Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke has bought Major League Baseball franchise the Los Angeles Angels in a deal reportedly worth $4bn.

Kroenke, who has had a controlling stake in Arsenal since 2011, now owns teams in six major sporting leagues.

The Angels join NFL side the Los Angeles Rams, the NBA's Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL and MLS team the Colorado Rapids, as well as the Gunners, in being under the 79-year-old's control.

While the cost of the deal was not announced, the Los Angeles Times have reported that it is a record price for an MLB team, exceeding the $3.9bn the San Diego Padres were sold for in August.

"The Angels are a storied franchise anchored in a great market," Kroenke said in a statement.

"We look forward to an exciting future with the Angels organisation."

Previous owner Arte Moreno bought the Angels in 2003 but had come under pressure from fans to sell the club after 11 years without qualifying for the play-offs.

With less than a month of the regular season remaining, that is set to extend to 12 seasons - the longest active play-off drought in the MLB - with the Angels holding the joint-worst record in the American League.

Fan discontent has intensified this season with their "Tarps Off" protest, in which supporters went shirtless and waved their shirts above their heads, going viral.

Chants of "sell the team" and "we want play-offs" have also been heard regularly at Angel Stadium.

A statement from Moreno read: "The Moreno family has been honoured to steward the Angels for 23 years and we believe with [Kroenke's holding company] Kroenke Sports & Entertainment's experience and success, they are the best next owner for the franchise."

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When the Angels won their lone World Series, this was the headline in the Los Angeles Times: “Fantasyland!”

Can we run that headline again?

For your new owner, Angels fans, you get a proven winner and real estate developer — more on that in a second — whose very name drips with baseball history.

You know him as Stan Kroenke, the owner of the Rams. His full name is Enos Stanley Kroenke, so named in honor of two St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famers: Enos Slaughter and Stan Musial.

Read more:Rams owner Stan Kroenke agrees to buy Angels, ending Arte Moreno's troubled tenure

As he assembled his sports empire, baseball was the one sport that eluded him. He has the Rams, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal. He badly wanted the Dodgers, a runner-up in the bidding when Mark Walter bought them in 2012.

Now he is acquiring the Angels — at a $4 billion valuation, a record for a baseball team — and getting the closest thing to a blank slate that any owner can get without buying an expansion team.

The general manager? He’s an interim, and his contract expires this year.

The manager? His contract expires this year, too.

The roster? The only players currently under contract for next year are outfielder Mike Trout — the Angels’ answer to Musial — and pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.

The stadium? The lease expires in six years.

The Angels’ playoff drought? The longest in the majors, going on 12 seasons. Go, Super Bowl champ, go!

For Kroenke, the first order of business might well be a comprehensive search for what would be the Angels’ answer to Les Snead and Sean McVay, the GM and head coach duo that led Kroenke’s Rams to a Super Bowl championship. The players might not be the next order of business. The deal is not expected to be approved until early 2027, according to a sale announcement, and who knows whether owners still will be locking out players by then?

But Kroenke appears to be the perfect guy to resolve the longest-running and most critical order of business in Anaheim: resolving the Angels’ future there.

For 60 years, the Angels have played in a stadium surrounded by 130 acres of parking lots. For 60 years, fans have driven into the parking lots, watched the game, and driven home. For 60 years, the city has lost untold millions in tax revenue by failing to build anything atop those parking lots.

Kroenke just does it. He is doing it around SoFi Stadium, which he built. He is doing it around the Rams’ training facility in Woodland Hills, which he built. He plans to do it around the sports arena he is building in San Diego.

Now Kroenke could lobby for a new ballpark in Inglewood, in place of the Forum, and call it synergy. James Butts, the mayor of Inglewood, has said he would frown upon a ballpark there.

Read more:Shaikin: What's next as John Mozeliak revamps the Angels? The interim GM discusses his plans

But here’s betting Kroenke won’t ask. The sale announcement highlighted Kroenke’s “presence in one of the largest sports and entertainment markets in the United States” and said the purchase of the Angels “extends this footprint south into a market of more than three million residents with its own distinct civic identity, corporate base and tourism economy.”

Kroenke wants what all sports owners want these days: money coming out of a stadium site 365 days a year, not just on game days. That means shops, restaurants, homes, hotels, offices, parks, music venues, and food halls. And good luck to Kroenke or any other developer trying to find a vacant 130 acres in any urban area in Southern California, much less one adjacent to a train station and within three freeways.

This is already happening across the 57 Freeway from Angel Stadium, where Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli are putting up what they call the OC Vibe. Kroenke’s history indicates he would do something just as fun, and likely grander given that he’ll have more land, and suddenly Anaheim could be the coolest place to be in Orange County (*unless Olivia Rodrigo is putting on another Daisy Chain Fields festival in Irvine).

And, if Kroenke is willing to rename the team the Anaheim Angels, the city and its local assemblyman just pushed through a new law that could provide him with a significant financial incentive for development, which in turn could reduce his cost to build the new ballpark the Angels so desperately need.

The city owns the stadium and parking lots, so they were not part of the team sale. City officials have not met with Kroenke.

“Fans and residents welcome the start of a new chapter for baseball in Anaheim,” Mayor Ashleigh Aitken said. “I am encouraged by Stan Kroenke’s track record with the Rams and his commitment to investing in and uplifting neighborhoods.

“I look forward to working with the team’s incoming ownership to advance our city’s priorities around housing, open space and youth sports at the right time.”

For decades, Anaheim has loftily labeled the land around the neighborhood around the “Platinum Triangle.” Now the city might well have struck gold.

The local assemblyman that introduced that law, Avelino Valencia, could hardly have been any happier Tuesday.

“This is a big day for Anaheim,” Valencia texted me. “For 60 years, our community has filled Angel Stadium, raised a World Series banner as the Anaheim Angels, and shown up through every season.

“Few cities can offer a new owner a foundation like that. New ownership means new possibilities, and Anaheim is ready for them.

“I congratulate Stan Kroenke and Kroenke Sports and Entertainment on their agreement to purchase the Angels, and I welcome them home. Let’s build a partnership rooted in pride of place, a team that reflects the city it calls home, and the return of the Anaheim Angels.

“Anaheim is ready to work together, and Anaheim is ready to win.”

In a statement, State Sen. Tom Umberg called it “a great day for Angels fans and Anaheim.”

Read more:Shaikin: As Angels fans urge Arte Moreno to sell the team, the least he can do is try to win

As the stalemate between the city and Angels owner Arte Moreno grew more entrenched, the condition of Angel Stadium deteriorated. So did Moreno’s investment in the team.

Three years ago, the city commissioned an assessment of what it would take to keep Angel Stadium up and running for decades to come. We’re still waiting.

Those words, in a nutshell, exemplified the relationship between the team and the city in recent years. When the news broke Tuesday, a city official reached out to me to ask if it were true. And, after years of city officials sniping that the Angels had for a decade clipped the “of Anaheim” from their “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim” name, the Angels e-mailed a statement confirming the sale with this headline: “Kroenke Sports & Entertainment to Acquire the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.”

After a season of “Sell The Team” chants, Moreno did. And, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Valencia’s bill into law last week, the title of the law actually sounded more appropriate Tuesday: “The Home Run for Anaheim Act.”

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

With active rosters expanding from 26 to 28 players now that it’s September, the Mets have recalled outfielder Nick Morabito and right-handed relief pitcher Dylan Ross from Triple-A Syracuse.

Morabito made his major league debut in a brief stint with the Mets earlier this season. He went without a hit in 12 plate appearances over the course of the five games in which he appeared. In Syracuse, though, he’s hit .254/.355/.388 with 13 home runs and 42 stolen bases in 46 attempts. That line is good for just a 96 wRC+ given the context of the International League.

Ross has yet to make his major league debut. Drafted by the Mets in the 13th round in 2022, he made his professional debut with one appearance in Single-A in 2024 before throwing 54.0 innings with a 2.17 ERA and a 3.32 across High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A stints in 2025. This year, he’s thrown all but a few of his innings in Syracuse, and he has a 6.94 ERA and a 5.90 FIP in his time at that level. His walk rate—7.68 per nine or 16.8 percent—has been a significant problem, and he’s given up quite a few home runs.

We have reached September, which means it’s time to start looking ahead. The Phillies have used an August to remember to vault themselves back into contention not just for a wild card spot in the National League, but they have also made the East a division that looks winnable if they can continue to keep up the hot hitting and solid pitching (and get some help from the Braves).

How do you think this ends?

Can the Phillies actually somehow doing the once thought to be impossible – winning a division that they really never had a shot at? It would take a decent sized collapse from the Braves to do so, but the amount of times the two teams play each other, it’s at least in the realm of possibility that it will happen.

Even though a collapse of their own seems like something that can’t really happen, it’s something that needs to be considered. Were that to happen, we’d be having a whole new conversation about jobs and roster spots and all the other things that go with it.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Phillies fans and fans across the country.

The hatred, the criticism, the nastiness, is all over.

They can’t get Arte Moreno anymore.

Moreno, who tried to sell the Los Angeles Angels four years ago but changed his mind five months later, remained patient and finally got his price to escape baseball’s rat race, just ahead of baseball’s anticipated Dec. 1 lockout.

He is selling the franchise for an MLB record $4 billion to sports mogul Stan Kroenke, according to a high-ranking MLB official with knowledge of the agreement. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms of the deal were not immediately public.

Moreno, 80, who purchased the Angels for less than $200 million – just one year after they won the World Series – to become baseball’s first Latino owner with his wife, Carole, never came close to duplicating the success.

They spent money, brought in some of the biggest stars in the sport with Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton, and had a franchise player in Mike Trout, earned five division titles in a six-year span, but haven’t made the postseason since 2014.

They have the worst team in the American League (53-85), with their postseason drought extending to 12 years, and are on pace to lose 100 games for the first time in franchise history.

Now, after enduring chants of “Sell the Team," with attendance shrinking and Angels’ fans turning their backs on the franchise, Moreno decided it was time to get out.

The decision stunned some of his closest friends in the industry, although one associate said he wasn’t surprised at all, believing that Moreno already showed signs of losing interest.

Really, we should have all seen this coming. When Moreno fired GM Perry Minasian in June and brought in former St. Louis Cardinals baseball chief John Mozeliak, on the advice of president Molly Jolly, Mozeliak suddenly had more autonomy that existed under the last three Angels GMs.

Mozeliak was able to trade away veteran players like outfielder Jo Adell and starter Jose Soriano for prospects at the deadline, something that Moreno would have prohibited the last two decades. Mozeliak, who brought in nine prospects at the trade deadline, even was permitted to completely restructure his front office this week.

Yet, he refused to allow Minasian to even take serious offers for Shohei Ohtani three years ago at the trade deadline, wanting to re-sign him in the off-season. When Ohtani received his free-agent offers and told Moreno that he’d come back for the same 10-year, $700 million contract that he was being offered by the Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants – including $680 million in deferrals – Moreno passed without bothering to counter.

Even with the historic amount of deferred money, Moreno told his front office, “It’s still $700 million."

Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the final month of the season just ahead, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.

Note: All records and stats are for games played as of Monday morning.

First Place: Houston Astros (69-68)

Top Position Player: Yordan Alvarez (5.8 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Peter Lambert (2.0 fWAR)

The Astros remain the team that cannot be killed, as they lead this rock fight despite being barely above .500 themselves. During August, they made a move generally associated with being bad in making a general manager change and getting rid of Dana Brown, but they’ve been just good enough to stay at the top of a very gross division.

They’re led by Alvarez, a legitimate MVP candidate who leads the league in a whole host of offensive categories — including all three Triple Crown categories (though he shares the home run lead with Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero). Jeremy Peña and Isaac Paredes have been good, while Hunter Brown has been their best on the mound, despite missing all of April and May. The rest of their roster is generally just solid enough to have them at the top of the division.

Second Place: Texas Rangers (67-70, 2 GB)

Top Position Player: Ezequiel Durán (4.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Jacob deGrom (3.3 fWAR)

The Rangers are a very weird team. Their collective 108 OPS+ is the third best of any team in baseball. However, their 4.04 runs per game is the third worst of any team in baseball. I can’t say I understand how exactly they’ve managed that, considering that they’ve gotten really good seasons out of the likes of Durán, Joc Pederson, Josh Jung (who is currently on the IL), Wyatt Langford, and others. It’s not as if they have remarkably worse numbers with runners on and/or in scoring position either.

On the pitching front, you can definitely spot an issue as Cal Quantrill is their only starter with more than 10 starts who has a better than average ERA, and he only barely clears that 10 threshold. Now, that does include deGrom, whose FIP is more than a full run better than this ERA, so it’s maybe not as bad as things seem on the surface, but this can’t be particularly fun team to follow as a fan right now. MacKenzie Gore hasn’t been a particularly inspiring offseason trade addition, Nathan Eovaldi was placed on the IL with right elbow inflammation in mid-August and hasn’t returned, and Jack Leiter is on a rehab assignment from ankle surgery. Old friend Jordan Montgomery is now back from his second Tommy John surgery and working out of the bullpen.

Third Place: Seattle Mariners (64-73, 5 GB)

Top Position Player: Randy Arozarena (3.6 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Bryan Woo (3.0 fWAR)

Speaking of infuriating teams to follow, both this season and every year, I present the Seattle Mariners! Remember when they were eight outs from their first ever World Series appearance less than a year ago? The follow-up has been just about as ugly as that of their victorious foe.

It was always unlikely that Cal Raleigh would post another 60 home run season with a 168 OPS+, but he’s at 19 homers and a 84 OPS+ for 2026. He’s only even at those numbers because he’s had a good last month. Besides Arozarena, pretty much every standout performer from last year’s ALCS team has taken a step back. Even if the dips those key players had taken were just 10 percent better, Seattle could be clear at the top of this weak division. It’s just that a big reason this division is so weak is that so many M’s players have tumbled off a cliff.

Fourth Place: The Athletics (53-84, 16 GB)

Top Position Player: Nick Kurtz (2.6 fWAR)
Top Pitchers: Gage Jump and J.T. Ginn (1.7 fWAR)

After a 2025 season that featured some impressive years from some young players, the A’s were firmly in “interesting” status going into 2026. They then had a pretty good April and sat in first in the division at the end of it. However since then, the A’s have gone 36-70. That winning percentage over the course of a full season would equate to 55 wins.

What hasn’t helped with that is that two of their young stars, Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, are both on the 60-day IL, and several other contributors to their preseason “interesting” status are currently also out with injures. That includes former Yankee Luis Severino, who has been limited to just over 60 innings. That one has helped lead to a pretty poor season from A’s pitching, as their 5.74 runs allowed per game is tied with the Rockies for the worst, and Colorado infamously has a built-in hinderance there — though Sacramento’s minor-league park isn’t much better.

Last Place: Los Angeles Angels (52-85, 17 GB)

Top Position Players: Mike Trout and Zach Neto (2.9 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Reid Detmers (3.8 fWAR)

Mike Trout should be allowed to football tackle Arte Moreno as a treat.

Today is September 1 and thus MLB teams can expand rosters.

This is done differently now than in years gone by, when the entire 40-man roster could be recalled if teams wanted to do that. Now, teams can add just two players for a 28-man active roster.

And the Cubs have added right-handed reliever Tyler Ferguson and utility player B.J. Murray to the active roster.

Let’s talk about Murray first. He’s a native of the Bahamas but attended high school in Florida, from where the Cubs drafted him in the 15th round in 2021. He’s played a lot of first base at Triple-A Iowa this year, likely why he’s being called up. The Cubs didn’t really have a right-handed first base backup for Michael Busch, and now they do. Murray has batted .294/.395/.500 with 16 home runs in 118 games for Iowa this year, by far his best minor league season.

He’ll be the second Bahamas native to play for the Cubs when he makes his debut. Shortstop Andre Rodgers played for the Cubs from 1961-64, and was the regular there for the last three of those seasons. The other native of the Bahamas currently active in MLB is Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Yankees.

Murray will wear uniform No. 83.

Ferguson has a 3.45 ERA (6 ER/15.2 IP), 19 strikeouts, two walks and a 0.77 WHIP in 16 games with the Cubs this season. He was acquired from the Athletics on May 7 for cash considerations. All told in 2026, the righty has a 5.29 ERA (10 ER/17.0 IP) with 20 strikeouts, two walks and a .215 opponent batting average in 17 major league games between the two clubs. Ferguson has posted a 0-1 record with a 3.79 ERA (8 ER/19.0 IP) across 17 games with the I-Cubs since joining the organization

Murray needed to be added to the 40-man roster, while Ferguson was alreadyon it. There was one open spot following the DFA of Hoby Milner last week, so the 40-man roster is now full.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo start September with a look at players present and soon-to-be past. 

The guys take stock of the latest NL Rookie of the Year cases for both Nolan McLean and Carson Benge, while also doing a deep-dive case study on the curious case of Luis Robert Jr., now that the outfielder is off to Baltimore. 

The Mets Pod Answering Machine brings in voicemails about lefty vs. right splits and acquisitions to kickstart the Mets. Down on the Farm delivers an update on prospect Jefferson Rojas, while the Mailbag poses questions about the coaching staff, Marcus Semien, and Jorge Polanco.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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My Mariners vs. Red Sox predictions and MLB picks for Tuesday, Sept. 1 are back the Red Sox (57%) at a fair price today.

Look for Boston to get on top of Bryan Woo early while the Mariners offense sputters, with first pitch scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET at Fenway Park.

Who will win Mariners vs Red Sox today: Red Sox moneyline (57%)

For help understanding probabilities, see our odds calculator.

The Boston Red Sox have yet to announce their starter for today as of 11:30 a.m. ET, but that does not matter because the Seattle Mariners have Bryan Woo on the mound.

Road starts have been Woo's kryptonite. He sports a 5.96 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP while allowing a hard-hit rate over 46%.

On top of that, the Mariners’ bats are still ice cold, and shockingly, it is just Cal Raleigh producing at the moment.

“Wha- what do you mean, they put up eight runs last night?!”

Seattle’s last six games: 57 wRC+, .246 wOBA, 30.6% strikeout rate, .534 OPS, and .119 ISO.

Oh, they are on fire. (Sarcasm.)

Boston, on the other hand, does not have the greatest numbers over its last six, mainly due to sleepwalking through its series against the Yankees. However, over its previous 12 games, the Red Sox at least have a sub-19% strikeout rate, .731 OPS, 104 wRC+, and .326 wOBA.

It is the Red Sox or nothing here. Play to 60%.

COVERS INTEL: Roman Anthony is batting .500, with a 1.000 SLG and a 1.556 OPS since his return.

Mariners vs Red Sox Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 (49%)

With Woo on the road, where his struggles have been very real, the Red Sox should be able to rack up some early runs. Opponents are averaging 3.7 runs per game against Woo on the road, so we should see some runs this evening.

The Red Sox were supposed to start Sonny Gray, who has been nails this season. However, regardless of who is on the mound for Boston, the Over is still the lean up to 52%.

Mariners vs Red Sox home run prediction: Roman Anthony (14%)

Despite having only two games under his belt since returning from injury, Roman Anthony has been gearing up to leave the yard since the second he stepped back into the box.

Four of the last eight batted balls by the Red Sox future star have left the bat at over 101 mph. That much hard contact is bound to find the bleachers eventually, so why not against a guy who struggles away from home?

Against left-handed hitters on the road, Woo is allowing a 46% hard-hit rate and a 66.4% elevation rate. Over his last 30 batters faced, hitters are generating nearly a 70% hard-hit rate, a 13.6% barrel rate, and a 72.7% elevation rate.

Anthony covers more than 87% of Woo’s arsenal, making this a very strong look this evening.

Mariners vs Red Sox weather

Possible delay due to rain. There is a 67% chance of precipitation, with 11 mph winds blowing right to left.

Mariners vs Red Sox odds

• Moneyline: Mariners 47% | Red Sox 54%
• Run line: Mariners +1.5 (66%) | Red Sox -1.5 (35%)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (46%) | Under 7.5 (55%)

Mariners vs Red Sox trend

The Red Sox have hit the moneyline in 35 of their last 50 games (+15.05 Units / 21% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Mariners vs. Red Sox.

How to watch Mariners vs Red Sox and game info

Mariners vs Red Sox latest injuries

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The Mets announced their September call-ups on Tuesday afternoon, which included a bit of a surprising move. 

New York called up right-handed reliever Dylan Ross and outfielder Nick Morabito, and while Morabito was previously announced as an upcoming move by interim manager Andy Green, Ross was not. 

Green said on Monday that right-hander Justin Hagenman would get the call up, but calling up Ross gives the Mets a fresh arm for Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. 

According to Mike Puma of the New York Post, Hagenman will still be activated to start Wednesday's series finale against Tampa. 

The 26-year-old Ross, who has yet to make his major league debut, has struggled with Triple-A Syracuse this season, pitching to a 6.94 ERA in 38 appearances with the club. He was great for Syracuse in 2025, though, posting a 1.69 ERA in 28 appearances, looking very much like a future piece of the Mets bullpen.

"Spring training was tough for him. He was never quite healthy, took him a while to get going," Green said of Ross. "Once he finally did get going, he scuffled to find the strike zone consistently, find his split, which he's kind of lived with his entire career as his best pitch. In the last month, he's trended really positively -- the fastball velocity up near 100 [MPH] at times, split really playing well, and he's spinning the baseball too. So this things are all encouraging."

Morabito appeared in five games with the Mets earlier this season, though it was mostly as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement. He'll look to record his first major league hit on Tuesday night, as he's in the starting lineup in left field, batting ninth.

“I think he understands who he is pretty well right now," Green said before Tuesday's game. "It’s speed, it’s defense, it’s get on base, it’s play the outfield as aggressively as those other two young guys [Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing] we got out there. Should be a fun outfield.”  

Despite the 0-for-11 stint after his MLB debut, Green said the experience will “help him be on solid footing.”

“He just knows what he’s coming back to,” he said. “You never over-evaluate somebody’s first touch of the big leagues. There’s been a lot of guys that have been All-Stars and Hall of Famers that horribly at the very beginning. 

“There’s been a lot of us, like myself, who hit a home run in their first at-bat and then it’s all downhill from there. You can’t read much into these first couple of at-bats.” 

Green said the “beauty” of that experience earlier this year is the 23-year-old got the “first-time jitters out of the way."

“Now I’d like to get the first knock out of the way for him,” the interim skipper said.

Make no mistake about it, the San Diego Padres are here to stay. After being swept by the Tampa Bay Rays due to some incredible flukes, they got a win back against the Cincinnati Reds in their series opener Monday night. The club is fighting their way back into the postseason, attempting to stave off the Arizona Diamondbacks.

San Diego tallied five runs, four of which came in the fourth inning when starter Brady Singer surrendered six consecutive hits before recording an out on a bunt pop out. Singer got out of the inning inducing a 5-4-3 double play. But the damage had been done, and Michael King went on to throw six scoreless innings before Kyle Hart and Wandy Peralta slammed the door. It was everything the Padres needed.

Taking the mound

Nick Lodolo (CIN) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)

The 28-year-old Cincinnati mainstay has been hurt this season by a strange injury. Lodolo has a recurring blister on his throwing hand that’s due to the manner in which he throws his breaking balls. Because of that, Lodolo had two stints on the IL causing him to miss time.

That being said, Lodolo hasn’t been all that great when he has been on the mound. He’s pitched to a middling 5.24 ERA through 79 innings and has struggled to find consistency. In his last two outings, he’s given up 10 runs across 7 1/3 innings. Lodolo will be hoping to reverse that against a San Diego lineup that has finally found its stride.

On the other side, Vásquez finally seems to have discovered a groove. In his last seven appearances, the right-hander has gone 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA (35.1 IP). It’s been a fascinating turnaround for the righty after a miraculous start to the season and an incredibly difficult plummet following that auspicious beginning.

Vásquez’s season ERA speaks for itself (4.02), in that he has been good but not great. In his last two starts, he’s hurled 12 innings while allowing just three runs. If the Padres get that version of Vásquez against the Reds tonight, it will be difficult to hold them back from going for the sweep in tomorrow’s series finale.

Batter up!

With the news that Ethan Salas was promoted, the 20-year-old prospect could DH in today’s game to make his MLB debut. That said, it’s possible that manager Craig Stammen could wait until the club returns to Petco Park on Friday for Salas to make his debut at home. Regardless, it’s an exciting development for San Diego.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Dustin Harris, DH
7. Xander Bogaerts, SS
8. Samad Taylor, LF
9. Freddy Fermin, C

Harris continued his recent hot streak on Monday night, going 2-for-5 with an RBI. The left fielder now owns a .300 batting average and .735 OPS on the season after going a blistering .471/.471/.529 during his San Diego tenure. Maybe the Padres finally have a long-term solution for their hole in left field.

Relief corps

King did exactly what he needed to do on Monday night: eat innings. The Padres’ bullpen was depleted after their series finale in Tampa Bay went into extra innings, with only Griffin Canning, Hart and Peralta readily available. Only the latter two were called upon after another commanding start from King.

That leaves the Friars with plenty of options if Vásquez reverts back to his less-than-stellar form. San Diego has Canning, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan and Bradgley Rodriguez available for Stammen to choose from once Vásquez departs the game.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Royals fans and fans across the country.

As we enter the season’s final month, the Royals will prepare to recall three younger players from the minor leagues to fill out their now-28-man roster. But we’re not here to talk about them; we’re here to talk about the things that have happened in the first five-ish months that occurred in the season. The Royals plan to compete in 2028, so let’s talk about some of the positives that have occurred this year that might lead us to believe that the team could be right!

Bobby Witt Jr. is still one of the top five best players in MLB, and he’s not fifth. His power is down significantly, leading to him having the worst season ISO of his career, but everything else is pointing up. He’s stolen just two fewer bases than last year despite missing more than a day or two for the first time in his career; he’s on the way to setting a career mark in walks, having reached a double-digit percentage for the first time; and he’s been on an absolute tear since returning from the injury list, slashing .306/.398/.459/.857.

That leads me to wonder if he was hurt for a while before he went on the IL, but I’ve had that question about a lot of guys. The fact that he was still as good as he was while potentially injured is just one more mark in his favor. But the stretch also coincides with him batting in front of a truly good bat, making it much more difficult to just pitch around him as some teams seemed content to do early in the season. Speaking of that bat…

Jac Caglianone was deemed a bust by many after he finished last season slashing .157/.237/.295/.532 in 62 games following his rocket ascent through the minor leagues. This year, after a bit of a slow start that was still miles ahead of last year, he is now slashing .284/.333/.499/.832 and is the most likely candidate for AL Player of the Month. He’s showing off not just the light tower power that everyone knew was there, but also an ability to hit for power to all fields that makes him incredibly dangerous on a level none but the best hitters are able to reach.

He may never be the best hitter in the league or win MVP awards because of his propensity to chase pitches, but his large frame and lightning-fast bat allow him to do damage with pitches that, technically speaking, he maybe oughtn’t swing at. But as Batman needs Robin, Bobby Witt Jr. has badly needed a sidekick, and Jac seems to be rising to the role wonderfully. Get a healthy Maikel Garcia batting cleanup – or maybe someone even better! – next season and the Royals could really be cooking with gas.

Carter Jensen was being perceived very differently by fans after last season and even early this year. Jensen’s September callup led to him slashing .300/.391/.550/.941. He started off hot this year, but rapidly cooled off and was slashing .236/.303/.421/.724. Add in some early defensive struggles and a single episode of oversleeping, and fans started to sour on the other left-handed 23-year-old in the everyday lineup.

However, he’s cleaned up his defense considerably, even moving into positives across many defensive stats on the whole. He still has some work to do on his blocking, but that’s OK. And after a long slump, he has slashed .244/.397/.467/.864 over the past couple of weeks, walking almost as many times as he has struck out. He needs to keep up the hot hitting to get his batting numbers back above average on the whole, but as a 23-year-old getting a lot more catching time than originally envisioned, a 98 wRC+ on the season is nothing to sneeze at.

Noah Cameron is the only pitcher on our list; most of the rest of them are hurt. And, obviously, it’s been a rough season for him in a lot of ways. But while Jac Caglianone is nearly guaranteed to be the AL Player of the Month, Cameron is certainly in the conversation for pitcher of the month. He made five starts totaling 33.2 innings and compiled a 1.87 ERA. One possible concern is that three of those starts saw him strike out three or fewer batters, but he has also allowed just a scoche over one hit per two innings, helping guide him to a 0.80 WHIP and has allowed only one home run. If you can’t even get a single runner per inning and you’re not hitting it over the wall, you can’t score runs.

Cameron will need to get the strikeout numbers back to what he was doing in the final three appearances of July to make people completely confident in his skills, and it would also be great to see him do in September what he did in August, but the 2.99 ERA of last season no longer seems entirely a fluke. Considering the Royals are in such dire need of starting pitching that Randy Dobnak and Daniel Lynch IV are going every day for them right now, having Cameron prove himself more than just a swingman for 2027 seems promising indeed.

So, all four of these players have done a lot to make us feel better about the team going forward. Even if you don’t think much of the 2027 squad’s chances, you have to like what these guys can do. But here’s the most important question. Which one makes you most excited for the future?