The Buzz · October 14, 2026
The Buzz — Wednesday, October 14
One series is tied, the other is 2-0, and four names are driving every argument — the number under each says whether the noise is real.
Shohei Ohtani
The take Slumping through injuries but stays in NLCS Game 3
Roberts put him in the lineup for Wednesday's Game 3 because Ohtani was adamant he could help — and Roberts said that was all he needed to hear. The problem is what the lineup card is asking him to be. He is 3-for-20 this postseason with a .150 average, no extra-base hits, and seven strikeouts. The power outage runs deeper — he has not homered since Aug. 18, a span of 110 plate appearances counting the postseason, the longest stretch of his career. In his last 35 games he is hitting .197 with a .629 OPS.
The injuries are real — right biceps and left knee that landed him on the 15-day IL in September, the ones Roberts says still have him "just not perfect." Ohtani says the symptoms have "subdued a lot" and the results are on him, not the ailments. He is tinkering with his swing daily. The Dodgers weighed sitting him — Roberts was clear it was a conversation about a reset, not a benching — and Ohtani's conviction closed it.
Down 0-2 at home, the bet is defensible. But a hitter working through injuries and a 110-plate-appearance home run drought is not the same one who built the case for playing through them. If he goes quiet again Wednesday, the conversation Roberts already had once will be louder the next morning.
Shohei Ohtani cards on eBay →(paid link)
José Ramírez
The take Error and base gaffe cost Guardians ALCS Game 2
All three Rays runs in Tuesday's 3-1 loss were unearned, and both plays sit on Ramírez. He left third base uncovered on a fourth-inning chopper, giving Tampa Bay a free base, then let Williamson's grounder skip through on the turf-dirt edge for the error that let the inning unravel. Vogt said he didn't move his feet. The crowd has it right — that sequence decided the game. But a day earlier he had three hits and scored twice in a 7-3 win, so this is one bad inning, not a slump.
José Ramírez cards on eBay →(paid link)
Robert Gasser
The take Brewers NLCS Game 3 starter drawing prop bets
The prop-bet crowd is chasing the finish, not the full page. Gasser posted a 1.67 ERA over 27 innings in September and carried it into the NLDS, where he gave the Padres one run in four innings on 56 pitches to clinch the series. That is the surge that earned him Wednesday's start at Dodger Stadium, and it is real.
But the Dodgers have already seen him twice this year, and the number is ugly: 0-2, 5.91 ERA, seven earned in 10.2 innings. Milwaukee is up 2-0 and can take full command, but Gasser's late form runs straight into the one lineup that solved him. If the September version shows up, the Brewers are in control. If the Dodgers see what they saw in the regular season, this series is live again.
Robert Gasser cards on eBay →(paid link)
Junior Caminero
The take Key Rays ALCS star amid MVP chatter
The MVP case is earned — 42 home runs, 101 RBI, all 162 games started at third base, and a second-place finish behind Yordan Alvarez in MLB.com's final AL poll with 149 points. The crowd is not wrong to build the frame around him. But through five postseason games he is 5-for-17 with zero home runs and one RBI. The leaping catch and finger-wag in Tuesday's 3-1 win show the energy is there. The bat has not caught up to it yet.
Junior Caminero cards on eBay →(paid link)
Everything runs through Dodger Stadium
The ALCS does not play again until Thursday, so Wednesday's NLCS Game 3 is the only game, and the crowd's loudest argument — whether Ohtani should be in the lineup — shares the stage with the pitcher the Dodgers already hit. They put up a 5.91 ERA against Gasser in two regular-season starts, and they are at home with their season on the line. Gasser has been a different pitcher since late August, but the Dodgers have seen his stuff and hit it, and that makes them the side tonight.