DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 23: Blake Butera #10 of the Washington Nationals receives a at on the shoulder from pitcher Will Dion #76 as he leaves the game during the seventh inning at Comerica Park on September 23, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The end is truly near now. It is time for the final series of the season. The Nats square off against the Mets this weekend for their last games of 2026. With one more win, the Nats will secure not being in last place. This should be a fun series to watch.
James Wood will be the DH for the Nats in this one. That means the outfield will consist of Daylen Lile, Jacob Young and Dylan Crews. CJ Abrams is at shortstop, meaning Jorbit Vivas will be playing second base and Brady House is at third. Keibert Ruiz is behind the dish tonight. Andrew Alvarez has been pitching well, but hopefully he can finally be rewarded with a win tonight.
you only get to see so many lineup graphics in your lifetime, enjoy each and every one of them
The Nats have rarely seen Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto in the lineup at the same time this season. That will change tonight though. The two stars are at the top of the Mets order. Ironically, this is the healthiest the Mets have been in a while. We will see a newer face in Christopher Morel at the bottom of the order. The eccentric Jefry Yan will be the opener for New York.
This has been a step forward season for the Nats, who now have 75 wins. With one more, they will avoid last place, which I think is a big deal. Even with just three games left, there is plenty to play for in DC. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
After playing a pair of games at Fenway Park Friday, Sept. 25, the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox will pack their bags and beat a hasty path out of Beantown to the warm embrace of climate control.
Hello, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Both playoff-bound clubs will finish their regular seasons in a most unexpected place − Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. That contingency edged closer to reality as a nasty Nor'easter is expected to pummel the Northeast this weekend, prompting the clubs to move Saturday's game to a Friday doubleheader at Fenway.
The Sunday finale was a wait-and-see situation − but Major League Baseball had seen enough by Friday afternoon and moved the game before the weather turned.
It is a somewhat ironic twist: Tropicana Field was rendered unplayable by a hurricane in October 2024, prompting the Rays to play their 2025 home schedule at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. This time, the Trop will provide a safe haven for the Cubs and Red Sox, who each have little at stake.
The Red Sox locked themselves into the No. 5 seed in the American League playoffs by beating the Cubs 4-3 in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader. That means once the teams contest Game 162 in central Florida − game time 3:05 p.m. ET Sunday − the Red Sox will hop a plane to New York for their best-of-three wild card series against the Yankees.
While the Red Sox (86-74) have locked in their AL seeding, they could be playing for some World Series home field ramifications against certain NL squads. The Cubs entered Game 2 Friday with an 88-72 record and hold the tiebreaker over both the San Diego Padres (89-70) and Philadelphia Philies (87-72). They could still land on any of the Nos. 1-3 wild card spots, which would mean hosting a three-game series, traveling to the No. 1 wild card or traveling to NL East division champ Atlanta.
The AL East champion Rays are concluding their season with a three-game series at Philadelphia, and have a bye to the AL Division Series. That means if the Red Sox win their series at New York, they'll turn around and head back to Tampa Bay to start the best-of-five ALDS against the Rays Saturday, Oct. 3.
DUNEDIN, FLORIDA - MARCH 19: Joey Votto #37 of the Toronto Blue Jays looks on from the dugout during a 2024 Grapefruit League Spring Training game against the Baltimore Orioles at TD Ballpark on March 19, 2024 in Dunedin, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Both the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds entered the 2026 season with high hopes. Toronto was fresh off a 2025 campaign that saw them win 94 games and come damn close to taking down the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series, while the Reds managed to actually win more games than they lost – for them, a true feat of strength.
Nothing close to that has gone to plan in 2026, however.
Toronto finally got bounced from the murky AL Wild Card chase earlier this week to officially end their postseason dreams, while the Reds have been dead in the water for months now. Sadly, that makes this weekend’s final series of the season completely meaningless in the grand scheme even if there are a few personal milestones certain players are attempting to reach.
Elly De La Cruz mashed the 30th homer of his season last night and now sits a steal away from joining the 30/30 club. Sal Stewart is still firmly in the mix for the major league lead in RBI (while also trying to keep his season OPS beginning with an 8), and the Reds as a whole are trying to see if they can finish the season last in each of wRC+, FIP, and DRS.
Yay!
Nick Lodolo gets his final start of the season looking to finish strong in Friday’s series opener, while Jose Soriano will go for the Jays. First pitch is set for 7:07 PM ET.
NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia saw many ceremonies honoring former players during 11 seasons with the New York Yankees and never envisioned he would be an honoree.
Sabathia became the 24th player or manager to get his number retired and the Hall of Fame left-hander was honored with a plaque in Monument Park during a ceremony before a doubleheader opener against Baltimore on Friday.
Sabathia joined Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada as the fifth member of 2009 World Series champion Yankees with a retired number and plaque.
“I never envisioned myself going into Monument Park and I think that was the reason why I was so scared to come here is because you don’t ever think you’re going to win the Yankee fans over or the city over,” Sabathia said. “So to be able to be sitting here now, playing here 11 years is an incredible feeling and that’s why I’ve said the last couple of weeks, this feels bigger to me than the Hall of Fame because I know what was at stake when I came here.”
Now 46, Sabathia signed a $161 million, seven-year contract before the 2009 season after being convinced by general manager Brian Cashman following an initial meeting in December 2008. The contract was the largest at the time for a free-agent pitcher.
Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts for the Yankees in his first season. He earned the AL Championship Series MVP Award, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in a six-game win over the Los Angeles Angels and started Games 1 and 4 as the Yankees beat Philadelphia for their 27th title.
Sabathia went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the Yankees (2009-19).
During 11 seasons in New York, Sabathia was 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts. He ranks fourth in franchise history in strikeouts, seventh in starts, 10th in wins and 11th in innings.
Sabathia was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2025, receiving 86.8% of the vote. He was inducted with Billy Wagner and Ichiro Suzuki, a former Yankee teammate from 2012-14.
“That ceremony was incredible, surreal,” Sabathia said. “I was saying out there I have so many famous teammates whether it’s Mo, Derek, Andy. So I’ve been at the ceremony a bunch of times but to have that ceremony be for me is special and to have my family out there was cool.”
The Yankees’ ceremony began with video messages from Jeter, Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams, and Sabathia unveiled the plaque with his wife Amber, two of his children, two friends and his mother, Margie.
After video highlights, Sabathia waved to fans from a golf cart along the warning track. He was presented with a blue blazer, a framed version of his plaque and retired number along with a ring commemorating his career from general manager Brian Cashman — who was booed by fans.
After the ceremony, Sabathia threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his son Carsten, a Milwaukee minor league first baseman.
It's been another frustrating year for Ronny Mauricio.
Now 25 years old, Mauricio is wrapping up another season where injuries robbed him of an opportunity to establish himself as a regular at the big league level.
His biggest shot came earlier this year when the Mets lost Francisco Lindor to a calf injury, but Mauricio was forced to the IL himself after just seven games due to a fractured thumb.
The young infielder would miss a couple of months, and upon returning, found himself once again glued down at the Triple-A level where he was tearing the cover off the ball.
Mauricio was called back up to the majors last week following Jared Young’s scary injury at first base, but he has appeared in just one game since then.
Mauricio is expected to work his way into the lineup for Saturday’s middle game against the Nationals, but still won’t log more than 20 games in the big leagues this season.
With no more minor league options remaining heading into next year, Andy Green was asked about the former top prospect's outlook moving forward.
“He missed a lot of time, that was a nasty knee injury,” the skipper said. “He’s come back and the athleticism has returned. I don’t see any residual effect from that -- from my vantage point, people come back from injuries all the time.
“Does it make life harder? Sure. Does he have every opportunity to still turn this into a good career? Sure, he does. The path forward for him is to impact the baseball consistently, and if he can, minimize the chase.”
Mauricio certainly was able to do that again in Triple-A this year, hitting .261 with 18 homers and a .793 OPS.
ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 23: Juan Soto #22 of the New York Mets looks on during a game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on September 23, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Kai Kanzer/Texas Rangers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Mets Lineup
Francisco Lindor – SS Juan Soto – LF Bo Bichette – 3B Mark Vientos – DH Carson Benge – RF Francisco Alvarez – C Marcus Semien – 2B A.J. Ewing – CF Christopher Morel – 1B
SP: Justin Hagenman – RHP
Nationals Lineup
James Wood – DH Andres Chaparro – 1B Brady House – 3B Dylan Crews – RF CJ Abrams – SS Jacob Young – CF Daylen Lile – LF Keibert Ruiz – C Jorbit Vivas – 2B
SP: Andrew Alvarez – LHP
Broadcast Info
First pitch: 6:45 PM EDT TV: WPIX Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
Baseball's most iconic rivalry returns once again for the Wild Card Series, with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees officially set to clash for the second straight year in the best-of-three series on NBC, Peacock and NBCSN. While times for first pitch are still yet to be determined, the dates are set with plenty to review ahead of next week's action.
Fans can look forward to all four Wild Card Series exclusively on NBC, Peacock and NBCSN, with Red Sox-Yankees set as the first official matchup of this year's postseason. Dive in below for TV/live stream information, key storylines and how to watch the entire Wild Card Series on NBC and Peacock.
When is the Red Sox vs. Yankees 2026 MLB Wild Card Series?
The Red Sox and Yankees will officially begin their Wild Card series on Tuesday, September 29 at Yankee Stadium. Game 2 will follow the next day on Wednesday, September 30, with a potential Game 3 set for Thursday, October 1.
How to watch Red Sox vs. Yankees: TV channel, live stream
Fans can watch every single Red Sox-Yankees Wild Card game exclusively on NBC, Peacock and NBCSN.
Red Sox vs. Yankees 2026 Wild Card Series full schedule
Where will the Red Sox vs. Yankees Wild Card Series be played?
All three games will be played at Yankee Stadium.
Red Sox vs. Yankees probable starting pitchers
Probable pitchers are TBD with the regular season heading into its final weekend. The Yankees will likely utilize Cam Schlittler and Max Fried for Games 1 and 2, with Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole looming as potential Game 3 starters. Red Sox manager Chad Tracy is expected to lean on a combination of breakout rookie Payton Tolle, veteran Sonny Gray and Ranger Suarez.
Red Sox vs. Yankees 2026 season series results
Both teams played incredibly close ball against one another all season long, with the Yankees just barely edging out the season series (7-6). New York went 4-2 against Boston at home this season.
Red Sox vs. Yankees playoff history
2025 AL Wild Card Series: The Yankees defeated the Red Sox 2-1 in the series to advance to the ALDS, where Cam Schlittler delivered an all-time pitching performance in Game 3 (Eight scoreless innings, 12 strikeouts).
2021 AL Wild Card Game: The Red Sox won 6-2 behind Nathan Eovaldi's eight strikeouts over 5.1 innings, while Gerrit Cole lasted just two innings.
2018 ALDS: Boston took the series with ease in 3-1 fashion before eventually defeating the Dodgers to win the World Series.
2004 ALCS: Terry Francona's squad made history by becoming the first team in MLB history to come back from a 3-0 deficit, where the Red Sox won four straight games to stun the Yankees on the road to their first World Series title since 1918.
2003 ALCS: Before the Red Sox made history in 2004's ALCS, they fell to the Yankees in a tight series (4-3) before New York lost in the World Series to the Marlins.
1999 ALCS: New York took care of business with a 4-1 series win en route to a World Series sweep over the Braves.
1978 AL East tiebreaker game: Also known as the 'Bucky Dent game,' this matchup added plenty of fuel to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, where New York won 5-4.
How does the MLB Wild Card Series format work?
All four Wild Card Series are best-of-three matchups, with the higher seeds earning home-field advantage for the entire series. The Wild Card Series will take place across a three-day stretch from September 29 to October 1, with potential Game 3s falling on October 1.
AL/NL No. 6 seeds vs. AL/NL No. 3 seeds
AL/NL No. 5 seeds vs. AL/NL No. 4 seeds
How to watch 2026 MLB Wild Card Round on NBC and Peacock
NBC, Peacock and NBCSN are the home for this year's MLB Wild Card Series. You can sign up for Peacock here, available to enjoy on a variety of devices. View the full list of supported devices here. Wild Card games on NBC will also be available on Peacock. NBCSN is available on YouTube TV, Fubo and Xfinity.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 19: Bubba Chandler #36 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning during the game against the Kansas City Royals at PNC Park on September 19, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are coming in the home stretch with the start of the final series of the year against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
In game number 160 of the season, the Pirates will trot out Bubba Chandler, who is making his 30th start of the year. Chandler is 8-9 with a 4.34 ERA in 151.1 innings pitched so far this year. In his last start against the Kansas City Royals, Chandler pitched 4 innings, giving up 8 hits and 3 earned runs as the Bucs won 6-5. Pittsburgh has won each of its last 3 appearances with Chandler on the mound, so there’s a good chance he could finish the season off on the right foot.
The Tigers are going with Jackson Job, who was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2021 MLB draft. Job has only made eight starts this season, including his last appearance against the Chicago White Sox on September 19. He pitched six innings, giving up four hits and three runs in a 3-1 loss in the Windy City.
The Tigers came into the season with a lot of hype, but injuries to players like Jobe stunted their growth, leading to them missing the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh
Pitching Matchup: Bubba Chandler (8-9, 4.34 ERA) vs. Jackson Jobe (2-3, 3.98 ERA)
BD community, this is your gameday thread for today’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Chime off in the comments section below.
It’s been rumored for several days, but now it’s official: Game 162 for both the Cubs and Red Sox will be played Sunday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. Central time at the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The Red Sox had already moved Sunday’s scheduled game to Friday afternoon, where the teams played at Fenway Park and the Red Sox won 4-3. So technically this is Saturday’s scheduled game, moved to the Trop and it will be played at the same time all the other Sunday games will take place, in the 3 p.m. Eastern time hour.
The teams got lucky that the nor’easter that is going to make a washout of the Boston-area weekend held up long enough for them to play two games at Fenway Park on Friday. Honestly, they should have just moved the entire series to Florida — this forced the Cubs to take flights on consecutive days. The teams were given Saturday off because their flights from Boston were both scheduled to arrive at the Clearwater airport well after midnight. (MLB teams going to play the Rays generally fly to Clearwater and stay in that area as it’s closer to the Trop than the Tampa airport is.)
Thus the Cubs will have a rare off day Saturday. I’ll have some content posted here during the day Saturday and I’ll also post a game thread so all of you can follow Rays/Phillies (6:15 CT) and D-backs/Padres (8:40 CT).
We still don’t know, as of the time of this post, where the Cubs will be playing Tuesday or who their Wild Card opponent will be. As always, we await developments.
ARLINGTON, TX - SEPTEMBER 15: Texas Rangers pitcher Jacob deGrom (48) walks off the mound after allowing a two run home run during the MLB game between the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers on September 15, 2026 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, CA. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Texas Rangers lineup for September 25, 2026 against the Minnesota Twins: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Joe Ryan for the Twins.
Game 160. Let’s keep the pressure on Houston.
The lineup:
Nimmo — RF
Jung — DH
Seager — SS
Langford — LF
Duran — 3B
Lopez — 2B
Burger — 1B
Carter — CF
Jansen — C
7:10 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -118 favorites.
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 7: Catcher Adley Rutschman #31 of the Boston Red Sox congratulates pitcher Brayan Bello #66 after the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park on September 7, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo By Winslow Townson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
INSERT SOMETHING RE FIRST GAME HERE
Now we get starter Bello back on the mound! He looked incredible in Tampa and hopes to keep that momentum going for his final regular season start.
⚾️ First Pitch: 5:35 PM EDT – Fenway Park, Boston, MA
📺 TV: NESN
📻 Radio: WEEI
Red Sox lineup vs. Cubs tonight, with Ceddanne Rafaela not in there:
Anthony RF Jones LF Abreu DH Story SS Sogard 1B Monasterio 3B Duran CF Kiner-Falefa 2B Wong C — Bello P
Pope Leo XIV has said that in his role he does not play favorites, but on his way to Paris on Friday, Sept. 25, it was hard not to notice his smile when he was asked a baseball question.
On the papal plane, a reporter asked the Chicago-born pope whether he'd had anything to do with the White Sox reaching the playoffs. He smiled.
"No comment," he said, according to video posted by NBC News. "Great things happen in Chicago."
Technically that was a no comment, but it didn't sound much like a denial
Two years ago, the White Sox went 41-121, the most losses in baseball's modern era. They lost 102 more last season. On Thursday, they beat Kansas City to clinch their first postseason berth since 2021. According to MLB.com, they're the first team to reach the playoffs after two or more consecutive 100-loss seasons.
So, Robert Prevost, a White Sox fan, was elected pope in May 2025. Less than a year and a half later, his team is headed to the postseason. The pope did not say if that was a coincidence or not.
Pope Leo's White Sox fandom
Leo was born in Chicago and grew up in south suburban Dolton, and his baseball loyalty has never been in doubt. Soon after his election, video surfaced of him in the stands at Game 1 of the 2005 World Series against Houston. That series brought the South Side its first championship in 88 years.
His brother John cleared up any doubt in an interview with WGN-TV.
"He was never a Cubs fan, so I don't know where that came from," John Prevost said. "He was always a Sox fan."
The pope has shown he can needle the other side of town too. Last October, a few days after Milwaukee ousted the Cubs, someone in St. Peter's Square called out "Go Cubs!" during his weekly general audience.
CINCINNATI, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 14: Tarik Skubal #29 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts in the fourth inning during a game against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 14, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Visiting the Giants in their final regular-season series, it should be noted that it was through beating up the lower class of the NL and AL as well that the Dodgers built their way towards a 97-win record. After possessing baseball’s top records against winning teams a season ago, the Dodgers have extracted more overall wins out of simply handling the inferior teams.
With no more games against clubs with a record over .500 in the regular season, we can confirm the Dodgers will have a .500 record against them, winning 36 of 72. Meanwhile, regardless of other results this last weekend, the Dodgers will finish with MLB’s best record versus losing teams—already accumulating 61 wins against them—and even amidst that contrast, a 6-4 record versus their biggest rivals doesn’t jump off the page quite like you’d expect.
In fact, Los Angeles needs a sweep here to at least even the success of the previous two campaigns, having last dropped a season series to San Francisco in 2021—the year of their unbelievable record that cut off the Dodgers’ sequence of NL West titles.
Tarik Skubal will take the ball for this series opener, wrapping up a curious stretch in his schedule facing the same two teams over the span of four appearances—with back-to-back outings against the Giants following two straight versus the Reds. Skubal’s latest outing against the Giants was his worst one in Dodger blue, allowing four runs in five innings, but even that wasn’t enough to stop this team’s streak of six wins when their prized left-hander takes the mound.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 13: Freddy Peralta #51 of the Tampa Bay Rays delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Houston Astros at Tropicana Field on September 13, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Phillies begin their final series of the 2026 regular season as the Tampa Bay Rays come to town. The Rays have secured their playoff spot, while the Phillies still have some work to do in order to make the postseason.
Cristopher Sanchez will make his final start of another strong season. He is 18-6 with a 2.93 ERA.
Freddy Peralta goes for the Rays. After an awful start to his season with the Mets, Peralta was traded to the Rays and has been improved, putting up a 3.60 ERA in nine starts.
Game time is 6:40 PM and will be televised locally be NBCSP.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 28: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners reacts to striking out during the ninth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at T-Mobile Park on March 28, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Anyone who watched the 2026 Mariners could easily point to areas where the team failed, but Cal Raleigh, meeting with the media on Thursday, was unflinching in his assessment of what went wrong this season.
“I think there’s a lot of areas you can point to. I think ultimately, I think it was a lack of focus, a lack of execution, a lack energy at times. Defense was not good all year, controlling the running game was not good all year. Playing bad on the road all year, hitting with runners in scoring position was definitely not good. I’d say those were some key points that I kind of look at.”
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the baseball season?
One thing Raleigh is steadfast in is not blaming injuries for the team’s poor performance, shutting down that line of questioning immediately.
“Every team deals with that. Guys are going to go through aches, pains, injuries. So it’s silly to use that as an excuse. 29 other different ball clubs are dealing with the same thing that we are, and you can’t use that as an excuse. And we’re definitely not going to. It came down to play on the field, and it was not executed.”
But fans were there. They saw the lack of execution. They are less interested in the why, and more in how it’s going to get better. Unfortunately, in order to get to the second part – knowing how to fix it – it is necessary to first understand what went wrong, and why. But that’s a more complex discussion that first involves figuring out where to assign blame, and how much of it goes where. It’s not a one-size-fits-all answer, notes Raleigh.
“I don’t think it was one thing,” said Raleigh. “I think we could point to a lot of things that that went wrong, but I don’t think it was one thing. I don’t think it was one person. I don’t think it was one department that failed this year. I think it was a collective failure, unfortunately.“
“Ultimately, yeah, the players are the ones playing every single day, 162. I think if you ask everybody, typically it’s going to fall on the players. But like I said, I think there’s not one person or one group that it falls under. I think it’s a collective effort. I think it’s all the way from the top, to all the way to the bottom, and that’s a tough pill to swallow.”
While the players are, as Cal points out, ultimately the ones on the field, it’s clear from his comments they aren’t the only ones in charge of turning around this miserable season next year. Deficiencies that showed up early in the season as far as the roster went were only exacerbated by injuries and ineffectiveness, especially in the pitching staff, which suffered the biggest drop in WAR from the first to the second half as starters stuttered and bullpens imploded.
“We need more depth in the bullpen,” said Raleigh. “I mean, we honestly do. We need to get some more whiff. We need to get some more guys that can punch some tickets here and there.”
But beyond adding pieces, Raleigh says the core of pitchers who make up the rotation need to return to form or maybe change tactics. He seems to feel other teams have figured out the Mariners pitchers plan of attack, and the focus now needs to be on counter-attacking aggressive hitters rather than allowing them to ambush first pitches.
“The starters, they got to continue to get better. They’ve been one of the best rotations in all of baseball for the last few years, and and like I said, you can talk to all of them, and they’re probably disappointed with how they did. When I when I’m watching the game back there, I’m seeing a lot of very aggressive teams, very aggressive teams, even teams that aren’t [usually] aggressive. And when I look at that, it’s going to come down to execution. It’s not not necessarily all the time about winning your 0-0s, your 1-1s. It’s about executing a pitch and how can we get this guy out.”
“I saw a lot of very aggressive hitters and guys that were were ready to go from you know pitch one because that’s kind of in our DNA. We’ve got to continue finding ways to combat that. I think we’ve done a great job of that, and creating pitchers [who attack the zone] and having guys that are really good at doing that. But at the end of the day, it’s about wins, it’s about execution. It’s not about chasing a stat or, or doing anything like that. So it’s just about getting better, and I don’t know if maybe we were complacent in that fact. Maybe we were. Maybe we weren’t. Maybe it was just unlucky. Maybe it wasn’t. But it’s finding a way to, ‘how can we get better? How can we combat those things that other teams are doing to us?’”
Beyond just the core of pitchers, Raleigh said the core of players as a whole has to do better. Yes, injuries decimated the bullpen and that depth has to be rebuilt, and every team always wants to get better, but the core members of the team as a whole have to play better.
“I said it right at the right at the deadline. The core is here. The core is here, and this core got us where we were last year. But ultimately, that core has to get better as well. It’s not always bringing in extra pieces that are gonna help. Do we need to bring in more people in certain areas of the game? Yes, 100%. We need to get better, and that’s always gonna help. But at the same time, when you look at the core guys, I think you can look at most of the guys, and they will tell you that they did not have the season they wanted, and team-wise, we didn’t have the season we wanted. Ultimately we failed. That’s the easiest way to put it.”
What caused this team-wide failure across the core? Raleigh noted there might have been times where the team stagnated when they needed to take a step forward, failing to make adjustments and finding the kind of edges that great teams do.
“Every facet can be better,” he said bluntly. “I think we—myself included—we could have done a better job of of preparing and continuing to get better throughout the year. I think sometimes in the game you can get a little stagnant at times, like, ‘I got to rest my body’ or ‘I got to make sure I’m ready for the game at 7 o’clock,’ which is ultimately, what you want to do.”
“But you also have to continue to get better and continue to get stronger as the year goes on, and we just never did. We never made those adjustments we had to make. We didn’t get better in the areas that we were deficient in, and we just kind of stayed stagnant the whole time. We were relying more on catching a lucky streak rather than to keep preparing better, to keep getting better, keep finding those those edges to to find ways to to win ball games, whether it was defensively holding runners, hitting with runners in scoring position, finding a way to get through six innings instead of five from the starters…there’s lots of different things. Taking an extra bag here and here, things like that. And and it just never got there. Never got there.”
Raleigh is an admirer of Seahawks coach Mike McDonald, and has clearly absorbed McDonald’s message of “chasing edges”, or finding small ways to edge out an opponent. Again, his comments reflect some frustration with the status quo and a lack of innovation, as well as a lack of execution.
“You can’t rely on the bullpen or you can’t rely on the big home run every single time. We have to be able to win in different fashions, win in different ways. Find a way to sneak out those one-run ball games. I don’t think we were very good in one-run ball games this year. I think it was right around .500. Like I said before, the road record was poor, we got swept too many times. It’s finding a way to edge out those games. It’s—I heard this phrase the other day, ‘chasing edges.’ How can we win one game here and there, one extra game a month? That’s six, seven extra wins. Now we’re tied for first, or we’re we’re in first place. It’s cliché to say it’s the little things, but those are what win you ball games, and those are things we did not do this year.”
Raleigh’s biggest takeaway is not letting this become a habit, pointing out that it if happens once, it’s an unfortunate event; if it happens twice, it’s a habit.
“We’ve got to figure out why why that happened, and and there’s going to be lots of talks, lots of discussions throughout the off season to make sure that doesn’t come back next season. Every single aspect needs to be geared towards how can we win this ball game today. Not taking days off, not letting one thing slip through the cracks. Because once that happens, it’s a domino effect, right? Like you let one thing slide, then you let another thing slide. The next thing you know, you don’t know what’s going on. There’s no standards. There’s no accountability. There’s no dynamic of who we are and what we do, and and I think that’s what’s going to be looked at this off-season.”
The 2026 season was certainly a slide for the Mariners. Now Cal Raleigh, his teammates, and the rest of the organization – top to bottom – have to reset those dominoes and figure out how to not let them fall again. Raleigh seems to have a vision: chasing edges every day, stopping slides before they start, being less predictable as a pitching staff, cleaning up sloppy play on the field. Now, he has an off-season to implement it.
Eric Samulski
