Category: MLB

The Yankees seemed to be a team that could do no wrong on Sunday when they sent the Red Sox home with a 16-1 thumping that left many among their commentariat more than a little salty. That’s a heck of a win to build some momentum on as the final full month of the regular season awaits. Better yet, they got to fly out to Orange County to take on the lowly Angels, riding a seven-game losing streak and playing obligatory, meaningless ball.

But momentum is a fickle thing. Just because a team can catch fire after a great game doesn’t mean they will. It doesn’t shield them from a ridiculously poor performance the following night. That was perhaps a nice way of putting the Yankees’ effort in the series opener. Elmer Rodríguez plunked two batters with two outs before allowing both runners to score, José Caballero committed a pair of ugly errors in the field, and the offense checked out early in a 10-1 loss best placed in a filing cabinet in a dingy basement somewhere. The Bombers lost a game to the Red Sox in the Wild Card race, and remain 4.5 games back of the Rays in the AL East.

Rodríguez encountered his first bit of adversity in the third inning, allowing a leadoff double to ninth-place hitter Tyler Heineman. Heineman had allowed two Yankees to advance into scoring position back in the first when he lost track of a ball in the dirt. His starter Walbert Ureña worked around it, and the double made up for the mistake. But Rodríguez appeared well on the way to working around that double until he issued a two-out walk to Wade Meckler to extend the rally. Vaughn Grissom followed with a jam shot to center which found plenty of room in front of Trent Grisham, allowing Heineman to score for a 1-0 Angels lead.

An inning later, Elmer re-established himself by grabbing a pair of routine outs, including his fifth strikeout of the night against Josh Lowe. Then, he plunked consecutive batters on runaway curveballs to bring up the top of the order for the third time and get the bullpen to warm up behind him. Zach Neto had gotten his ticket punched each of his first two times up against Rodríguez, but the third time was the charm as he punched a single through the left side to bring another costly two-out run home.

The Bombers tried to grab the final out at third, but were unsuccessful, and Neto was able to slink to second in the meantime, giving Mike Trout an opportunity with two runners in scoring position. Now fully untethered from any semblance of command he had shown in the first three innings, he let a fastball leak over the inner half; all Trout had to do was flip it around. Two runs scored on his base hit, the Angels suddenly led 4-0, and Elmer was out of the game.

Hitting consecutive batters with two outs is a particularly exasperating unforced error. It’s particularly strange that the curveball, a pitch he seemed to have on a string early in the evening, was the culprit both times. He churned out two absolute jalopies off the assembly line in quick succession. That those dud curves happened to strike the eighth- and ninth-place hitters only made it more inexcusable, since it gave RBI chances to two of the only guys in the Angels lineup who can reliably cash in on those mistakes.

Ureña, on the other hand, took the missed Yankee opportunity at the top of the show and ran with it, retiring 11 straight batters after that little wild pitch. I’m sure the Yankees had watched plenty of film on the 22-year old righty, but facing his tricky pitch mix capped off by a dastardly changeup that misses barrels and keeps balls in the yard. Ureña used his mix to clip the Yankees’ wings for half the night, until a rocket from Spencer Jones got the Yankees out of containment and on the board.

Jones’ eighth homer of the year was an impressive clout, but it was just a solo shot, and didn’t give the Bombers any additional kindling to roar back to life. The Halos promptly responded with a leadoff chalk-hugging double from Grissom and a sinking line drive from Christian Moore that Jones, even with his long strides, couldn’t make up enough ground to grab. In a flash, the solo homer was nullified.

But this loss felt just a little too dignified. We needed a true circus play to expunge all the good vibes that might have accompanied Sunday’s evisceration of the Red Sox.

Fulmer tried to pick the speedy Moore off at second base. Caballero appeared to be looking elsewhere as the ball clonked off his glove and into center field. Moore aggressively cut the bag at third and dashed for home the wishes of his base coach, daring a defense caught on its heels to make a play.

The thing about the Yankees is those kinds of dares tend to work without any trouble. This gamble from Moore was anything but. Trent Grisham’s throw in from center had no juice on it, so Luis Garcia Jr. dashed over from first in an attempt to relay it home. He threw the ball roughly fifteen feet wide of home. I wish I could say that sequence surprised me, but I’m not exactly new here.

Luis Gil entering in the sixth inning to make his first Major League appearance since April 26th only served to give this contest an even more ersatz quality. Gil did his job and appeared to induce a routine double play ball to shortstop, which would have ended the inning. But Caballero had not done anything good in the field tonight, and he wasn’t about to start here. He booted the grounder, then rushed a low throw to first that Garcia failed to scoop. Inning-ending double play? Try no outs and another run scored.

I remind you this team shoved their biggest rival—and closest peer in the Wild Card race—into a locker yesterday. But those sorts of rousing victories in the past have never stopped them from pulling this kind of malarkey shortly afterward. Such was again the case here.

Jones’ home run in the fifth marked Ureña’s only blip as he continued his splendid rookie campaign with seven strong innings. The Yankees appeared as desperate to get this game over with as the poor saps who had stayed up to watch them. The Angels understandably wanted to make this moment last, so they grabbed three runs off David Bednar in the eighth to put themselves in double figures. Truly awful stuff from everyone involved.

Good news came in before first pitch tonight, as the Mets eked out a 3-2 victory over the Rays in St. Petersburg. Even as the Mariners blew a late lead against the Red Sox and let them escape with a win in the 10th, the Yankees still had a great chance to gain ground in the divisional battle. Shockingly, they refused to take advantage of the opportunity, losing a laugher to one of the worst teams in baseball; a team playing out the string on an utterly lost decade, dead in the water. The Yankees played necromancers tonight.

At least it’s Gerrit Cole bump night tomorrow. The Orange County native and UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer will take the hill at The Big A against a major what-if guy: Grayson Rodriguez. First pitch is once again due for the refreshingly honest time of 9:38pm ET on YES.

Box Score

The Yankees were defeated by the Los Angeles Angles 10-1 in the series opener on Monday night.

Here are some takeaways...

-- Elmer Rodriguez put together his best big-league outing to this point his last time out, but the Angels were able to take advantage of some ineffectiveness this time around. The youngster held them off the board in the first and the second, but two out hits in the third and fourth chased him from the ballgame. 

All in all, he allowed four runs on four hits, three walks, two HBP, and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings. 

-- The Yankee offense was held in check by Walbert Ureña over the first four-plus innings, but Spencer Jones provided them with some much-needed life, crushing a one out solo homer deep over the right-center wall in the top of the fifth to cut into the four-run deficit. 

The youngster is up to eight home runs on the season, five of which have been over his last 30 games. 

-- Michael Fulmer and New York's defense immediately gave that run back to the Angels. Christian Moore blooped in an RBI double that bounced away off of a sliding Jones' glove in shallow right, then scored a run of his own as a pair of throwing errors on a pickoff attempt brought him in from second. 

Fulmer was charged with his first earned run across six outings since joining the Yankees. 

-- Luis Gil was also hurt by the Yankee defense in his first MLB appearance as a reliever. Gil struck out three in his first frame, but not before Jose Caballero committed his second error in as many innings, forcing him to throw more pitches and bringing in LA's seventh run of the game. 

Gil followed that with a scoreless second inning, working around a one out HBP. 

-- David Bednar was called upon for the eighth inning in a six-run game, and he was roughed up pitching for just the second time over the last 10 days. Bednar gave up three runs, two of which scored on a Vaughn Grissom double, which gave him three hits and four RBI in the ballgame. 

Coming into the night, Bednar had allowed just two runs (one earned) in August. 

-- Other than Jones' homer the Yanks weren't able to get much else going against Ureña. The righty held them to just that one run on five hits while walking none and striking out eight batters across seven strong innings. His ERA is down to 2.85 during his impressive rookie campaign.

-- With the two miscues from Caballero, the Yanks lead MLB in errors from the shortstop position (39).

Game MVP: Walbert Ureña

The youngster continued his great rookie season with seven innings of one-run ball. 

Highlights 

Spencer Jones BLASTS one pic.twitter.com/4ICbATLhA6

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 1, 2026

What's next

Gerrit Cole (7-7, 3.19 ERA) takes the ball against Grayson Rodriguez (4-5, 6.03 ERA) in the middle-game on Tuesday at 9:38 p.m.

The White Sox disappointed in the first game of this four-game series in Houston, falling 6-3 to the Astros.

Things were calm until the third inning, when Anthony Kay saw a little base path trouble after a throwing error and a walk put two runners on. Yordan Alvarez sent Nick Allen in to score with a ground out, but a fly out straight to Sam Antonacci ended any further damage.

The White Sox knotted the score 1-1 right away, as Colson Montgomery doubled in the top of the fourth with one out, Chase Meidroth singlingand him home. Tristan Peters was plunked, and in a pickoff attempt, the ball got away, sending Meidroth to third. Antonacci picked up a walk (without being hit!) to load the bases with two outs. Houston starter Peter Lambert’s command in the fourth drastically dropped, as he walked Munetaka Murakami to force in the lead run. Miguel Vargas left the bases loaded with a liner to second, but the Good Guys were up, 2-1.

Braden Montgomery got caught in-between on a Cam Smith liner to right, and as has happened too frequently that ball skipped past him for a triple. Kay was frazzled by the three-bagger, so much so that Nelson Velázquez crushed a home deep and high to left, making it 3-2, Astros.

It got worse from there, as the White Sox mustered no offense while Houston added on. In the fifth, three singles loaded the bases, with just one out. Instead of a pitch that would prompt a ground-ball double play to end the inning and keep the score tight, Kay walked in a run. Kay bounced back with a K, but with two outs was pulled in favor of Trevor Richards, who surrendered a double to Smith double and stretching the deficit to 6-2.

Three walks sandwiched around a fielder’s choice out packed the sacks for the Sox with two outs. As old friend Bennett Sousa came into the game for Houston, righty pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk stepped up to the plate. But on the first pitch, Grichuk sent one straight to the glove of left fielder Taylor Trammell, ending the frame.

Colson Montgomery homered in the seventh to trim the lead to 6-3, but that was it for any offense. Richards managed to shut the Astros down for the rest of his outing, and Houston-area local Tyler Davis took the mound in the eighth for a 1-2-3 inning with his entire family cheering him on — a light moment in an otherwise frustrating game.

With two outs, Meidroth picked up Chicago’s 10th walk of the game, but Brenton Doyle went down swinging for his second K in two plate appearances, handing the Astros a win.

MVP
Colson Montgomery: 2 R, 2 H, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB

Runners-Up
Chase Meidroth: 1 R, 1 H, 1 RBI, 2 BB
Munetaka Murakami: 3 BB
Trevor Richards: 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 2 K, 0 ER

Cold Cat
Anthony Kay: 4 2/3 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Runners-Up
Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-3, 2 K
Braden Montgomey: Fielding woes, 0-for-5
Dysfunctional offense: 10 BBs but just two non-HR runs scored

One of the Mets’ top picks from the year’s draft class is already taking another step.

Third rounder Aiden Robbins has been promoted to High-A Brooklyn.  

Robbins generated some first-round buzz heading into the draft, but he ended up falling partially due to questions over his ability to hit breaking balls consistently. 

The slugger from Texas has shown no such issues to this point. 

He posted a strong .286 average with two doubles, four home runs, 16 RBI, and a .826 OPS over his first 20 games hitting towards the top of St. Lucie's lineup. 

Robbins spent most of his time in center, but also appeared in the corner spots.

The 21-year-old has already jumped up into the top-10 in some organizational rankings, and he only figures to continue rising if he can keep this success up to finish the year in Brooklyn. 

Robert Stock can sleep well Monday night knowing he accomplished something against the Tampa Bay Rays that he had never done before in his MLB career: pitch into the sixth inning.

Not only that, but after going a career-long 5.1 scoreless innings against the American League’s best team, the right-hander earned his first win since 2019 and his first as a starting pitcher following the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Rays.

“It’s really cool,” Stock said about getting the win. “It takes a whole team to win the game and we saw that tonight with how great the defense was, how good the hitters were in the second half of the game. It’s great when you step back and you look at how long it’s been and I can both feel good about the team and myself.”

Yes, the defense made some nice plays behind him like Christopher Morel’s leaping catch with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning, but Stock was in total control against Tampa Bay and was the best version of himself that New York has seen this season.

Even more impressive? The outing came with the Mets in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel for most of the night and right after a rough start against the Milwaukee Brewers (MLB’s best team) where Stock allowed 10 hits and seven runs.

“The stuff’s really good. It’s always been really good,” said interim manager Andy Green. “It’s strikes. When he forces them to swing he does really well. I think he maybe ran into Milwaukee where some balls found holes, but more or less when he’s in the strike zone he’s been really good for us.”

Overall, Stock owns a 5.88 ERA in six starts for New York this season. However, if his two worst starts are removed, the right-hander has allowed two earned runs in 19 innings, more than acceptable for a 36-year-old journeyman who hadn’t started a major league game since 2021 (ironically with the Mets).

Of course, Stock would love to go deeper in some of those starts, but at least now he “finally” knows what that feels like and perhaps has it in him again in the future.

“That’s the job you’re getting paid to do so I finally did it one time,” he said.

At some point, there is a conversation to be had about Yandy Diaz and his reluctance to challenges.

Tampa Bay, down one run in the ninth, Diaz came to the plate as the go-ahead run, with Richie Palacios on first.

Strike one was above the zone, and Diaz, as Diaz does, took a long glare at home plate umpire Austin Jones to say he disagreed with the call instead of simply tapping his helmet.

You can’t take the challenges home with you, as the Rays had both available.

Strike two was a forkball down the middle, and strike three barely grazed the zone, as Diaz went down looking, and the Rays went down valiantly, 3-2 in a close one at One Tropicana Drive.

How did we get to a 3-2 final, you may ask? Let me get you there.

The Metropolitans would strike first, as Mark Vientos would ground into a double play that scored Bo Bichette.

Tampa Bay had their big opportunity against Robert Stock, who had the best outing of his MLB career, when the Rays loaded the bases on three singles with no outs in the fifth.

They came up empty-handed.

Taylor Walls popped out, Diaz struck out swinging, and Jonathan Aranda lined out to former Ray Christopher Morel in left field.

Stock’s final line would go as follows; 5 IP, 4 R, 0 BB.

Vientos would announce his presence with authority again, as he jumped on an Ian Seymour changeup and deposited it into the left-center field seats. 2-1 Mets.

Seymour had another quality start, going 6.1 IP while allowing three runs and striking out ten, finishing the month of August leading the American League in punchouts.

The straw that broke the Flappy Boy’s back proved to be a Marcus Semien fly ball that left fielder Chandler Simpson got a bad read on, and didn’t take charge on, resulting in a Francisco Alvarez single that would plate another run.

We do it again at 6:40 EST from Tropicana Field, with Freddy Peralta toeing the slab against his former mates in orange and blue.

It’s a new week here at BCB After Dark: the grooviest hang for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Thanks for stopping by. It’s always nice to see a familiar face. There’s no cover charge and the dress code is casual. We still have a few tables available. The hostess will seat you now. Bring your own beverage.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Last week I asked you if you’d rather the Cubs re-sign Kevin Gausman or Matthew Boyd for next season. With the caveat that Gausman has made some noise about retiring, 48 percent of you would rather Gausman be back next year. One-third of you think Boyd is the better bet to re-sign and the rest of you think that the Cubs shouldn’t re-sign either one.

Here’s the part with the jazz and the movies. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. But if you don’t, you can skip it. Or you can skip the baseball part. You’re our guest.

We’re honored to feature another episode of Jazz Casual, the NET (forerunner of PBS) program hosted by jazz writer Ralph Gleason. Tonight’s featured performer is saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. He’s got a heck of a band backing him up with his brother Nat Adderley on cornet, Joe Zawinul on piano, Sam Jones on bass and Louis Hayes on drums.

This is from 1961.

I went to see Coyote vs. Acme this weekend and I thought about that writing up, but I also watched the 1956 Douglas Sirk-directed melodrama Written on the Wind, and I know you’d rather I write about that. So . . . what’s that?

You know that there are a lot of people out there already who are writing about Coyote vs. Acme?

But Dorothy Malone won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Written on the Wind. Will Forte is not winning an Oscar.

OK, fine. Tonight we’ll talk about Coyote vs. Acme.

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. Coyote vs. Acme is a terrific film. Not only is it funny, which is what is most important, but it’s also fresh and different. It’s a sharp satire of modern life with an existential twist. I had to sit through five or six previews for animated family movies before the film started (which is sad because there were no children at the showing that I saw) and during the last preview I turned to my wife and said “My god. They’re all the same damn film.” Well, Coyote vs. Acme isn’t the same movie as every other family film on the market. It’s got a point of view that’s all its own. I know that Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is the gold standard for any animated/live action hybrid movie. I re-watched Roger Rabbit last week and I think Coyote vs. Acme belongs in the same breath as that classic. It’s that good.

In case you don’t know the history of the film, it started as an article in The New Yorker way back in 1990. There were several attempts to make a film out of it over the next 25 years, but they were always blocked by Warner Brothers, who owns all of the rights to the Loony Toons cartoons. About ten years ago, director James Gunn convinced Warner Brothers to make the movie. The fact that Warner Brothers was actively trying to lure Gunn away from Disney at the time was probably what convinced them.

So the film was made with a script from Samy Burch and directed by Dave Green. It was finished, shown to test audiences and it scored highly. But then Warner Brothers was bought out by Discovery and new CEO David Zaslav decided that it was one of three films, along with Batgirl and the animated Scooby-Doo film Scoob! Holiday Haunt that would be written off as a tax loss. To get that tax write-off, these films could never be shown to the public.

Batgirl was unfinished and still needed tens of millions of dollars of CGI effects and re-shoots before it was completed. It was also, according to those who’d seen the rough cut, terrible. The Scooby-Doo movie was almost finished, but no one thought it was much more than the kind of direct-to-video kids film.

But people had seen the completed Coyote vs. Acme and publicly said how good it was. So there was a campaign to get Warner Brothers Discovery to reverse its decision and release it or sell it to another distributer. That went on for over a year as many platforms offered to buy it, but WBD wanted to make a lot more than the $30 million they’d get as a tax write-off. Eventually, tiny independent distributer Ketchup Entertainment agreed to buy the film for $50 million.

We need to thank the people at Ketchup. Will Forte stars as Kevin Avery, a cynical, downtrodden cartoon accident lawyer. He’s takes the cases of cartoon characters who are injured in one way or another and settles with the giant Acme Corporation for a few hundred bucks every time. Since they’re cartoon characters, they aren’t permanently hurt when they get hit with a falling anvil, so each case is only worth a few hundred bucks. For Acme, that’s pocket change so they pay them out immediately.

Wile E. Coyote sees one of the ads for the law firm of Avery, Jones & Maltese (named after three legendary men behind the Loony Toons cartoons) and decides to make a claim. But Wile E. doesn’t just have one claim. As anyone who’s seen a Roadrunner cartoon knows, he has thousands of claims against Acme products that malfunctioned. On top of that, Wile E. Coyote refuses to settle. Against Kevin’s strong advice, he refuses every settlement offer, pitching this tiny strip mall law firm against the most powerful conglomerate in the entire world.

On Mr. Coyote’s side is Paige Avery (Lana Condor), Kevin’s intern and niece. She has all the “let’s change the world” energy of someone fresh out of law school. She’s the only one in the office who wants to win this case.

Acme is represented by John Cena playing Buddy Crane, a far more successful old law school classmate of Kevin’s. Buddy is a bully, as is the entire Acme corporation. He’s constantly belittling Kevin and trying to get them to settle. In lieu of a settlement, he’ll settle for destroying Avery, Jones & Maltese. Buddy is the villain, but Cena has some terrific comic chops. His interrogation of Tweety Bird in Tweety’s lisp, for example, is laugh-out-loud gold.

Coyote vs. Acme plays out as a legal conspiracy thriller and we soon find out why Acme is so eager to settle. There’s a wonderful sub-plot involving “Peter Lorre” (one of the many stars of the ‘40s that the Loony Toons cartoons used to put in their stories) and Tweety’s Granny. Dr. Lorre is the cartoon threatening to expose “Project Sisyphus,” which behind everything that Acme does.

There’s a ton of wicked satire in the film about how the system is rigged against the little guy by corporations that own everything, including the government. You have to consider the anti-corporate message and especially the anti-conglomerate message could not have gone over well with David Zaslav. Acme is all-powerful because they own everything. There’s no way to beat them. But Coyote vs. Acme does get in a shot by calling Warner Brothers “A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Acme Corporation.” Maybe that’s victory enough.

That brings back that “Projects Sisyphus,” or the Greek myth of a man condemned to roll a boulder up a hill for all of eternity, only for it to roll back down when it approaches the top. You should be able to see the parallels between Sisyphus and Wile E. Coyote, who is condemned to endlessly chase the Roadrunner and never catch him. But it also takes a cue from Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus, who argued that meaning is not gained through victory but through the struggle. To slightly mis-quote Camus, “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Wile E. Coyote happy.”

Not only is Wile E. Coyote Sisyphus, Kevin is as well. At the beginning of the film, he’s dead inside. It is only through taking on an impossible task that he can never win (along with the encouragement of his perky niece) does he find meaning and ultimately, happiness. Forte’s Kevin is the one character (well, maybe Wile E. Coyote) who has a real growth arc in the film and he pulls it off.

Coyote vs. Acme is primarily a comedy and not a philosophical tract, and it delivers in the comedy department. If you laugh at all the cockamamie devices that blow up in Wile E. Coyote’s face, they’re all here and more. Most of the Loony Tunes characters make an appearance and they all get to do their schtick. In fact, if you’re a Loony Toons fan, there are a ton of inside jokes that fly by so fast and furious you’ll probably miss some of them.

And that’s maybe the one sad part of Coyote vs. Acme. As I noted, there were no children that I saw at the showing that I saw, although admittedly it was a Sunday morning showing that was half-full. Four generations grew up watching these cartoons in the theaters or on television, but they are mostly unfamiliar to today’s kids who grew up on YouTube and a constant supply of new cartoons. Coyote vs. Acme is certainly funny enough even if you aren’t familiar with the Loony Toons universe, but it really goes to another level if you get the references.

Coyote vs. Acme is a little guy film that somehow took on an all-powerful corporation and won. No matter how much money it makes at the box office, Coyote vs. Acme is a winner.

Here’s the trailer for Coyote vs. Acme.

Welcome back to everyone who skips the other stuff.

The Springfield Cardinals, the Cardinals Double-A affiliate, announced they were changing their name for 2027. This continues a trend of minor league teams abandoning traditional names, especially ones tied to their parent club, in favor of unique and often offbeat nicknames.

So as of next year, there will be just nine teams left that share a name with their parent club.

Worcester Red Sox (Triple-A)

Dunedin Blue Jays (Low-A)

Iowa Cubs (Triple-A)

South Bend Cubs (High-A)

Syracuse Mets (Triple-A)

St. Lucie Mets (Low-A)

Fredericksburg Nationals (Low-A)

Palm Beach Cardinals (Low-A)

San Jose Giants (Low-A)

Dunedin, St. Lucie, Palm Beach and San Jose are owned by their parent club.

There are two others, the Reading Fightin Phils and the Lakeland Flying Tigers, that have names that sort of micmic their parent club.

The trend away from sharing a name with the parent club are driven by a few factors. The biggest was the affiliate “musical chairs” that used to happen before the minor leagues were re-organized in 2021. If a team called themselves the “Pirates” and then all of a sudden they were an Orioles affiliate, that was a problem. It’s not much of a problem anymore, but it was a big reason the trend started in the first two decades of this century.

Teams also want their own identity and branding to tie themselves to their community. On top of that, a lot of fans attending minor league games really have no idea what the minor leagues are, believe it or not. Gwinnett said one reason they changed their name from “Braves” to “Stripers” was because they found that many fans believed that it was actually the Atlanta Braves who would be playing in Gwinnett. Admittedly, these were probably not baseball fans who are just going with a larger group. But those people buy tickets and concessions.

Of course, the biggest reason why teams change their names is that they sell merchandise. I own a Smokies hat (Tennessee, not Knoxville) and a Myrtle Beach cap. I own Eugene and Boise caps from when they were Cubs affiliates. I haven’t bought Iowa and South Bend caps because they’re too similar to the Chicago Cubs hats I already own. Teams have “alternate” identities because they sell. Cute and goofy nicknames are also popular with children, who are the next generation of fans that the minor league should be trying to grow.

(They’re also popular with late-night talk show hosts.)

The Cubs affiliates have clearly resisted this trend. In fact, when South Bend went from a Diamondbacks affiliate to a Cubs affiliate in 2015, they changed their name from “Silver Hawks” to “Cubs” to further tie themselves to their new parent club. Iowa did the same thing back in 1982, going from “Oaks” to “Cubs,” but that was at least a decade before the off-beat name trend started. What’s more interesting is that the I-Cubs have resisted this trend and has kept their name the same for 44 years, even if they have had multiple “alternate” identities over the years, including throwback “Oaks” games.

(When the I-Cubs were founded, they were an Oakland affiliate, which helps explain the name, although they kept it through their stint as a White Sox affiliate and one year as a Cubs affiliate.)

So should the Cubs two affiliates change their name? Should one of them? Neither of them? Personally, I find it a bit frustrating to deal with Iowa and South Bend and having to call both of them the “Cubs” and keeping them and the parent club straight, although fortunately Iowa can be called the “I-Cubs.” (“SB Cubs” has never caught on.) It would make my life easier if South Bend went back to Silver Hawks or anything else, but they don’t ask me. I’d probably also be more likely to buy a cap if they were more different from the major league team’s. Do both need to change? Probably not. In my mind Iowa has seniority, but South Bend probably doesn’t see it that way.

So should Iowa, South Bend or both change their name? And if so, what? Give your suggestions in the comments.

Thank you for stopping by. We always like to see a friendly face. Please get home safely. Call a ride if you need one. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next time for more BCB After Dark.

Payton Tolle is one of the best stories of the 2026 season. A thoughtful prospect writer brought him to my attention early last year, knowing my affinity for a good four-seamer, a thick ‘stache and a mien that would be equally at home on a small fishing boat off the coast of Bangor in 1890 as he is on a pitching mound. Tolle wears his emotions openly across his face and through his body; the joy, the devastation, the playfulness. To be pitching at the level that he is requires skill and effort, but part of Tolle’s charm is the authenticity woven within all that baseball work. Maybe this won’t resonate to anyone else, but there are a lot of guys who present as baseball players first and humans as a secondary classification. Tolle is distinctly a human playing baseball, and it’s one of the highest compliments I can pay (see also: Gutierrez, Franklin or Wilhelmsen, Tom, among others).

It came as little surprise, then, when Tolle cited the Turnpike Troubadors as one of his favorite musical acts. There’s the Oklahoma connection, of course, with both hailing from the Sooner State, but that same authenticity runs through every song Turnpike performs. And that’s courtesy of Evan Felker, the band’s lead singer and one of the finest songwriters of the generation.

No one here needs to read any more about the Seattle Mariners today. Honestly, we’re all probably good for the rest of the year on consumption of Mariners content, but regardless of their record this is still a community, and community means continuing showing up for one another. In gratitude for you all, I offer a selection of some of my favorite Turnpike Troubadors lyrics and songs. I hope that in the ragged place baseball usually occupies, maybe they’ll prompt that thrum of recognition in your chest that only good art can inspire.

“Come back from the dark somehow
Finally living in the here and now
No sign of a thundercloud following you
Don’t take it personal, the world don’t turn around you
Hold on to the moment like it’s heaven passing through” – Heaven Passing Through

“Oh now, it still beats steady
This heart I handed you for free
Should you ever need a thing
It won’t be hard to find me

Standing at the ready
With a dance or two still left in me
Wager that it won’t appear
That I’ve forgot who brought me” – Brought Me

“And I would buy for you a diamond
Or myself some gasoline
If I can’t afford you darlin’
Then I can’t afford to dream
And is it time I should be movin’?
Is it time I settle down?
Will I sit still or will I feel the wheels a-spinnin’ ’round?“ – Diamonds and Gasoline

“You can try to put the past behind
It’s on your clothes like burning pine
Is it gin or turpentine you keep in your canteen?
If pressure makes a diamond babe, I still might come out clean” – A Cat in the Rain

“Well, that old scene is always comin’ to me, I
I see you standin’ with your husband and your child
And you’re a picture of strength, and grace and beauty
And me, I’m just a fool in a supermarket aisle” – 7 & 7

“And we’re caught up in the riffraff, circlin’ ’round the sun
It takes a whole lot of blood and tears just to really love someone
But when it comes back around, that’s Heaven on Earth
You never know ’til the end, my friend, what your love is really worth” – Pay No Rent

“Death doesn’t leave with the best part of you” – On the Red River

See y’all tomorrow

Luke Keaschall was a much-needed spark plug, Walker Jenkins doinked his first MLB homer off the right field pole, Jeffers added two bombs of his own, his first since the last day of July, and Taj Bradley delivered one of his best starts of the season when the Twins most needed it. It was a fun night at the ballpark when the Twins really needed a win!

Let’s start on the offensive side. Facing Jackson Jobe, the former top pitching prospect in all of baseball, the Twins struck in the first inning, as they are wont to do of late, with a leadoff double from Keaschall eventually coming around on Kody Clemens sac fly. And then things went eerily quiet for Minnesota’s hitters, also as they are wont to do of late.

They had chances to add on before the game exploded, but still didn’t hit well with runners in scoring position despite the big number on the scoreboard. They went 2-9 with RISP against actual pitchers, with an added hit off of position player Zach McKinstry in the eighth to juice the stats. A leadoff double from Kaelen Culpepper in the third gave them a good run scoring opportunity, but a Jenkins pop out and Brooks Lee GIDP after a Keaschall single kept the game at 1-0 after three innings.

Clemens came back around and added a run on his own in the fourth inning, a no-doubt solo shot over the dock in right field to put the Twins up 2-0. They had another great opportunity to add on that inning with the bases loaded and just one out, but the rookies Culpepper and Jenkins both popped out to end the threat.

Then came the fifth inning when things finally broke open. Keaschall reached first base on an error by the Tigers’ third baseman. Hao-Yu Lee couldn’t get the grip on a soft grounder hit his way, trying to get it quickly to nab a hustling Keaschall. Keaschall then stole second easily off one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, Dillon Dingler. Keaschall had third easily in the same at-bat as well, but Clemens fouled off a pitch to send Luke back to second. Clemens eventually walked before Ryan Jeffers hit a three run blast to give the Twins their first comfortable lead of the night.

It won’t come through in the box score, but this entire scoring opportunity only came around because of Keaschall. His speed and hustle caused the initial error, while the young kid dancing around second base clearly got in Jobe’s head and caused him to lose Clemens on a walk and give Jeffers a heater he could handle.

Keaschall has been digging out of his self-imposed hole since his terrible April, but he’s simply done nothing but hit after that. Since May 1st, the young Twin has hit .298/.399/.434 for a 140 wRC+, 15th best in baseball, and he’s been even better lately with a .325/.423/.519 batting line since July 1st. That production delivered a 163 wRC+, fifth best among qualified batters in that stretch, trailing only likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong, likely AL MVP Yordan Alvarez, Pete Alonso, and Steven Kwan. His lack of defensive ability remains a huge question, but the kid can absolutely hit and should be Minnesota’s leadoff hitter for the next half decade, at least.

The Twins added more in the sixth off of Yilber Diaz, who you may remember from his Diamondbacks days a couple months ago when the Twins scored seven runs off him. Diaz has now pitched in three games this season, two of them coming against the Twins. Against non-Minnesota based teams, Diaz has a sparkling 0.00 ERA. Facing the Twins, that number is a less sparkling 37.13. I’m not an expert, but that seems too high.

Though, Diaz has no one to blame but himself. He walked Lewis, Jenkins, and Keaschall to load the bases for Brooks Lee, who delivered a sharp line drive to right field, scoring two. Lee then tried to advance to second base and got tagged out, but doing so allowed Keaschall to fly around the bases to score from first on a single. Keaschall Khaos!

On the pitching front, it was a great, uneventful night from Taj Bradley. He lost his command a bit as the game went on, with the solo homer he allowed, two of his three walks, and a hit by pitch all coming in the sixth or seventh innings, but he once again flashed the brilliance that has Twins fans and coaches alike dreaming of him pitching in October. He was overpowering Detroit hitters all night, touching 100 MPH into the seventh inning and racking up nine strikeouts, while showing the ability to induce ground balls to get out of jams.

Jeffers added his second homer in the 7th inning, another run off of Diaz, though that might have been a mercy to Detroit, putting the Twins up by eight and allowing them to use a position player for the eighth inning. That allowed rookie phenom Walker Jenkins to take a pitch about a foot in off the plate and force it off the right field foul pole, his first dong of (hopefully) many more to come. A homer is a homer no matter who it’s off of, but Jenkins is the first player in Twins history to have his first home run come off a position player. Just like we drew it up.

Nothing like an easy Twins win to start your week. Just five more to go this week, boys.

STUDS

• Taj Bradley: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 9 K
• Luke Keaschall: 2-3, 3 R, BB, 2B, Keaschall Khaos (trademark pending)
• Kody Clemens: 1-2, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, HR
• Ryan Jeffers: double dong night
• Walker Jenkins: first single dong night of career, dong doinked delightfully

DUDS

• NO DUDS TWINS WIN!!!!!

STANDINGS UPDATE

Who knows if this will be relevant next week, but for now it still is!

AL Central:

1. White Sox (72-64)
2. Guardians (69-68) — 3.5 GB
3. Twins (66-72) — 7.0 GB

AL Wild Card

1. Guardians (69-68)
2. Orioles (68-69) — 1.0 GB
3. Rangers (68-70) — 1.5 GB
4. Blue Jays (68-70) — 1.5 GB
5. Twins (66-72) — 3.5 GB

The White Sox and Orioles are still in action as I write this, so things will shift a bit. The Twins are still right in the thick of things though with head-to-head matchups with the White Sox, Guardians, and Rangers still to come. Making up 3.5 games in a month isn’t crazy, but leaping four teams to do so is another story. The Twins likely need to win every series (at a minimum) from here out, so tonight was a good start!

Shohei Ohtani’s status as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season took a turn over the past week.

Ohtani is expected to remain available as a designated hitter as the Dodgers continue their pursuit of a World Series three-peat. But, his status as a pitcher appears to be on pause after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts declared that Ohtani is not healthy enough to take the mound.

Ohtani hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since July 3, as he deals with knee inflammation and biceps discomfort.

Ohtani participated in a short bullpen session Aug. 28, in Detroit and threw close to 20 pitches, but it remains unclear when Ohtani will make his next start or bullpen session.

After hitting three home runs with Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday, the Mets decided Mark Vientos was ready to return from his rehab assignment for their series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday.

Not only that, but interim manager Andy Green decided to ride the hot hand and slotted the slugger right into the lineup, batting cleanup as the DH in his first game back. Good thing he did, too, because Vientos stayed hot and rewarded his manager with a solo home run that ended up being the difference in New York's 3-2 win.

"It felt great," Vientos said about not only the home run, but being back with the team after a long time away. "Felt great to come back and contribute in some way and a home run is always cool so it felt great for sure."

The home run, Vientos' 12th in what's been a disappointing season, traveled 418-feet to center and reminded everyone of the raw power he possess.  

Despite playing in just 74 games, Vientos is now seventh on the team in home runs and just two away from being tied for third. If he keeps up his pace over the last few days, he'll be near the leaderboard in no time.

"He has such a powerful swing, he stays in the middle of the ballpark and he turns himself loose," Green said. "He can drive the ball out anywhere, he’s proven that… There’s only a few guys who can do that consistently and he can."

It's true, while Vientos is hitting just .212 with a .654 OPS, he does have power to all fields and is a dangerous hitter as evidenced by his breakout 2024 season in which he slashed .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs in 111 games while adding five home runs in 13 postseason games that year and hitting an incredible .327 with a .998 OPS.

The key for Vientos is getting back to that hitter -- a chance he will likely get more of now following his big home run in his return. Even before re-joining the Mets, Green publicly challenged Vientos by saying he wasn't sure what his role would be once he returns, but that if he hits his role would increase.

Since those comments, Vientos has been on a power surge between the minor leagues and now the majors.

"Just trusting my ability, just trusting myself and seeing pitches trusting that I’ll recognize -- if it’s a spin or it’s a fastball -- and allowing myself to adjust to pitches and just putting bat to ball," Vientos said of what he's thinking at the plate.

"Happy to have him back," Green said.

The Texas Rangers scored eight runs while the Athletics scored one run.

Where has this kind of game been our whole 2026?

A part of the reason that the Rangers are in the mess that they find themselves in — currently trailing for an AL playoff spot — is the lack of success against teams below them in the standings and especially baffling, a miserable mark against teams trailing them in the American League West.

Tonight, however, they bullied the Athletics in a manner that finally matched expectations. With the A’s leading the season series 6-4, the Rangers arrived back home after a two-stop midwestern road trip and promptly dunked on their division rivals.

Though held off the board in the first inning, the Rangers scored runs in each of the next four innings with a couple in the second, a run apiece in the third and fourth frames, and then three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. As if to punctuate the beating, Texas piled on for a final run in the bottom of the eighth.

The Rangers got RBIs from five of the members of the starting lineup and pinned seven of the eight runs on Athletics’ starter Gage Jump in his turbulent 4 1/3 innings of work. Corey Seager was one of four Rangers in the starting lineup who didn’t contribute a hit but he walked twice and scored two runs. Meanwhile, Brandon Nimmo and suddenly red hot Cody Freeman each had two hits and two RBIs to lead the way.

The victory gives the Rangers their second in a row, their fifth victory in eleven games against the Northern California team, and a final win in what had been a trying month of August.

See ya in September!

Player of the Game: Fresh off his worst start in like ten years and easily his worst performance with the Rangers, Jacob deGrom bounced back in a big way. After giving up eight runs in 3 2/3 innings last week in Chicago, tonight deGrom went seven innings and allowed just one hit — a Lawrence Butler leadoff single in the top of the second — and walked none while striking out eight.

deGrom is likely still managing whatever old man hip thing he’s got going on, so he’s probably going to be prone to some Jekyll and Hyde outings but the Rangers could certainly use more vintage deGrom down the stretch and tonight he delivered one his best.

Up Next: The Rangers will try to get a streak going tomorrow night against these A’s with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite a pitcher to be named for the franchise to be named.

The Tuesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

Box Score

Luckily, you can only lose once per game.

Kyle Harrison struggled badly tonight, and by the time he was removed from the game with two outs in the fourth inning, things were already wildly out of control. On the other side, Clay Holmes came in as one of the hottest starting pitchers in baseball, and this one was decided early.

Holmes got things started with back-to-back strikeouts of Brice Turang and Jackson Chourio, for which he needed only seven pitches, none of which were balls. Jake Bauers drew a walk — but blew a challenge in the process — and William Contreras lined out to left to end the inning.

The white-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong led things off for the Cubs; you could tell how well he’s getting around on things when he blasted a fastball up and in foul down the right-field line, but Harrison struck him out a couple pitches later. Harrison, whose fastball velocity was in the low 90s in the first inning, couldn’t find the zone against Seiya Suzuki and walked him on five pitches, but Harrison picked up the second out on a popout in foul territory by Alex Bregman.

Unfortunately, Harrison then left sluggish fastballs right over the middle to both Tyrone Taylor and Nico Hoerner, and back-to-back homers gave the Cubs an early 3-0 lead. Michael Busch then ripped a double into the right-field corner and Carson Kelly jumped on the first pitch for an RBI single up the middle, and Harrison was in serious danger of not making it out of the first inning on this steamy Chicago night. Miguel Amaya finally did fly out to end the inning, but the Cubs had jumped all over Harrison and had an early 4-0 lead.

With one out in the second, the Brewers got their first hit, a Garrett Mitchell single up the middle (at 112 mph — Mitchell continues to hit it hard when he hits it). Things went poorly after that, though: with Mitchell running on a 3-2 count, Sal Frelick struck out looking — on a pitch that was outside the zone — and Mitchell was thrown out at second. It was a rough start for the good guys.

Harrison got two quick outs in the second, but Suzuki ripped a single into left, and another Harrison meatball to Bregman ended up in the bleachers, making it 6-0 Cubs. He just couldn’t locate the fastball tonight, but instead of missing outside the zone, he was doing something much worse: missing right down the middle. Taylor grounded out to end the inning, but the Brewers were in a deep hole against a locked-in pitcher.

For the second straight inning, the Brewers hit into an unconventional double play. After a one-out single from Cooper Pratt, Turang grounded one to Busch at first, who stepped on the bag and threw to second, where Pratt was tagged out.

In a good encapsulation of the Brewers’ night, Hoerner hit an easy ground ball to Bauers at first to start the bottom of the third, and Bauers booted it, fell down, tried to shuffle the ball to Harrison, and instead bounced the ball off the base while Harrison wiped out. Hoerner was safe, and Harrison got a visit from the trainer, though he stayed in the game; after a flyout to left, Kelly blooped a single to center and set up the Cubs to score again. Harrison was able to work out of the jam, though; with runners on the corners and one out, Harrison struck out Amaya and got Matt Shaw to ground out to first.

The Brewers were showing very few signs of being able to work their way back into the game. Chourio started the fourth with a “bad Chourio” strikeout in which strike three came on a pitch way out of the zone. Bauers reached for the second time when he lined a single up the middle with one out, and Contreras walked to put the first real pressure on Holmes that the Brewers had managed on the night. Unfortunately, Yelich and Mitchell both struck out chasing outside the zone, and the fleeting chance went by the wayside.

Bauers made a highlight-reel catch to rob PCA of a hit to start the bottom of the fourth, but things went bad again after that. Suzuki inflicted pain on Harrison in a different way — this one was at least not a bad pitch, but Suzuki went with it to the opposite field for a solo shot. Bregman, up next, did get a bad pitch and demolished it, and the Cubs were up eight.

The trouble didn’t end there for Harrison, who was firmly in “wearing it” mode. Taylor singled and Hoerner drew a 12-pitch walk; Harrison stayed in to face Busch, who he struck out, but was taken out with two outs in the bottom of the fourth with eight runs in and two runners on. Out of the bullpen was Chad Patrick… who couldn’t throw strikes. His first eight pitches all missed, most of them quite badly, and the Cubs had another run. Patrick finally found the strike zone against Shaw, and a fly ball ended the inning with the Cubs up 9-0.

There wasn’t much else to write home about. In the seventh, Cooper Pratt hit a two-run homer. DL Hall allowed one to Kelly, which made it an eight-run lead, allowing the Brewers to move to a position player on the mound. Tonight, that was Andrew Vaughn, who took over in the bottom of the seventh. The peculiar infield lineup also handed Joey Ortiz his debut as a first baseman.

Vaughn’s first pitch, a 47-mph “knuckle ball,” hit Amaya, and things went about as you’d expect from there. Chicago picked up three more runs off of Vaughn, Colin Rea gave one back in the eighth (a Chourio double followed by a Vaughn single), and Chicago got four more in the eighth. By the end of the inning, they had nine homers — a franchise record. The game mercifully ended at 17-3.

Yeah, let’s flush that one and move on to tomorrow! It’s a matchup of lefties on Tuesday night, with Robert Gasser starting for Milwaukee opposite Matthew Boyd for Chicago. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. See you then.