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The Milwaukee Brewers dispatched the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night, their 4-1 victory in Game 5 of the World Series giving them their first title in franchise history. Up there in baseball Valhalla, Bob Uecker had the night of his afterlife.

That puts a wrap on the 2026 Major League Baseball season as a whole, meaning the Cincinnati Reds can once again peel themselves off the couch and begin preparations for a 2027 season that, mercifully, cannot possibly be as disappointing as the one that just ended. Baseball wastes little time in sprinting into administrative season, and that began this morning at 9 AM ET when players eligible for free agency were allowed to file.

That includes the likes of Tyler Stephenson of Brock Burke, two names in particular who need a spotlight right here. Though both could have filed for free agency as early as this morning, there’s a five-day window where their former team will be the lone club that can negotiate with them, and since both sure do look like players the Reds would like to have back in 2027 (and beyond), that means the two sides have five days to figure out what a contract would need to look like going forward for that to work. I don’t expect either to sign during this window, but at least there’s a little bit of a heads-up that the Reds will get prior to both getting the opportunity to talk to all 30 clubs beginning next week.

The end of that five-day window will also be the final chance for teams to issue a Qualifying Offer to any of their free agents who were not acquired mid-season. At one point in time that seemed like a discussion the Reds front office was having surrounding Brady Singer, though that has (thank the lord) gone silent amid his season-ending slump. That also marks the day where option decisions must be made, so by then we’ll know if Emilio Pagan has opted into his $10 million salary to remain with the Reds in 2027 or decided to test the free agent waters again. We’ll also have a resolution on the mutual option between the Reds and Eugenio Suarez, though those almost never get picked up by both sides anyway. It’s also the deadline to put players back on the roster from the 60-day IL, so there could be some DFA shuffling (or minor trades) to accommodate the likes of Hunter Greene and Spencer Steer needing 40-man spots once again.

November 1st will see the Gold Glove Awards given out to star defenders across the league. The Reds have no star defenders in the eyes of the powers that be, though – at least, not this year.

November 2nd will see Silver Slugger Award finalists announced, and here’s where we may see the sport’s spotlight swing back to Elly De La Cruz. The 2nd will also see the finalists for all the major BBWAA awards announced, of which Sal Stewart will surely be included in NL Rookie of the Year voting.

November 9th will be the day the Reds find out if Sal won the NL RoY, or not. While the honor itself is a glorious one, keep in mind that the Reds would be in line to get an extra draft pick at the end of the 1st round in 2027 if Sal takes home the prize – and the draft bonus pool boost that goes along with that.

November 9-12 will feature the GM meetings in Las Vegas, ones that will surely be interesting this season given the looming lockout that will be just three weeks later.

November 11th will be the day both the NL and AL Cy Young Award winners will be announced. Chase Burns won’t win the NL award this season despite being firmly in the mix for most of the year, but he’s going to end up with some down-ballot votes.

November 12th is the day the MVPs are announced in both leagues. Elly’s not going to win in the NL this year, but there’s a realistic chance he finishes within the Top 3.

November 16th is the date we’ll see who the BBWAA has included on their ballot for induction in the Hall of Fame, at which point in time social media will become a giant argument over who is worthy of a plaque in the hallway of an old building in an obscure and hard to reach town in upstate New York.

November 17th is the day Silver Slugger Awards are actually announced. It’s also the deadline day for players to accept QOs, if they’d received them. It is also-also the day teams must add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from potential selection in the Rule 5 Draft, which is typically held during the Winter Meetings in December…

…however, the Winter Meetings are currently scheduled for December 7-9th, and that’s after the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to expire on December 1st, and there’s zero indication whatsoever that the MLBPA and MLB itself will come to an agreement before that date to postpone an inevitable lockout.

There’s a lot that typically goes on between December 1st and the start of spring training in mid-February, but the dates when those events will occur (or be cancelled) are pretty meaningless at this juncture. Baseball will have to see the arbitration process dealt with in short order at some point, the Draft Lottery to determine the order for next June’s draft will need to take place, and who signs who will all have to fight what figures to be a long, dark transaction freeze until the two sides can figure out how to properly distribute their billions of dollars. It remains to be seen whether teams will make moves in a fury before the expiration date of the current CBA, or if they’ll roll the dice on getting lucky with what’s left after the fact.

It has been well established at this point that the Nationals did not have a good bullpen. They set the record for blown saves and had a rotating cast of characters all season long. Of that group, Orlando Ribalta and Brad Lord were the most reliable. Neither were lights out, but both of them posted sub-4 ERA’s and logged at least 40 appearances.

Ribalta and Lord are unlikely to be star relievers, but they are the type of arms you need to fill out a bullpen. The Nats are trying to build a bullpen filled with unique arms, and these two are an example of that. Despite both being right handed relievers, they have very different pitching styles and roles.

At 6’7 245 pounds, Ribalta is a towering presence on the mound and comes at hitters with an over the top delivery. His 97 MPH 4-seam fastball has a good combination of velocity and ride. Ribalta’s secondary pitches include a slider he often uses to get ahead of hitters and a fluttering changeup to put guys away.

Ribalta’s calm mound presence allowed him to come through in some big spots for the Nats. He played a role in some of the Nats meltdowns, but most of the time, Ribalta was not the one causing the fire. In fact, he was the one putting them out. Ribalta had a knack for getting out of bases loaded situations, and he earned the trust of Blake Butera.

Overall, Ribalta had a nice breakthrough season, but there is still room for growth. The 28 year old posted a 3.77 ERA and a 3.91 FIP with 42 strikeouts in 43 innings. His 84.6 MPH average exit velocity against and 36.7% chase rate were both elite metrics. However, his strikeout rate of 23.6% and walk rate of 10.1% are both pretty average for a reliever. Right now, Ribalta is a solid 7th inning guy, but if the strikeouts start matching his stuff, the ceiling is higher.

While Ribalta was a high leverage arm, Brad Lord was in a different role. Lord is your classic multi-inning reliever, a role that is becoming more common across the league. With starters not pitching as deep into games, teams need to get creative with how they use their pitchers.

Most of the time, Lord pitched about 2 or 3 innings in his appearances. In his 40 outings this season, Lord threw 83.1 innings. Until about late June, Lord was an absolute weapon in that role. However, he hit a wall after blowing a game against the Phillies in devastating fashion. Lord had a blow up outing against the Pirates shortly after that, and then he went on the IL.

However, Lord had a rock solid finish to the season. After August 1st, Lord had a 3.55 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 25.1 innings. He is not the flashiest reliever in the world, but he is very helpful and can eat innings effectively. Lord was the only Nats reliever who was on the team from start to finish.

We saw this season that Lord is not someone you really want to turn to in save situations. However, he can be a nice piece in a good bullpen. His profile reminds me a lot of Chad Patrick in Milwaukee, who logged 106 innings this year, mostly in a bullpen role.

From a pitch mix standpoint, Lord relies heavily on his 4-seam fastball and sinker. Both pitches have a lot of movement thanks to his sling shot release. His low release point and funky mechanics make him a tricky at bat. Lord is great at doing the dirty work in the bullpen.

Neither Lord nor Ribalta should be your best relievers, but that says more about the state of the rest of the Nats bullpen. Both are useful pieces who should play a role for years to come. Now the priority should be to acquire truly elite arms so those two can pitch in the proper role.

I actually think the Nats have a decent amount of interesting bullpen arms. The depth is in a much better spot than it was a year ago. However, they need to find a true anchor in the back end to tie everything together. If they do that, we will also see the best of guys like Lord and Ribalta.

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

No. 32, Zach Agnos (0.1 rWAR)

No Rockies pitcher had a more unusual collection of assignments in 2026 than Zach Agnos.

He made three starts, earned two saves, regularly worked multiple innings out of the bullpen and pitched in just about every game situation imaginable. By season’s end, he’d logged 91 innings, nearly 39 more than his previous professional high.

He also finished with a 5.93 ERA.

Agnos was more useful than good, but there were stretches of effective pitching and some encouraging developments in his arsenal that suggest he might have more to offer.

2026 statistics

Source: Baseball Reference.

A little bit of everything

Agnos entered 26 of his 38 relief appearances with Colorado trailing, including 13 when the Rockies were behind by at least four runs. For a team that lost 104 games, pitching from behind was hardly unusual.

The Rockies generally weren’t asking him to escape inherited jams, either. He began 31 of his relief appearances with a clean inning and was often left to cover two or three.

There were opportunities to finish victories, too. On April 8 against Houston, Agnos worked 3.1 innings to earn his first save of the season. He added another on April 26 against the Mets.

On May 21 against Arizona, Agnos made his first start since high school.

He retired the first six Diamondbacks he faced. He ran into trouble in the third, walking Adrian Del Castillo and allowing a single to Ketel Marte, but got Corbin Carroll to line out to center to end the inning.

He then retired all six hitters he faced in the fourth and fifth, finishing with five scoreless innings, one hit, one walk and four strikeouts.

Colorado lost 2-1, but Agnos had done his part.

Five days later, he allowed seven earned runs in two innings against the Dodgers, including a home run by Mookie Betts.

Five days after that, the Giants scored seven earned runs against him in one inning.

Fourteen earned runs in three innings, immediately following five scoreless innings against Arizona.

Two months of genuinely good pitching

In July and August, Agnos allowed just six earned runs over 27.1 innings, posting a 1.98 ERA. He walked four batters, struck out 17 and continued working primarily in multi-inning appearances.

All six earned runs came in two appearances.

On July 22 against Washington, Agnos entered with two outs in the seventh and the Rockies trailing 5-0. He allowed three consecutive singles and two earned runs before recording the third out. He stayed in the game long enough to cover 2.1 innings, allowing seven hits and three total runs.

On August 21 against Cleveland, Patrick Bailey hit a three-run homer off Agnos, who eventually allowed four earned runs in 2.1 innings.

Those were the only two appearances in July and August in which Agnos allowed an earned run.

Every other outing was scoreless.

On July 6 against the Dodgers, he threw three scoreless innings, allowing one hit. On August 5 against Tampa Bay, he worked two hitless innings.

For two months, Agnos wasn’t just effective. He was excellent. But that performance was a dramatic departure from his struggles earlier in the season, and he couldn’t sustain it through September.

The difference between those three stretches is striking:

Source: Baseball Reference.

Agnos allowed multiple earned runs in each of his final five appearances.

It’s fair to wonder whether the workload caught up with him. His 91 innings were well beyond the 52.1 he’d previously thrown in a professional season. His velocity was also down across all six pitches in his final appearance on September 22, although it had remained largely normal earlier in the month.

Something different in the arsenal

Agnos didn’t just take on different assignments in 2026. He also changed what he was throwing.

After relying on four pitches in 2025, Agnos added a slider and sinker to his repertoire. The slider was particularly interesting against left-handed hitters, producing a positive five-run value. Overall, opponents hit just .161 against it.

Agnos threw his splitter less frequently than he had in 2025, but opponents hit just .194 against it in 2026. It also generated a 41.9% whiff rate, easily the highest of his six pitches.

His sweeper also showed promise, holding opponents to a .220 average while generating a 34.6% whiff rate.

The results weren’t nearly as encouraging across his entire arsenal. Baseball Savant’s run value data highlights some significant differences depending on which side of the plate hitters stood:

2026 pitch run value by batter handedness. Positive values favor the pitcher; negative values favor the hitter. Source: Baseball Savant.

Agnos threw his four-seam fastball and cutter more than any other offerings, accounting for nearly half his pitches. Opponents hit .306 against the four-seamer and .359 against the cutter.

Agnos struck out just 14.3% of opposing hitters, placing him in the second percentile among major-league pitchers. He did lower his walk rate from 12.3% in 2025 to 8.6% in 2026, while also improving his hard-hit and barrel rates.

The individual results from his secondary pitches suggest Agnos has something to work with. The challenge is finding a way to turn those pitches into more strikeouts and better overall results, particularly when his most frequently used offerings have been so hittable.

Where does Agnos stand heading into 2027?

Agnos made three starts, posting a 1.69 ERA over 10.2 innings, compared to a 6.50 ERA in 80.1 innings as a reliever. That’s a considerable difference, although three starts are not enough to establish him as a rotation candidate. His more likely role remains that of a multi-inning reliever, something the Rockies leaned on him heavily for in 2026.

But he’s hardly the only pitcher capable of filling that role. Colorado has other young pitchers who could benefit from those opportunities, and as the organization works to improve its pitching staff, there should be more competition for those innings.

At 26, Agnos is still under team control and won’t be arbitration-eligible until 2028. He also has minor-league options remaining, giving Colorado some flexibility to keep him around without committing to a permanent spot in the major-league bullpen.

That works in his favor, but only to a point. His versatility helped him accumulate 91 innings in 2026, but a 5.93 ERA isn’t going to do much to protect his opportunities as better pitching becomes available.

Whether Agnos can turn the promise of his secondary pitches into more consistent results may determine how much longer that versatility remains valuable to Colorado.

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The World Series is over. The Brewers are the champions of the 2026 season. Now that that’s settled, the baseball offseason calendar takes over. The month of November is more important than usual this year with the expected coming lockout, which will freeze roster movement until a labor agreement is reached.

What’s happened so far

Free agency begins

At 9am on the day after the World Series ends, players who are free agents after the season officially become free agents. Their current teams have an exclusive negotiating window for five days.

These are the Orioles free agents: Keegan Akin, Chris Bassitt, Andrew Kittredge, Trevor Rogers

Still to come

November1

Gold Glove award winners announced (already known there will be no Orioles winners)

November 2

Deadline to decide on team and player contract options

Orioles players with options: Zach Eflin (mutual), Luis Robert Jr. (team), Ryan Mountcastle (team), Ryan Helsley (player – already exercised)

Deadline to extend qualifying offers to free agents

Orioles likely to receive one: Trevor Rogers

60-day injured list players return to 40-man roster

Orioles who must return to roster: Kyle Bradish, Ryan Helsley, Colin Selby, Jordan Westburg, Tyler O’Neill

Free agency opens – any team can sign any player starting at 5pm

Contemporary Baseball Era HOF ballot (players, managers, executives) announced

Silver Slugger top 3 finishers announced

BBWAA award (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year) top 3 finishers announced

November 9-12

General manager meetings (Las Vegas)

BBWAA awards announced (nightly in this order: ROY, Manager of the Year, Cy Young, MVP)

November 16

Hall of Fame 2027 BBWAA ballot announced

November 17

Deadline for players to accept or decline Qualifying Offer at 4pm Eastern

Deadline for Rule 5 Draft-eligible players to be placed on 40-man roster

Orioles to think about include: Creed Willems, Aron Estrada, Enrique Bradfield Jr., Michael Forret, Nestor German, Braxton Bragg, Patrick Reilly

November 20

Deadline for “non-tender” – where arbitration-eligible players are released instead of being offered a 2027 contract

December 1

Owner lockout of players likely to begin when Collective Bargaining Agreement begins at 11:59pm

December 6

Contemporary Baseball Era inductees announced, if any

December 7-9

MLB Winter Meetings (San Diego), specific scheduled events including draft lottery and Rule 5 draft likely to be postponed or cancelled due to lockout

January 8, 2027

Deadline for arbitration-eligible players to settle on 2027 contracts or exchange salary figures for a hearing (postponed if lockout ongoing)

January 15, 2027

International amateur signing period opens

January 19, 2027

BBWAA Hall of Fame Class of 2027 results announced

Mid-February, 2027

Spring training begins (major league portion postponed if lockout goes long enough)

March 25, 2027

Orioles Opening Day at Tampa Bay Rays (likely postponed if lockout goes long enough)

The offseason is officially here and considering that there might be a mad dash for teams to get a lot of their business done before the (what feels like an) inevitable lockout starts on December 2. As such, the trade rumors are going to be hot and heavy and while this is less of a trade rumor and more of a “it would make sense if it happened” type deal, it’s still something to discuss as the offseason gets underway.

MLB Trade Rumors has released their Top 40 Trade Candidates for the upcoming offseason and while Atlanta didn’t have any players who made it into the Top 40, they were still linked with a handful of players when it came to potential trade options.

One position that needs to be addressed is shortstop. The Braves had hoped that this would’ve been solved with Ha-Seong Kim having a successful season and giving them a reason to keep the relationship going but, um, that absolutely did not happen so the Braves are going back to the drawing board. They could bring back Mauricio Dubón to help out with their shortstop situation as they try to find a bridge to the future but again, Dubón’s defense would be better off deployed in the outfield and as a super utility guy instead of being stuck at one position (which probably isn’t his best position defensively). So I’d imagine that the Braves are probably going to figure out a way to solve that problem going forward.

The Braves were linked with two shortstops in this piece: Otto Lopez of the Marlins and Jeremy Peña of the Astros. I’m going to go right ahead and pour cold water on any idea of the Marlins trading within the division and especially to the Braves. Jeremy Peña seems like a more intriguing option, though. Here’s more from MLBTR on Peña:

Given his excellence, it’s fair to ask why the Astros would consider trading him at all. They’re not entering any sort of rebuild, after all. However, this is the exact same situation the Astros encountered with Kyle Tucker. Peña, like his former right field teammate was in the 2024-25 offseason, is an All-Star with Gold Glove defensive talent and high-end offensive contributions. Both are represented by agencies that rarely consider extensions for star players, however — Excel Sports Management for Tucker and the Boras Corporation for Peña.

The Braves are a perfect match on paper, but the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Tigers, Phillies and Rays all make varying degrees of sense. Even teams with a set option at shortstop could consider jumping into the fray, as Peña is one of the most talented players in the game at his position. A deal isn’t a slam-dunk, but teams will try and the Astros will likely hear them out.

Needless to say, Peña would solve a lot of problems for the Braves at their shortstop position. It’s also safe to assume that any trade for Peña would require a hefty return since the Astros still have team control and they’re not exactly in “rebuild” mode at the moment. Still, if the Braves do end up getting involved then I’d imagine that would mean that the price would be worth it to potentially have peace of mind at the shortstop position with a chance to give him a contract extension down the road.

Atlanta was also linked to Jo Adell and MacKenzie Gore in this article as well, so if you want to get a closer look at where the rumor mill may be heading during this offseason, I highly recommend checking out the article.

The re-signing of Caleb Thielbar by Jed Hoyer for 2026 is a perfect example of recency bias.

Thielbar had a very good year for the Cubs in 2025, in some ways the best year of his career. He posted a 2.64 ERA and 0.879 WHIP in 67 games covering 58 innings, and allowed just five home runs. He was a key part of a very good bullpen that helped the Cubs get to the division series round against the Brewers.

But Thielbar had produced a poor year in 2024 with the Twins, who were more than happy to let him go at age 37. So he has a miraculously good year at age 38, and that prompted Hoyer to offer Thielbar a $4 million deal with a $6 million mutual option for 2027 (or a $500,000 buyout).

At age 39 and with that history, it seemed quite likely that Thielbar would regress in 2026, and that’s exactly what happened. He wasn’t doing too badly until April 23, when he allowed a home run to the Phillies’ Adolis Garcia and then left the game during the next at-bat with an injury [VIDEO].

The hamstring injury kept him out about four weeks, and he wasn’t very effective after that. The long ball was a problem for Thielbar in 2026; he allowed 11 of them in 50 innings, more than double his home run rate from the previous year (or indeed, from any previous season in his career). Again, at age 39 and with an injury that probably rehabbed more slowly than it would when he was younger, this might have been predicted.

The Cubs should have just thanked Thielbar for his good 2025 and tried someone else. That was $4 million wasted. Under no circumstances should they exercise the mutual option. Pay him the buyout and let him walk. His career is probably over.

With the Milwaukee Brewers’ 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, MLB crowned a first-time champion on Oct. 28.

It’s the fourth time since 2017 that a first-time team won the World Series.

Before 2017, the World Series went 14 seasons without crowning a newcomer as champ, the longest drought among North America’s four major men’s professional leagues since 2000.

The NFL is currently experiencing the longest drought, having gone 12 seasons since the Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl in 2014 (the Philadelphia Eagles won their first Super Bowl in 2018, but had won three NFL championships before that).

The NHL is on a similar trend to MLB by crowning first-time champions; since 2018, four newcomers have won the Stanley Cup. Those champs are the Washington Capitals, the St. Louis Blues, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.

The NBA has had two first-time champions since 2017: the Toronto Raptors and the Denver Nuggets.

How long did Milwaukee wait to win the World Series?

Counting the franchise's inaugural season as the Seattle Pilots and this year's title run, the Brewers took 58 seasons to win the World Series.

The franchise had been to the World Series once before – losing in seven games to St. Louis in 1982 – but had to hold out for the second-longest wait among expansion teams to win it. The Texas Rangers, who took 63 seasons to win it all in 2023, had the longest wait.

The Brewers, Rangers, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals are the only four expansion franchises that have taken over half a century to win the Fall Classic.

The shortest span from expansion to title was the Arizona Diamondbacks, who won the World Series in 2001 after their inaugural season in 1998. The then-Florida Marlins also won quickly, taking the 1997 title in their fifth season.

There is also a wrinkle to the Brewers' first-time claim. While it's the first World Series title in franchise history, the city of Milwaukee has won the Fall Classic once before: the Milwaukee Braves (now Atlanta) won the 1957 crown in seven games over the New York Yankees.

For non-expansion franchises, the longest wait from founding to title belongs to the Philadelphia Phillies, who won their first World Series in 1980, their 98th season. That count includes 20 seasons before the inaugural World Series in 1903.

Their 1980 opponent, the Kansas City Royals, was also title-less, making it the first World Series since 1920 in which neither team had won before. It didn't happen again until this year's Brewers-Rays matchup.

MLB teams that have never won the World Series

With Milwaukee off the board, there are now just four ballclubs without a World Series title: the San Diego Padres, the Seattle Mariners, the Colorado Rockies and the Rays.

Notably, the Padres joined the major leagues with the now-Milwaukee franchise in 1969. If San Diego's drought stretches to 2031, it would match the Rangers' 63-season wait.

Had Tampa Bay won this year, it would’ve ended a 29-season wait for the franchise founded in 1998. The Rays have now lost three World Series, having done so previously in 2008 and 2020.

Of those four teams, only the Mariners have never reached the World Series. The Padres did so twice, in 1984 and 1998, while the Rockies did so in 2007.

Among the teams without a World Series ring, Tampa Bay had the best regular season in 2026 with a 98-64 record. San Diego, however, wasn’t far behind at 91-71.

Seattle and Colorado both finished 2026 with losing records.

Methodology: USA TODAY compared first-time champions using lists from MLB, NBA, NHL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. For details on franchise expansion waits to win the World Series and current droughts, franchise pages on Baseball-Reference were used.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers win first World Series, ending 58-season wait. Who's left?

The White Sox are looking north for their next scouting leader.

Chicago is expected to hire Milwaukee Brewers assistant director of domestic scouting Matt Roffe to oversee its domestic draft operations, according to several league sources. The team has not formally announced the move, and Roffe’s specific title remains undetermined. He would fill the opening created by Mike Shirley’s resignation in September.

The move also continues an encouraging trend under general manager Chris Getz: looking outside the organization for fresh ideas and leadership. Roffe would arrive from the newly crowned World Series champion Brewers, whose ability to identify and develop talent has helped them succeed without a hefty payroll. That makes Milwaukee a sensible place for the White Sox to look as they work to build sustained success of their own.

An executive’s résumé doesn’t guarantee that his former organization’s success will follow him to Chicago. Still, bringing in someone who has worked within Milwaukee’s scouting operation is reason for optimism.

Roffe spent the past five seasons with Milwaukee, working his way through scouting operations before reaching his most recent position. The Brewers’ 2023 media guide listed him as their scouting operations coordinator.

His résumé includes experience across several areas of baseball operations. Before returning to Milwaukee, Roffe worked as an analyst in player personnel and pro scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks from November 2019 through October 2021. That followed a baseball operations internship with the Brewers in 2019 and a baseball research and development internship with the San Diego Padres in 2018. While attending college, he also interned in MLB’s Statcast and labor relations departments.

Together, those stops give Roffe a background spanning research, technology and player evaluation. How he applies that experience to Chicago’s scouting department will be one of the more interesting parts of the eventual announcement.

Roffe graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2018, majoring in finance and minoring in sports analytics. He also spent time on the Bears’ baseball roster. His freshman season included one appearance and one at-bat, going hitless as a pinch hitter against the University of Chicago on May 9, 2015. WashU won, 13-1.

Now, his next Chicago connection would come with considerably more responsibility: helping the White Sox identify the players who will shape their future.

The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series Champions.

For the first time in franchise history, the Brewers stand atop the baseball world, thanks to a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the World Series. And you know somewhere, Bob Uecker is smiling.

But while Milwaukee is known as a small-market team, playing a small-ball brand of baseball, the Brewers just completed one of the most dominant runs in MLB playoff history.

We can start with how Milwaukee rolled through the postseason. After winning a league-best 103 games — three games ahead of the behemoth Los Angeles Dodgers — the Brewers finished the playoffs with a combined 11-2 record. Milwaukee lost just one game in the NLDS to the San Diego Padres, swept those Dodgers in the NLCS, and lost a single game to Tampa Bay in the World Series.

Since MLB expanded to the division series, only two teams posted a better record than these Brewers: The 2005 Chicago White Sox and the 1999 New York Yankees. Both of those teams posted an 11-1 mark, good for a winning percentage of .917.

The Brewers joined the 2022 Houston Astros and the 1998 Yankees with their 11-2 record, good for a winning percentage of .846.

Milwaukee joined another small group with the sweep of the Dodgers. As pointed out by Jayson Stark, the Brewers became just the fifth team in MLB history to win 100 games in the regular season and then knock off the defending World Series champions in the postseason. Also on that list? The 2018 Boston Red Sox, who won 108 games and then beat the Astros in the ALCS; the 2009 Yankees, who won 103 games and defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series; the 1968 Detroit Tigers, who won 103 games and beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series; and the 1942 Cardinals, who beat the Yankees in the World Series after winning 106 games.

And Milwaukee rode an impressive closing stretch to the title. The Brewers went 16-2 over their final 18 games, 19-3 over their final 22 games, 21-4 over their final 25, and 40-14 over their final 54 games.

They only lost five games — FIVE — since Labor Day.

That was back on September 7 if you do not have a calendar handy.

Pitching was certainly a key for the Brewers this October. As noted by the incomparable Sarah Langs, Milwaukee did not allow more than four runs in any of their 13 playoff games, joining the 1990 Cincinnati Reds and the 1983 Baltimore Orioles as the only teams to accomplish that feat over a run to a World Series title since the playoffs expanded back in 1969. And Milwaukee’s bullpen stood out as well, as that group threw 118 innings (55.1% of the available innings, fourth most in playoff history) but held opponents to a .173 batting average while posting an ERA of just 1.38. Those are the second-lowest numbers in a single playoffs since the 2022 Astros (0.83 ERA, .126 OBA).

While the Brewers posted a run differential of +26 over their playoff run, many of their games were close contests. (A 10-1 win over the Rays in Game 3 of the World Series skews that number).

But how Milwaukee responded in some of those games is another key indicator of how dominant — or perhaps how resilient — this group is. Stark found that according to STATS, seven times over these 13 games, the Brewers scored in the very next half-inning after allowing the opponent either tied the game, or took the lead against them.

Only three teams — the 2006 Cardinals, the 1997 Florida Marlins, and the 2002 Angels — did that more. But all three of those teams needed 16 games to do so.

However, perhaps the most eye-popping stat?

Four games to none, the sweep of the Dodgers in the NLCS.

After winning Game 1 2-1, Milwaukee dropped 19 runs on the Dodgers over the next three games, outscoring Los Angeles — the second-best team in the majors — by a combined 19-10.

“This group of guys right here, the 2026 team, will be remembered forever — and they deserve that because they were a team,” manager Pat Murphy said after the game. “They’re not worried about their own stats. No one cares about that. They care about coming together and winning tonight.”

The Brewers did not just win Wednesday night.

They have been winning all season, all fall, and all throughout the playoffs.

And now they are World Series Champions.

After a relatively topsy-turvy offseason, José Suárez somehow ended up back with the Atlanta Braves after getting DFA’d twice during the offseason by two different teams. He ended up doing well enough in Spring Training to make the Opening Day roster and even made a start for the Braves while he was here.

I think the fact that I am mentioning that he “made a start” for the Braves is an indicator that this wasn’t exactly a rip-roaring success for Suárez during his second go-around with Atlanta. Let’s talk about it, though.

How Acquired

After the Braves initially picked up Suárez in a trade with the Angels for Ian Anderson, he was DFA’d by Atlanta in January 2026 and subsequently claimed by the Baltimore Orioles. A few days later, the Braves claimed him back after the Orioles DFA’d him not long after claiming him. Ah, the life of being a fringe player in Major League Baseball, man.

What were the expectations?

Considering the offseason that he had with the Braves that I just described to you, it sure didn’t seem like Atlanta had many big plans for José Suárez in 2026. Sure, he was pretty good at accumulating whiffs, avoiding barrels and keeping the ball on the ground, but he wasn’t too successful with anything else — outside of a spot start in September where he absolutely dominated the Nationals (and then added on three more shutout innings against Washington a few days after that). He also didn’t really get much of an opportunity, as he only made seven appearances for the Braves in 2025.

With that said, Suárez did have some success as a starter and swingman in 2021-2022, though he fell apart afterwards. Projection systems didn’t seem to fully abandon that: Steamer saw him as a decent long man and fifth starter type, while ZiPS was a lot more optimistic with its central estimate of Suarez serving as a pretty bulky, 1 WAR-ish swing guy.

2026 Results

This time, José Suárez made eight appearances for the Braves in 2026. He ended up making the Opening Day roster out of Spring Training as a long relief pitcher and made his debut on March 31 in a start against the Athletics. It was, um, inauspicious to say the least; that was basically the end of any ideas of Suárez potentially being a starter for the Braves in 2026.

He then went on to pitch mostly low-leverage innings for the handful of appearances that he made from that point forward. Outside of his usual dominance against the Nationals, there wasn’t much to write home about for Suarez as the valleys ended up being deeper than his peaks. While his FIP- of 66 (2.73 FIP) suggests that he may have suffered from a little bit of bad luck compared to his lofty ERA- of 158 (6.60 ERA), he also benefited from a low HR/FB rate (93 xFIP-). The problem was that the José Suárez Experience made that FIP and xFIP nigh-unlivable, because he was walking batters at a 15.2 percent rate, and usually you’re asking for trouble with that much self-inflicted traffic on the basepaths. Sure, he struck out enough guys to not totally fall apart, and kept the ball on the ground-ish, but no one wants to insert the pitching equivalent of a rain delay into a game and hope he doesn’t blow up.

Either way, his appearance on April 30 (in the ninth inning, no less!) against the Tigers wound up being his final one for the Braves, as Atlanta DFA’d him on May 1 and the Mariners claimed him soon after that. He only made one appearance for Seattle before being DFA’d once again, but he ended up getting moved to the A’s for cash considerations. He actually got to spend a decent amount of time with the Athletics and made 36 total appearances before the A’s eventually DFA’d and released him in early-September.

His seasonal line was actually pretty good and right in line with projections: 0.6 fWAR on the back of a 134 ERA-, 89 FIP-, and 100 xFIP-. It was simultaneously a pretty good season for Suárez, but also kind of a miserable one in terms of the experience for the teams that employed him.

What went right?

Well, he ended up finishing the season with a Barrel percentage of 2.7 percent (99th percentile according to StatCast) and a Hard-Hit percentage of 32.3 percent (91st percentile) so he was pretty good at not getting hit hard. While he was with the Braves, he managed to deliver another strong performance against the Washington Nationals on April 21. He came in while the Braves were trailing 4-1 after a rough start from Reynaldo López and he proceeded to eat up nine outs while striking out four batters. He did give up four walks but none of them came around to score, so this was a solid effort for Suárez. (The Braves were blown out in the game… but not while Suarez was pitching.)

This was right after he pitched three scoreless innings against the Phillies on April 17 (and got credited with a save!), so there was a brief period where Suárez was looking pretty successful on the mound.

What went wrong?

Well, Suárez got a chance in high leverage on April 30 against the Tigers, where he got the ball in the ninth inning with the Braves down 3-2. Suárez struck out the first two batters and then it all went to pot from there, as he ended up going walk-single (with error)-walk-double to end up putting the Braves in a three-run hole in the bottom of the ninth.

Now granted, that single (and the subsequent error from Mike Yastrzemski) was comical and had to be seen to be believed but still, those two walks and that double basically put the Braves in a really tough position to bounce back and it ended up being Suárez’s swan song in the South. It absolutely wasn’t encouraging to see Suárez struggle with a particularly weak portion of Detroit’s lineup and it probably didn’t seem like things would get any better from there, so the DFA made sense.

It was also the second time he was present for an implosion in about a week: on April 25, he came into a tie game in the tenth against the Phillies, after Tyler Kinley had walked the first batter. Asked to face Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and company, Suárez also issued a walk to load the bases with none out, and a couple of two-run singles doomed the Braves from there. He actually struck out the side in the inning, but as is the theme here: he did okay, the team did not have a good time.

It also didn’t help that he got dinged for four runs on five hits and three walks during his only start of the season (back on March 31 against the A’s) for Atlanta. First impressions are a real thing, y’all.

2027 Outlook

Suárez is currently a free agent but he’s also 28 and a lefty, so it’s not hard to imagine him finding work somewhere in the bigs next season. Plus, all in all, he was pretty much fine in 2026, just in a really painful, unpleasant to watch way. It probably won’t be for a contender but if there’s a rebuilding team that needs some depth and someone to eat some innings when needed, Suárez will certainly be an option for that. I do think it’s safe to say that his time with the Braves is over after two seasons of minimal production with few chances. He probably projects as a generic reliever/swingman going forward… it just depends on how much a team is willing to tolerate his walk-laden profile.