The series moves to New York with Walker Buehler facing off against Casey Schmidt. Good news for the Dodgers, Ohtani cleared to play. Leading off at DH. This is a must win for the Yankees. Dodgers not feeling any pressure. Decoy jumping for a win. Yankee Stadium crowd is very loud. 
Dodger first: Ohtani waled. Betts flied out to left. Freeman homered to right. 2-0 LA. Hernandez grounded out. Muncy struck out. Yankee first: Torres walked. Soto lined out to left. Judge struck out. Stanton grounded into a force play.
Dodger second: Smith flied out to right. Lux struck out. Kike struck out. Yankee second: Chisholm flied out to center. Volpe struck out. Rizzo struck out.
Dodger third: Edman walked. Ohtani grounded out to second, Edman to second. Betts singles to right, Edman scores. Freeman walked. Teo popped out. Muncy walked. Smith grounded out to the pitcher. Yankee third: Trevino struck out. Verdugo struck out. Torres walked. Soto grounded out to Freeman.
Dodger fourth: Lux walked. Kike singled to right, Lux to third. Edman reaches first on a fielder’s choice Leiter to Trevino. Lux out at home. Dodgers challenged. Call stands. Kike on second. Cortes replaces Leiter. Ohtani struck out. Betts lined out to left. Yankee fourth: Judge flied out to left. Stanton doubled to left. Chisholm lined out to Betts. Volpe singled to left, Hernandez threw Stanton out at the plate.
Dodger fifth: Cortes still pitching. Freeman reaches on an error by Jazz Chisholm. Teo lined out to center. Muncy hit into a double play. Yankee fifth: Rizzo flied out to Betts. Trevino grounded out Muncy to Freeman. Verdugo lined out to Betts.
Dodger sixth: Cousins replaces Cortes for the Yankees. Smith lined out to Volpe. Lux hit by pitch. Lux steals second on first pitch to Kike. Kike singles to center, Lux scores. 4-0 LA. Edman strikes out and Kike caught stealing to end the inning. Yankee sixth: Graterol in to pitch for the Dodgers. Torres grounded out to second. Soto walked. Judge grounds to Graterol who throws to Edman tagging out Soto. Stanton singled to center. Vesia replaces Graterol. Chisholm grounds into a force play, Lux to Edman.
Dodger seventh: Hill in to pitch for NY. Ohtani popped out to third. Betts walked. Freeman hits into a force play. Holmes replaces Hill for NY. Teo singles to center, Freeman to third. Muncy struck out. Yankee seventh: Hudson replaces Vesia. Volpe struck out. Rizzo singled to center. Wells PH for Trevino struck out. Banda replaces Hudson. Verdugo walked. Torres struck out.
Dodger eighth: Smith lined out to Torres. Kahnle replaces Holmes for NY. Lux struck out. Kike popped out to Rizzo. Yankee eighth: Taylor takes over for Teo in left. Brasier in to pitch for the Dodgers. Soto flied out to Betts. Judge walked. Stanton strikes out. Chisholm struck out.
Dodger ninth: Kahnle still pitching. Edman grounded out to third. Weaver replaces Kahnle for NY. Ohtani hit by pitch. Betts grounded into a double play. Yankee ninth: Kopech replaces Brasier. Volpe struck out. Rizzo walked. Wild pitch Rizzo to second. Wells popped out to Freeman. Verdugo homered to right center field. 4-2 Dodgers. Torres grounds out to Edman. Dodgers win 4-2.
Game Summary
Walker Buehler set the tone. He pitched 5 shutout innings allowing just 2 hits, 2 walks and striking out 5. Teoscar Hernandez threw Stanton out at the plate to end the 4th inning and the Yankees only scoring threat against Buehler. The bullpen took care of the rest with Vesia getting Chisholm to end another threat and Banda walked Verdugo, but then struck out Torres to end another. LA survived the 9th inning 2-run homer by Verdugo. Buehler got the win. Freddie hit a homer in his fifth straight series game. He had hit a homer in the last two games of the 2021 series. Betts drove in the third run and Kike drove in the fourth in the sixth inning. Vesia, who recorded the only 1-pitch save in World Series history, faced just 1 hitter. Dodgers up 3-0 with a bullpen game tomorrow. One other thing, the Dodger defense has been stellar. Yankees on the other hand, no so much.
The trading deadline is looking fucking phenomenal in hindsight.
Yankees are now 14-29 in the playoffs since 2010 when not facing AL Central teams.
That’s a .326 winning percentage vs. non-AL Central teams, equivalent to a 53-109 record per 162 games.
I haven’t felt this good about a World Series since 1963. Sweep! Would be epic.
Big Game Buehler came thru as expected. What a dominating performance. Dude just loves those nasty environments.
Freddie! (Hell what more can you say).
Mr. October continues to contribute as expected.
Great pitching but I hope we don’t have to run Hudson out there again this series.
Wow, Judge and Ohtani only one hit each, imagine that.
So far x3
Dodgers starting pitching has been the story of this series so far.
Buehler amazed me tonight.
My Mum moves faster than Giancarlo Stanton.
One more win!Just one more win !
Butane was great!Who would have thought that Walker would be that good in a WS game couple month ago?Certainly not me. Thought he was done. Boy, am I glad I was wrong on that one.
Dodgers up 3-0 with Othani , Muncy and Smith doing almost nothing so far in this series.
I thought Lux was safe on that bunt by Edman. Still like the decision to go with the bunt in that situation. Fielder made a great play and as I said Lux was still safe IMHO.
Strategy for today ? How about Knack, Honey and Casparius going 3 innings each and the offense explodes for double digit blowout ?
Need one more hero after Freddie, Yoshi and Walker played their hero role already.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!
Ok kids. Im getting on a flight from LAX to JFK in 1 hour.
If anyone is going to Yankee Stadium tonight, let’s meet up!
Wonderful to see Buehler pitch so well. Bullpen made it too exciting. Would have liked to see them throw more strikes. Umps blew a few. Let’s get out the broom.
I’ll admit I don’t have all the facts but I question putting Shohei in the lineup. Can he really swing and not risk doing more damage to his shoulder? He immediately draws a walk, that’s good, having a feared hitter leading off can create opportunities. Now what happens if he has to slide?
Would not having him in the lineup hurt us? DH Pages,leadoff Edmans or Mookie. I don’t buy the line about ” a little of him is better than all of anyone else”.
What am I missing?
Meanwhile in Arizona:
josh norris chat ($$$$)
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/arizona-fall-league-prospects-chat-10-21-24/
Question: what are the chances we’ll ever see hope, de paula, and quintero in one dodger outfield?
Josh Norris Slim to none. This isn’t a slight on any of them, but … prospects are made to be traded and I wouldn’t be surprised if any combination of those three dudes gets moved at some point before they reach the big leagues.
Question: You seemed genuinely excited about Eriq Swan. Is he the next Dodgers popup/breakout pitcher? What are scouts saying?
Josh Norris I think he’s in the top five or so of pitchers I’ve seen this year. I put in our office slack channel “I’m in love.” Dude has an extraordinarily high ceiling if he can stay healthy. Scouts seemed very impressed too. I think he’s the second-best pitching prospect out here behind Painter.
Great performance by Buehler!
The World Series championship is so close!
A lot of Dodger fans wrote off Buehler two months ago, but he has been a key contributor in the postseason. Love to see a long term Dodger be rewarded for his perseverance and commitment to the franchise. He pitched on 3 days rest in the 2021 playoffs when Mad Max would not take the ball. Walker threw 225 innings for the Dodgers in 2021, and still refused to say no when his team needed him. Probably contributed to his second TJ in 2022. He earned his $4 million salary in 2021, and his $8 million salary this year. Hopefully, the Dodgers will keep him and reward him handsomely for his contributions to the club.
Color me cautious but I can still see a scenario in which we lose the next two games in NY. The bullpen guys might not be so strong and then tomorrow, Mr Cole pitches lights out.
We very easily could be going back to LA up 3-2. I don’t need the stress, so I hope my premonition is inaccurate. Go Blue…end it tonight……TM
We are witnessing incredible pitching from the Dodgers. Coming into the Series, we had a trustworthy bullpen but a depleted and maligned starting pitching staff consisting of 3 guys. Now everybody is answering the bell.
I have remained confident in Walker Buehler throughout the playoffs as he has gotten better in some area, every start. Remember how much he struggled before he was shut down and went to the pitching clinic in Florida.
His progress and confidence improved each outing, sometimes in small ways. He hasn’t had the best of luck and defense behind him. He was kind of snake bit.
And the stats didn’t show his improvement. Joe Davis made a point last night to point out that against the Padres couple of starts ago, he gave up a 6 spot in the second inning, in a 6-5 loss. Joe wanted to point out how Walker has gone from Chicken Shit to Chicken Salad.
While that is a fact, it didn’t describe the bigger picture. What wasn’t said was that the Dodgers gave the Padres 6 outs in that 2nd inning. Errors and plays not made contributed to Walker’s failure, big time.
In Walker’s last 2 starts since, he has thrown 9 innings given up 5 hits with 11 K’s. Last night his fastball had life and swing and miss. I loved his competitiveness and swagger.
Stanton is so hard to pitch too, right now. He can flail at times with the breaking ball away but he lulls pitchers into mistakes. He’s so far off the plate and closed up, it’s obvious he wants to drive fastballs in the right-center gap. Like other teams, we want to pitch him in. But if it’s not off the plate in, he hammers it. He’s a tough out right now. He’d never see a fastball over the plate.
Awesome 6 pitchers last night and then Kopech. He’s been Joe Kelly lately. Effectively wild is one thing, but pitching behind hitters is like 10 footers for pars and dogs that chase cars; they just don’t last.
I would have liked Joe Davis and Smoltz not get wrapped up in all the stats and history of shutouts in the World Series while Kopech entered the 9th inning. How about waiting for the game to be over before celebrating a shutout that was blown in the 9th.
Judge is a mess and I hope he remains so. He looks like a coach hitting fungo pop-ups to the catchers in practice. His backside is breaking down so badly, It’s like a reverse weight shift with a bad golfer. He swings straight up with about one contact point with the pitch plane. I think he is the best all-around player in baseball with all due respect to DH, Ohtani. But I’m glad we are seeing this version of Judge.
Last night I learned about genetics and human physiology from Smoltz during one of his rambles. I thought DNA determined hair color, eye color, and other traits passed along from both parents through generations. What I didn’t realize is that DNA has much more influence on a baseball pitcher. For example on Walker Buehler, Smoltz explained that “ Walker got in trouble when his DNA told him one thing but his body was not quite ready” Huh?
As predicted, Mark Carlson was horseshit behind the plate. Mark Ripperger is the HPU tonight, I think. He’s actually the best of this bad crew. My book on Ripperger — “may Squeeze north. Good consistent zone, on the small side. Can be inconsistent on low pitches”. It would sure be nice to see better umpiring in the World Series, wouldn’t it?
It will be interesting to see how Doc and the staff plan tonight’s game. Will they throw the high level guys in this bullpen game or will they approach it with more low-level match ups to conserve relievers for Flaherty’s start?
It will be interesting to see.
I sure like how this team is playing together as a team and a different guy can be the hero each game. It’s Muncy’s turn. He’s left too many ducks on the pond.
While Muncy has struggled at the plate (he is chasing out of the zone and putting him in a hole, missing mistakes and getting put out easily). However his defense has been excellent.
Mookie has got his act together after a inconsistent Padres series. Looking good at the plate and in the field.
Damn, I love Mr. October. The WS MVP may well be Freddie, but the real post-season MVP has been Kike, he’s been the spark we have needed in each round. Mr. October I salute you.
Nice to see Teoscar really getting heated up. He has been outstanding in the field. That throw he made to the plate last night, ripped the heart out of the Stankees. Just when they thought they might have a chance, Teoscar stepped on their throat and gutted em. The brass should be talking to Teoscar’s peeps right now and locking him up for 3 years, then announce it before the game tonight (sends a great message to other players that the Dodgers will reward a producer).
Wow, Edmunds has been very very important to our playoff run.
Big Game Buehler certainly lived up to his moniker in Game 3. Going through the comments in the blogosphere before Game 3, about half believed he would do well, while half believed he would crash and burn. 5.0 scoreless IP (thank you Teoscar and Will), 2 hits, 2 BB, and 5 K. He only threw 76 pitches, so he certainly could have gone longer.
Can we all agree now that the Dodgers SP has pitched better than NYY? Every LAD SP has pitched at least 5.0 innings. The Dodgers bullpen has not been as automatic as they may have been against SD and NYM, but only Blake Treinen and Michael Kopech have been scored up.
Starters:
LAD – 16.2 IP, 1.62 ERA, 8 hits, 5 BB, 15 K, 0.78 WHIP
NYY – 12.0 IP, 6.00 ERA, 12 hits, 4 BB, 10 K, 1.33 WHIP
Relievers:
LAD – 11.1 IP, 3.18 ERA, 11 hits, 7 BB, 16 K, 1.59 WHIP
NYY – 14.2 IP, 3.07 ERA, 8 hits, 5 BB, 7 K, 0.89 WHIP
Overall:
LAD – 28.0 IP, 2.25 ERA, 19 hits, 12 BB, 31 K, 1.11 WHIP
NYY – 26.2 IP, 4.39 ERA, 20 hits, 9 BB, 17 K, 1.09 WHIP
Unless there is a last minute change, Luis Gil will be the starter for NYY. He pitched against LAD on June 9 this year, and was the winner of the only game NYY won in that 3 game series. But Gil did give up the same number of runs to LAD (3) in 5.2 IP than he allowed in his previous 7 starts (44.2 IP, 0.60 ERA). For the first 12 games of the season, Gil had 69.1 IP and a 1.82 ERA. In his 16 starts following the June 9 game, Gil had 76.2 IP and a 4.93 ERA. Dodger hitters career against Gil:
Shohei – 0-3
Mookie – 1-3, double, 2 RBI
Freddie – 0-2, BB
Teoscar – 2-5, double, HR, 1 RBI
Kiké – 1-5
Smith – 0-3
Lux – 1-2
Pages – 1-2 double
Tommy Kahnle belongs in the LAD bullpen. Anytime the batter knows what pitch is coming and still cannot hit it, that is special. I think Kahnle threw 60 straight changeups in the playoffs before throwing a 4-seamer to Kiké and another to Edman (both balls). Kahnle will be 35 in 2025. Joe Kelly and Blake Treinen were 36 this year and Daniel Hudson was 37. Kahnle will not be too old for 2025.
Tommy Edman’s read on Mookie’s flair single to RF was outstanding. I have been an Edman fan since he was with St. Louis. For me, he has always epitomized the right way to play the game. Tommy Edman and Chase Utley are the poster boys for Al Campanis’ “The Dodgers Way To Play Baseball”.
And then the defensive play of the year…Teo to Smith to get the lumbering Giancarlo at the plate. There have been more dazzling plays, but none more dramatic.
While it would have been great for a shutout, after pumping a pair of 100 MPH past Verdugo, Kopech left a 98.4 MPH almost middle/middle on an 0-2 pitch, and Verdugo deposited the pitch into RF stands.
For those who like historical references, NYY has a zero chance at winning the WS. No team in the WS has ever come back from being down 3 games to none. There have been 24 times that a team was up 3 games to zero in the WS, and there were 21 sweeps in those 24 WS. Only once in MLB history has a team ever come back from being down 3 games to 0 to win the series (2004 ALCS). And that one time got my son a World Series ring…2004 WS.
So let’s pretend we are channeling 1963 and get the sweep over NYY.
One more win, baby!!!!
Here the Dodgers are on the brink of winning their 8th World title, and they have gotten nothing from their 700-million-dollar man. That in and of itself is amazing. Ohtani has 1 hit and has scored 2 runs. He has not driven in any. Muncy is ofer the series. Smith, who has not been himself offensively for quite a while, has 1 RBI and 1 hit. Lux is also ofer the series. Freeman has driven in half of their 14 runs. The story has been the pitching staff’s ability to shut down the Yankees bats. Last night they got a little help from a terrible home plate umpire. But he made some bad calls on the Dodgers too. When Muncy struck out in the first, both of the first two strike calls were awful. But you can’t change what has already taken place. No team has ever lost a series after taking a 3-0 lead in series history. Best to finish it before they head back to LA.
What about the lineup today ?
My guess: Ohtani (DH), Mookie(RF), Teo(LF), Freddie(1b), Tommy(ss), Kike(2b), Max Muncy(3b) Smith(c), Any Pages (CF)
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
More on Walker Buehler. He has fully acknowledged that he can no longer dominate with his rising 100 MPH 4-seamer. It took him until the 3rd inning of his NLDS start to become a pitcher rather than a thrower. Since that disastrous 2nd inning in the NLDS (which was not the fault of Buehler), he has pitched 12.0 consecutive scoreless innings (3 games), 7 hits, 5 BB, 11 K, and 19 whiffs in last two starts.
I am wearing my Buehler jersey today. I have a lot of friends at my Starbucks office who are die hard SFG fans, and they are pulling for the Dodgers, just for me. They always come up and ask what jersey I have on, on that particular day.
But as big of a Buehler fan as I am, even I could not envision that he would be pitching as well as he has been after his horrible August and September starts.
I do not believe Walker has yet earned a multiyear deal this Winter. So a one year deal with the Dodgers does not seem so outlandish. The range has been reported to be 1 year from $3.85MM (Spotrac) to around $10MM (MLBTR on a chat from one of the writers who will be involved in their annual top 50 free agents predictions). Everything is a guess until they are signed. But I do not believe any of the prognosticators is predicting multiyear deal. Will the Dodgers try to sign him to a one-year pillow contract? IMO, he is worth a look as much as Thor Syndergaard was, and it will not cost as much. He is making $8.025MM in 2024. $10MM does not seem like a big stretch. As we have learned over the last several years, there cannot be too much starting pitching.
I haven’t been this torqued-up since that Sunday in 1963 that Sandy beat the Yankees 2-1 in game four. A Hondo homer and a ball that got lost in the white shirts of the crowd for a Pepitone error led to the second run. I saw it then and countless times on video. 60 years from now will people be looking back at 2024? Hope so.
Lineup is posted except for the opener. Ohtani DH, Betts RF, Freeman 1B, Hernandez LF. Muncy 3B. Hernandez CF, Lux 2B, Smith C, Edman SS.
Dodgers announced Casparius as the starter for Game 4.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Sure would like to see Muncy and Smith, Lux, and Ohtani show up tonight.
There were multiple commenters who brought up body language, and Bluto pooh-poohed that. Then I turn on the World Series and at least two current Dodgers mentioned the body language of the Yankees, and A-Rod, Papi, Derek Jeter , and John Smoltz all talked about body language. BTW, I have no dog in this fight. Bluto can call it silly, but the comments on body language are no more silly than Bluto’s dismissal, since current players and 3 HOF players seem to believe there is some credence to assessing body language. Of course that body language can change with one swing of the bat from Aaron Judge.
Casparius walked a tightrope but gave them one inning. That’s it now it’s Knack time.
Score more runs Dodgers. LGD!
Hudson. Right down the middle.
Dodgers scored two in the 5th and Knack shutdown the heart of the Yankees order. Momentum perhaps back in favor of the Dodgers and Max has a very weak AB on 3 pitches.
Anybody seen Muncy?
Volpe was out.