Dodgers Territory - NLDS Date with the Phillies! Series Outlook with Ruben Amaro, Jr.

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

The Dodgers have advanced to the NLDS and are set to face the Philadelphia Phillies. DT hosts Alanna Rizzo and Clint Pasillas look back at the Wild Card warm up round with the Reds (1:43).Is Roki Sasaki the new secret weapon for Dave Roberts? The hosts discuss (6:47).Download the DraftKings Pick6 app now and use code FOUL – play just $5, get $50 in Pick6 bonus picks.Phillies analyst and co-host of The Phillies Show, Ruben Amaro, Jr. joins to preview the upcoming series with the fightin' Phils. Strengths, weaknesses, thoughts on homefield advantage in the 5 game series and more (10:25)!Is Shohei Ohtani the right call to start game 1 (28:33)? Overall thoughts on the status of the bullpen and more NLDS talk.Text TERRITORY to 29017, to receive 20% off your next purchase of any headwear or apparel at any US Lids store. Some exclusions do apply.Clint also brings attention to this year's "bracket season," a social media movement that has made a huge impact for Peace Over Violence (37:27).Check out https://linktr.ee/makmartin19 for details on how to support.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, Annas's 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. The Phillies will win if they can really handle the mooky bets, Freddie Freeman Otani Trio. If they can't, look out.

It could be troublesome. And welcome to a brand new episode of Dodgers Territory. That is Clint Bacias. You know him. You love him. I'm Alonarizzo. You probably know me. It is good to be with you guys.

Sorry about last night. I had a massive, massive migraine. Scott Braun, I appreciate you, brother, for filling in for me on the postgame show. Clint, as always a great job. We are here. We are ready. It is nice that we don't have to stress about a third game in the wild card round. The same cannot be said for six other teams.

But let's do this. Don't forget, guys. By the way, we hit over 11,000 subs. Super psyched about that. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, guys. Over 11,000 subscribers. We really appreciate you.

Tell your friends, like us, subscribe all of the things. Rate us five stars. It means a lot to us. Also, Dodgers Territory Shop is open. It is available. Support the show. and style. You can do that by scanning that QR code right there or go to dodgers territory shop.com. Ruben Amaro Jr. is on the show today. We're excited to have Ruben on, of course, has had every

job in the great sport of baseball. He was the general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies for quite some time. He's going to be previewing the NLDS between your Los Angeles Dodgers and the fightens out of Philadelphia. Let's get to the big ticket. Clint Csius. Let's do it. Dodgers, Clint did exactly what they needed to do. Whoa, that's a big face of Clint, right? You know, large and in color there. They did it, right? We kind of looked at this series not to disrespect the Reds by any stretch of the imagination.

But if you take the entire field, Clint, the Reds, I think were the weakest link in terms of the teams that are remaining in the series. I kind of likened this, too. It was almost like a simulated game, right? Like practice series is over. Now the Big Boys will get to play. And the big boys are the Phillies. So what did you take away from the two-game sweep of Cincinnati? I took away that all of the things that we said leading up into that series were accurate.

The Dodgers offense is good. The Dodgers' starting pitching is very good. The Dodgers bullpen is going to lead to cirrhosis of the liver. They did what they're supposed to do. This is going to be kind of the script. I said it to Scotty Braun last night. I don't know if it's a good script, and I don't know if it's a script that works against the Phillies. but if you could score enough runs, points, I said to upset people because I love upsetting people by calling them points.

But if you score enough runs to make yourself bullpenproof, you might be able to survive some series. It's a lot easier against the Reds than the Phillies, but, you know, Dodgers offense scored 18 runs. The starting rotation only allowed four runs, two of those, unearned. So I'm calling it an 18-4 run differential series because I want to pretend the eighth inning doesn't exist. Well, that's just the thing, right? And that is our biggest problem. You and I were having a conversation in our production meeting a little bit ago before our show. To meet Clint, we don't have a closer problem. We have a bridge problem. It's not the closer. It's the bridge. And the eighth inning has been an abomination for this club. And thank God we're putting up, you know, 10 runs in one game, eight runs in another game because this bullpen, I saw it here too. Cole was even saying it in our chat. What's up, Cole? Glad you're here. Basically taking a shot every bullpen walk is killing my liver. I mean, it's almost. Unbelievable. Beir Asama. Hope you're feeling better,

O'lana. Thank you, man. I still have a headache, but it's much better than it was last night. But yeah, I mean, the bullpen

is giving me a headache. And it's lasted a long time. And it's freaking me out. So we need to address the eighth inning. How does this club do it? Clint is Roki Sasaki. I know he's kind of in that closing role. But is he the weapon that we didn't know we needed

coming out of that pen? I think, um, yeah. I want to try to not bury the lead on this pretty much like if you have every bit of a secret weapon because he has not really been exposed or over exposed to this league like you like to famously say he hadn't seen him about 65 years and then all of a sudden he comes back up for a two game cup of coffee in

September and then all of a sudden you anointed the unofficial closer for this team um the dude looked nasty last night absolutely filthy I do want to talk more Roki uh in just a little bit I want a spotlight rokey but beyond that um another dude in that bullpen you you mentioned the bridge getting to the ninth or really the bridge getting to 27 outs how about blake trinan friend of the show stepping up big time when it matters most as you kind of expected of course uh he closes out the game on uh on tuesday and then gets a big out to escape uh any or avoid any further damage for yamamoto in the seventh inning to get blake back online working the way we anticipate and the way Dave Roberts loves to be able to use

and deploy him, that's a massive, massive boost for this team. It's just about, you know, I guess sort of the green kids figuring it out. Amichian struggled and Edgaro Henriquez struggled. Now, you get an opportunity to change your roster heading into this next series. Do you pull that lever and maybe go for Ben Casperius, who is a little more battle tested over Edgar, Ricardo Henrique is. Now, granted, both of them were on the World Series roster last year, on the postseason roster last year. What do you think is sort of a play there for kind of looking ahead? I like I like Kisperius's stuff a lot. I think it really plays in the postseason. I like his aggressiveness. I like the way that he pounds the zone. I just like his makeup, I guess, if you will. You and I and Mark are producer, director, boss, Guy, Guy. We're talking about how we wish this next season. series was a seven-game series because I think these are the two best teams in all of baseball right now. I'm talking about American League, National League, whatever. So it's a bummer that, you know, it's a five-game series. But yeah, I mean, it remains to be seen what they're

going to do, but I would not be mad if Ben, Benny C was on the NLDS roster. Let's highlight Sasaki real quick before we welcome in Ruben Amaro Jr. because we have a lot to talk about in terms of what we might anticipate in this upcoming division series. Let's do it. And Clay, you wanted to talk a bit about Sasaki. And this is a guy, again, like, I joked, but I really didn't know what happened to him. Like, did they put him in witness protection? Like, was he in the lab forever?

Like, did they know this all along that this is what they anticipated for him in the 2025 season? Let's get him right. Let's get him some secondary stuff. And he's going to be a hell of a weapon out of the bullpen this year. And he'll be in that starting rotation next season. What do you like about him, what you saw so far in those two outings? Well, I mean, three now total since coming off the IAL.

The thing you like is that he's gone out there and dominated. He hasn't nibbled. He has straight up dominated, particularly in this outing last night, against the Reds. And Alana, one of the things we were kind of, we discussed a lot, particularly in spring training. This is a two pitch pitcher. How is he going to make it as a starter? He needs to develop a third pitch or whatever. Two pitches plays out of the bullpen, especially one of them, if one of them is an elite.

splitter as we saw with the kid last night, but also the fastball is playing up. He's got some armside run to it. I think it was six of his seven fastballs were clocked over 100 miles an hour. KK, it's soft lineout in there. Should have been a pop out, but Ben Roortfitt wanted to give him another opportunity to get that final K. Only one hit allowed over his three-innings, six punchouts. And yeah, the big question is, have the Dodgers found their new co-season closer here. This is the thing that's also the most impressive. If you guys are watching and not listening on the podcast side, the tunneling.

I mean, the ball is coming out of the same slot. Looks the same. Yep. Yeah, and again, you saw the Reds look foolish. The Reds are nowhere near as good of a team as the Dodgers are about the face with the Phillies. And again, we'll talk to Rubin-Morrow Jr. about that in just a second. But I don't know that you anoint him the, you know, the blessed de facto closer. I think you deploy him in the biggest moments and the biggest spots against the biggest run of hitters,

the most important run of hitters. So this now all of a sudden is maybe the Evan Phillips that the Dodgers are missing. But definitely a secret weapon is the terminology I would use for Roki. Yeah, I mean, maybe he's the X factor in the bullpen. I'm not saying he has to be the dude all the time, but I don't know that I expected him even to make the postseason roster. If I'm being quite honest with you, I did not. So here he is. and I'm happy for it.

I hope it works out well. Thanks to Draft Kings, obviously, for being a part of not only us here on Dodgers territory, but certainly on the whole foul territory platform. Shrine in a spotlight with Draft Kings on Roki Sasaki. We appreciate it, guys. Football is back, and so is your shot at big wins with Draft Kings pick six,

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See terms at pick6.draftkings.com slash promos. It is always a pleasure to have my friend and colleague Ruben Amaro Jr. on the program. Of course, Ruben is a longtime baseball man. Was the former general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. You can find him on NBC Sports Philadelphia. He is the co-host of the Phillies show. And just a good dude. Happy to have you, Rubin.

Great to be with you. Como is my, my, mano. Okay. So this is. Thank you. Yeah, it's good to see you, friend. So this is a very different Phillies team and a very different Dodgers team than these two teams that matched up in 2009. Rubin, you know this club.

The Phillies better than anybody. What is the Phillies, Achilles heel? Well, I think it's been obvious over the last few years that the swing and miss and the swing out of the zone has been something that's really troubled them. You know, with runners in scoring position, a couple of things that they struggled with during the course of the season at times. And when they're going well, they are making much better swing choices. One of the things that they did, Alana, is prior to the season starting, they really try to work pretty openly. and they were about making sure that they were making better swing decisions. And so you saw that the slug didn't come around till late in the season,

when guys started really letting themselves be a little bit more athletic at the plate. And then through the middle towards the end of the season, they started really swinging the bats well, as you might expect. I mean, Schwerber has been swinging the bat well. It was swinging the bad well all year long. So was Turner. But the other guys, the back part of the lineup really started swinging it well. I think so the swing and miss and the runners are the.

the scoring position was an issue. And I think the other thing that I think they shorted up a little bit was the back end of the bullpen and then obviously getting Joanne Duran in the back end. That was big. I'm not sure how much or how good they're going to be getting the baseball from the starter to Duran. That's the only issue that I have with them right now. Strom has had a good year.

They signed Robertson, which was a great sign, I think. I think they have to make sure that guys like Strom, and Tanner Banks. And also, Kirkering has to sort of step forward. If they don't, then it could be a little troublesome. And you might see Rob Thompson go with some of those starters longer and longer since that's one of their biggest strengths. We know a big strength for that ball club is the lineup, very, very deep lineup. Big strength of the Dodgers is that starting rotation.

Would you wager to say that a good game plan for the fills would be try to get those starters out early and take advantage, we'll say, of that maybe not as strong bullpen of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah, I mean, obviously the bullpen really struggled at the end. I mean, Blake Trinen and Tanner Scott, it was pretty clear that those guys that they'd been counting on have struggled. And it was pretty clear that even in the last, you know, series that they had with L.A. out there in Los Angeles, they sort of took advantage of that. But the starters were really good. and they threw the ball very well against the Phillies,

lots of strikeouts, lots of swing and miss. And there's no question that they have great stuff. The key to the Phillies is to make sure and hope that if those guys aren't throwing strikes with their breaking stuff, that they can lay off of it long enough to get those pitch counts up, to get those bullpen pieces into the game. Now, I know you guys were talking about Sasaki getting slid back into the back end of that bullpen,

and that's probably big for them. But it's really important for the Phillies to try to do what they can to grind out at bats early in the game against the Dodgers because you've got to try to get into that bullpen. It has been one of the Achilles heels of the team. And, you know, you're hopeful that you can do that and have some success with it. Oh, make no mistake about it. The Dodge Bullpen is rough, Rubin. They are rough. Let me ask you about Zach Wheeler.

How much more does Aaron Nola, needing to step up become a bigger issue in the postseason because the Phillies were so strong all year long that obviously Wheeler's a big void, but it becomes a little bit more magnified on the rest of the rotation. What do you need to see from Nola? Yeah, see, here's the thing. I think they're going to go, I do believe that they're going to go with three starters in the division series and they're going to go with three left-handers. I think it's going to be, you know, if you, you know, asked me to fill it out. It would be Christopher Sanchez, Suarez,

and then it would be Lazzardo. You probably don't use NOLA until you get to the NLCS. If you get to the NLCS, which is not going to be a small task against the Dodgers, but you may see NOLA, and I'm not sure they haven't made decisions, their final decisions on things. You may see Nola be in a piggyback

or someone gets in trouble early in the game. You may see him jump in there. never really pitched a whole lot out of the bullpen. But I think the loss of Zach Wheeler, and you hit on a big one there, the loss of Zach Wheeler does a lot of things for the Phillies, unfortunately, not just losing one of the best, you know, pitchers in baseball, but you also now have to sort of force other guys instead of having them be in the rotation during the course of the playoffs,

they can't use those pieces like in the bullpen when they have an issue. So you may have been in a situation where if Zach Wheeler was healthy, Zach would be pitching number one, Christopher Sanchez number two, maybe Suarez number three, and then you have guys like Lazzardo with that power arm out of the bullpen,

well, you don't have that depth now. And so that puts a little bit of heat on the Phillies, and it puts the heat on those starting pitchers who have had a lot of success to be good. And they're going to have to be good for more than just five or six innings. They're probably going to have to stretch it out to seven and maybe at times if they're efficient enough to eight.

Some of the starting issues you got going on there. It reminds me of a young upstart 2024 Dodgers team in the postseason that really just had Yamamoto, Flaherty and some scrap parts. Walker Bueller, hopefully playing a role. Butane in October is a different kind of an animal. Also, Citizens Bank Park, a different kind of animal, the 10th man there in Philly. What kind of advantage would you say home field advantage is for the Fills against the Dodgers as the home team? Yeah, well, first and foremost, I think the Phillies just seem to match up pretty well against the Dodgers.

They pitch them well over the years. They play them well now. It's a totally different gig when you're talking about the playoffs. There's no doubt. But I do believe that Citizens Bank Park is one of the toughest places to play if you're coming in from out of town. You know, a lot of people talk about it being nine innings of hell. But, you know, it's very loud, it's very raucous. It's one of those cities where the fans actually believe, and at times do believe that they can affect the baseball game. They can affect the outcome of the game somehow, some way. And I think that the Phillies, as a team, has sort of embraced that. And it's a pretty good symbiosis between the two of them. So it's not an easy place to play.

I know the Dodgers have a ton of veteran guys. They probably won't get too rattled by a lot of that business. They go about their business in a very professional way. I know Mookie Betts. I know Freddie Freeman. I know Otani. I know that those guys are professionals. And I fully expect them to be, you know, the seasoned vets that they are.

But that said, that Citizens Bank Park Red October is nothing to sneeze at. No, it's no joke. It's a blast. The bank is such a fun place to play. I know Dodger Stadium will be loud, but there's just something about Philadelphia. That is, it is absolutely intimidating. and covering a postseason game there. It's just a trip and a half.

Let me ask you this. Put on your general manager hat. Would you rather Rubin have the buy like the Phillies did in the first round? Or would you rather just keep it going? I mean, I know from a rest perspective, maybe, but what's your preference? I mean, for the Phillies in this particular instance, I think it was great that they had the buy just because one of their most important offensive pieces and defensive pieces is Trey Turner.

It gives him a chance to get, you know, back and. be 100% because if trade turners only like 80% or 90% with his wheels, that sort of changes a dynamic of what he brings to the table. He has been outstanding offensively. He's been phenomenal defensively. He's really improved. And so they need his legs to be effective. I think just in general, my general sense is that I'd like to have the team continue to play. But here's the reality. You can get hot. I mean, guys have been hot after the All-Star break. Guys have been cold, you know, after the all-star break.

It really sort of depends on the player. I think in this day and age, you can do so many different things to try to simulate. I know they played yesterday. On Wednesday, they ended up playing, you know, a full intra-squad game. So I think that was important to see live pitching and to get into that rhythm and to have 30,000 people there at the bank to, you know, to cheer them on. So in a general sense, I would like to get for teams to continue to play. But at the end of the day, you got to play good baseball when it counts. You got to hope the ball rolls the right way.

You play clean baseball. And there's a lot of luck involved in the playoffs. I mean, people talk about it all the time. Not necessarily the best team wins every series. It's the team that happens to play the best baseball and gets the timely hitting. And that's it in a nutshell. And hopefully for the Phillies, hopefuls, you know, it works out for them. Do you think the DS should be a seven game series?

Wow, that's a great question. I mean, I think that at some point, that may be a sticking point for this new bargaining agreement. Because I do think that it gives the teams like this. And there's arguably the Phillies and the Dodgers are the two best teams in baseball. you could sort of think that's the case. And I believe that as an evaluator. But, and you'd like to have those teams hash it out in a longer stretch. You may at some point, and this is a tough one for the owners,

is you may have to shorten up the season, make it 154 games. They don't like that because the per caps are all the other games are big, right? We know that. But it's something that they should certainly consider and might. Riz. Did you have another one? I don't remember. I did. I just, I didn't, you know, I could talk to Rubin for 17 hours straight. So I apologize.

I don't know. I probably answered some of the questions with my own lengthy answers. I'm not a friend of a laugh. No, no, no. Okay. So you and I have had many conversations, but for our viewers and our listeners on this podcast, they may not have heard this story. And I want you to share because it involves Dodger fans also. Could you please tell us the story that you are the man that traded Chase Utley away. And you also are the man that. told Charlie, Charlie Manuel, that he had to, that was it for him. But all for good reason. All for good reason. Yeah, really difficult decisions. Those probably were some of the most difficult. I mean, Chase is arguably one of my favorite players of all time and favorite people that have ever worn the Phillies uniform. And I really felt like it was a time in, we were a time in transition. There was no question that we were not going to be a very good club. For a long time, I thought that he'd be a great piece to this organization just to keep him there so that he can help teach these younger guys as we move forward. But at the end of the day, I was like, you know what, this is going to be a horrible situation for him. And it's going to be a losing situation.

And to be frank with you, I thought it was in the best interest of the club and for him to get an opportunity to go to L.A. It was home for him. I know that he wanted to stay in Philadelphia, but I told him, I said, listen, Andrew Friedman in that organization, they know what they're doing. I think it's going to be a plus for you. And I think he's found out if you probably,

if you asked him now that he was fairly grateful for that. I know he would love to have been a Philly for a long time, but he's going to end up being a really important piece and has been an important piece for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's the consummate professional. I love the guy and that was a tough decision. As far as Charlie is concerned, that was heart-wrenching for me. Never have I been on a podium and started, you know, bawling like a child.

Just because Charlie was one of the reasons why I became a Cleveland Indian way back when in 94, he basically helped get me traded over there. That's when my relationship started with him. And then when we brought him over when Jim Tomey came and brought him over as an advisor, Ed Way did a heck of a job of really in a lot of ways taking a chance on having him be the manager. We took a lot of heat for that, and Ed took a lot of heat for it, but he ended up being one of the best managers they've ever had here and brought us a world champion. Help bring us world championship.

Again, we were through that transition. I really just did not want Charlie to have to deal with, you know, a 60-win team. And that was a very difficult. I just didn't want to have him to go through that. and we ended up making a decision to change over to Ryan Sandberg at that time. God bless him, God rest his soul. Ryan, you know, I felt like he would be a nice transitional manager for the organization. But, hey, it didn't work out all that great, unfortunately, but Charlie still in the organization.

I think during doing the same sort of thing that Brian Snickert probably going to be doing with the Atlanta Bullies, which is very appropriate. Charlie's a great person, a great friend, and that was, again, one of the more difficult decisions to have to make. Yeah, from the Dodgers perspective on this one, we very much appreciate Chase Sutley. I confess. I confess that you do. There's still some of the culture that he brought over here in that trade, still kind of passing on, passing down different generations of baseball players, instrumental in what Kike Hernandez has eventually become and also being a postseason

weapon. I do have some beef with you being a part of that 09 team that took advantage of a, of an organization that, what, at the start of that series, we hear about the announcement of the Frank McCourt and Jamie McCourt divorce. And you guys had to go and beat us. And, you know, anyways, that's a whole other story. I'm listening. I got, I got a very brief, you know, talk with Frank McCourt. He could have hired me. We could have, you know, I could have slid over there, but he decided to go somewhere else. You were in the depot. So, you know, I got sort of screwed out of that deal. Anyway, as far as Chase is concerned, I mean, he's one of those guys that really does make a huge impact on an organization in a lot of different ways.

I always felt like it's so important to have those types of players be part of an organization to help with those transitional moments and to help people in the dugout in the clubhouse and create a culture that, you know, that people don't talk about. There's a lot of people don't talk about the importance of culture. Well, culture means a lot in that clubhouse. And I think that Chase is one of those people that certainly brings that positive culture to an organization. Absolutely. Final one we have for you before we let you get out of here. The Phillies lose to the Dodgers in this division series if and then the counterpoint to it. They win if.

I think that the Phillies will win. if they can knock those starters out early, as we talked about. I mean, otherwise, if the starters are getting them to swing and miss at the 2-1 and 3-1 and 2-0 breaking ball out of the zone, and they are fishing on it, then it's going to be tough for the Phillies to win. And, you know, conversely, I mean, it's all about whether or not the Dodgers can handle the Phillies pitching. I think that the Phillies have done generally a pretty good job on that front part of that lineup. And I know there's some depth in there now. I'm not sure.

Is Will Smith going to be able to be healthy enough to be able to play? I'm not even sure. The expectation is he should be around, yeah. If he's around and playing, then that makes him even deeper, right? That makes it even more difficult because he's had such a great turnaround season. But, I mean, it's all about making sure that the Phillies, if the Phillies will win, If they can really handle the mooky bets, Freddie Freeman Otani trio, if they can't, look out. It could be troublesome.

Ruben Amarro Jr., always a pleasure getting your insight on this great game of ours. You can catch Rubin and his cohorts on the Phillies show. It's a long-time podcast that they've been doing a great job with for many, many years. And that's right on our foul territory platform as well. Best of luck in this five-game DS. We appreciate your time. soon, my friend. We have a little bet there, Alano. You and me, we have to figure one out. You know, you know it's going to be wine. Whatever it is, it's going to be wine. So if I went,

if we win straight up, if we win straight up, if you guys win straight up, I owe you. You got it. Clint, nice to see you. You guys have a great day. Good luck. Hopefully it goes to five because that would be fun. That'd be awesome. Sounds good. We'll talk to you soon, my friend. Clint always awesome, you know, getting the other perspective from the other side, right? I mean, Phillies are a good team. They are a very, very good team. And this is going to be a hell of a series. But the Dodgers are too. I didn't even get your take on Shohei Otani being officially announced as the game one starter of the DS. How do you feel about that? I like it a lot. I mean, this is a dude who and the way the series is set up where you have a game on, a day off, game on, day off. If Shohei is able to go four, five, six innings or whatever it is, that the bullpen should still be able to be set up to cover a lot of innings for this team.

think it's the right call and then Glasnow kind of can be the hopefully table setter to a two nothing series advantage for the Dodgers so you know Rubin there talking about the Phillies needing to get creative with their starting rotation really only having kind of three guys they trust as we know where the Dodgers have four five if you count Kershaw six if you count Emmichian they are in a very bountable spot when it comes to starting rotation but in terms of show hey game one absolutely give it to me and that's a dude who's a big been on the biggest stages he can handle Citizens Bank Park.

No, I love it. And I love the fact that I just feel so good about our starting depth now. I really do. I didn't feel that way all year long, obviously, with the injuries and some of the production issues. I mean, Yama's been amazing all season long. But obviously with Glasnow down, with Snell down, we didn't know what was happening with Sasaki.

Shohei wasn't stretched out. But I feel great about how good this starting staff is. And the piggybacking opportunities that can give you length out of the bullpen. I really like that a lot. Dodgers and Dave's bullpen trust treat. How do you feel about, I mean, listen, he's, well, he's pushed all the right buttons. He did last year when this bullpen was better, but still we were wondering what, you know, some of the moves were going to be.

Yeah, it's a little shaky. I guess a lot of it depends, too, on who makes the roster and how you maneuver those parts. It's all matchup based, obviously, with the Phillies. Yeah, you got to assume there's going to be some, some, some changes for this roster. You're going to get more pitching back. You're going to add some lefties.

Well, definitely Clayton Kershaw. I wouldn't be shocked to see Anthony Bonda back in that roster. Like we were talking about earlier as well. Also wouldn't be shocked to see, you know, a Casperius go in for a Henriquez or something like that, even though like his, I think his splits were actually reversed this year. I've got to double check on that. But the Dodgers are still in a very good spot. In terms of the trust tree, what I like and what I'm kind of going, you know, laying my head,

to bed at night, feeling a little bit more confident about it is like, hopefully they got the issues out of the way. Hopefully getting Henriquez, you know, getting the jitters out of the way. Emmett Sheen, his first time being in a postseason game, really that mattered in quite some time

because we talked about it last night on my other show. He relieved Clayton Kershaw in that awful start against the diamond backs that nobody wants to remember. Curse got, what, one out? So I barely count that as anything. Oh, that's right. Yeah, that's a blur for Sheehan. It honestly, like, I forgot about it, probably on purpose.

He just blink that. Yeah, that never happened. But the Dodgers in a very, very good spot. And I think, you know, some people will question the idea of Dave pulling the right levers. But she and going to Sheehan in that spot, that was the right time to do it. That's the reason he's on this roster is to be a leverage guy. He told us, Dave told us he's going to be a leverage guy. Going to Vesia, he didn't expect Vesia to not have it.

and Dave didn't expect Edgaro Henriquez to not know where the baseball was going. So that's just kind of where they're at. They still have very, very good, very talented players. And hopefully they used that, you know,

postseason spring training with the Reds to iron out those kinks. That's my hope. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I don't know that I could have said it better myself. It's all, you know, I'm glad that we can reset. That's another thing to you quickly

before we move on to Lids. want to talk about them because they're a new partner here for us and I'm psyched to have them on board. But that's another thing, too, I love about not having that third game is you get another full day off. You can completely reset. I know the team we were going to have Kike Hernandez, or at least I asked Kikee to come on the show today, but they're flying right now. They're flying to Philly right now. So you get that extra opportunity to reset, to give guys a blow, to, you know, kind of lay it out the way that you want it to be in terms of your staff. So that's another benefit, too, of not having to go to three games, you know, like everybody else in the league is going to have to do.

By the way, I don't know if you guys notice my sick lid, literally. Lids is the new partner for us here on Dodgers Territory and on the Feltter's Free Network. I got something about that. Hold on. I want people to see this. Oh. Oh, look at you. Is that a front end?

Look at that. It was handed to me. So I know I got one on the way. That looks, that's a sharp hat. Look at this. So this is my, this is my nod to, obviously, Yamamoto for shoving and Sasaki for shoving. Okay. So it was like the, the Yamma to Sasaki thing, obviously it's the Japanese hat guys, in case you're wondering, and the United States hat. Obviously, such a massive Japan influence on the Los Angeles Dodgers with Shohei Otani, Obvi. But obviously, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and obviously Roki Sasaki are three of our arms from the Los Angeles Dodgers with Shohei Otani, Obvi. But obviously, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and obviously, obviously, our, three of our arms from the, the wonderful country of Japan. And obviously, I just, I love this. And by the way, you guys can now get it too, because Lids is a part of our show.

And you can get 20% off by texting 29017. It's right there. Text territory, obviously for Fowel Territory, Dodgers Territory, all of the territories. Text territory to 29017. You get 20% off your next purchase of any headwear or apparel at any U.S. Lids store. There are some exclusions, but I love it because, first of all, I just think this hat is sick. And it's such a global game. And it's like it's a, it's a beautiful, beautiful spot.

So representing the Dodgers, you know, greatly with Otani, with Roki, with, of course, Yamamoto, who shoved last night. Lids always the go-to spot for all things, MLB hats, jerseys apparel. It could also be your go-to spot for Topps trading cards, guys, including Bowman Chrome, which is now available. Bowman Chrome is the chase for the hottest prospects. First card, including autographed cards. There's unique inserts, the latest crop, including young rising stars. So if you guys have been collecting stuff for years, obviously I collect a lot of random things. Cards aren't my bag, but if cards are your bag, head to your local lids.

If you've been doing it for a long time, or you're just getting started, like that's the place, right? I mean, I know some people have been doing it forever, and some people are just kind of getting into the game. And Lids is the place to do it. So we're happy that you guys are here. And thank you, Lids. We appreciate it very much. What do you say? We talk about a doggo.

Let's do it. All right. All right, guys. This is Lulu Bean. She is a shepherd and we believe border collie mix. The DNA kit has been ordered. She has been swabbed. It has been sent to the lab.

Now we are just waiting for the results. But this sweet pup was going to be put down just because she had a cold. Yes, you heard that right. They were going to kill her because she had a cold. So she is now on medication for an upper respiratory infection that is healing nicely. She's feeling much better. When she is completely healed, we will get her to a spa so she can be groomed and have a bath. And then we're going to make sure she's healthy enough to get spayed.

So we're looking for donations right now. She's not quite ready to be adopted. She wants to heal and we want to make sure she's spayed and she's, you know, all of the things. So please, if you can, a buck helps a dollar to a million dollars. Shohay, if you want to have Decoy donate a billion dollars to Gidre's Guardian Foundation, that would be great. Guidry's Guardian.org is the place to do it. We appreciate it very much.

All right, I know you've been hella busy because you directed Fowler Fair Territory today. You're doing this show, of course. You did everything last night with Scott, but you also have all Dodgers with Clint Paseas. When is that next? And what are you guys talking about? No rest for the wicked or something or more so for the weary, because your boy is definitely drained. I did get my coffee going in my lovely, lovely worded cup here.

Oh, geez. But, yeah, we'll be live tonight, either 830 or 9 o'clock, myself, Jeff Snyder, Kevin Skinner, also doing more series preview, things to like, things that not like against the Phillies. This is the matchup, well, this was the matchup we wanted because that means the Dodgers are advancing in the postseason. You've got to be still a little frightened of the Phillies. Very, very good, very good ball club. And we've talked a lot about that. And, you know, hopefully we have a two-game advantage before this team comes back home.

Before we do sign off, there's something I wanted to bring up, since it is an off day, since we don't got to worry about baseball, like other idiots have to worry about baseball today, with three game threes going on. For people on the Twitterverse Twitter sphere, whatever, back in my day, it was called, back in my day. I know I get it. You're almost 40. You're old, but it's called X. now that's what the kids are calling it way back when back in my day uh we called it twitter and

there's this thing that's been going on i think since 2019 it's called this is bracket season uh for folks in the know mckenna here mckenna martin she is a dodger fan rapid dodgers fan and uh every year since i believe 2019 she has been doing this thing it's oh it's the eighth apparently uh i learned how to read hashtag uh words um the is a thing called the hottest dodger bracket and And for people, let me put this up, people who love brackets. This is for you. People who love hot dudes, this is for you. If you think the Dodgers are hot, I don't know.

That's your own prerogative there. The important thing is there is a raffle and donation component to this as well. You could just fill it out and have fun and raise awareness. But October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, as you see on the screen. This is in partnership with peace over violence. Which is awesome. That's a big initiative, actually. So this is huge.

And what's phenomenal about this and about Dodgers fans in particular is that this year, they set a $7,000 goal. They're already at $6,200 donated from Dodgers fans. 140 donors have chipped into that. But that would bring the total to over $40,000 raised for peace over violence over the years, which is just insane. And it's wonderful to see how great this Dodgers community is coming together on something important, which is, of course, the Dodgers being hot and all that kind of stuff.

But more so, peace over violence. It started back when we don't need to talk about Julio Urius, but apparently I need to talk about Julio Urius a number of years ago, back when he had his first suspension. But anyways, and then the Bauer thing and all that. But the important thing is you guys can support it. I'll have the links in the description, or you can go to, what is it, linktree.com slash

McKenna Martin 19. I will have all that in the description and beyond that I'll be posting my bracket because I have time I'll be posting my official bracket it might get an upset

but I will be posting it on my Twitter today. So you're going to choose the hottest Dodgers all the way to the finish line? Yeah, yeah. I mean I'm the guy. I'm obviously the guy.

I'm the most qualified to be doing this. I can see that. I can see it. Yeah. Yeah. You have quite the resume of choosing

which guys are over the next guy. I, too, will choose. And my hottest guy is the one that comes through with runners and scoring position the most. That's my hottest dodger. Okay? Well done. Well done.

So if you want to be on my list, that's the guy. By the way, I will do what I did last year. I will donate $500 to their cause. There you have it. What a guy. What a guy you are. We appreciate you, Riz. You are the best.

The final thing, and I guess, if you guys donate, please let us know somehow. We'll try to find a way to send people something. I don't know. I don't even know if I can do that, but I will. Let's talk one more bit of Dodgers, one more bit of NLDS before we sign off. It's a longer show, but we're not going to be here for post-game Saturday. I won't be here. By the way, I'm going on quick vacation, which should guarantee a game one win because they always win when I camp.

So I ask Rubber tomorrow. The Dodgers – sorry, the Phillies lose if. The Dodgers win if. The Dodgers win if their starting staff. can go deep into the game. All I'm asking for is six. If we can line up seven, eight, and nine, I feel good. I need show hey.

I think show hey, he's going to be efficient. He's going to give you six. He's not going to give up an earned run. And the bullpen's going to figure it out. The Dodgers win if we can set up our bullpen just the seventh, eighth, and ninth. And let me tell you something else. The Dodgers also win, and I mean this sincerely, game one is massive. Whoever wins game one has one, I know statistically they do, but I'm just saying from a mental approach and like a psyche approach, game one is massive.

Absolutely. A winning game one. You know, I liked Ruben's thought process as well. Just, you know, take care of the important guys, you know, the MV3 and you might win being Shohei, Mookie and Freddie. There's more guys. I wanted to do this. The final thing we'll do is just highlighting these guys in this series. Mookie bet six for nine, three doubles, three RBI, Tiaska Hernandez, four for ten.

and two homer six RBI. Kike Hernandez, four for eight in the series, three runs scored. And how about some special shout-outs to my boy, little Ben Roervett with three hits, two runs scored. And importantly, two sacrifice buntz. Let's hear it for, listen, I love good bunt stuff, and Ben Rorvet has been phenomenal. I like good buntz and I cannot lie.

And Miggie Rowe. Mickey Rowe stepping in where maybe Tommy Edmund can't and three, dropping in three hits and five at bats, two runs. The Dodgers are a very good baseball team, guys. This is going to be a fun series. Treat it as a fun series. Dodgers, the Dodgers starting pitchers are way better than the Phillies starting pitchers. Dodgers are going to be fine.

If the Dodgers starters can go relatively deep in the game, this team is going to be fine because I'm not worried about the Dodgers offense at all. So there you have it. All right, you guys, I don't know yet what's happening on Saturday. We need to speak to the boss and find out what's happening. So we'll see you. Saturday or we'll see you Monday. I don't know what we're doing yet. But go Dodgers. Thanks for being here, guys. Bye.