NL West

There's a baseball theory that says when a player tries to hit a homer, they are more likely to make a mistake in the batter's box.

It's a good thing for the Los Angeles Dodgers that Chris Taylor went into his at-bat in the bottom of the ninth against the St. Louis Cardinals in Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game just looking to get a hit.

"Honestly, I was just trying to hit a single," Taylor told reporters after hitting a walk-off two-run homer to give the Dodgers a 3-1 win. "He gave me a good slider to hit, and I was able to get it up in the air."

A single probably would have won the game because Cody Bellinger was on second base with one out, but a walk-off homer in a win-or-go-home playoff game is no less dramatic.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't include Taylor in the starting lineup against the Cardinals. He took over for AJ Pollock as a defensive replacement in left field in the seventh inning.

Taylor was an unlikely hero for the Dodgers. The 31-year-old was named to his first All-Star team this season but slumped in the second half with a .223/.290/.419 slash line.

Cardinals reliever Alex Reyes had the right approach during the at-bat. Per Baseball Savant, Taylor had a .195 batting average and 42.9 whiff percentage against sliders during the regular season.

But Reyes left his final slider hanging over the middle of the plate. Taylor was able to put the barrel of the bat on the ball, sending the Dodgers into a National League Division Series showdown with the San Francisco Giants.

It would have been a heck of a story if Albert Pujols had delivered the big hit to sink the very team with which he began his Hall of Fame career in the National League Wild Card Game.

Instead, it was Chris Taylor. Not that the Los Angeles Dodgers are complaining.

As a sort of ongoing punishment for the slump that followed his first All-Star selection in July, Taylor began Wednesday's do-or-die tilt against the St. Louis Cardinals on the bench. But manager Dave Roberts called his name for defensive duty in left field in the seventh inning, and he didn't miss his chance to make his mark offensively two innings later.

With two outs and Cody Bellinger at second base, Taylor cranked a hanging Alex Reyes slider at 110.7 mph and with more than enough length to clear the left-field fence. Like that, his walk-off two-run home run delivered the Dodgers a 3-1 victory and sent the 53,193 fans packed into Dodger Stadium into an utter frenzy:

The win was the Dodgers' 107th of 2021, and it secured a postseason matchup the likes of which has never before been seen in Major League Baseball.

Dodgers Players of the Game

• LF Chris Taylor: 1-for-2, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI. In two words, see above. In one word, duh.
• 3B Justin Turner: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI. It didn't decide the game, but his solo home run in the fourth knotted the score at 1-1.
• CF Cody Bellinger: 1-for-2, 2 BB, 1 R, 2 SB. The 2019 NL MVP had some of the best at-bats of any hitter on either team and even stole two bags against Yadier Molina.
• Dodgers relievers: 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 6 K. The Dodgers surely didn't plan on three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer lasting only 4.1 innings, but the five relievers who followed him more than picked up the slack. 

Cardinals Players of the Game

• SP Adam Wainwright: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 R, 5 K. This wasn't  his signature postseason moment, but outpitching Scherzer with a gutsy performance was a nice cap on an outstanding throwback year for the 40-year-old hurler.
• 2B Tommy Edman: 3-for-5, 1 R, 2 SB. He was basically the only Cardinals hitter who had a good night offensively, and he also shined on the other side of the ball with a slick play up the middle in the second and a key double play in the third.

As They Have Been All Season, the Dodgers Just Kept Coming

If you only knew about the various pieces the Dodgers have lost throughout the course of 2021, you could justifiably conclude that they're lucky to be where they are right now.

What was a star-laden starting rotation at the start of the season is now without rising star Dustin May (Tommy John surgery) and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw (forearm) because of injuries. Trevor Bauer, a Cy Young Award winner in his own right, has been on administrative leave since he was accused of sexual assault in June.

Lineup-wise, Corey Seager missed much of the season with a broken hand, and now Max Muncy is out with an elbow injury. Two years removed from winning the NL MVP, Bellinger has also battled injuries and made replacement-level players blush when he was healthy. Mookie Betts, a fellow MVP, and Taylor were good at times but finished cold.

And yet, the Dodgers not only survived but thrived as they tied their club record for wins and paced all teams this year with a plus-269 run differential.

The willingness of their front office to go all-in on a deal for Scherzer and Trea Turner ahead of the July 30 trade deadline is a big reason why, but there's no better time than now to share in Wainwright's appreciation of just how much Roberts has to work with:

Among the remaining playoff teams, only Atlanta and the Milwaukee Brewers had more guys take as many as 30 plate appearances during the regular season. The Dodgers pulled liberally from that depth to include 16 position players on their roster for the Wild Card Game, and Taylor was but one of six of those who got deployed off the bench. 

Yes, that technically includes Gavin Lux, even though he didn't actually get to hit after he was announced as a pinch-hitter to lead off the ninth.

Roberts pulled him back in favor of Pujols to get a right-on-left matchup against T.J. McFarland. It was a good call that just missed paying off in dramatic fashion when Pujols, who was quite good in blue after the Dodgers picked him up off the scrap heap following his release from the Los Angeles Angels, hit a 106.6 mph line drive that found Harrison Bader's glove.

When Taylor came to the plate, he only had eight hits in his last 73 at-bats dating back to Aug. 27. But given that he's been a good hitter in each of the last five years, it was only a matter of time before he ran into one. And he did.

To the extent that any aspect of the Dodgers can ever be a secret weapon, their bullpen was indeed one of those down the stretch. It paced MLB with a 2.42 ERA after the deadline, in part thanks to ERAs in the 1.00s from Kenley Jansen, Blake Treinen and Corey Knebel. 

Though Roberts also pushed the right buttons with Joe Kelly and Brusdar Graterol in the fifth and sixth innings, it was that trio that got the highest-leverage assignments on Wednesday. Each got their laughs, but Jansen got the last and the biggest with a strikeout of Tyler O'Neill to strand Edman at second base in the ninth:

Perhaps even more so than what the Dodgers did right, the real story here might be what the Cardinals did wrong. Namely, go 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position after nabbing their one and only run on a wild pitch by Scherzer in the first inning.

Nevertheless, the Redbirds' story is over now. It did have that one wild chapter in which they won 17 in a row and 21 out of their last 25 games, but they just weren't good enough to hang with the big boys on either side of it.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, are on to face maybe the biggest test they can possibly face this October.

What's Next for the Dodgers

Come Friday evening, the Dodgers will take on the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

This will be the first-ever postseason meeting between the two longtime rivals. And as noted by MLB.com's Sarah Langs, the circumstances are extraordinary even on top of that:

If the Dodgers defeat the Giants, it's hard to imagine it coming easily. Neither Muncy nor Kershaw is walking through that door any time soon, and the Dodgers can rightfully be worried about Scherzer after his flop against the Cardinals made it three bad starts in a row for him.

For now, though, these worries can wait. The Dodgers can rest easy simply knowing they're still alive and that the bottom of their bag of tricks hasn't yet been discovered.

Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference, FanGraphs and Baseball Savant.

It turns out San Francisco Giants special advisor Bruce Bochy won more than just a better seed in the playoffs by helping his team capture the National League West crown.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters he made a dinner bet that included a bottle of wine with Bochy regarding who would win the division.

"His choice ... so it's not going to be cheap," Roberts said.

Bochy's Giants earned that expensive dinner and wine by outlasting the rival Dodgers in a thrilling battle between baseball's two best teams. Nobody else in the league finished with more wins than the Giants' 107 and the Dodgers' 106, but Los Angeles is still stuck in Wednesday's win-or-go-home wild-card game because it was in the same division as San Francisco.

If the Dodgers can get past the St. Louis Cardinals in the elimination game, Roberts and Bochy's team will be playing for more than just wine when they square off in the division series.

The San Diego Padres announced the firing of manager Jayce Tingler on Wednesday.

The move comes after San Diego fell well short of expectations by missing the playoffs and finishing with a losing record (79-83).

General manager A.J. Preller issued a statement on the decision:

Jayce accomplished a great deal in his two seasons with the Padres, leading our team through an unprecedented pandemic and into the postseason for the first time in 15 years. I have tremendous respect for him as a coach, colleague and friend. After much thought and consideration over the last several weeks, we felt change was necessary at this time to ultimately reach our championship potential in San Diego.

Tingler's ouster was widely expected, with MLB Network's Jon Heyman reporting he was on the way out before the Padres finished up the regular season.

The 40-year-old may get another shot to manage an MLB team, and perhaps he'll find success elsewhere.

As San Diego collapsed over the second half of the year, it became apparent he wasn't a good fit there, though.

The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Dennis Lin and Eno Sarris detailed the internal dysfunction, which partially left Tingler at a disadvantage. He didn't, for example, have much input on his own coaching staff.

One former team employee told The Athletic that San Diego has "some deep-rooted cultural problems there."

"It’s not always inviting to people with different ideas, perspectives or backgrounds," the source said. "And it’s not all the fault of the people who are gone, either. It’s pervasive."

But Tingler's inexperience left him unequipped to right the ship as the Padres' season started going off the rails. The dugout argument between Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. may come to symbolize their 2021 campaign more than any other moment.

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Kevin Acee wrote in September that "the sentiment Tingler was not the leader they needed or wanted has been growing in some corners of the clubhouse for a while."

Tingler may have been hamstrung from the moment he was hired in October 2019.

According to The Athletic, some inside the clubhouse were looking for the front office and ownership to hire a manager with "experience and cachet" after Andy Green's dismissal. Tingler checked neither of those boxes.

His existing relationship with Preller was also reportedly a point of concern, too, since some wondered about his level of distance and autonomy from the front office.

Considering their World Series ambitions won't be going anywhere in 2022, one would presume the Padres will target managers with proven track records in MLB to guide them into the future.

The big question is whether the issues outlined by The Athletic will hinder San Diego's search. Preller and the front office may have to amend their approach behind the scenes in order to lure a World Series-winning manager to Southern California.

Coming off one of the best seasons of his career, Marcus Stroman figures to be one of the most sought-after starting pitchers in free agency. 

Per Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune, Stroman is expected to be one of the pitchers targeted by the San Diego Padres this offseason. 

The Padres collapsed down the stretch this season in part because of injuries and poor performances from their pitching staff. They finished 79-83 despite being 18 games over .500 as late as Aug. 10. 

General manager A.J. Preller has tried to stockpile starters to boost San Diego's roster. He acquired Yu Darvish, Mike Clevinger and Blake Snell in separate trades between August and December 2020. 

Clevinger made four starts with the Padres after the trade last season, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in the offseason and missed all of 2021. Darvish posted the highest ERA of his career in a season in which he made at least 30 starts (4.22). 

Snell actually had a fantastic second half in 2021 after having a 4.99 ERA before the All-Star break. The 2018 American League Cy Young winner posted a 3.24 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 36 hits allowed in 58.1 innings during the second half.

All three of those pitchers are still under contract with the Padres for next season. Adding Stroman to that group would give them a potentially dominant starting rotation if Darvish and Snell get back on track and Clevinger has a successful return from elbow reconstruction surgery. 

Stroman tied his career high with 33 starts this season. The 30-year-old had a 3.02 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in 179 innings for the New York Mets.    

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer posted a video on his YouTube page titled "Update" on Tuesday in which he called sexual assault allegations against him "false and materially misleading."

He also said one legal matter has been "resolved" and that he couldn't further address the other pending legal matter but plans on releasing videos featuring baseball content during the playoffs.

On Sept. 3, ESPN's Alden Gonzalez reported Major League Baseball extended his administrative leave for an eighth time this season. Jon Heyman of MLB Network then reported on Sept. 10 that the expectation was the right-hander would remain on paid administrative leave throughout the playoffs.

"The Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who has said Bauer choked her unconscious multiple times, sodomized her without consent and punched her all over her body over the course of two sexual encounters at his Pasadena, California, home on April 22 and May 16, leaving her with injuries that prompted medical attention," the ESPN report explained.

The Pasadena Police Department gave the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office after finishing its investigation.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge dismissed the woman's request for a permanent restraining order against Bauer in August.

In July, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reported "a majority of players do not want Bauer back under any circumstances" inside the Dodgers' clubhouse, where many viewed him as a "pariah."

Bauer signed with Los Angeles this past offseason and has not pitched since June 28. He could eventually face a suspension from MLB even if he is not legally charged.

The Dodgers face the St. Louis Cardinals in Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game.

Max Muncy's season may not be done.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters the slugger's left elbow injury will not need surgery. That leaves "a glimmer of hope" that Muncy could return at some point in the playoffs with the Dodgers scheduled to face the St. Louis Cardinals in Wednesday's National League Wild Card Game.

Roberts previously told reporters it is "unlikely" Muncy would play in the NL Division Series should Los Angeles advance past the Cardinals.

He suffered the injury during Sunday's win over the Milwaukee Brewers while playing first base. Runner Jace Peterson arrived at first base after bunting as Muncy stretched for a throw from catcher Will Smith, and the Dodgers first baseman went to the ground in pain after the play.

Albert Pujols took over at first following the setback.

Muncy slashed .249/.368/.527 with 36 home runs and 94 RBI during the regular season. The two-time All-Star also helped lead the Dodgers to the 2020 World Series title and had six RBI during the Fall Classic win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

It will be difficult to replace his production in the lineup while he is out, although Pujols will likely play first base.

The future Hall of Famer slashed .254/.299/.460 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI across 85 games for Los Angeles after it signed him in May.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed to reporters Tuesday that starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw will miss the entirety of the 2021 postseason with his forearm injury.

He added that Kershaw didn't suffer any ligament damage.

On Oct. 2, the Dodgers placed the 33-year-old on the 10-day injured list with left forearm discomfort. That occurred one day after he was pulled in the second inning of his team's 9-6 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Kershaw, who spoke with Roberts and a team trainer regarding his ailment before leaving the mound, provided an update after the game:

On that day, Roberts told reporters that Kershaw would undergo testing Monday and the team would be proceeding as if he were out for the year.

That proved to be the Texan's last regular-season start.

He went 10-8 with a 3.55 ERA and 144 strikeouts in 122.1 innings. His 14th MLB season was an injury-shortened one that included an injured-list stint from July 7 to September 13 because of elbow inflammation.

In his absence, the Dodgers turned to left-hander David Price to fill his spot in a rotation that also includes Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer and Julio Urias.

Kershaw is destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He's a three-time National League Cy Young award winner who also took home the 2014 NL MVP after leading MLB in victories (21) and ERA (1.77).

The Colorado Rockies have reportedly agreed to an extension with first baseman C.J. Cron, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Cron's extension is worth $14.5 million over two seasons, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The news comes as the team also agreed to a five-year extension with pitcher Antonio Senzatela, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Cron was set to become a free agent after signing a one-year, minor league contract with the Rockies in February. The 31-year-old came through with a career-high .281 average and .375 on-base percentage, adding 28 home runs and 92 RBI in 142 games.

Cron led the Rockies with a .905 OPS and represented one of the best values in baseball after making $1 million in 2021, per Spotrac. 

The veteran began his career with the Los Angeles Angels before bouncing around to four different teams in the past four years. He peaked with a 30-home run season with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018 and followed it up with 25 homers for the Minnesota Twins in 2019, but he couldn't secure a long-term deal in either location.

A move to the Detroit Tigers proved disastrous for Cron, who hit just .190 in 13 games before a season-ending knee injury.

After rebuilding his stock with the Rockies, the slugger is now in line for a better deal going into 2022.

Colorado still has work to do after a third straight losing season, but keeping Cron puts the squad on the right direction going forward.