NLDS preview: 25 things to know about the defending champion Dodgers

Give the Phillies a ton of credit. They went 26-14 after staff ace Zack Wheeler went down in August, including 12-6 when NL batting champ Trea Turner was sidelined with a hamstring injury in September.

Now the Dodgers come to town fresh off thumping the Reds in the wild-card round. In the last two years, the Phillies and Dodgers each are 191-133. The difference is one club has a championship trophy and the other is still chasing it.

This might be the toughest team the Phillies see in their pursuit to win the franchise’s third World Series title. Here are 25 things to know about the Dodgers.

1. Shohei Ohtani is 12-for-54 (. 222) in the 14 games he started as a pitcher this season. He hit four homers and had 12 RBIs, and the Dodgers went 5-9 in those games. Saturday’s Game 1 will be the first time Ohtani has pitched at Citizens Bank Park and his first time pitching in the postseason.

2. Ohtani’s only career start against the Phillies was less than three weeks ago in L.A. when he pitched five hitless innings and slugged his 50th homer of the season in the same game. The guy’s a machine. The Dodgers’ bullpen wasted Ohtani’s performance as the Phillies rallied for a 9-6 win that Sept. 16 night.

» READ MORE: Phillies vs. Dodgers: NLDS schedule, pitching matchups, ticket info, how to watch, and more

3. The home crowd will be chanting “M-V-P” when Kyle Schwarber (56 home runs) walks to the plate, but Ohtani is practically a lock for the award. BetMGM’s closing odds had Schwarber at +9000 and Ohtani at an astronomical -10,000.

3a. Ohtani is 11-for-44 in his career at Citizens Bank Park with two doubles and no homers.

4. Ohtani bats left, but throws right. Nick Castellanos is the only current Phillies player with a hit off Ohtani. He doubled twice in 2018 when Castellanos was with the Tigers and Ohtani was a rookie with the Angels.

5. Ohtani’s wife, Mamiko Tanaka, played professional basketball in Japan.

6. Notable opposing pitchers who’ve started playoff games against the Phillies in Philadelphia include Nolan Ryan (1980 NLCS), Greg Maddux (1993 NLCS), CC Sabathia (2008 NLDS, 2009 WS), and Justin Verlander (2022 WS).

7. The Dodgers were 41-40 on the road this season, dropping two of three in their only visit to CBP in April. The Phillies had the best home record in the National League at 55-26.

8. L.A., which had the second-best home record in the NL (52-29), has reached the division series round for the 13th year in a row. Games 3 and 4 are in Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday.

» READ MORE: Like the 1980 team, these Phillies have a ’sense of urgency’ to win it all. Can they get it done too?

8a. Turner, who played for Los Angeles in 2021-22, is a career .301 hitter at Dodger Stadium.

9. This will be the sixth postseason meeting between the two clubs with the previous five coming in the League Championship Series. The Dodgers won in 1977 and 1978 while the Phillies prevailed in 1983, 2008, and 2009.

10. Just two Dodgers pitchers recorded double-digit wins. Staff ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto went 12-8. Clayton Kershaw, who is retiring after this season, went 11-2. Kershaw appeared in the 2008 and ‘09 series, giving up eight earned runs in eight innings and home runs to Carlos Ruiz and Shane Victorino.

10a. The Phillies had four pitchers with at least 10 wins: Jesús Luzardo (15-7), Christopher Sánchez (13-5), Ranger Suárez (12-8) and Wheeler (10-5). Wheeler is the Phillies’ ace, but his season ended in August when a blood clot was found near his right shoulder.

11. In his last six starts, Yamamoto has a 0.66 ERA over 40⅔ innings with 53 strikeouts and 13 walks. He pitched six innings against the Phillies in April, giving up one unearned run.

12. Freddie Freeman, the MVP of last year’s World Series for the Dodgers, is a .281 career hitter at Citizens Bank Park with 17 homers in 113 games. His first career home run came during a September call-up in 2010 when he hit a bomb off Roy Halladay at CBP.

13. ln terms of 2025 payroll, pitchers Tyler Glasnow ($32.5 million) and Blake Snell ($28.4 million) are the Dodgers’ highest paid players, according to Spotrac.com. Ohtani signed a 10-year, $700 million contract prior to the 2024 season, but counts only $28 million toward the payroll because of deferments. Mookie Betts makes $26 million, Freeman $22 million.

14. The Dodgers have the highest payroll at $350 million followed by the Mets ($342 million), Yankees ($330 million), and Phillies ($290 million). Poor Mets.

15. Snell, who likely will start for the Dodgers on Monday, picked up his first career win over the Phillies with 12 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings on Sept. 17. Snell has a 2.13 ERA in three starts at Citizens Bank Park with 10 walks in 12⅔ innings. He last pitched there in 2023 when he was with the Padres.

16. Betts, the Dodgers shortstop, had career lows with a .258 batting average and a .732 OPS. He called 2025 “arguably the worst of my career.”

17. Betts hit .299 in September and then went 6-for-9 in two games against Cincinnati in the wild-card round. He’s looking to add a fourth championship ring to his jewelry box. “But I think [the challenges of 2025] made me mentally tough,” Betts said after the Reds series. “There’s just a different level of focus [for me]. It’s not on myself. It’s more on winning the game.”

18. Betts was second in the majors among shortstops with 16 runs saved above average. Turner and Edmundo Sosa tied for 17th with 2 RSAA.

» READ MORE: From .095 to a breakthrough: How Brandon Marsh’s turnaround started by just showing up

19. Rookie reliever Roki Sasaki missed four months with a right shoulder injury, but returned on Sept. 24 and was electric on Wednesday against the Reds. It’ll be interesting to see how and where manager Dave Roberts uses him in this series.

20. Sasaki’s father and grandparents were killed in a 2011 tsunami that destroyed much of the seaside Japanese town of Rikuzentakata. There is a memorial there for the 1,700-plus townspeople who perished. Sasaki was 9 years old.

21. The Dodgers’ and Phillies’ bullpens both had 4.27 ERAs during the regular season, tied for 20th in baseball.

22. Starting catcher Will Smith has not played since Sept. 9 because of a hairline fracture in his right hand. Backup Ben Rortvedt, a career .190 hitter, went 3-for-6 against the Reds.

23. Rortvedt has endured three knee surgeries, and in 2023 had an aneurysm removed from near his left shoulder. He knew something was wrong when his index finger became discolored. Had it been left undetected, Rortvedt might have been facing amputation. Yikes.

24. Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who bats left-handed, hit .157 against lefties this season (11-for-70) and .172 last year (11-for-64). The Phillies are expected to start lefties in at least the first three games. Muncy hit fourth for the Dodgers on Wednesday against Cincy, meaning Roberts has a decision to make here, too.

25. The pick: Wish this series was seven games instead of five. The Phillies have the bullpen edge, but Sasaki’s appearance against the Reds was interesting. A big series from Bryce Harper would help. Phillies in five.