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Morning, all!
The Rangers are facing some pretty big questions this offseason, like what are they going to do with their aging, expensive superstars? Are the young guys going to take a step forward? What about the bullpen?
And that’s about all I’m seeing this morning.
It is four games of an 84-game season. There has been some good, some bad, and some ugly. Don’t let yourself get too caught up in early results and let them dictate your thoughts on where the season is going. There is a lot of hockey left, and a lot of time for good and bad elements of the team to develop.
Reality: The Penguins are not as good as they looked in the season-opener, and they are probably not as bad as they looked for portions of the Winnipeg and Washington games. I also thought they kind of put some things together in the second half of the Washington game and largely carried the play throughout the second and third periods, outside of two absolutely braindead turnovers that derailed all of that progress. The numbers back up that eye-test observation, as well. Those mistakes still count, and they still hurt, and they are still concerns, but eliminating one or two mistakes is a hell of a lot easier than figuring out how to tilt the ice and play better over an extended period of time.
There are still a handful of concerning trends that have developed early on that are probably inspiring different levels of panic.
Among them: the play of Sidney Crosby and the first line, the defense itself, and Arturs Silovs, who I don’t think has been very good since the season-opener (where he was never really challenged).
Let’s dig a little deeper into each of them and try to assess the proper level of concern and panic on a scale of 1-10, with one being “everything is normal” and 10 being “full blown panic.”
Wednesday night in Washington was a harsh reminder as to how imposing father time is on everybody in sports. Even the greats.
Everybody was excited to see the start of the final chapter of the Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin rivalry, and then both players were complete non-factors in the game.
Ovechkin played 14 minutes, had no points and recorded two shots on goal. After being on the fence about his future, he played two games this season and then decided this was going to be it.
Crosby was a minus-4 and was mostly invisible, continuing what has been a shockingly quiet start to the season for him and his line. He is almost two years younger than Ovechkin, and has been a better overall player, including over the past few years, but he is still 39. He is not going to dominate for ever.
There were eight goals scored in a Penguins-Capitals game and those guys factored into the scoring on exactly zero of them.
It’s a new era, folks.
The Penguins are now four games into the season and Crosby has zero goals, two assists, while the Penguins have been outscored by a 3-5 margin with him on the ice during 5-on-5 play. Through four games they have been significantly better when he is not on the ice versus when he is on the ice. Not only are they being outscored with him on the ice, their expected goal share is a 54 percent while he has received heavy offensive zone starts. When he is off the ice the Penguins are outscoring teams by a 9-4 margin, have a 60 percent expected goal share while those lines have received primarily defensive zone starts.
I’m just stating facts here, folks. And I’m watching the games. The eye-test isn’t much better. And given that his line has already rotated through three different wingers in four games to try and find the right fit I am guessing the coaching staff feels the same way.
Now, again, it’s four games. Crosby has been a slow starter in recent years, and he had even less time to build up for this season in training camp and the preseason. He is going to slow down at some point. The points will decline more significantly at some point. I am not sure we are at the point where his game has completely deteriorated over night (or over the summer). But I do think it’s more than acceptable to look at these first four games and say, “hmm, something doesn’t seem right with the 39-year-old forward here.”
Concern level: 5/10
I am on record as saying that I kind of like this defense and some of the players on it, at least in the context of what the Penguins 2025-26 defense was and what it looked like.
League-wide, and on an NHL level? It’s probably middle of the pack at best.
But compared to the 2025-26 Penguins level? I can see it being better than that group.
The early returns are not yet consistently there. Mostly due to the turnovers. Wednesday was shocking in that regard, with Trevor van Riemsdyk being guilty of two baffling plays, one of which led directly to a goal off the opening face-off, and another that led to a power play that eventually led to a goal that took away all of the momentum the Penguins had built in a comeback attempt.
Kris Letang and Declan Carlile were also guilty of shockingly bad plays that directly led to goals.
Just baffling, self-inflicted mistakes that clearly altered the flow and outcome of the game.
A lot of those same mistakes were also visible in Monday’s game against Winnipeg.
While it’s easier to clean up “a couple of mistakes” than it is to carry the pace of play, that doesn’t mean it’s actually going to happen, or that those mistakes are going to stop. Maybe they don’t. Maybe that’s what these guys do where they play well for 30 minutes and then just wet the bed two or three times a game.
That is a real possibility.
Concern level: 6.5/10
I said at the start of the season that goaltending was going to impact a lot this season, and what it looks like for the Penguins. Silovs and Sergei Murashov certainly have the potential to be very good and steal some games, but they are also massive wild-cards that could put the Penguins into the lottery very, very quickly no matter what else is going on around them.
After posting a shutout in the opener, Silovs has allowed 10 goals in his next two starts and is now on the negative side of goals saved above expected (minus-1.4 via MoneyPuck).
My concern here isn’t necessarily about any one game, or any two games, or even his specific performance on Wednesday. Not only because it’s a small sample size, but also because the play in front of him has been spotty. It’s mostly about his overall play going back to the start of last season, and some of the things you see from him (and are still seeing from him).
He has had some great games, and the bigger situation, the better he seems to play. But He also has a tendency to just give them some non-competitive games and moments, especially when it comes to some of his plays with the puck and his rebound control. The difference between his floor and ceiling on most nights is like walking into the Sistine Chapel. I just don’t know that I trust him on a consistent basis.
Concern level: 7/10
SAN DIEGO — Although outfielder Garrett Mitchell gracefully accepted congratulations for robbing Manny Machado of a tying home run late in the Milwaukee Brewers’ Division Series-clinching victory, he clearly wasn’t all that impressed with himself.
To Mitchell, that dramatic play was just the predictable result of the same daily preparation and meticulous execution that made Milwaukee the majors’ best team throughout the regular season — and which has now sent the Brewers roaring back to the National League Championship Series.
Mitchell tripled and scored the tiebreaking run in the fifth inning before making a pivotal catch on Machado’s drive to the wall in the eighth, and the Brewers finished off the San Diego Padres with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night, winning their best-of-five series in four games.
When Machado stepped to the plate, Mitchell was already shaded to right-center, thanks to the Brewers’ scouting report. He coolly tracked the 406-foot fly off the bat, and he already knew the wall was quite short in that part of Petco Park, so he realized he would only need to reach up to catch the ball.
“I think we have a different type of confidence and belief in ourselves together as a team,” Mitchell said. “It’s just like a quiet, subtle confidence. It’s not showboaty. It’s just that everyone believes.”
The Brewers pride themselves on being ready to handle anything — even something wild enough to silence a roaring sellout crowd in San Diego during the heat of October.
“Just got a good jump off the bat,” Mitchell said amid the Brewers’ beer-drenched postgame celebration in the visitors’ clubhouse. “When I got to the wall, I just had to stay composed and make the catch. I didn’t really have to jump. I knew the wall isn’t as high as at other fields.”
Mitchell also drove in Sal Frelick with Milwaukee’s first run as the Brewers snapped their 12-game postseason road losing streak since 2018 and reached the team’s fifth League Championship Series.
“Just so proud of these guys,” Frelick said. “After the first (loss in Game 3), it really starts to creep in that you don’t want to go back for a Game 5. Really proud of these guys for stepping up today and getting the job done.”
After fending off the surging Padres in four tight games decided by a combined five runs, the 103-win Brewers will get an NLCS rematch with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who eliminated Atlanta on Wednesday.
The Dodgers swept Milwaukee last October on the way to their second consecutive World Series title.
“Why wouldn’t you want another chance to go at it (with the Dodgers) after the way it happened last year?” asked Mitchell, an Orange County native and UCLA product. “I don’t think that’s any more pressure on us. It’s just ... let’s see what we can do.”
One night after the Padres avoided elimination in Game 3, Milwaukee claimed its first road playoff win since the 2018 NLCS by sticking to its season-long formula for success.
While four Brewers pitchers combined on a three-hitter and the defense made nearly every big play, Milwaukee’s lineup calmly worked counts, pounded 10 hits through the Padres’ defense and manufactured enough runs to head home smiling.
“After yesterday, the energy in the clubhouse was still good,” Mitchell said. “Nobody was pressing. We were just treating it like another day, treating it like we have nothing to lose. We just had to go out there and play our brand of baseball, and that starts with quality at-bats, getting on base, putting pressure on teams, and we did that today.”
Game 2 hero Jackson Chourio capped his high-impact series by driving in Mitchell to become the Brewers’ career leader in postseason RBIs at just 22 years old. Chourio has 17 RBIs, including six in this series, in 16 playoff games.
Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a 429-foot homer on an otherwise tepid offensive night for the Padres, who repeatedly tested the majors’ best regular-season team before falling short of only the fourth NLCS appearance in team history.
“It was unfortunate, man,” Machado said of his long flyout. “He made a nice play. I should have hit it harder. Two more inches, that ball may have been a homer.”
After sitting below .500 and in 11th place in the NL in late July, San Diego roared into the first wild-card spot and then swept the Cubs in the Wild Card Series last week. The Padres had won 19 of 22 before losing three of four to Milwaukee.
Brewers starter and former Padres draft pick Robert Gasser threw four innings of three-hit ball, but Tatis ended his 1-for-19 skid since San Diego’s playoff opener with a long shot to center in the third. It was the longest homer ever hit in the postseason at Petco Park by a San Diego player.
Padres starter Walker Buehler yielded just three hits and a run, but manager Craig Stammen replaced him with Game 1 starter Robbie Ray after William Contreras’ leadoff single in the fourth.
Mitchell then stroked a mild liner perfectly over first base and into the right-field corner leading off the fifth, and he scored on Chourio’s single through the drawn-in infield. Chourio surpassed Ryan Braun for the most postseason RBIs in Brewers history.
Jake Bauers singled leading off the sixth and went to third on Cooper Pratt’s ground-rule double before scoring on Frelick’s sacrifice fly.
After Mitchell’s catch on Machado’s fly, second baseman Brice Turang ended the eighth with an acrobatic catch of Ty France’s tailing popup in foul ground.
After defeating the Chargers to open the 2026 season, the Cardinals have dropped three straight to the Seahawks, 49ers, and Giants.
But the results haven’t made things dire inside Arizona’s building, according to quarterback Jacoby Brissett — just upped the urgency a bit.
“I think the sense of urgency needs to be there no matter what the record is,” Brissett said in his Wednesday press conference. “Each week is a 1-0 league. I think the way the last three weeks have ended has definitely created another sense of urgency, but obviously not a sense of panic.
“You can’t panic. The urgency can be there and it’s like how can we steady the ship without everybody trying to jump off the ship or pick up the ship and run? It’s just more so just doing the right things right every day and Sunday will take care of itself.”
Following two games on the road, the Cardinals will be back at home to face the Lions on Sunday afternoon.
In the Lone Star State, former MLB pitcher Roger Clemens is as close as it gets to royalty.
The former University of Texas star, who went on to win 354 games and strike out 4,672 batters in his 24 major league seasons, was featured guest Wednesday night as President Donald Trump presided over a political rally in San Antonio.
Calling Clemens "one of the greatest athletes and maybe the greatest pitcher of all time," Trump announced plans to give the seven-time Cy Young award winner the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, but this is a big step up from the Hall of Fame," Trump said.
But Clemens' candidacy for Cooperstown is a complicated one.
In terms of on-field accomplishments, few pitchers in baseball history have ever reached Clemens' level.
Following his retirement after the 2007 season, Clemens was on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame for 10 years, from 2013 to 2022. His percentage of votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America gradually increased over that span, but he never reached the 75% needed for induction. He came closest in his last year of eligibility, gaining 65.2% support in 2022.
Clemens was also on the Veterans Committee ballot in 2023 and 2026, but failed to get the 75% support each time.
The main stumbling block for Clemens' Hall of Fame candidacy was his alleged use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). His name appeared prominently in the 2007 Mitchell Report, which contained claims from Clemens' former personal trainer that he injected the star pitcher with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens claimed he only received lidocaine and Vitamin B-12 shots.
After denying he used PEDs in a 2008 Congressional hearing, Clemens was indicted on perjury charges. However, he was acquitted of all charges in 2012.
Clemens was also accused of having an affair with country music singer Mindy McCready that allegedly began when she was 15 years old. Clemens was married at the time. Although he denied any affair and described her as a "longtime family friend," Clemens did broadly apologize for "mistakes" he made in his personal life.
At the Oct. 7 rally, Clemens introduced Trump, then returned to the stage after the president's speech to shake hands and express his appreciation for the Medal of Freedom.
"There isn't another president I'd want to get it from, and to announce it here in my home state, from this man, you're talking about winner, that's a winner right there," Clemens told the cheering crowd.
Clemens and Trump do have a history together. The two have often played golf, with Trump calling for Clemens to be inducted into Cooperstown shortly after they played a round at Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C., in August 2025.
Clemens is a registered Republican and has expressed his support for President Trump going back to his first term in office.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Roger Clemens has ties to President Trump, but it's not enough for Hall
What a wild season Noah Cameron had. He went from fifth starter to team ace to nearly demoted and back to team ace. While last year saw him be incredibly consistent, this year was a year of very high highs and very low lows. The end result was a significantly higher ERA than his rookie campaign, but significant improvements in several other major statistical categories.
One thing I think can be very interesting when discussing baseball is figuring out what an “ace” is. Is it simply the best pitcher on each team, or is there some sort of statistical cutoff? If there is a cutoff, where does it lie? The top 50 starters in baseball? The top 10? Or maybe it’s the top 30 so that, theoretically, each team could have an ace, even if some teams often have more than one of them, leaving the others out to dry. This is an important question when discussing Noah Cameron because there has been and will continue to be heavy debate about exactly what kind of pitcher he is.
I think we can easily agree that he is a major-league quality starter. I think we can also agree he’s something more than a back-of-the-rotation starter, despite the seven-game stretch from mid-June to mid-July that saw him put up a 7.94 ERA. But that still leaves us wondering: Is he a very good three starter? A regular two starter? Or is he a borderline ace?
If we go by that 30 best starting pitchers cutoff point, then he might be an ace. He finished the season tied for the 28th-best fWAR in MLB (2.8) and had the 30th-best K-BB% (13.4%) among qualified starters. He does come in at 80th by bWAR (2.0), but I’ve never liked the way it measures pitchers in particular, which is why I only bring it out for special occasions. He was certainly the “ace” of the Royals staff, leading the team quite comfortably in the first two categories, though bWAR has Michael Wacha ahead of him, all the way in 15th place (4.3).
So, yeah, I think you could argue that he’s actually been a borderline ace this season. But, because I know this is what we all want to do, what if we just looked at his numbers since that game in Detroit when he started calling his own pitches? Then he’s tied for 19th in fWAR, he falls to 34th in K-BB%, and he’s up to 11th in ERA (I can’t get bWAR over spans in the same way, unfortunately). So the quick takeaway from all that is, if you think that stretch was good, his overall season was in a similar place.
It’s easy to remember the awful stretch he was having before he started calling his own pitches, but if you followed all the landmarks I laid above, there was a stretch before that that was pretty darn good, too. In fact, it was even better than the stretch that won him Pitcher of the Month for August, but somehow it flew under the radar. From May 10 through June 7, he had 6 starts with a 2.38 ERA, a 22.1 K-BB%, and a total of 35 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched. That ERA ranks 13th, and the K-BB% ranks 16th over that span. He was a bit overshadowed at the time because Jacob Misiorowski and Cristopher Sánchez appeared to be redefining what being a starting pitcher could look like at the same time; they both had sub-0.50 ERAs over that span.
I love the pitching infographics we can get from TJ Stats, so let’s put up Cameron’s for the full season here, just so we can visualize some things:
There is a scary amount of blue on this page, so I can understand if you’re still a bit leery of what Cameron could be next year. I do feel it necessary to highlight that the blue xwOBACons are all at the bottom with pitches he threw less often, so at least he generally knew which pitches he should be throwing more. Let’s take a look at the graphic from the change:
That’s a lot more orange. Smartly, he drastically decreased the four-seam usage, a change I was calling for even as he was struggling. The cutter became his primary fastball without gaining much usage, which is good, because even now while it does get soft contact, he can’t get guys to swing and miss at it. Fascinatingly, the slider usage got increased almost to the same degree the fastball usage dropped, and it started really performing for him instead of being one of his worst pitches. You can see he started throwing it perhaps a bit differently, getting more horizontal break and less vertical break. That makes it act a bit more like a sweeper than it had before.
His changeup still came in at third in usage, but he modified it to make it go more straight down, and that led to significantly more chase and whiffs. The curveball looks impressive when he throws it, but it’s clearly his steal-a-strike pitch, so keeping its usage low makes a lot of sense.
So what are the takeaways here? For the second year in a row, Noah pitched better than his stuff. But this time he did it with improved three-true-outcomes results over last year in the form of a better K-BB% and fewer home runs allowed. And that’s if we just take in the full season numbers!
He also showed us over two different stretches that he can be a truly dominant pitcher. At the end of last year, we could tell he was definitely a back-of-the-rotation guy, maybe more. At the end of this year, we can tell he’s definitely a mid-rotation guy, maybe more. Hopefully by this time next year, we’ll know he’s a bona fide workhorse ace – did I forget to mention he’s the only Royals starting pitcher to miss no more than a single game with an injury over the past two seasons?
He is never going to be a Justin Verlander or a Max Scherzer. But could I interest you in a left-handed Sandy Alcantara? I know you could interest me in that. Noah Cameron gets an A from me. What say you?
Good morning everyone!
The A’s are still on the search for their new GM 10 days into the offseason. We’ve heard of several candidates, mostly outside options but one internal candidate. Based off that alone one would assume that the next voice of the Athletics’ front office will be someone coming from a different organization, new name for fans to get to know.
Well we can add four new names to the list, including a former player that previous suited up in the Green & Gold. Sam Fuld, who played for the A’s from mid-2014 through 2015 to wrap up his playing career, is under consideration and a strong candidate to get the job. He’s been in the Phillies’ front office for most of the past decade. During that time he was the Philadelphia General Manager, although really second-in-command under President Dave Dombrowski. Getting the A’s job would be a lateral move in terms of title, but he’d be in full control of the team instead of reporting to someone higher up on the totem pole than him. Fuld has received interviews for other GM openings around the league before but this could finally be the time he’s offered the chance to lead a team.
Fuld wasn’t the only name reported today. In that same report linking Fuld to the A’s, Cubs assistant GM Jared Banner was also named as a strong contender for the job. Banner has been with Chicago for the past six years after starting his career with the Red Sox with a stop in the Mets’ organization along the way. Banner has experience in the player development department, which is where he spent the early parts of his career. He’s supposedly one of the biggest reasons the Cubs targeted star center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong in trade talks with the Mets when they traded Javier Baez to New York. That’d indicate he knows a good ball player when he sees one.
Along with Fuld and Banner, there were two more names linked to the Athletics’ GM opening today. St. Louis assistant GM Rob Cerfolio has reportedly already interviewed for the job. Cerfolio spent the better part of a decade working in the Cleveland front office before joining the Cardinals as AGM in 2024, so he’s been with them during the entirety of their current rebuild. While he’d be an interesting candidate, he’s also a candidate to remain in place and get the GM gig for St. Louis, reporting only to President Chaim Bloom. That’s the expectation.
The fourth name added to the list of potential GM’s for the A’s was Brewers AGM Matt Klein. He’s been with the Brewers for his entire career, starting in 2007. He steadily rose the ranks from the scouting department to the AGM position in 2023, being Brewers President Matt Arnold’s #2 guy. Klein is a popular name for GM openings and he’s also reportedly under consideration for the Astros’ GM opening.
Fuld, Banner, Cerfolio and Klein join a list that already includes Billy Owens, Mike Rizzo, James Click, Mike Groopman and Taylor Smith. There’s likely at least one name, likely more, that hasn’t been reported yet but if one had to guess it’s likely going to be one of these guys to be the next leader of the Athletics as they head into their new home in Las Vegas.
It seems that the search is drawing to a close. Ken Rosenthal and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic report that the team is close to picking their guy, with the decision apparently coming before the end of the week. That’d give the new guy a chance to settle in and get to fill out the rest of his staff before the end of the playoffs and start of the offseason. There’ll be some major decisions the new GM will have to make, including whether or not he wants to retain manager Mark Kotsay. For what it’s worth Kotsay is signed through 2028 so financial obligations shouldn’t have a huge impact on that choice.
So who do you guys want the A’s to pick? Do you want the new GM to keep Kotsay? Discuss below!
Have a great Thursday A’s fans.
Who do you guys want?
Interesting comparison:
Matt Olson this postseason: 4-for-27. Against the Dodgers just 2-for-16 with 6 K’s.
Unlikely, but how big of an upgrade would that be?
The A’s would go on to finish the sweep in that series:
The Cubs’ Opening Day starter this year was Matthew Boyd.
The rotation at that time consisted of Boyd, Cade Horton, Shōta Imanaga, Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon.
Those five pitchers combined for 86 starts. Only Boyd and Imanaga finished the season in the Cubs rotation and only Imanaga was not injured at some point during the season, making 32 starts and throwing 174.1 innings.
In those 86 starts, those five pitchers combined for a 4.46 ERA and 1.223 WHIP in 460.1 innings and allowed 91 home runs. Those numbers are bad, no question about it.
Oh, but wait, it gets worse. The other 74 starts for the Cubs this year were made by Colin Rea (19), David Peterson (15), Javier Assad (11), Kevin Gausman (9), Clay Holmes (9), Ben Brown (8), Ryan Rolison (2), Jordan Wicks (2) and Riley Martin (1). (The starts by Wicks were intended to be actual starts; the three by Rolison and Martin were as openers.)
In those 74 starts, those nine starters combined for a 4.06 ERA and 1.037 WHIP, with 51 home runs in 388.1 innings. That’s slightly better, but it’s still not good. Ben Brown’s eight very good starts are responsible for a lot of that.
And I haven’t even gotten to the relief pitchers yet, and they were almost as bad. Daniel Palencia, anointed closer in Spring Training, was injured and missed most of the year and posted only three saves. Jacob Webb, forced into a role he wasn’t used to, did well at it … until he didn’t and blew multiple saves by allowing walk-off home runs. He had only nine saves. That makes 2026 the first year since 1971 that the Cubs did not have a single pitcher with double digits in saves since the save rule became official in 1969. Phil Regan led the Cubs with six saves that year and the team had just 13, fewest in the major leagues.
All told, the Cubs pitching staff ranked 14th in team ERA, 18th in starter ERA, 23rd in saves (and had 28 blown saves), and second in home runs allowed with 231. Only the A’s, playing in a minor league park, allowed more (247). By comparison, the NL Central champion Brewers allowed 171 homers, 10th-fewest in MLB.
But this article isn’t about pitching.
It’s about Cubs manager Craig Counsell, as the headline states.
Counsell somehow managed that pitching staff into 89 wins and a wild card spot.
Yes, a large part of that was due to the Cubs offense, which produced one of the best hitting seasons in franchise history with 850 runs scored, a team-record 674 walks, 220 home runs (third-most in MLB) and scoring in double digits 21 times.
But it’s not all that. The Washington Nationals scored 821 runs, finishing third in MLB. Their pitching staff was a lot worse, allowing 815 runs, compared to the Cubs’ 703. In fact, the Cubs’ record based on runs scored and allowed was 95-67, six games better than they actually finished.
I give a great deal of credit here to Counsell, who was given the following relievers at various points of the season: Corbin Martin, Drew Pomeranz, Bryse Wilson, Vince Velasquez, Jayden Murray, Jake Woodford, Ty Blach, Charlie Barnes, Andrew Wantz, Yacksel Rios, Antoine Kelly and Luke Little.
Yikes. If anything screams out “waiver wire acquisitions,” that list does. We know that Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer took responsibility for that in his season-ending presser:
About the Cubs bullpen, Hoyer said: “I did a poor job on the bullpen this year, full stop.”
Counsell, meanwhile, I believe did a masterful job of mixing and matching while those sorts of people inhabited the Cubs bullpen. Without his leadership, maybe this team winds up near .500 and misses the postseason.
So that’s my position. I think Counsell has done an outstanding job managing the Cubs over the past three seasons and the failures this year aren’t his fault. If Hoyer does his job this offseason, I believe Counsell is the right manager to guide the Cubs for the next two seasons — the years left on his contract — and perhaps beyond.
Tomorrow, I’ll have some thoughts about Hoyer.
I don’t have a pithy Yankee-related preamble and you can’t make me have one. I hate baseball. But anyway, on to the rest of Wednesday’s playoff slate.
Thanos. Tom Brady’s Patriots (unless they were playing our savior Eli Manning). The Los Angeles Dodgers. Inevitable, all of them. Wednesday, the Dodgers took another step toward becoming the first MLB team to win three consecutive World Series since the Yankees did it from 1998-2000. The Braves won Game 1 in Los Angeles, stealing home field advantage. It availed them naught, as the Dodgers stormed back to win three in a row even with Shohei Ohtani hitting like an actual pitcher. Infuriating.
Elsewhere, Cleveland avoided elimination and prevented the White Sox from clinching a playoff series at home for the first time in well over a century. The Pope is probably not overly happy right now. And in San Diego, the Brewers vanquished the Padres to set up a heavyweight matchup between the NL’s preeminent titans. It feels like we’re all Brewers fans now.
Cleveland Guardians 9, Chicago White Sox 3 (Chicago leads the ALDS 2-1)
Cleveland acquired Jo Adell from the Angels on August 3rd for catching prospect Jacob Cozart. Down the stretch, Adell gave the Guards some thump at the dish, with a 108 OPS+ after the trade. Wednesday, he saved their season. Adell stepped to the plate in the top of the third in a 1-1 game with the bases loaded. His second triple in as many games cleared the bases and gave the Guardians a 4-1 lead.
Chicago had their chances to come back and clinch the series. In the home fifth, the Pale Hose put runners on second and third with one out, brining the tying run to the plate in what was a 5-2 game. Kyle Teel turned on a middle-middle fastball and hammered it back up the middle at 98-mph… right into the glove of Cleveland second baseman Travis Bazzana.
Chicago did manage to get within two, closing the gap to 5-3. But from there, Cleveland did what you are supposed to do with a lead late in the game — tack on. The Guards put up twin runs in the eighth and ninth innings, turning what was a close game into a comfortable win that pushes this series to a Game 4. The Guards have to feel pretty good about that considering they’re sending Parker Messick to the mound, with Gavin Williams looming for a potential Game 5.
Los Angeles Dodgers 4, Atlanta Braves 1 (Los Angeles wins the NLDS 3-1)
Tyler Mahle deserved better. Acquired from the Giants on August 2nd, Mahle was nails for Atlanta down the stretch. In nine starts, Mahle gave the Braves a 1.99 ERA while averaging six innings per outing and allowing less than a baserunner per inning (0.957 WHIP). Wednesday was more of the same. An unearned run marred his ledger in the second, but from there he valiantly stymied the Dodgers. Until the seventh inning.
It seems like it’s always bloody someone new with the Dodgers. This time, Andy Pages was the hero (culprit, bane of our existence, whatever you want to call him). With the bases loaded and two out, facing a full count, Pages drove a single back up the middle. Two runs scored. Suddenly, the Dodgers were counting outs.
Edwin Díaz, who was slightly more successful than I would be getting out major league hitters during the regular season, came in for the ninth after the Dodgers bullpen had delivered 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Tyler Glasnow. Díaz effortlessly retired the Braves in order, notching his third scoreless outing of the series. If he’s on, it makes the Dodgers even more formidable. Not that they needed it.
Milwaukee Brewers 3, San Diego Padres 1 (Milwaukee wins the NLDS 3-1)
After the two clubs traded runs in the third inning, with the Brew Crew needing one win to advance to the NLCS, Milwaukee did work in the middle innings. First, Jackson Chourio added to his posteason legend in the fifth with a tie-breaking single to put the Brewers up 2-1. In the sixth, Sal Frelick tacked on a sacrifice fly to double the Brewers’ lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, San Diego (and everyone else) thought they’d tied the game. Future Hall of Famer Manny Machado came to the plate as the tying run, facing Abner Uribe. Machado turned around Uribe’s sinker, driving it to center field at 106.7-mph. But he didn’t quite drive it high enough. Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell elevated, and robbed Machado of a game-tying two-run home run. Playoff baseball, folks. There’s nothing like it.
Milwaukee wasn’t [redacted] around when crunch time hit, either. With Trevor Megill on the mound looking to close out the series, presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski warmed up in the bullpen just in case. The Miz was never needed, however. Megill shut the Dads down in order to lock down an NLCS rematch with the Dodgers. This series also gave us a bit of baseball history.
Anyway. Go Brewers, Go. My Kingdom to stop the Dodgers.
Good morning friends! Three of the four Championship Series spots are filled following yesterday’s action. Let’s get you caught up on all of that and more on this Thursday.
The Cleveland Cavaliers open up their preseason campaign against the Boston Celtics tonight at home. This is the first of three exhibition games for Cleveland.
Preseason basketball can be interesting. How much you take from it is completely up to you. Each team has different goals when coming into these contests.
One of the goals for the Cavs is to figure out lineup combinations, specifically, trying to figure out how to split up the backcourt pairing of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden with the frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Head coach Kenny Atkinson said after practice yesterday that they’d “mess around” with different lineup configurations in their three preseason games and will also use one of their planned inter-squad scrimmages to help with this as well.
Meleek Thomas’s preseason debut is something to also keep an eye on. Several players have mentioned him as a standout in training camp so far. We’ll see if that carries over to preseason.
Atkinson was asked yesterday if there’s a clear frontrunner for backup point guard minutes. He declined to name one, saying that Mitchell and Harden will serve that role, with his intention to have one of them on the court at all times. That means that they’re really only looking for a “secondary ball handler” that “can hold up defensively.”
The simplest way for Thomas to earn minutes this season will be on the defensive end. We’ll see how he looks on that end this game.
Anything bought from the links helps support Fear the Sword. You can also shop all of Homage’s Cavs gear HERE. The link to the 2016 championship shirt HERE.
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics
Where: Rocket Arena – Cleveland, OH
When: Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 PM
TV: DAZN, NBA League Pass
Point spread: Celtics -3.5
Cavs injury report: None submitted
Celtics injury report: None submitted
Cavs expectedregular season starting lineup: James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
Celtics expected regular season starting lineup: Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, Neemias Queta
Previous matchup: The Celtics defeated the Cavs 109-98 on March 8.
Here’s a look at both teams’ 2025-26 regular-season impact stats via Cleaning the Glass.
| Offensive Rating | Defensive Rating | Net Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cavs | 118.9 (8th) | 115 (15th) | +3.9 (9th) |
| Celtics | 121.1 (2nd) | 112.7 (5th) | +8.4 (4th) |
SAN DIEGO — The Los Angeles Dodgers are the poster boys for baseball’s filthy rich.
They are Exhibit 1-A why Major League Baseball wants a salary cap.
They are the biggest, baddest dudes in baseball, with the deepest pockets, back-to-back World Series championships, three in the last six years, and a team littered with Cy Young winners, All-Stars and future Hall of Famers.
And, on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in San Diego, the Milwaukee Brewers let the world know they want ‘em.
They’re ready to slay the mighty dragon.
The Brewers knew all year that the World Series runs through Los Angeles, and after knocking off the San Diego Padres 3 games to 1 in the best-of-five series, giving them three days off and home-field advantage throughout the World Series, they are ready for them.
"Bring ‘em on," Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Megill said. "This is what we want."
Well, now they got ‘em, with the Dodgers disposing of Atlanta in four games, and the best-of-seven National League Championship Series beginning Sunday, Oct. 11 at American Family Field in Milwaukee.
"They’re obviously a great team, the back-to-back champions," said Brewers captain Christian Yelich, who hit .357 with a .900 OPS in the series. "We have a lot of respect for those guys But if you want to get where you need to go, you want to play the best.
"We know when we play our game, and execute our brand of baseball, we feel like we can play with anybody. We’re a really hard team to beat."
Really, the Brewers would want it no other way.
Beat the Dodgers, and they’re in the World Series.
Beat the Dodgers, and they’ll be remembered forever in Brewers’ folklore.
Beat the Dodgers, and they’ve got a chance to go where no Brewers team has gone before with their first World Series title.
"It’s sweet," said Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell, who robbed Manny Machado of a potential 2-run, game-tying home run in the eighth inning of their 3-1 victory. "Why wouldn’t you want another chance to go at them again the way it happened last year?’"
A year ago, the Brewers played the Dodgers in the NLCS, too, and were thoroughly embarrassed in a four-game sweep.
The Dodgers outscored the Brewers, 15-4. They led every single inning of every game. The Brewers hit .118 in the series, the lowest batting average of a series lasting three or more games in baseball history.
It was ugly, and humiliating.
And the Brewers vowed this night that it won’t happen again.
"I think we have a different type of confidence and belief in ourselves together as a team," Mitchell said. "It’s like a quiet, subtle confidence. It’s not showboating. It’s just that everyone in this clubhouse believes."
It wasn’t a fluke that the Brewers won 103 games, running away with the National League Central for the fourth consecutive year.
They were in a division in which every team improved during the winter. While the Chicago Cubs landed prized free agent Alex Bregman with a five-year, $175 million contract, the Brewers were trading away their ace, Freddy Peralta, to save money, while also dealing away rookie third baseman Caleb Durbin.
They were predicted to win 84.5 games and finish fourth in the division.
And once again they exceeded everyone’s expectations but their own.
Now, they believe this is the year they finally get to the World Series for the first time since 1982, and win their first title in franchise history.
"We have a monumental task ahead of us," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, "based on what I know about the Dodgers. There’s like an All-Star at every position. But you know what? Teams win.
"And we’ve got to play as a team."
The Brewers insist this year’s NLCS will be dramatically different than a year ago.
A year ago, the Brewers had their mini-World Series when they knocked off the Cubs in an emotional five-game division series. And with just one day off and their pitching in disarray, they paid the price. They simply never recovered.
"That took a lot out of us to beat the Cubs," Brewers pitching coach Chris Hook said. "I think we were kind of nearing the end."
They also had a kid who just burst onto the scene last year trying to feel his way in Major League Baseball named Jacob Misiorowski. This time around, that kid is the presumed 2026 Cy Young award winner, and the most dominant pitcher on the planet. He’s throwing harder than any pitcher since Statcast began recording velocities in 2008. He threw 1,115 pitches 100-mph or harder, striking out 252 batters in 174⅔ innings, enroute to a 16-5 record and 1.80 ERA.
And he will be pitching Game 1 on seven days’ rest, with No. 2 starter Logan Henderson on a week’s rest as well. The Brewers were tempted to use Misiorowski to close out Wednesday’s game. They had him warming up in the bullpen in the ninth inning, but after throwing just six warmup pitches, he sat back down and a few minutes later, was throwing down beers while smoking a celebratory cigar.
"I’m ready to go," Misiorowski said. "We knew we were going to get them. And I know we’ll be ready. It’s going to be cool."
The Dodgers may have four Cy Young awards in their rotation with Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell, a World Series MVP in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and a former ace in Tyler Glasnow. But the Brewers not only have a solid rotation led by Misiorowski, but also the best bullpen in the game.
"If we come in with a lead," Brewers reliever Abner Uribe said, "I’m confident we’ll win the game. We’ve done that all year."
The Brewers certainly will not be scared of the bright lights and the big stage like a year ago. They’ve been there. They’ve done that. They know what it takes to get over that massive hurdle called the Dodgers.
"They’ve been through this a few times," Hook said. "I think that the more you do something, the more you’re under this kind of stress, I think you get a little more comfortable in the environment."
Certainly, they’ve had their share of big moments in the most glorious run in franchise history. They’ve reached the postseason eight times in the past nine years. Yet, what has eluded them is that World Series trophy, and a parade in downtown Milwaukee that will be remembered forever.
This is why their celebration was tempered, showing no more emotion on the field than winning a Thursday night game in June. They are proud of what they’ve already accomplished, and yet, anything less than a World Series berth will leave a bitter, empty feeling.
"I don’t want to say it’s just another win," Yelich said, "but there’s an emphasis that we’ve got bigger goals as a team. And if you have those kind of goals, you kind of expect to be in this position. Everybody knows what’s in front of us, and what we’re going to have to do.
"We know what this means to people in Milwaukee. We know how special it would be to the city, and to the state. And we’re ready.
"One step down, two more to go."
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers wanted Dodgers. They believe this NLCS will be different than 2025
It was a tale of two seasons for Mets right-hander Kodai Senga in 2026.
Senga's 7.34 ERA (5.82 FIP) and 1.64 WHIP tells one story, but how he performed after being moved to the bullpen -- and especially how he looked once utilized in a short relief role -- tells another.
Still, things remain up in the air, both when it comes to what Senga's role will be in 2027 and whether he'll still be in New York when the season starts.
The day after the regular season ended, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns was unambiguous about New York's need to turn to external options to fortify a rotation that features Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, and a handful of question marks.
The Mets will also need to bolster a relief corps that excelled down the stretch even after four key members -- including Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban, who were both under contract beyond 2026 -- were traded at the deadline.
Senga, who will be entering his age-34 season and the final year of his contract in 2027, could be part of the equation in either relief or the rotation.
But will the Mets trade Senga this offseason? Should they?
While Senga's acclimation to the bullpen went well, it's still fair to wonder if it's a long-term fit.
For one, Senga is meticulous with his routines, which were shaken up in a big way this past season with his transition away from starting. And 2026 was the first time he ever worked as a reliever in the majors. That it worked out for a few months is a plus, but there were times when Senga's stuff appeared to suffer when he pitched on back-to-back days.
Adjusting to a new role is one thing, but if Senga is going to excel as a reliever and be a true asset in that role, he's going to have to be able to pitch back-to-back (something he did three times in 2026), and three out of four days (Senga did that once in 2026).
Senga's desire to be a starter also needs to be factored in.
"I think we'll make that determination as we get into spring training and see where we are," Stearns said after the season about Senga's role. "We know where Kodai's passion is. He's been very honest with that.
"We also understand that we need a level of production, in whatever role he's going to be in, to contribute to a winning team. And so, we'll ultimately make that role determination as we get into next year."
While health issues marred Senga's seasons in both 2024 and 2025, his body of work as a starting pitcher during his first three big league campaigns speaks for itself: In 52 starts over 285.0 innings, Senga posted a 3.00 ERA and 1.24 WHIP while striking out 320 batters -- a rate of 10.1 per nine.
It's quite possible another team looks at Senga's relative affordability ($15 million for 2027), stuff, and history, and decides to take a chance on him as a starter. If so, the Mets should be all ears.
The idea when the Mets started using Senga in short relief (and eventually as the closer) was that he could excel in the role because of his fastball/ghost fork combination.
Mainly using those two pitches in relief allowed Senga to mix in his other pitches sparingly, and his fastball velocity often ticked up as he was pitching in short spurts.
In his final start of the season, on July 31, Senga's four-seam fastball averaged 95.7 mph.
On Aug. 4, in his first outing after being moved full-time to a short relief role, Senga's four-seam fastball averaged 97.3 mph and topped out near 99. That average velo was down a bit during his last appearance of the season (a one-inning outing on Sept. 22), but it still averaged 96.6 mph with a max of 97.9.
Overall, Senga had a 3.78 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 16.2 innings (18 games) after being shifted to a short relief role. And that ERA is inflated a decent amount due to Senga's second-to-last outing of the season, when he gave up three runs in just one-third of an inning. He rebounded two days later to fire a perfect inning while striking out a a pair (the Sept. 22 appearance noted above).
If the Mets feel Senga's success over the last few months of 2026 can translate to a full season of success in 2027, it's easy to see a scenario where Senga stays.
Beyond Senga's ability to keep pitching in relief, though, there has to be buy-in from him.
This is a tricky one.
On one hand, the Mets know Senga remains hopeful of starting. But despite the team's need in the rotation, it would seem counterintuitive to return Senga to the role given how badly he struggled when starting games in 2026.
In addition, it's impossible to know if Senga can handle the rigors of a full season in relief. And it's very difficult to envision the Mets entrusting closer duties to him out of the gate next year given the variance of the potential outcomes.
On the other hand, Senga has the stuff to excel at the back end of games.
While $15 million isn't the best use of resources for someone who pitches in the seventh or eighth inning, Weaver got $11 million to do just that before he was traded.
Not to be wishy washy, but this feels like a situation where the Mets will move on if there are serious trade suitors and try Senga in short relief again if there aren't.
For a moment with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and Fernando Tatis Jr. standing on first base, it looked like Manny Machado had connected on a game-tying two-run home run to center field. The swing was right. The sound was good. Machado had the lean and the crowd at Petco Park roared to life, but instead of the ball landing beyond the wall, it fell into the glove of Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell at the front of the wall and essentially ended the season for the San Diego Padres who dropped Game 4 of the National League Division Series by the final score of 3-1.
There was a blend of storylines from playoffs past that came to life once again for San Diego. There just was not enough top line pitching to get the Padres over the top and the offense once again went missing as the Friars recorded just three hits in Game 4 of the NLDS. Worse yet, San Diego did not record a hit after the third inning when Tatis hit a laser to center field for a solo home run to lead off the inning. Three Milwaukee relievers combined to pitch five hitless innings and allowed just three walks with six strikeouts.
It was somewhat fitting that in the final game of the season, a must-win in front of the Friar Faithful on their home field, Tatis, Machado and Jackson Merrill were the only players to record a hit. Throughout the series and for much of the season the complaint had been the stars needed to star. The support guys had been a big part of the success for the Padres and on a night when none of those players, Ty France, Samad Taylor, Luis Campusano, etc. were able to do anything offensively, San Diego saw its season come to an end.
Padres manager Craig Stammen did what he could with the remaining arms he had. He used seven pitchers in the game with only starter Walker Buehler and Joe Musgrove pitching multiple innings. Buehler completed three-plus innings and allowed a run on three hits with two walks. Robbie Ray allowed a run on one hit with one walk in one inning of work while Bradgley Rodriguez and Yuki Matsui combined to work a scoreless inning. Jason Adam threw an inning and allowed a run on two hits and Mason Miller worked the seventh inning, allowing two hits and a walk with a strikeout. Musgrove took the mound in the eighth and ninth innings and kept the deficit at two runs without allowing a hit while recording two strikeouts.
Stammen won 91 games in his first year at the helm and guided the Padres to the NLDS where they were knocked out by a 103-win Brewers team. It is not the ending the Friars wanted, but it was a successful season and despite the disappointing outcome of the NLDS, the Padres proved they belong as one of the top teams in the NL.
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Twenty-five years after the Ottawa Senators drafted him, and eight years after his tragic death, Ray Emery will be remembered at the club's home opener on Thursday night.
Emery was the starting goalie for the only modern-day Senators entry to make it to the Stanley Cup Final, and his family will be on hand to help them begin a new season.
The Hamilton native spent six seasons in the Senators organization. He eventually won a Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013 and finished that regular season with a 1.94 GAA, a .922 save percentage, and a 17-1 record.
Tragically, a couple of years after his 2016 retirement, Emery died in a swimming accident in Hamilton. He was only 35.
This season marks the 20th anniversary of the Sens' amazing run to the Cup final, where they eventually fell to the Anaheim Ducks. It was a time Sens fans will never forget as they watched the club made short work of Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and Buffalo that year, winning every series in five games.
Emery started all 20 playoff games that spring.
After the disappointing end to Dominik Hasek's one season in Ottawa, Emery was perfect for that Senators team.
He was a talented goalie, fearless and occasionally unpredictable. He had one of those smiles that made you instantly like him.
And he was tough.
He loved the sweet science and wore masks during his career that featured legendary boxers like Marvin Hagler, Mike Tyson, Jack Johnson, George Chuvalo, and in Philadelphia, the fictional Rocky Balboa.
Even on a team with brawlers Chris Neil and Brian McGrattan, Emery was in the discussion for guys on the team you'd least like to fight. Who could forget that wild night in Buffalo during the 2006-07 season, when Emery fought two Sabres in the same line brawl, smiling his way through both tilts?
As they open the home portion of a new season at Canadian Tire Centre, the building where fans once chanted Emery's name, his family has been invited to ring the ceremonial bell before the Senators take on the Philadelphia Flyers, another of Emery's other former teams.
According to Ian Mendes, the Sens' Vice President of Communications, Ottawa is now home for Emery's family.
His parents, Paul and Sharlene, moved here from Cayuga, Ontario during COVID. They live in Ashton, while their other two sons, Andrew and Nick, live here with their families as well.
“Being in Ottawa means a lot to us,” Sharlene told Mendes. “It’s comforting and healing. Lots of memories, and it’s the healing steps we’re taking. It’s the place to be.”
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa