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For the 70th time, Major League Baseball has announced its Rawlings Gold Glove finalists, listing three players at each position. Brice Turang (second base) and Jackson Chourio (left field) have been named finalists for the Brewers.

During the 2026 regular season, the Brewers were above league average when it came to fielding percentage. As a team, they allowed the seventh-fewest errors in all of baseball with 72, while playing the second-most innings on the field.

Of course, whether Chourio or Turang wins the Gold Glove depends on the voters. A unique aspect of this year’s second base Gold Glove competition is that all three finalists are from the National League Central. Turang joins Brandon Lowe of the Pittsburgh Pirates and then standout rookie JJ Wetherholt.

Starting at the top, only one second baseman in the NL played more than Turang, and that was Ozzie Albies. Now, fielding percentage and errors are one and the same, as Turang finished fifth among second basemen in the NL as he committed five errors this season, which equates his fielding percentage to .992. Now, the lone category that Turang leads in, and by a decent margin, is dWAR (defensive wins above replacement). dWAR estimates how many wins a player contributes to their team based on their defensive performance compared to a league-average fielder. Out of the finalists, Turang leads the group by 1.1, with Wetherholt in second, and Lowe behind.

Turang is no stranger to the Gold Glove award as he’s been a finalist for the third season in a row, but has not won one since 2024, when he also won the Platinum Glove. While the Brewers have acquired players with multiple Gold Gloves, there have only been two Brewers players who have won multiple while wearing the ball and glove: Cecil Cooper and George Scott. Turang has the opportunity to become the third Brewers player to win multiple.

While the Brewers continue to write history, Chourio looks to further cement his legacy as a Brewers great. If Chourio wins the Gold Glove, he’ll become the first-ever left fielder to win the award for the Brewers. All-time, the Brewers have had four outfielders win the award, most recently Sal Frelick in 2024 as a right fielder.

Chourio will be joined by Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs and Daylen Lile of the Washington Nationals. While comparing the stats to the other left field finalists, Chourio ranks first in dWAR with 1.0. Happ follows with a 0.6 dWAR, while Lile finished the season with a 0.1. While looking at the less complex statistics, Chourio leads all of the NL in fielding percentage with a perfect 1.000, with zero errors committed. Perhaps one slight against Chourio in the voting chances is that he had the six most chances among the qualified players.

The Brewers duo will try to become the 14th and 15th all-time Brewers players to win a Gold Glove. Winners will be announced on November 1st at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Daylen Lile had a tremendous rookie year in 2025. However, he had a really tough time on the defensive side of the ball. This offseason, Lile made a major effort to improve defensively. That hard work paid off, as Lile is one of three finalists for NL Gold Glove at the left field position.

Lile will be going up against Brewers star Jackson Chourio and Ian Happ, who has won four straight Gold Gloves. I think Lile is a long shot to win the award, but the fact he is even a nominee tells you a lot about his defensive improvements. He has always had the athletic ability to be a good outfielder, but now he has the instincts as well.

When you dive into the numbers, Lile’s defensive turnaround is remarkable. In 2025 Lile posted -14 defensive runs saved, -8 outs above average and -10 fielding run value. This season Lile had 8 DRS, 1 OAA and 2 FRV. If there was an award for most improved defender, Lile would probably win it.

I remember last offseason around this time Lile posted a lot of workout videos and defense was the theme of many of them. One even mentioned the Gold Glove as a goal. That seemed like a far fetched idea at the time, but he is right in the mix after a great defensive season.

If I had to make a prediction, I think Happ is likely to win the award. Voters clearly gravitate to his skillset and he had another great defensive year. Happ posted 10 DRS, 2 OAA and 6 FRV in left field this season. By the numbers, this is Happ’s best defensive season since his first Gold Glove in 2022.

Back to Lile though, I think this improvement speaks volumes about his work ethic. You do not get this much better at defense by accident. This nomination came thanks to hard work, determination and a tireless drive to succeed. 

If anything, Lile might have been too hyperfocused on his defense last offseason. With so much of his effort going to improving his defense, Lile fell into some bad habits at the plate this year. However, with his work ethic, I have confidence that those will be corrected. If Lile can combine last year’s offense with this year’s defense, he can be an All-Star caliber player.

When watching the games, there is one area where I think Lile improved the most. That would be his instincts at the wall. Last season, Lile had a really tough time making plays around walls. That flaw led to a lot of balls getting past him and not making tough catches at the wall. He just did not know what he was doing out there.

This season, he had great instincts at the wall. He made a few great diving catches and was good at keeping balls in front of him. There was a catch he made against the O’s in foul territory that really impressed me. 

The play he made here was really similar to a catch he made last year against the Mets. While he made both plays, he was in much more control this season. Last year, he made the catch but had to be removed because he crashed into the wall so hard. He was much more aware of his surroundings this year.

Lile is a player I am very bullish on moving forward and a big reason for that is his determination. He wanted to get better at defense after 2025, and he did just that. With his proven ability to get better, I think he can clean things up offensively as well. Daylen Lile is a very likable and hard working player, so it is nice to see him get rewarded.

On May 26, 2023, I had the unfortunate experience of sitting through a Noah Syndergaard start at Tropicana Field. Normally, Dodger baseball is fun, even in defeat, but this game was an exception. The Rays were getting on base and turning the game into a de facto track meet by bullying Syndergaard’s complete inability to hold runners on.

I even had to double-check my notes, but Taylor Walls stole second and third base on consecutive pitches.

Even with proper lighting on streaming that was oddly lacking at the venue, this game was not fun.

If I were at home for that game, I would have stopped and gone to do something else. It was this game where I coined the phrase “being trapped at the ballpark.” I spent all this time and effort to get to St. Petersburg, FL; I had clocked the game as a loss before I even touched down, and I still felt obligated to stay and watch a one-sided, dreary affair.

This anecdote is noteworthy now, because the Brewers have essentially been able to run at will on Dodger pitching in the NLCS. At the beginning of the series, I figured runs would be a premium.

Runs have been hard to come by for the Dodgers, but not so much for the Brewers.

No free rides

I wasn’t worried about Tarik Skubal or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but clearly I was wrong. But Skubal and Yamamoto weren’t dishing out free passes, either. Blake Snell and, particularly, Tyler Glasnow are middling at holding runners in 2026.

• Snell – 10 steals in 13 attempts
• Glasnow – 14 steals in 17 attempts
• Skubal – 4 steals in 4 attempts (with Los Angeles); 4 steals in 5 attempts (with Detroit)
• Yamamoto – 6 steals in 10 attempts

It’s not 2023-Noah Syndergaard bad, but if the Brewers turn the base paths into a track meet, that favors their style of play.

Snell and Glasnow have to pitch better than they did previously in the NLDS. If they combine for another ten walks over the next 48 hours, any attempt at coming back in this series likely ends before it has a chance to get started.

Turns out, you can now run on Will Smith

Will Smith nabbed ten base stealers in the regular season in 49 attempts, for a 20.4% caught-stealing rate. The league average in 2026 was a 23.3% caught-stealing rate. It’s not terrible, but a far cry from when he caught 32 out of 96 would-be basestealers to lead all of baseball in 2024.

As an aside, for those wondering if Hunter Feduccia would fare better at holding the Brewers’ running game at bay, the answer is probably not.

In 2026, in 59 games with the Rays, there were 37 stolen bases in 49 attempts, which is a 24.5% caught-stealing rate. What’s the problem?

However, with the Dodgers, in 31 games, Feduccia has only caught two runners in 27 attempts. Technically.

One of those was on the last day of the regular season campaign, when Jack Dreyer picked off Scott Bandura with Feduccia never touching the ball.

The other, which is far more relevant to our discussion before Game 3, is that Feduccia’s other nabbed runner with the Dodgers was Jake Bauers of the Milwaukee Brewers on August 14, 2026.

If there was an opportunity to repeat this bit of history, now would be the time.

Recently, a young man from Chicago’s South Side went viral for his feelings about what happens if, or when, his White Sox lose. The sixth grader spoke straight from my soul when he said he would have “no heart for baseball” if the Sox lose. This has long been my relationship with baseball and the Yankees.

Frankly, when it comes to Major League Baseball, if it is not the Yankees, I have no desire to watch. Never have, never will. Call me an old-timer, but I would rather read about the outcome the next morning than try to enjoy another team winning in the moment. Unfortunately, like so many other times over the last 17 years, that means that after enjoying the fall weather until darkness forces me inside, I now have no baseball to enjoy.

This year, with a lockout looming and the longest championship drought of my fandom’s life, the darkness feels earlier than ever. The void that the NFL and betting app commercials are trying their best to fill still feels empty. I have never done a good job of preventing the Yankees’ elimination from souring me on sports for a bit, but this year, I have decided to try an unexpected way to fill the void.

If you did not know, Mike Pinsky is on Season 51 of Survivor. Why would a random man on a reality television show that has been running for over 26 years matter in this context? Well, you see, Pinsky just so happens to be the Yankees’ assistant director of baseball operations.

What is an assistant director of baseball operations? According to what has been released and what Pinsky himself has said on the show, his role involves advising general manager Brian Cashman on roster construction, assisting with contract negotiations, and helping evaluate trade and free-agent targets.

So essentially, Pinsky gets paid to do what we all do right here on our beloved Pinstripe Alley, but with a direct line to Cashman. In an interview with The Athletic, Cashman offered the kind of praise he might give to any player in the Yankees organization, calling Pinsky a gifted person and saying he believes Pinsky has what it takes to endure and win. Gotta love that Cashman just recycled the lines he has used to describe players year after year.

For those who are not familiar, Survivor is a game played on an island in Fiji that combines physical competitions and social manipulation to whittle a group of contestants down to a “Sole Survivor.” The show has really changed from a survival-like competition into something more like a chess match involving immunity idols, advantages, twists, and jury management. That means backstabbing or building relationships so well that people still vote for you to win at the end.

Now, this show is not for everyone, but it does offer a chance to quickly strip away some layers and learn a lot about the players. The show is designed to make contestants uncomfortable and expose their generosity, arrogance, paranoia, patience, and resilience in a foodless vacuum.

The season’s fourth episode airs tonight, and spoiler alert: Pinsky, unlike the Yankees, is still alive. Our very own Mr. October. I am officially locking in, not necessarily because I think this somehow counts as a Yankees win if he pulls it off, but because I want to learn all I can. I want to know what Pinsky will do. How will he handle things? When is he going to reference work and apply it to the strategy of the game he is playing? Will he say the word “analytics”?

I mean, come on, what if he tells us how much the Yankees really depend on analytics in their decision-making? Pinsky has said there are parallels between the Yankees’ management structure and his experience playing Survivor. A fellow contestant compared playing with Pinsky to playing with a sponge, saying he spent his time soaking up information without giving anything back. Call me a sponge too, because whether it is fair, foul, or fruitless, I want to learn more about one of the personalities in the Yankees’ front office and its processes while hopefully being entertained once a week. 

Realistically, I know we will not get Pinsky telling Jeff Probst about the Yankees’ salary restrictions or potential free agent targets. I also realize this sounds like a fan who is so starved for actual team success that they have been reduced to cheering for a front-office suit eating bugs on an island just to feel something in October.

But hey, here’s to hoping other fans enjoy watching whichever team wins the World Series. For me, I’ll support the last Yankee standing. I hope Pinsky has the time of his life and represents the organization well. At the end of the day, this is his individual journey and story, but it’s kind of cool to have a Yankee still alive in October, at least for now.

Earlier today Rawlings announced the finalists for this years Gold Glove awards.

TJ Rumfield was named as a finalist among National League first basemen alongside Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves and Ty France of the San Diego Padres.

Rumfield’s consistent glove work helped stabilize the Rockies infield all season, and it appears as though the that did not go unnoticed by people outside the organization. The 26 year old rookie played 139 games at first base this season, committed only seven errors, and collected six Defensive Runs Saved.

Rumfield faces stiff competition for the award as the other finalists, Olson and France, already have four Gold Gloves between them. Olson leads all NL first basemen in Outs Above Average with 11 whereas France leads in Defensive Runs Saved with 15.

Rumfield is the lone Rockie to have been named a Gold Glove finalist this season.

The winners are set to be announced on Sunday, November 1.

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Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom, outfielders Wyatt Langford and Evan Carter, and infielder/outfielder Ezequiel Duran have been named finalists for the 2027 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards. The full list of finalists in both leagues is here.

Along with deGrom, the finalists among the pitchers in the American League are Tanner Bibee of the Guardians and Jose Soriano, now of the Blue Jays. One would not normally expect a 38 year old managing various physical issues to be a Gold Glove finalist, but then, life is full of surprises. deGrom has never won a Gold Glove before.

Langford is a finalist in left field, going up against Cody Bellinger of the Yankees and Chandler Simpson of the Rays. Langford was +5 in Statcast’s Fielding Runs Value in 2026 between left field and center field, and +10 in DRS. compared to Simpson’s +3/+8 and Bellinger’s +8/+20.

Carter is up against Steven Kwan and Ceddanne Rafaela for the center field Gold Glove award. Carter is +9 in FRV and +6 in DRS, while Kwan is +7 and +17 while playing center and left roughly the same amount in 2026. Rafaela is at +16 and +21.

Duran is a finalist for the utility Gold Glove, along with Jose Caballero of the Yankees and Zach McKinstry of the Tigers. Duran played every position except for pitcher and catcher over the course of 153 games in 2026, with the bulk of his playing time coming at third base and shortstop.

The winners will be announced on November 1.

The Mets have three finalists for National League Gold Glove awards.

Carson Benge is a finalist in right field, Nolan McLeanis a finalist for pitchers, and Luis Torrens is a finalist behind the plate. 

Benge will be competing with Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks and Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs for the award.

In his rookie season, Benge emerged as a game-changer in the outfield with both his glove and arm.

Benge was above average when it came to OAA (Outs Above Average), grading out in the 70th percentile, via Baseball Savant. He was at the very top of the league in arm value (100th percentile) and arm strength (99th percentile).

He also had 10 outfield assists, which was tops among all NL right fielders and third among all NL outfielders (Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages had 14 and Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill had 11). 

Given how poorly Carroll's arm rated (he was in the first percentile in arm value), it's possible the race comes down to Benge and Suzuki, whose advanced numbers were elite across the board. 

McLean is battling with Chris Sale of the Braves and Michael McGreevy of the Cardinals for the NL award at pitcher.

Torrens, who is seeking to become the first Mets catcher to ever win a Gold Glove, is up against Freddy Fermin of the Padres and Gabriel Moreno of the Diamondbacks.

Torrens' defense was elite in 2026, with his blocks above average (85th percentile), framing (86th percentile), caught stealing above average (89th percentile), and pop time (95th percentile) all near the top of the league.  

The last Met to win a Gold Glove was Juan Lagares, who secured the award for center field in 2014. 

The Houston Astros announced today that manager Joe Espada will not return for the 2027 season.

I think this was expected, given that the Astros granted the Seattle Mariners permission to interview Espada for Seattle’s vacant managerial job. The interesting thing, though, is that a number of coaches — pitching coach Josh Miller, hitting coach Victor Rodriguez, first base coach Dave Clark, major league field coordinator Jason Bell, and bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte will reportedly return for the 2027 season.

The Astros are not bringing back assistant hitting caoch Anthony Iapoce, assistant pitching coach Ethan Katz, third base coach Tony Perezchica, game planning coach Tommy Kawamura and catching instructor Tim Cossins. If Iapoce’s name sounds familiar, he was the Rangers’ hitting coach under Jeff Banister from 2016-18.

This is kind of weird. The Astros do not have a manager or general manager at this point, and in the normal course of things, you’d expect the team to hire a general manager, who would hire a manager, who would then assemble a coaching staff. As it is, the incoming general manager and the incoming manager will apparently be inheriting coaches that are already in place and that they will be expected to work with.

I have not seen anything as of yet in regards to who the Astros may be planning on interviewing for either position. Or at least I don’t remember seeing anything about that. It is possible I saw something about it and then forgot, because there’s a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. A lotta strands in ol’ Duder’s head.

While the Royals may have struggled on offense at times this year, defense does not slump. The Royals flashed some leather in the infield this year, and today all four defenders were named finalists for Gold Glove Awards. Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey, and Nick Loftin are all up for the first award, while two-time winner Bobby Witt Jr. has a chance to repeat as top overall defender.

Bobby Witt Jr. won the 2025 American League Platinum Award for top overall defender. He led all American League players at all positions with +25 Outs Above Average. He led all American League shortstops with 71 double plays and Fielding Run Value with +17.

Vinnie Pasquantino was second among American League first baseman in Defensive Runs Saved with 7, behind only Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is also a finalist. Houston’s Christian Walker is the other Gold Glove finalist at first base.

Michael Massey was second among all American League second basemen in Outs Above Average at +11 behind only Jazz Chisholm Jr. of the Yankees and was tied for second in Defensive Runs Saved with 5 behind only Cole Young of the Mariners. He tied Young for the highest fielding percentage for anyone with at least 750 innings at .990, and his 68 double plays were second behind only Young. Massey is up against Young and Chase Meidroth of the White Sox, all of whom are seeking their first Gold Glove.

In his first full year in the big leagues, Nick Loftin was tied for fourth among American League third basemen in Outs Above Average with +6 and was third in fielding percentage for third basemen with 500+ innings at .982. Loftin is up against Caleb Durbin of the Red Sox and Brooks Lee of the Twins.

Winners will be announced on November 1 on ESPN. Here is how Gold Glove finalists and winners are determined, according to MLB.com:

To determine the winners at the nine standard positions, the 30 MLB managers and up to six coaches from each team vote from a pool of players in their league, excluding players from their own team. These votes comprise 75% of the selection total, with the SABR Defensive Index counting for the other 25%.

For the utility position, Rawlings collaborated with SABR to create a specialized defensive formula separate from the traditional selection process.

Here is a complete list of finalists:

American League

Pitcher:
Tanner Bibee (Guardians), Jacob deGrom (Rangers), José Soriano (Angels/Blue JAayS)

Catcher:
Dillon Dingler (Tigers), Brandon Valenzuela (Blue Jays), Austin Wells (Yankees)

First Base:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays), Vinnie Pasquantino (Royals), Christian Walker (Astros)

Second Base:
Michael Massey (R0yals), Chase Meidroth (White Sox), Cole Young (Mariners)

Third Base:
Caleb Durbin (Red Sox), Brooks Lee (Twins), Nick Loftin (Royals)

Shortstop:
Andrés Giménez (Blue Jays), Taylor Walls (Rays), Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals)

Left Field:
Cody Bellinger (Yankees), Wyatt Langford (Rangers), Chandler Simpson (Rays)

Center Field:
Evan Carter (Rangers), Steven Kwan (Guardians), Ceddanne Rafaela (Red Sox)

Right Field:
Wilyer Abreu (Red Sox), Nathan Lukes (Blue Jays), Cam Smith (Astros)

Utility:
José Caballero (Yankees), Ezequiel Duran (Rangers), Zach McKinstry (Tigers)

National League

Pitcher:
Nolan McLean (Mets), Michael McGreevy (Cardinals), Chris Sale (Braves)

Catcher:
Freddy Fermin (Padres), Gabriel Moreno (Diamondbacks), Luis Torrens (Mets)

First Base:
Ty France (Padres), Matt Olson (Braves), TJ Rumfield (Rockies)

Second Base:
Brandon Lowe (Pirates), Brice Turang (Brewers), JJ Wetherholt (Cardinals)

Third Base:
Alex Bregman (Cubs), Max Muncy (Dodgers), Javier Sanoja (Marlins)

Shortstop:
Geraldo Perdomo (Diamondbacks), Dansby Swanson (Cubs), Masyn Winn (Cardinals)

Left Field:
Jackson Chourio (Brewers), Ian Happ (Cubs), Daylen Lile (Nationals)

Center Field:
Pete Crow-Armstrong (Cubs), Michael Harris II (Braves), Andy Pages (Dodgers)

Right Field:
Carson Benge (Mets), Corbin Carroll (Diamondbacks), Seiya Suzuki (Cubs)

Utility:
Mauricio Dubón (Braves), Jared Triolo (Pirates), Ildemaro Vargas (Diamondbacks)

Austin Wells, Cody Bellinger and Jose Caballero are three Yankees named finalists for the Gold Glove Award at their respective positions Wednesday. 

Wells, along with Toronto's Brandon Valenzuela and the Tigers' Dillon Dingler are the three American League catchers vying for the top defensive award in MLB. 

The Yankees backstop may have struggled offensively, but his defense continued to improve this season. According to Baseball Savant, the 27-year-old is in the 92nd percentile in blocks above average (9) and in the 95th percentile in framing (7). While his caught-stealing average (-3) and pop time (1.97) rank low, his work behind the plate while managing one of the best starting rotations in the majors has earned Wells his first nomination. 

For Bellinger, the veteran outfielder is looking for his second Gold Glove after capturing the award in his 2019 MVP year. 

Bellinger is joined by the Rangers' Wyatt Langford and the Rays' Chandler Simpson as the three finalists for AL left field. The 31-year-old led all left fielders in DRS (21) and FRV (8) and was second in OAA (6). 

Caballero will be up against the Rangers' Ezequiel Duran and the Tigers' Zach McKinstry in the utility category. He'll look to be the second Yankee ever to win the award in that category after DJ LeMahieu was the inaugural AL winner back in 2022. 

The Gold Glove Award winners will be announced Nov. 1. 

The Cubs are known as an elite defensive unit and today, Rawlings announced the “finalists” for their Gold Glove Awards for this year.

In reality, these aren’t actually “finalists,” which is why that’s in quotes — there isn’t another election. The players named today are simply the top three vote-getters at every position in the voting that was conducted before the end of the regular season.

Five Cubs are listed as finalists: Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field (one previous Gold Glove), Alex Bregman at third base (one previous Gold Glove), Dansby Swanson at shortstop (two previous Gold Gloves), Ian Happ for left field (four previous Gold Gloves) and Seiya Suzuki for right field (this would be his first, though he won five Golden Gloves in Japan, the NPB equivalent).

It’s a bit of a surprise, but not that much, that former Gold Glove winner Nico Hoerner didn’t make it. Hoerner wound up playing at shortstop in Dansby Swanson’s place this year, and while Nico was still an elite fielder, his defensive numbers were down a bit.

If you’re interested, here’s how the voting is conducted.

Congratulations to all the Cubs named today and I believe there should be several winners here, likely PCA and Happ for sure, and hopefully the other three.

The 2026 Gold Glove winners will be announced in an ESPN broadcast at 8 p.m. CT on Sunday, Nov. 1. Platinum Glove voting will begin immediately after the broadcast on Rawlings.com.