Dodgers might be heading into NLCS rematch with even better pitching this time

• October 9, 2026

ATLANTA — Which team has won the most regular-season games in MLB over the past three seasons?

Nope, it’s not the one going for a three-peat.

The Milwaukee Brewers have won 293 games over the past three seasons (two more than the Dodgers), including major-league highs of 97 last year and 103 this year (the franchise’s first 100-win season). They haven’t parlayed those regular-season wins into a successful October yet.

Last year, they were thoroughly dominated in the National League Championship Series, swept in four games by the Dodgers. The Brewers scored just four runs in the four games and batted a miserable .118 against Dodgers pitching in the series. Dodgers starters allowed just two of those runs in 28⅔ innings – Blake Snell allowed one hit in eight scoreless innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed three in a complete-game win.

As the two teams prepare for a rematch in this year’s NLCS beginning on Sunday night in Milwaukee, there is bad news for the Brewers – this Dodgers pitching staff might be even better than last year’s.

Andrew Friedman certainly thinks so. Heading into the NL Division Series with the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations called it “the best and deepest pitching staff we’ve ever had going into October.”

It starts with the starters. Three of the four that so throttled the Brewers last year – Snell, Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow – return with two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal replacing Shohei Ohtani.

The bigger difference is in the bullpen, where the Dodgers are in a much better place than they were a year ago.

Roki Sasaki went from disappointing starter, shelved for much of the season, to postseason closer last October because the Dodgers’ bullpen options were so thin. Tanner Scott wasn’t even on the postseason roster after his own disappointing season and health issues. Right-handers Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart were recovering from surgeries and didn’t throw a pitch last October.

All four of those pitchers are options now for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in a bullpen that has rediscovered life with a dedicated closer. Edwin Diaz has found his way back into that role after a lost regular season.

“He’s had a tough season,” Roberts said. “He’s been hurt. He was having trouble with his delivery and went on a long rehab assignment. But to get him pitching this way – that’s the reason why we got him. The last two nights, that’s the reason why we acquired a guy like Edwin Diaz. He’s one of the great closers in the game. For him to be pitching his best right now, that’s what you hope for, and I give him a lot of credit.”

Friedman echoed the praise for Diaz’s willingness to work his way back.

“He would say, ‘Hey, I’m ready to come back,’” Friedman said. “And it was like, ‘Hey, we need to see more. We need to see this really lock in.’ And at every turn, he said, ‘Whatever you guys need … anytime you want me to pitch, I’ll be ready.’

“It was never a question of the heartbeat and his ability to handle these moments. It was about just getting him right mechanically and getting back to the stuff that we’ve all seen over the years.”

Diaz recorded saves in Games 3 and 4 against the Atlanta Braves – his first saves in back-to-back games since the first 10 days of this season. He was one of the players shouted out by name during Roberts’ post-game, pre-champagne address to the team following the series-clinching win on Wednesday night.

“I feel great. I’m happy what I’m doing right now,” Diaz said. “I put in a lot of work this season. I went to the IL with elbow surgery. Came back, didn’t pitch the way everybody was expecting. Went back to IL with my neck. Then I started working on those things (an adjustment in his arm angle primarily). Those things paid off at the end of the day.

“The team trusts me. I think that was the most important thing for me, the team trusts me. … And the last two nights it’s been amazing. That’s why I came here – to win games and close games like this one (NLDS Game 4). So I’m really happy right now.”

Add in hard-throwing Edgardo Henriquez, who emerged this season, and stalwart left-hander Alex Vesia and Roberts has more branches on his ‘trust tree’ than last year – so much so that Vesia was asked about comparisons to the group of self-described bullpen ‘dawgs’ who came through so often during the run to the 2024 World Series title.

“I like it,” Vesia said of the comparison. “Once the starter comes out, we’re chopping it up, man. I mean, it’s either one-plus (innings) or up-downs, one or two outs. Like the last two games (of the NLDS), I got hot multiple times, ready to go for whatever. And that’s how it is. I think that going back to that ’24 team, we were all doing that. It didn’t matter the roles. The lanes, man, they were good. They were cut out for us.

“Last year was a little bit different. So yeah, I think Dave’s got a lot of weapons. And I like it.”

The Dodgers head into their NLCS rematch with the Brewers despite hitting just .203 as a team in the four NLDS games and going 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position – because their pitching staff held the Braves to a .145 average and 1 for 23 with runners in scoring position.

“Let’s be real – our postseason is going to rest on our pitching. It always does. It always will,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said during the postgame celebration Wednesday night. “You’re not going to go out there and get 15 hits a night in the postseason. You’re just not. So if you can limit the amount of runs the other team is getting, you’re going to do a pretty good job. Our pitching staff was unbelievable this series. For us to continue on, it’s going to rely on the pitching staff.”

​ Orange County Register 

Suspect charged nearly 15 years after death of 80-year-old Anaheim man

• October 9, 2026

In December 2011, 80-year-old Il Jae Kim was found dead in his Anaheim apartment. Nearly 15 years later, detectives have taken a 34-year-old man into custody on suspicion of Kim’s murder.

Santa Ana man Mike Nunez was charged by the District Attorney’s office on Thursday, Oct. 8 with murder, along with an enhanced charge of personally using a deadly weapon, according to court records.

Nunez allegedly killed Kim in his apartment at 225 S. Western Ave., where Anaheim police found Kim dead on Dec. 15, 2011, according to Anaheim police. At the time, family members told police that they feared for Kim’s safety, prompting a welfare check at his apartment.

Following the discovery of the body, Anaheim detectives collected evidence and pursued various leads, but the case went cold.

Detectives began to investigate the case again in March 2026 with the help of the Orange County Crime Lab, a forensic division that is part of the sheriff’s department and works with all law enforcement agencies in the county.

Harnessing advances in forensic DNA technology, investigators reexamined the evidence and ultimately identified Nunez as the murder suspect, according to Anaheim police.

The investigation remains ongoing, so details about what pieces of evidence were key in tracking down Nunez are not being released at this time, Anaheim police Sgt. Eric Anderson said.

Anaheim police investigators arrested Nunez on Tuesday, Oct. 6 in Santa Ana, and he is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.

Nunez is scheduled to appear in court for his arraignment on Thursday, Oct. 29.

​ Orange County Register 

New Yorkers get into heated confrontation with ICE agents who nearly hit 5-year-old boy in shooting

• October 9, 2026

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and wounded a man in a car on a bustling New York City street Thursday afternoon, narrowly missing a 5-year-old boy who was seated in the vehicle’s backseat and sparking a heated confrontation between the feds and outraged citizens, officials said.

ICE agents opened fire on the silver Honda Civic at about 4 p.m. on Marble Hill Ave. near W. 225th St. in the Bronx. The shooting victim was in the SUV when he was hit, according to sources.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who showed up at the scene, was told by NYPD detectives that “there was a toddler in the car.”

“I’m just trying to locate the child,” he said. “What about this is about public safety?”

Mayor Mamdani confirmed on X that a child was in the car when ICE started firing.

“Early reports indicate agents surrounded him and a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple rounds,” Mamdani said. “We believe the child was physically unharmed.

“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation,” Mamdani said. “I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”

Fruit vendor Cesar Gomez was down the block from the shooting when he heard a “zoom and the car crashed.”

“It was too many shots. Boom! Boom! Boom!” Gomez, 67, recalled, watching as responding officers pulled a horrified boy from the car. “(The victim) was bleeding from the back by his neck. They didn’t wait they put him in their own unmarked car and took him to the hospital.”

Gomez said that masked ICE agents were armed with assault weapons.

“It wasn’t a pistol,” he said. “It was a long gun like an AK-47. They were masked. Everything was covered. It was really crazy.”

ICE was looking for a person with a prior robbery arrest and an open drug case at the time of the shooting, law enforcement sources told WABC Eyewitness News.

A video reviewed by the Daily News shows NYPD officers carrying the wounded man from the silver SUV and putting him into the back of a black car, which sped off.

A man with a federal badge around his neck sporting an assault rifle was in the middle of the street, asking witnesses taking video of the scene to back away, the video showed.

The man who was shot was taken to an area hospital and is “conscious and receiving medical attention,” the NYPD said on X.

The NYPD “was not involved in the incident,” the tweet said.

Outraged Bronx residents flocked to the corner, chanting “Murderers!” “F— ICE!” and “ICE out of the Bronx!”

During one heated exchange, more than a dozen people grabbed and pinned a masked ICE agent against a wall when he got too close to the police tape lining the scene.

“Take the mask of P—-!” the residents screamed.

NYPD officers swooped in and rescued the agent, pulling him back behind the tape as federal agents created a blockade line.

The NYPD referred all additional questions about the incident to the feds.

But Assemblyman Manny De Los Santos (D-Manhattan), who showed up at the scene, was told that ICE agents weren’t cooperating with the NYPD.

“The ICE agents are over there with rifles and not cooperating with the NYPD detectives,” he said.

“ICE needs to get the f— out of here,” Williams seethed. “Nobody wants it.”

“Everybody said that this would happen,” he said of the shooting.

NYPD cops ultimately had to escort the ICE agents away from the scene as a growing mob cursed at the federal agents from the other side of the police tape.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The New York Immigration Coalition said that more than two dozen people have been shot by federal immigration officers in the last year across the country.

“ICE’s violent tactics are a clear danger to all New Yorkers, as today’s shooting in a residential neighborhood demonstrates,” Murad Awawdeh, the president of New York Immigration Coalition, said in a statement. “This incident is another reminder of the unchecked, rampant violence ICE has been spreading throughout our communities.”

“We demand an immediate investigation into the shooting, the release of the body camera footage, and accountability for any ICE agents who used excessive force,” Awawdeh said. “We must abolish ICE and strengthen the safety of all New Yorkers.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump on the stump: Extreme lines, vague threats

• October 9, 2026

By John T. Bennett, CQ-Roll Call

The remark from President Donald Trump came out of nowhere as he was speaking at a defense manufacturing facility under a beaming sun in Baltimore on Tuesday.

“Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought, who is fantastic, he’s done a job,” Trump said, delivering shout-outs while standing in front of a naval combat ship. “We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ?”

The commander in chief was at Charm City’s Sparrows Point industrial area to announce a $6.6 billion investment in Navy submarine manufacturing, a project that could boost Maryland GOP Rep. Andy Harris’ reelection bid. His nearby 1st District could benefit from the jobs a new defense production factory will deliver.

“He’s going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion,” Trump added of Vought, who also was an architect of Project 2025, conservatives’ hardline playbook for his second term. “He’s got some great things happening.”

It was the latest example of how Trump’s midterms barnstorming tour has featured sometimes extreme and often vague statements.

Top congressional and other Democrats were outraged by Trump saying during a Monday rally for Nebraska Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts in Grand Island that Iran could go ahead and target two major West Coast U.S. cities.

“They can take out a city. Let them take, let it, let them take out Los Angeles. Let them take out San Diego,” Trump said of Iranian leaders. “This is a very small price to pay. And it’s going to be over very soon.”

Democrats focused on the outlandish statement from a sitting U.S. president.

“It’s sickening to hear the President of the United States dismiss American lives so callously,” House Democratic Whip Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts wrote on X. “Every Republican candidate should be called on to denounce this.”

Democrats in California’s congressional delegation issued a joint statement calling on Trump to apologize: “Upon taking office, the President swears to uphold the Constitution and to protect us from our enemies. … As members of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation, we call on President Trump to apologize to the over 16 million Americans who live in the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas and all Americans who expect more out of our President.”

House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement that the comment shows the president was “so deranged.”

“It is truly revolting how much ill will he has for the Citizens he is supposed to protect,” Thompson said. “It is clear Trump is completely panicked about the midterm elections and his Iran War disaster and wants to escalate tensions to sow election chaos. The silence from Republicans is deafening.”

Trump twice on Tuesday waved off reporters’ questions about what exactly he meant. He added what seemed to be a clean-up line Wednesday night, repeating the ominous scenario, but then adding: “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities.”

‘Not-so-nice way’

Another potentially ominous statement came during the Baltimore event.

Iran was “the bully of the Middle East and not so much the bully anymore, but we have to finish up. And it’s only a question of which way. Do we want to do it the nice way or the not-so-nice way?” Trump said. “And pretty soon you’ll find out.”

Trump has floated “annihilating” the Islamic Republic as a way to end the conflict. The White House on Thursday responded to a query about whether the president’s threats are narrowly aimed at Iranian leaders or also the country’s population of 89.2 million by referring a reporter back to the same presidential comments.

At every stop, Trump receives usually tepid applause from crowds of loyalists when he contends that prices — from the cost of a gallon of gasoline to groceries to most everyday and leisure items — are swiftly falling.

At a rally Wednesday in San Antonio for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate bid, Trump said: “You watch those oil prices come down like a rock and watch everything — everything else is coming down. Oil is coming down.”

The independent fact-checking organization PolitiFact calls Trump’s prices claim “mostly false.”

“Through August, overall, prices increased by about 4.7 percent since Trump began his second term, and groceries have risen by about 3.4%. By mid-September, gasoline was up 41% from January 2025, when Trump began his second term, a spike driven by the Iran war. Fuel oil and natural gas have risen as well. Electricity was up by more than 8%,” PolitiFact wrote in a recent analysis. “Coffee, ground beef and chicken breast were also up during this period. Car prices, eggs, bacon and bread prices were down.”

‘Daydreaming’

Trump also has used campaign stops to claim he will send out $5,000 payments to millions of Americans if Republicans retain their House and Senate majorities.

But so far the president and his staff have brushed off questions about how to get such an expensive package through Congress, nor explained how his pledge to ensure each dollar is spent at home would be enforced.

“Congress would have to approve. And even if Republicans controlled the 120th Congress, the only way would be to pass legislation, I assume through reconciliation,” G. William Hoagland, a former senior GOP Senate leadership aide now with the Bipartisan Policy Center, said in a Wednesday email. “But adding another $2-plus trillion to the deficit, given growing concerns over the national debt, I would chalk up as ‘daydreaming’ and out of touch with reality.”

Going long

Trump has delivered his three-longest speeches of his second term this year.

Trump debuted his $5,000 pledge on Sept. 9 with primetime remarks at a GOP convention in Dallas, when he spoke for 1 hour, 44 minutes and 49 seconds. That was his second-longest speech of the year, surpassed only by his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, which ran for 1 hour, 47 minutes, 49 seconds.

Meanwhile, Trump’s San Antonio rally lasted 1 hour, 44 minutes and 13 seconds, the third longest of his second term, according to Roll Call’s Factba.se.

And there are more rallies planned before Election Day.

©2026 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. Visit at rollcall.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

​ Orange County Register 

31-year-old man fatally stabbed in San Juan Capistrano

• October 9, 2026

A 31-year-old man was stabbed to death in San Juan Capistrano on Wednesday night, Oct. 7, authorities said.

Deputies responded to the area of Calle Santa Barbara and Los Rios Street around 8:10 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing a man on the ground suffering from multiple stab wounds, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The man, identified as Valentin Onofre Martinez, 31, of San Juan Capistrano, was pronounced dead later at a hospital.

Several people were detained at the scene Wednesday night, authorities said, but no arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon. No further information about potential suspects or what led to the stabbing was immediately available.

The Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide and Gang Enforcement teams are continuing to investigate. Anyone with information was asked to contact sheriff’s dispatch at 714-647-7000. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS or through the Sheriff’s Department’s website.

​ Orange County Register 

Trump administration accuses Pasadena’s Caltech of visa fraud, in probe of universities

• October 9, 2026

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration on Thursday, Oct. 8, accused Caltech and eight other universities of suspected visa fraud, alleging they were abusing a program that allows international students to come to the United States to study.

Vice President JD Vance said that the private Pasadena research university known for its engineering and science programs was exploiting the J-1 special visa that allows international scholars and students to do research and work in the U.S.

“Something weird is going on at these universities,” Vance said at a news conference. “They’re using these visas way too much. They’re using them to undercut the wages of American grad students and American researchers, and it simply has to stop.”

A message from City News Service seeking comment from Caltech was not immediately answered.

Along with Caltech, Vance singled out Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, the University of Pittsburgh, UC Davis, Arizona State, and MIT.

Vance said the potential abuse of the J-1 and H-1B programs constituted a “fundamental insult to the American worker.”

The Trump administration contends that 61% of post-doctoral researchers and federally funded workers at the nine schools are foreign nationals, a rate far larger than the national average of 38%.

Federal officials said a probe of the schools was underway.

Labor Department Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said subpoenas have been served and “Nobody will be getting a free pass because their name is carved into an expensive building.”

Vance also called out Microsoft for allegedly abusing the H-1B special visa program for foreign workers.

“There’s been no company, unfortunately, in the United States that has abused this system more than Microsoft,” Vance told reporters at the White House news conference.

​ Orange County Register 

400+ Orange County workers set to strike Tuesday if new contract not reached

• October 9, 2026

More than 465 Orange County employees who maintain roads, run landfills and staff the regional parks and animal shelter say they will go on strike Tuesday, Oct. 13, if the county does not reach a deal on a new labor agreement, Teamsters Local 952 announced Thursday.

The local represents employees across OC Public Works, OC Waste & Recycling and OC Community Resources, including heavy equipment operators, mechanics, waste workers, custodial staff and animal care workers.

“The county has shown that its priorities are not with the workers who keep Orange County running or the more than 3 million residents who depend on the services our members provide,” Eric Jimenez, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 952 said in a statement. “We are giving the county every opportunity to come to the table and reach an agreement before Tuesday.”

The union’s previous three-year contract expired June 25. Bargaining team members said they approached the county in December to begin negotiations, but argue the county made no meaningful movement toward a deal until August.

On Aug. 20, members voted down the county’s one-year offer of a 3% raise with no retroactive pay, an offer workers said fell short of recognizing the value of their work. The union said it also filed an unfair labor practice complaint alleging the county has failed to bargain in good faith.

“We respect the rights of our dedicated employees to engage in lawful strike activity under California law. Our priority remains ensuring the continuity of essential public services for our residents,” county spokesperson Molly Nicholson said Thursday. “We have contingency plans in place to minimize service disruptions.”

Details on the contingency plan were not immediately made available and the county did not provide additional information.

The union held a press conference before the OC Board of Supervisors’ last meeting in September to warn about the potential for a strike.

​ Orange County Register 

Rams’ Byron Young done with ‘second-hand credit’ after 2.5-sack game

• October 8, 2026

LOS ANGELES — Byron Young is a Pro Bowler. A former Day 2 pick. Thirty-one career sacks. Poised to make some serious money as a free agent this coming spring.

But throughout his NFL career, the Rams’ outside linebacker has always had a “yeah, but” come up after any analysis of his game. Something like, “Yeah, but the offensive line is paying attention to Aaron Donald, of course he got a pressure.”

So when asked if, given that outside perception, he felt any extra satisfaction having a career-high 2.5 sacks against the Philadelphia Eagles on a day in which the Rams (2-2) were missing Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett, Young waits a moment before responding.

“I’m not gonna lie to you, I’m glad you actually said that,” Young said. “It’s been something I’ve been wanting to say without saying it and the fact that you brought it up is great because just the past few years, every time I was playing it was always kind of like a second-hand credit to Byron.”

Young’s first year, the narrative went, teams were so focused on Donald that players like Young got easy one-on-one opportunities. After Donald’s retirement, it was first-round pick Jared Verse that received credit for Young’s opportunities.

Young and Verse were inseparable friends before the latter was traded in the spring for Garrett. Young never let the talk from outside the Rams’ practice facility impact how he acted with his teammates, or how he approached his role within the game plan each week.

But of course he noticed how he was talked about.

“[A sack would] be credited to me, but it’d be like, well because so-and-so takes a lot of attention, because of this, and it’s just like I never really got the credit I felt like I deserved just because, again, other guys being great too,” Young said. “But at the same time, it’s just like it’s always been: a second-hand congratulations.”

But against the Eagles, without Donald and Garrett, it was Young’s turn to shine and be the closer that the Rams’ defense needed to pull out the 24-20 win in Philadelphia.

After the Rams cut their deficit to three, Young opened the ensuing Philadelphia drive with a run stuff of Tank Bigsby. The one-yard gain stalled the Eagles, who went three-and-out.

Then when the Rams retook the lead, Young wanted to redeem himself. For missed plays earlier in the game, and for a missed opportunity the week before against the Denver Broncos.

“At the end of the game, I feel like I’d never closed out a game or never really went out there,” Young said. “Like we played Denver and didn’t close it out and that was a chance. And this game, I feel like it was the same type of vibe, the same type of situation where the team got the ball and they needed a score after our offense just scored. So my mindset was do it for the brother beside me.”

Young sacked Jalen Hurts for a seven-yard loss on first down. Then he sacked Hurts again on third, this time stripping the ball away. The Eagles recovered, but all out of timeouts the fumble helped waste a few precious seconds.

“He made his impact felt all over the field. We talk about competitive greatness, being at your best when your best is required,” Rams defensive tackle Kobie Turner said. “He’s a guy that always flies around with his hair on fire.”

“And after I got that done and just feeling the love from everybody, from my family, my teammates, it felt great,” Young added. “Finally getting that congratulations and good job, and you worked so hard for it. That’s something I definitely worked so hard for. It made me a little emotional just because I know how much I put into it, I know how much I went through just to get to where I know I could play at. So just being able to step up and be there for my teammates while some of the guys are down right now, I’m thankful for that.”

And it’s not something the Rams have taken for granted the last three-plus years.

“I think the people that know know,” head coach Sean McVay said. “He certainly delivered in crunch time at the most important moments. … This season, he’s made a tremendous impact. I certainly know that his teammates don’t feel that way and his coaches. He was outstanding for us. I think when you talk to the people that really know, they know what ‘0’ is about.”

Injury report

Donald (back), CB Jaylen Watson (shoulder) and TE Colby Parkinson (shoulder) were all limited participants in practice Thursday, laying the groundwork for them to play Monday against the Buffalo Bills (3-1).

“That’s what the hope is, yes,” McVay said. “The expectation is that as long as they progress accordingly, then they’ll be ready to go. Want to see how Jaylen feels. We’ll get a little shoulder harness out there.”

​ Orange County Register