Monday, September 29, 2025
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025
Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers will start the National League Wild Card series against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Dodgers should win this series easily if they can hit the great Reds’ starting pitching. Their offense is much better than the Reds. The Dodgers had the most home runs in the National League.
While the Reds play in a great offensive ballpark, they don’t have a good offense. They can’t hit left-handed pitching. The Dodgers will start Blake Snell, a lefty starter, in Game 1. Snell is a strikeout pitcher, so he can keep the speedy Reds off the bases.
The Dodgers must play great defense. To beat the Reds, the Dodgers must stop the Reds’ running game.
The Reds have a good bullpen while the Dodgers’ bullpen is questionable. Tanner Scott isn’t a bust offseason signing as the Dodger closer. He will be on the playoff roster, and he should be used in lower-leverage situations. Alex Vesia should be used in the high-leverage situations. While in Arizona and Seattle, Blake Treinen looked much better than he did earlier. Treinen has playoff experience. Anthony Banda, another lefty, was great in the second half.
Shohei Ohtani must get on base and let Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman drive him in. Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages must hit well.
No one knows the status of Will Smith. Smith sustained a hairline fracture in his right hand on September 3rd against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In Smith’s absence, Ben Rortvedt has been super. The Dodgers should leave Smith off the Wild Card roster. If he can play in the NLDS, he will.
The Dodgers should sweep the Reds. However, anything can happen in baseball.
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