Category: Baseball

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes that the Texas Rangers finally succumbed to working with a threadbare pitching staff in a season finale loss that left no doubt that there would be no October baseball.

Jeff Wilson writes that the Rangers went 2-4 in their final two series of the year against two teams with losing records to drop the American League West by a game.

Kennedi Landry writes that the Rangers are disappointed with their play this season as they missed the postseason for a third straight year.

Evan Grant writes that, despite being in the worst division in history, it was the big guys who didn’t show up for Texas in the end.

ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle writes that Jacob Latz establishing himself as a contributing big leaguer can be taken as a silver lining for the Rangers in 2026.

And, Bob Nightengale notes that former Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has dropped out of the running for the top decision-making job with the erstwhile Oakland Athletics. Considering the level of talent they deployed in their 9-0 series finale loss to Houston, I can’t say I blame him.

Have a nice day!

The Phillies and the Braves appear to be postseason-linked in the same way that Martin Perez and I are — perhaps not inextricably, but… annoyingly? Yeah, that’s the right adverb.

On the plus side for the Braves, the Phillies are neither particularly good, nor did they really get a chance to set things up for a playoff round. Among the four possible teams the Braves could have conceivably faced in the first round, the Phillies are:

• Last in position player value (26th overall);
• First in pitching value (second overall); and
• Have less combined fWAR (35.7) than the Cubs have position player fWAR (37.8). The Padres are about three wins ahead in terms of fWAR, and the Cubs nine wins ahead, but the Diamondbacks finished about three wins behind. (I would’ve preferred to play the Diamondbacks.)

The Braves dominated the Phillies this year, but the Braves are also aren’t very good on paper (+5.4 position player fWAR, -8.2 pitching fWAR), and a lot of that split in record occurred because these two teams played seven of their 13 games when the Phillies were foundering and the Braves were destroying all (baseball) life on earth during the first two months of the season. So, eh.

The other consideration has to do with the narrative. In 2022, the Braves finished with 14 more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 11-8 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one. In 2023, the Braves finished with 14 more -in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 8-5 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one.

In 2026, the Braves finished with six more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 9-4 against them during season, and… I dunno.

In reality, there’s not too much be drawn from whatever happens in a best-of-three, especially when these two teams aren’t really even all that different. But, it’d probably be less of a weight on my soul if there wasn’t even the opportunity for people to draw a line through three, instead of two, points of anecdata and present as incontrovertible proof of… something. Sure, the Braves could also pull off a pseudo-exorcism of a not-particularly-real demon by just winning a coin flip-ish best-of-three, but I don’t think that’d be as gratifying as “bUiLt FoR oCtObEr” is annoying.

Anyway, what do you think — are you in the, “Yes, let’s play the Phillies!” camp, or somewhere else?

Game 162 doesn’t hit quite like it used to with the proliferation of Wild Card spots, but as long as there are still some stakes, it offers some excitement. Selfishly, I always prefer when the Yankees don’t have stakes and I can just neutrally watch the chaos, which is what yesterday at least partially offered — just with an unnecessarily long stay of execution waiting for a Yankees rain delay to officially turn to cancellation. The AL West Rock Fight between Houston and Texas came to its beautifully dumb, record-low conclusion, and there was still a Wild Card spot up for grabs in the Senior Circuit as well. Beyond that, it was a day of tune-ups.

So while Game 162, Here’s what went on among the final American League contenders.

Houston Astros (81-81) 9, The Athletics (64-98) 0

Well, we’ve reached the end of the long, dumb road of AL West baseball in 2026, where no one had a positive run differential. The Astros are your first .500 division champion in MLB history, beating out the 82-80 Padres of 2005 and the 82-79 Mets of 1973. Those Padres immediately got bounced in a Cardinals sweep, but those Mets upset the Big Red Machine and then took the dynasty Oakland A’s to Game 7 of the World Series, even holding a 3-2 series lead at one point. You just have to get in, and you never know! So while we’ve had our chuckles with this awful division in 2026, look: the Astros will home-field advantage over the overachieving White Sox in the Wild Card Series. If they get past them—which would be no great shock—then they only have to beat an 85-win Guardians team in the ALDS to go to the ALCS, and who knows what happens from there?

The franchise is a cockroach. It was delightful when Detroit dusted them in two in 2024 and when they missed the playoffs outright in 2025. But they’re not dead yet. Technically, they already knew that they were AL West champions a couple innings before the final out of this one because the Rangers lost first to clinch it, but as is probably evident by the score, their in-state rivals were rendered a nonfactor. It’s Houston’s eighth division title in the last decade.

Houston dropped four runs on A’s reliever Brady Brasso in the third, and a pair in the sixth and seventh all but put the champagne on ice. Christian Walker homered and was joined by Jeremy Peña, Yainer Diaz, and Cam Smith with multi-hit games. Yordan Alvarez fell short to Pete Alonso in his Triple Crown bid since the latter led the AL in homers (43) and RBI (113), but Yordan took home the batting crown with a .316. His 6.8 fWAR and 181 wRC+ will likely help him to an MVP as well come November.

Anyway, here’s the Astros celebrating in the A’s visitor batting cages because, well, their clubhouse is literally a minor-league clubhouse and there’s not enough room. That’s small potatoes compared to other things, but we must not be desensitized to the fact that John Fisher made this once-great franchise a joke.

Texas Rangers (80-82) 4, Minnesota Twins (77-85) 6

We’ll keep it snappy here since you already know the story. The Rangers never had a lead to make the Astros sweat at all in this one as offseason addition MacKenzie Gore looked gassed from the jump and cramping forced him out in the third. Chase Silseth gave up a two-run shot to Josh Bell and Minnesota kept the runs coming. They led 5-1 for a good chunk of this one, and though Elías Díaz hit a solo shot for Texas in the eighth, former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis went yard in what could be his final game with the Twins. And while Corey Seager went yard for a two runs in the ninth, Andrew Morris fanned Jake Burger and got Ezequiel Duran to fly out to put the Rangers to bed. Their championship 2023 was a high-water mark for the franchise, and yet it represents a true baseball anomaly, as that remains the only season in the past 10 in which they made the playoffs.

Boston Red Sox (87-75) 2, Chicago Cubs (89-73) 6

This game was relocated from Boston to St. Petersburg due to the nor’easter, and the assumption was that they would have to play it because there were NL Wild Card stakes for Chicago. As it turned out, the Cubs were already locked into the No. 5 seed by Saturday night, so they just had to play a meaningless game at the Trop because, well, they were there already, might as well scrimmage?

If anyone was happy about the situation, it was Alex Bregman because he hadn’t had many reps since returning from a scary facial fracture. Bregman clobbered a pair of homers to give Chicago a 3-2 lead by the third, and there the score remained until the ninth, when the former Red Sox third baseman was at it again. An RBI double marked his fourth hit and RBI of the afternoon, and two more runs scored. Unsurprisingly, none of Boston’s primary cast of characters from the pitching staff appeared in this one as they rest up for Tuesday in the Bronx.

Tampa Bay Rays (98-64) 3, Philadelphia Phillies (88-74) 7

The Phillies did their best 1964 Phold impression over the past couple weeks with 10 losses in their last 15 games entering Sunday and four in a row to keep the Wild Card-contending Diamondbacks alive heading into Game 162. They should have clinched days ago! But they kept putting up duds, even against a Rays team that didn’t have anything to play for outside of staying healthy as they await their Division Series for next weekend.

The Phils finally (phinally?) got it together on Sunday with old standby Zack Wheeler on the bump. He fired six innings of one-run ball while his offense woke up after days of malaise, scoring four in the first two innings off Nick Martinez with the last two on an emphatic two-run Kyle Schwarber double. Three more scored against Jesse Scholtens, two on homers by Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa. Starter Jesús Luzardo also returned from the IL and contributed a scoreless inning in relief. The party was on at Citizens Bank Park, and like Houston, they rendered their foe’s final score irrelevant (Arizona lost to San Diego shortly after this one went final anyway). They’ll go down to Atlanta and face the Braves in what couldbe another great playoff series between these division rivals; the winner there draws the tough task of dethroning the two-time defending champions in LA.

Cleveland Guardians (85-77) 2, Kansas City Royals (68-94) 3

After clinching the AL Central and a first-round bye on Saturday, the Guardians got to sit in cruise control on Sunday, rest regulars, and make sure no one got hurt. Mission accomplished in Game 162, an unimportant loss in Kansas City. Jo Adell and Daniel Schneemann both homered and likely Game 1 or 2 playoff starter Parker Messick threw three good innings before departing. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a pair of dingers off Austin Peterson to secure the win for the Royals, with his eighth-inning shot putting them ahead at the end of a tough season.

Chicago White Sox (84-78) 4, Colorado Rockies (58-104) 2

The Pale Hose didn’t have much to play for on Sunday either, but they still won because hey, the Royals are bad, but the Rockies are the worst team in baseball and will have the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick in 2027 come Draft Lottery time. Speaking of, remember how the White Sox had the No. 1 overall pick this year? It’s still wild that they are already in the playoffs, even in this unimpressive expanded field. They end the year with a 24-win improvement that would’ve impressed almost anyone anyway. Randal Grichuk and Brenton Doyle both homered to give them the win on Sunday.

The White Sox finished with a record three games better than the Astros, but because seeding rules are seeding rules, they will have to win two out of three in Houston to advance to the Division Series and a date with Cleveland.

The Playoff Field

With the 2026 season officially behind us, Camden Chat will spend the next several weeks reviewing the performances of some of the Orioles’ most prominent players this year.

But before that, let’s pour one out for all the non-prominent players who made an appearance for the 2026 Orioles. The blink-and-you-missed-them, “wait, that guy was an Oriole?” kind of roster fillers who spent only a couple of weeks — or days — with the club before vanishing into the ether.

The Orioles used 60 different players this season, an almost paltry number compared to a year ago when they set an MLB record with 70 (which was broken days later when the Braves used their 71st). So here’s a quick look at the members of the 2026 Orioles who didn’t play enough, made too little of an impact, or just were too darn forgettable to merit an individual post in our upcoming series.

The injury-stricken veterans

For a second straight year, injuries were a key factor in the Orioles’ underperformance. Quite a few players that the O’s were counting on to contribute ended up missing significant time. And one of the cruelest blows came in the first week of the season, when Zach Eflin — who’d made an outstanding return from 2025 back surgery, dazzled in spring training, and won a rotation spot — left his season debut with elbow soreness and was forced to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery after just 3.2 innings of work. For that to happen after he’d battled so hard to come back, you have to feel for the guy. The Orioles might have interest in re-signing Eflin, who should be ready to return sometime early next season.

Also suffering an all-too-early injury was Ryan Mountcastle, the second-longest tenured Oriole (he debuted a week after Keegan Akin in 2020). It was a surprise when the O’s brought back Mountcastle for a $6.7 million deal instead of non-tendering him last offseason, and he was an even worse fit once the Orioles signed Pete Alonso, but the idea was that Mountcastle could serve as a right-handed power bat against lefties. In just his 15th plate appearance, Mountcastle broke his foot while running the bases in April, then strained his oblique while preparing to rehab in July. He never returned, and that’s likely the end of his seven-year tenure in Baltimore.

One guy who did return, quite unexpectedly, was Félix Bautista, whose torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in Aug. 2025 were expected to sideline him for the entire 2026 season. The big right-hander worked his way back in late September, albeit after the O’s were out of contention, and gave up three runs in two appearances. His velocity was noticeably down, but maybe having a full offseason will help him come back stronger in 2027. We can only hope.

The random relievers

The Orioles’ Opening Day bullpen included a number of unheralded names. Two of them didn’t last long. The 35-year-old lefty Dietrich Enns, who’d pitched well down the stretch for the Orioles the previous season, issued 11 walks in 16 innings and was banished to Triple-A. He continued to pitch so poorly with Norfolk — a 6.13 ERA in 31 games — that the O’s never brought him back. And right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo was dreadful, coughing up nine runs and 10 walks in 9.1 innings in three stints in the majors.

Anyone remember Lou Trivino? The veteran righty pitched twice, was bombed for six runs, and then returned to the Phillies from whence he came. Lefty Nick Raquet made four appearances; righty Jose Espada made one. And the O’s employed not one but two right-handers named Cameron: Cameron Foster, part of the Gregory Soto trade return, pitched six uninspiring games, and Cameron Weston tossed a scoreless inning in his major league debut before the Mets claimed him on waivers.

The hapless fill-in catchers

When Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo weren’t behind the plate this year, boy, did things get ugly. We’re going to have a separate post about the disaster that was Carlos Narváez, but a few others also tried their hand, with terrible results. Who could forget the painful experience of watching Sam Huff step to the plate? He had the swing of someone who had never held a baseball bat before. The O’s also brought back Chadwick Tromp for a second straight season, but jettisoned him after he went 3-for-24.

Third catcher Yohel Pozo brought good vibes to the Orioles but spent most of his time glued to the bench. He appeared in only 16 of the Orioles’ 51 games in August and September. We’ll toss Maverick Handley into this category even though he never actually caught an inning for the Orioles this year, making one pinch-hit appearance before the O’s waived him. And the Orioles briefly brought in longtime Tiger Jake Rogers to help their catching situation, but then threw him into the Rutschman trade with Boston after just three games. Rogers ended up playing with four different teams in less than two weeks.

The bench (lack of) depth

The Orioles’ obsession with stockpiling right-handed outfielders for the bench, presumably to match up against opposing southpaws, had one tiny flaw: none of them could actually hit. Rece Hinds may have cemented his status as one of the worst short-term Orioles in history with a truly galling final game last Friday in which he struck out in all five at-bats and committed multiple misplays in the outfield. You can’t make this stuff up. Hinds was 5-for-28 as an Oriole, and if you include his stints with the Reds and Marlins, he was 2-for-28 against lefties. Seriously, do the O’s even know how to check platoon splits? They’re right there on Baseball Reference.

Also failing to deliver against lefties was rookie Christian Franklin, acquired at the trade deadline from the Nationals. His .180 overall batting average in 21 games was bad enough; his .167 mark against southpaws was worse. The Orioles did finally acquire a guy who might’ve helped against lefties, veteran Luis Robert Jr., only for him to get injured after just three games. Their $3 million gamble in claiming him on waivers was a bust.

Long before those guys came along, the first-half Orioles tried their luck with utility man Weston Wilson, who played 19 games and even made three mop-up pitching appearances. He spent the rest of the season with the Mariners, where he was an even worse hitter (and pitched once more, for old time’s sake). But perhaps the most bizarre experiment was that of Johnathan Rodríguez, a marginal minor league hitter whom the Orioles immediately installed as their cleanup hitter on three different occasions. You’ll never believe this, but the O’s lost all three games.

Poor Heston Kjerstad clearly has no future in this organization. The O’s left him in Triple-A almost all season, then went out of their way not to play him once they finally called him up in September. He got just 19 at-bats, with four hits, and could become a 40-man roster casualty this winter.

Three other position players appeared in just one or two games each. Pop quiz! See if you can match these first names — Luis, José, and Michael — to these last names: Barrero, Siani, and Vázquez. Give up? Me too.

Some of the players discussed in this article might find their way back to an Orioles roster in the future. Most of them we’ll never see again. They won’t be missed.

Happy Monday, everyone, though it is a bittersweet one as it is the first Monday of the offseason for Tigers fans. While the postseason will get into gear this week, the Tigers played their final games of the year over the weekend, and even those were a bit of a bummer. Thankfully, the festivities of saying goodbye to one of the greatest Tigers of all time helped create an atmosphere of happiness at the park as fans had an opportunity to send off Justin Verlander and cry a few tears in the process. It was a lovely weekend that reminds us all of the beauty of this game.

We’ll cover the highlights of the weekend in a different post, so here we’ll touch on some broader baseball topics like the first offseason managerial cuts, some previews of the postseason, and looking at what might have been the final game of another old friend, Max Scherzer.

Let’s just jump right into it.

Detroit Tigers News

• Cody Stavenhagen reports on the touching moment when Justin Verlander’s daughter Genevieve, came out to relieve him in his final outing. Of his emotional final weekend, his wife Kate Upton—who worked alongside manager AJ Hinch to coordinate that tear-jerker last moment, said this of Detroit and Tigers’ fans:

“I’m just so grateful for the city and to the fans who love him almost as much as I do.”

• The Tigers had a heartfelt message for fans after a pretty uneven season.

• Our obvious pick to win AL Rookie of the Year.

• The little girl who invented the iconic McGonigoggles got to throw out the final first pitch of the season.

MLB News

• Why does ZiPS seem to hate the Brewers?
• Dan Wilson is the first of the “offseason” managerial cuts and will not be returning to the Mariners next year.
• Looking at the weakest positions on the remaining NL contenders.
• Steven Kwan is bouncing back in a major way for the Guardians.
• Why scouting still matters in the analytics and data era.
• Pete Alonso becomes the first player to win RBI titles in both leagues.
• The Phillies had to get through quite a week to punch their ticket to the postseason.
• If this was Max Scherzer’s final game of his career, he went out on a high note.
• A final look at the regular season stat leaders.
• The Dodgers ended their season with 100 wins, but is Shohei Ohtani going to be ready for the postseason?
• Ranking the lineups of the remaining playoff-contending teams. And we can’t forget the pitching.
• Some of the key takeaways from the 2026 regular season.
• Giants’ manager Tony Vitello reached an MLB-high seven ejections by the final game of the season.
• ESPN’s Postseason Preview.
• Colson Montgomery would rather focus on the “positives” instead of being reminded that he set the record for batter strikeouts this season.
• For the first time in club history the Brewers have elected a team captain, and it will be Christian Yelich. ($)
• A postseason power ranking. ($)
• A revival of the musical “Damn Yankees” is heading to Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris and… the Orioles?

• This is not a good idea.

• Pope Leo playing it coy when asked if he offered a little divine intervention for the White Sox this season.

The regular season is over, the playoff matchups are set, and now the excitement really begins.

Get ready for October baseball as MLB's postseason kicks off with wild card quadrupleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Even though those games are being played in September.)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have their sights set on a third consecutive World Series championship, a feat last accomplished by the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. But there are several other worthy challengers looking to knock them off.

The Milwaukee Brewers had the best regular-season record in the majors at 103-59, followed by the Dodgers at 100-62 and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL at 98-64. But as we all know, anything can happen in the playoffs.

Meet the Mets

The Mets played their final game of the 2026 season, putting an end to a team we’ve grown to dislike in various ways and will end up missing as the days and weeks of the offseason pass.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic

Francisco Lindor connected, at long last, for his 300th career home run and in the process became the first shortstop in major league history to reach the 300 home run/200 steal plateau and the second switch hitter.

Nothing will be set in stone until after the World Series ends, but Bo Bichette can at least envision himself coming back to the Mets for the second year of his contract.

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the NL Rookie of the Year Award was going to Sal Stewart. Did Carson Benge do enough to swoop in and claim it for himself?

The sole benefit of the Mets being as dreadful as they were, the team’s increased draft lottery odds won’t get to pay off until at least the end of the lockout or, perhaps, never.

Around the National League East

They went right up to the edge of having one of the worst collapses in the history of baseball, but a Diamondbacks loss and a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays has sent the Phillies to the Wild Card to face off with Atlanta.

Jesus Luzardo made his return to the team after three weeks on the sidelines with shoulder inflammation and threw four pitches along with assuring the team he is ready for whatever they need him for in the playoffs.

Ending up just a game under .500, Sandy Alcantara threw the first pitch of the season in March and the final pitch of the season yesterday as the Marlins said goodbye to 2026 with a 5-3 win over the division champion Braves.

Around Major League Baseball

With all playoff spots clinched and the regular season finished, MLB announced the dates and times for the AL and NL Wild Card series.

Now that regular season analysis has come and gone, it’s time for postseason analysis!

He didnt’ quite catch Justin Verlander in career strikeouts, but Max Scherzer went seven innings, struck out seven, and got to yell at his manager one more time in what may be the final start of his Hall of Fame career.

Earlier in the same game, George Springer played his final game of the six-year contract the Blue Jays gave him after 2020 and left to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Old Friend Pete Alonso is the first player in Major League Baseball history to lead both the National League and the American League in RBIs in different seasons.

Setting whatever the opposite of a new standard is, the Houston Astros eclipsed the Rangers and finished their .500 season as the worst team in Major League Baseball history to win their division.

Jacob Misiorowski ended his obvious Cy Young season with some of the best rate stats that we’ve seen since prime Pedro Martinez.

As the Boston Red Sox went to Tropicana Field to finish their season away from the rainy northeast, the Yankees simply canceled their Sunday afternoon game against the Orioles, ending their season at 161 games.

With their win over the Giants, Dave Roberts won 100 games for the sixth time as manager of the Dodgers, putting him one more triple-digit-win season away from being the first manager to even preside over seven such seasons.

At two points on Sunday, Dan Wilson announced that he would not be returning as manager of the Seattle Mariners in 2027 and the team announced that he would not be returning as manager in 2027.

This Date in Mets History

On this date 18 years ago, Shea Stadium closed its doors for good.

This Milwaukee Brewers team is different.

I know people have been saying that for a couple of years now, but I really think this year is different.

This team does the little things. They play solid defense. They rarely make mental mistakes. They score runs and don’t rely on the long ball. They’re disciplined, both by themselves and by Pat Murphy, who has, on more than one occasion, benched a player for not showing hustle.

Rather than analyzing the team over the last 162 games, we can just look at this weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals.

The “why the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers can win the World Series” discussion begins even before Friday’s series opener against St. Louis. Just before the game, the team was forced to place first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the injured list due to illness. Shortstop Cooper Pratt was also scratched from the lineup, as a banged-up Joey Ortiz had to replace him.

Now, Vaughn and Pratt are by no means the leaders of this team, but they’re key pieces nonetheless. But here’s the thing about the Brewers — they’re built for absences like those. More on that later.

Looking at the first inning of Friday’s game, William Contreras — who was pulled late in Thursday’s game against Philadelphia after not hustling out of the box on a botched grounder — hit a grounder into the hole at short and slid into first base. Not only did he slide, but he slid headfirst. Any baseball person will tell you sliding into first is a big no-no, but here’s the thing — Murphy liked it.

It’s not often you see that kind of buy-in from a star player after he’s been benched. I would argue, rather, that most star players would have a negative reaction, especially at the major league level. But Murphy has proven over the last three seasons that he doesn’t care if you’re in your MLB debut or in your 13th season in the majors — you better be hustling and bringing your A-game.

Fast forward to the eighth inning of Friday’s game, and you’ll see another example of why this team is different. Remember how Pratt was scratched from the lineup and Ortiz had to replace him? Well, Ortiz looked a bit rough throughout the game (even while going 2-for-3 with a walk), and he was pulled in a 4-4 tie game. Pratt, who probably didn’t feel the greatest, took over, and while he grounded into a double play in his lone at-bat, the fact that he was able to come off the bench at all is a testament to this team’s depth and “next man up” mentality.

Speaking of next man up, in the bottom of that same eighth inning, with the game still tied at four runs apiece, here’s how the Brewers rallied:

Jackson Chourio single
David Hamilton hit by pitch
Garrett Mitchell sac bunt (reaches on error)
Brice Turang two-run single
William Contreras one-run single
Jake Bauers sac fly
Christian Yelich walk
Pratt double play

How about that? Three hits — all of them singles — but four runs on the board. For most teams, that would be a strange inning, but for the Brewers, that’s basically an everyday occurrence. They finished the season with the third-best OPS in baseball (.744) and scored the second-most runs (832), and yet they had just 154 homers, ranking tied for 28th in the league (and just two ahead of the Blue Jays, who had an MLB-worst 152 homers). That’s insane.

Let’s jump to Saturday now.

Ahead of the second game, the Brewers named Christian Yelich team captain, the first time in franchise history Milwaukee has had a captain. Why? Because this team is different. There are several players who one could argue were deserving earlier in franchise history — Robin Yount and Ryan Braun are the first two that come to mind. But Yelich, who is in his ninth season with Milwaukee, is the first one to get that honorary “C” on his chest. And he deserves it, too.

In the game itself, Dustin May got the start, and he didn’t look great, going three innings with two runs allowed on three hits and a walk. But here’s where the next part of our “why the Brewers can win the World Series” argument comes in — Murphy then gave Kyle Harrison another chance.

Harrison can only be described as dismal since late August. Entering Saturday, his last six appearances (three starts) totaled 9 1/3 innings, allowing 25 runs (22 earned) on 31 hits, nine walks, and two hit batters while striking out 10. But Murphy, who clearly hasn’t fully settled his postseason pitching staff yet, continues to give the young lefty chances. And Harrison delivered.

Harrison went two scoreless innings, throwing 20 of 29 pitches for strikes and allowing just one baserunner via a hit by pitch. He struck out four to earn his 11th win of the season and first since August 18.

The lesson here is similar to the one about Pratt above — that “next man up” mentality is exactly what a team looking to win the World Series needs, and Murphy’s faith in his guys is just the cherry on top.

Then, in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game, Turang launched his 21st homer of the season, bringing in Chourio and giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead they would hold onto for the rest of the evening. Remember how I said the Brewers don’t hit lots of homers? Well, they still have a couple of home run threats — Turang, Chourio, Bauers, to name just a few — and there’s always a time and place for homers. Half of the battle in the postseason is delivering in clutch moments, and the Brewers have guys who can hit both singles and homers, meaning they’re ready for any situation. That’s something the rest of this postseason field might not bring to the table.

OK, last piece of the puzzle: Sunday’s game.

This is perhaps the biggest reason why the Brewers have what it takes to win a World Series: the monster that is Jacob Misiorowski.

Misiorowski went 5 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday’s regular-season finale, wrapping up what is almost certainly an NL Cy Young-winning campaign. He finished the year among league leaders in virtually every category, including at the top of the leaderboard in strikeouts (252), ERA (1.80), WHIP (0.80), and batting average against (.157). He also drastically dropped his walk rate from a year ago, going from 4.23 BB/9 to 2.27 BB/9.

Lastly, late in Sunday’s game, Chad Patrick was struggling to maintain what was an early 6-0 lead. He entered to pitch the eighth and recorded just one out, allowing two walks and two hits, including a three-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4.

What do the Brewers have a lot of that many other teams don’t? Reliable length arms that can lock things down when other guys get in trouble.

Shane Drohan came in and pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing no baserunners and recording a pair of strikeouts for his second save of the year. In fact, the Brewers had five wins this week, four of which had a save credited to them. Know how many different players got a save? Four. The usual closer, Trevor Megill, Drohan, Antonio Senzatela, and Aaron Ashby. For the season, 10 players had at least one save, and seven players had multiple. MLB bullpens only carry eight arms. That’s a well-balanced bullpen.

This weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals is a microcosm of the 2026 Brewers season as a whole. The Crew is balanced, hungry, and ready to win. They have several players who are in the very early stages of what are hopefully long careers — Pratt, Chourio, Luis Lara, Logan Henderson, Misiorowski, etc. — but they also have veteran leadership in the form of Yelich, May, Senzatela, JoJo Romero, and Brandon Woodruff, who you may have forgotten is still in that clubhouse, even if he isn’t on the field.

This Brewers team can win the World Series. Now let’s see if they can make it happen.

The 2026 season is over and the next step for the Braves could not be more familiar and perhaps appropriate. The Braves will host their division rival, the Phillies, for a best of three Wild Card round setup at Truist Park this week. Both Tuesday and Wednesday games will occur at just after 2PM Eastern, with Thursday’s game to be determined (if necessary). For many reasons, it will certainly be an exciting atmosphere in which the Braves will hopefully find quick and frequent success.

Braves News

Atlanta dropped the series and season finale to the Marlins 5-3 on Sunday. With their fate already determined, Atlanta mainly made sure to preserve health over the season’s final weekend.

Mark Bowman looks at a few key factors that came together over the final week of the season that could impact the Wild Card round for the Braves.

MLB News

Along with the Phillies, the Astros were the other team to finalize their playoff spot on the final day of the season by winning the NL West over the Rangers.

The Mariners had one of the more disappointing seasons in baseball this year. As a result, Dan Wilson will not return as manager in 2027.

Good morning! There is no baseball today. Normally that’s a sad phrase to read and write. But when you’re gearing up for the playoffs, a day of rest isn’t the worst thing in the world. Especially when you’re gearing up to face the Yankees in the playoffs.

Having said that, we can all acknowledge that these Sox-Yankees series don’t have quite the same bite that they used to. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The world is constantly changing. And the reason these series once felt so draining is that we used to be terrified of pinstripes. We used to watch with cosmic certainty that the Yankees would find a way to come out on top, no matter what.

Suffice it to say, that’s not the case anymore. I’m worried about the 2026 Yankees because they’re a good baseball team with a strong starting staff and they’re standing in between the Red Sox and the World Series. I am NOT worried about the 2026 Yankees because I’m convinced they are agents of Satan. Like I said, the world is constantly changing.

So how much do you really hate the Yankees today, and how have your emotions evolved?

Talk about the rivalry and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.

The Dodgers finished the regular season with an even 100 wins, after a sweep of the San Francisco Giants over the weekend at Oracle Park. It’s the sixth time the Dodgers have won in triple digits under manager Dave Roberts, along with 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

In the first 132 seasons in Dodgers franchise history, before Roberts, the club won 100 games six times — 1899, 1941, 1942, 1953, 1962, and 1974.

Forty-nine of those 100 wins in 2026 came on the road, including all three in San Francisco over the weekend coming with the Dodgers wearing their gray jerseys with “Dodgers” on the front. Here’s the breakdown of the Dodgers’ 2026 road performance, broken down by uniform choices:

The Dodgers’ next road game will be Tuesday, October 6 in either Atlanta or Philadelphia.

Links

James Tibbs III was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team and was in contention for league MVP after his stellar campaign, hitting .287/.409/.532 with 30 home runs, 32 doubles, 109 runs scored, 107 RBI, and 108 walks. He and outfielder Zach Ehrhard — both acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Dustin May at the 2025 trade deadline — were instrumental in guiding Oklahoma City to both a PCL championship and winning the Triple-A championship game on Saturday.

Tibbs spoke with Rob Terranova of MLB.com about his time so far with the Dodgers organization:

“They wouldn’t have traded for me if they didn’t believe in me,” he said. “And I’m just forever grateful for the people who helped me develop my game thus far. There’s so many biometrics and weight training involved, there’s no stone left unturned here. They really emphasize being an all-around player, and that means getting the most out of your swing, defense, baserunning and going into every at-bat with a plan. It just allows me to be confident in what I need to do to be successful.”

Clayton Kershaw will be part of the NBC Sports broadcast team for the wild card series between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs at Petco Park. Kershaw is an analyst along with Jim Deshaies and Mark Grant for the series, with Dave Flemming on play-by-play.

Old friend Kenley Jansen ended his season with the Detroit Tigers — his fourth team in six years since leaving the Dodgers — with 498 career saves, third on the all-time list. Jansen, who turns 39 on Thursday, talked with Julian McWilliams of CBS Sports about wanting to come back in 2027 to get his 500th save and beyond, and how Jansen’s perspective has changed since the death of his mother in 2025.

Good morning, baseball fans!

The 2026 San Francisco Giants season is officially over. For better, and mostly worse. I’ll have a lot more to say about this season as a whole in the coming days, as we all likely will, once the dust has settled.

But today, I wanted to check in and see what your initial reflections on this season are?

Personally, I feel relieved. I have loved this team since I was a child, and I have covered this team for 10 years and not one of those seasons has felt like such torture. On every front. Every part of this season has felt like misery to watch, write about, and I’m sure even to live for those involved in it.

So I am relieved. We are free of 2026 San Francisco Giants and I don’t know that I’ve ever been happier for a season to come to an end. That’s about all I’ve got at this point, so I’ll hand the metaphorical mic over to you guys.

What are your initial reflections on the 2026 season?

Welcome back to the Minor League Roundup!

As a reminder, you can find this roundup — covering… sorry, force of habit. With the Biloxi Shuckers’ loss in the third and final game of the Southern League Championship Series, the season is officially over for each of the Brewers’ affiliates, which means it’s time to take a look at what happened in the minors this season.

Notable Graduations: 23 starts into Logan Henderson’s career, he has yet to have a bad start. Henderson hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any given start in his entire career, which ties him with Zac Gallen for the record. His 0.844 WHIP is the lowest by a rookie starting pitcher (min. 50 innings) since Elmer Steele, who did it in 1908. No rookie has pitched as well as Henderson since a guy who made his major league debut for the Boston Americans. Hard to overstate just how incredible he’s been as a steady presence in a rotation that’s been beset by injuries and, at times, underperformance.

Other notable pitching prospects who graduated included Brandon Sproat, who flashed amazing stuff but will need to work on his control to become a viable major league starting pitcher, and Shane Drohan, who posted a 4.24 ERA and 1.34 WHIP through 123 innings this season. Despite having made his debut over two years ago now, Robert Gasser was still considered a prospect coming into the season, and he’s been an integral part of the rotation for much of the season. Recently, Gasser has seemed to flip a switch; since his emergency relief “start” on August 26, he’s put up a 1.67 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in 32 1/3 innings, bringing his ERA for the season down to 3.38.

Luis Lara came out hot this season, earning himself both a call-up and a contract extension by mid-summer. In 60 games with the Brewers, he’s only slashed .246/.313/.326, but his defense in right field has been stellar — one of the reasons he’s been worth 1.1 bWAR in less than three months. The other prospect to earn an extension was Cooper Pratt, who looks to be cementing himself as the shortstop of the future. Pratt is hitting .281 with a .716 OPS and has been worth 1.6 bWAR in 221 at-bats with Milwaukee.

Triple-A Nashville Sounds

Record: 80-69
Standout performances:

• OF Luis Lara: .321/.432/.470 in 287 at-bats
• 1B/3B Luke Adams: .259/.418/.509 in 212 at-bats
• 1B/OF Tyler Black: .246/.368/.387 in 354 at-bats
• RHP Coleman Crow: 105 1/3 IP (led Sounds), 3.59 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 102 K, 35 BB
• RHP Garrett Stallings: 82 IP, 3.95 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 78 K, 28 BB
• RHP Blake Holub: 55 2/3 IP, 2.10 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 66 K, 21 BB

Looking at Triple-A stats at the end of the year is always a bit weird because the best prospects (and a good number of the AAAA guys) usually don’t spend a ton of time at the level. It’s rare that a top prospect spends a full year raking in Triple-A; as with Lara, the organization usually will want to see whether said prospect can replicate their success in the majors.

With that being said, there’s still a lot worth mentioning out of Nashville. Luke Adams was ranked as a top-10 organizational prospect prior to last season, is still ranked at No. 13, and just posted an OPS well over .900 in 212 at-bats. He doesn’t have much more to prove in Triple-A, which theoretically would make him a candidate to make the big leagues next year.

The reason he’s not getting more love is that the Brewers are stacked with corner infielders and corner infield prospects. To illustrate my point: in some organizations, guys like Tyler Black (and maybe even Brock Wilken) would have gotten a real shot in the big leagues. Because the Brewers are as deep as they are, playing time is harder to come by. At the same time, Adams has hit at every level despite a somewhat unconventional swing (that has gotten more conventional in recent years) and just posted a career-high 16 home runs (13 in Triple-A). Should he get an opportunity — whether due to injuries or potential offseason moves — it won’t surprise me if he takes advantage of it.

Another player I’d like to see more of in the big leagues is Coleman Crow, who led Sounds starting pitchers in both ERA and innings pitched. In his brief time with Milwaukee, he impressed, and he reminds me a little bit of guys like Chad Patrick and Drohan who weren’t super highly-regarded prospects, but developed into dependable swingmen. Crow’s curveball also might be one of the best pitches in the entire organization. One thing worth mentioning is that, at 5’10”, 175 lbs, he’s a good deal smaller than Patrick and Drohan, and most pitchers — more Tim Lincecum-esque, if anything. Still, that hasn’t stopped him so far.

Garrett Stallings, who also pitched well in limited time with the Brewers, served as a dependable option for the Sounds. Guys who can show up in Milwaukee and pitch three scoreless innings out of the pen don’t grow on trees, so it speaks to the Brewers’ pitching depth that he’s a Triple-A arm. Also, he’s a great guy:

Blake Holub also deserves some love, as a 2.10 ERA in 55 2/3 innings out of the bullpen is nothing to sneeze at.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Jeferson Quero and Jett Williams, two top-10 organizational prospects coming into the season, both had somewhat disappointing years.

As signaled by the acquisition of Bo Naylor, Milwaukee seems to lack confidence in Quero’s arm being what it was prior to the labrum injury he suffered after his first at-bat of 2024. He started 48 games at catcher compared to 70 at designated hitter and by the end of the year was pretty much only a DH. Quero allowed 98 stolen bases in 116 attempts, or over two stolen bases per game, which works out to a pretty abysmal 15.5% caught-stealing rate.

Williams’ season also ended up looking less-than-ideal due to injuries, but there’s more cause for optimism with him. He had just one plate appearance since July 7 due to elbow and ankle injuries; in other words, he essentially missed the last three months of the season. Williams ended his season slashing .233/.340/.384 (.724 OPS) over 81 games; not a terrible line, but also not an improvement on his time with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate (.718 OPS). Still, he might have ended up in Milwaukee anyway had it not been for the injuries.

Double-A Biloxi Shuckers

Record: 66-68
Standout performances:

• 1B Blake Burke: .285/.367/.603, 30 HR in 375 at-bats
• 1B/3B Andrew Fischer: .254/.389/.637, 28 HR in 248 at-bats
• C Matthew Wood: .257/.398/.492, 18 HR in 303 at-bats
• LF Josh Adamczewski: .278/.382/.465 in 241 at-bats

Biloxi had a few mainstays — among them No. 1 overall prospect Jesús Made — but there was a good amount of roster reshuffling down in Mississippi, which explains why the Shuckers won their division in the first half but finished the second half under .500.

Still, despite finishing the full season with a losing record, the Shuckers had the most successful season of any Brewers affiliate. Their first-half division title guaranteed them a playoff berth, and they swept the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the best-of-three division series to earn a spot in the championship series against the Rocket City Trash Pandas, where they lost the decisive third game by two runs.

What made this team special? Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan said this year’s Shuckers were “probably the greatest collection of high-upside talent” he’d ever seen on one club. This season, Biloxi rostered baseball’s No. 1 prospect (Made), the minor league home run leader (Andrew Fischer), the Southern League MVP (Blake Burke), and all four finalists for the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year award.

Made spent the entire season as the Southern League’s youngest player and still hit .271/.344/.430 with 14 home runs, 37 steals, and 91 RBIs, breaking Jackson Chourio’s franchise record of 90. The underlying numbers are even better: a 10.2% walk rate and a 14.3% strikeout rate as a teenager in Double-A is ridiculous. No more ink needs to be spilled on him; he’s the No. 1 prospect in baseball for a reason. Hopefully fans will get to see him in Triple-A to start next season.

The refrain you’ll see with regard to Fischer is that he strikes out too much. That’s true — Fischer is the final boss of three-true-outcome prospects. If he makes the majors, he’ll be a rare case; Joey Gallo is pretty much the only player to strike out that much (33%) in the minors and become an established major leaguer, and even then, he didn’t last all that long.

Then again, Fischer also walked 102 times, hit 48 home runs (plus two more in the playoffs), and posted a 1.067 OPS in his first full professional season. His 48 regular-season home runs are the most by any minor leaguer since Ron Kittle hit 50 in 1982, and second only to Gorman Thomas (51 in 1974) among Brewers minor leaguers. He also led all qualified full-season minor leaguers in slugging (.654) and OPS. Maybe he’s just a unicorn? Nothing he’s done so far suggests that he isn’t…

Burke won Southern League MVP even though he was promoted to Nashville on August 10. Yeah, you read that right: Burke won MVP despite not being in the league the last month and a half of the season. In 96 games with Biloxi, he hit .285/.367/.603 with 30 home runs, leading the league in average, slugging, and OPS and setting Shuckers single-season records for homers and OPS. He needed only 88 games to reach 30 home runs, the fastest any Double-A hitter has done it since at least 2005. Burke also stole 29 bases and flashed the leather a few times at first base. I’m planting my flag: even though he struggled in Triple-A (.193/.299/.336 in 119 at-bats), I think Burke is the Brewers’ first baseman of the future.

Also of note: Made, Fischer, and catcher Darrien Miller were the three Shuckers sent to Nashville for the Brewers’ “stay ready” camp after the season ended, which is a nice little nod to how the organization views them.

Josh Adamczewski has raked everywhere he’s been, so it’s not necessarily a surprise that he had another great season. A 15th-round pick in 2023, he hit .331 with a 1.036 OPS for Wisconsin, got promoted in mid-June, and then hit safely in each of his first 12 games with Biloxi. He finished with a .278/.382/.465 line at Double-A and made the Southern League All-Star team. Across both levels, he hit .300/.417/.509 with 18 homers and 78 walks. Baseball America now has him at No. 88 overall, and he should be higher going into next season.

Matthew Wood also merits a mention. The 25-year-old catcher, a fourth-round pick out of Penn State in 2022, didn’t make the Brewers’ top 30 list heading into the season, but he was one of the Shuckers’ best players this year. Not only did he post an .890 OPS with 18 home runs, but he also kept hitting in the playoffs, homering and driving in four runs in the game that clinched the division series against Pensacola, then doubling in Game 1 of the championship series.

The obvious caveat is age. Twenty-five is on the older side for Double-A, so it’s fair to want to see him do it in Triple-A before getting too excited. Still, remember what I said about Quero? Milwaukee’s catching situation beyond next season is murkier than it’s been in a while, and a left-handed-hitting catcher whom scouts have long considered capable of sticking behind the plate is exactly the kind of player who could sneak into the picture.

On the mound, Manuel Rodríguez was the Shuckers’ workhorse. The 21-year-old went 13-4, a new Shuckers record for wins, albeit with a 4.74 ERA. With that being said, his ERA in High-A last year was 3.01, and he led the entire organization with 133 innings, so the Brewers clearly see something in him. A 21-year-old throwing 133 innings with fairly respectable numbers is impressive in its own right.

By the end of the season, Biloxi’s rotation featured three starters ranked as top 20 organizational prospects. Bishop Letson and Josh Knoth are ranked No. 8 and 9, respectively, by MLB Pipeline, while J.D. Thompson comes in at No. 18. Letson’s surface numbers (4.85 ERA, 1.44 WHIP) aren’t pretty, but he finished strong. He posted a 1.69 ERA over his last three starts, then threw seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts in the Shuckers’ Game 2 win against Rocket City.

Knoth missed all of 2025 after Tommy John surgery and came back to throw 87 2/3 innings with a 4.11 ERA and 87 strikeouts, including a 2.77 ERA in three late-season starts with Biloxi. For a pitcher coming off a lost year, it’s good just to see him stack innings, but his stats aren’t anything to sneeze at, either. Thompson, a 2025 second-rounder, missed time due to injury but put up a 3.98 ERA in 17 starts between High-A and Double-A.

Like Letson, both Knoth and Thompson finished strong this season after a couple of rough early outings, showing that they’re figuring it out. Knoth put up a 2.77 ERA in 3 Double-A starts prior to the playoffs. That’s all the Brewers — and Shuckers — want to see from three young, extremely talented pitching prospects.

High-A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Record: 80-69
Standout performances:

• 1B/3B Eric Bitonti: .270/.391/.525, 25 HR in 400 at-bats
• 2B Daniel Dickinson: .282/.428/.441, 60 SB in 390 at-bats
• OF Braylon Payne: .277/.369/.561, 23 HR in 367 at-bats
• OF Luis Castillo: .245/.357/.469, 20 HR in 310 at-bats

Wisconsin’s season was hard to evaluate because so much of its talent left town early. Fischer, Adamczewski, and Braylon Payne all started the year in Appleton before being promoted to Biloxi. Even so, the Timber Rattlers had one of the Midwest League’s better offenses.

The centerpiece of that offense should have been Luis Peña, MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 overall prospect, but unfortunately his season was defined more by what happened off the field than on it. Peña collapsed in the dugout, reportedly due to severe dehydration, in late April, and ended up missing a month. He had a second health scare a few weeks after his return, then missed another two weeks with a hamstring injury in June. When he played, he was very good, slashing .298/.384/.420 with 27 steals in 51 games.

Peña was promoted to Biloxi in mid-August, but fractured his fibula just a couple of weeks later while trying to steal third. The Brewers expect him to make a full recovery, but it will be anywhere from six to nine months before he’s back on the field, meaning he likely won’t be ready to play to begin 2027.

Eric Bitonti, ranked No. 26 in the system by MLB Pipeline, was one of the biggest breakouts in the farm system. He hit 25 home runs, all with Wisconsin, setting a new franchise record. He also hit .262/.378/.507 with 93 RBIs and 24 steals, all at just 20 years old. Bitonti’s raw power has never been in question; the question was whether he could do the other stuff well enough to stay on the field. This year, he did, and he played third base — not first — better than he ever has. All of that earned him a spot in Biloxi for the final week of the season. Frankly, I think he’s still underrated by Pipeline at No. 26.

That home run record Bitonti broke? It was set by his teammate Payne, the Brewers’ first-round pick in 2024 and my pick for breakout player of the year. I’ve spilled a lot of ink on Payne already, but in short: he would have been a great prospect even if his power had never developed. It did.

Payne hit .277/.369/.561 with 23 homers in 77 games and made the Midwest League All-Star team. He didn’t slow down after his promotion to Biloxi, either, posting an .846 OPS in 25 games and homering in the playoffs. Put it all together, and you’ve got a speedy 20-year-old outfielder with 28 homers and 25 steals. He should be a consensus top-100 prospect going into next season.

Former sixth-round pick Daniel Dickinson doesn’t get the same attention, but he stole 61 bases (!) with 11 homers and an .866 OPS, mostly with Wisconsin, before a late promotion to Biloxi. Also of note: Luis Castillo led the team with 90 RBIs and hit 20 home runs.

Marco Dinges kept hitting this year, with an .855 OPS in nearly 300 at-bats, but he almost exclusively served as a designated hitter this year, starting 19 games at catcher and 55 at DH. Something to keep an eye on: with Wood and Darrien Miller both playing well in Double-A, his only catching three games there makes sense, but he started more than twice as many games at DH as at catcher with Wisconsin.

While Wisconsin got plenty of standout performances at the plate, the pitching staff, which ranked 10th of 12 teams in ERA, was less impressive. The exception was Wande Torres. Over his last 12 outings with Wisconsin, Torres went 6-0 with a 2.32 ERA, striking out 76 and walking 20 in 62 innings, and he won the organization’s Pitcher of the Month award in both July and August. His full-season numbers (4.15 ERA, 126 strikeouts in 115 innings) undersell how good he was down the stretch.

Single-A Wilson Warbirds

Record: 80-69
Standout performances:

• SS Brady Ebel: .261/.417/.420 in 383 at-bats
• OF Handelfry Encarnacion: .250/.379/.405 in 432 at-bats
• OF Brailyn Antunez: .339/.450/.573 in 124 at-bats
• RHP Miqueas Mercedes: 73 2/3 IP, 2.81 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 71 K, 45 BB

The Wilson Warbirds, formerly the Carolina Mudcats, had an eventful inaugural season. They went 64-66, but led the Carolina League with 13 walk-off wins. It’s worth mentioning that they were within a game and a half of a playoff spot in mid-August before losing their final 12 games. Like Wisconsin, the Warbirds could hit, finishing second in the league in runs.

Brady Ebel, the No. 32 overall pick in 2025, was named the top prospect in the Carolina League. Early on, that didn’t look probable at all, as Ebel went 2-for-35 over his first 10 games. However, after that, he slashed .261/.417/.420 with 10 homers, 96 walks, and 39 steals in 105 games before a late promotion to Wisconsin. Oh, and he led the entire organization in walks. A .417 OBP from a 19-year-old shortstop in his first full season is about as good a sign as you’ll get when evaluating a prospect. Pipeline clearly agrees, as Ebel is now ranked as the Brewers’ No. 4 prospect, behind only Made, Peña, and Adamczewski.

His younger brother Trey Ebel, the Brewers’ first-round pick this summer, joined Wilson after Brady’s promotion and walked 16 times in 13 games. Plate discipline apparently runs in the family. Also — in an instance of baseball being weird — Trey got to finish a plate appearance that Brady started. That plate appearance ended with a walk.

What do you make of a hitter with 23 home runs and a .173 batting average? That’s the question with Jose Anderson. The 19-year-old led the team in homers and RBIs (70) and hit three walk-off home runs, including an 11th-inning walk-off grand slam against Salem. He’d hit 19 homers in 140 games over the two previous seasons, so the power is real. However, unlike Fischer, he hasn’t proven he can hit for average or get on base — Anderson had a 10.5% walk rate this year.

Brailyn Antunez might have raised his stock more than anyone in the organization over the final month. After a promotion from the Arizona Complex League, the 18-year-old outfielder slashed .339/.450/.573 with seven homers in 124 at-bats and won Carolina League Player of the Month for August. It’s a small sample, sure, but it’s hard to ask for a better introduction to full-season ball.

As in Wisconsin, the pitching staff, which also ranked 10th of 12 teams in ERA, couldn’t keep pace with the offense. There were a few bright spots, though. Miqueas Mercedes led all qualified Brewers minor league pitchers with a 2.81 ERA, although he also walked 45 batters in less than 75 innings. Swiss Army knife lefty reliever Jose Meneses posted a 1.88 ERA with 50 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings before moving up to Wisconsin. Jarrette Bonet, an undrafted free agent signed in 2025, led the team with 100 strikeouts; his 4.86 ERA isn’t great, but it’s a solid first full season for a UDFA.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning Frank Cairone, the Brewers’ 2025 supplemental second-round pick, who was seriously injured in a car accident in January. He was back on the mound in the Arizona Complex League by July, then pitched for Wilson before the season ended. The numbers don’t matter; it’s just great to see him pitching.

Play of the Year

While there were a number of deserving plays this year, only one made history:

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Some moments in baseball feel so cinematic they barely seem to be real, and this weekend we saw one such moment in the final start of Justin Verlander’s career. In A League of Their Own, Tom Hanks famously declares, “There’s no crying in baseball!” but this weekend proved that things were a little more like Moneyball. “How can you not be romantic about baseball?” As Verlander’s final career start came to an end, it wasn’t Tigers manager AJ Hinch who went to the mound to collect the ball from his starter, but rather Verlander’s eight-year-old daughter Genevieve. Verlander was clearly emotional, openly crying as he hugged his daughter before Hinch joined him on the mound and he shook hands and hugged his teammates before waving to the standing crowd at Comerica Park. It was, one might say, a perfect finale. Hollywood couldn’t have done it better.

Verlander might not be the only ace calling it a career, though, as many speculate that Max Scherzer’s incredible final outing on Sunday in Toronto could very well be his curtain call as well.

We look at that, and also the postseason picture below, because while some teams are packing it up and getting ready for next year, we still have plenty of postseason baseball to get through.

Let’s get right into today’s links.

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• Jay Jaffe assesses the weakest positions on all the remaining NL contenders.
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• Jake Rill reports that Pete Alonso is the first player to win RBI titles in both the AL and NL.
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• Here’s your finalized postseason bracket. (MLB)
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• Keegan Matheson looks at Max Scherzer’s final game of the season, and quite possibly of his career.
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• Karl Rasmussen ranks the lineups of the remaining playoff teams. And also the pitching.
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• ESPN’s Postseason Preview.
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• Johnny Flores Jr. reports that the Brewers have selected Christian Yelich as their first team captain in club history. (The Athletic subscription required.)
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• In case you want a good tear-jerker for your Monday morning, this mound visit for Justin Verlander’s final game will get anyone a little weepy.
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• Cody Stavenhagen offers some insights into that final, emotional farewell. (The Athletic subscription required.)
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• As the regular season comes to an end, Dan Wilson is the first of the “offseason” managerial cuts, and will not return to the Mariners next year. Story by Daniel Kramer.
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• Davy Andrews explains why Steven Kwan is a force to be reckoned with once again.
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• Todd Zolecki shares that the Phillies had to survive quite a week to make it to the postseason. Story of their whole year, really.
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• Sonja Chen reports that while the Dodgers ended the season with win 100, there are still some questions about Shohei Ohtani.
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• Tom Verducci offers his top takeaways from the 2026 regular season.
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• Jim Bowden offers a postseason power ranking. (The Athletic subscription required.)
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• Colson Montgomery would rather not focus on setting the record for batter strikeouts this season. (AP)
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• Neil Patrick Harris will lead a Broadway revival of “Damn Yankees,” this time featuring… the Orioles? (Here’s a direct link to the Bluesky post for those reading on Apple News.)
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• Dan Szymborksi defends his ZiPS as to why it seems to hate the Brewers so much.
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• Five things Ben Clemens liked (or didn’t like) this past week.
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• Brandon Gawlowski explains how scouting survives and why it still matters as data and analytics become the norm for teams.
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• Here are all the regular-season stat leaders now that the season has wrapped. (MLB)
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• Giants’ manager Tony Vitello reached a season-high seven ejections this season. (AP)
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• Pope Leo was coy when asked if he offered a little divine intervention on behalf of the White Sox. (Here’s a direct link to the Bluesky post for those on Apple News)
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And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

Michael Wacha reached the 200-innings mark this year, writes Jaylon Thompson.

“Yeah, getting to that 200 mark is definitely a cool feeling,” Wacha said. “It’s always been a goal of mine as a starting pitcher to reach that number. And yeah, definitely a cool memory that I’ll have.”

Wacha gave up six runs — although only two were earned — in what turned out to be an 11-5 loss on Saturday to the Guardians.

“You know, he’s battled some things just like everybody does throughout the course of the year,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “And having your body go through the rigors of pitching this many innings. But, he’s never wavered, and he takes a lot of pride in it. And we’ve seen him continually evolve year after year.”

Jackson Stone has more.

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Professional, gives you everything he’s got. I know he was frustrated with the results tonight, but you look up and he’s out there in the seventh. … I love the guy. Love everything about him, love the way he competes.”

He also writes that Carter Jensen continues to set rookie records.

He’s now homered 20 times while batting leadoff and playing catcher, which is eight more such home runs in a career than anyone else in MLB history. 

That’s not your normal catcher.

“He’s driven. We talk about it all the time. He works, he’s committed, he wants to be better,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I know he’s had a really good season. I mean, anytime you pass Mike Piazza in something, that’s pretty impressive. We talk about his growth on the defensive side of the ball as well, but overall, he still wants to be better. He’s not satisfied.”

Here is what this year’s MLB postseason bracket looks like.

Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler will start Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Red Sox.

How the Tigers blindsided Justin Verlander with an emotional send off in his last game.

Kirby Yates makes his first career start in his final MLB game.

The AL West is officially the worst division in baseball history.

Francisco Lindor becomes the second switch-hitter with 300 home runs and 200 steals.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen will miss the postseason.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson won’t return next year.

Jarren Duran has the worst 20/20 season in modern baseball history.

The Mariners surprise longtime broadcaster Rick Rizzs with a tribute in his last weekend before retirement.

MLB is talking to the White House about playing a game in a national park.

Longtime White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper died last week.

Remember Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, ten years after his death.

Scientists detect radio signals coming directly from a planet outside our solar system.

An Indian-Pakistani restaurant in a Houston strip mall makes more Uber Eats deliveries than any other restaurant in the world.

Some Brits want to get rid of the big fuzzy hats at Buckingham Palace.

Your song of the day is Wolf Parade with Fine Young Cannibals.