Worldwide Sports News

Prior to Tuesday's series opener against the Houston Astros, the Yankees made a couple of moves to their 40-man roster.

First, New York selected the contract of right-hander Justin Topa, calling him up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and adding him to the 40-man roster. He will be available starting Tuesday night against the Astros.

To make room for Topa on the 40-man roster, the Yankees transferred Giancarlo Stanton to the 60-day IL following his injury setback during rehab.

Topa, 35, has pitched in the big leagues for the last seven seasons and was pitching for the Minnesota Twins this year before getting DFA'd and subsequently released in May after pitching to a 8.05 ERA in 23 appearances. New York signed him to a minor league contract on Aug. 14.

The right-hander pitched well for the Twins in 2025, owning a 3.90 ERA across 60 innings in 54 games. His best season, though, came with the Seattle Mariners in 2023 where he saw action in 75 games and had a 2.61 ERA.

With the RailRiders in Triple-A, Topa had a 1.80 ERA in four appearances before getting promoted.

In his career, Topa owns a 4.27 ERA in 168.2 innings pitched.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo turn to the youth for positivity as the Mets turn down the light a bit on the 2026 season.. 

Following a 4-3 week for the team, the guys discuss the NL Rookie of the Year cases for both Nolan McLean and Carson Benge. 

The Mets Pod Answering Machine shouts out voicemails about the bullpen and the solid catching situation, then Joe sits down for an exclusive interview with 2026 Mets third-round draft pick Aiden Robbins, as the outfielder gets his pro journey started at Single-A St. Lucie.

The show wraps up with a Mailbag that unwraps questions about Tobias Myers, the struggles of prospect Ryan Clifford, and protection decisions ahead of the Rule 5 Draft

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Kalshi is expanding its presence in professional sports with partnerships involving five of Major League Baseball's most recognizable franchises — including four located in states where traditional sports betting remains illegal.

The federally regulated prediction market announced Tuesday that it has entered exclusive, multi-year partnerships with the Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

The agreements represent another significant step in prediction markets' push into mainstream sports, even as Kalshi remains locked in legal battles across the country over whether its sports event contracts should be regulated exclusively as financial products at the federal level or also be subject to state gambling laws.

The geography of the new partnerships is particularly notable.

Traditional online sports betting remains illegal in California — home of the Dodgers, Padres and Giants — as well as Georgia, home of the Braves.

Massachusetts has legal sports betting, but a state court issued a preliminary injunction in January preventing Kalshi from offering sports event contracts there without complying with state gaming laws.

The five deals therefore span states where traditional sports betting is either prohibited or where Kalshi's sports contracts have faced a direct legal challenge.

The partnerships will give Kalshi a presence through in-stadium advertising, digital and radio promotions, branded spaces and fan activations, according to the company's release. Financial terms were not disclosed, and MLB declined to comment on the announcement.

The Dodgers' agreement includes Kalshi-branded LED signage throughout Dodger Stadium, naming rights to the Gold Glove Bar and fan activations in Centerfield Plaza.

"The idea is that fans are already engaging with their favorite teams on Kalshi, so it only makes sense to extend that fandom to some of the most beloved baseball teams in America," Adam Barrick, Kalshi's head of sports partnerships, said in the company's announcement.

Kalshi said baseball activity on its platform has increased dramatically over the last year. Nearly 13 billion baseball-related contracts have been traded in 2026, according to Fortune, up from roughly 355 million over the same period last year.

The company could eventually establish an even larger relationship with baseball.

Kalshi is in discussions with MLB about a potential league-wide partnership, Fortune reported, citing a person familiar with the company's plans. MLB previously announced an exclusive partnership with Polymarket in March.

The five agreements come amid a broader race among prediction markets to establish relationships with professional sports organizations. Polymarket recently partnered with the New York Yankees, while Novig signed a multi-year agreement with the New York Mets in July. Polymarket also struck a deal with Major League Soccer in January.

MLB itself has also become more involved with the emerging industry. The league entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in March intended to facilitate information sharing surrounding the integrity concerns of baseball event contracts.

Blue Jays starting pitcher Shane Bieber has been added to the 15-day IL with right teres major inflammation. Chad Dallas is being called up from the AAA Buffalo Bisons to take his roster spot.

For those who, like me, didn’t know what a teres major is, it’s a muscle that runs from your shoulder blade to your humerus. The good news is that it’s a different injury from the elbow-forearm issue that cost him the first half of the season. The bad news is that Bieber, who’s managed just 20 appearances over the past three seasons combined, will now be out for a large chunk of the remainder of the season if not all of it.

This is a blow for a team that had been playing its first good baseball of the season. They Jays just won six of seven series in a stretch that included 23 games in 24 days and wins at the contending Phillies and Astros and against each of the three AL East rivals in the playoff picture. They’re currently two games out of the third wildcard, and don’t play another team with a winning record this year. Bieber himself has been a part of that run, with a 2.96 ERA and 22:6 K:BB ratio in August.

The Jays’ rotation right now starts promisingly with Cy Young contender Dylan Cease and deadline acquisition Jose Soriano, but then it’s Max Scherzer (age + ERA rounds to 50), Spencer Arrighetti (himself just off the IL and with very shaky numbers), and ???. Simeon Woods Richardson has worked as a starter this season, but has recently been converted to the bullpen and probably isn’t stretched out for 4+ innings anymore. Dallas himself converted to the bullpen a little over a month ago and hasn’t gone two full innings since. Ditto Spencer Miles, who at any rate has more than tripled his previous pro innings total (not high, total) so far in 2026. He’s also been good enough that the team should be treating him as a part of the 2027 plan and beyond, so protecting his arm is a priority. Trey Yesavage and Jameson Taillon were both reported to be throwing on flat ground last week, but neither seems likely to jump directly back into the rotation soon. Jake Bloss, the most promising AAA option, has missed a month and a half (coincidentally also with a teres major strain) and is most likely done for 2026.

I imagine we’ll see a lot of openers and maybe SWR and Dallas piggybacked to try to cobble six innings together every fifth day. The bullpen, which has already pitched the fourth most innings in the majors, will probably have to pick up even more slack.

We are approximately 24 hours removed from the Houston Astros and GM Dana Brown having a mutual parting of ways (i.e. – he was fired) and the team announcing it would finish the year with a three-headed monster of the team’s current assistant GM’s and special advisor Jeff Bagwell running things under the supervision of team owner Jim Crane.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Following the 2022 season, one in which Houston was crowned World Series champions, this same scenario essentially played out. The things that most stand out from that situation are:

• the ill-advised contract given to RP Rafael Montero
• the failed contract given to 1B Jose Abreu
• the power struggle between new GM Dana Brown and future Hall of Fame manager Dusty Baker
• it seemed Dana didn’t have the keys to the car his first year-plus in the organization

There is no defending the Montero deal. One of the basic tenets of being a GM is never give a journeyman reliever a big contract following a career year that is a massive outlier from career norms. That deal was always going to bust, and the fact that no one around Crane stood up and expressed just how awful an idea that was is mind boggling.

The Abreu contract was understandable, it simply failed. The Cubs had reportedly had an offer on the table to Abreu for 2 years at $20M per. There were upwards of 5 teams bidding on his services. Houston was in desperate need of a 1B, and their top choice (Anthony Rizzo) re-signed with the Yankees. Crane pushed in, and went to 3 years at the same $20M per to make sure he won the bid. No one expected Abreu to fall off as sharply as he did, but such are the risks of signing older players.

The power struggle between Dusty and Dana was real. Dusty had just won a power struggle with former GM James Click, evidenced by his ability to convince Crane to reject a trade Click had with the St. Louis Cardinals to send SP Jose Urquidy to St. Louis for C Willson Contreras. A GM in the final year of his contract having a trade rejected by the owner that made sense for the franchise was the writing on the wall that Click would not be back (sounds familiar?). Winning the World Series couldn’t change that.

Dusty was now waging war with Dana Brown. An old school manager, Baker didn’t want the front office telling him what to do. It didn’t matter to Dusty who the GM was, he was the manager and he believed he should be the only one calling the shots in the dugout. Modern front office/manager relationships didn’t work that way anymore.

However, it should have taught Crane a valuable lesson about making sure his manager reported to his GM. Everyone can’t have a lifeline right to the owner, or discord will follow. Astros fans who are also Texans fans remember how that situation played out when both Texans HC Bill O’Brien and GM Rick Smith answered to team founder Bob McNair directly, instead of O’Brien answering to his GM.

Getting the GM hire right is paramount for this team in it’s current state. That GM also has to be able to sell Jim Crane on their vision for the franchise, whether it’s rebuild, retool, re-focus, the owner must be on board.

Crane is one of the most hands-on owners in the sport. He is incredibly competitive. He wants to win, and he doesn’t accept excuses.

Reports say the Astros are looking at candidates from the Cleveland Guardians, Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, and that an in-house candidate may be considered. Crane has gone to the Tampa tree before, with Click. Click was on point with his numbers, but struggled to build a strong relationship with the owner, something paramount for the GM role in Houston.

I’ve even seen some say that Crane is open to bringing back former GM Jeff Luhnow, although I have a very hard time believing Crane would even consider the idea of re-hiring someone who previously sued him for breach of contract. It is unknown how other owners or the league office would ever feel about a Luhnow return in Houston or elsewhere, but he is technically eligible to return as his suspension from MLB ended following the 2020 season.

Choosing a GM from a small market tree is no guarantee of success. The Mets are the most recent example, as their current President of Baseball Operations David Stearns has drawn heavy scorn for the failed team he built this season despite it’s enormous payroll. Stearns is not only a small market success story in Milwaukee (where he was GM and later POBO) but is also from the Jeff Luhnow tree where he was Luhnow’s sole assistant GM in Houston until he accepted the GM role in Milwaukee.

Hiring an unproven GM always comes with risk, regardless of the size or market they may come from. Hiring a GM with experience in one market does not always translate in another. It is a difficult process where personality and ability to mesh with the owner are also a big part of the equation, along with aptitude, experience, prior success, and philosophy.

We have seen in the not too distant past that Crane cannot act as sole GM, not even with 3 assistants advising him. Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Reggie Jackson weren’t a successful triumvirate in advising Crane as GM perviously and swapping Jackson for Enos Cabell likely will not change that today.

Crane has to get this pick right. It can’t be a hire to ‘work the margins’ as Click was or to ‘restock the minors’ as Brown was, but someone who has experience in building both the minors and majors for success simultaneously or ability to sell their vision on the owner that Crane truly believes it and is willing to be on board 100%.

The major league team is very much at a crossroads. Ravaged by injury for 3 straight seasons, it has suffered loss of star power and has not been able to backfill the losses as it had during the prime of the Golden Era. The lack of high end prospects has prevented the team from replenishing it’s stars or trading for them. Various developed minor leaguer position players who weren’t top prospects promoted to the majors have had brief success before flaming out (Chas McCormick) or never really made much impact (Jake Meyers, Joey Loperfido). Recent call ups (Zach Cole, Brice Matthews) have struggled badly. The MLB club is in desperate need of a talent influx.

The minor league system is still ranked low but has legitimate high end talent, it is simply at lower levels of the minors. Brown has put a lot of talent in the system in the 17-20 year old range, but that fruit cannot be harvested for several more years. None of that top talent is available to help the team now or next season.

The Astros missed a potential big opportunity to sell at the deadline and inject the franchise with a lot of young talent by selling off players who were pending free agents or a year away from free agency. Some of those players could have helped next season, some could have been used to get players who would help next season. Instead they refused to sell, did practically no buying either, and find themselves in the situation they are due to inaction and a severe lack of foresight.

The next person hired as GM will be the difference between the Astros extending a real window of opportunity or going to the bottom of the division for an unknown period of time. No one wants to see Jose Altuve’s twilight of his career spent on a bottom feeder team. No one wants to see Yordan Alvarez’ prime years wasted for nothing. No one wants to see Hunter Brown being the last high quality starter on the team, only to watch him leave and be a star elsewhere.

Whatever direction Crane goes with his new hire, Crane himself has to have a real plan that he and his new GM share. Whether it’s re-tooling, rebuilding, bringing in the talent to make this current team a contender again, they need an actual plan and it needs to be the right plan.

If it isn’t, the plan will be crashing out, and it will be chosen for them.

Andrew Baker will tell you, politely but firmly, that the pitch chasing him around scouting reports right now is not a cutter.

“It’s technically not a cutter,” the Colorado Rockies right-hander said. “It’s like a gyro slider.”

Public pitch-tracking systems still file it that way — Baker’s version averages 87.8 mph and has been his most-used weapon at Triple-A Albuquerque this year, thrown 49.7% of the time — but by his own account, it’s really two different sliders wearing one label.

“I have a sweeper that’s anywhere from 84 to 86, and the hard gyro is the 88 to 91 one,” he explained. “I just don’t call it a cutter. I like calling it a gyro slider, and that’s technically what it is.”

However, it gets classified; the pitch has become a legitimate weapon to pair with a fastball that sits at 97.3 mph — a combination that shows up clearly in the underlying numbers. Bakers’ swinging-strike rate and overall whiff rate both rank near the top of the Triple-A population this season, and his strikeout rate has climbed into elite territory (29.7% at Triple-A, and better than 35% during his time in Double-A). The pitch itself didn’t exist in his repertoire two years ago.

“Last year, I was in High-A with the Phillies, just trying to figure out everything, and my pitching coach there, Ryan Buchter, brought it to me, and he just said he thought that it was something that would really help me,” Baker said. “I just started throwing it then, and it’s slowly turned into probably my best pitch other than my fastball. It’s gotten better and harder, and it’s really working for me.”

Adjusting to life at altitude

That development has coincided with a career year, one that’s come with its own new challenge: pitching a mile above sea level. Since being promoted to Albuquerque, Baker has had to recalibrate both his body and his stuff.

“It’s definitely different as far as the recovery goes here. It just seems like it’s a little bit more enhanced as far as the soreness, and it takes a little bit longer to get over,” he said, crediting time spent with Craig Kimbrel for instilling recovery habits that have helped him adjust.

The pitch shapes themselves haven’t been immune, either.

“There are times where I’ll throw a slider, and it won’t move like I want it to, and I’m kind of like, well, I did everything correctly there to make it do what I wanted it to do, and it didn’t,” Baker said.

Rather than fight it, he’s adapted his approach pitch to pitch.

“You just have to adjust to that and really set your sights where you need to put the pitch, so that if you do miss, it’s not just a dead-zone home run pitch. I’ve changed sights with certain counts and against certain hitters, according to scouting reports. It’s just a new game out here, being at altitude.”

A championship run in Puerto Rico

Baker credits part of his 2026 breakout to a decision that he made well before the season started: spending four months pitching winter ball in Puerto Rico. He suited up for Cangrejeros de Santurce, helped the club win the Puerto Rican championship in his first year on the island, and then represented Puerto Rico at the Caribbean Series in Guadalajara, Mexico, facing off against the Dominican Republic, Panama, and two Mexican League clubs.

“It was a blast, man — it turned out to be a complete dream the entire time,” he said. “It’s just one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals.”

He views the grind as directly connected to his performance this year.

“I think that’s kind of the reason why I’m having a lot more success this year, because I made the sacrifice to go down there for four straight months and continue to play, and that kind of paid off.”

The trade: A phone call before first pitch

The season also brought a jolt that Baker didn’t see coming.

After six seasons in the Phillies organization — six years in which he’d never pitched above Double-A — he was off to a strong start in his return to Reading in April and May, striking out 13.24 batters per nine while walking just 2.65, when the phone rang before a game in Portland, Maine on Friday, May 22.

“The farm director calls me, and I run outside, and it was pretty blunt, straightforward,” Baker recalled. “He told me they were trading me to the Rockies for international bonus money, told me they appreciated everything and how good of a kid I was, and that was pretty much it.”

Baker described the moment as sentimental, but not bitter.

“I knew that was the best thing that could have happened for me. I’ve been there for six years and never made it past Double-A. At the end of the day, they traded me up for a better opportunity, and they gave me a lot of opportunity as well. No bad blood there.”

From catcher to Rockies prospect

Part of what makes Baker’s rise notable is where he started: behind the plate, not on the mound. He caught for most of his life and, by his assessment, didn’t become a full-time pitcher until he signed with the Phillies as a 2021 draft pick out of Chipola College, following a shortened college run that included a semester at Auburn before COVID-19 hit.

“That transition from catching all my life to becoming a pitcher — it was tough. I won’t lie to you,” he said. “But I think I’m turning the corner now, as far as throwing strikes and everything. You remember your athletic traits and combine them with what you’re learning with the pitching, and it’s working out pretty good right now.”

He points to a stretch after a 2024 demotion from Double-A back to High-A as the real turning point in how he approaches the job mentally.

“I just drew the line — I’m going to get myself right, make sure everything I’m doing outside the field is good, and get a better mentality about this baseball,” he said. “You can’t let results get to you. I just think that comes with experience.”

Trusting the stuff over the iPad

That same even-keeled approach shows up in how Baker treats the data available to him. Despite pitching in an era saturated with scouting information, he’s deliberately kept his distance from it as a reliever.

“I don’t look at the iPad. I care about my velo and making sure my stuff is there, but I just go out there and compete,” he said. “I don’t even look at the scouting reports on hitters. They tell me right-left before I go in there, and that’s it. My stuff’s pretty good, and I do my best when I’m just getting here and preparing to play.”

Life off the mound

Off the field, Baker carries a piece of his childhood with him: he lost hearing completely in his right ear after being struck by a line drive at age 11. It hasn’t affected him on the mound.

“Physically, no. It’s kind of literally like I’m walking around covering my right ear, but it’s fully one,” he said. “I’ve lived with it since I was 11, and nothing’s really changed drastically — other than I just need to make sure that the PitchCom is on the left side of my head.”

Six years after being a modest, 11th-round pick out of a Florida junior college, Baker has turned a converted arm, a devastating slider, and a stint pitching more than a mile above sea level into one of the more interesting relief profiles in the Rockies’ system. If the fastball velocity and the whiff numbers hold as he continues climbing, Coors Field may not be far off.

Weekly Pebble Report: August 18th-24th

Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (1-5, 62-64 Overall)

Albuquerque lost five of six at home to the Las Vegas Aviators (Athletics) and slipped from two games over .500 to two under. The series had a single explanation: with runners in scoring position, the Isotopes went 15-for-73 in the five losses and 7-for-12 in the lone win, a 14-4 rout on Saturday. Sterlin Thompson (PuRP No. 16) homered twice and scored seven runs, Ryan Ritter and Adael Amador each collected six hits, and Jose Cordova homered in back-to-back appearances behind the plate.

⬆️ Stock Up: Betancourt Drives In Everything

Bryant Betancourt (HM PuRP) hit .471 over four games, going 8-for-17 with three doubles and a team-high six RBIs despite sitting for a third of the series. His best afternoon came Saturday, when he went 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs in the only game Albuquerque won all week. It was comfortably his most productive stretch of the year for the Isotopes.

⬇️ Stock Down: TJ gets Shook

TJ Shook came in on Friday with Albuquerque leading 3-2 and left having allowed four runs in the ninth, taking both the blown save and the loss. It was his only appearance of the series, and it’s worth saying plainly that he’s been largely excellent for the Isotopes so far this season.

Upcoming

The Isotopes hit the road to meet the Round Rock Express (Texas Rangers) for six games.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (2-4, 57-62 Overall)

Hartford took two of six from Somerset and slipped to five games under .500 for the season. Four of the six were decided in the eighth inning or later, and Hartford lost three of them. Cole Messina drove in eight runs across four games with a pair of home runs, Stu Flesland III delivered another gem in a game the club lost after he left, and Friday’s doubleheader captured the week in miniature: an eight-run afternoon, then a one-hit shutout at night.

⬆️ Stock Up: Wimmer finds the gaps

Braylen Wimmer went 6-for-15 (.400) over five games, and three of those hits went for extra bases — a home run, two doubles, and a pair of stolen bases as well. He reached base 11 times in all, adding four walks and a hit-by-pitch. His homer and double keyed Monday’s 6-5 win.

⬇️ Stock Down: Juarez Can’t Close the Door

Victor Juarez faced 18 batters over two appearances and allowed 10 hits and 10 runs while recording five outs. The finale was the worst of it — he entered Sunday with a 6-4 lead in the ninth and left having surrendered five runs, taking the loss.

Upcoming

The Yard Goats head to New Hampshire for a six-game series with the Fisher Cats (Toronto Blue Jays)

High-A: Spokane Indians (2-4, 54-65 Overall)

Spokane scored 39 runs in six games at home against Hillsboro (Arizona Diamondbacks) and lost four of them, including a 15-13 defeat Saturday in which the Indians scored eight runs in the first inning. The Hops arrived below .500 and took the series anyway. There were bright spots — the bullpen was much sharper than the previous series, with Seth Clausen, Justin Loer, and Grif Hughes combining for 11 innings of one-run ball, and Clausen recorded two saves after a difficult stretch. The Indians sit five games back of a playoff spot.

⬆️ Stock Up: Calaz Carries the Offense

Robert Calaz (PuRP No. 26) hit .480 with four home runs, collecting 12 hits in 25 at-bats and driving in seven runs across all six games. He opened the series 4-for-5 with a homer, then hit two more in Saturday’s slugfest along with five RBIs and added a fourth in the finale. His 12 hits and eight runs scored both led the club by a wide margin, and for a prospect who had spent much of the season struggling, it was encouraging to see this level of production.

⬇️ Stock Down: Herrera Can’t Miss Bats

Yujanyer Herrera allowed 18 hits over 7.2 innings across two starts, giving up 16 runs. He worked 4.2 innings in Tuesday’s opener and surrendered 12 hits — Spokane won that game 12-10 anyway — then lasted three innings Sunday, allowing seven runs. He didn’t walk many, issuing three all week, but nearly everything he threw got put in play, and most of it found a gap.

Upcoming

Spokane will visit the Vancouver Canadians (Toronto Blue Jays) for a six-game set.

Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (4-2, 65-55 Overall)

Fresno won four of six at home against Stockton (Athletics), closing with a 10-9 walk-off in 11 innings on Sunday. The bullpen carried much of it: three different arms finished the series without allowing an earned run. Ronny Ugarte hit .444, Cristian Arguelles (PuRP No. 5) added a triple among eight hits, and Jack Natili (PuRP No. 20) drove in five, including a three-run homer. Bryson Van Sickle had a rough week, taking his first loss of the season Tuesday and allowing 10 earned runs across two starts. Fresno is now tied for a playoff spot in the California League with 12 games to play.

⬆️ Stock Up: The Rhino has arrived

Daniel Jackson (PuRP No. 12) hit .571 this week, going 12-for-21 with two home runs, two doubles, eight RBIs, and 11 runs scored across all six games. He reached base 19 times in total, adding seven walks, and struck out only twice in 21 at-bats. He was 3-for-3 with a homer Thursday and 4-for-6 with three RBIs in Sunday’s walk-off win. Whatever the adjustment period was supposed to be, Jackson appears to have skipped it.

⬆️ Stock Up: Cole Locks Down the Late Innings

Ethan Cole threw seven innings across two relief appearances without allowing an earned run, striking out six and giving up three hits. He worked three scoreless innings for his first save Wednesday, then went four innings Sunday to earn the win in the 11-inning finale.

Upcoming

The Grizzlies hit the road for six games against the Inland Empire 66ers (Seattle Mariners)

DSL: DSL Colorado (4-1, Season Complete)

DSL Colorado’s season ended Saturday with an 8-2 loss to the DSL Reds, with the winner advancing to the DSL Cup semi-finals. DSL Colorado finished the season at 38-19.

They went out playing well. The week opened with a 7-6 walk-off win over the Marlins, followed by a 9-1 win in which the staff allowed just three hits. Pool play began with a 19-5 rout of the DSL Tigers 2 — 19 hits, a Jeandry Guaraco grand slam among his five RBIs, and a 10-for-12 mark with runners in scoring position — followed by a 6-2 win over DSL Yankees in which five relievers combined for five hitless innings.

⬆️ Stock Up: Morejon Finishes Strong

Luis Morejon closed his season by reaching base 11 times in four games, hitting .429 (6-for-14) with a home run, a double, two stolen bases, and a club-leading six runs scored. His biggest swing came in Friday’s postseason win over the Yankees — a two-out, two-run homer in the third that gave Colorado the lead and effectively decided it.

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This morning, Bob wrote about the coming middle infield roster crunch, which is the most difficult roster issue the Sox will have to navigate down the stretch of the season. By comparison, the outfield issue seems relatively straightforward. Jarren Duran has been one of the worst hitters in baseball all season. Roman Anthony is not one of the worst hitters in baseball and has flashed the potential to be one of the best. Seems like the logical move is to bench Duran and put Anthony out in left, no? Not exactly. “Reading between the lines, it seems like Boston plans on Jarren Duran still being the regular left-fielder against right-handed pitchers with Anthony serving as the designated hitter.” So that means we’ll still be seeing Duran’s bat in the lineup for most of the Sox remaining games. Obviously there is a hole at DH with Masataka Yoshida hitting the injured list (though it’s only a hole if you think having a regular DH is better than cycling people like Jahmai Jones through that spot), but I continue to be amazed at the way this team keeps finding ways to put Duran in the lineup. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

Of course it’s worth nothing that, even with Duran’s limb bat in the lineup, the Sox offense has been fine for the past few months after struggling to score runs to start the season. What’s caused the turn around? One answer is plate discipline: “Daily hitters meetings started including increasingly detailed breakdowns about swing decisions in the various hitting regions — the heart of the zone, where damage is most likely and thus an area of focus before two strikes; the shadow zone, on the edges of the plate, which hitters defend with two strikes; the chase zone on pitches clearly off the plate; and waste pitches that are off the plate by at least one foot.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Willson Contreras was the only thing keeping the lineup afloat at times during the first two months of the season. But he didn’t hit a ball back then like he did the other night, when he blasted a 450-foot homer at Fenway. “That was a crazy homer,” said Contreras. “I mean, that’s one of the best swings I ever had in my career, and I’m happy it happened here.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

As a result of his heroics, Contreras just finished fourth in an early American League MVP poll. (Max Ralph, MLB.com)

Unlike the Jekyll and Hyde lineup, the bullpen has been relatively strong all season long, with the exception of a little bit of fatigue-induced wobbling lately. Thankfully, Erik Miller has been just the addition the Sox need.“He’s been everything as advertised,” Chad Tracy said. “He’s been so good for us since we got him.” (Hayden Bird, Boston.com)

And Miller and his arm barn mates will get some more help soon. Garrett Whitlock is expected to rejoin the team this weekend against the Yankees. After being shut down with elbow inflammation earlier this month, he’ll face live hitters down in Miami this week and may not need a rehab assignment. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

The battle of National League division leaders continues on Wednesday night at Truist Park in Atlanta, with the Dodgers taking on the Braves.

Roki Sasaki starts for the Dodgers, with AJ Smith-Shawver on the mound for the Braves

Wednesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Braves
• Ballpark: Truist Park, Atlanta
• Start time: 4:15 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

After the Nats DFA’d Miles Mikolas and Zack Littell earlier this month, they cut bait with another veteran arm. This time it is Trevor Williams who is being shown the door. Williams was one of the Nats longest tenured players, having been with the team since 2023, but now he is gone.

Trevor Williams’ time with the Nats was the epitome of a mixed bag. He was terrible in 2023 and 2025, but was excellent in 2024 despite missing time with injury. That 2024 season earned Williams a second 2-year deal with the Nats, which he was just finishing this year. 

The veteran right hander missed most of the season recovering from elbow surgery. Even when he was out, Williams was always around the team and was a mainstay in the clubhouse. 

This season Williams made 8 relief appearances and was honestly pretty good. He posted a 2.65 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings. After not allowing a run in his first five outings, Williams had been shakier lately. However, the overall body of work was not bad by any means.

I would not be surprised if another team picked up Williams for the end of the season and used him as a long man. His stuff looked a lot better in that role than it did as a starter. Williams’ fastball was up over 2 ticks and he was striking out 31% of hitters.

The Nats are replacing Williams with Matt Waldron, who is a knuckleballer. Waldron was a dependable swingman for the Padres in 2023 and 2024, before struggling the last couple of seasons. This year he has a 7.54 ERA in 37 innings. Interestingly, his xERA is 3.75, so he has been unlucky this season. 

The knuckleball is a lost art these days, but Waldron has one and features it prominently. It is his most used pitch, with the 30 year old throwing it 30% of the time. However, unlike R.A. Dickey or Tim Wakefield, he also has a complete arsenal. Waldron also throws a cutter, 4-seamer, sinker and sweeper. I am not sure how it will go, but having a knuckleballer is cool.

This month has seen several veteran arms shown the door and Williams is the most recent one. With the Nats knowing that Williams won’t be back next year, it makes sense to give other guys a shot. Even if Waldron isn’t that likely to suddenly break out, he is a unique arm. Who knows, maybe the Nats can catch lightning in a bottle.

Jefferson Rojas stayed hot on Tuesday afternoon as the Mets' top prospect homered for a second straight game, and for the third time in his last four games in Double-A Binghamton's 8-6 loss to the Reading Fightin' Phils.

Rojas' blast, a solo shot to right-center field, came in the fourth inning against LHP Adam Seminaris on an 0-2 pitch that gave the Rumble Ponies a 2-0 lead. It was Rojas' only hit of the game as the DH struck out in his three other at-bats in the No. 3 hole.

In 17 games with Double-A Binghamton since coming over from the Knoxville Smokies, the Chicago Cubs' Double-A affiliate, Rojas has been on fire and is slashing .279/.329/.588 with five home runs, four doubles, a triple, and 20 RBI.

The 21-year-old was traded to the Mets by the Cubs at this year's deadline for RHP Clay Holmes and OF Tyrone Taylor and immediately became the organization's No. 1 overall prospect.

Rojas' home run was one of five long balls hit by the Rumble Ponies in the game. Eli Serrano III got things started in the second and Chris Suero extended the lead to 4-0 with a two-run shot in the sixth. John Bay and Corey Collins went back-to-back in the seventh, but Binghamton gave up five unanswered runs late and lost, 8-6.

Another prospect New York acquired at the trade deadline, Gary Gill Hill (from the Tampa Bay Rays in the Freddy Peralta deal), was on the mound for the Rumble Ponies and pitched well, going 5.1 innings while allowing three earned runs on seven hits and striking out seven on 81 pitches (52 strikes).

In four starts since joining the Mets organization, Gill Hill has a 3.63 ERA to go along with 24 strikeouts to just four walks in 22.1 innings.

The Yankees surprised us with a veritable explosion of offense on Sunday, vanquishing the Blue Jays, 8-3, to secure the series, season series, and their highest run total in a game since scoring ten against the Mariners on August 12th. The story of that game can be distilled down to the bottom of the sixth inning, Ben Rice providing the pivotal blow to become the first Yankee to earn back-to-back mentions on At-Bat of the Week.

We join Rice with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs on three straight singles by George Lombard Jr., Spencer Jones, and Jazz Chisholm Jr., but a strikeout by Austin Wells and a pop out by José Caballero put them one out away from Houdini’ing themselves out of the inning. It was an all too familiar sinking feeling as Trent Grisham stepped into the batter’s box, until the plate discipline extraordinaire spat on a couple of close breaking balls to work the walk and ensure they plate at least one run and take the narrowest of leads. That left it up to Rice to truly make the most of this golden opportunity.

Before Rice got a chance to dig in, John Schneider called on lefty reliever Mason Fluharty from the bullpen to present a less favorable matchup for the Yankees’ slugger. He throws the cutter and sweeper combined over 90-percent of the time, and indeed it appears the strategy is to throw Rice only pitches that break away from him, starting with this first pitch sweeper.

Even though this pitch lands a fair distance out of the zone away, it still requires a good take from Rice. The pitch leaves Fluharty’s hand aimed down the middle before the 14 inches of glove-side lateral movement sweeps it off the plate as Fluharty targets an area for Rice to get himself out by chasing.

After watching Rice take that sweeper for ball one, Fluharty attempts to steal a strike low in the zone with the cutter. If Rice is expecting another sweeper to a similar location as the first one, he should give up on any pitch that exits Fluharty’s hand out of a similar tunnel, which would make him susceptible to a called strike on a low heater.

Fluharty just misses the bottom of the zone with this cutter and Rice displays an excellent eye to not chase this pitch. It was close enough that Alejandro Kirk initiated an ABS challenge, which confirmed the ball call on the field.

Rice has now seen what both of Fluharty’s pitches look like and has worked the count in his favor, 2-0. He has all the leverage in this situation to hunt a specific pitch in a specific location — I’d imagine something elevated and out over the plate that he can drive to the outfield.

Rice swings, but I have a hard time believing this is the exact pitch he as looking for. It’s a perfectly executed cutter from Fluharty dotted on the corner up and away, and there’s really nothing Rice can do except whiff as he attempts to pull this pitch — pretty hard to do in that location on a pitch moving away from you.

Fluharty looks to leverage the swing on that pitch into a chase on the next one. Kirk sets a target off the plate away as the pair hope they can get Rice to flail at a sweeper out of the zone.

Instead, Fluharty throws a cookie right down the middle. Rice is geared up for another fastball and swings way out in front, failing to punish the one good pitch he’s gotten to hit in this AB. There’s really not much more to it than that. Rice got his pitch and he flat out missed it — a worryingly frequent refrain for the whole Yankees lineup for long stretches this summer.

One perfect pitch and one missed mistake later, and now it’s Fluharty who has the count leverage in his favor. Having seen Rice whiff wildly over the top and early against that last sweeper, the obvious pitch is another sweeper only this time one that’s actually executed to its target low and away out of the zone.

This is a hell of a take by Rice. The pitch exits Fluharty’s hand looking like an elevated, centrally located strike before taking a sharp right-hand turn into the righty batter’s box.

After trying to stay away the whole AB, Fluharty finally comes inside with a full count cutter.

This is about as well as you can execute a front door cutter, painted on the inside edge of the zone but also elevated in a spot that makes it incredibly difficult for a lefty to drive with power. I have no idea how Rice managed to pull his hands in so quickly against a pitch that was more that six mph faster than the one that immediately preceded it and muscle it into right field for the two-run single. Instead of having to settle for just the one run, this clutch hit ensured that all three runners who reached to make it bases loaded with no one out would score, sending the Yankees to the seventh with a far more comfortable lead, 5-2.

Here’s the full AB:

Rice’s approach in this AB was emblematic of encouraging signs from the wider team performance in this game. His was one of several full counts worked by Yankees hitters after falling behind in the count. They also finally managed to come through with runners on, their impressive 3-for-9 with RISP a marked improvement over recent games. For Rice specifically, you felt he really needed to come through in a clutch situation after failing to do so a handful of times in the second half, and that success in this situation could serve as a boost in morale to help jolt him from the deep slump (.150/.262/.310 with a 65 wRC+) he’d been mired in since the third week of July. If the Yankees are going to mount a challenge for the division and indeed make a deep postseason run, they need Rice coming through with hits like this and performing at the level he did in the first half.