LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will offer fans free general parking at Dodger Stadium during the remainder of the postseason if they have four or more passengers in their car.
Dodger Stadium will be at maximum capacity for all postseason games and fans are urged to arrive earlier than normal to avoid traffic delays and parking concerns. Parking gates and turnstiles will open three hours prior to all postseason game times.
“We know we had a parking issue during our recent National League Division Series win against Atlanta,” said Renata Simril, senior vice president of external affairs. “We parked more than 20,000 cars and several hundred fans were unable to park at Dodger Stadium last Monday night. We reached our capacity, and some fans without parking passes were directed off-site. We were very sorry about inconveniencing these fans and felt we needed to do something to address this problem.
“We urge all of our fans to rideshare or carpool and examine all alternative transportation methods to do their part. We hope our fans will take advantage of our free parking offer with four or more fans in a vehicle in hopes of reducing our traffic flow and the number of cars at Dodger Stadium. We want our fans to have a memorable experience during the postseason.”
Fans can also get to the ballpark via the Dodger Stadium Express bus service. This year, the Dodgers added a dedicated bus lane on Sunset Boulevard from Union Station to Elysian Park Avenue. Dodgers game-day tickets will be honored as payment to ride the bus service. The shuttle will operate three hours before each postseason game and until 90 minutes after each game. For specific route and schedule information fans can visit www.metro.net or call 323-GO-METRO.
Puig praised for maturity in first playoff series
LOS ANGELES — Yasiel Puig made an impact in the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup during the National League Division Series against the Braves, but manager Don Mattingly was more impressed by the outfielder’s poise in his first postseason experience.
Puig started all four games of the NLDS in right field and moved into the No. 5 spot in the batting order with Andre Ethier limited to pinch-hitting duties. The rookie finished the series 8-for-17 (.471) with two RBIs and five runs scored.
Puig played a central role in the clinching Game 4 victory, too. He doubled leading off the eighth inning and scored on Juan Uribe‘s go-ahead two-run homer.
But Mattingly was more impressed by Puig’s decision-making than his numbers.
“I was really proud of him this last series,” Mattingly said Wednesday before the club’s Dodger Stadium workout. “A lot of good decisions from Yasiel this last series. He made a couple of hard turns at first where he didn’t go and it was the right play. I saw him hit the cutoff man a lot. We saw patience at the plate for the most part through the series. Just really proud of him.
“I think everybody questioned — was he going to be able to make good decisions? He may still get excited and do something that we don’t want. But I felt like he showed a lot of maturity in that series.”
That’s a good sign for the Dodgers as they prepare for Game 1 of the NL Championship Series on Friday on TBS.