The Dodgers (84-65) handled things on weekends and needed two of the three in San Francisco to maintain the 2.5-competition lead in the west about San Diego. While the usual attacking struggles for Yoshinobu Yamamoto Bite the Dodgers in the opener, the Dodgers have set up double digits in the other two games that enter this vital series to open their last homeclon of the season. The Phillies (89-61) currently lead the Dodgers with 4.5 games for the 2-Seede in the NL and the first round in October. Winning a Dodger series or Sweep would make that race very interesting for the last 10 games of the season, although Philly has a much softer remaining schedule. After this series, the Dodgers organize San Francisco for four before they go to Arizona and Seattle to end the season. Philly is going to Arizona this weekend before returning home for Miami and Minnesota. The Phillies took two of the three about the Dodgers for the loss of the season of the season of the season in April. It was a very narrow series, because both teams scored 12 points and the Dodgers lost a few one-run games and the middle game with two names. The Phillies have won nine of their last 11 games and are 13-4 since he was swept by the Mets at the end of August. They were rolled by the royals yesterday, such as AARON NOLA gave up six runs in a loss of 10-3 to make a six-game extraction streak.
 |  | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:10 pm | Los Angeles | ||
| CF | Bathers | Dh | Ohtani (l) |
| Dh | Schwarber (L) | SS | Ghetts |
| 1b | Harper (L) | RF | Hernández |
| C | Realmuto | 1b | Freeman (L) |
| LF | Marsh (l) | LF | Phone call |
| 3b | Rogue | 2b | Root |
| RF | Kepler (L) | 3b | Muncy (L) |
| SS | Stott (L) | CF | Pages |
| 2b | Wilson | C | Robinson |
| P | Suárez (L) | P | Band (L) |
The Dodgers roll tonight with a more open, if Anthony Banda will start with Kyle Schwarber And Bryce Harper hits the first. After him, Emmet Sheehan The ball is expected to get a new very strong start at home against the Rockies. Sheehan allowed a point and three hits over seven innings with nine strikeouts and a walk. It was not as good as his previous home start (seven shutout with 10 strikeouts against the Reds), but Sheehan makes his interest in a prominent role in October. He has not exactly confronted with powerful violations, so this should be a much better test in what is essentially a play-off game. The 36.6 percent of Sheehan from the zone swing speed is the highest among starters with more than 50 innings this season and the Phillies 30.3 percent from the zone-swing speed is the third highest baseball. No idea what the difference between that and the pursuit of StatCast is (Sheehan’s is 33 percent), but that can still be a good omen that comes in today. Sheehan’s registered double digits Whiffs in six of his last seven starts and has had 18 or more in his last three.
The Dodgers are confronted with the two Cy Young opportunities from the Phillies in this series, from today with Ranger Suarez. Suarez has an ERA of 2.77/2.96 ERA in 143 innings above 23 starts this season. He missed the first month of the season with back pain, but has been very consistent since then. He has completed six or more innings in 17 of his 23 starts and has only allowed four times more than three runs in a competition. Last month, Suarez had allowed raw back-to-back-started (19 hits and 11 points in 11 2/3 innings against Baltimore and Cincinnati), but since then nails has been in five starts. He has allowed three points in 30 2/3 on those five starts with 39 strikeouts and six free running. He had a strange start against Atlanta to finish Augustus, making 10 hits with only two strikeouts over five innings, but somehow only one run. Suarez is generally not a huge strikeout man, who comes out at eight strikeouts during his first 18 games, but has also engaged that lately. He set out with double digits in three of his last five starts after he only did this twice in his previous 111 career startingist and comes from a new career-high 12 strikeouts against the Mets. The Dodgers have not seen Suarez since 2023 when he allowed a run and four hits about six innings in a 5-4 Phillies victory.
Suarez usually lives by generating soft contact. His 30.3 percent hard rate is the lowest among starters with 140+ innings (using the definition of StatCast). Fangraphs has Suarez with a soft hit rate of 20.6 percent, the fourth best baseball. He essentially throws a mix of five pitch, which leads with a zinc shed (28.3 percent, his 45.9 percent ground ball percentage is the 18th best baseball). He has also thrown a change (19.8 percent), Snijder (18.3 percent), Curve (16.2 percent), four-seizer (14 percent) and has thrown a few sliding controllers to the left (3.4 percent). Righties have a .668 Ops against Suarez this season, while lefts are only .495 of him on him (with only 113 record appearances against him).
Chuckie Robinson Gets his first action with the Dodgers, but he played in 51 games for two seasons with the Reds and White Sox. He placed a .364 Ops in 136 plate performances and hit two gay people, but has not been a large bat at all in the Majors or minors. He has a .694 Ops in 48 games at OKC this season since he was taken over in May. It’s cool for him to get a start, like Dalton Hurry Is in LA and is eligible to be activated tomorrow. Alex Call Gets the start left and Max Muncy starts in third place. Strangely enough, Tommy Edman Is not in the line -up against a Lefty.
——
Brock Stewart goes on a rehabilitation assignment and could return this weekend.
Brock Stewart is packed to meet the OKC team in Tacoma for rehabilitation assignment. Expect to pitch on Tuesday and Thursday and then again #Dodgers.
– Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 15, 2025
Stewart is expected to throw tomorrow and Thursday before he returns. It will be interesting to see the grid moving for Stewart, assuming that no one is injured in the next three days.
——
The first pitch is planned at 7:10 pm PT and will be on Sportnet LA.
#Phillies #Dodgers #September #Banda #opens #Sheehan #bats #stay #hot #NLCS #preview #Dodgers #Digest