#dodgers

#dodgers

The New York Yankees won the World Series in 2000 - their third consecutive championship - then lost the World Series in 2001. Since then, only one champion has even returned to the World Series the following year. Over half the time - 12 times in 23 years - the World Series champion did not even qualify for the postseason the following year. Seven champions lost in the next year's league championship series. Three lost in the next year's division series.

The Dodgers put tickets for potential World Series games on sale Tuesday, with the cheapest seat available for $881.95, according to an afternoon review of the team website. That seat - $800 for the ticket and $81.95 for fees - is located at the end of the reserve level, high above the field and next to the foul pole. World Series prices posted on the website Tuesday ranged as high as $1,510.05.

The reason the Milwaukee Brewers are here in the National League Championship Series is because of plays such as the one that ended the fourth inning Monday night. A strange, one-in-a-million, 400-foot double-play in which one Brewers fielder made a spectacular defensive effort, and another never lost awareness of a wacky situation - highlighting the sound fundamentals that made them baseball's winningest team this season.

In Casparius, they did so with a right-hander capable of pitching multiple innings at a time (he bounced between the rotation and bullpen earlier this year) and being used as an option against right-handed-heavy parts of an opposing lineup. Casparius, a 26-year-old rookie who played a minor role in last year's postseason's run to a World Series, became one of the Dodgers' biggest success stories during the first half of the season.

Roberts said Hernandez is healthy, and the extra few days they got off after their NLDS win helped him recover. Hernandez limped around in the box in the 11th inning of Game 4 against the Philadelphia Phillies. Hernandez has played in every game this postseason, and has been a key contributor on both offense and defense. Hernandez is 7-for-22 at the plate for a .318 average, and has an OPS of .809.

The Dodgers' postseason roster against the Brewers figures to change from the NL Division Series as manager Dave Roberts suggested the team is considering adding an extra pitcher. "I think now you're talking about a potential seven-game series versus a potential five-game series, so now obviously pitching becomes more paramount," Roberts said. "I don't know exactly how the roster is going to look, but I think the seven-game series, and then you layer on potential opponent, it's going to look a little bit different."

The Dodgers were the only club who had to advance through the wild card round, and the reigning World Series champs aren't exactly underdogs. In fact, all of the Brewers, Mariners, and Blue Jays had a lot more questions to answer about their playoff readiness given a recent lack of postseason success, yet all three teams were up to the task in winning their League Championship Series matchups.

If Wednesday's game proves to be the last one in a Dodgers uniform for Clayton Kershaw, it will do little to tarnish his legacy, said teammate Mookie Betts. "He's gonna have a statue, so we have to kind of keep that in mind," Betts said. "In the grand scheme of things, Kershaw is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, one of the best pitchers to ever do it. "So if you let two innings kind of ruin that, then you don't know baseball."

Right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the ace of the Dodgers all year long, is taking the mound for LA. He went 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA and 201 strikeouts across 173.2 innings in the regular season. He then pitched against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 2 of the Wild Card - also a closeout game for LA - allowing zero earned runs (but two unearned runs) with nine strikeouts across 6.2 innings pitched.

"It was an impromptu play," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I just told Mookie, 'You know Stott's going to bunt. He's a good bunter. Let's just run a wheel play. And, Max, be aggressive, field it. "And, Mookie, get over there and beat Castellanos there.' Those guys executed it to perfection. They made it look a lot easier than it was. And for me, that was our only chance, really, to win that game in that moment."

Teoscar Hernández went from being the subject of criticism over what appeared to be another costly defensive lapse in right field, to providing a game-winning home run and making postseason history in the process to help lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a comeback win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of the National League Division Series.

"We have to carry three catchers [on the postseason roster] because of where Will [Smith]'s at. Obviously with Tommy [Edman]'s uncertainty, Max [Muncy] coming back recently, having the extra infielder Hyeseong is huge," Roberts said. "And as far as how I'm going to use them, you know to run off the bench, to potentially take an at-bat off the bench, but there's a lot of lefties in that lineup. But Hyeseong, it's good to have him on the roster. And I feel he's going to help us out at some point."