Daily Clips

October 18, 2016

LOS ANGELES DODGERS CLIPS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016 DODGERS.COM: With Hill in Game 3, LA looks to 'whip' Cubs-Adam McCalvy Cut above: Cubs coach links Mariano, Jansen-Ken Gurnick Dodgers tab Urias for NLCS Game 4 start-Adam McCalvy L.A. needs rotation to follow ace's example-Mike Bauman Picture perfect: Grandal's elite framing boosting LA-Mike Petriello Lasorda released from hospital-Ken Gurnick OC REGISTER: Dodgers ready for Rich Hill or anyone else to play hero for a change-Bill Plunkett Whicker: Cubs' Javier Baez is compelling October theater-Mark Whicker Cubs' Ben Zobrist laughs off Dodgers' allegation of sign stealing-JP Hoornstra Dodgers' Kenley Jansen reminds Cubs' Joe Maddon of Angels great Troy Percival-Jeff Fletcher Dodgers didn't stay at Trump Hotel in Chicago; Adrian Gonzalez didn't stay during regular season-Bill Plunkett On deck: Cubs at Dodgers, NLCS Game 3, Tuesday, 5 p.m.-Bill Plunkett LA TIMES: Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez chose not to stay in a Trump hotel, but he didn't want it to be news-Dylan Hernandez Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is tough, and he could benefit from twilight during Game 3-Mike DiGiovanna 'As it stands right now' Clayton Kershaw won't pitch for Dodgers until NLCS Game 6-Andy McCullough Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez wouldn't join his teammates at a Donald Trump-owned hotel in the spring-Chuck Schilken DODGER INSIDER: After long layoffs, Wood ready to be the Alex-factor-Jon Weisman Julio Urías to start NLCS Game 4 — youngest postseason starting pitcher ever-Jon Weisman Jake Arrieta returns to the scene of the sublime-Cary Osborne New twist to L.A. playoff story-Mark Langill Dodgers facts and figures after two NLCS games-Jon Weisman TRUEBLUELA.COM: Dodgers need innings out of Rich Hill in Game 3-Eric Stephen Julio Urias to start NLCS Game 4 for Dodgers-Eric Stephen The Dodgers beat the Cubs in a game LA had to win-Marc Normandin ESPN LA: Cubs' offensive struggles could cause them to be 'left' behind-Sarah Langs MLB roundup: Examining Rizzo's, Russell's postseason struggles-Buster Olney Los Angeles Dodgers have earned strong standing with the Latino community-Andrea Canales MLB Rumor Central: Could the Mets pursue Kenley Jansen?-ESPN.com Promising young cores bode well for both Dodgers, Cubs-Doug Padilla Does starting on short rest work in October?-David Schoenfield Cubs' Ben Zobrist laughs off sign-stealing accusations from Dodgers-Jesse Rogers Dodgers' Julio Urias to start Game 4; youngest postseason SP ever-Doug Padilla MLB Rumor Central: Dodgers, Justin Turner discuss extension?-ESPN.com USA TODAY: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts calls sign-stealing 'a part of the game,' and he's right-Ted Berg With Clayton Kershaw resting, other Dodgers pitchers need to step up vs. Cubs-Jorge L. Ortiz FOX BUSINESS: Dodgers' Ross Stripling: Pitcher and Licensed Stockbroker-Matthew Rocco YAHOO! SPORTS: The story of Clayton Kershaw, a mound conversation and his mastery of the Cubs-Tim Brown FANGRAPHS: The Game 2 Story That Almost Was-Jeff Sullivan TODAY’S KNUCKLEBALL: Heyman: Dodgers hit a grand slam with Dave Roberts-Jon Heyman Momentum starting to swing in Dodgers’ direction-Jeremy Dorn NEW YORK POST: How NLCS spotlights the depth required in MLB’s new age-Joel Sherman Jake Arrieta won’t get the same luck against Dodgers this time-Mike Puma SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: With aggressive postseason bullpen use, MLB managers going for broke-Jay Jaffe Kershaw silences Cubs and doubters with dominating performance in NLCS Game 2-Tom Verducci CHICAGO TIMES: Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen showing off his endurance in postseason-Colleen Kane Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field a study in contrasts-Blair Kamin

LOS ANGELES DODGERS DAILY CLIPS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2016

DODGERS.COM

With Hill in Game 3, LA looks to 'whip' Cubs By Adam McCalvy LOS ANGELES -- Fourteen months ago, Rich Hill was a 35-year-old pitching for the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Tonight, he will pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. How a left-hander who throws 90 mph got from there to here is one of those complicated stories that makes baseball so mysterious and great. Hill's opponent, Jake Arrieta, has a story of his own, having evolved from an underachieving Oriole to a Cy Young Award-winning Cub. But this is a story about Hill, and here's a theory as good as any to explain his renaissance as a Major League pitcher more than worthy of a postseason start: It's a matter of mechanics. "I think of my throwing motion like a whip," Hill said. "It goes out, hits its target and comes back. It is a recoil." It is a dance, as much as a delivery. Hill's whip does not only consist of his arm, but his whole body; his torso recoiling as the pitch reaches the plate and his drive leg swinging around. It's a pitching pirouette. And it is effective. After parts of 10 seasons with the Cubs, Orioles, Red Sox, Indians, Angels and Yankees, Hill opted out of a Triple-A deal with the Nationals last June and went to independent ball with the Ducks, where Hill struck out 14 batters over six innings in one August start and signed a Minor League contract with the Red Sox. Four stellar starts in the Majors last September earned Hill a $6 million contract for 2016 with the A's, and he rewarded that investment by going 9-3 with a 2.25 ERA in 14 starts to begin this season. Hill was on the disabled list with a blister issue when the injury-plagued Dodgers traded for him and nursed Hill back to health. He finished 2016 with a 2.12 ERA in 20 starts between Oakland and L.A., striking out better than 10 batters per inning and producing a .195/.269/.261 slash line from opposing hitters. "If you go back to my starts with the Cubs, you'll see the arm recoil, but not the leg," he said of his 4.37 ERA over parts of four seasons from 2005-08. "I can't answer if it's distracting to the hitter. Could be, but I'm really just trying to create that whip. Rich hill delivery "It's funny, I can recall when I was with the Cubs, pitching coaches trying to get me to whip. It's tough when you're younger, you don't know what's best in certain times. Obviously, when we get older we

find what works for you and you don't sway from that at all. You just stay very consistent with what makes you successful." Now Hill is facing a new challenge. "Blister" is a rather mundane way to describe what at times has been an open wound on the middle fingertip of his pitching hand, layer upon layer of skin pulled away every time he takes the mound. Between each start, Hill and the Dodgers do everything they can -- yes, he even tried the Moises Alou method -- to get Hill into pitching shape. And in many starts, there comes a point when he can't pitch anymore. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts marveled at the way Hill has managed his outings from pitch to pitch, rather than worrying whether his finger would give at pitch No. 75 or pitch No. 100, or not at all. "I think that for him it's, 'When it goes, it goes,'" Roberts said. "But he's not going to spend any energy worrying about when and if." In Game 2 of the NL Division Series against the Nationals, Hill became the oldest Dodger to start a postseason game since 40-year-old Greg Maddux in '06. Hill started again in Game 5 but did not figure into the Dodgers' thrilling, come-from-behind win. He contributed a total of seven innings in those games, which were Hill's first postseason appearances since he started Game 3 of the '07 NLDS for the Cubs against the D-backs. It's a happy coincidence, Hill said, that his NLCS debut will come against the team that ushered him to the Major Leagues as a 25-year-old in 2005. "Everybody has a story; everybody has background to how they got to this point," Hill said. "And sure, when I look back to going through the Minor Leagues, the time and the effort that was put in by those coaches to make me the player that I am today … there is definitely a tie there that will last throughout my life." That life has changed over the past year and a half, though Hill has not had the time to think much about it. He did speak Monday of the 6 a.m. flights in independent ball and the dugouts so sparse that the restroom consisted of a bucket in the corner. But that reflection will have to wait. Hill and the Dodgers have work to do. "I always talk about the moment and staying in the moment and trying to make the most of the time that we have and be as productive with the time that we have at that moment," Hill said. "Every game is its own moment. Every pitch is its own moment. So it's really taking that cliche of pitch-to-pitch process, that's really what I've been able to do. "That started in Long Island when I was in independent ball, [and I] carried over with that mindset every single opportunity that I've had. Every single outing that I've had. Not getting outside of that is what I believe has made me successful."

Cut above: Cubs coach links Mariano, Jansen By Ken Gurnick LOS ANGELES -- When rookie Kenley Jansen first threw a pitch in a Major League side session in 2010, Dodgers bullpen catcher Mike Borzello caught it. So Jansen said it's funny in a "very weird" way how lives intersect, as the two are opponents in the National League Championship Series that resumes with Game 3 tonight against the Cubs at Dodger Stadium. Jansen, in the postseason spotlight as the Dodgers' multi-inning closer, was rushed to the big leagues and remembers what Borzello, now the Cubs' catching coach, said after receiving Jansen's cutter in his first session. "He said I reminded him of Mariano Rivera," said Jansen. "I didn't believe him. I thought he was just trying to build up my confidence." No, actually, Jansen did remind Borzello of Rivera, who became the greatest closer in history with basically one pitch, the cut fastball. And as the Yankees' bullpen catcher for 10 years, including the day Rivera's trademark cutter first took flight, Borzello knew a Rivera-caliber cutter when he caught one. "The report when Kenley came up was that he was getting a lot of swing-and-misses on his fastball. But after a few pitches, [I saw] this wasn't a true fastball, it was an unintentionally cutting fastball just like Mariano," said Borzello. "I've only seen two people do this. From that day on, I knew this was going to play, and it would be unbelievable once he's able to command and use both sides of the plate. It would be similar to Mariano and devastating. To see him from that day to now, this is exactly what you knew was going to happen. When you catch certain special people, you just know." Borzello said Jansen shares another quality with Rivera that has become obvious in his past two appearances, which totaled 4 1/3 innings with the postseason on the line. "Like Mariano, Kenley is not afraid of the big spot," Borzello said. "He has the temperament and disposition. The stuff is one thing. The resolve and lack of fearing the big moment is the second-most important thing, and Kenley had both. Mariano is the best I've ever seen, but I always thought Kenley was similar to that as well. He never cared when you used him. 'You want me to pitch, I'll pitch.'" Jansen, 29, credits pitching coach Rick Honeycutt and former bullpen coach Ken Howell for much of his mechanical development, but he said a 10-pitch pregame repetition drill Borzello ran him through daily improved his location and confidence. Converted from catcher to pitcher in 2009, the Curacao native studied a video of Rivera, provided by Borzello, to emulate as a rookie. Now Jansen is deep into the postseason, and also on the verge of a free-agency payday. On Sunday night, he completed the first two-inning postseason save for the Dodgers since Jay Howell in the 1988 World Series, three days after a marathon 51-pitch, 2 1/3-inning setup for Clayton Kershaw's clinching save in Washington. Jansen is doing closer things Eric Gagne didn't do, and all the while appreciating the interesting coincidence when he looks at the Cubs' bullpen.

"It is very weird," Jansen said. "I see Buddy-Buddy; that's what I always call Borzello. He's always been really good with me. I'm glad I had him." Dodgers tab Urias for NLCS Game 4 start By Adam McCalvy LOS ANGELES -- Manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers are giving baseball fans a good reason to let the kids stay up late on a school night. Twenty-year-old left-hander Julio Urias is poised to become the youngest postseason starting pitcher in Major League history when he takes the Dodger Stadium mound Wednesday (8 p.m. ET/5 PT on FS1) for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. Roberts confirmed Monday that Urias was scheduled to start opposite Cubs veteran John Lackey. As noted by True Blue L.A., Urias will be 20 years and 68 days old Wednesday and would break a record held by Royals right-hander Bret Saberhagen. Saberhagen was 20 years, 175 days old when he started Game 2 of the 1984 American League Championship Series for the Royals. Saberhagen surrendered three runs (two earned) in eight innings and took a no-decision in a 5-3 loss to the Tigers. Urias already is the fourth-youngest pitcher ever to appear in a postseason game, and the youngest ever to earn a victory. He was 20 years, 62 days old when he pitched two scoreless innings in the Dodgers' thrilling win over the Nationals in Game 5 of the NL Division Series on Thursday. (The youngest postseason pitcher in Major League history was Ken Brett, who was 19 years, 20 days old when he worked an inning of relief for the Red Sox in Game 4 of the 1967 World Series. The Twins' Bert Blyleven and the Reds' Don Gullett also appeared in postseason games before their 20th birthdays.) "Julio, I think that we expect him to just go out there and compete," Roberts said, "use his pitch mix and go after these guys, give us a chance to win a baseball game. It's what Julio has done all year long." Urias entered 2016 as MLBPipeline.com's No. 4 prospect and went 5-2 with a 3.39 ERA in 18 games, including 15 starts. He was 3-0 with a 3.05 ERA in nine games (seven starts) at Dodger Stadium. Of course, Urias is only a "probable" starter until he takes the mound. The plan could change if Urias is needed in Game 3 to relieve Dodgers starter Rich Hill, who has battled blister issues for much of the season. Roberts said Monday that he expects Hill's blister "is not going to be a factor." So, it is tentatively Hill in Game 3, Urias in Game 4 and right-hander Kenta Maeda in Game 5, Roberts announced. "Right now, that's how we have it lined up," Roberts said. "I think as this series moves on, you always have to be open to adjusting." That last comment allowed Roberts some room to alter his plan for the remainder of the series, which is tied at a game apiece after Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen combined to blank the Cubs in Game 2 at Wrigley Field on Sunday. Kershaw's seven-inning outing was his fourth appearance in a 10-day span, and

if circumstances convince Roberts to continue pushing his ace, Kershaw would be on three days' rest when Game 5 arrives Thursday. Maeda has not pitched past the fifth inning in any of his past six starts, including two postseason starts in which he has surrendered seven earned runs in seven innings. L.A. needs rotation to follow ace's example By Mike Bauman LOS ANGELES -- In the 2016 postseason, the Dodgers are 4-0 in games Clayton Kershaw appears in. They are 0-3 in games in which Kershaw does not pitch. Let us resist the urge to advise the Dodgers to leap on this trend and pitch Kershaw every game in the National League Championship Series against the Cubs. We can proceed to a slightly more subtle point about Kershaw's work and the Dodgers' chances of reaching the World Series. Pitching on short rest, pitching out of the bullpen and then pitching seven brilliant shutout innings in Game 2 against Chicago has reinforced the notion that Kershaw can be as great in October as he routinely is the rest of the time. That makes this a different sort of series, different from the one in which Chicago initially appeared to be prohibitive favorites. "I really think it's a pretty evenly matched up series," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Monday. "That's how I see it. "You saw their team on the field. They definitely get after it. The whole group gets after it. The shortstop [Corey Seager] is among the best players in the game right now at a very young age. I'm very happy with our pitching staff, but I know they are also [happy with their pitching staff]." The Dodgers could really use one more starter to not just pitch well, but deep into a game. Kenta Maeda's two postseason starts -- covering seven combined innings -- have not been promising, although the 28-year-old right-hander was a consistent performer in the regular season. Veteran lefty Rich Hill, who will start Game 3, also has worked only seven innings in two starts, but he also has 13 strikeouts. Hill pointed out that in Game 5 of the NL Division Series against Washington, he was pulled far earlier than he normally would have been because "it was a win-or-go-home situation." Hill was 12-5 with a 2.12 ERA in 20 starts this season between the A's and Dodgers with 129 strikeouts in 110 1/3 innings. He has pitched at a significant level throughout the season, and Los Angeles will hope he can pitch that well in the postseason. Julio Urias, a 20-year-old southpaw with extremely promising stuff, has drawn the Game 4 start in this series. Urias competed successfully at the big league level during the regular season, but the Dodgers

have been understandably judicious with his pitch counts. He could pitch effectively in the NLCS, but loads of innings should not be expected from him. The most conventional way for the Dodgers' rotation to pick up the pace would be to find at least one pitcher to give them six or seven highly competitive innings and take the pressure off the bullpen. But don't forget that Los Angeles beat the Nationals in the NLDS while getting length out of only Kershaw. The Dodgers' bullpen has been doing work characterized by both quality and quantity. After seven postseason games, which Dodgers pitcher ranks second in innings pitched behind Kershaw's 19 1/3? That would be closer Kenley Jansen with 7 1/3 innings. Manager Dave Roberts is using him the way the first modern generation of closers, like Bruce Sutter, Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage, were used: for multiple innings. And that worked like a charm in Game 2, when Jansen threw two innings in relief of Kershaw, retiring six straight Cubs, striking out four. This would not be the advisable, conventional, or even easiest way to proceed, but it is possible that the Dodgers could win another postseason series getting length out of one starter. Beating the Cubs in a seven-game series is a more difficult proposition than defeating the Nats in five, but there is a precedent. "You know, I think that we've kind of shown throughout this season that there is really no one way to win a division, to win a series, to win a game," Roberts said Monday. "I understand it's still the postseason, but I think for our guys it's really we're focused on each day to win that baseball game, and whatever way that game plays out, our guys are prepared to audible. "So for me, maybe is it ideal? Probably not, but that's OK." With their ace solidly in postseason place, with the NLCS tied at 1-1, the various paths to victory seem fully plausible for the Dodgers. Picture perfect: Grandal's elite framing boosting LA By Mike Petriello Nearly two years ago, Yasmani Grandal arrived in Los Angeles with a reputation as being an elite pitch framer. You might say he's lived up to that and then some -- and it's making a big difference this postseason as the Dodgers head into Game 3 of the National League Championship Series tonight tied at one game apiece with the Cubs. In 2015, per Baseball Prospectus, Grandal was the best pitch-framing catcher in baseball. In '16, he was baseball's second best, behind Buster Posey. By those calculations, Grandal has saved the Dodgers nearly 52 runs in framing alone, and while the exact numbers are more an estimation than a fact, there's no argument that Grandal is one of baseball's truly elite backstops at turning balls into strikes, or keeping strikes strikes. It's a big part of why the Dodgers traded Matt Kemp to get him, and it's possible to go so far as to say losing Grandal is a factor in why Zack Greinke wasn't the same away from Los Angeles.

So while Grandal hasn't done terribly much with the bat this October (.105/.292/.105, which is two singles and five walks) in parts of seven games, it'd be a huge mistake to look at that line and assume that he hasn't been helping the Dodgers succeed. Grandal's framing skill has manifested itself several times this postseason -- perhaps most notably in the crucial ninth inning of Game 2. For example, check out what he did to help Kenley Jansen on a borderline first pitch to Kris Bryant with one out in a one-run game in the ninth inning. This is a perfect example of framing -- or "presenting," as some prefer -- in that you can see Grandal keeps his body still and ever so slightly moves his glove to make the pitch look like a strike: How much does that matter? The difference between starting off a plate appearance 1-0 or 0-1 is, not to overstate it, everything. Let's look at career numbers for both Bryant and Jansen to see what happens after those two different first pitch outcomes: Bryant, after 1-0: .279/.415/.520 .935 OPS Bryant, after 0-1: .256/.337/.447 .784 OPS ------------------------------------------------------- Jansen, after 1-0: .216/.346/.351 .697 OPS Jansen, after 0-1: .134/.168/.212 .380 OPS That's a huge difference, particularly on the pitching side. When Jansen falls behind, 1-0, he's still hard to hit, but his strikeout-to-walk ratio is just 1.91 (174-to-91). When he gets ahead, 0-1, that strikeout-to-walk ratio jumps to a massive 16.4 (458-to-28). On the hitting side, Bryant goes from a superstar to something closer to slightly above average (the Major League overall OPS this year was .750), and that's not unique to him. A single pitch going one way or the other can matter so much. Bryant would swing at strike two, then watch the third strike go by, though that was clearly in the zone. It's not just limited to one pitch, of course. We saw Grandal help Jansen with a similar pitch earlier in the same inning, turning a borderline 1-0 pitch to Dexter Fowler into strike one, rather than ball two. As you can imagine, the outcomes of plate appearances that start 1-1 are far more advantageous to the pitcher than ones that start off 2-0; Fowler would strike out swinging. If Grandal is making that much of an impact in a single inning, perhaps you can see where Baseball Prospectus is coming up with the numbers that over the course of two full seasons, he's saved those 52 runs. So let's not just limit ourselves to just two hitters in Game 2 of the NLCS; instead, what about if we look at what Grandal has done over the full postseason? For comparison, let's show his borderline or outside-zone called strikes side by side with Russell Martin. (Please note the point here is not to say that Martin is bad at this, because he's actually above average; it's to show how elite Grandal is). Yasmani Grandal has been outstanding at turning Postseason "close call" pitches into called strikes, though games of Oct. 16. This is from the catcher's perspective, and the difference should be clear. Though Grandal has caught somewhat more pitches overall than Martin has, and that matters, it's still a pretty noticable difference, isn't it? What you can see here is that Martin is pretty good at receiving on his glove side, while Grandal is good at that and he excels at the bottom of the zone and at his throwing hand side. For all the talk about what the Dodgers lost when they traded away the highly regarded A.J. Ellis, it's worth noting that Ellis routinely ranked near the bottom of framing numbers, as does his replacement, Carlos Ruiz.

Let's note that these are not all "missed calls" from the umpire's point of view, because many of these are right on the edge and could go either way. We know where this conversation goes, and that the umpire, who potentially missed a call that had a big impact on the game, made a mistake. That's unfair, though; for the most part, the umpires do well at the very difficult task they're asked to do -- we always talk about how much the added velocity in today's game affects hitters, and maybe we should about umpires as well -- and for a catcher, it's not always about "stealing strikes," it's often about "not being awful and turning strikes into balls." And, of course, we're showing a static strike zone across many different hitters, which isn't totally accurate in reality. If we look at the postseason numbers for "percentage of called strikes on pitches that were borderline or outside the zone," we see that Grandal has done very well -- though Roberto Perez and Willson Contreras are flashing skills as well. Again, this is showing "close pitches," not "umpire mistakes." Highest percentage of "close call" pitches turned into called strikes 11 percent -- Grandal (61 pitches) 11 percent -- Perez (38) 10.8 percent -- Contreras (29) 10.1 percent -- Jose Lobaton (28) 9.6 percent -- Martin (40) 8.7 percent -- Sandy Leon (23) 8.4 percent -- Posey (37) 8.2 percent -- Jonathan Lucroy (19) 7.1 percent -- David Ross (17) 4.6 percent -- Pedro Severino (10) Nearly two years after the controversial five-player deal that brought Grandal to Los Angeles for Kemp, there are still those who believe the Dodgers got ripped off because Grandal strikes out a lot and his batting average is poor. We've always known that batting average doesn't matter much; if you look at on-base skills and power among regular catchers, only Wilson Ramos and Lucroy topped Grandal with the bat. We haven't seen that power in October, yet. We've seen that framing value, however. It's quietly been huge. Lasorda released from hospital By Ken Gurnick LOS ANGELES -- Dodgers legendary executive Tommy Lasorda was released from a local hospital on Monday after a 10-day convalesence to recover from back and shoulder issues. The 89-year-old Lasorda, a Hall of Fame former manager of two World Series champions and currently senior advisor to chairman Mark Walter, told club officials he was hoping to attend tonight's Game 3 of the National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and Cubs at Dodger Stadium.

OC REGISTER

Dodgers ready for Rich Hill or anyone else to play hero for a change By Bill Plunkett LOS ANGELES – Rich Hill had just watched Clayton Kershaw go seven scoreless innings in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field … two days after closing out the Dodgers’ NL Division Series win in Washington … six days after starting Game 4 of the NLDS on short rest. “I told my wife after the game (in Chicago), ‘I think Clayton’s going to go back to the Bat Cave and we’re all going to hop on the plane and go back to L.A.,” the Dodgers’ other left-hander said Monday back in L.A. The Dodgers will be without their superhero for at least … a couple days? Hill is scheduled to start Game 3 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed rookie left-hander Julio Urias as his Game 4 starter on Wednesday. The 20-year-old Urias will become the youngest pitcher in major-league history to start a postseason game (beating Bret Saberhagen of the 1984 ALCS by almost three months). Roberts was less firm in saying right-hander Kenta Maeda and his 9.00 postseason ERA would start Game 5 on Thursday in L.A. “I think, right now, that’s how we have it lined up – with Rich, Julio and Kenta,” Roberts said. “As this series moves on, you always have to be open to adjusting.” Adjusting? That is a diplomatic way of saying Maeda will be shoved aside if the Dodgers decide to start Kershaw on three days’ rest in Game 5 (something that might become even more tempting if the Cubs win the next two games). According to Elias Sports, Kershaw is already the first pitcher to throw at least 19-1/3 innings over four (or more) postseason games in a 10-day span since another Dodgers’ superhero – Orel Hershiser in 1988. Kershaw has pitched in every Dodgers’ victory this postseason and the Dodgers have lost every game he watched as a spectator. Dodgers pitchers have recorded 183 outs in seven games this postseason. Kershaw or Kenley Jansen have recorded 80 of them. The rest of the pitching staff has a 5.24 ERA and 1.72 WHIP in the postseason. The Dodgers’ road to their first World Series since that 1988 season would look a lot easier if someone other than Kershaw and Jansen stepped up in the next three days. Hill was acquired to be that guy – Robin to Kershaw’s Batman, if you will. But so far, his postseason has consisted of 4-1/3 innings in a loss in Game 2 of the NLDS (sullied by a three-run home run served up to Jose Lobaton) and eight outs on short rest contributed to the ‘It-takes-a-village’ win in Game 5 at Washington.

“I think if we look at it … it was 6-2/3 and 13 strikeouts, does that sound correct?” Hill said, off by only one-third of an inning. “If you look at that as far as if we want to talk numbers, to me that’s an indication of what is there, you know what I mean? That’s the ability and everything that’s been proven out over the last year and a half.” Roberts pulled Hill from a perfect game in Miami five weeks ago out of concern for his blister issues but he said Monday he believes that is “not a factor” anymore. The short hooks in the NLDS were all about the circumstances of postseason baseball, a driving force Hill recognizes. “In that Game 5 scenario, when I do look back at that, it was a win-or-go home situation,” Hill said. “Let’s say that it was a regular-season game through 2-2/3 with six strikeouts (and only one run allowed), you’re looking at continuing on in that game. “I mean, if you want to play it out and just do fantasy baseball … we could possibly be talking six, seven innings, 15, 16 strikeouts possibly. I mean, that’s not far to fathom, right? As far as if we look at a curve.” Numbers like that from a starting pitcher might actually be a fantasy of Roberts. Instead he got 82 starts of five innings or less from his staff during the regular season and made more pitching changes than any manager in major-league history. In the postseason, Roberts has shown an even quicker hook and continued willingness to think outside the conventional pitching box when it comes to collecting the 27 outs it takes to win a game. “We’ve kind of shown throughout this season that there is really no one way to win a division, to win a series, to win a game,” Roberts said. “I understand it’s still the postseason. But I think for our guys it’s really we’re focused each day to win that baseball game and whatever way that game plays out, our guys are prepared to audible. “For me … is it ideal? Probably not. But that’s okay.” Whicker: Cubs' Javier Baez is compelling October theater By Mark Whicker LOS ANGELES – Joe Maddon hadn’t even buttoned up a Cubs jersey when he went to Puerto Rico. In the fall of 2014, the new manager saw 21-year-old Javier Baez and made his first call. “We’re better off with him on the field,” Maddon said. That’s anywhere on the field. Baez was a catcher in high school, at times. He was drafted as a shortstop. This year he was mostly at second base and third base, particularly when Kris Bryant would play left field. Basically he’s the queen of the chessboard for the Cubs, who engage the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series on Tuesday night.

“It’s incredible, how quickly he makes decisions,” said Ben Zobrist, another multi-tasker who settled into left field for Chicago. “If you’ve never seen a lot of baseball and you’re watching it now, you need to know that what you’re watching is pretty special.” Baez made Clayton Kershaw’s cold, cold heart skip a beat when his Game 2 drive sent Joc Pederson to the track. He got trapped off third base in Game 1 and turned it into a steal of home. He won Game 1 of the NL Division Series with an eighth-inning homer off Johnny Cueto. He clinched the division series with an RBI single. In Game 2 on Sunday, with Dodgers on first and second and one out, Pederson sent a soft liner toward Baez. Instead of catching it, Baez let it drop and turned to get a force play at second. Then Baez started yelling “3, 3,” at shortstop Addison Russell, who turned and got Adrian Gonzalez in a rundown between second and third, vaporizing a Dodgers rally in what turned out to be a 1-0 Cubs loss. “I tried that once before, in Triple-A,” Baez said. “The runner wound up scoring. You make a mistake and you learn from it. “This time, as soon as the ball was hit, I saw Pederson getting out of the box hard. I saw Gonzalez coming back to the base. You obviously don’t want to show anybody up, but it’s fun to have a play like that.” Baez is known as the quickest tagger in the game. Tim Wilken is the Arizona scouting director who had that position with the Cubs in 2011 and drafted Baez. He’s just as impressed with Diaz’s sliding. “There’s been three times this year when he slid into a base and they said he was out and the call got overturned,” Wilken said. “He’s got that great swim move. He reaches out with his right hand and brings it back and reaches over with his left. Everybody’s got a 20-to-80 scouting system. He’s 70 in almost everything, but he’s off those charts in instincts.” “When I see the guy has the ball and is waiting to tag me, I’m not giving up,” Baez said. “He’s a young colt,” Wilken said. The Cubs are baseball’s Calumet Farm. Eight of their essential offensive players are 26 or younger. There are seeds of a dynasty here. Baez was planted in 2011, the No. 9 pick in that draft. His family moved to Jacksonville, Fla., from Puerto Rico. Francisco Lindor, the Cleveland shortstop, made the same trip and landed in Orlando. The two met on the diamond when Baez’s Arlington Country Day High played Lindor’s Montverde Academy. “A little high school stadium and 150 scouts,” Baez said, smiling. “I hope we’re both in the World Series. It would be great for Puerto Rico.” By then, Arlington Country Day’s team had been banned from the state playoffs because of basketball irregularities.

“So they barnstormed,” Wilken said. “They were kind of like the Globetrotters against the Washington Generals.” The Cubs’ area scout was Tom Clark, who’d coached several Puerto Ricans at a junior college and knew Baez’s occasional flamboyance was harmless. Wilken eventually told Clark to quit attending Baez’s games, that he was already sold and he didn’t want other clubs to get wise. Baez debuted in 2014, as his sister Noely was beginning to lose her fight against spina bifida. Preoccupied and struggling, he struck out in 42 percent of his plate appearances. This season he cut it down to 30 percent, and he hit .273 with 59 RBI. “Teams are seeing the value of good young athletes who can move around,” Zobrist said. “They’re controllable pieces. Ten years ago, it was the oldest guy who was a former starter who got turned into the utility guy. That’s changing.” And the tattoo on Baez’s neck, the one that says “MVP”? He got it seven years ago. “The first one I ever got,” he said. It’s not officially licensed, but it’s authentic. Cubs' Ben Zobrist laughs off Dodgers' allegation of sign stealing By JP Hoornstra LOS ANGELES – Are the Chicago Cubs stealing signs in the National League Championship Series? Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal wasn’t afraid to voice his suspicions Sunday, specifically accusing Ben Zobrist of relaying signs when Zobrist was on second base and Addison Russell was batting in Game 1. It’s not as if the Dodgers are trying to make it easy. “We went through two games where we were constantly changing signs,” Grandal said. Zobrist was asked about the accusation Monday at Dodger Stadium. “I thought that was ridiculous,” Zobrist said. “I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high. With Addy up to bat there, I was just trying to get a good jump. From second base at Wrigley it’s difficult to see the signs. The lights are behind the hitter and it’s dark. I guess he (Grandal) used the right word … all catchers are a little bit paranoid about that. “I mean, it’s funny. I’ve tried to steal signs but it’s never worked out.” This isn’t the first time the subject has come up in the playoffs. In the 2014 National League Division Series, it was suggested that Clayton Kershaw was tipping his pitches to the St. Louis Cardinals.

At the time, then-Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that “everybody tries to do it” – steal signs – with little guarantee of success. On Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts essentially said the same thing. “Every team’s going to try to get any advantage they can, so that’s kind of the gamesmanship part of the game,” Roberts said. “That’s why catcher or guys on second base give multiple signs and change sequences. So if they are, it wouldn’t be a surprise, and there’s many clubs that we’ve played against that do the same thing. That’s part of the game.” SMALL BALL Grandal hit 27 home runs in the regular season. He was primarily in the Dodgers’ Game 2 lineup because of his slugging success against right-handed pitchers, such as the Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks. Yet in the ninth inning, Grandal dropped a sacrifice bunt against Aroldis Chapman in a 1-0 game. Welcome to the deep playoff rounds, when small ball becomes even more prevalent as runs become harder to score by conventional means. “It’s always about putting your players in the best position of success,” Roberts said. “So I think that with the situation to potentially get a guy over by way of a bunt, and I don’t trust that (the hitter) can do it, then I’m not going to ask him to bunt, even if it’s the postseason. That’s unfair to the player.” It’s worth noting that the Dodgers logged three sacrifice hits over their final 25 games of the regular season. They have three so far in seven playoff games, while other bunt attempts failed. The Game 2 starters, Hendricks and Kershaw, had the lowest regular-season ERAs of two postseason opponents since 1968, according to the Elias Sports Bureau: Hendricks at 2.13 and Kershaw at 1.69. The Game 3 pitching matchup portends more of the same: Jake Arrieta won the 2015 National League Cy Young Award and posted a 3.10 ERA this season. Rich Hill had a 2.12 ERA for the Dodgers and A’s this year. LASORDA IMPROVING Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda has been released from the hospital. According to a team official, Lasorda plans to attend Game 3 on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. Lasorda, 89, was hospitalized a week ago with back and shoulder pain and related issues. He was unable to attend the Dodgers' two home games during their NLDS against the Washington Nationals. Dodgers' Kenley Jansen reminds Cubs' Joe Maddon of Angels great Troy Percival By Jeff Fletcher

LOS ANGELES – When Cubs manager Joe Maddon sees Kenley Jansen, he flashes back to his days with the Angels. Maddon was the Angels roving hitting instructor and he ran the instructional league in the early ’90s, when the organization turned a catcher into a reliever. Troy Percival, of course, went on to be the best closer in Angels history. Jansen, who began his Dodgers career as a catcher, is trying to follow in Percival’s footsteps. Maddon sees similarities. Both Jansen and Percival have what he calls “awkward,” and “violent” deliveries, which Maddon said is the result of coaches allowing them to transition without too much refining. “When you make that transition from catcher, these are very, normally aggressive people,” Maddon said. “Let them go. Don’t give them too much instruction. Let them play.” Percival spent just one year as a catcher in the Angels system, hitting.203. “He couldn’t hit,” Maddon said. “The ball would hit his bat and basically roll up towards his hands. Talk about negative exit velocity.” Certainly, the switch to closer worked, though. Percival, whose first year pitching was 1991, reached the majors by 1995 and ended his career with 358 saves, 11th most in history. Jansen spent much longer attempting to hit, batting .229 in the minors. He spent four seasons as a catcher before converting to the mound. He now has 189 regular-season saves during the past five seasons as the Dodgers closer. SHAKE IT UP? The middle of the Cubs order – Anthony Rizzo (.043 in the postseason), Ben Zobrist (.182) and Addison Russell (.045) – have been scuffling, which has Maddon thinking of changes. “I have considered different thoughts, no question,” Maddon said. “You’re already trying to. Like I said, when you get to this point, you’ve got five games left to really make it right as opposed to 75 to make it right.” That being said, Maddon is also aware that some of the Cubs’ offensive issues are the result of guys like Clayton Kershaw, Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner. “We have seen some really good pitching,” Maddon said. “I’ll defend them in that regard.” HAPPY PLACE Jake Arrieta, who starts Game 3 for the Cubs on Tuesday, has good memories of Dodger Stadium. In his last start here, on Aug. 30, 2015, Arrieta pitched a no-hitter.

“It’s going to be a different game, different experiences all the way around, but you know, I’ll use some of my experience from my last time out here moving into tomorrow,” he said. Arrieta said the mound and playing surface at Dodger Stadium make it an especially good environment. “You’ve got to give credit to their crew for doing such a good job and making that thing ready to go and consistent pretty much every night,” he said. “You know, when you feel confident about your positioning or your footing as a pitcher or a position player, it really helps your confidence that night.” Dodgers didn't stay at Trump Hotel in Chicago; Adrian Gonzalez didn't stay during regular season By Bill Plunkett Room-service preferences, family obligations – or maybe politics – will occasionally prompt one of the Dodgers’ players to ask the team’s staff to arrange accommodations at a hotel other than the team hotel during a road trip. When the Dodgers came to Chicago to face the Cubs at the end of May, the team stayed at the same hotel they have been using for years – the Trump International Hotel and Tower near the Chicago River. Their Mexican-American first baseman did not. “I didn’t stay there,” Adrian Gonzalez confirmed. “I had my reasons.” The inference is obvious. Though he was born in San Diego, Gonzalez grew up in Mexico where his family has deep roots and his father owns a business. Gonzalez has played for the Mexican national team in numerous international competitions including the World Baseball Classic. He has been involved in charitable endeavors in Mexico, including refurbishing the sports complex in Tijuana where he played as a youth. Just this summer, he stepped in to help a youth baseball team from Mexico that was stranded in Los Angeles when its sponsor backed out of its commitment. The Chicago hotel’s owner is, of course, presidential candidate Donald Trump. The Republican nominee has campaigned on a platform that includes promises to “build a wall” on the Mexico-U.S. border to prevent undocumented immigrants from crossing, and has called Mexican immigrants “rapists” who bring crime and drugs with them. One recent poll shows Hillary Clinton outpolling Trump 70 percent to 19 percent among Latino voters. Gonzalez smiled as he declined to specify his reasons for not staying at the team hotel in June, saying, “We’re here to play baseball not talk politics.” Indeed, the Dodgers were in Chicago to play baseball again this past weekend – but they did not stay at the Trump hotel. The reason wasn’t political, however. The hotel required a non-refundable deposit in order to hold a block of rooms for the team. Until their Game 5 victory over the Washington Nationals late Thursday night, the Dodgers weren’t sure they would need those rooms. Arrangements were made with a different hotel.

On deck: Cubs at Dodgers, NLCS Game 3, Tuesday, 5 p.m. By Bill Plunkett Where: Dodger Stadium TV: Fox Sports 1, 5 p.m. Did you know? The last time Jake Arrieta pitched at Dodger Stadium he threw a no-hitter on Aug. 30, 2015, striking out 12 and walking one. The Dodgers faced him at Wrigley Field this season on May 30. Arrieta pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits but got no decision in a Dodgers victory. THE PITCHERS DODGERS LHP RICH HILL (12-5, 2.12 ERA) Vs. Cubs: 0-0, 0.00 At Dodger Stadium: 2-1, 0.39 Postseason career: 0-2, 7.20 Hates to face: Ben Zobrist, 1 for 2 (.500) Loves to face: David Ross, 1 for 13 (.077), 7 strikeouts CUBS RHP JAKE ARRIETA (18-8, 3.10 ERA) Vs. Dodgers: 1-2, 3.24 At Dodger Stadium: 1-1, 2.57 Postseason career: 2-1, 3.51 Hates to face: Josh Reddick, 4 for 9 (.444), 1 HR Loves to face: Chase Utley, 0 for 13, 3 strikeouts UPCOMING GAME GAME 4, WEDNESDAY – Cubs RHP John Lackey (11-8, 3.35 ERA) at Dodgers LHP Julio Urias (5-2, 3.39 ERA), 5 p.m., FS1

LA TIMES

Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez chose not to stay in a Trump hotel, but he didn't want it to be news By Dylan Hernandez From behind the Dodgers bench, Adrian Gonzalez glanced at his teammates who were taking their first rounds of batting practice during an afternoon workout. He looked down and sighed.

Gonzalez was suddenly part of the national conversation about the upcoming presidential election, courtesy of actions he had quietly taken five months earlier. The Mexican American first baseman had refused to stay with his team at a Chicago property owned by Republican nominee Donald Trump. The story became known Sunday night, and some people on social media were celebrating him as a hero as he and the other Dodgers were preparing for their Tuesday showdown against the Chicago Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Except … “I don’t want this to be a story,” the first baseman said. “I did it for myself,” he explained. Gonzalez doesn’t want to be another Colin Kaepernick, who is kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. Gonzalez said that his views on social issues were a private matter. He might do something in protest, as he did when he asked the Dodgers to not provide Trump with business on his behalf, but he thinks that isn’t for anyone else to know. “I wasn’t doing it for publicity, I wasn’t doing it for people to look at me or talk about me,” he said. “That’s not who I am. I just have my own values and morals that I want to live by.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. Social advocacy, in particular social advocacy by athletes, isn’t one-size-fits-all. If some athletes are comfortable pushing for change in the spotlight, others such as Gonzalez prefer doing so more in relative silence. Gonzalez didn’t want to speak in detail of Trump, but said, “You can draw your own conclusions. They’re probably right.” Born in San Diego, Gonzalez was raised on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. He speaks English and Spanish. Trump has said he will build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border if elected. He has also disparaged Mexican immigrants, implying some are rapists and drug traffickers. Gonzalez previously voiced his displeasure over Arizona Senate Bill 1070, a controversial anti-immigration law passed in 2010. Gonzalez acknowledged that when the Dodgers visited Chicago in May, he asked the team to lodge him in a hotel other than the Trump International Hotel & Tower.

He explained how the story about his hotel request became public only because one the team’s broadcasters relayed it to a newspaper reporter over the weekend. (Logistics forced the entire team to stay at another hotel for Games 1 and 2 of the NLCS.) “I’m not ashamed by it,” he said. “I’m OK with it.” But he said that if he wanted the incident to be made public, he would have talked about it shortly after it happened. “I’m not an in-your-face guy,” he said. That’s true. How he has spoken about religion is one example. While he is a devout Christian, the only times he has talked about his faith are when he’s been asked about it directly. He has promoted his Mexican heritage, but in subtle ways, like by pushing for players of Latin American descent to place accent marks on the names across the backs of their uniforms, or by selecting a mariachi song as his walk-up music. He is also involved in numerous charities in both the United States and Mexico, doing everything from buying back-to-school supplies for children in Los Angeles to refurbishing youth baseball fields in Tijuana. Gonzalez has undergone a significant public metamorphosis in his 4 1/2 seasons with the Dodgers. The player who was once known for his considerable restraint has allowed his personality to emerge, enough to where he now snaps imaginary selfies with teammates to celebrate home runs. Could he evolve next into a champion of social causes? He certainly has the makings to lead these discussions. The combination of his thoughtfulness and bi-cultural background would allow him to provide important perspectives. He has the platform. Only Gonzalez isn’t interested. “I’m not a politician,” he said. “I’m not ever going to get into politics. I don’t intend to create a political debate.” As to why, the answer is personal preference. “I like to be an inward-type person, not outward,” he said. “Again, I have different ideas and things that I live by that I want to continue to live by. It’s not for people to know about.” This being the United States, that’s his right. Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is tough, and he could benefit from twilight during Game 3 By Mike DiGiovanna

The mid-October late afternoon sun won’t produce the intense shadows in Chavez Ravine that it does in late August, and that should provide a degree of comfort for Dodgers hitters in Tuesday’s National League Championship Series game against the Chicago Cubs. The last time Jake Arrieta started a 5 p.m. game in Dodger Stadium, on Aug. 30, 2015, the Cubs right-hander threw a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts. There were virtually no shadows in the Dodger Stadium infield at 5 p.m. on Monday, when the Dodgers began their off-day workout in advance of Game 3 in a best-of-seven series that is tied, 1-1. But Arrieta, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2015 and went 18-8 with a 3.10 earned-run average this season, could still benefit from twilight conditions in the first few innings. “It can be difficult to pick up spin, especially once the shadows creep in between the mound and home plate,” Arrieta said. “From a pitching perspective, you want to be aggressive early because it’s a little bit more difficult to pick up some rotation and spin on pitches.” Arrieta has an impressive four-pitch mix consisting of a 94-mph fastball, an 89-mph cut fastball, an 87-mph changeup and an 80-mph curve. In his only start against the Dodgers this season, he allowed two hits over seven shutout innings in Wrigley Field on May 31, when the Dodgers won, 5-0. Chase Utley and Joc Pederson are a combined 0 for 19 against Arrieta. Josh Reddick is four for nine (.444) with a homer, but those at-bats came in 2010 and 2011, when Reddick played for the Boston Red Sox and Arrieta was a less accomplished pitcher with Baltimore. “His velocity is up, every pitch is a plus pitch now, and he throws any pitch in any count,” Reddick said. “He’s learned how to pitch.” Reddick said Arrieta could be tougher to hit in the gloaming of a 5 p.m. start, “but they have the same problem over there too,” he said. “We have Rich [Hill] going, and they’re going to have to deal with that.” Sign language Cubs utilityman Ben Zobrist was more than amused by Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal’s assertion that Zobrist, after a leadoff double in the eighth inning of Game 1, was relaying signs to batter Addison Russell. “I think it’s hilarious,” Zobrist said Monday. “I was not stealing signs. But I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high.” Grandal said his numerous trips to the mound while Clayton Kershaw pitched in the division series were not because he had trouble communicating with the ace. “We are literally paranoid when it comes to men on second and they are trying to get signs,” he said. That was apparent to Zobrist, who said, “I guess he used the right word when he said almost all catchers are a little bit paranoid about that.”

Are Dodgers coaches seeing any evidence of the Cubs stealing signs? “If they are, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “There are many clubs we’ve played against who do the same thing. That’s part of the game.” Night moves Cubs Manager Joe Maddon hinted at possible changes in the middle of his order, where No. 3 batter Anthony Rizzo is hitting .043 (one for 23), cleanup man Zobrist is batting .182 (four for 22) and No. 5 batter Russell is hitting .045 (one for 22) in six playoff games. Chicago is also batting .157 (14 for 89) against left-handers, and with the left-handed Hill and Julio Urias scheduled to pitch Games 3 and 4 for the Dodgers, Maddon could turn to right-handed hitting outfielders Jorge Soler and Albert Almora or possibly Willson Contreras. “There’s only so much you can possibly do when it comes to manipulating your lineup,” Maddon said. “I mean, these are the guys who got you here. We’ve got a bunch of All-Stars out there. “Some guys are struggling, but part of it, I think, is due to the fact that we’ve seen [Madison] Bumgarner, [Jeff] Samardzija, Matt Moore and [Johnny] Cueto, and then we saw Kershaw [Sunday] night. There’s a lot of Cy Young candidates among that group.” By the numbers Kershaw and closer Kenley Jansen have combined to throw 19 2/3 of 35 innings in the last four games, and they have recorded 80 of 183 outs — almost 44% — in seven postseason games. … From the Elias Sports Bureau: Before Kershaw, the last pitcher to throw at least 19 1/3 innings in four playoff games over a 10-day span was Orel Hershiser in 1988. … In six post-season games, Cubs pitchers have gone three for 10 with two homers and six runs batted in. 'As it stands right now' Clayton Kershaw won't pitch for Dodgers until NLCS Game 6 By Andy McCullough As the Dodgers boarded a flight home Sunday night, soon after Clayton Kershaw had almost single-handedly evened the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs at a game apiece, Rich Hill cracked a joke to his wife. “I think Clayton’s going back to the Bat Cave,” Hill said. “And we’re all going to hop on the plane and go back to L.A.” Kershaw is not a superhero. But he has reclaimed his status as the organization’s hero during the last four postseason games. In a six-day span, Kershaw pitched three times, including recording the save in the Game 5 clincher to defeat Washington in the division series and logging seven scoreless innings in Game 2 against Chicago on Sunday.

Both teams relocated to the West Coast for the next three games. Given the pitching schedule the Dodgers released Monday, Kershaw will not appear in any of them. Hill is slated to duel with reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrieta in Game 3. Julio Urias is to make his first postseason start in Game 4, against veteran John Lackey. It is Game 5 that provides the most intrigue for the Dodgers. Manager Dave Roberts listed Kenta Maeda as his starter. But he mentioned an important caveat. “As the series moves on, you always have to be open to adjusting,” Roberts said. “But as it stands right now, that’s how we have it lined up.” The Dodgers also initially listed Urias as the starting pitcher for Game 4 against the Nationals in the division series. When Maeda stumbled in a three-inning outing in Game 3, the team switched to Kershaw due to the exhaustion of the bullpen. Pitching on three days’ rest, Kershaw turned in 6 2/3 innings. He was charged with five runs, but three scored after he left the game. Kershaw could pitch on short rest again in Game 5 against the Cubs. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, lacked interest in discussing the topic, citing how the events of the first two games at Dodger Stadium will affect the team’s decision for Game 5. “Our focus is obviously on Game 3, and then we’ll shift to Game 4,” Friedman said. “And then our thought process is solely focused on how to win this series. And whatever we feel like gives us the best chance to win this series is what we will do.” On the surface, the choice for Game 5 looks simple. Kershaw has posted a 2.81 earned-run average in four postseason starts on short rest. His command faded, ever so slightly, in the late innings Sunday, but he still showed fastball velocity in the mid-90s. In addition, Maeda would be pitching in Game 5 on four days of rest, a situation the Dodgers tried to avoid in the second half of the season. In 13 starts on four days’ rest during the regular season, Maeda maintained a 3.97 ERA. In 19 starts after five days or more to rest, Maeda’s ERA was 3.16. He gave up three runs in four innings against the Cubs in Game 1. But the Dodgers do not view the decision as a simple question of Maeda versus Kershaw. The primary factor in giving Kershaw the baseball in Game 4 against Washington was the lack of available relievers, not the fear of losing an elimination game with Kershaw sitting idle. Thus the deployment of relief pitchers will be important to track during these next two games. Hill will make his third start of the postseason. He could not finish the fifth inning in Game 2 at Nationals Park, and left midway through the third inning in Game 5, which he started on short rest. The latter departure was related to Roberts’ insistence on using his bullpen at any sign of trouble. Urias has never taken a start into the seventh inning in the majors. So the bullpen should see a sizable amount of usage during the next two games. Will it be enough to force Kershaw back into action for Game 5? Time will tell. “We've kind of shown throughout this season that there is really no one way to win a division, to win a series, to win a game,” Roberts said. “I understand it's still the postseason, but I think for our guys, we're

focusing each day to win that baseball game, and whatever way that game plays out, our guys are prepared to audible.” Dodgers' Adrian Gonzalez wouldn't join his teammates at a Donald Trump-owned hotel in the spring By Chuck Schilken When the Dodgers visited Chicago to play the Cubs this spring, they stayed at the the Trump International Hotel and Tower. That is, all of the Dodgers except one stayed there. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez opted to stay elsewhere. “I didn’t stay there,” Adrian Gonzalez told the Southern California News Group. “I had my reasons.” He added with a smile, “We’re here to play baseball not talk politics.” It seems likely Gonzalez’s decision had something to do with the hotel’s owner, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Gonzalez has close ties with Mexico. He was born in San Diego but raised in Tijuana by his Mexican parents. Fluent in English and Spanish, Gonzalez has served as team captain for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic. "I'm Mexican and I'm American," he told The Times’ Dylan Hernandez in 2013. On the campaign trail, Trump has promised to build a border wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, many of whom he described as rapists, drug dealers and criminals during a speech in June 2015. The Dodgers were in Chicago again this weekend for the first two games of the National League Championship Series but did not stay at the Trump International this time because of a non-refundable deposit required to hold a block of rooms.

DODGER INSIDER

After long layoffs, Wood ready to be the Alex-factor By Jon Weisman So here we are, back in Los Angeles for a guaranteed three games in a row in the meaty midsection of the National League Championship Series.

Barring extra innings, the Dodgers have 27 innings to cover, with 11 pitchers to spread them around. (The 12th, presumably, would be held back for a potential Game 6 start, whether that’s Clayton Kershaw or — if Kershaw is moved up to Game 5 on three days’ rest — Kenta Maeda.) Among the pitchers that puts into play is Alex Wood, the left-hander who has thrown four big-league innings since May, when he went on the 15-day disabled list with left posterior elbow soreness that led to (relatively) minor elbow surgery. Wood retired 11 of the 13 batters he faced in the final two weeks of the regular season, allowing only a single and a walk while striking out four with one double play. But he was left off the Dodgers’ National League Division Series roster, meaning that he has gone another 16 days since appearing in a game. So, a little antsy … ? “Yeah, you could say that,” Wood said with a laugh before Monday’s off-day workout. “It’s been fun to watch those guys, but at the same time I’m just kind of champing at the bit, waiting for my opportunity to get in there and get my feet wet again. I feel great, and I’ve been trying to stay as sharp as possible.” Wood was only a little disappointed that he wasn’t on the NLDS roster, in part because he hadn’t set any expectation given his late-season return to the mound. The consolation prize of traveling with the Dodgers and being on call in case someone got hurt, he added, was meaningful. “I felt fortunate and glad they wanted me to be part of that,” Wood said. “And also, it kind of keeps you engaged and sharp when you’re here and you’re doing the same things you’ve been doing all year. You’re with the guys and you’re going out and you’re throwing, you’re throwing your bullpens and trying to stay as sharp as possible. So from that standpoint, it wasn’t too difficult. It was just a matter of timing up everything and throwing when you needed to throw, and what I needed to do to be prepared if God forbid someone went down in the DS.” The skill of “wait, wait and be ready” is a handy one to have now. For all their pitching concerns, the Dodgers left three relievers went unused in the first two games of the NLCS: Wood, Luis Avilán and Josh Fields, and no one besides Kershaw and Kenley Jansen has pitched since Saturday. “It’s kind of a funny thing,” Wood said. “After having the first two games, you have a day off, so guys kind of want to throw side (sessions): Do this, do that. But then you know you’ve got three in a row coming up, and at this point anything can happen. You could be in there every day, or not at all. So it’s one of those things you’ve got to feel out and just be as prepared as possible.” At a moment’s notice, Wood could be called upon to retire just one batter — or pitch multiple innings. “I can do what they need me to do, whatever that may be,” he said. “It just depends on the situation and where we’re at. We’re carrying eight guys in the bullpen, so there’s a lot of arms and a lot of ways we can go about pitching these guys. … Everybody’s all hands on deck, ready to do what they need to do.” Before he got hurt, Wood — still only 25 years old — was on a roll for the Dodgers. In six starts from April 29 to May 30, the Charlotte native had a 2.80 ERA and 50 strikeouts compared with eight walks in

35 1/3 innings. For the month of May, he led Major League pitchers with 13.0 strikeouts per nine innings. This week, he gets to bring that promising arm into action, without the weight of seven consecutive months of pitching. “It’s kind of different,” Wood said. “It’s the first time I’ve been injured my whole career. You’re semi-fresh, just because I haven’t thrown the workload that I’ve thrown every year for however long. From that standpoint, you feel good: a little more pep in your step, a little more life on it at this point in the year. Just biding my time, waiting to get into it.” Julio Urías to start NLCS Game 4 — youngest postseason starting pitcher ever By Jon Weisman Julio Urías is officially scheduled to take the mound at Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday and become the youngest starting pitcher in MLB playoff history. At 20 years and 68 days for Game 4, Urías will break the record held by Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen (1984 ALCS Game 2) by 107 days. Saberhagen received a no-decision after allowing two earned runs in eight innings. Five times has a 20-year-old starting pitcher won a playoff game: Bullet Joe Bush (1913 World Series Game 3), Jim Palmer (1966 World Series Game 2) and Fernando Valenzuela (1981 NLDS Game 4, NLCS Game 5 and World Series Game 3). Urías will be starting on the 35th anniversary of the day his iconic predecessor, Valenzuela, pitched 8 2/3 innings the day the Dodgers clinched the ’81 NL pennant. Urías said the waiting between appearances — he has only pitched in one game this month — has not made him too antsy. “It’s the playoffs, so I have to be ready,” Urías said this afternoon, shortly before the announcement was made official by his manager, Dave Roberts. “If before, I knew I had to give my best, I know that now I have to give even more, because whatever I do, if I make a mistake it could cost us a big game. “You just have to be prepared when you’re called upon. Yeah, you feel anxious and sometimes you feel the pressure, but that’s something you have to learn how to deal with.” Urías already became the fourth youngest postseason pitcher ever when he pitched in relief in Game 5 of the National League Division Series on October 13 — and after his two shutout innings and the Dodgers’ comeback against the Nationals, the youngest ever credited with a win. Including the NLDS, Urías has thrown 124 professional innings in 2016, a 41 percent increase over his previous career high. On the bright side, those innings have been spread across seven months, with only 16 since September 1.

“I think that they’ve managed the best that they can, and I thank the team for that,” Urías said. “Ever since I’ve been with the organization, since I was in the minor leagues, they’ve been watching my innings and watching my pitch counts. Now that I’m here, it continues, and I just have to be prepared for whatever comes and try to make the best of any opportunity. “I feel good, and I feel healthy, which is the most important part.” Roberts said that the Dodgers are more concerned with stressful innings Wednesday than a flat pitch limit. “It’s going to be a big game,” Roberts said. “If he’s throwing the baseball the way we expect, then I’m not afraid to push him to help us win a baseball game. “I think that we expect him to just go out there and compete, use his pitch mix and go after these guys. Give us a chance to win a baseball game. It’s what Julio’s done all year long.” Jake Arrieta returns to the scene of the sublime By Cary Osborne Jake Arrieta, who starts for the Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, again was the toughest pitcher to hit in 2016. He has led baseball two years running in lowest opponents’ batting average and fewest hits per nine innings. But beyond the reigning Cy Young Award winner’s jump from a 1.77 ERA in 2015 to 3.10 in 2016, there are other signs that Arrieta was a different pitcher this season — which could be good news for the Dodgers, the team he no-hit in his last Dodger Stadium appearance (with a similar 5 p.m. start time) on August 30, 2015. The biggest sign was his command/control issues. Arrieta’s walk rate jumped from 1.9 walks per nine inning in 2015 to 3.5. A lot was written this year about Arrieta’s slider losing its effectiveness (including this from Jeff Sullivan of Fangraphs) — and that appears to be the root of most of his troubles. But there’s also a slight difference with the results from his bread-and-butter pitch — his sinker. Starting with the slider, numbers from Statcast show a big jump in the percentage of balls and a big drop in swings and misses (whiffs) from 2015 to 2016 with the slider. (The chart on the left is 2015 and 2016 is on the right.) The sinker sees a slight uptick in balls percentage, fewer called strikes, more balls put in play and more hits. Arrieta had 11 games in which he walked three or more batters and had a 3.29 ERA in those contests. He also led the NL with 16 wild pitches this year.

So where else can the Dodgers get to him? He doesn’t give up a lot of home runs, but his home rate went up from 0.4 per nine innings to 0.7. Batters hit Arrieta harder in 2016, with Statcast showing that their average exit velocity went up exactly 2 mph to 87.2. Adrián González, Howie Kendrick, Carlos Ruiz, Josh Reddick and Joc Pederson are a combined 18 for 57 (.316) with three homers off him. “We know he’s tough,” Chase Utley said about Arrieta on Sunday. “He’s got electric stuff. For every good pitcher you try to capitalize on their mistakes. They all make mistakes, some more than others, and you have to try to be ready for those mistakes and try to take advantage of those.” For his part, Arrieta said Monday he is in better shape this October than 12 months ago. “I think going through that last year has prepared myself as well as the rest of the guys mentally for a longer run this year,” Arrieta said, “and I think we’ve been able to handle the moments mentally a lot better, as well as physically. So personally moving forward, I think I’m in a much better place.” Cubs manager Joe Maddon noted that this was by design. “Yeah, we definitely had that in mind,” Maddon said. “Last year was a heavy year for him workload-wise, and he handled it extremely well, obviously. But going into this season, I had a conversation with him, in the food room in Mesa in the very beginning, talking about, ‘Listen, you’re going to be upset with me sometimes taking you out of games a little bit earlier, but understand it’s going to pay off in the latter part of the season.’ … And he was on board, and we’ve been good all year.” New twist to L.A. playoff story By Mark Langill Until this week, the Dodgers have never faced a scenario in which a National League Championship Series returned to Southern California tied at one game apiece. The Dodgers opened on the road in four of their 10 previous NLCS appearances. They won the first two games at Pittsburgh in 1974 and the first two games at Philadelphia in 1978, which was critical in an era when the playoff series was a best-of-five format. In both cases, the Dodgers lost Game 3 in Los Angeles and wrapped up the series in four games. The LCS format changed to a best-of-seven playoff in 1985. The 2008 Dodgers lost the first two games of the NLCS at Philadelphia and eventually dropped the series in five games, and the 2013 Cardinals beat the Dodgers in the first two games of the NLCS in St. Louis en route to a victory in six games. Dodgers facts and figures after two NLCS games By Jon Weisman

Two games into the 2016 National League Championship Series, we have had no shortage of drama — or trivia. For those of you who like to wallow in the historically bizarre and bizarrely historical, here are some off-day tidbits: The 102 pitches thrown Sunday by the Dodgers (84 by Kershaw, 18 by Jansen) are the fewest Los Angeles has thrown in a playoff victory since pitch counts have been regularly tracked (which basically includes any game since 1988 and scattered contests before then). The Dodgers are 4-3 in the 2016 postseason: four one-run wins, and three losses by more than one run. Kershaw and Jansen have pitched pitched in all four one-run wins. In this postseason, Kershaw has become the Dodgers’ all-time playoff leader in innings (84), games (17), starts (13) and strikeouts (104). In his postseason career, Kershaw has allowed a .284 on-base percentage and .621 OPS with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. In his past seven postseason games, opponents have a .526 OPS against Kershaw. As a hitter, Kershaw has a career .308 on-base percentage. In Dodger history, this trails only Johnny Podres (.313) among pitchers with at least 10 plate appearances. Sunday, Kershaw tied Podres and Orel Hershiser as pitchers with five career postseason hits. Kershaw also has a franchise-record three walks and four sacrifices. Jansen is second behind Kershaw on the Dodgers in career postseason games with 15. Despite pitching only 16 career playoff innings, Jansen has moved into the Dodgers’ all-time postseason top 10 in strikeouts with 29. In his playoff career, he is averaging 16.3 strikeouts per nine innings. Jansen’s eight postseason saves are five more than the No. 2 man on the list, Jonathan Broxton. Jansen is the first Dodger reliever to strike out four batters in back-to-back playoff games. Jansen is the third pitcher in MLB playoff history to strike out four batters while throwing fewer than 20 pitches, joining Wade Davis (2014 ALCS Game 1) and John Smoltz (2002 NLDS Game 2). The Dodgers return to L.A. with home-field advantage, and seven relievers will have at least two days’ rest entering Game 3. Luis Avilan, Josh Fields and Alex Wood have yet to pitch in the NLCS. Justin Turner has the highest playoff on-base percentage (.519) as a Dodger of anyone who has been in more than one playoff series with the team. Through two NLCS games, the Dodgers have two hits by right-handed batters: Turner and Kenta Maeda. In this NLCS, the No. 9 spot in the order for the Dodgers has five hits: Kenta Maeda, Andre Ethier, Andrew Toles (two) and Kershaw. The Nos. 1-8 spots have seven hits.

Sunday’s victory ended an nine-game road NLCS losing streak, the longest in MLB history (according to Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.). The Dodgers lost all five games at Philadelphia in the 2008-09 NLCS, three in St. Louis in the 2014 NLCS and this year’s NLCS opener in Chicago. Sunday’s game time of 2:45 was 52 minutes shorter than the Dodgers’ previously shortest game of the postseason, and the shortest they have played since their 1-0 loss to St. Louis in Game 2 of the 2013 NLCS. Adrián González hit his seventh career playoff homer by the Dodgers, trailing only Duke Snider (11) and Steve Garvey (10). In Game 1, the Cubs set MLB records for most hits and most times on base with only one single. Cubs starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks became the first Cubs pitcher to give up a go-ahead playoff homer to the Dodgers since Ryan Dempster allowed James Loney’s grand slam in Game 1 of the 2008 NLDS. In 2012, the Cubs acquired Hendricks in a deal for Dempster.

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Dodgers need innings out of Rich Hill in Game 3 By Eric Stephen The Dodgers got their split in Chicago, and now are back home for three home games against the Cubs and a chance to take control of the National League Championship Series. First comes an opportunity for Rich Hill to be Rich Hill in Game 3 on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Dodgers starters this offseason are averaging 4⅔ innings per start, but take out Kershaw and the group is averaging just 3.5 innings, with Hill and Kenta Maeda totaling seven innings each in their two starts. Hill went 2⅔ innings in Game 5, though that was a planned shortened outing on short rest. His other start in the NLDS lasted 4⅓ innings, felled by a three-run home run on a hanging curve to Jose Lobaton and a rally one inning later. It was Hill’s shortest real start since April 15 with Oakland, not counting his July 17 start when he left during the first batter because of blister problems. With three straight days of baseball ahead, and 20-year-old Julio Urias slotted in Game 4 on Wednesday, it would behoove Hill to pitch as deep as he can to help conserve the Dodgers bullpen, not to mention increasing the Dodgers’ chances of winning Game 3 itself. “For me, I go out there and give everything that I have, that's it. That's the bottom line. Your effort is everything,” Hill said on Monday. “Your ability to go out there and stay in the moment and execute pitch to pitch and do the best that you can, that's it. Let everything else fall where it may. But the W at the end of the day is all that matters.”

Since joining the Dodgers in August, Hill allowed one run in 17 innings in three starts at Dodger Stadium, with 18 strikeouts and three walks. Tuesday will mark almost a month since his last home start, on Sept. 20 against the Giants. On offense, the Dodgers will have their hands full with Jake Arrieta, who pitched seven scoreless innings against them on May 31 at Wrigley Field, and pitched a no-hitter in his last start at Dodger Stadium, on Aug. 31, 2015. Arrieta followed up his superhuman 2015 with a very good 2016, putting up a 3.10 ERA and 3.52 FIP, with 190 strikeouts in 197⅓ innings. He also had a 4.44 ERA in his last 16 starts (hooray for selective end points!), allowing four or more runs eight times in those final 16 starts. After pitching a shutout in the 2015 Wild Card Game, Arrieta allowed four runs in his next two playoff starts last year. This year he allowed two runs in six innings in Game 3 of the NLDS. He said he felt physically and mentally drained at this time last season. “I think going through that last year has prepared myself as well as the rest of the guys mentally for a longer run this year, and I think we've been able to handle the moments mentally a lot better as well as physically,” Arrieta said. “So personally moving forward, I think I'm in a much better place, and I think a lot of our guys are as well.” Arrieta in four career playoff starts has 33 strikeouts and one walk in 25⅔ innings. Notes Dodger Stadium gates (stadium and parking lot) open at 2:08 p.m. PT before Game 3. ... Rick Monday will throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and Steve Yeager will catch it. NLCS Game 3 info Cubs and Dodgers tied, 1-1 Time: 5:08 p.m. PT TV: Fox Sports 1 (Joe Buck, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal) Local radio: 570 AM (Charley Steiner and Rick Monday) National radio: ESPN Radio (Dan Shulman, Aaron Boone) Online: Fox Sports Go app or Postseason.tv Julio Urias to start NLCS Game 4 for Dodgers By Eric Stephen

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made official on Monday that Julio Urias will start Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. But the question remains — will Clayton Kershaw start Game 5 on short rest on Thursday? Urias at 20 years, 68 days old will be the youngest pitcher in MLB history to start a postseason game, a little more than three months younger than Bret Saberhagen, who was 20 years, 175 days old when he started Game 2 of the 1984 ALCS. Urias pitched two innings in relief in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Nationals, but other than that his four-inning simulated game on Oct. 4 at Dodger Stadium is his longest outing since Sept. 2, when he pitched 5⅓ innings against the Padres. Still, Roberts said he expects some length from Urias on Wednesday. “We've kind of monitored his usage throughout the regular season. But I think right now for me it's not necessarily the pitch count. A lot of it is the stressful innings too,” Roberts said during his off day press conference at Dodger Stadium. “It's a big game. So if he's throwing the baseball the way we expect, then I'm not afraid to push him to help us win a baseball game.” For Game 5, Roberts said Kenta Maeda was scheduled to start but left open the possibility for a change. “I think right now, that's how we have it lined up with Rich, Julio and Kenta. So I think as this series moves on, you always have to be open to adjusting,” Roberts said. Rich Hill starts Game 3 on Tuesday night. Kershaw threw 84 pitches in his seven scoreless innings on Sunday night in Game 2, and starting him on three days rest in Game 5 gives the team the option to either potentially use him in relief again in Game 7, or start Game 1 of the World Series on regular rest, on Tuesday, Oct. 25. Starting Kershaw on short rest would presumably move Maeda back to Game 6, giving him extra rest, something that has been preferred whenever possible especially in the second half. Maeda in his last four starts has allowed 15 runs on 21 hits in 13⅔ innings. The Dodgers beat the Cubs in a game LA had to win By Marc Normandin Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s OK, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network, as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter. * * *

The Dodgers lost Game 1 of the NLCS, and they really should have won it. They came back against Aroldis Chapman, and that’s the kind of event you can only count on happening once — if even that often — in a playoff series. Instead, they lost on a pinch-hit grand slam and went down 0-1 in the series to the Cubs, but on Sunday night, Los Angeles rebounded behind their ace, Clayton Kershaw. Now, the series is all tied up, as the Dodgers won a game they had to — not mathematically had to, mind you, but had to because of context. Jake Arrieta hasn’t pitched yet. John Lackey, who threw more innings than anyone on the Dodgers and posted what would have been their second-best ERA+, is the Cubs’ fourth starter and hasn’t pitched yet. Things don’t get easier for Los Angeles in this series, so winning these Kershaw starts is crucial. From what we can tell, he’s physically capable of starting Game 5 on short rest and then, if the series goes that far, contributing in Game 7 in a win-or-go-home situation. There probably is no Game 7 if the Cubs go up 2-0 before even getting to Arrieta — and maybe not even a Game 5, depending on how the next couple of games go — so a Game 2 win was crucial for the Dodgers. Now, they get a day off to rest closer Kenley Jansen. Kershaw gets three days off before a Game 5 we now know will happen. They get to head home to Los Angeles, where they were 53-28 this season: that was tied for the second-best home record in 2016, behind only the Cubs at 57-24. Rich Hill starts Game 3, and it’s not difficult to envision a scenario where the Dodgers win behind him to guarantee the series will at least be even by the next time Kershaw takes the mound. We know anything can happen in a single game or series — again, Game 1 featured Aroldis Chapman blowing a lead in the same game we got a pinch-hit grand slam to win it — but the Dodgers have to be feeling pretty good on Monday morning. The only offense in Game 2 came courtesy the bat of Adrian Gonzalez, as he went deep against Kyle Hendricks in the second inning. The ALCS picks back up on Monday night with the Indians traveling to Toronto, where the Blue Jays will attempt to keep Cleveland from going up 3-0. If the Blue Jays put together an early lead against Trevor Bauer, maybe they can avoid seeing Andrew Miller again. Grant Brisbee writes that Miller is the last bargain in baseball, as he’s changed the way the offseason will view relievers forever. Speaking of Trevor Bauer, his favorite Star Wars movie is The Phantom Menace. He’s 25, so he was at an impressionable age when it came out. Still, though. Seriously, Trevor, if you love Darth Maul so much, just tell people you love The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. No one will judge you harshly for that. Jose Bautista is saying some weird things about "circumstances" being against the Blue Jays in the ALCS. The Red Sox lost general manager Mike Hazen to the Diamondbacks. Hazen was formerly Ben Cherington’s assistant GM, and he’s been in the organization long enough to have two World Series rings. D-Backs fans might not be familiar with Hazen, as he wasn’t even considered (publicly) a candidate for the job.

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Cubs' offensive struggles could cause them to be 'left' behind By Sarah Langs The Los Angeles Dodgers' narrative entering the postseason was centered on their .214 batting average versus lefties this season, the worst in the majors and worst by a playoff team in the divisional era. Struggling Cubs vs LHP Anthony Rizzo 1-11 Ben Zobrist 1-11 Dexter Fowler 1-10 Addison Russell 1-10 It didn’t figure to be an issue for the Chicago Cubs, who hit .267 against lefties, seventh-best in the majors. But in the postseason, the Cubs have struggled. They’re hitting .157 in 70 at-bats against left-handed pitching. This will need to get fixed and fixed fast. Lefty Rich Hill is expected to start Game 3. Left-hander Julio Urias, who allowed one earned run in six innings when he faced the Cubs on Aug. 27, is scheduled to start Game 4. Key bats: Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo The two Cubs with the most noticeable struggles in the postseason are Rizzo and Russell. Rizzo hit .292 with 32 home runs and 109 RBIs in the regular season. Russell hit .238 with a .738 OPS, 21 home runs and 95 RBIs. They’re a combined 2-for-45 this postseason (including 2-for-21 versus lefties). Both were struggling prior to the postseason. Since Sep. 20, Rizzo's slashline is .203/.261/.297. Russell's is .075/.169/.113. What has changed for Russell? In the regular season, 55 percent of Russell’s hits came on fastballs. Seventy percent of those hits came on fastballs in the lower half of the strike zone. But in the postseason, he’s been pitched to differently. He saw fastballs 53 percent of the time in the regular season, but in the postseason, he’s seen them just 42 percent of the time. The biggest change is an increase in breaking balls, which he saw 29 percent of the time in the regular season, but on 46 percent of pitches in the postseason.

Of the fastballs he’s seen, fewer of them have been in his comfort zone. Fifty-three percent have been in the lower half of the strike zone, a slight drop from 58 percent of the fastballs being in that location in the regular season. Of Russell’s 21 home runs, 14 of them came in the middle third of the strike zone, height-wise. He hit .282 and slugged .550 against pitches in that area during the regular season, but he’s hitless against the 30 pitches that he’s seen there during the playoffs (10 of which ended at-bats). What has changed for Rizzo? Rizzo’s struggles are a bit more baffling. He had a clear split and hole in the regular season … pitch him inside (as long as you avoided hitting him). Rizzo hit .328 with a 1.003 OPS and 21 percent hard-hit rate on pitches on the outer half, compared to just .221 with a .787 OPS and 15 percent hard-hit rate on pitches in the inner half. With him struggling in the postseason, the logical conclusion is that he’s being pitched inside -- a lot. But he’s actually seeing fewer pitches on the inner half than in the regular season (28 percent compared to 37 percent). Specifically in the NLCS, he’s seeing 37 percent of pitches on the inner half, that same rate as in the regular season. His one hit this postseason was on a pitch on the outer half. Also, Rizzo hit .243 with two strikes in the regular season, 15th in the majors and ninth in the National League -- by far the best mark for any Cubs regular (Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward were next at .209). Rizzo has been struggling with two strikes in the postseason (.071 batting average, with his only hit). Teams are trying to coax him to chase and he’s obliging. His chase rate, both overall and with two strikes, is up about 10 percentage points from the regular season. Who they’ll face Cubs vs LHP This Season REGULAR SEASON POSTSEASON BA .267 .157 OPS .807 .456 HR pct 3.4% 2.1% Hill could present a problem for Russell. Hill’s 35 percent miss rate on his fastball is the highest among pitchers to make at least 20 starts. Russell had a 25 percent miss rate against fastballs this season, which ranked 137th of 146 qualified hitters.

Urias could be just the pitcher Rizzo needs to see. He threw 31 percent of pitches to the inner half to lefties, and those hitters hit .333 on those pitches with a 1.222 OPS. That plays right into Rizzo’s usual heat map split. MLB roundup: Examining Rizzo's, Russell's postseason struggles By Buster Olney Setting the tables for Tuesday's Game 3 of the National League Championship Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers: As it stands now, Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is penciled in to start Game 6. The Dodgers are ready for Rich Hill, or somebody else, to be the hero for a change, writes Bill Plunkett. Cubs veteran Ben Zobrist laughed off the Dodgers' allegation of sign-stealing. The stakes are very high for the Cubs today, writes Steve Greenberg. The middle of the Cubs' lineup has been struggling, and manager Joe Maddon might tinker with it, writes Paul Sullivan. From ESPN Stats & Information: Jake Arrieta will take the mound Tuesday for the Cubs in Los Angeles, facing the Dodgers' Rich Hill. Arrieta has given up just two hits, both singles, and no earned runs over 16 innings in his two starts against the Dodgers over the past two seasons, including a no-hitter in his last start at Dodger Stadium back in 2015. The Dodgers posted just a .040 slugging percentage against him and .167 OPS in the two starts. Kenley Jansen This Postseason STATISTIC FIRST 2 GAMES LAST 3 GAMES IP 2 5 1/3 H-AB 3-for-9 1-for-17 ER 4 0 Miss pct. 30% 43% Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen's success has depended on his ability to find the outer third of the strike zone and beyond it. Batters are 1-for-9 in his past three relief appearances, whiffing on 42 percent of their swings on pitches to the outer third. In his first two appearances, batters were 2-for-4 (both were extra-base hits), with a 22 percent miss rate. Sarah Langs of ESPN Stats & Info sent this along: The Dodgers' narrative entering the postseason was centered on their .214 batting average versus lefties this season, the worst in the majors and worst by a playoff team in the divisional era. It didn't figure to be an issue for the Cubs, who hit .267 against lefties, seventh-best in the majors.

But in the postseason, it has been the Cubs who have struggled against southpaws. They're hitting .157 in 70 at-bats against left-handed pitching. This will need to get fixed -- and fixed fast. Key bats: Addison Russell and Anthony Rizzo The two Cubs with the most noticeable struggles in the postseason are Rizzo and Russell. Rizzo hit .292 with 32 home runs and 109 RBIs in the regular season. Russell hit .238 with a .738 OPS, 21 homers and 95 RBIs. They're a combined 2-for-45 this postseason, including 2-for-21 versus lefties. Both were struggling prior to the postseason, too. Since Sept. 20, Rizzo's slash line is .203/.261/.297, while Russell's is .075/.169/.113. What has changed for Russell: In the regular season, 55 percent of Russell's hits came on fastballs, and 70 percent of those hits came on fastballs in the lower half of the strike zone. But in the postseason, he has been pitched differently. After seeing fastballs 53 percent of the time in the regular season, he has seen them just 42 percent of the time in the postseason. The biggest change is an increase in breaking balls, which he saw at a 29 percent rate in the regular season, but a 46 percent rate in the postseason. Of the fastballs he has seen, fewer of them have been in his comfort zone, with 53 percent being in the lower half of the strike zone, a slight drop from 58 percent of the fastballs being in that location in the regular season. Of Russell's 21 home runs, 14 of them came in the middle-third of the strike zone, height-wise. He hit .282 and slugged .550 against pitches in that area during the regular season, but he is hitless against the 30 pitches he has seen there during the playoffs (10 of which ended at-bats). What has changed for Rizzo: Rizzo's struggles are a bit more baffling. He had a clear hole in his game during the regular season: He can be pitched inside (as long as the pitcher avoided hitting him). Rizzo hit .328 with a 1.003 OPS and a 21 percent hard-hit rate on pitches on the outer half, compared to just .221 with a .787 OPS and 15 percent hard-hit rate on pitches in the inner half. With him struggling in the postseason, the logical conclusion is that he is being pitched inside a lot. But he is actually seeing fewer pitches on the inner half this postseason (28 percent) than in the regular season (37 percent). In the NLCS, the Dodgers have pitched him inside 37 percent of the time, the same as in the regular season. His one hit this postseason was on a pitch on the outer half. Also, Rizzo hit .243 with two strikes in the regular season, 15th in the majors and ninth in the NL -- and by far the best mark of any Cubs regular (Kris Bryant and Jason Heyward were next at .209). But Rizzo has struggled with two strikes in the postseason (.071 batting average, with his only hit). Teams are trying to coax him to chase, and he is obliging. His chase rate, both overall and with two strikes, is up about 10 percentage points from the regular season. Who they'll face: Rich Hill could present a problem for Russell; Hill's 35 percent whiff rate on his fastball is the highest among pitchers to make at least 20 starts. Russell, meanwhile, had a 25 percent whiff rate against fastballs this season, which ranked 137th of 146 qualified hitters.

The Dodgers' projected Game 4 starter, Julio Urias, could be just the pitcher Rizzo needs to see, however. He threw 31 percent of his pitches to the inner half to lefties, and those hitters hit .333 on those pitches, with a 1.222 OPS. That plays right into Rizzo's usual heat map split. The NLCS underscores the current need for depth, writes Joel Sherman. Notables • Major League Baseball is pushing for an international draft, and there are a whole lot of folks on small-budget and mid-level budget teams who would love for this to happen. • On Monday's podcast: Jayson Stark on the Cubs and Dodgers, and the dominance of Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen; Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer; and Todd Radom's uniform and logo quiz. And here is Monday's Scoreboard podcast. • Mike Hazen was introduced as the new Arizona Diamondbacks' VP of baseball operations, and he's eager to get started, writes Nick Piecoro. Tony La Russa is staying, but in a lesser role. One source says La Russa got a new contract with his new role. Within the industry, the expectation is that Amiel Sawdaye, Boston's director of amateur scouting, could move to Arizona if he doesn't become the Red Sox GM, and it's taken as a fait accompli in many corners in baseball that Red Sox coach Torey Lovullo will be the next manager of the Diamondbacks. Los Angeles Dodgers have earned strong standing with the Latino community By Andrea Canales Awareness is crucial. Some sports franchises are newly aware and with others the awareness has spanned generations. With the ever-growing Hispanic population in the United States, it's crucial for almost any sports endeavor to engage that community of fans. Every team in MLB has Latino players, but the amount of outreach to Latino fans varies widely from organization to organization, geography often playing a major factor. One of the top clubs in terms of engaging Hispanic fans has been the Los Angeles Dodgers. They had to get past a rocky start, however. "The Dodgers have been able to overcome a complicated relationship with Latinos in L.A.," explained Priscilla Leiva, an assistant professor of Chicano Studies at Cal State Los Angeles. "Chavez Ravine is a site of displacement for Latinos because, after WWII, the city used eminent domain to remove the predominantly Mexican-American community for the construction of public housing. That project was

canceled and the Brooklyn Dodgers secured a sweetheart deal for the land that once housed nearly 1,100 families." It's clear that the Dodgers are now a top team in one of the nation's top Hispanic markets, so much so that the organization is hailed as a model for the rest of the league to emulate. "The affinity to the team is very much a part of the fabric of what it means to be a Latino in Los Angeles, and as families transition from immigrants to residents they become a part of that fabric, and as such, their interest in the Dodgers becomes more and more solidified," said Jesse Nunez, the Dodgers' Spanish-language media sales manager, in an interview with online magazine Portada. The turnaround didn't happen instantly for the Dodgers. Leiva points to several causes, including the Dodgers broadcasting games in Spanish starting in 1958, as well as the team making a concerted effort to sign Latino players. A big milestone for the team and fans alike was the era of pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. "Valenzuela captivated Mexican and Mexican-American baseball fans," Leiva noted. "'Fernandomania' ensued across the southwest. Latinos in L.A. loved Fernando because he had overcome a number of obstacles since his childhood in Etchohuaquila, Mexico." Valenzuela wasn't just an isolated signing, either, Leiva pointed out. "Since then, the Dodgers have had a number of Latino stars that Latino fans could relate to -- including Nomar Garciaparra from Whittier. Manny Ramirez ensued Mannymania in 2008. Today, fans love Yasiel Puig and Adrián González." Not only stars, but also Latino role players feel welcomed on the L.A. club. "Everybody's treated me very well, very special," Dodgers catcher Carlos Ruiz said. "They've helped me a lot." The Panamanian player joined the Dodgers at midseason, after a long stint with the Phillies. "After all my career in Philadelphia, it was very difficult to leave there. But things in baseball are like that. It's an honor to have the opportunity be in the playoffs. I'm really happy to be here. I'm happy to get to know the guys and getting them to trust me." Ruiz has become a trusted member of the Dodgers, even deep into the postseason, catching for Kenta Maeda in the first game of the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs. The Dodgers lost that opening game, but then managed to win the second one. The series is now even, 1-1. Coming from one of the smaller nations in Latin America, Ruiz said he is honored to represent Panama in MLB, and hopes to inspire others to follow his footsteps in the league. "I feel really happy to have had all the years in the game and to be consistent for so long. I send a big hug to all the kids playing in Panama and hope that they continue working hard to improve and become great players, too."

Many Dodgers fans will remember Ruiz as the player who leaped into Clayton Kershaw’s arms after the Dodgers claimed the Game 5 win over the Washington Nationals at capture their NL Division Series. Besides catching for Kershaw's vital save, Ruiz also contributed a crucial home run earlier in the same series. It has been enough to endear him to loyal L.A. fans. "Once you're on a new team, it takes a while for the fans to get to know you," Ruiz admitted. "But they'll learn that you're here to help the team in the playoffs, and to get to a World Series. They've been good to me." Fans respond to the players partly because they feel connected to the team via community engagement. "The Dodgers have been adept in aiming their campaigns at Latino fans," Leiva explained. "Their My Town campaign placed billboards of players and celebrities across the region that said 'This is my town' -- or 'Esta es mi ciudad' -- throughout the city. Their Viva Los Dodgers festivals are now before every Sunday game instead of a couple times a season." No surprise, then, that the Dodgers have a large L.A. fan contingent supporting the team as they return to Dodger Stadium for Games 3, 4 and 5 of the NLCS against the Cubs. MLB Rumor Central: Could the Mets pursue Kenley Jansen? By ESPN.com Could the New York Mets make a big splash this winter by signing Los Angeles Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen when he reaches free agency in a few weeks? Rumor CentralJohn Harper of the New York Daily News floats the idea, noting the Mets need to capitalize on their shrinking window as championship contenders. Bullpens have become more and more important in today’s game, and the Mets could pair Jansen with Jeurys Familia, who remains a top-shelf reliever despite his October struggles the past two seasons. “Putting (Jansen) behind Familia, as well as Addison Reed, who is under contractual control for one more year, would create the type of super-pen that would allow Terry Collins to protect the likes of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and the other starters coming back next season from their various injuries -- and make the Mets especially tough to beat in October,” writes Harper. Jansen had 47 saves and a 1.83 ERA this season and is enjoying a big October with three saves and a 51-pitch effort in Game 5 of the National League Division Series in Washington. But there are whispers the Dodgers will pass on Jansen and pursue the Chicago Cubs' Aroldis Chapman, another elite closer who will reach free agency. There has been little buzz as to the Mets’ interest in Jansen, especially since they will undoubtedly need some extra free-agent dollars to re-sign outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, assuming he opts out of his current contract.

Harper suggests Jansen could land a deal in the four-year, $54 million range, calling it "the best non-Cespedes money the Mets could spend." Promising young cores bode well for both Dodgers, Cubs By Doug Padilla LOS ANGELES -- The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers are only getting started in this National League Championship Series, which brings an interesting thought to mind: Should we prepare to get used to it? It's not so much that they have developed an early back-and-forth trend after two games, with the Cubs winning the opener of the series in dramatic fashion and Clayton Kershaw coming back to dominate Game 2 for the Dodgers, with a little help from lights-out closer Kenley Jansen. Yes, this NLCS seems like it might be developing some length. But this Cubs-Dodgers thing might be around for a while -- as in, multiple Octobers, not just long into this one. Not one but both of these clubs appear to have staying power. The young core on the Cubs' roster has long been talked about. It was planted, nurtured and cared for right in front of our eyes. A tree grew in Chicago, and now that tree bears fruit. Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras and Jorge Soler are the kind of harvest dreams are made of. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, general manager Jed Hoyer & Co. stripped the building to the studs and rebuilt again, not like a flipper in a rush to make a profit but slowly and methodically. They put it all together in painstaking detail. The plan had no guarantee, but it has worked as the front office started to drop free agents into the mix. Ben Zobrist was added fresh off his World Series title in Kansas City, and Dexter Fowler was brought back after it looked like he would bolt in free agency. John Lackey was added this past winter too. Now the Cubs are not only the favorites to emerge as the National League's top team -- they had the best record in baseball this year -- but they could also be the betting choice if they advance to the World Series. All the Cubs need to do in the NLCS is dispatch a Dodgers team relying on veterans such as Kershaw, Jansen, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner and Howie Kendrick. But the Dodgers' dirty little secret is their own young core, a talented cadre emerging among all the long-time players. The Dodgers did not start putting together a home-grown roster of the future by continuing to take one step backward in order to take two steps forward; that was the Cubs' blueprint. The Dodgers' core has been developing while the team was winning and advancing to the postseason year after year. Never before in Dodgers history -- in Brooklyn or Los Angeles -- has the club advanced to postseason play in four consecutive seasons. That is, until this season. The Dodgers have done that by winning four consecutive division titles.

Conventional wisdom says once the players who powered a successful run are set to move on, a new division winner and playoff regular will emerge. Perhaps not in this case. Corey Seager, Joc Pederson, Julio Urias, Andrew Toles and Ross Stripling are the heart of the Dodgers' developing core. They arrived on a winning team and are seeing the postseason from the inside out at a precocious time of their development. More members of that core await, such as Jose De Leon, Brock Stewart, Trayce Thompson and first baseman of the future Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers are thrilled with the present, no doubt, but the future holds some thrill as well. "I think the greatest benefit for a large-revenue team and having really good, young players is the ability to sustain that success over a long period of time," Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. "That is what we are fixated on: being as competitive as we can be for as long as we can be. "We constantly talk about keeping one eye on the present and one eye on the future. And a large part of that is insuring that we don't take our eye off the future and get to a point where we get really old and overpriced, and it takes years and years to build back." The Cubs are now following the Dodgers' habit of linking division titles together and getting consistent chances for ultimate glory. At the same time, the Dodgers are following the Cubs' practice of bringing the young core to the forefront. Either way, young talent has been and will be key for both organizations. "It's huge," Hoyer said. "It's cost-control. They are young and -- knock on wood -- guys who can stay healthier. Having a young core, it's hard to build without it. If you don't have a young core, you're trying to go out every offseason and make major moves. I think when you have a young core that has stability year in and year out, it makes a huge difference." Last year, Bryant put on a show for the Cubs while winning the National League Rookie of the Year. This year, Seager has done the same for the Dodgers and is expected to win the award. The thriving, long careers expected for those two are a major reason to think their teams will duel in the postseason for years to come. "I think this is invaluable experience for our young players," Friedman said in all the pageantry of the NLCS. "But I also think our veteran players are doing a tremendous job of helping our young players play at a more relaxed manner in the postseason. As we look ahead, we think our team is going to be a very solid mix of good, young players and veterans that allow us to compete for a world championship year in and year out." That was exactly the Cubs' goal when they dismantled the roster, lined up high draft picks, made key trades -- such as the one that landed Russell -- and then arrived ahead of schedule with last year's NLCS appearance. The Cubs and Dodgers are not alone in the route they are taking. The Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Houston Astros are three more organizations on the rise with young standouts. "It's the preferred way to do business," Hoyer said. "Your offseason is going to be difficult if you have an aging group and you don't have those core players. You spend more money, and you have to make a lot more aggressive transactions. When you have a young core, you know what it's going to look like."

The Dodgers and Cubs would like to think it will look a lot like this week -- for a long time to come. There are plenty of other NL teams that think a Dodgers-Cubs monopoly on the NLCS will be impossible to pull off. But both teams in this NLCS feel they will be a legitimate threat for years. "Coming in two years ago, that was one of the things that I laid out as one of our challenges, and that was being able to compete at an extremely high level while also integrating young players onto our roster, which would help us as we look out," Friedman said. "It's really difficult to put a lot of young players on your roster at one point in time and then expect to compete that year. So we are trying to integrate them in a staggered approach to be able to compete, get them necessary experience and build with them and supplement around as well." If it works for both clubs, the Dodgers and Cubs could be butting heads for a number of Octobers. "I hope we do," Hoyer said. Does starting on short rest work in October? By David Schoenfield With Trevor Bauer lasting just four batters before his stitched-up pinkie finger began gushing blood like somebody who just had a run-in with Anton Chigurh, manager Terry Francona is forced once again to scramble with his starting rotation for the Cleveland Indians -- a rotation that is already down Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar. Francona has moved up Corey Kluber to start Game 4 on short rest, with Ryan Merritt -- he of one career start in the majors -- now the possible Game 5 starter. Meanwhile, Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers decided to avoid going to a short-rest situation for Kenta Maeda in Game 4 by announcing 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias will start. It's still a possibility, however, that Clayton Kershaw could start Game 5 on three days' rest, which would be the fourth start this postseason for a Dodgers pitcher on short rest (including Kershaw's Game 2 start in the National League Championship Series after appearing in relief in Game 5 of the division series). Here's a big-picture question: Can you win a World Series with so many short-rest starts? While the Indians and Dodgers are seemingly going day by day with their starters, the Chicago Cubs and Joe Maddon simply line up their four guys each series -- Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta, John Lackey -- meaning nobody will have to start on three days' rest. (Obviously, it helps that your No. 4 starter is pretty good.) I looked at the past 10 World Series winners to see how many games they started a pitcher on less than four days of rest. Let's see what happened. 2015 Royals -- two starts on short rest: Ned Yost started Yordano Ventura in Games 1 and 4 of the American League Division Series and Chris Young started Game 4 of the World Series on three days' rest after pitching three innings in relief in Game 1 (53 pitches). 2014 Giants -- zero starts on short rest: Madison Bumgarner started six of the team's 17 postseason games, but all came with regular rest.

2013 Red Sox -- one start on short rest: John Lackey started Game 6 of the World Series on two days of rest after throwing one inning of relief (17 pitches) in Game 4. 2012 Giants -- one start on short rest: Tim Lincecum was not in the initial playoff rotation, but then started Game 4 of the NLCS on three days' rest after throwing two scoreless innings in Game 1. Bruce Bochy did have to scramble a bit because Bumgarner, who got shelled in that Game 1, had come down with a tired arm and didn't start again the rest of that NLCS. So Barry Zito, who had been the Game 4 starter in the NLDS, ended up starting Game 5 of the NLCS and then Game 2 of the World Series. 2011 Cardinals -- two starts on short rest: Chris Carpenter both times. After starting the regular-season finale, he started Game 2 of the NLDS on three days of rest so he could be ready to start Game 5, which he did, a memorable 1-0 win over Roy Halladay. When there was a rainout before Game 7 of the World Series, Tony La Russa then skipped Kyle Lohse and started Carpenter on three days of rest. That worked out as well. 2010 Giants -- one start on short rest: Lincecum had faced three batters in a relief appearance in the clinching Game 6 of the NLCS. Otherwise, he was starting five days after his previous start. 2009 Yankees -- four starts on short rest: The last team to go with a three-man rotation in the playoffs. CC Sabathia started once on short rest in the ALCS and then Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte each did it in the World Series (Burnett with poor results). 2008 Phillies -- zero starts on short rest: The Phillies never trailed in any of their series, so it was easy for Charlie Manuel to stick with a rotation of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer and Joe Blanton. 2007 Red Sox -- zero starts on short rest: Francona actually used five different starters in the postseason, with Tim Wakefield starting Game 4 of the ALCS and then Lester Game 4 of the World Series (behind the top three of Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka). 2006 Cardinals -- zero starts on short rest: Carpenter started five of the 16 postseason games, but never on short rest. La Russa could have started him on three days' rest in Game 2 of the World Series, but instead went with Jeff Weaver. Winning the first game probably helped with that decision. Our 10 World Series champs used a total of 11 starts on short rest -- and four of those came after relief appearances, three of which were very brief. That doesn't necessarily mean short rest is a bad thing. In fact, of the 34 postseason games since 2006 that were on short rest, the short-rest team won 21, including all three of those Dodgers games this year. The starting pitcher has even gone six-plus innings in 17 of the 34 games. Of course, you're usually only starting your best guy on short rest. That said, the evidence suggests limiting short-rest starts is probably a good thing. That's why I like the Dodgers' decision to start Urias. At some point, you just have to trust your No. 4 starter. Then, heading into Game 5, Roberts can decide whether to start Kenta Maeda on four days or Kershaw on three days. As for Francona and the Indians, starting Kluber gives the team a chance to sweep the Blue Jays. Win that game and you don't have to worry about starting Ryan Merritt ... and Kluber will have six days of rest before starting Game 1 of the World Series.

Cubs' Ben Zobrist laughs off sign-stealing accusations from Dodgers By Jesse Rogers LOS ANGELES -- Chicago Cubs second baseman Ben Zobrist laughed off sign-stealing accusations by Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal, while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts simply called it part of the game. "I think it's hilarious," Zobrist said Monday afternoon. "No, I was not stealing signs. But I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high. ... I don't know what he was looking at or what he thought he saw. But really, from second base at Wrigley, it's very tough to even see the signs. It's so dark. All the lights are behind the hitter. ... But I think all catchers are probably a little paranoid about that." Grandal agreed, saying he is indeed "paranoid" about baserunners stealing signs. He thought Zobrist was relaying them from second base in Game 1 on Saturday while Addison Russell was at the plate. So the Dodgers switched the signs. "All the sudden, Russell is not taking good swings at sliders, looking like he's looking for a fastball and in a certain location," Grandal told the LA Times over the weekend. "Did we know Zobrist had the signs and was doing something for it? Yeah, we did. That's why we do it." "I think it's hilarious," Ben Zobrist said Monday afternoon. "No, I was not stealing signs. But I appreciate him thinking my baseball IQ is that high." AP Photo/Alan Diaz Roberts didn't seem fazed by the notion that an opponent would attempt to steal signs. "I think when you watch baseball games, every team's going to try to get any advantage they can, so that's kind of the gamesmanship part of the game," Roberts said. "That's why catchers or guys on second base give multiple signs and change sequences. So if they are (stealing signs), it wouldn't be a surprise, and there's many clubs that we've played against that do the same thing. That's part of the game." Zobrist continued to deny the charge even while admitting he's attempted to steal signs in the past -- just not the very recent past. "I've tried before, but it's never worked out," Zobrist said. "I'm, like, trying to read them from back there. But it's just never worked out. ... And that's the thing: You don't want to relay it to the hitter if you're not positive. Half the time I'm not even looking because you're not ready. I'm looking at the sign from the third-base coach. I'm trying to pick up to where I'm trying to see the ball off the bat to where I'm getting a good jump, stuff like that. So even when I do feel like I have time to look at it and see if I can catch up with the sequence, I don't. Half the time, I have trouble following our own pitcher's sequence." The Cubs and Dodgers resume the NLCS on Tuesday night. The series is tied 1-1.

Dodgers' Julio Urias to start Game 4; youngest postseason SP ever By Doug Padilla LOS ANGELES -- In a kid they will trust, as the Dodgers announced that 20-year-old rookie Julio Urias will start Wednesday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Cubs. When he throws his first pitch Wednesday, Urias will become the youngest postseason starting pitcher in major league history, surpassing a mark previously held by Bret Saberhagen, who took the mound at 20 years, 175 days old in 1984. Urias will be 20 years, 68 days old when he pitches in Game 4. "Julio, I think that we expect him to just go out there and compete, use his pitch mix and go after these guys," manager Dave Roberts said. "Give us a chance to win a baseball game. It's what Julio's done all year long." The Mexico native made his major league debut at the age of 19, when he took on the Mets in New York on May 27. It was a rough night, as he lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks. Five days later, he made his first of two appearances against the Cubs and struggled again, giving up six runs (five earned) on eight hits in five innings at Wrigley Field. Urias rebounded to go 5-2 in his rookie season with a 3.39 ERA in 18 appearances, 15 of them starts. Taking out those first two outings, Urias posted a 2.73 ERA. In his second matchup with the Cubs, at home on Aug. 27, he gave up one run on six hits in six innings while matching a season high with eight strikeouts. He earned his fifth victory of the season in that game. He will enter Wednesday's outing, though, having been used sparingly down the stretch. Urias pitched just 14 innings in September as the Dodgers curtailed his innings. They had originally decided to move him to the bullpen in an attempt to limit his innings, but he has been on hand as a fourth starter since the postseason started. He was not asked to start in the five-game NL Division Series, although he did pitch two scoreless innings in the Dodgers' Game 5 victory, earning a spot in the NLCS. Urias has thrown as many as 100 pitches just once this season and reached the 90-pitch mark just four times. Roberts said he is less concerned with pitch count this time around and will primarily monitor effectiveness. "I think that we've kind of monitored his usage throughout the regular season, but I think right now for me, it's not necessarily the pitch count," Roberts said. "A lot of it is the stressful innings, too. It's going to be a big game. So if he's throwing the baseball the way we expect, then I'm not afraid to push him to help us win a baseball game."

MLB Rumor Central: Dodgers, Justin Turner discuss extension? By ESPN.com The Los Angeles Dodgers and impending free agent Justin Turner have had preliminary talks regarding a contract extension, Jon Heyman of Today's Knuckleball reports. Rumor CentralTurner has previously indicated to Heyman that he would love to stay with the Dodgers, and it appears that the feeling is mutual. "He’s been a glue to this club, the gritty grinding type guy," manager Dave Roberts told Heyman. "He’s what I envision a ballplayer for the Dodgers being." Turner certainly has proved his value to the Dodgers this year, hitting a career-high 27 homers during the regular season and tying for the team lead in RBIs with 90. His success has carried over into the postseason, where he hit .400 during the NLDS with a triple, a home run and five RBIs. Turner previously was a role player with the New York Mets, but the 31-year-old's career has improved drastically since joining Los Angeles in 2014. "I don’t know what happened, but my career has kind of taken a turn for the better once I put the Dodger uniform on," Turner told Heyman.

USA TODAY

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts calls sign-stealing 'a part of the game,' and he's right By Ted Berg LOS ANGELES — After the Dodgers’ 1-0 win over the Cubs in Game 2 of the NLCS on Sunday, Los Angeles catcher Yasmani Grandal told the Los Angeles Times, in no uncertain terms, that he believed the Cubs were stealing signs during the game: For additional evidence, Grandal pointed to Saturday’s eighth inning, when Ben Zobrist led off with a double against Joe Blanton and Blanton stretched the count to 3-and-0 against Addison Russell. “All the sudden, Russell is not taking good swings at sliders, looking like he’s looking for a fastball and in a certain location,” Grandal said. “Did we know Zobrist had the signs and was doing something for it? Yeah, we did. That’s why we do it…. Grandal frustrated the Chicago crowd by frequently meeting with Kershaw to establish the signs, but as he pointed out, one sign accurately relayed to a batter from second base could mean the difference in a game so tight.

At Dodger Stadium on Monday, as the clubs worked out in advance of Tuesday’s Game 3, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that stealing signs is part of baseball. “Every team’s going to try to get any advantage they can, so that’s kind of the gamesmanship part of the game,” Roberts said. “That’s why catchers, with guys on second base, give multiple signs and change sequences. So if they are (stealing signs), it wouldn’t be a surprise, and there’s many clubs that we’ve played against that do the same thing. That’s part of the game.” Roberts is right, of course. While sometimes sign-stealing is deemed afoul of baseball’s frequently derided and perpetually ambiguous unwritten rules, if it were such an egregious misdeed against some code of honor, teams wouldn’t need to bother trying to mask their signals. Right? If stealing signs represented such an affront to the Great Tradition of Baseball Respect and Grit or whatever, catchers could just throw the signs everyone knows — one for fastball, two for curveball, etc. — with runners on second and trust that the baserunners will be too principled to do anything to let the batter know what’s coming. Doing anything to try to disguise what pitch is coming tacitly implies you believe the baserunner can and will steal your signs otherwise. And he’d be crazy not to try. Monday’s was a one-run game, and like Grandal said, a successfully stolen sign — if it allows the batter to know what’s coming and put a good swing on it — could change the outcome of the game. Some hitters will tell you they’d prefer not to know, that they’d rather just react to the pitch the way they always do. But certainly plenty of big-leaguers appreciate a heads-up, even against pitchers less dominant than Kershaw. So yeah, Roberts is spot on. If you can pick up whatever sequence the catcher is using to signal pitches and use it to your team’s advantage, you should obviously do that. It’s not against the rules and it will help your team win. With Clayton Kershaw resting, other Dodgers pitchers need to step up vs. Cubs By Jorge L. Ortiz LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers surged to the National League West crown in the regular season after Clayton Kershaw went on the disabled list, posting a 38-24 record in the 2 1/2 months he was nursing a back injury. Now they need to figure out how to win without him in the playoffs. The Dodgers have prevailed in the four games in which their staff ace has pitched this postseason, but they’re 0-3 in the others. Barring another unexpected appearance out of the bullpen — and manager Dave Roberts has been creative in using him — the three-time Cy Young Award winner won’t see action in the next two games of the National League Championship Series, and maybe not even in Game 5, when he would have had only three days of rest. That makes it imperative for L.A.’s other starters to deliver at least workmanlike starts, beginning with lefty Rich Hill on Tuesday as the series with the Chicago Cubs — deadlocked 1-1 — moves to Dodger

Stadium for Games 3, 4 and 5. Rookie left-hander Julio Urias is scheduled for Wednesday, with Kenta Maeda penciled in for Thursday. The Dodgers would happily take five innings from any of them. It’s a modest goal none of their starters other than Kershaw has reached in this postseason. “We’ve kind of shown throughout this season that there is really no one way to win a division, to win a series, to win a game,” Roberts said. “We’re focused on each day to win that baseball game, and whatever way that game plays out, our guys are prepared to audible. So for me, is it ideal? Probably not, but that’s OK.” Los Angeles has come this far largely behind Kershaw’s contributions — particularly his seven-inning masterpiece in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Wrigley Field and his two-out save in Game 5 of the division series — and the yeoman efforts of closer Kenley Jansen. They’ve been the winning combination in each of the Dodgers’ last two victories, with Jansen following his epic 51-pitch outing in the division series clincher against the Washington Nationals with a tidy two-inning save Sunday. The overpowering right-hander, known for a devastating cut fastball that’s mostly responsible for his career average of 13.9 strikeouts per nine innings, dispatched all six Cubs he faced on 18 pitches, 16 of them strikes. That raised the possibility he might be available to go two innings again in Game 3. “The game will dictate,” said Jansen, the first Dodger to register a six-out save in the postseason since 1988. “I’m not trying to be a hero. I can’t do it all by myself. Kersh can’t do it all by himself. It’s going to take the 25 men on the roster to do this. The game will tell when I’m supposed to come in.” Jansen has earned his teammates’ admiration for not letting his pending free agency get in the way of going well beyond his usual three-out role in helping the Dodgers — winners of the NL West title each of the last four seasons — advance to the NLCS after getting bounced out in the first round the last two years. But he raises a fair point. Maeda has a 9.00 ERA in two playoff starts. Urias pitched two innings in the NLDS and will be making his first career postseason start. And Hill has shown plenty of swing-and-miss stuff, with 13 strikeouts in his two starts, but has thrown just seven innings. The veteran left-hander attributed some of the short outings to the urgency of the playoffs, and Roberts indeed has shown a quick hook, backed by a bullpen that has endured a couple of implosions — such as the Cubs’ five-run eighth inning in Game 1 — but has largely done well. In between battling problems with blisters, Hill was extremely effective in his six starts after being traded to Los Angeles from the Oakland Athletics, logging a 1.83 ERA and giving up 22 hits in 34 1/3 innings. He said watching Kershaw and Jansen has been inspiring. “What they’ve been doing the entire postseason has been incredible. They’re setting the tone for myself to go out there,” Hill said. “I was telling my wife after the game (Sunday), ‘I think Clayton’s going to go back to the Batcave and we’re all going to hop on a plane and go back to L.A.’”

Kershaw and Jansen have indeed played the role of superheroes. Now the Dodgers need for Hill and company to at least perform like Robin.

FOX BUSINESS

Dodgers' Ross Stripling: Pitcher and Licensed Stockbroker By Matthew Rocco Most major-league baseball players spend the winter relaxing with family and training for next season. But for Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ross Stripling, baseball’s offseason marks the start of another job. Stripling, a rookie hurler getting his first taste of the postseason, is also a licensed stockbroker. The Pennsylvania-born Stripling, who attended high school in Southlake, Texas, was a finance major at Texas A&M University. Following the 2015 season, Stripling passed the Series 7 test. The General Securities Representative Exam, a six-hour test administered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, is required to receive a license to trade. While studying for his Series 7, Stripling worked for Wunderlich Securities in Houston. He plans on returning to the Memphis-based brokerage firm this offseason, and the Series 66 exam is the next step before registering as an investment adviser. “Baseball makes me extremely competitive, and it’s a competitive industry. You have to prove to clients that you can make them some money,” Stripling told FOXBusiness.com. “It’s nice always knowing I’ve got a degree and something to fall back on, God forbid something happened to my arm. But obviously I want to play baseball for the next 10 years.” Tommy John surgery forced Stripling think about a Plan B. The procedure ended Stripling’s 2014 season before it began. Although he returned to minor-league action in 2015, he knew nothing is guaranteed. “It’s something you should come back from, but you never know. I wanted something to fall back on,” said Stripling, a fifth-round by the Dodgers in the 2012 MLB draft. Finance was a natural fit. After graduating from Texas A&M, Stripling maintained his interest in stocks. He invested his signing bonus from the Dodgers, mostly in equities but also some mutual funds. Some of his investments went toward technology, retail, sportswear and energy companies. Stripling expected nothing more than an internship when his grandfather, a longtime Wunderlich client, made a call to the Houston office. “They said, let’s get you your license,” he recalled. Wunderlich allowed Stripling to keep a flexible schedule so he could train during the afternoons. Stripling, 26, isn’t the first athlete to wade into the world of finance. Former New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet is a broker at Stifel Financial (SF), which acquired Chrebet’s wealth-management team

from Barclays (BCS) last year. Marc Wilkins, who played six seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, is a financial adviser for Wells Fargo (WFC). Professional athletes, of course, know plenty of potential clients in the clubhouse or locker room. “Certainly the idea is to use my baseball network to get clients, but they’re not pressuring me to do anything like that right now,” said Stripling, who doesn’t have any clients of his own yet. But do teammates ask him for financial advice? Stripling laughed. “Yeah, we have a lot of guys who know what they’re doing, so they want to know where [their money] is,” he said. “We have a handful of guys who are into the market.” Stripling’s big break on the field came in spring training, when he earned a spot in the Dodgers’ starting rotation to start the season. In his debut on April 8, Stripling flirted with matching a very rare feat in baseball history. He took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and was just five out away from closing the deal. With the rookie’s pitch count rising, manager Dave Roberts pulled Stripling from the game. The right-hander concluded the regular season with a 5-9 record and a 3.96 ERA in 22 total appearances, including 14 starts. In the postseason, Roberts has called on Stripling from the bullpen three times. Facing the Washington Nationals in the NLDS and the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS, Stripling has worked 2 2/3 innings without allowing a hit. The Dodgers, who are playing postseason baseball for the fourth straight season, defeated the Nationals in five games—thanks in large part to a herculean effort on the mound from Clayton Kershaw. After dropping the first game of the NLCS, the Dodgers shut out the Cubs, 1-0, to send the seven-game series to Los Angeles in a 1-1 tie. The Dodgers and Cubs will play Game 3 on Tuesday night. It’s safe to say that Stripling won’t mind starting his offseason job later than usual this year, as the Dodgers pursue their first World Series title since 1988. “It’s been crazy. My year in general has been a roller coaster. I went to spring training wanting to prove that I can pitch. Then I made it onto the postseason roster. I had an inning at Wrigley, which was just incredible,” Striping said. “We’re right where we want to be, and we’re just going to ride Kershaw to the promised land.”

YAHOO! SPORTS

The story of Clayton Kershaw, a mound conversation and his mastery of the Cubs By Tim Brown

CHICAGO – They’ve all journeyed as Dave Roberts did late Sunday. Good managers. Strong managers. Decorated managers. Managers who are sure of themselves and, as important, sure of the characters and limitations and insecurities of the men they lead. They start out from the same place, from the top step of a dugout, amidst tens of thousands who view these journeys as fools’ errands or too long in coming, so they are booed or cheered, sometimes both, because there is no sure thing in what they do, except in that they are sure they are going to do it. Right up until the end of the journey. It’s not even a very long journey. A couple dozen yards at the outside. From here to, like, the end of the driveway and back, that length. Even at a ponderous walk, hardly enough time to change one’s mind, hardly enough time to misplace one’s intentions. And, yet, so often, in fact more often than not, they come back alone, when the whole point of the journey was to come back with Clayton Kershaw. “I got him,” Kershaw told Dave Roberts late Sunday night, according to Chase Utley, who was standing right there. “I can get him out.” So, like Joe Torre had, like Don Mattingly had, and now as he does, Roberts nodded his head. He was in the middle of the diamond at Wrigley Field, inside this taut and still trembling National League Championship Series, and looked over his situation. Their situation. Anthony Rizzo at first base. Two outs. Seventh inning. A 1-0 lead in a ballpark that is familiar but not home, a ballpark they all know but are suspicious of. The fences are too close. The wind, the drafts, just what the heck are those flags doing? It’s all too unpredictable. He looked over at Javy Baez, the 23-year-old from Puerto Rico whose bat had helped clobber the Dodgers the night before and the San Francisco Giants in the series before that. Baez already had singled against Kershaw a couple innings before, when Kershaw tried to lock him up with one of those jumpy curveballs, and Baez lashed it into left-center field, one of only two hits off Kershaw all night. The kid was hot. Maybe it was his time, not theirs, not Kershaw’s, and baseball gets that way sometimes, and in those spirals it’s probably best not to resist. Had he looked over his right shoulder, he would have seen the guy who throws those 97-mph cutters, his closer, the guy who saved them all from the Washington Nationals on Thursday night, all strong in the legs again and awaiting a wave. Dave Roberts would get to that, you know, once he’d thanked Clayton Kershaw for his effort, for that string of zeroes he’d just dropped on Game 2, for the 82 pitches he’d thrown, all of them mustered when one swing might ruin the whole thing. And, yet, here he was, his infielders quietly rooting for this to pass as other moments like it have, with other managers in other games at other times conceding that this was not theirs to mess with. The next few pitches, whoever threw them, were as likely than not to win or lose this ballgame. The tens of thousands here believed it. The seven men on the mound knew it. The pitching coach, who’d watched the manager go, probably knew it, too. “When he left,” Rick Honeycutt said of Roberts, “I thought he was going to make the call.”

That is, relieve Kershaw of the ball and hand the ball to Jansen for what he hoped would be a seven-out save, the last of it through some of the best the Chicago Cubs had. It is, turns out, one thing to know what one is going to do when one leaves the dugout railing, another to stand before Kershaw and ask him to leave this thing undone. To leave it to the next man up. Kershaw likes those guys. Trusts them. Believes in them. Still, they are not him. It’s his job to be him. Most times that has played, sometimes it has not, and yet it seems none of that matters late on a Sunday night when the NLCS could be tied at a game apiece or rolling downhill for the Cubs. “I don’t think that part’s ever going to change in him,” Honeycutt said. Still, Honeycutt called down to the bullpen. The message for Jansen: Be ready for Baez. Roberts said he looked Kershaw in the eye. They all look Kershaw in the eye. That’s where it starts, and then where it ends, and about the time they usually turn around and decide to live with what comes next. “I had every intent to go out there and get him and go to Kenley,” Roberts said. “I just, I went with my gut and just kind of – he said we can get this guy, I can get this guy. And at that point in time that’s all I needed to hear. So it was just about him executing. And obviously Baez got into it.” Well, and that’s the second part of the story. The infielders returned to their positions. The catcher retreated to his. Jansen threw another warm-up pitch. Roberts reached the dugout and waited. Kershaw threw a fastball. Baez took it low for ball one. Then Kershaw threw another fastball, the last pitch of his night, his 84th. It ran to the outer part of the zone, away from the right-handed-hitting Baez, who swung hard and met the ball with a crack. In the dugout, Honeycutt flinched. Roberts snapped his head toward center field, where Joc Pederson dashed toward the ivied wall. The crowd shrieked. Kershaw turned and stood facing the center-field wall. “I thought it was out, for sure,” he said. Baez got out of the box. “I really hit it good,” he said. “But just a little out front.” Pederson reached the warning track, backed into the ivy and gloved the fly ball. Kershaw exhaled and backed down the mound, toward home plate. When he reached the dugout, Honeycutt extended his hand. Kershaw smiled and said, “I’m just trying to get my throat back out of my stomach.” Jansen got the final six outs without complications. The Dodgers were 1-0 winners and returned to Los Angeles even in the series, Jake Arrieta looming in Game 3. The series changed. October remained the same. They have won every game in which Kershaw touched the baseball and lost the rest. He survived a seventh inning, more than survived it, and got the ball to Jansen, which is where the Dodgers’ postseason has veered when they do win.

Only this time, on this October night, he had not allowed a baserunner until there were two out in the fifth inning. This time only one man reached second base. This time there were no questions, only a well-worn path, trampled and marked by the men who probably should know better by now.

FANGRAPHS

The Game 2 Story That Almost Was By Jeff Sullivan I know that we tend to exaggerate the meaning of the playoffs, which means we tend to exaggerate the meaning of playoff player performance. Regular players are made out to be heroes, superstars completing their development on the national stage. The playoffs make it easy to get swept away by anything. The increased focus on every single individual event allows for one to forget that all of these sample sizes are remarkably small. Through the middle of May, the Phillies had one of the best records in baseball. The Phillies were a bad team all along. The point is: I get it. And, you get it. We all understand the postseason booby traps. And yet I need to share that Javier Baez is taking the playoffs over. Baez, already, was opening national eyes, and he owned the NLDS against the Giants. Sunday against the Dodgers, Baez authored a new chapter for his aggressively-growing legend. Not even very long ago, Baez felt risky and almost disposable. Now it’s difficult to see the Cubs winning without him. Already in these playoffs, Baez had provided the only run in a game. In Game 2 of the NLCS, the Cubs were going up against Clayton Kershaw, so it stood to reason runs would again be at a premium. Baez, in his first trip, struck out, and, well, that happens. Especially when you’re Javier Baez, and especially when you’re facing the best pitcher in baseball. But Baez picked things up in the bottom of the fifth. When he came to bat, Kershaw had faced 14 hitters, and Kershaw had retired 14 hitters. Buster Olney was starting to tweet about a potential perfecto. The Cubs needed something, a sign of life, evidence that breaking through could be possible. Baez saw an 0-and-1 curveball. All that is is a clean base hit. And Baez didn’t come around to score. Kershaw, today, isn’t thinking about this single, but not only was that the Cubs’ first spark. Look at this again. This is how much Javier Baez has improved since he was a rookie. The story of the playoffs has been Baez’s maturation, and part of that has been maintaining better control of himself in the box. Baez came up with a huge leg kick, and he didn’t know anything but the huge leg kick, and it unsurprisingly made him vulnerable. Baez still has that kick today, but he doesn’t always use it. A few years ago, Baez would’ve swung right through this pitch. Look at him now. Baez got fooled, and he did shift his weight. Yet with his foot down, Baez stayed under control, and he kept his hands back until he could whip them forward at the appropriate time. This swing won’t hit you a homer. This swing will save an at-bat, and Baez turned a would-be 0-and-2 count into a line drive. The Cubs

were on the board, in the second column if not in the first, and Baez again put his development on display. It’s adaptive hitting from someone who came up rather stubborn. The Baez show, of course, was far from complete. He singled in the bottom of the fifth, and then he started a double play in the top of the sixth. But it wasn’t just any double play. It was a creative double play that required Baez to think quickly on his feet. By allowing the soft liner to fall cleanly, Baez turned one out into two outs. As we’ve already gone over, the play was arguably borderline, but for Baez there wasn’t any real meaningful downside. Even if the umpires rather surprisingly ruled it an infield fly, the automatic out would stand. But an infield-fly call was unlikely, given the trajectory of the ball, and Baez found a loophole. He had two seconds to make a decision and he made a great one. Maybe this is something he’s practiced. Maybe this is something that’s been drilled into him. Even still, not every second baseman makes that play. An awful lot of players would take the one sure out. Baez doubled up, and he got the Cubs out of a jam. Which only set the table for the real fireworks. In hindsight, Baez isn’t really remembered for the fifth inning. He isn’t really remembered for the sixth. It’s all about the seventh, when Baez came up as the go-ahead run with two down in the frame. The score was 1-0 Dodgers, and there was a runner on first. Kenley Jansen was ready in the bullpen, but Kershaw convinced Dave Roberts to give him one more hitter. It’s a decision that might live on in infamy. And perhaps that’s unfair to the first-year manager, given that Clayton Kershaw is Clayton Kershaw, yet only days ago, Roberts went to his closer without hesitation. Sunday night, he hesitated. Once again, Baez showed off. And, once again, Kershaw’s postseason hopes were dealt a devastating last-minute blow. When Kershaw closed out the NLDS, fans and writers alike were quick to bid farewell to what had been an unpleasant and maybe unfair October narrative. Now it’s the seven pitches that look like the blip, because Kershaw more recently threw one bad one. Off the bat at 103 miles per hour. Baez’s go-ahead, game-winning homer wasn’t some Wrigley cheap-shot, like Andre Ethier‘s the game before. Were it not for an extremely favorable wind, Ethier would’ve wound up with a harmless fly out. Baez’s homer was legitimate. Batted balls hit the same way have most often been homers. It wasn’t exactly the pitch Kershaw wanted, and Baez applied a home-run swing. A leg kick was there. Baez was ahead in the count. Reading the situation, he took a chance, and he cemented his status as an area hero. Javier Baez is far from the only reason why the Cubs are where they are. It’s been a complete team effort all season long, and Baez will be counted as no one’s 2016 NL MVP. But while other players carried more of the load for the first six months, these last couple weeks have been almost all about Baez, showing off what he can do in every dimension. As things stand today, the Cubs are more likely than any other remaining team to win the World Series. It’s all they’ve ever wanted, and to this point, halfway through a terrific NLCS, they have a blossoming 23-year-old to thank. He might not have gotten them to the playoffs, but he’s pulling them to the finish line.

TODAY’S KNUCKLEBALL

Heyman: Dodgers hit a grand slam with Dave Roberts By Jon Heyman CHICAGO – The Dodgers hit a grand slam with Dave Roberts. While Roberts was seen as a surprise choice as manager at the time (Dodgers farm director Gabe Kapler was viewed as the favorite, publicly anyway), the Dodgers were right to pluck Roberts from the coaching staff of the lowly division-rival Padres. And now that he’s in the job, it seems so obvious that he should have been a manager all along. He’s smart, personable, courageous and thick-skinned. Those last two things are important, especially in a big market such as Los Angeles. It’s clear Roberts has the courage to stand up to constant second-guessing – and don’t let L.A. fool you; it’s a tough town where fans aren’t happy the team hasn’t won the World Series since the Orel Hershiser/Kirk Gibson-led team won the 1988 matchup vs. the pharmaceutically-aided A’s, in a major upset. Roberts has the perfect personality for the job, with his seemingly limitless enthusiasm and optimism. But also it’s his message. He made clear what the prize was when he removed Ross Stripling from a no-hitter in his Dodgers starting debut, and even moreso when he removed Rich Hill from his perfect game. Roberts told me the day after the Hill call his message would have been muted if he put individual achievements first, and he was right. One of the bosses called it a “team-first” and “never-quit” mindset that never changes. Roberts isn’t just a friendly guy with an overarching goal. He is a fellow who thinks two and three steps ahead, and can keep up with the major managers in the NL as well as anyone they could have found, who are quite a tough lot, including Bruce Bochy of the rival Giants and Joe Maddon, his Cubs counterpart in the NLCS. Roberts has done just about everything right in these playoffs, and he’s understandably beloved by his many bosses (the Dodgers have a lot of bosses), who even applauded him for his own iffy move, when he intentionally walked Jason Heyward and Chris Coghlan to try a winning double-play gambit in Game 1, with goals to both keep the inning scoreless and force the Cubs’ star closer Aroldis Chapman out of the game. Roberts lost that move and game, when Joe Blanton, the Dodgers’ second-best reliever, was torched for a grand-winning grand slam by Miguel Montero. But one of his bosses said all the bosses got together afterward and agreed they “loved” the attempt, and that Roberts shouldn’t stop being himself. (For the record, a Cubs person said he understood it all but was surprised anyone would walk Heyward the way he’s been going all year. And I think that person has a point on that one score, though no one should complain about the matchup of Blanton vs. Montero the way those two have been going; the candid Montero admitted to our Jack Magruder after the game he thought the Cubs might release him this year.)

Anyway, Roberts’ interesting effort only reinforced for the Dodgers their belief that he’s always thinking, always on the ball. One Dodgers player summed up Roberts this way: “Consistent energy. Really into the game but able to make very good quick decisions in the moment. Does his best to always put players in a spot to succeed.’’ The only mystery is not why Dodgers baseball president Andrew Friedman and the others tabbed Roberts (some key players and ownership also favored Roberts – word is, managing partner Mark Walter didn’t sit in until the final interview, but he too understood they found a gem). The mystery is how the Padres could have passed him over not once but twice. He was on the staff when Pat Murphy was named interim manager replacing the fired Bud Black, and the Padres didn’t interview him when they hired Andy Green off the Diamondbacks staff. The Padres aren’t unhappy with Green, but interestingly, the Padres, obviously stacked with managerial timber, also had current managers A.J. Hinch (Astros), Rich Renteria (White Sox) and Brad Ausmus (Tigers) in San Diego a couple years ago, not to mention Black, Murphy and Mark Kotsay. I asked Roberts how this could be, and he didn’t have an answer. Others suggest Padres people might have felt they wanted to make a complete split from Black (and Roberts was seen as close to Buddy), though it’s hard to know, and their GM A.J. Preller is currently unavailable for comments. Roberts only told me that the Dodgers job was the one he really wanted. Though Roberts is a San Diego native and icon, he did star at UCLA and played parts of three seasons for the Dodgers. There’s that, and there’s also the fact that the Dodgers are likely to be a perennial playoff participant with their $240 million payroll and $20 million brain trust. The Dodgers ultra-talented team was threatened to be over-run by injuries this year, though, and they wound up using a franchise-record-tying (and MLB-high) 55 players and 31 pitchers. Although, they’ve basically used eight relievers all year – star closer Kenley Jansen and a collection of rookies, reclamation projects and limited specialists. “Doc and Honey (Roberts and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt) put them in position to succeed – and kept them in good health, as well,” Freidman said. Roberts, in no time, seems to have earned the respect of just about everyone in the front office and in that room, and that’s no easy thing. “One thing you’ve got to credit Dave for – he believes in us,” star third baseman Justin Turner said. “If we tell him we can get it done, he believes we can get it done.’’ Then someone pointed out how Roberts changed his mind, to allow Kershaw to stay in to get the final batter of the seventh inning of Game 2, after Kershaw made a plea to him. Roberts had a plan for a certain number of pitches, but Kershaw convinced him to let him continue, and it worked out when Javier Baez’s deep drive to center field nestled in the glove of Joc Pederson at the front of the warning track. Though Turner didn’t necessarily find magic in that one reversed call. “Everyone on the planet would let Kershaw change their mind,” Turner pointed out, with a smile. NOTES ON A SCORECARD AROUND THE LCS …

– The Dodgers are a remarkable story for getting this far with a record number of injuries and players used. But the Indians are, in a way, even more remarkable, considering they didn’t have the depth, and to be fair, payroll, to aid them. To lose their Nos. 2 and 3 starters, and still win their first six postseason games, is incredible. – Indians manager Terry Francona seems to have a thing for sweeps. Both his World Series wins came in sweeps, and his 2004 Red Sox team had to sweep four straight to get past the Yankees in the ALCS (Roberts played a big part in that, most recall, with his key, courageous Game 4 steal). – Jose Bautista’s claim to USA Today that “circumstances” were conspiring to favor the Indians (it was clear to all he meant the umpires) falls flatter than a candidate claiming an election is rigged when voting is just beginning. And, saying anyone’s favoring Cleveland, that’s a new one on me! – Bautista isn’t going to get that $150 million, but no player has more faith in himself, and at 36, at the least he believes he should beat others in their mid-30s (i.e. Victor Martinez, Ben Zobrist). Off a year cut short by injury, it will be interesting to see if he will. Not all are convinced. (My opinion: He should beat at least Zobrist, though the presence of a qualifying offer could change the equation). There is still little belief the Jays will outbid others to keep him. – The Red Sox do seem most the most likely landing spot for Edwin Encarnacion, as was mentioned here many months ago. The Yankees and Rangers are viewed as among other possibilities. – I don’t want to drone on about this because Trevor Bauer surely feels bad enough, but this kind of hobby may need to be disallowed in his future contracts. – Blue Jays manager John Gibbons deserves to return, no matter what happens in the ALCS. That would seem to be obvious, but he’s working for a regime that didn’t hire him, and they have yet to extend him. As one insider pointed out, Gibbons has done well with the two main aspects of managing: handling a pitching staff, and making sure the clubhouse/chemistry is OK. On the first score, our insider points out that the Jays had the lowest ERA in the AL with their pitchers “working in a Little League ballpark.” (That’s a slight exaggeration, but Rogers Centre is unquestionably a hitters park), and they’ve had no real trouble in their clubhouse, save for some late misplaced anger at a local media person, and they have quite a collection of egos. – The Jays say they believe Devon Travis will be ready to in spring training, but understandably there’s concern about his ability to stay healthy. – There’s still been no good explanation given for why the Jays went to Marcus Stroman in Game 3 rather than league ERA leader Aaron Sanchez. They seem to have quite a bit of faith in Stroman generally, picking him over David Price to start the key game last year, and naming him the Opening Day starter this year. The problem this time is that the Game 3 starter potentially had two starts coming, while the Game 4 starter had just one. – Rich Hill, an ex-Cub, could be a tough matchup for Chicago. His calling card is his huge curveball, and oddly enough, according to MLB Network, Cubs batters have the lowest exit velocity on hits off curveballs (83.8).

– Justin Turner has turned himself into a star; there can be no disputing that. However, Dodgers people are very cognizant about contract term for players over 30, and there’s no doubt this is a concern regarding Turner (and any other player over 30). No quick deal to re-sign him is expected, though he’s said here he’d love to stay. – Joe Maddon offered to stay with the Rays for $14 million over four years before becoming a free agent, and eventually signing with the Cubs for $25 million. That would seem to be evidence there was no tampering. If you knew you were getting $25 million, why propose to stay for $11 million less? – Cubs people are still a bit concerned about some of their slumping players, including stars Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell. – A Dodgers person suggested they aren’t necessarily overwhelmed by Cubs relievers other than Aroldis Chapman, who they nearly had. That could also be because anyone looks hittable compared to Chapman. – Yasmani Grandal’s pitch-framing is quite a useful tool. And Indians catcher Roberto Perez is as good as advertised defensively. – Two players remaining – Jason Kipnis and Joc Pederson – are eligible to join Team Israel in WBC games (if they aren’t on Team USA). I asked Pederson whether he might join Team Israel, and he responded he isn’t thinking about that right now. Understandable. – The Nats unfortunately can’t possibly even extend a qualifying offer to Wilson Ramos. While there’s hope he could be back by June and he’s expected to eventually make a full recovery, it could take until July or August for him to be back, and there’s no guarantee he’ll be catching immediately upon his return. A better idea for someone would be to give him a multi-year deal. That won’t necessarily be the Nats, if you believed their $30 million, three-year offer to him before he got hurt was an indication they weren’t as anxious to keep him as one might think. Pre-injury, Ramos was expected to seek a $100 million deal. And no one should think he wouldn’t have come close, if not gotten it. – Nats people are upset that the conditions were bad when Ramos suffered the ACL injury. They believe the game shouldn’t have been played. Ramos injured himself while jumping for a high throw when he came down funny on his leg. – With Ramos’ ability to catch next year in question, Matt Wieters, also a free agent, will be the prime beneficiary. Orioles manager Buck Showalter is known to want him back. It seems Wieters may shoot for close to the same area considering the $82 million Russell Martin deal and $85 million Brian McCann deal. – There’s sympathy here for Nats third base coach Bob Henley for mistakenly sending Werth, who was out by 20 feet. Third-base coach is a thankless job. – It was quite a coincidence that Henley was the manager of the 2006 Gulf Coast Nats team that played against Kershaw’s 2006 Gulf Coast Dodgers the last time he got a save, and that Jansen was Kershaw’s catcher for that game.

– This postseason is showing the value of having a big-time reliever. It’s probably no coincidence that the Dodgers (Jansen), Cubs (Chapman) and Indians (Andrew Miller) are three of the teams remaining, and the Nats (Mark Melancon) were only eliminated by a run in a winner-take-all game. That’s why insiders are convinced at least Jansen and Chapman will break the reliever contract record (Jonathan Papelbon, $50 million), and Melancon might, too. – Teams looking for a closer will include the Dodgers, Cubs, Giants, Nats and Yankees, a big-market group that could drive prices through the roof. – The Giants had the best record at the break, then did great at the deadline by adding lefty starter Matt Moore, Eduardo Nunez and Will Smith, but have done some internal second-guessing about not going for more to get Melancon. The Giants would have had to give up Joe Panik to get in the game for Miller, which is debatable. For Melancon, the Pirate sought a young, hard-throwing pitcher on the 25-man roster, plus more (which is what they got from the Nats). The Giants have done great for years, they did well at the deadline, and if there’s a team that shouldn’t second-guess itself, it is them. – As Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe pointed out, Bobby Valentine, while managing the Red Sox in 2012, wanted Miller and Daniel Bard as relievers. Valentine has always emphasized the pen, and right now those sound like good ideas. – Francona gets an extra gold star for his use of the pen in general and Miller in particular, and others are also using their closers before the ninth inning. But the idea this trend will be prominent in the regular season is incorrect. No one believes that will happen for all but maybe one or two (Miller, for instance). – One rival exec says he believes that Yoenis Cespedes would prefer to stay with the Mets, but the exec, who believes as others do that they’ll pick up the $13 million option on Jay Bruce, wonders what will become of the Mets’ top two young players – Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo – if they do keep both slugging corner outfielders. – Torey Lovullo is seen as the favorite for the Diamondbacks managing job, as he and new GM Mike Hazen are said to be “close.” – Red Sox president Dave Dombrowski no doubt will stay in-house for his GM, as he’s suggested. There’s no reason not to. First, he has lots of good candidates there, from Gus Quattlebaum to Allard Baird to Fran Wren to even first base coach Ruben Amaro. Secondly, their GM job is more of a glorified assistant GM job, as Dombrowski has the ultimate call on all baseball matters, so as some point out, it might be difficult to hire someone who’s been a GM or has GM ambitions from outside. – The Padres might want to look at Orioles GM Dan Duquette for their open president job. O’s owner Peter Angelos didn’t let Duquette interview for the Jays’ president job, but at some point he could relax that stance. – Carlos Gomez looked like he might have a disastrous free agency. But a very nice finish after being traded to the Rangers has changed that. Also, it seems that somewhere along the line he discovered he

needed corrective lenses, and that may have made a big difference for him. That might have explained why he looked like a different player in Houston. It’s hard to play well when you can’t see. Momentum starting to swing in Dodgers’ direction By Jeremy Dorn The Dodgers must feel pretty good about themselves. Not only did they narrowly miss out on stealing Game 1 of the NLCS by one Joe Blanton pitch on Saturday, but they locked down a 1-0 win behind Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen in Game 2. Heading back to Los Angeles in a 1-1 series tie is a victory, even if they are still struggling to hit with runners in scoring position or to get length out of any starter not named Kershaw. The key phrase of that previous paragraph is “heading back to Los Angeles.” Sure, the Dodgers split their two home games in the NLDS with the Washington Nationals, but they are still at a significant advantage in Games 3-5 of the NLCS. At 53-28 in Chavez Ravine this season, the Dodgers were tied for the second-best home record in baseball (behind, yep, the Cubs). And though Chicago, 12 games over .500 on the road, does well away from Wrigley Field, the Dodgers clearly play better and more comfortably in front of their home fans. What does this mean for the rest of the NLCS? For one thing, it’s now a best-of-5 series and the Dodgers get the first three at home. That’s a significant advantage for any team, but especially one that has such lopsided splits in its favor on its home field. In terms of pitching matchups, the Dodgers have to love where they’re at: Jake Arrieta is almost a run of ERA better at home than he is on the road, and the reigning Cy Young winner isn’t the same guy that dominated the National League in 2015. He’s still very good, and turned in a quality start in his only postseason appearance thus far, but the Dodgers like their chances with Rich Hill in Game 3 (0.53 regular season ERA in three home starts). Julio Urias or Alex Wood likely get the Game 4 start and both thrive at Dodger Stadium. Their opponent would be John Lackey, a guy with a strong postseason résumé, but one who is also beatable. Then, the Dodgers could go any which way: Unless the Cubs win both Games 3 and 4 to take a 3-1 lead, Kenta Maeda likely gets Game 5 in front of the home crowd. If they do find themselves in a 3-1 hole, the Dodgers can turn back to Clayton Kershaw to save them and ideally send the series back to Chicago. If it’s 2-2 or 3-1 Dodgers, they can send Maeda out there knowing they have Kershaw for either a deciding or must-win Game 6. And as Dave Roberts’ 2004 Red Sox showed, anything can happen in a Game 7. Anyway, point is, the Dodgers going back to Los Angeles, coming off a hard-fought win in Game 2, swings the momentum strongly in their favor. The Cubs are still the best team in baseball and won’t go

away easily, but if the Dodgers win this three-game home series, they’re in good position to throw Kershaw in a deciding game back in Chicago. A Joe Maddon-managed Cubs team with solid pitching and an explosive offense won’t be held down forever, but the Dodgers are also due for a breakout with the bats. The minute Yasmani Grandal or Corey Seager get going, the Dodgers are going to put pressure on the Cubs to come through and steal two games in L.A. As the Dodgers have proven all season, that will be no easy task. Two wins in L.A. and they are in great shape. They have the wave of momentum right now; let’s see what they can do with it.

NEW YORK POST

How NLCS spotlights the depth required in MLB’s new age By Joel Sherman LOS ANGELES — The National League Championship Series has moved to the proper city for stars, and neither participant will disappoint. The Dodgers tied this best-of-seven series at a game apiece Sunday on shutout pitching authored by the elite tandem of Clayton Kershaw and Kenley Jansen. Cubs are among the favorites to win every NL award — MVP (Kris Bryant), Cy Young (Jon Lester) and manager (Joe Maddon) — except Rookie of the Year, which will be won by Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, who also will likely finish in the MVP top five. Like a big-budget blockbuster, these rosters have talents befitting the NL’s two largest payrolls. So why is there such an independent-film spirit about these two clubs? “Having star players and depth should not be mutually exclusive,” Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi said. Dodgers officials, for example, were willing to unsettle their clubhouse in late August by trading the popular — especially with ace Clayton Kershaw — A.J. Ellis to upgrade at backup catcher with Carlos Ruiz. They thought Ruiz could help attack a vulnerability against lefty pitching and, indeed, his single off southpaw Sammy Solis in the seventh inning gave Los Angeles the lead for good in the decisive Game 5 Division Series against Washington. In a four-game Division Series victory over the Giants, Maddon used all 25 of his players. In NLCS Game 1, he deployed 19 with third-string catcher Miguel Montero providing the game-turning grand slam. But it was in the regular season that both teams depended most on their best supporting actors to survive and thrive.

Not long ago the Yankees could be top heavy and win championships with Joe Torre relying on the same lineup day after day. But three trends demand that teams create not just 25-man roster depth, but 40-man and more. 1. The DL is used more than ever, perhaps out of caution, perhaps out of the reduction of illegal performance enhancers that used to allow bodies to better persevere. There were 561 DL stints covering 31,500 days lost and 1,353 players used. All are major league records. 2. There were 1,749 starts of five or fewer innings. To say that was a record is like to say only that Secretariat won the 1973 Belmont. The next highest total was 1,560 (2009). The need for a deep bullpen has never been greater. The two highest totals for pitchers starting a game was 313 last year and 310 this season. The 243 pitchers who started at least five games this year tied a record. In spring training, clubs need not only to determine their five starters, but their next five starters. 3. Never has the sport been more focused on maximizing matchups — not just lefty-righty, but which lefties — flyball oriented, groundball leaning, etc. The battle to gain even granular edges is being exploited like never before. This works ideally with Maddon’s fertile mind — think how he has used Javier Baez as a hybrid and turned him into the equivalent of an NBA Sixth Man of the Year. As Maddon said: “You can’t keep up with the matchups if you don’t have a deep roster.” The Cubs had 21 DL stints and lost 1,357 days to those injuries, both sixth highest. Still, they were a beacon of health — particularly with their five main starters starting 152 of the 162 games. By comparison to the Cubs — and pretty much any team ever — the Dodgers were a mess. Los Angeles used the DL an NL-record 32 times and lost 1,963 games (second most this year). The Dodgers tied their record by using 55 players, and ESPN’s Jayson Stark counted 216 roster moves. Most noteworthy, the Dodgers used 15 starters — 11 making at least five starts. They had tried to retain their co-ace, Zack Greinke, last offseason, but had him slip away to the Diamondbacks. They responded by, among other things, using their money to create depth by importing Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda, not moving the best of their young starting prospects such as Julio Urias, and Jose De Leon, and trading for Frankie Montas, who would later be key in obtaining Rich Hill. Their front office — with the power of the largest payroll in the majors — was criticized for not retaining Greinke and emphasizing layers of options in the quest for the Dodgers’ first title since 1988. Rookie manager Dave Roberts manipulated the assets expertly, created a meritocracy where, for example, Andrew Toles could play over, say, Carl Crawford (ultimately released). This helped form a more team-oriented mindset that the Dodgers had not enjoyed in recent seasons. “We are avid believers in [depth],” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “The big-name free-agent signing is sexy in the offseason. Depth is sexy when you need to lean on it and you are going to need to lean on it during the regular season. … We just didn’t intend to show off as much as we did.”

Jake Arrieta won’t get the same luck against Dodgers this time By Mike Puma LOS ANGELES — Jake Arrieta can forget about the Dodger Stadium shadows giving him a boost Tuesday night. The last time the Cubs right-hander started a late-afternoon game in Los Angeles, in August 2015, he fired his first career no-hitter, with the shadows early in the game providing a boost. “It can be difficult to pick up the spin once the shadows kind of creep between the mound and home plate,” Arrieta said Monday. But October at Chavez Ravine is another animal: By 5 p.m. local time Monday, the entire infield and most of the outfield was engulfed in a shadow, negating any advantage the pitcher might have. Arrieta’s mission is to get the Cubs a victory in Game 3 of the NLCS, following their 1-0 loss to Clayton Kershaw on Sunday at Wrigley Field that evened the series. Arrieta took a no-decision against the Giants in Game 3 of the NLDS, when he allowed two earned runs over six innings in a game the Cubs lost in 13 innings. The righty was a pedestrian 6-4 with a 3.69 ERA in the second half after representing the National League in the All-Star game. He was 12-4 with a 2.68 ERA in the first half. “When you’ve been in these situations before, it makes it a lot easier just to take that deep breath, focus on your execution and go from there,” Arrieta said. “[Don’t] allow the outside crowd noise or whatever’s going on within the atmosphere to kind of get the best of you.” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts officially named Julio Urias as his team’s Game 4 starter and indicated he doesn’t plan to use Kershaw again before Game 6. That would put Kenta Maeda on the mound for Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. Lefty Rich Hill, who will start Game 3 for the Dodgers, has dealt with a blister problem on his middle finger, but Roberts doesn’t believe it will be a significant factor. “If the blister holds I really like our chances,” Roberts said.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

With aggressive postseason bullpen use, MLB managers going for broke By Jay Jaffe

After his team’s 8–4 win in Game 1 of the NLCS, Cubs manager Joe Maddon was asked to explain the thought process behind some of the curious strategy that both he and Dodgers counterpart Dave Roberts had employed in the instant classic. "Play the game three times—before, during and after,” said Maddon. “Gene [Mauch] told me that many, many years ago." That a manager pursuing a championship would quote the skipper who set a record for the most games managed without winning a pennant—let alone a World Series—is one of the 2016 postseason’s more interesting ironies. But what Maddon spoke of is the method to what has to some seemed like madness when it comes to managing in the postseason, particularly regarding bullpen usage. Maddon has no monopoly on forethought, of course. Particularly in this day and age, with analytically-inclined front offices providing dugouts with an increasing amount of input, managers have the data at their fingertips to augment what years of experience and observation tells them about which batter-pitcher matchups to exploit. The use of closers in the eighth inning—or even the seventh—and setup men in the fifth (or in one case the third) have been the clearest illustration of this. Three of the four managers whose teams are still alive—Maddon, Roberts and Indians skipper Terry Francona—have shown a willingness to depart from the increasingly rigid orthodoxy that may have reached its reductio ad absurdum in the AL wild-card game, when Orioles manager Buck Showalter held dominant closer Zach Britton in reserve for a save opportunity that never came in an elimination game just because it happened to be a tie game with his team on the road. Despite having lost two of his four playoff-caliber starters in September, Francona has guided the Indians to a sweep of the Red Sox in the Division Series and a two-games-to-none lead over the Blue Jays in the ALCS thanks in large part to his aggressive usage of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen. Miller, who struck out a major league-high 44.7% of all batters faced during the regular season, has whiffed 60.7% of the hitters who have stepped in against him in the postseason while pitching 7 2/3 innings in four appearances, all of either five outs or six. Francona brought him into the fifth inning in the Division Series opener and let him throw more pitches (40) than he had in any regular-season game, unconcerned about whether he would be available the next day, then used him in the sixth in Game 3 for 35 pitches, one shy of his regular-season high. Allen, who ranked seventh in the majors with a 33.0% strikeout rate, has saved each game that Miller pitched, going long twice in the Division Series and throwing 40 pitches each time. “You don’t save a pitcher for tomorrow,” said Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher. “Tomorrow it may rain.” Five of the 13 saves in this postseason have been of four outs or more; not coincidentally, each of the four teams still standing has at least one. Even in the era of the one-inning closer, this isn’t abnormal: The Yankees’ dynasty under Joe Torre owed plenty to Mariano Rivera going long in 31 of his record 42 postseason saves (four of his five blown saves went long as well). Beyond those long saves, we’ve actually seen closers enter and exit earlier than usual in a few cases, with the Cubs’ Aroldis Chapman doing so twice after blowing saves and the Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen doing his best to take his team to the finish line in an elimination game.

That game, Game 5 of the Dodgers-Nationals series and the two games of the NLCS are worth closer looks for how those managers approached using not only their closers but also their entire bullpens. In the Division Series, recall that Game 2 was pushed back a day by rain, which meant that starter Rich Hill would have to pitch on short rest for Game 5—something he’d never done before—instead of regular rest. With Clayton Kershaw having started Game 4 on three days’ rest, Roberts’s choice to start came down to Hill and rookie Julio Urias. He chose the more experienced starter but didn’t hesitate to go to setup man Joe Blanton in the third inning, after Hill had thrown just 55 pitches and with the Nationals already up 1–0 and with Trea Turner on third base. Roberts ordered Hill to intentionally walk red-hot lefty Daniel Murphy so that Blanton could instead face righty Anthony Rendon, not only because the latter was slumping but also because he’s particularly vulnerable to Blanton’s best pitch: the slider. Rendon hit .175 and slugged .227 on the 97 sliders he put in play this year and whiffed 23% of the time when he swung at one. Blanton held batters to a .171 average and .285 slugging percentage on the 158 sliders batters put in play, with 40% of those swung at missed (all data via Brooks Baseball). Blanton got Rendon to line out to end the inning, and after he pitched one more frame and Urias two more, the Dodgers took a 4–1 lead in the seventh against Washington starter Max Scherzer and a parade of five relievers, as Dusty Baker chased platoon-minded matchups that in this case largely didn’t pan out. After watching Grant Dayton instantly give back two of those runs via a leadoff walk, a Chris Heisey pinch-homer and then a Clint Robinson single, Roberts skipped his other middlemen and went straight to Jansen for what could have been a nine-out save. That's something that hasn’t been attempted during the wild-card era except by pitchers who normally start, and even then, it's been done just twice, most notably by Madison Bumgarner in 2014. Though Jansen loaded the bases in the seventh and gave way with one out in the ninth after throwing a career-high 51 pitches, he held the Nationals scoreless, and Kershaw came back on a day’s rest to get the final two outs. Afterwards, Baker, who had largely stayed one step ahead of the game with his bullpen management through the series’ first four games, offered sour grapes in defeat. "I’d be interested to see—they won the war—but the effects of Jansen and Kershaw when they get to Chicago,” he told reporters, then adding of Roberts’s early use of Jansen, "It’s not a trend that I’d like to be a part of anytime." Maddon, on the other hand, relished the chess match with Roberts in the NLCS opener, even when his first key decision—to pull starter Jon Lester after six innings and 77 pitches—backfired. After Travis Wood, Carl Edwards and Mike Montgomery teamed up to get through the seventh, Montgomery yielded a leadoff single to pinch-hitter Andrew Toles, a lefty, in the eighth (with the lineup stacked with righties against Lester, the Dodgers’ bench had only lefties save for Yasiel Puig, who’s now the team’s emergency catcher). With righty Howie Kendrick due up, Maddon called upon righty Pedro Strop; Roberts countered with lefty Chase Utley, who walked. Justin Turner followed with a single. Only then did Maddon bring in Chapman, and as in Game 3 of the Division Series against the Giants, when the fireballer blew the save by allowing a two-run triple, it can be argued that he should have gone to his closer even earlier. This time, lefty Adrian Gonzalez, who posted just a .602 OPS against lefties this year, responded with a game-tying–two-run single, then stole second before Chapman extricated himself. Roberts went to Blanton in the bottom of the eighth, which began with cleanup hitter Ben Zobrist doubling. After Addison Russell grounded out, Roberts then attempted a curious set of moves that drew

raised eyebrows in first-guessing, to say nothing of the second-guessing that followed. First, he ordered Blanton to intentionally walk lefty Jason Heyward, who not only was coming off his worst major league season but was also just 2-for-15 in the postseason (albeit with a triple earlier in the game) and had shown particular vulnerability to the slider this year (.175 AVG, .286 SLG). That left Blanton facing the much hotter righty Javier Baez, who stung sliders at a .289 AVG/.443 SLG clip. He connected with Blanton’s first pitch, a low-and-away slider, but popped out to shallow rightfield. So far, so good for the Dodgers. But when Maddon sent up lefty Chris Coghlan to hit for righty David Ross, Roberts ordered Blanton to walk him as well, which didn’t just put another runner on base but also pushed Zobrist and Heyward to third and second, respectively—something done only three other times in the postseason, all between 1996 and 2010. That brought up Chapman’s spot, and rather than go to Dayton—which Roberts believed would lead Maddon to counter with righty Willson Contreras (.282/.357/.488 this year, .311/.354/.500 in 79 PA against lefties)—Roberts stuck with Blanton, leaving Maddon to send up lefty Miguel Montero (.216/.327/.357 overall, .221/.340/.387 against righties) instead. Roberts got the matchup he wanted, but by putting a runner on third base, he also took away Blanton’s ability to bury a slider in the dirt for fear of a wild pitch or passed ball. Blanton hung a slider, and Montero clubbed a game-breaking grand slam. Afterwards, Roberts said of the moves, "Obviously in that situation, you've got to walk Heyward with the open base," though the justification was anything but obvious to most of those viewing. The decision blew up in his face, and in the results-oriented world of postseason baseball, it looked bad. Still, Roberts stuck to his guns, concerned more with process than outcome because he believed the risks involved going in were worth sparing his upcoming lefty hitters (Toles, Joc Pederson and Utley, due up second, third and fourth) an encounter with Chapman. In Game 2, Roberts got to enjoy the best of both worlds, a moment where he went against his own process and saw it succeed, then was rewarded for going back to it. Kershaw had dominated the Cubs for six innings, holding them to just two hits on 72 pitches, but he began the seventh—his personal postseason house of horrors, in case you haven’t heard—with four straight balls against the slumping Anthony Rizzo. He rebounded to get two quick outs, but Roberts, who had Jansen warmed up, went to the mound bent on getting his ace before he faced Baez—only to be talked out of it by Grandal and Kershaw. On his second pitch, Kershaw threw a 93-mph fastball high and on the outside edge of the plate; Baez smoked it to centerfield. The Wrigley Field crowd thought the ball was out, and so did the pitcher (“My throat went into my stomach,” he said afterward), and it’s tough to blame them. Via Statcast, the ball was hit with an exit velocity of 103 mph and a launch angle of 24 degrees—shots that have produced an .899 batting average this year, as well as a home run 67% of the time. This one was slowed by the wind, however, and Pederson hauled it in 387 feet from home plate. For a moment, the results trumped the process, but even having avoided using Jansen for the seventh inning, Roberts went to him for the eighth. This time, the closer needed just 18 pitches to get the final six outs and nail down the series-evening victory. With the NLCS tied at 1–1, both Maddon and Roberts should get plenty of opportunities to continue tinkering with their bullpens. That's particularly true for Roberts, who faces the prospect of another reliever-heavy strategy in Game 3 with Hill on the mound and likely again in Game 4, depending on who the Dodgers' manager tabs to take the ball. Likewise for Francona, who must figure out how to deploy Miller as needed but without overworking him in a potential three-games-in-three-days stretch in

Toronto. Expect, then, all three managers to continue to experiment and push the boundaries of conventional bullpen management in the quest for long-elusive titles. Kershaw silences Cubs and doubters with dominating performance in NLCS Game 2 By Tom Verducci CHICAGO—The ink, from a blue marker hours earlier on the dry erase board inside the Dodgers' clubhouse, had begun to fade, but its message was even more indelible after the unprecedented history Clayton Edward Kershaw authored at ancient Wrigley Field on Sunday night. “Keep Buying into The Process,” it said. “We Will Win This Series.” Winning the National League Championship Series is not possible for the Dodgers unless they win the games in which Kershaw pitches. Game 2 was a must-win for Los Angeles, seeing that the Cubs haven’t lost four out of five games since before the All-Star break. Not only did Kershaw, pitching for the fourth time in 10 days, win the must-win game, 1–0; but he also started the first shutout by a visiting team in the 35-game postseason history of Wrigley Field. It was the night of Kershaw the clinician, especially with his fastball: He threw a higher dosage of fastballs than normal (60.98%, the most he's used that pitch in his past 55 starts) and missed the strike zone with only 13 of his 50 heaters. To watch Kershaw pitch like this—in control, clinical, oddly cool for the high-revving competitor—was to see a pitcher who had crossed the Rubicon of postseason baseball. His vessel across the wide, choppy waters had been his twin work in elimination games in the NLDS, including a save in Tuesday's Game 5 in Washington, 48 hours after he had started Game 4 in Los Angeles. To save the season twice, once as a starter and once as a volunteer relief worker after manager Dave Roberts said “absolutely not” to the idea of using him that day, gave him the comfort of being a fully made pitcher. “His bullpen before the game was almost like a side day,” Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. “He commanded everything, but there was not much effort to do it. Clayton typically throws his bullpen just like a game. This time it was like a game, but just not to the highest level of effort. He was ... controlled.” Sandy Koufax made his voyage to the better side of pitching in spring training of 1961, when, on a trip to Orlando, Fla., for a game at which none of the Dodgers’ coaching staff attended, a wild-throwing Koufax eased up on his effort. In his words, he “took the grunt out of my fastball.” Thus the Hall of Fame portion of his career was born. Kershaw’s past postseason troubles were born out of the grunt on his fastball. He put too much responsibility on himself to carry the team, and when he found himself in jams he often stopped pitching and started trying to bully hitters with his A+ heater. He made mistakes with the exertion. The Kershaw who took the mound in NLCS Game 2 Sunday night was a wholly different pitcher. Honeycutt, who has seen every one of his starts, knew it all night.

“There was a calmness about him today,” Honeycutt said. “Maybe the body fatigue from the past 10 days kept the edge off him. It’s nice to have an edge, too. But tonight he didn’t need that edge to him. He was just calm all night. “You know, I went into the [video] room and looked at his pitches. The quality of his fastball down was amazing. Just one after another. In a word, he was terrific." The light-hearted calm of Kershaw especially was evident upon his last pitch, one of only two mistakes he made with his 50 fastballs. (The first mistake had come on his first pitch of the second inning, which Ben Zobrist lined to leftfield for an out.) This fastball was a 93-mph cookie to Javier Baez with the tying run on first base. Centerfielder Joc Pederson caught it with his back near the ivy. Kershaw let out a wry smile, like the kid who knew he just got away with some mischief. He laughed at his fortune. Then, when he sat down next to Honeycutt in the dugout, knowing his night was over, Kershaw cleared his throat with theatrical force. “Sorry,” he said to his coach, “I’m trying to get my throat back out of my stomach.” Kershaw long has been the best pitcher on the planet. His control is so good that when he walked Anthony Rizzo in the seventh inning, it was the first time in 581 batters dating back to early April that he had walked a batter on four pitches. And yet such a control artist also is the top swing-and-miss starting pitcher in the game. Until last year, though, critics could howl at Kershaw's lack of superlatives in the postseason. And maybe those demons were haunting him again in the seventh inning when, following the walk to Rizzo, catcher Yasmani Grandal dropped a high foul pop-up for an error. But Kershaw calmly whiffed Zobrist and retired Addison Russell on a fly ball. Manager Dave Roberts then walked to the mound. “When he left [the dugout],” Honeycutt said, “I thought he was going to make the call [to the bullpen]." "I had every intent to go out there and get him and go to Kenley [Jansen]," said Roberts. Kershaw talked Roberts into staying in the game, then retired Baez on the long fly. Now look at what Kershaw has done in his past five postseason games: • Beat the Mets in an NLCS elimination game last year on short rest. • Beat Max Scherzer and the Nationals in a marquee Game 1 NLDS matchup this year. • Pitched 6 2/3 innings on short rest in NLDS Game 4 in another Dodgers win with their season on the line. • Saved yet another elimination game, Game 5 of the NLDS, on one day of rest. • Started the first postseason shutout by a visiting team against the Cubs since the 1918 World Series (games in Chicago were played at Comiskey Park that year).

Los Angeles is defined by simple math. In their past ten postseason games, the Dodgers are 5–0 when Kershaw pitches and 0–5 when he doesn’t. To win a 1–0 postseason game is one of the proudest medals a pitching general can pin on his dress uniform. Kershaw now has one. But all along he has been historically great in the regular season at winning low-scoring games. Kershaw is 22–45 lifetime with just one or two runs of support, a phenomenal .328 winning percentage with such a small margin of error. It is such an outstanding record that only three pitchers with at least 75 career starts ever won such low-scoring duels at a higher rate: Walter Johnson (.337), Dead Ball Era pitcher Lefty Tyler (.354) and the incomparable Koufax (.378). Kershaw still hasn’t pitched in a World Series yet, so his resume remains a work in progress. But his next start, because the Dodgers play bullpen games whenever someone else gets the ball, is another must-win for Los Angeles—maybe literally so if the Dodgers lose Games 3 and 4. If Los Angeles is down three games to one entering Game 5 in Dodger Stadium on Thursday, do the Dodgers dare ask him to save the season on short rest for a third time? Do they pitch him for a fifth time in 14 days? Presented with that possibility, one Dodgers staffer remarked, “It’s a good idea. You might have to. He didn’t throw many pitches tonight [82], so I guess it’s possible. But we’re not close to thinking about those things yet. Hopefully we’re not in that situation.” Kershaw is a relentless worker and grinder. He made it back this season from being out for 10 weeks with a herniated disk, an injury that caused him to doubt whether he would pitch again at all this year. The injury and the workload these past 10 days have given him a new perspective on pitching in the postseason. The twist of this turn is that just when Kershaw stopped feeling like he had to carry the team, that’s exactly what is happening.

CHICAGO TIMES

Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen showing off his endurance in postseason By Colleen Kane After Kenley Jansen and Clayton Kershaw grinded through the final three innings of the Dodgers' Game 5 victory Thursday in the National League Division Series, Nationals manager Dusty Baker wondered what the cost might be as the Dodgers moved on. However, the Cubs were the ones paying Sunday, when Kershaw and Jansen teamed up again in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series. After Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings, Jansen preserved the 1-0 victory with a six-out save, his third outing this postseason of more than an inning. That Jansen dispatched the Cubs with two perfect innings and four strikeouts was all the more impressive considering the All-Star closer had thrown a career-high 51 pitches three days earlier.

"It's one thing to have dominant stuff, which he does," Kershaw said, "but the willingness and the want-to that he has, the competitiveness that you're seeing right now (is special). "Like, he really wants the ball. A lot of people say that, but to actually go out there and do it night in, night out, two-inning saves and coming in in the seventh in Game 5, that's what makes him special, more so than even the really nasty cutter that he throws." Jansen said he did a lot of running and lifting weights to aid in his recovery from the NLDS clincher. Mentally, he said watching Kershaw's dominant performance motivated him. "You see Kersh go out there and pitch seven innings and put this team on his back, I want to go out there and finish it up," Jansen said. Unconventional bullpen usage has been a hot topic this postseason, as managers such as the Dodgers' Dave Roberts, the Cubs' Joe Maddon and the Indians' Terry Francona bend the unwritten rules, especially when it comes to closers. "It's more communicating with players to understand and to buy in to accepting whatever situation is presented to them for that particular game," Roberts said. "That's something that I tried to communicate with our relief pitchers since day one of spring training. Fortunately, we have such an unselfish group that the buy-in was there, and for us it's worked out." Jansen is willing to jump into varying situations. Five of his 47 regular-season saves covered more than three outs. He has four scoreless postseason appearances — including Thursday's 2 1/3-inning outing — and one in which he gave up four runs in the ninth to the Nationals. "I really appreciate it," catcher Yasmani Grandal said of Jansen's willingness to work multiple innings. "We look to him to be the back end of the bullpen and be the leader of that bullpen. He's showing he is that leader. ... Every time he has gone out, he has answered the call." For Jansen, such outings are a no-brainer in his current situation. In his seventh major-league season with the Dodgers, he is set to hit free agency this offseason, but he said one thing weighs heavier on his mind than a big payday. "You can make as much money in the game, but at the end of the day, you just want to get a ring," he said. "Here we are, we have the opportunity right now, so that's all I'm thinking about — to win a World Series." Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field a study in contrasts By Blair Kamin It's a dream matchup, this Dodgers and Cubs series, and not just because of the nerve-wracking action on the field.

Dodger Stadium, where the series moves Tuesday night, and Wrigley Field are diametrically different but equally arresting examples of their types — a colossal stadium built for the auto age and a cozy ballpark that rose not long after Henry Ford introduced the Model T. They're opposites that illuminate each other, models that superbly reflect varied settings, technologies and times. They serve up alternative pathways to baseball paradise — one lined with palm trees, the other with ivy-covered brick. If Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962, were a person, it might be an aging baby boomer who loved sock hops. Wrigley Field, which dates back to 1914, is more like "your stately grandmother before she serves tea," said the architect and urban planner Janet Marie Smith, the Dodgers' senior vice president for planning and development. Yet more unites these two than divides them. 100 Years of Wrigley Field Wrigley Field, which opened on April 23, 1914, is a quintessential Chicago building: practical, quietly graceful, a creature of function, not fashion. Despite those rationalist roots, it's a vessel for human emotion: hope, dreams, escapism, nostalgia, wonder -- and, as Cubs fans know all too well, disappointment, disgust, and bitterness. There's age. At 102 and 54, respectively, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium are the major leagues' second- and third-oldest ballparks. (Boston's 104-year-old Fenway Park is the oldest.) And there's enduring quality. The downtown ballparks of the last quarter-century often looked to Wrigley as a model: compact, quirky and, above all, pedestrian-friendly. That same trend has turned Dodger Stadium into something of an outlier: a rare and revered throwback to the days when stadiums catered to the car. The Los Angeles stadium has "just become more and more unique as more teams have done the urban thing and … made a commitment to downtown," Smith said. I know it's asking a lot of stressed-out Cubs fans to pause and appreciate the design of their opponents' home stadium. But give it a try. Dodger Stadium is the yin to Wrigley Field's yang. Consider these contrasting measures of their designs: Urban presence and character By car, Dodger Stadium is just a couple of miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but in some respects, it seems worlds away. Despite six different seating levels and a capacity of 56,000, the stadium literally has a low profile, carved, as it is, into the hillside of the area called Chavez Ravine. The stadium is a paradox, simultaneously iconic and nearly invisible from some vantage points. Wrigley Field is the polar opposite. It's smaller in size, with two seating decks and a capacity of 41,268. It's more distant from downtown — 6.6 miles by car from City Hall. Yet it has a bigger urban presence

because it's so visible from the CTA's Red Line and it rises like a cathedral above the three-flats of its neighborhood. At Dodger Stadium, there is no neighborhood. Most of Chavez Ravine's Mexican-American families were forced out in the early 1950s to make way for a federally funded housing project that was never built. The remaining families were later evicted after the city of Los Angeles made the land available to the Dodgers, who were leaving Brooklyn. "The last family was dragged away kicking and screaming and weeping, and the removals became a rallying symbol of Latino L.A. history and activism," the Los Angeles Times reported in 2012 on the stadium's 50th anniversary. Architectural style Chiefly designed by New York-based architect and engineer Emil Praeger, assisted by Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley, Dodger Stadium exemplifies mid-20th-century modernism's clean lines and innovative use of materials. The grandstand's massive concrete superstructure contrasts sharply with outfield seating areas that exhibit a breezy nonchalance, courtesy of their hexagon-shaped scoreboards and wavy corrugated metal roofs. Views of nearby Elysian Park and the distant San Gabriel Mountains (provided they're not obscured by smog) give the stadium an Edenic feel. The mid-century modern touch is also evident in the pastel palette of the grandstand seats, which shift from yellow to tangerine to aqua to blue as seating tiers rise above the field. The idea, Smith said, was to evoke a sunset. At Wrigley, by contrast, the chief material is riveted steel, which lends the ballpark a human-scaled, Tinker Toy-like quality absent from concrete. The color palette is forest green. The view is of man-made foothills (three-flats) and mountain ranges (high-rise apartment buildings). The style is an agglomeration of aesthetics (Chicago School, Arts and Crafts and Art Moderne) created by the ballpark's original architect, Zachary Taylor Davis, and the architects who did later additions and updates. Despite these surface differences, the ballparks share crucial underlying features: symmetry, a sense of release from the everyday and a connection to nature, evident in Wrigley's ivy-covered walls and Dodger Stadium's lushly landscaped parking lots. To this day, Smith said, the Dodgers are the only major league team to employ a full-time arborist. Dodger Stadium Getting there The most innovative aspect of Dodger Stadium is not its architecture, but its urban design — specifically, its parking lots. They are arranged in tiered terraces that wrap around the stadium's ascending exterior. The layout allowed fans to go directly from their cars to their seats. No ramps to climb. This version of a stadium, so much like a suburban shopping mall, could not be more different from Wrigley Field.

Yet Los Angeles is changing, becoming more dense and less sprawling, and Dodger Stadium is changing with it. In an effort to introduce urban texture (and sell merchandise to fans,) a 2013 renovation introduced new stores, plazas and attractions, like oversized Dodger bobbleheads, on the stadium's fringes. Special shuttle buses now take fans from downtown LA's Union Station to the Dodgers' home; on an average weeknight, according to Smith, about 3,000 to 4,000 people use the buses. The team has even created a dedicated Uber lot where fans can get picked up after games. The field of play From Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela to Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers have built teams on great pitching; that strength is accentuated by, and likely a response to, their spacious ballpark. When ESPN this year ranked the 30 major league stadiums on the basis of which ones favored hitters, Dodger Stadium was No. 23. The more compact Wrigley was listed at No. 17, with ESPN correctly citing the "variable Chicago winds" as the reason the park's character can quickly change from a hitter's to a pitcher's paradise. Yet a pitcher-friendly stadium can help the visitors as well as the home team. The Cubs' Jake Arietta, the scheduled Game 3 starter, threw a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium last year. However Arietta pitches Tuesday night, Cubs fans should take note: Appreciate Dodger Stadium's beauty and you'll admire Wrigley's anew.

LA TIMES

Dodgers Dugout: A foolproof plan to defeat the Cubs By Houston Mitchell Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, and can we finally put the “Clayton Kershaw can’t handle the postseason” theory to rest now? Random thoughts on the Game 2 win --OK, I’ve got a plan, but I need about nine volunteers. Remember in the movie “Bull Durham,” when they turned the sprinklers on at night to flood the field to postpone the next day’s game, giving the team a much-needed day off? Well, here’s the plan. Someone needs to go to Dodger Stadium right now and turn the sprinklers on, flooding the field and causing today’s game to be postponed. Now, the person who does that will probably be arrested, so I need volunteer No. 2 to go to Dodger Stadium tonight and do the same thing. Then volunteer No. 3 goes on Wednesday night and does that. This will cause Game 3 to be pushed back until Thursday, and that will allow Clayton Kershaw to start Game 3.

Then, we do it all over again, continually causing three days off between games. So the schedule will be: Game 3, Thursday, Cubs (Arrieta) at Dodgers (Kershaw) Game 4, Monday, Cubs (Lester) at Dodgers (Kershaw) Game 5, Thursday, Oct. 27, Cubs (Hendricks) at Dodgers (Kershaw) It’s a foolproof plan. Of course, when you get arrested, I will deny having any part of it. But just think of the end result. And then we can do the same thing in the World Series. I’m sure the Dodgers wouldn’t mind. They may even give you free season tickets under the table. Heck, they may even figure out a way for you to watch them on TV next season. I’m sure the jail gets the Dodgers channel. --Here’s what I like the most about Dave Roberts: He is really into every game. You know exactly what he is feeling. If a player does something good, Roberts seems more excited than the player. Don Mattingly sort of sat there like a bystander, not really getting emotionally involved. I like Mattingly, but it’s more fun to play for a guy like Roberts. --My favorite part of Game 2 was the mound meeting between Roberts and Kershaw in the seventh inning. There was no way Kershaw was coming out unless he was dragged away kicking and screaming. --Could Fox have found two more unlikable guys than Alex Rodriguez and Pete Rose to be pregame and post-game analysts? Was Barry Bonds unavailable? --I never thought I would miss Harold Reynolds in the booth. And I was right. --Through two games, the Dodgers have 12 hits and the Cubs have 11. --Rich Hill goes in Game 3 for the Dodgers. I would expect another low-scoring affair, with the Dodgers having to use more of their bullpen. --Only four current Cubs have batted against Hill: David Ross (1 for 13), Chris Coghlan (1-3), Ben Zobrist (1-2) and Miguel Montero (0-1). With Hill’s unorthodox delivery, that should give him an advantage if he has his good stuff. --Cubs fans seem to have trouble judging fly balls, because the fans behind home plate leap to their feet and cheer every time a Cubs batter hits a ball in the air, even if the ball is caught by Chase Utley. --Kenley Jansen is going to get a lot of money in the off-season. --The Dodgers say Kershaw won't pitch again until Game 6. I'm thinking that may change if Game 5 is a must-win game. --Not a lot happened in Game 2, but that was a nice break after the emotions of Game 5 against Washington and Game 1 against the Cubs.

The NLCS schedule Game 3: Today, Cubs (Arrieta) at Dodgers (Hill), 5 p.m. PT. TV: FS1 Game 4: Wednesday, Cubs (Lackey) at Dodgers (Urias), 5 p.m. PT. TV: FS1 Game 5: Thursday, Cubs at Dodgers (Maeda), 5 p.m. PT. TV: FS1 Game 6: Saturday, Dodgers (Kershaw) at Cubs, TBA. TV: FS1 (if necessary) Game 7: Sun., Oct. 23, Dodgers at Cubs, TBA. TV: FS1 (if necessary) In case you missed it What our great crew of Los Angeles Times reporters is saying about the Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw shows he can pitch in October’s big games “As it stands right now”, Clayton Kershaw won’t pitch again until Game 6 Yasmani Grandal responds to his doubters What others are saying The most valuable player race taking place inside the NLCS Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen feeding off each other Hello national spotlight, I am Kenley Jansen And finally Kenley Jansen nails down Game 2. Watch it here.