CINCINNATI (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 14th consecutive playoff berth with a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night behind Tarik Skubal's seven shutout innings and home runs by Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández.
Los Angeles tied the record set by Atlanta from 1991 through 2005.
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker, (23) celebrates with third base coach Dino Ebel (91) as he rounds third base after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The two-time defending World Series champions cut their magic number to three for a fifth straight NL West title and 13th in 14 seasons. The Dodgers became the third team assured of a playoff spot after Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.
Skubal (10-7) allowed three hits, struck out nine and walked one as he gained his second win against Cincinnati in seven days. Skubal allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings in a 3-2 victory on Sept. 8.
He is 3-2 with a 2.52 ERA in eight starts since the Dodgers (91-59) acquired him from Detroit Tigers on Aug. 2.
Elly de la Cruz hit a 457-foot homer to center off Evan Phillips in the ninth, the longest homer by a Cincinnati player this season and the longest this year at Great American Ballpark.
All three of Los Angeles' hits ended up resulting in runs.
Tucker led off the second by driving an upper inside fastball from Nick Lodolo (3-5) into the right-field stands, his third home run in five games.
Tucker walked with two outs in the fourth and Hernández homered to right-center. Kiké Hernández added an RBI single in the seventh.
Lodolo allowed four runs and three hits in seven innings.
Los Angeles sends RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (13-8, 2.62 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday. LHP Rhett Lowder (6-10, 5.81 ERA) goes for Cincinnati.
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Cincinnati Reds pitcher Nick Lodolo throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker, (23) celebrates with third base coach Dino Ebel (91) as he rounds third base after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump's bid to restrict mail ballots for the midterm elections, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting already underway.
The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years and have accounted for nearly a third of votes cast.
It represented a stark defeat for Trump on an issue he consistently has emphasized as vital to ensuring election integrity even though there is virtually no evidence of fraud with mail ballots.
The Supreme Court majority wrote that the administration's push to implement the restrictions this year is likely to lose in court, though the brief emergency order didn't detail its reasoning. Two justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.
The Trump administration had asked the justices, once again at the center of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress.
Alito wrote in his dissent that the Postal Service “has broad authority to regulate the mail” and likely does have the power to enforce Trump's restrictions.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, meanwhile, agreed that the restrictions should not go into effect for the midterms but indicated he might rule in favor of the Trump administration if the issue comes back before the court at a later time.
Election officials have said there was simply no way to carry out a complete overhaul in the weeks before the midterms. Indeed, Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin began sending mail ballots to voters over the past week while the new system was still not active.
The Trump administration plan would require states to adopt a uniform envelope style and submit lists of eligible voters to an online portal. The Postal Service could refuse to deliver ballots to states that didn’t comply.
The administration’s efforts had the potential to be especially disruptive in states that send out ballots entirely by mail. Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, said the decision means work “to carry out a safe, secure, and accurate election" can continue ”without having to upend our election processes to meet unrealistic ballot mail requirements.”
In Arizona, another largely vote-by-mail state, Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said “it is crucial for us to continue rejecting the notion that access and security are mutually exclusive when it comes to running strong elections.”
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, a Republican serving as the state’s chief election officer, said on social media that the Supreme Court’s decision means “Utahns can have confidence that the 2026 election will proceed as normal."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A whistleblower report, though, said the postal system’s requirements could lead to millions of mail ballots never being sent, because problems with the not-yet-operational portal meant a single bar code error could result in an entire batch of ballots being tossed out.
Democratic state officials and voting rights groups challenged the restrictions in court, arguing that the president has no constitutional authority to set election rules that would “virtually eliminate mail voting on the eve of a major election."
Some states don't have the infrastructure to quickly pivot back to in-person voting, according to court documents.
Lower courts agreed to block Trump’s plan, including a preliminary injunction issued by a judge nominated by the president.
But the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that federal control of the Postal Service allows them to set rules for mail ballot handling and that compliance was possible.
The federal government won an early procedural decision at the Supreme Court, but the justices pointedly did not decide the legality of the plan.
Trump has long opposed mail voting and falsely blamed it for his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, even though he often uses that method to cast his own ballot, including as recently as this year.
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Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Mason, Michigan; Ali Swenson in New York; Gene Johnson in Seattle; and Jacques Billeaud and Wufei Yu in Phoenix contributed to this report.
FILE - Election worker Wendy Wimer looks through vote-by-mail ballots for the presidential primary election, March 12, 2024, at the Clark County Elections Office in Vancouver, Wash. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
