Dodgers Game Today: What the NLDS Game 4 Hype Is About
The phrase "dodgers game today" is trending because Los Angeles plays Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. The Dodgers lead the best-of-five series 2-1, so a win at Truist Park in Atlanta would send them to a third straight National League Championship Series. A loss would force a deciding Game 5 back in Los Angeles. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Eastern Time, which is 3 p.m. Pacific, on FS1.
The NLDS is a best-of-five playoff round, and the winner moves on to the NLCS, the semifinal stage of the postseason bracket. The Dodgers lead 2-1, meaning they need one more victory to advance while Atlanta needs two. This is the fourth game of the series and the last one played in Atlanta. If Atlanta wins, the teams return to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for a final game.
First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, at Truist Park in Atlanta, according to MLB.com. That is 3 p.m. Pacific Time and 10 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time. The broadcast runs on FS1 and FOX One, with FOX Deportes carrying a Spanish-language feed.
Tyler Glasnow starts for the Dodgers and Tyler Mahle starts for Atlanta, a pairing MLB.com has nicknamed the "Battle of the Tylers." Glasnow has a 5-2 record with a 3.53 earned run average, and he recorded 98 strikeouts at a rate of 11.92 per nine innings. Mahle holds a 7-10 record with a 3.99 ERA and 137 strikeouts, but he posted a 1.99 ERA over his final nine regular-season starts.
Earned run average, or ERA, measures how many earned runs a pitcher allows per nine innings, so a lower number is better. Strikeouts per nine innings, written as K/9, shows how often a pitcher misses bats rather than allowing contact. Glasnow's 11.92 K/9 points to a swing-and-miss profile across a shortened season. His workload was limited: he made only 13 regular-season starts because of a back injury, though the transcript does not give a final innings count for the season.
The transcript reports FanDuel odds of Dodgers -142 and Braves +120 on the moneyline for this game, with a total of 7.5 runs. A moneyline of -142 means a bettor must risk 142 dollars to win 100, indicating the Dodgers are favored; +120 means a 100-dollar bet would win 120 dollars on the underdog Braves. When the two sources are combined, the transcript's earlier line of -144 and the research line of -142 are close but not identical, so the exact price can shift before first pitch.
The total, also called the over/under, is set at 7.5 runs, meaning bettors wager on whether the two teams will combine for more or fewer than that number of runs. The research lists the over at -106 and the under at -114, and a numberFire model puts the Dodgers' win probability at 55.9 percent. A win probability is the model's estimate, not a guarantee, and odds move as money comes in and lineups are confirmed.
Los Angeles won Game 3 by a score of 3-1 on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw seven innings and struck out 10 batters, a career high for him in the postseason, outpitching Atlanta's Chris Sale. Kiké Hernández hit a two-run home run and Freddie Freeman added a solo shot in the fourth inning, according to ESPN and Yahoo Sports.
Shohei Ohtani batted fifth in Game 3, the lowest spot in the lineup for him in six years, dating back to his time with the Los Angeles Angels. He went 0-for-4, and the demotion came as manager Dave Roberts adjusted the order against Chris Sale. Ohtani said he was open to the move, per DodgerBlue, and he is batting .200 this postseason while managing right biceps and left knee injuries.
Ohtani is one of the sport's biggest names and hit 30 home runs during the 2026 regular season, so any change to his role draws outsized attention. Batting order position usually reflects how much a manager trusts a hitter's current form and how he matches up against that day's pitcher. In Game 3, that calculation pushed Ohtani down while the rest of the order stayed largely intact.
Roberts has said Ohtani will not bat fifth again, according to MLB.com, so his slot in Game 4 is worth watching. Other Dodgers have also struggled at the plate this postseason: Will Smith is hitting .083 and Andy Pages .182, while Freddie Freeman sits at .364 with home runs in back-to-back games. Those splits help explain why the manager keeps reshuffling the top of the order.
Miguel Rojas left Game 3 with a lower back issue and is unlikely to start in Game 4, per MLB.com. Freddie Freeman is also managing a right knee problem, though he has stayed productive at the plate. For Atlanta, Ronald Acuña Jr. is dealing with a right knee injury and may serve as the designated hitter again, while catcher Sean Murphy is considered day-to-day.
Atlanta's lineup has been uneven in this series beyond Michael Harris II, who is hitting .375 with nine hits in 24 at-bats this postseason. Drake Baldwin is batting .130, Acuña .143 and Matt Olson .174, according to MLB.com. Ha-Seong Kim has also cooled off badly, going 1-for-30 since Sept. 12.
The regular-season record between these clubs favored Atlanta, which won five of six meetings against the Dodgers. Postseason form tells a different story: Los Angeles has won four straight playoff road games and five straight road games overall, per MLB.com and Covers. The transcript does not explain why the regular-season and postseason results diverge, so the trend is best treated as context rather than a prediction.
Dave Roberts is tied with Tony La Russa for second place on the all-time list of postseason managerial wins with 71, according to Covers. That mark reflects how often his teams have reached October and how long he has held the job. It also frames the stakes of this game: a win here would move him up that list and extend the Dodgers' season.
If Atlanta wins Game 4, the series returns to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles for Game 5 on Friday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on FOX. Tarik Skubal is lined up to pitch for the Dodgers in that scenario, according to CBS Sports. That detail matters because a clinch tonight would make Game 5 unnecessary and give the Dodgers extra rest before the NLCS.
The research includes one prediction: Predictem backs the Dodgers to close out the series in Game 4. A pick is an opinion about a single game, not a statement of fact, and it can be wrong regardless of how the rosters compare on paper. The transcript's own framing is simply that Los Angeles has the chance to advance tonight.
One schedule inconsistency is worth flagging for anyone searching for the result. ESPN lists a "Dodgers 3-1 Braves" final tagged Oct. 7, but that score and its details match Game 3, which was played Oct. 6, according to the transcript. Schedule sources such as CBS Sports place the actual Game 4 in tonight's 6 p.m. Eastern slot, so a search for the final score before first pitch may surface the earlier game by mistake.
If you want the result, the safest approach is to check after the game ends rather than during the day, when search engines can still be showing the previous game's final. MLB.com and the official broadcast on FS1 publish the confirmed lineups, which also settle questions about Ohtani's spot in the order and whether Rojas starts. Odds quoted here come from FanDuel and were gathered today, so they can change before first pitch.
