Not all October games are created equal. Game 4 at Chavez Ravine is a pivotal night for the Dodgers. They already let a sweep slip on Oct. 8, a missed chance to bank rest, set the rotation, and walk into the NLCS with a full tank. So the mandate tightens from here: beat the Phillies now and the Dodgers control their calendar, their pitching, and their pulse.
Instead, the bracket tightened. Beat the Philadelphia Phillies now and the Dodgers control their calendar, their pitching, and their nerves. Lose, and it’s a cross-country coin flip in one of baseball’s rowdiest venues with every matchup suddenly harder to pull as the momentum disappears.