Betts' 3-run Homer Gives Dodgers Hope - Must Beat Phillies 3 in a Row to Win 2026 Statis-Pro Title

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	R	H	E
TB	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
LAD	0	3	0	0	1	0	1	0	x	5	8	0

Mookie Betts rescued the Dodgers from the brink of elimination with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 2nd inning, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto shut down the Tampa running game that had beaten the Dodgers with seven stolen bases in the first match-up. You can play your own free Statis-Pro game.

Yamamoto allowed only one stolen base, to Jake Fraley, who did score the only run, and picked off Richie Palacios in the 5th inning. Teoscar Hernández then hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th to extend the lead to 4-1, and Kyle Tucker doubled in the 7th, went to third on a wild pitch, and then came home on Freddie Freeman's single for the final 5-1 margin.

The Dodgers would have been eliminated with a loss, but the 5-1 win means they can still win the Statis-Pro Baseball 2026 World Series—but only if they now beat the Philadelphia Phillies three times in a row. One twist is that if they lose the next game against the Phillies, then the Phillies would clinch the World Series in pool play with a 4-0 mark. That would actually leave Tampa listed as the runner-up for the 2026 season, since Tampa would hold the run-differential tiebreaker in head-to-head over the Dodgers, with both teams finishing 1-3 in the championship pool.

However, if the Dodgers win, they finish pool play 2-2 with the Phillies at 3-1, and we stipulated in the Championship Pool that teams would extend play past the four games, if needed, until one team had four wins to claim the title. So a Dodgers win would give them two wins and hold the Phillies at three, meaning the Phillies would still need only one more win, while the Dodgers could win two more after the next victory to get to four wins and claim the 2026 title. We did decide that relievers would be able to pitch in both of those additional games if necessary.

Tyler Glasnow (a PB 2-8) will take the mound for the Dodgers in Philadelphia against Jesus Luzardo (PB 2-7). The bullpens are available for both teams except for Dodgers closer Edwin Diaz, who gave up the game-winning homer to the Phillies' Kyle Schwarber in the first match-up, and Phillies closer Jhoan Duran, who saved the 2-1 win, as well as setup man Orion Kerkering, who won that game.

Here is the box score: 

Pos	TBR	AB	R	H	RBI	Extra	Bats	Home Run!	SP	OPS
SS	Wander Franco	4	0	0	0		SP	27 to 32	A	0.785
3b	Junior Caminero	3	0	0	0		RP	26 to 34	D	0.850
1b	Yandy Díaz	4	0	1	0		RN	32 to 33	D	0.780
RF	Jake Fraley	2	1	1	0	2b,sb	LN	27 to 28	A	0.714
LF	Gavin Lux	4	0	2	1	2b	LN	28 to 28	D	0.694
1B	Liam Hicks	4	0	0	0		LN	27 to 27	D	0.700
CF	Cedric Mullins	4	0	0	0		SN	24 to 26	A	0.683
C	Nick Fortes	4	0	0	0		RN	26 to 27	D	0.660
2b	Richie Palacios	2	0	1	0		LN	26 to 26	B	0.680
BatAv	0.161	31	1	5	1	no extra
PB-	TBR	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	Strikeout!	Th	ERA
2'-7	Freddy Peralta	4	4	4	4	1	7	22 to 51	Right	3.8
2'-7	Kevin Kelly	1	1	0	0	1	0	27 to 45	Right	3.7
2'-7	Bryan Baker	1	1	0	0	1	2	23 to 53	Right	3.65
2'-7	Manuel Rodríguez	0.2	2	1	1	0	2	25 to 44	Right	3.66
2'-8	Griffin Jax	1.1	0	0	0	1	2	22 to 55	Right	2.94
Pos	LAD	AB	R	H	RBI	Extra	Bats	Home Run!	SP	OPS
DH	Shohei Ohtani	5	0	0	0		LP	23 to 32	A	0.958
RF	Kyle Tucker	5	1	1	0	2b	LP	25 to 28	A	0.827
3b	Max Muncy	4	0	0	0		RP	18 to 26	D	0.861
1b	Freddie Freeman	3	1	2	0		LP	28 to 33	C	0.832
CF	Andy Pages	4	0	1	0		RP	27 to 34	C	0.839
C	Will Smith	2	1	0	0		RP	25 to 28	D	0.79
SS	Mookie Betts	3	1	1	3	HR	RP	28 to 32	C	0.783
LF	Teoscar Hernández	3	1	2	1	HR	RP	26 to 32	C	0.771
2b	Tommy Edman	3	0	1	0		SN	27 to 31	B	0.706
BatAv	0.250	32	5	8	4
PB-	LAD	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	Strikeout!	Th	ERA
2'-8	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	7	3	1	1	3	6	25 to 48	Right	3.45
2'-8	Tanner Scott	1	0	0	0	1	0	21 to 53	Left	3.44
2'-8	Edwin Díaz	1	2	0	0	0	2	21 to 58	Right	3.03