4 games, 4 potential clinches

Plus: This RBI was a long time coming

Wednesday, October 07 View Online Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know, brought to you by David Adler. Today, we have a packed schedule of four Division Series games ... and all of them are potential clinches.    All four Division Series play today -- and all four Division Series could end today.    Four games, four potential clinches. Four spots in the League Championship Series on the line.   The White Sox, Dodgers, Rays and Brewers all have the chance to punch their ticket to the next round. The Guardians, Braves, Yankees and Padres are all fighting for their playoff lives. 2026 postseason schedule, results and how to watch It's a full day of high-stakes October baseball, and we'll be here from the first pitch in Chicago to the last out in San Diego. Let's get into the games and the key storylines.    Guardians at White Sox (White Sox lead ALDS 2-0) 4 p.m. ET on TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max Game 3 FAQ This could be a clinch 120 years in the making. If the White Sox sweep the Guardians today in Chicago, it'll be their first postseason series clinch at home since the 1906 World Series. The Sox haven't been in the ALCS since 2005, the year of their most recent championship. Their fans are ready for another pennant run.   Dodgers at Braves (Dodgers lead NLDS 2-1) 6 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One Game 4 FAQ The Dodgers won last night's pivotal Game 3 thanks to the return of Playoff Yoshi, Playoff Freddie and Playoff Kiké. The reigning champs are a win away from marching on to the NLCS and marching one step closer to a three-peat. Can the Braves bounce back at home to force a winner-take-all Game 5 in L.A., even with superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. dealing with a balky knee?    Rays at Yankees (Rays lead ALDS 2-0) 8 p.m. ET on TBS/truTV/UniMas/HBO Max Game 3 FAQ The Rays are playing like the No. 1 team in the AL. They beat Gerrit Cole. They beat Cam Schlittler. Now can they beat a third Yankees ace in Max Fried and sweep their division rivals on their home turf? If anyone can come back from an 0-2 hole, though, it's the Bronx Bombers, who have seen this script before and (literally) Flipped it.   Brewers at Padres (Brewers lead NLDS 2-1) 10 p.m. ET on FS1/FOX Deportes/FOX One Game 4 FAQ  The Padres pulled out all the stops to stay alive in front of their home crowd last night. If they can find a way to take one more tonight from the top team in the Majors -- Mason Miller's return would certainly help -- they'll send this series back to Milwaukee for a winner-take-all Game 5 where anything can happen. The 103-win Brewers just need one more victory to make their second straight NLCS, but can they exorcise their road playoff demons to get it done?  THE SHOE'S ON THE OTHER FOOT Nick Martinez was once booted out of Yankee Stadium. Now he could boot the Yankees from the playoffs there.    The Rays right-hander, who's starting Game 3 of the ALDS tonight at Yankee Stadium, told a funny story earlier this year about how he was once kicked out of that very same ballpark back in college.   Rays beat reporter Adam Berry explains:    Martinez spent his college days pitching and hitting for Fordham University in New York. In between classes, practices and games, he found plenty of nights to head to Yankee Stadium and sit in the stands as a spectator.   One of those nights came during his junior year, after Fordham’s baseball team canceled its practice. That gave Martinez and his roommate time to head out early and, well, "get ready" for a game against the Red Sox.     This is the way Martinez tells the story: "Might have had a few too many adult beverages. Got kicked out. Yeah. They were playing the Red Sox, so it was rowdy. We were kinda rowdy."   And that brings us full circle to today, when Martinez is the one who can sweep the Yankees out of their own ballpark and send Tampa Bay to the ALCS. He'll probably get pretty rowdy if the Rays win this one, too.   Read the full story on Martinez before Game 3 >> A WELL-DONE RIBEYE FOR YELI Christian Yelich had a nice piece of hitting last night. He smoked a 107 mph, two-out RBI single to left-center field off a 100 mph fastball from star Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez.    That sort of opposite-field line drive is the Yeli Special. We've seen hundreds of them over the years. But that's not why we're talking about this one.    We're talking about it because it snapped an eight-year postseason RBI drought for the Brewers captain.   This is kind of hard to believe, because Milwaukee has been to the playoffs eight times in the nine seasons since Yelich arrived in 2018. But before last night, Yelich's most recent RBI in the playoffs was a home run in Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers -- yes, his very first year with the team, back when he was "MVP Christian Yelich."   Between then and now, Yelich played 19 full postseason games -- and went 87 postseason plate appearances -- without an RBI. He played in seven different playoff series from his NLCS Game 7 RBI in 2018 to his NLDS Game 3 RBI last night.    By plate appearances, that was the longest active postseason RBI drought in the Majors. (The longest now belongs to Trent Grisham, at 68 plate appearances, followed by Ronald Acuña Jr. at 64 and Luis Arraez at 63.)   But it's over now. So will the floodgates open just in time for Yelich to help swing the Brewers to their first World Series title? ALL-MLB VOTING ENDS FRIDAY Get your picks in now for the 2026 All-MLB Teams.   You can vote to help decide the top players in the Majors this season -- but there's only a few days left to do it.    Voting for the All-MLB Teams is open until this Friday at 2 p.m. ET. Fill out your ballot at MLB.com/allmlb.     The ballot is also available in Spanish at MLB.com/todomlb.    The All-MLB Teams include one catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop and designated hitter, three outfielders, five starting pitchers and two relief pitchers. The teams are based on performance in the 2026 regular season only.   The selections for the All-MLB Teams will be announced on Wednesday, Nov. 11. © 2026 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. MLB trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of Major League Baseball. Visit MLB.com. 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