The Dodgers will host the Atlanta Braves at 5:07 p.m. Pacific Time Sunday in Game 3, as Major League Baseball updated the start times for both National League Division Series on Thursday. Game 4 start times haven’t been announced yet.
The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals will play earlier in the day Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1:37 p.m. Pacific Time.
The league seems to be announcing start times roughly 72 hours in advance of each game. Start times for Game 1 today and Friday’s Game 2 were revealed on Monday. Odds are that the start time for Game 4 will be revealed some time tomorrow.
Onto the bullet points:
• Colleague Vincent Bonsignore predicts the Dodgers will win in four games.
• ESPN has 33 baseball analysts and 27 of them picked the Dodgers.
• Colleague Tom Hoffarth reveals the Dodgers’ celebration that concerns Vin Scully — hint: not the pool party — and other things that concern Vin Scully.
• My analysis of tonight’s Game 1 pitching matchup: Clayton Kershaw-Kris Medlen might have a follow-up performance in store. It could come as early as next week, if there’s a Game 5.
• From colleague Jill Painter: “Medlen, who grew up in Cerritos, figured he’d be an infielder for the Dodgers.”
• Idea: Bat Andre Ethier leadoff.
• Tony La Russa has 17 cats.
• Does the Braves’ “policing” of baseball etiquette reflect a cultural divide within the game? Sports on Earth’s Jorge Arangure Jr. argues yes, wades into the divide, then repeatedly splashes the water to make sure everyone notices: “Not satisfied to be meek bystanders, modern Latino players have begun to impose their own attitudes on a game that, in previous years, had asked them to curtail their behavior to appease a mostly white power structure. But no more.”
• Happy birthday to Dennis Eckersley.
• This is what I was listening to while parsing the Dodgers’ NLDS roster this morning: