Category: MLB

Good morning! Today, Keagan makes a case for giving the ball to Payton Tolle in Game 1 of the all but inevitable Wild Card Series in New York. Aaron Boone in the other dugout won’t have much of a decision to make in that regard: Cam Schlittler is a lock for the Cy Young, and he could even win a surprise American League MVP. He’s going to throw the first pitch of that series.

But if you’ve been paying attention to the Yankees, you might have noticed something interesting about their starting options: right now, Gerrit Cole isn’t one of the team’s three best pitchers.

Cole missed the start of the season as he recovered from Tommy John surgery, of course. He was pretty mediocre out of the gate before looking back to his old self through July and August, when he posted an ERA of 2.66 over 10 starts. But September has been a challenge for him so far — and not only when he was giving up historic homers. He couldn’t even make it through 5 against the Mets over the weekend.

Max Fried and Carlos Rodon, on the other hand, are as locked in as ever: neither one of them has given up more than 1 earned run in a start since July. Moreover, they’re both lefties, so they can theoretically neutralize the threat of the short porch in Yankee Stadium’s joke of a right field.

It’s a shame, because (1) it’s always fun to embarrass Gerrit Cole, and (2) he has, famously, been owned by the Red Sox in the playoffs, having faced the Sox twice and given up 7 earned runs in 8 innings. So here’s hoping he turns things around over the last two weeks of the season and works his way back into Boone’s good graces.

Use this space to talk about whatever you want and, as always, be good to one another.

The San Diego Padres secured their eighth consecutive win by the slimmest of margins against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field in Denver on Monday. Pinch hitter Adael Amador chopped a Mason Miller pitch over the mound that was fielded and thrown to first by Manny Machado to beat Amador for the final out to secure an 8-7 win for the Padres.

San Diego and Colorado went back and forth throughout the game but in the ninth, it came down to the final at-bat. Miller recorded a strikeout to open the frame before Kyle Karros reached on a single to bring the winning run to the plate for the Rockies. Miller then struck out Mickey Moniak which set up the pinch-hit appearance for Amador. He pounded the second pitch of the at-bat into the ground causing it to bounce high above the infield grass, just left of the mound. Machado who was playing toward second base, cut across the grass, caught the ball and snapped a throw to first baseman Ty France, which arrived a half-step ahead of the runner to give the Padres their eighth consecutive win.

San Diego jumped out to a 6-1 lead after three innings, which included homers by Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Colorado began to chip away at the score, but Padres starter Casey Mize did a what he needed to do to get through his outing with minimal damage. Mize allowed the second run of his outing in the bottom of the fifth and completed five innings with two runs allowed on eight hits with two walks.

The Rockies took advantage of a shaky Padres bullpen, which sent Kyle Hart to the mound in the bottom of the sixth. Hart had another ugly outing, allowing three runs on one hit with two walks in just 1/3 or an inning. Bradgley Rodriguez came in to get the final two outs. San Diego returned to the plate with a one-run lead at 6-5 in the top of the seventh. They added a run in the top of the inning, but Rodriguez gave the run right back in the bottom of the inning.

Adrian Morejon took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning after the Padres scored a run in the top of the inning. Morejon was working with a two-run lead and San Diego up 8-6 and like the first two relievers, he allowed Colorado to score to get within a run.

The Padres did not core in the top of the ninth and the Rockies appeared confident that they could at least tie the game if not win it in the ninth. Miller quickly dashed those hopes and locked down the win and his 37th save of the season on 14 pitches, 10 of which were strikes.

San Diego will try to win its ninth consecutive win today against Colorado at 5:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• The Mason Miller/Leo De Vries trade between the Padres and the Athletics will be talked about throughout the remainder of their careers, but with the recent news of De Vries needing season ending shoulder surgery, it appears San Diego won the trade.

• Jason Adam had a successful rehab outing with El Paso.

• Jackson Merrill earned Player of the Week honors after his red-hot performance on the last home stand.

Baseball News:

• The New York Yankees clinched a postseason berth with a win over the Minnesota Twins.

• The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 14th consecutive playoff berth with a win over the Cincinnati Reds.

• Corbin Carroll hit a two-run walk-off home run to help the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Miami Marlins.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong moved closer to a 40/40 season while helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves.

I’m sure Anthony Volpe wanted to make a statement in his first game back from his demotion to Triple-A on August 4th, but I bet even he couldn’t have dreamt of the impact he would author. In his first MLB action in over a month, Volpe arrived in the Bronx sporting new swing mechanics and the results were immediate, the much-maligned infielder going 3-for-4 with a grand slam and a career-high five RBI. It’s his first and last ABs from that game that I would like to highlight today.

We first join Volpe with no outs in the bottom of the second last Thursday against the Rockies. The Yankees need to complete the sweep and have created a promising opportunity early with Ryan McMahon singling and Austin Wells drawing a walk to open the frame. They already lead, 2-1, courtesy of a Luis García Jr. two-run blast in the first, but after Max Fried surrendered a solo shot to Kyle Karros in the second, it became imperative that the Yankees take advantage of this scoring chance given the uncertainty of how many innings they’ll get from their starter recently back from injury.

Ryan Feltner starts Volpe with a first pitch sinker low hoping for an early double play ball.

Really excellent take here from Volpe, this sinker looking like a strike middle-down until about the last ten feet before home. I almost wonder if he was hunting something in a different zone the way the bat never left his shoulder on such a borderline pitch.

Feltner executed that sinker pretty much how he intended, so despite not getting the result he wanted, there is no need for him to deviate course.

Volpe follows up that excellent take with a positively head-scratching one. This sinker looks like a strike right down the middle the moment it leaves Feltner’s hand and never leaves the zone, yet Volpe watches it all the way into the catcher’s glove for strike one.

Ok, now I officially have no idea what Volpe is looking for. That’s two straight meatball sinkers from Feltner. The first he showed zero interest in offering at. This sinker is as center-cut as they come, yet all Volpe can do is fire a late emergency hack as if he is sitting on something else and gets surprised that this pitch is in a hittable location. This is a pitch he should be crushing but instead he’s swinging as if to fight it off foul to stay alive in a 1-1 count.

At this point I just assumed this AB would end the way a lot of two-strike counts against Volpe end — a strikeout swinging on a breaking ball out of the zone. So far it’s been same old, same old from Volpe, failing to take advantage of mistake pitches early in the count and thus needlessly fall behind, which around these circles we know as a non-competitive AB. Feltner has been gifted an opportunity for a strikeout and his first pitch selection to get it is the changeup.

Feltner misses wildly with this changeup, sailing it way up and in when he meant to locate it down below the zone. A completely non-competitive pitch and an automatic take from Volpe.

Feltner immediately shelves the changeup after such a wayward misfire and switches to the secondary that has given Volpe fits his whole big league career — the low and away slider.

Wow, this was… an impressively disciplined take from Volpe. This pitch looks exactly like the two in-zone sinkers that Volpe failed to punish earlier in the AB before taking a sharp left turn about halfway to the plate. You can tell that Volpe recognized the pitch pretty soon out of Feltner’s had based on the minimal flinch as he takes it for ball three.

Volpe has done well to work the count full after falling behind, 1-2. Feltner does not want to walk the bases loaded with no outs and the top of the order coming up, so he is somewhat forced into throwing sinkers in the zone again in the hope of inducing a double play ball.

This one lands in almost the same spot as the one Volpe took for strike one. This time he does elect to swing, but it’s not a particularly good swing. His whole front side flies open, causing the bat head to come around and over the top of the baseball, and all he can do is ground it foul to the pull side.

With a swing like that, Feltner must feel confident he can get Volpe to roll over a grounder if he can command his sinker lower than the last three he threw.

Instead, this sinker sails up and in just like the one changeup Feltner threw earlier. Volpe is a little unlucky that the pitch hit his bat on the check swing, otherwise he would have drawn the walk to load the bases.

After showing Volpe four fastballs with sinking movement in this AB, Feltner finally breaks out the four-seamer hoping that a straight flying heater will stay above Volpe’s barrel for a strikeout.

Volpe is sitting dead red, which is how he is able to make solid contact with this 95 mph four-seamer bearing in on his hands. The early swing allows him to get the bat head out and pull a sharp grounder through the hole on the left side for an RBI single to restore the Yankees’ two-run cushion.

Here’s the full AB:

We have to fast-forward to the seventh for the real fireworks. An RBI triple by Jake McCarthy in the top-half briefly made it 4-2, but a Cody Bellinger leadoff double, Jasson Domínguez walk, and Spencer Jones two-run single provided a cushion at 6-2. McMahon and Wells then drew a pair of two-out walks to load the bases for Volpe, who steps to the plate with the confidence of a pair of singles already to his name.

Unlike Feltner, Jimmy Herget looks to pitch Volpe backwards, starting with breaking balls away to slow down his bat and get him leaning out over the plate to in theory set up a heater inside later in the count.

This is a perfect slider from Herget, dotted right on the corner low and away. Even though it lands for a called strike, it’s still a good take from Volpe. Had he swung, at best you’re looking at a whiff and more likely an inning ending grounder.

Having earned the strike looking with that slider, Herget shows some impressive sequencing by throwing a sweeper out of the same slot — it should look like the slider Volpe just saw only this time with a foot-and-a-half more lateral movement away from the batter.

This is the best take from Volpe all game and maybe all season. This sweeper comes down the exact same tunnel as the slider that was just called a strike on the outside edge. You would expect most hitters to chase this pitch — they are forced to protect that outside edge now that the pitcher has established his breaking ball for a called strike in that quadrant. Just like the close slider he took for a ball just off the plate away from Feltner, Volpe must have gotten a good read on the spin of this pitch to layoff with hardly a flinch.

Despite not getting the chase, Herget sticks with his plan of soft away, hard in. He looks to bear a sinker in on Volpe’s hands for some weak contact.

Instead, he leaves this 91 mph sinker middle-middle, and unlike in the first AB we covered, Volpe doesn’t miss it. Volpe stays inside the baseball and drives it to the opposite field, short porching Herget for a grand slam. The swing is a thing of beauty, Volpe precise with his barrel to the baseball while showing an impressive amount of power despite taking an opposite-field approach.

Here’s the full AB:

The Yankees ended up routing the Rockies, 10-3, and Volpe single-handedly drove in half those runs. During the game, we learned about several mechanical adjustment Volpe implemented in his month-plus at Triple-A.

I spot two major differences at the initiation of the load phase: higher hand positioning and a small step back with his back foot. Starting with the hand positioning, I feel that this helps prevent Volpe from casting his swing — you can see how before the demotion his front elbow straightens out well before contact whereas on the grand slam swing, that front elbow stays bent and tight to the body. When you straighten your front elbow too soon, your hands tend to drift away from the body, causing the bat head to lag and the swing to become long and loopy. This robs you of power, prevents you from going to the opposite field, and makes it almost impossible to catch up to the heater. Keeping the front elbow tucked leads to a shorter, more compact swing, allowing Volpe to stay inside the baseball to drive it with power the other way as the barrel rotates in sync with the torso.

The adjustment that has me really excited, however, is the step back. Paul O’Neill noticed it right away on the broadcast and could not offer enough praise for the adjustment. He explained the way that that step forces Volpe to keep his weight back, allowing him to stay behind the baseball which is critical for efficiently transferring all of the stored potential energy from trunk to arms to bat. The hallmark of Volpe’s struggles is when he bails on his front side, the front hip and shoulder flying open way too early. This causes Volpe to step in the bucket, or fall with his weight toward third base rather than stride toward the pitcher, which not only robs him of power but is the prime culprit for all those whiffs against breaking balls away as Volpe deprives himself of plate coverage. This new step back is a godsend. In forcing him to keep his weight back a tick longer and stride forward instead of open, Volpe’s barrel should remain in the hitting zone for far longer than when he’s cutting across the zone when stepping in the bucket, which is how he is able to to drive a slightly inside pitch out of the park the other way.

We’ve seen Volpe make mechanical adjustments in the past and then get hot for a few weeks. However, without fail he has let those past adjustments fall by the wayside and revert back to his old bad habits every single time. Hopefully, this time around these changes are here to stay.

Not that I expected anyone to read it, but I did some fun research for yesterday’s game preview. Basically, the Cubs are currently first by a mile in position player fWAR, but dead last in pitching fWAR. This has never happened over a full season; the closest I found was bottom five-ish (and not even that close to the bottom) for a top-ranked hitting/defense team, or, on the flip side, the 2000 Angels, who were dead last in pitching but second in position player fWAR.

So, the Cubs have a chance to do something kind of amazing depending on how the last couple of weeks play out. But, there’s a catch: right now, the Cubs are just barely behind the Nationals in pitching fWAR. Another day of the Nationals getting blasted while the Cubs do okay could flip things. The Cubs probably won’t catch the 28th-ranked team, but first and 29th has happened before, while first and 30th hasn’t.

So, do you think they’ll “pass” the Nationals over the last few games of the season? Or, are we going to see something truly incredible from a pretty good team?

Just when you think Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has gone into a slump — and he was 0-for-8 with three strikeouts Saturday and Sunday — he breaks out of it in a big way.

PCA was 4-for-5 Monday against the Braves at Wrigley Field, including his 37th stolen base and 42nd home run of the season. That home run tied him with Hall of Famer Billy Williams for the most by any left-handed hitter in Cubs franchise history.

So congrats to Pete for that, good company to be in, and that offensive display helped lead the Cubs to a 7-3 win over the Braves in the series opener.

David Peterson struggled a bit in the first inning, but got out of it scoreless. There was more traffic on the bases for Atlanta in the second, but Peterson induced this double play to end the inning [VIDEO].

Then the Cubs brought out the bats in the bottom of the second. Ian Happ led off with a double and went to third on a single by Nico Hoerner. After Michael Conforto struck out, Pedro Ramirez walked to load the bases.

Carson Kelly hit into this run-scoring fielder’s choice [VIDEO].

Runners are now on first and third with two out, and PCA doubled them both in [VIDEO].

You see the smile on Kelly’s face as he scores, and BCB’s Sara Sanchez summed that up (Bluesky link):

The Cubs reached a couple of milestones in that inning. Details from BCB’s JohnW53:

The run scored by Ian Happ on Carson Kelly’s second-inning forceout was the Cubs’ 800th of the season, making 2026 just the 13th season since 1901 in which they have reached 800.

Pete Crow-Armstrong’s next-batter two-run double raised his RBI total to 100, making him only the second Cub to drive home triple-digit runs in the past eight seasons.

Seiya Suzuki knocked in 103 runners last year, the most since 2018, when Javier Baez led the National League with 111. Anthony Rizzo had 101 that year, his fourth consecutive seasons with at least 100. Kris Bryant had 102 in 2016.

Others in the past 20 years: Aramis Ramirez, 2007-08; Derrek Lee, 2009; and Alfonso Soriano, 2012.

With that, the Cubs led 3-0 going to the third, and that’s when Peterson settled down and retired six of the seven batters he faced in the third and fourth.

Meanwhile, the Cubs extended their lead in the bottom of the third. Michael Busch led off with a walk and … stole second? [VIDEO]

That was certainly unexpected. Busch now has 10 career steals in 12 attempts. He took third on a ground out by Happ and scored on this single by Hoerner [VIDEO].

That made it 4-0, and this double by Michael Conforto gave the Cubs a five-run lead [VIDEO].

In the fourth, the Braves lifted Reynaldo Lopez in favor of AJ Smith-Shawver, which resulted in this very long letter scorebug combination:

PCA wins that “competition” 13 letters to 12, and no, don’t use the other guy’s initials.

Anyway, PCA wound up with a single in that at-bat and then stole second:

That put PCA in scoring position, but he was stranded.

Peterson had more traffic on the bases in the fifth and sixth but got out of both innings scoreless and then the Cubs further extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth after their first two hitters were routine outs. Kelly singled and PCA launched home run No. 42 [VIDEO].

As noted above, that homer matched Billy Williams’ total in 1970, the Hall of Famer’s career high and up to this year, the only 40-homer season by a Cubs left-handed hitter.

That made it 7-0 and Peterson cruised into the seventh inning having struck out seven [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Peterson’s evening [VIDEO].

More on Peterson’s evening from John:

This was David Peterson’s fourth quality start in his 13 since joining the Cubs. He is tied with Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon for fourth most on the team, behind Shota Imanaga, 12; Matthew Boyd, eight; and Colin Rea, six. Six others have between one and three, for a team total of 51. They began Monday tied with the Angels, Cardinals and Rangers for 15th most. The Dodgers had 78; the Phillies, 69; and the Mariners and Red Sox, 68.

It was clear that Craig Counsell was going to allow Peterson to face the lefty-hitting Michael Harris II leading off the seventh, then remove him. Harris singled, and Peterson departed to warm applause, with Javier Assad coming into the game. It was not a great outing for Assad, who allowed an infield hit on which Alex Bregman made a throwing error, putting runners on first and third. A force play scored the first Atlanta run, charged to Peterson, and then Mike Yastrzemski homered to make it 7-3.

Fortunately, that was it for Braves scoring in this game, though there was a bit of nervous time in the eighth and ninth. Ryan Rolison put the first two Atlanta hitters on base in the eighth via hit and walk, then induced a double play and fly to center.

Ryan Zeferjahn was entrusted with the four-run lead in the ninth and, well, he did end the game but not until he loaded the bases on two hits and a walk with one out. After the walk, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy went to the mound.

Whatever he said must have worked, because on Zeferjahn’s very next pitch he got Ronald Acuña Jr. to hit into a game-ending double play [VIDEO].

This was a good win for a number of reasons. First, the Braves are a very good team, in first place in the NL East by 4.5 games over the Phillies, and the Cubs handled them quite well. Also, this put the Cubs half a game ahead of the Phillies for the top wild-card spot, as the Phillies were idle on Monday. Philadelphia opens a series against the Nationals at Washington Tuesday evening. The win also reduced the Cubs’ magic number to clinch a postseason spot to seven.

Here’s PCA on his historic achievement and the Cubs’ big win [VIDEO].

And here are postgame comments from Counsell [VIDEO].

The Cubs will look for the series win over the Braves Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field (weather permitting!). Kevin Gausman will start for the Cubs and Martin Perez goes for Atlanta. Game time is again 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

Good morning.

Evan Grant writes that we’re nearing the thrilling conclusion to everyone’s least favorite gameshow, ‘Who Wants to be an American League Playoff Team?’.

Kennedi Landry writes about the return of veteran reliever Robert Garcia and his impact on what has been a scuffling bullpen.

MLB dot com’s David Venn shows some love to Ezequiel Duran as “The Solution” could be on his way to some utility hardware.

ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle evokes the god of utility players Ben Zobrist when listing Duran’s year as something that has gone right for Texas this year.

And, the 2026 Roberto Clemente Award nominees are out and Jake Burger is a first-time nominee as representative for the Rangers.

Have a nice day!

This week’s series at Citi Field not only offers the Orioles their last undoubtedly winnable series of the season, but also a chance to look into their potential future.

The Mets and O’s are easily two of 2026’s most disappointing teams. New York came into this season with the second-highest payroll in all of baseball and were the odds-on favorites to win the NL East. The Orioles’ preseason expectations were not quite as lofty. However, a summer spending spree that saw them bring in former Mets star Pete Alonso had many in Birdland dreaming of a return to the postseason.

Instead, with the Orioles’ win in Queens last night, the Mets have officially been eliminated from postseason contention—their fourth time missing the postseason in the six seasons since super billionaire Steve Cohen bought the team. The win represents only a brief stay of execution for the Orioles, who had only a 1.3% chance to make the playoffs heading into last night’s game.

Once it becomes official that the Orioles won’t be returning to the postseason this year, the front office will face some tough questions about how best to position Baltimore for 2027 and beyond. The first will be whether Mike Elias is still the best man to lead this front office. However, all the other questions (assuming baseball is played at some point in 2027) will be about how to reshape their roster to cover up the glaring deficiencies that ultimately sunk this talented but flawed team.

This year’s Mets offer a great example of how not to approach the offseason immediately following a disappointing season. This past offseason, as they are in seemingly every offseason since Cohen arrived, the Mets were busy. New York started their attempt at reshaping by trading outfielder Brandon Nimmo to Texas for infielder Marcus Semien.

After Alonso signed with Baltimore, the Mets went on a spending spree with all the money they weren’t paying their franchise leader in home runs. They gave $20M/yr to Jorge Polanco to replace Alonso at 1B and committed a combined $28M/yr to Devin Williams and Luke Weaver as bullpen reinforcements. They then made their big move to really try to fill the hole left by Alonso, giving Bo Bichette a $42M/yr deal to lure him away from Toronto.

New York stayed active in the trade market as well, sending away their top two prospects to the Brewers for two-time All-Star Freddy Peralta. The Mets also struck a deal with the White Sox, sending infielder Luisangel Acuña and another prospect to Chicago for now-Orioles outfielder Luis Robert Jr.

Assuming the coming work stoppage is resolved sometime in the next 365 days, the Orioles will have all the chances to repeat or learn from New York’s mistakes. Letting Alonso walk (or not doing enough to make him want to stay) meant the Mets started trying to improve with a giant new hole in their roster.

The Orioles can’t make that same mistake with pending free agent Trevor Rogers. Unlike Alonso in New York, Rogers has repeatedly stated his desire to stay in Baltimore. With Rogers heading a rotation with Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz and Brandong Young, the O’s finally have a pitching staff worthy of a contender. Letting Rogers walk would be taking a step backwards before Baltimore could even think about taking a step forward. And like it did with Alonso in New York, it could force the Orioles to spend money on lesser players attempting to replace the reigning MVO.

The Mets’ spending habits in general should be a warning sign for the Orioles front office and how they look to improve this roster. Unlike last offseason, the list of pending 2027 free agents doesn’t have a lot of star power. Randy Arozarena, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Seiya Suzuki are the best bats set to be available this offseason.

All three of those players seem like square pegs for the round holes the Orioles have in their lineup. Chisholm will be coming off a down year with the Yankees and would be another infielder on a team already full of infield talent. Arozarena and Suzuki could both be the type of right-handed, power-hitting outfielder the Orioles thought they were getting with Taylor Ward.

However, both would likely command north of $25M/year as they head into their age-32 seasons. That level of investment paid off with Alonso, but Arozarena and Suzuki are both an echelon below the Polar Bear when it comes to the game’s best hitters. The lack of success Bichette and Polanco have had with the Mets (combined -0.6 bWAR this season) show that throwing money at players who don’t obviously fit the team’s needs can quickly sink a lineup.

Elias (or whoever replaces him) must continue to treat prospects like they have more value than just bargaining chips for improving the 2027 roster. Even if they re-sign Rogers, the front office may look to trade from the Orioles’ newfound minor league pitching depth to acquire a pitcher like Joe Ryan from the Twins or Logan Gilbert from the Mariners. However, trading someone like Anthony Eyanson, Joseph Dzierwa or Caden Hunter for a pitcher with only one year of team control could prove short-sighted. If they entertain such a move, the Orioles may find themselves in the same position as the Mets with Peralta: forced to move him for pennies on the dollar if the team doesn’t meet expectations.

It’s clear that this roster needs to be rebalanced to address the staggeringly inconsistent offense and continue to build the strength of this rotation. However, as the Orioles’ current opponents can attest, change just for the sake of change can leave the team worse off and with even more disappointment next year.

The Mets continue a three-game series against Pete Alonso and the Orioles at Citi Field on Tuesday night at 7:10 on SNY.

Mets Notes

• Francisco Lindor and Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso both enter play on Tuesday with 299 career home runs
• A.J. Ewing is hitting .370/.434/.630 with three homers and three doubles in 53 plate appearances over his last 13 games
• Sean Manaea allowed four runs on five hits while walking none and striking out four in 5.0 innings against the Marlins in Miami in his last start on Sept. 8

Today's Lineups

The Braves lost to the Cubs 7-3 on Monday in Chicago. While the Braves did have a chance to make things interesting late, the game never really seemed that close. One bright spot was a solid outing in relief from A.J. Smith Shawver.

However, the story of the game were the continued struggles of Reynaldo Lopez. He was not effective at all in his two starts since returning from the IL. Following the game, he also let the team know that he had experience should issues at different points of the season. As a result, he will be headed back to the IL. And with shoulder issues being the reason he only made one start in all of 2025, it is a less than ideal end of Lopez’s 2026 season.

Braves News

As a result, its a bit of a youth movement for the Braves. Owen Murphy was already on his way to Atlanta, with the Braves DFA’ing Bailey Falter to make space. In addition, J.R. Ritchie will be making the start for Atlanta on Wednesday, likely as the corresponding move to Lopez going to the IL.

Austin Riley is the 2026 Roberto Clemente Award Nominee for the Braves.

Some news on the business front as a shareholder seems to be open to the Braves exploring a sell of the team.

Mark Bowman looks at where Chris Sale’s season ranks among the best seasons of Braves’ pitchers.

MLB News

Both the Dodgers and Yankees are back in the playoffs.

There is growing uncertainty that Edwin Diaz will have an impact in the playoffs for the Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers made Edwin Diaz the highest paid closer over the offseason. Now, he might not even make the postseason roster.

Diaz had a rehab outing Sunday in which he faced eight batters, retiring only two while walking three and hitting a batter. He threw 30 pitches to get those two outs, with only 13 strikes. Manager Dave Roberts talked about his recent woes on Monday before the Dodgers game against the Cincinnati Reds.

“He needs to pitch better. It hasn’t been good,” Roberts said on Monday. “He’s going to pitch on Wednesday, and I guess we’ll evaluate then. I think the world of him. The baseball card looks great. But where we’re at, there’s got to be something for us to be able to hang our hat on. And he knows that. He knows that. He wants to pitch well. So for me, Wednesday, we’ll be watching closely.”

He also acknowledged that Diaz might not make the postseason roster.

“Yeah … we have to go with our best pitchers, as far as performance, talent, all that stuff. So my bet is that he will be (one of them). But again, there’s got to be some kind of evidence or something for us, again, to sort of bet on. My bet is yes, but we still have to see something.”

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic has more on the terrible season overall that Diaz has had as a Dodger here.

The Dodgers are already down another reliever, at least for the rest of the regular season. Edgardo Henriquez went on the IL on Monday with lower back discomfort. Bobby Miller was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Right-hander Paul Gervase and left-hander Kris Bubic also joined the team in Cincinnati. Gervase was added to the active roster, and Bubic could be added in the coming days.

Roki Sasaki has been sidelines with a blister and is tentatively scheduled to pitch on Thursday in Cincinnati. However, the weather is supposed to be hot and humid, and the team is worried about how that will affect Sasaki’s blister.

“We just can’t put him in a position to go backward. And so obviously people can look at Thursday. But again, if he can’t do it without accomplishing it, finishing a start, and not regress, then it’s not worth it. So I think for us, we’re just keeping it open-ended right now.”

Bill Plunkett of the OC Register has more info on the Dodgers pitching merry-go-round here.

Another off day yesterday as we march toward the end of the season. Another light news day.

Bobby Witt Jr was nominated for the Roberto Clemente award.

Witt makes ongoing philanthropic contributions around the Kansas City community. He supports organizations in their fight against ALS and is an active voice in helping the Royals encourage kids’ literacy through educational reading programs. He is a classroom champion within their literacy league.

“Just like all Royals fans and Kansas Citians, I’m grateful for the way Bobby has personally embraced and lifted our hometown,” Royals owner John Sherman said in a news release. “He doesn’t just show up for the photo op or put his name on something.

“We have children in our public schools, young baseball and softball players, and others facing significant challenges in their lives who’ve been touched by Bobby’s inspiration.”

Witt is looking to join Salvador Perez as the Royals’ second Roberto Clemente Award winner. Perez won the 2024 honor for his humanitarian efforts in Kansas City and Venezuela.

Chris Higgins at the KC Star details which development firms will help build the stadium.

Minneapolis-based Mortenson has broad experience with sports and entertainment projects, including T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Energizer Stadium in St. Louis, Allianz Field in Saint Paul and the future ballpark for the Athletics in Las Vegas.

Kansas City-based McCownGordon has worked on various projects including the Kansas City Symphony’s future performing arts venue, the Barney Allis Plaza renovations and numerous other corporate and municipal projects in the region and beyond.

“We’re honored to have the opportunity to help build the new home for the Royals and be part of a transformational project that will have a lasting impact on Kansas City,” Logan Gerken, Mortenson sports and entertainment vice president, said in a statement. “Together with McCownGordon, we bring deep sports construction experience and capacity, forming a partership with longstanding roots and relationships in this community.”

David Lesky recaps the Boston series.

Royals first-round pick Zion Rose will head to the Arizona Fall League.

The Braves designated old friend Bailey Falter for assignment.

Tristan Peters took an 18-pitch walk yesterday.

Nick Krall, team president of the Reds, expects to return for the 2027 season despite being last in the standings after making the playoffs last year. Sounds…familiar.

Teoscar Hernández is on a heater.

The Yankees clinched a postseason berth. So did the Dodgers.

The Chiefs crushed the Broncos yesterday 31-10. Broncos fans are going through it.

Drew Brees contemplated coming back for the AFC Championship game last year for the Broncos. LOL.

Old friend for the Chiefs Isiah Pacheco will miss 12 weeks with back surgery.

The VAR crew for the Manchester Derby over the weekend did not get assigned a game for the upcoming weekend. They awarded a controversial goal to Erling Haaland.

A Princess Bride musical will premiere in Chicago next summer.

Your song of the day is Lewis Del Mar with Loud(y).

Meet the Mets

Pete Alonso received a resoundingly warm welcome from the Citi Field crowd last night, and despite a good start by Jonah Tong, Alonso’s Orioles beat the Mets by a 2-1 score. Alonso and Francisco Lindor each hit very long foul balls that would’ve given them their 300th career home runs if they’d kept them fair, but both players are still sitting on 299 heading into the second game of the series.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, New York Daily News, New York Post

Mets fans cheered Alonso loudly and chanted his name throughout the night, and he appreciated it.

A noticeable chunk of Mets fans left the ballpark immediately after Alonso’s final at-bat.

Abbey Mastracco caught up with Alonso before the series got underway and wrote afterwards that the emotional night showed that the Mets made the wrong move in letting him go.

Anthony DiComo wrote that Alonso’s return highlighted the Mets’ glaring need at first base.

Tim Britton writes that Alonso’s return put the spotlight on David Stearns, as Alonso’s departure from the Mets has thus far been the defining decision of Stearns’ tenure.

Mets fans chanted “fire Stearns” a few times during the game.

Danny Abriano wrote about Alonso’s return to Citi Field ahead of the game.

Lindor is the Mets’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award.

Here’s a video of the Mets’ tribute video to Alonso that played before first pitch.

Devin Williams threw off a mound and will face live hitters on Thursday, and he doesn’t anticipate needing a rehab assignment before returning in the near future.

That loss last night officially eliminated the Mets from the playoffs, by the way.

Around the National League East

The Braves lost to the Cubs, and Atlanta is expected to put Reynaldo López on the injured list.

Around Major League Baseball

The Guardians lost to the White Sox, having entered the night with a chance to overtake their rivals for first place in the American League Central. Now they’re 1.5 games back heading into the second game of that series.

In a back-and-forth affair, the Blue Jays suffered a loss to the Tigers, a massive missed opportunity that leaves them one game behind the Guardians for the final American League Wild Card spot.

With that Toronto loss and their win over the Twins, the Yankees officially clinched a playoff spot.

Speaking of clinching playoff spots, the Dodgers tied a major league record by making the playoffs for the 14th season in a row as Tarik Skubal helped them beat the Reds.

The Padres managed to beat the Rockies by an 8-7 score, giving them an important win as they try to keep hold of the final Wild Card spot in the National League.

The Diamondbacks, the only NL team with a realistic shot of overtaking the Padres, also won by an 8-7 score as they defeated the Marlins.

Quinn Matthews threw a gem as the Cardinals beat the Giants.

The Mariners’ underwhelming season continued with a loss to the rival Angels.

The latest MLB.com power rankings have the three National League teams jockeying for a bye at the top.

As for the rest of the playoff contenders, here’s a breakdown of those races. And here’s what MLB executives think of the biggest playoff threats.

Ichiro Suzuki played against the best high school girls baseball players in Japan, threw 127 pitches, notched 17 strikeouts, and threw a complete game shutout.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Linus Lawrence brought us the latest edition of Monday Stat Party.

Allison McCague reviewed the recent performance of Mets position players.

Brian Salvatore previewed the Mets’ three-game series with the Orioles.

This Date in Mets History

Cleon Jones made his major league debut on this date in 1963.

Welcome to the final installment of Camden Chat’s minor league week in review series. Two more affiliates, the Chesapeake Baysox and Frederick Keys, finished their 2026 seasons this week. Let’s take one last look at how most of the Orioles’ prospects fared before they headed home for the offseason.

Triple-A Norfolk Tides

• Last week’s results: 3-3 at Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals)
• Next week’s opponent: vs. Charlotte Knights (White Sox)
• Second-half record: 27-39, last place (12.5 GB) in International League East
• Overall season record: 55-86

The Tides are the only O’s affiliate that’s still in action. They have one more series to go before closing the book on an overall miserable campaign. They finished last place in the first half and will most likely do the same in the second. They’ve got the worst full-season record of any of the 30 Triple-A teams, including the Pacific Coast League. They’re worse than every Double-A team, too. Norfolk is the affiliate that was supposed to provide MLB-ready talent to the Orioles throughout the season, but there was precious little talent to be found here.

The Orioles’ top position player prospect at this level, Enrique Bradfield Jr., reached base eight times with two doubles this week, but his overall Triple-A numbers remain uninspiring: a .265 average and .705 OPS in 84 games. Before the season, I thought it was a foregone conclusion that we’d see the former first-round draft pick make his MLB debut this year, but barring a surprise call-up in the next two weeks, that’s not going to happen. The 24-year-old has now spent parts of two seasons at Norfolk with a .251/.332/.344 slash line. There were questions about his offense when the O’s drafted him and he hasn’t answered them, at least not in a positive way.

Outfielder Jud Fabian had a nice week, mashing three home runs and driving in seven. Fabian is finishing the season strong, but with a .198 average and .679 OPS, the former #67 overall pick can no longer be considered a prospect. Catcher Creed Willems had two dingers as well, giving him a career-high 20 home runs this season. But he hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire in Triple-A (.762 OPS), and it’s unclear what the Orioles’ plans are for him. Are we noticing a theme here? Where is the top-level talent ready to burst onto the major league scene?

There’s not much help on the pitching side, either. The Tides’ rotation started the season with three of the Orioles’ top pitching prospects — Trey Gibson, Nestor German, and Levi Wells — but only Gibson got a cup of coffee in the majors this year, making seven ineffective starts. This week he coughed up six runs and 11 hits in 4.1 innings against the Redbirds. Wells underwent season-ending core muscle surgery in May, and German has been on the IL since August. Elsewhere in the rotation, righty Juaron Watts-Brown was torched for 10 runs, 13 hits, and eight walks in 8.2 innings over two starts, while Cade Povich, who might replace Kyle Bradish in the O’s rotation, threw a quality start.

Veteran relievers Félix Bautista and Ryan Helsley continued their rehab assignments. Helsley made one perfect appearance with a strikeout, and Félix threw three innings, giving up a solo homer as his only blemish. At this point, with the Orioles out of contention, it almost feels pointless to add either or both to the O’s bullpen for the final two weeks of the season. But if doing so would give Bautista and Helsley some positive momentum heading into 2027, then maybe it’s worthwhile.

Norfolk season stats

Double-A Chesapeake Baysox

• Last week’s results: 4-1 at Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants)
• Final second-half record: 38-29, second place (4.0 GB) in Eastern League Southwest
• Final season record: 67-68

The Baysox wrapped up their 2026 campaign with a series win over Richmond, continuing their inspired late-season play. After a last-place finish in the first half, the Baysox came on strong after the All-Star break, ending just four games out of the division lead.

It’s not the end of the line for every Baysox hitter, though; infielder Aron Estrada and catcher Ethan Anderson both got promoted to Norfolk, where they’ll get a one-week taste of Triple-A ball. Estrada went 5-for-15 with a homer this week to finish his Chesapeake campaign with a .278/.321/.481 line and 24 roundtrippers, and at age 21, he was more than 2.5 years younger than the average Double-A player. Pretty impressive. Anderson, too, showed prolific power with an .881 OPS and 21 dingers in 82 games with the Baysox. It’s unclear what his long-term position will be — his catching skills reportedly leave much to be desired — but that bat will play. Fittingly, Anderson mashed two more homers this week.

Shortstop Griff O’Ferrall, the #32 overall pick in 2024, had a forgettable season overall (.222/.307/.312), but he saved the best for last. He was a hit machine with a 10-for-20 week, including a home run, and he stole three bases. Top infield prospect Wehiwa Aloy also homered, his 25th of the year, completing a .288/.358/.506 performance across two levels this season. Vance Honeycutt’s red-hot start to his Double-A career stalled this week. He hit two homers, but was otherwise 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts.

What would the final week of the Baysox season be without one last stellar turn through the rotation? The five-headed monster of starting pitching prospects dazzled again. Anthony Eyanson, Joseph Dzierwa, Caden Hunter, JT Quinn, and Patrick Reilly each allowed one or no earned runs this week for a combined ERA of 0.76. Dzierwa and Quinn each worked five scoreless, and Reilly and Eyanson each struck out seven. If any or all of these guys move up a level to Triple-A next year, the Norfolk Tides are going to be a much more menacing group than they were this season.

Chesapeake season stats

High-A Frederick Keys

• Last week’s results: Lost South Atlantic North Division Series, 2-1
• Overall season record: 83-46

The Keys’ outstanding 2026 season came to a heartbreaking end this week as they lost the best-of-three Division Series to the Greensboro Grasshoppers, the Pirates’ affiliate. The Keys had edged out the Grasshoppers for the division title in both halves of the season, nipping them by one game in the first half and 1.5 in the second, but it was Greensboro that got the last laugh. The first game of the series was all Frederick, a 13-1 win on the road, before the Keys lost both their home games by two runs and were eliminated.

It was a hit-happy series for Jaiden Lo Re, who went 5-for-13, and 2026 second-round pick Ty Head socked a homer. Enddy Azocar, who fell into a cold spell after his scalding hot stretch upon joining the O’s organization, was just 2-for-12 in the series, though he did homer. Randal Diaz drove in five runs despite just two hits.

The pitching star of the series was lefty Boston Bateman, who won the opener with a dominant five-inning, 10-strikeout performance. It was a nice way to put a bow on a strong 2026 season for Bateman, who posted a 3.65 ERA and 12.2 K/9 in 24 regular season games (21 starts), albeit with too many walks (5.0 BB/9). He’s been a bit overshadowed this year by the Orioles’ higher-level pitching prospects — if it’s possible to overshadow a guy who stands 6’8” — but it’s easy to see why the O’s made him the prize of their Ryan O’Hearn/Ramón Laureano trade with San Diego last season.

Frederick season stats

**

It’s time for our final player of the week poll. Last week we crowned a new first-time winner, Vance Honeycutt, who joins other single-week winners Payton Eeles, Braylin Tavera, Wehiwa Aloy, Jaiden Lo Re, Joseph Dzierwa, Luis De León, and Heston Kjerstad. Two-time winners include Enddy Azocar, Caden Hunter, Ike Irish, Aron Estrada, and Victor Figueroa.

Our final winner of the year will be a first-timer. Who gets your vote?

Good morning, Purple Row!

This is our second day of reorganizing the Rockpile. (Consider yourselves part of a big science project.)

Yesterday, the Rockies did something (link to recap).

At any rate, it’s playoff season in Hartford, ADD STUFF

Enjoy some Yard Goats postseason action!

Tonight, the Hartford Yard Goats will begin their Eastern League playoff series on the road in Reading, Pennsylvania, this afternoon at 4:45 PM.  They will face the Reading Fightin Phils (Philadelphia Phillies) in a best-of-three series for the Northeast Division Championship.

Game 2 will take place at Dunkin’ Park on Thursday, September 17^th (4:30 PM), and the decisive Game 3 (if necessary) will be at Dunkin’ Park on Friday, September 18^th (4:30 PM).  

The winner of the Divisional Championship will advance to the best-of-three Eastern League Championship Series (ELCS) which will begin Sunday, September 20^th in either Richmond, Virginia, or Erie, Pennsylvania. 

The Yard Goats won the first half Championship, and Reading clinched the second half title.     

Rockies news & links

• Kyle Freeland could be in final month of long Rockies career: ‘I’m keeping an open mind’ | Denver Gazette ($) — “Obviously, I’m at the end of the contract now. There are a lot of different variables go into it. I’m from Denver, born and raised. I’ve been with this organization for 12 years now, but we’ll see what happens. I’m not counting anything out. I’m not letting anything go. I’m open to everything,” Freeland told Kevin Henry. “It would be nice to spend a whole career in Colorado, but I understand that there are ways that everything works, and sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t.” 
• ASU Cronkite alum brings Spanish skills to Colorado Rockies baseball field | ASU News — Allow me to introduce you to Edwin Perez, a member of the terrific Rockies public relations staff. (I am disappointed the author did not mention Edwin’s dog, Astro, but here we are.)
• Does an MLB manager need experience playing pro ball? We asked 99 players | The Athletic (Gift Link — $) — This question was part of The Athletic’s anonymous player poll. Of 99 respondents, 83 said they would feel comfortable playing for a manager without MLB experience. As Chad Jennings writes, “The players’ comfort would depend on the manager’s knowledge and communication skills; some measure of trust would have to be earned — perhaps more so than with a former player — and any benefit of the doubt.” The focus is on Tony Vitello, but obviously Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer falls into this category as well.

Around MLB

• 10 MLB players who leveled up in 2026 — and their team impact | ESPN — It’s an impressive list (that does not have any Rockies on it).
• Giants place Rafael Devers on 60-Day IL, select Scott Bandura | MLB Trade Rumors
• Padres’ win-now mentality pays off in Mason Miller trade | Gaslamp Ball
• Where does Yordan stand in chase for 1st Triple Crown since 2012? | MLB.com
• Blue Jays’ loss sends Yankees back to postseason | MLB.com
• 14 straight! Dodgers tie MLB record for most consecutive playoff clinches | MLB.com

Rockies schedule

Tonight, the Rockies will meet the San Diego Padres at 6:40 pm. Walker Buehler will start for the Padres will the Rockies have not yet announced their starter though there is reason to believe that Kyle Freeland will be back to start the game.

This week on the internet

It turns out — I knew this, but I forgot — that players in the KBO get their own songs.

Last week, I found Sam Hilliard’s song, and, Reader, it is amazing.

I’ve already told Sam, our Purple Row musician, that should there be a lockout, I hope she will write songs for each Rockies player.

I think we can make this work.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The Yankees will officially be playing baseball in October after last night’s loss by Toronto, shortly followed by New York’s own win allowing for a more raucous celebration rather than a somber one. It has not come easily for them this year, as they’ve weathered more than their fair share of blows to key players and endured lengthy slumps from others, but the man who has stood at the helm all year coasted them through to the starting line once again.

I’m not one to subscribe to the notion that managers strongly impact the game positively or negatively, but Aaron Boone has been a lightning rod for criticism throughout his tenure in New York for a whole host of reasons out of his control on top of some that he does hold some influence over, so I think it’s only fair to give him some credit for what has been an incredibly difficult season to navigate. Losing Aaron Judge to start June and not getting him back until September was a severe blow to the team, as it would’ve been at any point over the last near decade, and the offense withered without him for a long while. Unlike when he went down in 2023, however, this year’s Yankees didn’t collapse with the captain out of commission, and though they tried their hardest to make the games frustrating they managed to walk the tightrope convincingly enough to stay afloat in the standings.

You could certainly credit a large portion of that success to a stronger and deeper rotation this season compared to when they were rolling out Gerrit Cole and a bunch of bodies and I’d agree, but there’s been turmoil there too as injuries continually prevented the Yankees from lining up their five best starters in a given turn through the order. On top of that, the pitching staff as a whole was a little suspect with a bullpen that many questioned at the start of the year — for good reason as it turned out. David Bednar was unquestioned as the closer, though he struggled out of the gate, but the bridge to Bednar was rickety and swinging on frayed rope at the start of the year. Fernando Cruz was a solid option who earned some late-inning appearances, but unfortunately an elbow injury has put his season (and perhaps Yankees career) in jeopardy. Camilo Doval was the initial setup man, but he turned out to be a bust in pinstripes and there were only question marks surrounding the rest of the relief corps.

The emergence of Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick forming the big three at the back of the ‘pen quite possibly is the biggest reason that this team is leading the Wild Card standings with a shot at the division still, their lock-down performances holding slim lead after slim lead and putting out fires whenever called upon having bailed out an offense that looked downright putrid for weeks. Boone has rarely leaned so heavily on a pair of arms before, but he’s fitted the two into the Scott Proctor mold and reaped the rewards for doing so while seemingly keeping them fresh enough as we enter the final stretch of the regular season.

The bullpen management has been his biggest success, but Boone and the front office have pushed the right buttons in a number of areas. The team was getting nothing out of the catcher position offensively in the first half of the year, but they surprised many by not acquiring a catcher at the Trade Deadline and instead affirming their faith in Austin Wells, who shepherded the pitchers well enough but had been absolutely dreadful with the bat. He turned around and gave them a respectable July before hitting above-average in August, and though he’s gone through another slump in September he’s still become more than respectable in the lineup again. Wells is far from the only regular they’ve been rewarded for believing in — Jazz Chisholm Jr. endured a topsy-turvy season that drew plenty of criticism after he put a goal of 50 home runs and 50 steals on his shoulders in spring. The homers never came close as he hit only six through the first two months, but Jazz has gotten close on the basepaths with 40 stolen bags this year. The option of flipping Chisholm ahead of his impending free agency was floated in trade rumors but never emerged, and instead he’s turned in a season that will end up coming close to his previous two years by fWAR.

The only real shakeup that Brian Cashman made to this roster came at the deadline, where the team traded for Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos — a pair of platoon bats, though García was the big get having led the National League in slugging when he was moved and has played accordingly since. From within they called up George Lombard Jr. and sent Anthony Volpe down to Triple-A to work on his maligned offensive capabilities while also considering new positions. Both moves paid dividends, with Lombard providing a spark and an injection of youth to the lineup while Volpe got a hero’s return on Thursday when he hit a grand slam against the Rockies and received a curtain call from the fans. I can’t imagine that when Volpe was demoted he was ever significantly in the team’s immediate plans for the rest of the year, but injuries again pressed them and their choice to finally allow Volpe the space to work on his craft has paid off with him sliding into second base in Chisholm’s absence.

There’s a dozen points where this season could’ve gone up in flames for the Yankees, but here they stand in the middle of September with a ticket to at least two guaranteed games of postseason baseball with the potential for more. The division is still within their grasp even if time is running out, and they simply can’t control how well the Rays have played. They can only handle their own business, and they’ve done a phenomenal job of doing just that this year.