shoulda stuck with the Derry Girls themed chart I made in like the fourth
Top dogs: Victor Robles, .39 WPA; Brock Rodden, .27 WPA; Eduard Bazardo, .24 WPA
Dog days: George Kirby, -.36 WPA; Cole Young, -.20 WPA Andrés Muñoz -.80 WPA
Game thread comment of the day:
Michael Arroyo Threat Level: Victorian Parlor Green (much to the chagrin of one John Trupin)
Friday, Aug. 14 was a good day to be a baseball player named Kirk who wears No. 30.
On the same night Toronto Blue Jays slugger Alejandro Kirk went yard and got a Gatorade shower after a 3-1 win over the New York Yankees, 2,477 miles away in San Bernardino, California, his younger cousin, Noah Kirk, pitched a gem as his Southern California squad secured the final spot in the Little League World Series.
All Systems GO 🚀 pic.twitter.com/xCsW35AqIJ
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) August 15, 2026
Twelve-year-old Noah, starting on the mound and batting leadoff for Sweetwater Valley Little League out of Bonita, struck out six batters through four scoreless innings. But it was the fifth where he had his best moment.
Sweetwater Valley had opened up a 5-0 lead, but Kirk gave up back-to-back singles to start the penultimate inning before Waika Doctolero took him deep for a three-run home run that cut SoCal's lead down to just two runs. Rush Pegeder walked the next at-bat, and it looked like Kirk was spiraling with his pitch count creeping closer to the 85-pitch limit.
He responded by striking out Shane Schoettler for his seventh K of the game. Now at 83 pitches, Kaikea Saiki was all but guaranteed to be the final batter Kirk would face, and Kirk made it count. Kirk fell behind 3-1 in the count but managed to work it back full before getting Saiki to hit a comebacker to the mound. Kirk fielded the ball, threw Pegeder out at second, and Mateo Ruiz fired it to first baseman Jesus Cuadra to get a crucial inning-ending double play.
Not a bad night for the Kirk family 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/QzuT7BVAl6
— Andrés Soto (@TheAndresPablo) August 15, 2026
Sweetwater Valley Little League went on to defeat Kawaihau Community Little League 11-3 to advance to Williamsport.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alejandro Kirk's little cousin pitches gem to send team to Little League World Series
Charles Oakley’s lawsuit against Madison Square Garden and owner James Dolan was dismissed for a third time Friday, concluding another chapter to the legal battle involving the former Knicks star that dates back to when he was ejected from the Garden following an altercation with security guards in February 2017.
MSG said in a statement that the claims were dismissed by the court “in their entirety” and that it planned to pursue legal action against Douglas Wigdor — Oakley’s lawyer — and “his unscrupulous law firm.” Wigdor, in a statement to The Post, expressed disappointment with the court’s ruling and still hoped for a jury trial.
“For more than nine years, Mr. Oakley’s lawyers have pursued claims they knew were false,” MSG said in its statement. “Those claims have now been dismissed by the Court in their entirety — for a third time. We are pursuing legal action against Douglas Wigdor, and his unscrupulous law firm, to hold them accountable for years of frivolous litigation and their blatant abuse of the judicial system.”
The case was initially tossed in early 2020, revived later that year, tossed again in 2021 and then revived for a second time in May 2023.
“We are disappointed with the Court’s rulings,” Wigdor said in his statement to The Post. “We believe there are conflicting accounts and only a jury can decide what exactly happened. We are hopeful that the Second Circuit will agree for a third time and remand the case for an immediate jury trial.”
Oakley, who spent 10 years as a player for the Knicks and was a key piece of the franchise’s success in the 1990s, was arrested and removed from the Garden during the Knicks game on Feb. 8, 2017, and while the charges were dropped, he filed a lawsuit later that year — alleging, in part, assault, false imprisonment and defamation. That lawsuit was dismissed in February 2020. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal of the battery and assault claims in November 2020. When the appeals court reversed it for a second time in 2023, it ruled that the “question of whether the use of force was reasonable under the circumstances is generally best left for a jury to decide.”
But more than three years later, a third dismissal followed. In circuit judge Richard J. Sullivan’s opinion and order, he wrote that “no rational jury could conclude that Oakley reasonably feared himself at risk of wrongful physical contact — let alone that MSG intended to stir such an apprehension.”
“Even though the alleged assault occurred in the middle of Madison Square Garden in front of 19,000 and scores of cameras, Oakley concedes there’s no other witness — besides himself — who says he was pushed to the ground,” Sullivan wrote on the first page of his opinion and order.
Oakley’s public feud with Dolan has loomed over the Knicks since it began. The Post’s Jared Schwartz reported in 2025 that the team was willing to welcome Oakley back as a “celebrated team alumnus” if he dropped the lawsuit. An initial ban instituted by Dolan in 2017 had been lifted. Oakley attended playoff games on the road during the Knicks’ championship run in the spring.
“Ample evidence — including videos from multiple angles and the unanimous testimony of every witness (even, to some extent, Oakley himself) — shows that Oakley had a reasonable opportunity to depart the Garden, that he instead resorted to physical violence, and that he was never pushed to the ground,” Sullivan wrote.
Tyrese Haliburton thinks his return should be a bigger deal — and he makes an interesting point.
The Pacers star is at least making a triumphant return this season, over a year after rupturing his Achilles during Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
But while appearing on the “Numbers On The Board” podcast this week, Haliburton unleashed his emotions after learning that the Pacers would begin their 2026 campaign in, of all places, New Orleans.
The Pelicans are expected to be among the weaker teams in the Western Conference, with an over/under of 27.5 wins on DraftKings.
“Name any other person that you compare to my level of a basketball player, wherever you have me ranked. If they tore their Achilles and missed 16 months, do you think that game would be on national television?” Haliburton asked the hosts, all of whom said yes.
“Do you think that game would be at home, if not on national television?” Haliburton followed up, as the hosts again agreed.
“Do you think that that game would be at New Orleans?” Haliburton added, with a smirk on his face.
Did the NBA disrespect the Pacers with their opening night matchup?
— Numbers On The Board (@notbpod) August 13, 2026https://t.co/kurpzCayvDpic.twitter.com/fi2ttX538p
Haliburton continued after the panel reacted to his questioning.
“When I saw the schedule, I was like, ‘Oh wow!” he said. “Shoutout [Pelicans star] Trey Murphy [III], love my boy, Trey. Love New Orleans. But I was shocked to see that.”
Yes, the Pacers are starting their season with the Pelicans.
Not with the Knicks, Cavaliers, Thunder, Pistons, Celtics, Heat or Hawks.
Nope — the Pelicans.
The Pacers and Pelicans don’t have a rivalry, nor do they have a recent high-profile trade.
They’re not even in the same conference, to Haliburton’s point.
The two-time All-NBA and All-Star guard averaged 18.6 points and 9.2 assists, shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from three last we saw him in 2024-25.
Memorably, he pushed the Pacers into Game 7 of the NBA Finals, where the team pulled off several dramatic comebacks and signature performances en route to a near-championship.
Even in Game 7, before Haliburton’s injury, he drained three 3-pointers in just seven minutes of play.
Rained out. Doubleheader tomorrow (Saturday).
The Knoxville Smokies reached escape velocity against the Rocket City Trash Pandas (Angels), 5-4.
Another strong start from rising prospect Luis Martinez-Gomez, who gave up a solo home run in the first inning and not much else. Martinez-Gomez got the win after going five innings and allowing just one run on three hits. Martinez-Gomez struck out four, walked three and hit one batter.
The Smokies held a 5-1 lead heading to the top of the ninth, but Marino Santy couldn’t find the plate at all. He allowed three runs on one hit, three walks, one hit batter over just one-third of an inning. So Grayson Moore got summoned from the bullpen to get the save. Moore faced two batters and got two weak groundouts to get the save.
Left fielder Carter Trice connected with the bases empty in the sixth inning for his 14th home run of the season. Trice went 3 for 3 with the home run and a sacrifice fly for two overall RBI. He scored twice.
Center fielder Kane Kepley had a two-run double in the fifth inning. Kepley was 1 for 4.
Trice’s home run.
The South Bend Cubs cooked the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers), 6-2.
Starter Alfredo Romero gave the Cubs five scoreless innings on just three hits. Romero got the win while striking out three and walking no one.
Shortstop Angel Cepeda, the second hitter of the game, hit a solo home run in the top of the first. It was Cepeda’s fifth home run this year and fourth with South Bend. Cepeda went 1 for 4 with a walk. He scored twice.
Second baseman Michael Hallquist hit his sixth home run with the bases empty in the sixth inning. Hallquist went 1 for 4.
Right fielder Jose Escobar was 2 for 5 and scored one run.
Cepeda just sliced this one over the wall.
The Hallquist home run.
The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were mauled by the Hill City Howlers (Guardians), 11-7.
David Avitia gave the Birds a chance to win, as he did not allow a hit over his five innings of work. He did allow one run in the first inning (walk, steal, ground out, sac fly). Avitia walked two and struck out five.
The wheels came off for the Pelicans with a five-run seventh inning by the Howlers. Hayden Frank took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits over 1.2 innings. Frank walked two and struck out one.
Right fielder Derik Alcantara hit his first Myrtle Beach home run with a man on in the eighth inning. It Alcantara’s only at-bat of the game.
Third baseman Derniche Valdez was 2 for 3 with a two-run triple in the second inning. Valdez scored once.
Center fielder Ethan Conrad was 1 for 2 with three walks. He scored twice.
The Valdez triple.
Alcantara’s home run was his second overall.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers sending Dennis Schröder and cash considerations to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for Tre Mann, per ESPN, the 32-year-old guard now adds a dubious distinction to his NBA resume.
It marks the ninth time Schröder has been traded, making him the second-most moved player in league history. First on the list? That honor belongs to Trevor Ariza, who was traded 11 times in 18 years from 2004 to 2022 and played for 10 different teams. The Hornets will be the 12th team Schröder, entering his 14th NBA season, suits up for.
There's also a couple of more coincidences that tie the two well-traveled journeymen together: most notably, they both had multiple stints with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ariza arrived in LA via trade in 2007, and though a fractured bone in his right foot kept him from contributing heavily to the Lakers' Finals run that saw them lose to the Boston Celtics in six games that season, he played in all 82 games for the only time in his career in 2008-09 and emerged as a key role player in the playoffs, averaging 11.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and shooting 47.6% from 3-point range as the Lakers brought home their 15th NBA championship. He left that offseason in free agency, signing a five-year, $33 million contract with the Houston Rockets.
He later returned to the Lakers for one more run in purple and gold in 2021-22, though a right ankle injury that he underwent a procedure for in October ended up derailing his season. Ariza was waived on April 7, 2022, after playing in just 24 games, starting 11 of them, and averaging just four points while shooting 33.3% from the floor and 27% from deep. He never played in the NBA again.
While Schröder never overlapped with Ariza in LA, he missed him by just a year on both ends. The Lakers traded for Schröder, in a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Danny Green and the draft rights to Jaden McDaniels, just ahead of the 2020-21 season as part of a retooling in their ill-fated title defense. He averaged 15.4 points and 5.8 assists on a 43.7% field-goal percentage and 33.5% from 3-point range in 61 games played. But in the postseason those numbers dipped to 14.3 points and 2.8 assists on 40% shooting (30.8% from 3) as the Lakers were bounced in the first round by the Phoenix Suns in six games.
There were rumors (and many, many memes) about Schröder reportedly turning down an $84 million contract extension with the Lakers, but he later claimed that wasn't true. He eventually signed a one-year, $5.9 million deal with the Celtics in the 2021 offseason but returned to the Lakers a year later, telling ESPN's Dave McMenamin he had "unfinished business."
His individual numbers took another small dip in 2022-23 as he averaged 12 points and 4.5 assists on 41.5% shooting, but Schröder had arguably his biggest moment in purple and gold in their play-in game against the Minnesota Timberwolves when LeBron James, driving under the basket, dished the ball to Schröder in the corner and he drained a tiebreaking 3 with 2.4 seconds left in regulation. The Wolves still managed to force overtime, where Schröder again came up clutch with two game-winning free throws to complete LA's unlikely rise from 13th in the West at the trade deadline to the seventh seed.
Since that 2023 Western Conference finals run, Schröder has played for the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Cavaliers and now, the Hornets. He's one team away from tying Ish Smith's NBA record of playing for 13 different teams in his NBA career.
But it's not like the latest move doesn't make sense; it does, for all parties involved. The Cavs are now $32 million under the first apron and have more flexibility to fill out their roster as they pursue a new deal for James Harden, while Charlotte adds a veteran ball handler to a young but talented locker room that includes Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Coby White and Naz Reid, who they acquired earlier this summer in the LaMelo Ball trade.
More importantly, Schröder brings playoff experience — something the Hornets haven't experienced since 2016.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dennis Schröder has now been traded 9 times. Is that the NBA record?
Dylan Beavers’ pinch-hit single in the 7th and Gunnar Henderson’s homer in the 8th powered the Orioles to a 6-5 win in their series opener in Tampa Bay.
The AL-leading Rays came into Friday’s game riding a nine-game winning streak, but could never get ahead of the pesky Orioles. Baltimore and Tampa went into the 7th inning tied at two with Gunnar Henderson leading off the inning. Henderson has struggled for much of the season, but you wouldn’t have known it the way he lined a double into right field to kick off the decisive rally.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand then stepped up looking to move Gunnar over, and did so with a hard single to left. Things then got a little weird for the O’s and Leody Taveras. The outfielder stepped up looking to lay down a safety squeeze, but ended up chopping a ball down the third base line that caught Gunnar in a run-down. The Orioles’ SS was able to retreat back to third, with CES ultimately being tagged out as Taveras took second.
After the Rays brought in right-handed reliever Kevin Kelly and intentionally walked pinch-hitter Jeremiah Jackson, it set up the would-be showdown with No.9 hitter Carlos Narváez. Instead, Craig Albernaz countered with Beavers, who laced a single under the glove of Jonathan Aranda at first to score two and give Baltimore a 4-2 lead.
After starting the rally in the 8th, Henderson punctuated the win with his 20th homer of the season. With two outs in the inning, Tyler O’Neill lined a single up the middle to bring up Gunnar. The Rays’ Chris Roycroft quickly got ahead 0-2, but grooved a cutter down the center of the plate, which Gunnar gladly deposited in the right-center bleachers and gave Baltimore a 6-2 advantage.
Yenneir Cano nearly gave the game away in the 9th, as the usually reliable reliever delivered his worst outing of the season. The non-save situation started with back-to-back singles from Richie Palacios and Taylor Walls. Cano would strike out Yandy Díaz for the first out, but a wild pitch during the AB allowed both runners to move into scoring position. Rays’ 1B Jonathan Aranda then lined a single to right to score two and cut the Orioles’ advantage in half.
Cano then walked Chandler Simpson and allowed Simpson and pinch-runner Jorge Mateo to steal second and third. Junior Caminero would further cut into the Orioles’ lead, as an RBI groundout to third dropped Baltimore’s lead to one. Cam Sanders put an end to Cano’s nightmare, taking over needing just one out to seal the win. Rays’ outfielder Ryan Vilade attacked the first pitch he saw from Sanders, sending a lazy fly to left to end the game.
Despite the nervy situation in the 9th, the Orioles never trailed in Friday’s win. They took their first lead in the 2nd, as O’Neill led off the inning with a walk before moving to third on a softly-hit Henderson single to center. CES delivered the O’s first run of the evening, lining a sac fly to right that allowed O’Neill to score on a close play at the plate. After the Rays tied the game in the bottom of the 2nd, Colton Cowser restored the Baltimore lead in the 3rd with a solo homer into the Ray tank in center field.
The veteran righty Chris Bassitt made his first start for the Orioles since June 3rd and came out looking sharp early. He started the first inning by getting Díaz to ground out to second. He then struck out Aranda and Caminero looking, sandwiching the two Ks around a Simpson single.
The 2nd inning has often spelled doom for the Orioles with Bassitt on the mound this year, but tonight was a different story. The 37-year-old right-hander came into Friday’s game with a 9.75 ERA in the 2nd inning this season. With the O’s up 1-0, Bassitt started the bottom of the 2nd by giving up a single to catcher Liam Hicks. The 12-year vet rebounded by getting Víctor Mesa Jr. on a first-pitch fly out, but lost the battle to former Oriole Cedric Mullin when he flipped a single to right.
After getting ahead of Richie Palacios 1-2, a Bassitt curveball caught just too much of the plate, and the Rays 2B looped a double just out of the reach of O’Neill in right. The extra-base hit drove home Hicks, tied the game at one and put Bassitt in a jam with runners on second and third.
Earlier in the season, that jam would have snowballed into a crooked number, but instead, Bassitt locked in. After walking Taylor Walls to load the bases, he got former All-Stars Yandy Díaz and Jonathan Aranda to pop up and fly out, stranding all three runners.
Bassitt gave another leave back in the 3rd as the Rays got an assist from the umpire. After the Cowser homer put the O’s up 2-1, Bassitt started the frame by getting the speedy Simpson to ground out. He then surrendered a one-out walk to Caminero, which ended up spelling trouble for the O’s. With a full count on Hicks, Caminero took off for second just as Bassitt uncorked a curveball that was originally ruled ball four. Orioles’ catcher Narváez immediately challenged the ball call, and ABS overturned it to a strikeout looking.
However, manager Craig Albernaz tried to argue that Caminero should be sent back to first as Narváez’s reaction to challenge the incorrect call seemingly prevented him from throwing down to second. Home plate umpire Jordan Baker didn’t side with Alby and Caminero remained on second for Mesa Jr. The 24-year-old outfielder then lined a low curveball into center for an RBI single that tied the game at two.
From there, Bassitt turned on cruise control and started mowing down the talented Rays’ lineup. In the 4th, he started the inning by winning a seven-pitch battle against Palacios, getting the infielder to fly out softly to center. He then set down Taylor Walls on six pitches by getting him to bounce out to second, before closing out the inning with a Díaz 5-3 groundout.
The right-hander then flew through the heart of the Rays order in the 5th, setting down Aranda, Simpson and Caminero on just six pitches. After getting through five innings on 80 pitches, Bassitt went back out for the 6th. His control then began to slip, as he walked leadoff hitter Hicks on four pitches. He’d set down Mesa Jr. one last time on a fly out to left and then exited for Josh Walker. After the lefty reliever finished off the inning, it closed Bassitt’s line at 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB and 3K—a solid return after 2+ months on the IL.
The win not only snapped the Rays’ nine-game winning streak but brought the Orioles within one game of the AL’s final Wild Card. Baltimore will continue their push toward the postseason tomorrow as Kyle Bradish takes the mount in Tropicana Field.
The Cardinals are sending one of their top prospects to the big leagues for the final stretch.
St. Louis is calling up outfielder Joshua Baez, the team’s No. 3 prospect and No. 59 overall on MLB Pipeline, to help with their postseason push.
Manager Oliver Marmol told reporters that Baez, 23, will be in the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against the Cubs for his MLB debut.
“He’s on his way,” Marmol said, according to MLB.com. “He’ll be in the lineup tomorrow.”
Baez has had a successful season for Triple-A Memphis, posting a slash line of .256/.328/.573 with 34 home runs and 90 RBIs in 103 games.
Since being drafted by the Cardinals in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Baez has had varying levels of success in the minor leagues, having rather underwhelming offensive seasons until breaking out last year with High-A Peoria and Double-A Springfield.
“There’s an edge to it,” Marmol added. “There’s a confidence to it, and he has a work ethic that’s fun to watch, too. He knows how to get after it. He wants to win, and it’s fun to inject that into this clubhouse because we have a lot of guys that are that way.”
Despite showing impressive levels of power, there has been concern about Baez’s plate discipline, as he’s racked up over 100 strikeouts in four of his six minor league seasons.
The Cardinals, however, believe that Baez is improving and can be a useful bat for them for the remainder of the season.
“There’s a hitter in there, too,” Cardinals assistant general manager of player development and performance Rob Cerfolio said. “His goal the last couple months has been to hit .300 in the second half, and he doesn’t really need to swing for power.
“Power is just part of what he does.”
While the National League Central division title might be out of reach for the Cardinals — as the Brewers lead them by 14 games — they are in a battle for the wild card, sitting just 3½ games behind the Phillies for the final spot.
Yesterday our own Jeremy Nielsen described the Yankee offense no-showing like they were itching to just get on the plane and start their road trip already. Tonight felt like the bats somehow never left the tarmac, because aside from Trent Grisham poking one out of the stands there just wasn’t anything to show for their at-bats. The Yankees wasted another solid pitching performance and allowed a starter on the other side that has been struggling to cut right through them in a 3-1 loss to Toronto.
Shane Bieber was on the mound for the Blue Jays, and he entered this game with a gaudy 5.48 ERA — naturally, that was of little consequence to this lineup. Bieber sat down the Yankees in order in the first inning, picking up strikeouts from Grisham and Spencer Jones, and worked around a one-out Jazz Chisholm Jr. single in the second. The third brought the first real instance of a pulse, Austin Wells leading off with a walk before getting forced out at second. Grisham stepped up and provided a single that should’ve made it a rally, but George Lombard Jr. was caught in the middle of trying to go for third and didn’t get back to second in time, instead winding up in a rundown. A Ben Rice groundout ended the disappointing frame.
The fourth brought more opportunities to squander, as Jones led off with a double and advanced to third on a flyout from Luis García Jr. (Jones was briefly called out on the tag up, but a challenge overturned that call as he was clearly never tagged despite the throw beating him). Still, two more fly outs were all the Yankees managed, and the first one was too shallow for Jones to test with another tag up. It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Yankees finally caught a break, Grisham crushing a middle-middle fastball out to right field to get them on the scoreboard.
Now holding the lead, the Yankees looked to break open the dam but couldn’t get anything else going in the inning. Rice flew out harmlessly and Jones grounded one out to first. García stepped up to the plate and took a low strike call that apparently drew a comment from Aaron Boone, because home plate umpire Vic Carapazza turned to instigate things with the manager and ultimately ejected him. Even then it wasn’t the classic fiery Boone tirade that drew it, as he almost looked surprised that things escalated to an ejection that quickly and went out onto the field briefly to get his money’s worth.
On the other side of the ball, Gerrit Cole had been pitching a solid game. He got a double play ball to erase a one-out walk he issued in the first, and then worked around a jam with runners on second and third with one out in the second by striking out Kazuma Okamoto and getting a groundout from Jesús Sánchez. The third and fourth innings were both breezes for Cole, sitting the Blue Jays down in order, and an Okamoto single in the fifth went nowhere either.
The bottom of the sixth proved to be a different story. Just as quickly as the Yankees got their lead it vanished, Brett Bateman leading off with a single and ceding his place to Nathan Lukes on a forceout. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to put runners on first and second with one out, and then Cole induced a groundout to third that had double play potential. Ryan McMahon stepped on third for the force and then fired over to first, but García’s glove flew off his hand trying to scoop the throw. Fumbling around for the ball, he fired it back to third trying to get the lead runner but Lombard was the closest man to the bag and he still wasn’t anywhere close enough to catch it. Instead, the ball bounded for foul territory and Guerrero was able to score, tying the game up. The next batter, Alejandro Kirk, brought home the dagger lacing an RBI double out to left to put the Blue Jays ahead 2-1.
From there, the Nyquil had fully set in for the Yankees. Facing Toronto’s bullpen they got just a lone baserunner in their final three innings, a McMahon single with two outs in the seventh that went nowhere. Paul Blackburn relieved Cole for the seventh inning and stranded a pair of runners, but Bradley Hanner served up a solo shot to Kirk in the eighth to add an insurance run.
Two days after a 10-run outburst the Yankee offense is back to sleepwalking through games, having scored just a single run over their last 18 innings. The Red Sox and Rays both already lost today so no ground was lost there at least, but Tampa nearly rallied to come back from down four in the ninth and only lost by one. It sure would feel nice if the Yankees showed they could rally more than once a week at the rate they’re going.
Tomorrow will be a chance to get this series back on track, with Cam Schlittler going up against a to be determined starter for the Jays. First pitch is scheduled for 3:07 p.m. EST.
It is Friday night.
Chris Bassitt returned from the injured list with 5.1 decent innings, Gunnar Henderson was dropped to the #5 spot in the order and responded by coming a classic “triple shy of the cycle” over a four-hit game where he drove in two runs and scored two runs, Dylan Beavers had two hits off the bench, and the Orioles beat the Rays by a 6-5 score. (Don’t think about the ninth inning. It’s the GIF Party!)
As of right now, the Orioles are one game back of a wild card spot in the American League. This is subject to change based on the Texas result in Sacramento.
YOU KNOW WHAT MUST BE DONE.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are getting reinforcements to the starting rotation sooner rather than later.
On Friday, Tyler Glasnow made his second rehab start for the Oklahoma City Comets. While he didn’t reach four innings, he retired 11-of-13 batters he faced.
The right-hander tossed 3.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and issued two walks in a dominant 67-pitch performance. He posted a 41% whiff rate and 34% CSW, a sign that he is as locked in as ever.
Tyler Glasnow put on a SHOW in Bricktown
— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) August 15, 2026
3.2 IP | 0 H | 0 R | 2 BB | 8 K pic.twitter.com/wYNf2AVeuj
Glasnow made improvements from his first rehab outing at Triple-A, which consisted of 2.2 innings of one-run baseball. In total, the right-hander has completed three rehab outings, one with the Ontario Tower Buzzers and two for OKC.
This is exciting news for the Dodgers pitching staff, who have missed Glasnow as well as Shohei Ohtani in the rotation. Ohtani also made huge progress Friday as he threw his first bullpen season in nearly a month.
But Glasnow is evidently closer to being fully ramped up.
The 32-year-old landed on the injured list with lower back spasms in May, an unfortunate recurring issue throughout the All-Star’s career. Since then, the Dodgers have taken a cautious approach to Glasnow’s return.
Glasnow’s tenure with the Dodgers has been headlined by a slew of injuries, which he’s dealt with in every season since he was traded to LA in December 2023. He missed the 2024 postseason because of a right elbow sprain, though he tossed a career-high 134 innings that year.
In 2025, Glasnow missed over two months of the season because of right shoulder inflammation. He returned in July and played a key role for the Dodgers in the playoffs.
The 2026 season has also featured injury for Glasnow, but it appears he will be back in the rotation soon. The right-hander will likely make at least one more rehab start before the Dodgers activate him off the injured list.
Glasnow has posted a 2.72 ERA with 49 strikeouts across 39.2 innings pitched (seven starts) for the Dodgers this season. Based on how he was pitching Friday night, Glasnow looks to be heating up at the perfect time before October.
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TORONTO — The place that served as the Yankees’ house of horrors last year delivered a nightmare of a throwback inning Friday night.
And thanks to another quiet offensive night, it was enough to sink them in another loss.
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Try it freeWhat should have been an inning-ending double play to preserve a one-run lead in the sixth inning turned into a comedy of errors — somewhere, Benny Hill’s “Yakety Sax” must have been playing — tying the game and extending the inning so the Blue Jays could take the lead on the way to a 3-1 win over the Yankees at a sold-out Rogers Centre.
Continuing to operate with a razor-thin margin for error because their offense has been doing next to nothing on most nights, the Yankees (68-54) once again got quality pitching from Gerrit Cole but were let down by their defense and baserunning while remaining 6 ¹/₂ games back of the Rays in the AL East.
“Obviously, it continues to be a challenge for us [offensively],” said manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected in the top of the sixth for arguing balls and strikes rather mildly from the dugout. “This is another night where we made decent contact and we were having some of the right at-bats. But at the end of the day, we got to push runs across when we get opportunities because that’s where we’ve struggled. We got to make it happen.”
The sequence that ruined Cole’s start and the Yankees’ night started harmlessly enough. They led 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth with one out and runners on first and second when George Springer hit a chopper to third base. Ryan McMahon fielded it, stepped on third and threw across the diamond trying to complete the double play. But his throw was a one-hopper to Luis García Jr., who tried to backhand the scoop, only for his glove to fly off in the process.
“Springer’s moving pretty good, felt like I had to throw it as soon as I stepped on the bag,” McMahon said. “Just didn’t get enough on it to get it all the way over there.”
García then made matters worse by picking up the ball, spinning and firing to third base, where shortstop George Lombard Jr. was in the general vicinity (McMahon had trailed toward home after throwing to first) but not in a position to handle García’s wild throw. Lombard then collided with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. while trying to chase after the loose ball to no avail as Guerrero raced home to tie the game.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out the way we wanted,” García said.
“Once he got his back to the play, I think he just got overly aggressive throwing to third,” Boone said. “Should’ve obviously held it.”
With the extra out, Alejandro Kirk drilled a double that scored Springer to put the Blue Jays ahead 2-1. Cole, who became frustrated during Guerrero’s at-bat when he lost track of how many disengagements he had left and could not get clarification quickly enough from the umps, lamented leaving a first-pitch slider down the middle to Kirk (who later added a solo shot in the eighth inning off Bradley Hanner in his MLB debut).
Trent Grisham snapped the Yankees’ 14-inning scoreless streak by leading off the top of the sixth inning with a solo shot off Shane Bieber for the 1-0 lead.
But that was the only offense they could muster, now having scored just one run over their last 18 innings since Wednesday’s 10-run outburst. It marked the ninth time in their last 14 games that the Yankees have scored two runs or fewer, wasting another strong pitching performance from Cole, who allowed just two runs (one earned) across six innings.
The Yankees’ baserunning miscue came in the third inning from Lombard, who took what Boone described as an “overly aggressive” turn around second base on Grisham’s single to right field and was caught in a pickle for the second out.
An inning later, Spencer Jones led off with a hustle double but was eventually stranded at third, adding to the offensive frustration.
Cole insisted that the bats’ extended malaise was not adding extra stress on the pitchers, though common sense would say otherwise.
“We’re having a good time pitching and playing close games,” Cole said. “Certainly we want to blow guys out and secure as many wins as possible, but at the same time, we’re throwing the ball well, we’re playing good defense and we’re hanging in a lot of games, giving ourselves a chance to win.”
Any game that invokes optimism for the 2027 Mets rather than dismay regarding the 2026 version is a good game for the franchise.
On Friday night, Robert Stock looked like a nice piece rather than a novelty. Each reliever behind him, including closer Kodai Senga, made a case that he belongs on next year’s Opening Day roster.
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Try it freeJared Young continued to make the most of his playing time and strengthened his argument for that time to remain next year.
It all added up to a nicely played, 4-1 comeback victory over the Nationals in front of 30,660 at Citi Field, where the Mets (54-69) offered the only thing they have left to offer this season: hope for the future.
It began with Stock, a 36-year-old whose age is looking more like a quirk than a drawback. A journeyman who has pitched just about everywhere from indy ball to South Korea to Mexico; who was signed for a second time by the Mets as a late-career flier and then required surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome this spring; and who is as well-versed in pitching technology and language as anyone in the game, Stock is not a regular case of a kid trying to make an impression late in a lost season.
That impression was darkened in his previous outing, an eight-run blowup in Pittsburgh. On Friday, a pitcher and person known for bouncing back bounced back.
“It’s really good stuff,” interim manager Andy Green said of Stock, who allowed one unearned run and struck out five in 4 ¹/₃ innings. “So if he gets in the zone, he has quite a bit of success.”
He was in and out of the zone, walking three but typically relying on his movement to escape potential jams. Washington only scored in the third when Francisco Lindor did not stay down on a sharp ground ball from Abimelec Ortiz that skipped into the outfield to put runners on the corners, which led to a Brady House RBI single.
Otherwise, Stock was unblemished, in part because Nate Lavender entered with two on and one out in the fifth and escaped. Behind the rookie lefty, Jonathan Pintaro (two scoreless innings and his first major league win), Daniel Duarte (a clean eighth) and ultimately Senga (second save) held down the Nationals.
All are potential pieces of the Mets staff next year.
“Pretty much all we want to do is we want to go out there and compete,” said Pintaro, another former indy baller who is trying to find a niche as a multi-inning weapon out of the bullpen. “Just do everything we can to show the world that we deserve this chance and that we have a great opportunity here just to compete and help our teammates do everything they can to get the wins.”
The Mets’ offense consisted of rallies in the sixth and seventh, the former including a Lindor homer that atoned for his error and an RBI knock from Carson Benge, and the latter featuring Young teeing off on former Yankee Jake Bird and Bo Bichette adding an RBI single.
Barring something unforeseen, Lindor, Benge and Bichette will be members of the 2027 Mets.
Increasingly, Young is building a case that he belongs within this offensive group, too.
A complementary piece who has held his own at first base and consistently hit righty pitching, Young is under team control and only playing better with added playing time, now slashing .319/.396/.495 over his past 30 games.
“He knows what he’s good at and he stays consistent with it,” Green said of Young, who has gone from the KBO to a legitimate Mets silver lining.
Full recap to post later this evening. For now, hit the comments and enjoy the W!
A lighter GameDay Thread tonight, likely due to the earlier start time, only getting a total of 215 comments at time of publishing. There seemed to be quite a bit of rec rationing going on early (hat tip to Sighborg) but Timmy Tawa’s late insurance run dinger loosened the recs and kilnborn earned COTG:
The Diamondbacks face the Braves for the second game of this 3-game set tomorrow evening with a 4:15pm first pitch Arizona time and televised on FOX. Grant Holmes (7-4, 3.47 ERA) is the probable starter for the ATL and our favorite hologram, Eduardo Rodriguez (11-4, 2.70 ERA) will get the ball for the good guys.
Full scoreboard thread to follow but feel free to update in the comments.
For a team like the Chicago White Sox looking to wrap up their division over the remaining weeks, winning the few series left against divisional opponents is crucial. Last week, the White Sox took care of the Cleveland Guardians and this week, they have a big test on the road against the Detroit Tigers.
With just 2 ½ games separating the two teams coming into this series, anything less than a series win would put Chicago in a really tight spot. Although the series is far from over, the White Sox got off to a great start with a massive 9-5 win over the Detroit Tigers.
It was your normal intradivisional game, with both teams trading blows left and right, all night. The White Sox landed the first punch in the very first inning when Sam Antonacci was driven in by Braden Montgomery after the first two batters of the night were hit by pitches.
Sean Newcomb did his job as an opener, as he allowed just one base runner over his first five batters faced. Unfortunately the Tigers landed a few punches of their own shortly thereafter.
The “Gritty Tigs” awoke from slumber off of José Urquidy, with a two-out, two-strike homer in the second and a two-out double in the third inning that had the White Sox reeling. It wasn’t the finest work from Urquidy, but his role was to eat innings, and with 52 pitches with three runs of damage he could very well see long relief work into September.
Fortunately, as they have all season, the White Sox refused to wave the white flag, tagging Detroit for two runs in the first seven pitches of the fifth inning, as a Tristan Peters two-run homer evened it up. Chicago fattened its lead from there, thanks to a Munetaka Murakami homer
and a Braden Montgomery triple:
For as much as Braden has struggled during the season, batting just .238 on the year coming into this game, he’s played a major role in multiple big wins this year. It was his fourth game in his short stint in the South Side this year driving in three or more runs. If he keeps it up, he may be the most popular Montgomery on the team before too long.
It looked like the White Sox landed a knockout punch in the sixth inning when Miguel Vargas clubbed a two-run homer, but much like Tyson Fury against Deontay Wilder, the Tigers found a way to rise off the canvas and show a little life.
They say “Mets gonna Mets” but apparently that saying still has some legs on former players, too, as Huascar Brazobán had another tough night. Although he only gave up two runs to Urquidy’s three, Brazobán also only made it through just 1 ⅓ innings, allowing the Tigers to make it a three-run game before Grant Taylor found a way to work out of the jam Brazobán left him.
Fortunately, Vargas showed off his power bat one more time, and the four-run lead was too much for the Tigers to make up, no matter how “gritty” they may be. With the win, the White Sox now have a 3 1/2-game lead over the Tigers, four over the Twins and five on Cleveland. Just as important, the White Sox now hold the lead in the season series against the Tigers, four games to three. Should these teams finish the season tied atop the standings, that tiebreaker would loom large.
With tonight’s game being the fourth in 16 straight days of games, a win without using too much of the bullpen is a massive help. If they can keep these good vibes rolling and leave this tough stretch with any type of lead atop the division, the White Sox will have a huge advantage over the rest of the division.
MVP
Miguel Vargas: 4-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R, two impressive pop-up catches
Runners-Up
Braden Montgomery: 3-for-5, 3 RBI
Tristan Peters: 3-for-5, 2 BBs, R
Cold Cat
José Urquidy: 3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 K
Runners-Up
Colson Montgomery: 0-for-5, 2 K
Drew Romo: 0-for-4, BB
Huascar Brazobán: 1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER
