Cincinnati Reds vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Game 1 NLWCS

Photo: Frederick Dennstedt. License here.

The Cincinnati Reds begin their playoff journey tonight as they take the field out west. On the other side of the field in the home dugout will be the defending World Series champs – the Los Angeles Dodgers. First pitch tonight is scheduled for 9:08pm ET. The entire series will be broadcast on ESPN.

Starting Lineups

Starting Pitchers

Hunter Greene

When Hunter Greene was on the mound in 2025 he was dominant. He made 19 starts in 2025, missing over two months while on the injured list (twice) with a groin injury. His ERA was 0.01 higher in 2025 than it was in 2024. This season he allowed more home runs than in 2024 despite making seven fewer starts, but his control was significantly better after giving up 76 free trips to first base in 150.1 innings between his walks and hit batters and giving up just 28 of them in 107.2 innings this season.

Lefties and righties both had plenty of struggles against Greene in 2025. Right-handed hitters had a slightly higher average, but they walked less and hit for less power. Lefties had small advantages in on-base percentage and slugging, but didn’t get on base or hit for much power. Not shown below in the splits is that Greene was significantly worse on the road (8 starts, 4.81 ERA with 10 home runs allowed) than he was at home (11 starts, 1.58 ERA with five home runs allowed).

Splits

SplitPAH2B3BHRBBKAVGOBPSLGRHH2134011161163.199.241.353LHH2073511091569.184.251.384

Pitch Usage

4-seamSliderSplitVelo99.489.688.3Usage54%35%11%

Blake Snell

Like Hunter Greene, Blake Snell missed time this season. After making two starts to begin the year he missed the next four months with a shoulder injury – returning on August 2nd. The 2-time Cy Young Award winner was dominant for the Dodgers over his 11 starts, posting a 2.35 ERA.

The splits are in the small sample size range a bit for a starter, but the lefty was very good against both groups of hitters in 2025. Lefties didn’t face him much but when they did they didn’t do a whole lot and struck out a ton. Righties hit a little better, but they still didn’t hit. Not shown below is that he was significantly better at home (7 starts, 1.17 ERA) than on the road (4 starts, 4.30 ERA) – but he did struggle with control at home as he walked 20 batters in 38.1 innings.

Splits

SplitPAH2B3BHRBBKAVGOBPSLGRHH198407032154.231.310.324LHH5611300518.224.296.286

Pitch Usage

4-seamCurveSliderChangeVelo95.180.588.185.4Usage44%22%11%24%

When and Where

Game time: 9:08pm ETWhere: Dodger StadiumWatch: ESPNListen: 700WLW AM (Cincinnati area)Forecast: 70°, sunny, 5% chance of rain

News and Notes

The Reds 26-man roster for the series

Not much of a change to the 28-man roster that the team ended the season with. Brady Singer and Zach Maxwell were left off of the roster for this round, but everyone else who was there on Sunday against Milwaukee is still on the active roster tonight. You can double check all the names here.

Playoff Odds

Fangraphs updated their World Series Championship odds and the Reds now have the lowest odds among the 12 teams (they were tied for the last spot with Cleveland before rosters/rotations were announced). They are sitting at 1.1%. ESPN has the odds for Cincinnati a bit better at 1.5%. Both give the Reds about a 1-in-3 chance of winning the series over the Dodgers (Fangraphs link to the series breakdown).