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These 10 ex-Dodgers are in the postseason. Who has the best shot at winning the World Series?

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These 10 ex-Dodgers are in the postseason. Who has the best shot at winning the World Series?

Trea Turner was a Dodgers star for a year and a half. Trey Sweeney was a Dodgers farmhand for a little more than an eyeblink.

Both shortstops are key cogs on teams eyeing a World Series title and perhaps spoiling the Dodgers’ dreams along the way.

Last season, J.D. Martinez and David Peralta were veteran bats and clubhouse leaders in Los Angeles. Now wearing other uniforms, they hope to advance deep into the postseason, something they were unable to do with the Dodgers.

Dodgers fans treat Manny Machado like a long lost villain, showering him with boos every time he returns to Chavez Ravine. Alex Verdugo was popular in L.A. and his trade netted the Dodgers Mookie Betts. Yet both present roadblocks in the Dodgers’ quest to win their first full-season championship since 1988. The Dodgers won the World Series in 2020 during the COVID-shortened season.

Those and other former Dodgers are sprinkled throughout rosters of teams still alive in the playoffs. Let’s take a look at each one:

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Trey Sweeney, SS, Tigers: The 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft by the Yankees out of Eastern Illinois, Sweeney was stuck behind budding star Anthony Volpe and traded to the Dodgers last offseason for reliever Victor González and minor league infielder Jorbit Vivas.

Despite their clear void at shortstop last spring — Gavin Lux failed at the position, Betts took a crash course in playing there and Miguel Rojas was considered a part-time plug-in — the Dodgers never seriously considered Sweeney as an option. He was viewed as average in every phase of the game and exceptional at none.

The Detroit Tigers held him in higher regard, however, trading front-of-the-rotation starter Jack Flaherty to the Dodgers in July for Sweeney and minor league catcher Thayron Liranzo. Sweeney was promoted from triple-A on Aug. 16 to fill in for the hugely disappointing and overpaid Javier Báez, who is out for the season with a hip injury.

Sweeney has provided above-average defense and enough offense to justify his starting role. Meanwhile, Flaherty will be the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter Saturday in the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.

Zach McKinstry, IF/OF, Tigers: Another Dodgers castoff finding a home in Detroit is McKinstry, who has played shortstop, third base, second base and two outfield positions this season. He started at third and hit a double in the Tigers’ series-clinching wild-card win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

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McKinstry, a 33rd-round pick out of Central Michigan in 2016, made a splash with the Dodgers early in 2021, filling in for the injured Cody Bellinger and Betts and impressing manager Dave Roberts, who said: “He’s kind of cut from that Chris Taylor cloth, where it doesn’t matter where he plays, he just wants to play, and he’ll figure it out and make the plays.”

After batting .303 with four homers and 14 runs batted in in his first 16 games that year, McKinstry bounced up and down between the Dodgers and triple-A until being traded to the Chicago Cubs at the 2022 July 30, deadline for reliever Chris Martin, who blossomed during his two months in L.A.

The Tigers acquired McKinstry before the 2023 season and he has proved to be a valuable utility man, playing every position except catcher — yes, he’s even mopped up on the mound on four occasions.

Kenta Maeda, RHP, Tigers: Maeda was a reliable starter from 2016 to 2019 with the Dodgers after coming over from Japan on an eight-year, $25-million contract. He finished second in Cy Young voting in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with the Minnesota Twins and signed a two-year, $24-million contract with the Tigers despite coming off Tommy John surgery.

After a horrendous first half of this season as a starter, Maeda moved to the bullpen and was reasonably effective. However, he was left off the wild-card roster and it remains to be seen whether he will be activated for the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Guardians. Maeda is under contract for $10 million in 2025.

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Alex Verdugo, OF, Yankees: Picked by the Dodgers in the second round of the 2014 draft out of Sahuaro High School in Tucson, Verdugo established himself as a proficient major league hitter as a rookie in 2019, batting .294 with 12 home runs in 343 at-bats.

Animated and exuberant, Verdugo was a fan favorite but was traded to the Boston Red Sox in the deal that brought Betts to L.A. He was solid, if not spectacular, in four years in Boston, batting .281 with a .762 OPS in about 2,000 plate appearances, before being traded to the Yankees last offseason.

After a strong start in the Bronx, Verdugo cooled, batting .227 since May 1 and losing his starting job in left field to top prospect Jasson Domínguez in September. Domínguez, however, had defensive lapses and batted only .179 in 18 games, and Verdugo could be in the lineup when the Yankees open the AL Division Series against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.

Tommy Kahnle, RHP, Yankees: Kahnle spent far more time in the training room and sitting at his locker playing video games than he did on the mound during his two seasons with the Dodgers. They signed him to a two-year, $4.75-million contract before the 2021 season knowing he’d miss that entire campaign recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Injuries persisted, however, and in 2022, he pitched only 12 2/3 innings, albeit effectively. That short window prompted the Yankees to sign him to a two-year, $11.5-million deal, and he responded by posting a 2.40 earned-run average over 92 appearances in 2023 and 2024.

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Manny Machado, 3B, Padres: Machado was an inarguable superstar when the Dodgers acquired him from the Orioles at the trade deadline in 2018, only 25 years old and in the midst of his fourth consecutive 30-plus-home run season. He underperformed, however, especially in the postseason when the Dodgers lost to the Red Sox in the World Series.

Worse, he didn’t run out a ground ball, played with a smirk and explained himself thusly: “I’m not a player that’s going to be ‘Johnny Hustle.’ … That’s just not my personality. That’s not my cup of tea. That’s not who I am.”

Here he is, six years later, having performed in San Diego at a level that could eventually land him in Cooperstown. Still only 31, Machado has 1,900 hits, 342 home runs and 1,042 RBIs. What he doesn’t have is a World Series championship ring, and he and his Padres teammates must go through L.A. in the NLDS to take the next step.

David Peralta, OF, Padres: Peralta, 37, has long been admired as a professional hitter, a dangerous left-handed bat in the lineup or off the bench. With the Dodgers in 2023, he batted .259 with a career-low .294 on-base percentage and .675 OPS. With the Padres in 2024, he rebounded, batting .267 with a .335 OBP and .715 OPS.

He batted .288 with an OPS of .804 against right-handed starters this season, and all of the Dodgers’ starters are right-handed, so he might see some action.

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Yu Darvish, SP, Padres: The enduring memory of Darvish as a Dodger is him getting shelled for four runs in the second inning of a Game 3 World Series loss to the Astros in 2017. Later it was revealed that the Astros were cheating, using technology at Minute Maid Park to steal the Dodgers’ signs.

Fast forward seven years and Darvish, 38, is still effective, winning his only three decisions in September after missing three months with a groin injury and a family emergency. The right-hander was 7-3 with a 3.31 ERA in 16 starts this season.

Trea Turner, SS, Phillies: Another brilliant trade deadline acquisition put Turner in a Dodgers uniform in the second half of the 2021 season and throughout 2022. Fans appreciated his uncommon blend of speed and power and his otherworldly slides, landing on red dirt as if it was a billowy cloud.

The Dodgers declined to offer Turner a monster free-agent contract, and he landed one with the Phillies to the tune of 11 years and $300 million. His first two years have gone pretty much as expected, and Turner is one of several exceptional players on a Phillies roster expected to make a serious push for a World Series title.

J.D. Martinez, DH, Mets: A productive designated hitter and stabilizing clubhouse force for the Dodgers in 2023, Martinez was unneeded the moment Shohei Ohtani chose to wear blue for the next 10 years. Martinez languished on the market until the Mets signed him to a one-year, $12-million deal less than a week before the season began.

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His production took a steep dip from the 33 homers and 106 RBIs he posted with the Dodgers, and he was mired in an 0-for-36 slump only a few days ago. But Martinez had key hits in the waning days of the regular season and his RBI single helped the Mets win the first game of the wild-card series against the host Milwaukee Brewers.

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Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes

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Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes

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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the 151st running of the race.

The favorite in Taj Mahal, the 1 horse, was in the lead from the start until the final turn until Napoleon Solo made his move on the outside and took the lead at the top of the stretch. As Taj Mahal fell off, Iron Honor, the 9 horse, snuck up, but the effort ultimately was not enough. 

Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor, at 8-1, finished second, with Chip Honcho fishing third after closing at 11-1. Ocelli, one of just three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.

 

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A Preakness branded starting gate is seen on track prior to the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. For the first and only time, Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes which is the second race of the Triple Crown jewel due to the traditional home of the race of the Pimlico Race Course undergoing complete renovations.  (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

A $1 exacta paid out $53.60, while a $1 trifecta brought in $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, as a $1 superhighfive – picking the top-five finishers in order – paid out $12,015.70.

Even moreso, a 20-cent Pick 6 – picking the winners of the six consecutive races, with the final being the Preakness, paid out $33,842.34.

The race was run without the Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year – and wound up winning the Belmont Stakes – the training team of Golden Tempo opted to skip the Maryland race.

From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not run in the Preakness. Three Derby winners have skipped the Preakness in the last five years, and for the sixth time in eight years, for various reasons, the Triple Crown had already been impossible to accomplish by the time the Preakness even rolled around.

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“I understand that fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, told Fox News Digital earlier this week.

Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, edges out Iron Honor, ridden by Flavien Prat, to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

CHERIE DEVAUX REFLECTS ON MAKING KENTUCKY DERBY HISTORY AS FIRST FEMALE TRAINER TO WIN THE RACE

Only three horses from two weeks ago – Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt, were back at the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11 horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and Great White, who reared up and fell on his back after becoming startled shortly before entering the Derby gate, took the 13 post on Saturday.

The Preakness went off roughly 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his very first race.

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Hit Zero, trained by Brittany Russell, came into the race as the favorite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by another one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact — and upon crossing the finish line, Hit Zero reportedly began coughing, dropped to his knees, then put his head down and died.

The Preakness took place at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations. It was the first time ever that Pimlico did not host the race, moving roughly 20 miles south.

Paco Lopez, atop Napoleon Solo, wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The Belmont Stakes, the final Triple Crown race, will take place on June 6. The race will return to Saratoga for a third year in a row as Belmont Park continues to be renovated.

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High school boys volleyball: City Section Saturday finals

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High school boys volleyball: City Section Saturday finals

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS VOLLEYBALL

CITY SECTION FINALS

FRIDAY

At Birmingham

DIVISION I

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#1 Taft d. #3 Cleveland, 25-23, 25-14, 25-21

DIVISION IV

#7 Maywood CES d. #4 Math & Science College Prep, 25-17, 25-17, 25-23

At Venice

DIVISION II

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#4 Marquez d. #6 Narbonne, 23-25, 25-19, 29-27, 25-16

DIVISION III

#13 Birmingham d. #2 Legacy, 25-20, 17-25, 31-33, 25-21, 15-10

SATURDAY

At Birmingham

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OPEN DIVISION

#3 Chatsworth d. #1 Granada Hills, 24-26, 25-21, 25-14, 25-18

DIVISION V

314 Franklin d. #13 Rancho Dominguez, 25-18, 25-19, 25-16

SOUTHERN SECTION FINALS

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THURSDAY

At Home Sites

DIVISION 9

Vasquez d. Tarbut V’ Torah, 25-19, 22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 15-10

FRIDAY

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At Cerritos College

DIVISION 1

#1 Mira Costa d. #3 Loyola, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22

DIVISION 4

Sunny Hills d. Royal, 24-26, 25-22, 27-25, 25-23

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At Home Sites

DIVISION 5

Bishop Diego d. St. Anthony, 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23

DIVISION 8

Temescal Canyon d. West Valley, 24-26, 25-16, 25-19, 25-23

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SATURDAY

At Cerritos College

DIVISION 2

Orange Lutheran d. Edison, 3-1

DIVISION 3

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Windward d. St, John Bosco, 24-26, 25–21, 25-22, 25-20

DIVISION 6

Culver City d. Garden Grove, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 15-9

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It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons

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It’s Game 7, and we have a bet locked in as the Cavaliers and legacies are on the line against the Pistons

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The NBA takes a lot of flak for having meaningless games, and I can definitely understand it, watching on a random Wednesday in January. However, the playoffs have delivered over and over to viewers and rewarded us for putting up with garbage regular-season games.

This will be the fourth Game 7 of the playoffs. Three series have been sweeps, and the other three have been six games. That shows competitive hoops. Now, how do we bet this Game 7 in the Eastern Conference?

The Cleveland Cavaliers blew it. After not winning a road game all postseason, they took Game 5 in surprising fashion. It looked like they were going to win in six games. After all, they hadn’t lost a game at home in the postseason.

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Instead, Detroit came out and blitzed the Cavs, never giving them a chance to get their footing. They lost in an ugly fashion and now have to figure out a way to win a game on the road.

Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden drives to the basket against the Detroit Pistons during the second half of Game 5 in the second-round NBA playoffs in Detroit on May 13, 2026. (Duane Burleson/AP)

It isn’t just the Cavs’ fate that rests in this game. It is also the legacy of James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Donovan Mitchell.

We know that Mitchell is a very good player, but he isn’t regarded as one of the best players ever. Harden is. Unfortunately, Harden has struggled in Game 7s. He’s averaged 19.1 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds. That’s not terrible, but looking at his shooting percentages, he is at 35.3% and 22.2% in those games. He actually is 4-4 overall in the games, but in his past three, he has scored a combined 34 points over 113 minutes.

The Detroit Pistons seem to like playing with their backs against the wall. They are a gritty team, so I suppose it makes sense.

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Detroit Pistons’ Jalen Duren reacts after allowing a pass to go out of bounds in the second half of Game 4 of the second-round NBA playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Cleveland on May 11, 2026. (Sue Ogrocki/AP)

Cade Cunningham continues to deliver for the team, and he finally got some help in Game 6 from Jalen Duren. This was never going to be an easy series for Duren, but it feels like he is taking more time to mature than others. He definitely improved this year, but the consistency they need from him just isn’t there yet.

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Now as the team goes home they will need Duren to be a beast on the glass. If he can keep the Pistons in the rebounding battle, they should win this game with ease. They won Game 6 by just three rebounds, but that takes away a big dimension of what Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley do for the Cavs. It isn’t everything, though, as the Pistons won the rebounding battle in both losses in Cleveland.

I don’t see this being a runaway game for the Pistons. Mitchell and Cunningham likely will cancel each other out with scoring. Harden needs to establish himself as the third-best player on the floor. I haven’t seen him do that in the postseason, yet.

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Cleveland Cavaliers All-Stars Donovan Mitchell and James Harden talk during Game 2 in the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs vs. the Toronto Raptors at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Ohio. (David Dermer/Imagn Images)

This is the second Game 7 of the playoffs for both of the clubs, so it isn’t like either will be caught off guard about what this entails.

If I look at it objectively, I think the Cavs have the better players. However, the Pistons have looked significantly better this season, and definitely in the playoffs overall. Both are prone to issues and slipping. The Cavs shouldn’t be as they are a veteran team.

This game has to be won by Cleveland, though. There is too much riding on the franchise and legacies of guys for them to not prepare properly for it. Maybe that’s weak analysis, but I’m taking the Cavs with the points and I do think they win outright. I expect a monster game from Mitchell, and Harden should get 10+ assists.

Either way, whoever wins will lose to the New York Knicks.

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For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024 

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