Worldwide Sports News

Good morning folks!

The Mariners scored a feel-good win against the Rockies yesterday with Lazaro Montes’ emphatic blast leading them past Colorado by a 5-4 final. Bryce Miller takes the hill in the middle match today slated for 5:10 pm PT.

In Mariners news…

• Zac Hereth at Seattle Sports wonders if J.P. Crawford has done enough to earn himself a spot on the 2027 Mariners roster.

Around the league…

• The Yankees placed Aaron Judge on the injured list — again — with a calf strain.
• The Nationals officially agreed to a four-year contract extension with young righty Cade Cavalli, buying out one year of free agency.
• Marlins right-hander Pete Fairbanks is set to undergo thoracic outlet surgery, ending his 2026 season and possibly delaying his 2027 campaign.
• The Dodgers have brought back righty Edwin Diaz from the injured list after he missed the last month with a neck injury.
• Guardians star third baseman José Ramírez notched in his 1,000th career RBI yesterday, making him just the second-ever Cleveland player to reach the mark.
• The saying goes, “Don’t make the first or third out at third base.” Ben Clemens at Fangraphs tried to figure out if the data supports the long-time mantra.

When the Detroit Tigers signed reliever Kyle Finnegan to a two-year, $19 million contract last offseason, it seemed like a decent idea. Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg were well aware that their relief corps was perilously thin, relying heavily on Will Vest turning in a fourth straight excellent season. That’s generally asking a lot of all but the most durable high leverage arms in the game. While their efforts to reinforce the pen went very badly, it wasn’t because they didn’t see the problem developing or simply ignored it. They haven’t developed much pitching, leaving them minimal options, and once again, the pro scouting side of the Tigers’ operations failed to identify free agent pitchers that were moving into an uptrend or whom the coaching staff could tune up into qualified high leverage relief help. Kyle Finnegan and Kenley Jansen were central to their mitigation plan, and in both cases, things went very badly indeed.

On Monday, Finnegan’s season came to an early end, as he hit the injured list with a groin strain. In a sense, it was a merciful conclusion to his season, as his trendline wasn’t getting any better in the final third of the season. The Tigers will have to hope he can get himself healthy and turn things around in the second year of his deal. Still, at this point in his career, they’ll also have to have a quick hook ready if things don’t look markedly better for Finnegan next spring, or whenever the 2027 season gets underway. The Tigers certainly have other issues to address, but without much improved work protecting leads, the 2027 Detroit Tigers will probably suffer the same fate as this year’s model no matter what they do.

So let’s try to zoom in on Finnegan and figure out why he struggled so much this year. My initial hypothesis was that work on his slider and improved use of that pitch cut into his splitter’s effectiveness as it abandoned him for long stretches this season, putting pressure on a fastball that is usually average at best, and was much worse this season. Certainly the spike in walks indicates worse command, but for much of the season it felt like his stuff just wasn’t as good either. We’ll see if that holds up to a deeper dive.

It’s important to start out with a clear picture of who Finnegan was as a pitcher coming into this year. While he’d saved a lot of games for the Washington Nationals from 2023-2025, his metrics never supported a high leverage relief role, at least not for a team with a good bullpen in the first place.

From 2023 through the 2025 season, covering Finnegan’s age 31-33 seasons, he racked up 190 innings with a 3.65 ERA and a 4.03 FIP. That’s pretty pedestrian middle relief caliber work. The Nationals just didn’t have much of a bullpen in those years, and as a solid enough veteran with plenty of experience, Finnegan was their best among a lot of mediocre options to close games. It really clarifies things to look at his FIP components year by year. A quick and simple interpretation is that the Tigers bought into a single season of good home run suppression that doesn’t line up with the rest of Finnegan’s recent history, and overpaid for it. That’s the most straightforward explanation, but if we’re trying to figure out if there’s any hope for 2027, we’ll have to look a little deeper.

Season	IP	K%	BB%	HR/9	ERA	FIP
2023	69.1	21.9	8.3	1.43	3.76	4.58
2024	63.2	22.1	8.9	1.27	3.68	4.25
2025	57.0	24.0	7.9	0.63	3.47	3.12
2026	60.2	17.4	12.6	1.48	4.30	5.42

Obviously, the huge decline in home runs in 2025 was a mirage. Finnegan regressed right back to his previous numbers, and that’s a pretty bad sign for 2027. Things go much deeper though, as his strikeout and walk numbers were atrocious, and the worst of his recent career.

Simply looking at pitch values, the big culprit was Finnegan’s fastball, which was far worse this season. His slider was used a lot more, but its value declined a bit, while his splitter mostly held up. That’s a bit deceiving though, as he threw it a little less (-5.5 percent from 2025), while the whiff rate on it declined from a strong 37.3 whiff rate in 2025 to a still solid but worse 31.9 mark in 2026. Even so, Finnegan used his fastball less and his velocity held up, and yet it was mauled for a .444 wOBA and a .225 ISO. Whenever he didn’t quite have the confidence to command the splitter-slider combo, he leaned into the fourseamer and got routinely hammered.

And yet, the fourseamer looked much the same as well. His 6.6 feet of extension was unchanged from 2025. He actually averaged 17.7 inches of induced vertical break (IVB), which is essentially riding action on the pitch, compared to 17.1 IVB last year. Somehow, with basically the same fastball, he produced a .299 wOBA, and a .152 ISO against the heater in 2025.

Below are Finnegan’s fastball heatmaps for 2025, and then 2026 below.

That may tell the tale as much as anything. Finnegan simply threw far more fourseamers right down the middle in 2026 (bottom image) instead of pounding the top of the zone like he did in 2025. His IVB is pretty average, and his 96.2 mph average is also pretty par for the course for major league relievers these days. But, when he was spotting the fourseamer more effectively, he was still a solid reliever. This year? Gas can city.

The issue with trying to be optimistic here is that Finnegan just turned 35 years old. That’s not outrageously old for a reliever, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if high leverage relief work just wore on him more this season. Fatigue from slower recovery can certainly show up in fastball command, and it’s not as though Finnegan was known as a guy with high end command in the first place. Not too many guys get better beyond the age of 35.

It certainly doesn’t help when the the guys around you aren’t pitching well either, because suddenly the fine line that A.J. Hinch and Chris Fetter have walked in recent years with Will Vest and otherwise a batch of pretty unimposing bullpen arms dependent on matchups and optimal usage, falls apart. Once your bullpen is out of order, as the Tigers was for much of the season but most particularly in May, the effects cascade unless you have a really dominant reliever or two to act as stoppers, or a true ace who can routinely pitch into the seventh inning.

None of this is going to inspire any joy from readers about the Tigers owing Finnegan $8 million for 2027. Pro scouting continues to be a real blind spot for the Scott Harrs-Jeff Greenberg front office, and they aren’t going to get a do-over with a clean slate next year. Finnegan is on the books, and so he’s going to come to camp and pitch in the bullpen on Opening Day, unless injury interferes.

Nothing found in Finnegan’s season numbers suggests that this is a pitch mix issue, or ever really a major issue with the splitter and slider. Neither is a big time weapon, but both were reasonably effect when he was in command of them this season, and the work on the slider is still in progress and could bear a little better fruit in 2027. But turning things around next year is going to rely on Finnegan getting his fastball command back in form, and whether he can or not is really anyone’s guess. All he can really do is try to get into optimal shape coming into the season and hope that helps, but visually at least, there doesn’t appear to be much meat left on the bone for him in terms of conditioning.

Hopefully, Will Vest comes back strong, and the Tigers do at least have Drew Sommers looking like an emerging dominant relief arm. They need much more, and they’re probably still a year away from the farm system restocking them with arms they can convert to relief roles. If Finnegan is in middle relief next year? Fine. It’s a poor expediture of money, but it’s already spent, and he could be effective in lower leverage situations if he can locate the heater more consistently again. If the Tigers find themselves forced to use Finnegan in high leverage situations with any regularity? They’re probably going to have another major problem on their hands yet again.

It’s that time of year when the air cools, the light sharpens, and Max Muncy’s goggled goblin face starts to flood our feeds and stretch across our screens. The birds turn south in September, and Tyler Glasnow pitches his 60th inning of the year, feeling out his release point, just in time for the postseason. 

Friday night’s 8-2 loss to LA followed a familiar narrative arc in which a close game was obliterated late. The Giants and Doogers traded barbs for seven innings. Mookie Betts put LA up early with a lead-off homer. Jung Hoo Lee tied it with a swing off Glasnow in the 2nd. They’d take the lead with a 2-out RBI by Jonah Cox in the 3rd in support of a solid outing by Cesar Perdomo. But LA notched tallies in the 5th and 6th to nose ahead as Glasnow settled into an eventual 10-K night. Going into the bottom of the 8th, San Francisco, and its kids-in-a-trench-coat roster were down a run against a line-up of MLB MVPs, All-Stars, and World Series winners.

 It was a ball game, not a blow-out — until it wasn’t. And the better team did what better teams do.

If it wasn’t apparent before, the difference in personnel between these two clubs became painfully obvious when lefty reliever Philip Abner, 24 years old with 21 Major League innings pitched to his name, took the mound. His task? Keep it close. The players he needed to reign in? Max Muncy and Kyle Tucker, a little down the line: Mookie Betts and Will Smith.

Muncy, with his massive upper-cut has been the most productive of the lot. Tucker is getting paid nearly 60 million dollars to post an OPS slightly better than Jung Hoo Lee’s. Betts has had a career worst year before a recent resurgence, boasting a .700+ slugging percentage over his last 15 games. Smith spent the entire summer on the injured list. And even in this subdued state — these are dudes.

This is where the luxury and privilege of the Dodgers is most evident. Nearly every name in the batting order is circled. There is no pressure to be the guy because there are so many other guys. The LA clubhouse and dugout is garnered with a bed of laurels. Rest, both physical and mental, possible. A well-structured, as well as incredibly expensive, roster means time is on your side. Baseball becomes a very long game stretched over a very long season. Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Glasnow — a trio of key rotation arms without 90 innings pitched to their name, that don’t need to be bothered with the wear-and-tear of the regular season. Endurance is no longer required, only brilliance in short bursts. 

There’s a part of me that feels like that approach is degrading an honorable and unique facet of this sport that praises the dailiness of averages and sustained relevance. The ol’ Dodgers are ruining baseball gripe. Shouldn’t there be a games played requirement, like so many adult softball leagues, for players to be eligible for a team’s postseason roster? Sorry Glasnow and Snell, can’t pitch in the playoffs. Sorry Smith, no catching for you. But while that might scratch some aesthetic itch, it’d take away other indelible and cherished moments in which a player at the end of an injury-riddled, down year hobbles onto the mound, or into the batter’s box, and out of nowhere, delivers. 

For the Dodgers though, it’s never completely “out-of-nowhere.” They have all been somewhere, there, in that moment, late, when man and moment collide, when performance matters most. While they’ve locked up their 13th NL West title in 14 years, a first-round bye in this coming postseason has not yet been secured. They still need wins, and considering six of their last nine games are against the Giants, San Francisco could act as a spoiler. Despite the thirty-something game imbalance in win totals, this rivalry and these games matter. 

The Dodgers have played in games that matter. Experience is what makes this latest iteration of the LA juggernaut so scary. Abner’s relief appearance in the 8th was just the 17th game of his career. Muncy nearly has that many home runs (16) over his postseason career. As much as I hate to think about it, the memory of him and Smith landing devastating blows in the 8th inning or later of the most meaningful game of the season still loiters in the dark alleys of my mind. The stakes weren’t as high last night as they were in Game 7 in Toronto — but when Muncy took a moment to admire the baseball he just rocketed off to deep right-center, you know he saw in it the ball he lifted off Trey Yesavage last October. 

That was the second pitch of the inning. Two pitches later Tucker joined in on the bash. A couple of batters later, Betts and Smith would go back-to-back.

FP Santangelo said it over the radio broadcast: the Dodgers know what time of year it is. For the Giants, it’s the end, a merciful one. For LA, it’s just the beginning. 

Throughout the course of last night’s game, the NESN broadcast intently followed the Blue Jays-Rangers game, telling us that if the Rangers won that game, combined with a Red Sox win, Boston’s magic number would drop from 3 to 1.

I woke up this morning and came across this tweet.

Here are the ways the Red Sox can get into the playoffs tomorrow, per MLB research:
Scenario A: A win over the Rays and a Toronto win over Texas.
Scenario B: A win over the Rays, a Blue Jays loss to Texas, and a Braves win over the Astros.
You got all that?

— Ian Browne (@IanMBrowne) September 19, 2026

Magic Number of 2. Got it. So, not only was the Magic Number talk a bunch of nonsense last night, but now we’re rooting for Toronto to beat Texas tonight, instead of Texas to beat Toronto last night. I should’ve listened to Stone Cold Steve Austin three decades ago: Don’t Trust Anybody.

The Red Sox play at 4:10 today, so if they win, they will have to wait until around 10:00 to celebrate. If the Braves win against the Astros, it seems like they are in regardless of the result in Texas.

If this doesn’t all align today, they may clinch after a 1:40 game in Tampa tomorrow, with the Astros, Blue Jays, and Rangers all playing within an hour. The Patriots also play at 1:00, so you’ll need to set up a second TV. God forbid we see them clinch on the Monday off-day with Toronto playing in Baltimore that night.

When do you want to see them clinch a playoff spot? I say let’s get this done tonight. Discuss in the comments and be good to each other.

Ty France hit his career-high 21st home run of the season to cap a six-run fifth inning to help lead the San Diego Padres to an 8-2 win over the Miami Marlins at Petco Park on Friday night. The win by the Padres combined with losses by the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies pulled them into a three-way tie for the top Wild Card spot in the National League standings. It also allowed San Diego to take a five-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks who lost to the New York Yankees. The caveat to all of that is the Cubs and Phillies hold the tie-breaker over the Padres so even though they all have the same record at 85-69, the Padres would still be in the third and final Wild Card spot if the season ended today.

The Padres were held to just two hits against Marlins starter Tyler Phillips, but he was pulled from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs in the inning. Cade Gibson came on in relief and struck out Jackson Merrill and the score remained 1-0 in favor of Miami. San Diego changed that when the team took its turn at-bat in the bottom of the fifth.

Xander Bogaerts stayed hot and led off with a double. Jake Cronenworth singled, prompting another pitching change by the Marlins. Samad Taylor reached on a bunt single to load the bases but Ethan Salas flied out to shallow center field for the first out of the inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. brought home Bogaerts with a single to right to tie the game at 1-1 before Dustin Harris hit a two-run single to give the Padres a 3-1 lead. Manny Machado lined out for the second out of the inning and it appeared San Diego was going to leave some runners one base. France ensured that did not happen when he hit a three-run home run to left field to put San Diego up, 6-1.

Miami added a run in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 6-2, but the Padres responded immediately in the bottom half of the eighth when Merrill connected on a solo home run to right field, giving him 26 on the year, and giving San Diego a 7-2 lead. Bogaerts, Cronenworth and Taylor followed with three consecutive singles to give the Padres an 8-2 lead as they cruised to the win.

Nick Pivetta started on the mound for the Padres and allowed a solo home run to Augustin Ramirez in the top of the third inning, but that was all he would allow. He completed five innings, allowing one run on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Pivetta needed just 76 pitches to complete his outing and turned the ball over to the bullpen. Wandy Peralta, David Morgan, Adrian Morejon and Griffin Canning combined to cover the final four innings and allowed one run on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

San Diego hosts Miami for Game 2 of their series today at 5:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• Yuki Matsui has been pitching well and gaining the trust of his manager this season and Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball believes he could be ready to take a more prominent high-leverage role in the San Diego bullpen.

• Jason Adam had another rough rehab appearance with El Paso.

Baseball News:

• The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros to clinch a postseason berth.

• The Detroit Tigers scored nine unanswered runs to beat the Chicago White Sox.

• The New York Yankees beat the Arizona Diamondbacks on the strength of a five-run first inning.

• The New York Mets topped the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3.

• The Cincinnati Reds are trying to play spoiler and beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-4.

The Mets continue a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

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Mets Notes

• Francisco Lindor, sitting at 299 career home runs, continues to search for No. 300 after going deep twice on Sept. 12
• Juan Sotolaunched his 26th HR of the season Friday night (No. 270 for his career) and now has 101 hits over 103 games. He joined Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Trout as the only players in Major League history to record 270 home runs and 100 stolen bases prior to turning 28 (per Sarah Langs)
• Carson Benge went 2-for-3 in Friday's win, collecting his 152nd and 153rd hits of the season. He's two hits shy of tying Pete Alonso's single season franchise rookie record set in 2019
• Prior to the game, Carlos Beltrán will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame and have his No. 15 retired

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Today's Lineups

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Rangers 7, Blue Jays 1

• Kumar Rocker outduels Dylan Cease, just as we all expected.
• We were all worried that we’d end up watching a lot of Trevor Williams in this game. And we did watch a lot of Trevor Williams in this game! But in a good way.
• Rocker wasn’t exceptional, by any means, in going 4.1 innings. He did, though, keep the Jays off the board until the fifth, when a pair of leadoff walks led to a run scoring on a one out double by Myles “Turkey in the” Straw which ended Rocker’s night.
• Tyler Alexander got the final two outs of the inning, escaping the jam, allowing Williams to enter the game in the sixth and go the rest of the way.
• If you’re a Toronto Blue Jays fan, aren’t you a little panicked about Dylan Cease right now? His velocity in this game was down 3-4 mph compared to normal, and he threw only 36 strikes in 74 pitches. He’s in the first year of the Strasburg deal — 7 years, $175 million — and this sort of dramatic dropoff has to have you wondering if there’s something physically wrong with him.
• The Rangers took advantage of Cease’s ineffectiveness, to an extent. Probably not as much as they could have, or as we would have liked — and when the Jays had the tying run at the plate in the fifth I was sitting there thinking about the missed opportunities to put up a bunch more runs — but it all worked out.
• The Rangers drew a season-high ten walks in the game, six of which were issued by Cease.
• Three of those were by Wyatt Langford, who also had a pair of hits and a stolen base, and hey, if Wyatt is about to start going off again, the timing couldn’t be better.
• Corey Seager also stole a base, on a straight steal of second, just his second of the season.
• Everyone in the starting lineup had either a hit or a walk in the game. The only player besides Langford who had a multi-hit night was everyone’s favorite utility infielder, Nicky Lopez.
• I know everyone likes talking about Skip Schumaker’s pinch hitting strategeries. With the Rangers up 4-0 in the bottom of the third, bases loaded, two outs, Cease was lifted for Brendan Cellucci, a lefty, with Evan Carter due up.
• Carter struck out on four pitches, and looked especially pitiful in doing so, resulting in no runs scoring in the inning. Dave Raymond and Mike Bascik discussed whether Schumaker should have gone with Justin Foscue as a pinch hitter, in an effort to put the game away.
• My inclination is that, with a four run lead, in the third inning, you probably don’t want to lift your excellent defensive center fielder for a pinch hitter, resulting in a bunch of moving parts that weakens your defense the rest of the game.
• But man, I wish Evan weren’t so ass against lefties.
• Houston lost, so the Rangers are tied for first in the A.L. West, though effectively a game back. The Guardians won and the White Sox lost, so the Rangers are a game back of Chicago in the Wild Card, but effectively two back. Texas is up one (effectively up two) on the Jays in the Wild Card, and up two (effectively up three) on the Orioles, who lost.
• We’re still in the mix! This is exciting!
• Kumar Rocker hit 95.7 on his sinker, averaging 94.1 mph, and 95.4 mph on his fastball, averaging 94.6 mph. Tyler Alexander’s fastball reached 91.4 mph. Trevor Williams topped out at 91.8 mph with his fastball.
• Corey Seager had a 107.2 mph double and a 105.6 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 107.1 mph double. Nicky Lopez had a 100.1 mph fly out.
• Now to get back above .500.

Oklahoma City’s postseason slot is secured so the remainder of this week is just playing out the string. But the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate picked up two wins on Friday over the El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), first finishing up a game suspended by rain then playing a seven-inning contest to complete the pseudo doubleheader.

Thursday’s game was suspended after four innings in a 5-5 tie, which was resumed on Friday. By the bottom of the sixth inning, rehabbing Dodgers pitcher Jake Cousins was tasked to pitch with a 7-5 lead. But Cousins made only one pitch before grabbing his leg and walking off the mound and into the dugout alongside a team trainer.

The 32-year-old Cousins, who signed with the Dodgers just before opening day and spent the year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery last June, pitched in five rehab games in September with Oklahoma City before Friday. In total he’s allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings, with more walks (five) than strikeouts (four), with four of those runs coming on Tuesday at El Paso.

Player of the day

Alex Thomas reached base a total of eight times in nine trips to the plate in the two games, with a triple, two singles, and two walks in the first game, followed by two doubles and a walk in the nightcap. The center fielder scored four runs in the two games, and drove in a pair.

Alek Thomas triples in two more! pic.twitter.com/WSkYiMmcHd

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) September 19, 2026

Honorable mention goes to first baseman Matt Gorski, who drove in seven runs in the two games with a home run, two doubles, and a single.

Zach Ehrhard had four hits, including two doubles, and scored four runs in the two games.

Transactions

Triple-A: Pitcher Landon Knack was optioned back to Triple-A one day after pitching four scoreless innings to earn the win in the Dodgers’ division clincher.

Friday scores

Oklahoma City 14, El Paso 7 (resumption of suspended Thursday game)

Oklahoma City 4, El Paso 3

Saturday schedule

5:35 p.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Cole Irvin) at El Paso (JP Sears)

I’m going to start this recap of the Cubs’ 6-4 loss to the Reds Friday evening in an unusual manner — a stat from BCB’s JohnW53:

Clay Holmes walked five. He had walked at least that many in only two of his previous 51 career starts, both with the Mets, both vs. the Braves, both last year: six in 4.2 innings, then five in 3.2.

Right there is the difference in the game. Four of the five walks scored, including two in the Reds’ decisive three-run sixth inning.

The other walk that scored was to Elly De La Cruz in the first inning, right after Carlos Jorge had led off with a triple. Then De La Cruz stole second, which turned out to be important, because that allowed him to take third when a sacrifice fly scored Jorge. De La Cruz then scored when Nico Hoerner couldn’t handle a ground ball.

The Cubs got one of those runs back in the second. With one out, Nico singled and went to third on a single by Michael Conforto. This single by Carson Kelly scored Hoerner [VIDEO].

The Cubs then loaded the bases when Dansby Swanson walked. There’s only one out here. But Chase Burns struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki to end the inning.

The Cubs then tied the game in the top of the third. With two out, Ian Happ homered, his 24th [VIDEO].

For Happ, that was the 198th homer of his career. That ties him with Hank Sauer for 10th place on the all-time Cubs home run list.

In the bottom of the third, yet another Holmes walk, to Jorge, began the inning. De La Cruz singled Jorge to third. Sal Stewart hit into a double play, but Jorge scored to give the Reds a 3-2 lead.

The game continued to go back and forth. Conforto singled to begin the fourth and Kelly walked. Swanson hit into a force play at third, and PCA flied to right, with both remaining runners advancing to second and third.

Suzuki singled in Kelly and Swanson to give the Cubs a 4-3 lead [VIDEO].

Holmes and the Cubs managed to hold on to this lead until the bottom of the sixth, when it all fell apart.

Holmes walked De La Cruz to lead off the inning and then an attempted pickoff misfired, with Holmes’ throw getting past Michael Busch. On the Marquee broadcast, Jim Deshaies mentioned that a similar play had worked in the last series between the teams at Wrigley. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t and De La Cruz wound up on third. Holmes retired Steward, but then walked JJ Bleday and Tyler Stephenson to load the bases.

Craig Counsell had seen enough at this point and brought in Javier Assad to face Eugenio Suárez.

In fairness, that’s a very difficult assignment for any reliever, to face a power hitter with the bases loaded. I feared a home run here, and instead it was just a single — but a damaging hit that tied the game

Assad then got Hector Rodriguez to hit into a force play at the plate, the second out of the inning. Could the Cubs get out of this jam still tied?

Well, you know the answer to that, which is “Nope.” José Trevino singled, scoring two runs, both charged to Holmes. I don’t have an exact count of inherited runners scored off Cubs starting pitchers this year, but “a billion” would seem like the answer. (It is obviously not literally “a billion,” but sometimes it feels that way.) The Reds led 6-4.

In the eighth, the Cubs got a pair of runners on base with two out when Kelly was hit by a pitch and Swanson beat out a slow roller. That brought up PCA — could there be some MVP-type heroics?

Well, you know the answer to that, too. Tejay Antone struck PCA out to end the inning [VIDEO].

It should be noted that the Cubs got a scoreless eighth from Jacob Webb, which ordinarily wouldn’t be worth making mention of in a recap like this, but Webb’s been so bad recently that, well, at least that was good.

The Cubs had one last shot at things in the ninth. With two out, Michael Busch walked, bringing up Happ.

Then this happened [VIDEO].

I am at a loss to understand why Busch did that. Yes, as JD pointed out, they weren’t holding him on — but Busch is not a fast runner, and why would you take the bat out of Happ’s hands at that point in the game? Happ had already homered and as we know, he has always hit well at GABP. That one was inexplicable to me.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

Fortunately for the Cubs, the Mets did them a favor Friday evening by defeating the Phillies. The tiebreaker situation got a bit more complicated, though, because the Padres defeated the Marlins. Thus all three teams are now tied for the top wild card spot. Since the Cubs have the tiebreaker over both teams, if they did end up in a three-way tie, the Cubs would take the top spot. The Phillies swept their season series over the Padres 6-0, so they’d get the second spot in this scenario.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks lost to the Yankees, so the Cubs’ magic number for clinching a postseason berth was reduced to 3.

Notable: This was the first game all year when PCA and Alex Bregman combined to go 0-for-10. They had been 0-for-9 once previously, July 18 vs. the Twins. PCA struck out three times. More on that from John:

This was Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 15th game of the season with at least three strikeouts. Seiya Suzuki’s was his 13th. Happ has 11 and no one else more than eighth.

Twelve different Cubs have done it at least once, for a total of 66 times.

PCA had eight such games a year ago, tied with Michael Busch for fourth. Suzuki and Dansby Swanson had 10; Happ, nine. Twelve players did it 62 times.

There are, as you know, times when PCA seems unstoppable — and other times he looks lost, like this game. Fortunately, the latter is much rarer. But the bottom line is that the Cubs have to have better pitching, both starting and relieving. And better RISP batting, as they went 2-for-10 in this game.

The Cubs will look to even up the series Saturday evening in Cincinnati. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Nick Lodolo will go for the Reds. Game time is again 5:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

There are a lot of people here that have created what I believe to be the best Phillies community there is. There may be disagreement – vehement disagreement at times – but there does seems to be a genuine respect for each other.

So, the question for today is: how did you come up with your handle here at The Good Phight? There is no need to doxx yourself if it would mean doing so, but some of the handles I see here are pretty interesting. Mainly, just looking for conversation today!

Your Atlanta Braves have made the playoff eight of the last nine seasons. However, 2025 was brutal. Hold me and let’s never go back to that. We learned a lot, er, maybe not really. We learned Joey Wentz still had something in the summer of 2025, but mostly we learned that a dry October is no fun for anyone. There was a pretty muted celebration in the dugout and clubhouse. So let’s relive the homers until the Braves check off the last 3 from the NL East Division magic number, why not?

Michael Harris II now on an 11-for-24 tear after this two-run shot in the fourth pic.twitter.com/vLfCUATbCg

— Chad Bishop (@MrChadBishop) September 19, 2026

Hey, we’ve been pretty clear about the “pull the ball” stance here at Battery Power. Maybe we should amend this somewhat for Daikin Park in Houston and their Crawford Boxes. They are like 200 feet from home plate, after all. If you’ve ever been in the Crawford Boxes like I have, you’ll know that you feel like you’re in the left fielder’s lap. So surely that’s what Michael had on his mind.

Check that pulse, will you?

Dugout is loving that.

Next up is Ronald Acuña’s rocket. Here he is coiled and ready.

ACUÑA JR. HOME RUN TROT ALERT

Ronald Acuña Jr. launches a 2-run homer to put the Braves up 4-1! #BravesCountry

“Laying the lumber!”@IngramRadio | @BravesRadioNetpic.twitter.com/gKlkNO9umH

— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) September 19, 2026

Gonna beat that chest. gonna celebrate.

I don’t feel that we talk enough about Matt Olson and the historic work he’s doing with his power. And I should absolutely address it next week. But right now, let’s look at the fortieth.

Matt Olson has his second career 40+ HR season! 💥 pic.twitter.com/QzsOZOYIPK

— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2026

Coming this Friday: Taste This Disappointment, starring Matt Olson

Hey, he’s not above peekaboo.

That’s where the ball hit.

After the win, celebrations were pretty muted as expected.

Matt is still annoyed at that pitch location.

Hey, I’m smiling and having a good time even if Matt refuses to show it. Walt Weiss with the last word.

Cheers to more 🥂 pic.twitter.com/OxEUuMz9uP

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 19, 2026

St. Louis pitchers have the second-worst strikeout percentage in all of baseball over the last six seasons. The only team with a worse rate is the Rockies, who play in a home ballpark where pitches don’t break, so really the Cardinals have been the worst team in baseball this decade. This dynamic is not new, as the team has prioritized strong defense and pitchers that can control contact since the Dave Duncan era. 

The highest the Cardinals have ranked this millennium in strikeout percentage was the year 2000, when their 17.7% team rate was seventh-best in baseball. Since that time, their high-water mark has been ranking 10th on three separate occasions: 2013, 2015, and 2017. Here is the league strikeout rate trended against the Cardinals’ rate over the last quarter century.

The homegrown talent that emerged in the mid-2010s gave the Cardinals a roughly average strikeout staff with Trevor Rosenthal, Jack Flaherty, Carlos Martinez, and Lance Lynn (first addition) leading the way. 

This pitch-to-contact approach was obviously intentional to some degree. The Cardinals would load up on sinkerball pitchers and put one of the best defenses in the league behind them. This by itself is going to drastically limit the ability of a staff to generate strikeouts. Across MLB in 2026, four-seam fastballs generate a whiff 21.5% of the time and sinkers only 13.5% of the time. 

The lack of strikeouts was addressed by Chaim Bloom at last offseason’s GM Meetings in an interview with FanGraphs’ David Laurila.

“It’s definitely a concern,” replied Bloom, who succeeded John Mozeliak as St. Louis’ president of baseball operations at the conclusion of the regular season. “It’s not the only thing that matters, but it does matter. Having stuff that can beat people in the strike zone, that can miss bats — both in and out of the strike zone — is really important. It’s hard to have an elite staff without being able to do that. It’s not something you want to chase at the expense of throwing strikes — you’re not trying to put people in positions where they can’t succeed, or stay healthy — but it’s super important.”

Bloom was not given much in terms of resources to find strikeout arms for the big birds, but two of his free-agent adds, Dustin May and Ryne Stanek, were targeted because of their bat-missing potential. Turning over a pitching staff takes more than one year, especially when you aren’t allowed to go shopping in the expensive aisle of the free-agent store. Still, the team has made marginal improvements. Four-seam utilization has gone from 22.6% (last in baseball) to 26.4% (27th in baseball) this season. The team’s overall strikeout percentage has increased from 19.8% to 20.7%.

I was curious how the players Bloom acquired or promoted from within performed in the strikeout department relative to the major-league team he inherited. All pitchers that had pitched for the Cardinals prior to this season have a combined 20.1% K% in 2026. All of the newcomers, including callups, have struck out 21.8% of batters. The difference is not huge, but the new player rate would rank 16th in baseball. Obviously, Bloom does not get full credit for players like Cooper Hjerpe, Cade Winquest, and Luis Gastelum who were brought in by his predecessor, but I included them because I wanted to illustrate the full shift in the shape of the pitching staff that is already underway. 

The marginal improvement at the major-league level is encouraging, but the makeover of the pitching pipeline is truly remarkable. Each of the Cardinals’ four full-season clubs posted strikeout percentages in the top eight in baseball for their respective levels. All four clubs had a higher strikeout percentage relative to the league than at any point since 2015. And this isn’t in the aggregate. Each individual team put together a more prolific strikeout staff than at any point in the last decade. That is bonkers.

Memphis

The average Triple-A strikeout rate trended down slightly this year from 22.6% to 22.3%. The Redbirds staff ranked fourth in Triple-A with a 24.2% team rate. 2026 was the first time since 2019 that the staff ranked above the league average. You have to go all the way back to 2009 to find a Memphis staff that ranked this highly. 

Looking at all Triple-A pitchers to start at least five games at age 25 and under (creative filters, I know), the Cardinals have four of the top 22 strikeout artists in Cooper Hjerpe (34.2%, 5th), Quinn Mathews (29.2%, 12th), Mason Molina (28.2%, 14th), and Jurrangelo Cijntje (27.1%, 22nd). 

When looking at the pitching pipeline, I tend to focus on starting pitchers because of how rarely relief-only prospects end up being impact relievers in the bigs. Jason Motte and Fernando Salas are probably the two most notable who have taken this trek for the Cardinals in the last 25 years. Still, this Memphis squad could very well buck the trend. Luis Gastelum (28%) and Sandro Santana (35.5% in 7.2 IP) are true relief-only pitchers who I would bet on having long MLB careers. Cade Winquest (34.8%) and Hancel Rincon (31.1%) are converted starters that could figure into the bullpen plans next season as well. 

It is also worth noting that the Memphis staff increased four-seam utilization from 30% in 2025 to 35% in 2026. All eight of the high-K-rate pitchers mentioned use their four-seam as their primary fastball. 

Springfield

The Springfield Cardinals made Memphis look like a bunch of finesse pitchers by comparison. The team’s 27.7% strikeout rate was the highest in franchise history and led all Double-A teams, edging out Baltimore, Boston, and the New York Yankees. 

Springfield had a downright embarrassing number of strikeout specialists start at least five games this season. Tanner Franklin (30.9%), Daniel Eagen (30.7%, STL and Arizona), Liam Doyle (30.0%), Brandt Thompson (28.8%), Mason Molina (28.8%), Braden Davis (28.3%), Cijntje (28.2%), and Chen-Wei Lin (26.0%) all had strikeout rates above the Double-A average. To put this into perspective, here is the number of pitchers each year since 2015, age 24 and younger, to make at least five starts in Springfield while carrying an above-average strikeout rate. 

These criteria filter out Yhoiker Fajardo (K rate slightly below Double-A average) and Brandon Clarke (one start) who are both potential top-100 prospects this offseason. 

Peoria

Peoria did not have as much prospect firepower as the top two farm clubs, but still put together the eighth-highest strikeout rate across High-A clubs and the best team rate since 2011. 

Much of the Peoria star pitching power matriculated to Springfield by the year’s end, but Clarke (36.5%), Fajardo (32.1%), Franklin (29.4%), and Blake Aita (26.6%) all carried strikeout rates above the High-A average of 24.2%. As this group was slowly promoted, Jacob Odle (33.0%) and Cade Crossland (29.3%) filled in to keep the strikeouts rolling. 

Palm Beach

The Palm Beach pitching staff struck out 25.6% of batters faced, good for seventh among all A-ball teams. This was the best performance by the Cardinals’ lowest full-season affiliate since 2013. 

The thing that is interesting about Palm Beach is that they put together a high-strikeout staff without the same level of big-name prospects that spent time at the other three levels of the system. Odle was the only consensus top-30 prospect in the system to spend significant time in Palm Beach. Since we have Statcast data available for Florida State League games, I pulled the last two seasons for the Cardinals to see how the pitch mix was evolving. The change in fastball type is quite pronounced as the team rate of four-seamers increased by 6% while sinker utilization dropped by 4%. 

Not only did the club increase four-seam utilization, but the average velocity increased from 92.3 mph to 92.9 mph. The staff could have even more velocity next season as the 2026 draftees make their debuts. Tegan Kuhns had one of the top fastballs in the draft, Dawson Montesa topped out in the upper-90s, and Cal Randall hit triple digits in college. 

Looking ahead

Regardless of what else happens with the Cardinals rebuild, the team is going to have one of the highest-strikeout staffs in baseball in the coming years. The focus from the front office is clear, and the quality of the minor-league depth is unprecedented. With fewer balls in play, the Cardinals might put less of an emphasis on defense. Masyn Winn would lose a bit of his value to the team if the ground balls are replaced by strikeouts. Perhaps Rainiel Rodriguez looks more attractive as a third baseman on a staff that can take care of business without as much help from the defense. The Cardinals might start systematically shuffling out their contact-oriented pitchers (sorry McGreevey and Pallante) as the next wave of talent arrives. Not much is certain in baseball, but I am certain that a pitching staff of assassins is on the way, and I cannot wait. 

Meet the Mets

The Mets snapped their five-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the Phillies. Zac Thornton pitched six innings of two-run ball, and every single Mets batter recorded at least one hit—including a three-run homer from Juan Soto.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, NY Post

Jared Young thankfully seems to have avoided the worst after the collision he suffered on Thursday night, but he has been placed on the injured list, and the Mets called up Ronny Mauricio to replace him on the roster.

Andy Green is pleased with what Thornton has done this year, but also challenged him to work this offseason to earn a full-time spot on next year’s team.

The Mets plan to give Mauricio some at-bats in the final eight games of the season.

Mark Vientos has had a terrible horrible no good very bad season and may get non-tendered this offseason, but he’s hoping to remain a Met.

The Athletic profiled Howie Rose as the legendary Mets broadcaster’s last season in the booth draws closer to its end.

Around the National League East

The Braves clinched a postseason spot and inched closer to winning the NL East with a 6-2 win over the Astros.

Robert Suarez is scheduled to make a rehab outing on Sunday and hopes to make his return to the Braves’ bullpen before the end of the regular season.

Despite suffering a mild right groin strain on Thursday night, Jonathan Bowlan will not be placed on the injured list to preserve his chance of appearing on the Phillies’ roster for the NL Wild Card series.

The Marlins were officially eliminated from the playoffs last night following their 8-2 loss to the Padres.

Marlins reliever Pete Fairbanks will be undergoing the dreaded thoracic outlet surgery.

The Nationals have locked up one of their core homegrown players, inking Cade Cavalli to a four-year contract extension.

Cavalli responded to his new extension by tossing five scoreless innings en route to a 9-1 win over the Cardinals.

Around Major League Baseball

The Padres’ victory last night has put them tied with the Cubs and Phillies in the wild card standings.

A little over a week after coming off the injured list, Aaron Judge is heading right back there due to a right calf strain.

Shohei Ohtani continues to progress in his return to hitting and he hopes to make it back from the injured list before the end of the regular season.

Giants ace Logan Webb is being shut down for the rest of the season due to a blister in his middle finger.

Edwin Díaz made his return back from the injured list despite struggling in his minor league rehab.

Joshua Báez’s season is over, as the Cardinals rookie has been placed on the injured list with a left oblique strain.

The Orioles front office is reshuffling a bit, as assistant general manager Sig Mejdal is shifting from overseeing the team’s analytics department to a new role overseeing “the research of emerging technologies and innovative practices across baseball operations.”

The 200-hit season is virtually extinct in the modern game, and The Athletic explored the reasons why.

MLB.com composed a team of the best players who debuted in the majors this season.

This Date in Mets History

A Keith Hernandez grand slam propelled the Mets to victory on this date in 1987.