Worldwide Sports News

NJ.com | Bob Klapisch ($): Gerrit Cole has been stung by the largest home run bug I’ve seen in a while, seven long balls over two starts against the Padres and Mets. The Yankees have lost both of those games, unsurprising when your starter spots his opponent that many runs. The presumptive #3 in a playoff rotation, figuring out what’s eating at Cole is necessary should the team still want him to start what could be a decisive Wild Card win-or-go-home game. Klapisch brings a couple possible causes to the current problem, and that’s what needs to be identified before anything can be fixed.

New York Daily News | Peter Sblendorio: After taking two of three from the Mets, the Yankees control their own playoff destiny to a point. Their magic number is down to one, a win over the Twins on Monday or a Blue Jays loss to Detroit would send New York back to the postseason. While a division title is improbable, but not impossible, the first Wild Card slot seems all but ensured, giving the club home field in a best-of-three series.

New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: The Yankee bullpen has ranked amongst the best in baseball, but the eighth and ninth guys in your relief corps are always going to be borderline — see Hanner, Bradley. Clarke Schmidt, an established MLBer, has completed his rehab assignment returning from Tommy John surgery, and is set to be activated during this week’s series in Minnesota. Schmidt is likely a much better option to fill in one of those bullpen slots, boosting the floor of a squad that boasts a pretty high ceiling.

Gothamist | Catalina Gonella and Jill Webb: The South Bronx is dealing with a breakout of Legionnaires’ disease that has infected eight and killed one New Yorker, and the Yankee Stadium cooling tower appears to be one of the possible sources. Ten different towers have tested positive for Legionella bacteria, and the City has ordered all of them to be cleaned and sanitized by Monday morning. Hopefully this will be enough to quell this outbreak, and nobody else will be at risk of being sick.

All three of Burnes, Gallen, and Soroka returned from the IL this week. Which do you expect to have the biggest positive impact on the team?

James Attwood: Probably Soroka. Burnes is still pitch-limited and is still looking for the feel and timing on his breaking pitches, especially the curve. Gallen has had a rough go of things for two years now. Soroka has at least been mostly good when healthy. If he can get stretched back out to 80 pitches and if he can find most of his form from earlier this season, he could help the team save the bullpen somewhat during the run-in to October.

Spencer: Burnes and it isn’t close. I think having Gallen “start” is telling of how they’ll be used. I think that deflates both Gallen and Soroka’s value. Plus we need Burnes or it’s over for this entire window. That might need to wait for 2027*, but it’d be nice to see it this year too.

Makakilo: My view is Soroka will have the biggest positive impact. Looking at their first games back, Sokoka had the best FIP and best expected statistics (xOBP allowed and xSLG allowed). My view is Burnes will have the second biggest positive impact.

Justin: I think Soroka will, but I want Burnes to. I don’t want to be a pessimist, but Burnes hasn’t pitched in essentially over a year. Other than whatever rehab stints or bullpens he has done.

Ben: I lean towards Soroka because he can either start or work as a longman out of the bullpen. My faith in Gallen has been thoroughly destroyed where I worry about how effective he can truly be in the rotation. And while Burnes looked pretty good in his first start, I worry that he’ll be on such a strict pitch count that his impact will be limited as well. So by default, I think the guy who was an excellent number-two in the rotation behind Eduardo Rodriguez should be a huge impact player down the stretch.

Justin Martinez seems to be rounding in to form nicely. Is there a way for him to force himself into high leverage innings before April of next year?

James Attwood: If the team makes it to the playoffs, he may well be in high leverage in October. It seems quite likely that, should everyone remain healthy and should there be a season in 2027, Martinez may enter April penciled in as the team’s closer.

Spencer: Probably but I’d be hesitant. Let him just have success without adding extra stress. He and Nelson (when back) would be my top choices for high leverage innings should one of the current group falter.

Makakilo: Pitching decisions will likely be decided on by game situations and data about batter/pitcher matchups. A few weeks may not be enough time to significantly change the data.

Justin: I want to make a smartass comment about baseball not being played in April, but….

I would go into ST with a competition for the closer role, but J. Mart has a leg up on everyone else. Please no signings of the next Brad Boxberger or Fernando Rodney.

Ben: He’s looked great in his first few games back, but it’ll be tough for him to force his way into those leverage positions while the team has an embarrassment of riches in the bullpen with Taylor Clarke, Kevin Ginkel, Juan Morillo, Brandyn Garcia, and Jonathan Loaisiga all providing tremendous value. Unless one of those pitchers falters, I suspect the team will slow roll Martinez back into the fold rather than throwing him right back into the high leverage role he clearly can occupy.

What’s your best prediction for the three NL Wild Card teams? Bonus points for how many wins the team on the outside looking in will have

James Attwood: Let’s get a bit optimistic. I could see the Padres being the one left without a seat. They might finish with 87 wins and still be on the outside looking in.

Spencer: I expect Chicago takes the top spot. Philly and AZ tie for the second and third with 86 wins. Padres will be first out with 85.

Makakilo: Predict Cubs, Phillies, and Dbacks. Predict the team on the outside will have 88 wins.

Justin: Unfortunately, I think it will be the Phillies, Padres and Cubs. We finish with 86 wins. I do think it is very possible that the final series against the Padres will be essentially a playoff series, though. In the preseason wins prediction article, I had the team at 84 wins. Blake 92 and Wes at 95 as the high water marks, with the low win total being 79 by Spencer and DBE. The average was 84.2 wins.

Ben: I think the three current holders (Phillies, Cubs, Padres) are the most likely finalists unfortunately. The race for the third spot will almost assuredly come down to that final series between the Padres and the D-Backs unless the Padres somehow stumble down the stretch or the D-Backs go on a huge run. Between now and then, the D-Backs face off against the Marlins, Rockies, and Yankees while the Padres go against the Rockies, Marlins, and Dodgers. So we’ll all become Dodgers fans for a couple days and hope they don’t have everything sewn up already by that point and roll over to San Diego.

Justin Martinez threw the second immaculate inning this season for the Diamondbacks. What’s the coolest moment in Diamondbacks history you’ve seen in person?

James Attwood: Way too many fun experiences over the years. With over 25 years of attending games, I have been to over a thousand of them. One moment that does really stick out to me is a VERY OLD memory. Micah Owings was just coming onto the scene as a pitcher with pop in his bat. Owings, a pitcher at the time, was tabbed to enter the game as a pinch hitter. The opposition actually made a pitching change to help the team face off against a pinch-hitting pitcher. It didn’t matter. Owings went deep and had the entire stadium laughing at and jeering the opposition manager.

Spencer: I don’t live in Phoenix so my in person Diamondbacks options are slim to say the least. Home opener 2019 was cool. As a kid I was at the game where Mark Grace had to pitch. Does that qualify as cool?

[Ed. note] Yes, yes it does

Makakilo: In 2017, I was at an exciting game in person. The following quote is from my article that posted on 1 December 2017.

“First let’s set the scene. It’s the Wild Card elimination game against the Rockies, bottom of the seventh inning. The D-backs have a 1-run lead. The two teams have scored 11 runs so far; the game is too close to call. An outstanding pitcher, Pat Neshek is on the mound. His statistics are impressive! (2017 regular season ERA of 1.12 with Phillies and 2.45 with Rockies. 2014-15 post-season ERA of 2.08.)”

“Lovullo makes a bold move by not pinch hitting for Bradley. Archie Bradley walks to the plate with two outs and men on first and second. He works the count to 2 balls and 2 strikes. The crowd is extremely loud. He spits out a sunflower husk. He hits that next pitch into the outfield gap and the ball bounces to the wall. Cheering is felt more than heard. The third base coach windmills wildly as Lamb and Descalso race home. Archie Bradley rounds second base with long strides and slides into third base with a triple.”

Justin: In terms of being physically at Chase Field, I saw Andy Green’s first MLB home run. I know he was just a cup of coffee AAAA player, but I still think that is kind of neat.

Most uncool moment was Rusty Ryal hitting a comebacker and knocked out Hiroki Koroda. He had to be stretchered off.

On TV, I watched Edwin Jackson’s no hitter, JD Martinez’ 4 homer game and others.

One of the Snakepitfests just happened to be the game that the Dbacks retired Gonzo’s number. IIRC, it was already preplanned that we would have the Snakepitfest on whatever date it was and it was a great coincidence that the team announced it would be the day they retired Gonzo’s jersey. Chris Young hit a walk off home run to win it….after Aaron Heilman blew a save allowing 2 home runs in the top of the 9th.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI201008070.shtml

Ben: I haven’t been privileged enough to see that many moments in-person, but watching the no-hitter from Tyler Gilbert back in 2021 during his first major league start was an extremely cool moment. But I could also pick out basically any single moment from that 2023 postseason run as well.

You’ve watched baseball long enough to know an inherent truth: stars cannot save you. This is not football, where having one of the best quarterbacks alive can gift you a .500 season as the starting point. It’s certainly not basketball, where having one of best players is synonymous with having one of the best teams.

You watched Barry Bonds break the single-season home record for a team that still missed the playoffs. You watched Tim Lincecum win a Cy Young on a team that finished 18 games below .500.

And if you thinks this is just a San Francisco Giants thing, well, it’s not. The Los Angeles Angels employed Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani for six straight seasons, and won exactly zero postseason games. While Ohtani has left and found greener pastures, Trout has put together one of the greatest careers in MLB history and, more than 17 years since the day he heard his name called at the draft, is still in desperate search of his first playoff win. Not a series win; a game. Nine measly innings.

So yes. Stars very much cannot save you.

But an absence of stars will kill you, swiftly and emphatically. This is a newts and salamanders situation: not all stars play for good teams, but all good teams have stars. Plural.

The Giants entered the season with two stars, one on each side of the ball: Logan Webb and Rafael Devers. And while those two were far from the only reason that the season started as sideways as a 2004 Paul Giamatti film, you can at least draw something of a line connecting the team’s record after six weeks (14-23) to Webb’s ERA (5.06) and Devers’ OPS (.593).

Those two eventually course-corrected to varying levels. Webb mixed enough good in with the bad to make his third-straight All-Star appearance, while Devers turned the calendar in a hurry and, since the start of May, has been third in both OPS and wRC+, behind only presumptive MVPs Pete Crow-Armstrong and Yordan Alvarez.

The Giants, of course, did no such course correcting, reminding us once again of today’s lesson: stars cannot save you.

We spent much of the summer watching Devers smash home run after home run and remembering that lesson. But occasionally that aforementioned corollary — an absence of stars will kill you — would rear its head.

On Sunday, in a 6-4 loss that resulted in a sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres, the Giants were reminded of that corollary. It was a starless Sunday at Oracle Park, unless you were one of the fans sitting in the bleachers watching the first Sunday of the NFL season, instead.

The Giants found themselves emphatically starless. Webb was pitching, yes, but just two starts removed from the worst outing of his career, and leaking oil in a big way. He didn’t look himself. He didn’t look the part of an ace or a star.

And Devers? Shortly before the game began, the Giants announced that he had been placed on the 60-Day Injured List with a core muscle injury, ending his season.

One star who, for now, is not a star. One star who, for now, is not healthy. It’s a good recipe for a forgettable baseball loss.

As if to hammer home this point, the Peacock broadcast displayed the Giants nine-player lineup next to the team they played for when the season began. Just two of the players (Jung Hoo Lee and Christian Koss) were on the Giants. Just one other (Brett Harris) was on a different team’s MLB roster. Despite that, just two (Bryce Eldridge and Drew Gilbert) began the season for the Giants’ AAA affiliate. Two more (Shay Whitcomb and Andrew Knizner) were on different teams’ AAA affiliates. And finally, two more (Jonah Cox and the debuting Scott Bandura) had opened the season for San Francisco’s AA team.

Just for good measure, the Giants turned to three players off of their bench: one more (Osleivis Basabe) who started the year in AAA, and two more who began the season down in AA (Drew Cavanaugh and Turner Hill). When Webb’s night was over, he was replaced by Matt Wilkinson, whose first appearance of the season was his AA debut. He handed things over to the third and final pitcher, Trent Harris, who began the season in AAA.

A distinct lack of stars, especially when it became apparent that Webb was all too hittable on this night. He loaded the bases before recording an out, ceding back-to-back singles to open the game, and following them up with an uncompetitive double. An unproductive out was only temporary respite before Jackson Merrill smacked a two-run double.

It was not just a first inning thing, as we’ve sometimes seen from Webb. A Samad Taylor leadoff single and steal put the Giants leader in trouble immediately to start the second, and Taylor would later score on a single by Fernando Tatis Jr., who would later score on a home run by Manny Machado.

And with that, it was clear what kind of a night it would be.

Webb would mostly settle in after that, but the damage was done. He’d give up just one more rally, when Ethan Salas cracked a triple (his first career hit) in the fourth inning, and scored on another Tatis single.

If you’re looking for a silver lining, Webb’s strikeouts returned for this game, as he whiffed seven batters, while walking just one. But it’s hard to search too hard for a silver lining given the eight hits and six runs in five innings. Really, the silver lining came from what happened after Webb left: Wilkinson allowed just one hit in three shutout innings, while Harris pitched a perfect ninth.

The offense, tasked with undoing a large early deficit without Devers, tried, but fell short. Knizner made it clear that there would be fight, when he blasted a two-run homer in the second inning to give the team life.

But an opportunity was squandered in the fourth, when Eldridge led off with a single and Cox followed with his greatest weapon: the bunt single. Bandura, in just his second career at-bat, struck out, before Whitcomb blooped a single to load the bases.

The situational opportunities still haunt the Giants, though, as Knizner hit a fly ball that wasn’t deep enough to score Eldridge, before the inning ended on a Harris fly ball.

They would chip away an inning later, though. San Diego turned to a lefty reliever for the fifth inning, and Koss led off with a single and a stolen base, before Gilbert worked an impressive same-handed walk. A double steal put the Giants in position for a big inning, but they could only get one run out of it, after Lee had an unproductive out and Eldridge ground into an RBI fielder’s choice.

They chipped away an inning later, and this time it was in memory-making fashion: Bandura, who became the franchise record-setting 67th player to appear in a game for the Giants this year, led off the inning with a single, his first career hit, which he celebrated by taking second on an error. He would later score the first run of his career, when Koss brought him home with a clutch two-out single.

But just as the Giants have grown accustomed to poor situational hitting, they’ve grown accustomed to bizarre plays on the field, and Koss had a new one for us: with Koss at first and Cavanaugh at second, Basabe ground into what figured to be an inning-ending out. Xander Bogaerts, however, tried to get the out the short way, and threw to second too late. Koss, not anticipating this, ran right through the bag; rather than an infield single, the Padres had Koss — and then, after pivoting 90 degrees, Cavanaugh — in an easy backyard pickle.

Once the shenanigans arrive, you know the game is over. And it was. The Giants tried again in the eighth, when Bandura drew a leadoff walk and Hill worked a two-out walk. They tried again in the ninth, when Eldridge bopped a two-out single, and Cox worked 10 pitches out of Yuki Matsui.

But on the 10th, he struck out swinging, and the game was over.

All credit to the kids. They’re fun. And they’re making memories.

But it’s hard to win without stars.

During his time as the control partner of the San Diego Padres, the late Peter Seidler was aggressive with spending money to build a core of players for the team he loved. Signing Manny Machado to a long-term contract and then extending him when he had an opt-out option, Seidler committed a total of $470 million to Machado for his contract covering 2019 through 2033.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth added to core

When Seidler and general manager A.J. Preller recognized the exciting talent of the Padres’ young shortstop, Fernando Tatis Jr., they negotiated a 14-year contract extension that committed him to the Padres through 2034 and pays $340 million.

Infielder Jake Cronenworth, the Padres defensive specialist at multiple positions, was given a much smaller contract at seven years and $80 million to anchor the infield while being able to play all four infield spots. Cronenworth’s contract presently looks to be a bargain for a player that will never be a superstar but is steady and reliable while playing excellent defense at multiple spots.

The team will likely believe that all of those contracts were justified in the long run. Even Machado, who is on a Hall-of-Fame career track, was a defensible decision based on his contract being the one that established the organization as being serious about contending and his standing as the team’s leader on and off the field.

Xander Bogaerts’ addition is a puzzle

The head scratcher, the player signed to a contract that seemed a massive overpay at the time and even more so now, is shortstop Xander Bogaerts. There is no denying he was a superstar in his time with the Boston Red Sox, earning multiple World Series championships. When his contract ended with Boston, the Padres outbid everyone else in the running. The Red Sox infamously offered Bogaerts a 4-year, $90 million contract, then upped it to six years and $160 million. The Cubs were rumored to have offered him a multi-year, $200 million contract.

The Padres blew all those offers out of the water, signing Bogaerts, 30-years-old at the time, to an 11-year, $280 million deal that carried through the 2033 season, when Bogaerts will be 41 years old.

It was a puzzling decision by Seidler and the Padres. They already had multiple shortstops on the roster with Tatis being a blooming superstar. In his first year with the Padres, Bogaerts hit a respectable .285/.350/.440 with 19 home runs and 58 RBI. That 2023 season was his best as a Padre.

Offensive struggles

Since the 2023 season, Bogaerts has declined offensively each year. Some of that can be attributed to injuries, with a broken shoulder and broken foot affecting his 2024 and 2025 seasons.

So far in 2026, Xander Bogaerts has been relatively healthy. With a hamstring scare and a ball fouled off his foot in August, Bogaerts left those games but was never held from a game or placed on the injured list. Despite having no significant injury this season, Bogaerts is having his worst season as an MLB player. At 33-years-old, Bogaerts is at the back end of his peak production as a professional player. A players’ peak years are considered to be between the age of 27 and 32 with production tailing significantly after that age. 

With seven years remaining on his contract, Bogaerts is in the declining years of his career. With a look at his stats, it appears his hitting is the first to go. 

Bogaerts started the season strong in 2026. In April, he hit .292/.382/.472 with five home runs and 15 RBI. He had a good spring, hitting .286 with a .819 OPS, so his strong start was very encouraging. Unfortunately, May brought expectations back down to earth. Hitting .204 in May and .211 in June, Bogaerts managed just six extra-base hits in 51 games. 

July was even worse, hitting .167 with a .523 OPS in 24 games. In 27 games in August, Bogaerts hit .212 with a .674 OPS, with seven extra-base hits and 11 RBI.

For September’s 10 games, Bogaerts is pushing his numbers up as the team is making a playoff push. Hitting .314/.415/.371 with a .786 OPS, Bogaerts is following a trend in his career of improving his numbers during the last month of the season.

Strong defense

If there is one silver lining to the Bogaerts situation, it is his defense at shortstop. After switching him to second base for 85 games in 2024 to accommodate Ha-Seong Kim at shortstop, Bogaerts has been their primary shortstop. From 2023 through this season, Bogaerts has been in the 80th percentile or above in Outs Above Average as a shortstop. In 2025, he finished in the 93rd percentile with seven OAA. He has improved his arm strength during his time with the Padres, even though it continues to be below average. 

It seems unlikely that a drastic improvement in his offense will occur at this point in his career. Bogaerts, an admired leader on the team, will need to work over the next offseason to evaluate what needs to change. Looking at his Baseball Savant page, Bogaerts has not lost bat speed or exit velocity over his time with the Padres. He does not strike out more or chase more than in past years. At best, his stats portray an average to below-average major league hitter. That is borne out in his status as the No. 8 hitter in the Padres lineup, a spot unfamiliar to a player with Bogaerts’ past pedigree.

Machado made swing changes this past offseason in order to improve his bat speed and exit velocity, he has not recovered from the slump those changes threw him into. He is also having the worst year of his career in batting average numbers. Machado is still the best power hitter on the team and leads in RBI, but players need to show caution when reworking their swings as they age.

Bogaerts can still be a valuable player for the Padres if he can improve his offense to average. His underlying numbers indicate he still can do that. Bogaerts will have to make the adjustments all aging players must make. 

It is too late to live up to the contract he signed. Both Bogaerts and Machado will long be done as players before the Padres stop paying them. What Bogaerts needs to focus on is adjusting his game so he can be a contributor for as long as possible.