Reds vs Dodgers Playoff Primer: What to know – Redleg Nation

It came down to the last day of the regular season, but the Cincinnati Reds survived the New York Mets to grab the 6th place in the National League and to be eligible for the play -offs such as the 3rd and Last Wild Card team. The results of Sunday’s games means that the Reds will be confronted in the first round of the play -offs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let us in everything we need to know about the Graven series.

When and where

The best-of-three game series starts on Tuesday 30 September. The two teams also play on Wednesday 1 October, and if necessary, Thursday 2 October. All matches in the series are played in Los Angeles in Dodger Stadium. Every match has a planned first throw before 9:08 pm et. The entire series is broadcast on ESPN.

The starting pitchers

Hunter Greene starts Game one for the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers did not officially announce their starter for the game, but Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said on Sunday that it would probably be Blake Snell.

Hunter Greene and Blake Snell both missed this season with injuries. And both were dominant when they were healthy. Greene made 19 starts and had a 2.76 ERA with a whil of 0.94. Snell, who had to deal with shoulder problems, only made 11 starts for the Dodgers, but he placed a 2.35 ERA with a 1.26 Whip in those games.

This season, Greene was facing the Dodgers and it was one of the worst starts of the season for him because he allowed three earned points, was accused of two undeserved points and 5.0 innings threw in what was a loss of 7-0. In the 2024 season he stood opposite Los Angeles-Been times in May twice and they came back-to-back starts. He allowed a total of three runs in his 12.1 innings while the Reds and Dodgers split those games.

Snell was not opposite the Reds this season. He faced them in 2024 when he was with San Francisco. The Lefty could not have done much better, because he fired a no-hitter in Cincinnati in a 3-0 win by the Giants.

In addition to those two boys, neither of them indicated who the starters will be in the rest of the series. During the last part of the season it was Nick Lodolo who was behind Greene in the rotation, but he threw out on Sunday. Maybe he can still go on Wednesday, since he only threw 26 lines during the game. Zack Littell would be the next man in the rotation, and then Andrew Abbott. For Andrew Abbott he threw on Saturday, so he would throw in a short rest to take the hill for Game Two, but would be at normal peace for a competition three if needed.

Assuming it is indeed Blake Snell in Game One, then the next man in the Dodgers rotation at the end of the season was Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Shohei Ohtani, however, has been throwing every 6th or 7th day before Los Angeles since the return of Tommy John Surgery and he recently threw the 23rd. Those three seem to be the likely trio that the Reds encounter.

How did the opposition?

The Cincinnati Reds had 10 batters who will have at least 10 record performances against the Dodgers this season. Only TJ Friedl and Austin Hays are more than .211 among the group. Noelvi Marte hit .174, but he hit two home runs in his six games.

The figures from the pitchers are not much better than those of the batters. 11 pitchers threw at least one inning against the Dodgers this season while he was with the Reds and stood in the active schedule when the season ended this weekend. This is how each of those boys performed.

If you look at the figures for both the batters and the pitchers against the Dodgers, you can clearly see why Los Angeles went against Cincinnati 5-1 during the season.

Along the piece

There is very little correlation between how a team plays when they enter the play -offs and how they perform in the play -offs.

That said, the Reds went 8-3 in their last 11 games and one of those losses came in extra innings. The Dodgers were even better, went 9-2 in their last 11 and won the last five games of the year. Back to 7 September they went 15-5 and two of those losses came in extra innings.

The Play -Off History

For a long time the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers shared a division and at that time there was no wildcard. That meant that there would never be a matchup between the two clubs in the play -offs. The only time that the Reds and Dodgers met in the play-offs was in 1995. Cincinnati wiped them in a best-of-five series. They would win 7-2 and 5-4 in Los Angeles before they returned home to pound the Dodgers 10-1 in game three.

That would be the last time that the Reds had a home victory in a play -off game. It was also the last time that Cincinnati improved in the play -offs. That was 30 years ago. Since then, the Reds have only made the play -offs and one of those times came in 2020 when eight teams made the play -offs in every competition. The Dodgers have since made the play -offs 18 times and this year is their 13th season in a row that they made it. They won the World Series in 2020 and in 2024.

World Series Odds

Some of you hate it. And the rest of you really hate it. Probably. But Fangraphs has updated their chances for each team in the play -offs to win the World Series. And things are not in favor of the Cincinnati Reds, who at the end of the year with the Cleveland Guardians at 1.5%are bound to the lowest chance of hoisting that beautiful trophy. Here it is that for each of the Playoff teams it seems according to Fangraphs at 3:07 am on Monday morning.