Worldwide Sports News

It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! Over the past week, the baseball world looked to its history, as the Yankees celebrated the 2026 edition of Old Timers’ Day, while the Phillies and Twins took part in this year’s Field of Dreams game. With so much to cover, let’s get started!

Old Timers’ Day

We lead this week off, of course, with last weekend’s main event, Old Timers’ Day. The day began with a roster move that dated back to last year’s Old Timers’ Day, when Mariano Rivera tore his Achilles while playing the outfield.

This year was, in many ways, a monumental Old Timers’ Day, as for the first time, multiple players from the Aaron Judge era — namely, Dellin Betances, Todd Frazier, and Adam Ottavino — were in attendance (Ottavino despite the fact that he played only last season!). Rather amusingly, all three got big hits in the game — yes, including the two relievers!

As always, those in attendance took to social media afterwards to highlight their experience.

Field of Dreams

Although the Yankees were not playing in this year’s Field of Dreams Game, they were well represented among the legends, with Joe Torre, CC Sabathia, Andruw Jones, Carlos Beltrán, Iván Rodríguez in attendance.

Game Belts

The offense has struggled lately, which means that most of the recent game belts have not gone to the pitchers — who, arguably, have the real MVPs of the team — but to the batters who come up with the big hits that secured the win.

Goldy’s Award

First baseman Paul Goldschmidt received the Yankees’ MLBPAA Heart and Hustle Award this week.

A-Rod Looks Back

This week, Alex Rodriguez looked back on his career. First, he attended the Seattle Mariners’ Alumni Day, as they celebrated their 50th season; then, he honored the ten-year anniversary of his final game.

Congrats, DJ!

This week, the Royal Oak Leprechauns to their first championship in franchise history. Why does that matter to us, you may wonder. Well, their manager is DJ LeMahieu!

Miscellaneous

We wrap up this week’s roundup with a series of posts from around the Yanks.

Spider-Man’s Challenge

With the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland (aka, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man) revealed his favorite cardio workout. Naturally, the YES Network asked the Yankees how well they could do…and honestly, the only one who I think was truly realistic about their abilities was Michael Kay.

TORONTO — Ben Rice taketh, Ben Rice giveth.

After his brutal fielding error allowed the Blue Jays to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, the slugging first baseman quickly made up for it with the kind of big swing that has been missing too often of late.

Rice crushed a two-run shot in the top of the 10th before the Yankees held on in the bottom of the frame to stave off the sweep and secure a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays at a sold-out Rogers Centre on Sunday afternoon.

After David Bednar had thrown 1 ²/₃ innings in relief of a terrific Ryan Weathers, Tim Hill entered for the bottom of the 10th and, after allowing the automatic runner to score on a bloop single, nailed down the save for a win the Yankees needed to have.

“Really proud of Ben,” said Weathers, who has pitched to a 0.85 ERA over his past five starts. “Obviously the ninth inning didn’t go how he wanted it to, but staying within the game and putting a big swing on the board for us, that’s huge for him, I think it’s huge for the team. You always love to see stuff like that.”

It was by no means easy — nothing has been lately for Aaron Boone’s club — but thanks to Rice’s 33rd home run, the Yankees (69-55) picked up a game on the Rays in the division for the first time since Aug. 2, moving within 5 ¹/₂ games of them while cooling off the Blue Jays (61-65), who have surged into the periphery of the third AL wild card.

“Look, this season has tested our character and our resilience and I think we have a lot of that in that room,” Boone said. “It’s games like this that we continue to find ourselves in and we just got to keep fighting and know we’re an incomplete team, but we have a chance to be who we want to be. Love the fight, and a good way into the off day.”

Weathers delivered one of his best starts of the season to outduel Dylan Cease, throwing 7 ¹/₃ innings of one-run ball, while José Caballero — making an increasingly rare start for the slumping Jazz Chisholm Jr. — provided a spark offensively.

He walked and scored a run in the third inning before putting the Yankees ahead 2-1 on a single in the seventh inning — scoring George Lombard Jr., who had knocked Cease out of the game with a one-out double on his 104th pitch.

Then, with the Yankees clinging to the one-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth, Rice whiffed on a ground ball to first base, allowing the leadoff man to reach.

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Bednar followed by walking Alejandro Kirk before getting the first out on George Springer’s pop-up.

But on an 0-2 pitch to Ernie Clement, Bednar spiked a curveball that got past Ali Sánchez, allowing the runners to move up to second and third.

Two pitches later, Clement hit a sacrifice fly to tie it 2-2.

Rice made no excuse for the error — “Play’s got to be made,” he said — but did not let it linger in his head, instead flushing it so he could come up with one out in the 10th and clobber a pitch from Braydon Fisher into the right field seats.

“Honestly, the way baseball is, you don’t really have any time to think about anything,” Rice said. “Especially you have that tough error and then right away there’s another batter coming up and you got to be ready for that situation. Then we get back on offense, I’m hitting second that inning, you don’t really have time to think about it. So you just got to get ready.”

Rice had hit the ball hard the last few games with nothing to show for it, and then started Sunday 0-for-4 — meaning when he walked to the plate in the 10th, he was in a 10-for-85 skid over his past 23 games.

While he and the Yankees continued to trust that their batted-ball luck would eventually turn — Rice was one of a number of hitters in the lineup that had been stinging the ball lately to no avail — that was becoming harder to live with as the Yankees’ offensive malaise dragged on.

And even still, the Yankees were in a position to win a 2-1 game before Rice’s error gave the Blue Jays life, only for him to respond in a big way with his bat.

“I know no one’s feeling worse at that point than Benny,” Boone said. “To come up there and essentially win the game for us in the 10th was massive. Credit to him. And that’s this game — that’s being a big leaguer, that’s the major league season. You got to handle everything and keep going, and Benny was an example of that today.”

The New York Mets have really taken to their role as a spoiler.

The Mets earned a sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 4-3 victory Sunday at Citi Field, likely putting the nail in the coffin of a Nationals’ season that had already been trending downward.

Christian Scott had a quality start, Luis Torrens hit another home run, and the retooled Mets bullpen came through as New York improved to 9-3 since the trade-deadline sell-off. Scott was shaky early before settling in for his longest outing of the season, pitching 6.1 innings and recording seven strikeouts.

The Nationals jumped out to a lead in the second inning after Scott walked Daylen Lile, then hit Brady House with a pitch. Keibert Ruiz singled to right field to score Lile, but Benge threw out House on the basepaths to end the inning. Abimelec Oritz hit a solo homer off Scott in the third to put the Nationals up 2-0.

It took a while for the Mets to get on the board against Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who has dealt with injuries and control issues this season. New York had base runners in each of the first three innings but didn’t break through until the fourth. Jared Young got the rally going with a single, and Brett Baty added a double. Jorge Polanco hit an RBI groundout to score Young, before Torrens uncorked his go-ahead two-run homer. Torrens has four home runs in his last seven games.

The Mets offense continued to get hits off Irvin in the fifth inning while adding to the lead. Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette each singled before Benge hit into a double play, advancing Lindor to third. Young laced a double down the right-field line to score Lindor and put the Mets up 4-2.

The Nationals finally answered in the sixth inning against Scott with another RBI single from Ruiz. The Mets bullpen took it from there, stranding two baserunners in the seventh, preserving the 4-3 lead, and securing the sweep. Nate Lavander relieved Scott in the seventh, getting CJ Abrams to pop out and striking out Ortiz. Next up was Daniel Duarte, who turned in a 1-2-3 eighth inning before Kodai Senga earned his third career save in as many tries.

Senga’s save was efficient and drama-free. Jorbit Vivas grounded out on a ball down the first-base line that Young impressively snagged before tossing to a hustling Senga for the out. Senga then struck out Jose Tena and Harry Ford, needing just 11 pitches to get the save.

Bichette went 3-for-3 with a triple and a walk, as Benge and AJ Ewing were the only players in the Mets lineup who didn’t register a hit.

Benge has been a highlight machine this season, but especially in this series against the Nationals. Despite a tough day at the plate, Benge stole a double from Dylan Crews in the first inning with a sprinting catch that involved a crash into the outfield wall. He followed that up in the sixth inning with a sliding grab on a pop-up in no-man’s land that would have otherwise dropped down between Baty tracking from second base and Ewing coming in from center field. Either play could have led to runs for the Nationals in a game where the Mets didn’t have much breathing room.

While the Mets have been far more interesting to watch lately, the schedule gets serious. The remaining August slate features teams currently in playoff spots, starting with a home series against the streaking San Diego Padres. Game 1 is set for Monday at 7:10 PM EDT, with Mets starter Nolan McLean scheduled to duel San Diego’s Walker Buehler.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue

Federal Baseball

Box scores

MLB.com

ESPN

Win Probability Added

FanGraphs.com

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Luis Torrens, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: Carson Benge, -19% WPA
Mets pitchers: +32% WPA
Mets hitters: +18% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Torrens home run, +25.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Abimelec Ortiz home run, -11.2% WPA

After two losses at the hands (and bats) of the Chicago White Sox, the Detroit Tigers attempted to salvage a win in the finale of their three-game weekend series at Comerica Park. They didn’t, as the White Sox again came from behind for the victory, this time by a 7-5 score.

Drew Anderson made his third start as a for-real member of the Tigers’ rotation. His first outing went 3 2/3 innings and lasted 42 pitches; his second went only four innings but required 70 pitches. So, the goal would be roughly five or so innings, more if he was rolling, and perhaps 80-ish pitches. But, as we know, not all pitches are created equally: pitches made with runners on base in stressful situations tax the body more than, say, an 0-0 count with two out and nobody on base to Jimmy McScrub, batting ninth and holding a roll of wrapping paper as a bat.

Opposing Anderson and the Tigers was Sean Burke — no, not the former longtime NHL goaltender, silly — who is in his second full season with the White Sox. He made his twenty-first start for Chicago today, and he has been very, very solid so far: strikes out about 10 per nine innings and generally keeps home runs down. He’s more of a fly-ball pitcher, but since his hard-hit percentage is lower than average (by quite a few percent against league average), he’ll usually keep the ball in the yard. XXXXXXX

Things got cooking for the Tigers in the bottom of the second: Colt Keith led off with a single and Zach McKinstry walked. After Spencer Torkelson popped out, Brett Callahan stepped to the plate for the first time in the major leagues. The first pitch was a knuckle-curve down in the zone; Callahan swung and hit a triple into the right-field corner for a 2-0 Tigers lead.

That wasn’t the world’s prettiest head-first slide into third, but I’ll take it (and I presume Callahan will too). Fellow rookie Max Clark followed with a single to right, scoring Callahan for a 3-0 lead. Javier Báez hit a grounder that the White Sox thought was an inning-ending double play but on review was only a forceout at second; Gleyber Torres then hit a single to right, and Kevin McGonigle walked to load the bases with two out. Alas, Dillon Dingler then sent a fly ball to left field that settled in the glove of a sliding Sam Antonacci for the third out.

The White Sox got a run back in the top of the third: Tristan Peters hit an automatic double, advanced to third on a grounder to first — but was actually the ol’ 3-4-1 putout as the ball ticked off Torkelson’s glove, right to an alert Torres — and came home on another grounder to first.

Speaking of things ticking off fielders’ gloves, Keith hit a fly ball on the first pitch of the bottom of the third to left that Antonacci jumped for, but couldn’t quite get his entire glove on, as it went over the fence.

It goes in the books the same as an Aaron Judge-ian blast, though! When the ball settled and Antonacci picked himself up off the warning track it was a 4-1 game, and the Tigers were looking pretty good at this point.

In the fourth the White Sox had runners on second and first with one out, but Colson Montgomery struck out swinging and Chase Meidroth hit a slow bouncer to shortstop; Báez scooped it up and fired it to first base in time for the third out.

The fifth inning saw Anderson walk the leadoff batter, the eighth batter of the lineup, and the ninth-place hitter, catcher Drew Romo, hit his seventh home run of the year to narrow the gap to 4-3. But after that Anderson got a groundout and a pair of strikeouts; at five innings and 74 pitches, that was going to be the end of his day. His final line: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K. It would’ve looked a heck of a lot nicer if not for that one mistake to Romo, but against a hot-hitting team like Chicago, that’s not too bad.

After a one-out walk in the fifth, Burke’s day was done and lefty Hagen Smith relieved him. Smith got the next two outs and that was that.

The White Sox evened the score in the top of the sixth, as Tyler Holton took over for Anderson: Randal Grichuk doubled to lead off the inning, took third on a flyout, and scored on a Colson Montgomery single to centre through a drawn-in infield. Meidroth then walked, and you had to wonder if things were going to completely come off the rails, but fortunately Holton settled down and got a strikeout-looking and a foulout to first.

Chicago kept the runs coming in the seventh: Antonacci walked to lead off — sound familiar? — and Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run home run to put the White Sox ahead 6-4. That was it for Holton, who’s been sensational lately but just didn’t have it today. Tanner Rainey replaced Holton, and it initially looked equally dicey: a pair of walks sandwiched around a flyout put two runners on. Rainey struck out the next man, but during the next batter a wild pitch moved both runners up; thankfully Rainey got Meidroth out on strikes and the damage had been limited.

Huascar Brazobán, who was seen in Friday night’s game, took over in the bottom of the seventh. Torres greeted him with a leadoff double, and with one out Dingler hit a double to left to score Torres and narrow the lead to 6-5.

Could this be Dingler’s slump-busting hit? I sure hope so! Brazobán left after a groundout in favour of Friday’s opener Sean Newcomb, who got pinch-hitter Hao-Yu Lee to ground out sharply to first and strand Dingler.

Jacob Waugespack relieved Rainey to start the eighth, and things were as boring as you’d want them: a flyout and a pair of groundouts.

In the bottom of the eighth Ben Malgeri, who had two home runs in Friday night’s game, walked with one out. Clark hit a grounder, and he hustled down the line to (upon review) get out of the double play, but Báez grounded out to third to end the inning and strand the speedy Clark.

In the ninth the dangerous Miguel Vargas, who had quite a series, added to Chicago’s lead by bashing a solo home run to put the White Sox up 7-5.

So, it was up to the Tigers to get out of a two-run hole in the ninth to avoid the sweep, with Newcomb carrying on into the bottom of the ninth. Instead, they meekly exited the game and the series with hardly a peep, falling 5 1/2 games behind Chicago in the American League Central. Shoot, did we go back in time to the month of May or something?!

Final score: White Sox 7, Tigers 5

If it wasn’t for bad luck…

…the Tigers wouldn’t have no luck at all.

Numbers and Commemorations

• As has been described elsewhere, Trei Cruz has been Designated For Assignment and Brett Callahan was promoted to the Tigers. Cruz had a two-game cup of coffee in Detroit this year, and despite having a really nice 2025 in Toledo, he just wasn’t cutting it and perhaps needed a change of scenery. All the best to you, Mr. Cruz.
• Dillon Dingler is scuffling, as you probably know. Coming into today’s game he was 1-for-34 dating back to the first game in San Francisco. Here’s hoping that double today breaks him out of his funk.
• Holy mackerel, did you see that debut from the Cardinals’ Joshua Báez?! Three home runs in his first three at-bats. That’s totally bananas. As far as I know he’s not related to our Báez, but I gotta say, Joshua’s swing looks somewhat like Javy’s.
• On this day in 1920, Carl Mays threw a pitch that hit Ray Chapman in the head, and he would pass away the following day. It remains the only instance in Major League Baseball that a player has died from injuries sustained in a game. Honestly, with the occasional pitcher getting hit in the head by a screaming line drive, I’m surprised that has been the only such occurrence.

LOS ANGELES — Jonathan Hernández pitched the final three innings of Saturday’s loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, giving the other six Dodgers relief pitchers a full day of rest amid a time of heavy usage. The Dodgers on Sunday recalled Kyle Hurt from Triple-A Oklahoma City, adding a fresh arm to the bullpen, with Justin Wrobleski placed on the 15-day injured list with left forearm inflammation.

Manger Dave Roberts on Saturday said Hurt was on his way, and because Hurt was just optioned on Monday he would need to replace an injured pitcher in order to be activated before his 15 days were up.

“We have some guys that are ailing,” Roberts said Saturday evening.

Wrobleski is closing in on a professional career high in innings and though his innings were going to be reduced anyway by moving to the bullpen once Tyler Glasnow returns from the injured list, this allows Wrobleski to truly rest for at least two weeks. The left-hander has allowed 11 home runs in his last four starts, with 20 runs (19 earned) given up in 19 2/3 innings during that stretch.

Glasnow will make one more rehab start this coming Thursday, expected to pitch five innings and around 75 pitches, before returning to the Dodgers rotation after that. Because of upcoming off days on August 20 and 24, the Dodgers can get by with five starters all on at least five days rest until Glasnow returns.

Sunday is the 10th day of 13 straight game days in a row for the Dodgers, so they haven’t had a day off in a while, and since Blake Snell returned on Tuesday were back to a six-man starting rotation which reduced their relief corps. Sunday’s transaction allows them to carry eight relievers instead of seven the next week and a half, and the Dodgers very much needed it.

“It’s tough to navigate. We have a seven-man pen in the middle of 13 in a row. There’s a point of trying to push starters to be smart with them,” Roberts said on Friday. “Essentially all of our relievers are overworked right now, and trying to be mindful of their performance and health.”

Hurt had a 4.46 ERA and 3.64 xERA in 37 games for the Dodgers this season, with 46 strikeouts and 21 walks in 38 1/3 innings. He was optioned Monday because he had pitched each of the previous two days and would have been unavailable that day, and the Dodgers needed another fresh arm, Seth Halvorsen, who saved Tuesday’s win and was optioned in favor of Landon Knack to eat some innings on Wednesday.

That’s all part of the relief tapestry the Dodgers are weaving right now.

In between getting optioned and his return to Los Angeles, Hurt pitched once in Triple-A, tossing a perfect inning of relief on Thursday for Oklahoma City, with two strikeouts.

The Yankees salvaged their three-game series Sunday at the Blue Jays when they escaped Toronto with a 4-3 win in which left-handed starting pitcher Ryan Weathers continued his dominant run.

Takeaways

1. Weathers (6-7, 3.56 ERA) has been outstanding for New York since July 25, making five starts of five innings pitched or more and consistently giving the offensively struggling Yankees a chance to win. Weathers' 7.1 IP matched his season-best start April 19 against the Kansas City Royals when he scattered five hits in a scoreless outing that saw him strike out eight and walk one. He allowed one run on six hits while fanning four and walking one over 95 pitches with 59 strikes. Especially as the Yankees' offensive struggles continue, Sunday was arguably Weathers' best yet during a stretch in which he has earned his stripes.
2. Luis Garcia Jr.'s 11th games with New York was a quiet 0-for-2 finish, but the second-batting designated hitter's third-inning sacrifice fly to left field got the Yankees on the board in an otherwise painful performance by the offense, which totaled three hits. Garcia, a top acquisition for New York at the MLB trade deadline, is slashing .220/.267/.366 with one home run and three RBI since joining the Yankees Aug. 3.

3. InfielderJosé Caballero, who scored on Garcia's one-out fly ball in the third inning, started the frame with a leadoff walk and subsequently stole third base to reach scoring position. Caballero's two-out RBI single in the seventh inning put the Yankees over the top, scoring shortstop George Lombard Jr. Through 103 games, Caballero is slashing .242/.300/.390 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI. He is up to 30 stolen bases this season.

4. First baseman Ben Rice made up for his costly fielding error to lead off the ninth inning that put the eventual game-tying run on base when he put the Yankees back on top with a two-run home run. Rice's 33rd home run of the season was his first hit of a 1-for-5 game. He is slashing .251/.344/.533 with 78 RBI through 119 games this season, a year in which the Yankees need all the offense that they can get without injured sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.
5. With the Tampa Bay Rays' 10-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees (69-55) exit Sunday at 5.5 games back in the division. The Rays (74-49) lead the American League East but got swept by the Orioles (61-63).

Who's the MVP?

Weathers, who outperformed Dylan Cease and the Toronto right-handed starting pitcher's 6.1-IP two-hitter. Cease struck out 10, walked three and allowed two runs while throwing 104 pitches with 60 strikes.

Highlights

Yankees get on the board off a Luis Garcia Jr. sac fly pic.twitter.com/wk1KVNmvis

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 16, 2026

Yankees get on the board off a Luis Garcia Jr. sac fly pic.twitter.com/wk1KVNmvis

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 16, 2026

José Caballero drives George Lombard Jr. home and the Yankees are back on top pic.twitter.com/04RBVuK6xe

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 16, 2026

What's next

The Yankees have Monday off before starting a three-game series at the Orioles with Tuesday's 6:35 p.m. opener.

Right-handed pitcher Will Warren (8-6, 4.42 ERA) is set to start for New York.

It’s hard to imagine the 2026 Mets season being remembered as anything but an unmitigated disaster.

But maybe the Mets will be able to salvage at least some dignity with a decent close to the year.

They took another step in that direction Sunday, completing a three-game sweep of the Nationals at Citi Field.

The 4-3 victory was their ninth in 12 games since the Aug. 3 deadline, when the Mets dismantled most of what was left of their bullpen and only didn’t do more to tear down the roster because there weren’t a lot of pieces other teams were interested in.

They finished off the Nationals thanks to a solid start by Christian Scott, who the Mets hope is a key part of next year’s rotation, and a three-run fourth inning that was capped by a two-run homer by Luis Torrens.

“Guys are playing good baseball,” interim manager Andy Green said. “In almost all the games, we’ve found ourselves down at some point [and] the mentality has flipped from ‘Here we go again’ to ‘Here we go again, this is what we do.’ I think there’s a big distinction between those two things and your expectations. I think your play follows that.”

Scott, in the longest start of his major league career, faltered in the seventh.

He gave up a run and left a pair of runners on base before Nate Lavender entered and got CJ Abrams to pop out and whiffed Abimelec Ortiz.

Daniel Duarte pitched a scoreless eighth and Kodai Senga picked up his third straight save.

It was the Mets’ second sweep this month.

They also accomplished the feat in Cleveland immediately after the trade deadline.

And they likewise took a series in Pittsburgh, when the Pirates looked like a team ready to at least contend for the playoffs.

Even with their recent string of success, the Mets are 56-69.

They entered the day 11 games out of the last NL wild-card spot, with seven teams to get by to get there.

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Still, the 13 games under .500 is the closest the Mets have been to the mark since they were 35-48 on June 27.

They’ve improved to 22-22 since Green took over in the dugout.

And they’ve been even better the past two weeks.

“I feel like we’re playing loose,’’ Scott said. “There’s an influx of energy with a lot of new guys. We’re having fun and not putting too much pressure on ourselves. And winning is more fun.”

Those fun times will be put to the test starting Monday, as their next five series are against teams currently in line for the playoffs.

That starts Monday in Queens against the Padres, who are second in the NL wild-card race.

The San Diego series is followed by a trip to face the White Sox, first place in the AL Central, and then a home series against the Brewers, owners of the best record in the majors, and the AL West-leading Astros.

And the stretch ends with a trip to face the Rays, who are atop the AL East.

But as Green noted, there’s more resilience in this group of late, as they found themselves in a 2-0 hole in the third inning before Jared Young and Brett Baty started the fourth-inning rally.

Torrens homered for the fourth time in his past six starts.

They added a run in the fifth on a two-out double by Young.

Scott kept the lead, but was hurt by a leadoff walk to Jorbit Vivas in the seventh.

A pair of one-out hits ended his day before the bullpen took over and finished the job.

Their best 12-game stretch in over a year still hasn’t gotten the Mets out of the NL East cellar, but it’s at least added some life to the second half of the season after four-plus months when nothing went right.

It’s not often a player can be credited with saving the careers of thousands of players who followed him or ensured that a select few of those would go on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to his courage.

Yet Tommy John, in conjunction with orthopedist Frank Jobe, did just that for generations of pitchers.

John died Saturday, Aug. 15 at the age of 83, his 288-win career almost a footnote in the grand scope of his life. He served as patient No. 1 for the surgery that would eventually bear his name is among the most significant off-field impacts a player can make.

When he agreed to let Jobe replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow in 1974, it was a journey into the unknown at the intersection of sports and medicine. Nowadays, the surgical scar and the established protocols for recovery, regaining strength and eventually returning to the mound are well-established and even more evolved.

Yet all that was foreign to Jobe and John. And you could fill up a wing of the Hall of Fame with those who have benefited.

Here’s 12 legendary pitchers whose careers were saved or extended by Tommy John surgery:

John Smoltz

Career record: 213-55, 154 saves

WAR: 69.0

Notable: In his first iteration, Smoltz was the warning shot fired that the dynastic Braves of the 1990s were coming. He became a World Series champion by 1995 and in ’96 authored one of the most dominant seasons of that decade, winning 24 games and striking out a major league-high 276. Yet he blew out his elbow before the 2000 season, leaving his career at a crossroads. "There weren't many 34-year-olds, in my mind, having Tommy John surgery," Smoltz told The Athletic in 2018. "I was going to be in the final year of my contract and I just figured that no one would want a 34-year-old who had Tommy John surgery. I just didn't think it was going to be worth it. I was pretty down and out and ready to call it quits." That is, until Tommy John himself called. John noted that he was the same age – 34 – when he went under Jobe’s knife. So Smoltz went for it – and what a second act. He toggled to the bullpen and saved a major league-high 55 games in 2002, followed by 45- and 43-save seasons for Atlanta. Returning to the rotation in 2005, he logged 229 innings and while he only struck out 169, his 3.06 ERA was still 39% better than average. He’d pitch through 2009 and earn election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility - the first Tommy John recipient to be inducted.

Justin Verlander

Career record: 266-159

WAR: 82.3

Notable: It’s true: The lion’s share of Verlander’s achievements – 226 wins, 3,013 strikeouts, two Cy Young Awards and 72.3 WAR – were achieved before Verlander’s elbow went out after one start in 2020. But his return to dominance after Tommy John showed that yes, a generational pitcher could return to such heights even after the procedure – and even at the age of 39. That’s how old Verlander was in 2022, when he won a third Cy Young, led the majors with a 1.75 ERA and bagged his second World Series title, earning his first Fall Classic win that autumn. Verlander, who announced he is retiring after this season, indeed had a freakish arm, one that seemed bulletproof as he logged at least 30 starts in all but one season from 2006 to 2019. When the tiniest and most important ligament for a pitcher finally failed, he could still be put back together.

Shohei Ohtani

Career record: 47-22

WAR (pitching only): 19.2

Notable: It’s possible the game’s most talented player ever might have been a four-time MVP had his pitching career ended in 2018, when he first blew out his elbow. Fortunately, we’ll never have to know. Ohtani did not pitch in 2019 and made just two appearances in the shortened 2020 season, but then unleashed the full fury of his two-way powers. From 2021-2023, he posted a 2.84 ERA and struck out 11.4 batters per nine innings over 74 starts, his ’23 season likely the zenith of his multi-positional brilliance. Alas, that pitching season ended after a second UCL injury and another repair commenced after the season. That only makes his third pitching act even more remarkable: Ohtani’s come back from Surgery II even more precise, with a 2.17 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 28 starts the past two seasons. That doesn’t include his Greatest Game Ever in the 2025 NLCS. While other maladies are impacting his pitching, Tommy John surgery allowed the world to enjoy every bit of Ohtani’s talents.

Chris Sale

Career record: 157-96

WAR: 61.4

Notable: Sale was already a World Series champion and two-time AL strikeout champ by the time his ligament failed him just before the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown. Yet think of what he’s done since: A 2024 NL Cy Young Award in which he was the league’s pitching triple crown winner and three consecutive All-Star berths for the perennially contending Braves. Sale likes his new ligament and team so much, he signed on for $27 million in 2027 plus an option for ’28, when he’ll be 39 years old.

Unable to acquire a starting pitcher at the deadline, the Houston Astros may be looking to their farm system to help their struggling rotation.

With SP Ronel Blanco needed for long relief in last night’s game, and now having been optioned to Sugar Land, an interesting development happened with the Astros’ farm team:

Pecko, who was named Triple-A Pitcher of the Month for June right before his June 30th start, has struggled ever since.

After allowing just 2 ER in 24 innings across his first 4 starts in June, Pecko has allowed 25 ER over his last 30 innings (7.50 ERA) spanning 7 starts. Pecko is 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA overall for the Space Cowboys this season.

Whether or not Pecko would get a start or work out of the bullpen in low leverage is currently unknown, but since no injury was announced it stands to reason that he is a likely call-up for the Astros.

Pecko is not currently on the 40-man roster, so a roster move would need to be made to accommodate Pecko.

A day after pitching six innings in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Justin Wrobleski was placed on the injured list with inflammation in his left forearm, per The Post’s Dylan Hernandez.

Right-hander Kyle Hurt was recalled from triple-A Oklahoma City to take Wrobleski’s place on the active roster and reinforce the Dodgers’ worn-down bullpen.

Wrobleski, 26, has enjoyed a breakout season with the Dodgers. A National League All-Star, he is 11-5 with a 3.56 earned-run average even after a four-start winless streak.

The left-hander has pitched 126 ⅓ innings this year, a career-high. He pitched 71 ⅔ innings in the major leagues last year, including five in the postseason.

But the jump in innings wasn’t as extreme as it initially appears. Between the majors and minors, Wrobleski pitched 123 ⅓ innings last year. He pitched a combined 132 innings the year before that.

“I feel all right,” Wrobleski said after his six-inning start on Saturday night. “It’s just part of a long season, part of something I got to get ready for years to come. Just trying to lean on people that have done it, and just again continue to try to take care of my body the best I can and feeling as good I can right now.”

Whatever he said, the innings were clearly catching up to him. He is 0-3 with an 8.69 earned-run average over his last four starts. In that stretch, he has given up 11 home runs in 19 ⅔ innings.

Two of those homers were given up to the Brewers on Saturday. Wrobleski was charged with four runs in six innings of the 4-1 loss.

Manager Dave Roberts said before the game that he wasn’t overly preoccupied with the workload, noting that “at some point in time” Wrobleski would be moved to the bullpen.

Instead of the pen, he’s on the shelf. For now.

Thankfully for the Dodgers, both Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow are nearing a return to the roation.

Friday night, in his first affiliate rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land, Houston Astros starter Mike Burrows had a solid outing.

Burrows went 4.1 IP scoreless on 3 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3. He threw 43 of his 67 pitches for strikes, and generated 5 ground ball outs. He worked primarily 95-97 MPH with his fastball.

Burrows is recovering from right elbow neuritis, which is inflammation around a nerve. Burrows MRI showed no structural damage.

Burrows last pitched for the Astros July 6, allowing 10 runs (7 ER) in 4.1 innings, surrendering 9 hits (2 HR) and 2 BB with 3 K. He is 4-9 overall in 2026 with a 5.99 ERA.

The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

--Christian Scott looked terrific through the first six innings, allowing a pair of runs on just three hits. With his pitch count under 80, Scott went back out for the seventh, but a leadoff walk led to a Keibert Ruiz RBI double and a Jacob Young single to put runners on the corners. 

Scott pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season, but seemed to run out of gas. Nate Lavender did a great job of getting two big outs to limit the damage there, closing out Scott’s line at 6.1 innings pitches, three earned runs, five hits, seven strikeouts and two walks. 

The Mets have talked about Scott getting them deeper into games for most of the season, and delivered on Sunday. 

---Luis Torrens has always been known for his work behind the plate, but his power has been on another planet of late. Torrens belted a two-run homer to give the Mets a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, giving him four homers in his last 17 at-bats. 

Torrens had just two homers all season long before this outburst, and now has six.

--Kodai Senga pitched on Friday night and then "got hot" warming up Saturday, but Andy Green went back to him for the save opportunity on Sunday. Senga, trying to secure a one-run save for the first time, needed just 11 pitches for a one-two-three inning, striking out two hitters in the process.

--Bo Bichette had a terrific day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple and a walk. 

Bichette has found his groove at the dish and in the field, looking more and more like the player they Mets signed this past offseason.

--Carson Benge had a another big day in the field, making an outstanding backhanded catch right near the wall in the right in the first inning, and then earning an outfield assist in the second recording the third out on Ruiz’s RBI single. He made another terrific sliding catch in the top of the sixth as well. 

But it wasn’t a great day at the plate for the rookie, as he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, snapping his 18-game on-base streak.

--After 591 career games in center, Luis Robert Jr. started in left field for the first time in his major league career. Of course, not a single ball was hit his way in left. He went 1-for-4 at the plate.

Game MVP

Scott, who pitched into the seventh for the first time all season.

Highlights

Carson Benge shows off again!

He makes the backhanded grab to end the first inning 💪 pic.twitter.com/NXuWpcC66O

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Two-run shot for Luis Torrens!

Mets take the lead! pic.twitter.com/4bREKiT8nM

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Jared Young stays hot!

An RBI double sends Francisco Lindor home pic.twitter.com/YoeGGPYQuD

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Carson Benge from out of nowhere to make the sliding catch! pic.twitter.com/KtUnZpuY3i

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Up next

The homestand continues with three games against the San Diego Padres, starting on Monday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY. 

Nolan McLean will face Walker Buehler.