Rays nip Yankees on late homer, move on to ALCS
Mike Brosseau said he wasn’t seeking revenge against hard-throwing Aroldis Chapman, just the chance to keep playing. He ended up getting both. Brosseau hit a dramatic home run off Chapman with one out in the eighth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 2-1 Friday night in the decisive Game 5 to reach the AL Championship Series for the first time in 12 seasons.
The first career postseason homer for the 26-yearold utilityman came after a 10-pitch at-bat against the Yankees’ vaunted, hardthrowing closer, who entered in the seventh inning. Brosseau drove a 100 mph fastball into the left field seats at Petco Park for the Rays’ third hit.
Brosseau and Chapman have a history: Chapman threw a 101 mph fastball near Brosseau’s head Sept. 1 in the ninth inning of a
Rays’ 5-3 victory. Chapman likely had nothing against Brosseau personally, but the pitch was an apparent escalation of a feud between the AL East rivals, and it prompted Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash’s infamous declaration that he has “a whole damn stable full of guys that throw 98 miles an hour.”
Brosseau pumped his fists and hollered “Yes!’’ as he began his trot. When he returned to the dugout, there were celebratory body slams and high fives with his teammates.
“No revenge, We put that in the past,” said Brosseau, who pinch-hit for Ji-Man Choi in the sixth and and then stayed in at first base. “We came here to win the series. We came here to move on, to do what we do best, that’s play our game.”
After winning the AL Division Series 3-2, Tampa Bay will stay in San Diego to face the Houston Astros in the AL Championship Series starting Sunday night. Tampa Bay was ousted by the Astros in last year’s ALDS.
NLCS: DODGERS
VS. BRAVES
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves made the first two rounds of the playoffs look easy, completing one-sided sweeps in the wild-card and division series. Their meeting in the National League Championship Series beginning Monday probably will be anything but.
Even in a shortened season with an expanded playoff field, the top two seeded NL teams will square off to win the pennant. And with a World Series on the line, they’ll be each other’s biggest challenge to date by far.
For the first time this postseason, the Dodgers will meet an opponent whose pitching staff is at full strength. The Braves will finally see an offense that ranked above average — let alone near the top of the league — in most key hitting statistics.
They traveled similar paths. As the Dodgers made easy work of the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card series, the Braves shut out the Cincinnati Reds in backto-back games to win their first playoff series since 2001.
Their division series matchups against the San Diego Padres and Marlins, respectively, were tougher, but both navigated neutralsite bubbles in Texas without a loss. Now, they’ll meet in the playoffs for the first time since 2018, when the Dodgers won a best-of-5 NLDS 3-1.
“Very talented,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when asked about Atlanta. “Offensively, they’re good left-handed, right-handed. Arguably the best player in the National League this year in Freddie Freeman. “They play the game the right way.”
Atlanta ranked second in runs (384, one behind the Dodgers), tied for first in slugging (.483, matching the Dodgers) and led the league in Fangraphs’ “offensive runs above average” metric.
It’s the health of the Braves’ pitching staff that gives them the biggest edge over the Dodgers’ previous playoff opponents.
Ace Max Fried has recovered from a September injured-list stint to start both of the team’s Game 1 wins. Rookie right-hander Ian Anderson flourished after a mid-season call-up. No. 3 starter Kyle Wright blanked the Marlins over six innings Thursday in his postseason debut.