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LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are flipping Jack Flaherty and rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto in their rotation for the National League Division Series against the rival San Diego Padres.

Yamamoto will start Game 1 on Saturday and Flaherty will go in Game 2 on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. The changes were made so Yamamoto can be available for a potential Game 5 on an extra day of rest as he has had for every outing this season.

“It’s just about having more options,” Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations, said Thursday. “It just creates flexibility for things that we can’t possibly know right now, which is how is our pitching used in Games 1 through 4 and just having as many options as we can.”

He said both pitchers were great about the decision once the logic was explained.

The NLDS pits the Dodgers against the Padres for the third time in five years. The Padres won 3-1 in 2022, and the Dodgers won 3-0 in 2020 on their way to winning the World Series in the pandemic-shortened season.

“It’s felt like it’s been on a collision course,” Friedman said. “They’re a good team. We know it’ll be really good baseball.”

Friedman likens the matchup to a game of chess since the division rivals know each other so well. The Padres were 8-5 against the Dodgers in the regular season, with the NL West title going down to the wire.

“Do you keep sticking to the strengths? Do you switch things up? How are they going to approach it?” he said. “If you’ve done something specific to a certain guy through those regular-season matchups, do you stick with it? Do you deviate? I think that’s on a case-by-case basis.”

Owning the best record in baseball gave the Dodgers a bye this week. They spent Thursday using a high-velocity pitching machine for batting practice, working on fundamentals and playing a simulated game while the deciding Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series between the Mets and Brewers played on the stadium’s videoboards.

Shohei Ohtani grounded out to second leading off the sim game against Tony Gonsolin. Freddie Freeman popped out to foul territory in left in the eerily quiet stadium.

A few of the players had organized watch parties during the NLWC, which the Padres swept in two games over the Atlanta Braves.

The extra time off has proven valuable for injured players such as Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas.

Freeman sprained his right ankle after landing awkwardly while running to first during the team’s NL West-clinching game against the Padres last week. Manager Dave Roberts said he was confident Freeman would be in the lineup for Game 1, although he acknowledged the All-Star first baseman’s mobility could be compromised on defense.

Freeman also took swings in the batting cage Thursday and was progressing daily. He also jammed his middle finger on his right hand in late August.

“It’s hard because anytime you talk to him about it, he’s like, ‘I’m good. I’ll be good,'” Friedman said.

Rojas has a tear in his left adductor muscle, an injury he has been playing with for a couple of weeks.

“Miggy looks real good,” Friedman said. “The time [off] has really helped him.”

Friedman confirmed Ohtani would continue his throwing program as he rehabs from a second elbow surgery he had a year ago. The Japanese superstar won’t progress to live batting practice.

Not pitching this season allowed Ohtani to focus on his offense and the results were record-breaking. He became the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season.

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

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Grzelcyk, 31, nets one-year deal from Blackhawks

CHICAGO — Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has made the Chicago Blackhawks, agreeing to a $1 million, one-year contract with the team.

Chicago announced the deal on Sunday. Grzelcyk had been with the team in training camp on a personal tryout agreement.

The Blackhawks visit the Florida Panthers for their season opener Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Grzelcyk had one goal and a career-high 39 assists in 82 games for Pittsburgh last season. He also set a career high with a team-leading 101 blocked shots.

Grzelcyk, a Massachusetts native, was selected by Boston in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. He had 25 goals and 110 assists in 445 games for the Bruins over eight seasons.

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

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Lightning, Panthers net 312 PIM in preseason tilt

Niko Mikkola had an assist on a goal that gave the Florida Panthers an 8-0 lead. Problem was, he had been kicked out of the game a few minutes earlier and nobody noticed.

It was that kind of night between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Florida defeated Tampa Bay 7-0 in the preseason finale for both clubs Saturday night, though the score was irrelevant. There were 65 penalties for 312 minutes on the stat sheet, including 13 game misconduct penalties — seven for Tampa Bay, six for Florida. The penalty count kept rising after the game, as officials were making sure everything that was called got logged.

“I have no idea,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said, when asked what message Tampa Bay was trying to send with its style of play. “I’m not worried about it. Training camp is over. We had some good games … and no one was complaining about ice time by the end of it, so it’s over.”

Florida had 17 power-play chances in the game, by the NHL’s count.

“It got silly. It got stupid by the end of it,” Florida forward Evan Rodrigues said. “It wasn’t really hockey out there.”

The parade to the penalty boxes started about two minutes into the game when Tampa Bay’s Scott Sabourin — who was among six players the Lightning called up for the game — went after Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. Sabourin got a major penalty after playing 19 seconds.

“It made you think there might be something coming,” Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen said, when asked what he thought when he saw the Lightning called up players for the game.

What would have been the eighth Florida goal of the night, midway through the third period, was taken away 15 minutes after Jesper Boqvist scored. Off-ice officials realized that Mikkola couldn’t have had an assist on the play — since he had been ejected earlier in the period.

The teams skated with the scoreboard saying Florida led 8-0 for about five minutes of actual game time before officials informed both teams that the goal had been taken away and Mikkola had to leave the game.

The Lightning took nine penalties and had no shots on goal in the third period.

Saturday’s game came two nights after the teams combined for 49 penalties and 186 minutes in another preseason contest, one the Lightning won 5-2.

Tampa Bay went to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals from 2020 through 2022, winning two titles in that span. Florida has been to each of the past three Stanley Cup Finals and has won the past two Cups. And there has long been a heated rivalry between the franchises.

“I think anybody that’s been a part of this rivalry would probably look at this box score and A, not be surprised and B, I can’t believe it’s taken this long for something like that to happen,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

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Ellis joins Sharks after injury-filled Flyers tenure

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers rid themselves of defenseman Ryan Ellis‘ contract in a trade with the Sharks, ending his tenure at four games played in four seasons.

Ellis and a conditional sixth-round draft pick were traded to San Jose on Sunday for forward Carl Grundstrom and defenseman Artem Guryev. The condition on the sixth-round pick is that San Jose shall receive the earlier of two picks Philadelphia currently owns in the 2026 sixth round, its own and Columbus‘.

The Flyers now have five picks in the 2026 draft. They own one pick in each of the first three rounds, one in the sixth and one in the seventh round.

Philadelphia thought it acquired one of the NHL’s best defensemen when it landed Ellis from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2021 season. Ellis was selected by Nashville with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 draft and helped the Predators win the Stanley Cup in 2017. He had 270 points in 562 career games at the time of the trade.

Ellis played four games in 2021 until he suffered a pelvis injury believed to be career-threatening.

The Sharks likely will place Ellis on long-term injured reserve. He has two seasons left on an eight-year, $50 million contract that carries an annual cap hit of $6.25 million through 2027.

Grundstrom scored nine points in 56 games with San Jose last season.

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