Remember when the Dodgers went to the market and spent a lot of money to sign Edwin Díaz, baseball’s number one available relief pitcher simply because they could? Well, that hasn’t worked out the way everybody hoped. Intentionally overlooking the possibility — small, although very real — that something clicks and Díaz can perform up to his potential in the playoffs, the reigning back-to-back champs will have to make do without what they bargained for last offseason.

As damaging as that can be, this bullpen in its current construction bears no resemblance to the unit that was dragged over the finish line a season ago; this one is perfectly capable of not just getting by but fulfilling a crucial role in this quest for a three-peat.

Although other bullpens carry better stats, the Dodgers lead the National League in one particular category, one that will definitely come into play in October: strikeout rate, only trailing the Guardians in the entire sport with a 25.5-percent strikeout rate.

Any bullpen conversation with the Dodgers starts with Tanner Scott’s bounce-back, a pitcher we shall pretend arrived a year later than his contract would suggest. The former Padre has essentially filled the role set aside for Díaz before the season, as the standout closer acquired on the open market. Prone to inopportune slip-ups, hence the 1-5 record, Scott shouldn’t see his total production diminished to the point of skepticism around his ability to come up big in the playoffs. The air of invincibility may be lacking in comparison with other elite closers, such as Mason Miller and Josh Hader. Given where we were a year ago, it’s difficult not to embrace the optimism of this development. And we even have a backup plan for the closer role; more on that later.

Below Scott, the Dodgers rely on Edgardo Henríquez, who has firmly established himself as a key setup option, matching the wow factor of his stuff with the production on the mound. Henríquez was already a serviceable alternative coming up down the stretch last season. With adjustments to his arsenal and approach, the righty has taken his strikeout rate to the expected range for a pitcher of his qualities, near 30 percent.

The link in trust between last year’s bullpen and this season’s unit might be in the middle of a last dance in a Dodgers uniform. Alex Vesia — a free agent to be — might very well be priced out of staying with the Dodgers, who have other priorities, but let’s not dwell on that now and simply enjoy this special character who has been here since the start of this dynasty. Carrying on an extremely reliable career, becoming much more than the simple specialist he was first deployed as, Vesia has been equally dominant against righties and lefties—with a slugging percentage allowed below .300 facing either. Lastly, in the group of reliable regular-season options, you have maybe the heir apparent to Vesia in Jack Dreyer—a reliever developed in-house with similar fastball characteristics to Vesia, who has over 130 innings in the bigs since the start of last season with a sub-3.00 ERA. Equally dominant against righties and lefties, Dreyer is already a key cog in this bullpen, only in his second season as a big leaguer.

Beyond that trio, you have a balanced mixture of talented arms with a limited sample in the regular season, often due to injuries, and then perhaps this team’s secret weapon in the playoffs: talented starters turned relievers and all the flexibility they bring to the table. It’s difficult to imagine the Dodgers reaching their ultimate goal last season if not for the efforts of Roki Sasaki out of the bullpen, quickly becoming LA’s most trusted reliever back then. Working his way back from a nagging blister, Sasaki has taken steps forward on his way to establishing himself as a productive major league starter, but in the short term his postseason role once again lies in the work out of the bullpen. Considering his level of success as a closer last year, the Dodgers could reasonably hand him that role, but it should be noted that Scott has struggled when pitching in non-save situations this season, with an opponent’s OPS north of .700. Depending on how much weight the Dodgers place on that, they may just opt to keep him as the closer and have Sasaki in a firemen-type role.

While Sasaki is the high-profile name, there are other Dodgers starters who can provide a key impact working in relief, chief among them Justin Wrobleski, whose recent home run woes aside, has had a magnificent breakout campaign. On any other team, he’d be looked at as nothing but a starter, but the Dodgers can afford to rely on his skill set in a multi-inning role, similar to what we saw a year ago. A pitcher with more raw talent than Wrobleski but without the 2026 production to back that up, Emmet Sheehan looked great in his return to the bigs this month and will battle for a postseason spot down the stretch. If a pitcher as skilled as Sheehan ends up your go-to option to eat up innings in low-leverage spots, that’s something to be satisfied with.

All of this talent could reasonably be enough to get by in a scrap for the title, certainly much better than what Dave Roberts had at his disposal a year ago. However, we still haven’t even gotten to the wild cards of production—the ones that could make the difference between a pretty good bullpen showing and an outstanding one come the playoffs. It starts with perhaps the best success story of development in the Dodgers bullpen since Alex Vesia: Evan Phillips, who is finally healthy and pitching reasonably well in the time he’s been available.

When Phillips last pitched in the postseason, he was instrumental in helping the Dodgers get to the World Series before an injury kept him from participating in the Fall Classic. At his best, Phillips doesn’t come close to Díaz’s level, but he’s still a formidable force, and as things currently stand, there is no reason to believe he won’t carry that into October. He is probably the easiest name to be skipped to the front of the line in the race for high-leverage opportunities.

Beyond Phillips, you have Brock Stewart and Blake Treinen, whose case for reliability is a bit murkier, but it’s there nonetheless. However, the thing to note here is that even superb bullpens don’t have options of this quality just lying around with a small chance of being a big factor in the playoffs. It might even deserve more appreciation.

Legendary manager and future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker was brought to Houston in 2020 to restore credibility, pride and honor to the Astros organization and lead it to another World Championship. In his four years as the team’s skipper, Baker accomplished both of those lofty goals. He continued the Astros Golden Age by going to the ALCS every season he managed the team, and winning the 2022 World Series.

Baker is one of 19 people to ever win a World Series as both player and manager. He is 8th all time in managerial wins with 2,183 regular season wins, and he has 57 more in the postseason. He is the first manager in history to lead five different teams to division titles. He is the first African American manager to both 2000 career wins and to 50 career postseason wins. He is the oldest manager to appear in, and win, the World Series.

Baker has long been regarded as a players’ manager, renowned for the strong relationships he has built with his players over the years. In Houston, that is exactly the kind of relationship he had with Astros 2B Jose Altuve.

I reached out to Baker to get his thoughts on Jose Altuve becoming just the second active member and 103rd member in the history of baseball to join the 2500 hit club.

Baker could not have been happier for his former charge:

“It’s remarkable what he’s accomplished. The epitome of determination, will power, hard work and perseverance. Not to mention a ton of ability in a small package. Couldn’t happen to a finer person. Next stop: 3000, then the Hall of Fame.”

From one future Hall of Famer to another.

Go Rays!

Braves try to avoid getting swept / having the division lead possibly drop to two games (where they would be in danger of losing the division if swept over the weekend).

Roger Maris arrived in New York on the cusp of his prime, with a few solid power seasons under his belt. He left as a legend who broke one of baseball’s most respected, yet controversial, records, and he definitely paid the price for it. Time has given him his due place in baseball history, but the largely unpopular, introverted slugger had to live in the shadow of friend and fellow star Mickey Mantle in the convoluted sixties.

Roger Eugene Maris

Born: September 10, 1934 (Hibbing, MN)
Died: December 14, 1985 (Houston, TX)
Yankees Tenure: 1960-1966

Roger Eugene Maris was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, on September 10, 1934. Both his parents, Rudolph S. “Rudy” Maris and Ann Corrine “Connie” (née Perkovich), were of Croatian heritage.

In this space, we have said countless times that ‘X’ player grew up loving baseball, but Maris was the opposite of that. He actually hated the game as a kid and said his brother Rudolph forced him to play it. Luckily, he eventually fell in love with it while he was in high school.

Maris moved to North Dakota with his family in the late thirties. There, he played ball at Bishop Shanley High School in Fargo, where he became a legend in multiple sports, most notably football. In fact, he earned a scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, according to the Society of American Baseball Research, but he decided to forgo college and focus on baseball instead.

The Cleveland Indians were the first MLB organization to employ Maris. He developed in their farm system and, playing for the Keokuk (Iowa) Kernels, he developed his power after manager Jo-Jo White made sure to teach him to pull the ball. That new swing helped Maris hit 69 round-trippers from 1954 through 1956. A year later, he would make his MLB debut with Cleveland, but not before marrying his high school sweetheart, Pat Carvell.

Family meant everything to Maris. He and Pat would go on to have six children, and they all gave him the emotional support and strength to navigate the highs and, especially, the lows in his career.

After playing 116 MLB games for Cleveland in 1957 and 51 in 1958, they traded Maris to the Kansas City Athletics. There, he hit 19 home runs in 99 games with a 97 wRC+. The power was there, evidenced by his 28 total homers between the two organizations, but the batting average and on-base skills weren’t fully developed yet.

Maris played in Kansas City until 1959. Late that year, in December, the Athletics sent him to the Yankees alongside Kent Hadley and Joe DeMaestri, with Marv Throneberry, Norm Siebern, Hank Bauer, and Don Larsen going the other way.

The Yankees were in the middle of their most successful stretch in franchise history. They went to the World Series in nine of the previous 10 seasons leading up to 1959, when they finished third in the junior circuit. Maris immediately had the best campaign of his career up until that point in 1960, when he slashed .283/.371/.581 with 39 homers for a 156 wRC+, surrounded by talented players like Mantle, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Tony Kubek, Bill Skowron, Clete Boyer, and Bobby Richardson, among others.

That year, he led the league in RBI with 112 and slugging percentage with .581. It was a marvelous display, but it felt like a ‘meh’ display if we consider what was about to come for him. Yes, it’s a crazy thing to say after a season in which Maris was an All-Star and won the Gold Glove and the AL MVP Award.

In 1961, however, he tried and succeeded in his quest to break one of baseball’s most revered records: Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs in a season. Since he reached his final tally of 61 in a 162-game calendar, however, his accomplishment had an asterisk attached to it for years.

Most fans and members of the media wanted Mantle to break the record instead. He was far more popular than Maris, and people sure let Roger know that. It wasn’t always in the kindest ways, either.

“The media scrutiny that Maris and Mantle had endured previously reached unprecedented heights in September. For Maris in particular, it became almost unbearable. While Mantle had been cordially, if not happily, dealing with the New York press ever since he became the heir to Joe DiMaggio, the plain-spoken, small-town Maris was nowhere near as comfortable in the spotlight,” Bill Pruden of SABR wrote about the uncomfortable situation for Maris. He has been described through the years as an ‘outsider,’ a man who didn’t like to talk too much, and the New York media found him awkward and unpleasant.

That didn’t stop him from completing a magical 1961, statistically speaking. While Mantle’s late-season hip infection took him out of the race for Ruth’s record, Maris kept going and eventually made history, whether people liked it or not. He finished the year with a .269/.372/.620 line, 61 dingers, 141 RBI, 132 runs scored, and a 162 wRC+, and the Yankees won the Fall Classic again.

Maris’ 1962 season would represent a stark drop-off in his power output with 33 home runs, but it was still enough to rank him fifth in the American League. He was solid overall, with a 126 wRC+ and 100 RBI, and the Yankees again won the World Series, giving the outfielder his second and final ring with New York.

Multiple injuries limited Maris to just 90 games in 1963, but he still managed to sock 23 homers and finish with an excellent 147 wRC+, slashing a robust .269/.346/.542 as the team made it back to the last series of the season, only to fall to Sandy Koufax’s Dodgers. Maris would produce another nice campaign in 1964, hitting a strong .281/.364/.464 and playing in 141 games, posting a 134 wRC+ and finishing with 26 round-trippers. He helped the Yankees advance to the World Series once again, falling 4-3 against the Cardinals.

The powerful slugger nursed a broken hand in 1965, which limited him to just 46 games. The second half of the sixties was actually rough for the Yanks, and that year marked the beginning of the decline and the return of some of the bad blood between Maris and the always unforgiving New York media. The team finished sixth in the American League that year and last in 1966, which wound up being the outfielder’s final campaign in the Bronx.

After two years in St. Louis in 1967 and 1968 (winning a couple pennants and a championship in ‘67), Maris would hang up his cleats. No matter how criticized he was back in the day, or how much of an outsider he was in the minds of some, he, his family, and everyone who saw him play can say that he is a Monument Park honoree.

After retirement, Maris and his brother owned and managed Maris Distributing, which was Budweiser’s beer distributorship in Gainesville, Florida. He also had a brief adventure as a coach at Oak Hall High School.

He was part of 1978’s Old-Timers’ Day in the Bronx, and Mantle introduced him to a welcoming crowd. Maris, unfortunately, started a battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1983, and died two years later. The Yankees at least retired his No. 9 in 1984, before he passed away.

Some say Maris is a borderline Hall of Famer, while others believe that he should be in because of the importance of the record he held until Mark McGwire broke it in 1998 and, of course, his two AL MVP awards and three World Series titles. The baseball world, however, hasn’t voted him in as of 2026.

In any case, Maris was one of the American League’s premier power hitters in the sixties, and he was part of one of the most fascinating records and chases in the history of the game. Because of that, he will forever hold an important place in Yankees history.

The Phillies and Astros will wrap up what has been a bizarre series on Thursday afternoon. In both of the previous games, the Phillies fell behind early, and while their comeback fell short on Tuesday, they were able to surge ahead on Wednesday.

Zack Wheeler will start for the Phillies. The righthander has given up just two runs across 12 innings in his last two starts.

Back in the powder blues 🩵#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/oLHnI5v4dl

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) September 10, 2026

Cristian Javier goes for the Astros. The righty has had a rough season, especially on the road where his ERA is 6.65.

Rubber match.

⚾️: 12:05 PM CT
📺: @MLBNetwork (HOU Blackout) | @SpaceCityHN
🎙️: @SportsTalk790 | Spanish: 102.9 HD2#ChaseTheFight x @reliantenergypic.twitter.com/g7beD2oOhH

— Houston Astros (@astros) September 10, 2026

Game time is 1:05 PM and will be televised locally by NBCSP and NBC 10.

Freddy Peralta looks like he’s back to his old self. Over his last five starts with the Rays, he has a 2.73 ERA and 3.80 FIP while cutting his walk rate from 9.4% with the Mets to 4.5% with the Rays. Kyle Snyder and his team helped Peralta clean up some mechanical things to help him get lower down the mound, but those were relatively minor tweaks compared to how Peralta has changed the way he uses his arsenal.

We know the Rays pitching team preaches two main things: winning the race to two strikes and expanding the zone with two strikes. It’s easy to tell a pitcher, “Okay, get to two strikes and then make them chase.” But what does that actually look like in practice?

It starts with how Peralta is attacking the zone. He’s actually finding the zone less with the Rays compared to his time with the Mets (40.5% vs 43.2%), but his strike rate is up (64.1% vs 60.5%). In other words, he’s throwing fewer pitches in the zone but getting more strikes overall. That’s the result of changing how and where he uses each pitch.

	Zone% with Mets	Zone% with Rays
Four-seam	50.0%	47.7%
Changeup	34.9%	23.2%
Curveball	34.8%	61.9%
Slider	30.5%	—
Sweeper	47.4%	27.0%

Aside from Peralta’s fastball, all of his secondary shapes are being used differently. The changes are dramatic. Peralta has taken his changeup and sweeper out of the zone more often while dramatically increasing the rate at which he lands his curveball in the zone. Each pitch now has a more defined job.

Two important pieces of a fastball-offspeed relationship are velocity separation and vertical approach angle (VAA) separation. His offspeed pitch doesn’t have much velocity separation from his fastball which makes it harder to generate in-zone whiffs, so the Rays are having Peralta lean into its vertical separation from his fastball and use it primarily as a chase pitch. His overall usage of it has increased – especially against righties – which makes sense because it’s his best pitch. But the bigger change is where he’s using it: out of the zone rather than trying to steal strikes with it. His sweeper is being used in a similar way, but mostly for chases against righties.

Peralta’s curveball usage is most interesting. It’s a relatively platoon-neutral shape, but it lacks the velocity and depth to suppress contact. The Rays have helped him shift his usage of the pitch to being more of a taste-breaker to earn called strikes in counts where batters don’t typically swing at breaking balls. Peralta is throwing curveballs nearly a quarter of the time on the first pitch of an at-bat and getting just a 20% swing rate against it compared to his called strike rate of 54.3%. Peralta is taking advantage of that tendency by using his curveball to steal called strikes before hitters are ready to react to it.

Once Peralta gets to strike one, the rest of his arsenal can do what the Rays want it to do: attack the edges of the zone and force swings outside it. He’s throwing 45% fastballs and just under 40% offspeed pitches when he’s ahead or even in the count. The tunnel between those two pitches is excellent, allowing him to attack the zone without giving hitters an easy pitch to sit on. He’ll occasionally sprinkle in a breaking ball to keep hitters off balance.

Eventually, hitters will start to adjust and they might be looking to do damage on a first pitch curve in the zone. Peralta and the Rays might already be preparing for his next adjustment – a cutter.

It appears Peralta introduced a cutter in his most recent start against the Braves:

I circled two pitches that Hawkeye tagged as four-seamers, but their movement profile looks much more like a cutter. Peralta is clearly still developing the shape, so it will likely vary as he continues to refine it. The two pitches sat in the upper 80s with less vertical movement than his four-seamer and similar glove-side movement to his breaking balls.

That combination could make the cutter a useful “bridge” pitch to his sweeper against righties. It’s relatively easy for hitters to distinguish Peralta’s four-seam fastball from his sweeper out of the hand, but a cutter occupying the space between them gives hitters another shape to account for. Both cutters appeared to be intended down and just off the plate glove-side. That’s where Peralta’s breaking-ball shapes are most effective, so the cutter could add another layer of deception to the way his arsenal interacts.

Cutter shapes also tend to play platoon-neutral, so this is something he can deploy against lefties but with a different purpose than being a bridge to a breaking ball. It’s not a perfect tunnel because of the difference in vertical movement, but the difference in velocity between his cutter and offspeed is essentially nonexistent. The cutter and offspeed pitch sit in the same velocity band, but have nearly two feet of difference in horizontal movement. That could create a difficult decision for hitters looking to protect with two strikes; if Peralta can maintain those shapes, the two pitches could be difficult to distinguish out of the hand.

It will take some time for Peralta to land on a consistent shape, but I’m looking forward to seeing him increase its usage into October. The curveball has already given Peralta a new way to steal strikes early in the count; the potential cutter could make those strikes harder to predict while giving his sweeper and changeup more room to work once he’s ahead. That makes it an especially natural fit for the Rays’ philosophy.

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The NFL betting volume took some heat off the MLB player prop market yesterday, and I took advantage with a big day on the diamond, including a pair of dingers. I still have juice to sprint to the finish line.

My home run props for Thursday, Sept. 10, are looking for a Burger bomb vs. Logan Gilbert, and Cody Bellinger is getting my money again today thanks to another great left-handed matchup and setting.

MLB home run props for today

For help understanding Polymarket probabilities, see our odds calculator.

Home run prediction: Cody Bellinger (18.3%)

Colorado Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner is the biggest pitcher target today. He has the worst HR/9 among today's starters dating back to last year and is pitching in the toughest environment on the slate.

The wind is blowing out to the short porch at Yankee Stadium, and Feltner gives up more slugging to left-handed bats. It's another great day to target New York Yankees lefties.

Cody Bellinger cashed yesterday at 17% with a fair price of 20%. I might move that fair price closer to 21%, making today's 18.3% an easy call for my MLB picks.

Todd Cordell has a complete look at this game with his Rockies vs. Yankees predictions.

• Time: 7:05 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: YES, Rockies.TV

Home run prediction: Jake Burger (16%)

Logan Gilbert has the fifth-worst HR/FB rate among starters in the second half at 21.8%, along with the 11th-worst HR/9 at 2.12. He just gave up four dingers in his last start and has surrendered 11 home runs since Aug. 1, with lefties and righties both hitting him for power.

I'll roll with Texas Rangers slugger Jake Burger. I have his fair price at 20%, so there's plenty of value on a batter with nine homers in the second half.

He's gone deep three times over the last three games and brings a hot bat against a cold arm, with a great price on a small slate.

For a deeper dive into this afternoon's clash, consult Neil Parker's Rangers vs. Mariners predictions.

• Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: RSN, Mariners.TV

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Worcester: W, 8-3 (BOX SCORE)

While Jedixson Paez struggled to go far in Lehigh Valley against the IronPigs (Phillies AAA) some may wonder if him being pulled at exactly 60 pitches may signify some not too distant need to have him come up to toss another few innings soon, or at least give the club the option to do so if needed. Still, Paez threw ten scoreless outs and set the WooSox up well to take the win.

The team grabbed fourteen hits, 11 of those being singles but one being a home run by Vinny Capra in the ninth to combat the IronPigs breaking their scoreless run; Capra’s home run really put the game on ice and gave the team a five run lead. Most notable story from this box score, though, is Franklin Arias reaching base four times, going 2-for-3 with two walks. Chances are, if there’s a game, Arias is getting on.

Portland: L, 5-2 (BOX SCORE)

As the Red Sox fell to an Angels team that featured Vaughn Grissom, his return in Isaiah Jackson had both his first Double-A start in the Sea Dogs’ final series of the season, his first hit (a double) in Double-A, as well as his first stolen base and RBI. Henry Godbout also continued to hit as his Double-A batting average has now topped .300. Sadly, though, the hits came far and few between, and Hayden Mullins kept the ball in the yard in yet another quality start, going six innings with just one run allowed, Aaron Nixon’s promotion went less than stellar as he gave the lead up to the Rumble Ponies (Mets AA) in the 7th and the Sea Dogs would not recover, though they would thwart three opportunities to score with a runner in scoring position. Such is baseball!

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rangers fans and fans across the country.

This week’s Lone Star Ball Reacts question looks to the upcoming offseason, and the various Rangers players who are scheduled to hit the free agent market this offseason.

We want to know, of the Rangers who are set to become free agents, who would you most like to see the Rangers bring back?

Cast your vote below…

Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

I feel certain that if I look long and hard, I’ll be able to find some internet source material that says that Philadelphia is a lovely place to visit in October. I mean, it might be propaganda from the city’s tourism board or something, but it’s got to be out there somewhere, right? Right now, the Cubs find themselves on a death march in that direction. To be clear, I’ll go that far with doom and gloom, but no way and no how is it entering my mind that this team doesn’t reach the playoffs. As long as we are getting the record straight, I think the Cubs are going to take this off day and then get back to playing better baseball and winning games. It’s not optimal that they are looking up at Philly with 15 to play. But also, it’s 1.5 games. Tie goes to the Cubs, so that half isn’t scaring me in the slightest. Though I do recognize for Philly, it’s the “good” half. If you had to pick one, you want to be one less win than one more loss. But that’s splitting hairs.

I was relatively prepared to write something to the extent “The Cubs played and lost and none of us want to talk about it, so moving on.” After all, the top of the fourth inning was the first time the Cubs had a better chance to win at the end of the half inning than the start of it. That improvement in their odds? .002! The bottom of the inning kept it rolling. The Cubs progressed .005! The bottom of the fifth was a positive inning at .004. By the end of the sixth, the Brewers were at 99.2 percent to win. It was almost a straight line in the Brewers direction through six innings. For all of the seventh and eighth innings, the game was sliding around in the 99.0 to 99.9 percent chance of the Brewers winning. When the game looks like that, there is no WPA being generated anywhere.

I can imagine inquiring minds wondering, how close did WPA think this ever got? Pete Crow-Armstrong’s inning opening walk put the WPA at 99.8 percent chance. By the time Michael Conforto had a two-out, two-run double they had moved the odds all of the way to… 96.3 percent. So there you have it, nothing at all good happened for the Cubs by way of WPA. They never moved the needle and you’ll see that in the WPA scores as we move on.

I’ll give a few paragraphs on my thoughts and you can dismiss it entirely as cope if you want. I’m not at all bothered by losing five of seven to the Brewers. I saw a lot of these games in part or in whole. What I saw? A blow0ut in favor of the Cubs and a blowout in favor of the Brewers (this game, despite the late rally). The other five games went overwhelmingly to the Brewers, but I saw five games that were neck and neck. A few plays here or there wins those games. I’m not at all surprised the Brewers came out on top. They are the better team. They have been for a few years now. Good teams often find a way to win a close game. Though Jed was always right that in general, if you are really good, you’d rather it wasn’t close. But the Brewers are built especially well for close games. They are built on playing fundamental baseball, taking advantage of every little edge and limiting mistakes wherever possible.

I don’t care that they won these two sets of games. Obviously, it would have been a heck of a lot better to win them. I’m not blowing smoke at anyone. There is no significant contributor on this Cub team that thinks they can’t go toe to toe with the Brewers and win a series. If even one guy in their clubhouse eventually takes the field against the Cubs thinking they are going to roll and it’s all going to be easy, awesome. The Cubs are going to be ready for that fight. Of course it’s going to be an uphill battle. I shouldn’t have to say it, but I’ve said it dozens of times here for months and months. Nothing that matters is ever going to come easy for this team. It’s just too flawed.

Excellent hitting. Excellent fielding. Good baserunning. The National League MVP. A couple of battle tested starters with playoff experience. I’m saying there’s a chance. I lived through Cub baseball in the 80’s and 90’s, a chance is a heck of a lot better than we had most years. And I sure am glad I wasn’t around with Al and so many others for the 70’s. Roll it all out on the field. Hope everything breaks right. Be prepared for exiting with barely a whimper. Then get the offseason right. Take PCA out of your Cub season. Very little went well. Maybe you found some fringy relievers (to be depth and not key performers). You got a whole lot of data for making decisions on Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ and how each might age. But really, this isn’t a team boasting a bunch of career years or anything else.

This team can be better next year. Particularly if it has some actual pitching. But let’s enjoy this ride for a few weeks longer, shall we? Rest up on our day off. We’re gonna have to try to will this team to the finish line and beyond. What else are you doing? Even if you are a rabid football fan, that’s only a couple of days per week. You can put your honey-do’s off another couple of weeks. We’ve got work to do putting some positive mental energy behind this team over these last two plus weeks. Let’s do it.

Three Positives:

• Pete gets the top spot. He had a single and a walk. He scored twice.
• Michael Conforto had that two-run double I referenced in the open and was also hit by a pitch.
• Alex Bregman was the only other Cub to reach twice, with a double and a walk, though neither really impacted the game other than making Brewers pitchers work.
• Hat tips for Trent Thornton and Caleb Thielbar each working clean innings with no leverage.

Game 147, September 9: Brewers 8, Cubs 6 (81-66)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Michael Conforto (.015). 1-3, 2B, HBP, 2 RBI
• Hero: Carson Kelly (.006). 1-3, DP
• Sidekick: Trent Thornton (.004). IP, 3 BF, 2 K

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Kevin Gausman (-.355). 4 IP, 23 BF, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 R (6 ER), 6 K (L 4-2)
• Goat: B.J. Murray, Jr. (-.038). 0-1
• Kid: Pedro Ramirez (-.035). 1-4, RBI

Note: the Heroes and Goats debut for Murray, the 51st Cub to join the list this year. Will he be the last?

WPA Play of the Game: Christian Yelich’s two-out, three-run homer in the first inning. You pretty much knew it was over already, right? (.250)

Cubs Play of the Game: Kevin Gausman actually struck out Andrew Vaughn just one batter earlier, providing hope of escaping that first inning unscathed. (.043)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 146 Winner: Carson Kelly received 52 of 78 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Alex Bregman +27
• Pete Crow-Armstrong +26.5
• Michael Conforto +18
• Ben Brown +13.5
• Carson Kelly +13.5
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Seiya Suzuki -16
• Nico Hoerner -16.5
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -18.5

Scoreboard Watching: You’ll pardon me if I dropped all of the division leaders. I believe those ships have sailed. Though with the trajectories of the Phillies and Braves, I may review that decision again next week.

Padres win (2.5 back). Phillies win (1.5 up). Diamondbacks lose (3 back).

Up Next: The Cubs are off Thursday. The only consequential game is Thursday afternoon when the Phillies play that “game in hand” that they have. They host the Astros. The teams have split the first two games. The Phillies then fly to Atlanta for a three-game set to kick off a nine-game, three-city road trip. They have nine road games followed by hosting the Brewers and Rays. The remaining Philly schedule is tricky.

The Cubs begin the last “block” of games on the year. 15 games in 17 days with days off bracketing the Reds series September 18-20. So off day, six home games, off day, three road games, off day, three home games, three road games. Two of five series against likely playoff teams. The other three series are against teams mostly fighting to try to limp in with a winning record. Visiting Fangraphs for their model’s projections of those 15 games finds the Cubs winning eight more games, including all three against the Braves but only one each versus the Pirates and Reds. Go figure that out.

Shōta Imanaga (9-10, 3.91) gets the opener for the Cubs. He pitched well in Miami the last time out. He won, allowing a run on three hits over six innings. It was a nice bounce back after a handful of rough starts. Imanaga has two starts against the Pirates, one win and just four hits and no runs yielded in 12 innings of work.

The Pirates are 73-73 heading into play Thursday night in Chicago against the White Sox. They have won the first two against the Sox. They are 6-2 so far this month. They haven’t officially named starters for the series yet. Fangraphs projects Braxton Ashcraft to start. Ashcraft is having a terrific season at 14-6, 3.65. He did lose his last start against the Angels. He allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. He’s finishing very strong though with 4-2, 2.51 over his last seven. He went nine and eight innings back to back August 13 and 18, winning both. So he gets deep into some games too. He hasn’t thrown even 90 pitches in a game since August 24 as the Pirates monitor his workload. They talked about loss of command and velocity as that last start went along.

Wednesday’s Pirates win was close and you’d hope Thursday’s will be a close game too, giving the Cub bullpen a huge rest edge. The Pirates used eight pitchers Wednesday. Pirate relievers are middle of the road in ERA (4.03, 15th), two spots behind the Cubs. Pirate relievers have thrown the ninth most innings of any bullpen. They are tied with the Cubs for 22nd in saves and have only four less blown saves (though I’ll keep reminding you that blown saves includes a lot of rather innocuous middle inning runs allowed in close games). Pirate relievers are 19th in WHIP but 7th in opponent batting average (read: a lot of walks). The Cubs might be able to steal a game in the late innings with patient at bats.

We’re likely catching both Ashcraft and Paul Skenes in the series (the answer to the go figure). But I still like the Cubs to come out with a couple of wins. But three sure would be nice.