Category: Sports News

By late Sunday afternoon, the Tampa Bay Rays had secured their 55th win at Tropicana Field. The victory marked the second most home wins in a single season by the Rays, second only to the fabled 2008 team. It also capped off an 8-1 home stand and series win over the Boston Red Sox.

By Sunday evening, their magic number to clinch the AL East title for the first time since 2021 was down to just two thanks to another Arizona Diamondbacks win over the Yankees. In reality, that magic number is really just one if they win just one of the four upcoming games against the second place Yankees in the Bronx. If they can win the East, they will secure home field advantage throughout the ALDS and ALCS, along with a first round bye.

So, to recap, it was a good day in Tampa Bay.

This one was all Rays from the first inning on. After Griffin Jax tossed a scoreless first, the Rays bats got to work against Red Sox starter Patrick Sandoval. Back in the lineup after a scheduled day off, Yandy Diaz drew a leadoff walk. Vilade then reached on a HBP, setting up first and second for Junior Caminero who singled to left and loaded the bases for DeLuca.

DeLuca roped a double down the left field line and drove in the first two runs of the game.

Chandler Simpson followed with a two-RBI single of his own and opened this game up. Five batters in and the Rays had opened up a 4-0 and Patrick Sandoval had yet to record an out.

Sandoval did stop the bleeding and escaped the first with no further damage. But, the damage was done. Jax continued to throw up zeroes and then in the fifth, the Rays struck again. This time it was Mesa Jr. with a solo blast to right center. It was his 14th of the year and gave the Rays a 5-0 lead.

Trevor Story ruined the shutout in the top of the ninth and hit a one-out solo home run to left. That was it for the Sox though and the 5-1 score would become final.

After the four run first, the Rays arms took over. Again, Jax was solid. He tossed five scoreless innings, punched out five, walked two, and allowed just three hits. Suler, Hopkins, and Matz combined to toss three scoreless in relief. Johnson ran into some trouble in the ninth and surrendered the blast to Story, and was relieved by Kelly who shut the door, recording the final out. Rays pitching struck out nine in total and the only walks issued were those by Jax.

Despite only mustering four hits, the Rays offense did enough in this one, mostly in the first inning. But, as we have seen all year, if the offense can get the pitching staff a lead, they very seldom surrender it.

The Rays will have Monday off prior to a double header in the Bronx on Tuesday. With a win on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Thursday against the Yankees, they will be celebrating a division title in Yankee Stadium.

At 95-60 with seven games remaining, 100 wins is not out of the question. If they reach triple digit wins, it would be just the second time in franchise history, the first being 2021. First up, win #96.

BALTIMORE — Their sights are set on far bigger and better things.

Yet a franchise-record 98 wins and a pair of twentysomething stars are enough for the Milwaukee Brewers to pause momentarily and sniff the flowers.

They eclipsed their previous standard of 97 wins set just one year ago by putting ace Jacob Misiorowski on ice after three innings, trotting out seven pitchers and still shutting out the Baltimore Orioles3-0 on Sunday, Sept. 20 at Camden Yards.

At 98-58, with six games remaining, the Brewers are almost certainly going to post their first 100-win season in franchise history.

“Cool and all,” says closer Trevor Megill, who pitched a clean ninth inning for his 29^th save, “but not trying to be regular season warriors.”

Harsh but true.

Once again, the Braves are the Beasts of the NL East. For the first time since 2023, the Braves have won the 2026 NL East Division. They clinched the division over the weekend with a convincing sweep of the Houston Astros, including another win via late game heroics on Sunday. While the Braves certainly have much higher goals in mind to earn this season, it is still an accomplishment to cherish after the struggles in 2024 and 2025.

Braves News

Robert Suarez returned to the mound to begin a rehab assignment in Gwinnett for the first time in three months. While the performance was a bit shaky, he completed the inning without setbacks.

Davis Polo continued to show why he is one of the biggest breakout starts for the Braves on the farm in 2026.

MLB News

The Red Sox are once again the postseason.

Alex Bregman was hit in the face by a foul ball. Tests will be done to determine the full extent of the injury.

Another pitiful showing from the Orioles offense wasted an impressive Brandon Young start, and likely put the final nail in their 2026 coffin, as the O’s lost 3-0 to the Brewers on Sunday night in Baltimore.

The Orioles bats have now been shut out for 19 consecutive innings. That streak began in the 10th inning of the series opener against the Brewers, and then continued through the entirety of Games Two and Three of this late-season sweep. A truly nauseating experience.

Across tonight’s nine innings, the O’s managed just four hits, three walks, and three at-bats with a runner in scoring position. Of course, none of those hits overlapped with a runner in scoring position, giving us our final scoreline.

Colton Cowser had two of the hits. Coby Mayo and Carlos Narváez had one each. Mayo, Samuel Basallo, and Chrsitian Encarnacion-Strand worked one walk apiece. That was all they managed. The first three hitters of the lineup, Dylan Beavers, Pete Alonso, and Gunnar Henderson combined to go 0-for-11 with four strikeouts.

The closest the Orioles ever came to scoring was in the sixth inning. After the first two batters were retired, Henderson reached base on a hit by pitch. Brewers reliever Chad Patrick was all over the place. He then uncorked two wild pitches, advancing Henderson to third base. Mayo and Basallo followed with their walks to load the bases with two outs and Jeremiah Jackson at the plate.

So, after seeing this pitcher throw nine consecutive balls, including two that got passed the catcher and one that hit Henderson, what would you think Jackson would do? Maybe see a pitch himself. Force the guy to keep working? Nope, he swung at the opening offer and weakly grounded out to first base to end the threat.

It was a wrap after that. The O’s got some runners on in the seventh, but it never really felt like they were going to score. And then they went down in order in both the eighth and ninth innings to seal the loss.

What’s worse is that it’s not as if the eventual NL Cy Young winner shut them down all night. Jacob Misiorowski only threw three innings. Milwaukee is saving him for the playoffs, so they used this game as a formal bullpen day instead. Then it was left up to six relievers, who all dominated a Baltimore lineup that sure looks like it is throwing in the towel.

The good news of the game was all on the pitching side of things.

Brandon Young started on the bump, and was quite good. He worked six innings, putting him over the 150-inning threshold on the year. It was another solid effort as he coughed up just two runs on three hits, three walks, and a career-high nine strikeouts. That eclipsed the eight strikeouts he had against the Nationals back on June 27, his previous career-best.

Those two runs were spread across two different innings. Cooper Pratt singled in Jake Bauers in the second inning. Later, William Contreras launched his 18th home run of the season in the fourth inning. Even including all of that, it was a nice showing for Young, who may make one more start before the season is up. But if this was his last trip to the mound this year, he is ending things on a rather high note and has put himself in position to make the big league rotation out of spring training in 2027.

The most important development of this game—from the Orioles’ perspective anyway—came in the seventh inning, when Félix Bautista emerged from the Camden Yards bullpen for the first time since last July. Officially back from right shoulder surgery, the towering righty reclaimed his spot atop a big league mound. It just felt right.

The on-field results, however, still have room for improvement.

Bautista recorded two outs, both via strikeouts. He got Joey Ortiz to whiff on an 89-mph splitter up in the zone, and punched out Christian Yelich on a 90-mph splitter on the outside edge of the plate. The velocity of the sinker was 96-97, so down a touch from his prime, but still very useable and with a chance to regain a tick following a healthy offseason.

Bautista also allowed Milwaukee’s third run of the day. Prior to the two strikeouts, Jake Bauers opened the inning with a double. He then came in to score on a two-out single for Pratt. After Pratt swiped a couple of bags on the hefty hurler, and then Garrett Mitchell worked a walk, O’s manager Craig Albernaz decided that 19 pitches was plenty for a return from more than a year on the IL. Bautista was yanked, and Grant Wolfram effectively cleaned up the mess.

Getting Bautista back on the field was an important step. He is likely to get back into another game or two before the season wraps up next weekend. Whatever stats he puts on the page won’t be as important as getting over the mental hurdle of pitching in the big leagues again. He’s already done that. Now he can focus on building towards his role in 2027.

The loss drops the Orioles to 75-81 on the season, five games back of the AL’s final wild card spot with six games to play. Their elimination number is two. It’s not over folks, but it might as well be.

They now welcome a desperate Blue Jays team to town for a three-game series beginning on Monday. Shane Baz (6-15, 4.11 ERA) is set to return from being hit by a comebacker in his last start. He will be opposed by Trey Yesavage (5-5, 3.65 ERA), who will be pitching for the first time since August 4. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35.

Believe it or not, the Giants led for the majority of Sunday’s finale against the Dodgers. In this feebled state, dragging our way to the finish line, that feels like a kind-a, sort-a win.

Granted, it was 1-0 lead, which is not a lead that typically soothes or ensures. In LA, against that Dodger line-up, a run in the 1st wasn’t going to be a fatal blow. It wasn’t going to last. After Victor Bericoto’s opposite field single helped complete Jonah Cox’s scamper around the bases, I felt fairly confident that the early lead wouldn’t survive batters into the Dodgers’ bottom half of the 1st.

I was wrong about that. Matt Wilkinson proved me wrong. With Tugboat at the helm, the lead lasted — not forever, of course, the Giants obviously lost this game — but through the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, even the 4th! The rookie left-hander held the Dodgers in check for five scoreless innings, striking out 6, walking none, while scattering three hits. It was the best outing of his short career, and he knew it. He knew when he was out there, celebrating each shutout frame with a roar, each strikeout with a strut around the mound, each painted pitch with an affirming head nod. 

Four of his season-high six K’s came by way of his deceptive four-seamer. He got Max Muncy to lunge over a change-up immediately after Miguel Rojas’s one-out double in the 2nd. He scooted over to record the out at first on Josue Da Paula’s meek grounder and just kept running, taking a wide turn into the dugout, hyping himself up as he went, with the third out nestled in his glove.

Another change-up to Miguel Rojas negated a two-out single by Freddie Freeman in the 4th. He worked around another one-out double by Josue Da Paula in 5th when Jung Hoo Lee sold out a flare that bounced in front of him and rolled all the way to the wall in right-center. But when the dust settled on the play, Da Paula, having not booked it out of the box, only stood at second. A mental error, a gift, that Wilkinson took advantage of. A low-and-away change-up got Enrique Hernández to roll out to third before three straight bold and defiant 90 MPH fastballs dispatched Hunter Feduccia before he could even get his bat off his shoulders.  

Tugboat’s last toot — and a mighty fine one at that.

And yet, Wilkinson’s performance wasn’t even the most impressive of the game. That honor belongs to Dodger right-hander Emmett Sheehan, who took over in the 2nd down a run, and froze the San Francisco’s offense in that state. He struck out 9 over 5.1 innings, allowing just two baserunners, both Lee, with an inconsequential walk in the 3rd and an inconsequential single in the 6th.

Despite Sheehan’s overall unimpressive numbers (4.79 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) against the rest of the league, this type of dominance is run of the mill stuff for the right-hander against San Francisco. Sheehand doesn’t see red on the mound, he sees orange-and-black. You might remember his MLB debut in 2023 when he held the Giants hitless over 6 innings. Turns out that kind of work wasn’t an outlier or beginner’s luck. San Francisco hitters have batted just .057 while he’s posted a 1.29 ERA over five games (4 GS).

Those averages only dropped after this sixth outing. Lee’s single was just the sixth hit by a Giant against Sheehan in 33.1 innings. His ERA now: 1.08. The right-hander had opponents eating out the palm of his hand. Giants hitters were happy to climb a ladder to nowhere in pursuit of elevated fastballs. His curveball logged a 50% whiff rate (6/12). Familiarity did not breed comfortability. Swings against Sheehan seemed to get uglier as the game progressed. The last three batters he faced went down hacking. 

All in all, Sunday’s finale was an exposition on pitching. Dodgers arms combined for 14 strikeouts while allowing just five baserunners.  Matt Wilkinson made the molehill that is the mound look like a mountain. But he had to come down from his peak eventually, and the same suffocating narrative around the bullpen took hold. Waiver-wire Abner had an off-day, but the disease of San Francisco relievers is endemic. Give them any ground on the field, let their poison fingers touch any seams, and they will infect. Two batters into the 6th, in the hands of the SF ‘pen, and that precious one-run lead Wilkinson sweated and fought over and clutched tightly for so long, was gone in a swing. A solo shot by Tommy Edman off Carson Seymour, his sixth homer allowed this year, and 15th over 65 career innings…which is a problem.

Know who is also a problem? Sam Hentges. He gets weak contact. His 3.51 ERA doesn’t look too bad. But two rights don’t make a good lefty reliever. For being so heavily relied on mid-inning, his 34% inherited runners scored is a tick above league average. His -1.5 WPA going into Sunday’s game was the lowest on the pitching staff (and has only got worse after today’s events), and his seven losses are the most out of the bullpen.

Hentges appearance in his return from the IL lasted just four batters. He recorded an out in the 7th before being chased from the game by two singles and a lead-claiming double by Enrique Hernández. Dylan Smith and Trent Harris tag-teamed the 8th and fell victim to three more singles in the frame which scratched across another run for LA.  

Three runs over three frames — considering recent damages, that’s a pretty good collective outing for the San Francisco bullpen. Still, they ended up as the scrubs once again. The wrong end of a 3-1 final. Across the three game series, the Giants bullpen posted a 9.31 ERA with opposing hitters batting .417 against them. 

That’s not good. Nor is being swept in LA.

Emmet Sheehan’s next start will be in the minor leagues.

The right-hander might be out of sight, but that doesn’t mean he will be out of mind.

His scheduled start Saturday for triple-A Oklahoma City in a Pacific Coast League playoff game is part of a design to prepare him to pitch for the Dodgers in October.

Sheehan has pitched his way into consideration for a spot on the playoff roster.

His quote-unquote demotion came after he pitched 5 ⅓ scoreless innings in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sweep-sealing 3–1 victory over the San Francisco Giants Sunday.

The game was the third Sheehan pitched this month for the Dodgers. His numbers in those three games: 17 innings pitched, one run allowed, 24 strikeouts, three walks.

“I’ve loved the version we’ve seen of Emmet the last three outings,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s been fantastic.”

Sent down to Oklahoma City in early August, Sheehan returned to the major leagues earlier this month with a slightly modified arsenal that has significantly improved his results. He’s thrown his curveball more, and his increased inability to change speeds has made his fastball play up even when he’s not touching 97 mph with it.

“I think that obviously there’s a 97 that plays better, but 94–95 commanded still misses bats,” Roberts said. “So I think that’s something that, that’s one part of it. The other part of it is holding the velocity. And so, for me, the last three or four since he’s been back here, he’s held those 94s and 95s for the, call it, 85 pitches.”

With the Dodgers expecting to start Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tarik Skubal and Tyler Glasnow in the postseason, the team has started the process of moving Sheehan into a relief role by having Jack Dreyer pitch an inning as opener Sunday. Sheehan was down in triple-A over the last week but a roster spot for him was opened up because Skubal went on the bereavement list.

Sheehan entered the game in the second inning and pitched into the seventh. He gave up only one hit and one walk; he struck out nine.

He said he has made it a point to feel “free and easy” with his delivery.

“Instead of saying, ‘I need 97 [mph] here,’ it’s more like, ‘If I hit my spot, he’s not going to hit it,’” Sheehan said. 

What it means

The teams with the two-best records in each league will earn a first-round bye and the Dodgers are close to wrapping up one of those spots. With their win over the Giants, the Dodgers maintained a four-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for the National League’s No. 2 seed. Both teams have only six games remaining in the regular season.

Who’s hot

Left-hander Kris Bubic, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals at the trade deadline, replaced Sheehan in the seventh inning and registered the final two outs of the inning. Bubic struck out Scott Bandura, only for Shay Whitcomb to reach base on a throwing error by Max Muncy.

No problem: Bubic forced Grant McCray to fly out to left field.

Bubic has pitched 2 ⅔ innings in three appearances for the Dodgers over the last week, and he still hasn’t allowed a run. He has struck out four.

Roberts said he’s also pitched his way into consideration for a spot on the playoff roster.

“It’s nothing overpowering, but there’s just funky swings, soft contact,” Roberts said. “I see him as a neutral pitcher, gets left and right out, and I like those converted starters because he knows how to navigate lineups.”

Who’s Not

For today, this section should be renamed “Who Wasn’t Hot.”

The label certainly applied to Tommy Edman, who was two for his last 42 before his sixth-inning at-bat: That’s when Edman jumped on an inside cutter from Carson Seymour and launched it into the visiting bullpen behind the right-field wall.

Edman’s home run tied the game at 1–1.

Up next

The Dodgers have a day off Monday. They will resume play Tuesday when they host the San Diego Padres, who will send No. 1 starter Michael King (12-9, 3.03 ERA) to the mound. The Dodgers won’t have a traditional starter, as Roberts said the team is planning for a bullpen game.

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For the first time since 2023, the Brewers have pitched back-to-back shutouts as they completed a sweep of the Orioles and reached a franchise-record 98 wins with a 3-0 victory Sunday night.

Orioles starter Brandon Young dominated in the first, setting Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras down in order with three strikeouts. Jacob Misiorowski responded with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first, including one strikeout.

Jake Bauers became the first runner to reach as he led off the second with a walk, moving up to second base on a groundout by Christian Yelich. With two outs, Cooper Pratt put Milwaukee on the board, hitting a liner to left that allowed Bauers to score, giving the Crew an early 1-0 lead.

Misiorowski had another 1-2-3 frame in the second with another strikeout, and Garrett Mitchell’s leadoff single went for naught in the third before Misiorowski finished up his shortened outing with two more strikeouts and just one hit allowed, a two-out single by Carlos Narváez.

With a 1-0 lead entering the fourth, Contreras quickly doubled the deficit, crushing his 18th homer of the year to leadoff the inning.

Antonio Senzatela entered to replace Miz in the fourth, allowing a two-out infield single to Coby Mayo before being removed for the lefty JoJo Romero, who induced a flyout to end the inning.

Milwaukee had another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, and Romero remained in for the fifth, allowing a one-out single but getting a pair of groundouts to get out of the inning unscathed.

In the sixth, Chourio led off with a walk before stealing his 20th base of the season (initially ruled an out, then overturned upon review). Chourio’s steal makes him the first player in MLB history to have three 20-homer-20-steal seasons before age 23, and just the third player — joining Julio Rodríguez and Bobby Witt Jr. — with three straight 20-20 seasons to begin their careers.

On the next pitch, however, Chourio inexplicably ran on a chopper to third, as Mayo turned an easy 5-3 double play with the tag.

Romero stayed in to get one more out to begin the bottom of the sixth before being lifted for Chad Patrick. Patrick got Pete Alonso to ground out but then lost his command, hitting Gunnar Henderson, walking Mayo on four pitches (including two wild pitches to advance Henderson to third), and doing the same with Samuel Basallo to load the bases for Jeremiah Jackson. The moment was anticlimactic for the home squad, though, as Jackson hit a soft grounder to first, helping Patrick escape the jam and extending Baltimore’s scoreless streak to 16 innings.

Looking for insurance, the Brewers would have to do so against the towering, 6’8” Félix Bautista, who was making his first appearance since last July as he recovered from shoulder surgery. Bauers promptly greeted him with a double into right-center, and he’d go on to score again as Pratt hit another RBI single. After swiping second and third base, Bautista walked Mitchell, and he exited to make way for left-hander Grant Wolfram, who set down Sal Frelick to end the inning.

Staked to a 3-0 lead, Pat Murphy turned to struggling Kyle Harrison, who once again ran into trouble, allowing a single and a walk around a lineout (on a ball that Mitchell needed to dive for) before being replaced by DL Hall. Hall got out of the jam quickly, needing five pitches to get two flyouts and sending this one to the eighth.

Chourio singled and stole second in the eighth before a walk by Contreras, but Bauers grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to allow Wolfram to get out of it.

Hall struck out a pair in a scoreless bottom half of the eighth, and neither team did much of anything in the ninth, as Pratt walked but stayed on first and Trevor Megill set the Orioles down in order, completing the sweep and giving Milwaukee a franchise-record 98 wins on the season.

With Miz going just three innings, Hall was awarded the win for his 1 2/3 innings of work, striking out a pair and allowing no baserunners, while Megill picked up his 29th save after blowing the save on Friday night. Pratt led the offense with two RBI singles and a walk, while Contreras had the solo homer and Bauers scored the other two runs, reaching three times via two walks and a double.

At 98-58 on the year, Milwaukee still has six chances to reach the 100-win threshold, as they’ll get an off day on Monday before a three-game set with the Phillies in Philadelphia. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 5:40 p.m., with Dustin May set to toe the rubber opposite Zack Wheeler. See you then.

A scary scene unfolded in the fourth inning of the Cubs’ 9-1 blowout win over the Reds on Sunday when Alex Bregman took a foul ball to the face, forcing him to leave the game. 

The foul ball came off the bat of teammate Michael Busch, who had checked his swing and sent the ball speeding toward Bregman standing in the grass several feet in front of the on-deck circle. 

Bregman was taken to an area hospital to undergo X-rays and CT scans. 

The foul struck Bregman on his left cheekbone under his eye and left a cut, Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

A photo Bregman posted to his Instagram Story seemed to confirm that as well, with the Cubs third baseman showing bruising around his eye and padding up his nose to stop bleeding. 

“Thanks for all the messages yall. I’ll be back,” Bregman wrote. 

Counsell expects that Bregman will fly back to Chicago on the team plane. 

“I knew it hit him somewhere in the face, the Cubs manager said. “It’s just an unfortunate accident, terrible accident. Hoping and praying he’s OK.”

“He’s pretty swollen. … I don’t know anything more than that right now.”

Counsell appeared to be focused on the health of his player more than the impact it could have on the Cubs’ playoff hopes, but the freak accident comes at a crucial point for the team. Chicago sits atop the NL wild card standings with just six games left in the regular season. 

“We’ve got to get good results at the hospital, that’s what’s first,” Counsell said. “He got hit in the face, so you’re worried about general well-being first. If we get a good report, then we’ll move to the next step. I want to get a good report first.”