Daily Clips

October 18, 2017

LOS ANGELES DODGERS DAILY CLIPS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017 DODGERS.COM Yu quiets Cubs as LA takes 3-0 NLCS lead—Ken Gurnick and Carrie Muskat Darvish contributes on mound -- and at plate—AJ Cassavell Ethier sees payoff of staying prepared—Ken Gurnick It's all going LA's way in dominant postseason—Anthony Castrovince Dodgers' bullpen completes 'no-hitter'—AJ Cassavell LA eyes World Series; Cubs look to stay alive—Doug Miller Wood's statement '17 leads to Game 4 start—AJ Cassavell LA TIMES Dodgers one win away from first World Series since 1988—Andy McCullough Old hand Andre Ethier gets first start, and doesn't waste opportunity—Dylan Hernandez Dodgers' bulletproof bullpen finally allows hits—Andy McCullough Dodgers aren’t showing any shortcomings even without Corey Seager—Bill Shaikin It hasn’t felt this real for Dodgers in 29 seasons—Bill Plaschke Alex Wood ready to go in Game 4 on three weeks' rest—Bill Shaikin OC REGISTER Dodgers top Cubs again, need 1 more win to reach World Series—Bill Plunkett Whicker: Dodgers win on Yu Darvish’s stuff, Cubs’ nonsense—Mark Whicker Dodgers Notes: Alex Wood ready to get back to real action—Bill Plunkett A year after ending World Series drought, Cubs can’t solve Dodgers—Andrew Seligman ESPN Your guide to Wednesday's LCS games: Astros-Yankees all tied, Dodgers can advance—Scott Lauber and David Schoenfield How did Chris Taylor go from 4A rover to NLCS hero?—Tim Keown Chris Taylor takes turn in starring role as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination—Bradford Doolittle Dodgers close in on World Series with 6-1 win over Cubs—Associated Press TRUE BLUE LA Chris Taylor highlights Dodgers’ depth & versatility in NLCS Game 3 win—Eric Stephen Dodgers’ win over Cubs in NLCS Game 3 is a walk in the park—Eric Stephen Yu Darvish walks with bases loaded, tosses bat with authority—Ryan Walton Kenley Jansen a finalist for NL reliever of the year award—Eric Stephen DODGER INSIDER The game honors Andre Ethier—Rowan Kavner Dodgers one win away from World Series—Rowan Kavner NBC LA Dodgers Take Stranglehold on NLCS After 6-1 Victory Over Cubs in Game 3—Michael Duarte CBS SPORTS Dodgers beat Cubs, one win from World Series: Final score, things to know—R.J. Anderson USA TODAY Dodgers' depth puts them on brink of first World Series since 1988—Bob Nightengale Kenley Jansen is completely unfair—Ted Berg NEW YORK TIMES Dodgers Are on the Edge of Forgotten Territory: The World Series—Tyler Kepner Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig Is an Object of Affection Once More—James Wagner WASHINGTON POST Wrigley Field falls quiet as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination in NLCS—Barry Svrluga SPORTING NEWS MLB playoffs: Cubs find themselves outmatched, fatigued and on the brink—Jared Wyllys

YAHOO! SPORTS Cubs short on explanations, time as Dodgers are one win from World Series—Tim Brown SPORTS ILLUSTRATED The Dodgers Boast Their Depth With an Easy Win Over the Cubs in Game 3 of the NLCS—Stephanie Apstein NEW YORK POST How Dodgers turned ordinary hitter into game-changing star—Kevin Kernan

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

DAILY CLIPS

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2017

DODGERS.COM

Yu quiets Cubs as LA takes 3-0 NLCS lead

By Ken Gurnick and Carrie Muskat

CHICAGO -- The Dodgers are one win away from their first trip to the Fall Classic since 1988. The

defending world champion Cubs need a miracle to avoid an early exit.

Chris Taylor and Andre Ethier homered to back a gem from Yu Darvish Tuesday night at Wrigley Field as

the Dodgers rolled to a 6-1 victory over the Cubs to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven

National League Championship Series presented by Camping World.

"Tomorrow is a Game 7," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We have three or four Game 7's in a row

coming up right now."

Teams with 3-0 leads in the best-of-seven postseason series have gone 35-1 -- 11-1 in the LCS, with the

lone exception being the Red Sox's comeback against the Yankees in the 2004 American League

Championship Series.

"I think that, right now, we're just laser-focused on trying to win baseball games," said Dodgers manager

Dave Roberts. "So that obviously, if [a sweep] presents itself, obviously it will be great. But right now our

focus is [Cubs Game 4 starter Jake] Arrieta and trying to figure out a way to win a baseball game

tomorrow night."

The Dodgers, who swept the D-backs in the NL Division Series presented by T-Mobile, have now won a

franchise-record six straight postseason games. Darvish, acquired at the Trade Deadline to be a

difference-maker in October, was the winning pitcher in the NLDS clincher against Arizona.

"When you're talking about trying to win 11 games in October, you need that front-end pitching,"

Roberts said after Darvish's second win this postseason. "That start against Arizona and tonight, this is

why you trade for guys like that."

"This is as close as we've been in the 12 years I've been here," said Ethier, who homered to lead off the

second inning. "But we know what we're capable of doing and what type of team we have. We know

what each guy's responsibility is when their name is called that night. We just go up there and do our

job, keep our heads down."

Taylor, playing in his first postseason, hit a solo homer with one out in the third and added an RBI triple

in the fifth. All of those runs came off Kyle Hendricks, who had started Games 1 and 5 of the NLDS

against the Nationals.

The Cubs needed an offensive spark, and Kyle Schwarber provided that with a solo homer in the first.

But Darvish spoiled the mood in Wrigleyville, holding the Cubs otherwise scoreless while striking out

seven over 6 1/3 innings. The right-hander now has given up three earned runs over his last 30 2/3

innings, going 4-0 in five starts.

"The home run I gave up to Schwarber, after he hit it, the stadium got really excited and all that stuff,"

said Darvish, whose only other Wrigley Field start was a loss last year with Texas, "but I was able to

focus just to pitch after that."

The Dodgers' bullpen didn't skip a beat after Darvish's exit, extending its scoreless streak to 16 2/3

innings.

"I just think winning teams have good bullpens," said Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. "The

confidence that they have right now has shined through, and it's been a big lift for our team."

Last season, the Cubs boasted the best record in the Major Leagues, and they beat the Dodgers in the

NLCS in six games to reach the World Series. Los Angeles has reversed the script this year.

"I don't think there's any need to change anything," Chicago's Kris Bryant said of the club's approach on

Wednesday. "I think we can play even more loose, because what have we got to lose? No one's

expecting us to come back except the guys in this room. I don't know if it's a comforting feeling, but I

guess it takes a lot of pressure off us because no one's expecting us to win."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

It started so well: Maddon wanted as many left-handed bats in the lineup as possible against Darvish, so

he started Schwarber in left. The slugger got the Cubs on the board with one out in the first, launching

the first pitch he saw from Darvish into the left-field bleachers. Schwarber now has four postseason

home runs at Wrigley Field, the most of any Cubs player. His six career postseason blasts overall are tied

with Anthony Rizzo for the most on the team.

"Whenever you can jump out to an early lead, you want that to be the momentum," Schwarber said.

"Any way you can get the crowd into it, the players enjoy it, I'm enjoying it. You want that momentum."

Yu must be kidding: Yasiel Puig reached on a fielding error by third baseman Kris Bryant and Ethier

singled to chase Hendricks in the sixth. Carl Edwards Jr. took over and got Chase Utley to ground out.

But Edwards walked Austin Barnes to load the bases. One out later, Curtis Granderson was on deck to

bat for Darvish, but the pitcher hit for himself and showed bunt on every pitch, stepping back at the last

second. Edwards couldn't find the zone, and Darvish drew a four-pitch walk to force in a run. No starting

pitcher has recorded an out in the sixth inning against the Dodgers this postseason.

"It was weird," Edwards said of the at-bat. "I looked over and saw the pinch-hitter and then [Darvish]

comes up. Do I wish I threw three straight pitches down the middle? Of course. But it didn't happen."

Cubbie occurrence: Alex Avila singled to lead off the ninth, the first Cubs hit against the Dodgers' bullpen

in the series. Pinch-hitter Albert Almora Jr. then lined a double to left that Enrique Hernandez chased

into the ivy. Hernandez raised his left arm, a signal that the ball was lodged. Almora was watching

Hernandez, not Avila, and both runners ended up at third base after Hernandez pulled the ball out of

the vines and threw it back in. However, the umpires had already called a dead ball and Almora returned

to second with Avila remaining at third. The ruling was reviewed and confirmed. Almora was credited

with a ground-rule double. Kenley Jansen took over and retired the final three batters.

"We're taught, in that situation, if [the outfielder] puts his hands up, you keep going just in case,"

Almora said. "Obviously, I didn't look forward. I messed up there. I was going to tell the umpire

[Hernandez] put his hands up, but he told me, 'Hey, hands up.' It would've been really embarrassing and

kind of a letdown, too [if Almora was out]. It could've started a great inning. It worked out in our favor,

and I can laugh about it now."

QUOTABLE

"We've got to find a way to win tomorrow. That's the bottom line. Win, you keep playing. Lose, you go

home." -- Rizzo

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Darvish's bases-loaded walk was the first by a pitcher in the postseason since 1977. That year, the

Dodgers' Burt Hooton walked the Phillies' Larry Christenson in Game 3 of the NLCS. Tuesday marked the

seventh time it's happened in the postseason overall.

WHAT'S NEXT

Dodgers: Alex Wood starts Game 4 against the Cubs on Wednesday at Wrigley Field. The lefty hasn't

started a game since Sept. 26 (22 days) and has never started a postseason game, although he was

scheduled to start Game 4 of the NLDS had it gone that far. In two starts against the Cubs this year,

Wood allowed one earned run in 8 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts. He pitched two scoreless innings of

relief against the Cubs in Game 4 of last year's NLCS.

Cubs: Jake Arrieta will make his second postseason start on Wednesday in Game 4. The right-hander

gave up one unearned run over four innings in Game 4 of the NLDS. He's 4-3 with a 3.33 ERA in eight

career postseason starts.

Darvish contributes on mound -- and at plate

By AJ Cassavell

CHICAGO -- The Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish precisely for October nights like these. Even then, they

probably weren't expecting him to chip in at the plate.

The veteran right-hander was excellent on the mound in Game 3 of the National League Championship

Series presented by Camping World, allowing one run over 6 1/3 innings, as the Dodgers moved within

one win of the World Series with a 6-1 victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night. But

Darvish has been excellent for the better part of the past month, so that didn't qualify as much of a

surprise.

This certainly did: Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to let Darvish hit with two outs and the bases

loaded the sixth inning in one of the game's critical moments. And Darvish -- a career .129/.156/.258

hitter -- never had to take the bat off his shoulder.

Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. threw four straight balls. Darvish flipped his bat demonstratively toward

the first-base dugout, then trotted to first, giving the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. In the process, he equaled his

walk and RBI totals from five regular seasons in the Major Leagues.

"Facing a guy who throws 95, 96 with a cutter, he's got something special going," Darvish said through

an interpreter. "I didn't think I had a chance to hit. So I just wanted to try to do something, draw a walk

or maybe get hit by pitch. Anything just to score runs."

Said fellow right-hander Brandon Morrow: "He did an awesome job of making the pitcher

uncomfortable. He was hanging so far over the plate, [Edwards] is probably thinking, 'What's this guy

thinking?' He's sticking his elbow out far and wiggling his bat and doing the Little League thing.

Whatever works. That got us pumped up to see him really commit to trying to draw a walk, doing

whatever it took."

Darvish became just the seventh pitcher to draw a bases-loaded walk in the postseason -- and the first

since Philadelphia's Larry Christenson in the 1977 NLCS against Los Angeles.

Letting Darvish bat seemed like an unconventional decision from Roberts, whose club has thrived this

postseason by going to its bullpen early. Afterward, the Dodgers' manager acknowledged that the

offense was an added bonus, and that his decision centered on using Darvish for at least one more

inning.

"Obviously, it validates and makes you feel better about it," Roberts said. "But you still have to go into

that at-bat expecting not to come away with a run right there. The story of the night, obviously, is Yu

Darvish."

On the mound, Darvish's success was a bit more conventional. He used a dominant mix of

fastball/cutter/slider to strike out seven in the first LCS start of his career. Darvish allowed a home run

to Kyle Schwarber in the first, but he didn't allow an extra-base hit the rest of the night.

"He just missed his spot on Schwarber," Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. "He made a

mistake, but he made a nice adjustment from there and really just pitched his game after that. It was

very special."

Darvish, who pitched the clinching Game 3 of the NL Division Series at Arizona, has allowed two earned

runs over two postseason starts. His success is a tangible reward for the wheeling and dealing by the

Dodgers' front office on July 31. With mere minutes remaining until the non-waiver Trade Deadline, Los

Angeles shipped three of its top prospects to Texas in exchange for Darvish.

Darvish made nine regular-season starts for the Dodgers. He started slow and finished strong. None of it

really mattered. The Dodgers had secured their place atop the NL West long before he arrived.

The success of the Darvish trade was going to be judged on his results in the postseason. So far, so good.

"You're talking about trying to win 11 games in October," Roberts said. "You need that front-end

pitching. That start against Arizona and tonight, this is why you trade for guys like that."

The clutch RBI? The Dodgers will take that, too.

Ethier sees payoff of staying prepared

By Ken Gurnick

CHICAGO -- From every move that the manager has made all the way down to unexpected production

from the 25th man, the Dodgers know exactly how they've steamrolled to within one win of the World

Series.

"Everything is going right for us," closer Kenley Jansen said after a 6-1 win Tuesday night at Wrigley Field

in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series presented by Camping World.

That's how Chris Taylor, a Minor Leaguer when the season started, leads the National League

Championship Series in home runs, extra-base hits and total bases; how Brandon Morrow, a Minor

Leaguer when the season started, has 3 2/3 hitless innings as the setup man for Jansen; how Andre

Ethier, limited to eight starts during the regular season by a herniated disk, got his first start of the

postseason in Game 3 and slugged a home run with the second pitch he saw.

In his 12th season with the club and final season of his contract, the 35-year-old Ethier never knows

when the next start will be his last. The club is more likely to pay a $2.5 million buyout than pick up a

$17.5 million option for 2018. But he's never been afraid of the moment, and his home run leading off

the second inning was pivotal in halting whatever momentum the Cubs might have created by Kyle

Schwarber's home run in the bottom of the first inning, as well as silencing the Wrigley Field crowd. It

was the fifth career postseason homer for Ethier, who also singled in a sixth-inning rally.

"Very, very happy for him, and the game honors you," manager Dave Roberts said of Ethier. "And a guy

like Andre, who has done it the right way for such a long time and repeatedly said he just wanted to be a

part of this and to prepare every single day like he's going to play, and when that opportunity presented

itself, he was ready. For him to come through and perform and pick us up the way he did is no surprise.

It's just a credit to his professionalism."

Ethier was supposed to be strictly a pinch-hitter in this series, as he was in the NL Division Series

presented by T-Mobile. But as Curtis Granderson's slump continued, Roberts finally pulled the trigger

and penciled in Ethier for his first start since Sept. 28.

"Personally, it's just been a battle to get back on," Ethier said. "Last year was frustrating [missing most of

it with a broken leg], but this was more, because I feel like I got myself back. Coming from an injury, and

then another five-month break where you're not knowing what's going to happen. Then getting my

name called tonight, it's a great thing.

"I think it was a long road just to get back to here and get on this roster. For a team this successful to

have so many options and to be someone that can be singled out and go out there and be part of the

nine, it's a big honor that Doc would, I guess, trust me, especially how things are going."

Roberts made a handful of lineup changes against Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks. In addition to Ethier

in left, he moved Taylor to shortstop (replacing Charlie Culberson, who was replacing the injured Corey

Seager), he started Joc Pederson (double and a run) in center and Chase Utley at second base.

It's all going LA's way in dominant postseason

By Anthony Castrovince

CHICAGO -- The Dodgers' starting shortstop on Tuesday night, sans Corey Seager, was Chris Taylor -- he

of the steal of a swap with Seattle, of the reinvented swing, of the 2017 season high in WAR and

wonder. Taylor, utilityman extraordinaire, delivered, because that's what the Dodgers do.

We could close our eyes, point to any part of the Dodgers' roster or just about any inning of what has

quickly become a lopsided National League Championship Series presented by Camping World against

the Cubs, and we could come up with an example or explanation for why this club is one win away from

its first Fall Classic since 1988. But in the wake of a 6-1 win at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, we might

as well start with Taylor, the 27-year-old breakout star making a bit north of the minimum salary and

making the most of the unexpected opportunity the long baseball season provides.

Here was Taylor, in the stead of the stud Seager, coming up with the biggest hits in Game 3. A

tiebreaking solo home run in the third that traveled a projected 444 feet, according to Statcast™, and a

lead-extending triple in the fifth to back a dominant Yu Darvish, who then handed the lead over to the

Dodgers' back-breaking bullpen. Speaking of backs, it was Seager's bum one that robbed him of an NLCS

roster spot, and so Taylor and a 28-year-old guy named Charlie Culberson, who has played nearly 1,000

Minor League games and fewer than 200 in the Majors, have stepped up with four extra-base hits in his

absence. Through six postseason games, all of which the Dodgers have won, Taylor has a 1.019 OPS, two

home runs and six runs.

Because, again, this is what the Dodgers do.

"You look at the talent, we're deep," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "It's a very unselfish group. So

when you take those components, you can weather a lot."

The weather for this game with an 8:08 p.m. CT start time an abnormal 67 degrees for the Windy City.

All of baseball is bending L.A.'s way in the year 2017, so why wouldn't the atmospheric state do the

same?

An air of inevitability has begun to pervade this NLCS, this postseason and this season. The twisted hand

of fate can always intervene (and intervene it did in that strange 1-16 stretch late in the regular season

that photobombed an otherwise pristine picture), but, generally speaking, it's the Dodgers' world, and

we're just living in it.

On the verge of the World Series presented by YouTube TV, the Dodgers not only have that look in their

eye, but for the first time in an era marked by rousing regular seasons and aggravating Octobers, they

have an incredible number of things going their way, even by the standards of a team that spent its

summer rattling off 81 wins in a 105-game run.

"To win the NL West five years in a row, that's a big accomplishment," Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier

said. "But I think you can get a little complacency as an organization when you keep coming up short

and thinking you're achieving something when you show up to Spring Training every year and all you

have to show is the NL West championship and not a World Series. So that was one thing we've been

talking about and addressing -- that we've got to kind of enjoy the success we've had, but we still

haven't accomplished our goal."

Ethier is another perfect example of things going well in the process of goal attainment. Before Taylor

broke the 1-1 tie Tuesday with his homer, Ethier knotted the game with a solo shot of his own in the

second inning. When he went deep, it was an alert to the sporting world at large (and probably even

some Dodgers fans) that Ethier still was with the club. That was his first at-bat of this postseason --

having walked as a pinch-hitter in Game 2 of the NL Division Series presented by T-Mobile vs. the D-

backs -- his 35th of 2017 and his 65th since the start of 2016. The veteran outfielder hadn't started a

postseason game since Oct. 15, 2015.

"Getting my name called tonight," Ethier said, "it's a great thing."

With a 25-man roster that sometimes feels more like a 35-man, opportunities must be earned, and

Roberts has been masterful in his doling out of the innings and at-bats during this postseason.

That's why it was so jarring to see Roberts yank Curtis Granderson from the on-deck circle and let

Darvish bat for himself in the sixth inning when L.A. had a 3-1 lead, the bases loaded with two outs and a

chance to break the game open. As good as Darvish had been on the hill, Roberts obviously had the

option of turning it over to a bullpen that had held opponents to a 1-for-41 showing going back to Game

2 of the NLDS sweep of Arizona. But he let Darvish bat (not swing, but bat), and in that key moment with

41,871 sets of eyes upon him, all of Wrigley Field was YuTube.

Naturally, it worked. Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. seemed spooked by Darvish's plate-crowding, bat-

wiggling stance, and despite separate mound visits from both his catcher and his pitching coach, he

couldn't throw a strike. When Darvish drew ball four on the fourth pitch, it was the greatest evidence

yet that the Dodgers' ownership of this October is resolute, if not totally unbreakable.

You want to sum up the NLCS in a single stat? Darvish has more RBIs in the series than the Cubs' Kris

Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras combined. In these three games, we've seen more of Yasiel

Puig's tongue than the Cubs' bats.

"Their pitching's been really good, obviously," Bryant said. "I think we have one hit off their bullpen the

whole series, which says something."

Oh, right. About the Dodgers' 'pen. It completed the equivalent of a nine-inning no-hitter vs. the Cubs

before Ross Stripling had the gall to let Alex Avila and Albert Almora Jr. single and double off him in

succession in the ninth. But then Kenley Jansen came in to close it out, as he's prone to do.

So yeah, pick any element you like: It's likely working for the Dodgers. On Tuesday, the hero was Taylor,

who, in the span of just three games, has become the first player in postseason history to homer as both

a center fielder and a middle infielder. If, or when, the Dodgers finish off the Cubs, it could and likely will

be somebody else. Because this is what the Dodgers do.

Dodgers' bullpen completes 'no-hitter'

By AJ Cassavell

CHICAGO -- For 9 2/3 innings to open the National League Championship Series, the Los Angeles bullpen

was -- quite literally -- unhittable.

It took until the ninth inning of Game 3 for the Cubs to finally put an end to the Dodgers' bullpen no-

hitter. By then, L.A. was well on its way to a 6-1 victory at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night and a

commanding 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven series.

If it feels like every late-inning matchup has favored the Dodgers in the NLCS presented by Camping

World, well, that's by design.

"As an organization, we've done a great job of putting together not only a roster, but a 'pen that we feel

can combat any lineup," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "[The Cubs] are very dangerous and can

do a lot of different things. But for us to be able to match up ... that obviously instills confidence in me

when I go to them in the 'pen."

Roberts fashioned four perfect innings out of his relievers in Game 1. He got four hitless frames in Game

2, with the only Cubs baserunner coming on a hit batter by closer Kenley Jansen.

On Tuesday, Tony Watson relieved starter Yu Darvish -- who was brilliant in his own right -- by retiring a

pair in the seventh. Brandon Morrow followed by getting Ben Zobrist to ground to second, completing

nine no-hit innings for the bullpen. He would seamlessly work around a one-out walk for a scoreless

frame.

When Ross Stripling allowed a pair of hits to start the ninth, Jansen slammed the door for his sixth

scoreless outing of the postseason. In seven innings, opposing hitters have combined for two hits, a walk

and 12 strikeouts against Jansen.

"You come in in the eighth inning, and you know you've got Kenley behind you -- you can attack and do

whatever you want, as long as you're not giving guys free bases," Morrow said. "You've always got that

life preserver there. Kenley's coming in to shut the door.

"You got the lead in the eighth inning? It's almost like closing. Kenley's so good, it's almost a guaranteed

win."

These days, it's a victory for the Dodgers, so long as Roberts can hand the ball to his 'pen with a lead.

Morrow has developed into something of a setup man this postseason. He's pitched in every game,

allowing one run on two hits over seven innings. Meanwhile, Tony Cingrani and Watson have served to

stifle opposing lefties. And Kenta Maeda has transitioned from the rotation into a dominant weapon

against right-handed hitters.

"Dave just puts everybody in in the best spot to succeed," Morrow said. "We haven't had any [inning]

roles, other than Kenley. Guys are ready from the fifth inning on -- earlier if need be. We're ready for

anything."

Perhaps the strangest part of this bullpen's success is that this isn't the group that built the Dodgers a

huge lead in the NL West during the first half of the season.

Maeda started 25 games. Cingrani and Watson were Trade Deadline day acquisitions. Morrow didn't

routinely pitch in high-leverage spots until July.

"You add that type of depth to the bullpen, and it seems like they just kept getting better as the year

went on," said Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. "You've got Kenley at the back, and you just keep

filling in the pieces."

LA eyes World Series; Cubs look to stay alive

By Doug Miller

The Dodgers are rolling. The Cubs are reeling. And when the clubs meet again tonight, it could mean a

trip to the Fall Classic for one and a long winter for the other.

But when the first pitch is thrown in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series presented by

Camping World (9 p.m. ET/8 CT/6 PT on TBS) at Wrigley Field, the Cubs -- down 3-0 in the series and one

loss from being eliminated -- will surely remind themselves of some history.

For one, they won the World Series last year, becoming the first Cubs team to do so in 108 years.

And two, the 2004 Boston Red Sox have already proven that it is not impossible to be down 3-0 and

come back and win the next four. They did exactly that against the Yankees in the American League

Championship Series, propelling themselves into the Fall Classic and bringing a championship to

Beantown for the first time since 1918.

Now the Cubs will look to starter Jake Arrieta, hoping that the veteran right-hander can channel his

recent NL Cy Young Award form while Chicago's quiet offense can come to life against Alex Wood, the

left-hander taking the ball for Los Angeles.

"I'm not going to sit here and throw a lot of hyperbole your way," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said after

the Cubs' 6-1 loss in Game 3 Tuesday night. "It's just about our guys. Your back's absolutely against the

wall. Tomorrow is a Game 7. We have three or four Game 7s in a row coming up right now. ... We've got

to counterpunch it at some point, and that's absolutely necessary tomorrow."

These positive words are all well and good, and Wrigley Field is sure to be rocking, but these Dodgers

are formidable -- potentially historically so -- and very close to advancing to the franchise's first World

Series since 1988.

Their methodical victory Tuesday night continued their winning streak in this postseason. They swept

the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL Division Series presented by T-Mobile, and they're up 3-0 here.

That's a franchise-record six straight postseason wins after an MLB-best 104 wins during the regular

season.

And they don't seem like they're slowing down one bit. It showed Tuesday, when starter Yu Darvish was

brilliant -- twirling 6 1/3 innings of six-hit, one-run ball with seven strikeouts -- and once again the

bullpen was even better. Tony Watson, Brandon Morrow, Ross Stripling and Kenley Jansen combined for

2 2/3 shutout innings, extending the L.A. 'pen's scoreless streak to 16 2/3 innings this postseason.

"As an organization, we've done a great job of putting together not only a roster, but a 'pen that we feel

can combat any lineup," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are getting contributions from everyone and still haven't missed injured star

Corey Seager, who is improving every day from the back injury that kept him off the NLCS roster.

Shortstop Chris Taylor homered and tripled from the leadoff spot on Tuesday, and outfielder Andre

Ethier chipped in with a long ball as well.

So the Cubs are back to the basics. Little has gone their way in these three games. They are clawing for

life. They need to win behind Arrieta and then regroup for a Game 5 at home. There's no room for error.

Not anymore.

"It's just taking one game at a time, really," Arrieta said. "There is no use in dwelling on what happened

the night before or a couple days ago and trying to look too far into the future. I think that's the mindset

that we've kind of carried throughout the season, and it's worked out really well for us."

Arrieta has made one start this postseason, a loss in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Nationals. He was

somewhat wildly effective, giving up only one earned run but needing 90 pitches in his four innings. He

struck out four but walked five, and the Cubs lost the game, 5-0.

Wood, who went 16-3 with a 2.72 ERA during the regular season, hasn't made an appearance this

October. He was set to start Game 4 of the NLDS, but the Dodgers swept the D-backs in three. He has

kept sharp by throwing simulated games.

"I feel good with where I'm at," Wood said.

Wood has a chance to win a clincher and be right in the middle of yet another celebration. The Cubs will

try to prevent that from happening.

"I think that, right now, we're just laser-focused on trying to win baseball games," Roberts said. "If [a

sweep to get into the World Series] presents itself, obviously it will be great. But right now our focus is

Arrieta and trying to figure out a way to win a baseball game tomorrow night."

Wood's statement '17 leads to Game 4 start

By AJ Cassavell

CHICAGO -- At Dodgers camp this spring, Alex Wood spent a month and a half locked in a fierce

competition for a place in the starting rotation. Wood had impressed out of the bullpen at the end of

the 2016 season, but he made it clear to the club that he envisioned himself as a starter.

Instead, in the final week of Spring Training, Wood was informed he would open the year in the bullpen.

"Did I agree with it or think that was the way we should have gone? Candidly, no," said Wood, who will

take the ball Wednesday night against the Cubs in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series

presented by Camping World. "But it's just about playing well and taking advantage of your

opportunities. It worked out pretty good."

It worked out for Wood. And it worked out for the Dodgers, who have a 3-0 lead in the NLCS and could

clinch their first World Series berth since 1988 with a win Wednesday.

By late April, Wood found himself in the rotation. By July, he was an All-Star. And by September, when

the Dodgers started mapping out rotation plans for the playoffs, Wood was squarely in the mix.

Following his final regular-season start against the Padres, Wood was informed he was in the postseason

rotation. He didn't start in the NL Division Series because the Dodgers dispatched Arizona in three

games. Instead, his first career playoff start will come in the NLCS on Wednesday -- three weeks since his

last game action.

In the interim, Wood pitched two simulated games, including an 85-pitch outing on Thursday, meant to

take the place of his NLDS Game 4 start that never happened. Wood touted the competitive nature of

that sim game, noting he prepared mentally like any other start.

"You never want to give up hits or throw poorly against anyone, especially your teammates," Wood said.

"We have some pretty talented guys in our lineup, and I've been facing them a lot. ... There are a lot of

similarities with our lineup and theirs in terms of on-base and the plate discipline that guys on their

team have. It's been a challenge and a lot of fun to prepare that way."

Wednesday will mark Wood's fifth career playoff appearance, but his first as a starter. Of course, that's

where he feels he belongs.

"I know to start the season, he was very disappointed that we had him start the season in the 'pen," said

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "He said we'd regret it. He proved to be right. He earned that

opportunity to get out of the 'pen and make starts."

Of course, there's nothing the Dodgers regret about Wood's season. In 27 appearances (25 starts),

Wood posted a 2.72 ERA. He won his first 11 decisions and would finish 16-3 with a 1.06 WHIP.

Still, in the season's final month, the Dodgers mulled the possibility of using Wood out of the bullpen in

the postseason. After all, he had proven himself effective there, unlike Hyun-Jin Ryu. Plus, the potential

for more Clayton Kershaw short-rest starts loomed.

But Wood finished the season strong, with a 2.00 ERA and just 14 hits in his final three outings.

Evidently, it was enough to convince the Dodgers that his presence in the rotation was simply too

valuable to pass up -- especially if it meant normal rest for Kershaw, a luxury that hadn't been afforded

him over the last three years.

"Did I think I would make more of an impact and be better suited to start? Yeah," Wood said. "I had a

pretty good year, and I feel good with where I'm at currently.

"This is the kind of thing that you live for. It's about rising to the occasion."

LA TIMES

Dodgers one win away from first World Series since 1988

By Andy McCullough

When his eyes registered the location of the last pitch, Yu Darvish stepped outside the batter’s box. He

stared at the umpire to be sure. It was a fastball from Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr. like the three

pitches before it, and it was not a strike, like the three before it. In October, good luck can give a man

pause.

There was only one thing left to do. Darvish roared and chucked his bat into the grass. The trajectory of

the lumber was not majestic. It felt more visceral, the stunned reaction of seeing fortune smile on the

Dodgers.

“The story of the night,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “is Yu Darvish.”

In a postseason packed with bat flips, this one in the sixth inning of a 6-1 victory over the Cubs was the

most improbable. With two outs and the bases loaded in Game 3 of the National League Championship

Series, Roberts allowed Darvish to bat for himself, even after sending Curtis Granderson to the on-deck

circle as a decoy. Roberts decided outs were more precious than runs — and he would be rewarded with

both.

The move looked curious in the moment. In hindsight, it served as another chapter in this pristine

postseason, one in which the Dodgers own a commanding 3-0 series lead, and reside one victory away

from their first World Series since 1988. Roberts manages a club in an enviable position.

Roberts operates with urgency in the playoffs, willing to insert pitchers and pinch-hitters with abandon

in search of exploiting any edge. Here he opted for restraint, hoping to extend Darvish deeper into the

game. As his team stormed to their sixth consecutive playoff victory, Roberts received the best of both

worlds: Darvish took a walk to extend a two-run lead to three, then lasted 6 1/3 innings without

permitting another run.

Alex Wood ready to go in Game 4 on three weeks' rest

Darvish surrendered a solo homer to the second batter he faced, Kyle Schwarber. He did not allow

another Cub to stand on third base. He finished with seven strikeouts. He lasted long enough to avoid

exhausting the bullpen.

“He just pitched his game,” pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. “It was really special.”

As Darvish displayed the strength of his chin, his teammates demonstrated their indefatigability. The

lineup swarmed Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks, their nemesis from last October, with homers by Andre

Ethier and Chris Taylor, then milked two runs out of Joe Maddon’s tinderbox bullpen in the eighth.

Hendricks took the mound with a lead. Darvish had given up two hits in his first postseason start as a

Dodger. He allowed three in Tuesday’s first inning. Schwarber lifted a thigh-high cutter into the left-field

bleachers for a solo shot. The blast gave away the strength of the wind as it carried out of the ballpark:

The ball would be flying. A pair of well-struck singles followed, though Darvish escaped with a pair of

strikeouts.

For the third game in a row, the Cubs scored first. An answer arrived in the top of the second. Hendricks

tested Ethier with an 87-mph sinker, and the veteran ripped a tying homer over the ivy in right field.

“Every time they get something, it’s about how we can answer,” Ethier said. “Just trying to keep them

on their heels as much as possible.”

Joc Pederson on winning and trying to close out the NLCS.

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson discusses winning Game 4 of the NLCS.

Hendricks relies on generating outs on the ground. The Dodgers intended to hunt elevated fastballs, as

Ethier did in the second and Taylor did in the third. Taylor crushed a 3-1, 89-mph two-seamer beyond

the fence in center to put the Dodgers ahead.

In the top of the fifth, Taylor delivered a run off Hendricks. After a double by Joc Pederson, Taylor stung

an 89-mph sinker past third base for an RBI triple to continue his spectacular, surprising season.

“To say I expected this to happen, I’d be lying,” Taylor said.

Hendricks stumbled into the sixth. A Dodgers rally started with an error by third baseman Kris Bryant,

who fumbled a grounder off Yasiel Puig’s bat. Ethier singled up the middle. Maddon had seen enough.

Hendricks departed and into the fray came Edwards.

The first round of these playoffs was not kind to Edwards. He pitched in all five games against

Washington. He issued four walks. He gave up six runs. His ERA was 23.14. He rebounded to collect four

outs Sunday against the Dodgers, which earned him a chance to douse this blaze.

Edwards did not crumble immediately. A walk by Austin Barnes loaded the bases, but a flyout by

Pederson wasn’t deep enough to allow Puig to tag.

That forced Roberts’ hands. Granderson returned to the dugout. Darvish grabbed a bat, with little

instruction from his manager.

Darvish did not think he could manage a hit but tried his best to seem menacing. He crowded the plate

and feigned a bunt attempt as Edwards opted for a first-pitch fastball. It sailed high. A second fastball

rose even higher. From behind the plate, catcher Willson Contreras barked at Edwards.

It hasn’t felt this real for Dodgers in 29 seasons

The jitteriness forced Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio out of his dugout. His message did not take. The

crowd groaned when Edwards fired a third fastball outside the zone. By the fourth, there was disbelief.

Edwards missed outside. Darvish roared and flipped his bat. “I was really happy,” Darvish said.

Darvish returned for the bottom of the sixth and pitched around a leadoff single by first baseman

Anthony Rizzo. Darvish pumped his fist when Taylor turned a 6-3 double play. After striking out

shortstop Addison Russell to start the seventh, Darvish was done. His teammates would handle the rest.

Tony Watson took care of the last two outs of the seventh inning, and Brandon Morrow worked the

eighth. Ross Stripling gave up two hits in the ninth, but Kenley Jansen got the final three outs, striking

out two.

“He put us in a great spot,” Roberts said of Darvish. “We just fed off him tonight.”

Old hand Andre Ethier gets first start, and doesn't waste opportunity

By Dylan Hernandez

Andre Ethier waited six months for this, seven months, really, if you count the end of spring training.

The monotonous therapy sessions, the periods of despondence and frustration, Ethier endured in the

unlikely chance he could live the night he lived Tuesday at Wrigley Field.

In the first at-bat of his first start of this postseason, Ethier was presented with his opportunity and

didn’t miss, belting a second-inning offering from Kyle Hendricks over the ivy-covered brick wall in right

field. The home run silenced the home crowd and energized the Dodgers, who went on to claim a 6-1

victory over the Chicago Cubs.

If these are Ethier’s final couple of weeks with the Dodgers, what a final couple of weeks they will be.

The Dodgers are a victory removed from their first World Series appearance in 29 years, as they lead the

National League Championship Series 3-0.

“Tomorrow’s the most important game,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to close it out

tomorrow.”

Ethier didn’t want to look ahead to the World Series, but allowed himself a moment to reflect. He is 35.

His contract includes an option for next season the Dodgers are expected to decline.

“It was a long road just to get back to here and get on this roster,” said Ethier, who was two for four.

He was sidelined because of a broken leg for the first five months of the regular season last year, but

played well enough to earn a place on the Dodgers’ postseason roster. He homered here last year, too,

in a pinch-hit appearance in Game 1 of the NLCS.

The late season made him optimistic about this year. He proved to himself he could still be productive.

He prepared his body over the offseason for the upcoming six-month grind.

“I put myself back in position, health-wise, baseball-wise, where I was the previous year,” he said.

But running from the batter’s box to first base in a spring-training game, Ethier felt something in his

back. He didn’t think much of it at first. But the pain didn’t subside and he went for an examination that

revealed a herniated disk.

“I was in disbelief and disheartened for a while,” he said.

Rehabilitation was a slow process. His projected return date was pushed back over and over again.

The nature of the injury worsened the situation.

“When I broke my leg last summer, I could still swing, I could still throw, I could still lift weights a certain

way, I could still do all these things,” he said. “I just had to stay off my leg. My back, I couldn’t do any of

that stuff.”

Unable to count on Ethier returning, the Dodgers acquired another left-handed-hitting outfielder, Curtis

Granderson.

Ethier knew he was a longshot to make the postseason roster when he was activated from the 60-day

disabled list in September. But he played well enough over 22 games to make the Dodgers invest a

roster spot on him.

“The game honors you,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And a guy like Andre, who has done it

the right way for such a long time and repeatedly said he just wanted to be a part of this and to prepare

every single day like he’s going to play. … When that opportunity presented itself, he was ready.”

That opportunity presented itself Tuesday.

When Ethier stepped into the batter’s box against Hendricks, the Dodgers trailed 1-0.

Ethier took a pitch. He sent the second crashing into a small video scoreboard above the wall.

Alex Wood ready to go in Game 4 on three weeks' rest

“This is a tough place to play,” Ethier said. “It really is. You can just feel that energy, the stadium closing

in on you.”

Ethier heard the stadium go silent.

He knew the message the home run sent to the Cubs: The Dodgers weren’t backing down. They were

here to fight.

“Every time we get something, it’s how we can answer,” Ethier said.

Ethier singled in his third at-bat.

This was the same stadium where Ethier recorded his first postseason hit nine years earlier.

A couple of weeks ago, Ethier joked about how many postseason games he played without reaching a

World Series. This is Ethier’s eighth time in the playoffs in 12 major league seasons.

Ethier’s message to himself will remain simple, similar to the one he told himself as he was trying to

recover from the back injury that cost him most of this season.

“Just getting after it tomorrow,” Ethier said. “Get the job done.”

Dodgers' bulletproof bullpen finally allows hits

By Andy McCullough

Alex Avila, a backup catcher, succeeded Tuesday where 31 consecutive Cubs had failed.

He got a hit off a Dodgers relief pitcher.

Dodger relievers had retired 29 out of the 31 batters they faced in the National League Championship

Series before Avila lined a single off Ross Stripling leading off the bottom of the ninth inning.

Albert Almora followed Avila’s hit with a ground-rule double to left field, ending Stripling’s outing after

two batters.

At that point, manager Dave Roberts turned to old faithful, Kenley Jansen, and the next three Cubs were

retired in order — the final two by strikeout.

Before Avila’s hit, the only two Cubs to reach base off the bullpen were Anthony Rizzo, who was hit by a

Jansen pitch in Game 2, and Kyle Schwarber, on a walk issued by Brandon Morrow in the eighth inning

Tuesday.

Barnes is the choice

Austin Barnes made his fifth consecutive start at catcher as Yasmani Grandal was relegated to the

bench, even with the Cubs starting right-handed pitcher Kyle Hendricks.

Roberts indicated Grandal is expected to be in the lineup in Game 4 when the Cubs start Jake Arrieta,

another right-hander. Grandal hit a home run off Arrieta in last year’s NLCS.

Roberts acknowledged Grandal’s frustration with his diminished role.

“He’s handled it as well as anyone who had been the starter the whole year,” Roberts said. “But it’s just

more about each individual game that you look at, you have to look at it like ‘Who gives us the best

chance in that particular spot?’”

Barnes spent most of the season as the primary catcher against left-handers. He began to siphon away

playing time against right-handers when Grandal’s production waned as October approached.

Barnes finished the season with a .902 on-base plus slugging percentage against right-handed pitchers.

Grandal hit 22 homers in 2017, but his OPS against right-handers was .790. Grandal possesses a stronger

and more accurate throwing arm, but the Dodgers trust Barnes’ game-planning behind the plate more

than Grandal’s.

“Defensively, they’re very comparable,” Roberts said. “Yaz throws better. But as far as the game-calling,

the blocking, they’re very, very comparable. We have two elite catchers.”

Deja vu for Arrieta

Arrieta, the 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner, will oppose Alex Wood on Wednesday.

Arrieta can file for free agency this fall. Before he faced the Washington Nationals in the division series,

he said he would try to take in all the sights and sounds of Wrigley Field in case that start turned out to

be his last with the Cubs.

Here we go again, eight days later, this time with the Cubs facing elimination.

“It is a repeat,” he said. “Very similar situation, but still optimistic, and looking forward to making a

couple more here.”

Seager working

Back in Los Angeles, shortstop Corey Seager worked out doing some drills inside the weight room,

Roberts said.

Seager has not been cleared to swing a bat or run the bases. The Dodgers hope he can play catch

Wednesday.

“How he responds tomorrow from that extra work, we’ll find out tomorrow,” Roberts said. “But I think

today was certainly a positive for Corey.”

Baez benched

Cubs second baseman Javier Baez, the co-MVP of the 2016 NLCS against the Dodgers, was benched

Tuesday in favor of Ben Zobrist.

Baez appeared as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning when the Dodgers brought in left-hander Tony

Watson. Baez popped out to first base, leaving him 0 for 6 in this series and 0 for 20 in the playoffs.

Dodgers aren’t showing any shortcomings even without Corey Seager

By Bill Shaikin

Corey who?

On the morning of the opener of the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers announced that

All-Star shortstop Corey Seager would not play because of injury. Cubs pitcher Jon Lester likened the

impact on the Dodgers to how the Cubs might have been hurt had they lost Kris Bryant, the defending

NL most valuable player. ESPN analyst Dan Szymborski calculated that the injury had reduced the

Dodgers’ chance to win the series from 57.0% to 49.9% — in other words, “Dodgers favored” to “toss

up.”

The only toss the Dodgers might have to worry about at this point: Who will toss the ceremonial first

pitch at Game 1 of the World Series?

The Dodgers have not missed a beat, or a victory, without Seager. Chris Taylor, Tuesday’s replacement

shortstop, homered and tripled and drove in two runs in a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The

Dodgers lead the series three games to none; their next victory clinches their first World Series berth

since 1988.

“This team hasn’t relied on one guy the whole season,” third baseman Justin Turner said.

Depth wins in the regular season, but stars win in October? Don’t try telling that to the Dodgers, who

had no hits Tuesday from perhaps their three most potent offensive threats — Turner, Cody Bellinger

and the injured Seager — and won by five runs.

None of the players that drove in a run — Taylor, oft-injured outfielder Andre Ethier, third-string catcher

Kyle Farmer and pitcher Yu Darvish — were on the Dodgers’ opening day roster.

It hasn’t felt this real for Dodgers in 29 seasons

“[Clayton] Kershaw went down, Corey went down, J.T. went down, Cody went down,” closer Kenley

Jansen said. “Gonzo [Adrian Gonzalez] was down the whole year. We don’t let that stuff bother us.

“That’s what’s special about this team. Whoever went down, we just try to pick them up.”

In the three games of the division series, Seager batted .273, with one extra-base hit and a .455 slugging

percentage.

In the three games they have played in the league championship series, the Dodgers’ shortstops —

Taylor and Charlie Culberson — have batted .400, with four extra-base hits and a 1.100 slugging

percentage.

The sample size is small, but the formula has been so successful that the Dodgers need not junk it for

the World Series, even if Seager is available.

In September, before he injured his back but after he reported pain in his elbow, he said throwing

caused discomfort but swinging did not. In the World Series, the Dodgers could play three games under

American League rules, which would give the team the option to use Seager as a designated hitter.

Taylor became the first player in postseason history to hit a home run as a shortstop and center fielder

— and he did it in the same series. The Dodgers have used eight leadoff batters this season; Taylor

solidified the spot in the second half.

“He’s really a spark plug at the top of the lineup,” Turner said. “Ever since he got put in that leadoff spot,

he’s been a game-changer for us.”

When he reported to spring training this season, he had played 2,400 professional innings — none of

them in center field. He became the starting center fielder on the team that posted the best record in

the major leagues.

After Culberson played shortstop in the first two games of the series, Taylor started there in Game 3. To

count him as a depth player might not be entirely fair, since he did not come off the bench, or the

inactive roster. He simply moved from center field to shortstop for the game.

So Joc Pederson, inactive for the division series, came off the bench to replace Taylor in center field for

Game 3. He doubled.

This is how the Dodgers roll. When Pederson was asked, breathlessly, about the importance of veterans

like Chase Utley and Curtis Granderson steadying the Dodgers on the eve of a possible World Series,

Pederson shrugged. Next man up, and no man gets too excited.

“Everything,” Jansen said, “is just going right for us.”

It hasn’t felt this real for Dodgers in 29 seasons

By Bill Plaschke

The Dodgers are so close to the World Series, you can hear it coming.

It crept up with the clank of Chris Taylor’s home run off a center-field roof.

It slipped nearer with the bang of Andre Ethier’s home run off a right-field scoreboard.

Then, finally, on a classically fall Tuesday night, it descended upon all of Wrigley Field with a shhhhh that

cloaked the hardy fans as if they were strangled by ivy.

It’s almost here. The Dodgers are now just one win from their first World Series appearance in 29 years

after a 6-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs gave them a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship

Series.

“Right now we’re just focusing on winning baseball games,” said manager Dave Roberts. “If something

happens within that, that would be great.”

They’ve never been this close to the Series since they last won it in 1988. And never in their 11 ensuing

postseason appearances has it felt so real.

Only once in baseball history has a team overcome a three-games-to-none deficit to win a seven-game

playoff series. The Dodgers do not appear to be the kind of team to blow that lead, and the Cubs are

clearly not the sort of team to steal it. The series clincher could come as soon as Wednesday night in

Game 4 at Wrigley, and it would surprise few if it ended then and there. If it does, they will be the first

Dodger team to sweep a seven-game series in 54 years.

Dodgers one win away from first World Series since 1988

Remember when October began and everyone wondered which Dodger team would show up? Would it

be the Dodgers who went 52-9 at one point this summer, or the Dodgers who later went 1-16? The

Dodgers that finished with the best record in baseball, or the Dodgers who once looked like the worst

team in baseball?

Asked, and answered.

“We’re kind of back to being the fun Dodgers,” said Dodger pitcher Alex Wood, who will start Game 4.

It certainly felt that way on a night that epitomized a Dodger culture that has yet to lose in six

postseason games. While they are headlined by the star power of shaggy Justin Turner and showman

Yasiel Puig, they are actually a group whose strength comes from anonymous, forgotten and unlikely

pieces that have been deftly arranged into a masterful composition.

The anonymous star Tuesday was Taylor, a smallish, quiet, bearded dude who plays huge and loud. In

the third inning of a 1-all tie, he drove a 3-and-1 pitch from Cubs ace Kyle Hendricks over the center field

wall, banging it hard off a distant roof. Taylor, who played shortstop Tuesday, also homered in Game 1

as a center fielder, becoming the first player in baseball history to go deep from those two vastly

different positions in the same postseason.

“He’s an impact player,” Roberts said. “He’s a huge asset for us.”

And, as usual, he was just getting started. With one out in the fifth inning, with Joc Pederson on second

base and the Dodgers still clinging to that 2-1 lead, Taylor lined a ball into the left corner and sprinted

past slumbering Cubs fielders for an RBI triple.

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Austin Barnes discusses the win in Game 3 of the NLCS.

So far in this NLCS, Taylor is batting .333 with two homers and three RBI in three games, all this after a

regular season during which he hit 21 homers and 72 RBI even though he didn’t even make the team out

of spring training.

Then there was one of the forgotten stars, Ethier, the 35-year-old outfielder who is beloved by Dodger

fans even though lately he’s rarely been seen on the field. This was his 1,500th game as a Dodger. He is

the longest-tenured member of the team, yet he has played just 38 games the last two years because of

injuries.

Much to the delight of folks back home jumping around their televisions, he was given a rare chance

Tuesday night and he literally knocked it out of the park, opening the scoring with a home run in just his

second plate appearance this postseason.

You think Ethier is looking forward to the clinching? Nobody on this team has waited longer. Ethier has

not only played 12 Dodger seasons, but also has appeared in 12 postseason series without a World

Series appearance.

Also rising from the lost and found was outfielder Pederson, a struggling former top prospect who was

banished to the minor leagues at the end of the summer, left off the roster for the first round, and is

only on the team because of the injury to shortstop Corey Seager. Yet there he was in the lineup

knocking a two-run double down the right-field line and scoring the game’s third run.

Finally, the unlikely piece was Yu Darvish, the late-season acquisition from Texas. He was brought here

for moments like this, and he pitched brilliantly — one allowed run and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innngs

— but how about his bat? More precisely, how about the way he held that bat still?

Old hand Andre Ethier gets first start, and doesn't waste opportunity

With bases loaded and two out in the sixth, Darvish patiently drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded RBI walk

from Carl Edwards Jr. in one of the more memorable plate appearances of the season. Indeed, he was

walked even though he has collected only four hits in five major-league seasons. It was his second

career RBI.

“When you’re facing a pitcher throwing 95-96 [mph] with a cutter, I didn’t think I had a chance to hit,”

Darvish admitted through an interpreter. “I was just trying to do something.”

The gasp from the crowd when Darvish strolled was yet another sign that the World Series is near. It

was, of course, later replaced by that silence that continued when Kenley Jansen, as usual, closed up the

victory.

“There’s nothing inspirational I can say that will make a difference,” said a resigned Cubs manager Joe

Maddon. “Our backs are absolutely against the wall.”

Just a year ago here, the Cubs fans partied so hard after clinching the National League Championship

Series, their Los Angeles visitors were stuck inside their clubhouse for more than an hour before their

bus could leave.

On Tuesday night, the place was much quieter, the streets of Wrigleyville were much emptier, and the

Dodgers’ path to the World Series was clear.

Alex Wood ready to go in Game 4 on three weeks' rest

By Bill Shaikin

The last time Alex Wood pitched in a game that counted, the Angels still were alive in the race for a

playoff berth.

It has been a while. When the Dodgers hand him the ball for Game 4 of the National League

Championship Series Wednesday, Wood will be working on three weeks of rest.

No pressure, or at least not the way Wood tells it. The Dodgers won their first five playoff games — a

sweep of the division series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the first two games of the NLCS

against the Chicago Cubs.

“We’re kind of back to being the fun Dodgers now,” Wood said. “The energy is back in our clubhouse.”

The old model of retirement is crumbling, yet there's nothing concrete to replace it.

The 11-game winning streak is a memory now. So is the 11-game losing streak.

“Our focus is locked back in,” he said, “and we feel like we’re playing the kind of ball that we know how

to play, and playing to our potential.”

Wood more than realized his potential this season. The Dodgers stashed him in the bullpen coming out

of spring training, but he joined the starting rotation in April and might have been the most effective

starter in the league in the first half.

He put up a 10-0 record with a 1.67 earned-run average. In this season of the home run, Wood faced

314 batters in the first half and gave up two home runs.

The second half was not as kind to him. He went 6-3 with a 3.89 ERA. He faced 300 batters and gave up

15 home runs.

Vin Scully talks about Justin Turner's home run, and watching rather than working the playoffs

His strikeouts went down. His velocity went down too. On the day of his final start, amid speculation the

Dodgers might use Wood in their playoff bullpen and Hyun-Jin Ryu in the rotation, manager Dave

Roberts said the team was “not prepared to make a decision.”

The next day, Wood said, the Dodgers told him he would be in the playoff rotation but asked him not to

say so. He said Tuesday that he believes his command and consistency have improved recently, and

presumably his velocity would solidify as well.

“Honestly, all that stuff is out the window at this point,” Wood said. “It’s the playoffs, and it comes

down to who wants it more and who executes when they need to execute.

“I feel I’m going to do both those things, and I’m really excited for the opportunity.”

Wood faces another starter who has struggled with command recently. Jake Arrieta, the Cubs’

scheduled starter Wednesday, walked five in four innings of his lone start in the division series against

Washington. Arrieta was limited to 10 innings in September because of a hamstring strain.

Wood has pitched in four postseason games, but he never has started one. And, while the Dodgers

regularly have provided him with extra rest this season, he has been most effective without it.

In the five games he started on the normal four days of rest this season, he posted a 0.94 ERA. In his

other 20 starts, his ERA was 3.27.

The Dodgers' bullpen has the confidence to be dangerous for the Cubs

In September, his ERA was 4.03, and he gave up as many home runs as he had in the first four months of

the season, combined.

The Dodgers hope the rest, and a couple of simulated games, have revived Wood. They will find out

Wednesday.

“It’s a little bit different than getting in the game scenario,” he said, “but I feel good with where I’m at.

Getting that time off too, [because] it’s late in the year … that part of it is probably a little more of an

advantage getting your legs back underneath you and getting ready.”

Is he ready?

“I’m really excited to have it be my turn and hopefully throw well and pass the torch on to the next guy,”

Wood said. “I’m very excited.”

OC REGISTER

Dodgers top Cubs again, need 1 more win to reach World Series

Bill Plunkett

CHICAGO — One win away.

After so many unhappy endings, the Dodgers can seemingly do no wrong this October – no, really. Dave

Roberts called a pinch-hitter back and sent Yu Darvish up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs …

and the career .129 hitter with one walk in five big-league seasons drew a four-pitch walk to drive in a

run.

Of course, he did.

As if Roberts’ impeccable use of his bullpen this postseason and the two doubles that hit chalk Tuesday

weren’t evidence enough, what more proof do you need that he and the Dodgers have some mad

playoff juju working in their favor this October?

Darvish was even better at his other job, holding the Chicago Cubs to one run and pitching into the

seventh inning as the Dodgers took Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, 6-1, at Wrigley

Field to move within a victory of returning to the World Series for the first time since 1988.

Left-hander Alex Wood – unused since Sept. 26 – will start Game 4 on Wednesday with a chance to close

out the series and eliminate the defending champion Cubs.

“We’ve been talking about this all year. We’ve been talking about winning a championship,” Dodgers

closer Kenley Jansen said. “But we can’t focus on how close we’re getting to it.

“I feel like we want it so bad. We’re desperate to win a championship and everything is going right for

us.”

It really has. Juju or the deepest team they have taken to the postseason in decades, the Dodgers have

thoroughly outplayed the Cubs in every way possible and with every piece at their disposal. They have

outscored the Cubs 15-4, holding them to a .160 batting average in three decisive victories.

“I’m not going to sit here and throw a lot of hyperbole your way. It’s just about our guys,” Cubs manager

Joe Maddon said. “Your back’s absolutely against the wall. Tomorrow is a Game 7. We have three or

four Game 7s in a row coming up right now.

“We’ve got to counter-punch it at some point and that’s absolutely necessary tomorrow.”

The Dodgers have already absorbed their biggest blow – and winked at the misfortune of losing

shortstop Corey Seager for this series.

“This team hasn’t relied on one guy all season,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said. “Yeah, he

(Seager) is a tough bat to replace. But Charlie Culberson is a great shortstop and he’s had terrific at-bats.

“That’s how it’s gone all year. If somebody goes down, the next guy steps in and goes to grinding. … It’s

literally a different guy every night stepping up.”

The Game 3 heroes – Chris Taylor, Andre Ethier and Darvish – were scattered on the baseball winds

when this season started.

Taylor was in Oklahoma City, the Dodgers yet to realize the offensive force he had become. Ethier was in

Arizona, in the first steps of another long injury rehab. And Darvish was doing his pitching for the Texas

Rangers, not yet the apple of the Dodgers’ trade-deadline eye.

All three came together to lead the Dodgers to their sixth postseason victory without a defeat this fall.

Darvish did a fair approximation of his closeout victory in the NLDS. He allowed a first-inning home run

to Kyle Schwarber and half of his six hits in that first inning but no more damage.

Last year’s epic run to their first championship in 108 years has seemingly left Cubs fans gorged and

satisfied as if after a big meal. If Schwarber’s homer roused them, Ethier’s matching solo shot off the

fancy new scoreboard in right field leading off the second took the air back out of them.

Taylor drove in the Dodgers’ next two runs with a 444-foot shot over the ivy in the third inning and an

RBI triple in the fifth.

An inning later, the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out. Joc Pederson lofted a fly ball to medium-

depth right field. Yasiel Puig feinted at third base but held – a surprising move with the pitcher’s spot

coming up.

Curtis Granderson had been on deck to pinch-hit for Darvish and moved toward home plate.

Not so fast. Roberts called him back and let Darvish hit – though that was not the appropriate verb.

Darvish danced around in the batter’s box, sort of squaring around to “show bunt or whatever he was

doing,” as Turner put it.

Roberts admitted “you have to go into that at-bat expecting not to come away with a run.”

“Yu was throwing the baseball really well and I felt he could continue to go and get us outs,” Roberts

said of the decision, adding it was “not a gimme at all” to think Granderson could have gotten a hit off

Cubs reliever Carl Edwards Jr.

“I just felt that the value of continuing to get outs and to be able to deploy the bullpen later in the game

– I just felt there was more upside for me.”

Darvish’s act – or maybe his very presence – unnerved Edwards enough that he missed the strike zone

with four pitches, handing the Dodgers an insurance run.

“It’s like if you’re in the bullpen, just throw the ball to the catcher if you can,” Maddon said. “Then their

hardest hitter comes up next (Taylor) and he strikes him out. That’s the nature of the beast.”

The bullpens in this series have been contrasting beauty and beast. While Maddon can’t seem to push

the right buttons, the Dodgers bullpen has been impeccable.

After Darvish struck out Addison Russell to start the seventh, Roberts went from Tony Watson to

Brandon Morrow to Ross Stripling to Jansen with familiar results interrupted only by back-to-back hits

off Stripling.

Whicker: Dodgers win on Yu Darvish’s stuff, Cubs’ nonsense

By Mark Whicker

CHICAGO — Long before the video boards and the corporate clubs,and long before the luxury hotels

rising across the street, Wrigley Field was baseball’s bouncy house.

Baseballs flew with the winds toward Lake Michigan. Baseballs were stopped cold when the winds came

onshore. There was the College of Coaches, and Steve Bartman, and black cats running across the field

at pennant-race time.

Visitors came into town, won day games, ate lavishly at Gene & Georgetti’s, hit the piano bars and didn’t

find their hotel rooms until the newspapers hit the door. It was the place where you remembered how

to be a kid, and how to forget baseball.

The Cubs put all that behind them when they won the World Series last year. But only temporarily.

On Tuesday night they dissolved in front of fans who remembered when they used to walk pitchers with

the bases loaded and drop fly balls in center field.

The Dodgers nearly got sucked into that wayback machine, but they won, 6-1, and took a 3-0 lead in the

National League Championship Series.

If it takes playing absurd baseball, they will do so. Nor does it offend the Dodgers that it’s working out

much easier than they imagined.

This will be remembered as the Yu Must Be Joking game, the one that came to a head in the sixth inning

with the Dodgers leading, 3-1.

They loaded the bases on a rally that began with Kris Bryant’s error. The ninth spot was up. Yu Darvish

had pitched nicely, with only 68 pitches at the time. “He was dominant,” Manager Dave Roberts said.

Still, Roberts had Curtis Granderson in the on-deck circle.

Then he didn’t.

Darvish hurriedly grabbed a bat to face Carl Edwards Jr., with two out.

Huh?

“We knew Edwards was very tough on left-handers,” Roberts said. “We wanted to get that run in there,

but I felt Yu could continue to get outs. To get a base hit there is not a gimme at all. To get out and be

able to deploy the bullpen later, that was more upside for me.”

““I went up there to try to help the team,” Darvish said. “The guy throws 95 mph with a cutter, he’s got

something special going. I wanted to try to do something, draw a walk, maybe a hit-by-pitch.”

Darvish hit .059 this year. Until July he had spent his entire career in the DH League, with Texas. He had

walked only once, courtesy of the Phillies’ Aaron Nola in September. He had four career hits.

He didn’t seem interested in swinging the bat and he never had to. Edwards threw four

incomprehensible balls. If it’s not the worst walk ever issued in the postseason, it’s in the final four.

“I thought the last one was a strike until I saw it on video,” Darvish said.

He went to first, Yasiel Puig came home and the Dodgers led, 4-1.

That brought up Chris Taylor who had homered and tripled on shots that could have defoliated the ivy.

So, naturally, Edwards struck him out and the Dodgers left them loaded.

Darvish got four more outs and the Dodgers enjoyed several Cubs’ breakdowns in the eighth. Still,

Kenley Jansen had to bail out Ross Stripling in the ninth.

Only one team has blown a 3-0 lead in a postseason series, and Roberts was on the team (Boston, 2004)

responsible for that comeback, which started with Roberts and the Stolen Base.

There were other fiascos. The Dodgers had three runners thrown out on the bases and were 1 for 9 with

men in scoring position. The Cubs were 0 for 5.

Kyle Hendricks kept the Cubs close but gave up homers to Taylor and Andre Ethier and was outpitched

by Darvish, who has given up two runs in two postseason starts with two walks and 13 strikeouts.

“You need that front-end pitching, and this is why you trade for guys like that,” Roberts said.

Indeed, Darvish is why we aren’t talking about Clayton Kershaw pitching with three days’ rest.

His fastball was hovering in the mid-90s and his cutter was freezing the Cubs, whose swings got more

resigned with each inning.

“I think I’m probably a better pitcher than I was before I had Tommy John surgery,” said Darvish, who

can become a free agent after the season. “But every year I try to improve.”

“I think we’ve got the focus that we had when we were playing so well in June and July,” said Brandon

Morrow, who pitched another hitless inning. “It’s been next man up all year. It relaxes you when you

know you’ve got Kenley pitching the ninth inning. You feel like you can throw the ball anywhere when

that big life preserver is waiting.”

Roberts was tight-lipped and the players were restrained. Part of it was knowing that the games of their

dreams were one win away. Part of it was the challenge of finding a more absurd way to win than having

Yu Darvish draw a walk.

They have outscored Chicago 15-4 in three games. The bouncy house will be operating for Game 4.

Everything else is deflated, including the sport.

Dodgers Notes: Alex Wood ready to get back to real action

By Bill Plunkett

CHICAGO — You remember Alex Wood, right? Left-hander with an odd delivery. Had a pretty good year

for the Dodgers.

Wood has had an extended sabbatical since then. Because the Dodgers swept the Arizona

Diamondbacks in their NL Division Series, Wood has not pitched in a competitive game since Sept. 26,

biding his time and pitching in simulated-game situations against his teammates.

Wood will finally go back to real work – and make his first postseason start – in Game 4 on Wednesday

night at Wrigley Field.

“We have some pretty talented guys in our lineup and I’ve been facing them a lot,” Wood said. “There

are a lot of similarities with our lineup and theirs in terms of on-base and the plate discipline that guys

on their team have. So it’s been a challenge and a lot of fun to kind of prepare that way.”

As successful as Wood’s season was (he made the All-Star team for the first time), the quality of his

stuff, and specifically the velocity on his fastball, dropped off in the second half. This extended break

could restore some of that.

“I do (think so),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think the rest piece, the mechanics piece, the

adrenaline, I’m pretty sure there will be an uptick in velocity. I think the question there is – how long can

he hold it? We know he’s going to be amped up.

“He’s as prepared as he can be. He’s like a caged lion right now.”

The long layoff “has its pluses and minuses,” said Wood who has attributed the lost velocity to ragged

mechanics more than any fatigue.

“I think we’ll find out tomorrow,” Wood said Tuesday. “I feel good. I feel pretty consistent in … the sim

games I’ve thrown. I think my command and the consistency of my stuff has been pretty good. So I feel

good.”

YU FAMILIAR

Thirteen years ago Tuesday, Roberts stole his way into baseball history. His ninth-inning stolen base set

up the tying run and helped the Boston Red Sox turn around a 3-0 series deficit in the 2004 ALCS,

sending them on to their first World Series in 86 years.

Just a couple weeks ago, Yu Darvish realized his manager was the same guy.

“About two weeks ago I guess Yu was surfing the internet, and there was an ‘A-ha’ moment,” Roberts

said. “He ran across the stolen base and kind of put two and two together and didn’t realize that was his

manager. So he proceeded to kind of awkwardly approach me about it and talked about my goatee and

how I could steal a base.

“He just couldn’t believe ‘that was my manager.’ So that was kind of funny.”

Roberts, who joked that Darvish urged him to grow back the goatee, said he never brings up his historic

moment with his players.

“But I think a message that I do bring up is the sense of just being prepared for a particular moment, and

I was in 2004,” he said. “Each guy on our ballclub, I think, can relate to that.”

STARTER STATUS

For the fifth consecutive game, Austin Barnes started at catcher for the Dodgers on Tuesday. Two of

those starts have come against right-handed pitchers (Arizona’s Zack Greinke and Chicago’s Kyle

Hendricks). During the regular season, Yasmani Grandal started 100 times against right-handed pitchers.

Barnes only started 16 times against righties.

“I think Austin has put forth some good at-bats,” Roberts said. “Yasi hasn’t had that much success

against Hendricks, and the way Austin’s receiving, the rapport with the pitchers, I think it’s been elite.”

Roberts said Grandal will start Game 4 against another right-hander, Jake Arrieta. Grandal is 2 for 9

(.222) in his career against Arrieta, but that includes a home run in last year’s NLCS.

“I think he’s handled it as well as anyone could who’s essentially started the whole year,” Roberts said.

“It’s just more of each individual game that we have to look at and who gives us the best chance to win

that game.

“To have him on the bench is big value. I’m sure he’s disappointed. But he knows he’s still a huge part of

this team.”

Back in Los Angeles, Roberts said injured shortstop Corey Seager increased his activity level, working in

the weight room, mainly doing plyometrics. If Seager recovers well overnight, he could take part of his

workout onto the field and play catch.

A year after ending World Series drought, Cubs can’t solve Dodgers

By Andrew Seligman

CHICAGO — Kyle Schwarber had the fans roaring, thinking the Chicago Cubs just might be ready to

tighten the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers.

Turns out, Schwarber’s first-inning home run was about all they had to cheer.

After knocking out the Dodgers in six games last fall on the way to their first World Series championship

since consecutive titles in 1907 and 1908, hopes of another parade are just about dashed.

“Tomorrow is a Game 7. We have three or four Game 7s in a row coming up right now,” Cubs manager

Joe Maddon said.

Jake Arrieta will try to keep the series going when he opposes Dodgers lefty Alex Wood on Wednesday

night. Arrieta can become a free agent this winter, so it might be his final start for Chicago. And unless

the Cubs get their hitting and bullpen in order, the season could come to a close.

The Cubs have been in tough spots before, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat Cleveland in seven games

for the World Series title last year. They also pulled out a wild victory at Washington in Game 5 of the

NLDS this month after failing to close out the Nationals at Wrigley Field.

But the Cubs are hitting .160 with four extra-base hits through three games against the Dodgers.

“Of course we expected more,” Maddon said. “It’s somewhat surprising. I don’t want to use the word

disappointing.”

Batting second, Schwarber hit an opposite-field drive to left-center for a 1-0 lead in the first. From there,

the offense stalled again as Chicago managed just six harmless hits in 6-1/3 innings against winner Yu

Darvish, who threw 59 of his 81 pitches for strikes.

Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks gave up four runs (three earned) and six hits, including solo homers to Andre

Ethier and Chris Taylor.

The Dodgers led 3-1 with runners on first and second and none out in the sixth when Carl Edwards Jr.

relieved Hendricks and walked Austin Barnes with one out. Joc Pederson flied out and Edwards walked

Darvish on four pitches. After Taylor struck out to end the rally, boos came ringing from the Wrigley

Field stands.

Mike Montgomery gave up two more runs in the eighth. With runners on first and second, pinch-hitter

Charlie Culberson struck out, only for the pitch to ricochet off catcher Willson Contreras’ arm for a

passed ball that allowed Logan Forsythe to score. With runners at the corners, Kyle Farmer followed

with a sacrifice fly.

Darvish answered with key outs when he needed them. He struck out Jon Jay on a called third strike

with runners at first and second to end the first. After Addison Russell hit an infield single and advanced

to second on a walk to Jason Heyward in the fourth, Darvish struck out Hendricks on a 96 mph fastball to

end the threat.

The Dodgers’ deep farm system enabled them to trade three prospects to the Rangers for Darvish

shortly before the July 31 trade deadline while retaining their top two prospects — pitcher Walker

Buehler and outfielder Alex Verdugo.

The roots of the Dodgers farm system were cultivated by scouting director Logan White, now with the

Padres. Among White’s prized draft picks were three-time NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw,

2016 NL Rookie of the Year Corey Seager (currently out with a back injury), Pederson and Cody Bellinger

— a strong favorite for the 2017 NL Rookie of the Year award.

One of White’s misses, pitcher Zach Lee, was traded to the Mariners for Taylor in 2016 in one of the

most lopsided deals in the last two seasons.

The Cubs can point to the fact they were down 2-1 to the Dodgers in the NLCS last year and trailed the

Indians 3-1 in the World Series and still rode in a championship parade down Michigan Avenue. But

nothing about this NLCS feels like 2016. This felt more like 2015, when the Mets swept the Cubs.

In all three games this time, the Cubs have scored first.

“It’s weird,’’ Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant said. “The team that scores first usually wins and we’re 0

for 3.’’

The dominant Dodgers pitching “speaks for itself,’’ first baseman Anthony Rizzo said.

“They shut us down again,’’ he added.

The Cubs have offered their fans little reason to expect a baseball miracle, stifled by the Dodgers bullpen

in every game.

“I’ve got the little wristband on, ‘We never quit,’ ’’ Maddon said. “Something we’ve talked about the last

three years. Not easy. Obviously. It’s been done before. Theo (Epstein) saw it (with the Red Sox). So we

have to figure out a way. There is nothing inspirational I could possibly say that’s going to make a

difference. We’ve just got to go out and play our normal game.’’

ESPN

Your guide to Wednesday's LCS games: Astros-Yankees all tied, Dodgers can advance

By Scott Lauber and David Schoenfield

The most important thing of the day: The Cubs' title defense could end, meaning the 1998-2000 Yankees

would remain the last team to repeat as World Series champs.

ALCS Game 5: Astros at Yankees (series tied 2-2)

Dallas Keuchel (14-5, 2.90) vs. Masahiro Tanaka (13-12, 4.74), 5:08 p.m. ET (FS1)

Dallas Keuchel has a 0.71 ERA in two starts so far in the playoffs. Bob Levey/Getty Images

The stakes: The winner moves to the doorstep of the World Series, the loser to the brink of elimination.

No pressure. But seriously, of the 58 previous best-of-seven postseason series that were tied 2-2, the

Game 5 winner has gone on to win the series 41 times (70.7 percent). It's hardly hyperbole, then, to say

the series could hinge on Wednesday's game.

If the Yankees win: The noise level inside Yankee Stadium will be ear-splitting. The Yanks will be one win

from reaching the World Series for the 41st time in franchise history and the first since 2009 -- and they

will have two cracks at getting it at Minute Maid Park.

If the Astros win: Everyone will forget all about their eighth-inning meltdown in Game 4. The Stros will

be one win from reaching the World Series for only the second time in franchise history. With ace Justin

Verlander expected to start Game 6 and the series shifting back to Houston, they will love their chances.

One key stat to know: Keuchel threw an average of 11 changeups per start this season. In Game 1, he

threw only one. The reason: His two-seamer and slider had enough late movement to keep the Yankees'

hitters in check. Now, as he faces them again only four days later, he might be able to feature his

changeup more prominently.

"Through the course of the game, pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, it seemed like there was no need to

change up what was working," Keuchel said, pun unintended. "I'm a big stickler, if I can go with Plan A

and they don't make adjustments or I don't need to make adjustments, then I'm not going to show Plan

B. The changeup is usually the second- or third-best pitch, and for me not to use it, hopefully it will come

into play for me [in Game 5]."

The matchup that matters most: For the Yankees, it's all about getting Keuchel out of the game and

forcing the Astros' combustible bullpen to get as many outs as possible. In Game 4, Houston relievers

gave up five runs and recorded six outs, an implosion that manager A.J. Hinch kindly described as "not a

great visual from my side of the dugout." It wasn't an isolated performance either. In eight postseason

games, Astros relievers have combined for a 6.20 ERA, 1.42 walks/hits per inning pitched and 7.3

strikeouts per nine innings. Don't be surprised if starter Brad Peacock plays a role out of the bullpen in

Game 5.

The prediction: The Astros talked a good game Tuesday night, but Game 4 was a crusher. The Yankees

had the best home record in the AL during the season and are 5-0 in the Bronx in the postseason. Even

with their nemesis, Keuchel, on the mound, it would be foolish to bet against the Baby Bombers now.

Yankees win a close one, 3-2.

NLCS Game 4: Dodgers at Cubs (Dodgers lead 3-0)

Alex Wood (16-3, 2.72) vs. Jake Arrieta (14-10, 3.53), 9:01 p.m. ET (TBS)

Could Game 4 mark Jake Arrieta's last game in a Cubs uniform? Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The stakes: The Dodgers are trying for the sweep while the Cubs are trying to stay alive. For Arrieta,

barring a miracle comeback in the series, it's also probably his final game in a Cubs uniform. He's a

free agent, he wants to get paid and the Cubs will probably let him walk -- the Jose Quintana deal

seemed to seal that fate. If it is his final game, it was quite a run: Over the past four seasons, Arrieta

went 64-29 with a 2.67 ERA. Only Clayton Kershaw had a better ERA among starters.

If the Dodgers win: They head to their first World Series since 1988 and would have five days of rest

before Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday. The days off didn't seem to be an issue heading into

the NLCS, but Kershaw would be starting the World Series opener on nine days' rest. Pitchers are

creatures of habit, so you worry a little bit about all the extra time off, but it probably beats heading

into the World Series with a pitching staff that was worked hard in the NLCS.

If the Cubs win: Hey, if anybody knows about comebacks it would be Theo Epstein. Only one team has

bounced back from a 3-0 series deficit: His 2004 Red Sox in the ALCS against the Yankees.

One key stat to know: Alex Wood hasn't pitched since Sept. 26, and since he faded a bit in the second

half after making the All-Star team, it's easy to forget how good he was this season. After giving up

two home runs in 80⅔ innings before the break, he gave up 13 in 71⅔ innings after the break. So if the

Cubs are to beat him, they're going to have to do it with the long ball.

Wood has kept busy throwing a couple of simulated games, including an 85-pitch game late last week.

He says he's ready to go and that maybe the layoff will help. "I felt pretty consistent in my last two

starts, the sim games I've thrown. I think my command and the consistency of my stuff has been

pretty good. So I feel good. Honestly, all that stuff's out the window at this point. It's the playoffs and

it comes down to who wants it more and who executes when they need to execute. I feel like I'm

going to do both those things."

The matchup that matters most: Arrieta versus his pitch count. The Cubs just haven't gotten any

length from their starting pitchers all postseason. After Kyle Hendricks went seven innings in the

playoffs opener, they've gotten 6, 5⅔, 4, 4, 5, 4⅔ and 5. The results haven't been bad -- a 2.40 ERA and

five home runs given up in 41⅓ innings -- but the short outings have meant a lot of work from a

bullpen that has had trouble throwing strikes, as best witnessed by Carl Edwards Jr. walking Yu

Darvish on four pitches with the bases loaded in Game 3, or Mike Montgomery's wild throw on a

strikeout that Willson Contreras couldn't corral before it ended up in the Cubs' dugout, helping the

Dodgers score their last two runs.

Arrieta gave up only one run in his NLDS start but walked five batters in four innings. He says the

hamstring issue that sidelined him much of September isn't an issue. "I think the leg issue is pretty

much behind us," he said Tuesday. "I think the extra days we had leading up to my first start were

very necessary. So I don't see it as being a factor anymore."

The prediction: Sorry, Cubs fans, it's going to be a sweep. Wood alluded to how, "We're kind of back

to being the fun Dodgers now the way we've played and the energy is back in the clubhouse." This is

obviously not the Dodgers team that lost 16 of 17 games. The Dodgers are locked in, they have the

better bullpen and the Cubs aren't hitting. Dodgers win 5-3.

How did Chris Taylor go from 4A rover to NLCS hero

By Tim Keown

Chris Taylor plays baseball like he can't believe his good fortune, and doesn't entirely trust it will last.

This is most evident when he is on base, scurrying from one to the next like he's afraid someone in the

dugout will take his job if he doesn't rush back to claim it. He's easy to spot out there: usually the only

guy with the old-school stirrups, teeth visible at all times.

He is a most unlikely star; maybe the most unlikely. I spent 14 games with the Dodgers in August and

September, and during that stretch, I watched Taylor stand at his locker and endure the same well-

meaning but loaded question almost every day: How did this happen? He doesn't have much to say. He

changed his swing. He got some confidence. He found a team that believed in him. He stares blankly at

reporters who try to extract more; maybe he sees disbelief in their eyes, or worse yet, catches a whiff of

patronage that suggests he should enjoy it while it lasts.

But it is remarkable, and unexpected, and in need of further explanation. In parts of three seasons with

the Mariners and Dodgers, Taylor had never established himself as anything more than a quiet, hard-

working guy who couldn't hit. Before this season, he had one homer in 371 plate appearances; he hit 21

this year and added two more in the first three games of the NLCS. An extended late-season slump did

drop his OPS from .932 on Aug. 19 to a season-ending .850, but he has seven hits and has scored six runs

in his first six postseason games.

Adding to the mystery, I'd been told that spectral forces outside the big league ecosystem are

responsible for transforming Taylor, 27, from a 4A -- too good for Triple-A, not good enough for the

majors -- player with the Mariners into a revelation. It's a little dicey; big league coaches are proprietary

and for the most part conventional. There's an ongoing jiu-jitsu between them and the growing number

of individual gurus whose teachings often begin on the margins and stray from there.

My search for explanation led to Rancho Cucamonga, about 40 miles east of Los Angeles, and Craig

Wallenbrock, a 71-year-old hitting consultant who quit the baseball team at San Diego State in the late

'60s to become "a hippie, pot-smoking surfer living on Mission Beach." His background has created a

mentality that accepts differences and despises labels, and he has to be the only hitting coach in

recorded history -- well, in baseball, anyway -- who teaches based on the precepts of a 374-year-old

text. He has a booming voice, a bottomless well of self-confidence and a bum ankle that feels better

today after yesterday's cortisone shot.

Taylor sought out Wallenbrock, who was by then a consultant for the Dodgers, and his 30-year-old

assistant, Robert Von Scoyoc, last fall after learning how they had turned a then-unemployed J.D.

Martinez into All-Star a few years back. Taylor was in Arizona during the playoffs, working out in case

the Dodgers needed him, when he decided to work with Wallenbrock in an attempt to trade his bottom-

of-the-order lifestyle for something more dramatic. It wasn't an easy decision; Taylor was an up-and-

down big leaguer. It wasn't a bad living. "It's a scary thought to completely change what you're trying to

do and maybe risk the possibility of going backward," he says. "At my age, that would really hurt my

career and make it hard to change your viewpoint within an organization."

The scouting report on Taylor, as relayed to Wallenbrock by the organization: This guy's never had

power; he's a contact hitter, can hit behind the runner, bunt a guy over.

"Thank you very much for the advice," Wallenbrock said, "and f--- you."

Sometimes revolutions begin with a simple premise, and the elevation/launch angle revolution that

transformed Taylor's game -- espoused by Wallenbrock since the '90s but popularized only recently --

started as a matter of cartography. There are five fielders (counting the pitcher) assigned to cover the

infield, and three to cover the much larger area in the outfield. It seems obvious to Wallenbrock that

hitting the ball in the air to the outfield affords the hitter the best chance of getting a hit.

"Craig is the godfather of the hitting revolution," Von Scoyoc says. "He's not more widely known

because he's chosen not to be. He's gotten tongue-lashings from the establishment. Launch angle?

What's launch angle? Their attitude was, 'Craig, you're some idiot that doesn't know what you're talking

about.'

"Eventually, the nerds always win. It's starting to trickle down from the front office to player

development and into the batting cage."

Wallenbrock is sitting in the manager's office for the Dodgers' Single-A club, the Rancho Cucamonga

Quakes, and he is engaging in a ribald and hilarious riff on hitting, analytics and whatever else happens

to pass through his well-read mind. When the Dodgers first approached him about joining the

organization as a consultant, he said, "Absolutely not. I'm much happier in my private environment

where I don't have to put up with the politics and the bulls---." Part of the reason, he says, goes back to

his favorite moment as a coach: when a player tells him he doesn't need him anymore. "I tell every guy I

work with, 'I'm not satisfied with the job I've done until you tell me to go to hell.'"

It's an odd mission statement, but it's also just the beginning. Wallenbrock really engages when he

begins talking about Eastern philosophy and samurai swords and a 1643 book written by Miyamoto

Musashi titled "The Book of Five Rings: A Classic Text on the Japanese Way of the Sword," which figures

prominently in Wallenbrock's instruction.

"The samurai soldier must always control his blade," Wallenbrock says. "If I have three guys charging me

and I lose my blade to get the first one, the next two are going to slay me. But if I can maintain my blade

all the way through" -- here Wallenbrock stands and slow-motions his way via upward trajectory

through three imaginary foes -- "I can cut through three warriors at once."

This relates to baseball, and Taylor, I promise. The bat is, of course, the sword, and in both disciplines

the blade must follow the handle. Wallenbrock identifies the "three warriors" in baseball as the fastball,

slider and changeup. The "warrior" that gets to the hitter first is the fastball. "We have to be in position

to fight him first," Wallenbrock says, "and yet continue through to get the other two."

He's walking toward the field in Rancho Cucamonga to work with a group of hitters on the Dodgers'

Single-A team. They greet him enthusiastically as he leans against the dugout rail. They're in their late

teens or early 20s, a bunch of ambulatory hormones trying to see who can hit a ball farthest. To them,

1643 probably seems like a long time ago.

"Do these guys get any of this?" I ask.

"No," he says without hesitation. "It's really hard."

We've been talking for more than an hour, and we've barely touched on the impact PitchTrax has had

on umpiring or how a hitter has to have a higher launch angle -- say, 26 degrees -- against an over-the-

top pitcher like Clayton Kershaw, and a lower one -- say, 10 degrees -- against a low three-quarter

pitcher like Madison Bumgarner. He hasn't even gotten into the details of posture (Musashi's rule No. 1

for the successful samurai) or the finer points or a hitter's relationship to the earth, but I have to get

back to Los Angeles for Dodgers-White Sox.

"I just gave you an hors d'oeuvres," he says. "We haven't even sat down for dinner."

Driving from one ballpark to the next, I keep thinking about the way Taylor sighs when he's asked, one

more time, to document his transformation. And so he keeps it simple, and quick: a new swing, more

confidence, just getting a chance. It makes perfect sense now. Who would believe the rest of it?

Chris Taylor takes turn in starring role as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination

By Bradford Doolittle

CHICAGO -- Another game, another hero, and a perfect postseason continues for the title-starved Los

Angeles Dodgers.

This time it was Chris Taylor taking his star turn, fulfilling a teammate's wish after Game 2, as the

Dodgers pushed the champion Chicago Cubs to the brink of elimination with a 6-1 win Tuesday at

Wrigley Field. Taylor hit a mammoth home run off Kyle Hendricks and drove in another run with a triple

as L.A. put a stranglehold on the National League Championship Series, leading three games to none.

Taylor, a player who had one big league homer in 120 games before this season, now has two in the

NLCS, continuing an unlikely breakout campaign that started with an overhaul to his swing that he

underwent with the Dodgers' coaching staff.

"To take a chance on trying to learn a new swing and to bet on yourself, and that's what he did,"

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "He committed to it. We saw early in spring training he was a

different hitter."

The Dodgers improved to 6-0 during this playoff run, the longest postseason win streak in franchise

history. After the game, the Dodgers, on the cusp of their first pennant in 29 years seemed ... business-

like?

"We'll come in tomorrow and figure out a way to win a ballgame," third baseman Justin Turner said.

"That's kind of been the way we've gone about it all year long. Whatever happened the day before

doesn’t matter."

Turner won Game 2 with a three-run, walk-off homer off Chicago's John Lackey -- a moment set up by

the walk Taylor drew against Lackey with Turner on deck and a man on second base.

About a half-hour later, Turner went to the media room in the bowels of Dodger Stadium and said, "I

wanted to see C.T., to finish it. I thought he was going to get the big hit."

Well, Taylor got two big hits on Tuesday. With the score knotted at 1-1 in the third, he jumped ahead of

Hendricks and unloaded a home run that cleared the batter's eye beyond the ivy-covered center-field

wall.

Statcast measured Taylor's blast at 444 feet -- the longest homer it has tracked in this postseason. Taylor

said he knew early on that the tweaks to his game were going to help.

"To say I expected it to happen as fast as it did, I'd be lying," Taylor said. "Pretty much I felt really good

right in spring training, which I was pretty shocked to see that kind of results that fast."

Taylor's home run was the Dodgers' fourth go-ahead homer of the postseason. He has hit two of them,

and Turner has hit the other two.

Both of Taylor's homers have come in the NLCS, which makes him the first Dodger to hit multiple go-

ahead blasts in the NLCS since Steve Garvey did so in 1978.

"[Taylor's] at-bats are as professional as anyone in the lineup," Turner said. "He controls the strike zone

extremely well. He's really a spark plug at the top of the lineup. That's why ever since he was put in that

lead-off spot, he's [been] a game-changer for us."

Taylor showed off his speed in the fifth by lacing a drive into the left-field corner and turning on the jets

as he rounded second base. He slid into third ahead of the throw from Chicago's Kyle Schwarber, driving

in Joc Pederson.

Oh, and there is this: Taylor was making his first playoff start at shortstop in Game 3 after starting the

first two games in center field. He became the first player ever to hit homers at both positions in the

same postseason.

"To be able to start him in center field the first couple games and then to start him at short," Roberts

said, "and to get on base, to slug, drive runs in, catch the baseball -- he's a huge asset for us."

The reason Taylor was playing shortstop, of course, is that star Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager was left

off L.A.'s NLCS roster because of a sore back. That was a cause of much anxiety when the announcement

was made last weekend, a sentiment summed up by Seager himself, who said, "It sucks, to be honest."

Between Taylor and Charlie Culberson, who played short in the first two games of the NLCS, the Dodgers

have actually gotten more production from Seager's position than they did in the NLDS.

Seager went 3-for-11 with one extra-base hit during L.A.'s sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Taylor

and Culberson have gone a combined 4-for-10 with four extra-base hits while playing short.

"It's kind of been next-man-up all year," reliever Brandon Morrow said after helping the Dodgers'

impermeable bullpen stretch its scoreless streak to 10⅔ innings in the NLCS. "We've had guys step up in

so many different situations. Through that amazing stretch we had in June and July, it seemed like it was

a different guy every night. That's really been the feeling this postseason."

Taylor's performance overshadowed another outstanding outing by Yu Darvish, who shut down the Cubs

over 6 1/3 innings. Darvish allowed Schwarber's solo homer in the first inning but limited Chicago to one

run and six hits while striking out seven. He was efficient as well, throwing just 81 total pitches.

The only emotion the always-cool Darvish displayed on the field came when he drew a four-pitch, bases-

loaded walk off Carl Edwards Jr. in the sixth to put the Dodgers up 4-1.

"When I stood on the mound, facing a guy who throws 95, 96 with a cutter, he's got something special

going,” Darvish said through an interpreter. “I didn't think I had a chance to hit. I just wanted to try to do

something -- draw a walk or maybe get hit by pitch. Anything just to score runs.”

Darvish had just one career RBI and one career walk before that plate appearance. He became the first

pitcher to be walked with the bases loaded in a postseason game since Philadelphia’s Larry Christenson

walked against the Dodgers in the 1977 NLCS.

As Darvish walked off the mound in the seventh, he gave plate umpire Mike Winters a salute. And why

not? Darvish's 42 percent called-strike rate was his third-highest of the season.

"The story of the night, obviously, is Yu Darvish," Roberts said. "After that first homer that he gave up on

the cutter that backed up, he was dominant. He just had that rhythm, the poise and didn't allow a whole

lot of hard contact. He put us in a great spot, and we just fed off of him tonight."

Still, the night also belonged to Taylor, and who could have predicted such a thing would happen when

teams reported to spring training way back in February? Taylor had hit .240 over three big league

seasons and was traded to L.A. from Seattle in an unheralded move in 2016.

Taylor fits the mold of quite a few of the current Dodgers: strugglers turned into stalwarts. He had

untapped innate abilities that he has been able to tap into in L.A., in his case through a swing

reconstruction at an age when most players would be averse to such a makeover.

"I knew I had to kind of make that drastic change right away and get out of my comfort zone," Taylor

said. "Had no expectations going into it. I always have confidence in my ability, and obviously, I was

hoping it would come."

Indeed, it did. Taylor ended up as one of the NL's breakout players in a season in which he turned 27

years old. He hit .288 with 21 homers, 72 RBIs and 17 steals while playing five positions.

That full range of skills was on display Tuesday in front of a jam-packed crowd at Wrigley Field that

didn't want to see it. Now, with one more win, the Dodgers will earn their first NL pennant and first shot

at a World Series title since 1988.

One more win. But don't tell anyone on the Dodgers that's all they need, even though 29 of the 36

teams that took a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series went on to sweep.

"We've got to put it behind us," closer Kenley Jansen said after getting the last three outs of the game.

"We're not getting excited over this.

"We've been talking about it all year: trying to win a championship. We know how hard it is. We can't be

excited and all that. We have to continue playing good baseball."

Dodgers close in on World Series with 6-1 win over Cubs

By Associated Press

CHICAGO -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have a tough lineup, a talented pitching staff and a manager

making all the right moves.

Yup, it's beginning to look a lot like 1988.

Yu Darvish pitched sparkling ball into the seventh inning, Chris Taylor homered again and the Dodgers

beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 on Tuesday night to open a 3-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.

Andre Ethier also went deep and Taylor added an RBI triple in the fifth as Los Angeles improved to 6-0 in

this postseason, setting a franchise record for consecutive playoff wins. Yasiel Puig had two more hits in

another entertaining performance that included an impressive bat flip -- on a long foul ball in the first

inning.

"The focus has certainly been heightened in the postseason," manager Dave Roberts said.

Looking for a four-game sweep and their 22nd pennant, the Dodgers will send Alex Wood to the mound

Wednesday night at Wrigley Field with a chance to reach the World Series for the first time since Hall of

Famer Tommy Lasorda managed Kirk Gibson, Orel Hershiser and Co. to the club's last championship 29

years ago.

Jake Arrieta, eligible for free agency after the season, pitches for the Cubs in what could be his final start

with the team.

"I think we've won four games in a row before," Chicago slugger Kris Bryant said. "Obviously, it's going to

be a tougher road. But it'll make the story that much better. Can you imagine that?"

Los Angeles was eliminated by Chicago in the NLCS last year, but this is a different group of Dodgers.

Their patient lineup is coming up big in key spots and the pitching staff is much deeper, especially since

Darvish was acquired in a trade with Texas in the final minutes before the July 31 deadline.

Not even a return to Wrigley could get the Cubs back on track after a rough stay in Los Angeles. Chicago

manager Joe Maddon juggled his lineup, inserting Kyle Schwarber into the No. 2 slot and benching

slumping second baseman Javier Baez, but the defending World Series champions were shut down by

another Dodgers starter and more stellar relief from the NL West champions.

"I really didn't change much approach-wise from first inning until the end of the game," Darvish said

through a translator. "I just kept pitching the same way."

Making their third straight appearance in the NLCS, the weary Cubs also hurt themselves with a couple

of big mistakes. Carl Edwards Jr. walked Darvish on four pitches with the bases loaded and two outs in

the sixth, continuing a rocky postseason for the reliever and leading to a round of boos from a frustrated

crowd of 41,871.

A passed ball brought home another run in the eighth, and pinch hitter Kyle Farmer hit a sacrifice fly to

make it 6-1.

Darvish departed after striking out Addison Russell in the seventh, pausing for congratulations from his

whole infield before heading to the dugout. The Japanese right-hander allowed six hits, including

Schwarber's first-inning homer, in his second career playoff win -- both this year. He struck out seven

and walked one.

Tony Watson got two outs, Brandon Morrow worked the eighth and Kenley Jansen closed it out after

Ross Stripling gave up two hits in the ninth. With Roberts pushing the right buttons, Los Angeles' bullpen

has yet to allow a run in the series.

"I think everybody's just been attacking," Morrow said. "That's the No. 1 thing."

The only four-game postseason sweep for the Dodgers came in the 1963 World Series against the New

York Yankees. If Los Angeles can finish off Chicago on Wednesday, the Dodgers would have five days off

before hosting the Yankees or Houston Astros in the World Series opener.

"We knew today was the most important game, and now tomorrow's the most important game," Ethier

said. "We're going to come out and figure out how to get the job done again."

Schwarber's sixth career postseason homer got Chicago off to a fast start, but Jon Jay struck out with

two on to end the inning. The Dodgers responded with Ethier's leadoff drive in the second and Taylor's

second homer of the series in the third, a mammoth shot to center off losing pitcher Kyle Hendricks.

"We had a chance obviously, early," Maddon said. "We hit some balls well early in the game, and then

he settled in."

Ethier had two hits in his first start of this year's playoffs after he missed most of the season with a

herniated lumbar disk. Taylor also had two hits and is 4 for 14 for the series, helping make up for the

loss of All-Star shortstop Corey Seager to a back injury.

ON THIS DAY

Tuesday was the 13th anniversary of Roberts' memorable stolen base for Boston in Game 4 of the 2004

ALCS against the New York Yankees. The Red Sox were three outs from elimination when Roberts ran for

Kevin Millar, swiped second and scored on Bill Mueller's single.

Boston went on to rally past New York and sweep St. Louis for its first World Series championship since

1918. Roberts said he never mentions the steal to his players, but it comes up occasionally.

"Yu Darvish about two weeks ago I guess was surfing the internet, and there was an `aha' moment,"

Roberts said. "He ran across the stolen base and kind of put 2 and 2 together and didn't realize that was

his manager. So he proceeded to kind of awkwardly approach me about it and talked about my goatee

and how I could steal a base."

UP NEXT

Dodgers: Wood, who had a career-high 16 wins this season, will make his first appearance since Sept.

26. He was lined up for Game 4 of the NLDS, but the Dodgers swept the Diamondbacks in three games.

Cubs: Arrieta has pitched just 14 1/3 innings since Aug. 30, including four innings of two-hit ball against

Washington in Game 4 of the NLDS. The 2015 NL Cy Young Award winner was hampered by a right

hamstring injury at the end of the season.

TRUE BLUE LA

Chris Taylor highlights Dodgers’ depth & versatility in NLCS Game 3 win

By Eric Stephen

The Dodgers are one victory away from their first World Series appearance in 29 years, and Chris Taylor

was a big reason why on Tuesday night in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Cubs.

Taylor homered to give the Dodgers the lead on Tuesday at Wrigley Field, just as he did in the sixth

inning on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. Taylor also tripled in another run in the fifth, and in the NLCS is

hitting .333/.429/1.000 in three games.

In six playoff games, Taylor is hitting .280/.379/.640 with four extra-base hits.

This is a culmination of a breakout season for Taylor, one that saw him hit .288/.354/.496 with 21 home

runs, 34 doubles, and 17 stolen bases. He is a vastly different hitter than the one who hit .234/.289/.309

in his first three seasons in the majors, totaling 318 plate appearances. That came from an overhaul to

his swing last offseason.

“I knew I had to kind of make that drastic change right away and get out of my comfort zone,” Taylor

said after the game. “I had no expectations going into it. I always had confidence in my ability, and

obviously I was hoping it would come. But to say I expected it to happen as fast as it did, I'd be lying.”

Taylor started the season in Triple-A Oklahoma City, narrowly missing out on a spot on the bench as a

utility man. All five Dodgers RBI in Game 3 — two by Taylor, one each by Andre Ethier, Kyle Farmer and

Yu Darvish — were driven in by players who weren’t on the active roster on opening day.

A career infielder, Taylor was up in the majors in late April, and ended up starting more games in the

outfield (93) than he did on the infield (32) during the regular season.

“He's a tireless worker. He's got a great head. He competes, and now you take that swing chain, and he's

an impact player,” Dave Roberts said. ”To be able to start him in center field the first couple games, and

then to start him at short and to get on base, to slug, drive runs in, catch the baseball, he's a huge asset

for us.”

Did I mention the Dodgers are up 3-0 without Corey Seager on their NLCS roster?

Taylor played the first seven innings at shortstop in Game 3, then shifted to center field. Charlie

Culberson, who started the first two games at shortstop, took over for the final two innings. Dodgers

shortstops this series are 4-for-10 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, three runs scored and three

RBI.

Controlling the zone

Through three games of the NLCS, here is a big reason for the Dodgers’ success:

Dodgers batters: 18 walks, 20 strikeouts

Dodgers pitchers: 4 walks, 32 strikeouts

Up next

Alex Wood finally gets his shot on the mound, starting Game 4 on Wednesday as the Dodgers try to

clinch their first pennant since 1988. Jake Arrieta starts for the Cubs in another 6:01 p.m. PT start.

Dodgers’ win over Cubs in NLCS Game 3 is a walk in the park

By Eric Stephen

There was a different shooting location for Tuesday’s scene, but the Dodgers followed the script to

perfection, beating the Cubs 6-1 in Game 3 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field, moving one step closer to a

Hollywood ending to their 2017 season.

Chris Taylor homered and tripled, driving in two runs on Tuesday night, and Yu Darvish was efficiently

stingy, giving the Dodgers their third comeback victory in three games, and a commanding series lead of

three games to none.

The Dodgers haven’t been this close to the World Series since — say it with me, folks -- 1988.

Game 3 started like the first two NLCS contests did — with a Cubs home run providing the first score of

the game. On Tuesday that came courtesy of Kyle Schwarber, whose opposite-field solo shot gave the

Cubs a 1-0 lead. It was the first of a trio of hard-hit balls in the opening inning against Darvish, who has a

4.09 ERA in the first inning.

But Darvish settled down after that, allowing only three singles and a walk the rest of the night, allowing

the Dodgers ample room for another comeback.

Andre Ethier erased the deficit rather quickly, leading off the second inning with a home run off his own

name on the right field scoreboard, tying the score. Not bad for someone making his first start of the

postseason, and in just his second plate appearance in the last 16 days. Ethier was 2-for-4 on the night.

Taylor gave the Dodgers the lead with a solo shot of his own in the third inning, then tripled in the fifth

inning to pad the advantage. That triple scored Joc Pederson, who started his first game this postseason

as well and doubled.

It was a solid night for Dave Roberts’ casting decisions, and his direction produced compelling theater as

well.

Kyle Hendricks faced two batters in the sixth inning and both reached, ending his night. No starting

pitcher against the Dodgers this postseason has pitched longer than five innings.

The Dodgers loaded the bases in that sixth inning and with two outs and a two-run lead, Darvish’s spot

in the batting order came up. It seemed like a time Darvish might have been pulled, even at just 69

pitches, with an opportunity to add a run or two against reliever Carl Edwards Jr.

But instead, Curtis Granderson was pulled from the on-deck circle and Darvish — 4-for-35 (.114) with 22

strikeouts in his career, including the postseason to that point — was allowed to bat.

Naturally, Darvish walked. On four pitches. He earned this bat flip:

He’s the first Dodgers pitcher to walk with the bases loaded in the postseason., and Darvish is the first

with an RBI since Zack Greinke delivered an RBI single in Game 5 of the 2013 NLCS.

The flip side of leaving Darvish in, of course, was that every additional out he could secure would mean

one less needed from the bullpen, on the first of potentially three straight nights of baseball.

Now, it might be just two straight nights at Wrigley Field, if the Dodgers have their druthers.

Darvish made the decision to keep him in the game even better with a seven-pitch sixth inning, then

struck out Addison Russell to open the seventh, Darvish’s seventh strikeout of the game. That ended his

night, but at 6⅓ innings he matched Clayton Kershaw’s NLDS Game 1 for the longest outing by a Dodgers

starting pitcher this season.

While the Dodgers were busy tacking on a pair of insurance runs against Cubs relievers, Chicago hitters

continued to be flummoxed by the Dodgers bullpen, at least until the ninth.

Schwarber actually walked against Brandon Morrow in the eighth inning, but it wasn’t until the ninth

when Alex Avila singled and Albert Almora Jr. doubled against Stripling to open the inning, snapping an

0-for-29 skid by the Cubs against the Dodgers bullpen in the NLCS.

Kenley Jansen entered to restore order, recording the final three outs. He, like Morrow, has pitched in

all six games this postseason for the Dodgers.

The Cubs are now 2-for-34 against Dodgers relievers in the NLCS, and have scored four total runs in

three games.

That’s the recipe for a 3-0 series lead.

Game 3 particulars

Home runs: Andre Ethier (1), Chris Taylor (2); Kyle Schwarber (1)

WP - Yu Darvish (2-0): 6⅓ IP, 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts

LP - Kyle Hendricks (1-1): 5+ IP, 6 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts

Yu Darvish walks with bases loaded, tosses bat with authority

By Ryan Walton

Something has gone terribly wrong for a pitcher to walk another pitcher at any point in a baseball game.

It’s a crime to walk a pitcher with the bases loaded in an important postseason game.

In a surprising event, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts sent Yu Darvish to hit for himself in a close game

in the sixth inning with every base occupied. Not only did Darvish work a walk, he did it against Cubs’

reliever Carl Edwards Jr. on four pitches.

Darvish was pumped and tossed his bat aside with a mighty heave.

Keep doing you, Yu!

Kenley Jansen a finalist for NL reliever of the year award

By Eric Stephen

LOS ANGELES — Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen on Tuesday was named a finalist for the Trevor Hoffman

Award, given annually to the top relief pitcher in the National League.

Jansen is a finalist along with Wade Davis of the Cubs and Corey Knebel of the Brewers. Jansen won the

award in 2016.

The winner will be announced before Game 4 the World Series, on Saturday, Oct. 28.

Jansen had his finest season in 2017, the first season of a five-year, $80 million contract he signed last

winter to return to the Dodgers. He posted career bests in ERA (1.32) and FIP (1.31), tied for the

National League lead with 41 saves and struck out 109 against only seven walks.

Among major league relief pitchers with at least 40 innings this season, Jansen was the best in ERA, FIP,

FanGraphs WAR (3.5) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (15.57), was second in xFIP (1.82), SIERA (1.48),

strikeout rate (42.6%), walk rate (2.7%), and K-BB rate (39.5%), ranked fifth in Baseball-Reference WAR

(2.9) and was sixth with a .476 opponents OPS (a 29 OPS+).

The reliever of the year awards were reconfigured in 2014, named after Hoffman and, in the American

League, Mariano Rivera. The voting each season is done by a panel of former elite relievers — Rivera,

Hoffman, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, John Franco and Billy Wagner. That’s

a group of three Hall of Famers, plus two who will soon join them in Cooperstown in Hoffman and

Rivera, and six of the top seven all-time in saves.

DODGER INSIDER

The game honors Andre Ethier

By Rowan Kavner

During a time, Andre Ethier was Yasiel Puig.

He was emotional and full of talent and spark.

During a time, he was Cody Bellinger.

Young and powerful and full of potential. At a time, he was the guy whose name was on the back of

most Dodger fans’ T-shirts.

And as he grew older, his name rose above other familiar Dodger greats like Piazza, Wills, Baker and

Lopes on Los Angeles Dodger top 10 lists.

He is no longer the main attraction that he was in the past. The last two seasons a tibia fracture and

lumbar disc herniation limited him to 64 plate appearances and robbed him of opportunity to add to his

outstanding history.

But the injuries didn’t keep Ethier away from the Dodger clubhouse. He was around. But he was a

quieter presence. As most players who are injured will say, they don’t want to be a distraction.

So Ethier chose instead to be an influence.

Cody Bellinger, who lockers next to Ethier at Dodger Stadium, said it was the veteran outfielder who

took him under his wing most.

And Ethier chose to be a worker.

He returned to big league action the last two seasons in September — not letting his seasons die before

putting up a fight for a spot on the Dodgers postseason roster.

And thus, despite the limited time on the field and the Dodgers’ abundance of options, he earned his

spot on the team in the postseason.

Not because he was owed anything for his past service to the team, but because of what he could

provide the Dodgers.

Dodger manager Dave Roberts has said coming off the bench is one of the toughest things a baseball

player can do. But he liked Ethier’s ability to produce in a pinch.

That trust paid off in last year’s National League Championship Series.

In Game 1 of last year’s NLCS, with the Dodgers down 3–0, Ethier hit a pinch-hit solo home run in the

fifth inning.

It paid off Tuesday when Ethier received a meatier opportunity.

In Tuesday’s Game 3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Ethier got his first start of the postseason.

After starter Yu Darvish allowed a solo home run to Kyle Schwarber in the bottom of the first inning,

Ethier killed the Cubs’ momentum with one swing of the bat. Against starter Kyle Hendricks, who had a

0.71 ERA in two starts against the Dodgers in the 2016 NLCS, Ethier lined a sinker off the scoreboard in

right field for a solo home run — tying the score at 1–1. Ethier later singled in the sixth inning.

“Personally, it’s been a battle to get back,” Ethier said. “Last year was frustrating, but this one was more

just because I felt I got myself back (from the tibia injury), and then another five-month break where you

don’t know what’s going to happen. Getting my name called tonight, it’s a great thing. I think it was a

long road to get back here, to get on this roster. For a team this successful and have so many options to

be someone that can be singled out and be part of the nine it’s a big honor that (Dodgers manager Dave

Roberts) would trust me, especially how well things are going.”

The Dodgers’ 6–1 win in Game 3 now brings them to within one win of their first World Series since

1988.

It could also bring another long wait to an end.

Ethier has been a Dodger for 12 seasons. He has appeared in 45 postseason games — the second most of

any Los Angeles Dodger. He has never been on a World Series team. His contribution on Tuesday added

more to his Dodger history and helped put him and the organization one step closer to ending the wait.

“Very, very happy for him, and the game honors you,” Roberts said. “And a guy like Andre who has done

it the right way for such a long time and repeatedly said he just wanted to be a part of this and to

prepare every single day like he’s going to play, and when that opportunity presented itself, he was

ready. For him to come through and perform and pick us up the way he did is no surprise. It’s just a

credit to his professionalism.”

Dodgers one win away from World Series

By Rowan Kavner

Ian Happ continued to track back, flatfooted as the Cubs center fielder reached above his head at the

warning track on a long drive from Cody Bellinger. He thought he had the ball. And he did, but only for a

moment.

The ball trickled out of his glove as Bellinger glided toward second base. It was that kind of night for the

Cubs.

An inning prior, Yu Darvish celebrated a bases-loaded walk, flipping his bat triumphantly toward his

dugout as the Dodgers’ fourth run of the game crossed the plate. It was that kind of night for the

Dodgers, who now find themselves one win away from their first World Series appearance since 1988

after taking a 3–0 lead in the National League Championship Series with Tuesday’s 6–1 win.

“The story of the night, obviously, is Yu Darvish,” said manager Dave Roberts. “After that first homer

that he gave up on the cutter that backed up, he was dominant. He just had that rhythm, the poise, and

didn’t allow a whole lot of hard contact. He put us in a great spot, and we just fed off of him tonight.”

For the fifth straight start, dating back to his last few starts of the regular season and including his Game

3 National League Division Series start against the Diamondbacks, Darvish allowed no more than a run.

The Dodger starter remained unfazed and unflappable after allowing a solo home run to Kyle Schwarber

on his second batter of the night Tuesday, allowing only that run in 6 1/3 innings, tying Clayton

Kershaw’s NLDS Game 1 for the longest Dodger start of the postseason.

Chris Taylor’s solo home run in the top of the third inning gave Darvish a lead he would never relinquish,

and Taylor’s RBI triple two innings later gave Darvish even more insurance, though he wouldn’t need

much.

On a night the Dodgers made just about all the right moves, inserting Andre Ethier and Joc Pederson

into the starting lineup for the first time in the 2017 postseason and watching them combine to go 3-for-

7 with a home run and a double, they didn’t need many breaks to win.

But they got those, too.

After two Dodger batters reached base to start the sixth inning, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks’ night was

over. He left trailing 3–1, but that deficit would increase soon after.

Chicago reliever Carl Edwards Jr. got a groundout, walked Austin Barnes and got a fly out before the

pitcher’s spot in the lineup came up. Roberts could’ve pinch hit for Darvish, but with two outs and the

bases loaded — and with Darvish only at 69 pitches — he let his pitcher hit. Or, rather, he let his pitcher

watch and walk, to be more accurate. Darvish didn’t need to swing as he walked on four pitches,

bringing in another Dodger run.

That wasn’t the only blemish on another cataclysmic night for a Cubs bullpen that entered having

allowed six runs on eight hits and six walks the first two games of the series.

The Darvish walk was just the start, as two innings later, with Mike Montgomery pitching, a wild pitch

sent Logan Forsythe to third base and Barnes to second. When Charlie Culberson struck out, catcher

Willson Contreras got crossed up by the pitch as the ball trickled past him toward the Dodger dugout to

bring in another run.

All it would take was a sacrifice fly for the Dodgers’ to then bring in their sixth run of the night.

Meanwhile, the Dodger bullpen continued to excel. The Cubs still have no runs against Dodger relievers

this series. Kenley Jansen made sure of that, entering with no outs and two runners in scoring position

and retiring the only three batters he saw to move the Dodgers a win away from the World Series.

But right now, they’re not thinking past Wednesday’s Game 4.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to close it out tomorrow,” Ethier said.

Dodgers Take Stranglehold on NLCS After 6-1 Victory Over Cubs in Game 3

By Michael Duarte

Five more wins.

The Dodgers are on the brink of their first World Series berth in 29 years as they defeated the Chicago

Cubs, 6-1, in Game 3 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night.

There's an age-old saying, "Go with the wind," that's exactly what the Dodgers did in Game 3 as the

wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field throughout the game.

Andre Ethier and Chris Taylor both took full advantage as they each hit home runs and Yu Darvish

dazzled over six innings, putting Los Angeles on the cusp of reaching the Fall Classic for the first time

since 1988.

In his fourth career postseason start, Darvish started off shaky as he served up a first inning home run to

Kyle Schwarber.

The 408-foot blast by Schwarber was his first home run of the 2017 playoffs, and the first pitch he ever

saw from the Japanese right-hander in his career.

"The first home run I gave up to Schwarber, after he hit it, the stadium got really excited and I realized I

was on the visitor's side," said Darvish. "But I was able to focus after that home run."

Scwarber is now tied with Anthony Rizzo for the most postseason home runs in Cubs' history with six.

Before the game, Cubs' manager Joe Maddon believed that the key to Chicago's offense would be

getting to Darvish early, which they did, to the tune of one run on three hits, but Darvish was able to

settle in after that.

Andre Ethier had the answer for the Dodgers in the bottom half of the first inning as he sent an 86MPH

sinker ball from Kyle Hendricks off the video screen in right field for his first home run of the postseason,

and second in as many years against the Cubs in the NLCS.

"I got a good pitch to hit, and hit it out," Ethier said of the home run that silenced the sell out crowd.

"It's just answering. Every time they get something, it's just how we answer. Try to keep them on their

heels as much as possible."

Ethier made his first start in left field of the postseason, and his first start since Game 5 of the NLDS in

2015 against the New York Mets.

"Personally, it's just been a battle to get back on the field," Ethier said following the game. "Last year

was frustrating, but this was more because I feel like I got myself back. Coming from an injury, and then

another five-month break where you're not knowing what's going to happen."

Before the game, analysts questioned Dave Roberts decision to start Ethier in left field due to the fact he

hasn't played the field very much in the past two years.

However, Ethier made Roberts look like a genius on Tuesday as he improved to 2-for-6 with a home run,

an RBI, and two walks in his last two playoff starts.

"It's a big honor that Doc would, I guess, trust me, especially how things are going," said Ethier of his

manager's confidence in him. "Getting my name called tonight, it's a great thing."

One inning later, Chris Taylor crushed a similar sinker from Hendricks and sent it 444-feet off the roof of

the batter's eye in straightaway center for a solo shot that gave the Dodgers the lead.

The go-ahead home run by the shortstop was Taylor's second game-winning home run of the series as

he joined current Washington Nationals' manager Dusty Baker (1977), as the only two Dodgers in history

two have two game-winning homers in the same postseason series.

Taylor was not finished, as he would bring home Joc Pederson in the top of the fifth with a triple down

the left field line to give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.

Taylor became just the sixth Dodger player in franchise history to triple and homer in the same

postseason game since current teammate, Andre Ethier, did it Game 3 of the NLDS in 2009.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, Taylor is also the first player in MLB history to homer as an outfielder

(Game 1) and as an infielder (Game 3) in the same postseason series.

"To be able to start him in centerfield the first couple games, and then to start him at short and to get

on base, to slug, drive runs in, catch the baseball, he's a huge asset for us," said Roberts of Taylor.

Hendricks was unable to recapture his magic from Game 6 of the NLCS last season that saw the Cubs

eliminate the Dodgers and advance to the World Series on a shutout performance by Hendricks through

7 and 1/3 innings.

On Tuesday, Hendricks was less than stellar as he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits with one

walk and five strikeouts in five innings of work.

The play of the game came in the top of the sixth inning.

Yasiel Puig led off the inning on an error by third baseman Kris Bryant and advanced to second base on a

single by Ethier.

Maddon brought the hook for Hendricks and inserted right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. who got two outs

before loading the bases for Darvish.

At first, Roberts had pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson in the on-deck circle to bat for Darvish. However,

after a short time to reflect, he made the brazen move to keep Darvish in the game and send him to the

plate.

"I just felt that we had a two-run lead right there, and Yu was throwing the baseball really well, and I felt

he could continue to go and get us outs," said Roberts of his decision. "To feel that I could extend Yu for

more than an inning, I just felt that the value of continuing to get outs and to be able to deploy the

bullpen later in the game, I just felt that was more of an upside for me."

Shockingly, the move worked, as Edwards walked Darvish on four straight pitches, giving the Dodgers a

4-1 lead.

"I just wanted to do something, draw a walk, maybe get hit by pitch, anything just to score a run,"

Darvish said of the at-bat. "When I looked back and saw it was a ball, I was really happy."

The bases-loaded walk put Darvish in elite company, joining Philadelphia's Larry Christenson (1977) as

the only two pitchers in MLB history to draw a bases-loaded walk in the potseason.

"Obviously it validates and makes you feel better about the decision," Roberts said. "But you still have to

go into that at-bat expecting not to come away with a run right there. But the story of the night, is Yu

Darvish."

Ironically, it was Dodgers' pitcher Burt Hooton in that NLCS series in 1977 who walked Christenson.

Darvish did not disappoint on Tuesday as he dominated the Cubs hitters, allowing just one run on six hits

with one walk and seven strikeouts in 6 and 1/3 innings of work.

"I feel like I'm pitching better now than before the Tommy John surgery," said Darvish. "But like I said,

there is no goal set. I just want to keep pitching better and better."

After losing his first two starts in the postseason with the Rangers, Darvish has won his first two of 2017

with the Dodgers.

The Dodgers added two more runs in the top of the eighth thanks to a swinging strikeout that bounced

off catcher Wilson Contreras' right arm and rolled into the visiting dugout.

The Cubs snaped an 0-for-29 drought against the Dodgers bullpen when Alex Avila led off the ninth

inning with a single off relief pitcher Ross Stripling.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the 0-for-29 streak was the longest hitless streak against a bullpen to

start a postseason series in MLB history.

"

I guess their relief pitchers have pretty much thrown a no-hitter against us," said Joe Maddon of the

Dodgers' bullpen. "They've been pretty good."

Los Angeles remains undefeated in the postseason with a franchise record six consecutive playoff wins

and can eliminate the reigning World Series Champions in Game 4 on Wednesday.

"I think that right now we're just laser focused on trying to win baseball games," said Roberts when

asked if he's able to appreciate being one win away from the World Series. "Right now, our focus is Jake

Arrieta and trying to figure out a way to win a baseball game tomorrow night."

The Dodgers have trailed in all three games of the NLCS and have comeback three consecutive times.

After leading all of MLB with 47 come-from-behind victories in the regular season, the Dodgers have

added four more comebacks to their postseason resume.

Since 1985, the only team in Major League history to overcame an 0-3 deficit and win the series was the

Boston Red Sox in 2004 against the New York Yankees.

Suprisingly, the Cubs are the first team to trail a series 0-3, despite the fact that they scored the first run

in all three games, since the Red Sox in the 1990 ALCS against the Oakland Athletics.

The last time the Cubs were down in a series, 0-3, they were swept by the New York Mets in the 2015

NLCS. The Dodgers have never led an NLCS 3-0 in their history.

Up Next:

The Dodgers look for their second straight series sweep as they send Alex Wood to the mound in Game

4 with the World Series on the line. Jake Arrieta will start for the Cubs with first pitch scheduled for

6:01PM PST.

Dodgers beat Cubs, one win from World Series: Final score, things to know

By R.J. Anderson

On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Chicago Cubs 6-1 in Game 3 of the 2017

National League Championship Series (GameTracker). The Dodgers now lead the best-of-seven series 3-

0, meaning they could win the pennant as soon as Wednesday.

Here's what you need to know about Game 3.

Darvish thrills

This is part of why the Dodgers acquired Yu Darvish at the deadline.

Although Darvish was removed after 6 ⅓ innings despite a manageable pitch count (81), he found time

to strike out seven batters and allow just one run. He also yielded six hits and a walk. Darvish pounded

the zone and coerced 11 swinging strikes -- including seven on his fastball variations.

Darvish's career-long postseason start remains 6 ⅔ innings. That came in his first postseason start, back

in the 2012 AL Wild Card Game against the Baltimore Orioles.

Cubs offense continues struggling

There are three statistics -- really, just three -- that tell the tale for the Dodgers offense this series.

First, the Cubs have scored four runs across the first three games. It's almost impossible to win when

you're averaging fewer than two runs per game.

Second, the Cubs are 2-for-34 against the Dodgers bullpen in this series. That's not a typo -- they

essentially had a no-hitter-plus thrown against them, going 0-for-29 before getting some hits against

them in the ninth inning. The only players to reach against the Dodgers bullpen did so via hit-by-pitches.

Given how the Dodgers have been quick to pull their starters, the Cubs' offense has essentially vanished

in the late innings.

Third, the Cubs are 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position this series. This stat tells you two things: 1.

They aren't getting many opportunities with runners in scoring position and 2. They aren't taking

advantage of the few they are getting. That's a bad combination -- the worst combination. That's a large

reason why the Cubs are a loss away from winter.

Wind blowing out

How Wrigley Field plays usually hinges on which way the wind is blowing. On Tuesday, the wind was

blowing out -- and boy, did some of the hitters take advantage. Let's touch on the night's home runs and

their significance:

Kyle Schwarber opened scoring with a first-inning home run to left field. Entering the night, he'd

recorded just one hit in his first eight at-bats. With the home run, however, Schwarber tied Anthony

Rizzo for the most career home runs by a Cubs player -- yes, really:

Andre Ethier -- yes, Andre Ethier -- answered a half-inning later with a home run of his own. Ethier has

become a forgotten man, given he's appeared in just 38 games over the last two seasons. Wednesday

represented his second postseason at-bat, and yet he found a way to again burn the Cubs in the NLCS:

Chris Taylor, meanwhile, became a known man this season. He's had a good series two, as he'd reached

base four times over the first two games. Nonetheless, Game 3 marked his finest performance in the

series, as he notched a solo home run and an RBI triple. In the process, Taylor hit the longest home run

of the postseason and made some nifty history:

Darvish draws bases-loaded walk

Carl Edwards Jr. has worked a lot this postseason. He won't be placing his at-bat against Yu Darvish on

his highlight reel. Edwards Jr. walked Darvish, forcing in a run, in the sixth inning. Brutal stuff --

especially considering Darvish had no interest in so much as swinging the bat.

Series odds update

The short version: things ain't great for the Cubs.

The long version: the Dodgers are exceptionally well positioned to advance to the World Series in the

coming days. According to WhoWins, MLB teams up 3-0 in best-of-seven series win the set 97.2 percent

of the time -- and win it in four games 80.6 percent. If those numbers play out on Wednesday, the

Dodgers will celebrate their World Series trip on Wrigley Field's grass.

On to Game 4

The Dodgers will try to win the pennant on Wednesday night. Alex Wood will start for Los Angeles. He'll

be countered by Jake Arrieta, who could well be making his final start with the Cubs, as he's a free agent

after the season. The action will get started at 9 p.m. ET.

USA TODAY

Dodgers' depth puts them on brink of first World Series since 1988

By Bob Nightengale

CHICAGO — Can you imagine what the Los Angeles Dodgers would look like if they bothered to bring

their best player to Wrigley Field?

The Dodgers can tell All-Star shortstop Corey Seager to hit the beach, work on his tan, and chill that

champagne as he recuperates from his bad back.

They may actually need him next week when they play their next game at Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers need just one more victory to guarantee a World Series date after their 6-1 laugher

Tuesday over the Chicago Cubs, taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship

Series.

The Dodgers bat-flipped their depth against the defending champions, relying on a group of castoffs,

broken-down and demoted talents.

These are your Los Angeles Dodgers, who don’t have the Hollywood stars of year’s past, but are a team

of grinders, relentless in their pursuit of their first World Series title in 29 years.

MORE NLCS:

Game 3: Dodgers beat Cubs 6-1, move one win from pennant

Takeaways: Cubs on brink of dethroning

Daring Darvish: Bases-loaded walk precedes why-not bat flip

“Obviously, you look at the talent,’’ says manager Dave Roberts. “We're deep. It's a very unselfish group.

So when you take those components, you can weather a lot. We've really played well all year, and we

had a tough spell. The focus has certainly been heightened in the postseason.

“It's a very focused group.’’

So focused that they have yet to lose a game this postseason, winning a franchise record six in a row,

snuffing out the Cubs’ powerful offense, limiting them to just four runs and a .160 batting average.

The Cubs have been so futile that it wasn’t until the ninth inning on Tuesday that they produced their

first hit off the Dodgers’ bullpen, ending a zero-for-29 skid, the longest drought at the start of a

postseason in baseball history.

The Dodgers, knocked off by the Cubs in the NLCS a year ago at Wrigley Field, and endured the Cubs’

World Series ring ceremony on their first homestand this year, now would love to return some pain on

this same field.

“It would be sweet to do it in Chicago,’’ Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen says, “to knock off the defending

champs at their home. We saw the Cubs win their first championship in over 100 years later year, and

you saw how desperate that city was. Well, it’s the same with us.

“It’s a desperate time. The city needs it. This is a Dodger and Lakers town, but with the Lakers rebuilding,

we need to do it for everyone in LA.’’

Considering the way the Dodgers flaunted their depth, it’s almost as if everyone in LA played a role on

this night.

The Dodgers’ starter, Yu Darvish, acquired minutes before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, not

only was brilliant for 6 1/3 innings, yielding six hits and one run, but also drew the first bases-loaded

walk by a pitcher since Larry Christenson of the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS against

the Dodgers.

Their setup man, Brandon Morrow, who signed a minor-league contract after coming off shoulder

surgery, and opened the year in Oklahoma City, shut down the heart of the Cubs’ order once again,

yielding just two hits in 7 1/3 innings this postseason.

Their starting left fielder, Andre Ethier, who missed the first five months of the season with a herniated

disc, hit his first home run of the year as a starting outfielder.

Their verstatile infielder/outfielder Chris Taylor, who opened the year in the minors and was expected to

be nothing more than a fourth outfielder, hit a homer and triple, becoming the first player in postseason

history to homer as an outfielder and infielder in the same series.

Their starting center fielder, Joc Pederson, who was demoted to the minors in August, and left off the

playoff roster in the Division Series against Arizona, produced a double and scored the run that helped

break the game open.

And a manager in Roberts,who wasn’t even given a chance to interview for his own team, the San Diego

Padres, and was the second choice by the front office, looking like Casey Stengel with all of the right

moves.

“It’s kind of been next man up all year,’’ Morrow said. “We’ve had guys step up in so many different

situations. It seems like it was a different person each night during the season, and it’s the same feeling

this postseason.’’

This has been a star-studded organization that has won five consecutive division titles, but only now is it

a complete team, with fewer stars, and a lot of dudes simply trying to prove they deserve a job.

The Dodgers, who have won 110 games this year, realize they still need five more victories to reach the

mountaintop, winning the championship that has eluded them for 29 years.

Considering only once in baseball history has a team recovered from a 3-0 deficit in any series, the only

question is what kind of champagne the Dodgers will order for their first National League pennant since

the days of Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser.

“This organization has done a great job in making it a priority to win, fielding a successful team, building

an atmosphere,’’ Ethier said, “where winning is important. To win the NL West five years in a row, that's

a big accomplishment.

“But I think you can get a little complacent as an organization when you keep coming up short, thinking

you're achieving something, but all you have to show is the NL West Championship and not a World

Series.

“We haven't accomplished our goal.’’

Not yet.

“We won 104 games during the regular season for a reason," says Pederson. “It’s worked so far, so why

change things?’’

Kenley Jansen is completely unfair

By Ted Berg

CHICAGO — Imagine, for a moment, what it must be like to face Kenley Jansen.

Jansen throws mid-90s heat, so for you and me, none of the other stuff would really matter. Regular

human beings who aren’t pro baseball players (or high-level college ones) have practically no chance

whatsoever of making solid contact off a 95-mph fastballs. But in this hypothetical scenario, you’re a

Major Leaguer, and you wouldn’t be in the Majors if you couldn’t hit 95. Not in 2017. Too many guys

throw that hard.

So the velocity, while incredible by normal human standards, is not what makes Jansen so unhittable —

the dude who has struck out an astonishing 121 batters in 75 1/3 regular season and postseason innings

to date in 2017. There’s a catch to it: Jansen’s 95-mph pitches are cutters, biting impossibly hard and

impossibly late toward his glove side.

Just look at it go. And consider, too, that the guy taking a horrible swing against Jansen to end the NLDS

here Paul Goldschmidt, one of the very best hitters on the planet. Goldschmidt had no chance:

But there’s so much more! Jansen doesn’t merely claim devastating movement and life on the pitch he

throws some 90% of the time; he can also put it wherever he wants.

A converted minor-league catcher, Jansen didn’t even become a full-time pitcher until 2010. Over the

course of his career on the mound, he has developed impeccable control and command: He walked

13.8% of the batters he faced during his first big-league stint in 2010, an unspectacular rate, but has

steadily cut out the free passes over the course of his tenure and walked only 2.7% of opposing hitters

this season — third best among all MLB pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched. As Travis Sawchik at

Fangraphs pointed out in August, the improved control and Jansen’s increased confidence in his strike-

throwing ability combine to mean he can spot his cutter pretty much wherever he wants now. Jansen’s

not throwing more pitches inside the strike zone than he did earlier in his career, but he’s throwing

more first-pitch strikes and more pitches on the corners.

Oh, also: Though the late cutting action makes Jansen’s signature pitch difficult to hit solidly even when

opposing hitters know it’s coming, the fact they know it’s coming should mean they can at least time it

up. Only Jansen works in a Clayton Kershaw-style hesitation in his delivery sometimes, and quick-pitches

at other times. He wasn’t satisfied simply throwing a pitch no one can hit. He had to start messing with

people in the process. Here’s a Kershaw-like mid-delivery pause on a pitch that struck out Ian Happ to

end Game 3 of the NLCS:

And that’s not all! Jansen, as Mike Petriello of MLB.com pointed out earlier in October, also features a

breaking ball sometimes. He didn’t throw it very often in the regular season, but its usage has ticked up

in the playoffs. A slider, it moves a bit like his cutter but comes in about 10 mph slower and dives

downward when it gets to the strike zone.

You, our hypothetical Major League hitter in this situation, feel pretty confident that Jansen’s going to

throw his cutter. And while maybe you recognize you have no chance to hit it if he puts it on the outside

corner, you think, “OK, I’ve seen it before, I know how it moves, I’m going to focus on looking for

something in the lower part of the strike zone and putting a good swing on it.” But then, no, sorry,

you’re doomed: Jansen busted out the slider.

Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, you probably know, are also two of the best hitters in the world — even

if they haven’t looked that way this postseason. Look how unspeakably bad Jansen made them look in

his four-out save in Game 1 of the NLCS. Both Cubs sluggers chased sliders that bounced before they

reached the catcher.

So far this postseason, Jansen has thrown seven innings and allowed only two hits, one walk and no runs

while striking out 12 batters. The Dodgers’ bullpen has combined for a 1.21 ERA with 23 strikeouts and

two walks in 22 1/3 postseason innings. Dave Roberts is as good a tactical manager as exists in the

Majors and deserves some credit for pushing the right buttons at the right time, but it definitely helps —

a lot — when one of those buttons is Kenley Freaking Jansen.

NEW YORK TIMES

Dodgers Are on the Edge of Forgotten Territory: The World Series

By Tyler Kepner

CHICAGO — If major league teams held a fantasy draft for their playoff rosters, Clayton Kershaw might

go first over all. Every team would covet the best pitcher in baseball in a short series, but only the Los

Angeles Dodgers have him. They have started the last five postseasons by giving Kershaw the ball — and

just to feel even more secure, they have always had Kenley Jansen, an electrifying closer, at the end.

Yet in all that time, the Dodgers have never come as close to the World Series as they are now: one

victory away, after rolling past the Chicago Cubs, 6-1, in Game 3 of the National League Championship

Series at Wrigley Field on Tuesday. The Dodgers have finally built a sturdy bridge from Kershaw to

Jansen, and seem poised to cross into new ground.

“We want it more,” said Jansen, who pitched three lonely innings here to end last season as the Cubs

eliminated the Dodgers in this same round. “The fact that we want it so bad, we’re desperate to try to

win a championship, everything is just going right for us.”

The Dodgers are not used to this in October. Going into this season, they had reached the playoffs 10

times since 1988, when Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson carried them to their last title, and 10 times they

had fallen short of the pennant. This is the longest stretch in team history without a World Series

appearance — and much of it has come with the Dodgers outspending all rivals.

To obtain the missing pieces, though, money was not the difference. The Dodgers are carrying six

pitchers to set up Jansen: Tony Cingrani, Josh Fields, Kenta Maeda, Brandon Morrow, Ross Stripling and

Tony Watson. That bullpen six-pack has cost less than $8.5 million, counting the partial salaries of

Cingrani and Watson, who joined the team in trades in July.

“As an organization, we’ve done a great job of putting together not only a roster, but a pen that we feel

can combat any lineup,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “So when you’re looking at a lineup like the Cubs

or the Diamondbacks, who are very dangerous, we can match up and feel confident in those guys.”

The Dodgers led the National League in bullpen earned run average (3.38) and opponents’ average

(.222) in the regular season, and the results are even better now. In their division series sweep of

Arizona and their first three victories against Chicago, the Dodgers’ relievers had a 1.21 E.R.A., allowing

just 10 hits, three earned runs and two walks while averaging more than a strikeout per inning.

The ghosts of Octobers past — Pedro Baez, Joe Blanton, Scott Elbert, J. P. Howell, Chris Withrow — are

gone from the organization or off this playoff roster. Only Stripling was also in the bullpen in last year’s

N.L.C.S., when the starters included a tiring Maeda and Julio Urias, then 20, who missed most of this

season after shoulder surgery.

Kershaw and Rich Hill remain in the rotation, with Yu Darvish and Alex Wood behind them. Darvish won

Game 3 on Tuesday with six and a third strong innings, and Wood, who made the All-Star team and was

16-3 this season, is scheduled to start Game 4 on Wednesday night.

“I feel like the last two postseasons we were probably one starter short: Brett Anderson against the

Mets, Urias against the Cubs — you could win those games, but odds are you won’t,” said Josh Byrnes,

the Dodgers’ senior vice president for baseball operations.

“So I think at least in each game, we match up. Yes, we’re still playing the best teams and anything can

happen, but we’re not sort of like a step behind. I think that’s where our roster is just a little deeper

than we’ve been the last two years.”

The success of a bullpen, Byrnes conceded, can be much harder to forecast. Maeda — a league-average

starter in the regular season — has fired three perfect innings in the playoffs. The left-handed Cingrani

has faced three batters and gotten four outs (including a double play), and Watson, another lefty,

retired his only two hitters on Tuesday.

“Those guys have been unbelievable,” Kershaw said after Game 1 against the Cubs, when he left for a

pinch-hitter after five innings and the bullpen pitched flawlessly behind him. “That’s a great sign for us.

We know if we can keep it close for those guys, we’ve got a pretty good chance.”

The biggest revelation, perhaps, has been Morrow, who blew away Anthony Rizzo with a 98-miles-per-

hour fastball to end the eighth inning of Game 3. Morrow spent five seasons as a starter for Toronto,

alternating among injured, ordinary and dazzling, and he once pitched a one-hit shutout with 17

strikeouts.

By the end of his time with the Blue Jays, in 2014, the team had decided the bullpen would fit him best.

But Morrow was not ready to convert.

“I called him and said, ‘Look, we’re not gonna pick up your option, but we’d like to bring you back as a

reliever,’ ” said Alex Anthopoulos, then the Blue Jays’ general manager and now the Dodgers’ vice

president for baseball operations.

“We mentioned Jason Isringhausen, guys like that, and said he had a chance, in short stints, to stay on

the field, because he’s always had great stuff. He said, ‘I think I just want to start; I’m not ready to put

starting aside,’ and I said, ‘Hey, you need to get it out of your system before you embrace it.’ ”

After Morrow made five strong starts for San Diego in 2015, his shoulder finally gave out. He needed

surgery and pitched well in relief last season, and Dodgers General Manager Farhan Zaidi recommended

the team pursue him as a minor league free agent last winter. Morrow had a 2.06 E.R.A. this season and

is thrilled to be a part of a stingy group.

“Everybody’s just been attacking,” Morrow said. “That’s the No. 1 thing. You can’t give ’em free passes. I

think everybody’s been keeping their emotions under control. I know that was a big focus for me coming

in — it’s my first postseason — trying to keep your heart rate down, go pitch by pitch and not worry

about the situation. Everybody’s done a good job of that.”

The Dodgers’ pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt, made two All-Star teams as a starter but had his best

seasons as a setup man in Oakland for the Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley — himself a converted starter.

Honeycutt understands why Maeda and Morrow are locking down the middle innings now: When a

failed starter eliminates weaker pitches from his arsenal, the game can seem much easier.

“I wish I would have went to the bullpen first instead of coming up as a starter, just because of the

simplicity of the thought process — it’s batter to batter, pitch to pitch,” Honeycutt said. “If you think

that way, instead of sometimes getting overwhelmed by a start, it kind of puts these guys more in the

attack mode.”

The Cubs’ relievers have not attacked the strike zone, issuing 10 walks in 11 innings against the Dodgers,

including one to Darvish, by Carl Edwards Jr., with the bases loaded in Game 3. It was almost comedic —

Edwards threw four balls in a row — and the Dodgers gladly accepted the gift. By avoiding their own

bullpen follies this October, they are closing in on a pennant.

Dodgers’ Yu Darvish Confounds the Cubs With a Dominant Outing and a Bat Flip

By James Wagner

CHICAGO — Hunched over at third base, Chris Taylor flashed a grin toward the Los Angeles Dodgers

dugout and shook his arms. Perhaps he was trying to remove some excess dirt acquired during his run-

scoring triple, a hit that seemed impossible to notch within the cozy confines of Wrigley Field.

The image of a Dodger celebrating after a crucial contribution has become a recurring and haunting

image for the Chicago Cubs during the National League Championship Series. They suffered through

more of the same in Game 3 on Tuesday as the Dodgers rolled to a 6-1 win over the mistake-prone

Cubs, putting Los Angeles one victory away from their first World Series appearance in nearly three

decades.

Although this is the Dodgers’ third appearance in the N.L.C.S over the past five years, this year’s edition,

which racked up more wins than any major-league team since 2004, may be their most well-rounded to

date.

The Dodgers already had the best record in baseball on July 31, when they completed a last-minute deal

for Yu Darvish, a four-time All-Star. The splashy move was meant to ensure that Clayton Kershaw, the

workhorse of the team’s rotation, would not have to do it all alone in the postseason.

In the previous four postseasons, Kershaw has started on short rest, but he has yet had to do so this

postseason. Rich Hill, the team’s No. 2 starter, who was re-signed this off-season, pitched solidly in

Game 2. But Darvish may have outshined both of them in Game 3, allowing one run and striking out

seven over six and one-third innings.

Even with his outstanding résumé, Darvish was welcomed to the Dodgers this summer with plenty of

pointers. He said the Dodgers president, Andrew Friedman, and General Manager Farhan Zaidi offered

suggestions on everything from the usage of his pitching arsenal to some of his mechanics.

Despite a brief stint on the disabled list in August because of a back injury, Darvish posted a 3.44 E.R.A.

in nine starts for the Dodgers in the regular season. He has been better in the playoffs.

After allowing one run over five innings in a first-round start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he was

able to flummox the sluggish Cubs on Tuesday with good command and an array of darting pitches.

“He was unbelievable,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said of Darvish.

And Darvish even offered some help on offense. After Cubs Manager Joe Maddon pulled his sputtering

starter, Kyle Hendricks, in the sixth inning, he turned the ball over to reliever Carl Edwards Jr., who has

epitomized the team’s struggling bullpen this October.

With two runners on, Barnes drew a one-out walk against Edwards, who notched a second out with a

pop-up from Joc Pederson. Up came Darvish.

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts had Curtis Granderson in the on-deck circle ready to pinch-hit, but he

pulled him back to let Darvish hit — a puzzling move at the time. But it worked in the Dodgers’ favor, as

Edwards walked Darvish on four pitches to hand Los Angeles a 4-1 lead.

Darvish flipped his bat and walked to first base, the first bases-loaded walk by a pitcher in the

postseason in 40 years.

“I didn’t think I had a chance to hit,” Darvish said. “So I just wanted to try to do something, draw a walk

or maybe get hit by pitch, anything just to score runs.”

The Dodgers offense is not imposing by sheer power or production, but it has been effective all the

same. The Dodgers work the count; in the regular season, they saw an average of 3.95 pitches per plate

appearance, the second-best rate in the N.L. They also refuse to chase bad pitches; they swung at 26.2

percent of pitches outside the strike zone, the lowest rate in baseball.

“It’s something that is part of some hitters’ DNA, but I think it’s something that can be learned if it’s a

priority,” Roberts said before the game, adding later: “It’s obviously paid benefits for us to scare pitches

out of the strike zone. But when mistakes are made in the strike zone, damage can be had.”

There were prime examples on Tuesday. Ethier, who has made five N.L.C.S. appearances since 2008 as

the Dodgers’ longest-tenured player, did not have to battle much: He smashed the second pitch he saw

from Hendricks in the second inning, a fastball, for a solo home run to make it 1-1.

But in the third inning, Taylor, the Dodgers shortstop, gave the his team the lead with a solo home run

on the fifth pitch of the at-bat. Taylor took a high strike and three balls, and then clobbered the second

strike, which was over the heart of the plate.

In the fifth inning, Pederson reached for two pitches down and away before exercising restraint on the

next three. He smacked a full-count fastball for a double into the right field corner. Two batters later,

Taylor ripped the first pitch he saw down the third base line, and rounded the bases.

Because of a bad throw by left fielder Kyle Schwarber, Taylor slid safely into third base. He stood up,

looked at his teammates, and smiled. It has been that sort of lopsided series for the Dodgers.

“One thing we’ve been talking about,” Ethier said, “that we’ve got to kind of enjoy the success we’ve

had, but we still haven’t accomplished our goal.”

Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig Is an Object of Affection Once More

By James Wagner

CHICAGO — During perhaps his best all-around major league season to date, Yasiel Puig, the Los Angeles

Dodgers’ tantalizing and sometimes maddening star outfielder, developed a tradition with Turner Ward,

the team’s second-year hitting coach.

Through countless extra hitting drills and conversations, Ward, who is from Alabama, and Puig, who

defected from Cuba in 2012, have formed a close bond.

After each of his home runs, Puig finds Ward in the dugout, ensnares him with a bear hug and lands a

kiss on the cheek or forehead.

“I don’t really like him, but I love him so I have to kiss him,” Puig said.

Asked to count the number of kisses this season, Puig did not skip a beat; he knows exactly how many.

There were 28 regular-season home runs, a career high for Puig, and a critical homer in Game 1 of the

National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs. He also gave Ward a kiss after a bat-

flipping, run-scoring double that started the Dodgers’ tying rally in the fifth inning of the same game.

As the Dodgers sit two wins away from advancing to their first World Series since 1988, Puig has been a

vital part of the team’s success. Entering Game 3 of the N.L.C.S. on Tuesday night here, he was second

on the team to the star third baseman Justin Turner in postseason runs batted in (six), and he led in

walks (five) and exuberance (a lot).

“I don’t know if it’s a higher energy, but it’s the focus and intent on every single pitch that is so

impressive,” Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw said. “The talent has always been there. He goes through

stretches where he does this, but for him to sustain it through the course of a whole game, and every

single pitch of every single at-bat, that’s the potential he has. Maybe the postseason is doing that for

him right now, getting him all that more focus. It’s pretty fun to watch.”

It has not always been this way for Puig and the Dodgers. When he debuted in June 2013, Puig

mesmerized baseball with eye-popping talent and hair-on-fire energy.

After a stellar rookie season and an All-Star campaign in 2014, Puig struggled with poor performance,

injuries and questions about his dedication. His on-field behavior, including bat flips, rubbed opponents

the wrong way and led to multiple confrontations with the San Francisco Giants’ star pitcher Madison

Bumgarner, among others.

But it was the Dodgers who grew unsettled by Puig’s comportment. Team officials were unhappy that he

sometimes showed up late to meetings and did not follow a consistent routine to avoid injuries.

After failing to trade Puig at the nonwaiver trading deadline last season, the Dodgers demoted him to

Class AAA Oklahoma City for a month, with an assignment to grow on and off the field. Even then, Puig

was caught in an expletive-filled video with his minor-league teammates, which the Dodgers’ president,

Andrew Friedman, called disappointing.

Puig worked himself back into the Dodgers’ good graces with improved play, was promoted back to the

major leagues and made the postseason roster.

Despite some lingering minor issues — he was benched just before the playoffs because of a late arrival

and a baserunning blunder — Puig has been even better this year.

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said Puig had grown, especially in regaining trust from his teammates,

and caring about them. “Exponential strides, and he’s obviously a huge part of what we’re doing now

going forward,” Roberts said, “and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Once limited by repeated hamstring injuries, Puig played in a career-high 152 games. His batting average

dropped to .263, but his on-base percentage reached its highest point since 2014 while his slugging

percentage was second only to the mark in 2013. In addition to the career high in homers, Puig has also

posted his best walk rate (11.2 percent). He may even win a Gold Glove for his strong fielding and stellar

arm in right field.

“This is my best season,” Puig said after Game 1 of the N.L.C.S. “With my teammates and my coaches, I

grew up a little bit more, and going to the home plate having fun. I know I hit nothing, I do nothing in

the game, my teammates are going to have my back.”

His enthusiasm on the field has remained. During an at-bat in the division series against the Arizona

Diamondbacks, Puig licked his bat, shuddered at the taste of pine tar and then smashed an R.B.I. double.

Asked about his three-walk performance in Game 2 of the N.L.C.S. on Sunday, Puig was, of course, silly.

“I didn’t draw a fourth walk because my tongue didn’t work on the bat so I struck out,” he said.

The day before, when asked what it felt like to have a packed Dodger Stadium chanting his name during

an at-bat, Puig deadpanned, “They were shouting my name because I was the one batting at the

moment.”

Puig’s goofy personality is distinctive, but similar demonstrative play is often seen among foreign-born

Latino players who grew up showing more passion and excitement on the field by flipping bats or

admiring home runs.

“As long as he keeps playing like that, he can take his clothes off if he wants,” said the Dodgers utility

player Enrique Hernandez.

And keep kissing his coach, too.

WASHINGTON POST

Wrigley Field falls quiet as Dodgers push Cubs to brink of elimination in NLCS

By Barry Svrluga

CHICAGO — Wrigley Field can be a madhouse, for sure. The past few Octobers, the streets that surround

it — Addison and Clark, Waveland and Sheffield — have filled with die-hards in the hours before and

after these postseason games, joy all around. The stands, they can shake. What can reasonably be

described as a frenzy, complete with singalongs and citywide hugs, ensues.

But for all the mayhem, when times are tough, this old yard can grow quiet, too. Think preschool at

naptime, a chapel at confession, an abandoned house after dark. In those stretches when the

hometown Cubbies are trailing and hope seems lost, the frenzy is replaced by an uneasy murmur, if

that.

Which is exactly where we are in this National League Championship Series. Tuesday night, the Chicago

Cubs lost their third straight game to the Los Angeles Dodgers, this one by 6-1. They will play for their

season Wednesday night back at the Friendly Confines. Manage a win, and return again Thursday to try

again.

“No one’s expecting us to come back,” third baseman Kris Bryant said, “except the guys in this room.”

At this point, though, there’s room even to doubt that. The Dodgers, winners of 104 games during the

regular season and all six of their attempts in the playoffs, have been that good. So the quiet that falls

over Wrigley in those nervous moments seems to portend the end of the season. The 2016 Cubs won

the World Series, and they will never again buy a beer in this town. But the 2017 Cubs appear ready to

exit, and meekly. The Dodgers — with versatility throughout their lineup and a bullpen that, at this

point, appears dominant — are a better team, a better team now one win from their first World Series

since 1988.

“I’m not going to sit here and throw a lot of hyperbole your way,” Cubs Manager Joe Maddon said. “. . .

Tomorrow is a Game 7. We have three or four Game 7s in a row coming up right now. We’ve got to

counterpunch at some point.”

That would involve some sort of sustained offense, which the Cubs haven’t had, and the parade of

grounders and strikeouts was certainly the leading cause of those silent stretches Tuesday. Chicago left

fielder Kyle Schwarber hit the first pitch he saw out to left-center field in the first. There was both hope

— and noise.

“Any way you can get the crowd into it — the players are loving it, I’m loving it — you want that to be

momentum,” Schwarber said.

[Ahead of game against Astros, the Yankees sneak in win over Red Sox on Twitter]

But it died, and quickly. In the entirety of the series, the Cubs have four runs. In these three games, they

have four extra-base hits and a .160 average.

“This offense is sooner or later going to break out,” said first baseman Anthony Rizzo, 1 for 10 against

the Dodgers, “and tomorrow’s going to be the day.”

But there were other issues, too — the solo homers right-hander Kyle Hedricks allowed to Andre Ethier

(who had one previous postseason at-bat) and Chris Taylor, errors from Bryant and reserve outfielder

Ian Happ, a dropped third strike that scored a run.

Still, if there was one moment when the series seemed to close for the Cubs, when “Wait till next year”

became the operative phrase — again — in Wrigleyville, it had to be in the top of the sixth, a frame that

started with Bryant’s error and included a walk from reliever Carl Edwards Jr. to load the bases. After

Edwards recorded the second out, Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts made his first — and only — curious

move of the series: he pulled would-be pinch hitter Curtis Granderson back from the on-deck circle, and

sent up Yu Darvish to hit.

“It was weird,” Edwards said, “just because I looked over there and I [had] seen the pinch hitter, and

then he comes up.

Weirder, still: Edwards couldn’t throw a strike. After Darvish squared to fake a bunt on the first pitch,

catcher Willson Contreras went to talk to him. After the second pitch began with the same approach

from Darvish and the same result from Edwards, pitching coach Chris Bosio visited the mound.

“He’s not going to swing, either,” Maddon said. “That’s part of it.”

Edwards missed with his next two pitches, and Darvish — who had drawn one walk in his 131 major

league plate appearances — became the first pitcher to walk with the bases loaded during the

postseason in 40 years.

That pushed the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1, and when Darvish got the next four outs — turning the game over

to Los Angeles’s infallible bullpen — Roberts’s chicanery had somehow worked out. From there, the

Cubs continued their funk. With the specter of the Dodgers’ bullpen looming, Darvish sprinkled three

harmless singles and a walk over the remainder of his outing.

SPORTING NEWS

MLB playoffs: Cubs find themselves outmatched, fatigued and on the brink

By Jared Wyllys

CHICAGO — The explanation for what has brought the defending World Series champions to a 3-0

deficit in the NLCS against the Dodgers is likely very simple: fatigue.

No other team in baseball has logged as many innings as they have in the past three seasons, thanks to

an NLCS berth in 2015, last year‘s World Series, and now another run to the NLCS that looks over except

for the formality of tonight‘s Game 4. Deep playoff runs for three consecutive seasons have sapped the

Cubs, and they’re showing that against the Dodgers.

Whatever reserves the Cubs had left after the grueling five-game dogfight in the NLDS with the

Nationals are likely all used up; Wade Davis putting his hands on his knees and bowing his head before

clapping in celebration after the final out in Thursday’s Game 5 was probably the last ounce of strength

the team had left.

“Yeah, it was pretty draining,” Kris Bryant said of the NLDS after Tuesday night’s loss. “There were some

pretty big games there, and for our bullpen and starting pitchers, it’s pretty taxing, but you expect that

this time of year. It takes a lot of energy to get ready for these games.”

The cumulation of the past three seasons and a division race that took until the final weeks of the

season to wrap up seems not only to have stunned the pitching staff, which has collectively issued walks

at a higher rate in the playoffs than it did all season, but the lineup has been listless as well. Last year,

the Cubs hit nearly .300 in the postseason, but in 2017, the offense has collectively evaporated, and they

are hitting .160 against the Dodgers with one game left to try to rectify their struggles.

The deadened bats are mostly to blame for the hole the Cubs have dug themselves into, and after

struggling to score runs until the final game against the Nationals, they had little time for turnaround

before gearing up to face Los Angeles.

“Five games, and then a day off as a break, that’s just not enough,” Addison Russell said. His team spent

last Friday en route to California from Washington, D.C., to begin the NLCS, and that trip included an

unplanned stop in New Mexico because of a team-related family emergency.

“It’s definitely frustrating, but we can’t do more than what we’re doing,” Russell said. “Our approach has

been fine, but we just need balls to fall, and sometimes they don’t.”

But the Cubs’ approach at the plate has yielded only four walks to 32 strikeouts in this series, and their

only runs have been scored on early-inning longballs. Until Alex Avila’s single in the ninth inning, they

had not gotten a hit against the Dodgers’ bullpen.

“Of course we expected more; it’s somewhat surprising,” manager Joe Maddon said after Game 3. “I

don’t want to use the word disappointing. Our guys are working really hard, but overall the three games

their relief pitchers have pretty much thrown a no-hitter against us.”

Given the history of teams returning from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series — the 2004 Red Sox are

the only baseball team to have done it, and it’s just a handful of NHL teams otherwise — the Cubs are

unlikely to resurrect their season. If they do, it will not be because of a motivational speech or rah-rah

moment in the clubhouse.

“There is nothing inspirational I could possibly say that’s going to make a difference,” Maddon said. “I’m

not going to sit here and throw a lot of hyperbole your way. It’s just about our guys. I trust our guys.”

YAHOO! SPORTS

Cubs short on explanations, time as Dodgers are one win from World Series

By Tim Brown

CHICAGO – This is what baseball looks like sometimes, in case they couldn’t recall. They descended the

old concrete ramps at Wrigley Field late on Tuesday night, all the Sandbergs and Santos and Rizzos and

Bryants on the backs of their authentic jerseys, past the carts that smelled of sauerkraut, the trash bins

that smelled of pretzels, the Kessingers that smelled of beer, leaving the Chicago Cubs for lost. For done.

For next year.

Cubs manager Joe Maddon removed his lineup card from his back pocket, sat behind a podium,

unfolded the card and smoothed it against the surface. The nearby television showed a guy in the

grandstands, one of the few guys left, and his T-shirt held a message, “There’s Always Last Year.”

“Not easy, obviously,” he said of what’s left, before adding, “It’s been done before.”

He’s pretty cool most days. There’d be no reason to change. It wouldn’t be his style to get huffy and

wonder where his boys’ games went, where his bullpen went, why the errors and wild pitches and

passed balls and clumsy at-bats and two-out, bases-loaded, four-pitch walks to the opposing pitchers. A

year ago, these guys, mostly the same guys, were sneaking up on a parade, and today they’re down

three-games-to-none to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and it’s not really close, and upon further inspection

Maddon attempted to frame how it works.

“It’s called baseball,” he said, because sometimes the only explanation is a shrug and one more round

and a slow-moving descent to somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Funny, too, because that’s exactly what the Dodgers were saying. It’s baseball, the kind they played this

summer when they hardly ever lost, when their pitchers found the corners when they had to, when the

bullpen found precision and ferocity, when they always seemed to get the best from every moment.

Now they’re 3-0 against the Cubs after winning 6-1 in Game 3 of the National League Championship

Series, 6-0 in the postseason, as if the games themselves are waiting for the Dodgers to win them.

And in case baseball needed to get a little more baseball-ish, the Dodgers’ starting – and winning –

pitcher was Yu Darvish, acquired seconds before the trade deadline. The guy who homered was Andre

Ethier, who had nursed a single plate appearance since the regular season, and hadn’t had a hit in nearly

a month. The other guy who homered, Chris Taylor, simply extended the production the Dodgers have

gotten from their shortstops not named Corey Seager. In three games since Seager was declared injured

and unavailable, Taylor and Charlie Culberson are 4 for 10 with three RBI, three runs scored, two

doubles, a triple and a home run. The bullpen gave up two hits Tuesday night, which might not seem

such an accomplishment, except the Cubs had been hitless in their first 29 at-bats against the likes of

Kenley Jansen and Brandon Morrow and Tony Watson and everybody else.

So you wouldn’t blame the Santos and Sandbergs and the rest for looking out over their lovely little

ballpark, the ivy still holding green on a surprisingly mild day, and wondering where their Cubs have

gone. They are a loss from elimination, one that could come as soon as Wednesday night. They’re a little

short on explanations for how a bullpen goes sideways, how a fly ball lands in Ian Happ’s glove and then

on the warning track, how a lineup of household names bats .160 for even half a week.

“No,” Morrow, the Dodgers’ right-hander, said. “I think it’s us. The feeling, even from Game 1 against

Arizona, the feeling has been the same as we had during that run we had in the middle of the season.”

It was then when they’d arrived at the ballpark every day, whatever ballpark it may have been,

determined to play for that day. Win today, they’d said aloud. Win today, they’d repeated to

themselves. They won 104 games that way. They’d lost some, too, but even those seemed useful in

hindsight. Those untidy weeks toward the end seemed to jerk their heads back into today, when the

work was to be done.

The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor, right, celebrates with Charlie Culberson (37) and Logan Forsythe (11) after

They stood late Tuesday night as close as most of them had ever been to what they’ve always wanted.

They looked out from a dugout built like a foxhole, and from a bullpen tunneled beneath the right-field

bleachers, where the view is so poor they watch the game on television, and shook their heads against

the notion this is going to happen, that it’s inevitable, that the Cubs are lost. Done.

“We just gotta keep playing,” Jansen said. “It’s not there yet. Tomorrow’s another day. It’s not easy to

win a championship. It’s definitely not easier when you get closer.

“Can’t worry about that, man. Worry about tomorrow. Crazy things happen.”

Dave Roberts, their manager, once was on a team that was over and done, which made for one hell of a

parade. Theo Epstein built that team, as he has these Cubs. And, so, today, the effort is to look past all

that’s gone right, past the 29 years Los Angeles has waited, past a moment that might not ever come.

Maddon stood. He folded his lineup card and returned it to his back pocket. The Dodgers have been

better. The Cubs have been worse. It’s a simple game sometimes. What are you supposed to do about

that, but show up for another game, see how that goes?

“There is nothing inspirational I could possibly say that’s going to make a difference,” he said. “We’ve

just got to go out and play our normal game tomorrow.”

So they’ll turn them all around, all the Sandbergs and Santos and Rizzos and Bryants, past the fresh

mounds of sauerkraut and golden pretzels and chilled beers, get them going back up those ramps, at

least one more time.

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

The Dodgers Boast Their Depth With an Easy Win Over the Cubs in Game 3 of the NLCS

By Stephanie Apstein

CHICAGO — The Dodgers are good because they are good. When you can add one of the top dozen

pitchers in baseball and start him in Game 3, when the guy who replaces your injured all-world

shortstop hits .333 in his stead, when your seventh hitter and backup catcher gets on base at a .429

clip—you are probably in good shape. They boast at least two players who will receive MVP votes, a Cy

Young candidate and the presumptive Rookie of the Year. This team can’t even roster all its excellent

players. But there is more to it than that. The Dodgers are also good because they know they are good.

Sports’ essential chicken-and-egg question is: Which comes first, chemistry or winning? Most of the

time, the answer is winning. No number of team dinners can make up for a bad bullpen or weak hitters.

And yet …

“The longer I do this, the more important I think continuity is,” says Los Angeles GM Farhan Zaidi. Once

players get to know one other, he theorizes, they are more willing to sacrifice for one another. That’s

part of why the front office fought so hard to bring back free agents Justin Turner at third base, Kenley

Jansen at closer and Rich Hill in the rotation. This would be the second year for manager Dave Roberts

and his staff, and the team had come within two wins of reaching the World Series in 2016. They

believed they had the right combination; another year together might be all they needed. Twenty-one

of the 25 players on that NLCS roster returned this season.

Three Thoughts on the Dodgers' Commanding 3-0 NLCS Lead

Turner noticed as early as spring training: Everyone seemed to have bought in. There was almost none

of the usual griping about playing time or favoritism or locker placement. Huh, he thought. As the

season progressed, he grew more certain. Roberts is a modern manager, data-driven and fascinated by

the endless information at his fingertips. Some players had been hesitant in 2016 to incorporate all the

minutiae into a game that is already complicated. But once it became clear that the new methods gave

them the outcome they wanted, they warmed to the help. Success begat success. What temporary

discomfort wouldn’t you accept if you knew it would work out?

That has been especially true this postseason. Thee Dodgers are still awaiting their first loss after

sweeping the Diamondbacks in the NLDS and taking a 3–0 lead over the Cubs in the next round after

their 6–1 win on Tuesday night. Seemingly everyone on the roster has contributed a crucial hit or gotten

a key out. The bullpen—the team’s weakest spot a year ago—finally gave up its first hit of the NLCS on

Tuesday. The 0–29 streak that single snapped was the longest to begin a postseason series in major

league history.

If it seems like Roberts is pushing all the right buttons, well, that’s because there seem to be no wrong

ones for this team. On Tuesday he shuffled his lineup, sitting super-utilityman and recent leftfielder

Enrique Hernández in favor of 35-year-old Andre Ethier, who hadn’t started a game since September.

Ethier lined the second pitch he saw into the rightfield stands to tie the game at 1. Roberts also started

centerfielder Joc Pederson, who struggled so mightily this summer that he was demoted to Triple A in

August with instructions to get his swing back. Pederson doubled and scored the go-ahead run.

With the top of the order awaiting for the third time in the sixth, Roberts let starter Yu Darvish bat with

the bases loaded and two out. Darvish faked bunt, then walked on four pitches to drive in a run. He got

four more outs on 12 pitches before passing the baton.

Roberts had hoped to avoid using Jansen, who has appeared in every game of the postseason, but once

two hitters reached in the ninth, the manager summoned his stopper. Never mind that the score was 6–

1. Two nights after Cubs skipper Joe Maddon refused to call on his own closer in a tie game on the road,

Jansen retired the side on 12 pitches.

The Dodgers’ favorite cliché this season has been, “It feels like it’s a different guy every night.” Turner,

who hit a three-run walk-off home run to win Game 2, fully expected centerfielder Chris Taylor, batting

ahead of him, to end the game; when he instead worked a walk, Turner did the honors. Their belief that

any of them can provide that moment has allowed them to relax—and in many cases, do it themselves.

Ace Clayton Kershaw is famously reluctant to come out of games, but with the relief corps he now has

behind him, he can worry less about pacing himself. Rightfielder and delightful team mascot Yasiel Puig

has had his best season since his revelation of a rookie year; he says he can play freely now that he feels

less pressure to be a superstar.

The commitment has extended to even the most uncomfortable of sports situations: life as a role

player. Everyone wants to be the star, but you won’t hear many complaints about being the backup

infielder for a World Series contender. Part of the Dodgers’ success this season can be attributed to its

unparalleled depth. Bench bats Chase Utley and Curtis Granderson have nine All-Star selections

between them; the two pitchers who didn’t make the playoff rotation—Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin

Ryu—could have started for nearly any other team. But Los Angeles can offer an opportunity few others

can match, and in turn they have embraced their jobs.

“You don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get to play this game and be on a team that

can win and be successful,” says Ethier. Once a top-flight player in his own right, he is now relegated

largely to pinch-hitting and the occasional start. That’s fine with him. He has told Roberts that he just

wants to be a part of what the Dodgers are doing. He doesn’t care how.

NEW YORK POST

How Dodgers turned ordinary hitter into game-changing star

By Kevin Kernan

CHICAGO — The Dodgers sure get a kick out of changing a mediocre player’s swing and discovering

hitting gold.

One year ago at this time, Chris Taylor was working with Dodgers hitting consultant Robert Van Scoyoc

on adding a leg kick.

Justin Turner isn’t the only Dodger who turned around his career with such a move.

Taylor started this season at Triple-A but like Turner he has become an October savior. This is an L.A.

story of baseball resurgence.

Taylor moved from center field to shortstop Tuesday night and delivered a monstrous solo home run to

break a 1-1 tie in the third and a run-scoring triple in the fifth as the Dodgers behind Yu Darvish put the

defending world champs on life support, whipping the Cubs 6-1 at Wrigley Field to take a 3-0 lead in the

NLCS.

“It takes a lot of confidence in yourself and trust to see yourself as a marginal major league player,’’

Dave Roberts explained. “But to take a chance on trying to learn a new swing and bet on yourself, and

that’s what he did. He committed to it. We saw early in spring training that he was a different hitter.

He’s an impact player.’’

The Dodgers have yet to lose a postseason game (6-0) this October and will go to the World Series for

the first time since 1988 with a win Wednesday. Imagine if the Yankees can continue their amazing

comeback against the Astros — a Dodgers-Yankees World Series would be something to see.

No one saw the year that Aaron Judge is having coming and no one could envision what Taylor has

accomplished this season for the Dodgers.

The tall tales of October continue.

Said Taylor of the change, “I didn’t know what to expect. I knew I had to make that drastic change and

get out of my comfort zone. To say I expected it to happen as fast as it did, I’d be lying. In spring training

I was pretty shocked to see the results that fast.’’

Noted Andre Ethier, who homered in the second to tie the game at 1-1, “Chris was willing to push

himself to the next level.’’

Taylor, 27, was one of those under-the-radar moves the Dodgers specialize in, trading pitcher Zach Lee

to the Mariners in mid-June of 2016. He was a fifth-round pick for the Mariners in the 2012 draft. In

parts of three seasons and 256 plate appearances with the Mariners, the slight (6-foot-2, 195 pounds)

Taylor never hit a home run.

This past season he hit 21. In the NLCS he already has hit two home runs, the first Dodger with two

game-winning home runs in the same postseason series since Dusty Baker in 1977. Daniel Murphy was

the last major league player to do that in 2015 with the Mets.

No one could have predicted any of this.

When Corey Seager went down at shortstop the Dodgers were in a world of hurt but look where they

are now on the brink of finally going back to the World Series. The Cubs appeared to have the infield

advantage. Not so once the games started.

The first two games Charlie Culberson was at short and Taylor was in center. The Dodgers are a versatile

team and Taylor fits right in with that game plan. It’s important to have players who can make

adjustments.

Taylor became the first player in postseason history to hit a home run as a center fielder and a

shortstop.

The Dodgers have developed players who fit the flexible mold of what they are looking for and Taylor

said he followed the mold of Turner to really develop his leg kick. Turner took that big swing and drove a

three-run walk-off home run to win Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, a blast to center field.

Taylor unloaded in much the same way Tuesday night, driving a Kyle Hendricks’ fastball deep into

center, a long, long way over the ivy, a 444-foot shot, the longest home run of the postseason according

to Statcast.

Chris Taylor and the Dodgers are ready for the next big leg kick.