The Buzz — Wednesday, October 7

Enrique Hernández

The take Clutch Kiké HR off Sale sparks Dodgers series lead

He was batting ninth and playing third, a spot start against a tough lefty, not a featured role — and what he did was hit the two-run home run off Chris Sale that broke a scoreless tie in the fourth. The Dodgers won 3-1 and lead the NLDS 2-1.

The home run was Hernández's 17th in postseason play, his first of 2026, and it fits a career pattern that is not narrative convenience. He is the only player in MLB history with at least 10% of his career home runs — regular season and postseason combined, minimum 100 total — coming in October. That ratio is why the October Kiké label sticks: his playoff power rate outpaces his regular-season one by enough that the label is earned, not applied. The crowd is right to call this clutch. The number says it is also normal for him.

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Jake Cronenworth

The take Cronenworth go-ahead HR keeps Padres alive vs Brewers

He entered Game 3 hitting 1-for-13 in the postseason, and leading off the bottom of the fifth he took JoJo Romero deep for a solo shot that put the Padres ahead 3-2. They held on, 4-3, trimming Milwaukee's NLDS lead to 2-1. All three games in this series have been one-run decisions, which means the difference between alive and done has been a single swing each night — and this one was Cronenworth's.

The save went to Michael King, who had started and thrown five innings in Game 2 two days earlier. With the closer unavailable, King took the last two innings for his first save with San Diego and his first in the postseason — a starter on short rest closing an elimination game. The crowd will remember the homer. The reason there was a lead to protect is that a starter came out of the pen for two more.

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Aaron Judge

The take Judge out injured as Yankees trail 0-2 after defensive errors

The crowd frames this as a collapse — Judge out, Yankees down 0-2, the defense falling apart. What is happening is not a collapse but a season-long pattern arriving at its worst moment. Judge played seven games after returning from a fractured rib before straining his right calf on Sept. 16, and he has not played since. The .871 OPS and 18 home runs in 66 games reflect a season that was incomplete from the start.

Boone kept him off the ALDS roster because the calf is 'not quite ready to do it' — running and endurance incomplete, not the swing. Judge pushed to play. The club chose the longer view: he is eligible for an ALCS roster if they advance, and a fuller version of him then is worth more than a compromised bat now.

They are losing in a way that makes the absence louder. Two runs in two ALDS games, both Ben Rice home runs, and a one-hit shutout in Game 1. Four errors in Game 2, three in the first, handed the Rays a 5-2 win. Jazz Chisholm Jr. said the Yankees beat themselves — and the box score says it for him. They must win three straight. The lineup that has scored two runs in two games has to produce more, and one more loss finishes the season.

Aaron Judge cards on eBay →(paid link)

Chris Sale

The take Sale lost Game 3 duel to Yamamoto; Braves trail 1-2

The line reads fine — 5 innings, 7 strikeouts, no walks — and the fastball averaged 97.2 mph, above his season mark of 96.1. The fourth inning is where it got away: a two-run shot by Hernández and a solo by Freeman accounted for all three Dodgers runs in a 3-1 loss that put Atlanta down 2-1. This was Sale's third appearance in eight days, but the velocity held. Yamamoto struck out 10 across seven, a postseason career high, giving up one run. Two swings in the fourth beat him — everything else held.

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