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Boeing workers to vote on new proposal that could end strike

Boeing and its machinists’ union have reached a new contract proposal, the union said Saturday, outlining a deal that could end a more than month-long strike that has hobbled the manufacturers’ aircraft production.

The ratification vote is set for Wednesday.

The new proposal includes 35% wage increases over four years, a higher signing bonus of $7,000, guaranteed minimum payouts in an annual bonus program and higher 401(k) contributions among other changes.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su met with both parties earlier this week.  “With the help of Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, we have received a negotiated proposal and resolution to end the strike, and it warrants presenting to the members and is worthy of your consideration,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in a statement Saturday.

The strike began Sept. 13 after more than 30,000 machinists overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement that included 25% wage increases over four years. Boeing later made a sweetened offer but the union blasted it saying it was not negotiated.

“We look forward to our employees voting on the negotiated proposal,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing is working to stop bleeding cash as it grapples with a safety crisis stemming from a near-catastrophic door plug blowout on one of its 737 Maxes at start the year and challenges in its other programs.

The company earlier this month said it will report a deep loss and take charges of about $5 billion in its commercial and defense units. A ratified contract on Wednesday, when Boeing also reports full results, would be a victory for new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the company’s top job in August, tasked with reshaping the company.

On Oct. 11, he announced job cuts of 10% of Boeing’s workforce and that the company will stop making 767s when orders are fulfilled in 2027.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Browns QB Deshaun Watson suffers season-ending Achilles injury

Deshaun Watson will be out for the remainder of the 2024 season, a serious blow to the Cleveland Browns.

The Browns quarterback suffered an Achilles injury during Cleveland’s Week 7 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. The injury occurred with 1:22 left in the first half. Watson looked like he was trying to scramble up the middle after a seam opened in the offensive line.

As Watson went forward, his right leg buckled underneath him. He immediately went down without being hit and remained down on the ground in evident pain.

Cleveland’s medical staff came out to tend to Watson on the field. After several minutes, they loaded the veteran quarterback onto a cart and took him back to the locker room for further evaluation.

Watson was emotional as he left the field. He had a towel draped over his head, and it seemed he was crying.

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

Deshaun Watson injury update

On Monday, the Browns provided an update on Watson’s condition, via the team’s social media accounts:

‘Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) this morning confirmed that Deshaun Watson sustained a ruptured right Achilles tendon in the second quarter of yesterday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals,’ the Browns wrote. ‘The injury will require surgical repair, and Deshaun will miss the remainder of the 2024 season. A full recovery is expected.’

The Browns announced early in the third quarter that Watson had suffered an Achilles injury. The veteran quarterback was ruled out for the game because of the injury.

Who is Deshaun Watson’s backup on Browns depth chart?

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was called upon to replace Watson in Cleveland’s lineup. The second-year quarterback had served as the team’s third-string quarterback behind veteran Jameis Winston, the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NFL draft, for the first six weeks of the season but was promoted for the matchup against the Bengals on the depth chart.

Winston was named Cleveland’s emergency third quarterback in Week 7 despite being inactive for Sunday’s game. He will be able to enter the game if Thompson-Robinson is injured and ruled out for the game but will otherwise remain on the bench.

Deshaun Watson stats

Watson enjoyed a solid outing before exiting the game, completing 15 of 17 passes for 128 yards. He did not lead the Browns to any points while in the game but twice led them into scoring range, including on the drive during which he was injured.

Watson entered Week 6 having completed 61.3 percent of his passes for 1,020 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions. His passer rating of 76.6 ranked 28th in the NFL among 31 qualified passers.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Pentagon lacks counter-drone procedure leading to incursions like at Langley, experts say

New reporting about over a dozen unidentified drones that were allowed to fly over Langley Air Force Base has prompted fresh calls for change to a threat that experts say will only become more prevalent. 

For more than two weeks in December 2023, the mystery drones traipsed into restricted airspace over the installation, home to key national security facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters. 

Experts say the incident is likely one of many that U.S. authorities are underprepared to tackle in an evolving threat environment. 

Lack of a standard protocol for such incursions left Langley officials unsure of what to do – other than allow the 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities. 

The Pentagon has said little about the incidents other than to confirm they occurred after a Wall Street Journal report this month. Whether it knows where the drones came from or what they were doing is unclear.

‘I think they don’t know,’ one congressional source familiar with defense operations told Fox News Digital. 

As defense-minded lawmakers sought more answers, Langley officials referred them to the FBI, who referred them to Northern Command, who referred them to local law enforcement, the source said. 

‘They should easily be able to know exactly what they are,’ said Brett Velicovich, an advisor to drone tech company Red Cat Holdings and a Fox News contributor.

‘There are all kinds of radar systems out there. Each drone has its own fingerprint.’

‘Saying we don’t know what it is, and if we’re taking them for their word that they don’t know what it is, that speaks to a larger issue that the administration really just got caught with its pants down, and they’ve failed.’ 

If the drones were a foreign adversary testing the limits of U.S. defenses, the message they took home is that encroaching on restricted airspace is easy enough, according to Velicovich. 

U.S. capabilities offer many different ways to take down a drone, including shooting them, zapping them with heat lasers and jamming the frequencies.

Whether Congress needs to change the laws is a point of contention, but one thing that is clear is incursions like the one at Langley prompt confusion over legal authority. 

When drones encroach near bases overseas, the rules of engagement give service members more leeway to engage with them. 

However, U.S. law does not allow the military to shoot down drones near its bases unless they pose an imminent threat. While Langley has the authority to protect its coastal base, the Coast Guard has the authority to protect the waters, the Federal Aviation Administration has authority over U.S. airspace – some of the most congested with commercial airliners in the world. 

‘After 9/11, we invested all this money in homeland security to deal with exactly the kind of things that we’re seeing today,’ said James Carafano, defense expert at the Heritage Foundation. ‘We built this whole infrastructure to deal with that. And it just seems, where is it today? We’ve been very lackadaisical about this.’ 

‘We’re going to have a terrorist attack here at some point. It’s just going to happen.’

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chair of the House Armed Services Committee, argued that the Defense Department needs to use the authority it has been given. 

‘Drone incursions at DOD facilities are alarming. The Department needs to focus on deploying real, effective capabilities across critical installations using existing authorities given to them by Congress. I will continue to conduct oversight of the department’s response to these drone incursions,’ he said in a statement. 

Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, promised to introduce legislation to give the Pentagon greater authority to shoot down drones. 

‘Military leaders currently lack the authority to engage until there is an imminent threat posed to our men and women in uniform. I am working on legislation to provide the Department of Defense with the necessary authorities to engage drones or unidentified aircrafts that breach our military airspace before it is too late to respond.’ 

Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for Congress to pass laws laying out counter-drone procedures.

‘Adversaries like China, Russia and Iran are improving their drone capabilities every month. Our defenses are not catching up,’ he said. 

‘Congress needs to develop and execute a comprehensive set of plans to strengthen our counter-drone protocol and technological development right away. There is no time to waste. The lives of service members and all Americans are at risk.’

This month, Chinese national Fengyun Shi was sentenced to six months in prison for capturing drone footage over Huntington Ingalls Industries Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, 10 miles from Langley Air Force Base.

Two months prior to Langley, in October 2023, five drones flew over the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site, used for nuclear weapons experiments. U.S. authorities were not sure who was behind those drones either. 

A Chinese surveillance balloon traversed over the U.S. for a week last year before the Air Force shot it down off the coast. 

U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in California, home to highly classified aerospace development, has also seen a slew of unidentified drone incursions in 2024, prompting flight restrictions around the facility. 

‘There are a lot of regulations on terms of what the DoD is allowed to do in the U.S. homeland that make this a really difficult problem,’ said Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security. 

Even jamming the GPS systems, so drones freeze up and fall out of the sky, risks collateral damage. It could interfere with nearby air traffic.

‘Unlike when you’re in Iraq or somewhere and there are drones flying overhead, you can fire off a missile and intercept them without as much worry, because you’re in the middle of the desert,’ he continuted. ‘We’re going to see more of this in the future, and I think it’s something that the U.S. is grossly underprepared for.’

Even abroad, experts warn U.S. forces are unequipped to handle the threat of advancing drone warfare. 

Three U.S. service members were killed in a drone strike in January in Jordan. 

‘The response time for [counter-drone measures] is really small, and the U.S. doesn’t have a lot of systems that are optimized for this, and they’re quite expensive,’ said Pettyjohn. ‘We’re going to see more of these, probably larger groups operating together. Right now, they’re all remotely piloted. Eventually, they’ll be autonomous and really truly swarm.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Embraer CEO says jet maker studying possibilities for a new aircraft

Brazilian plane maker Embraer SA is studying the market and new technology that could warrant it building an all-new jet, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told CNBC.

A new airplane could help the airplane manufacturer compete with much larger rivals Airbus and Boeing, which deliver hundreds of jets a year compared with Embraer’s dozens of aircraft.

But Gomes Neto noted that no decisions have been made yet.

“At this point in time, we don’t have concrete plans to go to a big narrow-body,” he said, adding that the studies for new engine technologies, avionics and potential demand are “to be prepared.”

In the meantime, Gomes Neto said Embraer is focused on improving results and selling its regional planes, which won orders earlier this year from American Airlines, manufacturing its E2 jet and “delivering what we promise” customers.

The FAA approved a freighter version of its E190 passenger-to-freighter converted jet earlier this month, helping clear the way for its commercial introduction.

“This is maybe the advantage we have: We have a great product [that’s] available,” Gomes Neto said.

Both Airbus and Boeing are struggling to ramp up production and deliver aircraft on time in the wake of the pandemic. Boeing has the added challenges of a safety crisis and a machinist strike.

Boeing once had plans to take control of Embraer’s commercial jet business but ended those discussions in early 2020. Last month, Embraer said Boeing would pay it $150 million over the scuttled plan.

Like its competitors, Embraer is facing supply chain strains coming out of the pandemic, and the company is taking a more in-depth look at delivery capabilities.

Engines, hydraulic valves, cabin interiors and components for them are some of the areas where it has been difficult to ramp up production from suppliers, Gomes Neto said. He added that he expects supply chain problems will likely ease in 2026.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Spirit AeroSystems to furlough 700 workers as Boeing machinist strike continues

Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems will furlough some 700 workers as a strike by machinists at the plane maker enters its sixth week, a spokesman for the supplier said Friday.

More than 32,000 Boeing workers walked off the job Sept. 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting a tentative labor deal with Boeing, deepening the aircraft producer’s financial strain and handing a new challenge to CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the reins just over two months ago.

The temporary furloughs account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing.

The temporary furloughs will affect employees at Spirit’s largest facilities, in Wichita, Kansas, and account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing. Meanwhile, Boeing and its machinists’ union remain at an impasse, and Spirit is considering deeper cuts.

“If the strike continues beyond November, we will have to implement layoffs and additional furloughs,” Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino told CNBC on Friday.

Ortberg, who faces investors in his first earnings call next Wednesday, last week announced a series of drastic measures meant to slash costs as the company’s losses mount, including cutting the workforce by 10%, or about 17,000 people. Boeing is also ending 767 commercial production when orders are fulfilled in 2027 and said its long-delayed 777X wide-body jet won’t debut until 2026, pushing it back yet another year.

Boeing is in the process of raising debt or equity to increase liquidity.

The roughly 700 Spirit workers affected by the 21-day furlough are assigned to the 777 and 767 programs for Boeing, for which Spirit has built up “significant inventory,” Buccino said. Spirit workers on Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max are not affected, he added. Work on all three programs, however, is stalled because of the strike.

Boeing agreed to acquire Spirit this summer, but the companies don’t expect the deal to close until mid-2025. Reuters earlier reported Spirit’s latest furloughs.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS
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Tommy Edman’s hot bat propels Dodgers into World Series

LOS ANGELES — When the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Tommy Edman just before the trade deadline in July, the utilityman didn’t know what his role would be with his new team.

He hadn’t played a single game as he recovered from a wrist injury and he joined a crowded roster full of guys trying to find playing time themselves. 

Flash forward to Sunday night at Dodger Stadium and he was the one hoisting the National League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Trophy as Los Angeles clinched its spot into the 2024 World Series.

In a series with tons of offense, it was the Southern California kid who consistently shined in the spotlight. Edman hit .407 in the NLCS with 11 hits – at least one in all six games – one home run and 11 RBI, which tied a franchise postseason record. 

‘Tommy, I think, clearly is the MVP,’ Shohei Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. ‘He does things – not just this whole postseason – but during the regular season, contributing in places where it doesn’t really reflect on the stat line.’

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Sure his regular season was limited to just 37 games, but Edman didn’t break out in the less than two months of playing. He hit only .237 and his OBP of .294 was his first season below .300. 

But when it came time to the postseason, Edman shook the rust off and showed up not only when it mattered, but when it was needed.

Freddie Freeman continued to deal with an ankle injury that took him out of games and clearly affected him when he was on the field. Teoscar Hernandez, a star of the National League Divisional Series, went the first five games without a hit.  

Luckily, Edman made himself a dangerous at-bat. He went from starting the series batting last in the lineup to batting cleanup in the NLCS clincher. Edman scored the first four runs of the game that gave Los Angeles a lead it would never relinquish.

Perhaps the most impressive stat for Edman was after the two-run homer in the third inning, he was 5-for-7 with nine RBI when batting with runners in scoring position in the series. By the end of Game 6 he was 5-for-10 in the series with RISP, still a remarkable feat that will often lead to success.

‘I just kept getting up with guys on base and a lot of opportunities to drive runs in,’ Edman said. 

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joked he envisioned Edman winning the MVP award when he traded for him, but he applauded him for stepping up in such a high-stakes series.

‘There aren’t a lot of guys on planet Earth that can do it at such a high level. He’s a really good baseball player,’ Friedman said. ‘He just had his nose in the middle of everything we had going in the series.’

Edman said he didn’t think too much about being thrusted into the spotlight, but going from missing a majority of the regular season and being traded to being the star of the championship series is quite the change.

‘It’s been a crazy journey. Early in the year, I never would have thought I’d be in this situation today,’ Edman said. 

It’s hard to imagine where the Dodgers would be had they not made the trade for Edman in the summer. Manager Dave Roberts gave credit to Friedman and the front office for pulling the trade off. Even he didn’t expect he would be putting him fourth in the lineup, but now he’s sold on what Edman brings to the club.

‘I trust him. The guys trust him. He’s made huge defensive plays for us and had huge hits. Just very, very fortunate to have a player like Tommy,’ Roberts said.

The emergence of Edman will give the New York Yankees another thing to worry about in the World Series. As if there aren’t enough things to consider when facing a team that scored at least eight runs in its NLCS victories, and is averaging more than six runs a game, the highest of any postseason team.

Sure, everyone will be excited to see Ohtani go up against Gerrit Cole and the comparisons to Aaron Judge. Mookie Betts will be going against the team that couldn’t stand seeing him win a World Series when he played for the Boston Red Sox. And that’s not including Freeman, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton. 

Yet it’s not a surprise to anyone in Los Angeles to see someone like Edman step up in big-time situations.

‘The common theme for this season has been that a lot of people, different guys, have been stepping up,’ Ohtani said. 

Now Edman is a red-hot, switch-hitting guy who can’t be overlooked at the plate. He could continue his excellent play in the World Series. But who knows, it could be another unsung hero that thrusts themselves into stardom for a team proving it’s more than the three MVPs that bat at the top of the lineup. 

‘You prepare for those big moments. Fortunately, I was able to come through,’ Edman said.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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New report shows clear frontrunner in Harris, Trump campaign cash race

With 15 days until Election Day in November, polls point to a margin-of-error race for the White House between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump.

But in the dash for campaign cash – another key metric in presidential politics – there is one very clear frontrunner: Harris.

The vice president entered the final full month of the campaign with a massive financial advantage over the former president, according to new federal fundraising filings late Sunday.

The Harris campaign hauled in $221.8 million in September, according to the filings, more than triple the $63 million brought in by the Trump campaign last month.

Roughly a quarter of the money raked in by the vice president came during celebrity-studded fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco at the end of last month.

Harris has vastly outraised and outspent Trump since replacing President Biden atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket three months ago, and that trend continued in September. The largest expense by the Harris campaign was for paid media – mostly to run ads.

But the vice president still enjoyed a large cash-on-hand advantage over Trump entering October.  

The Harris campaign reported $187 million in its coffers at the end of September, compared to $119 million for the Trump campaign.

The fundraising totals reported by the two major party campaigns don’t include additional money raked in by the two national party committees, other affiliated organizations – both campaigns use a slew of affiliated fundraising committees to haul in cash – or aligned super-PACs supporting Harris and Trump.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee enjoyed a fundraising lead over Trump and the Republican National Committee earlier this year. But Trump and the RNC topped Biden and the DNC by $331 million to $264 million during the second quarter of 2024 fundraising.

Biden enjoyed a brief fundraising surge after his disastrous performance in his late June debate with Trump as donors briefly shelled out big bucks in a sign of support for the 81-year-old president.

But Biden’s halting and shaky debate delivery also instantly fueled questions about his physical and mental ability to serve another four years in the White House and spurred a rising chorus of calls from within his own party for the president to end his bid for a second term. The brief surge in fundraising didn’t last and, by early July, began to significantly slow down. 

Biden bowed out of the 2024 race on July 21, and the party quickly consolidated around Harris, who instantly saw her fundraising soar, spurred by small-dollar donations.

The Harris campaign on Sunday spotlighted its grassroots donors, as it announced that 95% of its donations in the past three months were under $200.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s faced a fundraising deficit. He raised less than 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in his White House victory and Biden four years ago in his re-election defeat.

When asked about the fundraising deficit, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley told Fox News Digital last month that ‘the Democrats have a ton of money. The Democrats always have a ton of money.’

However, he emphasized that ‘we absolutely have the resources that we need to get our message out to all the voters that we’re talking to and feel very comfortable that we’re going to be able to see this campaign through and we’re going to win on Nov. 5.’

The presidential campaigns later this week will give us another look at their finances – as they’re required on Thursday to file reports to the Federal Election Commission for their fundraising for the first 16 days of October.

Fundraising, along with polling, is a key metric in campaign politics and a measure of a candidate’s popularity and their campaign’s strength. The money raised can be used to – among other things – hire staff, expand grassroots outreach and get-out-the-vote efforts, pay to produce and run ads on TV, radio, digital and mailers, and for candidate travel.

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Trump, Harris neck and neck as Dems lose ground among Latino, Black voters: poll

Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are neck and neck in recent polling as they enter the final leg of the presidential race, as the Democratic nominee appears to be losing ground among Latino and Black voters. 

A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll places Harris at 45% and Trump at 44%. 

In August, the same poll found that Harris was ahead of Trump 48% to 43% on the heels of the Democratic National Convention. The new survey released Monday questioned 1,000 likely voters by landline and cell phone from Oct. 14-18. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Harris has fallen back in support among Latino and Black voters in the seven weeks between surveys. The new poll found Latino voters now back Trump by 49% to 38%. Black voters prefer Harris by 72% to 17%, but that 55-point edge is significantly less than the advantage Democrats traditionally enjoy. 

For the subsamples of Latino and Black voters, the survey’s margins of error are plus or minus 9 points, signaling possible repositioning of up to 18 points in one direction or the other. 

President Biden benefited from staggering support from Black and Latino voters four years ago. A Pew Research Center analysis found 92% of Black voters and 59% of Latino voters supported Biden in the 2020 race. 

Trump has made inroads among Black and Latino voters in the 2024 race by courting men, as he campaigns on the economy and crime. 

Observing the shift in Democrats’ traditional edge, the Harris campaign unveiled an economic agenda for Black men last week. It promised small business loans and the legalization of recreational marijuana. 

Her campaign also ramped up events targeting Latino and Black voters in battleground states, and former President Barack Obama chastised Black men, claiming they could be hesitant to vote for a woman as president. 

In a separate poll conducted across seven battleground states, 47% of respondents said they would definitely or probably back Harris, while 47% said they would definitely or probably support Trump. According to the Washington Post-Schar School survey, 49% of likely voters support Harris, while 48% support Trump. 

Among swing states, Trump is performing well in Arizona, while Harris fares best in Georgia.

The poll also surveyed a portion of the electorate in the swing states dubbed ‘deciders’ – people who have not fully committed to a candidate. About 74% of voters in the swing states said they would definitely vote for Harris or Trump – an increase from the 58% who said they had already decided in the spring. 

Over a five-month period, uncommitted voters narrowed from 42% to 26%. The latest survey showed 21% of likely voters across the seven states were not fully committed to either Harris or Trump. 

According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (AP-NORC) poll released on Monday, most registered voters are divided on whether Trump or Harris are better equipped to handle specific economic issues, including unemployment, the cost of groceries and housing, or tariffs.

The survey found only 38% of registered voters say the national economy is doing well, while 62% of respondents expressed believing the economy is in poor condition.

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Dodgers reach World Series vs. Yankees by clubbing Mets in clincher

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers opened their season in South Korea ensnared with a gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, spent the summer rocked by injuries that included every member of their starting rotation, but there they were Sunday partying into the night as the stadium speakers blared “I Love LA.’

The Dodgers, for the fourth time in eight years, are going back to the World Series, taking the National League pennant by routing the New York Mets, 10-5, at Dodger Stadium to win the NLCS – 4 games to 2.

They will face the New York Yankees in the World Series, bringing Major League Baseball its dream LA-NY matchup, beginning Friday night at Dodger Stadium.

“It’s been a fun ride,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There’s a great focus with our guys, a hunger, and a real good compete and fight.

“Personally, I am just fortunate, I have a lot of great people around me, most importantly the players. But I’m just very grateful to be here. I really am.

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“You have to enjoy these moments. I can’t be more proud of our guys.’

The sellout crowd expressed its own gratitude, staying in their seats to cherish the celebration instead of leaving early to beat the traffic.

“Just to be able to do it in front of our home crowd,’ Dodgers infielder Enrique Hernandez said, “is everything. They come in, they show up for us year in, year out on a daily basis, we lead baseball in attendance yearly.

“I can say that our fan base travels as good as any fan base in all of baseball. Anywhere we go, there’s a huge section of blue in the stands. And to be able to do it at home kind of means everything to us because we get to celebrate with them.’

The Dodgers’ Holy Grail is that World Series parade.

They won the World Series in 2020, but that was the COVID year, winning the title at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas. Instead of spraying champagne, they were handing out masks.

There was no parade.

They haven’t had a parade since 1988 when they stunned the Mets in the NLCS, and shocked the Oakland A’s in the World Series.

Now, they are four victories away.

The Dodgers will privately tell you that once they got past the San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series, they figured they’d make it to the World Series. Their biggest road bump in the regular season was getting the news in mid-September that starter Tyler Glasnow was out for the year, leaving them to wonder how they’d piecemeal their starting rotation in October.

“Everybody was panicking because we got a lot of injuries,’ Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “We lost a lot of pitchers. It was the one time that we felt like we were down as a team.’

Roberts, who calls few meetings, gathered everyone together, and delivered a message that continued to resonate through the regular season, the Division Series and NLCS, and now the World Series.

“The message basically was I can’t believe more in them than they believe in each other. They’ve got to believe in themselves, right? And I just felt we have enough talent in the room to do that.

“I just kind of wanted to bring that to light.’

The Dodgers took the advice, took off, and there’s been no looking back.

“The one meeting changed everything,’ Teoscar Hernandez said. “We realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we’re still the Dodgers. We can do special things with the people we have healthy.’

It also helps, of course, when you make shrewd trades at the deadline, and acquire injured super utility player Tommy Edman from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Edman, not only became the Dodgers starting shortstop and cleanup hitter this series, but became their most valuable player – and the NLCS MVP. He drove in a franchise-record 11 runs this series, including a two-run double in the first inning and two-run homer in the third.

Certainly, this will be remembered as a rather funky series with every game decided by four or more runs, with Sunday being the only game with a lead change.

The Dodgers used seven different relief pitchers to seal their World Series berth. It wasn’t always pretty with Michael Kopech pitching an ugly first inning. He walked two batters, threw a wild pitch and was fortunate to leave the first inning down only 1-0.

The Dodgers, who produced just two hits off Mets starter Sean Manaea in Game 2, beat him into submission this night. He lasted just two innings, giving up six hits and five earned runs in his shortest outing since April 2023, when he was with the San Francisco Giants.

“That was our first time seeing him with his new arm angle,’ Enrique Hernandez said. “I feel like that day, we were trying to score a lot of runs with just one swing instead of doing the same thing we’ve done throughout this postseason – which is do your part and pass the baton and keep the line moving.’

That’s exactly what the Dodgers did, with four of their first six batters reaching base, and by the end of the night, every player but rookie Andy Pages reached base. They had five different batters score at least one run.

Now, they’re heading to the World Series with just three healthy starting pitchers – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler – and a hobbled All-Star first baseman in Freddie Freeman, who didn’t start for the second game this series.

“I don’t like excuses,’ Roberts said. “I don’t like to hear them. There’s just a lot of unforeseen things that can happen in a long baseball season, and we have a lot of good players.

“But it’s not really what I think, it’s what they believe. And they believe that they are the best.’

Here’s how Sunday’s game unfolded:

Dodgers add three runs, take 10-4 lead into ninth

The Dodgers can feel the World Series

Los Angeles added three more runs to their lead to make it a commanding 10-4 ballgame headed into the ninth inning. Chris Taylor and Shohei Ohtani started the inning getting on base, and Mookie Betts hit a double to bring in a run. In the next at-bat, Teoscar Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Ohtani to widen the lead.

Tommy Edman reached on a fielder’s choice after Betts was thrown out at home and Max Muncy drew a walk. After that, Kiké Hernández hit a single through the right side of the field to bring a run in.

Dodgers three outs away from World Series 

LOS ANGELES — Blake Treinen came in and shut it down.

The Dodgers reliever struck out the side in the eighth inning, putting down the heart of the Mets lineup in Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso. Now, the Dodgers are three outs away from heading to the World Series.

Mets get a run back in seventh

LOS ANGELES — The Mets aren’t done yet, with Francisco Alvarez adding a run to make it a 7-4 game.

Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil hit back-to-back singles, advancing Taylor to third. Alvarez hit a fly ball to right field to Mookie Betts, a sacrifice fly that was plenty deep enough for Taylor to score.

Shohei Ohtani drives in run: Dodgers up 7-3

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani continues to be dominant with runners in scoring position.

After falling in an 0-2 count, the Dodgers slugger worked a full count off Ryne Stanek and hit a ball to center field that Tyrone Taylor couldn’t reach for. The ball bounced off his glove and Will Smith went from second to home to make it a 7-3 game.

Mets leave bases loaded again

LOS ANGELES — Not hitting with runners in scoring position is starting to hurt the Mets, leaving the bases loaded yet again.

Francisco Alvarez led the sixth inning off with a single and after two outs, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso drew walks off Evan Phillips. It was left to Jesse Winker, but he hit a weak fly ball to shallow left field that was caught by Teoscar Hernandez to end the inning without any damage to the scoreboard.

New York is now 1-for-8 with RISP and have left 11 runners on base.

Mets trim lead with Mark Vientos homer

LOS ANGELES – Mark Vientos’ hot October continues and he keeps the Mets alive in Game 6 with a home run.

With Francisco Alvarez on base, Vientos hit a slider off Ryan Brasier 401 feet to center field, just over the wall for the two-run blast to make it 6-3. It’s the fifth home run for Vientos this postseason.

Will Smith two-run homer makes it 6-1

The Dodgers are hot.

Will Smith hit his team’s second two-run home run of the inning, this one off Phil Maton with two outs, sending the Dodger Stadium crowd into a frenzy and the Dodgers into the fourth with a 6-1 lead.

Tommy Edman stays hot, hits two-run home run: LA leads 4-1

LOS ANGELES — Tommy Edman is making a case for NLCS MVP.

He already had a two-run double in the first inning, and in the third with Teoscar Hernandez on base, he took a Sean Manaea fastball 406 feet to left-center field to make it a 4-1 game.

Edman now has a whopping 11 RBI this series, tying a Dodgers postseason record. 

Manaea would walk Max Muncy the following at-bat, and that will end his night.

Mets leave bases loaded, still down 2-1

LOS ANGELES — It’s only been three innings but the Mets have left plenty of base runners stranded.

New York was able to load the bases in the third inning with Jeff McNeil up to bat, but Anthony Banda got him to swing on a slider in the dirt to end the threat. So far, the Mets are 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and have left seven on base.

Tommy Edman’s two-run double gives Dodgers 2-1 lead

The Mets’ lead didn’t last long, thanks to a two-run RBI from one of Los Angeles’ hottest hitters in Tommy Edman.

Shohei Ohtani hit a single and Teoscar Hernandez just missed a home run two batter later, setting up Edman with runners at the corners. He fouled off three pitches from Sean Manaea, and on the sixth one, hit a liner to the left field corner, allowing both runners to score to make it 2-1.

Surprisingly, this is the first lead change of the series.

Mets score on first-inning error

LOS ANGELES — New York is on the board in the first inning, getting to Dodgers pitcher Michael Kopech. 

After Francisco Lindor walked on four pitches, a wild pitch moved him to second and a groundout by Brandon Nimmo got him to third. With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a flare in the infield and second baseman Chris Taylor couldn’t get an accurate throw to first, allowing Lindor to score and make it 1 -0. Taylor was charged with error on the play.

Mets lineup today: NLCS Game 6

Francisco Lindor (S) SS
Brandon Nimmo (L) LF
Mark Vientos (R) 3B
Pete Alonso (R) 1B
Jesse Winker (L) DH
Starling Marte (R) RF
Tyrone Taylor (R) CF
Jeff McNeil (L) 2B
Francisco Alvarez (R) C

Dodgers lineup for NLCS Game 6

Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Mookie Betts (R) RF
Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
Tommy Edman (S) SS
Max Muncy (L) 1B
Enrique Hernández (R) 3B
Andy Pages (R) CF
Will Smith (R) C
Chris Taylor (R) 2B

Michael Kopech starts for Dodgers

Ryan Brasier had started the Dodgers’ first two bullpen games of the postseason, but Dave Roberts is going with Michael Kopech to begin Game 6. Kopech has been arguably the Dodgers’ best reliever since coming over from the White Sox at the trade deadline and is yet to give up a run in the 2024 postseason.

‘I think we just all felt that it’s a part of a lineup that we like Michael,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained before the game. ‘He’s started games before. And just feel that it’s the best chance to put up a zero in the first inning and then move forward.’

Freddie Freeman injury: Dodgers 1B out of Game 6 lineup

‘He just kind of ultimately he just felt, we felt, that giving him another day is best for him,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said pregame Sunay. ‘Potentially having him late for an at-bat but the defense – he took batting practice yesterday. Felt fine. But just doesn’t feel like himself. So we just felt that potentially another day would help.”

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Liberty storm back late, fight off Lynx in OT for first WNBA crown

After trailing by as much as 12 and shooting a dismal 28.6% (10 of 35) in the first half, the Liberty came back to beat the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime of Game 5 Sunday night at Barclays Center. Jonquel Jones led New York with 17 points, while Breanna Stewart added 13 points and 15 rebounds. 

With Minnesota up 60-58 and 6.3 seconds to play, the Liberty inbounded to Stewart, who got off an awkward shot attempt that looked sure to miss — until a whistle blew and Minnesota’s Alanna Smith was called for a foul, putting Stewart back at the line. With 38.2 seconds left, Stewart had missed two free throws, but she hit both this time, tying the game with 5.2 seconds to play. 

The Lynx used their reset timeout to advance the ball, but Kayla McBride’s three was off, and the game headed to extra minutes. 

Rookie Leonie Fiebich drained a three on New York’s first possession and it was all Liberty from there. Minnesota went 0-of-6 from the field in overtime and threw the ball away five times. 

Fiebich finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. 

The 2024 title gives the Liberty a dose of redemption after losing the 2023 Finals on their home court last year. 

Minnesota had forced a decisive Game 5 by winning Game 4 on a pair of free throws with just two seconds to go, pushing the series back to Brooklyn. 

The Liberty were tight early, shooting horribly the first quarter as Minnesota took a 19-10 lead, stunning the crowd into silence. The Lynx had a 34-27 halftime lead after Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu shot a combined 2-of-17 from the field in the first 20 minutes. Ionescu finished a forgettable 1 of 19 but hit a huge three with 3:09 left in regulation to push New York’s lead to two possessions. Ionescu had eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds. 

But things started to turn around for New York when Nyara Sabally entered the game. The Liberty got a huge lift from Sabally, Ionescu’s college teammate, when she came in and scored nine points in 10 minutes, including a layup with 3:07 left in the third that gave New York its first lead of the game. 

Sabally also had a key steal and layup early in overtime to give New York a 65-60 lead. She finished with 13 points and six rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench. 

Napheesa Collier led the Lynx with 22 points and seven rebounds. McBride had 21 points.

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