Category: MLB

Entering the American League Championship, there wasn’t one team I wanted to play more than the other. Quite honestly, I was happy that it was going to be two small-market teams in the World Series either way, and last night, that was settled. The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant for the first time since 2020, and their third time overall.

While there’s plenty of storylines to go around, it was a series that the Rays had to fight from behind in, after trailing 2-1 to the Cleveland Guardians. After the comeback was complete, former Brewers ace Freddy Peralta was named ALCS MVP, creating a number of storylines revolving around how half the Rays rotation are former Brewers.

For Brewers fans across the board, the opponent didn’t matter, but the length of the series did. The ALCS went six games, just one shy of the maximum, as the Rays took care of business. Let’s take a look at how they got it done.

Game 1: Guardians 7, Rays 3

By the time this game had started, the Brewers already had a two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. By the time Game 1 ended, it looked like Cleveland was going to power their way to their first pennant since 2016.

The Rays got out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before being quieted the rest of the way. The Guardians slowly picked their way back into the game off of a Chase DeLauter solo blast in the top of the sixth inning, which was then followed up with Patrick Bailey’s solo home run in the top of the seventh to tie the game. After taking a 4-2 lead on a Nathaniel Lowe base hit, the Rays chipped back for one more on a Cedric Mullins home run to cut the Guardians’ lead down to 4-3. That was the last we saw of the Rays offense as Cleveland cleaned house in the top of the ninth inning, scoring three runs to win 7-3.

Rays ace Drew Rasmussen shone with six innings of two-run ball and seven strikeouts. His bullpen was unable to pick him up, though, as they allowed a combined five runs over the remaining three innings. For the Guardians, everyone had a hand in the win as six pitchers made an appearance, striking out eight.

Game 2: Rays 3, Guardians 1

The first of three Freddy Peralta appearances throughout this series occurred as he threw six scoreless innings, striking out six batters. The Rays scored one of their runs via a fielder’s choice and another on an error, as their offense struggled to muster a big hit to extend the lead.

Parker Messick threw the team’s longest outing of the series to that point, spanning five innings and no earned runs due to the error. The lone offensive highlight came on a DeLauter double to drive in a run, but they ultimately stranded the tying run on second base, sealing the victory for the Rays.

Game 3: Guardians 3, Rays 2

Cleveland received another masterful outing from one of their arms as Gavin Williams threw five innings of two-run ball, allowing just two hits while striking out nine. His offense had his back from the beginning as Lowe smacked his second double of the series to give them a 1-0 lead. After the speedy Chandler Simpson tripled to give Tampa Bay their lone lead of the game, Petey Halpin hit a two-run home run to reclaim a 3-2 lead. Both bullpens held down the fort as Tampa’s offense wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.

Game 4: Rays 7, Guardians 3

This game was initially rained out, making it the first in MLB’s playoffs since a postponement occurred during Game 3 of the 2022 World Series. Having to push the game back a day, and not allowing any days off for travel, the Rays got hot. After an early Guardians lead, Jonathan Aranda jump-started the offense to tie the game at 1-1. A few singles pushed the Rays’ lead to 4-1, until the eventual knockout blow came off the bat of Yandy Díaz in the top of the ninth inning to seal a 7-3 Rays win. On the mound, Tampa’s Nick Martinez went 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run in the win.

Game 5: Rays 3, Guardians 1

Game 5 showcased more stellar pitching, but three straight one-run innings from the Rays offense carried them the rest of the way. The key to success in this game was forcing Messick out of the game after just two innings, forcing the bullpen to go into early action in the third. The Rays received an even better outing from Rasmussen, who went seven innings and allowed one run, striking out six.

Small ball continued to be the source of the offense for the Rays as a bases-loaded walk and a pair of run-scoring singles drove in the three runs. Cleveland had the tying run up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t extend the game any further.

Game 6: Rays 7, Guardians 3

The same score as Game 4, as the Rays went for the knockout punch. Peralta set Tampa Bay up nicely with 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball. The bullpen had one worrisome moment as the Guardians had the bases loaded and a chance to tie or take the lead, but Tyler Wells allowed just two runs as the Guardians scored their final runs of the 2026 season. Already leading 3-1, Junior Caminero landed the first blow on a two-run home run to extend the Rays’ lead to 5-1. The final blow came off the bat of Díaz, who hit another two-run blast to lock up the Rays’ third AL pennant.

The Brewers and the Rays kick things off on Friday night with first pitch coming at 7 p.m. We’ll have plenty more coverage in the coming days.

Of all the 2026 Mariners’ various problems, one that loomed largest was a clubhouse-wide passivity – a sense that the talent of the team would eventually win out and the Mariners would turn their season around, without a clear plan as to who would turn that season around and how.

In postseason interviews, both the players and GM Jerry Dipoto were able to articulate this particular failing, bemoaning mistakes made but also insisting that hard lessons were learned. But the larger question remains of who will be able to make sure those hard lessons of a disappointing 2026 are carried into an improved 2027.

The Mariners have now dismissed the majority of their coaching staff, wanting to allow a new manager to come in and handpick their own support staff. That person has a significant task before them, even beyond assembling a new major-league coaching staff: whoever it is will also have to learn the idiosyncrasies of this Mariners clubhouse and the particular way leadership functions among a group of largely younger, homegrown players – or, as was made apparent last year, doesn’t function.

When looking at the core leadership in the clubhouse, the first name that jumps to mind is Cal Raleigh. Raleigh ticks all the boxes for a clubhouse leader: he’s a homegrown player signed to a longterm deal; he has a leadership position on the field; he’s the one who steps up to do postseason interviews when things have gone sideways, as he did in 2023, and again in 2026.

But this season also showed where Raleigh, who will be playing in his age-30 season in 2027, has some growing to do in his own leadership role. A disappointing, injury-marred season prevented Raleigh from fully being able to grasp the reins in a clubhouse that was careening off a cliff, and with his absence – both on the field when he went on the IL for the first time in May and in the box score – came a loss of identity for the team as a whole. At the end of the season, Raleigh spoke about the need for some “self-reflection” about the direction the team his headed in – not just from himself, but from his teammates, as well.

“What is our team identity?” Raleigh asked philosophically. “I don’t feel like there was one this year, and that’s partly on me as a leader on this team. It’s not all on me, but as somebody who’s been here, it’s important for us to come together and figure that out.”

Bryan Woo, as a leader on the pitching staff, affirmed that the plan this off-season would be to get players together and discuss where things went wrong and what can be done about it.

“We’ve already talked about a lot of the core guys having some conversations over the off-season, periodically putting our heads together and coming up with some ideas about how we want to make that come to life. Standards and accountability and all that stuff – they’re great words, but if you don’t truly act on them and make them come to life and are about them every day, then they don’t mean anything. You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?”

The pitching staff is in a more perilous leadership position than some others – none of the core of young pitchers are signed to long-term deals, and therefore are often subjects of trade speculation and rumors. They also now lack their de facto leader in the veteran Luis Castillo, a leadership vacuum that opened up when Castillo was traded to the White Sox in early August. Someone from the pitching staff needs to step into that role. For his part, Woo seems to be comfortable with doing so.

“I’m more comfortable now than I’ve been in years past,” said Woo, when asked if he would be willing to take a more vocal role in those conversations about standards and accountability. “I think as a young guy in the clubhouse, you’re just trying to find your way most of the time – when to speak up, what to say and whatnot. You want to say the right thing at the right time. Now I think I’ve learned it’s not about saying the right thing, but just saying something, and learning from the experience one way or another.“

The Mariners clubhouse is in a tricky position with leadership – the homegrown core that first brought the team to the playoffs in 2022 ranges in ages from 25 to 29: a tweener age in baseball, old enough to have been in the league for several years but not yet the indisputable voices of experience. The youngest player in that band is Julio Rodríguez, who’s still finding his own footing with clubhouse leadership: the kid brother who was once trailing after players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatís Jr. now has a line of admirers of his own, starting with new teammate Lazaro Montes and reaching all the way down to the DSL, where Mariners MiLB hitter of the year Jarvis Gomez named Julio as his favorite player.

“I feel like I’m more comfortable, especially this year,” said Julio, reflecting on his changing relationship with leadership. ”Sometimes people assume just because you’re this player or that player, you should do this, you should do that, but that’s not easy, you know. At the end of the day, we’re all grown men here, and we all have different ways of doing things.“

“But at the same time, with time and experience and learning about guys and how they do things, you kind of get more comfortable speaking up and having those conversations that you know are for the better of the team, not like, taking shots or things like that…I feel like that’s a skill that everybody with time has to develop, and I feel like this year I’m a little more comfortable with that.”

Seattle’s new manager will also be tasked with making sure the two newer veteran voices in the clubhouse – Josh Naylor and Brendan Donovan – assume their leadership mantle, especially with the looming departure of the longest-tenured Mariner in J.P. Crawford. Donovan, who missed most of the year with a spate of injuries, never had the opportunity to fully connect with his new teammates. Naylor connected with his young infielders, especially Cole Young, but was hampered by both his own injury issues – a nagging wrist issue that took an off-season procedure to clean up – and injuries and inconsistencies across the infield that meant, aside from Young, he never knew who’d be feeding him the ball on any given night. That’s all further complicated by Naylor’s leadership style, which tends to be more of a carefully observed slow burn rather than an immediate call to arms.

“It’s my first year here, so I got to see a lot of things,” said Naylor. “I’m a very big viewer, and I just kind of see things from afar and then go off that.”

Naylor did praise his teammates, calling them a “great group,” and noted that the team genuinely seems to like each other, going to team dinners or group events. However, he noted that the process of building a team identity is an ongoing one, something that might have been limited by the lack of consistency in a clubhouse that seemed to lack a clear direction.

“Identity is huge in sports, personal identity and then a group identity” said Naylor. “I think it’s just—it’s continuous work too. It’s not just set in stone one day that you do this, this, and that, and it kind of sticks. It’s a day-to-day thing, but we work on it really every day here…With the identity aspect, I think we’re going to do our best to bond more and bring this group together more, and find ways to win ball games going into next year, doing the little things right.”

Doing the little things right was a constant refrain in end-of-season assessments from both players and front office members – or rather, a lack thereof. That, more than anything, speaks to the lack of consistent day-in and day-out leadership in the clubhouse and the need for players to step up, no matter how discomfited it might make them.

“You’re not going to be perfect,” said Woo. “But you’re gonna learn to lead by leading. You’re gonna learn to do something by doing it. It’s an honest process, but that’s what you really need to do, just give it your best effort.“

The Mariners need a manager who can oversee this ‘honest process’ and empower team leaders to lead, however imperfectly. The pieces are all there: what’s lacking is the person who can put them all together. As anyone who’s undergone a leadership change will tell you, it’s a fine line to walk between perpetuating the old ways that prompted the leadership change in the first place and importing an identity ham-fistedly. But it’s the job of a manager to get the best out of their people, and will be the job of the next Mariners manager to bottle up the talent currently free-flowing in the clubhouse into a container with an identifiable shape.

Joe DeMayo and guest co-host Chelsea Janes drop the latest episode of The Mets Pod, as Joe and SNY's MLB Insider go long on Tarik Skubal and the offseason ahead. 

Joe and Chelsea break down all the noise around the free agency of Skubal and the possibility of him landing with the Mets, while also discussing the roles Steve Cohen and David Stearns will play in any pursuit of the star pitcher. 

Later, they compare Freddy Peralta's time in NY with the more successful version in Tampa, while also contrasting the different ways a Brewers vs. Rays World Series matchup can be interpreted in the shadow of MLB's ongoing labor issues. Then, the show takes voicemails about other pitching options and the future for Francisco Alvarez, while the Mailbag brings up the continuing questions at first base.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Mets are interested in speaking with Cubs assistant hitting coach John Mallee about a position on the coaching staff, according to a report on Tuesday from MLB.com's Anthony DiComo.

Mallee, 57, has spent the past three seasons with Chicago, but previously served as hitting coach for the Houston Astros (2013-14), Cubs (2015-17) and Philadelphia Phillies (2018-19). His last stint before returning to Chicago was with the Los Angeles Angels (2020-22) as assistant hitting coach.

Mallee, along with Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly, helped the Northsiders put up impressive numbers last season, leading baseball in OPS (.767), slugging percentage (.428), RBI (804), and runs (850), and walks (674), while finishing 2nd in OBP (.251),  sixth in average (.251).

The Mets are also scheduled to speak with Kevin Long about a position on manager Andy Green's coaching staff, according to a report Monday 

The coaching staff was among David Stearns' talking points during the president of baseball operations' Sept. 28 news conference.

"Andy and I are going to have conversations on that this week, and we'll get to a decision point here over the next week or so," Stearns said last month when asked about building out Green's 2027 coaching staff.

After the season, the Mets dismissed director of hitting Jeff Albert, but retained hitting coach Troy Snitker and assistant Rafael Fernandez. It is unclear exactly what position the Mets are interviewing Mallee for at this time.

One of the more interesting stories to follow in 2026 was the case of Yohandy Morales. The slugging corner infielder had a great season in AAA, yet the front office was reluctant to call him up. When Morales finally got his shot, he performed well, but showed some of the flaws that made folks skeptical.

After being drafted in the second round of the 2023, Morales put up solid but not spectacular numbers in the minors prior to 2026. Back in 2025, Morales hit .265 with 15 homers and a .769 OPS between AA and AAA. Morales made consistent hard contact, but he struck out too much and hit too many ground balls.

Those problems did not disappear in 2026, but the production took a massive step forward. For the first couple months of the season, Morales was one of the biggest stories in the system. He hit .341 with a .924 OPS in April and followed that up with an even better month, hitting .361 with a 1.122 OPS in May.

Morales slowed down a little bit after that, but he still put together a tremendous season in Rochester. Overall, the former Miami Hurricanes star hit .286 with 25 homers and  an .882 OPS in 104 games. However, the Nats did not promote Morales to the big leagues until September.

In my opinion, the biggest reasons for that are his chase rate, which was over 30% in AAA and his zone contact rate, which was under 75%. Both of those numbers are red flags, especially for a Nats regime that focuses heavily on underlying data like that. 

When September rolled around, there was no reason not to give Morales a cameo, so they pulled the trigger. He immediately made a strong first impression, getting three hits, including a homer in his debut against the Braves. Morales is big, strong and shockingly fast for his size, which makes him easy on the eyes. The former second rounder really looks the part.

In his 17 games of big league action, Morales showed his strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side of things, Morales absolutely smoked baseballs. His 91.7 MPH average exit velocity, 62.5% hard hit rate and 15.6% barrel rate are all elite. That hard contact led to a .596 slugging percentage and .851 OPS.

Morales’ raw power is truly a plus tool. He has the ability to go yard from foul pole to foul pole. Morales actually pulled the ball in the air more than expected, but his opposite field power is the star of the show. The home run he hit in Detroit on a cold day in a big ball park was truly jaw dropping. You have to have monster power to pull off what Morales did.

Yohandy Morales produced in AAA and produced in the big leagues. However, there are still reasons to pump the breaks. For one, he struck out 31.9% of the time while not taking a single walk in 47 big league at bats. That combination of whiff and chase is concerning and could get exposed when big league pitchers see more of him. We saw Abimelec Ortiz also get off to a hot start before pitchers adjusted to him.

The corner infield spots are also pretty crowded entering 2027. Based on their actions in 2026, it seems like Andres Chaparro, Brady House and maybe even Ortiz are all ahead of Morales in the pecking order. The Nats also did not play Morales at third base in the big leagues despite playing there in the minors. Blake Butera said he could see Morales playing some third moving forward though.

Yohandy Morales had a very productive season in the minors and during his time in the big leagues. In his 17 MLB games, Morales hit .255 with 4 homers and an .851 OPS. His ability to make consistent hard contact is his super power, and we will see how far that will take him. Overall, Morales had a very good year, but has holes in his game. He will be in the mix for corner infield reps heading into next year.

Season Grade: A-

For the most part you can count the ways in which things went well for the 2026 Cincinnati Reds the same way you can count how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop.

• Elly De La Cruz emerged as an offensive superstar to begin to match the talent he has within.

• Chase Burns was the ace we all dreamed about, and the Reds signed him long-term.

• Sal Stewart socked a lot of homers, drove in a ton of runs, and might win Rookie of the Year.

One, two, three – that’s what went right all season long.

Amid those and the extensive list of things that decidedly did not go well, though, is a ho-hum 105 OPS+ season from a corner outfielder who posted a .217 batting average and a grand total of 1.2 bWAR. That would go to one JJ Bleday, who’ll turn 29 within the next month, as his season would’ve made him tied for the 10th most valuable position player on the World Series bound Milwaukee Brewers.

He was not terrible. He’s got that going for him, which is nice. Signed off the scrap heap for just $1.4 million with another pair of seasons of team control coming with him, he provided just enough cheap production that a team like the Reds will absolutely be jumping for joy at their find, convinced there is so, so much more to him than the .217/.324/.416 (.740 OPS) he put up in 545 PA for them during the 2026 season.

That may be because we – and the Reds – really did see so much more than that for a time.

Though JJ lost out on a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster due to the presence of fellow lefty outfielder Will Benson and Nathaniel Lowe (who the Reds would have lost back to free agency had they not chosen to pick him at that time of the season), he went straight to AAA Louisville and mashed. And when it became obvious that he was more deserving of a big league roster spot than most of his peers by late April, he was summoned back to the big leagues and promptly mashed the way the Miami Marlins thought he would when they selected him 4th overall out of Vanderbilt back int eh 2019 MLB Draft.

He was the best hitter in the National League through June 1st, if not on the entire planet. He took home the NL Player of the Month Award for May, and when he woke up on June 2nd he owned a .301/.399/.655 line (1.053 OPS) with 10 homers across 31 games played – all with a completely reasonable .304 BABIP through 133 PA. The Reds, at the time, looked like they’d found the second coming of Scooter Gennett.

Two things in particular should stand out at this point of the article. One, that I cherry-picked June 2nd as an important date, for some reason, and two, that Bleday held a completely normal (and almost completely average and expected) .304 BABIP to start his season. He was that good without it being ‘lucky,’ in essence – his .304 BABIP through games played on June 1st anked tied for 110th out of the 306 MLB players who’d logged at least 120 PA through that date. In other words, his numbers weren’t being inflated by Acts of the Baseball Gods that would have suggested that a good portion of his otherworldly work would not be sustainable.

June 2nd, though, is when the Baseball Gods did decide to start fighting back, however.

There were 163 MLB players who logged at least 300 PA from June 2nd until the end of the regular season, and JJ Bleday was one of them. Nobody else posted a BABIP worse than the .216 he put up in that time.

Not a single person.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that Bleday is a pretty extreme fly-ball hitter. Extreme fly-ball hitters typically do carry BABIPs slightly below average since no batted ball is ‘easier’ to catch than fly balls. That tracks intrinsically, as they spend more time in the air and the ones that aren’t hit into the seats are typically hit much softer than laser liners and even pulled grounders. At 51.4%, he ranked as the 6th most fly-ball happy hitter among that 163 player sample, and his 0.52 GB/FB ratio was the second lowest to only Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh. Pending MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong, I should point out, ranked 4th there at 0.54, while other noted sluggers like Miguel Vargas, Wilyer Abreu, and Isaac Paredes ranked in the Top 10 (with Yordan Alvarez at 16) – good company, in essence.

His 23.7 degree launch angle anked 4th – again with Raleigh atop the list – and he ranked in the middle of the pack in each of exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate. His expected slugging was roughly 40 points higher than his actual slugging during this time, and the .190 average he posted was somehow the third worst. Those aren’t superstar numbers by any means, but had his BABIP hovered more around the middle of that pack like most of the rest of his batted ball metrics, we’re talking about a guy who should’ve posted an OPS around ~.760 or .770 during the ‘slump’ portion of his 2026 season, not a guy who actually posted a .639 mark that ranked 147th out of that 163 player sample.

I don’t think there’s a ton left to ‘unlock’ with Bleday as he enters his age-29 season in 2027, especially not with the hitting coaches employed by the Reds running the show. I do think, however, that if he simply runs back the approach and batted-ball impacts he had in 2026 during the 2027 season his numbers at season’s end will look rosier than the ones on the back of his baseball card right now – and that’s before we even get into how he should never face a left-handed pitcher ever again. And if that’s the case, there’s still a chance the Reds can make a claim that they really did find another diamond in the rough.

The Texas Longhorns made an addition to the 2027 roster on Tuesday when Houston Memorial right-hander Grant Sperandio announced his re-classification.

The 6’2, 210-pounder will enroll in January and play for the Longhorns next season. Sperandio originally committed to the Longhorns three years ago.

Considered one of the top right-handed pitchers in the country, Sperandio has a chance to factor into Max Weiner’s pitching rotation next season because he has a power arm with a fastball that reaches 97 miles per hour and high spin-rate secondary pitches — a curveball and a slider — that he can throw for strikes, including three different types of fastballs he can manipulate in the zone thanks to a three-quarter arm slot.

The World Series is upon us, and this one should be a delight: The team with the best record in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers, against the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays.

The players are about to take baseball’s grandest stage. Yet this has somehow become a strange national obsession: not how Jacob Misiorowski or Junior Caminero might shine in the series, but how many people might watch it.

Should you care? Not really. Have you ever thought about watching a World Series game and thought, “Hmmm, let me consider what the ratings might be before I decide to tune in?”

Major League Baseball cares, of course, because its owners count on billions of dollars from the sale of television rights, and those rights are worth more money when more people watch the games. And, since the fog of a collective bargaining war has enveloped the sport, the ratings make for an intriguing subplot in the World Series.

Read more:Rays defeat Guardians in ALCS, will face Brewers in World Series

This World Series is what owners say they want: less of, say, the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, more of teams from smaller markets that seldom advance through the playoffs, if they even get there. Neither the Brewers nor the Rays have won a World Series.

Yet the ratings for the Dodgers-Yankees World Series in 2024 almost doubled those for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers in 2023, and this year’s ratings should be much closer to 2023 than 2024.

So, in a sport that already generates the majority of its broadcast revenue in national rather than local packages, amid the collapse of regional sports networks, are the owners taking a risk of making less money on the World Series?

Fox currently airs the World Series as the jewel of a seven-year, $5.1-billion deal that expires in 2028.

Ed Desser, a Santa Monica-based consultant who launched NBA TV and helped negotiate the Dodgers’ record SportsNet LA deal, said the value of a World Series featuring teams such as the Dodgers and Yankees goes beyond the large audiences they command because they play in large markets.

“It’s commonplace for people to hate the Dodgers, hate the Yankees — and, to some extent, that’s good for business, because it’s another rooting interest. Anything that gets people to focus their attention is good,” Desser said. “It’s easy to hate a team that’s in a glamorous place and spends more than almost anybody.

“I’m not sure that anybody has an ax to grind against the Rays or the Brewers. Sports is about passion.”

That said, neither Desser nor Bob Thompson, the former president of Fox Sports Networks, believes MLB is setting itself up for a big fall in revenue from the Fall Classic.

For Fox — and whatever other bidders might emerge come 2028 — ratings would be important, but not as much as you might think.

“Does expected audience matter? Of course,” Desser said. “They’re in the media business, and the way you monetize is by selling subscriptions to your channel and selling advertising.

Read more:Shaikin: Questions about Shohei Ohtani's health, a salary cap and Mark Walter loom for Dodgers

“But, typically, you’re taking a much longer viewpoint. You’re making a deal that might be five, eight, 12 years. When you do that, you have an expectation that some teams get better, some teams get worse, sometimes you get a large market, sometimes you get a small market. It kind of evens out.”

This is the fifth season of the current Fox contract. The 10 World Series berths have been spread among nine teams, with the Dodgers appearing twice.

To a broadcast outlet, Thompson said, financial success in the World Series is not just about ratings.

“It’s about how good the matchup is and how long the matchup goes. The bulk of the advertising is sold up front (before we know the teams),” Thompson said. “Ratings for the series aren’t going to be a huge deal, unless you’re selling time in, say, Game 6 and Game 7, where you can really be jacking your rates.”

Last year’s Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series extended to seven games, attracting viewers amid a dramatic finish and ultimately getting a higher rating than the 2024 Dodgers-Yankees series, even though Canadian viewers weren’t included in that Nielsen count. The Dodgers-Yankees series lasted five games, and the Dodgers beat up on the Yankees when the Yankees weren’t beating themselves.

Even if the World Series itself might be worth less with more lower-profile teams competing, Thompson said MLB could include it as part of a larger package, or dangle it as an incentive for streaming outlets or other new bidders.

He also noted that the latest MLB collective bargaining proposal calls for fewer regular-season games and more postseason games.

“Playoffs are going to get you a premium over regular-season games,” Thompson said.

And, to the extent that postseason ratings might be in decline, ratings for everything — sporting events, awards shows, news shows, dramas, comedies, you name it — are in decline. Only the NFL is immune to lower ratings.

“Big events matter more than they used to, even with smaller audiences,” Desser said. “The World Series is still a big event, and there is a premium for that.”

Read more:Shaikin: How the playoffs might impact the lockout, and ... unfair to the Yankees? What?

The three most-watched shows on broadcast television in the week of Oct. 5-11, according to Nielsen: Sunday Night Football (Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens) with 17 million viewers; SEC Football (Alabama vs. Georgia) with 12 million viewers; NLCS Game 1 (Dodgers vs. Brewers) with 11 million viewers.

The top entertainment show that week: Tracker (CBS), with 7.4 million viewers.

The owners will make their money on the World Series, one way or another.

“Even at a lower expectation for audience, there is still going to be that value,” Desser said. “It’s one of the biggest things happening in October.”

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

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

As you no doubt know by now, the World Series beginning Friday in Milwaukee between the Brewers and Rays is the first World Series involving two teams that had never won it before since 1980, when the Royals and Phillies met. That one was won by the Phillies, four games to two, and that franchise had been around for nearly a century (starting in 1883) before winning. They’d won only two National League pennants before 1980, in 1915 (losing the World Series to the Red Sox) and 1950 (losing to the Yankees). The 1980 Royals, meanwhile, were in just their 12th season and had posted seven winning seasons in those 12 years. (Comparison point: From 1969-80 the Cubs had just four winning seasons.)

This World Series isn’t exactly that one, but we do have one team (Milwaukee) that’s won only one pennant previous to this year in its 58 years of existence (1982, when they lost the World Series to the Cardinals as an AL team). The Rays have been in two World Series, losing both (2008 to the Phillies and 2020 to the Dodgers). Both these teams have had multiple postseason appearances over the last decade, eight for Milwaukee and six for Tampa Bay.

Both these teams have been described as “small market” teams. Let’s examine that for a moment. The Brewers do, in fact, inhabit the smallest TV market in Major League Baseball (TV market size generally being the benchmark for such things). This ranking of TV markets shows Milwaukee as No. 38, smallest in MLB. (That will change two years from now when Las Vegas, No. 40, joins MLB.)

But notice another thing about that ranking. Where do you find Tampa-St. Petersburg? No. 11. That’s right, the TV market of the Rays is nearly a Top 10 market, just below the San Francisco Bay Area and just ahead of Phoenix.

So why are the Rays a “small market” team? Likely this comes from their payroll spending, which has been among the lowest in MLB for quite some time. This year, per Spotrac, the Rays’ cash payroll ranks 28th (the Brewers, incidentally, are 18th).

Why is this happening? Most likely, because of the location of their stadium:

The vast majority of the people who live in the Tampa Bay area live east of the bay, in Tampa and its suburbs. Now look how difficult it is to get to the Trop from there. Three bridges, and during rush hour? Forget it. I have been there twice and stayed in St. Petersburg and it’s still hard to get to. Here’s what I wrote about my first visit there in 2017.

The Rays were recently sold and they are finally going to get a new stadium built. It will be in Tampa, near the Raymond James Stadium where the NFL’s Buccaneers play. This, plus their World Series appearance, should help Rays attendance jump significantly. They could almost immediately become a “big market” team.

So if anyone tells you that this matchup will have any effect on the labor negotiations that will follow, you can tell that person that they’re wrong. Nothing that happens in the World Series is going to change ownership’s desire for a salary cap. That is being asked for not for “competitive balance,” as has been stated by some including Commissioner Rob Manfred, but to increase team profit and thus, team valuations.

I seem to have strayed from the baseball aspect of the World Series here, a bit, so let me say that we have a matchup of the teams with the best record in each league since all the way back in … 2024, when the Dodgers and Yankees met. Just the year before, the 84-win Diamondbacks (who swept the 101-win Dodgers in a division series) and 90-win Rangers (who swept the 101-win Orioles in a division series) were the World Series opponents. In my view, the postseason really is random. This year it went in fairly predictable fashion. Other years, it doesn’t.

These teams played very early this year in Milwaukee at the end of March, with the Brewers taking two of three. I doubt that has much predictive value for the World Series.

As far as who I’m rooting for? I don’t think you have to take more than one guess. I respect what the Brewers have accomplished, but I can’t root for them to win. Go Rays, and let’s make this a seven-game series, because, well, more baseball is always good and after this World Series ends, we don’t know when we’ll next see MLB players on the field.

Shohei Ohtani memorabilia is still fetching eye-watering numbers even after his disappointing 2026 postseason.

A jersey the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar wore in 2025 just sold for $2,055,700 on The Realest’s auction block.

Officials who oversaw the sale said in a statement this week the hefty price tag set a public auction record for a 21st century game-used baseball jersey, topping the $1.792 million that New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge’s MLB debut uniform previously netted.

Ohtani donned the jersey on March 18, 2025 during Los Angeles’ Tokyo Series matchup against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

It featured the first-ever Gold MLB Logoman patch, and Ohtani later signed it. He also wrote inscriptions on it that commemorated the date of the game and his 2025 National League MVP award.

Ohtani went on to have huge seasons in ’25 and ’26, though he had a forgettable run for the Dodgers during their playoff run this month.

The designated hitter batted .192 in eight games while dealing with several injuries. He also recorded just one home run and only three RBIs.

Nonetheless, the market for his items is still clearly as hot as ever — something The Realest founder and CEO Scott Keeney noted in the days after the record-breaking sale of the Ohtani jersey.

“The greatest collectibles are the ones that capture moments that can never be recreated, and this jersey represents exactly that,” Keeney said. “Ohtani is redefining what’s possible in the collectibles market, and the global response to this jersey reinforces just how significant these historic artifacts have become.”

Last week, Rawlings announced their 2026 Gold Glove Finalists. Perhaps surprising to some (but not Colorado Rockies fans) was the inclusion of Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield along with Matt Olson and Ty France.

“It’s not easy to do in your first year,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer via a phone call last week.

Of Rumfield’s defense, Schaeffer said, “It was impressive, and it was steady.”

Rumfield became one of five rookies since 1901 to have a season with at least 1,150 innings at first base and have seven or fewer errors, joining Todd Helton (1998), Travis Lee (1998, ARI), Freddie Freeman (2011, ATL), and Nolan Schanuel (2024, LAA).

It’s worth considering, then, how he compares defensively with his fellow finalists as well as what he brings to a rebuilding Rockies team.

Considering the competition

As a reminder, Rumfield was acquired by the Rockies via trade from the New York Yankees.

“TJ, I think, has always been a fairly underrated prospect,” said Amir Mamdani, Rockies director of baseball operations, via text message. “I think in part because he doesn’t meet the archetype of a typical 1B slugger.”

He continued, “I think TJ’s gift, which we were fortunate to see on display for 155 games, is the fact that he has a tremendous feel to hit. Has always put the ball in play at an impressive rate, and while the power has been more modest (15-20 HR a season), he’s always held his own offensively as he moved up through New York’s system, and ultimately seemed pretty blocked there, behind Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt, and others.”

The Rockies were happy to take advantage of the Yankees surplus.

In 2026, Rumfield saw his first year of MLB play, and he made the most of it. Matt Olson of the Atlanta Braves is 32 and is already a three-time Gold Glove winner. San Diego Padre Ty France, also 32, has won a Gold Glove as well.

Rumfield is the only newbie of the group, and while he did win an MiLB Gold Glove for first base in 2023, this announcement is another way to announce the rookie’s arrival.

Now to the numbers.

Here’s how the three finalists compare defensively in terms of standard defensive metrics as shown by FanGraphs:

Olson has played significantly more defensive innings (1424.0) than Rumfield (1156.1), and both are well ahead of France (1030.1). Although Olson has one more error than Rumfield, given the number of innings he logged, it’s difficult to hold that against him. Olson also started and finished more double plays than either of the other finalists. By this metric, Olson has clearly made a case for his fourth Gold Glove.

Consider, then, what the advanced defensive metrics show, again, per FanGraphs:

Although France leads the trio in defensive runs saved, Olson again has the better numbers in terms of outs above average and fielding run value.

Rumfield had a 2026 that placed him (rightfully) in the Rookie of the Year conversation, but the numbers indicate that he is not a Gold Glove front runner.

Still, it’s been a tremendous season for the Rockies first baseman.

“For him to be mentioned among Matt Olson and Ty France,” Schaeffer said, “those are two really good defenders, and I’m proud of TJ for the work he put in every day to get there.”

Considering what he brings to the Rockies

Schaeffer is quick to acknowledge what Rumfield means for Colorado.

“For a big man over there, which a lot of first basemen are, his hands are soft,” Schaeffer said, “and he makes pretty much every play over there — difficult plays.”

And it’s not just the plays that Rumfield makes; it’s also how he anchors his infield teammates.

“He’s got the athletic ability to read hops,” Schaeffer said, “and for me as an infielder myself, the the biggest thing for a first baseman was giving the rest of the infielders confidence that you can make a great play and not make the best throw, and your guy’s going to pick you up over there, and TJ does that on a consistent basis.”

Schaeffer added, “I think he makes life easy, way easier for [Ezequiel] Tovar and for [Kyle] Karros, and for whoever was playing second base — Willi Castro — and they know that. So they can try to make more difficult plays because they know that he’s going to pick them up on the backside.”

Rockies general manager Josh Brynes agrees.

“I thought receiving throws, like the wingspan picks, all that stuff, it felt like he saved a lot of errors or converted outs,” Brynes said over the phone, adding, “Just the infielders, their freedom of making any kind of throw is enhanced.”

Although the rebuilding Rockies are coming off a less-than-stellar season defensively, Rumfield was a stalwart at first, which Schaeffer sees as key for any successful defensive unit.

“I mean, (if) you have a really good first baseman, you can do more things. Kyle Karros can try more crazy plays where you have to be free to do it. And if you have any inkling that your first baseman isn’t going to catch the ball, you can’t make those plays. And same thing with Tovar on that side of the on that side of the diamond,” Schaeffer noted.

He pointed to other MLB first basemen to illustrate his point.

“When Christian Walker was in Arizona, he anchored that good infield that they had. Matt Olson anchors that infield. Even Freddie Freeman in L.A — they throw it over there, and they know he’s going to catch everything. So you see really good infields anchored by first basemen that receive every throw.”

Mamdani concurs.

“Defensively, I think it’s a credit to him and all the work he’s put in,” Mandani said.

“He and Andy González worked a lot this year, whether it be the red machine, or other defensive drills, and I think if you look at his contribution both from a statistical standpoint with range and defensive runs saved, but even in terms of his receiving at first base. The number of plays he made, even anecdotally, to make scoops, or catch balls as a big target that other first basemen wouldn’t be able to get to, he was just incredibly steady over there, and I’m happy for him that that’s being recognized.”

It would not be unreasonable to consider Rumfield’s season “Helton-esque.”

Even if Rumfield isn’t a Gold Glove winner in 2026, that’s some high praise, and he’s set himself up to build on this year going forward.

“It’s a testament to him and the work that he put in, because I think (with) defense, there’s skill involved certainly, but a lot of it is sort of effort and practice and focus,” said Ian Levin, Rockies assistant general manager of baseball operations, over the phone.

“And he puts in the time, he puts in the effort, and he’s done it throughout his career prior to coming to us, and then we see it with us. So, just the the ability for him to to do that, put into action, and now actually become a Gold Glove finalist for it, I think is huge credit.”

“Just to be a finalist, that’s awesome as a rookie to be among those (players),” Schaeffer said. “TJ, he set a high bar for himself in his first year.”

The Gold Glove winners will be announced on November 1, 2026.

This story was updated to include comments from Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes.

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Shohei Ohtani kept his message to fans short.

“Thank you,” he wrote in an Instagram caption.

The 2026 season was by far Ohtani’s most disappointing campaign in a Dodgers uniform. His first two seasons in LA ended with World Series titles, but Ohtani’s third year ended in collapse.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for Dodgers’ early exit in the postseason, but the team’s mismanagement of Ohtani will remain a focal point in why one of the best rosters to ever be assembled in baseball fell overwhelmingly short of the Fall Classic.

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Ohtani dealt with multiple injuries in 2026 and could have very well been shut down in the summer to ensure better health come October. But that never happened.

Instead, the Dodgers let Ohtani continue playing until it became painfully clear the injuries had derailed his offensive production.

The 2027 season will be a key turning point for the Dodgers as the offseason is sure to bring changes in LA. But Ohtani has made it clear that he intends on remaining a two-way player next year.

The Dodgers will have to create an efficient plan for the aging Ohtani to do so, especially considering the implications his workload will have by October.

Ohtani hit 30 home runs and sported a sub-2.00 ERA, but his season ended in catastrophe because of the way his health was managed throughout 2026.

Dodgers fans are inevitably disappointed with the results as a three-peat seemed feasible given the star power on the roster. But the talent wasn’t enough to even muster a win over the Brewers in the National League Championship Series and that’s something the Dodgers will have to wrestle with in the coming months.

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Cardinals on My Time is back for the winter in a little different capacity! With the offseason and winter looking questionable at best and the Cardinals sitting in an awkward spot, I decided to take the opportunity to expand my podcast a little bit.

Since writing all things St. Louis Cardinals for the past few seasons, my attention around the league has significantly dwindled and I cannot have that happen. Rather than just reading through articles or trying to find new podcasts, I decided to bring the external talent to me and then share it with those of you who are in the same boat. I am fortunate enough to do that through the platform called MILLIONS, which is where I will be hosting my LIVESTREAM podcasts before publishing them later on normal platforms.

In my MILLIONS debut, I was joined by Jessica Kleinschmidt who was previously of MLB.com and NBC Sports covering the Athletics. Through our conversation, I quickly realized she was the perfect person to have one and discuss the impending winter of negotiations and hearsay. Jessica is a self-proclaimed CBA professional, so it was great to hear information from someone with ties to players and owners while also discussing what could happen this winter.

CBA talks are going to go to an interesting place during the MLB offseason

In the episode, we covered plenty but I really wanted to get into comparing the make up of both the A’s and Cardinals. The more Jessica talked, the more it seemed like these are teams sitting at a similar point in their building for the future. The Cardinals obviously have Chaim Bloom as POBO, but yesterday the Athletics also announced their own POBO, Taylor Smith, who had similar lineage to Bloom and is probably going to do things that look like what we saw in St. Louis.

When we spoke CBA, we got into what the lockout will mean for the fringe 40-man players and the Rule 5 draft. Jessica and I are both smitten by Rule 5 stories and hope that the process stays in some capacity, but it will be interesting to see how teams around the league handle their player protections by the 40-man deadline. The negotiations will probably get messy with a lot of players vs. owners conversations happening beyond the salary cap commercials we are already seeing during game broadcasts.

Finally, Jessica teased that she is going to be diving deeper into her Athletics coverage in some capacity, but could not announce the full details just yet. By the end of the episode, I was glad to have expanded from rehashing the same Cardinals conversations we hear every week and get some more look around MLB. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure you drop a like, comment, and/or subscribe on your favorite platform!

On Thursday at 6pm, I will be having Double-A pitcher Michael Watson on MILLIONS and prospect guru Kareem Haq will help me lead the conversations. I will be posting a link to that stream on my socials but if you follow on MILLIONS, you will get notified when we go live.

I hope to have plenty more for you all in the near future. Thanks for sticking with me!

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

The Guardians are not in a World Series, so a certain number of Guardians fans are playing everyone’s favorite game, “Blame the Manager.” Is that fair?

First, I think we should all acknowledge a couple truths. Stephen Vogt has won three division titles in three years, leading two striking comebacks to do so the past two years. He has led his team to two ALCS appearances in three years. He has done so with limited resources on the roster through no fault of his own. If you would like the Guardians to fire Stephen Vogt or trade him to Seattle, please, and I say this as respectfully as possible – touch some grass, find a God of your choosing, and learn ball.

Now, just because Vogt is a great manager does not mean he is incapable of mistakes. Let’s take a look at the four most common objections I have heard to Vogt’s managing this postseason:

Objection 1: He Overused Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, Daniel Espino and Shawn Armstrong:

Cleveland pitchers threw 97 innings this postseason – This group of pitchers who made up Vogt’s circle of trust threw 42 of those innings. In those 42 innings, they put up a 2.57 ERA, a 3.05 FIP and a 9.64/2.14 K/BB/9. Let’s be clear – if a given pitching staff puts up those numbers for any playoff series, you would expect to win that series. However, if we stop the count before last night, this same group of players threw 36.2 of the teams 89 innings and put up an incredible 1.72 ERA, 2.34 FIP and 10.31/1.96 K/BB/9.

Guys, we all know that Smith, Gaddis, Sabrowski and Armstrong were overused. We know that Espino probably saw Caminero one too many times. But, the reason it happened was because it was still Vogt’s best shot at winning this series. He recognized his best weapons and put them in position to carry him over the top. Smith and Gaddis ran out of gas at the very end (notably, Armstrong and Espino remained extremely effective), but this is because Vogt was lacking the weapons he needed to reduce their usage, not because he was attempting to run them into the ground.

Aside from the disappointment of Parker Messick being unable to provide something like his regular season output (likely due to some combination of inexperience and fatigue), I find myself left with the most regret that Colin Holderman was hurt. I would very much like to try this Tampa Bay series again with a healthy Holderman able to take some of the innings that ended up going to Hunter Gaddis and/or Cade Smith. But, that’s something we will never know. For 2027, I have hopes that the team can make Slade Cecconi a high leverage option and that Daniel Espino will take another step forward as a high leverage guy, as well as counting on a full recovery for Holderman. If the group that is currently here can stay reasonably healthy (and, probably replace Tim Herrin with a veteran lefty), I really like their chances of not running Smith, Gaddis and Sabrowski into the ground to try to advance in a round of the playoffs.

Note that many of us armchair managers on social media were predicting disaster having Armstrong pitch for a fourth time against the Rays… and he said through the top of the order again. If pitchers execute, reliever familiarity doesn’t help much. And, that was the plan in going to the Guardians’ best pitchers so often.

Bottom line – this group of pitchers pitched a ton of innings because, even with the risk of fatigue, they were Vogt’s best chance at winning baseball games given the options he had. The one area I would like to see Vogt and the team experiment with, here, is trying to make sure their best relievers face different parts of the order when entering… but this often conflicts with the handedness advantage. I’m not convinced the idea of reliever familiarity penalty trumps the handedness advantage… or the idea of putting the guys with the best stuff in the game as much as possible. Vogt’s moves here, thus, track with a good process leading to an, unfortunately, bad result.

Objection 2 – He Should Have Started Angel Genao Over Brayan Rocchio:

Angel Genao finished the season from mid-August through September with a 40 wRC+. Brayan Rocchio is now an established major league player, while still young, and has to be counted on to put up a good at-bat and come through with a hit in a big spot at some point, leaning on his usually solid contact skills. Brayan Rocchio failed at almost every juncture. He was successful at almost every juncture as a hitter in 2024. That’s baseball for ya. But, Vogt had no option on the roster clearly better than Rocchio at shortstop, both fielding and hitting. I would like Genao to get a shot to win the shortstop job in spring training (which will probably be in MAY, but, whatever…), but for right now, sticking with Rocchio was the best choice.

Some folks will point out that Vogt pulled the rip cord on Angel Martinez. Vogt, rightly, recognized that Martinez is a lefty-masher option and that Petey Halpin is more of a threat vs. LHP than this current version of Angel. It also allowed him to get the benefit of Kwan’s defense in left and the potential benefit of good centerfield defense from Halpin (Halpin did not provide particularly excellent defense, but the potential was worth a shot). Genao has not proven himself against either LHP or RHP, so going with the established and experienced option to take those at-bats in Rocchio was the right choice, for now. Should the team have been more aggressive about pursuing a right-handed hitting veteran to play shortstop against LHP and take the bench role from Genao for these playoffs? I think so, but I also barely even raised the possibility of that at the trade deadline. I can understand why it wasn’t a priority, but the options Vogt was left with led to sticking with Rocchio.

Objection 3 – He Should Have Given Tanner Bibee a Start:

Why didn’t Bibee get a start? The answer is simple: Bibee had a 4.36 ERA/4.52 FIP, a 7/2.4 K/BB/9 and gave up a 12% home-run/fly-ball rate in 2026. In September, Bibee had an ERA of 7.36 and a 4.83 xFIP. He was giving up a lot of loud contact. The team decided that Bibee would become their “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” pitcher for a game that went into extra innings. At that point, relying on his veteran moxie and experience would be the best option available, despite his inability to miss bats and penchant for surrendering the long-ball… but not before then.

Folks, I simply can’t argue with the reasoning. It’s statistically sound. Now, would I have, personally, objected to handing Bibee the ball for game six and saying, “Give us all you got?” Absolutely not. I would have appreciated the boldness and dealt with the consequences. But, it’s incredibly likely those bombs off the bat of Diaz and Caminero just would have happened earlier in the game. Maybe it would have been easier for me, emotionally, to see Bibee competing and getting smacked around than Smith or Gaddis running out of gas after great performances these playoffs… but that doesn’t mean my feelings should have guided the process. Also, the bullpen game for game six was actually more effective than it seems. Herrin gave up an 85 mph sure fly out that beat an outfield shift and a bad jump from two outfielders for a double, Cantillo gave up a 69 mph fly out to Caminero that would have avoided any damage in his outing, and, heck, Caminero hit a foul-pole homer off a splitter six inches inside off the plate. The Rays deserve credit for all this… but I don’t think game six was a disaster in terms of pitching plans from Vogt and the Guardians AT ALL.

Objection 4 – He Should Have Stuck with Foster Griffin Longer in Game One and Four of the ALCS:

We have now come to the one objection I find to be of the most merit in criticizing Stephen Vogt, and the place where I think he and the team’s decision-makers probably find themselves with the most regret this morning. Griffin pitched 10.1 innings in these playoffs and put up a 3.48 ERA/0.78 FIP with a 13/0 K/BB/9. Folks, those are ace-type underlying numbers, to be honest. Yet, repeatedly, Vogt only allowed Griffin to face a lineup approximately one time through the order. Why? During the season, Griffin had a 2.35 ERA first-time-through-an-order and a 4.41 ERA second-time-through-an-order. I promise you that this data is exactly what was on Vogt’s mind when he would remove Griffin… as well as mentioned above, his knowledge that his five best options to navigate a lineup outside of Gavin Williams resided in his bullpen.

I think we can now say, after seeing the bullpen on fumes in game six, that it would probably have been a good risk for the Guardians to allow Foster Griffin to go deeper into games in these playoffs, specifically in game four of the ALCS to try to save wear and tear on the bullpen (specifically avoiding a second inning from Matt Festa later in the game). With that said, this would have required Griffin, with his issues second-time-through, facing Yandy Diaz again. Griffin had a 4.04 FIP against right-handed hitters this season and Diaz has a career 145 wRC+. Junior Caminero, quickly coming up after Diaz, has a career 152 wRC+ against LHP. Griffin vs. these two players second-time in a game is a very bad matchup. However, if you can give yourself a chance at avoiding the second Matt Festa inning, it is a risk you might take and see if Griffin can work around these two. At the same time, if it goes extremely well, all you do is probably give yourself a reason to use Smith, Gaddis and Sabrowski in game four when they actually got rest. So, I don’t think the outcome of this series changes, but I do think Vogt and the Guardians need to steel themselves to try to get a little more from their starters the next time they make the playoffs, consequences be darned. May fans who watch a Guardians’ starter get lit up second-time through an order in the future remember Matt Festa for two innings and Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis on fumes. There is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t aspect to this decision.

Some folks feel similarly about Joey Cantillo. Friends, Cantillo had a 3.6/10.8 K/BB/9 in the playoffs. He was perpetually one pitch from disaster and Vogt did well keeping him from making that pitch. Exposing him to more opportunities would not have made sense.

Bottom Line:

There are, of course, other potential objections: should the team have bunted more? Attempted more steals? More hit-and-runs? It’s hard for me to argue that this offense should have intentionally put themselves at risk for making more outs. Should Jo Adell have made more starts in right field? Both Adell and DeLauter are not good fielders at the moment. Should Patrick Bailey have caught Messick in game two of the ALCS? Maybe? I can find good logic and sound reasoning behind every decision Stephen Vogt made this series, even in the places where I might have wanted a different choice. …That’s all you can ask of a manager.

In summary, my argument is that the Guardians have a very good manager, not only of the clubhouse but of in-game decisions. We just need to give Vogt more weapons in his arsenal to avoid another disappointment next time he puts this team in position to make a World Series run. Dolan and Blitzer, do whatever you can to keep this man helming the ship here forever.

As a society, we love endings — we celebrate graduations and retirements, we turn the season finales of our favorite television shows into social gatherings, we flood the movie theatres and turn the culmination of Marvel’s Infinity Saga into the biggest communal experience in the history of cinema. While our love of endings isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does sometimes cause us to pay less attention to the journey than it deserves. These days, Marvel movies get judged as good or bad by fans almost entirely based on how “necessary” they are to the leadup to Avengers: Doomsday. The groundbreaking prime of Game of Thrones, which has transformed fantasy television as a genre forever, often gets forgotten in the uproar of a final four episodes that can at best be described as divisive. And, in sports, the highs and lows of an eight-month baseball journey gets forgotten amongst the irritating week known as the American League Divisional Series.

It’s the journey that I want to reflect on today — or rather, my own personal journey through the 2026 season. You see, heading into the season, my brother and I set a goal for ourselves: to, at long last, make it to 20 Yankees games this season. This is, of course, a reasonable goal only because we both work near subway lines that lead directly to the Stadium, and have work schedules that allow us to reach 161st St. before first pitch rather easily. Because of this, we can take advantage of, for example, somebody selling field level tickets on Stubhub for $10 because the forecast has it below freezing by the third inning.

While Mother Nature did her best to keep us from our goal, we did in fact manage to make it to 20 games this year — just barely. And, as we have been reviewing the season over the last few days, I have thought about all the cool stuff we experienced live this year, and how these experiences, filled with quite a few firsts, reflects a journey that goes beyond statistics on a page, or a postseason disappointment.

Opening Day

So many diehard fans that I know love going to Opening Day, and honestly, I get it. For the first time since the previous autumn, baseball — real, meaningful baseball, not spring training — is back. And yet, actually attending Opening Day was something I never truly considered: baseball is the one sport that still does Opening Day, not Opening Night (let’s just ignore that Netflix business that happened in San Francisco), and as a teacher…well, it’s not exactly acceptable to take days off for leisure. This year, though, the Yankees’ home opener fell on Good Friday…which meant school wasn’t in session. My brother maneuvered his schedule so he could take the day off, and we headed to the ballpark to watch Aaron Judge and Ben Rice go deep, Will Warren spin 5.2 innings of two-run ball (the first of eight or nine Warren appearances we attended), Cody Bellinger make a miracle catch, and the Yankees down the Marlins, 8-2.

In a lot of ways, Opening Day felt very much like a normal game, or at least it did, after the pregame introductions. Still, it was probably the largest, most engaged crowd of the regular season. I still get chills thinking about the excited murmur that went through the crowd when the PA announcer said, “Number 45” during the introductions, and the entire stadium realized that Gerrit Cole, still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, was in attendance. And I absolutely got a kick out of the fact that, after Aaron Judge and the aforementioned Cole, the biggest cheer the Bronx reserved was for…Matt Blake. Hey, the fans know who is important (side note — Brian and Hal, pay that man!).

Knicks in Five

On the diamond, Wednesday, May 6th was a fairly miserable day. Corey Seager hit a first inning home run off starter Will Warren (hey, I did say we saw him a lot), the Rangers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before Judge homered to drop the deficit to five, and it was raining on and off before it began pouring late. Yet, it was one of the most fun games I attended this year. Because as the rain came down, everybody in the seats hopped up into the concourse, and began to watch the televisions as Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks went on a late run to down the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-102 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Stadium was buzzing to such an extent despite the lack of drama on the field that, standing in right field, Judge kept looking up at the crowd with a confused look on his face until a young kid braved the rain, ran down to the wall, and yelled to him that the Knicks were winning; a thumbs-up was the response.

As it would turn out, that would not be the only Knicks-themed game I would go to. On June 17th, just a few days after downing the San Antonio Spurs and winning the Knicks’ first title in 53 years, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were invited to Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. As Knicks fans and Villanova alumni, my brother and I of course jumped at the opportunity to go, and we were joined with us by a buddy of mine who is a Knicks fan despite growing up in Arizona. So imagine his excitement when Paul Goldschmidt, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Diamondbacks, belted a three-run homer off Tyler Davis in the fifth inning. A pretty memorable first visit to Yankee Stadium, huh?

On the Road

It had been a long time since I had gone to see the Yankees on the road — since before COVID, at the very least. This year, though, the Yankees headed down to Philadelphia at the end of July, and so, this year, we took the Amtrak down to the Land of Brotherly Love to catch a game with college friends. As it would turn out, that would be the day that LeBron James announced his intent to sign with the Sixers, which injected a bunch of energy into what was already expected to be a dynamic crowd.

And we were treated to one of the best games I have attended, honestly ever. The first batter to reach base for either team? Paul Goldschmidt, who led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run. The first time multiple baserunners were on base at the same time? When the Yankees loaded the bases in the fifth, but they failed to get a runner across the plate. Between Cam Schlittler and Jesús Luzardo, the starting pitchers combined for 14.1 innings, allowing just seven hits and one walk while striking out a whopping 21 batters. Earlier this week, Matt noted that this was, according to GameScore, tied for the Yankees’ most dominant performance of the season, and well, the Yankees needed every inch of that performance.

Schlittler’s dominance (and Brent Headrick’s Houdini-esque escape in the 8th) only tell half the story, though. New Yorkers travel well, and Philadelphia is only ninety minutes from Penn Station by Amtrak. Sure, Citizens Bank Park wasn’t exactly Yankee Stadium South in the same way that the Wells Fargo Center (or whatever they call it now) becomes MSG South during the NBA playoffs, but the crowd was very much divided — and with such a close game, the tension was so thick it could be cut by a knife. 10/10, would absolutely recommend doing if you have the chance.

Amongst the Creatures

Yankees/Rockies isn’t exactly a primetime matchup, really ever, so naturally, my brother and I were more than happy to grab some well under-priced tickets on Stubhub and go on a Wednesday night in September, right before the school year truly got underway. We weren’t exactly paying attention to where the seats were — we got them fairly last-minute, so we just saw the price, the fact that they had access to the Pepsi Lounge (hey, the food in there is fresher than most other spots in the Stadium), so we were as surprised as could be when we realized that we were not simply sitting in the bleachers, but amidst the Bleacher Creatures, just a few spots down from the guy in charge of the Roll Call.

The game itself wasn’t much to write home about. Warren put together a good outing against a meh opponent, and the Yankees lineup struggled to get anything going against Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano. Well, except when they got two outs in the third. A single, a double, and a walk later, and suddenly George Lombard Jr. came to the plate with the bases juiced…and he responded with the first grand slam of his career — and the first grand slam of the season. The Stadium, of course, went nuts.

What I remember most from that game, though, isn’t the grand slam, but a revelation I had. Ever since Nick Swisher, I’ve heard quite a bit about the relationship between the right fielder and the Creatures, but never quite understood it. There was quite a bit of…I don’t want to call it banter, exactly, between them, but it was clear that Aaron Judge recognized many of the season ticket holders, and would occasionally react to them. And apparently, you know who spent a lot of time interacting with them, relative to his time in the Bronx? Juan Soto. I now get why they treat him like jilted exes.

Double Trouble

The final weekend of the season was, to put it bluntly, a disaster. Thanks to an impending storm, Saturday night’s game — CC Sabathia Day — was moved to Friday afternoon and turned into a single-admission doubleheader. It ruined Josh Hart bobblehead day, as fans who bought tickets to get it (guilty as charged) but who couldn’t get off of work (I don’t teach on Fridays this semester, so I was good) lost their chance…and that’s before we got into the ballpark. Sabathia got to see his number retired in front of half a dozen fans; ok, I’m exaggerating, but when the right field bleachers aren’t able to sustain a “Thank you, CC” chant, you know the crowd is just, well, not there. To top it all off, the Yankees were an absolute disaster in the first game, going on to lose 10-2 in a game that wasn’t even that close. The second game was much better, but by that point, I’d been on my feet for hours (I didn’t go to my seats, as they were in the upper 400s, but instead watched the game from the various terraces throughout), the storm had started to dump buckets of water on us, and frankly, the game was meaningless.

Nonetheless, it was an awesome day. As I noted in the Five Worst Defensive Plays of the season post last week, I got to check “inside-the-park-homer” off my baseball bucket list. I got to watch CC Sabathia get his number retired — the first Yankee whose entire career in pinstripes I saw to receive the honor. Sabathia and Hart each threw a strike from the rubber as their ceremonial first pitches (in truth, I think Hart’s was a tad better). I talked baseball with some random fans throughout the ballpark, including some who remember going to the original old Yankee Stadium, before the renovations in the 1970s. And, for the first time ever, I was recognized by a student “in the wild” (i.e., not at school); trust me, hearing “Wait, Mr. Griffin?” outside of the confines of the school building will throw you a bit — and I’ve been told that feeling never quite goes away, either.

Game 162

The Yankees only played 161 games this year, with the single-admission doubleheader that Friday night being the final two games of the season. Nonetheless, they did at least go through the motions of pretending that they would play that Sunday. When I got to the Stadium, it was clear from the jump that, while Major League Baseball may have insisted they try, in the off chance that the Yankees and Braves met in the World Series (hah! — but yes, had that occurred, this game would have mattered for home field advantage), the Yankees had no intention of playing. The security guards outside knew they weren’t playing. The workers at the concessions stands knew they weren’t playing. The grounds crew…I can’t say for certain, because I never actually saw the grounds crew actually spend any time on the field, but I’m going to guess they knew, too. For their part, the Yankees never even submitted a lineup (which unfortunately robbed Elmer Rodriguez of one day of service time). Even so, we waited for three hours in the rain.

So what did we do for three hours, you may wonder. That’s right — we watched football! The Yankees put the Giants and the Jets up on the scoreboard, split-screen, thus turning Yankee Stadium into the biggest sports bar in the city, and they only officially cancelled the game once Jevon Holland came down with the game-clinching interception in the end zone. My guess is, they figured everybody who was left would simply go across the street to the bars to watch football, so they might as well make that sweet, sweet concession money, which…uh, fine. Go spend that money on Teruaki Sato, Hal!

Down Goes Boston

The season began with my brother and I attending our first-ever Opening Day, so it was rather fitting that it would end with our first-ever postseason game — and fortunately, our first-ever series clinching win. A season ticket holder that we know wasn’t able to use his tickets to Game 2 against the Red Sox, so he sold them to us (rather than use Stubhub) in order to ensure that Yankee fans would get the seats.

I had heard over the years that October in the Bronx was different, and I had some semblance of what that means — I vividly remember hearing, and more truly, feeling the Stadium rock while driving home from New Jersey on the Deegan during the 2019 Wild Card Game. Nothing, however, truly prepared me for the vibes inside the Stadium. The best comparison I can make, to be honest, is the student section of a Villanova basketball game (from back in the days of Brunson and Hart and Mikal Bridges, i.e., when they were dominant). From Tino Martinez throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to walking out of the Stadium as something that rhymes with “Buck Foston” echoed throughout the Stadium.

Closing Thoughts

I could, honestly, keep going — from watching Amed Rosario sprint back to the dugout in 30-degree weather just minutes before hitting a game-changing three-run homer back in April to the statistically improbable fact that the 4 train only won two of the 19 possible subway races. For the sake of the editors, and for the sake of the readers, though, I will stop here…well, after one more thing. All indications are that this winter will yet again be one of the longest we have seen, with Rob Manfred and MLB’s leadership dead-set on union-busting for the second time this decade. As the hot stove goes dark, and the baseball diamond sits idle, it is this journey that I will miss, and these memories that I will cling to, not the disappointment of Judge and Stanton missing so much time this year, or the heartbreak of an early postseason exit. Because while I desperately want to see the Yankees host another parade down the Canyon of Heroes, I always return to baseball not for the postseason, but for the months-long journey there — and all the friends and memories we make along the way.