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Introduction

Continuing with the deep dive into the more interesting Diamondbacks pitching prospects, we’ll be looking at two sets of very different pitchers.

More RHP Prospects

Junior Ciprian ( FG | B-Ref | Pipeline )

Bats/Throws: R/R Height/Weight: 6’3″, 180 LBs Born:: 6/02/2005 in Santo Domingo Centro, Dominican Republic

Scouting Grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 50 Control: 50

Background: The Diamondbacks signed Junior Ciprian out of the Dominican Republic in August of 2023, for a signing bonus of only $20,000. Ciprian was older than the norm for prospects out of the Dominican Republic, only signing a few months after his 18th birthday, and then he didn’t break into stateside ball until 2025. Long story short, his development is probably further behind than where you’d expect a pitcher of his age and background to be.

Ciprian’s time in the Dominican Summer League consisted of just 3.0 innings in 2023 and 25 innings in 2024, so we’re gonna jump ahead to 2025. Ciprian started out the year in the Arizona Complex league, where he’d pitch 39 innings with a 4.62 era, along with a rather ugly 6.14 FIP and 5.82 xFIP. The ERA was slightly above league average with a 94 ERA-, and as expected, a well below average 121 FIP. He’d then get promoted to Single A Visalia, where he’d appear in 5 more games, 15⅔ innings total, with a 3.45 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 4.73 xFIP.

Ciprian would return to Visalia to start the 2026 season, and he’d out up 71⅔ innings pitched with a 2.76 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 5.19 xFIP. 51 ERA- and 83 FIP-. That would earn Ciprian a promotion to High-A Hillsboro, and he’d pitch 32⅔ innings with a 4.68 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 5.65 xFIP, 95 ERA-, and 90 FIP-.

 Scouting report:

Junior Ciprian is essentially the ideal ’projectability’ type of pitching prospect, who seems to be becoming that pitcher he was projected to be. Ciprian already sports an mighty impressive fastball, that can touch 98-99 AND has 18 inches of vertical break, giving him a plus primary pitch, that is complimented by a high 80s slider with late dive and break. He lacks a true plus third pitch though to go after left-handed batters, so he’s going to need to develop those tertiary pitches to succeed as a starting pitcher at the MLB level. That said, I have very little doubt that he could succeed as a reliever though with just the main two pitches.

Wellington Aracena RHP ( FG| B-Ref |Pipeline )

Bats/Throws: R/R Height/Weight: 6’3″/ 180lbs Born: 12/27/2004 in Mao, Dominican Republic

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Curveball: 40 | Slider: 50 | Cutter: 55 | Changeup: 40 | Control: 40

Background: The Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic for just $70,000 as part of their 2022 international draft class. He’d eventually broke out as a prospect in 2025, but was acquired by Baltimore in the Gregory Soto trade at the deadline. The Diamondbacks acquired Aracena in the Blaze Alexander trade back in Jamuary.. Aracena was assigned to High A Hillsboro, whwre he pitched in 19 games, started 16 of them, putting up a 4.83 ERA, a 98 ERA-, 4.09 FIP, 4.55 xFIP and an 84 FIP- in 72⅓ innings. Double A Amarillo and the Texas league didn’t treat him nearly as well in the six games he appeared in he put up a 6.91 ERA, 117 ERA, 5.71 FIP, 5.04 xFIP, and a 102 FIP- in 27⅓ innings pitched.

The biggest issue at both levels has been a high walk rate and poor command at times, with Aracena walking 13.1 percent of batters faced in High-A and 12.7% of batters in Double-A.

Scouting Report: Aracena just might have the best raw stuff of any of the pitchers discussed today; He usually sits in the mid to high 90s with his four-seam fastball, but has topped out at 100+ mph. His low 90s cutter has impressive glove side run that I’d call it a fully developed pitch. His slider generates a lot of swings and misses, with a near 50% whiff rate. He apparently throws a two-seamer and a changeup as well, but they’re used so little they’re a non factor.

Unfortunately, Aracena’s command might be the worst of the four pitchers here, and overall he’s very inconsistent from game to game. He might look unhittable one outing and then the next he can’t find the strike zone. I honestly question giving him an average grade for Control, but on a good day, he does command the strike zone well

Junior Sanchez (FG | B-Ref | Pipeline )

Bats/Throws: R/R Height/Weight: 5’10” 175lb Born: 9/16/2005 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Scouting grades: Fastball: 40 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50| Cutter: 50 | Control: 50

Background: Junior Sanchez signed with the D-backs for $50,000 as a 17-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in January 2023. He’d make his pro debut in the Dominican Summer League the same year and putting up a 2.76 ERA, a 3.84 FIP, and a 4.44 xFIP in 42 ⅓ IP spread across 11 games. Looking at his above average 59 ERA- and 82 FIP- shows just how good he was, especially as a 17 year old and one of the youngest pitchers in the league. Sanchez came stateside and pitched in the Arizona Complex League for all of the 2024 season. He’d pitch 33 ⅓ innings across 13 games with a 3.78 ERA, 4.88 FIP and 4.89 xFIP. 72 ERA- and 91 FIP-.

In 2025, Sanchez would start the year in Single-A Visalia, and in 73⅔ innings he’d put up a 2.32 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 4.19 xFIP, 52 ERA- and an 87 FIP-. He’d then get promoted to Hillsboro. put up 2.40 ERA in 105 innings between Single-A Visalia and High-A Hillsboro, which was the best among D-backs Minor Leaguers (min. 100 IP) and ranked 10th among MiLB hurlers who met that requirement. This year Sanchez return to High A Hillsboro, where pitched in nine games, six as a starter, totalling 41⅓ innings with a 2.61 ERA, 53 Era-, 3.07 FIP, 4.46 xFIP, and a 63 FIP. He struck out 35% of batters he faced, while walking just 6.3%.

If you look at just his 89 ERA- and 98 FIP- for the 72⅓ innings he pitched in AA Amarillo, you’d be forgiven for assuming he didn’t also have an ERA over five. This is the Texas league and a 5.23 ERA, 5.50 FIP, and 4.89 xFIP are above average. His strikeout rate shrunk down 23.8% and his walk rate jumped up to 10.3%.

Scouting Report: At 5-foot-10, Junior Sanchez is an undersized righthander with very little remaining projection in his frame. His delivery is very deceptive, with a short arm action and vertical release, and he hides the ball very well. His average fastball velocity is up, more than the initial scouting reports I came across, but it still only tops out at 94-95 mph on his best day. He an excellent feel for all of his secondary pitches, with the best of them being a high-spin sweeper in the mid 80s. He has advanced feel for it and the pitch results in high chase and whiff rates. Sanchez also has a high-80s cutter and changeup. His changeup has good action and can miss bats, while his cutter is a pitch he can comfortably land in the zone.

Sanchez succeeds in spite of the lack of raw velocity, but the amount of movement he has on all four of his pitches and the command he has over all of them seems to make up for that, at least so far in the minor leagues. The real question is will his arsenal of pitches be enough for him to find success at the MLB level in today’s game, facing batters with better pitch recognition. The drop in strikeout rate and surge in walk rate tells me that he’s might have a hard time repeating his previous success as he faces tougher hitters going forward.

Sanchez has the intelligence, personality and makeup to succeed in spite of the limits on his stuff though, and I wouldn’t bet against him finding success eventually.

Mason Marriot ( FG | B-Ref | Pipeline)

Bats/Throws: L/R Height/Weight: 6’0 /198 lbs Born: 8/14/2002 in Tomball, TX

Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 60+ | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 50

Background: As a freshman at Baylor, Mason Marriot was deployed out of the bullpen, but shifted to the starting rotation for his sophomore and junior seasons. Marriot was far from successful though, putting up an awful 7.52 ERA and 6.28 FIP in 58⅔ IP his sophomore season, followed by a slightly-better-but-still-awful 5.94 ERA and 5.09 FIP in 69⅔ IP his junior season. In spite of that, the D’Backs liked him enough to draft Marriot in the 6th round of the 2024 draft, although they signed him for below slot at $241,000.

Marriot got off to a great start to begin his pro career, giving up just a pair of runs on six hits and walk(while striking out 6), in the seven innings he pitched in 2024. (Obviously a small sample size; that works out to a 2.34 ERA, 54 ERA-, 2.78 FIP, 3.84 xFIP, 58 FIP-)

In 2025, he was assigned to high-A Hillsboro, where he continued that hot start in his first four games, giving up just five runs on 13 hits and eight walks, while striking out 25 batters in 19⅔ innings . That works out to a 2.29 ERA, 51 ERA-, 2.13 FIP, 2.91 xFIP, and a 48 FIP-. Unfortunately, after those four games, Marriot suffered a season ending UCL injury, necessitating Tommy John surgery and he wouldn’t pitch again until the middle of 2026 season.

I’ll be blunt, Marriot had some ugly numbers in his three game rehab stint and then predictably struggled after he was promoted to AA Amarillo, but in the six games he pitched in A+ Hillsboro he was very impressive and looked like the pitcher he was prior to the injury. If you look at his just Hillsboro he had a 3.29 ERA with a 1.60 FIP and 2.28 xFIP. In the relatively pitching friendly Northwest League, that results in a still well above average 67 ERA- and very impressive 33 ERA-. If you add in the other two leagues, it adds up to a 5.52 ERA, 96 ERA- along with a 4.87 FIP and an 87 FIP-.

Regardless, the stat that stands out to me the most is his high rate of strikeouts (K/9, SO%) along with relatively low walk rates. In high-a Hillsboro he struck out 37.3% of batters he faced while walking only 5.9% of batters. In AA Amarillo he struck out 25% percent of batters for a 11.37 K/9

I am not really sure if the D-backs intend on keeping Marriott as a starter, and to be honest, considering how limited his innings have been, does he actually qualify as one? He has technically started 15 out of the 19 games he’s played in, but has only pitched 51⅔ innings. While Marriott doesn’t have blow me away velocity, he has the arsenal of pitches to work as a starter.

Looking at Marriott’s pitch mix, he shows a natural feel for spin and the ability to command his breaking balls with big movement profiles. Marriott’s fastball is a generic-looking four-seamer that sits in the 94-96 mph, but it is a very hittable pitch. He’s going to need to find a better shape for his fastball if wants to continue finding success as he moves up the ladder of professional baseball. 

As far as his secondary pitches go, he has three above-average pitches. The best in the trio of secondaries is a low 80s curveball with a 2700+ RPM spin rate and a heavy two-plane break Marriott also mixes in a mid-80s sweeper and a high-80s changeup, but they’re used much less frequently, although latter is an excellent pitch for keeping the ball on the ground.

Based on watching a couple of his outings and looking at his career fielding statistics he’s a competent above average fielder on the mound.

Conclusions

Of the four pitchers, Junior Ciprian might be one of the safer bets if he continues to develop like he has. Aracena has great stuff and will eventually find success if he can be a little more consistent hitting the strikezone. Junior Sanchez lacks the raw stuff but has everything else. Finally, Mason Marriott is gonna need to be stretched out as a starter; but he has the stuff to he successful as reliever.

Next time we’ll look at the final handful of pitching prospects that have shown potential, but didn’t make the cut here for whatever reason.

The Colorado Rockies are 57–99.

One more loss will give them their fourth consecutive 100-loss season, and they are almost certainly going to finish with the worst record in baseball.

These are absurd times for the Rockies, so I have devised an appropriately absurd rule to help them out.

The team with the worst record in baseball gets to steal one player from a playoff team.

There are, naturally, some restrictions. We’re freezing the playoff field as it stood before games on Sunday, September 20. The player has to come from one of those 12 teams, cannot be a pending free agent, and you cannot take the player who leads his team in FanGraphs WAR. The Rockies also inherit the player’s existing contract.

No, one player is not suddenly turning the Rockies into a contender. But could one poached superstar at least keep this thing from becoming five consecutive 100-loss seasons?

Here’s the board:

For me, the choice comes down to Brice Turang, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Aaron Judge.

Turang is probably the sensible choice.

At 5.4 fWAR, he would easily lead the Rockies, giving them a legitimate top-end player while immediately solving second base for the foreseeable future. He’s 26, hitting .266/.367/.441 with an .808 OPS, and brings value on both sides of the ball with elite range, strong baserunning and a 95th-percentile walk rate.

It would be a very easy way to make the roster better.

But the Rockies really need starting pitching.

Enter Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

He’s 14–8 with a 2.51 ERA, 178 strikeouts and a 0.87 WHIP over 179 innings. His Statcast profile is just as impressive: 100th-percentile pitching run value, 99th-percentile fastball run value, 95th-percentile offspeed run value and a 91st-percentile xERA.

Pitchers are risky, and Yamamoto comes with a lot of money attached. But it’s hard to argue with either the profile or the results, and the addition of the Penner family makes absorbing that contract a lot easier to imagine.

Speaking of high-priced items…

Aaron Judge.

Judge being available is basically a loophole created by our own stupid rule. Injuries have limited him to just 285 plate appearances, which is why he sits at only 2 fWAR, but he’s still hitting .241/.360/.511 with 15 home runs.

And the underlying numbers are still very much Judge: a .396 xwOBA, .569 xSLG, 94.0 mph average exit velocity and a 57.5% hard-hit rate.

It is very hard to look at that and say, “No thanks.”

After all, Aaron Judge is the type of hitter that, if he were playing 81 games a year at Coors Field, I might take out a small loan for season tickets.

So who are you stealing?

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks! 

If you overlook a four-hour rain delay and miserable fall football weather that lasted throughout the three-hour game, Sunday’s 8-1 crushing of the Detroit Tigers was unqualified joy from first pitch to final out.

In beating Detroit in three of four games, the White Sox remained just one game behind Cleveland heading into a significant matchup advantage in the penultimate series of the season: The Guardians travel to 84-win Boston, Chicago to 67-win Kansas City. Cleveland swept the Athletics over the weekend, widening its lead on the White Sox by a half-game.

Battling the rough conditions of soggy grounds and drizzle, the White Sox grinded out an opening tally after a walk from Colson Montgomery, a fielder’s choice out at second base off the bat of Chase Meidroth, and Meidroth turning a pickoff into a stolen base. Up came Braden Montgomery, who smashed a 102 mph grounder past nonplussed Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson that the soggy field grounded to a halt before it could be picked up:

Or, perhaps you would like the Japanese call of the eventual game-winning RBI?

For a brief time, given the fall mist it appeared that the single run would have to hold up, with a nod to the low-scoring affair just north at Soldier Field this afternoon. But at just about the time the Good Guys accepted the fact that they’d be running around in soggy underwear for a couple more hours, they took their discomfort out on the baseball.

In the fourth inning, the runs came via more grinding: ANOTHER Colson base on balls and a two-out single from Brenton Doyle put runners on the corners. Screamin’ Sam Antonacci stepped to the plate, fresh off of a dogged fly ball pursuit that lured him almost to the infield, and the wild man took a two-strike slider off his toes and onto the scoreboard:

Kyle Teel added an RBI single from there, and the rout was on. One inning later, the White Sox piled on with a two-run shot from Meidroth into the teeth of a wind biting in from left field.

Now, just because this played out as an easy win doesn’t mean there weren’t some head-scratching moves from melting manager Will Venable. Caring not for the fact that his bullpen is absolutely gassed while starter Davis Martin is relatively fresh after a few-week vacation in August, Will trotted out after a Martin K to start the fifth, summoning Hagen Smith for what, at this juncture, was garbage-time work. Smith rose to the unnecessary occasion, you might say, by walking two to hand Detroit a rally. Thankfully, the lefty phenom bounced back with a nail-biting whiff of hot Bengals rookie Hao-Yu Lee and a broken-bat tapper to first from Riley Greene.

Huascar Brazobán, Trevor Richards and Luis Castillo held things down well enough to end it, while the White Sox piled on even more in the eighth, as two singles and a walk packed the sacks and another free pass and a sac fly brought two more scores in to arrive at the 8-1 finals.

Another head-scratcher came at the start of the Sox eighth, as Tommy Pham (his suiting up for the White Sox in an of itself, a head-scratcher) slapped a pinch-hit single to start the inning and was replaced on the bases by … injured center fielder Tristan Peters, for some reason pressed into action up five rather than enjoying a full day of rest and off-day Monday to rev up for the final six contests. And sure, why not insert Peters into left field to finish out the game?

But, all’s well that ends, and this one ended 8-1, landing the White Sox one win from their first non-losing season in three years and two wins from their first winning campaign in four.

After Monday’s off-day, it’s three games in Kansas City and three back home to take on the MLB-worst Colorado Rockies. Don’t forget to scoreboard watch the jagbag Guardians tomorrow, as they are ready to be overwhelmed by the Boston Red Sox.

MVP
Davis Martin: 4 ⅓ IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 6 K, removed from the game at 70 pitches, 18.1% WPA; he gonna start on three days’ rest from here?

Runners-Up
Sam Antonacci: 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, SB, 17.1% WPA
Braden Montgomery: 2-for-4, RBI, 2B, 8.4% WPA
Colson Montgomery: 1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB
Miguel Vargas: 1-for-2, R, 3 BB, K
Munetaka Murakami: 0-for-2, RBI, BB, K

Cold Cat
Will Venable: Goofy choices in a win, but hey at least it’s a win

Runners-Up
Brenton Doyle: 1-for-4, R, K
Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-2, K
Randal Grichuk: 0-for-2, RBI, SF
Hagen Smith: ⅔ IP, 2 BB, K, 8-of-18 strikes
Trevor Richards: 2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, K

On a blustery, wet Sunday evening in Chicago, Troy Melton struggled through a shaky outing and left in the fourth with an apparent injury. The Tigers didn’t swing the bats that well, though they had their chances, but the bullpen crumbled in the middle innings to put this one out of reach. The Tigers lost 8-1, with the White Sox taking three of four in the series.

Troy Melton was looking to get back on track after a little rough stretch on Sunday. After missing the first 10 weeks of the season with elbow trouble, the right-hander was great until late August, but recently looks like he’s running out of gas as he nears 130 total innings on the year. The White Sox sent a reasonably good right-hander in Davis Martin to oppose him. This one was delayed for four hours due to rain, but there was nothing to do but wait as this game had to be completed for its playoff implications. Most of the game was dogged by a steady drizzle that made things tricky for both pitchers.

Martin had an easy time of it in the top of the first. Kevin McGonigle grounded out, Gleyber Torres struck out, and Hao-Yu Lee flew out to right field.

Sam Antonacci burned a challenge as the first White Sox hitter of the game, but he singled to Brett Callahan in right field. Melton got Kyle Teel whiffing on a slider that was tipped into the glove, but first the Sox catcher burned their second challenge and they were out of challenges two batters into the game. Melton blew Vargas away with a good heater, but then clipped Munetaka Murakami with a curveball. So it was first and second with two outs for Andrew Benintendi, who pulled a hot one-hopper to first. Spencer Torkelson knocked it down, collected it, and flipped to Melton to refute the White Sox threat.

Rain was pretty steadily coming down in the top of the second. Riley Greene took a called third strike to start the inning. Eduardo Valencia pulled a sharp groundball single into left field. Max Clark showed bunt and then pulled it back first pitch, taking a curveball for a strike. He fouled off a heater but chopped one to second for a force of Valencia. A 3-2 slider to Torkelson backed up and hit him in the back, and so it was two on, two outs for Callahan. The corner outfielder was hunting a breaking ball as Martin continued to lean on his curve and slider, and he crushed a ball to right field that looked gone off the bat, but the wind and water knocked it down at the wall for the final out.

Melton was spraying it again to start the second inning, walking Colson Montgomery to start the inning. Chase Meidroth bounced into a force at second base. With Braden Montgomery at the plate, Melton spun and tried a pickoff throw but slipped on the muddy mound. Meidroth broke for second and Melton heard his teammates but auto fired to first, allowing Meidroth to reach. Melton was clearly irritated with himself, with the mound, shaking off Valencia repeatedly, and then trying to calm himself down. In a 3-2 count, he hung a slider up and Montgomery pulled a hard grounder past Torkelson for an RBI single. 1-0 White Sox. Brenton Doyle flew out to Clark on a sliding catch for the second out. A first pitch cutter to Antonacci drew a sharp comebacker but Melton snared it and flipped to first to end the inning.

The third started with Martin walking John Peck, turning the Tigers lineup over. McGonigle worked a full count, but swung a bit late at a cutter up and away to strike out. Peck tried to steal second and Teel’s throw was in the dirt, but Meidroth picked it and got the tag down in the nick of time. Torres flew out to end the frame.

Teel flew out to start the bottom of the third, but Melton walked Vargas. He bounced back to punch out Murakami with a good slider in the zone and was doing his best to battle. Benintendi worked a full count, but Melton snapped off a great curveball to whiff him and end the inning. Still 1-0 White Sox.

Martin locked up Lee with a curveball to start the fourth. Greene lifted a high fly to left and the thick, wet air knocked it down right behind the shortstop Montgomery, who didn’t even attempt to make a play. Instead, Antonacci had to run full tilt in toward the dirt and making a diving catch. Valencia lined a single to center and a passed ball got him to second. Clark walked, and so it was up to the bottom of the Tigers’ lineup to even this one up. Torkelson battled into a full count, but took a slider for strike three.

Melton walked Colson Montgomery to open the bottom of the fourth, still struggling to spot his stuff to a degree. Meidroth lined out to Peck for the first out. Brayden Montgomery grounded out to Lee at third, but Torres was late to get to second base and they settled for the out at first. A 2-2 slider to Antonacci was ripped to right field and just died in the wet grass. Both runners scored, and the left fielder cruised into second base. 3-0 White Sox.

Things got worse, as Melton missed with a first pitch sinker to Teel. He looked uncomfortable, and Valencia and Chris Fetter both came out to the mound, and then called for AJ Hinch and the trainers. Melton left the game, and he did shake out his arm a bit two pitches earlier, and seemed to keep extending it as he left the field with the trainer. Nothing to do but hope for the best there as he was no doubt cranking his grips in the rainy conditions. Either way, his season is over.

Tyler Holton made haste to get ready, but immediately gave up a single to Teel that scored Antonacci. 4-0 White Sox. Holton then walked Vargas, bringing Murakami to the dish, but after a long battle, Holton walked him as well. Randal Grichuk entered as a pinch-hitter for Benintendi, and still the steady drizzle continued as he flew out to Clark in center field.

Callahan started the fifth with a solid single into right field. Peck struck out, but that was the end of the day for Martin. Will Venable turned to tough lefty Hagen Smith to tackle McGonigle. Instead, Smith walked McGonigle to put two on for Torres. Smith got ahead of Torres 0-1, but back to back challenges for Torres were correct, making it a 2-1 count, and the Tigers second baseman walked to load the bases. And then Lee struck out and Greene swung first pitch and grounded out to strand everyone. Great work, guys.

Ty Madden took over in the bottom half, and promptly gave up a single to Colson Montgomery, and then a two-run shot to left off the bat of Meidroth. He cleaned up the rest of the inning, but it was 6-0 White Sox.

Right-hander Huascar Brazobán entered in the sixth. He got a fly out from Valencia, and Clark popped up on the infield. Torkelson got ahead 2-0 and pulled one into the left field corner for a double, but Callahan grounded out to first.

Teel flew out to start the bottom half. Vargas popped one foul into foul territory near the visitor’s dugout but Torkelson just dropped it. Madden then walked Vargas, balked him to second, and then had his foot slip again, bouncing a wild pitch to get him to third. Murakami grounded one sharply to Torres at second, and Vargas had to hold at third. So it was two outs, man on third with Grichuk up, and he flew out to Clark to end the inning.

Trevor Richards tossed a 1-2-3 top of the seventh.

Callahan made a great diving catch down the right field line to retire Colson Montgomery in the bottom half. Meidroth struck out, but Brayden Montgomery slashed a single to left. Doyle drove a ball hard out to center, but Clark had a really good jump on it and handled it easily.

Richards was still on in the eighth, and he got Lee to fly out to right. Riley Greene followed with a double to right, and Valencia singled up the middle to get Greene to third. Max Clark lifted a sacrifice fly to score Greene to make it a 6-1 game, but after Torkelson walked, Callahan flew out to end the top of the eighth.

Brant Hurter took over in the bottom of the eighth. Tommy Pham hit for Antonacci and singled. He was then lifted for pinch-runner Tristan Peters. Good work if you can get it. A brief calm in the weather in the seventh quickly came to an end as the rain and wind picked up again.

Hurter walked Teel, and Vargas reached on a grounder to third that Lee couldn’t make a play on. Hurter walked Murakami to force in a run. Grichuk lifted a sacrifice fly to score Teel. Colson Montgomery flew out, and Meidroth struck out to end the inning. 8-1 White Sox.

Veteran starter Luis Castillo entered to finish this off in the top of the ninth as Venable was desperately trying to get some of his middle relievers a day off. John Peck popped out, and McGonigle flew out to leave it up to Gleyber Torres. The veteran second baseman fouled off a slew of two-strike pitches before whiffing on a heater to end it.

The Tigers are now eliminated officially from postseason contention. They come home for the final week of the season against the Nationals and then the Pirates. Top prospect River Ryan will make his Tigers debut on Monday night in Comerica Park against the Nationals, with Keider Montero slated to take over after a short outing for Ryan.

White Sox 8, Tigers 1: Box Score

After the game, Troy Melton reported some “achyness” in his throwing arm, per A.J. Hinch.

PHOENIX — There was no music. Just a smattering of idle clubhouse chatter. The New York Yankees weren’t even in the mood to turn on the big-screen TV on Sunday to check on their fantasy football teams.

The Yankees, who lost 8-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks, came to grips with reality after their latest loss, and now are faced with the inevitable.

They’re going to have no choice but to watch the Tampa Bay Rays celebrate the AL East title on their home field this week.

The Rays (95-90), who have a six-game lead with six games remaining, need to win just one of the next four scheduled games at Yankee Stadium, including a doubleheader on Tuesday, to celebrate their first AL East title since 2021.

The way the Rays have played all season, they just might be celebrating their first World Series title in October, too.

“You know, it’s tough,’’ Yankees infielder/outfielder Jose Caballero said. “We fight for the whole season, but at the end of the day, we’re already in the postseason. So that’s what we look forward to, and just be better and learn from little mistakes.’’

Blue Jays 7, Rangers 2

• I regret to inform you that there was no sweep of Toronto this weekend.
• Herbie had to remain in hibernation.
• I’d be more upset about this game but for the fact that the Rangers had won their last four, and which is good, and the Astros lost as well on Sunday, so the Rangers maintained their one game lead in the American League West.
• When you can see the finish line, and you know that you hold your fate in your own hands, that’s reassuring, isn’t it?
• I will say that this was, I think, the first time all season I was anxious about the game ahead of time. Like, I spent the morning and early afternoon stressing about this game, as well as the Astros/Braves game, and what might happen.
• It turned out my anxiety and stress was well-founded, since Jacob deGrom did not have his good command, couldn’t locate or get swings and misses on his slider, and ended up getting the hook with one out in the fifth, and the Rangers down 3-2, after Kaz Okamoto singled home Brett Bateman, who had reached on a leadoff walk.
• It was the second time in the game Bateman scored after a leadoff walk, the first time in the first inning, when Bateman led off the game with a walk and scored on a sac fly.
• Robert Garcia threw one pitch and got an inning-ending double play, and so you were feeling that, yeah, its a 3-2 deficit, but there’s time left in the game, and the bats will have opportunities to do something.
• As it turned out, it was the Jays bats who had the opportunity to do something.
• It seems lately that if Tyler Alexander is going to give up a run in a game, he figures he might as well give up multiple runs. This was the 10th time Alexander has given up at least one earned run since the All Star Break. Only three times was it one and done — this was the 7th time since the Break Alexander has allowed two or more runs in an outing.
• Alexander faced just three batters and retired none of them. Chase Silseth came into the game, faced three batters, retired two of them, but gave up a two run double to the third. Adam Macko then replaced Silseth and gave up an RBI single to make it 7-2, and we all pretty much threw in the towel and started following the Astros game more closely at that point, right?
• Evan Carter did single twice in the final three innings, as did Alejandro Osuna. Wyatt Langford followed up Carter’s one out single in the ninth with a walk, and you started feeling that maybe the Rangers could make the improbable comeback.
• That feeling lasted until Corey Seager grounded a 1-2 knuckle-curve to first base for an inning-ending 3-6-1 GIDP.
• So yeah, not a great game deGrom, not a great game for Seager. To the extent the Rangers got any offensive activity going, it was from Evan Carter (3 for 4), Alejandro Osuna (2 for 4 subbing in for an ill Brandon Nimmo), Wyatt Langford (1 for 3 with 2 walks), and Jake Burger (a walk and a two run homer). The rest of the lineup was 1 for 20 with a walk.
• So you can blame deGrom for being mediocre instead of great, or you can blame the bullpen for letting the game get out of hand, or you can blame the offense for not doing much. And no one could tell you that you’re wrong, whichever option you choose.
• Jacob deGrom hit 98.2 mph with his fastball, averaging 96.6 mph. Robert Garcia’s fastball reached 93.4 mph. Tyler Alexander threw one fastball at 92.1 mph. Chase Silseth hit 95.1 mph with his fastball. Adam Macko’s fastball topped out at 96.3 mph.

The Dodgers begin their final regular season home series of the year, hosting the San Diego Padres beginning Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Center fielder Andy Pages will likely be activated to start on Tuesday, after missing 27 games with a broken left hand.

It’ll be a bullpen game for the Dodgers in the opener, who will start Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday and likely Tyler Glasnow on Thursday. Roki Sasaki is expected to be available out of the bullpen against the Padres, not as a bulk reliever, but will instead pitch in high-leverage relief, potentially for multiple innings on occasion.

“I trust him,” manager Dave Roberts said of Sasaki in relief on Sunday.

Right-hander Michael King starts on the mound for the Padres on Tuesday.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, TBS (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

NOTE: There are photos in the body of this article that could be upsetting to some readers.

Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman was injured during the fourth inning of Sunday’s game against the Reds in Cincinnati in the most freakish way possible — on a check swing foul ball off the bat of Michael Busch, while Bregman was in the on-deck area.

Here’s how it happened [VIDEO].

Bregman immediately left the game and went to a local hospital for X-rays and a CT scan. Here’s what we know as of now, via Patrick Mooney in The Athletic:

Cubs manager Craig Counsell said he anticipated Bregman traveling with the team on Sunday night back to Chicago.

“It’s the left cheekbone, essentially, under the eye,” Counsell said. “I don’t know anything more than that right now. He had a cut under his eye. He was bleeding from his nose a little bit. He’s pretty swollen.”

You can see exactly where that injury was in this photo:

I know that’s not fun to look at, which is why I didn’t make it the lead image for this article. But you can see a cut below Bregman’s eye and his nose bleeding. Hopefully, what Pete Crow-Armstrong said is true:

“At the end of the day, you just hope your friend’s OK,” Crow-Armstrong said. “That’s the news that I’m hoping for. I heard no concussion, maybe, so that’s a plus. Scary stuff.”

Assuming there’s no concussion, the swelling is reduced and Bregman has no vision issues, he could perhaps play in the series against the Marlins which begins Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field. Or, the team might think it better to hold him out for a day or two of that series to see how things are going. If the Cubs can defeat the Marlins without Bregman, and maybe clinch home field by winning at home while the Dodgers beat the Padres in San Diego, Bregman could rest until a Wild Card series begins next week. Here’s more from Counsell:

“We got to get good results at the hospital,” Counsell said. “That’s what’s first. He got hit in the face, so you’re worried just about general well-being first. If we get a good report, then we’ll kind of move to the next step. I want to get a good report first.”

Here’s a message from Bregman, via his Instagram:

Well, that’s pretty scary looking. Hopefully, it looks worse than it is.

The Cubs still have a magic number of 1 to clinch that Wild Card spot, which they can do by defeating the Marlins Tuesday evening. It would be nice to see the team clinch the postseason at Wrigley Field. All the teams involved in that race — the Cubs, Phillies, Padres and Diamondbacks — are off Monday.

And so, as always, we await developments.

In the final home game of the season for the Mets, rookie starter Jonah Tonggot the ball against the Philadelphia Phillies for his second-to-last start of the year and things didn’t start out so well for the right-hander.

Tong walked the leadoff hitter, Kyle Schwarber, after getting ahead in the count 1-2 and allowed a single to Bryce Harper before Luis Arraez brought home the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly. Alec Bohm followed with an RBI single which quickly put New York in a 2-0 hole.

The inning ended with a scary moment after Bryson Stott collided with Tong at first base on a ground ball hit to first baseman Mark Vientos. Tong beat Stott to the bag and got the out, but Stott stepped on Tong’s ankle before sending him to the ground.

“I got to work on standing my ground there I guess,” the rookie said, before adding, “I didn’t realize he stepped on me until someone said it afterwards. Maybe I’ll feel it tomorrow, but I feel great right now.”

To Tong’s credit, he popped right back up and after hopping around a bit he went right back to the dugout before coming back out for the second where he retired the side in order with two strikeouts. Unfortunately things went south again in the third. 

Once again, Tong walked Schwarber to lead things off after a nine-pitch at-bat where he got ahead of the slugger 1-2. The Phillies made the rookie pay after Trea Turner doubled Schwarber home to extend their lead to 3-0. A fourth run came in to score on Arraez’s single.

“I think I just need to do a better job of, especially after that first inning, set the tone,” Tong said. “Feel like I competed well through it, but again my job is to limit damage and go out there and keep competing.”

Tong ended up fighting his way through 4.2 innings without allowing another run, although he walked four and had trouble putting hitters away while throwing 95 pitches (58 strikes) in what was a wet and rainy day at the ballpark.

Interim manager Andy Green was pleased that Tong showed some fight after a tough start, but he wants to see more out of his young right-hander and doesn’t want to make excuses for him and even challenged him as he’s done throughout the season for many of the youngsters on the team.

“I expect Jonah to beat those guys,” Green said. “As for the weather, it’s obviously harder to pitch when the mound is wet, it’s wet for both teams. There is some level of truth to if you’re a pitcher that gets a lot of extension, and especially if you’re shorter, the way Jonah does you get further down the slope, you’ll slip a little bit more – makes it a little bit harder, but that’s handing him an excuse that he doesn’t need.”

The skipper continued: “Felt he competed. Wasn’t his best day here but he wasn’t far from getting through five right there.”

In three starts since his September call-up, Tong is 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA and has struck out 18 in 15.2 innings. Before Sunday, the 23-year-old had also kept his walks down with just two free passes in 11 innings.

While he admitted that “walks suck”, Tong said he’s not going to dwell on them and is just looking forward to getting back on the mound and competing once again.

“I think I’ve learned a lot about myself, I’ve said that a lot, but just continuing to find ways to get deep into games has been a big focus of mine,” Tong said. “So I know after a rocky start to go as deep as I possibly could was something I look back on and I’m happy with.”

A year removed from his first major league call-up which was perhaps premature but came at a time where the Mets were desperate for some pitching and trying to keep their season from collapsing, Tong does look and sound more confident in himself and his numbers would agree.

Although he showed promise at times, in five starts last year Tong pitched to a 7.71 ERA. This year, which also includes three relief outings in May and June, the right-hander has a 4.21 ERA.

So, has Tong made a big enough jump to be considered for next year’s starting rotation?

“He definitely has a chance,” Green said. “I think we’ve kinda painted the landscape for a lot of the guys that like we’re likely to go sign some people. We’ll have a lot of guys who have established themselves at that point in time so the chance is heightened if he pitches really well, if his stuff gets better, if strikes are there and so I think all those things are possible for Jonah. I’m excited to see him get on the mound one last time this season.”

Contrary to popular belief, I actually think the Yankees have done decently well for themselves considering the brutal injury luck they’ve had this year, especially since their abbreviated “June swoon” ended in early July. Outside of a dreadful 4-14 stretch, they’ve routinely played .600 ball, something that would either easily win or be extremely competitive for three of the other five divisions in the sport.

Unfortunately, they play in by far the most competitive division in recent baseball history. There’s a good chance all five teams win 78+ games. I’m not looking up the last time that happened (editor’s guess: the 2005 NL East?), but it doesn’t happen often. In said division, the Rays never ever slowed down. Going 3-3 this week against the Twins and Diamondbacks was likely never going to be enough, but when Tampa Bay goes 5-1, it’s dead on arrival. Blame the teams playing them, blame the Yankees for playing some shoddy baseball the last few days, whatever. Their fate is 99-percent sealed.

Barring a 7-0 or 0-7 final week, they will be hosting the Boston Red Sox starting next Tuesday in the Bronx for a second consecutive year in the Wild Card Series. This next week will be effectively meaningless, but considering you’ll be (hopefully) playing the Rays in the playoffs, I’d like to see a good series against them starting Tuesday anyway. Show some pride, will ya?

As for today’s game, it kinda sucked. Early homers by Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr., and Spencer Jones seemed to set a good tone, but it unraveled in a disastrous five-run fifth, as Will Warren had his first bad outing since August and Brent Headrick couldn’t put out the fire he departed with in what turned into an 8-4 loss.

What you want against a pitcher on a pitch count is to jump on him early, and at least for a bit, it seemed like they’d do that off Corbin Burnes. Ben Rice worked a four-pitch walk and Cody Bellinger lined a single to right-center field, but Burnes induced three consecutive flyouts to center field to get out of it, albeit on 23 pitches.

Warren took the mound and got in the same trouble as Burnes, with Lars Nootbaar and Ketel Marte lining singles up the middle. He routinely worked ahead in the count but kept giving up singles up the middle, capped by one from Geraldo Perdomo to make it 1-0 early. He induced a double play to keep his pitch count down, but put the Yanks in a small early hole.

The second was pretty quiet for both pitchers, but the Yankees kept driving up the pitch count on Burnes with an Austin Wells walk, but they did nothing with it. Warren walked last night’s hero, Pavin Smith, but got through his inning unscathed.

There would be no leaving Burnes unscathed in the third, who gave up a trio of increasingly impressive homers. Heliot Ramos pulled one just over the head of Nootbaar in left field for a homer, his second straight day going yard off a righty, to start things off. After a single by Luis García Jr., we saw probably the best major league swing by George Lombard Jr., who walloped a grooved cutter 424 feet to deep left field to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

Just one batter later, Burnes was rudely introduced to Spencer Jones, who let him know what it looks like when you hang a curveball in the zone. He obliterated a 3-2 pitch 448 feet, way past the ridiculously deep center field wall at Chase Field, to chase a diminished Burnes from the game for Ryne Nelson, who wrapped up the third, but not before the Yankees took a 4-1 lead.

Being given a decent lead, Warren kept filling up the zone, working around a two-out single to Marte in the third and a two-out walk to Jesús Sánchez in the fourth to keep the lead intact through four innings. That unraveled in a hurry in the fifth, as a double, single, and walk with one out loaded the bases against a laboring Warren, who was lifted for Brent Headrick.

The fireman lefty got Perdomo to strike out, but fell behind the next two hitters and got in big trouble. He walked Corbin Carroll to force in a run with two outs and, after giving up a foul home run on the previous pitch, he served up a 2-1 cookie down the pipe for a Nolan Arenado grand slam to give the D-backs the lead for good, 6-4. The life of a reliever is defined by ebbs and flows, so I’m not calling him burnt out yet, but given how meaningless the final week of the season now is, you should probably give him some rest.

There was a chance at an immediate response in the sixth after a bunt single from Lombard and a single from Anthony Volpe, but José Caballero popped a 3-2 slider to shallow right field to end the inning with the tying run on base. He also chased a handful of pitches prior, which could’ve gotten him on base for Rice. Bummer.

Tim Hill got the bottom of the sixth and pitched around a leadoff single by inducing a double play. Brandyn Garcia made easy work of the top of the order in the seventh for Arizona, while their offense tacked on against righty specialist John Schreiber, who predictably struggled when some lefties came up. A crummy infield single by Gabriel Moreno was followed by an RBI triple from Perdomo and an RBI single by Carroll to make it 8-4 after seven.

Old friend Jonathan Loáisiga got to make an appearance in the eighth, retiring the middle of the order in order. I’m happy he’s had a healthy, good season. After Luis Gil did the same in the bottom half, Loáisiga worked around a one-out single by Austin Wells to close it out against his former team. Good for him. Arizona probably won’t be going to October in a hellacious NL (their record is better than half the current AL playoff teams), but they kept their season partially alive with good play the last two days.

A series that we all hoped would be more meaningful than it now is begins on Tuesday in the Bronx, as the Yankees and Rays will play a split-admission twin bill. It’ll be Carlos Rodón vs. Nick Martinez in the matinee at 1:05 pm and Max Fried vs. Drew Rasmussen in the nightcap at 7:05 pm. Both games will be on YES, but the second game will also be carried on TBS.

Box Score

The pitching was a mess, in dire need of a starter that would step up and pitch well enough that the bullpen wouldn’t be an issue. At the very least, the Phillies needed some length out of their starter, avoiding the bullpen as much as possible.

Enter Cristopher Sanchez.

Sanchez stopped the bleeding for the Phillies, leading them to a badly needed win in New York, where they can head home needing to clinch a final spot in the playoffs. He was buoyed by an offense that showed some signs of life early and often. It started in the first inning when the team pushed across two runs off starter Jonah Tong. A sacrifice fly by Luis Arraez brought home Kyle Schwarber, followed by an RBI single by Alec Bohm to score Bryce Harper and Sanchez had a lead.

Even Trea Turner decided to get in on the action, notching an RBI double to score Schwarber once again.

Arraez had another RBI when he singled home Turner and a 4-0 with Sanchez on the mound was in their possession. From there, Sanchez was good. The first blemish on his record was a home run by Bo Bichette in the sixth inning. He would be replaced by Alex McFarlane in the seventh after allowing a one out single, who then allowed two straight singles to make the score 4-2 with a lone out in the inning. He would settled and get the final two outs to send it to the seventh.

In that inning, the Phillies would load the bases for Justin Crawford, one out only. Crawford saw a Kodai Senga fastball he liked and laced a triple up left/center alley, clearing the bases and salting the game away.

From there, the game slowly marched to the end, Chase Shugart and Jose Alvarado making the game entirely too uncomfortable for a five run, but they were able to preserve the win.

The magic number is at 3.

Only the Pirates and Cubs have met more often than the Dodgers and Giants, who faced off for the first time in 1889. And over all that time, the Dodgers are just two games better, with 1,294 wins to the Giants’ 1,292.

The Dodgers and Giants have also won more pennants, made more World Series appearances and have more players wearing their caps in the Hall of Fame than any other National League teams, all of which fueled a rivalry that was once among the most visceral and passionate in American sports.

But that was then and this is now.

After Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Giants, the Dodgers’ 14^th win in their last 17 games, the team could finish a season with 100 wins for the fourth time in six years. The Giants have had just one winning record in that time.

The Dodgers (96-60), who have won five straight division titles, are headed to the postseason for a record-tying 14^th consecutive year. The Giants will miss the playoffs for a fifth straight season.

So is the rivalry dead? That depends on who you ask.

“It’s always a rivalry,” Giants pitcher Logan Webb. “We’d like to make it a little closer when it comes to the standings. But I definitely feel it when I throw against them.”

But then Webb, who is from Northern California, grew up with the rivalry and, as the longest-tenured Giant, pitched against the Dodgers in games that mattered. Giants coach Ron Washington, who made his major league debut with the Dodgers when the rivalry was still a thing, said many players on San Francisco’s roster don’t know that background.

Read more:Dodgers' September surge continues: L.A. racks up 15 hits in win over Giants

“It should be a rivalry. But I don’t think the young kids we got know anything about a rivalry. They’re not history buffs.”

Webb said it’s the responsibility of the veterans on both sides to keep that history alive by explaining the enmity to the young players.

“I think there are still guys that came up in the system that know what it’s like,” he said. “It’s my job to kind of hype these guys up to play a game like this.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who played for the Dodgers and Giants during his 10-year career, agrees the rivalry now exists more in the history books than the current standings, where the Giants have been overtaken by the San Diego Padres, who will finish second to the Dodgers in the N.L. West for the fourth time in five seasons.

“It’s certainly a rivalry in the sense of the history, the fan bases,” Roberts said. “But obviously it’s about relevancy. The Padres have been successful the last handful of years, and so it’s certainly built some momentum. The geography lends itself to that too.

“But Dodgers-Giants is always fun.”

It hasn’t been so much fun for the Giants lately. San Francisco hasn’t won the season series with the Dodgers since 2021 and has lost more than 90 games this year for the first time in nine seasons.

On Sunday they went in front three batters into the game with Johan Cox working Dodger opener Jack Dreyer for a leadoff walk, then making his way around the bases on Dreyer’s throwing error, a stolen base and a one-one single by Victor Bericoto.

San Francisco would get just one more hit — a single by Jung Hoo Lee with one out in the sixth.

That allowed the Dodgers to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth on Tommy Edman’s seventh home run of the season just inside the right-field foul pole. An inning later they went ahead to stay when Max Muncy singled under a sliding Cox at second, moved to third on a single by rookie Josue De Paula and scored on Kiké Hernández’s double to center.

A two-out single by Muncy, his second of the game, scored Teoscar Hernández, who also had two hits, in the eighth inning with the final run.

Even the slumping Freddie Freeman contributed to the Dodgers’ 11-hit attack, ending an 0-for-11 slide with a broken-bat single in the fourth then singling again in the eighth.

Sunday’s result helped clarify the Dodgers’ once-muddy playoff picture. With six games left in the regular season, the Dodgers lead Atlanta by four games in the race for the second seed in the National League playoffs, which would give them a first-round bye and the homefield advantage in the division series.

The team’s postseason roster may be getting clearer as well. Right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who made 22 starts this season, came out of the bullpen for the first time Sunday and was brilliant in his audition for the playoffs.

“If there is a role in the postseason, it will be out of the [bull]pen,” Roberts said of Sheehan, who gave up just a hit and walk, striking out nine — one off his season high — in 5 1/3 innings.

Read more:Swanson: Dodgers have no choice. They must hope Tyler Glasnow can trust himself in the playoffs

De Paula, meanwhile, whose third multihit game extended his modest hitting streak to four games, appears to have secured a job as the team’s left-handed bat off the bench while utility player Hyeseong Kim, who has spent the last four months in the minors, will rejoin the Dodgers after the triple-A playoffs and be considered for a roster spot as a pinch-runner and late-inning defensive replacement.

“My expectation is that Hyeseong will be here during the off week and potentially be a conversation for the postseason because he has the ability to run, play defense, and steal a base,” Roberts said.

After Monday’s off day, the final break of the regular season for the Dodgers, the team is expected to activate Andy Pages, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani from the injured list during its three-game series with the Padres.

“We’ll get Andy back on Tuesday, which will be great, and then shortly thereafter we’ll get Shohei back. So yeah, things are starting to come together,” Roberts said. “We’re in a good spot.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Sometimes, it’s just good to take all the drama out of the picture as soon as you possibly can. That’s exactly what the Braves did this weekend in Houston, as they made another good memory for themselves at the building formerly known as Minute Maid Park. It started with a nice, bubbly glass of champagne on Friday night following a Postseason-clinching win and it finished with a full-on champagne shower on Sunday evening as this team clinched their seventh division title in nine seasons.

It’s impressive when you consider that this was in the home ballpark of an Astros squad that is still fighting for their lives in the AL West. Atlanta may have thrown a major wrench in Houston’s pursuit of yet another Postseason berth but at this point, it’s a problem for the Astros and not for the Braves. Instead, the Braves get a chance to enjoy a hard-fought divisional title and now it’s time to look at how they sealed the deal.

Friday, September 18

Braves 6, Astros 2

This was a bad day to be a baseball heading towards the bat of an Atlanta Braves hitter or a seat in the Crawford Boxes, because three big boppers in particular did some serious damage to both during this contest. Three big swings from Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson ended up making all of the difference in the world as Atlanta got one step closer to clinching the division and officially punched their ticket to the Postseason.

The big star on the mound on this night for Atlanta was none other than Tyler Mahle, who once again went out and tossed another strong ho-hum six innings where the Astros were only able to muster up three hits and a run against Mahle. It really can’t be said enough about how effective Mahle has been since arriving in Atlanta — he has already produced nearly a full point more fWAR as a member of the Braves (1.4) over just eight starts and 49.1 innings pitched than he did in 94.2 innings with the Giants (0.8). The turnaround has been stark and he deserves a ton of credit, just like pitching coach Jeremy Hefner deserves it for helping to unlock whatever Mahle was capable of and Alex Anthopoulos deserves it for having the vision in the first place.

Anyways, Money Mike’s two-run dinger in the fourth inning essentially set the Braves on their way as they never trailed in this game. The Astros got close with an Issac Paredes RBI single in the fourth and then another one from Paredes in the eighth that made it a two-run game but on this night, you weren’t going to beat the Braves with singles. Acuña’s two-run homer in the seventh gave Atlanta some breathing room and then Matt Olson’s 40th bomb of the season brought us to the eventual final score. Atlanta’s Postseason ticket was booked and thanks to the Phillies losing to the Mets, the divisional title was within sight.

Saturday, September 19

Braves 6, Astros 3

Issac Paredes seemed pretty set on dragging the Astros to victory in this one, as he picked up where he left off on Friday night by cracking a solo homer that gave Houston the early lead. He also singled home Jeremy Peña in the third inning to make it a 2-0 lead for Houston. Combine that with Hayden Wesneski keeping Atlanta’s lineup mostly quiet for the 5.1 innings that he was out there, it sure seemed like this was shaping up to be a hard-luck night for the Braves.

However, Wesneski eventually slipped up in that sixth inning as the Braves pushed a run past him and eventually ran him from the game. AJ Blubaugh got the ball in the seventh and he left the game in the same inning and passed the baton to Bryan Abreu to clean up a bases-loaded mess that the Braves created. Atlanta had two outs to play with once Abreu entered the game. Drake Baldwin struck out but Ronald Acuña Jr. did anything but. Abreu tried to sneak a 97-mph heater past Acuña near the heart of the plate and to the delight of a lot of Braves fans in Houston, Acuña didn’t miss it at all.

Mike Yastrzemski added on a solo shot of his own in the eighth inning and just like that, the game had turned significantly and the Braves were suddenly in complete and total control of this contest. Issac Paredes once again attempted to get the Astros back in it after he made it on base with a walk and then proceeded to score in the bottom of the eighth inning but outside of that, the Astros weren’t able to muster up much more offense and Atlanta had slugged their way to a series win.

Sunday, September 20

Braves 4, Astros 2

Thanks to the Phillies getting bopped by the Mets on Saturday night, the magic number was down to just one by the time Sunday rolled around. The bad news is that the Mets didn’t do the Braves another solid by picking up a third-straight win over the Phillies. The good news is that it didn’t matter at all since the Braves took care of business in order to clinch the division right then and there in Houston.

Once again, we all had to wait a bit for the Braves to get something going as they went into the sixth inning down 1-0 after Jose Altuve made some noise with a solo shot in the fourth inning. Once the Braves did get going, however, it was time for another crooked number to go on the scoreboard. Hunter Brown was fantastic for Houston through five innings but once Bryan King entered the game, the Braves jumped all over him. A broken-bat bloop single from Ozzie Albies with two men in scoring position tied the game up at one and then Mike Yastrzemski blew it open with a three-run blast out to the seats in right field to make it 4-1 Braves. Once again, things changed once the bullpen got involved for both teams.

Yainer Diaz cracked a solo shot for the Astros in the eighth inning to cut the lead down to two runs but it was still not enough for Houston to keep up with the Braves, who seemed to be laser-focused on ending the NL East race at their first opportunity. Dylan Dodd was called upon for the ninth inning and he struck out the side in order to finish off the sweep and to start off a champagne party for the Braves in Houston.

Talk about taking care of business! The Braves did exactly what they needed to do and did so against an Astros squad that is currently fighting for their lives in the AL West, themselves. While the Astros still aren’t exactly the most imposing ballclub out there this season, this was still an impressive task on Atlanta’s part to be able to go into Houston and do what they needed to do to finish off the NL East race once and for all.

The good news is that the Braves now have a week to essentially just tune-up for the Postseason without having to fight tooth-and-nail to clinch the division. Technically, the Braves could still catch the Dodgers for the second seed and get a bye but that would require Los Angeles to fall on their face in the last week of the season while the Braves catch fire in serious fashion to end their season. It’s possible but at the same time, I think it’s time to get ready for the Braves to be dealing with however the NL Wild Card race shakes out.

With that being said, it’s hard to not feel confident in any given Wild Card Series — even if none of the options are particularly appealing. Still, it’s extremely important that the Braves have guaranteed that the volatile three-game series will be at home and they should be able to get their rotation set up for that series since they now have a week to get ready for it. As long as there are no injuries between now and then, the Braves are going to be set-up pretty well for the Wild Card Series. It’s still going to be tough but they’ll have the home field advantage and the ability to prepare instead of simply rolling into the Postseason, so it’s definitely different from their dramatic entrance into the Wild Card Series back in 2024.

The team is certainly in an encouraging spot right now. The offense has been hitting for power, with Ronald Acuña Jr. peaking at the right time, Michael Harris II continuing to be consistent, Matt Olson starting to get things back on track and guys like Mike Yastrzemski coming up big as well. The pitching has also been consistent and it’ll definitely be encouraging to see this bullpen (hopefully) get Robert Suarez back at some point before the Postseason so that this relief corps can look even more imposing heading into October. This is a team that looks like they might be peaking at the right time, which would be a nice change of pace from their most recent Postseason appearances.

So yeah, it’s a time to celebrate and get excited if you’re a Braves fan. Winning the division is never the main goal but it’s certainly a lovely goal to achieve. Atlanta’s work really hard for this all season and now they get to reap the benefits of that hard work while we await even more celebrations and titles going forward. We’ll see what happens!

Repeating the trend of these series’ first two games, the Dodgers didn’t take the lead until the second half of the game—this time keeping their scoring to nearly the minimum needed to overcome the Giants, sweeping their rivals with a 3-1 victory that relied heavily on Emmet Sheehan’s work as the bulk man, following Jack Dreyer.

Without putting the ball in play, the Giants placed a man on third in the opening inning, manufacturing a run partially thanks to Dreyer’s loose grip on the running game. Leadoff hitter Jonah Cox earned a walk as Dreyer struggled to locate his heater, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt, and aggressively stole third—hardly a surprise for a rookie with 13 stolen bases in just 140 plate appearances. Cox was driven in by a Jonah Bericoto single, a run that would loom large given the effectiveness of both Sheehan and Giants starter Matt Wilkinson.

Deceptive with his low-90s fastball that gets terrific results, Giants starter Matt Wilkinson didn’t encounter many problems holding the Dodgers scoreless through five innings of work. Only twice did Wilkinson need to strand one-out doubles, but on both occasions with minimal stress. That success was at least partially owed to a lefty-heavy lineup—three of the four outs Wilkinson recorded with a runner in scoring position came against a left-handed hitter, but then again, one of the doubles came from Josue De Paula, so we mustn’t read too much into it.

As soon as Wilkinson got the hook, though, the Dodgers would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a solo shot from Tommy Edman off Carson Seymour. Traditionally a better power hitter from the right side, Edman was looking in the whole way and crushed one all the way out to the Giants’ bullpen.

The only reason why the Dodgers were able to tie the score with just one swing was the fact that Sheehan matched Wilkinson pitch for pitch and then some. Overall, few players have improved their case for a significant postseason role over the past couple of weeks with the Dodgers quite like Sheehan, a new pitcher since his return following a one-month stint in Triple-A. Pitching as brilliantly as he did in two September starts, Sheehan completely shut down the Giants’ lineup through 5.1 innings, enjoying great success with a curveball that induced six whiffs on 12 swings, leading him to strike out nine batters.

Proving Wilkinson and his difficult-to-pick-up fastball were the problem, the Dodgers’ offense scored again in the seventh—they took the lead thanks to a Kiké Hernández RBI single after De Paula and Max Muncy set the table despite an unfavorable matchup against the southpaw.

Mookie Betts nearly put this game to bed, but what would’ve been a two-out, three-run bomb died at the wall, leaving the score at 2-1. The Dodgers would still find a way to provide a little cushion to Tanner Scott in the ninth inning, adding one more run in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a Max Muncy two-out RBI single.

Game particulars

• Home run— Tommy Edman (7)
• WP—Kris Bubic (4-2): 0.2 IP, 1 strikeout
• LP— Sam Hentges (1-7): 0.1 IP, 3 hits, 1 run
• SV Tanner Scott (23): 1 IP, 1 walk, 1 strikeout

Up next

It’s a rare off day at home for the Dodgers before the San Diego Padres come into town on Tuesday hoping to clinch their playoff berth. Although neither team has announced their starters, based on the current schedule, the first game of that series would pit Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Robbie Ray against each other. It’s a standard 7:10 p.m. (PT).