Among the unlikeliest visitors to Leigh Leopards’ recent win at Leeds Rhinos was a tortoise. The animal stall was part of a family night at Headingley; presumably unleashing a rhino on the crowded concourse was considered unwise. The Leigh centre Umyla Hanley’s journey to the top has epitomised the tortoise’s approach to life.
While the career trajectory of his opposite number at Headingley, Ash Handley, was hare-like – he made his debut at 18 and was quickly heralded as the club’s next wing wizard – Hanley has taken the slow lane. He made his Super League debut for Wigan six years ago but, after appearing to have made a breakthrough in the 2021 season, was soon farmed off to Newcastle on loan, seemingly doomed to live in the shadows of his father, the hall of famer Ellery Hanley.
Celtic lose to Lask in qualifier from 4-0 up on aggregate
‘That’s my team and that’s my responsibility,’ O’Neill says
Martin O’Neill has admitted Celtic’s Champions League qualifying collapse from 4-0 up ranks as one of his most painful nights as the club’s manager.
Celtic held a four-goal aggregate lead against Lask on Tuesday when Callum McGregor scored in the 21st minute in Austria, building on a 3-0 first-leg victory, and appeared to be cruising into the league stage. But they lost 5-1 on the night after extra time to go out in extraordinary fashion.
PHOENIX — Their star second baseman hasn’t shown his face in the Arizona Diamondbacks' clubhouse since he went AWOL a week ago, and has yet to publicly apologize to a single teammate.
Their starting rotation is a patchwork job with only one current starter who has been on their opening-day roster this entire season.
Their closer was released.
And yet, here are the Diamondbacks, staying alive in the National League wild-card race, showing uncanny resiliency with their MLB-leading 40th comeback victory of the season, winning 5-4 over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, Aug. 25, capped by rookie Ryan Waldschmidt’s pinch-hit, walk-off homer with two outs in the ninth inning.
"I think they have the mentality that they’re just a bunch of dogs," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, "and they’re just not going to stop. They’re going to keep getting after it every single day, and that’s just ingrained in them. That’s been pounded into this group since they came into the system. They’re going to fight together every single day until the final out.
“This group is pretty darn special, and I legitimately think this group loves one another."
That, of course, remains to be seen when Marte is scheduled to return to the Diamondbacks on Monday, Aug. 31 when they face the Philadelphia Phillies at Chase Field.
“We’re trying to create the softest space for him to re-emerge back into this environment,” Lovullo said. “And that’s up to him however he wants to do it. I cannot force a human being to do something that I want to do or anybody in this room wants to do or a fan wants to do. One of the things that makes Ketel such an extraordinary player is that he goes to the beat of his own drum.
“I’ve talked to just about every player, and I know how they feel. But it’s a very individualized situation.”
While some Diamondback players are incensed at Marte’s actions, knowing he also left the team for three games last season after the All-Star break without permission, others are open to forgiveness.
“We love Marte, so I wouldn’t say it’s a distraction,’’ Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt, who pitched 6 2/3 innings on Tuesday, told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s just that we’ve got to get him right, and we’ll be back on track.
“I feel like there’s a lot of drama outside of the clubhouse and people are trying to exaggerate what’s going on. But in the clubhouse, I feel like we’re all still together. We’re still on his side. I feel like there’s a lot of outside noise being brought up that most of it is exaggerated and not really true.’’
This night, the only noise was the sound of Waldschmidt’s home run, traveling 408 feet into the night off reliever Jacob Webb, turning a 4-0 deficit in the eighth inning, while trailing 4-3 with two outs in the ninth, into the stunning victory.
The victory moves the Diamondbacks (70-63) within one game of the San Diego Padres for the third and final wild-card spot.
“I think that says a lot about all of us,’’ Waldschmidt said. “We’re pretty resilient. We’re never out of a game. I think it’s a pretty cool stat to be part of.’’
Waldschmidt also became part of some historic stats himself. He became the first rookie to hit two walk-off homers while trailing in the same month, according to OptaStats. He also is the first rookie to hit a pinch-hit, walk-off homer in Diamondbacks history.
“Pretty cool,’’ Waldschmidt said. “Pinch-hitting’s hard in general, but to be able to come in against a team of this caliber, to go up there and be able to do something like that, obviously pretty cool.’’
And just like that, with 29 games left to play, and veteran starters Zac Gallen and Corbin Burnes hoping to rejoin the team in mid-September, the D-backs are still alive.
"We haven’t had a lot of really positive momentum and good vibes ..." Lovullo said. "But these boys don’t quit."
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 25: George Kirby #68 and Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners react after an out against the Philadelphia Phillies during the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park on August 25, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Mariners brought a dumper to a duel.
George Kirby outpitched Aaron Nola on Tuesday in the Mariners electric 4-1 win over the Phillies. Kirby struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings and turned in his best outing of the year. Cal Raleigh smacked another homer, giving him four on the series. And the rest of the lineup scratched and clawed a few more runs late to give the Mariners an impressive, all around, and fun win. That’s back-to-back series victories over the top two Wild Card teams in the National League.
It’s been a weird season for Kirby, something I feel I’ve written a dozen times in the last five months. He’s walked a lot of batters (relative to himself) and struck out very few (relative to everyone). He survived the early part of the season by keeping the ball on the ground, but that’s no longer the case and he’s since been getting crushed. He’s often seemed to nibble at the edges of the zone, unable to get chase out of it, and unable to get whiffs in it. He gave up 11 runs in his last two starts, making early exits in both.
But Kirby on Tuesday looked like the near-ace level pitcher of the past. He attacked the zone relentlessly with his four-seamer, ripping upper-90s fastballs with his best velocity of the season (97.9 mph). When he did expand the zone with the slow and bendy stuff, he got chase 49% of the time. Kirby generated 21 whiffs on Tuesday — the second most in a game for his career. He was aggressive, sharp, and borderline unhittable.
It was obvious right from the jump that something was special for Kirby. He led off the game throwing three pretty much middle-middle fastballs to Kyle Schwarber, each greater than 98 mph, and Schwarber swung through them all. “I knew I had it today,” Kirby said of the four-seamer after the game. He then got ahead of Trea Turner with a few more fastballs registering 99 mph, before finishing him off with devastating sweeper away.
One of my favorite Kirby’s nine strikeouts came in the third. He painted a fastball low and away to Bryson Stott for a called strike, then threw a sweeper that made Stott swing at his shoes. Kirby ramped up and blew 99 mph past him on a pitch way up and out of the zone. It’s the sort of pinpoint power pitching that Kirby was once known for.
The Phillies did get to Kirby once in the second. A ground ball single, a bloop single, and a line drive single made it 1-0. It was a pretty weak run. Kirby followed it up by retiring 15 consecutive batters from the fourth inning until the eighth inning, when Bryce Harper picked up a two-out single that knocked Kirby out of the game. José Ferrer made quick work of Luis Arraez to escape the inning unscathed and preserve the Mariners 4-1 lead.
Four runs didn’t seem likely for the Mariners early. They couldn’t touch Aaron Nola for most of this one. I gotta admit: I love watching Nola pitch. I’m a huge fan of the Phillies Ace Factory of the last 15 years, from Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Cole Hamels, to Nola and Zack Wheeler, to the more contemporary choices of Jesús Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez (one might even give Ranger Suarez a nod for his performance last year).
Nola is a fun variation on the ace formula, an early adopter of “pitching backwards” approach — he throws his curveball as a primary pitch, and then has a trio of fastballs (plus a changeup) to attack each quadrant with precision. He’s the rare righty who’s never averaged better than 93 mph on his four-seamer but posts tip-top strikeout numbers regardless. There’s no such thing as a Hall of Fame pitcher these days, but Nola is right there as an inner-circle, Hall of Very Good pitcher, and I’ll be sad when he hangs it up.
Now, it’s fair to say Nola is a bit past his prime. He entered the day with a 5.12 ERA and 4.92 FIP over 26 starts. He’s still proven capable of missing bats, but he’s had a pesky walk issue and a peskier home run issue that seems to be getting worse with age. He’d given up 31 homers this year when he took the mound Tuesday, the most in the majors.
And he gave up homer number 32 in the second inning when Cal Raleigh stepped to the plate for the time. It was Cal’s fourth home run of the series after he clobbered three — yes, three —in Monday’s series opener. It seems, after five months of misery, Cal is finally breaking out. His teammates greeted him the dugout with borderline disbelief.
But Nola was otherwise dominant. He got some nice chase and whiff on that biting curveball. He dotted up the Mariners for 20 called strikes, including 15 on the fastball and sinker. It’s not often a team watches that many fastballs for strikes, but snarky “Mariners” grumblings aside, he was getting tons of arm-side run Tuesday that froze batters on the black. He even broke out the cutter, which he uses like a slider, on the third time through the order. I mean, look at this at bat against J.P. Crawford, who was playing in first game after a month-long trip on the IL. (If you want to see what that called strike three look like, it’s the third clip in this pretty filthy highlight package wrapping up Nola’s day).
The Mariners did finally scratch another run across in Nola’s sixth and final inning. Julio hit one of his classic slow choppers to the left of second base and beat the throw to first. He got himself into scoring position with a steal of second. And then he came around to score when Josh Naylor hit a rope back up the middle. Julio has been in a bit of a slump the last few weeks, but his speed hasn’t, and sometimes that’s all he needs to create a run.
It was the pressure the Mariners put on Nola in the sixth that finally chased him from the game. Orion Kerkering got the ball for the Phillies in the seventh. He got a quick groundout, then loaded the bases by plunking Taylor Ward, giving up a seeing-eye single to Crawford, and walking Brock Rodden The moment felt right for a Randy Arozarena grand slam, but he swung way out of the zone and popped out.
That compelled Don Mattingly to bring in Brooks Raley , apparently unaware of the Mariners longstanding history of winning games against Brooks Raley. He tried catch Dom Canzone on the low-and-away quadrant with a sweeper, and Canzone stayed right on it, slapping a hard liner the other way for a clutch two RBI single to extend the Mariners lead to 4-1.
Canzone said he was going over the game plan as the inning unfolded, knowing Raley was warming up in the bullpen to face him.
“When he’s warming up, probably about four or five batters deep, just trying to develop a plan with Seitzer, especially with runners on,” Canzone said. “I had an idea he was probably going to try to spin me to death, as they’ve been trying to do all series. So just trusting in that process and just trying to stay behind it. Just trying to stay through the middle of the field, keep it simple as possible.”
The hit gave Andrés Muñoz a bit of cushion for the ninth. It wasn’t the coziest inning, with a pair of walks to put the tying run at the plate. But after pumping a pair of triple-digit heaters, Muñoz spun a brilliant slider low and away that Bryan De La Cruz couldn’t touch for strike three. The Mariners won 4-1, taking the series from the Phillies.
Remember the Geelong concussion waiver scandal? Feels like about a dozen outrages ago, doesn’t it? The Cats president, Grant McCabe, raised the issue on the weekend, putting the onus back on the AFL to come clean on how much they knew about Jake Kolodjashnij’s “voluntary assumption of risk” agreement. By then, the alleged events at the Pullman Hotel had cannibalised the news cycle. By Monday, a country Victorian pub was issuing statements about player behaviour. By Tuesday, Geelong was newsworthy for the potential acquisition of Zak Butters, Toby Greene and Rowan Marshall.
When it comes to the concussion story, both Geelong and the AFL have employed some classic crisis management strategies – deny, dilute, diffuse, distract, delay. Both parties initially denied the existence of the agreement, and pushed back on the journalist who broke the story. They then sought to confuse the issue as much as possible, dropping the word “complex” into every second sentence, hoping that the general public would be so bewildered at what this was actually about that they’d quickly lose interest. They diffused the situation by framing it as an administrative oversight rather than a question of ethics and leadership. Sydney took care of the distraction part of the strategy. And engaging James Peters KC to examine Geelong’s evidence continues to delay the findings.
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 25: Jose Ramirez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts to his 2-run double during the 10th inning of a game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on August 25, 2026 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Scott Strazzante/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Angels faced off in game two of a three game series. Cleveland had the Big Rig Gavin Williams on the mound and were expecting a typical, incredible performance from the ace.
Things did not turn out as expected. Every starting pitcher, especially this late in the season, are liable for a stinker. Gavin Williams chose to cash in his one free stinker coupon for tonight’s game. He didn’t even make it out of the second inning. Gavin gave up five runs on six hits and a walk and threw 62 pitches in the process. It made for a bullpen game, and the bullpen showed up.
Matt Festa finished the second and pitched the third, only walking a batter. Craig Yoho gave up a hit but kept the fourth scoreless. Logan Allen threw three innings, gave up a solo home run, and struck out two. Colin Holderman came on in the eighth. He kept it scoreless in his inning of work, with Angel Martínez robbing Mike Trout of a two-run home run to retire the side.
I’m sure plenty of fans turned off the game, expecting the worst, when it was 5-0 going into the fourth. At that point in the game, the Guardians had already left four runners in scoring position and blew two bases loaded situations. It was looking like what many fans have come to view as the norm for this team’s offense.
In the fourth inning, catcher Patrick Bailey drew a lead off walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. With two outs, Steven Kwan singled to third to put runners on the corners. Travis Bazzana slapped the first pitch, a four-seamer, to center for an RBI double.
José Ramírez followed up with a double of his own to score two and bring the Guardians within two.
The fourth inning marked the start of the Guards mounting a comeback and a back and forth battle with the Angels. In the bottom of the fifth, three singles gave the Guards one more run with two outs thanks to a Brayan Rocchio RBI single. Steven Kwan singled on a ground to right scoring Petey Halpin to tie the game.
The Angles came back, but Cleveland had an answer in the top of the eighth. Steven Kwan lead off the inning with a single to center. José hit a one-out RBI double to left to tie the game at six runs each. Erik Sabrowski came on in the ninth to try and push the game into extras. He looked about as sharp as he has this season, with three strikeouts to retire the side and give the offense a chance to take the lead.
In the top of the tenth, Steven Kwan singled to right, moving the ghost runner (Brayan Rocchio) to third. With one out, José hit his third double of the night, scoring both Rocchio and Kwan to give the Guardians the lead for the first time this game.
Cade Smith came on in the tenth, looking for this 35th save of the year. Smith hit the first batter and a sac bunt put the tying run in scoring position. That didn’t matter for Cade. He struck out the next two batters, extending the win streak to six games.
This game felt like a pivotal moment for this team. At any other point in the season, this would have been a wash and a loss. The offense rallied together to pick up their starting pitcher and still pull off a win. Steven Kwan went 5-for-5 with a walk, three runs, and an RBI. José Ramírez went 3-for-6 with three doubles and five RBIs. He also stole his 30th base on the season in tonight’s game.
Cleveland will finish off this series tomorrow with a 4:07 PM EDT start with Joey Cantillo on the mound. With tonight’s win, the Guardians are sitting back above .500 and in second place in the AL Central.
Big Bash League clubs will reportedly no longer be required to sign overseas players as part of a major overhaul designed to give teams greater flexibility and ensure Australia’s top talent is properly rewarded.
Tristan Jarry has been around long enough to know this doesn't look good.
He has been an NHL All-Star twice, has started more than 50 games a season, and has had a save percentage above .900 in seven NHL seasons. He has also lost the starting job in Pittsburgh, cleared waivers, and spent time in the American Hockey League. At 31, there isn't much point projecting what Jarry could eventually become. After all, the Edmonton Oilers acquired him based on what he is now.
Edmonton needs Jarry to provide competent NHL goaltending over a full season. Somewhere around 45 starts and a save percentage in the .905 to .910 range would give the Oilers what they need, particularly if those numbers come without the extended stretches of bad games that became a problem late in his Pittsburgh tenure.
Jarry gave Edmonton a decent sample after arriving last season. He had a .909 save percentage in 14 regular-season games and followed it with a .908 SV% over six playoff games. Had it not been such a small sample size, it would look quite promising.
League-wide goaltending numbers have also changed enough that a .910 save percentage carries more value than it did several years ago. The days when teams could reasonably expect an average starting goaltender to finish above that are gone. A goalie hanging around league average while starting in 45 to 50 games has value on a roster that's built to get most of its advantages elsewhere.
Jarry had his best season in 2021-22 with a .919 save percentage over 58 games. He followed it with a .909 save percentage in 2022-23 and .903 the following year. His 2024-25 was so bad that Pittsburgh placed him on waivers in January and sent him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
His career .907 save percentage over his time in Pittsburgh is respectable, and there were times when he played well above that level. But Pittsburgh could not count on him long-term.
Asking for Jarry to match his .919 SV% in 2021-22 would be unreasonable and set the standard unnecessarily high. A season around .908 with a steady workload would leave the Oilers with goaltending that's good enough for the roster in front of him.
But it all depends on what Mike Babcock wants. Draisaitl acknowledged this summer that Edmonton never really developed any consistency over the course of last season, saying better teams establish a pattern over 82 games and understand what it is that they do right and wrong. He didn't think the Oilers ever reached that point.
Now, that wasn't limited to goaltending. Edmonton had nights when its defence was bad, when they took bad penalties, or sometimes just couldn't score enough goals. Babcock has been brought in with an emphasis on structure and accountability, and an improved defensive game should make Jarry's job easier.
A .908 save percentage doesn't mean much if it includes several stretches where he can't get through a game without allowing a poor goal. Forty-five dependable starts would be more useful than alternating between excellent and poor for six months.
Jarry has started in 50 games only twice in his NHL career and has started in fewer games since 2023-24. Edmonton has little reason to push him further than that with the other goaltenders that they have.
Jarry's playoff history in Pittsburgh includes some difficult moments, and Edmonton is at the stage where every player on the roster is eventually judged on what happens in April and May. So while a solid regular season matters, he still has to be reliable when things get turned up a notch.
For now, the standard is simply consistency. Stay around league average or a little better for multiple games in a row. Take the starts and do something with them. Avoid the prolonged slumps that eventually cost him the net in Pittsburgh.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 25: Ryan Waldschmidt #15 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates after hitting a pinch-hit, walk-off, two-run home run during the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Chase Field on August 25, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Cubs 5-4. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Mark Grace perhaps said it best in the postgame show when he said, “Im not sure we have seen a more unlikely Dbacks win the season”
The almost Dback Clay Holmes shut this Dbacks offense down for 7 innings. The Dbacks had a deal in place for Holmes per multiple reports but the deal fell through at the last minute due to medicals. The fact that he was almost a Dback made the first 7 innings of this game sting all that much more, especially given the current status of this rotation.
Brandon Pfaadt was pretty good today pitching into the 7th inning tonight and allowing 4 runs while keeping his team within striking distance. The Cubs have the 2nd best offense in the league and Pfaadt did a decent enough job of keeping them in check. His first 3 innings were pretty easy getting lots of soft contact, however he gave up a 3 run HR in the 4th inning on a hanging curveball to Ian Happ. Most importantly however, like I mentioned earlier, he was able to settle back in after the home run and give his team 6.2 innings against a red hot offense.
The Dbacks offense finally woke up in the 8th inning as they were able to finally get on the board with 3 runs due to some linked up at bats with a couple of walks and a huge double from the red hot Gabi Moreno and a single from Geraldo Perdomo. When this offense has been clicking this season, it seems as though it is starting with the bottom of the order getting on base for the top of the order.
The story of the game however was Ryan Waldsschmidt who for the second time this season hit a walkoff home run off of a contending team’s closer. This time it came as a pinch hitter with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th with Jose Fernandez pinch running at first base for Tim Tawa. The Dbacks were inches away from losing this game as Jose Fernandez was narrowly able to steal 2nd base and get into scoring position down 4-3. Then Waldschmidt got a hanging slider and did not miss it! What an electric moment and perhaps the biggest swing of the season thus far considering that the Dbacks were able to gain a game on both the Padres and the Phillies tonight on 1 single swing. What a great moment for this team!
The Dbacks will look to win the series tomorrow night and in the postgame interview Torey Lovullo insisted that Jordan Lawlar will be in the lineup tomorrow which is tremendous news for this team and for a guy that has had such unfortunate injury luck in his early career. So all is right in the desert tonight and what a tremendous boost for this team as the Dbacks will go into tomorrow 1 game out of a wild card spot!
As the race for the National League Rookie of the Year heats up, Carson Benge continues to make his case, and he did so again on Tuesday.
Going up against the MLB-best Brewers, the Mets outfielder went 3-for-4 with a walk in the team's 3-2 win. But it's that walk that's particularly interesting.
With the ghost runner on second with one out in a tied game in the 10th, the Brewers elected to intentionally walk Benge. Of course, the outfielder had three hits already in the game, but the Brewers felt it was necessary to walk the rookie in this key situation. As interim manager Andy Green sees it, the move was a sign of respect.
"I wish they pitched to Carson," Green said after the win. "When you’re sitting on the top step of the dugout wishing they’d pitch to your guy, it’s pretty shrewd they don’t pitch to your guy. Fairly straightforward there, just a really good contact hitter with a runner on second and a base open in the 10th. I get what they were thinking on that side.
"It’s a little bit of a declaration to the league that this guy is a really good hitter."
And Benge has shown that, especially of late.
Tuesday was Benge's 11th game this season with at least three hits, which is the most by a rookie in Mets history and tied for the ninth-most in the majors this season, per Elias.
He's hit safely in each of his last five games and has recorded multiple hits in four of them. His 134 hits this season are tied for the seventh-most in franchise history with Lee Mazzilli.
And while the Reds' Sal Stewart may have an edge in the offensive department and the Cardinals' JJ Wetherholt on defense, Green sees Benge as having the best of both worlds.
Before the game, the Mets skipper was asked whether Benge has a legit case to be named NL Rookie of the Year, and he said he does for that reason.
"Well-rounded players that impact the game are what every manager wants, and you want that every single time and Carson has been that," Green explained. "When you look at where he’s come from the start of the year to where he is now, it’s fun to see him take steps forward."
In August, Benge is batting .359, the fifth-best in the majors this month, with a 1.015 OPS.
Since May 1, he is slashing .303/.363/.466 with an .829 OPS. In the majors over that span, he ranks fifth in hits and seventh in average among qualifiers.
Kaelen Culpepper (SS Twins): Rostered in nine percent of Yahoo leagues
If not for hip/glute injuries costing him about half of June and most of July, Culpepper would have taken over as the Twins' shortstop earlier this season. As is, he had to wait until Aug. 7, but he's made the most of his time since, hitting .340/.382/.480 with two homers in 55 plate appearances.
105.9 mph off the bat on Kaelen Culpepper's 2nd big league homer
Culpepper, the 21st overall pick in the 2024 draft, was brought up after hitting .271/.367/.478 with 14 homers and 17 steals in 74 games for Triple-A St. Paul. In spite of that impressive line, he didn't draw much initial interest in shallow leagues, probably in part because he was going to be hitting at the bottom of the lineup for a mediocre offense. And that is an issue; through 14 games, Culpepper has totaled four RBI and six runs scored even with his impressive start. But he already has a case for moving up to the top third of the order. Culpepper offers above average bat speed and solid plate discipline. He might not have superstar potential, but he has a good chance of becoming an above average regular for a long time.
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To make an impact in mixed leagues in the short term, Culpepper probably will need to do some running. He's quite capable, having gone 46-for-54 stealing bases in 213 career minor league games. With the stakes higher and the pitchers typically better at holding runners close, it often takes time for prospects to become comfortable trying steals in major league games. If Culpepper doesn't get there this year, he'll probably remain a fringe option. Still, he has a higher ceiling than he gets credit for.
Chris Bassitt (SP Orioles): Rostered in seven percent of Yahoo leagues
I didn't expect to be writing about Bassitt this week, but then, I didn't think Bassitt would come out firing 94-mph sinkers Tuesday against the Cardinals. In 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, he averaged 93.4 mph with the pitch. That's his highest mark since one start in May 2024. He hasn't regularly been in that territory since 2022. Maybe it'll turn out to be a fluke, but he was also better than his season average in his first two starts back from back surgery. He averaged 92.2 mph in those outings, which is higher than he's typically been since 2024.
The extra velocity isn't going to turn Bassitt into an ace, but he was impressive against the Cardinals, and he has another start coming up against the hugely depleted Athletics lineup. It's pretty tough finding viable starters on the waiver wire at this point of the season, but a rejuvenated Bassitt would fit the bill. He's just never been bad when healthy, and the last time he sat 93 mph, he won 15 games with a 3.42 ERA for the Mets.
Alek Thomas (OF Dodgers): Rostered in zero percent of Yahoo leagues
When the Diamondbacks gave up on Thomas in May, the Dodgers stepped in, despite having seemingly no real need for him. Still, picking up a legitimate major league outfielder in exchange for little more than taking on about $1.5 million in salary was just the kind of move baseball's richest team is set up to take advantage of. Thomas spent the next three months in Triple-A, and it looked like little would come of the acquisition until Andy Pages suffered a fractured hand on a HBP last week. That got Thomas a callup, and he knocked in runs in each of his first three games as the Dodgers' new center fielder against righties.
This probably won't be a star turn for Thomas. It doesn't seem like the Dodgers truly unlocked any hidden potential while he hit .285/.351/.472 with seven homers in 58 minor league games. Thomas has typically featured pretty average exit velocity numbers paired with too high of groundball rates, and these last two years, he's struck out more and walked less than he did when he entered the league in 2022. If he performs as projections would suggest, he might fall out of the Dodgers' plans as soon as Pages is ready to return.
Still, until then, Thomas is going to start about three-quarters of the time for one of baseball's best offensive teams. He's in a much better home run ballpark for left-handed hitters in L.A. than he was in Arizona, and he could steal the occasional base. He'll probably be of some use for at least the next three weeks and maybe through the end of the regular season.
Waiver Wire Quick Hits
- Might Byron Buxton's injury setback Tuesday get Walker Jenkins to the majors? He'll be the best pickup here if it does. Jenkins, the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft and former teammate of Culpepper, is hitting .321/.416/.553 with 13 homers and 16 steals for Triple-A St. Paul.
- With Pete Fairbanks going on the IL, Calvin Faucher will probably pick up some saves in the Miami pen over the next few weeks. He was the choice in the ninth when Fairbanks was unavailable Saturday, and he's allowed just two runs while striking out 21 over his last 14 innings.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 25: George Kirby #68 and Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners celebrate their win against the Philadelphia Phillies at T-Mobile Park on August 25, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The offense continued to sputter to begin the road trip and wasted another encouraging effort from Aaron Nola as the Philadelphia Phillies (73-60) dropped their second straight against the Seattle Mariners (64-69) on Tuesday night.
Mariners’ starter, George Kirby, kept the offense in check most of the night but allowed the first run of the game in the second inning as Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford strung together a trio of one-out singles.
After registering his first three-homer game last night, Cal Raleigh tied the game with a solo shot to begin the bottom of the second for his fourth home run in as many at bats.
Nola conceded the tie in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Josh Naylor following a one-out single and a steal by Julio Rodriguez.
#Mariners tiene la ventaja en casa sobre #Phillies. Josh Naylor pegó sencillo remolcador, pero fue puesto out en segunda base. Luego de seis innings, Seattle vence 2-1 a Filadelfia. ⚾
Aside from the two runs on three hits and three walks, Nola looked to still be in command of his stuff entering the seventh inning with 92 pitches. Don Mattingly opted to give way to Orion Kerkering who, after getting a ground out to start the inning, loaded the bases on a hit by pitch, single and a walk. Kerkering induced a pop out by Randy Arozarena for the second out and Mattingly went to Brooks Raley to face the lefty, Dominic Canzone. Raley left a 1-1 sweeper over the plate that Canzone laced to left for a two-RBI single to effectively put the game away.
This huge at-bat from Dominc Canzone might be an encapsulation to his entire season.
Left-on-left, against a reliever explicitly brought in to face him, RISP opportunity, working the count and driving it where it's pitched.
In Kerkering and Raley’s defense, the offense had no answers for Kirby & Co. Kirby begrudging left the game two outs into the eighth after allowing a hit to Bryce Harper but the minor threat was quickly erased by Jose Ferrer on a Luis Arraez ground out.
Jonathan Bowlan pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth and Alec Bohm and Crawford worked a pair of walks against Mariners’ closer, Andres Munoz, to create a two-out threat in the ninth, but a pinch-hitting-for-Garrett-Stubbs Bryan De La Cruz struck out on four pitches to close it out.
The Phillies will try to stave off the sweep tomorrow afternoon as Jesus Luzardo faces off against Bryan Woo.
PHOENIX (AP) — The Chicago Cubs set a franchise record on Tuesday by scoring their 30th unanswered run over three games, breaking the previous record of 29 over a three-game stretch in 1969.
The Cubs started the streak on Sunday, falling behind 2-0 in the early innings against the Seattle Mariners before rallying for a 19-2 win.
Chicago then blanked the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-0 on Monday and jumped to a 4-0 lead in Tuesday’s game against the D-backs.
The previous record of 29 happened in 1876 and more recently from May 11-13 in 1969, according to Elias Sports Bureau. During that stretch, the Cubs shut out the San Francisco Giants 8-0 before beating the San Diego Padres 2-0 and 19-0 in consecutive games.
Tristan Peters blasted his 11th homer of the season and ended the night a triple shy of the cycle. | (Kyle Sheridan/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Both teams came out swinging tonight, combining for 25 hits and 18 runs, but the White Sox (69-63) beat up on Jacob deGrom and outlasted the Rangers (66-67), 11-7. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous getting through this one, but this was a huge win for the South Siders coming off a blowout loss, and at the very least they will still hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians.
The South Side offense snapped back to life Tuesday and absolutely dominated deGrom, plating six in the bottom of the first after batting around, sending Anthony Kay into the second with plenty of run support. It’s clear that deGrom wasn’t on his A game, but the Good Guys were much more selective and patient at the plate, striking out just twice against the righthander while walking five times. It marked the second time in just a few weeks that the veteran walked five batters in an outing.
Things got out of control fairly quickly for the former Cy Young Award winner. Sam Antonacci led off the game with a double, and deGrom subsequently walked Munetaka Murakami to put two aboard for the hot-hitting Miguel Vargas. The Rangers didn’t record an out until Chase Meidroth popped out to first baseman Jake Burger in foul territory with the bases loaded, but the White Sox had already pushed across two runs. Vargas hit a single to left, while a throwing error by Wyatt Langford allowed Antonacci to score and moved Mune to third. Braden Montgomery followed with a line-drive base hit to left that brought home Murakami and made it 2-0.
Speaking of staying hot, Tristan Peters came through in the clutch yet again, mashing a broken-bat double that put two more runs on the scoreboard and stretched the lead to 4-0. With Peters and Colson Montgomery on second and third, Brenton Doyle kept the hit train rolling, singling up the middle to drive in both runners and make it 6-0.
deGrom walked his final two batters to put two aboard in the bottom of the fourth. Although he induced a ground ball, the Rangers couldn’t complete the double play, prompting Skip Schumaker to turn to the bullpen to stop the bleeding. Immediately after Cole Winn replaced him, Colson and Meidroth mashed back-to-back RBI singles to tack on two more insurance runs, both of which were charged to deGrom. The veteran righthander ended his 3 2/3-inning outing with eight runs allowed on six hits, raising his ERA to 4.21.
Lefthander Anthony Kay looked sharp for most of his outing, allowing only one run through the first four frames: a solo homer by Jake Burger to center. But a switch flipped in the top of the fifth, and Kay surrendered three more runs before Jordan Hicks replaced him with two outs. It was a wild sequence after four innings of solid work: Cody Freeman singled, a wild pitch moved him to second, Danny Jansen blasted a two-run homer, and Kay hit Justin Foscue with a pitch. It was the 25th batter Kay has hit this season, the most among major league pitchers.
Kay recorded two big outs by striking out Corey Seager and Brandon Nimmo, though he walked Langford between the two strikeouts, moving Foscue into scoring position. Ezequiel Duran then ripped an RBI single to left, and that was the last straw for Will Venable, who turned to Hicks to shut Texas down. Kay ultimately allowed four runs on six hits — including two home runs — with two walks and four strikeouts, raising his ERA slightly to 4.09. The move to Hicks worked perfectly, as he struck out Burger to end the inning and prevent any additional runs from being charged to Kay.
The good news for the White Sox was that the offense kept rolling, getting two of those three runs back in the bottom half of the inning. Drew Romo walked to lead off the frame, and Antonacci smashed a triple into the right-field corner as the next batter, scoring Romo all the way from first. Although he still should not be part of the White Sox’s future catching plans, Romo has stepped it up offensively over his last seven games, posting a much more respectable .222/.364/.389 slash line with a .753 OPS. Vargas mashed his second hit of the night to drive in Antonacci for the South Siders’ 10th run, restoring their six-run lead at 10-4.
In the blink of an eye, the Rangers offense made things uncomfortable again. After scoring three runs in consecutive innings, Texas had trimmed the lead to 10-7 and put the game within striking distance. Hicks fell apart in the sixth, allowing a pinch-hit single to Joc Pederson before Jansen doubled him home. Justin Foscue then blasted a two-run homer to turn the game into a full-fledged slugfest.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Good Guys answered back. They didn’t get all three runs back, but Peters provided one with a solo bomb — his fourth home run in as many games. Peters has been on a tear lately, slugging .909 over his last seven games with a double and four homers, good for a 1.309 OPS. The homer was Peters’ third hit of the night, leaving him a triple shy of the cycle.
Peters came up once more in the bottom of the eighth with Meidroth on first after his third hit of the night, but former White Sox pitcher Tyler Alexander didn’t want to give him anything to hit. Alexander issued him a four-pitch walk, allowing Peters to reach base for the fifth time in the game.
Both bullpens surrendered three runs after the starters departed, but lefthanders Bryan Hudson and Hagen Smith were able to pick up Hicks over the next three innings. Hudson came in to put out the fire in the sixth, then worked a 1-2-3 seventh to halt the momentum Texas had built. Smith was set to handle the final two innings, and the lefty was excellent in the eighth despite allowing a double to Justin Foscue for his second hit of the night. The Rangers couldn’t build on it, and Smith struck out Seager to end the inning. Foscue’s double was just the second hit Smith had allowed since being called up to the big leagues, showing how nasty he can be when he commands his pitches.
Unfortunately, Smith couldn’t maintain that command and made things a little too interesting in the top of the ninth. He walked three batters to load the bases with two outs, putting the Rangers one swing away from tying the game at 11-11 — and one swing away from potentially giving me a heart attack. Venable wasn’t taking any chances with Smith’s inconsistency, so he called on Grant Taylor to shut things down and record the final out. Taylor did just that. With two pitches, the righty secured his eighth save of the season and a much-needed win for the South Siders.
As of publication, both the Twins and Guardians are losing, so it would be lovely for the White Sox to gain a full game on both teams. The Sox need to keep their heads down, take it one at-bat at a time and play their game. When they play loose like they did tonight, they can do plenty of damage at the plate. It’s time to take care of business, focus on what they can control and show up tomorrow ready to close out the series with a win.
MVP Tristan Peters: 3-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2B, HR in fourth-straight game
Runners-Up Sam Antonacci: 2-for-4, 3 R, RBI, BB, K, 2B, 3B Chase Meidroth: 3-dor-5, RBI, K Miguel Vargas: 2-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K Brenton Doyle: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB
SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 25: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the second inning during the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Eric Hiller/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Mariners 4, Phillies 1
Good: George Kirby, +.32 WPA Bad: Randy Arozarena, -.12 WPA
