Dodgers win West, but Freeman exits with injury
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Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Freddie Freeman wore a walking boot and a smile. The moment that all but solidified another National League West title and first-round bye for the Los Angeles Dodgers — a seventh-inning two-run single from Mookie Betts, further extending Thursday’s lead — was followed by Freeman rolling his right ankle, a frightening development for a key player at the most important time of year.
But X-rays revealed no structural damage. Freeman is expected to be just fine for the playoffs.
To clinch this way, he felt, was fitting.
“We’ve worked really hard to overcome a lot of adversity — and it never ends, it seems like, this year,” Freeman said after a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres. “I’ll do everything I possibly can to be ready.”
The Dodgers watched a dangerous, star-laden Padres team take Tuesday’s series opener with a game-ending triple play, then boisterously celebrate a postseason berth inside Dodger Stadium’s visiting clubhouse. But they came back to win the next two, riding an effective Walker Buehler and key hits from Betts and Shohei Ohtani in the finale.
When Michael Kopech, their standout new closer, got Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka to hit into an infield popup with two outs in the top of the ninth, the Dodgers collected their 95th win this season and their 11th NL West title in 12 years.
“They all feel sweet, but I’ll tell you, man, with what we’ve gone through this year, this feels a tick sweeter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m just so proud of these guys, the way that we’ve fought the adversity, stuck together and found a way to win this division again. It was hard-fought. We earned it. Today sort of epitomized our season — just kind of battling from behind, fighting, scratching, clawing and willing ourselves to victory.”
The Dodgers placed a proverbial target on their backs with a historic offseason splurge that saw them sign Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Teoscar Hernandez and, with a high-profile trade that was followed by an extension, Tyler Glasnow. By the All-Star break, though, they had a major league-leading 15 players on their injured list. Immediately thereafter, the division-rival Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks surged near the top of the division.
But the Dodgers did not waver.
Yamamoto, Betts, Clayton Kershaw, Max Muncy, Blake Treinen and Brusdar Graterol all missed extended time. But the Dodgers never trailed in the NL West. They went just 11-13 in July, but they came back to go 19-8 in August. Every time it seemed as if they might be vulnerable, they responded. Every time it seemed as if they might wilt under the weight of expectations, they met them.
“We like high expectations,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “We relish them. It beats the s— out of the alternative. People care, they’re passionate about the Dodgers. They have high expectations. So do we. We think that’s a great thing. And for us, this is step one. This is what we talked about in spring training. The first step was to win the division and put ourselves in position to get the bye. We’ve done that. And now the ultimate goal is in line. We need to do all we can to put ourselves in position to win 11 games.”
The Dodgers secured a bye the past two years, only to get eliminated by a division rival — the Padres in 2022, the D-backs in 2023 — in the division series. They’ll approach this October with starting pitching concerns similar to the ones they faced last October. Glasnow and Gavin Stone have been ruled out; Kershaw seemingly won’t be an option for the initial round. It’ll be up to Jack Flaherty, acquired before the trade deadline, and Yamamoto, who missed three months with a shoulder injury, to anchor the staff.
But if Buehler can pitch the way he did Thursday — allowing just one run on five hits in an efficient five innings, despite striking out only one batter — the Dodgers could begin the playoffs with a formidable three-man staff.
Said Dodgers catcher Will Smith: “We needed him to step up, and he did.”
The Dodgers were scoreless against Joe Musgrove until Smith tied the score with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Four batters later, Ohtani snuck a grounder through the right side to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. It was his 10th hit in his past 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position, raising his slash line in that situation to .545/.615/1.273 in September.
Ohtani is 20-for-29 with five home runs, 15 RBIs, seven stolen bases and three walks over his past seven games, a stretch that began with a historic performance to reach the 50/50 milestone. But as he approaches his first postseason, it’s his drastic improvements in RBI situations that has stuck out to club officials.
“It was an awesome feeling,” Ohtani, speaking through an interpreter, said of taking part in his first clinch celebration. “I’m hoping to be able to continue popping champagne.”
Freeman was leaning on crutches when the Dodgers began to spray champagne in their clubhouse. He rolled his ankle while trying to evade a tag from Padres first baseman Luis Arraez, then limped directly into the clubhouse for X-rays that came back negative.
Freeman’s ankle swelled “like a grapefruit,” he said, but he’s “optimistic” that he’ll be available by the time the division series begins in nine days. Freeman will stay in Los Angeles to receive treatment while the rest of his teammates travel to Colorado to finish their regular season this weekend.
“Once they get the fluid out,” Freeman said, “I should be able to go.”
Added Roberts: “I’m just grateful that he’s going to have a week off.”
The Carolina Hurricanes have reached a three-year, $9.5 million extension with forward Taylor Hall through the 2027-28 season.
The team announced the signing Wednesday, a day after the Hurricanes closed out the New Jersey Devils in their first-round playoff series. It marked the seventh straight year that Carolina has won at least one postseason series.
Hall, 33, acquired in a blockbuster January deal that included Mikko Rantanen‘s arrival, scored the first of Carolina’s four second-period goals that helped it erase a 3-0 deficit before winning in double overtime. He’s a 15-year veteran who won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP in the 2017-18 season.
“Taylor has proven to be an outstanding fit for our team, and we are thrilled that he is excited to make Raleigh his home for another three seasons,” general manager Eric Tulsky said in a statement. “He’s been a solid veteran presence in the locker room and a difference maker on the ice.”
Hall had 18 goals and 24 assists in 77 regular-season games between Chicago and Carolina, and also had two assists in the five-game series win against New Jersey. He had missed most of the previous season due to knee surgery and was making $6 million this year with free agency looming, then led Carolina skaters with four power-play goals in the regular season after his arrival.
The Hurricanes acquired the 2010 No. 1 overall draft pick on Jan. 24 in the three-team deal that snagged Rantanen from Colorado, though they later sent Rantanen to Dallas with forward Logan Stankoven as the primary trade-deadline return when it became clear Rantanen was unlikely to sign long-term to stay with Carolina.
Hall and Tulsky are scheduled to address reporters by Zoom later Wednesday.
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Greg Wyshynski
Utah Hockey Club officials wouldn’t confirm whether “Mammoth” was their new name after it allegedly leaked on the team’s official YouTube channel Tuesday night.
Fans and media noticed that the channel’s handle was changed from “@UtahHockeyClub” to “@UtahMammoth,” on both its landing page and URL. The channel was soon deactivated and remained so on Wednesday morning, but not before screenshots of the name change went viral.
Utah Mammoth was one of three finalists featured in a fan vote at Delta Center to help determine the permanent name of the team, which played its inaugural season in 2024-25 after SEG purchased and relocated the former Arizona Coyotes franchise. Fans voted with iPads located at stations around the arena that featured the names, logos and potential branding for each option.
Originally, the three names voted on were Utah Mammoth, Utah Hockey Club and Utah Wasatch, which was quickly swapped out for Utah Outlaws after the team saw early vote returns.
Mammoth made the final four in the initial fan vote last year.
Utah HC executives wouldn’t confirm or deny that Mammoth will be the team’s new nickname.
Mike Maughan, an executive with Utah HC owner Smith Entertainment Group, said on Wednesday that “progress continues on exploring all three of the name options that were chosen as finalists by our fans. We’re fully on track to announce a permanent name and identity ahead of the 25-26 NHL season and look forward to sharing that with our fans when we do.”
When pressed for an explanation on the alleged YouTube leak, Maughan would only say, “We’re fully on track to announce a permanent name and identity ahead of the 25-26 NHL season.”
One NHL source told ESPN that the revelation for the team’s new name and logo could come before the NHL draft in late June. This year’s draft is a “decentralized” event, meaning that teams will be making selections from their own sites rather than in one central location. That opens the door for Utah to have an event in Salt Lake City with team officials around the draft.
In other Utah HC news, the team announced Wednesday that Delta Center, home to Utah HC and the Utah Jazz, will be undergoing a renovation to optimize hockey sightlines while maintaining the proximity of basketball fans to the court using a state-of-the-art retractable seating system. It’s a multiyear project that will also create a new main entrance and outdoor plaza.
The first-of-its-kind seating system accommodates a nearly 12-foot variance in elevation between rink and court endlines to offer optimal sightlines for both the NBA and NHL. Every seat in the lower bowl will have a complete view of the ice at the start of next season — the team estimates that 400 seats currently can only see one goal net during games.
The new hockey configuration adds capacity behind the goals and above and around the event tunnels on the north and south side of the lower bowl and improves access to seating behind the boards.
When all renovations are complete, seating capacity for hockey will increase from 11,131 to approximately 17,000 — with every seat in the upper and lower bowls having full views of both goals — and capacity for basketball will increase from 18,206 to nearly 19,000 seats.
“Delta Center was built for basketball. When you come and put the size of an ice sheet in that venue with those sight lines, the geometry just doesn’t work. So that’s where you come up with the riser system configuration. You come up with raising the floor 2 feet,” said Jim Olson, president of the Jazz and executive representing SEG on all facilities projects.
“We are absolutely protecting the basketball experience, but then also creating a great hockey experience where all the seats can see all the ice,” he said.
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