Six players to watch in National League Division Series

Major League Baseball’s post-season is about to go nuclear.

Saturday at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the greatest player of his generation will do something he hasn’t done before: go full-scale unicorn in a playoff game.

Shohei Ohtani has been tabbed to pitch in Game 1 of the best-of-five National League Division Series against the Phillies, and he’ll take the mound after leading off the game at the plate. He will become the first Major Leaguer to start a playoff game as a pitcher and position player in the same post-season.

This is perfect planning by the Dodgers, who carefully monitored Ohtani’s return to the mound — he had elbow surgery in 2023 — and gave him eight, 10 and six days off between starts in September. They could also use Ohtani in a deciding fifth game on six days rest, since there are three potential days off in the series.

Ohtani allowed just one run in his final four appearances and needed just 91 pitches to strike out eight and complete six innings in his final start. His previous start came against the Phillies, and he pitched five no-hit innings, striking out five and walking one while throwing 68 pitches (42 strikes) before the Dodgers bullpen imploded in a 9-6 loss. Afterward, Ohtani told manager Dave Roberts that it was the first time he’d felt as if his rehab was over.

“It was probably his best start of the year,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “He was phenomenal. It’s the combination of power and control; command and stuff. He was pumping strikes, and it was 98, 99. And the secondary pitches are all way above average. So if he’s doing that … it’s a tough task.”

As for Ohtani, the hitter? You know about the 55 home runs (11 of which came over the course of a season-ending 31-game hitting streak) and his status as National League leader in extra-base hits, total bases, slugging percentage and OPS. 

But did you know that the Phillies kept him at bay this season, holding him to a .217 average (5-for-23) with two solo home runs and 10 strikeouts? That’s not bad. On the other hand, the Cincinnati Reds held Ohtani to 3-for-20 in six regular-season games and it took all of four pitches in the Dodgers sweep of the Reds in their best-of-three wild-card for Ohtani to hit his first of two homers.

Reds manager Terry Francona was asked after Game 1 about simply intentionally walking Ohtani whenever the opportunity presented itself.

“You’ve heard of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts? I think it would be a very poor decision. He’s a dangerous hitter; he’s also struck out 185 times this year. That’s where we have to get to. You start walking people in that lineup … and you’re in trouble.”

Francona did intentionally walk Ohtani in the second game. Betts promptly hit an RBI double.

Here are six — six others, actually — to watch in the best-of-five NL Division Series:

Mookie Betts, SS, Dodgers

After seeing Ohtani intentionally walked in front of him in the seventh inning of Game 2 and doubling in a run to make the score 8-2, Betts was asked whether he expected to see more of the strategy this post-season. “I mean, I wouldn’t let Shohei swing, either,” Betts told reporters. “I understand. I expect the Phillies to do it. I expect it for the rest of the post-season. I understand the situation of the game. So, I just gotta be ready to do my thing. If they don’t … they gotta deal with Shohei. Kind of it is what it is.”

Betts had six hits in the NL wild-card series, continuing a resurgence that saw him roll into the post-season with an .889 OPS in the final month of the regular season. Betts’ season was a slow burn, after an early-season illness and a .245 first-half average — including a .205 cratering in July that left him with an OPS that was 25 points below league average. Yet he finished fourth in runs scored among shortstops and fifth in runs batted in and in his first full season at the position, led the Majors in defensive runs saved. Do not sleep on his importance to this team.

Tyler Glasnow, RP-SP, Dodgers

The same extra off day in this series that allows for the possibility of Ohtani making two starts means the Dodgers can effectively go with a rotation of Ohtani, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and use some of their pitching depth to offset their relief issues — which were evident even in that yawner over the Reds. It took 59 pitches for Dodgers relievers to get three outs in the eighth inning of Game 1. Emmet Sheehan, who will be counted on in this series and name-dropped by Roberts on Friday, recorded just one out in a 23-pitch outing in Game 2, walking two while giving up a pair of hits and two earned runs. Um, the Phillies aren’t the Reds, ya know? Glasnow is available out of the bullpen in Game 1. Given the offensive star power in this series, he could emerge as the most important bullpen arm for Roberts. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are 5-for-23 against him with 13 strikeouts.

Jacob Misiorowski, SP-RP, Brewers

From being named to the AL All-Star team after five starts to seemingly losing his spot in the post-season rotation … well, it’s been quite a year for the 23-year-old rookie. And in a post-season of counting the number of triple-digit fastballs being thrown, Misiorowski is someone to keep an eye on. Misiorowski has been given at least six days off between outings in September, with his last outing a 2 1/3 inning, 58-pitch relief stint. His second-half ERA (5.86) was more than double his first-half ERA, and his walk rate (10 per cent in September) and lessening success in generating ground balls is concerning. The Brewers aren’t lacking for velocity in their relief corps but with health issues sidelining Brandon Woodruff at least for the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs and a whole lot of Schlittler going on in the post-season, Misiorowski will be fun at least for chaos potential.

“What we’re looking at is Freddy (Peralta) starting in Game 1, and then beyond that it’s just pretty much all hands on deck, and I think Miz will certainly be a part of that,” said Brewers senior vice-president and general manager Matt Arnold. 

Christopher Sanchez, SP, Phillies

The Phillies led the Majors in innings from starters, even with Zack Wheeler’s season-ending bout of venous thoracic syndrome and had the third-best rotation ERA and best strikeout rate. They’ll hand the ball in Game 1 — The Ohtani Game ® — to Sanchez, who will be the first of three left-handed starters run out by Thomson. Sanchez set a career high in strikeouts and innings pitched and blazed his way through September with a 1.65 ERA through five starts. If you’re a believer in WAR, Sanchez is your guy: better than the Cy Young frontrunners in each league, Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. His change-up is deadly: he is in fact just the 16^th pitcher since 2008 with 100 or more strikeouts on that pitch. Thomson was asked if he planned on being more aggressive with his bullpen use, like just about every other manager this post-season. Nope. “If he (your starter) is lights out, you stay with him,” he said.

Seiya Suzuki, RF, Cubs

Kyle Tucker’s baby steps back from a left calf injury — three singles in the NLDS win over the San Diego Padres and a greater comfort level in the box — augers well for a lineup whose power stands in stark contrast to the Brewers. He has a post-season pedigree and will be one of the most-coveted free agents this winter, but between his health and the callowness of Pete Crow-Armstrong, there’s a real sense that it will fall to the likes of Michael Busch, Ian Happ and Suzuki to carry the load. Suzuki went 38 games without a homer at one point — he hit .213 and posted a .688 OPS after the All-Star Game — then homered in each of the Cubs' final four regular-season games, then signalled his team's intent in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series when he homered off Nick Pivetta. The Brewers struck him out 22 times in 13 games this season, and in addition to figuring that out, Suzuki’s arm will surely be tested by the Brewers' aggressive, contact-oriented lineup. Suzuki was tied for fourth in the NL in RBI, was seventh in homers and eighth in extra-base hits.

Brice Turang, 2B, Brewers

His power dropped off in September (he had just two home runs after taking Max Scherzer deep at the Rogers Centre on Aug. 31) but to say Turang has flipped his career on its head is an understatement. Known primarily as a Gold Glove defender in 2024, the 25-year-old lefty hitter clubbed 18 home runs and drove in 81 RBIs and turned himself into a 5.5 WAR player who forced himself into the middle of manager Pat Murphy’s contact-heavy lineup. Turang has gone from the 14^th percentile in average exit velocity to 75^th percentile and massively increased his barrel rate. Power has been a determining factor in recent post-seasons — the team with the most homers has won 80 per cent of playoff games since 2020 — but the Brewers and Turang seem well-placed to buck that trend. The Brewers led the NL in steals, had 11 hitters with an OPS+ over 100 (nine over 111) and had the fifth-fewest strikeouts. The Blue Jays saw their stylings firsthand during that August series, when the Brewers took two of three games from a team with one of the best home records in the Majors.

Predictions

Brewers def. Cubs 3-1

Phillies def. Dodgers 3-2