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Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Mason Montgomery made the most of his first season with the team.

Montgomery made 70 appearances for the Pirates this season, recording a 6-4 record with a 2.88 ERA and 68.2 innings pitched. His efforts made him the biggest surprise of the year, according to Bleacher Report writer Joel Reuter.

“The Pirates acquired Brandon Lowe, Jake Mangum and Montgomery from the Rays last offseason in a three-team, six-player deal that sent Mike Burrows to the Astros. Montgomery pitched to a 5.67 ERA in 57 games as a rookie in 2025, but his 12.3 K/9 spoke to the quality of his stuff. A year later, he was one of the most overpowering bullpen arms in baseball, pitching his way into the closer’s role while setting a franchise record with 25 straight scoreless appearances,” Reuter wrote.

The trade turned out to be a massive win for the Pirates, who sent Mike Burrows to the Houston Astros in a three-team deal. Burrows was strong with the Pirates in 2025, but he struggled with the Astros in 2026, recording a 5.99 ERA in 17 starts with Houston. It’s clear the Pirates were on the right end of the deal with Montgomery alone, but Lowe and Mangum also each played over 130 games each for the Buccos.

If his first season was any indication on how his time will be in Pittsburgh, Montgomery could emerge as one of the best arms out of the Pirates bullpen.

BD community, how do you feel about Montgomery’s first season with the Pirates? Let us know in the comments section below.

MLB.com: Yesterday afternoon, Major League Baseball announced the finalists for this year’s Hank Aaron Award. Recognizing the two best offensive performances (one in each league), the award is conferred through a fan vote and a panel consisting of journalists and former players. Yankees first baseman/designated hitter Ben Rice finds himself as one of this year’s finalists, hoping to make it the three straight season (and fourth in five years) that a Yankees slugger takes home the award (Aaron Judge won it in 2022, 2024, and 2025). Other nominees include Baltimore’s Pete Alonso, Houston’s Yordan Alvarez (the likely favorite), and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr.

The Athletic | Clark Gilmore: Clarke Gilmore, a current member of the Savannah Bananas and a former teammate of Ben Rice at Dartmouth, penned a guest article for The Athletic’s Peak newsletter, a series focusing on the mental side of sports. As you might have guessed based on the nature of the series, Gilmore spoke not about Rice’s physical prowess, but on his “consistency” that dated back to his college days — and could be seen not only on the diamond, but in much more mundane things, such as Mario Kart in the dorms.

FanGraphs | Matt Martell: Turning our attention from one Massachusetts boy to another, Cam Schlittler came out with a completely unexpected strategy against the Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALWC: the typically fastball-dominant youngster threw 32 curveballs — a whopping 27.4 percent of the time (during the regular season, he threw it just 9.8 percent of the time). The start was the culmination of a year-long process in which the Cy Young favorite working to turn his curveball into a veritable weapon, one that can can make him a dangerous pitcher not just now, but going forward.

Phillies need a new identity, and Japan offers a path forward originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Look around the MLB postseason. Philadelphia fans may not want to at this point.

The Phillies’ season ended short of a championship for the fifth consecutive October, but watching the rest of the playoffs offers another reminder of where their organization continues to lag behind other successful teams around the game. It is not necessarily a domestic shortcoming.

It is the Phillies’ lack of a presence internationally, specifically in Japan.

A record eight Japanese-born players made active postseason rosters this year.

Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki are attempting to help the Dodgers win a third consecutive World Series. The Cubs were eliminated, but Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki will both reach free agency this winter. Munetaka Murakami and Tatsuya Imai helped the White Sox and Astros reach the postseason during their first years in the United States. Padres reliever Yuki Matsui rounded out the record-setting group.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have never signed a player directly from NPB to a major-league contract.

They have employed Japanese-born players before. Tadahito Iguchi arrived in a trade during the 2007 season, and So Taguchi signed with the Phillies after spending six years with the Cardinals. Neither represented the Phillies successfully recruiting an established player out of Japan and bringing him directly into their organization.

They have tried to change that more recently.

The Phillies aggressively pursued Yamamoto before the 2024 season and were willing to make a significant financial commitment to the star right-hander. Yamamoto chose the Dodgers. The following winter, the Phillies expressed interest in Sasaki, but they were not among the teams granted an in-person meeting before he also chose Los Angeles.

Those pursuits showed the Phillies understood the value of entering the Japanese market. They also illustrated how difficult it is to break into it without any history there.

Los Angeles has become a destination for Japanese players because of its sizable Japanese community, its location and travel access to their home country, and the growing alumni network the Dodgers have created. Ohtani helped make Los Angeles more attractive to Yamamoto, and the presence of both players offered Sasaki something no other interested organization could replicate.

Philadelphia does not have those built-in advantages. There are no direct flights between Philadelphia International Airport and Japan. The Phillies cannot point to a Japanese star who succeeded here and can explain the organization and city to the next player considering the move.

Their most recent attempt to establish a connection was Koyo Aoyagi, whom the Phillies signed to a minor-league contract before the 2025 season. Aoyagi posted a 7.22 ERA between Double A and Triple A and never reached Philadelphia.

That does not mean the Phillies should sign a Japanese player simply to say they have done it. It does mean they need to recognize how one successful signing could make the next pursuit considerably easier.

The Phillies had an opportunity last offseason to begin changing their history in this market while addressing a clear need in their lineup.

Japanese corner infielders Kazuma Okamoto and Murakami were both available. The Phillies did not seriously pursue either player, even though their aggressive pursuit of Bo Bichette later in the winter showed they were willing to change the look of their infield and potentially move on from Alec Bohm at third base.

Hindsight is always easier, especially with players making the transition from NPB. There were legitimate questions about how Murakami’s swing-and-miss tendencies would translate against major-league pitching and how Okamoto’s offensive production would hold up outside Japan.

Both answered enough of those questions in their first seasons.

Okamoto hit 33 home runs and drove in 92 runs for Toronto. Murakami hit 35 home runs in 127 games for the White Sox despite missing time with a hamstring injury. Those became the two highest single-season home run totals by Japanese-born players during their first years in the majors.

The Phillies did not need to know with certainty that either player would immediately produce at that level. They needed to recognize the opportunity to add a talented player who could help them on the field while also giving them credibility in a market that continues to shape the championship picture.

That opportunity exists again this offseason.

The Phillies’ core is not exactly finished, but it is becoming older, more expensive and increasingly familiar to the teams trying to beat it. After five consecutive postseason appearances without a championship, there needs to be a different feel around the club entering 2027.

That does not require the Phillies to dismantle everything. It requires them to find a new source of talent that could extend their window and prevent the organization from falling into another prolonged transition once its current stars decline.

The uncertainty surrounding the next collective bargaining agreement could complicate an already expensive offseason. It also gives the Phillies another chance to establish themselves in Japan before the competition for Japanese players becomes even greater.

It might only take one successful signing. One player could lead to the next.

This winter, there are two Japanese players who fit the Phillies’ roster beyond the significance of where they were born.

Suzuki, who turned 32 in August, is one of them.

The Phillies have struggled to find any sustained success in right field since Bryce Harper became their full-time first baseman. Suzuki would give them a steady right fielder and the type of right-handed hitter their lineup could lose if Bohm departs in free agency.

After 2022, the year he debuted for the Cubs, Suzuki has averaged 28 home runs and 97 RBIs per 162 games, posting an OPS above .800 in four consecutive seasons.

Suzuki hit .270 with a .368 on-base percentage, 26 home runs and 86 RBIs this season. His 81 walks and 5.1 wins above replacement were both career highs.

His patience would carry particular value for a Phillies lineup that has repeatedly allowed its chase problems to become magnified during the postseason. Suzuki is capable of driving the baseball without expanding the strike zone as frequently as many of the hitters who have surrounded Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

He also showed considerable improvement defensively this season. His range numbers took a significant step forward, and he combined those improvements with the strong throwing arm he has carried throughout his career.

Suzuki is not likely to command the type of contract that would prevent the Phillies from making other additions. A deal of approximately four years would give them an established middle-of-the-order hitter without creating another commitment that stretches deep into a player’s late 30s.

He would address right field, replace the right-handed run production the Phillies could lose with Bohm and bring a stronger approach into a lineup that needs one.

Signing Suzuki could also help the Phillies pursue the most talented Japanese player expected to be posted this winter.

Teruaki Sato has been on their radar for some time. In May, Preston Mattingly and several other members of the organization traveled to Japan to scout the left-handed-hitting third baseman.

It is easy to understand their interest.

Sato, a member of the Hanshin Tigers, has been the most dangerous power hitter in NPB over the last two seasons. He hit 40 home runs and drove in 102 runs in 2025, then followed that performance by hitting .311 with 39 home runs, 105 RBIs and a 1.009 OPS this season.

There is swing and miss in his game, which will create questions about how quickly he can adjust to major-league velocity. His increased willingness to walk, however, has made him a more complete hitter. Sato carries exceptional bat speed and generates considerable power from a relatively quiet setup at the plate.

He also grew up admiring Harper, according to a report from Sports Nippon. That might not carry much weight once negotiations begin, but it is at least one connection to an organization still searching for every advantage it can find in Japan.

Citizens Bank Park would offer an inviting environment for Sato’s left-handed power. Harper and Schwarber have already demonstrated how much damage elite left-handed hitters can produce there, particularly when they are willing to use the opposite field instead of trying to pull every pitch.

Suzuki and Sato also have familiarity with one another through Samurai Japan. Signing Suzuki would not guarantee that Sato follows him to Philadelphia, but it would allow the Phillies to present something they have never been able to offer a Japanese free agent: an established player from his home country who already understands the organization, the clubhouse and the adjustment to living in Philadelphia.

This cannot become a marketing exercise. The Phillies, who have money coming off the books, should pursue both players because they fit the baseball team they are trying to build.

Suzuki would stabilize right field and provide a disciplined right-handed presence. Sato could become their long-term answer at third base if Bohm leaves, while giving the Phillies another hitter capable of changing a game with one swing.

Adding both could also create opportunities for the Phillies to move the rest of their roster around the diamond.

If top prospect Aidan Miller proves he is ready for the major leagues, the Phillies could consider moving Trea Turner to the outfield and installing Miller at shortstop. That could make Brandon Marsh available in a trade for bullpen help or another area of need.

One aggressive version of the lineup could look like this:

C: J.T. Realmuto (R)
1B: Bryce Harper (L)
2B: Bryson Stott (L)
SS: Aidan Miller (R)
3B: Teruaki Sato (L)
LF: Trea Turner (R)
CF: Justin Crawford (L) & Derek Hill (R)
RF: Seiya Suzuki (R)
DH: Kyle Schwarber (L)

That alignment is speculative and would require several significant decisions to fall into place. The point is not that those exact nine players need to be standing together on Opening Day.

The point is that pursuing Suzuki and Sato would address real weaknesses while beginning the identity change the Phillies need. It could make the lineup more patient, improve right field, add another source of power and build infrastructure in a market the organization has struggled to enter for decades.

There is no guarantee that signing one Japanese player will convince another to follow him. The Dodgers’ success was not built through one transaction, either. They established relationships, demonstrated commitment and allowed each successful addition to make the next one easier.

The Phillies have spent the last five years reaching October without finding the final combination necessary to win a championship. As the current core ages, the front office will need to give ownership another reason to believe that an expensive push can still end differently.

Japanese-born players have been at the center of the postseason for several years. The Phillies have continued to fall short without them.

If they are serious about changing the identity of the organization and keeping their championship window open, Japan is where that change should begin.

This year’s American League Division Series have been significantly entertaining. And more than a little jarring.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox are a combined 4-0, both one win away from advancing to the AL Championship Series, and both answering questions about their viability in a most voracious fashion.

And they’re doing it their way, the White Sox with an unprecedented pitching plan and the Rays suffocating the New York Yankees in every facet of the game.

As the teams charter their way to New York and Chicago, here’s five takeaways from a day that saw the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees pushed to the brink:

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- For a moment, before all the accountability cliches started flowing for the cameras in the Yankees' clubhouse, Cam Schlittler was blunt.

“I’ll be the first one to say that I didn’t do my job,” the 25-year-old ace said. “But it didn’t seem like we really showed up today.”

Given the chance to double down later, Schlittler wouldn’t do it.

“The guys work their asses off,” he explained.

“That’s baseball,” he reiterated.

He wasn’t good enough, either, of course.

But in reality, the Yankees played such historically porous defense Monday that they rendered their most dominant playoff ace in a generation completely irrelevant with several defensive misplays including four errors.

At one point, they set the record for most errors in a single Yankee playoff game with five -- only to have the fifth error overturned by the official scorer.

“Obviously, a really rough night to say the least for us,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We've got to get over it. We've responded all year to difficult times, and we've got to do that again. We've got to get ourselves up off the mat.”

Boone said he would address the players when they were settled on the plane back to New York early Tuesday morning. At times in describing what happened, he seemed lost for words, though he always found his way back to “we got to get over it, though. As simple as that.”

What will be difficult to get over is that the Yankees’ inability cost them the game they seemed most certain to win, one in which Schlittler started and his fellow playoff savant, Ben Rice, homered twice.

Playoff games include plenty of error-filled innings and misplays that end up ending seasons. But what the Yankees did Monday was not an example of natural ebb and flow.

Game 2 was a meltdown, the kind that can only be explained by something other than pure physical error -- something like when Aaron Judge dropped a fly ball in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, for example. Twice can be coincidence, but it sure feels like a trend.

“The guys and I, we work hard. We go out there every day. We take our ground balls and we take them very seriously,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “… Especially certain guys that are defensive specialists, some of the best defenders I’ve ever played with are playing. So for me, it hurts us a little more than you’d think.”

Monday’s lineup was not the Yankees’ best defensive alignment, but it hardly lined up as their worst either.

In fact, even after nearly being no-hit two nights ago, Boone decided to start Ryan McMahon in a platoon matchup against Freddy Peralta rather than start versatile Jose Caballero at third base or test novice Anthony Volpe there on unfamiliar turf. McMahon is an elite defender, which is why he starts there more often than not.

But when Yandy Diaz led off the game with a chopper his way, McMahon simply missed the easy hop, then looked as surprised as everyone else to discover he somehow had not caught it. More topspin than he thought, he said later.

Suddenly, Schlittler was in the stretch. Inevitably, he was not in peak rhythm. He was not the only one.

After a Jonathan Aranda single, Junior Caminero hit a groundball that George Lombard Jr. chased down up the middle. He flipped the ball to Chisholm, who caught it falling over second base and decided to throw to first base in the process. It bounced away.

Two batters later, Chisholm fielded a routine groundball that could have been a double play. He threw it high to Lombard cringing when he let go as if he wished he could pull it right back. The throw cost them a double play.

In between those two Chisholm plays, Austin Wells was called for catcher’s interference on a pitch that would have been strike three. That the Rays scored just one run during what ended as a three-error first inning was a relative miracle, one due in part to Schlittler’s composure.

Schlittler has been historically unflappable in big games during his first two postseasons. He is as calm as they come, and more confident than most.

Asked before the game if he had ever seen Schlittler doubt himself, for example, center fielder Trent Grisham did not hesitate.

“No,” he said simply. “I have not.”

But the Schlittler who found himself in the middle of a teamwide defensive meltdown looked as uncomfortable as he ever has in a game this important.

His velocity was not quite where it was in his Wild Card start. He searched for his fastball command, missing so badly up and inside to Diaz at one point in the second that he walked up to Diaz to talk about it afterward.

Everyone seemed to decide it had been completely accidental. After all, Schlittler had been missing wide with his fastball, as well.

Even so, he survived the second inning, then the third, then the fourth. A Rice homer meant the game was tied when he took the mound to start the fifth inning. Then the Yankees knocked their ace out of the game.

First, Spencer Jones got a late jump on a line drive to right. Caminero doubled. A soft ground ball to Chisholm (no one’s fault) scored a run. A chopper to Lombard -- originally ruled an error, eventually ruled a fielder's choice -- scored another. Both plays would have required some heroics.

Too often, the Yankees could not do the basics.

“[Cam’s] not wrong. Obviously, wasn’t ideal from the start. We didn’t make some plays we usually make, kind of happened throughout the game,” Lombard said. “Just made it harder for ourselves.”

Lombard threw a ball wide of first later that inning, so two runs scored on Richie Palacios’ single up the middle.

When it was all said and done, the Yankees had broken an ignominious team record and spurred Boone to try Brent Headrick to stop their bleeding. Schlittler finished after allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits in 4.1 innings.

The Rays applied their trademark pressure. The Yankees could not withstand it.

“I think [Cam’s] just throwing a lot more pitches than he should have been throwing. I think it's maybe a different story there if we take care of the ball and he's at 30 pitches or 25, 30 pitches instead after the first two and gets in a rhythm and he's in a groove,” Boone said. “Kind of found himself in trouble a lot tonight, not by his own doing.”

Schlittler would be available to pitch Game 5 on Saturday if the Yankees can force it, but they will need to win two games to do that. Unfortunately for the Yankees, Monday’s game -- like any game started by Schlittler, even when he is not at his best -- was supposed to be one of the games they could pencil in as a win.

Though Schlittler did not say so, it was his defense that beat him Monday.

“I’m not disappointed in our defense. I’m not disappointed in our offense,” Schlittler said. “Really just disappointed in myself. That’s baseball and those things are going to happen. I’ve got to be able to work through those. I wasn’t able to do that today.”

The Yankees’ dreadful defense in Game 2 is certainly the headlining woe. It’s the one that forced Cam Schlittler to throw stress-laden pitches in the first inning that doubtless impacted the rest of his outing. And it’s the one that helped the Rays to three unearned runs.

But in the wake of the Yankees’ 5-2 loss Monday night at Tropicana Field, there’s another culprit also pushing them toward elimination:

We need to talk about the offense.

It’s every Yankee fan’s October nightmare: the pinstriped bats have gone cold and there’s no Aaron Judge coming to save them, at least in this series. He’s out with a calf injury. After a splurge against the fading Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, the Bronx Bombers have turned that nickname into a punch line of sorts in this best-of-five AL Division Series against Tampa Bay.

“Whatever it takes, we’ve got to do it offensively and we’ve gotta be able to score some runs and do a better job of preventing (them,)” Aaron Boone said in the postgame news conference room.

It can only get better, right? In two games against the Rays, the Yankees have scored exactly twice. Both runs came in Game 2, when Ben Rice slammed two solo home runs. They have all of five hits -- Rice’s home runs, two doubles by Austin Wells and a single by Cody Bellinger. They are 5-for-58 in the series (.086) with a .145 on-base percentage, .224 slugging and .369 OPS.

It’s the fewest hits and fewest runs of any team in Division Series play. The Yankees, who drew the eighth-most walks in baseball during the regular season, aren’t even doing that -- they have two walks in each game so far.

They have just four plate appearances with runners in scoring position in the series and are 0-for-2 with two walks.

Credit where it’s due -- the Rays are pitching very well, from Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 to Freddy Peralta and the bullpen in Game 2.

And that is certainly part of the reason why, when they’ve had chances against Tampa Bay, the Yankees have missed. Wells foolishly tried to stretch an easy double into a triple in Game 1 and was easily thrown out, burying the only Yankee scoring chance against Rasmussen.

In Game 2, Bellinger, who batted .340 with runners in scoring position during the season and hit a big home run in the Boston series, came up with the bases loaded in the fifth inning and mashed a ball to center. It traveled 405 feet, but it was nothing more than a loud out, a ball with an expected batting average, per Statcast, of .760 that was caught on the warning track.

Boone noted that Bellinger’s ball, a few feet either way, could’ve been a bases-clearing, series-changing double. And it was just one of six balls the Yankees hit 100-plus mph in Game 2, two fewer than the Rays.

“I thought we started to put together some really good at-bats, especially in the fifth inning where we chased Peralta and Belli puts a good swing on it, hits it to the fence,” Boone said. “That's unfortunate there.”

Rice, though, is doing real damage. He has driven in eight of the 20 runs the Yankees have scored in the postseason and he has four home runs, which leads all playoff hitters. He’s the first Yankee to have more than one multi-homer game in the same postseason, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com. He’s batting .467 with an 1.889 OPS.

The Yanks will need some teammates to join him to get back in this series. It’s already a daunting assignment: According to Langs, in all best-of-five postseason series, teams that go up, 2-0, win 89 percent of the time (83-of-93). In the current 2-2-1 home format, the team that wins the first two at home wins the series 92 percent of the time.

There’s a lot to clean up. The defense better be good Wednesday night in Game 3 with groundball artist Max Fried starting for the Yankees.

And Rice can’t be the only one raking, either. The Yankees haven’t shown they can score enough against the Rays.

Despite the defense failing Yankees starter Cam Schlittler in the first inning and again in the fourth inning with the offense scratching across just two runs on four hits, he took the blame for New York’s 5-2 loss in Game 2 of the ALDS to the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.

The right-hander didn’t exactly pitch poorly, and even did well to limit the damage to just one run in the first inning where the Yankees made three errors on the infield, but it was clear Schlittler wasn’t at his best during his 4.1 innings of work.

Perhaps it was the failure on defense to make plays all game, but it seemed like New York’s ace was under duress from the jump and was forced to throw high stress pitches every inning he was out on the mound. 

Of course, in the postseason, everything is heightened and more stressful than the regular season, especially when trailing in the series, but Schlittler was supposed to be the Yankees’ trump card against the Rays in the series and the 25-year-old was pulled in the fifth inning.

“I just didn’t have my stuff today,” he said. “Didn’t get great results, some timely hits there. Didn’t get through the fifth so it’s not good enough.”

After escaping the error-filled first inning by allowing just one run, the fifth inning was a different story for Schlittler. Once again, New York played sloppy defensively against Tampa Bay’s contact-first approach of putting the ball in play and seeing what happens.

George Lombard Jr. had two misplays in the inning, although only was officially called an error, and the Rays took full advantage by scoring four times in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.

“It was just one of those games where things kind of compiled and stacked up on top of each other,” the rookie said. “It wasn’t ideal and we put ourselves in a bad spot… They’re obviously a good team and they battle and they don’t let down, but we definitely didn’t help ourselves. Against a good team like that you can’t afford to make as many mistakes as we did.”

But if you ask Schlittler, who shut out the Boston Red Sox for 6.1 innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series at home last week, he should’ve been better.

“I’m not disappointed in our defense, I’m not disappointed in the offense, really just disappointed in myself,” he said. “Again, that’s baseball and those things are gonna happen, but I got to be able to work through those. I wasn’t able to do that today.”

Schlittler’s second postseason outing this year ended after 4.1 innings where he allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk while striking out just two after he struck out 10 against the Red Sox.

It wasn’t what he or the Yankees were expecting in such a crucial game, but Schlittler remains confident that New York can climb out of this hole it dug for itself starting on Wednesday night in Game 3.

“I’m confident, but we gotta get home tomorrow, get our work in and show up Wednesday," he said.