A'Ja Wilson and Aces to face Caitlin Clark and Fever in opening round of WNBA playoffs

NEW YORK — The WNBA playoffs will have a star-studded matchup between A'Ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark, thanks to a massive comeback by Golden State.

Down 10 with three minutes to go, the Valkryies went on a 14-0 run to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 76-75[](<https://Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ethan Salas had RBI singles in a three-run seventh inning and the San Diego Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 on Thursday night to clinch their franchise-record third consecutive postseason berth and fifth in seven seasons. It didn't come easily, though. The Dodgers closed to 4-2 in the ninth on Shohei Ohtani's RBI double off Padres closer Mason Miller, scoring Tommy Edman, who reached on a dropped third strike. Yuki Matsui (1-1) got the victory in relief. Miller earned his 38th save. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow (5-2) struck out a season-high 11 and took a no-hitter into the sixth, when Salas and Tatis broke it up with back-to-back singles. Salas scored on Dustin Harris' sacrifice fly to center. The Padres got Glasnow out of the game in the seventh after Jackson Merrill doubled and Xander Bogaerts walked. Merrill scored from second as pinch-hitter Austin Hays' single against reliever Justin Wrobleski went off third baseman Max Muncy's glove. Salas' two-strike single to center scored Bogaerts. Tatis followed with a RBI single that scored pinch-runner Sung-Mun Song for a 4-0 lead. It was Glasnow's second straight game with at least 10 strikeouts. He gave up three runs and three hits and walked off to a standing ovation. While the Padres clinched a berth, the Dodgers locked up a coveted bye. They avoided the wild-card round and earned home-field advantage in the NL Division Series before stepping on the field after Cincinnati beat Atlanta 7-6. The two-time defending World Series champions will open the postseason on Oct. 3. The Dodgers' lone run was scored on a balk by Adrian Morejon in the eighth. Ohtani was back in the Dodgers' leadoff spot since the Padres started a right-handed pitcher. He was 2 for 5 with a strikeout. He batted second behind Mookie Betts and also went 1 for 4 in his return from the injured list on Wednesday. Padres starter Nick Pivetta struck out five of nine batters in his first trip through the Dodgers' lineup. He gave up back-to-back, two-out hits to Ohtani and Betts before Freddie Freeman took a called third strike to end the inning. Pivetta, who only recently came back from a long stint on the IL, hit Teoscar Hernández to open the bottom of the fourth. Two outs later, he issued his first walk of the season to Andy Pages and both runners moved up on Pivetta's wild pitch. He got out of the jam by inducing a weak groundout to the mound from Hunter Fedducia. Up next Padres: They had yet to announce a starter for Friday's series opener against D-backs RHP Brandon Pfaadt (7-3, 3.72 ERA). Dodgers: LHP Tarik Skubal (11-7, 2.85) starts Friday at San Francisco against Giants RHP Yunior Marte (0-1, 4.66). ___ See AP's full MLB coverage here>) Thursday night and move into to the No. 2 seed on the final day of the regular season.

Golden State's win and Indiana's loss to Minnesota sets up a best-of-three series between the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the Fever.

The series beginning Sunday in Las Vegas will be a showcase between Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, and Clark, the 2024 rookie of the year and three-time All-Star.

The Aces, who have won three of the past four WNBA championships, beat the Phoenix Mercury 100-82, but dropped to the No. 3 seed with Golden State's win. Indiana fell to the No. 6 seed with its 86-66 loss to Minnesota on Thursday.

Golden State plays the No. 7 seed Dallas Wings and star Paige Bueckers in the opening round. Minnesota clinched the top seed for the second straight season and will face eighth-seeded New York.

The Atlanta Dream are the four seed after beating New York on Wednesday night and will face No. 5 seed Washington. The Mystics beat the Chicago Sky 101-93 Thursday night and earned the fifth seed with Indiana's loss to Minnesota.

"Everybody in the playoffs are capable of winning on the road and stealing a series," Atlanta coach Karl Smesko said. "I definitely think it's an advantage to have to play in front of your home crowd."

The Minnesota-New York series will be a rematch of the 2024 WNBA Finals, won by the Liberty in seven games. The Lynx played without star point guard Olivia Miles the final two games of the regular season due to a left calf injury.

"You have to have a healthy dislike for one another and I think that exists," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "But also at the same time, a lot of respect. So it makes for great cinema and hopefully some great games for us, particularly at Target Center."

The Liberty also have two key players dealing with injuries.

Star Breanna Stewart missed Wednesday's game with knee soreness and Jonquel Jones went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter.

"The margin for error throughout this regular season is incredibly small and you'll see that in the playoffs," Stewart said. "Like one through eight you don't know who will be playing at the end of October, which is exciting. I feel like for us we're going to get a fresh start when it comes Sunday."

With New York finishing at 26-18, this is only the second time in league history that all the playoff teams have won at least 59% of their games. The 1998 playoffs, which only had four teams, had all four teams at 60% or better.

In the four major sports it's rare to find the last place team in the playoffs with such a high win rate.

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