WTA announces ‘major milestone’ in fight for equality
Combined WTA 1000 events to award equal prize money
All combined WTA 1000 tournaments will award women equal prize money to the men from 2027, the Women’s Tennis Association has announced, with the Italian Open and other major events joining the rest of the category in offering the same payouts.
Billie Jean King has often said that she was moved to form the women’s professional tennis circuit after earning $600 for her 1970 Italian Open title while Ilie Nastase took home $3,500 for winning the men’s tournament the same year.
They assigned forward Rutger McGroarty to the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after he was a healthy scratch for Wednesday's season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers.
It also comes after forward Ben Kindel fully participated in Thursday's practice. Kindel is currently week-to-week with an injury that he aggravated during the Penguins' first pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres.
McGroarty played in 24 games for the Penguins last year, compiling three goals and six points. He also played eight games in the 2024-25 season, scoring one goal and totaling three points.
Overall, he has racked up four goals and nine points in 32 NHL games.
He'll now go down to the AHL to help WBS get off to a strong start to its 2026-27 AHL season. He'll likely be back with the NHL club later this year, especially if he plays well or injuries pile up.
The Penguins will play the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Receiving the club’s best and fairest award on Thursday, the player apologised for ‘extreme difficulty’ and says absence was ‘heartbreaking’
Isaac Heeney says he “can’t wait” to continue his AFL career at the Sydney Swans after the midfielder was crowned the club’s best and fairest player.
In a two-minute pre-recorded video to mark the 30-year-old’s third Bob Skilton medal, Heeney voiced his determination to resurrect his playing career after serving a club-imposed suspension throughout finals.
England’s identity under Steve Borthwick is not as clear as it should be this close to the tournament
It was not so long ago that the Rugby Football Union would host an annual Christmas bash. Executives, head coaches, assistants, members of staff and an invitation to the press pack. Mince pies and mulled wine, even a touch of merriment if we were lucky. Eddie Jones would sometimes make an appearance, but the mind goes back to one year when he did not.
To give him his due Steve Borthwick, his assistant at the time, did. He would probably rather have been anywhere else, but one of the more clear-eyed RFU employees, who had long-since figured out that the then forwards coach was destined for the top job, did their utmost to involve him. Alas, Borthwick soon had a long-distance train to catch and hours of in-depth analysis on a laptop ahead of him.
In a year where the (not particularly inspiring) tagline for playoff baseball is “No Time Like October”, only one out of four Wild Card series made it to today, the actual first day of the month. Aren’t we so lucky that it was Braves vs. Phillies? /s
Two games into the postseason and three sweeps later, the Padres, Yankees, and papally-blessed White Sox have punched their tickets to the next round. The swift eliminations of the Cubs, Red Sox, and Astros means the singular scenario for a night game at Truist Park has come to fruition.
Tonight’s winner-take-all game will decide which NL East team will board the plane to Los Angeles for the weekend to play in the National League Division Series, aiming to deny the two-time defending World Series champions their shot at a three-peat.
Doesn’t it feel like it was always destined to come down to this? A pair of divisonal rivals, with fanbases that passionately hate each other, both trying to dispel a miasma of past playoff failures. Apparently, this makes for tremendous baseball for those without a specific rooting interest or stake in it.
Unfortunately, we here at Battery Power are rooting very hard for the home team. And we would do pretty much anything to trade exciting and entertaining baseball for easy and comfortable victories. But if you’ve been following the team this season, you know they like to do things the hard way. So here we are.
The Atlanta Braves will send Ray Kerr to the mound to start for Game 3. Kerr returned to the majors on August 16 after missing two years due to Tommy John surgery and long rehab process. The lanky lefty is capable of multiple innings and had a 1.47 ERA and .600 WHIP in nine games.
Kerr faced the Phillies for a solid third of his 18.1 innings pitched in the regular season. His two outings were as follows:
September 5: 3.1 innings of one-hit ball (a single by Kyle Schwarber) and one strikeout
September 13: 3.0 innings of one-hit ball (a double by Bryce Harper) and four strikeouts
In the latter game, Kerr relieved starter Grant Holmes. The roles will reverse today; we can expect Holmes to follow for the bulk of the innings. A Braves bullpen unit that has been so strong all year faltered yesterday afternoon, but it is likely that all hands will be on deck to get all 27 outs tonight.
The Phillies are in the same mode and will counter with right-hander Aaron Nola. He is their most-rested option, but Zack Wheeler, Game 1’s starter Jesús Luzardo, and yesterday’s winning pitcher Andrew Painter are all also on the table. Closer Jhoan Duran was unavailable yesterday, and his status for tonight is not yet known.
The Braves are very familiar with Nola, of course. He has a 4.50 ERA in three starts against the team in 2026. He last pitched in Saturday for the pentultimate game of the regular season on short rest, lasting one inning after allowing three runs on four hits on 21 pitches.
It would be great to see the team in the home uniforms be the ones to Let It Fly – the leaders in home runs off Nola are Austin Riley with 7, Matt Olson with 5, and Ronald Acuña Jr. with 4.
Welcome to October. Who will shine brightest under the Truist Park lights?
Game Info
Game Time: Thursday, October 1, 8:00 pm EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
Watch: NBC/Peacock
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM, ESPN Radio
Darcy Kuemper’s return to the Kings’ crease could hardly have gone worse.
In Wednesday night’s season opener at Ball Arena, Kuemper surrendered eight goals on 29 shots, including four on the power play, as Los Angeles was overwhelmed by a Colorado Avalanche team that has given it fits for quite some time.
Yes, the Kings didn’t do their goaltender many favors. There were defensive breakdowns throughout the night, and Colorado made them pay for virtually every mistake. But Kuemper’s preseason struggles followed him into the opener, raising an immediate question about head coach Peter Laviolette’s decision to hand him the start.
That decision looks even more puzzling given what happened the last time these teams met.
The Kings were swept by Colorado in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in April, but they were far more competitive than the final result might suggest. A big reason for that was Anton Forsberg, who repeatedly gave Los Angeles a chance to stay in games against a talented Avalanche roster.
Colorado’s power play, meanwhile, was hardly a factor during the regular season despite the Avalanche entering the postseason as the Presidents’ Trophy winners. That clearly wasn’t the case Wednesday.
Colorado scored four times with the man advantage, turning what was already a difficult night for the Kings into a rout.
And while it would be unfair to pin all eight goals on Kuemper, it’s also fair to question why Laviolette went back to him in the first place.
Kuemper struggled through the preseason, and Forsberg had already shown he could handle the pressure against Colorado. Yet when the regular season arrived, Laviolette opted for the more expensive, more established option.
The result was an eight-goal night and a very bad start to the season.
Here’s the bottom line: If you put Forsberg in net, the Kings at least give themselves a legitimate chance to win that game.
Look back at the four-game playoff series against Colorado. Forsberg allowed an average of 3.25 goals per game and, despite the Kings being swept, repeatedly gave them an opportunity to stay within striking distance. Mackenzie Blackwood, meanwhile, gave up four goals in his season debut Wednesday.
You can make the argument that Kuemper had to get the start because he’s the Kings’ $5.25 million goaltender while Forsberg makes $2.25 million. But if that’s the reasoning, fine.
Just understand that when your decision results in an eight-goal embarrassment on opening night, criticism is going to come with it.
Laviolette made the call. Now he has to own this. Either way, the Kings’ goaltending situation has suddenly become one of the biggest storylines of their young season.
The Kings don’t have much time to dwell on the loss. They’ll head to San Jose on Saturday to face Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks, giving Laviolette his first opportunity to respond to what happened in Colorado.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 24: George Lombard Jr. #96 of the New York Yankees avoids a tag by Liam Hicks #34 of the Tampa Bay Rays to score a run during the seventh inning of the game at Yankee Stadium on September 24, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Yankees are on their way to Tampa after making quick work of the Red Sox in the Wild Card Series. It’s only fitting that their next hurdle takes the form of the team that edged them for the division title—just like last year. The Tampa Bay Rays own the Junior Circuit’s top regular season record and likely represent the Yankees’ most significant hurdle for returning to the World Series.
Unsurprisingly, the Yankees fed off terrific starting pitching to sweep Boston. Cam Schlittler continued his superlative season (and his ownership of their arch rival) in Game 1, then Max Fried followed with an understated yet still stellar six innings of his own. But Aaron Boone’s club didn’t need to rely solely on the starters. In both games, the Yankee offense exploded in the latter half of the game to make the late innings as comfortable as a California King after a long day on the road.
With all that in mind, the Yankees are entering this tilt with the Rays looking like a well-oiled machine. They’ll need to keep it up to handle a pesky, modular, and cerebral Tampa Bay team that thrives on the margins.
On offense, this year’s Rays are not unlike the Blue Jays who ended the Bombers’ season in 2025, marking a departure from more power-focused, high-whiff lineups of past iterations. Like that Toronto team, they are extremely difficult to strike out—both their K rate and whiff rate were lowest in the league. They have plenty of contact-oriented bats: Yandy Díaz led the AL with 180 hits, and Chandler Simpson is the ultimate throwback, hitting over .300 with 46 steals and zero homers. Jonathan Aranda blends contact skills and pull power to right field. But they also have their own equivalent to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the heart of the order: All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, whose 42 homers match the total Ben Rice put up this year. Their 104 team wRC+ was tied for fifth in MLB with the ALDS-bound White Sox.
As ever, the Rays’ pitching staff is loaded for bear—one of the few staffs that can compete with the Yankees. They throw tons of different looks at you, from the relentless top-down attack of ace Drew Rasmussen to the bouncy, crafty stylings of veteran Nick Martinez. Trade deadline addition Freddy Peralta is pitching like Freddy Peralta again, and they’ve got Griffin Jax and Ian Seymour as additional options.
For a five-game series, I anticipate Rasmussen (already listed as the Game 1 starter), Martinez, and Peralta in a three-man rotation, with Seymour as their designated long man out of the bullpen. Jax, who converted to starter this year after a fruitful stint in Minnesota’s bullpen, took a comebacker off his back in the penultimate game of the season. Indications from the team are that he’ll be good to go and could potentially reprise his late-inning role or be a “leverage guy.” Manager Kevin Cash demurred when asked for more details on his strategy—no surprise for a team that likes to keep their cards close to the chest.
Then there’s the bullpen, which could add Jax or Seymour to an already talented crew. Closer Bryan Baker, once an inconsistent middle-inning arm for Baltimore, has blossomed into an intimidating closer with triple-digit heat and a nasty changeup. Kevin Kelly has been among the league’s best setup men with a 2.44 ERA in 73.2 innings. Reports indicate that the Rays could welcome back Tyler Wells and Garrett Cleavinger, both of whom have missed time with injury. Add lefty Cam Booser to the mix, and you have a good idea of some of the arms the Yankees will see in the later innings.
The fruits of dispatching Boston early are borne in how the Yankees can set up their staff for this series. Gerrit Cole was the presumptive Game 3 starter for New York—he’ll likely start Game 1. There will then be a day between Game 1 and Game 2, giving an additional day of rest for Schlittler and Fried, who I expect to be deployed afterward. Since there will be a full four days between Game 1 and a hypothetical Game 4, the Yankees could start Cole again if they so choose and reserve Carlos Rodón for a piggyback role in case a starter can’t go deep.
The staggered scheduling of games promises to redound to the benefit of both pitching staffs, who likely won’t run their bullpens ragged with the first three games taking place across five days. As such, the focus in the series to me will be the lineups. Which team can snatch the initiative and give their pitchers a lead with which to work? Who can put up a crooked number—like the ones the Yankees pasted onto Boston—to dent opposing morale?
It’s with that question that we address the Aaron Judge of it all. Judge was vocal about his desire to play in the Wild Card Series, but ultimately was left off the roster. Instead, Giancarlo Stanton was given a spot, though he went unused. The full nature of Judge’s quad strain is still a little iffy, but bringing him back was wishful thinking against Boston, and I believe will be wishful thinking against Tampa, too. At any rate, this lineup has been clicking—which gives Boone every excuse to wait until they’re confident Judge can be his fully healthy self, rather than the limited version which probably couldn’t play the outfield as it stands. I expect the Yankees will not bring Judge onto the ALDS roster—and if they do, he will see limited playing time, if any.
For the best-of-three series with Boston, the Yankees got aggressive with their roster, constructing a super-bench and bringing only ten pitchers. With a best-of-five series on the horizon, the Yankees will probably add another arm or two, but I expect them to continue to carry a deep bench, especially if Judge remains sidelined. Boone was able to roll out two very different-looking lineups against Boston, and both produced. Just as the Rays thrive on changing things up and preventing their opponent from getting comfortable, the Yankees can and should continue to weaponize their depth in the same way.
Whose lineup is better? On paper, you can make a compelling argument for either side. One thing I’ll note, though, is the relative inexperience in the postseason for Tampa Bay as compared to the Yankees, who feature plenty of guys who have become postseason mainstays. Caminero has two postseason plate appearances in his career—Aranda has one. Richie Palacios and Victor Mesa Jr., two toolsy bats whom the Rays have relied upon for much of the latter half of the year, are playing October ball for the first time. Cedric Mullins appeared on two Orioles teams that combined to win zero postseason games.
The only hitter with an extensive October resumé is Díaz—who has a .561 OPS in 26 career playoff games. Past results don’t predict future outcomes, but we have seen plenty of teams with minimal collective postseason appearances flame out quickly. There will be lots of pressure on Tampa to prove they can hang.
One last thing: the last time New York faced Tampa in the postseason, they did so during the pandemic, in an absolutely vacant Petco Park in San Diego. This year, the series starts in Tropicana Field, where a healthy contingent of Yankee fans has always made their presence felt. This could undercut the Rays’ home-field advantage and give the Bombers an important energy source to siphon in the first two games. The Trop is not a beloved building in these pages, but if the Yankees can make it a second home field, the Rays will need to be that much more perfect.
For those reasons, I believe the Yankees will win this ALDS in four games. I think it could stand as another example of how participating in the Wild Card Series can help a team more than a first-round bye—provided they ace the test, which the Yankees did. From my perspective, New York’s pitching staff has more talent, and their lineup more experience. I think these factors will prevent us from seeing the complacent, often sluggish Yankees who bowed out early last October and were vanquished by the Dodgers in the previous Fall Classic. So long as they continue to cash in on their opportunities and mitigate mistakes, they’ll be able to unseat the AL’s top seed.
But you know what they say: you have to play the games. Game 1 of the Divsion Series is slated for Saturday, with coverage beginning at 6:30 p.m. EST.
The San Jose Sharks continue to build something special on the ice in California's Silicon Valley. They're coming off the first winning season since 2019 and have established themselves as one of the younger, more promising teams in the NHL despite failing to make the postseason for a seventh consecutive year.
The Sharks have built their core through the draft over the years bringing in Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa and Igor Chernyshov. They continued that blueprint in the 2026 NHL Draft with three first round picks selecting Ivar Stenberg with the No. 2 pick, Keaton Verhoeff at No. 9 and Ryan Lin at No. 21.
One of the areas of focus was their defense and the team's physicality. They added Kiefer Sherwood during the 2025-26 season and his impact was felt immediately. They kept on adding guys that fit that mold during the offseason, a necessary move especially after rugged Ryan Reaves announced he's retiring.
They added defenseman Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba and Michael Kesselring, but traded forward William Eklund. Collin Graf was another big re-signing over the offseason, inking a three-year extension in San Jose.
Head coach Ryan Warsofsky was signed to a multi-year contract extension with the Sharks, after last season's 34-point improvement. Sharks GM Mike Grier puts a formidable team together. The Sharks are ready to get rolling as the team begins play on Thursday, Oct. 1.
Here's a breakdown of the San Jose Sharks' offseason moves and what to expect from them heading into the 2026-27 NHL season:
San Jose Sharks offseason review
Record last season: 39-35-8, 86 points (11th in Western Conference)
Is the Sharks' young core ready to take the next step and make a postseason appearance?
Sharks general manager Mike Grier has slowly, but surely rebuilt this roster into a team that looks like it can be competitive and make a postseason run. Hired in 2022, Grier has methodically drafted and made complementary moves, whether through free agency or trades, to help improve the roster. Entering the 2026-27 season, San Jose has a roster made up of young stars led by Macklin Celebrini. One of the youngest teams in the league, the Sharks' average age is 24. Veterans Darnell Nurse, Michael Kesselring and Jacob Trouba are ready to help support and guide the young group. The Sharks were in the mix for the wild card spot last season, now they are on everyone's radar to make the leap as a playoff contender.
Projected lines and defensive partners
#SJSharks practice lines, trending toward Dickinson sitting on opening night:
The Sharks aren't a surprise team anymore. They have talent and it's known around the league. The Shark Tank will be rocking and it will feel like a playoff environment. This will fare well for the Sharks as they attempt to end a seven-year playoff drought. Macklin Celebrini will make his first NHL All-Star Game appearance and could even an MVP favorite if San Jose makes the playoffs.
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 26: Edouard Julien #6 of the Colorado Rockies looks on from the on-deck circle during the game between the Colorado Rockies and the New York Mets at Citi Field on Sunday, April 26, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael Mooney/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
No. 52, Edouard Julien (-1.0 rWAR)
The modus operandi for the new front office of the Colorado Rockies entering the 2026 season was to raise the talent level and improve contact abilities. The free-swinging nature of the Rockies’ lineups of the past was an issue that the new leaders were hoping to rectify.
The Rockies made two trades near the end of January that seemed to focus on this goal and then some. One of those trades brought over TJ Rumfield from the New York Yankees, while the other brought back pitcher Pierson Ohl and infielder Edouard Julien from the Minnesota Twins. Ohl ended up as a non-factor in 2026 because of Tommy John surgery, but Julien spent significant time with the big-league club.
A strong start but a sharp decline
Julien’s time in Minnesota was disappointing. After a strong rookie campaign in 2023, Julien’s production declined rapidly over the next two seasons at the plate. Sure, he played well enough in Triple-A, but with other rising talent options for the Twins and his lack of minor league options, he became expendable for the Twins.
The Rockies hoped Julien’s elite contact and on-base skills could rebound and translate to a change of scenery, while providing defensive versatility at two open positions: first base and second base. The 27-year-old made a strong first impression in spring training, slashing .300/.417/.533 in 30 at-bats with 10 strikeouts and six walks over 11 games. It was certainly better than his .158/.304/.211 slash line during the World Baseball Classic with Team Canada, where he still drew four walks against eight strikeouts.
The trade appeared to be even more of a steal as Julien took off in April. By the end of the first month of the season, he was slashing .304/.396/.443 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 91 plate appearances over 27 games. Notably, Julien was doing quite well out of the leadoff spot, and it looked like the Rockies had found a quality option to get on base and get the offense started.
Then the wheels fell off.
Julien hit just .083 in May, going 5-for-61 while making 16 starts. He endured a 12-game hitless streak from May 10 to May 27, going 0-for-34 with 12 strikeouts and two walks. As he struggled, he was moved toward the bottom of the lineup as Jake McCarthy started to really take off.
He rebounded nicely in June, however, slashing .288/.422/.365 and showing off the plate discipline that made him intriguing in the first place. In 64 plate appearances, he drew 12 walks while striking out just 15 times. Unfortunately, he declined sharply again in July, going 5-for-38 across 14 games.
He played just three games in August, going hitless and drawing four walks, before he was designated for assignment and outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque, where he finished out the season batting .263/.394/.375 with 20 strikeouts against 16 walks in 99 plate appearances. As for his line with the Rockies, Julien batted .208/.322/.292 in 88 games.
The good and the bad at the plate
Up until getting sent to Triple-A, Julien was a regular piece for the Rockies. He and Willi Castro split the majority of the time at second base as Castro bounced around the diamond at multiple positions.
The reason that Julien got so much playing time was that the on-base factor was so important for the Rockies. His 14.1% walk rate was the highest it had been since the 15.7% he recorded in 2023, and his 25.7% strikeout rate was the lowest of his career. Despite playing in just 88 games, Julien’s 39 walks were the fifth-most on the team this season.
He was also making more contact than he ever had before, at a rate of 78.0%. On pitches inside the strike zone, Julien had an 86.3% contact rate on a 62.5% swing rate. However, it also meant that he was making a lot of contact on pitches outside of the strike zone, with a 49.5% contact rate on an 18.6% swing rate. The ability to control the zone and exhibit elite discipline is what the Rockies hoped he could do on the regular, and they saw the impact it could have in two separate months. Unfortunately, the wild swings in the opposite direction showed that the contact didn’t always yield results.
Julien has been a groundball machine during his career with a 48.6% groundball rate. In 2026, Julien posted a career-high 50.3% groundball rate. Despite a career-high hard-hit rate of 49.7%, Julien just wasn’t finding results. See, he was elite at making contact on a lot of pitches, but that accounted for a lot of foul balls and weak balls put into play. When he would smoke a ball, it was on the ground half the time and playable for opposing defenses.
He also didn’t benefit much from the platoon system facing right-handed pitching, batting .214/.324/.307 in 84 games.
Julien definitely has the potential for more power in his bat; he hit 16 home runs during his rookie campaign, after all, but he couldn’t tap into that with the Rockies. Of the 49 hits he had this season, he had just nine doubles, a triple, and three home runs.
Offensively, the potential was there for Julien to thrive, especially looking at his Baseball Savant batting metrics, but the reality is that he just couldn’t take his game to the next level like a lot of other players were able to do this season at the plate. It feels as though his offensive stats are hollow outside of being able to draw walks and sometimes get a groundball single.
Defensive woes
As for the defensive side of things, that’s where Julien’s struggles really came to light. Initially, it was believed he would be a main option to man first base before Rumfield made that position his own. The Rockies were also committed to using Castro everywhere they could, particularly at third base and shortstop, to spot struggling players. That left second base primed for Julien to play the majority of his time there.
Unfortunately, it was not a pretty sight most of the time.
There were concerns about Julien’s defense in Minnesota and that is why he got bumped from spots multiple times. He didn’t do much to dispel those concerns in Colorado. In 467.1 innings at second base, Julien recorded -7 Defensive Runs Saved and was worth -4 Outs Above Average and -3 Fielding Run Value.
He could still throw out some highlight-reel plays here and there, but Julien’s defensive tenure at second base was not a pretty sight. His range and arm were not good, and there was a reason that his defensive playing time diminished as Kyle Karros solidified third base, allowing Castro to play at second base more regularly, and Julien served as the designated hitter and pinch hitter more often.
Au revoir?
The intentions behind the acquisition of Edouard Julien were well placed by the Rockies this season. Having a player capable of controlling the strike zone and drawing walks is something that will work for the crew at 20th and Blake. For brief moments, Julien did a great job showcasing that idea.
Unfortunately, his entire batting profile and lack of a defensive home made it more difficult to justify him staying around as the season entered the final stretch. Rumfield also ended up exhibiting the approach so much better over the course of the season as well.
In all likelihood, Julien will be made a free agent when the offseason begins. There is a world where you keep him on as a minor league depth piece, but ultimately he doesn’t bring enough to the table to justify keeping him around. Hopefully he can find an opportunity elsewhere, because there is some sort of potential, but the best thing he did for Colorado was show what a disciplined approach can do for a ball club.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 29: Cam Schlittler #31 of the New York Yankees looks on during Game One of the American League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
It was always inevitable that Cam Schlittler would continue his feud with Red Sox fans and Boston-based media outlets.
Following the blowout 9-2 win on Wednesday night that clinched the Yankees’ slot in the ALDS, Schlittler was easy to find in the comments on the Yankees’ celebratory social media post. The Walpole, Massachusetts native had some choice words in response to some earlier comments made about his career stats against the Red Sox.
Schlittler’s comment, “Wat the 4’s gotta say now,” is a clapback at some personalities from New England sports media personality Jared Carrabis’ podcast ‘Section 10.’
To provide a bit more context, Rusey, one of the personalities on the podcast, previously called Schlittler ugly and essentially useless, even after dominating Boston in the final rivalry matchup of the regular season. He could’ve taken the high road in celebratory fashion on Wednesday night, but he seemingly found that choice too boring and let the fans stay mad.
Schlittler had an outstanding performance to completely shut down Boston in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday night. Pitching through six and a third scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, the Yankees’ ace has accumulated a 0.47 ERA in his first six career starts against the Red Sox. He’s the fourth pitcher in MLB postseason history with two 10-strikeout games before turning 26.
The Yankees’ postseason run hasn’t seen the last of Schlittler, as he will likely take the mound for the second game of the best-of-five Division Series against Tampa Bay, with a chance to start in Game 5 as well should it go the distance. Securing the Wild Card Series in two games allows for an extra day of rest before the Yankees travel down to face the Rays.
Phil Mickelson sought treatment earlier this year for “family trauma and addiction”, his representatives confirmed to multiple outlets on Wednesday.
The 56-year-old golfer voluntarily entered a treatment facility and has since returned home. Mickelson’s representatives did not say when he sought treatment or how long he stayed at a facility.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: Sonny Gray #54 of the Boston Red Sox reacts in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees in game two of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
By now you’ve seen the quotes. After another ugly night at Yankee Stadium, a number of Red Sox veterans expressed their frustration not only with the way they played, but with certain on and off-field decisions.
First and most notably there was Sonny Gray, who didn’t mince words when it came to his thoughts about being lifted after having thrown just 70 pitches in an elimination game. “I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order a third time. I think that’s a fact,” Gray said. “I would have liked to have been trusted in that moment.” (ESPN)
Making matters worse, Chad Tracy’s decision to lift Gray in favor of Erik Miller seems to have soured the pending free agent on the organization as a whole. Gray was asked a variation on a question that every veteran has been asked dozens of times throughout their career: “Are the Red Sox a destination you’d want to return to?” It’s a softball question that, 99 times out of 100, would be answered with pablum about enjoying his time here and wanting to explore his options, and doing what’s best for his family, yadda, yadda, yadda. But in the heat of the moment, Gray offered something else:
When Sonny Gray was asked if the Red Sox were a destination he'd want to return to…
Earlier this season, in the midst of one of the hottest stretches in baseball history, Willson Contreras made it clear that he wanted to finish his career in Boston, saying that he had “found my family.” But in the clubhouse last night he didn’t hold back in criticizing the organization’s decision-making “It’s not enough when you have talent, or you have data, or you have computers telling you what to do, because this is baseball,” he said. “The data is here to help us, but at the end of the day, you’re going to need experience and veteran guys to win games. There’s a lot of stuff that I would like to say, but I’ll stay (with) that.” Asked further about accounted for the Sox’ swing from mid-summer brilliance to fall failure, Contreras demurred in eyebrow-raising fashion: ”I’m not going to answer it because I don’t want to give my honest answer.“ (Justin Leger, NBC Sports)
So what was Chad Tracy’s explanation for the quick hook? “We were trailing, we’re struggling to score runs, and you have to when you get in spots where you’re struggling to score runs and you’re already trailing, you feel like you’ve got to be aggressive and go,” he said. “They’re getting back to the top of the lineup, they got a couple hits against them, you see if you can put it out. And if you put it out, you’re kind of lined up to where we wanted to go. That just didn’t work.” (Tara Sullivan, Boston Globe)
While Tracy’s quick hooks are garnering a lot of attention, the Red Sox weren’t going to win much of anything with the way they were hitting. “Obviously, we didn’t score enough runs,” said Sox Trevor Story. “That’s kind of what it comes down to. We weren’t really swinging it real hot at the end of the season coming into the postseason.” (Steve Buckley, The Athletic)
Naturally, it’s even harder to score runs without Roman Anthony. The Red Sox have struggled to get a handle on Anthony’s injury all season long, and that appears to still be the case today. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly what happened and what the prognosis will be,” Craig Breslow said, while Anthony himself sounded devastated: “I feel sick to my stomach. I haven’t slept much. It doesn’t really feel real, to be honest,” he said. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 29: Cam Schlittler #31 of the New York Yankees looks on during Game One of the American League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Well that’s how you win a playoff series! The Yankees swept aside an inferior Red Sox squad, outscoring their opponents, 17-2, in two games in the Bronx. They are set for a date with the Rays in what should be a thrilling ALDS. However, before we get to that, we get to introduce our first Sequence of the Week of the postseason, Cam Schlittler setting the tone in Game 1 for the eventual sweep of Boston.
We join Schlittler in a packed house at 161st St. and River Ave., the Yankees ace set to throw the first pitch of this seventh playoff meeting between eternal foes. He is the best pitcher in the AL, the presumptive Cy Young winner after posting the third-lowest ERA (1.95) by a starter in a season in franchise history. He owns the Red Sox in his young career and is looking to author another chapter in his postseason biography after tossing eight scoreless innings and striking out a dozen to eliminate the Red Sox in Game 3 of last year’s AL Wild Card Series. The Red Sox offense may have been hobbled by injury in September, but they are not a group to be trifled with, starting with leadoff hitter Roman Anthony. Anthony missed most of the season with a torn finger ligament but returned at the end of August to post a 119 wRC+ in his final 25 games.
Schlittler certainly wants to declare a statement of intent from the first batter he faces, particularly the face of the Boston franchise. Everybody in the stadium and watching the broadcast knows a heater is coming first pitch, the only question is how fast.
We have our answer. Schlittler throws one of the fastest pitches of his season, dotting this 101 mph four-seamer on the corner away and at the knees for strike one. If anyone had any doubts whether Schlittler would be amped up for this start, this pitch is a resounding yes.
With the adrenaline coursing through his veins, it looks like Schlittler has access to a couple more mph on his fastball. He looks to take advantage of this fleeting boost in velo with another four-seamer to Anthony, convinced that he can throw it by the dangerous Boston lefty.
This one comes in at *just* 100 mph. Austin Wells sets a target up and in and Schlittler doesn’t miss his spot by much, tugging this pitch just a few inches inside. It starts as a ball out of his hand and never really deviates toward the zone, making for a pretty straightforward take by Anthony.
After two pitches, it appears Schlittler’s release is better aligned for that outside lane than to the glove side. Anthony showed zero interest in offering at the first pitch fastball called for a strike, so Schlittler and Wells go back to that well.
Schlittler throws almost an identical copy of the first pitch of the game, dotting another 101 mph four-seamer low and away. Same pitch, same result. Anthony is clearly hunting something up and on the inner half. It wouldn’t make sense for him to be guarding against the breaking ball below the zone considering Schlittler threw a fastball roughly 90-percent of the time during the regular season.
It’s been a slightly different approach from Schlittler to start the game, as he generally likes to live up in the zone with all three of his fastballs. That partially helps to explain Anthony’s passivity against the two in-zone four-seamers low, however that approach now has him in the hole, 1-2. There’s no subtlety to the following pitch selection, Schlittler looking to bully Anthony into submission with another heater over the plate.
This is Schlittler’s third four-seamer at 101, though this one catches way more plate than the other two. All the same, Anthony still can’t catch up despite knowing exactly what’s coming, his late swing slashing the pitch foul back to the screen.
Following that foul ball, Schlittler introduces his first wrinkle of the AB. After finally establishing his four-seamer in the zone but above the knees, Schlittler has the situation perfectly set up to get Anthony to chase a curveball in the dirt.
You might wonder why an MLB hitter would swing at a pitch that bounces in front of home plate. However, out of the hand this curveball looks exactly like the four-seamer in the zone that immediately preceded it. Because he has to stay geared up for 101, Anthony is almost forced into starting his swing before that curveball’s downward break kicks in, leaving him no chance to check his swing in time. I’ll admit I was shocked to see Schlittler throw a curveball this early in the game. I was expecting a diet of purely fastballs in the first inning and maybe even the whole first time through the order before using the curveball later in the game as a change of speeds and change of look.
Here’s the full sequence:
This outing was vintage Schlittler against Boston, but with an extra twist that could vault the Yankees ace into truly untouchable territory this postseason. He threw a career-high 32 curveballs to the tune of a gaudy 50-percent whiff rate. It surely confounded the Red Sox game plan against him and they were helpless against the Uncle Charlie for the entirety of his outing. Even if he ups the fastball usage in subsequent starts, the curveball usage rate in this game plants the seed of doubt in the mind of anyone attempting to game plan for Schlittler. Don’t be surprised to see his calling card elevated heater rack up whiffs in bunches now that hitters have to be mindful of the hook.
Though not quite as stratospherically dominant as last season’s Wild Card start against the Red Sox, Schlittler still found a way to silence Boston without his A-1 fastball command. He threw a career-high 117 pitches across 6.1 scoreless, striking out ten to join Bob Gibson as the only other pitcher in MLB history with multiple scoreless starts with double-digit strikeouts against the Red Sox in the playoffs. Needless to say, we are excited to see what brilliance he cooks up next.
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 30: Andrew Painter #24 of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrates with Derek Hill #49 after winning Game Two of the National League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Basking in the afterglow of a Phillies victory over the Braves on Wednesday, I kept going back to something over and over. Yes the in game redemption arc of Bryce Harper was probably the dominant storyline of the game, as was the Alec Bohm home run. Cristopher Sanchez carried them on his back for 6+ innings until he could literally not do it any more, sending the game to the bullpen. That’s when Don Mattingly pulled the Andrew Painter card to help him get through the game.
It turned out: the Phillies may have another pitcher with an elite pitch on their staff.
If we look at the Phillies’ starting rotation and tried to name the elite, 80 grade pitches that are there, one might determine these ones, in no particular order:
But did Painter’s changeup also just join the list? After only one game, one could be tempted to call it elite, especially since it was in a playoff setting when the leverage index was well over one. I’m not sure that I am there yet, but boy did that pitch look elite.
It wasn’t just one pitch that made me consider this over and over. I cannot get over the pitches that he threw to Dominic Smith. To have the absolute stones to throw the changeup as the first pitch is impressive. It ended up being middle-middle, not exactly where one wants to put it, but Smith was likely so amped up about getting a first pitch fastball that he’s miss the changeup by a mile.
Then to back it up with another changeup, this one down in the zone?!?!?!?!
Heavenly lord that pitch is illegal in about four countries.
In that moment, the tying and winning runs on base, seeing Painter rely on that pitch means that the trust he has in it is sky high at the moment. The coaching staff probably has more, better data on the pitch that suggested throwing it to Smith in that moment was the correct call. It perfectly set up his third strike, the ABS challenge that, quite honestly, should have never needed a challenge in the first place. There was quite literally nothing that Smith was going to be able to do with that well placed of a fastball.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 14: Joe Davis and John Smoltz during the 2026 MLB All-Star Game broadcast at Citizens Bank Park on July 14, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/FOX Sports via Getty Images) | FOX Sports via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — The television broadcast for every single Dodgers game this postseason, however long they last, will feature a familiar voice for those in and around Los Angeles. Joe Davis will call the Dodgers National League Division Series for Fox Sports, which begins on Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers in the NLDS will play either the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies, with that wild card series getting decided on Thursday night (5 p.m. PT, NBC) in Atlanta.
Davis will call the NLDS alongside John Smoltz for Fox Sports, with reporter Ken Rosenthal. That’s the No. 1 MLB crew for Fox, which will also televise the National League Championship Series and World Series. In other words, Davis will call every Dodgers game on television this October, no matter how long they last, just like he did in 2024.
Davis called 88 Dodgers games on SportsNet LA this season, right in line with recent years — he called 87 games in each of 2023, 2024, and 2025 — in addition to five regular season Dodgers games on Fox Saturdays. This is the fifth season Davis is on the No. 1 MLB broadcast crew for Fox.
