ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 1: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves hits a solo home run during the seventh inning of Game Three of the National League Wild Card Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on October 1, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Jack Casey/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
As we trudge through award season, Matt Olson is in the running for yet another award. It was announced Thursday that Olson is a finalist for the Silver Slugger award. The winner will be announced November 17.
Your 2026 National League @SluggerNation Silver Slugger Award finalists đź’Ş
Olson has already won some hardware this season, earning a Gold Glove and the Fielding Bible awards. He won the Silver Slugger in 2023 and aims to add another trophy to his cabinet.
More Braves News:
The Braves reunited with Perry Minasian, who will return to the front office after working with the Los Angeles Angels.Â
Our 2026 player review series continues with catcher Austin Wynns.
Luis Reyes will look to pick up where he left off after lat surgery cost him the entire 2026 season. | Luis Reyes/Instagram
Luis Reyes Right-Handed Starting Pitcher 6´2´´ 190 pounds Age: 21 2026 South Side Sox Top Prospect Ranking 63 2025 High Level Kannapolis (Low-A) (injured for all of 2026) Age relative to 2025 high level -1.6 years SSS rank among all right-handed starters in the system 14 Overall 2025 season stats 4-9 ⚾️ 23 starts ⚾️ 87 IP ⚾️ 4.34 ERA ⚾️ 1.402 WHIP ⚾️ 88 K ⚾️ 37 BB ⚾️ 1.7 WAR
Signed to a $700,000 contract with the White Sox on Jan. 15, 2023, Luis Reyes has slowly but steadily developed into one of the more interesting young arms in the system. At 6´2´´and 190 pounds, Reyes noticeably added some strength since he first arrived in pro ball, and this translated to additional power on the mound. Unfortunately, Reyes missed all of 2026 after a lat injury in Spring Training put him under the knife.
Before injury, Reyes threw with a loose, easy arm action and repeated his delivery well. His fastball played in the low- to mid-90s but had touched 97 mph. The righty also threw a slider in the low 80s — which was by far his most-used pitch, thrown almost half the time. The 81-84 mph go-to slider had the makings of an actual out pitch. His other offerings were works-in-progress, but the foundation of a solid arsenal is in place.
At just 19 years old for all of the 2025 season, Reyes worked all year for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. The hurler showed signs of continued development despite a somewhat uneven season overall. After a tough April and May, Reyes was able to turn the corner in mid-summer. The righthander was named MiLB Pitcher of the Month in June, when he gave up only one earned run over 25 innings. Reyes posted a microscopic 0.36 ERA and a 0.720 WHIP in that span, highlighted by two seven-inning, complete-game shutouts. He understandably regressed a bit in July (5.59 ERA) before ending the season on a stronger note in August (3.60 ERA).
After underwhelming results in the DSL and Complex League in 2023 and 2024, 2025 was a step in the right direction for Reyes. He improved his command and averaged 9.10 K/9. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to build on that progress in 2026 due to that surgery in March to repair a lat injury.
Heading into 2027, the priority is getting healthy and back on the mound, almost certainly starting in the ACL and likely spending a good chunk of the season there. With his size, arm strength, athleticism and makeup, Reyes still offers the potential of a mid-rotation starter, but a lost year adds uncertainty to that projection. Once healthy, he can get back to refining his command and secondary pitches while rebuilding his workload. The upside remains intriguing. Now he needs the innings to keep developing it.
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 2: Manager Warren Schaeffer #4 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates after a 6-5 win against the Baltimore Orioles at Coors Field on September 2, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning, Purple Row!
Here’s what’s going on with the Colorado Rockies and the rest of Major League Baseball.
The Augusta Free Press, a small news outlet in Virginia, highlights the strong Virginia Tech connection with the Colorado Rockies. Manager Warren Schaeffer and first baseman TJ Rumfield both played there. This is great because it also highlights Schaeffer’s wife, Callie, who played softball at Virginia Tech. It’s worth the quick read and seeing a lovely picture of the Schaeffers.
Hunter Goodman is in the running to repeat as a Silver Slugger winner. Goodman, the Rockies All-Star catcher, hit a career-high 41 homers in 2026 and is going head-to-head against Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno. Moreno won the NL batting title at .311. The winner will be announced on Nov. 17.
Several Rockies prospects are turning heads in the Arizona Fall League. Jack O’Dowd, debuted with the Low-A Fresno in 2026 before being promoted to High-A Spokane and finishing the year in Double-A Hartford. Kevin Henry has great quotes from O’Dowd and Chris Forbes, Colorado’s senior director of player development.
Hunter Goodman is just one of many players named as nominees for the best hitters for their positions in the American and National Leagues. The list has MVP candidates to lesser-known youngsters. The winners are voted on by MLB coaches and managers, who are not allowed to vote for players on their own teams.
ESPN reporters like Jeff Passan, Buster Olney and more break down their picks for the defining moment of the postseason, best game, best series and lasting takeaway. Sometimes they agree, sometimes they don’t. Passan’s top takeaway is very interesting and very related to the Rockies.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 12: Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz departs the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York after his arraignment hearing on November 12, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Ortiz and his teammate Emmanuel Clase were both indicted on fraud, conspiracy, and bribery charges relating to manipulating bets on individual pitches. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Astros plan to interview Albert Pujols for their vacant managerial position. Considering the new GM in Houston is Pujols’ former teammate Randy Flores, I’d say he has a good chance of landing the job.
Jay Jaffe looks at the Contemporary Era Ballot for the Hall of Fame and calls it “absolutely stacked” with strong candidates. Three former Cubs managers, Dusty Baker, Lou Piniella and Joe Maddon are among the eight candidates.
And finally, MLB reversed their decision after hearing from fans and players and have decided not to cancel Intentional Talk on the MLB Network. (The Athletic free reg. req.) Good news for Ryan Dempster. Its last day was supposed to be Wednesday. Now it will continue. I’m not a huge Intentional Talk fan, but it’s actually a pretty inoffensive show, which makes it better than a lot of what’s on the MLB Network and sports media in general these days.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 08: A general view of the empty stadium before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park on September 08, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
To continue our look back on the 2026 San Francisco Giants season, I thought we would take a look at the best home runs of the season, according to Statcast. The Giants’ social media team put together a compilation for us, and unlike some of the other highlights of the season, this one is a bit longer. There might have been a dearth of highlights and wins on the whole, but the Giants sure did hit some good dingers this year.
So get your coffee, settle in, and enjoy!
What was your favorite home run of the 2026 season?
PHOENIX, AZ - MARCH 29: Beau Ankeney (35) Grand Canyon Infielder takes a big swing during a baseball game between the Arizona Wildcats and the Grand Canyon Lopes on March 29, 2022, at GCU Ballpark in Phoenix, AZ. (Photo by Zac BonDurant/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
There are two particular categories of player that go under the radar in the major league amateur draft each year. The first are college seniors. If you didn’t get drafted by your junior year or earlier, as a JUCO or prep player, there’s a natural stigma attached. The second are first basemen. Because the position is usually filled by less athletic players whose value is heavily tied up in their bat, only the top ranked college first baseman really get much notice, and they tend to go in the early rounds as some of the better hitters each year. Leaving aside the player and just considering the profile, Spencer Torkelson was a hard player to philosophically wrap one’s head around as the first overall pick in the draft back in 2020. Living up to that would’ve required him to develop quickly into one of the better hitters in baseball. There’s a reason you very rarely see a 1-1 first baseman.
Detroit Tigers prospect Beau Ankeney checks both boxes, and he definitely didn’t get much attention on draft day 2025 when they picked him in the 14th round out of Loyola Marymount and paid him just the minimum signing bonus. He played three years at Grand Canyon University before breaking out and transferring to Loyola for his senior season in 2025. That was notable, as he was clearly a bit of a late bloomer. Also notable was his muscular six-foot-three, 235 pound frame. He only played in four games after the draft, so there wasn’t anything to get excited about yet. That changed in 2026.
Ankeney mashed 24 home runs total, including 9 in just 27 games at the High-A level after he was promoted in late July. He took his walks. He showed pretty good athleticism for a first baseman, with enough speed to handle a corner outfield spot here and there. His raw power really stood out, as he averaged 92 mph off the bat, which is great even at the MLB level, and maxed out at 114.4 mph off the bat, giving him a 65 FV grade on his raw power potential. And most importantly, he took his walks and didn’t strike out that much for a power hitter.
In Lakeland at Single-A, Ankeney chased about 30 percent of the time, and his whiff rate was similarly on the higher end of the scale. Considering that he was 23 years old already and competing with 19-22 year old players quite a bit, it was impressive, but didn’t really knock anyone’s socks off. What really got prospect hounds talking was the fact that he went straight into High-A and did even more damage, without much of an increase in his strikeout rate. From August 4 through the 16th, Ankeney hit seven homers in nine games while walking and racking up one multi-hit game after another. He was the hottest hitter in the league for that stretch before cooling down over the final weeks of the season.
Beau Ankeney is on an all-time heater. He crushes another homer here to put the Whitecaps up 5-3. It’s his 2nd of the game, his 5th in his last 5 games, and his 7th in 14 games at High-A. Sheesh. @ThatDanHasty calls it. pic.twitter.com/TK36VMUrD6
He does chase too much right now, and there’s some swing and miss in his game, producing at 24.3 percent K-rate in Single-A, and 27.5 percent in High-A, but that’s not terrible either. He also showed nice feel at times for hitting the ball where it’s pitched, driving fastballs away to right field with authority, and hitting tape measure shots to center and left-center when he got something middle or middle-in over the plate. He hits from an upright stance and is pretty flat through the hitting zone, making him strong against the high fastball. He can get some tilt to launch sinkers and secondary pitches that hang up in the zone as well, but a pitcher that pounds the bottom rail can give him trouble. Still, it’s a compact inside-out move that works to the big part of the field pretty well as long as he doesn’t get too pull happy. He struggled some with breaking stuff and that will be something to watch as the pitching he’s facing gets tougher, but he hit for average and plenty of power against fastballs and offspeed stuff.
Obviously there’s a caveat here due to his age. He’s a little older and more physically mature than a lot of the pitchers he faced this season. The short sample in the Midwest League to close out the season was really impressive though, and lends credence to the idea that he was putting it together nicely late in his first pro season. Another plus for him is the athleticism, in that he isn’t the typical big hitting statue you typically find in a college first baseman.
I’m not going to get too carried away just yet, but it’s good to see another power-hitting right-handed bat with potential in the system. Hopefully we’ll see him refine his approach and start to handle the nastier stuff he’s seeing at the High-A level more consistently next season. He’s probably never going to be a high contact hitter and there’s certainly risk in the hit tool, but the fact that he sprays the ball around is pretty promising for his future batting average projections. So is the batspeed and hard contact he’s mustering.
Beau Ankeney wasn’t the biggest breakout prospect of the year for the Tigers, but he was among the least expected and should feel great about his full season debut. No doubt the Tigers do.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - MAY 04: Jac Caglianone #14 of the Kansas City Royals is doused with water by Bobby Witt Jr. #7 and Carter Jensen #22 of the Kansas City Royals after a 6-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians at Kauffman Stadium on May 04, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Max wrote about yesterday’s biggest stories already:
Mense was a minor-league hitting coordinator in the Blue Jays organization. He became an assistant hitting coach at the big-league level in 2022. He has worked alongside such All-Stars as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer.
The Royals have been looking to backfill their lineup of hitting coaches. Last month they reassigned Alec Zumwalt to the minor leagues. His departure left the open spot on Matt Quatraro’s coaching staff that Mense is set to fill.
The Kansas City Royals had three of the top hitters in the American League this season. And on Thursday, that trio was recognized as Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award finalists at each player’s respective position.
Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. headlined the club’s finalists. He joins Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen as award nominees. Caglianone is an outfield finalist and Jensen — who is coming off his rookie season — is a finalist behind the plate.
Also at The Star, Pete Grathoff points to a writer who thinks Jac has a lot to lose from the lockout:
The New York Times reported that teams have been instructed to “document interactions between players and medical/training staff during the latter part of the season to confirm that there have not been any disabling injuries prior to the end of the season.”
That lack of medical care is one reason why RotoWire’s Thomas Leary believes a lockout could affect Royals outfielder Jac Caglianone more than other players.
[Mark] Feinsand [of MLB.com] further clarifies that Mense and Marcus Thames will be the hitting coaches in Kansas City while Connor Dawson will be offensive coordinator. In 2026, Thames and Dawson worked as hitting coaches alongside Alec Zumwalt. It was reported in September that Zumwalt would be reassigned to a position as senior director of hitting performance.
The White Sox have signed right-hander Alec Marsh to a minor league contract with an invite to major league camp in spring training. Scott Merkin of MLB.com was among those to report the deal.
“The Plaza Lights are a Midwest staple that all Kansas Citians know and love, and to be able to do this in my hometown with my Kansas City family is an incredible honor,” Jensen said in a press release. “I can’t wait to help celebrate the holidays, and this city, with everybody in a place we all cherish. My family and I are extremely grateful for this opportunity to help light up the city that raised me!”
Needs: Right-handed-hitting center fielder and a rebuilt bullpen
Analysis: The Royals need a right-handed-hitting outfielder who can play center field and perhaps will take a chance on 29-year-old free agent Luis Robert Jr., if he’s amenable to a one-year, prove-it type contract.
The real priority for this team will be to continue to improve the pitching staff, which could include adding a starter, but the emphasis will be on rebuilding the bullpen through both trades and free agency.
It’s the offseason, so here’s a little silliness. The Tri-City (Virginia) Chili Peppers just released their 2027 schedule and it includes Wichita and Springfield. If you’re looking for gimmicky baseball, I can confirm this is a fun one as I went to a game in 2025. The first few innings play like a normal game. But then the game stops for about a half hour, the stadium crew changes the lights, the teams change jerseys, and the second half of the game is played under blacklight. It’s one of those things where your brain can’t entirely process what you’re seeing.
The league pull air rate last season was 18.4 percent. That includes line drives, fly balls and popups. If you take out popups, the league number was 16.9 percent. Witt’s overall pull air percentage was 16.3 percent. Remove popups, and it was just 13.9 percent. That tells me that two things are happening. The first is that he isn’t pulling the ball in the air enough. When he pulled the ball in the air, he hit .521 with a 1.192 SLG. That included a 95.3 MPH average exit velocity (98.8 MPH when you remove popups), a 56.8 percent hard-hit rate and a 25.7 percent barrel rate. The average and SLG were pretty much on par with league average, but the hard-hit rate for Witt was 1.8 percent higher than league average and 5.8 percent higher on the barrel rate.
He gets into the weeds a lot with the numbers, but it’s a good read.
It feels fairly obvious to me that Butler is one of the top hitters in franchise history. He’s fourth all-time in batting average (.295), ninth in hits (1,273), ninth in total bases (1,938), eighth in doubles (276) and eighth in RBI (628). He’s just outside the franchise top 10 in OBP (.356, good for 13th), slugging (.449, 15th) and OPS (.808, 12th). His best season was in 2012 when he hit .313/.373/.510 with 29 home runs and 107 RBI, won a Silver Slugger and was selected to the All-Star team. He should’ve been a participant in the Home Run Derby, damnit. Boooooooo!
What are we doing here? Beltran was inducted in the big Hall–you know, the one in Cooperstown–this year. But he’s not in the team Hall. I sort of get it, since he was only a Royal for 6 ½ seasons, had a clash with the team early in his career, and played on mostly bad teams. But that was all more than two decades ago, and he was around long enough to accumulate 24.8 bWAR, ahead of six Royals Hall of Famers by my count. Since this is his final appearance on the ballot, this needs to get done.
It’s November, which means it’s time to wrap up the Asian baseball leagues for the year. Normally, we’d go CPBL -> KBO -> NPB. But I think we’re going to change that order this year because of the impending lockout. Here are links to our previous articles this season: (CPBL Preview) (KBO Preview) (NPB Preview) (Midseason Notes)
As Max noted in Wednesday’s Rumblings: “Teams have until December 1 to sign posted Japanese free agents”. There’s one big name and a couple of others who may factor into this year’s plans. But we’ll get to all of that in a bit.
Let’s look back at the midseason report: “I know it’s early, but it feels like we may already know the playoff teams. In the Pacific League, there are 3 teams with winning records: Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Saitama Seibu Lions, and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.“
That came to pass: the Hawks (91-49-3), Lions (79-60-4), and Fighters (78-62-3) made the playoffs as the three Pacific League teams with winning records. The Orix Buffaloes, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles all finished between 25 and 35 games out of first and with a losing record.
The Lions and Fighters squared off in the First Stage best-of-three series. In game 1, Alexander Canario hit a walk-off home run in the 10th for the Lions. 22-year-old Kota Tatsu dominated game 2, striking out 7 across 6 innings in a 1-0 win to force game 3. Hiromi Itoh only gave up 1 run in 5 IP and the Fighters’ bullpen went 4 scoreless to clinch the series.
This series was of MLB interest as both Itoh and Seibu’s game 1 starter, Kaima Taira, have been posted to MLB. Here’s a couple of quick notes from MLBTR’s free agent tracker:
36. Hiromi Itoh, RHP: Two years, $20MM
Itoh doesn’t throw as hard as Taira, nor does he have his youth. He’ll pitch next season at 29 but turn 30 at the end of August. He has an eye-popping track record, one that includes a 2025 Sawamura Award — NPB’s Cy Young Award equivalent. Itoh sat around 93 mph with his heater when he won that award but was more in the 91-92 mph range throughout a good but decidedly lesser season in 2026.
10. Kaima Taira, RHP: Four years, $72MM (with at least one opt-out)
A 26-year-old righty with upper 90s velocity, a career 1.78 ERA and a nearly 26% strikeout rate? What’s not to like? Based on pure age and results, Taira sounds like he should be commanding a massive nine-figure deal — and it’s at least possible that he will do so. However, big league scouts tend to have trepidation about players with unique or unconventional body types, and Tairia is listed at just 5’8″ and 209 pounds. It’s an Alejandro Kirk-style build on the mound. On top of that, he’s only spent two full seasons as a starting pitcher. Much of his time in NPB has come working out of the bullpen.
Unfortunately, the Pacific League Climax Series wasn’t all that interesting. First, “a new Climax Series rule also took effect this season that rewards any league champion a second win advantage in the final stage if they lead the other team by ten or more games, or if the other team has a regular season record below .500”. That meant the Hawks started out with a 2-0 lead in the first-to-five series. I’ve said it over and over in these Asian baseball writeups – this is the way MLB should handle the playoffs if they want to keep expanding them. Make the regular season mean something – give playoff advantages to teams who do better in the regular season.
The series itself was mostly a dud. SoftBank scored 6 runs in all 3 games and the Fighters could only muster 4, 2, and 2. Game 2 had some excitement as MVP candidate Ryoya Kurihara, .271/.365/.557 with 40 HR in the regular season, hit a walkoff grand slam. Speaking of MVP candidates, the Hawks also feature Kensuke Kondoh and his .309/.431/.569 line with 32 HRs. The Fighters have their own candidate in former Royal Franmil Reyes. He won the batting crown with a .313/.375/.571 slash and also had 32 HRs. He’s not going anywhere as the Fighters signed him to a whopping 4/$40M contract, the largest in NPB history. I’m not sure I’d give that to a 31-year-old DH, but I don’t have Nippon-Ham money.
*****
How about the Central League? At Midseason, I wrote: “the Hanshin Tigers lead their rival Yomiuri Giants by 1 game. Our rooting interest, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, are vulnerable in 3rd. They’re 7.5 GB from the Tigers but only 3, 5, and 7 games up on the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, Hiroshima Toyo Carp, and Chunichi Dragons.” Things did not go so well for the Swallows. They finished in 5th, sandwiched between the 4th-place Carp and the 6th-place Dragons, all with losing records. The BayStars rallied to finsh 3rd at 71-69-3. Meanwhile, the Tigers edged out the Giants for 1st.
On the same day that Canario walked it off for the Lions, Ryuki Watarai hit a home run in the top of the 9th to win the game for Yokohama. Then, on Sunday, he hit a home run in the 1st to get the scoring started as the BayStars swept the Giants in the Tokyo Dome with a 4-1 win in Game 2.
In the Central League Climax Series, the Tigers were spotted a 1-0 lead for their better regular-season record. I don’t entirely understand why the winning team only had to win 4 while the other league had to win 5, but maybe that was because of the 2-game advantage. The BayStars swept all 4 games played and won the series 4-1. Hanshin didn’t score until game 4 as Yokohama won 2-0, 1-0, and 4-0. After 2 home runs in the First Stage, a Shugo Maki HR accounted for the only run in Game 2 and he also hit one in Game 3. He was named the series MVP. There’s been a little chatter that he could post, but it hasn’t happened yet.
In Game 4, the BayStars started the scoring early again as Maki scored on a sacrifice fly in the 1st. The Tigers tied it up in the bottom half of the inning when a runner reached base on a Maki error and came around to score. Yokohama’s Shuto Naruse hit a 2-run homer in the 4th. But Hanshin scored 1 in the 5th, 1 in the 6th, and 2 in the 7th. Teruaki Sato was in the middle of that 7th inning rally and we’ll come back to him in a bit. The BayStars got a run back in the 8th but were down 5-4 going into the 9th. I’ll let Wiki take it from here:
In the top of the ninth inning, with one out, Shion Matsuo walked, then advanced to third on Watarai’s single, a ground ball deflected off the second baseman Nakano in the shallow right field. Maki then hit a ground ball to first baseman Oyama, who decided to throw home, catching Matsuo in a rundown between third and home. During the rundown Watarai advanced to third while Maki reached second. With Tigers being one strike away from living another day, and the “One More Strike!” chant from the Tigers fans echoing throughout Koshien Stadium, the next batter Masaki Mimori hit a fly ball that fell to the ground in the shallow left-center field, resulting in a 2-run single, scoring Maki and Watarai. With this hit, Kudō blew the two-inning save, and left the mound after intentionally walked Miyazaki. Rafael Dolis took over, and immediately allowed back-to-back RBI singles in two pitches, with these two runs earned to Kudō. Dolis retired Naruse to finally end the frame. In the bottom frame, the Tigers had the bases loaded with one hit and two walks, but were ultimately stranded, with Sean Reynolds striking out the side, ending the game and the series.
Before we get to the Japan Series. Let’s talk about Sato. He could potentially get a 9-figure contract this offseason and the MLBTR article I linked to above listed him as the 7th best free agent with a 5/$80M contract. David Adler at MLB wrote this article entitled “What to expect from Japanese superstar Sato in the Majors”:
We’re still very early here, but check out how FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projects Sato for 2027:
.247 AVG/.314 OBP/.468 SLG
31 HRs, 89 RBIs
112 wRC+ (aka, 12% better than an average hitter)
2.7 Wins Above Replacement
*****
Sorry for the spoilers, but you’d figure it out soon enough. The Japan Series was as exciting as a sweep could be. All of the games were close. But all of the games went the way of the Hawks. The Hawks were the best team in the regular season and went 7-0 in the playoffs en route to their 13th Japan Series championship.
Game 1 was scoreless until the 7th when Yudai Shoji plated a run with an RBI groundout. Maki homered in the 8th to tie the game. He also tied a Japan Series second baseman record with nine putouts in the game. A Shoji double knocked in the eventual winning run in the 11th. Kazuki Sugiyama picked up his first of three saves in the series.
Game 2 was another dramatic extra-inning affair and the game of the series. Fukuoka scored on a Tomoya Masaki solo home run in the 3rd and a Shoji RBI double in the 4th. Hawks starter and 2025 MVP Liván Moinelo threw 7 scoreless but the BayStars would have their chance against the bullpen. After Watarai and Maki reached on a single and HBP, former MLB veteran Yoshi Tsutsugo went the other way with a fly ball that just cleared the left field fence, giving the BayStars a 3-2 lead. But in the 9th, Yokohama closer and former Padre Sean Reynolds served up a monster game-tying home run to pinch hitter Hotaka Yamakawa. Top 10, Yuto Kawamura gave the Hawks the lead for good with a solo homer and Sugiyama picked up his second save.
Katsuki Azuma started Game 3 for the BayStars, while Haru Matsumoto started for the Hawks. Azuma threw seven shutout innings, with three strikeouts, two walks and two hit by pitches, and allowed 6 singles. Matsumoto, on the other hand, threw six innings with five strikeouts, allowed six hits, and gave up one run.
In the bottom of the 9th, Reynolds blew another save, giving up an RBI single with 2 outs. Masaki, who would win series MVP, walked it off with a home run in the 10th. Sugiyama didn’t pick up a save, but he got the win.
Game 4 wasn’t quite as dramatic as the others. The BayStars scored 2 in the 1st, the Hawks scored 3 in the 4th, and 1 in the 6th en route to a 4-2 series-clinching victory. Sugiyama picked up his 3rd save and the Hawks “became the first team in Japan Series history to sweep their Japan Series opponent without having any of their starting pitchers record a win”.
The Hawks have now won back-to-back titles, having also won in 2025.
*****
Finally, NPB said goodbye to the legendary Isao Harimoto, nicknamed “Hit Machine”, in September. Talk about an extraordinary life:
Born to Korean parents in Hiroshima in 1940, Harimoto as a child overcame a series of difficulties. At age four, severe burns in his right hand cost him most of its mobility.
Harimoto was five when he survived the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japanese city on Aug. 6, 1945. His father died shortly after World War II and Harimoto’s hard-working mother ran an eatery to support the family.
In 1959, he won Pacific League Rookie of the Year. In 1960, he made his first of 18 All-Star games. In 1961, he hit for the cycle and won the first of seven batting titles. In 1962, he won Pacific League MVP and his Toei Flyers won the 1962 Japan Series. He is still the only player to ever collect more than 3000 hits in the NPB (3085) and he hit 504 home runs. He retired in 1981 and was inducted into the Japan Baseball HOF in 1990.
It’s been a while so let’s go revisit Soul Blade. This is Taki’s theme, Future Dancin’
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 28: William Contreras #24 of the Milwaukee Brewers receives the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player Award after the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in Game Five of the 2026 World Series presented by Capital One at Tropicana Field on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
For the first time in the history of the franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers are champions of Major League Baseball. Somewhere, Bob Uecker is smiling down from those great cheap seats in the sky.
The Brew Crew certainly deserve a lot of praise for their demolition run through the postseason bracket. After procuring a bye and home field advantage, they proceeded to…
Dispatch a solid San Diego Padres squad in the NLDS
Sweep the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS
Dismantle the American League’s clear top team—Tampa Bay Rays—in the Fall Classic
Yet, from a Twins fan perspective, the most interesting facet of Milwaukee’s mow-down was how the community came together to support the team at home and on the road.
One would be hard pressed to find more electric crowds than what showed up at AmFam Field in October. They even basically sold the place out just for fans to watch road games on the scoreboard! Perhaps most impressive was the complete and utter takeover of Tropicana Field (some 1,100 miles from MIL) for games 3-5 of the World Series. Based on crowd noise/reaction, one would have thought these home games for the Suds.
I have no special affinity nor malice towards the Brewers. Bud Selig can no longer hurt us and I don’t hold their cheesehead-ian pigskin proclivities against them in this context. Despite geographic proximity, a Twins/Brewers “rivalry” has never really developed (even when both were in the AL). Yet, our neighbors to the east can be a good litmus test for how MN baseball is doing—an exam currently being flunked in two significant aspects:
By population density, Milwaukee is the smallest baseball market. Yes, significantly smaller than even our Twin Cities. Yet, MIL outspent MIN in total 2026 payroll: $146,706,320 to $115,748,036 (according to Spotrac). “Not great, Bob” to quote the infamous Mad Men line.
Brewers owner Mark Attanasio seems to understand the deep local commitment to his product. Without a doubt, James Fillmore could tell us the ways Attanasio is angling for taxpayer money. But at a basic level, he hasn’t fallen into the never-ending (and self-fulfilling) death trap of letting poor attendance justify measly payrolls. For close to a decade now, the Brewers have at least put a competitive product on the field per their market realities.
It all paid off for The 414 in a 2026 championship—and will certainly continue to pay dividends (literal and figurative) in the near future. If Twins ownership ever wants a blueprint for how to build fan interest and competitive squads, a gaze over the St. Croix river is all it would take.
(Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The NBA’s 82-game regular season leaves plenty of margin for error for a bad stretch of play. This is a league where 53% of teams make the playoffs, not counting the four other teams who have the opportunity to earn their way into the postseason with one or two wins in the play-in tournament. There are still five months left on the schedule, with back-to-backs and spells of three-games-in-four-nights filling in the calendar.
Just over two weeks into the season, it already feels like there are six teams who are already toast. Some of these teams knew they would be bad coming into the year, while others dreamed of breaking into the playoffs. The unfortunate reality for these teams is they can’t even count on a high draft pick next year anymore after the league’s anti-tanking lottery reform was put in place this season ahead of the 2027 draft. Of course, there’s plenty of time for things to change with only about 10% of the schedule complete, but these six teams already look cooked.
Sacramento Kings
The Kings appeared to have no hope coming into the season, and at this point the only intrigue left is to see if they avoid being the worst team of the 2020s, a stake currently held by the 14-win Detroit Pistons in 2023-24. Rookie guard Darius Acuff is the best thing this franchise has going for them, and he’s getting thrown into the deep end from the very start of his career. Acuff leads the NBA in minutes per game and he’s one field goal attempt behind 2-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the league-lead in that category. The Kings could probably stand to give some of Acuff’s usage (32.5%) to Domantas Sabonis (16.1% usage rate), but they would still be a bad team, and at least now the rookie guard has the ability to learn from his mistakes. Keegan Murray being out again with an ankle injury after only playing 23 games last year is the real bummer for the start of this season. The Kings felt like the worst team in the league entering the season, and they still feel like the worst team in the league. Try to enjoy the Acuff roller coaster, Kings fans, because there’s nothing else to latch onto.
Chicago Bulls
The good news is that rookie forward Caleb Wilson looks like he can be the franchise player the Bulls have been missing since their horrible Jimmy Butler trade 10 years ago. The bad news is they might need four new starters around him long-term. It’s been a truly disappointing start for Matas Buzelis, who looked like a keeper in his first two seasons under Billy Donovan, but is regressing and seemingly falling out of favor under new head coach Tiago Splitter. Buzelis’ inability to beat mismatches when teams put their tiny guards on him is the single most alarming trend of this season for Chicago. Josh Giddey has also been terrible, and likely won’t be around the next time the Bulls have a playoff team. No. 15 overall pick Dailyn Swain can’t even get on the floor during blowouts. Chicago’s perimeter defense is atrocious with Giddey and Norm Powell, it can’t grab a defensive rebound (No. 28 in d-rebound rate), and it’s dead-last in three-point percentage. This team stinks out loud, but a brutal schedule to open the season will get softer eventually, and Wilson’s highlights will at least give the fanbase something to dream on.
Milwaukee Bucks
It was simply unavoidable that the Bucks would be in for a hard season after trading Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it’s playing out as expected. Milwaukee is hanging tough in most of their games under new head coach Taylor Jenkins, but they just don’t have the talent to win in the fourth quarter yet. Milwaukee is dead-last at forcing turnovers on defense, and they’re near the bottom of the league in both free throw rate and free throw percentage. The Bucks just don’t get anything easy right now, which is the true sign of a terrible team. There are some positives thus far: rookie guard Brayden Burries looks pretty good despite a cold start as a shooter, while Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyler Herro are both playing well enough to fetch something decent on the trade market. Kel’el Ware, who is playing under 19 minutes per game, has possibly been the biggest disappointment here so far with a lot of sloppy turnovers, undisciplined fouls, and bricked jumpers to start the year. Getting Ware going next to Burries would at least improve the vibes the rest of the way.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns became the feel-good story of last season by grinding out 45 wins with maximum effort on the offensive glass and forcing defensive takeaways. This year’s team had to take a step forward after trading their last remaining future first-round pick for Miles Bridges, but it was easy to tell that move was doomed to fail from the start. Bridges hasn’t added much of anything to Phoenix at either end of the floor, but that’s just the start of their problems. This team continues to play Jalen Green over Collin Gillespie for some reason, even though every piece of evidence points to Gillespie being the exact player they need. The Suns have more of a chance to turn it around this season than most of these other teams provided they finally start playing their best point guard, but their issues in the middle don’t have such an easy solution. I loved Khaman Maluach as a draft prospect, but he just doesn’t look ready for starting center minutes at all right now. Oso Ighodaro has been better offensively, but he’s too small to play full-time center, and the defense completely falls apart when he’s on the floor (a ghastly 129 defensive rating in his minutes). Devin Booker is getting paid enough to lift this team through tough times, but he’s just not a great enough shot-maker to overcome his lack of rim attempts. Phoenix has some chance to turn it around, but the early returns are highly discouraging.
Utah Jazz
I was foolish enough to think the Jazz could be a playoff team this year, but my optimism started to fade once Jusuf Nurkic went down with a foot injury in the team’s preseason opener. A length injury to Jaren Jackson Jr. followed, which has put an already thin front court in a dangerous spot to start the season. It’s a bad sign that Utah’s offense has been the main culprit for their struggles, ranking No. 29 in the league right now. There should be a ton of firepower here, but the team has been ice cold from three (31.5 percent, No. 27 in the league), and rookie Darryn Peterson is still figuring out his spots on the floor. Peterson is relying way too heavily on floaters and other non-rim two-pointers right now, and it’s tanking his efficiency (46.5% true shooting). There’s also just a huge lack of high-level passing on this team right now, and it’s one reason why Lauri Markkanen just can’t seem to get going. The JJJ trade looks like an abomination. This was supposed to be the season the Jazz finally stopped rebuilding and started getting serious, but the product on the floor remains extremely poor.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers’ future was decimated by the NBA for their dealings with Kawhi Leonard in a cap circumvention scandal, but they still had a chance to be competitive this year. It already feels like that hope is over. Brandon Ingram reported to training camp with a partially torn Achilles, Max Strus is just returning now from a foot injury, and the big man room might be the worst in the league. Meanwhile, Darius Garland is turning the ball over like crazy, and rookie Keaton Wagler might be the worst inside the arc scorer in the NBA (25% on two-pointers). The Clippers turn the ball over more than any team in the league, and only four clubs allow their opponents to score with better efficiency. Worst of all, they owe their 2027 draft pick to the Thunder. I have mad respect for Ty Lue as a head coach, but there’s nothing he can do to stop this mess.
On this day 101 years ago, Hervey McClellan passed away at 30, from cancer. | American Caramel
1925 Shortstop Hervey McClellan, who made his White Sox debut in 1919 and played five seasons with the team after that, died at 30, of cancer. The defensive ace first felt ill on April 27, 1924, when he nearly passed out on the field with was thought to be “acute indigestion.” A week later, McClellan had his stomach operated on — he had stomach cancer, but somehow was not informed of his affliction. Incredibly, he battled his way back to the field after Independence Day and played in 24 more games that season, including a brief return to the starting lineup.
In 1925, McClellan reported to Spring Training in California with hopes of a healthy season starting at shortstop. However, he was weakened and never made it to the regular season, going under the knife again in June, this time to remove gallstones. Five months after his hospital discharge in July, the popular teammate known as “Little Mac” was dead.
1935 After a 22-year career logging a 229-217 record with a 3.84 ERA and 39.7 WAR (180th all-time among pitchers), “Sad” Sam Jones retired. The former Cleveland, Red Sox, Yankees, Browns and Senators player had ended his run with four seasons on the South Side.
Jones was a curveball specialist, and while never a consistent superstar in the game had some outstanding seasons, finishing fifth in the American League in WAR in 1921 (7.2) and seventh in 1928 (6.2); even in his age-40 season in Chicago, Jones put up an outstanding 3.8 WAR over 25 starts.
Jones played on four pennant winners and took home three titles, and compiled an 0-2 record with a 2.05 ERA in World Series play. He got his nickname not from melancholy, but from staring down runners at first base to prevent steal attempts.
Jones was the oldest player in the majors when he retired at 43. His 22 consecutive years playing in a single league remains a record, tying him with Herb Pennock, Early Wynn, Red Ruffing and Steve Carlton.
Jones was also a writer and photographer, and an avid basketball player who would have likely chosen to go pro on the hardwood had the NBA existed in the 1910s.
1943 After missing two seasons due to debilitating migraine headaches, Hal Trosky came back to the majors, with the White Sox purchasing the first baseman from Cleveland. His return resulted in average production (.241/.327/.374, with a 102 OPS+ and 0.5 WAR) and saw him sit out another year, 1945, to deal with his health. (Trosky returned for one final year with the White Sox in 1946.)
It was a hard ending for a borderline superstar during his Cleveland career, earning MVP votes in four seasons and boasting two 5.0 WAR-plus years.
1976 The White Sox sent second baseman Hugh Yancy to the Reds for outfielder Tom Spencer. Yancy had played in seven games over three seasons with the White Sox, compiling a -0.3 WAR that might not seem too bad, at least if you avoid the fact that -0.3 WAR in seven games works out to -6.9 over a full season.
However, despite Yancy never seeing the majors again (three Triple-A seasons in the Cincinnati and Cleveland systems), Spencer was worse. He played all of 1977 in Triple-A to no distinction, then burned it up in 1978 after being demoted to Double-A and getting his first and only call to the majors in July. With the White Sox, Spencer mustered just 12 hits, batting .185 and slugging .200. He clocked in with a -0.6 WAR and would finish his pro career in the Houston system.
2009 White Sox GM Ken Williams had a strange att achment to certain players, but they usually took the form of long-desired superstar veterans … well past their primes (see: Kenny Always Gets His Man).
But in the case of Mark Teahen, who the White Sox acquired from the Royals in a trade on this day for Josh Fields and Chris Getz, the usual attachments did not apply. Teahen had lit up the majors in 2006, his second full season (3.7 WAR, .874 OPS/122 OPS+ in just 109 games) and followed it up with a solid 2007. Versatile enough to have logged significant games in corner outfield and infield, Williams envisioned Teahen as the solution to Chicago’s hole at third base.
But Williams wasn’t satisfied in merely acquiring Teahen: A month later, he extended the 28-year-old with a three-year, $14 million deal through 2012. Unfortunately, Teahen was positively awful in 2008-09, running up -1.4 WAR over 293 games. For a player showing all indications he might be cooked as a major-leaguer, Williams’ no-questions-asked buyout of arb years and three-year commitment was a bold statement.
And, as it turned out, a bad move, as Teahen ran up -1.1 WAR for the 2010 White Sox and never played another game in the majors after his three-year deal gifted by Williams ran out.
SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 05: Luis Gil #81 of the New York Yankees looks on prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Saturday, September 5, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Ryan Levy/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
In 2024, New York Yankees right-hander Luis Gil impressed with a brilliant first half and a full campaign worthy of the American League Rookie of the Year Award. At that point, the Bombers thought they had unearthed another pitching gem, controllable for multiple years on the cheap.
A severe lat strain in 2025 and shoulder issues in 2026 have hampered his progress and affected his fastball velocity and command, though. Last year, he posted a 3.32 ERA in 57 innings, but with very ugly peripherals. This season, the wheels completely fell off. The shoulder woes limited him to 39.1 innings between the majors and the minors. He finished with a 4.61 ERA and a rough 7.12 FIP in 27.1 MLB frames, with 18 walks and 17 strikeouts.
The right-hander started to transition to a bullpen role during the season, which could actually represent his firmest, most concrete way into the team’s plans. With the non-tender deadline looming on November 20th, however, the Yankees will have to make a decision. Is holding onto Gil worth the headache? The right-hander is projected to get a modest raise in his first year of arbitration, to $2.3 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors. Money, in this case, is not the primary issue, though.
Is Gil good or promising enough to warrant a place in the team’s future plans? Well, it will entirely depend on his ability to thrive out of the bullpen, which could be both his short and long-term home.
The concept of Gil as a multi-inning reliever is certainly enticing. Potentially increased velocity and not as much wear and tear on his shoulder sound excellent for his long-term prospects, but he does have short-term goals: looking good on the mound and getting closer to that 2024 version of himself, regardless of role. He was a completely different pitcher back then:
He is currently pitching for Tigres Del Licey in the Dominican Republic League, and boasts a solid 1.50 ERA in six frames, spanning over three games. The problem? He has issued six walks against seven strikeouts. Control has never been Gil’s calling card, but anything that starts with a five next to his BB/9 stat would represent a big problem.
The Yankees would probably love to trade Gil, hoping to get something in return for his name value and the fact that he won the award for the league’s best rookie just two years ago. They are probably dangling his name in the market as we speak. If they can’t reach a deal with any team, they will need to make a decision. They can give their promising, yet erratic right-hander one last chance, probably in the bullpen, or they could choose to cut ties and not tender him a contract, making him free to sign with any squad.
Complicating matters is the fact that Gil does not have any minor league options remaining. The next time the Yankees want to remove him from their 40-man roster, they will need to put him through waivers and risk losing him for nothing. If the Yankees can’t find a deal for him, they could opt to keep him around and try the bullpen experiment full-time to see if he can give them anything there, considering that it’s an area of need at the moment. It’s hard to see him sticking over the long term unless something drastically changes, though.
Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. The offseason is now underway, and the Brewers will look to build a World Series defense as the majority of the roster is expected to return. The MLB lockout is also looming, with less than a month until the current CBA expires, though both sides seem to be negotiating in good faith at this point. Lastly, I’d like to point out two posts in The Feed: our MVBrewers voting has begun, with the poll open through Sunday for our #1 spot; and I’m looking for feedback on how you’d like these Bernie’s Dugout Open Threads to continue moving forward. You can check both of those out below.
Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.
Happy birthday to Justin Speier, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1886 – The Sporting News publishes the official National Leagueaverages, which show King Kelly as the batting champ with a .388 average, 17 points ahead of Cap Anson. The paper previously had printed its own stats showing Anson ahead, .374 to .367, as well as 1998 – Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Kerry Wood, who posted a 13-6 record, wins the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Wood held batters to a NL best .196 average and finished third in the league in strikeouts with 233 in just 166.2 innings pitched, and other stories as well.
2007 – The 2007 Gold Glove Awards are announced. Greg Maddux is honored for the 17th time, setting a new record for most Gold Gloves.
2023 – In an unexpected move, the Cubs announce that they have hired Craig Counsell, who until now was the manager of the rival Milwaukee Brewers, to replace David Ross as their skipper. Ross’s position was not considered to be in danger after he had led the Cubs back into respectability following a re-build this past season.
1861 – Jefferson Davis is elected to a six-year term as President of the Confederate States of America.
1869 – In the first US college football game, players use their hands, feet, heads, or sides to advance the ball, but they cannot run with it; Rutgers College beats New Jersey (now Princeton) 6-4.
1936 – RCA displays TV for press.
1947 – Debut of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the longest-running TV show in the US.
1975 – First performance by punk band the Sex Pistols at St. Martin’s College in London.
1981 – Larry Holmes TKOs Renaldo Snipes in 11 for heavyweight boxing title.
1990 – “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” the third studio album by Whitney Houston is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1991).
1995 – Art Modell officially announces the Cleveland Browns are moving to Baltimore.
Today in presidential history:
1860 – Republican Abraham Lincoln of Illinois is elected the 16th President of the United States of America.
1888 – Benjamin Harrison is elected US President, defeating sitting President Grover Cleveland (D), 233 electoral votes to 168, Cleveland receives slightly more votes.
1984 – Incumbent Republican President Ronald Reagan re-elected President of the United States in a landslide; wins 49 states, and defeats Democrat Walter Mondale
2012 – Barack Obama is re-elected as US President, defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies walks to the dugout against the Atlanta Braves during the tenth inning in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Bad news: there’s a salary cap on Thanksgiving this year. You’re going to have to trade mashed potatoes if you want to resign stuffing. Unless you can find someone to take Brussels sprouts off your plate.
Should the Braves trade Ronald Acuña Jr? Given that this is a Phillies site, your answer is probably “yes”. But from a nonpartisan perspective, it’s a different story.
