The Dodgers are back in the postseason again, and this one came with the kind of authority that’s become their calling card. Los Angeles locked up its 14th straight playoff berth with a 4-1 win over the Reds at Great American Ball Park, and the game looked a lot like so many Dodgers wins do these days: elite starting pitching, enough offense to control the night, and very little room left for the other side.
Tarik Skubal set the tone. The left-hander, who the Dodgers acquired at the trade deadline, delivered seven scoreless innings in the opener and did it against the same Reds lineup he had already handled a week earlier.
In this one, he gave up just two runs across 14 1/3 innings in his two outings against Cincinnati during what the source called Big Red Week, striking out 14 along the way. The Reds finally broke through only late, and by then the Dodgers had already done enough.
The rest of this series is lined up to be just as uncomfortable for Cincinnati. Yoshinobu Yamamato is scheduled for the second game, Blake Snell for Game 3, and then the finale belongs to somebody listed as TBA. That’s a brutal run of arms for a Reds team that has already seen what this Dodgers staff can do.
Nick Lodolo tried to hold the line for Cincinnati. He worked a season-high seven innings and threw 104 pitches after dealing with blister issues for half the season, but the Dodgers still found a way to wear him down.
A leadoff walk eventually led to a two-out RBI single in the seventh, and Lodolo reacted by pounding an innocent ball bag with his right hand in frustration. By then, the damage was done.
And this wasn’t some one-night mismatch. The Dodgers have swept the Reds in all four meetings this season, even with only a one-game cameo from injured superstar Shohei Ohtani, who went on the injured list last week with a knee issue.
Los Angeles has outscored Cincinnati 27-7 in those four games. Add in last year, and the Dodgers’ run against the Reds has stretched to eight straight, including two easy playoff wins.
The larger story is starting pitching, and the gap between these two clubs there is glaring. The Reds had the second-best rotation in baseball last season by WAR, behind only the Phillies, and ranked among the leaders in several important categories.
This year, they’ve fallen into the bottom third in WAR and entered the week fourth from the bottom in ERA. The Dodgers, meanwhile, have the second-ranked rotation behind the Phillies this season, and they moved even higher after adding Skubal at the deadline as part of a push to become the first National League team to win three straight World Series and the first team overall to do it since the Yankees from 1998 to 2000.
For Cincinnati, the only real spark came from the same player who did most of the damage against the Dodgers in Los Angeles last week. Elly De La Cruz hit a solo homer in the ninth off Evan Phillips, giving him a home run in each of his four games against Los Angeles. Beyond that, there wasn’t much for the Reds to cling to.
In Other News...
Terry Francona Just Raised The Stakes For The Reds Front Office
With one year left on his contract, Terry Francona is already sounding like a manager who expects to be part of the Reds next step, not just this seasons cleanup. He has said he wants to help Cincinnati recover from a disappointing year, and he has publicly backed the front offices ability to improve the roster after a season that has left the club stuck at the bottom of the National League Central.
Nick Kralls view of the organizations future only adds to the significance of Franconas stance, since the expectation is that the front office and coaching staff will stay largely intact for 2027. For a team that has struggled to generate offense and came out of the trade deadline with limited changes, the message is clear: the current group is being asked to prove it can turn things around, and Franconas confidence only raises the pressure to get it right. [Read more 🡒]
Reds Prospect Is Forcing His Way Into The Conversation
Ruben Ibarras recent surge has given the Reds another interesting name to track at a time when the organization is trying to keep building momentum. The prospect was named Southern League Player of the Week after a strong offensive stretch, adding another productive note to a system that has been trying to produce more impact bats for the big league club. With Cincinnati set to open a four-game series against the Dodgers and Nick Lodolo on the mound, there is still plenty of attention on the current roster, but performances like Ibarras tend to travel quickly through an organization.
Terry Francona also made it clear he sees the front office as part of the larger push to keep improving, which only adds to the sense that the Reds are still sorting out where their next wave of help will come from. For now, Ibarra is doing the kind of work that gets noticed, especially when a club is looking for answers beyond the obvious names. The immediate focus remains on Los Angeles, but the longer view in Cincinnati keeps circling back to which prospects can turn a hot week into a real conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Elly De La Cruz Is Getting National Buzz The Reds Can't Ignore
Since Aug. 22, Elly De La Cruz has looked every bit like the kind of player who can carry attention beyond Cincinnati, hitting .419/.468/.767 with 16 extra-base hits, including seven homers. The surge has come at a time when the Reds have little left to play for in the standings, and it has only sharpened the sense that one of the sports most electric talents is doing his best work while the team around him has already been officially knocked out of the postseason race.
National observers are starting to take notice, too. On Monday, MLB Networks Mark DeRosa placed De La Cruz fifth on his list of must-watch position players in the majors, and then De La Cruz backed up the buzz with another statement swing that produced the longest Reds home run since July 9, 2024. For a club sitting at 70-80 and in last place in the National League Central, the broader appeal is obvious, even if the bigger question around De La Cruzs rise is still hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]