Shohei Ohtani takes batting practice on Friday

Long spent five years as the Phillies’ hitting coach after previous tenures with the Yankees, Mets and Nationals. Dickerson had also held his spot the last five years and six years overall; the Phillies made him their infield coach in 2019, lost him to San Diego for two years and then brought him back in 2022.

With a lefty back on the mound in Blake Snell, the Brewers are using the same nine they did in Game 1 versus Tarik Skubal. The lineup: LF Jackson Chourio, 2B Brice Turang, C William Contreras, DH Vaughn, 1B Jake Bauers, CF Garrett Mitchell, SS Cooper Pratt, RF Luis Lara, 3B Joey Ortiz.

Tucker hadn’t hit higher than sixth in the postseason. Tonight, Shohei Ohtani has been dropped to sixth, and Max Muncy is sitting initially against left-hander Robert Gasser. The lineup: SS Mookie Betts, 1B Freddie Freeman, LF Teoscar Hernández, RF Tucker, CF Andy Pages, DH Ohtani, C Will Smith, 3B Miguel Rojas, 2B Tommy Edman.

Williams will be on four days’ rest after striking out 12 in 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox in the decisive ALDS Game 5. Including his relief appearance, he’s allowed two runs and struck out 24 in 11 2/3 innings this postseason.

Cooke, a former Blue Jays prospect, seemed potentially interesting in relief in 2023, when he posted an 80/19 K/BB in 44 1/3 innings between three levels in the minors. That earned him an invite to big-league camp the following spring. However, he struggled that year, underwent Tommy John in Jan. 2025 and was released prior to this season. He made his comeback in indy ball, posting a 2.66 ERA in 23 2/3 innings for Lexington in the Atlantic League. Now he’ll get a look from a rival AL East team.

Holderman has managed the issue for most of the last four years. He’s expected to be ready for the beginning of spring training.

Musgrove missed essentially two years while battling through injuries and returned to pitch one inning at the end of September. The 33-year-old would figure to be a leading contender to have a spot in the rotation in 2027, but it seems like the Padres want to be certain of his health over the winter before deciding if they want to let him have a spot or bring in another starting option and keep Musgrove in a bullpen role.

The game had been scheduled to start at 9 pm ET, but the Guardians’ game is being moved up to avoid potential weather issues, which allows Major League Baseball to move the NLCS game to a “more desirable” 8 pm East Coast start time.

Darvish had elbow surgery last season and missed the entire 2026 campaign. It sounds like, even if he feels 100 percent healthy, there is no guarantee that Darvish, who recently turned 40 years old, will return to MLB action. However, Stammen mentioned that Darvish has “been doing the work to at least give himself the option.”

The first time this injury cropped up publicly was at the beginning of August. Sheets played through the injury before finally landing on the injured list on August 30th and staying there for a month. Generally, plantar fasciitis is an injury that can heal with consecutive weeks or months of non-surgical treatments and rest, so this news doesn’t impact Sheets’ outlook too much for 2027. However, Stammen uses the term “for now” when discussing Sheets’ decision to now have surgery, which is a bit foreboding. If he doesn’t improve by December or January, he may be forced to opt for a surgical route, which could impact his status for next season.