Three thoughts on a breezy NLDS Game 2—the Dodgers won, 3-0, to take a 2-0 series lead as the teams head to Atlanta—that featured Clayton Kershaw at his finest and Yasiel Puig kissing Charlie Culberson…
The Baltimore Orioles made the playoffs three times from 2012, the year of Manny Machado’s debut, to 2016, his penultimate full season with the club. But owing to an injury in 2014, when the Orioles went all the way to the ALCS, the four-time all-star had played in only seven playoff games before Game 1 on Thursday. He hadn’t done much of anything, with just four hits in 23 at-bats, and the NLDS opener was more of the same; he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Dodgers’ 6-0 win.