Dodgers, Brewers advance in playoffs; Yankees swept
Oct 8, 2026
Defending World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs on Wednesday, as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 4-3 with the help of a fan interference call for a three-game sweep of their American League Division Series.
The Dodgers next face the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series. The Brewers finished off the San Diego Padres in their NL Division Series.
Andy Pages put prior post-season disappointments behind him to deliver a go-ahead two-run single in the seventh inning for the Dodgers, who completed a 3-1 victory over the Braves in the best-of-five Division Series.
Max Muncy added an insurance run in the ninth with his third homer of the series.
The score was tied at 1 in game four when Braves starting pitcher Tyler Mahle opened the seventh by retiring Los Angeles star Shohei Ohtani but was pulled for rookie Didier Fuentes after giving up a single to Teoscar Hernandez.
Fernandez recorded one out but walked two to load the bases with two outs.
The Braves sent in Robert Suarez to face Pages, who stroked a fastball up the middle for the Dodgers' first hit with runners in scoring position in the series.
In San Diego, Garrett Mitchell tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the fifth inning before making a pivotal catch on Manny Machado's drive to the wall in the eighth, and the Brewers beat the Padres 3-1 to win their Division Series in four games.
Mitchell also drove in Sal Frelick with Milwaukee’s first run as the Brewers snapped their 12-game postseason road losing streak since 2018 and reached the team's fifth League Championship Series.
It will be a repeat of last season's best-of-seven showdown when the Dodgers swept Milwaukee on the way to their second consecutive World Series title.
Meanwhile, the Rays reached the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2020.
After Victor Mesa Jr.'s two-run homer gave them a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning in game three, Anthony Volpe of the Yankees appeared to hit a two-run shot against Griffin Jax with two outs in the bottom half as a fan reached over the left-field wall and caught the ball over the glove of a leaping Mesa.
A video review determined the ball would not have been over the wall and would not have been caught by Mesa.
Volpe was awarded an RBI double and George Lombard Jr. was allowed to score from first.
That was as close as New York would get.
The Rays will meet either the Chicago White Sox or the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Championship Series.
In Chicago, Cleveland's Jose Ramirez and Jo Adell struck run-scoring triples to power the Guardians' to a 9-3 triumph over the White Sox in game three of their division series.
With Cleveland facing elimination after dropping two straight at home, Ramirez went two-for-four at the plate with a double, a triple, two runs batted in, two runs scored and a stolen base.
"The approach was to get on base, try to put pressure on the other team with my speed, and make something happen. Thank God all those things came out well," said Ramirez. (AFP & AP)
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Last updated: 2026-10-08 HKT 13:46
Edited by Nazvi Careem
