Category: Baseball

Dave Roberts started out of the dugout with a walk.

Once Blake Snell caught his gaze, it turned into a trot.

With two out in the seventh inning, and Snell trying to put the finishing touches on his best performance in a Dodgers uniform, Roberts appeared to be coming to the mound after a pair of walks to turn to his shaky bullpen with a three-run lead.

As he usually does when removing a pitcher, his gait was slow — at least, initially.

Once Snell saw him coming, however, Roberts picked up his pace — as he will sometimes do when electing to leave a pitcher in the game.

This time, it was the latter.

After a brief discussion between manager and starting pitcher, Snell stayed in.

Five throws later, the $180-million offseason signee rewarded the decision, striking out Otto Kemp with a 95-mph fastball to put an emphatic ending on his scoreless seven-inning start, one that lifted the Dodgers to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Entering Wednesday, all the discussion around the Dodgers had centered on the bullpen. The slumping unit was coming off two of its worst performances of the season. The majority of Roberts’ pregame address with reporters was spent dissecting how to fix it.

Read more:Hernández: If Shohei Ohtani is open to playing in the outfield, the Dodgers have failed him

“Before the results, has to be confidence,” Roberts said, comparing the relief corps’ struggles to the second-half scuffles that the offense only recently emerged from. “It's just kind of trying to reset a mentality, a mindset and expect that things happen. … You can't chase a zero in an inning until you execute the first pitch, and then keep going like that. And I think that right now you can see that they're kind of trying a little too hard.”

On Wednesday night, however, Snell made their job easy.

Efficient from the start with the kind of aggressive, attacking game plan he had acknowledged was missing in his last three outings, Snell went to work quickly against the Phillies, retiring the side on eight pitches (and two strikeouts) in the first inning, en route to setting down the first eight batters he faced.

Brief trouble arose in the third, when Bryson Stott and Harrison Bader had back-to-back singles.

But then Snell froze Kyle Schwarber with a curveball, one of the seven punchouts he recorded with the pitch. He had a season-high 12 strikeouts on the night.

And after that, the Phillies didn’t put another runner aboard until the seventh, with Snell breezing through the next 12 batters.

In the meantime, the Dodgers built a lead. Freddie Freeman homered to lead off the second. Ben Rortvedt (starting his third straight game behind the plate, even with Dalton Rushing back from a leg injury) added an RBI single later in the inning, following an Andy Pages hit-and-run single that put runners on the corners.

Another run came around in the fourth, after Pages worked a two-out walk, stole second, took third on a wild pickoff throw and scored on an RBI single from Kiké Hernández (who played third base in place of Max Muncy, who still felt “fuzzy” on Tuesday from a hit-by-pitch he took to the head over the weekend).

And from there, the Dodgers watched Snell cruise, with the $182-million offseason acquisition attacking the corners of the strike zone while also inducing misses on 24 of 54 swings.

The night culminated in the seventh, after walks to Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler drew Roberts out of the dugout. In the bullpen, left-hander Alex Vesia was getting warm. For a brief moment, it appeared the game would be in the hands of the relievers.

Snell had other ideas, signaling Roberts to hurry to the mound in the middle of his walk before seemingly pleading his case to stay in.

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers are blowing their bye, and hopes for deep playoff run, thanks to familiar issue

Whatever he said, Roberts listened.

Snell stayed on the rubber. A crowd of 50,859 roared in approval.

Against his final batter, Kemp, Snell fell behind, missing low with a changeup before pulling a fastball wide. Undeterred, he went back on the attack, getting one foul ball with a heater on the inner half, then another with a curveball that leaked over the plate. The count was 2-and-2. Chavez Ravine rose to its feet.

The next pitch — Snell’s 112th of the night — was another fastball, this time on the upper, outside corner at 95.3 mph. Kemp swung through it. Snell screamed and pumped his fist. In the dugout, Roberts raised an arm in the air, then began clapping as Snell walked off to a raucous ovation.

The next two innings were refreshingly simple. Alex Vesia retired the side in the top of the eighth. The Dodgers made it a five-run lead by scoring twice in the bottom half of the frame, including on Shohei Ohtani’s 51st home run of the season. Embattled closer Tanner Scott spun a stress-free ninth, pitching three consecutive scoreless outings for the first time since early July.

Come October, that’s the kind of blueprint the Dodgers (who maintained a two-game lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres) will have to try and replicate.

Their bullpen still needs fixing. Their relief issues aren’t solved. But more gems like Snell’s would certainly help.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

One night after their pitching piggyback was a roaring success, the Mets’ rotation reality smacked them once again on Wednesday. On David Peterson’s turn, the Mets were back to their normal starter usage – one guy, his game. Let’s just say the results were not nearly as encouraging as those delivered by the Clay Holmes-Sean Manaea combo in the opener of this series against the Padres, and now thorny questions loom about Peterson going forward.

Peterson didn’t exactly get shelled, but he didn’t exactly do anything that should make the Mets feel comfortable about giving him an October start, either. You know, if the Mets can actually make the playoffs.

Peterson allowed six runs in five innings, the big blow coming on a Manny Machado grand slam in the fifth inning that tilted a tie game. The Padres went on to win, 7-4, and the Mets bungled a chance to put more distance between them and the Diamondbacks in the race for the third NL Wild Card. Arizona had lost earlier in the day, just as the Mets’ grounds crew was taking the tarp off the diamond at Citi Field, so the Mets still own a 1.5-game lead.

Again, Peterson didn’t get mauled – the Padres loaded the bases in the fifth on a hit batsman, a walk and a bunt single by Luis Arraez before Machado’s slam. And they got a run in the second on two bloop hits sandwiched around a groundout. Still, Peterson’s final line was ugly, in line with much of his poor second half. In 11 starts since making his first All-Star team, Peterson has a 5.71 ERA.

“It’s obviously tough when you know what you’re capable of,” Peterson admitted of his struggles. “You're gonna go through times where it's not going exactly how you want it to, whether it's baseball or whether it's something that you're not necessarily executing. But you know you can't hold onto it. Look at it as objectively as possible and correct things that need to be worked on and move forward.”

With the playoffs looming, Peterson must revert back to the ace-type that he was earlier in the season if the Mets hope to reach October and go on a run similar to last season. And the Mets have to help him get there.

“When he’s at his best, he’s getting a lot of ground balls,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s inducing weak contact. He’s using all of his pitches when he’s ahead and he’s able to get swings and misses with the secondary pitchers. And we haven’t seen that for quite a bit.”

Still, Mendoza said, he trusts Peterson going forward.

“We trust him and all of the guys here,” Mendoza said. “We only got, what, 10 more (games) to go in the regular season. We need him. He’s been a big part of this team. But it’s been a struggle for him. We want to do everything moving forward to put guys in position to help us win baseball games.

“We’re counting on him.”

The Machado home run came on a 3-2 curveball that Machado swatted for his 14th career grand slam. Asked how he felt about the pitch when he threw it, Peterson replied, “Felt fine about it. I shook to that pitch and felt like I threw a good, competitive pitch down and away. And he’s a really good hitter and he was able to give them a gap there in the game.”

That is where the outing spun out of control for Peterson. His season has, too. As recently as Aug. 6, Peterson had a season ERA below 3.00 (2.98). It now sits a full run higher.  He was one of the few reliable sources of length in the rotation, too, a problem that’s plagued the Mets all year. Now it plagues Peterson, too. 

Wednesday’s loss dropped him to 9-6 and was the third time in his last seven starts he’s given up six or more runs. Earlier this season, he was working on a since-dead streak of 56 consecutive starts in which he did not allow more than five runs, according to the Mets.

Still, Mendoza confirmed postgame that Peterson will indeed make his next start. Would Peterson perhaps be a consideration for some kind of piggybacking scenario, too, at some point?

“We just got done with this turn,” Mendoza said. “We’re already doing it with two guys.”

But, the manager added, “I mean, everything’s on the table because we’ve got to win baseball games.”

Starting soon. They had won two in a row before losing Wednesday. Was that just a quick palate cleanser before another course of losing? The sands in the 162-game hourglass of the season are rapidly running out.

In a season in which there are no behemoths in either league, it’d be a shame if the Mets aren’t able to take their chances in October. They’ve got to get there first, though. And they’ll need a better David Peterson to do that.

“We’re looking at inches,” Carlos Mendoza said. 

That’s how close Juan Soto came to tying Wednesday’s game against the Padres. 

After Francisco Alvarez lifted an opposite-field homer to make it a one-run ballgame, the Mets' slugger stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh with a man on and one out, facing San Diego’s All-Star reliever Mason Miller. 

Soto had already gone deep once in the ballgame, tying his career-high with 41 blasts. 

After battling to a 2-2 count against the hard-throwing right-hander, the sweet-swinging lefty laced a 102.6 mph fastball for a long fly ball deep down into the left field corner that sent the Citi Field crowd into a frenzy. 

It came oh so close to being a game-tying two-run blast and Soto’s signature Mets moment down the stretch in the playoff push, but upon further review, the ball dropped in just shy of the foul pole.

“I knew it had enough power behind it to go out,” Soto said. “I just didn’t how long it was going to stay fair, it was fair most of the time and then at the end it just hooked a little more -- it was just a long strike.”

Miller would get the best of Soto one pitch later, freezing him with a nasty slider on the corner. 

The 26-year-old found himself with an opportunity for redemption a few innings later, though, as Brett Baty led off the ninth with a single and Francisco Lindor drew a two-out walk to again bring him to the plate as the tying run. 

Soto was in another 2-2 count when he laced a 100.5 mph comebacker back up the middle at San Diego closer Robert Suarez, which he was able to glove down before throwing to first to end the ballgame.  

Just like that, the Mets’ lead for the third wild card spot is back down to 1.5 games over the Diamondbacks and 2.0 over the Reds and Giants with 10 games to play. 

“We just have to try to be a little bit more consistent,” Soto said. “We still have a playoff spot, so we’re definitely still in this, but we have to get going today because tomorrow is going to be too late; we have to get going right now.”

The Yankees had to make up for a lackluster starter's performance again, but Trent Grisham's two homers powered New York to a 10-5 win over the Twins on Wednesday night in Minnesota.

Here are the takeaways....

-After scoring 10 runs on Tuesday, the Yankees picked up where they left off thanks to Aaron Judge. The defending AL MVP hit a two-out double, and Cody Bellinger followed with a single that Judge was able to get home ahead of the throw from left field. Grisham's career year continued, as his second-inning solo shot gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. 

-For the second straight game, a Yankees starter could not make it through five with a big lead. Luis Gil, starting for the first time since throwing six no-hit innings against the Red Sox, was not as sharp on Wednesday. The Twins drew a one-out walk and back-to-back singles (with a throwing error on a pickoff thrown in) allowed Minnesota to push across a run in the second inning. Then, with two outs, Gil threw a wild pitch that Ben Rice should have blocked, but the Twins took advantage to take a 2-1 lead.

Bellinger would hit a two-run shot in the ninth to put the game away.

After the Yankees tied it back up, Gil unraveled again in the third. Byron Buxton led off with a double and then Gil hit Austin Martin to put two runners on with no outs. But Gil hunkered down and got a double play and a ground out to end the threat. Minnesota would get to Gil again in the fifth. They pushed across three runs on four hits and one walk, which could have been more if not for some nifty defense by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and was pulled for Fernando Cruz. Cruz got Royce Lewis to line out to end the inning.

Gil went just 4.2 innings (85 pitches/54 strikes), allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits, two walks, while striking out just two batters.

-Aaron Boone had an unconventional lineup on Wednesday. With Judge DHing, Giancarlo Stanton was relegated to the bench as Jasson Dominguez took over in left field. The young outfielder went 1-for-3, with two stolen bases but his RBI double in the fourth gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead. His steal of second in the eighth and getting to third on the throwing error led to a much-needed insurance run.

Jose Caballero started at short in place of Anthony Volpe, who went 2-for-4 on Tuesday, and went 0-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored.

-Grisham has 33 home runs and 70 RBI for the season. It's his eighth long ball in his last 19 games and 10 in his last 22. 

-In relief of Gil, the Yankees' bullpen was solid. The combination of Cruz, Devin Williams, Luke Weaver and Camilo Doval went 4.1 innings without allowing a run on two hits and striking six batters. 

Game MVP: Trent Grisham

Grisham's two blasts and four RBI helped the Yankees clinch the series win.

Highlights

Jasson Dominguez puts the Yankees back on top! pic.twitter.com/IMRpI0EsIi

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 18, 2025

33 homers on the season for Trent Grisham! pic.twitter.com/G2Rs3VDoAA

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 18, 2025

What's next

The Yankees head to Baltimore to take on the division rival Orioles for a four-game series starting Thursday. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m.

Max Fried (17-5, 3.03 ERA) will take the mound against Cade Povich (3-7, 5.05 ERA). 

 

The Mets were defeated by the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

Here are some takeaways...

- David Peterson's struggles continued, as he was knocked around by the Padres in just five innings of work. The left-hander was hurt by some soft contact in the early innings, allowing a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the first and then another on an RBI single in the second. 

He appeared to settle into a bit of a groove, putting together back-to-back scoreless frames, but things caved in on him in the fifth. After loading the bases on a single, a hit-by-pitch and a walk, Manny Machado crushed a go-ahead grand slam to deep left. 

Peterson escaped the inning without further damage but his final line still closed with an ugly six runs allowed on six hits and three walks while striking out just one batter -- bringing his ERA to 3.98 for the season. 

- The Mets' three runs off of San Diego right-hander Nick Pivetta all came via solo blasts. Pete Alonso got them on the board in the bottom of the first, Starling Marte evened things up at the time with one of his own in the fourth, then Juan Soto lifted one to right in the fifth. 

Alonso's left the bat at a whopping 112 mph as he's now homered in three straight, Marte snapped a 16-game homerless drought to give him eight on the season, and Soto tied his career-high, which he set last year while with the Yankees (41). 

- Dom Hamel entered, making his MLB debut behind Peterson; he was the 46th different pitcher used by the Mets this season, which is a new league record. Hamel was helped out by some shoddy Padres base-running to escape the sixth with no runs against. 

- The Mets were able to chip into the lead against the high-powered Padres bullpen. Francisco Alvarez took a second-pitch slider from right-hander Jeremiah Estrada and lifted it the other way just over the right field fence, cutting it back down to a two-run ballgame. 

After Cedric Mullins walked and stole second, Soto appeared to have lifted a game-tying two-run shot off of hard-throwing All-Star Mason Miller, but it hooked just inches foul -- Miller got the best of both Soto and Alonso representing the tying run, then put together a 1-2-3 eighth.

- Soto would have one more opportunity to even this thing up in the bottom of the ninth. After Ryne Stanek allowed a solo homer in the top half, San Diego's Robert Suarez put two on with two outs in the ninth, but he got the All-Star slugger to line into a comebacker to end the game and secure the save.  

- Brett Baty did enjoy himself another strong day at the plate, reaching three times with two singles and a double. The left-hander hitting slugger entered play with a .297 average, 12 extra base-hits, 17 RBI, and a .854 OPS in 47 games following the All-Star break. 

- With an announced attendance of 41,783 on the night, Citi Field officially reached a total of 3 million fans for the season for the first time since the stadium opened its gates for the first time back in 2009.  

- New York's lead for the final wild card is back down to 1.5 games over the Diamondbacks, Reds, and Giants. 

Game MVP: Manny Machado

Machado's grand slam was the big blast that sunk Peterson and the Mets in this one. 

Highlights

Pete Alonso homers in his third-straight game and ties things up!

Home run #36 on the year! pic.twitter.com/zsL6F9rjtv

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 17, 2025

Starling Marte launches a solo shot to tie it up once more! pic.twitter.com/xlXuWpHUhw

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 18, 2025

Juan Soto hits his 41st home run of the season to tie his career high pic.twitter.com/OdqRqNv2iA

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 18, 2025

Francisco Alvarez hits a solo homer to cut the lead to two!

The play was initially called a double off the wall, but after review was overturned to a home run. pic.twitter.com/v7xeXHZWkn

— SNY (@SNYtv) September 18, 2025

What's next

The Mets and Padres close out this three-game set on Wednesday afternoon at 1:10 p.m.

Jonah Tong (1-2, 8.49 ERA) takes the ball against RHP Randy Vásquez (5-6, 3.72 ERA). 

Mets top prospect Carson Benge is having himself some week. 

Benge was named the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year as part of their player development awards on Monday afternoon.

Then on Wednesday night, the 22-year-old former first-round pick crushed a solo homer in Syracuse’s playoff victory over the Leigh Valley IronPigs. 

With the mini-Mets trailing by two in the top of the fourth, Benge stepped to the plate against Phillies top pitching prospect Andrew Painter and crushed a solo shot 355 feet over the right field fence. 

It was Benge’s second long ball in Triple-A, and his 14th of the season. 

Austin Warren, Alex Carrillo, Ty Adcock, and Oliver Ortega combined for five strong innings of one-run ball to close out the 4-3 victory. 

While Benge has gotten off to a bit of a slow start since being promoted to the new level, the Mets have loved what they’ve seen from him in his first full year in the organization.

“He’s a guy that’s really found his stride,” Senior VP of Player Development Andy Green said. “The stride started at the end of last season and he put on a lot of weight this winter to help him get through his first full pro season.

“I melted at the end of my first year, it’s a credit to the performance group -- he just worked incredibly hard, he did two things people really struggle to do, and he is just moving the needle positively.”

Benge, SNY's Joe DeMayo’s third-ranked prospect, is projected to debut during the 2026 season.

Bend it (over the wall) like ... Benge?@Mets top-ranked prospect Carson Benge gets the @SyracuseMets on the board.

Watch this International League showdown LIVE: https://t.co/twudCiZ70jpic.twitter.com/UMVDDNY69R

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 17, 2025

No comeback this time, Dodgers blank Phillies in series finale originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

LOS ANGELES – Winning baseball games is still the top priority for the Phillies as they end a regular season that produced a second consecutive National League East title … But playing fundamentally sound games is also high on the to-do list.

During their three games at Dodger Stadium, the Phillies developed two habits. One was getting behind the Dodgers early in the game, the other was coming back in dramatic fashion to secure improbable wins.

Only one of those habits was visible on Wednesday as Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell stymied the Phillies all night and the Dodgers took their only game of the series with a 5-0 shutout. The Phillies only got three hits.

There was no comeback to be had.

Freddie Freeman provided all the offense the Dodgers would need when he homered off a Jesús Luzardo sinker to lead off the second inning. Los Angeles added another run later in the inning on three straight singles, the last by Ben Rortvedt which scored Miguel Rojas. They added another in the fourth when Andy Pages worked a two-out walk, stole second, went to third on a bad pickoff throw by Luzardo and scored on a single by Kike Hernandez.

To lead off the eighth, Shohei Ohtani drilled Luzardo’s 106th and last pitch of the night into the centerfield seats for a 4-0 lead. That was his 51st home run of the season. Orion Kerkering gave up a run in the eighth on a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly by Tommy Edman to end the night’s scoring.  

Only two times did the Phillies put a little pressure on Snell. In the second, they got consecutive two-out singles from Bryson Stott and Harrison Bader, but Snell got Kyle Schwarber to strike out looking on a nasty curveball.

Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler worked two-out walks in the seventh inning and it appeared Snell’s night was over, as manager Dave Roberts made his way to the mound and reliever Alex Vesia darted into left field from the bullpen. But those who gathered on the mound waved off Vesia and Snell proceeded to strike out Otto Kemp to end the threat.

Snell allowed just two hits and two walks, and he struck out a season-high 12 of the 25 batters he faced.

Except for a couple of pitches, Luzardo was very solid, just not Snell-like. He gave up four runs on six hits seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts.

With the Brewers’ win over the Angels, the Phillies fell to 2 ½ games behind for the No. 1 seed.

Things to note

J.T. Realmuto was back in the lineup after coming down with an illness on Tuesday. He batted fourth in the lineup and just missed hitting a home run to center in the seventh.

Nick Castellanos started in right field for the first time in the series, with Max Kepler in left and Harrison Bader in center. Manager Rob Thomson said he just wanted to give the hot-hitting Brandon Marsh a night off.

The Phillies are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series against the Diamondbacks in Phoenix on Friday.

Red Sox remain ‘careful' with Wilyer Abreu's recovery process originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The clock is ticking on the regular season, but the Boston Red Sox are remaining patient with Wilyer Abreu.

Manager Alex Cora provided an update on Abreu prior to Wednesday night’s game against the A’s at Fenway Park, indicating that the right fielder won’t be activated before the series finale on Thursday afternoon.

“He’s gonna run. He’s not gonna run the bases; he’s gonna sprint. Do the other stuff,” Cora said. “Baseball-wise, doesn’t look like it will be [Thursday]. So we just have to be patient.”

Abreu hasn’t played since Aug. 17 due to a calf strain. Cora’s previous update came a day earlier, with the manager saying that Abreu was sore on Monday after running on Sunday. With Abreu set to miss more than a month, Cora was asked if Abreu is taking longer than expected to get back to the field.

“Not really,” he answered. “I mean, the way he’s felt throughout, Sunday was a heavy day for him, running-wise. Monday, like I said, he wasn’t tight, but he was sore. And he’s still a little bit sore. We have to be careful. We don’t want any setbacks, right? So when he goes, he’s a full go.”

The 26-year-old Abreu has slashed .253/.325/.486 in 108 games this season, with 22 home runs, 16 doubles and 69 RBI.

After Boston’s series against the A’s concludes on Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox will hit the road for six games, first stopping in Tampa and then going to Toronto. They’ll conclude their regular season with a three-game set against Detroit from Sept. 26-28.

Abreu’s absence was compounded, of course, when rookie sensation Roman Anthony suffered an oblique strain on Sept. 2. That injury came with a projected recovery timeline of four to six weeks, and Cora’s “update” on Anthony indicated that the rookie is a long way away from returning to the field.

“He said yesterday,” Cora said of Anthony, “I had to laugh, he’s like, ‘It was a very intense 25-minute walk on the treadmill.’ Whatever that means. He’s feeling better but that’s all he’s doing.”

Red Sox pitching news

Wednesday also delivered some news on the pitching front.

First, Cora announced that Kyle Harrison will start Saturday’s game in Tampa. The 24-year-old lefty, who was acquired in the Rafael Devers trade, made his Red Sox debut last week in West Sacramento against the A’s, pitching three shutout innings while allowing three hits and striking out two (with a hit by pitch as well) in what was eventually a Red Sox loss.

Cora also announced that rookie Payton Tolle will be moving to the bullpen. After pitching 5.1 innings in his MLB debut at the end of August, Tolle lasted just three innings in his second start and was intentionally used for just two innings last week in a start against the A’s. He has a 7.84 ERA and 1.645 WHIP in 10.1 innings pitched.

And Wednesday night’s starter, Lucas Giolito, made it through the fourth inning, which turned the $14 million club option for 2026 into a $19 million mutual option for next season. Giolito, 31, will almost assuredly opt for free agency, where he’ll have a market for a multi-year deal. The veteran right-hander is 10-4 with a 3.46 ERA in 25 starts this season.

Can you exhale now?

After a significant pair of wins, the Mets are in far better position, both mathematically and spiritually, to avoid an historic collapse and fall from the playoff picture.

But work remains, and one of the most significant projects is identifying a right-handed reliever who can come in from the bullpen to kill mid-inning rallies.

The Mets currently have two trusted righties in the pen -- Edwin Diaz and Tyler Rogers. One is the closer and one is often needed in a setup role.

But what if it’s the fifth, sixth or seventh inning, the opposing team has runners on base, and Carlos Mendoza needs a high-leverage reliever?

Can he call on Reed Garrett? Sometimes yes, sometimes, well …

Ryne Stanek? Same answer but more so.

Ryan Helsley? Eek.

It seems that, to make the playoffs and succeed once there, the Mets will need to get creative in filling this important role. The team has not yet decided on a course of action, but is busy evaluating several options.

On Tuesday, we asked president of baseball operations David Stearns if he would consider his young pitchers (take Nolan McLean out of that mix; he looks more like a Game 1 starter). But what about Brandon Sproat? Jonah Tong?

And for that matter, veterans Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes?

"I wouldn't take any of that off the table right now," Stearns said. "I think we are, with 12 games left in our season, going to do what we need to do to win as many games as possible. And if that means asking pitchers to take on slightly different roles for various turns through our rotation, that's what we're going to do."

Holmes was a late-inning reliever for the Yankees during that team’s World Series run last year. Wouldn’t that make him the most logical choice?

"It's still a transition for him, Stearns said. "I mean, he has the experience from the past, but it's still a transition for him to do that. So I think it's as much of what the matchups say, who we're facing, how the rest of the pitching staff as a group is performing, and then holistically, trying to make the best decisions we possibly can."

That answer provided a subtle reminder that Stearns and his group tend to prefer high-end, swing-and-miss stuff and specific matchups to a factor like Holmes’ bullpen experience.

Sproat and Tong have those qualities, but carry risks of their own. Neither has yet proven himself to be big league ready. Sproat struggled in a brief bullpen experiment in Triple-A, though in a tiny sample size. It’s still possible that the Mets will want him to start postseason games.

Tong has one more chance to prove he belongs in the big leagues this year, period. His stuff bursts with the type of potential that the Mets love, but so far his sequencing and command appear in need of further development. The Mets knew that Tong was the least polished of the three rookie pitchers recently promoted.

Senga is such a creature of routine that he might find it difficult to come out of the pen. He is simply trying to salvage his season by working on his mechanics in Triple-A. Mets brass genuinely has no idea if or how it might be able to use Senga this year.

Holmes, for his part, thrived on Tuesday as the first pitcher in a piggyback with Sean Manaea. His next assignment will come this weekend in a similar arrangement, though he might be the one to come out of the bullpen this time.

As for the short relief, mid-inning role that the Mets need, Holmes' sinker does present concerns because it induces contact. The Mets‘ defense is not strong enough to reliably convert contact into outs.

One other option, Triple-A reliever Dylan Ross, is a real possibility to get a tryout this month.

Justin Verlander continues ‘remarkable' stretch in Giants' win over Diamondbacks originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 42-year-old’s still got it.

Future Baseball Hall of Famer Justin Verlander continued his nostalgic stretch of pitching excellence and helped snap the Giants’ four-game skid in their 5-1 extra-innings win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

San Francisco’s right-handed starter tossed seven scoreless innings at Chase Field, allowing just three hits with three strikeouts and two walks over 107 pitches. Verlander favored his four-seam fastball and slider, tossing the former 49 times and the latter 28 times.

“Clearly, [I] was feeling up the zone with my slider,” Verlander told reporters postgame. “We had a long game yesterday with a lot of guys throwing in the bullpen, so I didn’t really want to mess around too much and be too out of zone. I wanted to try to get deep in the game … just get on and get out. 

“So that was kind of my game plan, to be really aggressive in the zone and try to get deep into the game.”

The Giants used five pitchers in Tuesday’s loss to the Diamondbacks. Verlander knew his team, eyeing the New York Mets and the National League’s third and final wild-card spot, needed him to deliver once again — and the 20-year veteran sure did.

Verlander has been on a tear over his last 11 games. In that span, he has posted a 2.17 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, .211 opposing batting average, 60 strikeouts and a 3-2 record.

Everyone say "Thank you, Justin Verlander" pic.twitter.com/vHZZGrmKFM

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 17, 2025

The impressive Wednesday showing didn’t result in a win because the Giants couldn’t muster a hit until Verlander’s seventh and final inning. However, San Francisco’s extra-inning rally prevented its starter’s brilliance from going to waste.

Outfielder Jerar Encarnación hit a single off right-handed Diamondbacks reliever John Curtiss to kick off a five-run 11th inning, with second baseman Christian Koss hitting what ultimately was the game-winning two-run double three pitches later. 

Encarnación gives the Giants the lead in extras 🙌 pic.twitter.com/UqtN6hirrp

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 17, 2025

Koss extends the Giants' lead in the 11th 👏 pic.twitter.com/U1EXOdi4g4

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 17, 2025

Right fielder Grant McCray and first baseman Rafael Devers provided extra insurance with key knocks.

“It’s huge,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of the win. “I mean, [we] certainly didn’t feel good there for a while … Being able to push through in the end — I mean, [there have been] times this year that’s when we’ve done our best work, late in the game off relievers; happened today, but it all started with JV again.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t get him a win. … To be pitching this well late in the season with as much under his belt, it’s pretty remarkable.”

Verlander didn’t get the victory, but the Giants and their five hits did.

San Francisco, now 76-76, trails New York (78-73) by 2.5 games for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot. The Cincinnati Reds (76-76 with the tiebreaker) and Diamondbacks (77-76) still are in the way of the Giants’ postseason hopes, too.

Needed that win ‼️ pic.twitter.com/PLHMSKGic5

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 17, 2025

The Giants entered Wednesday losers of four straight and seven of their last 10. But Verlander’s electricity bought San Francisco more time — against the Diamondbacks and for the rest of the 2025 MLB season.

“He’s pitching with a lot of confidence, knowing that we need him,” Melvin said. “And guys like that step up when you need them.”

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Shohei Ohtani said he is prepared to make a six-inning start in October. He said he is open to pitching out of the bullpen, even if remaining in the game after a relief appearance might require him to play in the outfield.

His unspoken reasons for wanting to do so are obvious: The Dodgers are terrible.

They aren’t terrible compared to the Colorado Rockies or Chicago White Sox, but they’re terrible for a team with the most expensive roster in baseball.

They’re terrible for a team with ambitions to repeat as World Series champions.

They’re terrible enough that Ohtani is sounding how he did when he played for the Angels.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani is removed after five no-hit innings, then Dodgers' bullpen collapses in loss

Ironically, he signed with the Dodgers so that he wouldn’t have to be in this situation again. But here he is, sounding as if he thinks he has to do everything by himself.

The Dodgers have failed him.

Ohtani came up with the idea to defer the majority of his $700-million contract until after he retires, wanting the Dodgers to spend that money to build super teams around him. The Dodgers won a World Series last year, but the good times could already be over.

Instead of building another championship team, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman constructed an all-time clunker. Instead of creating a 120-win juggernaut on which Ohtani would be able to have his cake and eat it too, the Dodgers have placed him in a predicament in which he could have to decide between prioritizing either the upcoming postseason or his pitching future.

Winning the World Series again with Ohtani on rehabilitation mode will be extremely difficult for these Dodgers, if not downright impossible. Their 9-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night explained why, their bullpen imploding once again to waste another did-that-really-happen performance by Ohtani. At this point, their bullpen might as well be renamed the Nine Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

With Ohtani still in his first season pitching after his second Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers have limited his starts to five innings. That was the plan again on Tuesday, and five no-hit innings by Ohtani wasn’t about to make manager Dave Roberts stray from an organizational directive.

Removing Ohtani was a health decision, not a baseball decision.

However, by sticking to the plan, Roberts was forced to reenact his nightly routine of juggling sticks of dynamite. This time the explosion was immediate, as Justin Wrobleski gave up five runs to turn a 4-0 lead into a 5-4 deficit.

Roberts was loudly booed when he walked to the mound to replace Wrobleski, but how could anyone blame the manager for deploying the hard-throwing left-hander, who was one of the team’s most dependable relievers? It’s not as if the next pitcher shut down the Phillies. Edgardo Henriquez also gave up a homer.

Ohtani’s 50th homer of the season sparked an eighth-inning, two-run rally for the Dodgers that leveled the score, 6-6. The comeback made what happened later all the more deflating. Blake Treinen allowed three runs, and the game was over.

To recap: Ohtani pitched five no-hit innings and blasted a dramatic eighth-inning homer, and the Dodgers still lost.

As much as he provided, it wasn’t enough, which is why he was asked after the game about what more he could do.

Ohtani will pitch as a starter in the postseason but when asked if he could also be deployed as a reliever to help the flailing bullpen, he replied, “I’ve had different conversations with different people, and of course that’s come up.”

That’s when Ohtani presented a novel idea about how the Dodgers could use him.

“As a player, if I’m told to go somewhere, I want to be prepared to do so,” he said. “That’s on the mound and perhaps even in the outfield.”

The outfield?

Under baseball’s current rules, if Ohtani starts a game as a pitcher and is replaced on the mound, he could continue playing as a designated hitter. However, if he starts the game as a DH and pitches out of the bullpen, the Dodgers would lose the DH once his relief appearance is over.

Playing in the outfield would allow the Dodgers to use Ohtani as a reliever and keep his bat in their lineup after.

Told of what Ohtani said, Roberts replied, “He’s a great teammate. He wants to help us win a championship. So I’m all about it.”

Read more:Plaschke: Dodgers are blowing their bye, and hopes for deep playoff run, thanks to familiar issue

Roberts looked delighted.

Of course he did. Any inning pitched by Ohtani is an inning not pitched by one of the Dodgers’ relievers. Any at-bat taken by Ohtani is an at-bat not taken by one of the team’s inconsistent hitters.

Ohtani and the Dodgers will soon have to make a major decision.

The organization can’t remain cautious with Ohtani and make a legitimate effort to retain their crown. They’re not good enough to do both. They will have to choose one or the other.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Mets continue a three-game series against the Padres at Citi Field on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...

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Mets Notes

• Juan Soto is hitting .299/.430/.657 with 15 home runs, 35 RBI, 37 runs scored, and 15 stolen bases in 172 plate appearances over his last 37 games dating back to Aug. 6
• The Mets enter play with a 1.5 game lead over the Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League
• David Peterson was solid in his last start, limiting the Phillies to three runs in 5.0 innings while striking out eight

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What channel is SNY?

Check your TV or streaming provider's website or channel finder to find your local listings.

How can I stream the game?

The new way to stream SNY games is via the MLB App or MLB.tv. Streaming on the SNY App has been discontinued.

In order to stream games in SNY’s regional territory, you will need to have SNY as part of your TV package (cable or streaming), or you can now purchase an in-market SNY subscription package. Both ways will allow fans to watch the Mets on their computer, tablet or mobile phone. 

How can I watch the game on my computer via MLB? 

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MLB App access is included for FREE with SNY. To access SNY on your favorite supported Apple or Android mobile device, please follow the steps below.  

• Download the free MLB App.

• Open “MLB” and tap on “Subscriber Login” for Apple Devices or “Sign in with MLB.com” for Android Devices. 

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For more information on how to stream Mets games on SNY, please click here.

With 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to hold off a handful of teams for the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 17...

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Mets: 78-73, 1.5 games up on Diamondbacks for third Wild Card

Next up: vs. Padres, Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY (David Peterson vs. Nick Pivetta)
Latest result: 8-3 win over Padres on Tuesday
Remaining schedule: 2 vs. SD, 3 vs. WSH, 3 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA
Odds to make playoffs: 85.7 percent
*Mets hold tiebreaker over Giants by virtue of winning the season series, while Reds hold tiebreaker over Mets. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks is TBD, and will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series

Diamondbacks: 77-75, 1.5 games back of Mets

Next up: vs. Giants, Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. (Brandon Pfaadtvs. Justin Verlander)
Latest result: 6-5 win over Giants on Tuesday
Remaining schedule: 1 vs. SF, 3 vs. PHI, 3 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD
Odds to make playoffs: 9.7 percent

Giants: 75-76, 3.0 games back of Mets 

Next up: @ Diamondbacks, Wednesday at 3:40 p.m.(Justin Verlander vs. Brandon Pfaadt)
Latest result: 6-5 loss to Diamondbacks on Tuesday
Remaining schedule: 1 @ ARI, 4 @ LAD, 3 vs. STL, 3 vs. COL
Odds to make playoffs: 1.8 percent

Reds: 75-76, 3.0 games back of Mets

Next up: @ Cardinals, Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. (Brady Singer vs. Andre Pallante)
Latest result: 3-0 loss to Cardinals on Tuesday
Remaining schedule: 1 @ STL, 4 vs. CHC, 3 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL
Odds to make playoffs: 3.0 percent