The Dodgers are heading back to the National League Championship Series, and the matchup is set: a rematch with the Milwaukee Brewers after both clubs finished off their Division Series on Wednesday night.
Game 1 of the NLCS is scheduled for Sunday night in Milwaukee, with exact start times still to come.
The celebration in the visitors’ clubhouse at Truist Park came with the kind of swagger Dave Roberts likes to bottle up and pour right back into his team. After the Dodgers wrapped up the Atlanta Braves in four games, Roberts addressed the group and didn’t hide his belief in the club.
“We talked about this. There’s no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
We’re the best organization in sports, top to bottom. We’re smarter, we’re better, and we’re tougher.”
Roberts also used that moment to recognize a few players who have mattered along the way, including Edwin Díaz. The closer has rounded into form after returning from neck inflammation in late September, and he has now finished off each of the Dodgers’ last two wins in Atlanta.
Roberts elaborated on Díaz in his postgame session with reporters.
“He’s had a tough season. He’s been hurt.
He was having trouble with his delivery and went on a long rehab assignment. But to get him pitching the way -- that’s the reason why we got him.
The last two nights, that’s the reason why we acquired a guy like Edwin Diaz. He’s one of the great closers in the game,” Roberts said.
“For him to be pitching his best right now, that’s what you hope for, and I give him a lot of credit.”
Across the series, Díaz pitched in three games and worked three scoreless innings, striking out three of the 10 batters he faced. In Game 3, he gave up a leadoff double in the ninth inning but left that runner stranded.
For Díaz, the biggest difference was simple: trust.
“The team trusts me. I think that was the most important thing for me, the team trust me.
They give me the ball every single day. And the last two nights it’s been amazing,” Díaz said in the interview room in Atlanta.
“That’s why I came here to win games and close games like this one. So I’m really happy right now.”
In Other News...
Dodgers Get A Familiar NLCS Test After Brewers Stars Took Over
The Dodgers are getting a familiar October test, with the Brewers moving on from the National League Division Series after a 3-1 win over the Padres in Game 4. Milwaukee advanced behind a big night from William Contreras, who powered the offense with two home runs and kept supplying the kind of middle-order threat that can tilt a postseason series, while Aaron Ashby and the rest of the staff held up well enough to close out San Diego.
Robert Gasser also gave the Brewers a lift in his first playoff start, working four innings and allowing just one run, and Brice Mitchell turned in a key defensive play with a catch that kept a potential tying homer off the board. For the Dodgers, the matchup now brings back the same opponent profile that has made Milwaukee so dangerous all season: a team that can win with timely power, sharper-than-expected pitching, and a few game-changing moments in the field. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Avoided The Teoscar Scare They Couldnt Afford Before NLCS
Teoscar Hernndez gave the Dodgers a moment of real concern in Game 4 of the NLDS when he went up for a fly ball and slammed into the outfield wall. For a team trying to finish off the Braves and punch its ticket to the NLCS, it was the kind of sight that can change the feel of a postseason night in a hurry, especially with Hernndez playing an important role in the lineup and in the clubhouse energy around this group.
He stayed in the game after being checked out and later was right there for the postgame interviews and celebration, which eased the immediate worry around the collision. For the Dodgers, the timing mattered as much as anything else, because getting through that scare without a bigger setback leaves them moving on with one less thing to manage before the next round begins. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Face A Miguel Rojas Decision With NLCS Looming
Miguel Rojas status is the latest Dodgers roster wrinkle to watch as the NLCS approaches, after the veteran infielder was forced out of Game 3 of the National League Division Series with a low back injury. He sat out Game 4 as the Dodgers made the cautious choice to protect his health with a possible longer run still ahead, leaving the club to balance the short-term absence against the possibility of needing him later in October.
For now, the Dodgers have kept their playoff roster unchanged, buying time before deciding whether to make a move ahead of the next round. If they do choose to add another infielder, there is already a leading candidate in mind, but the team has not committed to that step yet, which keeps Rojas situation very much in play as the NLCS nears. [Read more 🡒]