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Ange Postecoglou is expected to be given the chance to save his job amid mounting calls for Tottenham to sack the 59-year-old, sources have told ESPN.
Spurs were booed off after losing 2-1 at home to Leicester City on Sunday, a result which leaves them languishing in 15th place in the Premier League.
Tottenham have won just one of their past 11 league matches and during their latest defeat, many fans turned their anger on Daniel Levy with some holding up a banner which read "24 years, 16 managers, 1 trophy" in reference to his record as chairman.
However, Spurs are one game away from a Wembley showpiece final with their semifinal, second leg against Liverpool set to take place at Anfield on Feb. 6. Sources have told ESPN that Postecoglou is likely to be given the opportunity to win that tie, given they hold a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg, unless there is another dramatic downturn in the intervening two games.
Postecoglou's side host Swedish club IF Elfsborg in the Europa League on Thursday -- with Spurs in a good position to secure automatic qualification for the knockout stages -- before a tricky trip across London to Brentford on Sunday. Just three days after that Carabao Cup second leg match, Spurs face Aston Villa in the FA Cup fourth round.
There continues to be a recognition among the club's hierarchy that Postecoglou is hampered by an unusually bad injury situation with 10 first-team players unavailable against Leicester.
Richarlison was only able to play 54 minutes while Postecoglou suggested after the game that Pape Matar Sarr should not have played at all due to a lack of match fitness.
Postecoglou is hopeful that first-choice centre-backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven could return in time in the next week or so while the club are active in the January transfer market and aim to bring in at least one player before next Monday's deadline.
Following the loss to Leicester on Sunday, Postecoglou was asked if he would get another fortnight in his post to benefit from key players returning,
"Who knows? I reckon there is probably a fair chunk [of people] that will say 'no,'" he said.
"When you are the manager of a football club you can be very vulnerable and isolated. I don't feel that. I feel like this group of players, not for me, are giving everything for the club. I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that."
It's now or never for Marcus Rashford at Man United
LONDON -- Marcus Rashford has one week to save his career, but it might be too late before he finally realises what is at stake.
The Manchester United forward either seals a move away from Old Trafford before Monday's transfer deadline, or he accepts Ruben Amorim's brutal assessment of his situation at the club and makes the changes, on and off the pitch, which are being demanded by his head coach. If he fails on both counts, then the 27-year-old will be heading for the wilderness with his once-promising career reduced to regret and what-might-have-been.
At 27, and with his form evaporating during the past 18 months -- a period that's also seen him miss out on Euro 2024 and fall out of the England picture -- Rashford is running out of time as a footballer, and Amorim is clearly in no mood to make concessions to accommodate United's highest-paid player.
When asked after United's narrow 1-0 win at Fulham on Sunday whether Rashford had a way back into the team because strikers Rasmus Højlund and Joshua Zirkzee are failing to deliver -- neither has scored on 2025, and have managed just one goal between them since the beginning of December -- Amorim had the opportunity to offer Rashford an olive branch and encouragement that the door was still open. Instead, Amorim slammed it shut with a withering assessment of the impression that Rashford has made since he arrived as coach two months ago.
"It's the same, it's always the same reason," Amorim said when asked why he continued to overlook Rashford. "The reason is the training, the way I see what footballers should do in training, in life, it's every day, every detail.
"So if things don't change, I will not change. It's the same situation for every player. If you do the maximum, if you do the right things, we can use every player. And you can see it today on the bench: we miss a little bit of pace to go and change the game, move some pieces.
"But I prefer it like that. I will put [63-year-old goalkeeper coach Jorge] Vital on before I put a player on that don't give the maximum every day. So I will not change in that department."
Amorim's stance on Rashford has been resolute since he dropped the forward from his squad for the derby against Manchester City on Dec. 15. United won 2-1 without Rashford that day, and aside from being an unused substitute in a 2-0 home defeat against Newcastle last month, the forward has been absent from 10 of 11 matchday squads. He was not involved again at Fulham and it was the poor performance of Højlund in particular that exposed United's lack of cutting edge up front.
All coaches need to find a way to win, and most are pragmatic enough to select players they have issues with in order to get the results they need to keep the fans and owners happy. But Amorim won't pick Rashford, despite the limitations of his forwards. Aside from winger Amad Diallo, no forward has scored for United since early December.
It generally doesn't matter who scores as long as a team wins or, at the very least, avoids defeat. But the problem right now for Amorim and United is that the players who are supposed to find the back of the net are showing no signs of doing so.
Højlund, a 64m signing from Atalanta 18 months ago, took his goalless streak to 11 games during a woeful 57 minutes at Craven Cottage in which he had no shots at goal and no touches in the Fulham penalty area. His replacement from the substitutes' bench, Zirkzee, walked off the pitch after a 33-minute outing having also failed to shoot at goal. The 36m signing from Bologna has now managed one goal in 14 games, although he did help link play better than Højlund did during his time on the pitch.
Højlund is clearly low on confidence and, at just 21 years old, he needs help from more experienced teammates, but when you play as a No. 9 for Manchester United, the expectations are incredibly high and the Denmark international is not meeting them. Neither is Zirkzee.
United do not have the finances to sign a proven upgrade this month, so there will no Viktor Gyökeres or Victor Osimhen arriving at Old Trafford before Monday's transfer deadline, as much as Amorim's team need a player of that calibre to bolster the squad.
With three years to run on his 325,000-a-week contract at Old Trafford, Rashford is hardly a bargain opportunity for rival clubs and with three weeks of the window gone, he is still at United having so far failed to secure a move away from the club, despite interest from AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund. Sources have told ESPN that Rashford is hopeful that Barcelona will be able to step up their interest in a loan deal by offloading players to free up room on their wage bill, but there are no guarantees, and he's just as likely to still be at Old Trafford next Tuesday as he is to be somewhere else.
Rashford hasn't kicked a ball for United since the Europa League victory away to Viktoria Plzen on Dec. 12, but the onus is now firmly on him to change that. Amorim has made it clear what needs to happen; the clock is ticking.
Rashford can either leave, or do what his coach wants. The alternative doesn't bear thinking about for a player who was once United and England's golden boy.
Virat Kohli to train with Delhi squad from Tuesday
Over the last couple of days, photos and videos have emerged on social media of Kohli working with former India and RCB batting coach Sanjay Bangar at a training facility in Mumbai.
The final round of Ranji Trophy group games will end four days before India's first ODI against England in Nagpur on February 6. Kohli is part of the ODI squad for the three-match bilateral series in the lead up to the Champions Trophy from February 19.
Rahul named in Karnataka squad
Rahul's return means Karnataka will be at full strength with Devdutt Padikkal and Prasidh Krishna, who were both part of the Test squad in Australia, also part of the squad.
This will be Rahul's first first-class appearance for Karnataka in nearly five years, since the the 2019-20 semi-final against Bengal at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Jadeja to play for Saurashtra
Brathwaite: West Indies had to be 'brave' on pitch where 'you are going to get out'
"Both Test matches the pitch was tough to bat on and we knew that so as I said I just wanted us to be brave, to do whatever plans we have, to go there and execute them as good as possible, because regardless of what there will be a ball with your with your name on it on this pitch," Brathwaite told reporters after the second Test in Multan on Monday.
"I mean it was a difficult pitch to bat on so it was good to see the confidence we went about doing it and you know as I said very proud of this team.
"It was just for the batsmen to be brave you know. I mean as batsmen, as I said everyone's going to have their plans. Be brave in whatever you want to do as batsmen," Brathwaite said about West Indies' strategy. "Bowling wise bring forward the batsmen as much as possible and there will be 20 balls that you will get 20 wickets because as I said the pitch is a difficult pitch so there's no second guessing.
Brathwaite maintained that the pitch was "very, very difficult" but had no complaints about PCB preparing spinning tracks.
"I would say Pakistan could prepare the pitch how they want. What I'll say is batsman will not be averaging high on these pitches. You would average 15-20 and obviously the spinners will do well. and as I said it's a difficult Test pitch to score runs. You're going to get out regardless, it's just a matter of when. So you know as batters we had to come up with a plan of how we want to score and put runs on the board."
"Jomel was outstanding. To see how he went about his bowling and the pressure he built from from ball one, I mean it was amazing," Brathwaite said.
Warrican also put in a crucial contribution with the bat, finishing unbeaten on 36 in the first innings, with his 68-run stand for the last wicket with Gudakesh Motie key in reviving West Indies from being 38 for 7 after they won the toss and chose to bat.
"With the bat you can't count him out, I think he did a fantastic job with the bat as well. But bowling wise I know he's worked hard over the years. He's been in and out of the team but it's good to see him get the chance and he grabbed it. very very proud of him uh he was outstanding."
"It's a very important win for us it just shows that we can get it done in any conditions once we believe and always have a plan," he said. "It's right up there with some amazing Test wins because coming here, playing here in Pakistan, it's never easy to win a test match you know so coming up with a win is fantastic."
Masood wants turning pitches in Pakistan domestic cricket to give batters 'exposure'
"Domestic cricket will be played like this," he said. "We've already talked about this. The more we'll play the better we'll get at it. We've shown encouraging signs. After the four matches, we've won three in these conditions. We dominated the first hour of the first day which could have swung the match in our favour. It's just about winning those key moments and ensuring we're consistent with these conditions domestically and internationally."
"It's a game of all stakeholders. We should appreciate the players for throwing themselves in the den without being exposed to these conditions. We know we haven't played domestic cricket in these conditions. In some ways, it's a kind of bravery to expose ourselves to these conditions. We practiced, but this is new for us. But we need to replicate this in domestic cricket, give our batters exposure so we play in these conditions and get runs in them. In the fourth innings, anything over 150 is a competitive score, where spinners will always have the edge."
An unavoidable outcome of such surfaces is the outsized role the toss plays. All four times, the side winning the toss has batted first, walking away with victory three times. While Pakistan were able to flip that script against England in the series-decider, West Indies' win once more demonstrated the way these pitches can slant a game in favour of the side bowling last.
However, it didn't appear that way when Pakistan bowled in the first hour, having reduced West Indies to 54 for 8, and letting that situation slip through their fingers frustrated Masood most of all. "We didn't get the result we wanted. The positive thing was when you field first and you know the fourth innings will be difficult. So you try to restrict the opposition in the first innings. We bowled brilliantly for the first eight wickets. But we've talked about the first innings batting and bowling combining to do well, so you have the advantage in the third and fourth innings. If you look at our batting and bowling, and the mistakes we made collectively, that was a crucial time because their last two wickets cost us dear.
"Then, with the bat, we went from 119 for 4 to 154 all out. When these collapses happen and the other side puts on partnerships, they can set you back. If we'd got them out early and got a 100-run lead, the Test match would be completely different. With Test matches on these pitches, you can't wait to make a move, because things are decided on day one, and that is where you can win or lose matches."
This is the end of a cycle, an unhappy one for Pakistan, and for its leader. Pakistan have lost nine of their last 12 matches, all five away from home and four of seven at home. Despite starting off with a crushing away win in Sri Lanka, they have finished bottom of the WTC table, and do not play another Test for nearly nine months.
Masood acknowledged Pakistan had fallen short of expectations, but did not believe the side required a complete overhaul, pointing out fine margins made the difference in this Test, and could be worked on.
"The tail not getting wickets is an area of concern, and we need to finish off sides quicker," Masood said, echoing his frustrations in South Africa, where the last two wickets adding too many runs cost them dear in the first Test at Centurion. "Against Australia, who have the best tail in the world, we got them out cheaply, but not here, or against Bangladesh or South Africa.
"Batters have been proactive, but we need more contributions. You may not get hundreds here but 30s and 40s contribute to the winning conditions. Kraigg Brathwaite was an ideal example. He took the game on. One batter will need to step up in these conditions especially when the ball is new.
"It's not about holding someone responsible. This isn't an accountability bureau. This is a team effort. Our mistake as a team was the first two innings. That was what set us back, and gave the opposition a degree of freedom. If we had a 100-run lead, I do not think they'd have been able to play in the way they did. We need to understand the direction of matches will be decided very quickly, as early as day one."
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
'It's super special, it's a childhood dream' - Owen on Hurricanes' 'surreal' night
"So surreal," Owen told Fox Cricket. "To be here and hear them chanting my name, it hasn't quite sunk in, but it's amazing and I'm so grateful for it.
"All I wanted to do was lift that trophy. I was actually disappointed to get out, I wanted to be able to hit the winning runs and get us home a little bit easier, so I didn't have to sit there a bit nervous, but it's super special, it's a childhood dream and I'm so grateful."
Owen's transformation from a middle-order batter with a middling record to a T20 opener who will now likely attract attention from around the world has been remarkable and the story of the BBL season.
"I think feeling backed by [coach] Jeff [Vaughan] and Nath [Ellis], and the whole team really, that's quite powerful," he said. "I was just super clear when I went out there, I knew what I wanted to do and needed to do, and I was lucky enough it paid off."
Team-mates were quick to laud a display which has propelled Owen from a fringe state cricketer into the global limelight.
"I said the Scorchers innings was the coming-of-age innings; I think today he went up another level," Ellis told Fox Cricket. "I was bowling to a 15, 16-year-old Mitch Owen in the indoor nets here at Tassie when I first moved down, and to be a part of his journey, and also to captain him and win a title with him, is something that I'll never forget, hopefully he'll never forget. I'm just super proud and excited for not only tonight, but what's to come for him."
Ellis was also key to Hurricanes' victory as he halted a strong Thunder start of 97 without loss with the wickets of David Warner and Matthew Gilkes in consecutive deliveries during the 11th over and also claimed top-scorer Jason Sangha. He was reluctant to take much credit himself, but at the presentation said that Tasmanian cricket had changed his life.
Asked to expand on his comment by Fox Cricket host Mark Howard, Ellis said, "I came down here as a budding grade cricketer, sort of not knowing what way was up and never living at a home, and eight years later, I played for my country and now won a BBL title, so it goes without saying, it's changed my life. I'm just really honoured that I get the opportunity to bring this title to the state of Tasmania for the first time.
"It felt like the right moment for me to come on there," he added of the 11th over. "Thankfully, it potentially changed the momentum, they were getting away from us there. But I can't speak highly enough about bowling attack this year. We've bowled in all scenarios, in all conditions, we've been under the pump in different situations, and I feel like we've never missed the mark. So as a captain, really lucky to have the squad we have, but as a cricket fan, as I've said many times, I'm in awe of our squad."
For Wade, who was born in Tasmania and is now purely a T20 player, it was a significant moment late in his career having come to Hurricanes for the 2017-18 season.
"It's quite emotional, it was really, really cool," he said. "I would have liked to get the winning runs actually, Reggie [McDermott] ran off on me there. I was nervous today. It's as nervous I've been for a long time for a game of cricket, even playing for Australia, so I really wanted this one, especially for the people [in Tasmania]cricket's taken a huge step this year down here. We've got big crowds and just rapt for the BBL to be back to where it was it seems like 10 years ago."
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
Tickets for Champions Trophy final to go on sale only four days before match
Tickets for the 2025 Champions Trophy final, scheduled on March 9, will be available only four days prior to the match. Announcing the sale of tickets on Monday for the eight-team tournament, which begins from February 19, the ICC said tickets for the final will be available after the first semi-final, which is scheduled on March 4.
The ICC on Monday said the tickets for the Pakistan leg of the Champions Trophy, comprising 10 matches including the second semi-final (scheduled in Karachi), would be put on sale from Tuesday (2 pm Pakistan time/1.30 pm IST). As for the tickets for the Dubai leg, the ICC said, "information would be made available in the coming days" without specifying any date.
Tickets for matches in Pakistan are priced from 1000 Pakistan rupees for the general category, while the premium category starts from 1500 rupees. Sumair Ahmad Syed, the tournament director, said the tickets have been made "affordable" to ensure "fans from all walks of life can be part of this historic spectacle, making it a celebration for all generations of cricket lovers."
India and Pakistan are both in Group A, along with Bangladesh and New Zealand. The highly anticipated India-Pakistan group game is scheduled to take place in Dubai on February 23.
Ex-soccer star arrested in drug trafficking probe
Former Belgium national team player Radja Nainggolan has been arrested in connection with an investigation into cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe, a source told Reuters on Monday.
The cocaine was allegedly trafficked through the Port of Antwerp, the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office said in an official statement, adding that 30 house searches had been carried out on Monday as part of the probe. As per Belgian practice, the statement did not name Nainggolan, giving only his initials and profession.
The arrest was earlier reported by local media.
Nainggolan's management team did not immediately reply to Reuters' request for comment.
Nainggolan's club Lokeren-Temse said in a statement that the player was absent from training on Monday morning. The club added it respected the presumption of innocence and declined to comment further.
Last year, former Netherlands international Quincy Promes was sentenced to six years in prison in absentia by a Dutch court for his involvement in smuggling of 1,360 kg of cocaine through the Belgian port to the Netherlands in two shipments in 2020.
Car runs into crowd, injures 3 after Eagles' win
PHILADELPHIA -- A car hit and injured three pedestrians in a crowd of people leaving the Philadelphia Eagles' playoff game on Sunday night, police said.
A driver is in custody, and the collision did not immediately appear to be intentional, the Philadelphia Police Department said in a social media post.
The victims did not suffer any life-threatening injuries, according to news reports citing the Philadelphia Police.
The car struck the large crowd near the historic Center City area around 9:30 p.m. after the NFC Championship Game at Lincoln Financial Field, according to news reports.
The Eagles defeated the Washington Commanders 55-23, and they will face the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Feb. 9.
Are the Dodgers two playoff teams in one? We split them in half to find out
Welcome folks, it's a resplendent fall day in Flatbush, and six months ago, who could have imagined this? The visiting Los Angeles Dodgers are ready to take the field in Brooklyn at the new Ebbets Field with the 2025 National League pennant on the line.
Standing in the way of the L.A. nine are their literal offspring, the Brooklyn Trolleys, the most unusual expansion team in baseball history. Champions of the NL West, the Trolleys' 98 wins earned them today's homefield edge over the 87-win wild-card Dodgers.
The grandstand at Ebbets is already full on this clear autumn day, the patrons shuffling through the fabulous rotunda down below. The scoreboard is gleaming and the reconstituted Schaefer Beer sign above it is ready to call the hits and errors.
Roki Sasaki is making his final warmup throws now for Brooklyn. Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani watches from the on-deck circle, ready to lead off the game for Los Angeles. Game 7 of the NLCS is about to get underway.
It's time for Trolleys baseball!
Wait ... what is happening here?
The Los Angeles Dodgers -- the real ones -- are working on a streak of 12 straight playoff appearances. Eleven of those seasons have ended with an NL West title. Four have added to the franchise's pennant count. After last fall's World Series win over the New York Yankees, two of those seasons have resulted in championships.
After this winter's stunning run of high-level acquisitions, people are asking with real concern about whether the Dodgers might have finally broken baseball. It's not hard to understand why.
The expectations for the Dodgers have never been higher, and that's saying something. ESPN Bet currently has the Dodgers' over/under for wins at 103.5, 10 more than any other team. Cot's Contracts estimates L.A.'s CBT payroll number at $374.1 million. If you split that in half -- $187.05 million -- the CBT payroll would still rank 15th in the majors.
Hmmm, split the Dodgers in half? Is that a solution? Well, obviously it is not. But let's imagine that it was, that some trust-busting commissioner took over, or some bizarre schism took place in the Guggenheim Baseball Management group.
This is fantastical, but stick with me. Here's the sequence of events that have led to our dream game at a brand new version of Ebbets Field.
The Dodgers' dominance and hoarding of superstar talent becomes viewed as an existential threat to baseball. Fans are screaming. Owners are wringing their hands.
Partially in response to this situation, Colorado Rockies owner Dick Monfort announces that his franchise is withdrawing from MLB and will join the Banana Ball Championship League. The Rockies struggle in their new circuit, but their fans keep turning out anyway.
Fights break out in the Guggenheim group. Who knows why. Lawsuits are filed. Desperate to resolve the situation and to fill the one-team void in the NL West, commissioner Rob Manfred takes up a Brooklyn developer's offer to construct an exact replica of Ebbets Field on the same block where the sacred old green cathedral stood for decades. The residents who are currently there are respectfully relocated. The new park springs up with alarming alacrity.
At the winter meetings, Manfred's solution is announced. The Dodgers will be split in half. Everything. Their organizational talent -- on the field and off -- is divided evenly. The offshoot of the Dodgers will play at the reconstituted Ebbets Field and will be called the Trolleys, keeping with tradition. The new club will be managed by Gabe Kapler and its front office run by Farhan Zaidi.
It's a lot, I know. It's impossible. But let's suspend disbelief for just a moment so we can get at a real question: Have the Dodgers accumulated so much talent that, at this point, they could field two contending rosters?
Before Game 7 gets underway, let's run through the lineup Dodgers manager Dave Roberts will pit against Brooklyn ace Sasaki.
Designated hitter Ohtani will lead off. Batting second is shortstop Tommy Edman. Catcher Will Smith is in the three-hole. Batting cleanup is right fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Out in left and batting fifth is Michael Conforto. Batting sixth is center fielder Andy Pages.
Youngster Dalton Rushing will play first and hit seventh, followed by third baseman Chris Taylor in the eight-hole. Finally, batting ninth and playing the keystone is second baseman Andy Freeland.
Let's get started.
To divide the Dodgers' current organizational roster, I took a straightforward approach. I started by flipping a coin for Ohtani. Los Angeles got him. Since Ohtani pitches and hits, I then gave Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to Brooklyn.
From there, I just ranked each positional group by projected WAR and assigned every other player to one team or the other. Some jostling was done to make sure the spread of positions was equitable and that the bottom-line WAR projection was as close as possible. Each team was assigned 35 players.
Kirby Yates, whose reported agreement with the Dodgers has not yet gone official, was included. So was Clayton Kershaw, still a free agent, but let's face it -- we all think he's going back to L.A.
We had to dip pretty deep into prospect lists to fill things out, accelerating the MLB arrival of some young players in a way that would never happen. The Dodgers' list of non-roster invites for spring training was light on veterans with any kind of track record, so other than Yates and Kershaw, we had to stick with who is already on hand.
Here are Opening Day rosters of the split-in-two Dodgers, which are also the rosters in effect for our imaginary game.
There's nothing going for the Dodgers against Roki Sasaki in the first despite Ohtani's drive to the screen in the deepest reaches of right-center. Nice play by Outman on that one.
Mookie Betts striding to the plate, getting ready for the first offering by Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Let's run through Gabe Kapler's lineup for the Trolleys.
Betts, playing right, will get things going. He'll be followed by second baseman Kim and first baseman Freeman in the three-hole. Hitting cleanup is third-sacker Max Muncy, followed by young left fielder Josue De Paula.
Shortstop Miguel Rojas is hitting sixth, followed by center fielder Outman, catcher Barnes and, batting ninth, rookie Austin Gauthier.
Yamamoto is set. Betts digs in. Yamamoto winds. Someone in the grandstand is ringing a cowbell. Here's the pitch ...
The position player groups on our split rosters are thin. That's the first thing that jumps out. That's why there are so many prospects in the mix who are not ready for prime time. If these teams were real, Zaidi and Andrew Friedman would have been much more proactive about filling out the benches with veteran options.
Still, both rosters can field nearly full lineups of bona fide big league regulars, including a smattering of stars for both sides. Neither would be close to the worst lineup in the majors.
Now about that Rockies thing ... I needed to pull a team out of the league to accommodate the new club. To do that, I changed all of the Rockies players into free agents and then flagged my future Trolleys as members of the Rockies. This allowed me to easily fold the new team into my projection machinery.
My projection system includes some organizational factors that are blended to the team forecast to account for depth (or lack thereof), which some teams are better at producing consistently than others. I beefed that factor a little here to account for the youth on the teams.
That helped, but neither squad projects as elite on offense. In the park-neutral run projections, the Dodgers came in at 672 (24th) and the Trolleys at 655 (26th). That might not read as impressive but it actually is because -- remember -- we are literally measuring two half-teams.
Still, the split Dodgers aren't contention-worthy from an offensive standpoint. They'll need some elite pitching to enter the playoff picture.
We're in the top of the second. Two down, no one on base. Sasaki has set down the first five Dodgers in order. Andy Pages is stepping up to the dish for L.A.
From here, I can see a group of confused-looking people wandering around on the sidewalk on the other side of Bedford Avenue. They're probably looking for that coffee shop that was there a few weeks ago. Things have changed fast around here.
Pages sends a bouncer toward short. Rojas races over, but it's going to get through into left field. Pages rounds the bag at first, but he'll hold on there for the Dodgers' first hit of the game. Dalton Rushing is next.
... After two misses from Sasaki, Rushing is up in the count 2-0. Sasaki checks the runner at first but Pages has a short lead. Sasaki from the stretch ... Rushing crushes a fastball to right-center! Outman is giving chase. He's back, to the warning track -- and it's gone!
Dalton Rushing crushes a two-run homer off of Roki Sasaki, clearing the green canvas batting eye in center field. The Dodgers have grabbed the early 2-0 lead.
What really stands out on our split rosters is the pitching, both in terms of the quality and the depth. That's true for both rotations and both bullpens. This gives you a sense of just how much pitching the Dodgers have accumulated for their coming title defense.
Both teams have a star-studded rotation of big threes: Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani for the Dodgers; Snell, Sasaki and Kershaw for the Trolleys.
Both have three legit closer-level back-end relievers: Scott, Treinen and Yates for the Dodgers; Phillips, Vesia and Kopech for the Trolleys.
I didn't overinflate inning projections. In most cases, they are within bounds of what I've forecasted for the real Dodgers, who have so many injury returnees and young arms that they will monitor.
That means prospect depth is tapped more deeply than it would be in real life, just as with the position players. This is a drag on the split teams' forecasts, but the outlook for both remains promising. As with position players, an organizational depth factor was blended into the projections.
The Trolleys have the edge with a projection of 680 park-neutral runs allowed (11th) while the Dodgers come in at 703 (15th). A pitching staff split in two. Both average or better.
That is pretty stunning.
One down, bottom of the sixth. We're still knotted at 2. Yamamoto will stay in after walking Freeman, with Max Muncy striding to the plate. Muncy's solo homer in the bottom of the second accounted for Brooklyn's first run. Josue De Paula's fourth inning single plated Freeman with the other tally, after Kim was thrown out at the plate by Teoscar Hernandez on Freeman's double off the screen in right.
I'm a little surprised Roberts is sticking with Yamamoto here. The lefty Scott has been getting hot in the bullpen and Muncy represents the go-ahead run for Brooklyn if he goes yard again.
... Here's the 2-2 pitch. Muncy lines one into right for a base hit. Freeman rounds the bag at second and retreats. The Trolleys have something cooking. And here comes Roberts. That'll do it for Yamamoto, who has been excellent.
... So Tanner Scott whiffs De Paula and it'll be up to Rojas. ... Scott checks the runners. Here's his 2-2 pitch. Popped up! Moving over toward the line is Taylor. He's there and puts the squeeze on it. The side is retired.
The Trolleys threaten but Scott works out of Yamamoto's jam. We're through six and the Dodgers and Trolleys are tied at 2.
Our baseline projections have both versions of the Dodgers being outscored, but not by much. The Trolleys fare a little better with a baseline win projection of 78.2, while the Dodgers are at 77.7.
Thus, rounding off, both squads project as 78-84 teams. The balance between them was intentional, of course. So was the decision to keep the Rockies-turned-Trolleys in the same division -- the NL West -- which in real life wouldn't make sense. But sense isn't what we're after today.
Both teams would be forecast to finish behind, in order, the Diamondbacks, Padres and Giants in the NL West, but both are also close to the 80-win Giants. All of those teams would certainly be very happy about the Dodgers being broken up.
While a 78-win projection isn't super exciting, in the current landscape of MLB, it's good enough that a team can enter a season with realistic playoff hopes. How realistic? To answer that, we of course turn to simulations.
Freeland flailed at that 1-2 offering from Kopech and there's two down in the Dodgers' half of the eighth. Kapler emerges from the Brooklyn dugout. He wants the lefty Vesia to face Ohtani, who represents the go-ahead run.
... Ohtani jumps in front 1-0 after Vesia misses with the fastball. It's been a tough day for Ohtani, who flew out to the fence twice in the early innings and whiffed against Sasaki in the sixth.
Vesia, an absolutely vicious southpaw, stares at Barnes behind the plate and nods his head. Here's the pitch.
Ohtani swings and there's a fly ball into right center. This one's got a chance. Hernandez and Pages are fading. They look up and it's gone! Ohtani has clubbed one over the Schaefer sign and out onto Bedford Ave.
The Dodgers have broken the logjam, nabbing a 3-2 lead in the eighth. Dave Roberts has already used Tanner Scott and, in the bottom of the inning, Blake Treinen will enter his second inning of work. He still has Ryan Brasier and Kirby Yates in reserve.
Our 78-win split Dodgers rosters were fed into my simulation machinery and 10,000 runs of the 2025 schedule were logged.
Both teams made the playoffs about 19% of the time, mostly as wild-card entrants. They landed at less than 1% odds to win it all, but, of course, that means it did happen on occasion for both the Dodgers and the Trolleys. The Braves emerged as the new overall favorite to win the World Series.
I scanned the simulation logs and found four instances out of 10,000 when the Dodgers and Trolleys squared off in the NLCS. In one of them -- simulation #3,368 -- the series went seven games. That's the one in which the Trolleys won the NL West with 98 wins, while the 87-win Dodgers nabbed the six-seed.
Those are the squads I decided to breathe virtual life into by recreating those rosters in the sim Action! PC Baseball, produced by Dave Koch Sports. The play-by-play you're reading in these alternating sections comes from that game, in which I managed both teams. Yes, it's actually my fault, not Roberts, that the Dodgers nearly waited one batter too long to get Yamamoto out of the game in the sixth.
And, yes, I even went so far as to use the Los Angeles and Brooklyn logos and to play the game in a rendering of Ebbets Field. Hey, it's January, and we've been without baseball for too long now.
The Trolleys are down to their last two outs. The usually raucous crowd at Ebbets Field is quiet and a nervous energy pervades this little block of Brooklyn. The walk Gauthier drew against Yates to start the inning had the gathering stirred up again, but the strikeout of Betts has silenced them for now.
Those two insurance runs the Dodgers tacked on against Vesia are looming large now, even after Evan Phillips limited the damage in the ninth. Hyeseong Kim steps to the plate. He's reached base three times on a single and a pair of walks. The Trolleys need him to reach for a fourth time to get Freeman to the plate representing the tying run.
Man, this place is tense.
Yates checks Gauthier at first. He's got a huge lead but the Dodgers, with that three-run bulge, don't care what he does. Not sure why Gauthier doesn't just break for second. Here's the pitch.
Kim reaches and taps a little bouncer toward Freeland, he scoops and flips to Edman for one, the relay to first is ... in time! It's a game-ending double play! The Dodgers are the National League champions!
Can you believe it? After all of that drama and tumult of last winter, one during which the entire industry rose to break up the Dodgers' dynasty, they've done it anyway. L.A. is headed to the World Series.
Again.
Cherry picking one simulation out of 10,000 doesn't prove anything, but hopefully it does illustrate the point: The Dodgers are unbelievably stacked.
Going through the actual exercise of pitting two teams, comprised only of right-now Dodgers players, really draws that out. While the game unfolded, it never felt like I was working with two strange, thin teams, but two bona fide, well-constructed big league rosters full of outstanding and interesting players.
I went with the Yamamoto-Sasaki matchup, but it would have been just as exhilarating had I gone with any combination of those two, Ohtani, Glasnow, Snell or Kershaw.
Because the sim game was close, I had to think situationally in the late innings, but at no point was I confronted with a bad bullpen option. The closest I came to it was when I had to use Brasier to get two outs in the eighth after Treinen tired. I had already burned Scott and wanted to keep Yates for the ninth.
This is the kind of thing the Dodgers' opponents are going to have to overcome next October. If the Dodgers can get that staff to the postseason healthy -- obviously far from a sure thing -- there will be no room for opposing offenses to breathe.
And those lineup holes that pop up when you split the Dodgers' position group in two? Those won't be there.
The 12-team playoff format, so inclusive and so random, means no team can be a sure thing in any projection of the next champion. I have referred to that as the illusion of competitiveness, and the Dodgers are the perfect example. They have built a powerhouse roster and set themselves apart from every other team in baseball. Yet they still have less than a one-in-three shot at repeating as champs.
Make no mistake though: These Dodgers are an absolute on-paper powerhouse. It's a team that has a chance to do truly historic things. If they do, the other 29 teams still can't collude to break them up as if they were an 1890s railroad monopoly.
But some of those teams might well look into joining the Rockies in the Banana Ball Championship League.
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