronto 1
Monday, Oct. 13: Seattle 10, Toronto 3
Wednesday, Oct. 15: Toronto 13, Seattle 4
Thursday, Oct. 16: Toronto at Seattle (Castillo 11-8), 8:33 p.m. (FOX/FS1)
Friday, Oct. 17: Toronto at Seattle, 6:08 p.m. (FOX/FS1)
x-Sunday, Oct. 19: Seattle at Toronto, 8:03 p.m. (FOX/FS1)
x-Monday, Oct. 20: Seattle at Toronto, 8:08 p.m. (FOX/FS1)
National League (NLCS)
(Los Angeles 3, Milwaukee 0)
Monday: Los Angeles 2, Milwaukee 1
Tuesday: Los Angeles 5, Milwaukee 1
Thursday: Los Angeles 3, Milwaukee 1
Friday: Milwaukee at Los Angeles, 8:38 p.m. (TBS/truTV/HBO Max)
x-Saturday, Oct. 18: Milwaukee at Los Angeles, 8:08 p.m. (TBS/truTV/HBO Max)
x-Monday, Oct. 20: Los Angeles at Milwaukee, 5:08 p.m. (TBS/truTV/HBO Max)
x-Tuesday, Oct. 21: Los Angeles at Milwaukee, 8:08 p.m. (TBS/truTV/HBO Max)
World Series
(Best-of-7, FOX)
Friday, Oct. 24: TBA
Saturday, Oct. 25: TBA
Monday, Oct. 27: TBA
Tuesday, Oct. 28: TBA
x-Wednesday, Oct. 29: TBA
x-Friday, Oct. 31: TBA
x-Saturday, Nov. 1: TBA
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