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Now, things are getting really good. Starting today, more teams that fought tooth and nail to reach the postseason could be eliminated from reaching their ultimate destination — the World Series. Which means that teams have their backs against the wall and anything can happen. Yeah, teams facing 2-0 deficits in a best-of-five Division Series don’t have a good track record, but it has happened before. Elimination games can bring out the best in a team.
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Division Series Digest
Dodgers Hang On For 2-0 Advantage Over Phillies
Final score: Dodgers 4, Phillies 3
Series: Dodgers lead 2-0
Next game: Phillies RHP Aaron Nola vs. Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Wednesday, 9:08 pm. at Dodger Stadium (TBS)
It was a tale of two games. The first six innings were dominated by the two left-handed starting pitchers. The last three? A sprint to the finish for the offenses. Will Smith had a two-run single with two outs that highlighted a four-run seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers held off a ninth-inning rally to escape with a 4-3 win in Game 2 of the NL Division Series at Citizens Bank Park to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. The defending World Series champions won both games on the road and now return home with a chance to wrap up their seventh trip to the NL Championship Series in 10 years.
Blake Snell of the Dodgers and Jesús Luzardo set the tone between the two NL heavyweights by becoming the second set of postseason starting pitchers to allow one hit through six innings. While that was the end of the day for Snell, who walked four and struck out nine, Luzardo began the seventh inning having retired 17 in a row. That streak came to an end with a Teoscar Hernández leadoff single and a Freddie Freeman double to chase Luzardo. After right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering struck out the next batter, Enrique Hernández hit a slow roller to shortstop Trea Turner, whose throw home was slightly off the mark, allowing Teoscar Hernandez to score from third with the game’s first run. Pinch-hitter Max Muncy walked to load the bases and Kerkering got Andy Pages to pop out. But Smith then roped a double to left to score Freeman and Enrique Hernández. Shohei Ohtani capped the rally with a single to bring in Muncy.
The Phillies got one back in the eighth as Max Kepler tripled and scored on Trea Turner’s line-drive single to center. But the real drama came in the ninth. Dodgers right-hander Blake Treinen, who had a 7.43 ERA in save situations this regular season, was tagged for a leadoff single by Alec Bohm and a double by J.T. Realmuto. Nick Castellanos doubled home Bohm and Realmuto, beating the throw to second to pull the Phillies within 4-3. Left-hander Alex Vesia replaced Treinen with Bryson Stott coming up. Stott, who struggles against lefties, put down a bunt that was fielded by Muncy, who was charging in from third on a wheel play. Muncy threw to shortstop Mookie Betts, who rotated to cover third base and tagged out Castellanos for the second out. Harrison Bader, who injured his groin in Saturday’s Game 1 and didn’t start Game 2, had a pinch-hit single to put runners on first and second. Kepler came up with a chance to tie the game, but hit a grounder to second baseman Tommy Edman, who bounced the throw that was scooped up by Freeman for the final out.
SEVENTEEN STRAIGHT RETIRED BY LUZARDO#NLDS
SCORELESS NO MORETeoscar Hernández scores on an infield grounder #NLDS
In postseason history, teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series have won that series 80 of 90 times (88.9%)In Division Series with current 2-2-1 format, teams to win G1+2 on the road have advanced 16 of 18 times (88.9%), incl 12 sweepslast to win LDS after losing 1st 2g at home: 2015 TOR
Homers, Miz Heat Fuel Brewers
Final score: Brewers 7, Cubs 3
Series: Brewers lead 2-0
Next game: Brewers RHP Quinn Priester vs. Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon, Wednesday, 5:08 p.m. at Wrigley Field (TBS)
The Milwaukee Brewers stepped into the trap and survived. Boy, did they survive. After using an opener backfired, the Brewers responded with the first two three-run homers in their postseason history and a dominant bullpen performance led by rookie Jacob Misiorowski for a 7-3 victory at American Family Field to take a 2-0 NLDS lead. The series now moves down the road to Wrigley Field, where the Brewers will look to advance to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2018. In their last five trips to the postseason, the Brewers have not gone to the next round. Andrew Vaughn, William Contreras and Jackson Chourio homered for the Brewers, who posted the best record in MLB this season.
But it was an inauspicious start for the Brewers, who went with an opener in left-hander Aaron Ashby to neutralize the Cubs’ potent left-handed bats of Michael Busch, Kyle Tucker and Ian Happ. It led to Cubs manager Craig Counsell benching Busch, the leadoff hitter who opened Game 1 with a homer, until a right-hander came in. Ashby walked two of the first three batters he faced before Seiya Suzuki drilled a three-run homer to left field. But as the Brewers did in Game 1, they had a resounding answer in the bottom of the first. After Cubs left-handed starter Shota Imanaga, in his first postseason start after appearing following an opener in the Wild Card Series, Contreras and Yelich singled, setting the stage for Vaughn to launch a three-run homer of his own to tie the game. Vaughn’s homer marked the 10th straight game Imanaga was taken deep.
Contreras added his solo shot in the third inning and Chourio, who started despite injuring his right hamstring in Saturday’s Game 1, put the exclamation point on another big offensive performance with his three-run blast to center field. In just five career postseason games, Chourio has three homers, one shy of the club record, and nine RBIs, third-most in team history.
But it was the Brewers’ bullpen that was as big of a story as anything else. While Ashby struggled in the first inning, the Brewers were lights out after that. Ashby would get two more outs, issuing his third walk and allowing his third hit, before Nick Mears finished the second inning. That is when Brewers manager Pat Murphy decided to roll the dice with Misiorowski, the flame-throwiner right-hander who had lost favor with the coaching staff as the season wound down for his erratic performance. There was even speculation that Misiorowski could possibly be left off the postseason roster. But after what the Miz did in Game 2, he has certainly earned another opportunity. Tucker was the first batter Misiorowski faced and the slugger was on the wrong end of some history. Misiorowski unleashed a 103.4 mph first pitch for a strike before the rookie turned it up to 103.7, 104.3 and 104.2 mph on the next three pitches, with Tucker grounding out to third. The 104.3 mph offering was the second-fastest in the postseason pitch-tracking era (2008) and the two at 104 mph are the only time a pitcher has reached that speed twice. The first eight pitches Misiorowski threw were 102.6 mph or better, with the ninth pitch being a curveball. He threw 35 four-seamers among his 51 pitches, with those fastballs averaging 101.6 mph.
Misiorowski, who walked two and struck out four, gave up his only hit on a leadoff single in the fifth to Nico Hoerner. But that was it for the Cubs’ offense. Misiorowski, Chad Patrick, Jared Koenig, Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe retired the final 15 batters. The bullpen made history by accounted for 7⅓ innings with 10 strikeouts while allowing just one hit. That also left the Cubs with a piece of unwanted history. The Cubs have scored three runs or less in 13 straight postseason games, the longest streak in MLB postseason history.
Misiorowski came in amped
— Jordan Bastian (@bastianmlb.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T02:02:08.731Z
By The Numbers
⚾ Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski quickly joined an elite group with his seven pitches that clocked at least 103 mph in his three-inning outing.
Updated103+ mph pitches, MLB postseason (2008-2025) Aroldis Chapman: 15 (51.2 postseason IP) Jacob Misiorowski: 7 (2 IP) Mason Miller: 4 (2.2 IP) Justin Verlander: 1 (226 IP) Everyone else: 0.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T02:29:07.268Z
⚾ The core of the Phillies’ lineup — Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos — are just 5-for-35 with 13 strikeouts and no homers in the two games.
⚾ Justin Turner started over Michael Busch at first base and the leadoff spot for the Cubs, becoming the third-oldest leadoff hitter in MLB postseason history at 40 years, 317 days old.
⚾ Of the previous 80 teams to win a Division Series after taking a 2-0 lead, 54 have come via sweeps.
Best Moments From Yesterday
15 Years Later
On the 15th anniversary of Roy Halladay’s no-hitter, the second in MLB postseason history, his sons threw out the ceremonial first pitch to honor their late father.
Miz Unassisted
Aside from his blazing fastball, people love Jacob Misiorowski for his unbridled enthusiasm.
1 UNASSISTEDJacob Misiorowski is FIRED UP #NLDS
Run Prevention
A heads-up play by Dodgers third baseman Miguel Rojas in the bottom of the sixth inning to get Trea Turner at third helped keep the game scoreless.
Miguel Rojas JUST beats Trea Turner to the bag 😳#NLDS
Noteworthy News
Naylor Doesn’t Travel With Mariners, Awaits Birth
Seattle Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor’s status for Game 3 of the AL Division Series against the Detroit Tigers was uncertain after he didn’t accompany the team on its flight to Detroit. Naylor and his wife are expecting the birth of their first child. His wife was in Arizona, where Naylor played for the Diamondbacks before being traded to the Mariners in July. Mariners manager Dan Wilson said Naylor was taking a “personal day,” while also saying the team would know more this morning about his availability for Game 3. The series is tied 1-1.
Extra Bases
⚾ Dodgers catcher Will Smith is expected to return to the starting lineup in Game 3 as he continues his recovery from a bone bruise on his right hand. He entered the first two games of the series as he built up his stamina. Also, Shohei Ohtani would be the starting pitcher should the series go to a decisive Game 5.
⚾ Boston Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez will undergo a cleanup procedure on the torn meniscus in his right knee.
⚾ The 10 finalists in each league were named for the Hank Aaron Award, given out to each league’s top hitter. Fans are able to vote, with the winners named at the MLB Awards on Nov. 13.
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