I thought the Friars would have wrapped this up by now. I didn't think they would go into a prolonged batting funk ... But I love the fact that they can get after Yammamoto here, who they own. This is the third big spot for him vs the Friars - opening day on the Far East, opening game of this series, and now the deciding Game 5. Manny Machado will lead the way and the Dodgers will hit the starter again and silence the crowd at Chavez Ravine. This is where the Dodgers come up short. I prefer the length of the Friars lineup, still.

Success twice in a postseason series as a starting pitcher is so tough to replicate. I expect that to be the case tonight for San Diego Padres starter Yu Darvish. Darvish has also had issues in close out postseason games where he is 0-2 in his career. Losses in 2017 in game seven of the World Series, and two seasons ago in the NLDS to the Philadelphia Phillies. Take the Dodgers to win a tight one, and advance to the NLCS.

It's the Padres and Dodgers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto won't be around for very long as in his last seven starts he's only grabbed one win and had six no decisions like his last start against the Padres in game one when he gave up five runs in three innings but the Dodgers eventually won 7-5. It's not good for him right now. Whereas Yu Darvish is at his absolute finest form right now with six straight wins including game two when he dominated the Dodgers with one run in seven innings in a 10-2 victory. I think Darvish is going to inspire everybody including the Padre bats. And the best part of it all, the Padres are an underdog for some reason. The Padres win.

I'd feel better about San Diego's chances if it were Joe Musgrove instead of Yu Darvish as Darvish doesn't have a great history of coming up big in big games, but he was terrific in the Game 2 victory in Los Angeles. Counterpart Yoshinobu Yamamoto was hammered in Game 1. The Padres' bullpen is much deeper/better.

It's come down to a winner-take-all in this NLDS tonight. Despite Game Four's result, the advantage, might be with the Padres. Simply, Yu Darvish has been outstanding lately on the mound, with SD winning in all six of his starts since the start of September. That includes Sunday's Game 2 romp when Darvish allowed just one run and three hits thru 7 IP. Moreover, he tied Shohei Ohtani in knots. As for LA's Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he was ineffective in Game One, chased following the third inning after allowing 5 runs and 5 hits, only for the Dodger offense to eventually spare him a loss. Meanwhile, unlike most other teams, the Padres relish these trips to Chavez Ravine. Play Padres on Money Line