Charania also noted that if this was a regular season game, Morant likely wouldn’t be playing. It is a “severe” ankle sprain, though he has never wavered from his stance that he will play against Dallas. The injection should help ease the pain, but it also establishes just how severe the injury is. Still, in an elimination game, Morant will play as much as he needs to in order to get Memphis to the playoffs.

Sauer will be capable of working multiple innings, but the 26-year-old won’t be able to go deep enough to qualify for a victory unless the Athletics are incredibly aggressive against the right-hander. He won’t be a quality streaming option for Thursday’s bullpen game against the Athletics.

Ohtani hit a no-doubter to lead off the game for the Dodgers and it bumps his homer total to 13. He’s been remarkably — and surprisingly — good in the month of May, and he’s now slashing .341/.442/.818 over those 48 at-bats in that timeframe. There’s a long way to go, but a back-to-back MVP season is well within reason, even if he doesn’t return to the mound in 2025.