Smith hit his first homer of this World Series in Tuesday's Game 4 loss to the Yankees.

The playoffs and especially the World Series tend to magnify what would be the normal ebbs and flows of the regular season. Smith is playing through a sore hand after taking a foul ball of his left hand in the NLCS. He had a slightly disappointing regular season, hitting .248/.327/.433 with 20 homers, trading some on-base and batting average for a little more power.

Smith (hand) will start behind home plate and bat eighth for Game 6 of the NLCS against the Mets on Sunday, Noah Camras of DodgersNation.com reports.

Smith received X-rays on his left hand after taking a foul ball off his glove in the seventh inning of Game 5. The results came back negative, and Smith will serve behind home plate as the Dodgers turn to Michael Kopech and the rest of the bullpen. Smith has gone 3-for-19 with two walks and two RBI during the NLCS.

Manager Dave Roberts said Saturday that Smith received X-rays on his left hand after taking a foul ball off his catching hand in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Roberts relayed that the foul ball hitting Smith's left hand led to the catcher being lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of Friday's game. The X-rays on Smith's hand came back negative, and the 29-year-old is expected to be in the lineup for Game 6 on Sunday. Smith has gone 5-for-35 with six walks, one home run and four RBI during the postseason.

Brewers general manager Matt Arnold revealed Thursday that Contreras playing through a minor knee sprain during the team's wild-card series loss to the Mets, Jack Stern of BrewerFanatic.com reports.

Contreras didn't have to miss any time because of the injury, but it did force a move from catcher to the designated hitter spot in Game 3 of the series. He will not require surgery on the knee and is expected to be fine by the time spring training rolls around with an offseason of rest.

Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said Friday that the team plans to exercise d'Arnaud's $8 million club option for 2025, Grant McAuley of 92.9 The Game Atlanta reports.

Between that and Sean Murphy's $15 million salary, Atlanta will be paying a healthy $23 million to its catching duo in 2025. D'Arnaud usurped Murphy as the club's preferred starter down the stretch this season and finished with a .238/.302/.436 batting line and 15 home runs in 2024. He and Murphy could share the catching duties pretty evenly in 2025, but the latter might also reclaim the starting job if he rebounds from a career-worst .636 OPS.

D'Arnaud isn't in the lineup Wednesday for Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series against San Diego.

After starting Game 1 of the series and going 1-for-4 with a double, d'Arnaud will now take a seat on the bench while Sean Murphy catches for Max Fried, batting eighth.

Alvarez is out of the lineup for the second game of Monday's doubleheader in Atlanta, Tim Britton of The Athletic reports.

Perhaps Alvarez would have gotten the start had the Mets failed to capture the first game, but since they did win that contest it makes it an easy decision to rest him for this one. Luis Torrens will catch and bat eighth.

Murphy is absent from the lineup in the first game of Monday's doubleheader against the Mets.

Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud have alternated starts at catcher since d'Arnaud returned from paternity leave in mid-September. It will be d'Arnaud doing the catching and batting seventh in the first game Monday, with Murphy likely to get the nod for the second contest.

Barnes went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored in Sunday's 2-1 win over the Rockies.

Barnes went 2-for-6 with a walk over two games after he was activated from the injured list Friday. The catcher ends the regular season with a .264/.331/.307 slash line, one home run, three steals, 11 RBI and 12 runs scored over 156 plate appearances this year. He is likely to continue operating in a reserve role behind Will Smith in the postseason.

Higashioka is absent from Sunday's lineup against Arizona.

Elias Diaz will be behind home plate and bat seventh in Sunday's regular-season finale. Unless he comes in to pinch hit, Higashioka will end the regular season having slashed .220/.263/.476 with 17 home runs and 45 RBI over 2673 plate appearances.