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Walt Weiss had some bad news for the Braves starting pitching rotation in this afternoon’s press conference.

Oy. Per the manager himself, Bryce Elder had a minor knee surgery today. Apparently, he has been dealing with it for some time. He hopes to pitch in the postseason. I do as well, but yeech. Would that mean the Braves made the NLCS or World Series? Because that might be optimistic.

Our man Demetrius Bell is on the scene and have more later.

As the Atlanta Braves begin their series against the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday evening, they’re switching things up in the lineup a bit to again attempt to find an offensive spark.

Michael Harris II will hit in the leadoff spot for the first time since Aug. 23 in the series opener. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson follow, dropping Drake Baldwin, who will DH this game with Sean Murphy back behind the plate, to the fourth spot.

Mauricio Dubón is also back at shortstop and hitting fifth, and Mike Yastrzemski will play left field and hit eighth against a right-handed starter.

The Rays have catcher Liam Hicks back in the cleanup spot after he was out of the lineup in their last game on Sunday.

Also of note, Jorge Mateo, who started the season in Atlanta, is now with Tampa and will start at short and hit ninth for the series opener.

Seeing as he’s made just one career start against the team, only five current Rays have taken a major league at-bat against Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver.

Mind you, that collective production has been pretty good as this quintet is a combined 5-for-10 against the right-hander. Hicks (2-for-2) leads that charge, which includes a homer, a double, three RBIs, three strikeouts and two walks.

The Braves’ hitters have much more of a track record against Rays starter Freddy Peralta, albeit it’s not nearly as successful. They’re a combined 31-for-140 (.221) against the right-hander with eight doubles, four homers, 12 RBIs, 40 strikeouts and 12 walks.

Michael Harris II (4-for-9) is a standout of the bunch against Peralta, and Matt Olson and Austin Riley are each hitting over .300 against him with a pair of homers apiece and a combined eight RBIs.

Interestingly considering Peralta isn’t a reverse-splits guy, the right-handed platoon outfielder, Lane Thomas, has a much better history against him (3-for-9, two doubles, two RBIs) than the left-handed half of the platoon, Yastrzemski, who is 1-for-13 (.077) lifetime against Peralta.

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

We’re heading down to the final stretch of the regular season, and the Yankees are preparing to make a deep run into the playoffs.

Judge returns to the lineup on Tuesday to face the Rockies after being reinstated from the injured list on Monday night. He’ll play a crucial role in the Yankees’ offense as they strive to clinch a playoff spot.

The next couple of weeks will determine whether the Pinstripes will rise or fall in the American League East. The pennant race is coming down to the wire as the Yankees remain four games behind the Rays as of Tuesday. They will head to the Bronx to face the Yankees in a critical four-game series beginning with a doubleheader on September 22. The Red Sox are merely two games behind the Yankees, which could mean some trouble if they win their upcoming series against the Rays and the Guardians.

All things considered, Judge is expected to bring a huge boost to this team at all levels. He’ll be playing the field in the Bronx to start the series against Colorado, and there is no doubt that Yankees fans will erupt in applause and give a standing ovation as No. 99 makes his return debut. With his energy back in the lineup, we’ll hopefully see more offensive production that fans have been eagerly awaiting since the end of May.

With the return of the captain, how far will the Yankees go in 2026?

The Texas Rangers have announced their minor league award winners for the month of August. Dylan Dreiling has been named the Rangers’ Minor League Player of the Month, Moises Morales the Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Month, Yolfran Castillo the Minor League Defender of the Month, and Kay Wynyard the Minor League Reliever of the Month.

Dreiling slashed .429/.448/.667 in 95 plate appearances over 20 games for AA Frisco in the month of August, recording at least one hit in all 20 games, hitting four homers, and walking 10 times against 15 Ks. The Rangers’ second round pick in 2024, Dreiling had a middling 2025 season at high-A Hub City, but has impressed in the Texas League this season, slashing .314/.384/.527 on the year. The 23 year old lefthanded hitter has played almost exclusively center field this season, and seems likely to be bumped to AAA for the end of the Pacific Coast League season once the Texas League playoffs are over.

Morales, a 22 year old righthanded pitcher, is someone who has not been on my radar until recently. Signed out of Venezuela in July of 2023 as a 19 year old, Morales pitched in the Dominican Summer League in 2023 and 2024, then came over to the Arizona Complex League in 2025. Making his full season debut this year, Morales got off to a difficult start to the season, allowing 10 runs in 13.1 innings in his first three appearances, and putting up a 5.04 ERA in his first nine games.

Since then, however, Morales has been outstanding, as he has struck out 56 and walked 15 in 56 innings over his last 13 appearances — 12 for Hickory and one for Hub City — while posting a 1.77 ERA. He made four appearances for Hickory in August, earning Carolina League Pitcher of the Month honors, and also made his one appearance for Hub City in August. In those five appearances he struck out 20 and walked four in 25 innings, allowing a .224/.275/.259 slash line and a 1.44 ERA. Morales has also started September strong, allowing one run on one hit and one walk in five innings last Friday, striking out seven.

Castillo is a 19 year old shortstop out of Venezuela who was part of the Rangers’ 2024 J-2 class, signing for $647,500. After a strong debut that year in the Dominican Summer League, Castillo came stateside in 2025, spending most of the year in the Arizona Complex League before moving to low-A Hickory once the complex league season ended. Castillo is described by Baseball America as being the organization’s best defensive infielder, and the Rangers noted in their announcement that he had a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in the month. For the season, Castillo is slashing .288/.390/.416 in 542 plate appearances over 119 games with Hickory and one game with Hub City, with 70 walks, 74 Ks and 55 steals in 65 attempts.

Wynyard is a 24 year old righthander signed by the Rangers out of Australia in October, 2020. Other than five starts in the ACL in 2021, Wynyard has worked exclusively in relief as a pro, and has gotten to learn the highways and byways of the Carolinas quite well, having spent most of the past five seasons in either the Carolina League or the South Atlantic League. Wynyard had six scoreless appearances for Hub City in August, striking out 13 and allowing 4 walks in 10.2 IP.

Wynyard’s season line is kind of ugly due to a gruesome start to the season, when he allowed 16 runs in 6.1 innings in his first five appearances. Since then, he has a 3.77 ERA in 45.1 IP in 30 games for Hub City and one game for Frisco, where he is now, with 59 Ks, 23 walks and seven homers allowed. In his last 12 games he has allowed just two runs in 17 innings, striking out 23 and walking 8.

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Let's keep the good vibes rolling with three of my favorite home run props and predictions for today's MLB slate.

Find out why I am backing Junior Caminero, Heriberto Hernandez, and Teoscar Hernandez. 

These are my favorite MLB picks for Tuesday, Sept. 8.

MLB home run props for today

For help understanding Polymarket probabilities, see our odds calculator.

Player to hit a HR	Chance
Junior Caminero	26%
Heriberto Hernandez	23%
Teoscar Hernandez	26%
💲Today's HR parlay	94.40x

Home run prediction: Junior Caminero (26%)

Despite the small sample size, Atlanta Braves right hander AJ Smith-Shawver has been horrendous against right-handed hitters this season, allowing a .346 BA, .538 SLG, and 1.023 OPS across 33 batters.

Tampa Bay Rays slugger Junior Caminero has the highest matchup rating in this game over at Batters-Box, where he leaves the yard 32.26% of the time with an elite road rating. Caminero also covers nearly 97% of Smith-Shawver’s pitch mix.

Over his last 10 games, Caminero owns a .525 SLG and .250 ISO with a 51.6% hard-hit rate and nearly 13% barrel rate.

Caminero should be just fine against a guy still trying to find his footing against righties. 

• Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: RAYS, BravesVsn

Home run prediction: Heriberto Hernandez (23%)

Big day to back a Hernandez, as we’re backing Miami Marlins slugger Heriberto Hernandez this evening against New York Mets southpaw Sean Manaea.

The young Marlins slugger has been all over left-handed pitching this season, owning a .543 SLG and .879 OPS. On top of that, Hernandez has been mashing over his last 10 games, posting a .289 ISO and 17.4% ground-ball rate while barreling the ball more than 17% of the time.

Manaea has been progressively getting worse as the games go by. Over his last five outings, he owns a 5.87 ERA while allowing a 15.46% barrel rate. Over his last three starts, he has a 7.79 ERA and a near 18% barrel rate.

The last 60 right-handed hitters the veteran has faced have generated a barrel rate of nearly 20%, along with a .363 xBA and .744 xSLG.

If Manaea is going to continue getting worse as the season progresses, let’s fade the daylights out of him.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: MIAM, SNY

Home run prediction: Teoscar Hernandez (26%)

“But bu- he homered last night.”

Cool.

Anywho, tonight we are backing Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernandez, who has not only been teeing off against southpaws, but has also been on fire over his last 10 games. During that stretch, he owns a .649 SLG, .719 xSLG, and .244 ISO, while generating a 64%+ hard-hit rate and 18% barrel rate.

This evening, Hernandez draws Cincinnati Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo, who's been getting tormented by right-handed hitters lately. The last 60 he's faced sport a .350 xBA, .640 xSLG, and .400 xwOBA, while Lodolo is allowing a 53.5% hard-hit rate, 16.3% barrel rate, and 27.9% ground-ball rate.

Some may shy away from this prop because Hernandez left the yard last night. Has nobody ever gone back-to-back days with a home run?

• Time: 10:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SNLA, CINR

Best home run combo for September 8

Junior Caminero	Trade Now 94.40x
Heriberto Hernandez
Teoscar Hernandez

Want more baseball parlays? Check out our MLB parlay picks page!

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The Milwaukee Brewers are huge home favorites over the Chicago Cubs ahead of the 7:40 p.m. ET first pitch at American Family Field on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

My top Cubs vs. Brewers predictions and MLB picks point to a comfortable Brewers win, along with the total going Over tonight.

Who will win Cubs vs Brewers today: Brewers -1.5 (47.8%)

For help understanding probabilities, see our odds calculator.

This run line isn’t factoring in Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski allowing five runs across four innings to the Chicago Cubs last time out, and I fully agree. In fact, I’d back the Brewers to 52.4% on the run line tonight.

After all, Misiorowski has held opposing hitters to a pedestrian.244 wOBA and .127 ISO while spinning an elite 2.25 xERA and 2.28 xFIP across 22 starts at American Family Field over the past two years.

Better yet, he’ll be followed by a bullpen with the sixth-lowest xERA and eighth-lowest xFIP in the second half.

So, with Chicago starter David Peterson allowing six runs across just 3 2/3 innings to the Brewers last week, I expect Milwaukee to win comfortably tonight.

COVERS INTEL: Chicago Cubs starter David Peterson’s 4.96 xERA is the 13th-highest mark among pitchers with at least 120 innings.

Cubs vs Brewers Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 (48.8%)

Both of these offenses continue to roll, so I do expect there to be enough runs to send this total Over the 7.5 number tonight.

Chicago paces the majors in wOBA and xwOBA over the past 30 days, and Milwaukee has also been dangerous with respective second- and seventh-ranked marks.

Additionally, the Cubs rank fifth in wOBA against righties for the season, and Milwaukee is also above average against lefties.

I’d play this Over to 51.2%.

Cubs vs Brewers home run prediction: Jackson Chourio (16.7%)

Brewers star Jackson Chourio has already taken Peterson deep twice across 12 career plate appearances, and the Milwaukee outfielder also sports a high-end .211 ISO against lefties for the year.

I also value Chourio’s current form at the dish. He boasts a monster .259 ISO and 42.1 squared-up contact rate across his past 12 games.

Cubs vs Brewers market report

Here is how traders are handling tonight's Cubs vs. Brewers matchup at Polymarket, with a strong lean to Milwaukee to win.

Cubs vs Brewers weather

The roof is expected to be open at American Family Field tonight, with the forecast calling for 83 F, clear skies, and the wind blowing at 8-10 mph.

Cubs vs Brewers odds

• Moneyline: Cubs 35.7% | Brewers 68.8%
• Run line: Cubs +1.5 (54.5%) | Brewers -1.5 (50%)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (50%) | Under 7.5 (54.5%)

Cubs vs Brewers trend

The Milwaukee Brewers have covered the run line in 26 of their last 50 games at home (+7.10 Units / 13% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cubs vs. Brewers.

How to watch Cubs vs Brewers and game info

Cubs vs Brewers latest injuries

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The Baltimore Orioles are priced as a 54% favorite against the Cleveland Guardians tonight, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. ET at Camden Yards. 

But my Guardians vs Orioles predictions are eyeing Cleveland to take the second game of this series against O's starter Brandon Young, who has shown vulnerability lately. 

Find out more in my MLB picks for Tuesday, Sept. 8. 

Who will win Guardians vs Orioles today: Guardians (47%)

For help understanding probabilities, see our odds calculator.

The Cleveland Guardians send Tanner Bibee to the hill tonight, and the right-hander has held his own in past weeks. He owns a 3.69 FIP across his last two starts with zero homers allowed.

Bibee has had some command issues during that span, but he has limited hard contact and now faces a Baltimore Orioles lineup with a 77 wRC+ over the last week.

Cleveland isn’t exactly thriving at the plate either, but Brandon Young owns a 5.22 FIP over his previous 13 2/3 innings while surrendering 1.98 HR/9.

The edge isn’t massive, but the Guards are the cleaner look here against Young, who has been running into trouble lately.

Play this pick up to 50%.

COVERS INTEL: Young has struggled with the long ball at home, allowing 1.54 HR/9. On the road, he's surrendered just 0.89. 

Guardians vs Orioles Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (49%)

I like the Under here. Baltimore is struggling to produce runs, and Cleveland’s 83 wRC+ over its last eight contests isn’t much better. Neither team is showing much home run power, either.

I don’t expect either starter to get lit up, and both bullpens are dealing. The Guardians’ relief corps owns a 2.84 xERA over its previous 34 frames with just 0.79 HR/9 allowed.

Baltimore’s bullpen is also in good form, posting a 3.06 xERA over the last week with very strong command.

Play this pick up to 55%.

Guardians vs Orioles home run prediction: Pete Alonso (22%)

The underlying numbers suggest Pete Alonso presents some value. While the slugger has just one home run over the last week, he owns a 61.1% hard-hit rate and 16.7% barrel rate during that span.

Alonso is squaring up the baseball, even if he has not fully been rewarded yet. Although Bibee has limited homers lately, he has allowed a 40.2% fly-ball rate on the road this season, and the Guardians’ bullpen has also allowed plenty of contact through the air in recent games.

Play this pick up to 25%.

Guardians vs Orioles market report

Here is how the smart money is coming in on tonight's Guardians vs. Orioles matchup at Polymarket, with a strong lean to Cleveland.

Guardians vs Orioles weather

Weather should be clean at Camden Yards tonight, with partly cloudy to mostly clear skies and temperatures falling from the low 80s into the mid-70s. Winds are light around 5–7 mph, humidity rises later, and rain chances sit at 0%, so there’s no delay concern and only mild carry impact.

Guardians vs Orioles odds

• Moneyline: Guardians 47% | Orioles 54%
• Run line: Guardians +1.5 (64%) | Orioles -1.5 (37%)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (52%) | Under 8.5 (49%)

Guardians vs Orioles trend

The Baltimore Orioles have hit the game total Under in 11 of their last 15 games at home (+7.90 Units / 48% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Guardians vs. Orioles.

How to watch Guardians vs Orioles and game info

Guardians vs Orioles latest injuries

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Is it ok to talk about the playoffs?

I think it’s ok to talk about the playoffs. Choose from any of the major people that make projections and you’ll find that most, if not all, have the Phillies at something close to 99% positive that they will make the playoffs. That’s pretty rare with this many games to go for a nondivision leading team, but here we are.

So, we can start to look forward a little bit.

These are the four main contenders for the Phillies to see when they open a playoff series. Sure, the Brewers and one of the Dodgers and Braves will be waiting in the NLDS should the Phillies make it that far, but one can dream.

Which team would you rather the Phillies see to open a wild card round?

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

The Yankees limp home from a disappointing finish to their West Coast trip, losing a series to the Padres as the offense went quiet for long spells across the three games. Luckily, they will have a certain Aaron Judge available to play when they return home to the Bronx, the captain returning for the first time in over three months from a broken rib. Before we look ahead to his return, let’s award one last At-Bat of the Week of the 2026 season’s Judge-less era to Austin Wells for his heroics to win the series against the Angels.

We join Wells with two outs in the top of the tenth, the score knotted at one apiece. He didn’t even start the game, but entered in the eighth as a pinch-hitter and successfully adjusted his sights with a single. He now bats in the highest leverage spot of the game. The bases are loaded thanks to a José Caballero single and Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk, but a Luis García Jr. infield fly puts them one out away from squandering this golden opportunity.

The hard-throwing reliever Luke Murphy starts this encounter off with a perfect back door cutter for a called strike.

This is just an unfair pitch to start the AB, beginning as a ball outside before cutting back toward the plate and painting the outside edge of the zone. Wells is likely geared up for the upper-90s four-seamer that runs away from a left-handed batter, so it’s easy to give up on a pitch that looks like a ball away out of the pitcher’s hand.

Next, Murphy tries to locate a four-seamer up and under Wells’ hands.

Luckily for Wells, Murphy overthrows this pitch as he reaches back for 98 mph and yanks it below the zone for an automatic take, ball one.

Having displayed far better command to the top of the zone with the cutter, Murphy now targets the same location he failed to hit with the previous four-seamer.

Once again, Murphy is inch-perfect to his target, nailing the corner up and in with this 91 mph cutter. There’s not a left-handed batter in the league who is doing damage with this pitch — Wells is just lucky that the foul pop up leaves the field of play to give him another shot.

I’m a little surprised that after two immaculately executed cutters and one poorly executed four-seamers, Murphy once again switches to the four-seamer.

This time he is able to execute to his spot on the corner up and away. Wells gets off a good swing, slashing it foul the other way to stay alive.

Now that he’s got the feel for his four-seamer, Murphy tries to climb the ladder a rung higher than the one he just threw.

He achieves just that, but at 95 mph Wells has a fraction more time to again fight it off foul. While these are two more than decent pitches, the one thing you could say is that by pitching Wells up and away instead of up and in, it gives Wells the chance to extend his arms and hit it foul — a chance he gladly accepts to extend the AB.

Murphy goes for the trifecta with his third straight four-seamer to that same spot up and away.

This heater is a little lower and catches a little more plate than the previous two, and that’s all Wells needs to pull it through the hole between the first and second baseman for the go-ahead two-run single.

Here’s the full AB:

Wells was one of the worst qualified hitters in baseball through the first few months of the season, but amid the rumors of the Yankees shopping for a catcher as the Trade Deadline approached he turned his season around. The deadline came and went without backstop reinforcements. and the faith they placed in Wells appears well-founded as he’s got a .781 OPS and 119 wRC+ over the last two months.

This AB encapsulates a lot of the subtle changes that have catalyzed this rediscovery of form at the plate. Wells doesn’t look overmatched by the velocity or height of any of these pitches when for much of the first half of the season it looked like he’d never catch up to a fastball above 95 mph nor one located belt-high and up. It might be cliché and oversimplified but Wells just looks more “hitter-ish” at the plate — there’s no flinch in his takes whereas he looked like he wanted to chase everything in May and June. There’s conviction in his swing decisions but also flexibility in his approach — I love the way he stays behind those two foul balls immediately preceding the single, going with an opposite-field approach as the location of the pitch dictates rather that blindly trying to pull everything. Finally and most importantly, Wells recognized his barrel was underneath those two foul balls, so he made the mid-AB adjustment that allowed him to raise his swing path to the elevated heater. It’s these kind of mechanical adjustments both month-to-month and pitch-to-pitch that make me confident that this productive version of Wells is here to stay.

The Dodgers flipped their rotation order slightly for the last two games of the homestand, with Tarik Skubal pitching Tuesday on four days rest, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Wednesday before the Thursday off day.

“I know Mark [Prior, pitching coach] talked it out with both guys, but I don’t know exactly what the details are,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters Monday at Dodger Stadium.

The obvious reason seems like it’s simply acknowledging that this the order the Dodgers would prefer to use in October, with Skubal in Game 1 and Yamamoto in Game 2. In a best-of-7 series, the Game 1 starter is lined up for Game 5 on four days rest. The Dodgers have yet to start their Japanese ace on fewer than five days rest at any point in his three seasons with the team, though his World Series heroics in relief on zero days rest last year is duly noted.

There’s also lining things up for October, while playing the remaining 18 games on the schedule.

Roberts on Monday also said the Dodgers will need to fill a few starts down the stretch. Emmet Sheehan after his fantastic effort on Monday will get another start on Sunday in Miami. Roki Sasaki is close to being activated off the injured list too, but it’s just a matter of when to slot him back in.

If the Dodgers get the No. 1 or No. 2 seed, they get a bye into the National League Division Series, which earns them five days off before a Saturday, October 3 start to their postseason. But if they are the No. 3 seed, they’ll have to play the wild card round, which starts on Tuesday, September 29.

The Dodgers enter Tuesday a game and a half behind the Milwaukee Brewers for the No. 1 see, and two games up on the Atlanta Braves for the No. 2 seed. They do not have the tiebreaker with either team, so will need to beat them outright.

With Sheehan going Sunday in Miami, the Dodgers could start Skubal next Monday, September 14 on five days rest, then twice on four days rest (September 19, 24) to keep him available for Game 1 of a wild card series on September 29. But that feels aggressive. They could also slot Sasaki in next Monday and start Skubal and Yamamoto in order once a week three more times, keeping them available for either a wild card series or with time for a tuneup in between the final week of the regular season and October 3-4 in the Division Series.

This week is pretty set, but there is flexibility in the final two weeks to pretty much do whatever they want. Keep in mind that Justin Wrobleski could fill in with a bulk effort, Bobby Miller could do the same during the final week after his 15 days on optional assignment are up, and that the Dodgers will probably want to have Sasaki pitch in relief at some point before October given that that will be his role in the postseason.

Here’s what a rest-of-the-season rotation could look like for the Dodgers, with all the caveats above.

Tuesday game info

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

Alek Thomas was the odd man out in the Dodgers outfield last week, when he was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on September 1, then was designated for assignment on Saturday to make room for Bobby Miller’s return to the 40-man roster.

Now both are back with Oklahoma City, as Miller was optioned to Triple-A on Monday and Thomas on Tuesday was sent outright to the Comets after clearing waivers.

Acquired by trade after the Arizona Diamondbacks designated him for assignment in May, Thomas was called up to the Dodgers on August 22 to fill in after Andy Pages broke his left hand. Thomas started in center field in five of the seven games for which he was active, and had an RBI hit in each of his first three games, totaling four hits in 19 at-bats with a double and a walk, hitting .211/.250/.263 in limited duty.

The 26-year-old Thomas homered three times in his first two games back with the Comets and on the season is hitting .294/.359/.517 with a 119 wRC+ and 10 home runs in 58 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City this season.