For a young Spurs team, making a run to the NBA Finals and losing there — at times in heartbreaking fashion — was a lot to process. There were a couple of ways they needed to deal with that, something Victor Wembanyama touched on Monday at San Antonio Spurs media day.
"I couldn't imagine a better motivation," Wembanyama said of losing to the New York Knicks in five games — kind of the classic "Mamba mentality" response.
However, it's more than just motivational fuel the young Spurs need to process, and Wemby understands that. Getting together as a team this summer and working out in Houston — something De'Aaron Fox put together — and in Paris, organized by Wembanyama, helped the team deal with a lot of emotions.
"Obviously, we have to go through some emotions, and you do some of that alone. But it's better to do it as a team," Wembanyama said. "I take a lot of positive things of everything we did this summer. Just being together, honestly, it was amazing. Especially Paris for me, that was really touching, very emotional for me...
"[Dealing with the loss] It's not over. It evolves with time, but I've had a few sleepless nights, maybe not sleepless nights, but hard to find sleep sometimes... But there's just a point where you accept that you have to go through it and you have to feel all of it, and we don't want to hide from anything. So, we're gonna face these emotions. Face the reality that we have 100 games to play [to get back to the NBA Finals]. And this is the reality of it. We're in a great spot. We're very hopeful, very ambitious, and we're ready."
Here are some other things Wembanyama touched on during his media day press conference.
On the Spurs being the hunted now, a team with Finals expectations: "It feels like we're in our place. It already felt like this last year when we were getting closer to the top of the conference. It feels normal. I would say it felt weird not being in that place in the past."
On training this summer (along with teammate Harrison Barnes) with French rugby club Provence Rugby in Aix-en-Provence: "It was a great experience seeing the kind of team spirit they have over there. Very inspiring. The relationships between teammates, coaches and fans. It was so interesting for me. The training in itself was really hard. I think it was really good for the vestibular system and new movement patterns and new ways to develop strength as well. But honestly, I'm more grateful for the experience in itself and how I was welcomed there. I've never been welcome like this anywhere. I mean, I'm not part of the team, and they treated me like I was."
On dealing with his heightened level of international fame, something he said he wanted before he was drafted: "It is too much often, but it's fine. It's all of it. This is not what I work for, but this is a symbol of success to some extent. It's the part that I like the least about the Finals or the playoffs expedition in general. But it's a good sign. So yeah, I still want it."
On him going from the young, rising player everybody loved to one that other fan bases don't like (because he's beating their team): "We're fighting for the top spot of the mountain, and we're gonna have to move people in our way. That's just the way it is. So, I take it as a great sign of respect as well.... Fans will love if you're on their team, and hate it if you're not. It's just the way people experience their own competitiveness. It's normal. I don't have nothing against it."
DETROIT — For the past two seasons, the Detroit Pistons have been trying to prove they belong.
Now, the challenge is proving they can stay there.
After completing one of the league’s quickest turnarounds and winning 60 games a season ago, the Pistons arrived at Monday’s Media Day with a noticeably different set of expectations.
Detroit is no longer the young team trying to surprise people. After finishing atop the Eastern Conference and advancing to the conference semifinals, the Pistons enter this season knowing they will receive everyone’s best shot.
Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, however, isn’t concerned with how the rest of the conference views Detroit — or what other contenders did during the offseason.
“Yeah, I mean, the East is good, obviously,” Bickerstaff said. “The amount of talent that’s flooded the East and the way the teams have been built and put together. But, you know, we don’t really give a [expletive] about what everybody else is doing. The only thing that matters to us is what we do.
“And we know what Pistons basketball looks like. So if we go out and play Pistons basketball, I like our chances versus anybody.”
While the biggest storyline surrounding the team remains the contract situation involving All-Star center Jalen Duren, Detroit otherwise returns much of the core responsible for last season’s success.
All-Star Cade Cunningham and rising star Ausar Thompson remain at the center of it, while players such as Paul Reed, Ron Holland II and Kevin Huerter could enter the season with larger roles. Detroit also added veterans John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince during the offseason.
For Bickerstaff, those additions give the Pistons something they were searching for entering the offseason — more ways to attack opposing defenses.
“Shooting obviously is a big difference for us,” Bickerstaff said of the offseason moves. “When you’ve got guys that have proven in this league that they can carry weight and gravity, people are going to have to play them differently than they did in the past for us.
“Bringing in that experience, playoff experience, and have an understanding of what is it that we’re trying to do. I think that experience along with their skill set is going to be helpful. Their ability to move off the ball, also carry gravity and make teams have to chase us, and not just sit and pack the paint. I think all of those things are going to be helpful.”
That versatility could become even more important for a team that knows opponents have spent the offseason searching for ways to slow it down.
President of basketball operations Trajan Langdon said Detroit’s offseason decisions weren’t made simply with another 60-win regular season in mind. Instead, the Pistons wanted to build a roster capable of giving Bickerstaff more answers when the postseason arrives.
“I think the East is much tougher than it was last year, not only with the acquisition of some players in certain markets, but also returning players that had injuries last year as well,” Langdon said. “I don’t know that any team in the East will exceed 60 wins just because it’s going to be that competitive.”
Langdon said the goal was to preserve the defensive identity that helped fuel Detroit’s success while adding more shooting, spacing and lineup flexibility.
“I do believe we’ve gotten better,” Langdon said. “Obviously, time will tell on the way that we play, the rotations we play, the five-man units that are on the floor at different times, but it was can we create more space, have more shooting, and give J.B. and his staff more versatility, more optionality, different lineups that you can play at different points in the game and in the season as well.”
For Cunningham, the additional shooting should create more space for both himself and his teammates.
“All of those things create advantages,” Cunningham said. “My job is trying to make as many advantages as I can for the team so that we can finish plays and score the ball.
“It’s a huge help, and it’s on me to make sure that I make their job easier as well and getting them good passes, allowing them space to score for us by beating somebody and getting them open shots.”
Detroit’s rise has happened quickly, and while only a few players remain from the 14-win team, several members of the current roster have experienced much of the climb.
Three seasons ago, the Pistons finished an NBA-worst 14-68.
A year later, Detroit improved to 44 wins, earned the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and returned to the playoffs before falling to the New York Knicks in the opening round.
Last season brought another jump.
Detroit went 60-22, secured the No. 1 seed in the East and won its first playoff series since 2008. The Pistons’ season eventually ended one round later, when Cleveland eliminated them in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
For Cunningham, each step — including the painful ones — has helped shape what comes next.
“Yeah, it’s another hurdle, another whatever you want to call it, that really made me look in the mirror and assess myself, assess the team, ways that I can help,” Cunningham said. “We wanted to go further than we did. We had a great regular season, but it taught us a lot as far as what playoff basketball is about and what it takes to be successful during that.
“So all those things happen for a reason and I definitely think myself, but all of us would be better for it.”
Thompson has experienced that climb alongside Cunningham.
The 23-year-old, who signed a five-year, $155 million extension this offseason, is now part of a Pistons core entering the season with heightened expectations rather than questions about whether it can compete.
For Thompson, looking back at where the group started only makes the transformation more striking.
“It’s crazy cause now it’s just me and Cade when we lost all of those games,” Thompson said. “We talk about it sometimes in the locker room, and it’s weird looking back at it. But when I think of it, I think of all the lessons I’ve learned and as a team, and applied those hardships and moved on and got better from them.
“First year we won 14 games, next year we made the playoffs and lost the first round. Last year we made the playoffs, won the first round and then lost the second round in seven. What we learned from that is we have to be ready to play seven games. I just feel like we’ll keep taking it further and defy expectations.”
Those expectations are different now.
The Pistons won’t enter this season as one of the league’s surprise teams, nor will opponents need to be convinced that Detroit belongs among the East’s best.
After 60 wins, a No. 1 seed and a trip to the conference semifinals, the target has shifted.
The Pistons spent the last two seasons hunting.
Now, they’ll find out how they respond when they’re the ones being hunted.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 04: President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto of the Seattle Mariners speaks with media before the game against the Detroit Tigers at T-Mobile Park on August 04, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Kevin Ng/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After parting ways with manager Dan Wilson yesterday, the Mariners announced sweeping changes to their coaching staff today. While pitching coaches Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank will return, the Mariners have now moved on from their hitting coaches with the exception of franchise legend Edgar Martínez, who Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto said would return “in some capacity”, as well as bench coach Manny Acta, and defensive coaches Perry Hill and Eric Young Jr. At a post-season press conference at T-Mobile Park on Monday, Dipoto spoke about the need for a “culture reset” across the organization.
“We need to reset our culture and refocus ourselves on what we need to do to to get back to an efficient, clean, crisp brand of baseball like the Mariners have played for a number of years.”
Some were surprised to see coaches Perry Hill, who has overseen two Gold Glovers in J.P. Crawford and Dylan Moore and will have a third if Cole Young wins one this winter, and Eric Young Jr., who oversaw part of Josh Naylor’s historic back-to-back 30 steals campaign, let go. But Dipoto was especially emphatic on how poorly the team played defensively, and how much that impacted the overall fortunes of the team given a pitching staff that is focused on throwing strikes and putting the ball in play.
“Being a bad defender is a choice,” said Dipoto. “Being a good defender sometimes requires a skill set that some players may or may not have. Our players have the skills to do it, and and for a five-year stretch, they’ve somewhere between a slightly above-average to, in some areas, a well above-average major league defense, and we didn’t beat ourselves. This year we led the league in throwing errors. It was awful to watch, and and it was awful for the players.”
The fault wasn’t just on the players underachieving defensively, Dipoto seemed to suggest, but on defensive positioning that didn’t set them up for success.
“We led the league in the least likely team to convert a double play that we started. That’s not helpful to our pitchers. A starting pitching staff who attacks the strike zone and has the ball put in play is harmed by by the lack of range and positioning our team, and we can solve some of that through more focus, more demanding and challenging practice, but especially in the positioning of those players. That’s something that we, as a scouting advance team, can can provide our players that we need to to implement more effectively than we did this year.”
The defense, particularly, was a letdown, but the overall poor performance served as a red flag to the front office that performance standards once upheld in the minor leagues were slipping. The Mariners model has for a long time been about connecting minor league standards of excellence to the major leagues, creating a pipeline of success with consistent messaging and, ideally, consistent performance. That wasn’t the case this year.
“The performance on the field this year has made us question a lot of the things that we are doing at the major league level, and I will say multiple of our major league players who came through our system have referenced what they learned in player development that that got abandoned in the big leagues this year. And not just the players who came up for the first time, but we have a host of players who’ve come through our system, and they saw a difference. We need to get back to to what we believe is a Mariners baseball process.”
“You can’t be the worst defensive team in baseball. You can’t make the mistakes that we made constantly throughout the year. You need to be better prepared and in line with a process that leads to winning.”
But the defensive downturn is just a symptom of a larger problem with the 2026 team: a lack of accountability, and a slipping of standards, as also expressed by Cal Raleigh in some of his postseason remarks. Like Raleigh, Dipoto dismisses the idea that injuries waylaid the 2026 Mariners, noting the Mariners had fewer injuries to deal with than many teams that were able to play to the end of the season and into the post-season. Instead, the problem was one of passivity and a lack of accountability. Dipoto defined what he sees “holding accountable” to mean.
“[It] looks like culture. It is, what are you willing to tolerate? Are you willing to tolerate less than full effort? Are you willing to tolerate less than full focus? What we saw in mid-season was a team playing with limited urgency and waiting for the water to turn on. And it just didn’t come on, instead of turning it on ourselves. And we saw it unfolding. Our players saw it unfolding. We talked about it a lot as the season went along. And again, it’s where I would count myself most at fault. You can talk about it or you can just go out and do it.”
“Accountability is just a word, unless you are accountable to a standard that is preset. Everybody understands what that standard is, and then we hold ourselves accountable to it. You know, the bigger issue is the standard itself, and that’s on me. The one person who has the ability to to drill down to the bottom, say we are not upholding these standards, we need to do better. I did an ineffective job of making sure that we held one another accountable, because we started with standards and it faded. And that’s not just on our players. That’s on that’s on me. It’s on our front office group. It’s on the staff and and the players collectively.”
“We had a tendency this year to just shrug it off, to [think] ‘oh, we’re more talented than the teams around us. Don’t worry, it’ll happen.’ Instead of going out and making our own thing happen, and that’s that’s what accountability looks like. It’s calling that out in the moment. It’s stopping it before it gets rolling any further. It’s being truthful in our discussion with one another, and for years our program has always been built on truth. We tell the truth with love, and and sometimes you might get your nose out of joint for a moment, but you wake up the next day and you realize that you’re loved, and you’re just trying to help one another.”
Despite Bryan Woo’s assertion that his most appreciated aspect of Dan Wilson as a manager was his ability to do exactly that – tell the truth – it seems that messaging got lost somewhere between Dipoto’s understanding of the standard and the players’ execution of that standard. Dipoto described the hiring of Wilson as looking for someone “who could bring levity to the environment” after nine years of a more severe tenure under Scott Servais, and someone who had built-in trust with the players, which Wilson did. For a new manager, Dipoto was explicit about wanting to look outside of the organization to get new eyes and new ideas about what went wrong this year.
“We will go outside to hire our manager,” he said. “We need fresh thought. We need something new. It could be a shift in programming. It could be a shift in messaging. It could be a shift in language. We’ll collaborate with whoever our future manager is, and and try to find the right person. If that person has major league managerial experience, that would be preferred. But generally speaking, we’re just looking for someone who has high character, growth mindset. You know, has the ability to think strategically in in the context of a major league game.”
“There are a lot of good people out there, and most of what we’ve done in recent years, especially, has been insular, and I think this year’s failure requires that we look outside to find someone who might be able to poke holes in what we’re doing and help us see something that perhaps we’re blind to. Because you know, obviously, this is this has not been what we intended nor what we expected from our team.”
Dipoto says he and Justin Hollander are beginning the process of seeking a new manager – making calls and looking into available candidates – but refuses to put a timeline on the managerial search, saying it will take “as long as it takes.” As much as he’ll have full autonomy in determining candidates, Dipoto also says whoever takes the job will have autonomy in choosing a coaching staff, hence part of the reason for the vast turnover announced today.
“We thought it was important that whoever we hire as the manager come in and have the ability to to have his hand on the wheel in creating his own staff. Handing a new manager [the task of] ‘we want to get better culturally. We want you to show us where we might be doing this wrong’ – with our people, seems to be a very difficult needle to thread. So that that manager, whoever it is, will have the ability to point us in the direction of the people he wants, if we can access them.”
Several players – Bryan Woo and Cal Raleigh among them – have expressed interest in having a voice in this cultural reset. Considering employee feedback during management changes isn’t an uncommon practice in the business world, although less common in the baseball world. Dipoto said this past week they’ve spoken with players – both long-tenured Mariners and those who are more recent additions – but declined to commit to how much players’ opinions will be weighted in the hiring process.
“I will say Cal’s been invested in this for years now. You know, I’ve joked around that he’s like an assistant GM, but we bounce all this off Cal, and he’s very communicative with us. He knows what we’re doing before we do it with player personnel,” said Dipoto.
“How much we will factor their opinions in on who the manager is, that remains to be seen. I think there’s also a danger zone there, but they’ll be in tune as to what we’re doing, and and they will give us the feedback that that is required to make sure that this is a good fit, but we’re not going to ask them to be a part of an interview process. I think that’s unfair. It’s unfair to the candidate as much as it is unfair to to the organization.”
The biggest question fans might as is how much of a culture reset can this be when there’s no change at the very top – Jerry Dipoto, the de facto architect of the team’s culture, will return in 2027. Dipoto – who says he thinks of his tenure in two stages, the first five years and what’s been the second six years – says the team culture is the foundation of the success they’ve seen in that back half of his tenure; the problem is having gotten away from that team identity in 2026.
“For the last five years, we’ve been one of the winningest teams in Major League Baseball. This year, we stunk, and it never got on track. And again, that’s on me first, and I’m trying to find solutions. I feel proud of what we’ve built organizationally over these years. You know, 11 years, it’s two different tenures that I’ve had, and and in the last six years, I feel proud of what we’ve accomplished on the field, if incomplete.”
“This year was an opportunity to take that next or final step, and we just didn’t. And if I didn’t have a job today, it’d be justified. You know, we failed, and again, we’re going to attempt to learn from that failure, and and lean into what I think is a great foundation to build on with homegrown players up the middle, a complete rotation that I think many in the league would love to have, and just reset our culture and refocus ourselves on what we need to do to to get back to an efficient, clean, crisp brand of baseball like the Mariners have played for a number of years.”
For fans hoping for a total teardown, that won’t be the case. It’s a reset, not a remodel. The overall vision remains in place: a team built around a young core of homegrown pitching that suppresses runs and up-the-middle players that plays clean defense, runs the bases well, and can score runs both via the small and long ball. That wasn’t the team that took the field in 2026 with any degree of consistency; towards the end of the season, they maybe checked none of those boxes on any given night.
It was an unacceptable performance that prompted sweeping personnel changes – although notably, not at the top. How fans feel about that depends on if they still believe in Dipoto’s vision and ability, give the financial limitations imposed upon him, to put the pieces in place that can bring that vision to life. The first, and maybe most foundational piece, will be identifying a manager who can bridge that gap between front office expectations and the actions of the players on the field.
ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues officially introduced their 2026-27 opening night roster, submitting their 23-man unit by Monday's 4 p.m. (CT) deadline.
With defensemen Logan Mailloux (hand) and Tyler Tucker (knee) on injured-reserve, defenseman Adam Jiricek (first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft) and Justin Barron (claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Sunday) have made the opening night roster.
Also as expected, Zach Dean and Dillon Dube are the 13th and 14th forwards on the roster.
The Blues will begin the season with three-game road trip against their division rivals, including the Dallas Stars (Friday), the Colorado Avalanche (Saturday), and the Chicago Blackhawks (Oct. 6) before returning for the home opener Oct. 8 against the San Jose Sharks.
Friday night’s game in Dallas will be televised on TNT and broadcast on 101 ESPN on the radio while the final two games of the trip will be simulcast on Blue Note+ and 101 ESPN. Fans can visit the “Where to Watch” page on the Blues’ website for additional information on all broadcasts throughout the season.
Prior to the home opener, the Blues will hold an opening night rally as part of Dobbs Face-Off Week from 3-5:30 p.m. at Union Station. The rally will be free and open to Blues fans of all ages with or without a ticket to the game. The celebration will conclude with a fan march, led by the Saint Boogie Brass Band, down Clark Avenue to Enterprise Center for pregame warmups and the unveiling of the new pregame show and the 2026-27 roster.
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The 31-year-old announced the career move in an emotional post on X on Monday afternoon, writing, “it’s time to move on.”
Tyler Wade of the Los Angeles Angels prepares to bat during a game against the Kansas City Royals at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. MLB Photos via Getty Images
“Thank you, baseball,” Wade said. “You gave me more than I could have ever dreamed of.”
Wade was picked by the New York Yankees in the fourth round of the 2013 MLB draft and he went on to make his big league debut for the club in 2017.
He donned the pinstripes until 2021, when he was traded to the Angels.
Wade went on to play for the Oakland A’s and the San Diego Padres, before he attempted to make the Texas Rangers’ major league roster this season.
In his retirement announcement, Wade thanked all of the teams he played for as well as “all the coaches, staff, trainers and fans who played a part in my career.”
American social media personality and influencer Alix Earle steps out in a head-to-toe Gucci look during Fashion Week in Milan, Italy, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. BACKGRID
“And lastly,” Wade added in his statement, “to my teammates: I’m going to miss the grind, the clubhouse, the competition, and being in the jungle every day with the guys.”
Off the field, Wade was perhaps most known for his short relationship with Earle.
With the 2026 regular season wound down, the Mets have officially turned their attention toward the future.
Their first order of business? According to David Stearns, bolstering their starting pitching.
"I do think it is necessary for us to add to our rotation," Stearns said. "We can do that in a variety of different ways. We've talked about this plenty before -- you'd always love to add to the top of your rotation, any team would love to do that -- over the long term, what we need to do is develop pitchers at the top of our rotation, and I think we are proving we can do that, and we'll continue to do that."
This season, the Mets boasted a slew of young up-and-comers on the mound, beginning with Nolan McLean.
In his first full season with the Mets, McLean posted a 3.16 ERA across 31 starts (179.2 innings), eighth-lowest in the NL, and stood as the only Mets starter who didn't miss a single start. Known for his consistency, the 25-year-old followed an impressive 2025 debut campaign in which he became the first Mets pitcher to earn a win in his first four starts.
Behind McLean lie Zac Thornton, Jonah Tong, and Christian Scott, who are all fighting for a solidified spot in the starting rotation. Thornton, 24, earned a permanent call-up July 12, finishing the season with a 3.42 ERA and 63 strikeouts across 84.1 innings. 23-year-oldTongcapped a strong season in which he bounced between the majors and minors by allowing just one run and striking out a career-high nine batters over five innings against the Washington Nationals Sept. 26. Pitching in the big leagues for the first time since 2024, Scott tallied 134 strikeouts to 47 walks in 110.0 innings, which works out to 11 Ks per nine innings and a 2.85 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Then there'sSean Manaea. Manaea saw his velocity dip during spring training and was relegated to a bullpen role to begin the year. Some success and openings in the rotation bumped him back into the mix, and he flashed a return to form but ultimately faltered, finishing the year with a 4.78 ERA and 1.30 WHIP across 33 appearances (19 starts). It'll be interesting to see what the Mets do with the veteran in the offseason, as he's owed $25 million next year.
While the group has plenty of promise as it now stands, Stearns hinted that he'd still like to a reliable ace to the mix, all while continuing to develop the pitchers currently in the Mets system.
"There are many ways to add," he said. "You can add at the super top end; everyone would love to do that. You can also add players with some flexibility that provide overall depth and length to the rotation as a whole. I do think -- partially through internal development, partially through what we did at the deadline -- we're probably going to have more options in our minor league system going into next season than we've had here previously, which is great."
One worthy target may be lefty Tarik Skubal. The two-time Cy Young award winner finished his final regular season appearance with the Los Angeles Dodgers this year with 10 strikeouts, no walks, and just three hits across seven innings and 75 pitches, 21 of which were swings-and-misses. Skubal, 29, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2026 postseason, making him a perfect fit for Stearns' "aggressive" hopes for the offseason.
"There are points where you are selectively very aggressive in free agency," Stearns said. "This is an ownership group that has proven that we have the capability of doing that. Doesn't mean you're always going to land the player, and I think we've demonstrated that here -- whether it's for pitchers or position players -- that when the time is right, we have the resources and the willingness to be that aggressive."
EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 28: Walker Kessler #14 of the Los Angeles Lakers during Los Angeles Lakers Media Day at UCLA Health Training Center on September 28, 2026 in El Segundo, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers are a franchise adorned in the bright lights, celebrities and stars. And with that comes pressure.
Plenty of players have come and gone with expectations of making an impact and results that left them estranged from the fanbase. This season, the Lakers are welcoming in a host of new additions, led by the likes of Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili.
Kessler, the biggest addition of them all, doesn’t look at the spotlight as added pressure, though.
“I think it’s more of an opportunity,” he said at Media Day on Monday. “To play for an historic franchise, to play for history like this, I don’t really feel pressure. I more so just feel grateful. Grateful for this opportunity and grateful to play for this franchise.”
If the proverbial pressure were on anyone the most, it’d be Kessler, for whom the Lakers traded two first-round picks to the Utah Jazz and are paying upwards of $130 million over the next four years. He comes in as the cornerstone big man alongside Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves. Dončić expressed his desire to play with Kessler on Monday as well.
Kessler comes from one of the smallest markets in the NBA. And from a team that, for the most part, wasn’t focused all that much on winning while he was there, which only amplifies the transition. Not only will more eyes be on him, they’ll also be quicker to scrutinize.
“I’m a big believer in ‘out of sight, out of mind,’” Kessler said. “Obviously [the] fanbase is incredible … but not to get too high when they sing (my) praises. Not to get too low when they’re upset about certain performances. So, for me, it’s best to just keep my nose to the grindstone and just keep working.”
Kessler’s frontcourt mate, Mamukelashvili, is also keenly aware of the grand stage he’s playing on now. Growing up in the country of Georgia, he recalls rarely being able to watch NBA games as a kid. Whenever he could catch one, it was always the Lakers.
Mamukelashvili, like Kessler and Grimes, signed a four-year deal this offseason. The NBA, for a subset of players, is mostly about making it to the next contract. The popular understanding is that with a longer-term deal comes stability, especially for a player like Mamukelashvili, who came into the league on a two-way contract.
He doesn’t agree with that.
“You can’t get comfortable,” he said. “I really mean it. I think the moment you get comfortable in this league is the moment you’re going to find yourself declining. To me, even though I signed a four-year deal, doesn’t mean (anything). I feel like I got to prove every game, every practice, every year.
“Of course it’s good to have years, but I just want to be the guy who doesn’t settle. I want to achieve something in my career. I want to win. I want to be a part of something great. So, to do that, you’ve got to always be on your toes. You got to always be aware of the situation you’re in. I think that’s what got me here.”
Grimes also signed a four-year deal, but unlike the two big men, has experience in a market the size of Los Angeles. He was drafted by the New York Knicks and played his last two seasons in Philadelphia. He admits that, despite the Lakers being a much bigger brand globally than the two franchises, Los Angeles is just a different beach.
“You’ve got to not worry about if you get good praise, bad praise,” Grimes said. “At the end of the day, I’m here to play basketball and I’m here to handle business every single day. You can’t get caught up in external noise. You’ve got our team — that’s the only noise we’re really worried about. Just keep the main thing the main thing and everything will be alright.”
Expectations can be tempered anytime. Anyone who plays for the Lakers is expected to win. Whether or not a player is able to handle the pressure is an entirely different thing. Talking the talk and walking the walk are different challenges.
For now, the newest Lakers look ready to step up to it.
The Buffalo Sabres will not only be wearing their traditional blue and gold home jerseys on home ice this season, but will also be wearing two alternate uniforms for 17 of their 42 games at Key Bank Center and one game on the road. The club indicated last week that the club will wear their black, white, and red “goat’s head” jersey in 10 games, and their new alternate Hometown Remix jersey in eight games.
The games that the Sabres will wear the black-and-red:
The Hometown Remix jersey, is a special edition uniform being produced by Fanatics, has not been revealed at this point. The eight games that the Sabres will be wearing the yet-to-be-disclosed jerseys are:
November 4 vs. Ottawa
November 25 vs. New York
December 18 vs. Montreal
December 28 vs. Detroit
January 16 vs. Nashville
January 20 at New York
February 26 vs. Ottawa
March 4 vs. St. Louis
The first domino fell in the trade market on Monday, as the Toronto Maple Leafs dealt winger Matthew Knies in a six-player deal to acquire winger Kirill Marchenko. The situation in Winnipeg with goalie Connor Hellebuyck is far from being resolved, as he has refused to report. The Jets claimed goalie Clay Stevenson off of waivers from the Washington Capitals to back up starter Stuart Skinner.
ESPN’s Steve Levy believes that the Sabres should trade for the Vezina and Hart Trophy winner.
“I think you want a clear cut #1, for the obvious reason, that a) they are better at stopping pucks, but the other part is that it calms everything else down.” Levy said to WKBW’s Matthew Bove. “It takes the pressure off the coach, who am I going with tonight…what rotation….it takes pressure off the defensemen…they are not worried about every mistake…..I’ve got an ace back there…. (and) pressure off the forwards, we don’t have to score four or five every night, we can win 2-1 or 3-2 if we have to.”
CLEVELAND, OHIO - NOVEMBER 25: Donovan Mitchell #45 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers wait for a free throw during the first quarter at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on November 25, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The only people seemingly aware of what James was thinking during the free agency process were the players he was communicating with. But from the sound of things, not even those on the short list of his final destination knew much of what LeBron was thinking.
“I knew probably as much as you did,” Mitchell said when asked about his thoughts on James signing with Philadelphia.
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Mitchell also admitted that he thought LeBron was going to come back and end his career where it started.
“I think for a lot of reasons it made sense (for him to sign with Cleveland),” Mitchell said. “I didn’t think Philly. I thought if he didn’t come here, he’d be in Golden State.”
Now James is in Philadelphia playing for one of the handful of teams that stand in the way of the Cavs and their goal of reaching the NBA Finals. Former Cavs general manager Mike Gansey drastically transformed Philadelphia’s roster in a few short weeks, placing them as one of the favorites to win the conference.
The Cavs won’t have to wait long to see how they stack up against the Sixers as they open their season in Philadelphia in under a month.
“For us, it’s about moving forward and not really looking back at that,” Mitchell said. “They’re an opponent. The’ve gotten stronger. Not just him, but they have Jalen Brown, obviously [Tyrese] Maxey, V.J. [Edgecomb], [Joel] Embiid, (and) Anfernee Simons coming off the bench. They got a lot of talent over ther. They’ll be a fierce competitor so we’re excited.”
I admit that I didn’t watch as many non-Giants games as I have in the past nor did I really consume much news about the field, so I suppose this feeling of mine is absent many facts, but, it didn’t feel like the 2026 season was a particularly below average run-scoring environment or a strange year in that record. And yet, Rotoworld’s Matthew Pouliot posted some facts to social media yesterday that caught my eye:
Ignoring strike years/2020…
.316 average is lowest to lead the majors ever 45 homers is lowest total to lead the majors since 2014 116 RBI is lowest total to lead the majors since 2014 119 runs scored is lowest total to lead majors since 2014 40 doubles is lowest total to lead majors since 1972
There was also a note about how just three qualified hitters had an OPS of .900 or better, tied with 1976 for lowest of the live ball era. But seeing that trio of 2014s stacked on top of each other reminded me of this 30 Rock joke:
Somehow, Buster Posey and Zack Minasian have made it 2014 again through science or magic. The 2026 Giants look a lot like the last San Francisco squad to win the World Series. So, for comedy and trolling purposes, I took a look at the team statistics for both seasons (ranked by the 27 seasons in Oracle Park)…
_____________
2026
2014
Lineup fWAR
13.1 (20th)
25.7 (11th)
Runs Scored
669 (18th)
665 (19th)
Offense
97 wRC+ (16th)
99 wRC+ (12th)
Defense
-38.2 Def (26th)
+55.1 (14th)
BB%
7.4% (21st)
7.0% (26th)
K%
22.1% (20th)
20.5% (18th)
AVG
.245 (20th)
.255 (16th)
OBP
.306 (23rd)
.311 (20th)
SLG
.400 (11th)
.388 (19th)
ISO
.155 (11th)
.133 (19th)
SB
88 (5th)
56 (22nd)
Singles
875 (20th)
976 (5th)
Doubles
262 (21st)
257 (22nd)
Triples
26 (22nd)
42 (6th)
Pitching fWAR
9.8 (17th)
9.4 (18th)
Runs Allowed
760 (23rd)
614 (6th)
Team ERA
4.34 (20th)
3.50 (4th)
K/9
7.58 (17th)
7.52 (18th)
BB/9
3.75 (25th)
2.42 (1st)
HR/9
1.01 (23rd)
0.83 (5th)
WHIP
1.36 (19th)
1.17 (2nd)
Okay, so, there are really only some superficial similarities when it comes to the lineups and the pitching doesn’t really twin out. The biggest, and most meaningful, difference is in the defense, where this putrid 2026 wound up being, effectively, 9 games worse than the 2014 team just from their poor glove work alone. This year’s team was the second-worst of the Oracle Park era, behind only the Joc Pederson Giants of 2022 (-66.2).
The defense and league average offense is how the Giants were able to get into the postseason, while the 2022 Giants tried to overcome their terrible defense with stellar pitching (20.3 fWAR — 7th in MLB) and a lineup they thought would be quite a bit better than league average (102 wRC+ — 14th). The 2026 squad seemed to be setup to follow a similar pattern to that… but if you’re a mean guy like me who thinks it’s funny to imagine Buster Posey basing his team management philosophy on sitting back and recalling what they did from 2010-2014, then it feels more likely that the Giants said, “Well, in 2014, it was Madison Bumgarner and some guys plus timely hitting and solid defense.” Slide Logan Webb into the Bumgarner role with younger pitchers around him than what MadBum had in 2014 and envision Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Ron Washington-enhanced Luis Arraez, and Devers/Eldridge at first base snatching up all those grounders. And Bader in the outfield running down everything else. It was a perfect plan… for trying to recreate that specific season of San Francisco Giants Baseball.
But, as we know, it didn’t work out. Instead, the 2026 Giants were 18th in runs scored out of 27 seasons at Oracle Park (yes, the 60-game 2020 season is included and, of course, comes in last at 299 runs). Sure, just slightly more than a World Series team, but balanced against that is a team that allowed more runs than the 2005, 2007, and 2018 teams. The attempt to 2014-ify the pitching staff failed completely. They struck out 1,204 hitters, just 7 fewer than the 2014 team, sure, and that was bad enough for that time period (21st), but they were 27th in MLB this year behind only the Rockies (1,113), Diamondbacks (1,140), and Royals (1,173). The team ahead of them? The Cubs, but with 1,260.
In the prior front office’s heyday of 2021-2024, the Giants 8.74 K/9 as a team was merely 16th in MLB. But the past two seasons has seen a steep decline in what’s the coin of the realm in the sport these days — the one big skill that can help out a team with poor defense: strikeouts! Last year, the Giants were down to 8.52 K/9, and you see where they landed this season on the chart above.
Just in looking at this data, a real stinker like me could pitch an argument that Farhan Zaidi, the computer programmer with the allegedly poor people skills and who had never played the game at a professional level before, had a better sense of building a pitching staff than Hall of Fame-bound catcher Buster Posey, guider of one of the best pitching staffs the Giants franchise has ever had. Here are the top 10 strikeout seasons since 2000:
It is a great irony that the top strikeout pitching staff of the Oracle Park era so far was led by Bryan Price. He is a pitching coach from the prior era Buster Posey seems to be harkening back to whenever he considers how to construct his teams. But you see on this list Dick Tidrow & Brian Sabean Michael Jordan & Scottie Pippening a post-Bonds pitching staff along with Farhan Zaidi, Andrew Bailey, Brian Bannister, and a bunch of supercomputers running regression analysis.
The Giants were also far less successful at stymying home runs, too. The 160 allowed is the fifth-most in the Oracle Park era, trailing only 2004 (161), 2023 (173), 2017 (182), and 2019 (227) aka The Last Year of the Competitive Window with Bonds, Gabe Kapler’s Final Season, Bobby Evans’ Final Season, and Bruce Bochy’s Final Season. They also allowed the third-most walks of the Oracle Park era, trailing only the 2000 (623) and 2008 (652) teams.
Not saying that Zack & Buster can’t get there, but this year makes it seem like they have a loooooong way to go in that respect (developing a very successful pitching staff).
But back to the lineup, since this is where the comparison to 2014 really matters. From May 1st through July 31st, the Giants had a team wRC+ of 107, tied with the Tampa Bay Rays. They hit 104 home runs in 79 games. For basically half the baseball calendar, they were as good as any modern team on the hitting side of the ball. We know the injuries put an end to that over the final two months of the season, but you can see how close to the 2014 model this actually is: good hitting backed up by solid defense to stabilize shaky but not terrible pitching. The Giants’ bad defense made their shaky pitching genuinely one of the worst acts of labor ever enacted in the entirety of human history.
The Giants’ emphasis on contact isn’t a bad one, especially if they’re able to handle high velocity. To that point: they ranked 10th in batting average vs. 95+ mph (.247), but just 21st against 97+ (.214). But you can also look at the numbers and see just how devoted to the 2014 project they just might be. On the season, they bunted 67 times (11th in MLB), but 35 of those bunt attempts (52.2%) came after July 31st, when they traded everybody away and started ILing everybody and the offense tanked. Is this a shift in philosophy or simply strategic change based on personnel? It’s genuinely hard to know.
But also, it’s worth pointing out that the Tampa Bay Rays led MLB in bunt attempts this season (129). Second? The Milwaukee Brewers (89) — two of the best teams in the sport doing something most analysts had discounted more than a decade ago? The Giants hit 178 home runs this season (20th in MLB) to go along with all those bunt attempts and (yes, I’m cherry picking), before they lost their entire starting lineup to the IL, they had one of the lowest strikeout rates in the sport, too (6th in MLB through 7/31). It really does read like the Giants put together a lineup that is well equipped to compete in the modern game and it happens to be similar in a lot of ways to the type of lineup that worked when the Giants last won the World Series.
Of course, they didn’t totally pin down what made 2014 work so well. They forgot about the winning. But maybe that’s just my sense of entitlement as a fan and as someone who has watched the franchise sputter and basically die over the past decade (with apologies to that explosion of endorphins that was 2021). But this comparison is interesting to me. It turns out that I was trolled. Maybe everything old is new again, to the point that Buster Posey’s 2010s nostalgia recipe is just what the franchise needs.
In a perpetual rebuild situation, any clear idea is a good one.
Just ahead of the NHL's 5 pm deadline, the Ottawa Senators announced on Monday they have reduced their roster to the final 23 players.
Not many people had Cam Crotty, Hoyt Stanley, and Hayden Hodgson on the Sens NHL roster to begin the season... but here we are.
Crotty and Stanley are likely still here because Artem Zub is now on the injured list, while Jake Sanderson is still not feeling right. Sanderson watched practice up in the stands on Monday morning. Along with Crotty and Stanley, the other six defenseman are Thomas Chabot, Tyler Kleven, Nik Matinpalo, Jordan Spence, and Carter Yakemchuk.
Sens defenseman Jordan Spence says his new situation, which includes a a new contract and a higher spot in the lineup, won't change his work ethic or desire to improve..
Ben Hutton has been released from his PTO, while Jorian Donovan has been loaned to Belleville.
Speaking of the B-Sens, everyone cleared waivers today. So Samuel Blais, Philip Tomasino, Samuel Bolduc, Tyler Boucher, Xavier Bourgault, Philippe Daoust, Ryan Suzuki and Christian Kyrou have also been loaned to Belleville.
Winger Blake Montgomery was still on the roster after Sunday's cuts, but was not mentioned in today's announcement, so it's fair to assume he's Belleville-bound as well.
Up front, Warren Foegele and Kurtis MacDermid are on the injured list for now. Foegele was skating again on Monday morning, taking line rushes on the top line. But neither player counts to the final roster right now. They'll go with 13 forwards beyond them, including Hayden Hodgson who gets an extended look.
That's a good sign that Burakovsky doesn't appear on the injured list. He took an awkward crosscheck in the back against Montreal on Saturday. His status to this point has not been updated by the team.
Ridly Greig will miss the first two games of the season due to a suspension from last spring.
So, here's your 2026-27 Senators roster of 23:
Two goaltenders, 2025-26 team(s):
Samuel Ersson (Philadelphia – NHL) Linus Ullmark (Ottawa – NHL)
Kirill Marchenko trade rumors had swirled since the draft, and it came to fruition when the Columbus Blue Jackets dealt him to the Toronto Maple Leafs right before the NHL roster submission deadline on Monday, Sept. 28.
The Blue Jackets get back forwards Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz, defenseman Emil Andrae and a second-round pick for Marchenko, 26, who scored 31 goals two seasons ago and had 27 goals last season. Forward Miles Wood and injured goalie Elvis Merzlikins also head to Toronto in the tarde.
Toronto agreed to terms with Marchenko on a six-year, $75 million extension with a cap hit of $12.5 million starting in 2027-28, agent Dan Milstein posted on social media.
Here are trade grades for the Columbus Blue Jackets-Toronto Maple Leafs deal involving Kirill Marchenko:
Kirill Marchenko trade details
According to multiple reports, the Columbus Blue Jackets traded forwards Kirill Marchenko and Miles Wood, plus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forwards Matthew Knies and Steven Lorenz, defenseman Emil Andrae and a second-round pick. Columbus retains 18 percent of Merzlikins' contract.
Kirill Marchenko trade grades
Columbus Blue Jackets - B+
This is a solid return for Marchenko, considering he reportedly did not want to re-sign with Columbus when his contract expires in July. Knies is three years younger than Marchenko and is a 6-foot-3 power forward. He totaled 52 goals over the past two seasons and could benefit from a change of scenery. He's signed through 2030-31 at a reasonable $7.75 million cap hit. Dealing Wood and Merzlikins helps the Blue Jackets get under the salary cap after re-signing Adam Fantilli.
Toronto Maple Leafs - B+
Marchenko was the Blue Jackets' leading goal scorer and could put up even bigger numbers playing in the Maple Leafs' top six. Wood has plenty of speed, though he's coming off a disappointing 14-point season. Andrae, acquired by Toronto this offseason, was available because the Maple Leafs signed Nick Blankenburg this week. New GM John Chayka has been busy reshaping the Leafs after their nine-season playoff streak ended.
Elsewhere in the NHL
The Winnipeg Jets claimed goalie Clay Stevenson off waivers from the Washington Capitals. Winnipeg gets goalie depth with Connor Hellebuyck still not reporting amid a trade request.
The Pittsburgh Penguins placed forwards Justin Brazeau, Ben Kindel, Blake Lizotte and Bryan Rust and defenseman Ryan Graves on injured reserve.
St. Louis Blues defenseman Logan Mailloux, injured in a fight, had surgery on his hand and will be re-evaluated in eight weeks.
Defenseman Alberts Smits, the No. 5 overall pick in 2026, made the New York Rangers' opening roster. He played for Latvia in the Olympics, world championships and world junior championships.
David Stearns offered his first acknowledgement on Monday that moving on from the Mets’ all-time home run leader after last season may not have been the best plan.
Pete Alonso delivered 43 homers and an .884 OPS this season for the Orioles, while the Mets struggled to piece together a solution at first base.
In his season wrap, the Mets president of baseball operations was asked if he would do anything different regarding Alonso knowing what he knows now.
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“I think that’s a very fair question,” Stearns said. “The truth is, in this job I don’t get mulligans. I also recognize Pete had a tremendous year and the totality of our production at first base wasn’t good enough, and so now it’s my job to ensure that we have got better success across our roster, but for the entire season, better production at first base as well.”
Alonso received a five-year contract worth $155 million from the Orioles last offseason after the Mets showed an unwillingness to offer a long-term deal to the first baseman.
Jorge Polanco, signed to a two-year deal worth $40 million as Alonso’s primary replacement, played only 37 games due to physical limitations and wasn’t a factor. Mark Vientos also provided underwhelming results at the position before Jared Young emerged later in the season to provide a semblance of stability at first base.
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks during his end of year press conference at Citi Field, Monday, Sept. 28, 2026. Heather Khalifa for NY PostBaltimore Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso tosses his bat after hitting a solo home run in the first inning at Citi Field in Queens, New York, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. JASON SZENES FOR NEW YORK POST
“We try to learn from everything, and I think the entire offseason last year was a learning experience for me,” Stearns said a day after the Mets completed a 74-win season. “I give Pete an enormous amount of credit. He went out and had a really good year. Throughout the entirety of our season our first base production wasn’t good enough, and now it’s my job to put a group together next year that plays better.”
LAS VEGAS , NV - NOVEMBER 13: Mookie Betts carries the Commissioner's Trophy onstage during the MLB Awards presented by MGM Rewards at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas on Thursday, November 13, 2025 in Las Vegas , Nevada. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Eight Dodgers on Monday were nominated for Major League Baseball’s All-MLB teams, an honor that has existed within the sport since 2019.
Fan voting for the honor will take place beginning Monday through Friday, October 9, with that fan vote counted alongside “a decorated panel of media members, broadcasters, former players and other officials throughout the game” in determining first and second All-MLB teams.
Shohei Ohtani is one of six nominees at designated hitter, Mookie Betts is one of 11 shortstop nominees, and Freddie Freeman one of 14 nominees at first base. All five have captured All-MLB honors in five previous years, with Ohtani collecting first-team All-MLB honors at DH in each of the last three years and four of the last five, plus second-team DH in 2022, to go with his two first-team All-MLB honors (2022-23) and one second-team All-MLB honors (2021) as a starting pitcher.
Betts is a four-time first-team All-MLB outfielder plus a second-team honor in 2019. Freeman has two first-team honors at first base, the last coming in 2023, and three second-team honors.
Max Muncy is one of 11 third baseman vying for All-MLB honors, looking for his first All-MLB selection, facing an uphill battle with Rays star Junior Caminero among those nominated at the position.
Andy Pages is the only Dodger among the 24 outfield nominees, seeking his first All-MLB selection.’
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who garnered first-team All-MLB honors last year, and Tarik Skubal, a first-teamer in each of the last two years, are the two Dodgers starting pitchers nominated at starting pitcher this year.
Tanner Scott is one of 20 relief pitchers up for All-MLB honors.
All-MLB teams will be announced during the MLB awards show on November 11, which will begin at 5 p.m. PT on MLB Network.
ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 27: Chris Sale #51 of the Atlanta Braves tips his cap after the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Truist Park on August 27, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It was the day before Postseason and all through the house, there were bats cracking all around as the Atlanta Braves officially got their pre-Wild Card Series workout underway for what they hope is a long, deep run into the Postseason.
There was plenty of activity from the Braves from outside of the actual workout. One of the big stories is that Bryce Elder threw live BP. While Joe Jiménez threw a live BP as well, the idea is that Jiménez may just be doing work ahead of the 2026 season and figures to be a longshot for potentially getting into action at any point before the NLCS. The same goes for Elder, who may also have the NLCS in his sights for his potential return — though his return seems far more likely this Postseason.
Elder talked with the media following his live BP and he didn’t exactly express a ton of confidence that he’d back for the NLDS if the Braves got that far. “I’m going to give it everything I have but also we’ve got the checklist and things I’ve got to hit and if the checklist is too long to get back then I won’t be able to go,” stated Elder when he was asked by Mark Bowman about potentially returning by the NLDS. “I’m going to try everything [the training staff] has got for me and try to be as good as I can at it and progress as fast as I can. We’ll see how early that is.”
With that being said, when I asked him to grade how he was feeling on a 0-100 scale (obviously not 100 just yet), he stated that he was feeling “Pretty high. For being three weeks out, I didn’t know that I’d feel this good. I feel really good and I’m just trying not to push it too much and have a setback.”
Once the workout was done, Chris Sale, Matt Olson and Walt Weiss all spoke to the media for a press conference and the vibe was generally positive surrounding the Braves and how they’re feeling about being able to play for an opportunity to go to the NLDS. I asked Walt Weiss about how important the home field advantage was, especially knowing that all three games would be played here in Cobb County and he responded that he thinks that it’s “huge” for them to be playing these games at home.
“You’ve obviously got to go out and play well,” continued Weiss. “If you don’t play well, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing — you’re not going to win. We play well here, though. It’s a great atmosphere, the guys really enjoy playing here in front of this crowd, so I think it’s a big deal.”
When he was asked about what it was like seeing nearly the entire team standing on the rail to watch Bryce Elder and Joe Jiménez throw their live BPs, Weiss talked more about the level of clubhouse harmony that’s existing at the moment. “The ideal clubhouse is one that’s loose and fun, but focused. I think that’s what they are,” explained Weiss. “I think they really look forward to getting here every day so they can be in that environment in that clubhouse because I think they love being together. When it’s time to play, the focus is good and that’s when they take care of it.”
Speaking of taking care of business, the Braves have certainly gotten it done on defense this season. As I mentioned in the preview, the Braves have graded very high on defense this season and that could make all the difference during this time of year. It could especially mean a lot when you have a guy like Chris Sale on the mound, who expressed plenty of confidence in his defense when I asked him about it during the press conference.
“I’ve felt confident in my defense all year,” stated Sale. “As a pitcher, strikeouts are cool but most of your outs are going to come either on the ground or in the air. Being able to lean on those guys and have confidence that if the ball’s on the ground, someone’s going to get there. Our outfield, those guys are unbelievable and have really strong arms.”
“You look at some of the plays that have been made throughout the season across the the entire infield, we have multiple Gold Glovers out there. It’s a nice thing to have as a pitcher and it gives you more confidence to keep throwing strikes and use those guys behind you.”
One of those guys is Matt Olson, who has provided another great season of defense at first base — which is what you’d expect from someone who has some Gold Gloves and Fielding Bible Awards in his personal trophy cabinet. He’s also been part of the machine that this lineup turns into late in games and in high leverage situations. I asked him about those late moments and he did explain that it’s like the confidence is interwoven into the team at this point.
“Sometimes it just kind of becomes your DNA a little bit as a season goes on,” explained Olson. “It’s not like you try harder or change anything in those scenarios. I think it’s just when it comes time to put up or shut up, some guys just show up and rise to the occasion.”
Lastly, the bullpen has also played a role in those late-game turnarounds that the Braves have benefited from some many times during the regular season. When Chris Sale was asked by Jesús Cano about the bullpen during the press conference, he was his usual effusive self when it came to praising the bullpen and particularly those who come behind him during his starts.
“You’re talking about the hardest outs to get towards the end of the game,” started Sale. “It just seems like whoever they hand the ball off to, it’s shut-down. I like to look at the box score at the end of a game so I can show some love to some guys who deserve it and I’ve been like ”Dammit, every time I look at these box scores, I’m the only pitcher to give up runs!“
“It’s me and then [Dylan] Dodd comes in after that and then [Raisel Iglesias] throws or it’s [Dylan Lee] and [Didier Fuentes] and whoever it is and it’s like me [giving up two or three] and then [the bullpen gives up] zero, zero, zero. You do that five-or-six times and it’s like ‘Man, I gotta step it up a bit!’ But that goes to show you how solid they’ve been throughout the year and how much trust we have in them,” continued Sale. “To be able to walk off the mound after putting everything you’ve got into it and hand the ball off to someone you have all the trust in the world in. Even if it doesn’t go well, you know that that was the right move and that they put the work in to be set up for success.”
As was mentioned by Weiss during his portion of the press conference, the ballclub definitely seems loose-but-focused when it comes to returning to the Postseason. They know they have a familiar opponent to deal with and they know that they’ve got the upper hand with home field advantage and also having been able to set things up ahead of time while the Phillies have only just clinched their spot in the Postseason. They’re also under no delusions that this will be easy but that comes with the territory of the Postseason.
Weiss has maintained that while the Braves are talented, they haven’t gotten this far on talent alone. We’re likely to see those intangibles at play once the Postseason gets rocking and rolling for the Braves on Tuesday afternoon.
