CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 24: Brandon Nimmo #24 of the Texas Rangers celebrates his catch at the wall with Evan Carter #32 in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on August 24, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Zoe Davis/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Rangers 11, White Sox 2
That was a long game.
And a lot happened in it.
And the Rangers won.
Not only did the Rangers win, but they got back to .500.
And not only did the Rangers get back to .500, they took sole possession of first place in the American League West, moving a half-game up on the Astros, who did not play.
Kumar Rocker had a kinda fascinating game. He didn’t seem to have it going on early, allowing a hit in the first and what would have been a home run, had Brandon Nimmo not made a great leaping catch to bring the ball back, and a single, a homer, and another single in the second. In the third, he allowed an infield single to start things on a hard hit ball that Jake Burger couldn’t handle, along with a pair of walks sandwiching a groundout.
The Rangers were up 5-2 at that point, but with the bases loaded, one out, and Rocker looking shaky, that lead seemed tenuous. Rocker seemed destined to get the hook before too long.
Two strikeouts by Rocker got him out of the jam, the start of ten straight batters he retired before walking Chase Meidroth with two outs in the sixth, the last batter he faced.
Robby Ahlstrom and Jordan Montgomery took it from there, retiring all ten batters they faced.
So in all, the Rangers pitchers didn’t allow a hit over the final 21 outs they recorded, and allowed just one baserunner over the final 20 outs.
The bats, meanwhile, put up a season-high 11 runs in the game.
Rangers got on via the hit (14 of them). They got on via the walk (8 of those). They got on via the hit by pitch (two of them).
One of the HBPs was Elias Diaz, who was hit by Jose Urquidy on a 3-2 pitch in the third, and there was some talking that then went on, including, apparently, yelling from the Rangers bench.
Joc Pederson, who had tried to challenge a called third strike the previous inning, was told he had done so too late, got ejected a few batters later, supposedly for banging bats.
I remember Pederson, last year, discussing the addition of new hitting coach Bret Boone, said that he liked to talk sticks. Apparently he likes to make them talk, too.
The Rangers scored in every inning except the fourth and seventh, though they didn’t put up more than two runs in any inning, which seems kinda odd.
Corey Seager was 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and an intentional walk before being lifted late for Nicky Lopez.
Since coming off the injured list the first time, back in early June, Seager has slashed .308/.393/.533.
Wyatt Langford drew a walk and had a pair of hits, including a homer with two outs in the ninth that led White Sox manager Will Venable to bring in old friend Luisangel to get the final out.
Jake Burger had a pair of hits, including a homer! And walked twice!
Cody Freeman had a pair of hits!
Ezequiel Duran had a pair of hits and walked!
In fact, every Ranger starter had a hit except for Joc, who only had two plate appearances due to being thrown out of the game. Pederson did draw a walk to start the game, though, and scored the Rangers’ first run.
It was a fulfilling game, the time that makes you feel all warm inside.
And it was a good way to start a road trip.
Kumar Rocker hit 95.7 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.3 mph, and 96.3 mph on his sinker, averaging 93.9 mph. Robby Ahlstrom touched 96.4 mph with his fastball. Jordan Montgomery’s sinker reached 92.6 mph.
Jake Burger had a 108.3 mph double and a 108.2 mph home run. Brandon Nimmo had a 107.8 mph groundout. Corey Seager had a 106.9 mph double. Justin Foscue had a 105.0 mph double. Ezequiel Duran had a 104.2 mph double. Wyatt Langford had a 103.0 mph home run.
Onward, hopefully in a way that retains first place.
I usually like to wait a day to digest bigger news stories. It pays to take a little bit of extra time to make sure all of the emotional baggage has cleared. Dana Brown officially failed as a general manager. However, professional sports is a failure business. Most general managers and managers are hired to eventually be fired. We can use the officially approved phrase “mutually agreed to a parting of ways,” but we know that it is a firing.
I like to break up a general manager’s job into three equal parts. The first part is the easiest one to track: what moves did the general manager actually make? Were they good moves? Obviously, those are loaded questions. As we have stated before, there is a difference between whether a move made sense at the time and whether it ended up working out. The second category is whether certain objectives were met. In other words, what moves did the general manager fail to make? Finally, you have scouting and player development. Let’s start with the first one.
What moves did he make?
Recency bias is a thing. When you look at the bulk of moves in 2026, they haven’t worked out. Obviously, the span of time may make us look at these moves differently. There were five major moves this season and none of them have worked out to date. The trade for Mike Burrows and the signing of Tatsuya Imai have both flopped so far. We might look at those differently next year and beyond, but he simply didn’t have the time for those moves to work out.
The Mauricio Dubon and Jesus Sanchez deals also did not work out. Joey Loperfido has not been a positive influence for the most part because he is languishing in Sugar Land. Should he be there? That’s a different question entirely. Nick Allen has been okay in comparison to his career norms, but he has not been Dubon. Obviously, both deals freed up some money, but that ends up spilling us into the second category. Finally, we have the Daulton Varsho trade. We are nearly a month in and the results aren’t pretty.
In spite of these problems, I would simply point out that most of these acquisitions made more sense at the time then what they ended up being. Maybe that is bad luck. Maybe it is something else. The Kyle Tucker trade was a positive mark on his record. Trading for Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi were also generally positive. Christian Walker might be a wash depending on your perspective, but we can debate that one on a different day.
The most significant negative is probably the extension given to Cristian Javier. I for one will not blame him for that one as that is something most of us likely would have done at the time. So, for the most part I tend to give him a passing grade in this area. Every general manager will have misses. The question is whether you have more hits than misses and he seems to be batting about .500 there.
What did he fail to do?
When Brown was signed on we were told he was good at two things. He would be good at scouting and development and he would ink up our controllable players to team friendly deals. Four years later we have one extension and it was a bad one. Would have signing Jeremy Pena, Hunter Brown, Cam Smith, Yainer Diaz, or Bryan Abreu been good moves? Obviously, we would need to see the deals and evaluate those on a case by case basis. The fact that he accomplished virtually none of that is damning.
Two trade deadlines in a row this team came in with acute hitting and pitching needs and two years they really didn’t address the pitching and the hitting adds were questionable. We can hear the excuses now because they sound eerily familiar. This is where only Jim Crane and company can answer the nagging question. How much authority did Brown have to make deals? Of course, it will be a nagging question moving forward.
Two years in a row this team had one of the worst outfields in baseball. Three years in a row he has been hunting a lefty bat like Captain Ahab has been hunting his white whale. Granted, those don’t grow on trees, but it falls under the column of things he failed to do. The last two points here involve Framber Valdez and the previously mentioned Dubon and Sanchez deals. Why wasn’t Valdez dealt at the same time as Tucker? Imagine what two or three additional players could have done for the present situation.
Finally, you get the inane utterances of “we’re not done” following the Dubon and Sanchez deals. Yes you were. You did nothing of significance with the financial savings. The trade of a franchise icon netted you Varsho. Call me underwhelmed. Again, we don’t know how much autonomy Brown had to make deals, but he clearly isn’t a good chess player. A good chess player would have deals in mind before dealing Dubon and Sanchez. You wouldn’t make the move simply hoping something would come available. In this regard, Brown was playing checkers while everyone else was playing chess.
Scouting and player development
Even this is more complicated than it sounds. You can split into two halves. Scouting is the acquisition of players while player development covers what you do once you get them. None of these factors are cut and dried and a lot of this is conjecture/projection. What could have Cam Smith done with a year in the minors? If this were his rookie season would he be better? Worse? The same? it is impossible to answer because life is not a choose your own adventure book, but most people believe he would have been better off with another season in the minors.
The same could be true of guys like Zach Cole, Brice Mathews, and others that have been promoted fairly quickly. Are the quick promotions in their best interest? This is where both questions intersect into one. The Brown years were characterized with a lot of toolsy players that also have a ton of swing and miss in their game. Can proper development coach that out of a player or is that who they are?
It is one thing to announce or pronounce failure. It is another to start probing why the failure is occurring. This is where Crane and the other decision makers have to look more closely at what is being done. Is it a player selection problem or a coaching/development problem? Simply based on success at the big league level and prospect rankings, this has to be marked down as failure.
Final thoughts
Brown was frustrating at times, but that was more based on his public comments that sounded like the utterings of a used car salesman. He did not do much to actively torpedo the franchise. He was not a buffoon on the level of Spec Richardson or with the inane reasoning of an Ed Wade. He was a middling executive that simply didn’t do enough to thread the needle that Crane and company asked him to. There is the kind of sports hate where you hate someone with the heat of 10,000 suns. Then, there is sport irritation. That is the category Brown lives in. Most of us wish him success somewhere, but that will not be here.
As for Crane, he needs to do some soul-searching. Simply handing over the keys to a Jeff Luhnow type is probably a no go. However, a puppet general manager is probably a no go as well. That means he must thread the needle to find a guy that views the baseball business the same way that he does but is also willing to incorporate a little more science into the operation. It’s a tough ask, but every problem also presents an opportunity.
Aug 24, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager (5) hits a two-run double against the Chicago White Sox during the third inning at Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Good morning.
Evan Grant writes that Monday’s blowout victory for the Texas Rangers signified that perhaps Corey Seager is back.
Kennedi Landry writes that the win in Chicago could have turned out differently if Brandon Nimmo hadn’t committed home run larceny.
Grant writes that the Rangers didn’t make much use of an easy portion of their schedule, which turns more difficult in the season’s final month.
Landry writes about Joc Pederson getting the boot from last night’s game because terrible home plate ump Chris Guccione thought the Texas DH was joking when calling for an ABS challenge on a strike three call that the ump got wrong.
Grant writes that Pederson is in the midst of his longest slump of the season, potentially because the Rangers have seen more left-handers of late and unfortunately will continue to do so.
BALTIMORE, MD - AUGUST 21: Jackson Holliday #7 of the Baltimore Orioles poses for a photo with a custom bat prior to the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Friday, August 21, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Alyssa Piazza/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
With 31 games left to go in the season, the Orioles are in a weird spot. After the Guardians win last night, Baltimore finds itself 2.5 games back of the final AL Wild Card spot with just over a month of baseball left to play. It’s far from an insurmountable deficit; the O’s have nine games left against the Guardians and Blue Jays—two teams they’re competing with for the third Wild Card berth—as well as six upcoming games against the bottom-dwelling A’s and Rockies.
The problem the Orioles have faced all year is consistency. Despite going 24-20 since the beginning of July, the O’s have only actually occupied the last Wild Card spot for a couple of days after their recent series in Tropicana Field. And even though that last playoff spot is currently occupied by a team that’s only .500, common sense says someone will eventually get to 81+ wins and claim a berth in October. If the O’s want to do that, they’ll need to get back to .500 for the first time since they were 15-15 on April 30th.
To find some level of consistency, the O’s will need some more offense from players not named Pete Alonso. Since July 1st, Baltimore has the 7th-best ERA in baseball (3.71), just behind fellow playoff contenders, the Guardians. The bats have often been Baltimore’s biggest problem, with the O’s ranking 20th in the majors at 4.23 runs/game since the beginning of July. You only have to watch one Shane Baz start to know that this sometimes-potent offense has a bad tendency of disappearing.
So if the Orioles are going to go through an offensive revival over the last 31 games of the season, they’ll need some of their previously hot bats to reignite. With that in mind, here are three players who the Orioles need to wake up if they’re going to make the postseason
Jackson Holliday
Holliday was a revelation for the Orioles’ offense in July. The 22-year-old was an on-base machine for Baltimore last month, posting an OBP of .500 to go along with a .368 average and a .421 slugging. It finally felt like the former No. 1 overall was putting it all together and becoming the type of hitter at the majors that we saw all throughout the minors.
Once the calendar turned to August, though, Holliday has seemingly turtled up and stopped being the offensive force the Orioles were relying on. In 21 games this month, the 2B is slashing .165/.221/.266 with more strikeouts (19) than base hits (13). It’s no coincidence that while the infielder was on a hot streak, the O’s went 15-8 in July. Since his downturn, Baltimore has fallen to 9-12 in August.
That regression could just be the latest episode in the mercurial career of Holliday, or it could be the 22-year-old struggling to adjust to a more prominent role in the lineup. Since August 7th, Holliday has hit 3rd or higher in the lineup and has been the Orioles’ leadoff hitter each of their last six games. His July clearly earned Craig Albernaz’s trust and you’d expect he’ll continue to hit in the leadoff spot for the rest of the season. If the offense is going to get back on track, its leadoff hitter needs to lead by example.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand
CES joined the Orioles thanks to the injury to Blaze Alexander and at first looked like an unlikely shot in the arm for an offense that had lost its second-best player. In his first nine games after joining the Orioles on July 18th, Encarnacion-Strand went 11-for-34 (.324) with three homers and 11 RBIs. That hot start to his Orioles’ career had many willing to hand him the starting 3B job for the rest of the stretch run.
Since then, the former Red has come back down to earth. His August triple slash is a measly .177/.224/.355 while posting 21 strikeouts in 62 ABs (33.9%). CES has consistently been a lefty masher, with a .286 average and 1.016 OPS against southpaws this season. However, against right-handers, the 26-year-0ld only has a .197 average and .563 OPS. Those are the same drastic splits we see with Coby Mayo, except Mayo is actually producing in August, with an OPS this month that is nearly 300 points higher than Encarnacion-Strand’s number.
With Mayo hitting, Samuel Basallo back in the fold and Alexander’s return supposedly on the horizon, CES has a lot of pressure on him. He has the pressure of not only trying to play his part in the playoff run, but also the pressure of keeping his roster spot.
Tyler O’Neill or Leody Taveras
Colton Cowser and Dylan Beavers have cemented themselves as the offensive leaders of this Orioles outfield—Cowser via his all-around good play and Beavers through his clutch hits. Albernaz has three other outfielders to complete the trio (O’Neill, Taveras or Christian Franklin), but if someone is going to break out, you’d expect it to be TON or Taveras.
We’ve seen O’Neill more recently prove what he can provide this offense. Last month, TON looked like the best version we’ve seen in black and orange (albeit in only 42 ABs). The oft-injured outfielder delivered five home runs while posting a 1.009 OPS. This month, O’Neill has continued to get more playing time and has given us a handful of web gems, but a diminished offensive output. The biggest drop is in his slugging percentage, which has gone from .691 in July to .404 this month.
Taveras offers almost an opposite profile to O’Neill; a player who mixes some small ball with a balanced approach that contrasts with O’Neill’s power-heavy game. After struggling mightily in June and July, we’ve seen Taveras turn it around a little in this month, with a .674 OPS in 63 ABs. If Taveras can become a secondary table setter at the bottom of the Orioles lineup, he can give Baltimore the offensive depth it needs to stay in the playoff race until the end.
It may have been a few days, but most Phillies fans are still buzzing about the dramatic come from behind win that the team authored on Sunday afternoon. After looking utterly lifeless for 8 innings, the team scored 6 runs with two outs in the ninth inning, capped off by Kyle Schwarber’s mammoth two-run, walk-off homer, the first walk off home run for the Phillies since June 9th, 2023, also off the bat of Kyle Schwarber.
You’ve probably watched it 1,000 times by now, but why not make it 1,001?
What makes the comeback even more remarkable is that the Phillies were not only down to their final out, they were down to their final strike three times before Bryan De La Cruz tied the game with a single following Edmundo Sosa’s three run double. Even Schwarber started his at-bat 0-2 before launching the game winning homer over the batter’s eye.
Let our own Schmenkman illustrate just how rare something like this is:
It was truly one of the most improbable comebacks in recent memory, certainly for the Phillies. Baseball has a way of creating these types of moments, especially for a team that is having everything go well for them at a given time. Yes, it was just a regular season game at the end of August, but the sheer dramatics of the moment will make sure that it goes down as a vividly remembered random Sunday afternoon in August.
Of course, the Phillies don’t have exclusive license for dramatic comebacks. So, what’s the craziest comeback you’ve ever seen in a baseball game? Was it Sunday afternoon? Or was it some other Phillies win from yesteryear? Or did it not involve the Phillies at all?
After a struggle of a series in Seattle that involved two crushing walk-off defeats, wasn’t that better?
Kevin Gausman threw seven outstanding shutout innings and the Cubs got a pair of homers, one of which was a monster shot by Michael Conforto, and opened the series on a high note with a 7-0 shutout of the Diamondbacks.
After a scoreless first inning, the Cubs got on the board in the second. Ian Happ singled with one out, and one out later scored on this triple by Pedro Ramirez [VIDEO].
Gausman, meanwhile, was mowing down D-backs hitters. He allowed a leadoff single to Tim Tawa in the third, then picked him off [VIDEO].
Corbin Carroll walked off Gausman in the fourth and stole two bases, but Gausman got out of that inning with a ground ball to first.
The Cubs extended their lead to 2-0 in the fifth. Conforto led off with a double and two outs later scored on this double by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].
Then the Cubs blew the game open in the fifth — all after the first two hitters were routine outs.
The back-to-back homers by Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly were the sixth pair by Cubs batters this season.
Half of those have come in the past eight days: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki last Monday, Alex Bregman and Michael Busch on Saturday, then Conforto and Kelly. They had done it once before, July 8 at Baltimore.
The Cubs have gone back-to-back 412 times since 1876, including 393 since 1901 and 182 since 2000.
The Cubs put two more on the board in the seventh. With one out, Michael Busch walked and Alex Bregman singled.
Gausman allowed three hits. By Game Score (76) that matched his best outing of the year, a one-hit start vs. the Yankees back in June. But he allowed a run then, the only hit was a solo homer by Jasson Dominguez. In this one, only one D-backs runner got past first base against Gausman. This is the guy the Cubs thought they had traded for. Hopefully he sticks around the rest of the year.
More on Gausman’s night from John:
Kevin Gausman gave up no runs on three hits in 7.0 innings.
The last Cub to pitch at least that many innings, with no runs and no more than three hits, was Justin Steele, with 7.0 and three hit at home vs. the Rangers on April 7, 2025. He walked two, one more than Gausman.
Kyle Hendricks gave up two hits and walked two in 7.1 vs. the Reds on Sept. 28, 2024, and Shota Imanaga pitched 7.0 no-hit innings with two walks vs. the Pirates on Sept. 4, 2024. Both of those games were at Wrigley Field. So was the last with one walk, by Jameson Taillon, who gave up three hits on Sept. 2, 2024, two days before Imanaga’s start.
Ryan Zeferjahn was given the eighth, a good spot for him in a low-leverage situation, and he came through with a 1-2-3 inning on just 10 pitches. Hopefully that’s a good confidence-builder.
Caleb Thielbar, another reliever who’s struggled, took the ninth. He did allow a couple of hits, but completed the shutout, in part helped by this sliding catch by Happ [VIDEO].
A bit of history was made with the shutout. From John:
This was just the Cubs’ second shutout in 97 games at Arizona since the Diamondbacks began play in 1998. The first was by 4-0 on Aug. 24, 2002. Last night’s game was the Cubs’ 74th game there since that one.
Solid win all the way around. Timely hitting, home runs, excellent pitching.
The Cubs crept to within 5.5 games of the Brewers in the NL Central. They also gained a game on the Phillies, who lost to the Mariners, and are now three games up on Philadelphia for the top wild-card spot.
The Cubs go for the series win Tuesday evening at Chase Field. Clay Holmes will start for the Cubs and Brandon Pfaadt will go for Arizona. Game time is again 8:40 p.m. CT (for folks in ET and CT, this is the Cubs’ last late-night game of 2026!) and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PA - AUGUST 23: Ha-Seong Kim #7 of the Atlanta Braves signs autographs during the visit to the Little League International Complex on Sunday, August 23, 2026 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Hailey Leonard/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
This question is funny because the Braves could start Ha-Seong Kim as soon as tonight, for all we know. But, for the sake of discussion…
Jim Jarvis has been optioned back down to Triple-A. Jarvis had start 29 of the team’s 34 games against right-handed starters since being recalled. Mauricio Dubon was the starter in all the other recent games, other than a lone Kim start on August 7. On top of that, the Braves’ division lead is 3.5 games, and their divisional odds are about 3-in-4… but their playoff odds are close to unity. So, whether the Braves feel they can afford to try Kim kind of depends on which of those numbers they care about more.
Kim has pretty much some of the worst stats we’ve seen by a Brave in any accumulation of time, with -1.2 fWAR in just 85 PAs. Dubon is at 1.7 fWAR in 500 PAs. Dubon’s batting line (.312 wOBA, .306 xwOBA) is an improvement over his career line (.294 wOBA, .290 xwOBA) but not a career high; he had a very similar line in 2023 in Houston, which is the only other time he’s crossed the 450 PA mark. That said, Dubon has a worse .280ish xwOBA (or worse) in his last seven, 14, and 30 days. To work backwards and get to a point where his seasonal line looks decent, you have to go back to June, where he was having a great time while the rest of the team careened on the edge of the abyss. (Dubon from June 1-forward: .321 wOBA, .309 xwOBA; Dubon from July 1-forward: .292 wOBA, .278 xwOBA.)
So, basically, Dubon isn’t lighting the world on fire, but Kim was doing exactly that but in a bad way, which is what caused his playing time to essentially disappear. Will he get any back, start-wise with Jarvis gone?
SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA - AUGUST 23: Raisel Iglesias #26 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Mauricio Dubón #14 after a 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Bowman Field on August 23, 2026 in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The week ahead does not begin any easier for the Atlanta Braves, who will welcome the Dodgers for three games starting tonight. Bryce Elder will be on the mound, and the Braves badly need to get a series win. That will be much easier said than done.
MLB News
Braves sent Jim Jarvis to the minors and officially brought up Brewer Hicklen back to the majors. Hicklen was already with the team due to be being the extra guy from the Little League Classic.
BRONX, NY - AUGUST 12: Will Warren #29 of the New York Yankees pitches during the game against the Seattle Mariners on August 12, 2026 at Yankee Stadium in the Borough of the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It was a tumultuous weekend for the Yankees. Cody Bellinger returned Sunday, providing a much-needed jolt to a lineup that’s been anemic in his and Aaron Judge’s absences. But Giancarlo Stanton suffered a setback that could end his season (and, with it, perhaps his tenure in pinstripes). And Ryan Weathers, who had posted a 2.27 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break, landed on the shelf with a forearm strain.
Amid the injury news, the Yankees quietly went on a heater, winning six of their last seven while taking series against two AL East foes, Baltimore and Toronto. This week, they’ll be hosting the Astros, a sub-.500 team that just fired GM Dana Brown after dropping six of their last eight despite still tying for first place in a tight AL West. Let’s take a look at the likely starting pitching matchups for this midweek set.
Tuesday: Will Warren vs. Ethan Pecko(7:05 pm ET)
Just over a week ago, it looked like Will Warren was about to lose his rotation spot, bouncing either to the bullpen or the minors upon Carlos Rodón’s return. Now, with Max Fried and Weathers on the IL, he’s the Yankees’ No. 4 starter. After a strong start to the year he’s struggled, going 1-1 with a 6.08 ERA since the All-Star break and turning in just one quality start since the end of May. Last time out, he needed 90 pitches to get through four innings of work in Baltimore, allowing six baserunners and two runs.
He’s lined up to face Ethan Pecko. The right-hander will be pitching on his 24th birthday, six days after making his MLB debut against the Angels in which he allowed two runs in 3.2 innings. He featured a four-seamer and a sinker in that start, mixing in four complementary pitches. Pecko was 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA in 17 outings (15 starts) at Triple-A before getting the call.
Wednesday: TBDvs. Peter Lambert (7:05 pm ET)
With their rotation thrown into flux by recent injuries, the Yankees are yet to announce their probable starter for Wednesday. After optioning Brendan Beck down to Triple-A Monday, their only minor-league option on the 40-man roster is Elmer Rodríguez. Rodríguez, who has made four spot starts for the Yankees this season, last pitched on August 18th and would be on plenty of rest to start if called upon. Another option would be a bullpen game, with Ryan Yarbrough the likeliest option to provide multiple innings behind an opener.
The Astros are slated to hand the ball to Peter Lambert. After making 74 appearances for the Rockies between 2019-2024, Lambert spent last year rebuilding his arsenal with the Yakult Swallows of the NPB. The Astros took a flier on him this offseason and he’s been a real find, posting a sturdy 3.68 ERA and 113 ERA+ through 22 starts, helping stabilize a rotation that’s struggled with both health and performance. Lambert’s strong numbers on the season are despite his getting torched last time out, allowing nine runs in 3.2 innings to the Angels in what was easily his worst start of the year.
Thursday: Gerrit Cole vs. Hayden Wesneski (7:05 pm ET)
Gerrit Cole will make his 17th start of the season Thursday. After a layoff of a year and a half due to a UCL injury, he hasn’t missed a beat, posting a 3.11 ERA and striking out 100 in 92.2 innings. The 35-year-old held Baltimore to one run in six innings his last time out en route to his seventh win of the year.
The Astros will turn to Hayden Wesneski in the series finale. Like Cole, the former Yankee farmhand is recently recovered from Tommy John surgery. Wesneski is 3-1 with a 4.23 ERA in his first five starts back. He was particularly dominant in his last outing, keeping the A’s off the board through five innings while permitting a single hit (and three walks) in an eventual victory.
May 9, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean (26) throws water on left fielder Carson Benge (3) before a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Meet the Mets
The Mets were off on Monday after dropping two of three in Chicago. Their reward for a return home will be a showdown with the best team in baseball, the 81-50 Brewers.
Tim Britton examined whether Carson Benge or Nolan McLean have a case for NL Rookie of the Year on This Week in Mets.
Anthony DiComo argued that Benge indeed belongs in the NL Rookie of the Year discussion.
Mike Vaccaro wrote that the shine coming off McLean early in the year only solidified his importance to the team.
Nate Lavender talked about his current opportunity with the Mets.
Peter Sblendorio looked at how ex-Mets prospects Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams are doing with the Brewers after being traded there during the offseason.
Around the National League East
It’s the little things that Ronald Acuña Jr. does, as well as his smile, that makes him a fan favorite.
Paul Casella identified the ten best moments from the Phillies’ remarkable run.
The Phillies saw their nine-game winning streak end with a 9-2 loss to the Mariners. Wheeler took the mound in search of his first win since July 12, but a five-run first and four home runs derailed those efforts as his troubling trends continued.
The Nationals put up 13 runs in the final four innings to bludgeon the Rockies 13-3, as the Nationals’ bats woke up after scoring just six runs in their previous four games and being no-hit through four innings. The outburst coincided with CJ Abrams’ return to the lineup.
The Marlins allowed a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to lose 4-2 to the Red Sox. Pete Fairbanks exited with an apparent injury for Miami after facing just one batter in the ninth inning.
The Marlins did get some positive injury news as they reinstated Kyle Stowers from the injured list following a left hamstring strain.
Around Major League Baseball
The Brewers took down the Dodgers at the top of the MLB Power Rankings ahead of their visit to Queens.
Rob Manfred assured fans that they want to play baseball in 2027.
The Astros and GM Dana Brown mutually agreed to part ways, even with Houston in first place in the historically-weak AL West. The team released a statement about the decision.
Sam Dykstra looked at the ten best farm systems by outfield prospects.
It’s never too early to start thinking about the Arizona Fall League, and now you can with a look at the teams and schedule.
Edwin Díaz understands that he has not done his job this season as he prepares for a new role for the Dodgers.
The Rangers pounded the White Sox 11-2. In the victory, old friend Brandon Nimmo went to the apex of his leap to rob a home run. Joc Pederson, meanwhile, was ejected from the dugout in the second inning of the game.
The majority of Boston’s runs in their 4-2 against Miami came courtesy of the bottom of their lineup.
Cal Raleigh homered three times in Seattle’s win last night, becoming just the second Mariners’ catcher (along with his current manager Dan Wilson) to accomplish the feat while with the franchise.
The Rays beat the Tigers 4-1 as Drew Rasmussen made it seven straight winning starts.
The Guardians doubled up the Angels 4-2 for their fifth straight victory.
The Cubs blanked the Diamondbacks 7-0 as Kevin Gausman spun a scoreless gem for Chicago.
The Pirates outlasted the Padres 3-2 in 12 innings.
The Twins withstood a furious ninth inning rally by the Athletics to win 9-6.
Los Angeles, CA - August 11, 2026: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow sits in the dugout before an MLB game against the Kansas City Royals at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Even though the Los Angeles Dodgers have the second-best record in baseball, this summer has seemed like a slog to get through. It hasn’t quite felt like the big bully of a team other fans and talking heads like to complain about.
At least from the rotation part, the band is (almost) finally getting back together. On Tuesday, Tyler Glasnow will rejoin the rotation after being on the IL for over 3 months dealing with back issues. The Dodgers have been without their entire original starting rotation for all of the summer, and now, they also have Tarik Skubal.
Shohei Ohtani is slated to return on September 1st.
Doug Padilla of the OC Register covers the state of the Dodgers rotation going into the playoffs.
“We feel good about it,” Manager Dave Roberts said in the most understated of ways. “I’m excited to see Tyler back. I know he has missed competing, worked hard to get healthy, got his pitch count up and is now finally ready to participate. It’s going to be a fun series against the Braves. It will be good to get Tyler back in the mix.”
With Glasnow, and soon Ohtani returning, there will need to be some shuffling of the rotation. Justin Wrobleski went on the IL last week, and Eric Lauer has been moved to the bullpen.
When Ohtani returns, they are going to slow play him as they have done in the past. The team is moving Lauer to a “piggyback” role, and he will most likely be following Ohtani as the hope is to have Ohtani back to five innings by time the playoffs roll around.
Overall, it’s an exciting time for those who enjoy watching their team at full strength. Not just for the fans, but for the players themselves.
“Glasnow on Tuesday and then Sho’s working his way back,” Snell said. “I mean, yeah, it’s going to be a lot of good competition within the starting rotation. I’m really excited about it.
“Being able to watch some of the best pitchers in the game and learn from them – their mentality, the way they attack – having those conversations are very big. I’m definitely grateful to be on the same team but a lot to learn.”
Los Angeles, CA - March 12: Mark Walter, left, a majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jeanie Buss, minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, talk as the Lakers play the Chicago Bulls at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles Thursday, March 12, 2026. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
On August 12, 2026, ten months after he finalized the $10 billion deal to acquire the franchise from the hallowed and chaotic Buss family, Mark Walter sold the Los Angeles Lakers to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a valuation of just over $12 billion. His tenure at the helm is the shortest since the merger, by a factor of at least three: only Ted Stepien, who was possibly the most batshit decision-maker ever to own an NBA team, gets even close, and he lasted three years. This is without a doubt the most shocking sale of a franchise in my 25 years on this planet, and I’d guess that it’s probably the most shocking one anyone reading this can remember. This is theLakers, the runners and gunners and star chasers and champions and the NBA’s crown jewel and the home of a million MVPs and the NBA’s biggest glamour market, and there are people in the world who might really saw off their own legs for a 20 percent chance at taking the reins. And this is also Mark Walter, the billionaire owner of the Dodgers who’s managed to bring a couple World Series to LA by paying just about every superstar imaginable and whose pockets previously seemed to run so deep as to appear endless, and whose organization has proven so successful that the upcoming MLB labor negotiations will in all likelihood take aim at him specifically.
Walter was supposed to bring some of that magic to the Lakers. Gone were supposed to be the days of Ramona Shelburne exposés and palace intrigue and the dropping-and-reading-of-tealeaves that had so long defined the Lakers after family patriarch Dr. Jerry Buss passed away. They were supposed to have money again, and they were supposed to be smart, and now Walter is gone. The timing of this is strange, and the facts of it make it look even stranger: the FBI investigation into some of his business dealings at Guggenheim, his seemingly desperate search for cash as his Delaware Life company attempts to pay down the $16 billion in loans that have made it the second-most exposed life insurance company in America, the involvement of a Kushner brother, and the recent reports that not only did Walter decline to seek other buyers but also decided to sell the team in the span of 72 hours. All of this might be damning, and then again it might not, and at least a few of these facts likely explain some part of his decision to sell what is at worst the fifth-most valuable asset in sports, and the most iconic in the NBA.
We are not likely to get an especially detailed picture of what happened here: there is enough weirdness to assume that something shady is going on, and men like Walter and Kushner are not usually keen on telling us exactly what they are doing. But even if this sale is the product of the incredibly specific conditions of an FBI investigation, a demand for quick cash, and a potential need to curry favor with a family allied with the Trump administration, this sale sets a new and scary precedent for NBA franchises. Speaking yesterday about the Walter era, ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin said this: “They added two rows of courtside seats. They fired a bunch of folks. They raised season ticket prices 40% for some folks. And they made $2 billion. Like, not a very impressive resume there for his time being the principal owner of the Los Angeles Lakers.”
. . .
In 1973, America had a problem. The golden age of American capitalism had technically begun at the end of the Second World War in 1945 (it’s hard to really wrap your head around how powerful America was in 1945). For example, as Hitler bled out in his bunker, the United States held about half the planet’stotal capital and was the sole nation that could reasonably expect to exit the war intact. But its fundamental precepts—holding, in part, that strong labor protections, the so-called consumer economy, and greater public control over production would fortify the economic base and prevent the kinds of overzealous speculation that created the Great Depression—started gaining purchase in the early ‘20s.
The idea, with roots in the work of John Maynard Keynes, was that long-wave crises in the style of 1929 (and 1905, 1894, and 1877) were endemic to an unrestrained market economy. There would always be too much money going places from which it could not return, and consumer demand that would collapse at the first sign of trouble and banks that could not be trusted to act responsibly. And while some titans of industry had clearly begun to recognize this in the 1910s (on the back of other, smaller crises), the depression of ’29 had kind of sealed the deal. The depression was, of course, the worst in recorded history, and on the ground, many did not think it was actually going to end. Keynes himself, in 1930, in an essay claiming that the storm would pass away in the morning, could not help but notice how “Today we have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand. The result is that our possibilities of wealth may run to waste for a time—perhaps for a long time.”
And while the conventional narrative generally holds that the Second New Deal rescued the economy, this is not exactly true: as early as 1937-1938, only a few years after its passage, a minor recession had once again cast doubt on the ability of the country to actually figure a way out. It was not until the outbreak of war, and really the stunning wartime mobilization, in which new, highly subsidized factories appeared overnight, production quotas in crucial industries were set, and wages fixed, that the true promise of public control appeared as something other than a fever dream or a corporate specter. It was here, it was effective, and by the war’s end, it seemed a kind of perfect solution. Not only to the problem of waging the most involved and expensive war of all time, but also to mitigating, eliminating, and weathering the myriad crises that just a few years prior had troubled the most basic and fundamental belief in the capital order.
. . .
On April 26, 2023, the National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association came to an accord. To the players, it was supposedly a very good thing: they managed to protect the 49-51 split of basketball-related income, raised contract extension limits for veterans from 120% to 140%, removed cannabis restrictions, and created new eligibility criteria for end-of-season awards tied to contract values (this is how you get at least one of Jamal Murray and Jalen Johnson on all-NBA, instead of Anthony Edwards). And for the owners, it was a coup: the most famous provisions increased luxury-tax payments and created a two-apron system for teams that spent over certain thresholds. Offenders would not only have to pay outlandish tax bills, but they would also lose the ability to aggregate salaries in trades, lose access to draft picks in trades, and lose access to the mid-level exception—a crucial lever for teams in tax trouble to acquire veteran talent at competitive rates.
What this means, in essence, is that the players got a little more so that the owners could pay a lot less. Owners of small-market teams, owners with small pocketbooks, and owners who, for whatever reason, could not justify the $450 million bill for one year of basketball that Warriors owner Joe Lacob gladly paid in 2017 to build the greatest team ever were not only protected, but also rewarded for their cheapness. The propaganda for these measures has emphasized that they serve to create a parity of competition, in the style of the NFL, that the NBA has never seen before.
It is very expensive to pay a lot of good players what they deserve now, and because punishments range far beyond money, cheaply is the best way to build a good team. You managed to draft three stars, but you have to give them max deals, or they walk? Well, you better hope your second-rounders and Carter Bryant can give you enough production so you don’t run your max guys into the ground before they get to the playoffs, because we’re not going into the second apron. You just traded for a superstar wing, making 35% of the cap to pair with your up-and-coming 30% wing? You better pray to God Karl-Anthony Towns doesn’t eviscerate Adem Bona in the playoffs, and Labaron Philon can be a good sixth man right away.
Where the long-established logic of NBA team-building has generally held that veterans are more reliable — and thus a team of veterans is a team ready to compete — these new economics have flipped the math on its head such that only a team of young players, and more specifically, a team of young players whom you do not yet have to pay, has a chance of sticking around. And even then, as borne out by the unique faces of each champion since 2019, the dynasties of old do not have fertile soil from which to spring.
. . .
So let us go back to 1973. the year of the oil crisis in Tehran and a few years after the Europeans had recovered enough to begin competing in the marketplace again and a year before Nixon resigned and two removed from the 25th anniversary of the quasi-Keynesian order of postwar America and nine after Goldwater lost and seven before Reagan won. The crisis began with OPEC’s embargo of oil sales to any nation that’d supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War—raising prices of that most essential material across the Western world. But really the crisis began much earlier. Already, consumer spending, that essential fuel of postwar growth, had reached a plateau near the end of the 1960s, precisely when foreign competition, with which this order had never had to contend, had begun to nip at corporate profits; already direct foreign investment had begun to collapse, most acutely with the collapse of Bretton-Woods in 1971 and the emergence of OPEC at the end of the ‘60s, and also assuredly the wave of independence movements in the global south that defined the ‘60s; and already had cheap and plentiful supplies of skilled foreign labor brought into question the necessity of this enormously expensive american workforce. In fewer and clearer words: the order had already begun to fracture.
The solution, as written ad nauseam at the time and after the fact, was neoliberalism; the slashing of social welfare programs and the breaking of American labor and the relocation of industry off American soil, and the rapid opening-up of all previously protected corners of the American economy to capital. Conventional narratives will point to the ’81’s failed air traffic control strike and the weakening of Glass-Steagall all throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s as the flashpoints of the new order, and they are not wrong; neither the complete destruction of a worker’s organization representing such a vital segment of the American economy nor the rapid merger of commercial and investment banking would have been conceivable prior to the crisis of ’73. But the real story of ’73 is the story of ’08, with the subprime mortgage crisis that plunged the American economy into the worst recession since ’29.
It is the “neoliberalism-response-to-crisis-of-accumulation-reagan-trickle-down-economics-offshoring-deregulation-austerity-death-of-the-middle-class-flint-michigan-we-don’t-make-things-anymore” story. Full of neighborhood bankers offering Americans ridiculous loans they knew they couldn’t pay back and selling that debt to other vultures who’d been told that it was safe and the constant gambling with all this debt on hospitals and tech companies and private prisons and oil concerns and a “real economy” that hadn’t actually grown in decades filled with ordinary Americans whose paychecks hadn’t risen either, and so when it crashed to the ground everything fell with it and no one knew if it could get back up, and this time nothing really changed, the banks got their money back and the gamblers were told to be more careful next time because there was sure as shit gonna be a next time because we sure as shit didn’t have any other ideas.
. . .
On August 13, 2025, on the precipice of a season that would end in their first playoff run in four years, the Portland Trail Blazers announced their sale, for a reported $4.25 billion, to Tom Dundon, a billionaire who made his cash as a subprime auto lender in the early 2000s. Since 2020, an unprecedented 25 percent of NBA franchises have changed ownership in the span of six years, owing in large part to the meteoric rise of franchise valuations; in 2025 alone, the Blazers, Celtics, and Lakers alone combined for an estimated sale price of $20 billion. This is a time of great change for the league, and upon Dundon’s arrival, the dimensions of this change would make themselves clear.
First was the announcement that Dundon had declined to pay for the travel and accommodations of Blazers support staff and their two-way players for the duration of their 2026 playoff run—a breach of the NBA’s long-established customs. Next were the rumors that interim head coach Tiago Splitter, who’d taken over for Chauncey Billups following his gambling arrest and who’d done a decent job coaxing a winning record out of a mismatched and mercurial roster, would not return to the Blazers the following season. The reason for the divorce, as alleged after the fact, was Splitter’s strange desire for a salary and contract length on the standard of other NBA head coaches. Finally, or at least most recently, are the troubling negotiations between Dundon and the city of Portland over the financing of the construction of a new arena (Dundon, of course, believes that the city should take much of the burden), with some not-so-subtle hints that Dundon aims to relocate the storied, though small-market, franchise.
I do not get why you would buy an NBA team if you did not want to, you know, run an NBA team, especially one like Portland with a long history of relevance, a legendary title, and a rabid fanbase. But I believe, taken together with the passage of the second apron provisions in the latest CBA, all this actually does make sense. For so long in the NBA, the idea has been that you can and should buy your way into relevance. Most every great and storied team in the league’s history has had an enormous payroll. You spend on talent, and you spend as much as you need to keep that talent around. But the second apron restrictions, with all their far-reaching implications, passed and agreed to precisely when valuations are reaching record highs and teams are being sold all over the damn place, have served to not only protect but also incentivize low spending. Every team certainly must pay at least 90 percent of the salary cap, but the logic of winning has clearly changed: the OKC Thunder won a championship with the 19th-highest payroll in the league; the Spurs and Pacers went to the finals in the last two years, each with the 17th-highest payroll in their respective seasons; and even the Knicks, the most recent champions who won with the seventh-highest payroll in the nba, were only able to secure the cap space necessary to build the team because Jalen Brunson left $113 million on the table. What is more, four of the teams with the 10 highest payrolls did not advance past the first round. For reference, only once during the fabled Bron-Steph years did either of those teams fall outside the top five in spending.
The problem is not that these owners are slashing budgets to raise profits, nor that the players are bearing the cost. Rather, what is happening is something far more insidious: the speculative turn of NBA team-building. With prices soaring, expansion looming, and more sales than ever before, there is a pretty obvious financial incentive for owners to cut costs where they can, especially owners who might soon put their teams on the market and don’t want to be dragging a $300 million payroll into negotiations. And for new owners, who again account for about 25 percent of league ownership—who bought in at this all-time high, and who, despite their vast individual wealth, have been frequently unable to amass the capital necessary to outright purchase their new teams on their own, some kind of austerity, or at least cost-deflation, probably looks appealing. The franchise is an asset now, and a ridiculously and increasingly valuable one at that. Considering all this, we are left with the big question: if the new logic of winning team-building just so happens to help out new highly leveraged owners, can all this focus on flexibility and cost-deflation really be divorced from the sales of franchises? Put another way, is it even possible to say anymore that these owners care about anything but the check they can get at the next sale?
. . .
This is a story of neoliberalism, but more specifically, it is a story of speculation. Where corporate butchers like Jack Welch began to understand that the numbers on the stock ticker were all that mattered, and the numbers didn’t care much for the reality of what a company was but more so the idea of what a company could be. Companies shrank their productive units or otherwise moved them to places where labor could be bought on the cheap; research and development budgets shrunk as corporations slashed their payroll and expanded to new lines of business, most especially financial. You know this story, but what matters here for our purposes is that this era no longer saw a future for itself. If the quasi-Keynesian tendencies of the old sought to address the root cause of crisis and calamity, the new order simply sought to survive.
Gone were the days ahead and the backward days behind; all that needed to exist here, in this increasingly wild domain, was increasingly unhinged capital. able to turn a profit in a jail cell and an operating room, and that did not care for the cities of the hungry and the shocked it left behind. And they certainly could not give less of a damn about the human meat it ground to a pulp across the pond. Because these actions looked good in the moment, the same as those piles of shit with the shine of the old-school blue chips that tore everything down in ’08. It didn’t matter if all our roads were so lined with shit that your car could barely move because the gamblers knew that they would be protected in the event of loss. And even if those subprime loans were now illegal, something close to it probably was, and as long as you stayed a few steps ahead of the crisis, you could do pretty well for yourself.
No longer was the nation willing to offer its citizens anything more than a pittance, and if they got sick or wanted a higher education or just looked a little funny at the powers that be, their lives were subject to complete upheaval. In ’97, just seventeen years after the collapse, 31 percent of Americans had no savings to cover surprise expenses; thirty years later, in 2026, the number of Americans fitting this designation may be as high as 67 percent. We understand that there is no one coming to save us and that if the whole thing falls down again, they’ll find a way to pick it back up and act like nothing ever happened. And all this means that there are no years anymore for millions upon millions of us, at least as we’ve ever been able to understand them; for us the horizon of the foreseeable future has slimmed to the few weeks just down the road.
. . .
We care about sports because the giants can fall down. In a second a man can be made a hero, and in less he can be made a villain, and every night twenty thousand of us gather in one place to yell and drink and boo, and it is all about luck and the gods, and even if these guys are kajillionaires and Adonis, we tell ourselves that they’re still like us, and we care about sports because we can absolutely ruin a billionaire’s night just by screaming. There is no reason I shut down for a couple of hours during Game 6 of the Nuggets-Wolves series last year and took a five-minute break in the middle of a rush at work to cry in the bathroom when my guys lost. We understand that our favorite players might have to leave one day and their bodies will break down, and glory doesn’t last that long. But for so long we understood that when you had a shot, you had to go all in, and if you got mad enough at the owner, you might be able to convince him to pay up.
Growing up, most of the team sales I recall were at least somewhat forced. Donald Sterling had to go, and so did Robert Sarver and so did Dan Snyder. The franchise was as much a public institution as anything else, and its owners were not good or generous people, but they were usually people who cared at least about the team and the city. and the better ones understood the business of sport was different than any other, where operating at a loss for a few years could be justified if you were winning and where there was a built-in consumer base that wasn’t going anywhere. There were easier ways to make a buck, and for many of them the franchise was something closer to a family heirloom than a business and a chance to have your name on a trophy and stand on a big parade float and wave at thousands of adoring lunatics. And so they would usually pay to keep our guys around, and they’d respect our little traditions and superstitions. They would be fixtures in our lives as much as anyone else, and for longer than any of the men they employed.
And of course, of course, of course, there were despots and union-busters and petty tyrants like Sterling and Sarver and Marge Schott. But you don’t have to mourn them to recognize that what they symbolized was a personal commitment to a city and a team with real obligations to both, and to recognize that the anonymous capital currently flooding the NBA does not see the franchise as anything but another asset in a portfolio, subject to the same economic pressures as anything else. Already they have been able to write off contracts and team purchases over 15 years using tax loopholes; already they have managed to squeeze cities for hundreds of millions in taxpayer funds for stadiums; already the franchise is an attractive investment vehicle.
Like any good investment vehicle in 2026, this one will hurt the masses hard. Our teams will be subject to complete upheaval the minute payroll sniffs the second apron. Our owners will jack up ticket prices, cheap out on contracts, and threaten their city with relocation for more favorable terms on arena funding, only to sell off for a tidy two billion in profit a year later to the highest bidder. All that we considered so fundamental to sports—all that we believed about the need to keep your guys around and to chase glory at all costs and to pay more than you should to get what you need—has been eaten alive by capital and its logic of speculation. And that just sucks.
If I was there this weekend, I definitely would have been “Sleepless in Seattle.”
Friday, the Cubs lost a winnable game on a walk-off single by a .130 hitter, Leo Rivas. Then Saturday, the Cubs see a definite win turn into a brutal loss. After that .130 hitter (Rivas) drove in a run with a two-out single, Randy Arozarena, who had a first-pitch HR to start the game, matched PCA from five days earlier by hitting a two-run walk-off HR.
One could say, “Whew, a 19-2 laugher, finally” Sunday, but it turned into an uncomfortable win after the implosion by Shōta Imanaga, which followed Matthew Boyd’s poor recent starts — the two pretty dependable pitchers Jed Hoyer built a solid four-man playoff rotation around. What now?
Well, let’s start with the good news on the pitching side. Saturday, David Peterson gave up the CSPSHR*, but went on to allow just two runs on four hits and two walks over six innings. Peterson added on eight strikeouts, as 62 of his 98 pitches were for strikes.
The only thing on Sunday that Imanaga matched Peterson on was giving up a CSPSHR* and two total runs allowed. Imanaga was pulled after 72 pitches following two consecutive singles to start the third inning. He allowed five hits, two walks and a HBP, getting pulled from the shortest start in his major-league career.
Aaron Civale took over for Imanaga with a 5-2 lead and was excellent over four innings of one-hit shutout ball. Trent Thornton, Caleb Thielbar and Carson Kelly pitched the final three innings in shutout fashion.
Offensively between the two games, the Cubs scored 23 runs. Nineteen of those, however came only on Sunday. The leaders at the plate Sunday were based on a pair of grand slams, one each by Ian Happ and Pedro Ramirez. Happ only played Sunday, but went an efficient 2-for-4 with a walk and a total of five RBI. Ramirez on Sunday went 3-for-6 with three runs scored to go along with his grand slam, five RBI and a stolen base.
Two other players that played only on Sunday — Michael Conforto went 1-for-2 with a solo home run, and Kelly went 1-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
For players performing in both games, Seiya Suzuki went 3-for-7 with three walks, three runs scored and a stolen base. A nice surprise is that Tyrone Taylor doesn’t appear to be an all-glove player. He went 3-for-7 with two walks, a double, a run scored and an RBI. PCA went 3-for-8 with a walk, adding two runs scored, a double, a home run and three RBI. Michael Busch was just 2-for-7, but with two walks, three runs scored and a solo home run. And Alex Bregman’s only hit was a solo home run, but he did pick up a pair of walks, two runs scored and an RBI each.
Complimentary Starting Pitcher Solo Home Run*
*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.
Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Bregman, Busch get through top prospect Anderson, but Cubs stunned by Arozarena. “Jacob Webb had not allowed a run for the Cubs dating back to late June. That streak finally ended for the veteran reliever who has grown into Chicago’s closer and a trusted stopper in manager Craig Counsell’s bullpen.”
Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Cubs’ reliable Webb has rare stumble in walk-off loss. “Jacob Webb spun around on the mound and kept an eye on Pete Crow-Armstrong as the Cubs center fielder raced back to the wall at T-Mobile Park.”
Matthew Trueblood (North Side Sports): Is Trent Thornton Good? “It’s the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12,239 pages of heated debate.“
Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Everything Sucks When It’s Not About You. “For the second year in a row, an admirably resilient and impressive Cubs team is suffering from an acute and inescapable syndrome that makes life genuinely unpleasant: secondary character syndrome.”
Garrett Kerman (ClutchPoints): Cubs’ Craig Counsell provides 2 big injury updates. “Craig Counsell revealed that both right-hander Ben Brown and left-hander Justin Steele came through a milestone step in their respective rehab programs without any setbacks.”
Food For Thought:
Rex Peoples is the 7x winner of the “Best Blues Vocalist” in Colorado. If you like the Blues, R&B, Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Koko Talyor then you will love Rex. The XFactr was created by singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and Blues in Schools educator Rex Peoples in 2007. It is intentionally spelled without the “o” to represent the intangibles that make the religious shout, the partiers dance, and remind us of the emotions that make us say, “That’s my song!” He wrote all lyrics and music for the CD : Fried Food / Hard Liquor. Rex was the 2nd most played single on Kai Turners “Strictly Blues station in 2016. The band was a semifinalist in the 2016 International Blues Challenge on Beale Street in Memphis. His title cut song was also covered on Chris Daniels and the Kings CD…Blues with Horns ” which so far has climbed the charts to #4 in the Contemporary top fifty chart in 2017. Rex has worked with Otis Taylor’s Trance Blues Fest for the last 4 years.
Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 12: Anthony Eyanson #24 of the Boston Red Sox on the American League Team pitches during the 2026 MLB Futures Game at Citizens Bank Park on July 12, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The minor league season is drawing closer to the finish line, but the action among the Orioles’ affiliates is arguably the most exciting it’s been all season. Between the debuts of a bunch of 2026 draftees and the arrivals of a slew of new prospects acquired at the trade deadline, the Orioles have added plenty of intriguing young players to their talent pipeline. Let’s check in on the latest minor league action from the past week.
Triple-A Norfolk Tides
Last week’s results: 2-3 vs. Nashville Sounds (Brewers)
Next week’s opponent: at Durham Bulls (Rays)
Second-half record: 17-31, last place (12.5 GB) in International League East
Overall season record: 45-78
The Tides started the week with a couple of high-scoring wins, plating eight and seven runs in their first two games, but then the offense disappeared. They scored only one run in the final three games combined (with rain washing out the other). Even more embarrassingly, they were the victims of a no-hitter on Sunday in a seven-inning game. Nashville’s Brandon Sproat and Tate Kuehner combined on a near-perfecto, with one walk and one HBP accounting for the Tides’ only baserunners.
No Norfolk hitter played more than four games this week, but the best of the lot was Heston Kjerstad, who went 6-for-12 with a double and triple. Kjerstad has been red hot for two months now, posting an .852 OPS in July and .947 in August. If it were up to me, he’d be getting DH at-bats in the majors, but the fact that the Orioles would rather carry three catchers instead of giving Kjerstad another chance tells you all you need to know about their opinion of him.
Another guy angling for a big league promotion, Enrique Bradfield Jr., had just three hits this week, all singles. With a .685 OPS, he’s not forcing a call-up, no matter how lousy the Orioles’ outfield may currently be. Neither is catcher Creed Willems, who took an 0-for-12 this week. Infielder Brandon Butterworth hit his first home run since his promotion to Triple-A.
Nearly everyone in the Tides’ rotation had a lousy week, as Trey Gibson, Nestor German, Juaron Watts-Brown, and Trace Bright each coughed up five or more runs. The only decent performance was from Michael Forret, who held the Sounds to two runs in five innings. Poor Cade Povich was robbed of a start on Saturday because the game was rained out after just four pitches, before he’d even completed the first at-bat. Why would they even start the game?? Did nobody look at a weather map? Get it together, guys!
A tip of the hat to right-hander Codi Heuer, a minor league trade acquisition at the deadline, who has thrown eight scoreless innings of relief since joining the organization. With 97 games of major league experience, Heuer could be a bullpen option for the Orioles down the stretch.
Last week’s results: 2-4 vs. Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants)
Next week’s opponent: at Harrisburg Senators (Nationals)
Second-half record: 27-23, tied for second place (7.5 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
Overall season record: 56-62
The Baysox are showing some life in the second half, currently with an over-.500 record after finishing the first half 10 games underwater. They’ve been helped by some prospects promoted from High-A as well as key trade deadline acquisitions. The starting rotation has some of both. The recently promoted lefty Caden Hunter tossed another solid outing in his fourth Double-A start — five innings, one run — and batters are hitting .195 against him. JT Quinn, in his second start since coming up, allowed two runs in five innings, while Patrick Reilly had his most impressive outing since returning from Tommy John surgery: five innings, one run, six strikeouts.
Then there’s righty Anthony Eyanson, the prize of the Adley Rutschman trade and the Orioles’ new top pitching prospect. This week he delivered a superb performance, allowing only one run in seven innings and striking out eight. He has a 2.60 ERA and 1.04 WHIP in his three starts since joining the club. And how intriguing is this Baysox rotation if Joseph Dzierwa is the fifth guy I’m mentioning? The breakout southpaw was sharp yet again, with a solo homer his only blemish in five strong innings. His ERA with the Baysox is holding steady at 1.89.
Oh, and who was the sixth Baysox hurler to make a start this week? None other than Félix Bautista, making his long-awaited return to a mound for the first time since July of 2025. The rehabbing Mountain was clearly rusty, walking three batters, giving up a hit, and recording just one out. OK, so he’s not ready to jump back into the Orioles’ bullpen quite yet. But the fact that he’s even pitching is impressive for a guy who I didn’t expect to see again until 2027, if at all.
On the offensive side, top infield prospect Wehiwa Aloy is really settling in with the Baysox. He was 6-for-20 with two homers and two doubles this week, boosting his Double-A OPS to .860 in 24 games. The suddenly slugging Aron Estrada added another homer this week after bashing five the week before. And Vance Honeycutt contributed with five hits and only two strikeouts in 16 PAs, even if I’m not sure what earned him a promotion to Double-A in the first place.
Last week’s results: 3-4 at Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals)
Next week’s opponent: vs. Asheville Tourists (Astros)
Second-half record: 31-21, tied for first place in South Atlantic League North
Overall season record: 72-44
The Keys played an extra game this week to make up a rainout from early August, and the Blue Rocks took the series to slow down Frederick’s 10-1 hot streak. Still, the Keys are deadlocked with Greensboro atop the division standings. They don’t even need to finish in first to make the playoffs — they’re already assured a postseason spot because they won the division in the first half — but it would be a cool feat nonetheless.
The Keys’ offense went through a rough patch near the end of the series, when they lost three consecutive games by scores of 1-0, 2-1, and 1-0. But nothing could slow down Enddy Azocar, who has been laying waste to opposing pitchers since the O’s acquired him in the Rutschman deal. The 19-year-old outfielder racked up a whopping 11 hits this week, nearly twice as many as any teammate. In 17 games since joining the organization, Azocar is batting .357 with a 1.024 OPS, 11 extra-base hits, and 16 RBIs. Wowza.
The Frederick pitching staff coughed up 17 runs in a Wednesday doubleheader but otherwise excelled, holding Wilmington to two or fewer runs in the other five games. The biggest standout was righty Kyson Witherspoon — yup, yet another prospect from the Rutschman trade — who threw five hitless, scoreless innings. He struck out eight and walked three. You know, I’m never going to love the fact that the Orioles felt they had to trade Adley, but so far I sure am impressed by the return.
Also racking up the whiffs this week was 6’8” lefty Boston Bateman, who clocked nine Ks in six innings over two abbreviated starts. He allowed 10 baserunners but managed to escape without any runs. Bateman’s last six starts have all been three innings or less, so the O’s seem to be limiting his workload. He missed time earlier this season with right hip flexor discomfort and left triceps tightness.
Last week’s results: 1-5 at Hickory Crawdads (Rangers)
Next week’s opponent: vs. Fredericksburg Nationals
Second-half record: 19-35, last place (13.5 GB) in Carolina League North
Overall season record: 42-78
With a .350 overall winning percentage, the Shorebirds are the worst team in all of Low-A, and the second-worst team at any full-season minor league level (better only than High-A’s Asheville Tourists, an Astros affiliate). By the way, the Norfolk Tides are the fourth-worst minor league team. Not great for the O’s farm system!
It was another bad week for the Shorebirds, who went 1-5 for the third time in their last four series. The additions of the Orioles’ top two 2026 draft picks, Eric Booth Jr. and Ty Head, hasn’t boosted the team’s record, though not for lack of trying. Head, the second-round outfielder from NC State, collected seven hits and a homer this week, and has a .965 OPS in nine games to begin his pro career. Booth, the Birds’ first rounder, is off to a 5-for-23 start, though he has seven walks in as many games. Not bad for an 18-year-old who most recent experience was in high school ball. Fellow outfielder Jhonmardo Reyes, who’d started out with only seven hits in 41 at-bats since the O’s acquired him for Dean Kremer, had seven in 20 at-bats this week.
And on the mound, Esteban Mejia might be starting to salvage some hints of positivity out of an otherwise disastrous season. In his last three outings, the right-hander has been limited to short stints — two to three innings per game — and he’s responded with 8.1 scoreless frames and 11 strikeouts. Most promisingly, Mejia has walked only three batters in that span, a dramatic step forward for a guy who had issued 62 free passes in 42.1 innings before that. It’s a very small sample size and certainly too early to declare that Mejia has cured his season-long control problems, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Last week, Aron Estrada was the runaway winner of our player of the week poll with 70% of the vote. Hitting five home runs will do that. Estrada becomes the third repeat winner of the season, joining Caden Hunter and Ike Irish. One-time winners include Victor Figueroa, Payton Eeles, Braylin Tavera, Wehiwa Aloy, Jaiden Lo Re, Joseph Dzierwa, Luis De León, Heston Kjerstad, and Enddy Azocar.
For this week’s poll, well, it’s not like I intended to only include the prospects from the Adley Rutschman trade. But they all had stalwart performances this week, so here we are. Which one is your favorite this week?
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 17: Starter Tomoyuki Sugano #11 of the Colorado Rockies pitches in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on August 17, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
When the Rockies signed Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之), it came a surprise to many Colorado Rockies fans. The 36-year-old veteran was signed to bring leadership to a young pitching staff, which he has done quite well. However, coming to Major League Baseball just one year prior was something that he had been wanting for a long time after a storied career in Japan with Nippon Professional Baseball.
“The number one thing was that I didn’t want to regret looking back on my career, so that was the main decision factoring in,” Sugano said through interpreter Yuto Sakurai.
Heading into his decision, he did seek out other Japanese players to gain insights into their experiences before committing. Specifically, he spoke with Yu Darvish and Kenta Maeda.
“They both mentioned that the big leagues is a tough place, but it’d be a really good experience,” he said.
And he has noticed some differences between the NPB and MLB.
“To me, everything has been different,” he said, “starting with the schedule and what the organization expects for each and every player and their ability. So in my mind, everything has been different between the two leagues.”
Sugano signed with the Baltimore Orioles in December 2024, and he made 30 starts for them in 2025. In total, Sugano went 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA and 1.33 WHIP across 157 innings. However, he was also tagged for 33 home runs, which led the league.
“I think I was playing pretty well, especially the first part of the season,” he said. “In June, I kind of collapsed and realized how tough it was to pitch in the big leagues. I don’t really have too much [that surprised me], but I try to not think too far ahead. I try not to expect anything.”
So far in 2026, Sugano has been fairly steady.
He has made 23 starts, and has a 12-7 record with a 4.96 ERA, 1.332 WHIP and 0.3 fWAR (T-8th). Some of that has been inflated over his last two starts, which have not been great. On Sunday, he set a lot of dubious records, including a career-low-tying three innings pitched and a career-high 45 pitches in the first inning. In his previous start on August 17th, Sugano threw five innings but allowed seven runs (six earned). He had not allowed more than three runs in each of his last five starts. Those two starts bumped up his ERA from 4.43 to 4.96, and his WHIP from 1.25 to 1.32.
One thing that Sugano has had to contend with, like all Rockies players, is the altitude. But he’s been making adjustments, and actually has fairly even home/road splits.
In 12 home games, Sugano has a 7-5 record and a 5.00 ERA; in 11 road games, he has a 5-2 record and a 4.91 ERA. He also has a 1.33 WHIP at home and a 1.30 WHIP on the road. But he had trouble narrowing down one specific adjustment he’s made to account for the altitude.
“When I start speaking about one thing, there’s unlimited things that I can talk about,” he said. “But I guess the number one thing is I try to study the opposing hitters. And pitching in Denver is different from pitching away in different fields, so try to make that adjustment as soon as possible.”
But the biggest thing Sugano has noticed about the Rockies is how supportive the staff is, which has been echoed by many players.
“Everybody has been supportive, starting with Schaeff,” he said. “And I know the coaching staff is really you, but I think they’re trying their best and they’ve been really supportive as a whole.”
And he is most excited to “get as many wins as possible” to finish 2026.
“I want to be supportive both on and off the field,” he continued, “so whatever I can do to support this team and get any type of win.”
But if nothing else, Sugano has enjoyed his time in Denver and even made a stop at Elitch Gardens. Sugano is a well-known theme park enthusiast, making sure to seek out amusement parks in their different stops if time allows for it (he made sure to ride New York New York in Las Vegas).
His favorite part of the Denver park?
“The turkey leg that they were selling,” he said. “It was super expensive, so I was surprised by that. We didn’t really go on that many rides to have a comparison with each other. One of them was a free fall, and the other one was a roller coaster. It was probably like the scariest one there.”
It’s hard to say where Sugano will play in 2027, but he has at least provided some stability for most of this up-and-down 2026 season when the rotation desperately needed it.
The MLB season is wrapping up, which means the Arizona Fall League is just around the corner! The Rockies will once again send their prospects to the Salt River Rafters, who will share the roster with prospects from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees. Games will kick off on October 3rd and run through November 14th. Most games will be streamed through the AFL website. Be on the lookout for Purple Row’s continued coverage of the “top prospect finishing school.”
The Rockies have been looking for a spark for many years, and they seem to have found one in the form of Cole Carrigg. Drew Creasman makes his case for why Carrigg is the blueprint of the Rockies’ future.
