MLB Player News

The Dodgers overcame a 5-0 deficit in crazy fashion in the fifth, with Betts running hard on a squibber to first playing a key role. Anthony Rizzo looked like he’d be able to get the out by himself, causing Gerrit Cole not to cover first, but the ball was spinning away from him, and with Betts making no assumptions, he beat it out and plated the Dodgers’ first run of the game. He also knocked in the last on one of two eighth-inning sac flies. He’s not getting Series MVP honors after Freddie Freeman homered in the first four games, but he posted the best numbers of any Dodger this month, coming in at .290/.387/.565 with four homers and 16 RBI in 16 games.

Hudson was a major contributor in the Dodgers’ World Series run after tearing his ACL in 2022 and missing most of the 2023, making 65 appearances and posting a 3.00 ERA. It seems that’s going to be it for him, though. Hudson won 16 games and pitched 222 innings as a 24-year-old for the Diamondbacks in 2011, but he blew out his elbow the following season and sent the rest of his career as a reliever. He finishes up with a 3.74 ERA in 61 starts and 486 relief appearances over 15 seasons. He pitched in the postseason just three times, but two of those earned him rings, as he was also a key reliever for the Nationals in 2019.

Freeman went without a dinger tonight, snapping his personal streak of consecutive World Series games with a homer at six (he homered in the final two games of the 2021 World Series with the Braves). He did, however, have a two-run single as part of the Dodgers’ fifth-inning comeback. He drove in 12 runs in the five games, tying Bobby Richardson’s World Series record.

This might have been a much less dramatic game if Flaherty had done anything tonight. Instead, he was lit up for the second time in his last three starts. Unlike in that previous shelling by the Mets, Flaherty had his normal velocity tonight. He just gave up two homers, a double and a single anyway. He finished the postseason with a 7.36 ERA in five starts.

The Dodgers used everyone they wanted to use tonight after pulling Jack Flaherty in the second and were basically down to Blake Treinen, Daniel Hudson on a third straight day in the later innings. Treinen ended up going 2 1/3 scoreless innings and picking up the win. Buehler got the ninth and looked great, getting a groundout and then strikeouts of Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo to end the game. He’ll head into free agency in a far, far stronger position than he seemed to be in a month ago.

All of the runs scored in a brutal fifth inning which featured Aaron Judge dropping a ball in center, Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. failing to connect on an attempted putout at third and Cole choosing not to cover first on a spinning grounder that Anthony Rizzo couldn’t win a race to the bag on. Had any of those plays been made, the Dodgers likely would not have scored. Alas, Cole gave up a two-run single and a two-run double afterwards. The four hits he surrendered in the frame were the only ones he allowed on the night. He wound up going 1-0 with a 2.17 ERA in five postseason starts. The Yankees won the first three of those but lost the two in the World Series.

Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back homers off Jack Flaherty in the first, and Judge went on to reach base three more times and make a terrific jumping catch in center. Unfortunately, though, his drop on a routine fly in the fifth will probably be remembered as much as his offense tonight, as it opened the door for what turned into a five-run inning for the Dodgers. Judge finished 4-for-18 with four walks in the World Series.

Lux has reached four times in 11 plate appearances against the Yankees, but just one of those has come via a hit. The lineup: DH Shohei Ohtani, RF Mookie Betts, 1B Freddie Freeman, LF Teoscar Hernández, 3B Max Muncy, CF Kiké Hernández, SS Tommy Edman, C Will Smith, 2B Lux.

The Yankees split up Aaron Judge and Stanton with Jazz Chisholm Jr. hitting cleanup in Game 4, and it worked so well they’ll do it again. The full lineup against Jack Flaherty: 2B Gleyber Torres, LF Juan Soto, CF Judge, 3B Chisholm Jr., DH Stanton, 1B Anthony Rizzo, SS Anthony Volpe, C Austin Wells and LF Alex Verdugo.

Osuna swatted a solo homer for his second roundtripper in the AFL. The 22-year-old outfielder has impressed in Arizona with a .389 average and 1.146 OPS. Osuna will likely be depth for the Rangers in 2025, but there’s some long-term upside in his bat.

Williams has now homered three times in the AFL. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound first baseman forged an .845 OPS while reaching High-A with 11 homers in 77 games. There’s obvious athletic limitations in this type of profile and the fact he hasn’t played at the higher levels at his age is concerning, but Williams definitely has the skill set to hit for power while drawing walks.