It’s obvious the baseball gods didn’t envision climate change or El Nino when they dedicated the month of October (and occasionally a sliver of November) to the post-season. The mythic picture has typically pivoted to a nip in the air, fans gobbling up hoodies with cute little phrases opportunistically sold at $80 a pop to deal with mid-game sunsets and players who shone over the six prior months rising to the occasion with the stakes increased.
But in the real times Southern California is in the midst of the hottest October stretch in recorded history, with a fifth consecutive day of triple digits hitting downtown Los Angeles and “real feel” temperatures in the 90s even closer to the water. At game time just as the skies began to darken at San Diego’s Petco Park which sits mere blocks from a shoreline per LOCALCONDITIONS.COM it felt like 91 degrees. To the Padres who were staring elimination at the face it probably felt eminently hotter. As the evening unfolded the temperature got slightly more tolerable but the pressure reached slow cooker levels. The ASSOCIATED PRESS’ Greg Beacham shared why that was the case:
When right-hander Michael King dramatically emerged from the bullpen in a darkened Petco Park to pitch in the eighth inning of Game 3 just two days after he made a five-inning start in Game 2, the San Diego Padres’ desperate determination to extend their season was clear.
The relentless Milwaukee Brewers are making that job awfully difficult — but after three scintillating, one-run playoff games packed with pressure moments, extraordinary plays and hero turns in this NL Division Series, the Padres are still fighting for at least another day.
Jake Cronenworth hit a tiebreaking homer, King pitched the final two innings on one day of rest and the Padres avoided playoff elimination with a 4-3 victory Tuesday night, trimming Milwaukee’s lead in the best-of-five series to 2-1.
Xander Bogaerts scored San Diego’s fourth run on a hustle play in the sixth and then capped his team’s stellar defensive performance with a game-ending double play at shortstop for the Padres, who hung on in a nail-biter over the MLB-best Brewers. This is the first playoff series since the 2021 National League Championship Series to begin with three straight one-run decisions.
All that capped off an evening that began in a place just outside what is typically referenced Hotlanta where the two-time defending champs were theoretically on their way to an inglorious ouster at the hands of the resillient Braves, who had swept them during their regular season series in Georgia and were able to steal the second of two weekend games where the on-field temperature soared well over 100 degrees even during the Sunday night that began at twilight local time. The LOS ANGELES TIMES’ Bill Plaschke seemed as relieved by the result as he was the chance to escape the oppressive conditions he had endured:
Stepping warily into Atlanta’s Truist Park with their five-game division series tied at one game apiece and Braves’ ace Chris Sale waiting for them on the mound Tuesday, the Dodgers marched out three hours later on the verge of another champagne shower.
And as THE ATHLETIC’s Tim Britton expounded, even if the climate still pretends it’s the dog days of summer, the Dodgers who evolve in autumn much like trees do outside SoCal are performing in ways where at least they know what season it actually is:
Seven innings, four hits, 10 strikeouts. As our Katie Woo pointed out, Yamamoto allowed five runs in his first postseason start back in 2024 — and has only allowed 10 runs in his 10 playoff appearances since.
Yamamoto has started 10 playoff games for L.A. in the last three years; the Dodgers have won nine of them. He himself has the win in seven. Neither number includes a win in a relief appearance you might remember from last year. Overall, Yamamoto’s 2.14 postseason ERA is approaching October legend Madison Bumgarner’s 2.11 mark. And he’s the rare standout starter these days who can win you a game by himself, staying efficient enough to go seven-plus.
Yamamoto, of course, didn’t win this by himself; he had help from another Dodger just as accustomed to getting it done in October. Kiké Hernández, maybe the closest thing this sport has to Robert Horry, got his first start of the postseason and broke the ice with a two-run shot off Sale in the fourth inning. It was Hernández’s 17th career postseason homer in 105 games — a pace of 26 over a full 162-game season. His career high in the regular season? Twenty-one.
That set us up for what is arguably the most exciting single day of baseball one can look forward to in this bloated era (with a lockout hanging over it all like a Sword of Damocles on top of that). THE SPORTING NEWS’ Marc Lancaster eagerly shilled the details earlier this morning:
Wednesday brings the final day of wall-to-wall postseason baseball for 2026, with four Division Series games on tap — all of them potential clinchers.
The AL series have relocated, which may not necessarily be a good thing for the White Sox. Chicago is 4-0 this postseason with all of those wins coming on the road, but a raucous crowd awaits on the South Side as the Sox look to close out the Guardians. 
Next up, the Dodgers have a chance to eliminate the Braves in Atlanta, with Tyler Glasnow set to take the ball for LA and trade-deadline acquisition Tyler Mahle getting the start for the home team.
In New York, Max Fried is set to start a must-win game for the Yankees even though his wife is due to give birth at any time. He’ll face Nick Martinez, who will try to keep the Rays rolling for a sweep.
The nightcap is in San Diego, where the Padres staved off elimination Tuesday in another thriller. Veteran Walker Buehler will try to maintain that momentum and send the series back to Milwaukee for a Game 5.
It starts in the heart of the afternoon and will extend well past midnight Eastern time–and who knows how deep given how even the Brewers and Padres’ set has unfolded to date. With the thermometer already soaring as this is written and another sweltering day ahead where even the thought of a beach breeze isn’t that comforting, I for one am thrilled that Baseball Nirvana awaits.
The top three TV markets are all represented so the likelihood of people discovering FS1 and rediscovering TBS are far greater than usual. The games will overlap so get that remote ready. And be sure to keep it out of direct sunlight.
Courage…