Wild Card Preview: Dodgers’ Quest to Repeat Begins with 3-Game Set vs Hungry Reds

LOS ANGELES, CA—After months of a grueling season spread out over 162 games, the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season is finally over, and with that is the start of October and postseason baseball.

The Los Angeles Dodgers enter this year’s bracket in somewhat unfamiliar territory.

Despite winning the National League West for the second consecutive year, collecting their 12th crown in 13 seasons, the Dodgers were beaten out by the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies for the top spots in the National League, meaning Los Angeles will host the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card round.

It’ll be just the third time the Dodgers have played in the Wild Card round since its creation after the 1994 season, with the previous two being during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season and the 2021 single-game elimination format against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Now, the Dodgers will get a chance to take on the three-game series, which was introduced during the 2022 season. Gone are the excuses of not playing enough baseball leading into the National League Division Series, an issue that arose during the 2022 and 2023 seasons after first-round postseason exits.

Their first opponent standing in the way of their quest for back-to-back titles is the Reds, a surprising team that narrowly beat out the mighty New York Mets for the final seed in the National League.

However, don’t let the Reds’ 83-79 record fool you, as they’re about one of the toughest matchups, especially in a three-game series.

One thing that stayed constant for the Reds this season was their pitching staff, which ranked third overall in pitching fWAR (19.4) and second in starting pitcher fWAR (16.2).

Led by young right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene, who will get the ball in Game One (7-4, 2.76 ERA) and crafty left-handers Andrew Abbot and Nick Lodolo, they are sure to give the Dodgers batters some fits in a short series.

Like the Dodgers, the Reds’ bullpen has gotten deeper with their rich amount of starters shifting to the ‘pen ahead of this series, including former top draft pick Chase Burns and veteran arm Nick Martinez.

Despite their borderline elite rotation and pitching staff, the Reds struggled in some areas this season.

Their 38-43 record on the road this season was one of the worst in baseball, and despite hanging on to a postseason spot by Game 162, that was largely dependent on the Mets ’ late-season collapse.

The Reds only went 14-11 in September, just three games over .500, and since the Trade Deadline, they were just 26-26.

Regarding the head-to-head matchup for Los Angeles this season, it did not go the Reds’ way, with the Dodgers winning five of their six games, including a series sweep at Dodger Stadium.

As for the Dodgers, we know what is at stake for the team. They are on the cusp of being the first back-to-back champions in Major League Baseball in over twenty-five years.

Despite “winning the offseason,” the Dodgers struggled to play consistent baseball for most of the summer, ending the month with a 15-10 record and securing ninety-three total wins, their lowest mark since the 2018 season (ninety-two).

While the bullpen has been the team’s biggest hurdle this season, ranking in the bottom ten in ERA, FIP, and leading all of baseball in innings pitched, it has been the injuries on the position player side that could be their undoing in October.

Still, the Dodgers will turn back the clock and go an old-fashioned route to win a title, and that depends on their starting rotation.

Since August 1st, the Dodgers’ starters have collectively ranked first in ERA, FIP, and fWAR while also pitching deeper into games than Los Angeles had seen in recent years.

They’ll be led by lefty Blake Snell and for good reason, as the Reds have struggled massively against Southpaws this season, ranking 26th in wRC+

A clear advantage is flipping switch-hitting Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz to his weaker side, since he has only a .621 OPS as a right-handed batter against a left-handed pitcher. In contrast, he posts an .844 OPS when hitting the other way.

It’s not only De La Cruz. The Reds have also platooned Gavin Lux, a former Dodgers infielder. Additionally, leadoff hitter TJ Friedl has performed better against right-handed pitchers than against lefties. The Dodgers’ five left-handed relievers have limited left-handed hitters to a .184 batting average this season and have struck out 26.9% of these batters.

Game One is crucial in the new revamped Wild Card format, as since its creation, the winner of Game One has gone on to win the series every time.

Game One: Blake Snell (LHP) (5-4, 2.35 ERA) vs Hunter Greene (7-4, 2.76 ERA)

Game Two: Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49 ERA) vs Zack Littell (10-8, 3.81 ERA)

*Game Three: Shohei Ohtani (1-1, 2.87 ERA) vs TBD Andrew Abbot (LHP) (10-7, 2.87 ERA)

*if necessary

Game Times

Game One: 6:08 PM PT, ESPN

Game Two: 6:08 PM PT, ESPN

*Game Three: 6:08 PM PT, ESPN

*if necessary

Who’s in & Who’s Out?

All eyes will be on Will Smith over the next twenty-four hours as the All-Star catchers hope to return to the Dodgers lineup for Game One of the Wild Card series on Tuesday.

Smith, 30, has been nursing a fractured right hand since early September, and while the right-handed slugger was able to avoid the injured list initially, after a second round of scans and no pain/swelling improvement, the Dodgers opted to place him on the injured list.

Smith has continued to participate in baseball activities, including working out and attending bullpen sessions. Over the weekend, Smith began hitting soft baseballs to get some swing work in.

Today at the Dodgers’ team workout at Dodger Stadium, Dave Roberts stated that Smith will receive live at-bats, and if all goes well, Smith could be added to the Wild Card roster.

If not, expect Ben Rortvedt and Dalton Rushing to fill in like they have been.

Third baseman Max Muncy and Tommy Edman have each missed multiple games during the final week of the regular season.

Muncy has been a baseball magnet this season, suffering multiple injuries as a result, and most recently, a lower leg injury caused him to miss the final four games in a row.

Still, Muncy was positive when talking to the media on Monday, stating that he’ll be good to go for Tuesday’s game.

Edman, who has been dealing with an ankle injury nearly all season, had it flare up again while the team was in Arizona, and his lone start since that series was as the team’s designated hitter during Ohtani’s offday.

Day-to-day (2): Tommy Edman, Max Muncy

10-day Injured List (1): Will Smith

15-day Injured List (1): Brock Stewart

60-day Injured List (7): Tony Gonsolin, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Evan Phillips

The Red come into this weekday Wild Card matchup healthy as can be, with all of their injuries being on the 60-day injured list, thus making them ineligible for the Wild Card round.

Day-to-day (00):

10-day Injured List (00):

15-day Injured List (00):

60-day Injured List (7): Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar, Rhett Lowder, Tyler Callihan, Wade Miley, Ian Gibaut, Carson Spiers

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