Dodgers Territory - Dodgers Move on to the NLDS! Postgame Reactions with Scott Braun!

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

The Dodgers ride their horse to victory and punch their ticket to the NLDS to face the Phillies on Saturday! DT host Clint Pasillas welcomes Scott Braun (filling in for Alanna Rizzo for the night) to talk all things Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, the LA offense, and the imperfect bullpen! Postgame recap and reactions to NL Wild Card Game 2 with the Dodgers and the Reds on October 1, 2025. Download the DraftKings Pick6 app now and use code FOUL – play just $5, get $50 in Pick6 bonus picks. Check out DT merch at dodgersterritoryshop.com! Support Guidry's Guardian at guidrysguardian.orgFind Clint on YouTube at youtube.com/@alldodgers! Subscribe to Dodgers Territory on YouTube!Rate and review our podcast on Apple and Spotify!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kentucky can count on bourbon, basketball, and 975. WAMZ, Kentucky, Ann is number one for country. Hey, it's Rachel Elliott, and we never take for granted that you make us part of your day. That's why we make it a point to play your favorite country. Whether you're starting your day off with the Bobby Bone Show, making your workday go a little faster by hanging out with me on the job, or dealing with that Gene Snyder traffic on the ride home with Corey Calhoun, you can count on us for the best country music in Kentucky. In Louisville, you can catch us on the radio dial at 975 and anywhere on the IHeart Radio app. I don't know. The Dodgers found the formula. You put more points on the board than the other team. Score enough runs to make yourself bullpen proof. And I guess that works. I just don't know that that's going to work against the Phillies.

Your Dodgers are moving on to the National League Division Series. What is going on? Dodgers territory, faithful. I am Clint Paceas. The guy to my screen left is not Alon-Rizzo. That is, of course, Scott Braun, pinch hitting for Alana tonight, who is feeling under the weather. Maybe she got the champagne celebration started early, Scotty. Feeling pretty good for Dodgers fans. Hey, what a dub, what a series. And let's not act like this is not difficult to do. Okay? Why?

Because Clint, not one, not two, but three game threes tomorrow. And there's one team that avoids that, and that's the Dodgers. We can look at the Reds as one of the weaker opponents to make the postseason in a minute. But the Dodgers did take care of business. Okay, so a lot of credit to them and they'll get the rest. They'll get a little extra prep to line up the rotation, which I think is going to be pretty important because there's one shaky-ish part that they would like to avoid.

What gave it away? Was it Yamamoto going back out in the seventh inning with 95 pitches under his belt? Yeah, we'll talk about the bullpen. We'll talk about everything here on the show, guys. Before we get into it, though, I want to remind you, go buy some stuff. The best way to represent the Dodgers and Dodgers Territory is to go buy some merch, Dodgers Territory Shop.com. Scan that QR code.

Links are in the description. The Dodgers play better when you have DT swag. That is just confirmed. But yeah, Scott, I mean, you want to do like a little bit of a high-level recap before we dive into it? Because, I mean, there's Yamamoto, who was exceptional, escapes that first inning. The offense woke up.

But overall, Dodgers sweep the Reds. They're supposed to do that. They go on. They move on to meet the Phillies and the NLD. starting on Saturday in Philadelphia. What are your blanket series thoughts here? You know, Red's perspective, Dodgers perspective. So for me, Clint, the Dodgers looked exactly as anticipated.

The offense certainly showed up for both games. Otani was Otani. Betts had a huge series and definitely a massive game just now. I think three doubles, Droven three looked fantastic, right? So the offense top to bottom really was great. I know in the early going of this game, too, the bottom of the lineup was getting the job done. So you feel great about that one.

That's checklist number one. Checklist number two. Starting pitching, I'm going to look as good as it did down the stretch. The big boys like Yamamoto. Yes, Snell, you pay big bucks for him. And Alana feel better, by the way. I love you, miss you.

She said, I don't give a crap about Snell missing time. I just want to see him dominate in October. This team is more built and more set and prepped for October in terms of mindset than any organization I've ever seen. Can we just get through the regular? season and be ready for October. Think about this compared to last year, right? You have Snell, you have Yamamoto, who's better this year than last year. You have Otani pitching for the first time in the next series coming through. Glass now didn't even touch this series. You're in much better

shape from a starting rotation perspective. And the bullpen leaves a lot to be desired, but there is so much arm talent in this organization that Roki Sasaki just comes in pumping 101 with his first pitch in the ninth inning. He's able to shut the door for the Dodgers. So all in all, Clint, I think Dodgers fans should be pretty happy, given what they saw the ups and downs in the regular season. What did you think about this series? Yeah, I mean, overall, I felt we kind of lost our minds a little bit yesterday because like immediately the anxiety of this bullpen and the struggles. Like, it's like, this is how we're going to lose. They're going to cost Kershaw another world series as he's retiring because this bullpen is sometimes maybe good. Most of the

time, maybe shit. I woke up this morning feeling. a lot better, understanding that, you know, you have some dogs in there. I was expecting something good out of Sheehan. You didn't really know what to expect out of Roki Sasaki. But I just knew it wasn't the doom and gloom that we felt yesterday. That was more of just like, I don't know, you're in a long-term relationship and somebody says they're going to like change and then they do that thing that really hurts you or really bugs you again. That's what it felt like in game one. But now it just feels like, I don't know, the Dodgers found the formula. You put more points on the board than the other team.

Score enough runs to make yourself bullpen proof. And I guess that works. I just don't know that that's going to work against the Phillies. The Phillies are so much better than the Reds. I can't even put them in the same matter for so I want to throw that out there. We were talking before the show started. I think that the Phillies and the Dodgers might be the two best teams in baseball and they happen to be running into each other in the division series. Now, this is where Dodger fans can get a little bit angry. if they run into trouble against Philadelphia. The regular season does matter.

And because you did not finish as strongly as you thought you did with the regular season record well shy of what most people anticipated, I think most people came into the season saying, oh, 100 wins, that's pretty safe, right? Not even close. So you don't get the buy. Okay, no big deal. You ran into the Reds.

You dominated them for the most part aside from two shaky eighth innings. But Philadelphia is really good, Clint. They've got starting pitching. They got really good left-handed starting pitching. I think the weakness for Philadelphia might be the depth of the bullpen, but in a five-game series, how much does that matter? You're going to rely on three or four guys from your bullpen. Iran this morning, who was one of the best off-season or trade deadline acquisitions,

said he gets bored going three out. So he's excited to go way more than that. So anticipate him doing four or five, maybe six out appearances. And then their offense is good. So for me, it's just one concern. I think the offense for L.A. is going to be good. You got to love the starting pitching. This should be either number one.

one or number two starting pitching in baseball right now with them and the Mariners and Philly closely behind them in my mind. But, but how is Doc going to navigate through, forget just the DS, but the rest of October if they're still shaking us? Do you think that these two eighth innings are a fluke or they're a telltale sign of where this team is at and how they're going to have to navigate October so differently with pushing Yamamoto more than he ever has with taking out a pitcher? mid-A-B on a one-two-pound and bringing in Vescia to shut the door on that.

That was crazy. Yeah, you don't see that very often, as they were saying on the broadcast. I don't know. I think it's a hodgepodge of a little bit of everything that you're going to see. I feel like the eighth inning is more of a mental hurdle for this bullpen right now more than them just being bad. Because these are the same dogs that they rode, a lot of the same dogs that they rode to the World Series last year. Yeah, you're missing some key pieces. you know, Dan Hudson and the veteran leadership that he brought, all the things that he has done in his career.

Insert other names here. You know, not getting the – but you improved the bullpen on paper with a lot of money. Tanner Scott, Kirby Yates, both of them not playing a factor in this postseason. But yeah, I just think it's all in the noggin for these dudes. They're going out there, and one of the things Dave said a lot in the final month of the season is they're just kind of pitching scared. They're not throwing at a lot of conviction. you're seeing a lot of pretty erratic misses. I don't, hopefully they've all learned from their, you know, the little kind of,

they're not used to pitching in the wild card series or having to pitch in a wildcard series. So hopefully this was their little postseason spring training to get them ramped up for the big leagues, for the big time going up against the Phillies on Saturday. Yeah, sometimes you do see that, right? I'm trying to bring a national perspective. someone who watches a lot of games, a lot of different teams. And sometimes you do see a really shaky outing from a reliever who doesn't have postseason experience. And then they figure it out the next time around.

So you hope that you get some butterflies out of the way. And we saw that with a few relievers for the Dodgers. But I mean, I know you'll talk about this a lot tomorrow. I think in your head you have to go, okay, let's say each of our starters go about six innings per outing in this next round. That would be a big plus. In most playoff games nowadays, if you're getting six, innings from your starter that's incredible what's seven eight nine every day to get three wins get four wins and again to get four wins yeah i mean we're seeing this team struggle to to collect six outs let alone

nine outs to end a ball game uh i don't know that the getting into the seventh inning is sustainable not everybody can go out there and put up a you know teric scubal kind of outing but you know you mentioned it at the top blake snell this is the reason you signed this dude he's absolutely electric and yamamoto in year two is better than in year one. He was phenomenal this year working around an error in the first inning. Retired 13 in a row at one point. Escapes, bases loaded, nobody out with no damage and then goes back out in the seventh. Like they could ride these horses.

They could ride these. I'm going to go more with horses because when it's your aces, it is the horses. But guess what? Beyond them, you still have Showtime. You still have friend of the show, Tyler Glasnell. Yeah, give me the Dodgers rotation and give me them. doing some things that you usually might not see in the regular season, being a little creative. And I think eventually the bullpen is going to wake up.

You know, that's what it is. That's what it felt like. I was sitting here zoomed in, leaning into my monitor that has a game on. I'm staring at Alex Bessie. I'm like, wake the fuck up, bro. Like, how many more Red Bulls do you need? But the Dodgers won. That's the important thing, ladies and gentlemen, watching us here in the stream.

We don't need to talk a lot about all the bad. parts of it. The Dodgers won the ball game. The Dodgers are going. I love this, by the way, from, of course, intern superstar. I don't know what else he does over at FD, but Henry with the back-to-back days, the subplot being the terror that is the bullpen. Yes, and the bullpen, they can't hurt us again until Saturday, guys. So let's celebrate. Let the Dodgers celebrate. We are happy. We are feeling good. Exactly. If you lost the series to the Reds, Clint, it would be a miserable finish to a weird year for the Dodgers. But I mostly want to give credit here because for as mediocre as Cincinnati is,

there's some pretty good pitching talent there. And this is a team that made the postseason. Terry Francon is very battle tested. Doc Roberts shined in this game for me. He was like, I'm not going through that same shit the same way in game one that we did in game two. I hate being a grand slam away from this thing being tied. So I love the balls of Doc in game two. And I think that's what you need, right?

We're at FD covering every series and we've been dialed in on, say, the Red Sox and Yankees. There's a lot of talk about how the Yankees handled things in game one. And I think that Doc and the Dodgers have learned a lot over their constant postseason appearances, right? Look at how different they operate now versus, and not to shit on him, but like the far anxiety era, right? When he was there with Andrew, there was Platoon City. and they were very methodical with how they were doing things. This is not the same. This is a team that has gone through the postseason marathon very many times, right?

And they have learned from that. So I give a lot of credit to how Doc is managing games. I mean, he stands out. This is a Hall of Fame manager for a reason here. And this is what he gets paid for. Absolutely. And that was kind of one of the things that led to, you know, our exclusive sit-down, me and Alana out at spring training with Doc this year is, I mean, obviously,

you're not going to do that. He's not going to do that if the Dodgers don't win that World Series. And they don't win that World Series if he didn't put together all of the lessons he had learned in his previous nine seasons as the manager. And particularly, 22 and 23, the struggles that this team had couldn't even get out of the first round, won a single game, I think, in those two postseason. So there is not a better manager in baseball, period, than Dave Roberts, but absolutely nobody better in the postseason than Dave Roberts. We're going to talk more about this game. We're going to talk more about a lot of things, about Yamamoto especially.

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Limited time offer. See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us. Clint Pesia, Scott Braun, pinch hitting for Alana Rizzo, who was not feeling all that great. Today, we will be back with Alana tomorrow on Dodgers territory, talking about the series, and definitely looking ahead more. to that National League Division series. But this, so far this postseason, Scott,

it's been the story of the aces in game one. The Dodgers are the only one that really, only team that really had an ace in game two. Then that's why they're the only team that is not playing a game three tomorrow. But just talk more, we've already talked about him. Talk about the nuts on Yamamoto. I love this from a friend of the show also, Scottie Gehrman,

you know, big balls pitching out there. He's built for this. Another dude, battle tested. What is the thing that impressed you most about Yama in this outing? Not being phased by what happened in the first inning, right? And most of it had to do with Teo, let's be real, right? That's a basketball baseball. You can't clunk that.

I mean, obviously Yamamoto was able to bail him out down the stretch here in this game, but not being phased, even though he gave up the two runs early on. I think he relied a little bit more on the fastball through the middle part of his outing and then was able to command it brilliantly. You were able to see how he's progressed from year one to year two in just about every way. The length, the midgame changes, how he gets better as the game goes on, being so damn unpredictable,

hitting spots along the edges of the strike zone that make pitches damn near unhittable. And then, I mean, this was the longest outing he's ever gone in his major league career. So tons of credit. He's one of the best pitchers in the sport. This is his coming out party. This is why you pay a ton of money and you beat out the Mets to acquire someone like this, right? There were a ton of front offices that wanted this guy.

He got a lot of money. He had never pitched in Major League Baseball. This is a guy that you get in his prime and it's only year two and it's really special. So, yeah, it stood out to me because there are a lot of pitchers that would have gotten rattled and rocked after those first two runs. And I'm sure some Dodger fans were like, oh shit. Is this going to be like a sloppy game and we lose by a run or two? then we're in an elimination game against the Reds where anything can happen. Tons of credit to him.

I mean, he's obviously the player of the game here. I can confirm that I have a discord for my All Dodgers YouTube channel. And, you know, the second that happens, everybody's just the overreactions, the fear, the doom, the everything that could, that's possibly bad sets in. You know, you're seeing the thank you fans post. Mostly those are for me kind of ingest, kind of a little bit of copium. But yeah, the fact that he was able to kind of also.

kiss and make up with Teo. Later on, you saw him, you know, go up to Teo, be like, listen, you're good, we got you. And then Teo later gets him with a two-run single, double in the sixth inning. Dodgers find the sixth inning to be, not the fifth inning, six-inning this time, to put up big runs on the board. How about this dude? I'm going to talk about a heat check for Mookie Betts. You mentioned him earlier. Four for five tonight, three doubles, three RBI. This is over his past 16 postseason games concluding tonight. That's a 369 average. Nice. eight doubles for homers 19 rbi i marcus lynn betts a lot of people you know rumors of his demise were greatly exaggerated um maybe he had a little bit of a demise in the first few months of

the season but you know from the outside perspective looking in scott you know you see this dude uh a gold glove platinum award winning right field and moving to shortstop taking the entirety almost the entirety of the season to eventually become MLB 50 again how Again, how impressive is it what he is doing, both as a leader in the lineup and out there at the six hole? Well, I'm looking for the exact play that really stood out to me because I want to start with the defense. So it was in the top of the sixth, right? So base is loaded. You had the two strike knocks for Friedel and first year.

And then Lux with that high chop infield single, that's tough. And you got to just swallow the baseball there. So then Austin Hayes steps up. And that was a hard ground ball. That's a tough hop that eats up even pretty good short stops. And to me, that's where Mookie shines. That's where it's like, hey, I'm getting reps. Last year was the first go-round.

I know he led in defensive runs saved among all short stops. So I will say we have an interesting relationship with almost any fan base on foul territory. But one that was grinding some gears was the talk of moving him back to the outfield. You certainly had conversations that went down. I'm not going to rehash what actually went down with the Dodgers and with me. mooky, but they were definitely a few talks that at some point, I think that they will bring out. But they've made the right call. This dude is one of the best short stops defensively in the sport. And it took him about a year to get that down. And that play to me is what stands out.

Because if that baseball gets past him, what does the game look like, right? I mean, Yamamoto probably not getting out of that inning at that point because you've got several hits in a row coming at you. I don't care if they're not the hard to struck baseballs. It starts to make things really interesting. So for as good as the bat looked, great. The defense, I think, is the difference maker because, you know, the defense had its ups and downs today. And part of the outfield conversation, of course, had to do with Mookie going out to right and then moving Teo to left. I know you guys have thought about this a ton. But it did bring all of that back to mind in a game like this when Teo had the problem.

But Mookie really, I don't want to say save the day, but made what I think is the most underrated play in the game today. And that's the thing that's special about him is he makes it look easy. You don't see a 32-year-old move into shortstop and become a premier defender at the position. But he has done it. He has quieted the haters. I don't know if I was ever technically a hater, but I can definitely call into question. Like, is this the right move? Was this the right decision?

It looks like it's the right decision because, you know, all of a sudden, I mean, Red Sox have to be feeling even more dumb. Trading away the right fielder and now trading away a shortstop that could have been doing something special for them. But anyways, MLB 50, just guys really appreciate what this dude is doing for us and what he's going to be doing for another, what, seven to eight seasons in Dodger Blue. He wants to fill up those hands, at least one hand with rings. He's got three. Let's get him up to five, maybe ten. It wasn't all him, though.

Five different guys with runs batted in in this game. Five different guys scoring runs. Did the damage without the long ball. I don't know about you, Scott, but to me, especially at Dodger Stadium in October now, not. having to rely on the dinger is important for a deep run into October. I'm assuming you like that. Yeah, you got to like that. And you know that the Dodgers have the power in them, too.

You saw that in game one. You know, he had a couple homers for both Otani and for Teoscar Hernandez. But the fact that you can win offensively in a variety of ways makes it easier for you to game plan against a pitching attack, right? There's pop. There's contact. And we know there are guys that really know how to work equality at bat. I'm sure there's been quite a few, I would say, Muncie haters over the years that have changed their tone when they look at the record for the team in the past couple seasons with Muncie there.

It just changes the complexion of the lineup. Even his strikeouts often look good. And there are very few batters that can say that. So, yeah, I think that's special. That stands out. That's the thing for me. I know it's just two games, Clint, but I think you have to feel just as good about the offense as you normally do if you're a Dodger fan. Like what you're seeing on paper is playing out for the team right now.

I will bring this up just because you're obviously way more dialed in on the day to day than I am. Do you think that we're going to get any shade of what we saw from last year's, I would say, unsungung hero in the World Series title, which to me would be Tommy Edmund. Are we going to get that Tommy Edmund this postseason or have injuries kind of hit him at the wrong time? Yeah. Tommy is one of those guys. Love Tommy Tanks. He's one of those dudes that I called out a little bit in the pregame yesterday. Not that they need him to be successful in the postseason because Miguel Rojas is phenomenal at second base.

He's a great leader. He finds a way to produce in this lineup. So it's not going to necessarily hurt super bad to not have Tommy Edmund in that lineup. But what he brings to this lineup, you saw it in the NLCS, in particular last year, where he was the NLCS MVP. He has power, speed, dynamic. He can defend anywhere. and he is a premium defender there. You know, the Dodgers are going to lose potentially two position players moving into the

division series now. Hopefully Will Smith is back and ready to get in that lineup. But you don't have the luxury of throwing Justin Dean out there late in the game or just having Hesson Kim, you know, waiting in the, waiting on the bench, chilling, hoping for an opportunity. They're going to need Tommy Edmund. And I do think that this, it's not a situation where they're only going to go as far as Tommy Edmund takes him, but he's going to help make it, you know, make

a lot of doc's decisions a lot easier and not needing to go, you know, two into the weeds with some moves. One guy I'll say, one guy I'll say, I'll say, I'll say real quick. I know he homered in game one. I get that,

but are we going to get the full time? Yeah. I don't know. Is Tommy going to play all over the diamond? Is Tommy going to be okay? That's all. I'm just wondering because you guys have been following more down the stretch here. And he's,

he's been through it a little bit this year, right? The ankle's a problem. The ankle's absolutely a problem. The fact that he, I don't think he completed five or six innings yesterday on defense. He hit his homer and he's like, all, guys, I'm done for the night. That's going to be definitely a big issue and a big deterrent, big hurdle for him getting into the lineup on a day-to-day basis.

You know, the fact that he's already sitting in game two in a wild card series, that tells you a lot about the state of that ankle that could maybe, you know, need some surgery in the off-season. But, you know, still off the bench and getting him in there when you can. can you're going to feel a little bit better because I'll say this something smells a little different in the air when it turns into October because it becomes Kiektober. This dude, man, this dude, I, you know, it's funny because I've had a lot of people be like, no, that's a load of shit. You can't just, just, you know, flip a switch and all of a sudden

you become not Barry Bonds in October, but another couple of hits for Kike today. Really nice play out and left field playing a spot. He hasn't played that much this year. Your kind of, you know, 30,000 foot view of Kiki and what he does in October. I'm interested in your insight on Kike Hernandez. I believe in clutch. I believe that players shine in certain moments. And I believe that playoff baseball is different.

First of all, you're facing way better pitching. The ballpark is a completely different vibe. I've been to dozens of postseason games. It's not even close, right? There are very few regular seasons. in games at all, if any, that match what you see in the postseason. And that creates a different result from any players. So I, of course, believe in what Kike Hernandez brings in October.

And that's why you need to continue to have him be a part of a roster like this. And he's not the only one in baseball who turns into a different beast in October. I'll just do real recency bias here for you, Clint. Brian Rokio is a different beast in the postseason for the Cleveland Guardians. Most Dodger fans probably have no freaking clue who that. That was every bit of it. There you go, right? Okay, but look up Brian Rokio because he hit a three-run smash today for the Guardians.

They had three home runs. It's one of the worst offenses that ever cracked the postseason. And they forced a game three against the Tigers that's coming up tomorrow. But it's just another example of a player who certainly has not, you know, blown anyone away during the regular season. And he's had now a couple years where he's had really big postseason moments. So I know Kike's got the way longer track record. The point is there are some players that shine much more in October.

and Kike is one of them. And that's why he's part of the mix. And that's why he's going to get plenty of starts here in October. Yeah, I saw that Homer. I had no idea who the dude was. Now I know what he had just fouled one off his, his kind of high ankle there. And I was like, uh-oh, uh-oh.

And then he just goes and throws the bad head out there. Three run shot, everybody's happy. And there's a game three going on in Cleveland. The final one I have for you, well, let's say there's two more. Obviously, you got a lot of work ahead of you tomorrow. So I don't want to keep you up too late. We did get this, a 499 super chat earlier.

from I Will Flip You the Bird saying, let's give it up to Scott Braun for stepping in tonight. I appreciate you. Filling in for Riz. Pretty good pinch hitter, if you do ask me. You know, we were talking just before going live. The Roki Sasaki angle, not a lot of people had this dude pitching in a ninth inning for the Dodgers in October. Not a lot of people had him on the roster at October. Sure, maybe he was circumstantial.

Cough, cough, the bullpen being really bad in September. but he got the job done. And that was something you, a guy you were pointing out in a Dodgers territory stream, watch out for Roki. He's going to be one of those dudes that just kind of sneaks up on you and closes out a game for you. You think this could be the kind of unofficial sneaky bullpen X-Factor? Oh, yes.

Absolutely. Let's remember who Roki Sizaki is. We spent a ton of time talking about him in the office. off season. Your show did. And yes, thank you for the super chat. I love Dodgers territory. I'm often in here having a little nightcap and watching Clinton Alana on post game. But Rokie Zizaki stuff is disgusting. He pumps a Honda Plus with the fastball. It's a splitter unlike when it's on. It's a splitter unlike one I've ever seen in the sport. So if you're getting that now, who the heck cares what happened for the rest of this year. And there are things

long term that he needs to figure out. I also think that he might unfair. get Yamamoto comparisons, right? You bring the best pitching prospect over or the best pitcher over from Japan and you look at Yamamoto, who's what five years older than Roki. You have to look at Roki, it's still like a semi-rooky prospect situation going on here. He's had some injury issues to figure out over his career. So there's still question marks around his long-term viability as a starter, right? Can he hold up and can he even go deep into games, all of that? But I don't give a shit right now. I just want to see that fastball. I want to see that splitter. I want to see anything else that he brings in one inning, maybe two if things get crazy as we go on in the

postseason. So yes, it's a need. But Clint, for me, when I saw the results from, I think it was his last or second or last outing in AAA, right, when he was making one of those last rehab appearances, because it didn't look good for a little bit. And all of a sudden, it snapped, but people were like, eh, I don't know if I'm buying that. Some of my friends on foul territory weren't buying it. They're like, Roki is not going to be a thing. They're running out of time. You're not running out of time if you're looking for a guy to find it in one or two rehab outings and then appear as a reliever, which was what he was able to do for maybe, what was it, two or three outings at the end of the regular season, two outings of the regular season. What we saw tonight is something

that could change the complexion of what the Dodgers have here for the postseason because you know how the Dodgers operate. They're not going to be worrying about him long term. Yeah, is he going to be pitching every single night? Is he going to be pitching, you know, getting six outs consistently? I don't know. But is he going to to potentially close out playoff games for the rest of the run here. Is there anybody with better stuff right now? I mean, he's got some of the best stuff

on the planet as it is. If he can harness it for one inning, I can't emphasize enough how much this could change things for the Dodgers. One more point because I remember I was listening to one of your shows and commenting a lot when Tanner Scott had maybe his last meltdown of the regular season.

And everyone in chat was just like, I hate Scott. Scott's the worst. Send him to the moon. And I was like, yeah, bring it, bring it. But no, for, for Tanner, I started writing like, hey, I get it. You guys are really pissed off right now. But you need to look at how well the organization has been able to scoop up talent and have them thrive and be as successful as possible when it matters.

And for me, I was like, you might be complaining right now. Oh, what's just going to look like with with Tanner Scott and Blake Trinan was struggling at that time? And obviously Kirby Yates, who's who's now IELD or Phantom I yelled, whatever it is. And I'm like, your pool kind might look completely different. Like I know Emmachian had a rough night, but I'm like, you might have Emmachian, Clayton Kershaw, Roki, Sasaki, guys that you did not expect to be appearing in games and pitching beginnings for you. And I think that's what you're going to see here, right? I don't know what Clayton's deal is, but I think there's a chance he pops back up now for a longer series and he comes out of the pen for this team. They're going to have to get creative because what they drew up on paper didn't work out.

And I will say Andrew Friedman hates making trades at the deadline and giving up big prospects. Here's the one problem with that that he just learned, Clint. Relievers are the most volatile thing in our game. So you can't load up before the season and not expect that you still need to do things at the trade deadline. It just doesn't work that way. Tanner Scott of 24 is not Tanner Scott of 2025. And there's plenty of guys who don't look good in 24. And then they're the top trade target in 2025.

So anyway, you add all that up. And I'm pretty much at the top of the list for being a fan of Roki Sasaki. I think it's an awesome story, too, to see the guy go through struggles. and accepts, you know, I would say he thought he's going to pitch the whole year. They were going to, you know, baby him a little bit. And this is not what he expected, but he's done whatever the Dodgers have asked him to do. And I thought tonight was awesome. Yeah, you know, when they signed him, heading into spring training, the knock on him is,

he's kind of a two pitcher, two pitch pitcher. And one of the pitches, the fastball was pretty hitable. One of the things, big changes you're seeing from him. He still has the velo going. Actually, he has the velo going again, but you're seeing a lot more armside ride. have that ride to go with that that forkball that splitter yeah he's nasty much earlier in the chat neelan with the two dollar super chat i generally try to avoid the julio urius mentioned on the show but could sasaki be the next 2020 julio what do you think well the only difference and and again

you'll have to help me out here but but julio was going multiple innings like three i want to say even four i don't think they're going to let's save was three right that was three okay so so are we going to see nine outs for Moki, Suzuki. Probably not likely. I think you'll top out at six if he's really feeling himself and he keeps doing his thing and suddenly we're in the CS or the World Series and he feels like he's in a good spot to give them a little bit more length. He's certainly capable of doing it.

But I do agree. It's a guy that you did not expect to be an absolute weapon out of the bullpen suddenly emerge and help a team go the distance. So I think it's a good comp. I would expect better stuff and shorter outings. Yeah. Well, the next time we see Dodger baseball, they'll be playing meaningful baseball again against the Philadelphia Phillies. Cole with the $5 super chat earlier bringing up Otani, Glasnow in Philly, Snell, Yamamoto at home in the division series. I take that all day. Just a few minutes ago, Dave Roberts did name Shohei Otani the game one starter in that division series.

Don't know who he's going up against. I'm assuming it's Aaron Nola, but they also have some other dogs with Christopher Sanchez with Rangers Juarez. So not Christopher Sanchez? Who's missing? No, no, no, Aaron Nola. I mean, I don't know, but Aaron Nola has had a really bad year. He did go eight innings in his last one. But I would expect Nola maybe as a game three or four guy. Christopher Sanchez was maybe the second or he was a top three or five pitcher in the

National League. This year he's really good. I would say Sanchez, game one. I mean, they have a lot of lefties, probably Suarez game two. and then Lazzardo or Aaron Nola in game three. That's my guess. So, dude, this is going to be really good. Those are all good starters.

I know Nola's had a crap year, but he's battle tested in the playoffs and looked good in his last few starts. Let me ask you, are you good with the way that that's rolling out? I know they saved Otani for game three here if they needed it. They didn't end up needing it. Now you get game one. And then this is the weird year for the National League, where they actually get an off day after game one.

So Otani pitches, then he's off. I mean, it does make a lot of sense. My only qualm with when we were talking to Ken Rosenthal in his segment the other day, and I was like, Ken, what if the Reds just shot the world and Otani doesn't even pitch, right? We've been waiting for this guy to pitch and show off what he's got in the playoff. And what if, right? That's what we do? I'm like, what if the Reds just get to a game two here and we don't see Otani, are you okay with that?

But they didn't, you know, obviously they took care of business. And now they get to line them up the way they want to. Yeah, I like Showhand game one. just for the reason you laid out there. The fact that they play Saturday, they're off Sunday, you play Monday, and then you're off again on Tuesday. It's set up perfectly to keep your bullpen pretty well maximized as much of a struggle bus as the bullpen has been. But guys, it is late. I'm going to let Scott get to sleep.

Love talking baseball with you, man. This was a lot of fun. Alana will be back with me tomorrow and we'll be talking a lot more about the NLDS. But guys, Dodgers are 11 wins away. from a World Series Championship. Guys, make sure you go watch. Scott tomorrow. He's on foul territory just about every day.

We've got fair territory tomorrow. Alana should be alive and well. What do you got? Feel better, Alana, and just want to say, thanks everyone for letting me be a part of this. Congrats to the Dodgers for getting through the first round. Fowel territory tomorrow. We'll talk Dodgers.

We have Nick Castellanos as one of our guests. We have Logan Gilbert of the Mariners, who's one of the best pitchers in baseball, is one of our guests. If you want to hear Castellanos, there's always a good sound bite and a guy that you're going to face in the next round,

then join us one to three East Coast time. Maybe a late wake-up if you're partying tonight. Yeah, and all the stuff is still on the YouTube, so make sure you go there. Listen to it in your podcast form. Same with Dodgers territory. Subscribe, please.

We're almost at 11,000, so get us there. And we'll see you tomorrow at some point. I think 12 o'clock Pacific, 3 o'clock Easter. Thanks again, Scott, and we'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye.