Category: MLB

With one on and one out in the ninth inning of Saturday’s NLDS Game 1, the Padres trailing 3–2, Ty France lofted a deep fly ball to left that hit the roof at American Family Field — and dropped right into the glove of Brewers left fielder Jackson Chourio.

Was it a home run? An out? Even the broadcast booth couldn’t agree on the ground rules, and things only got weirder from there.

The immediate reaction from FOX analysts and former big-leaguers AJ Pierzynski and Adam Wainwright, citing the pregame ground-rules meeting, was that a ball hitting the roof meant a home run. Meanwhile, play-by-play man Adam Amin was adamant that the umpires had it right in calling it an out.

Despite three-ish minutes of absolute chaos and a massive spike in Google searches for “what happens when a ball hits the roof in baseball,” Amin did have it right. Per American Family Field’s ground rules, a ball that hits the roof over fair territory stays in play, so France’s fly ball was ruled a catch by Chourio for the second out. Now down to their last out, San Diego challenged whether the ball hit the roof over fair territory and lost.

If Pierzynski and Wainwright didn’t know the ground rules, the average baseball fan probably didn’t either. Here are (brief) answers to all of the questions you may have had while watching last night’s game.

This doesn’t happen often, right?

Correct, although France’s fly ball was at least the third time in history that a ball has hit the roof in fair territory at American Family Field. It’s actually not the first time that it’s happened in the NLDS; in Game 4 of the 2008 NLDS, Phillies outfielder Jayson Werth hit a fly ball that struck a roof truss and was snagged on a diving catch by none other than Craig Counsell. The second time was in a regular season game in 2018; Reds infielder Scooter Gennett hit a fly ball that, again, came down in fair territory and was caught for an out by Eric Sogard. The third time was last night.

Is this quirk unique to Milwaukee?

Definitely not — almost a quarter of big-league stadiums (7 out of 30) have retractable roofs, and the Rays’ Tropicana Field has a fixed roof. There have been some way crazier examples than what happened in last night’s game.

One of the most famous examples of balls hitting roofs occurred over fifty years ago, on June 10, 1974; Mike Schmidt crushed a towering fly ball that hit a public-address speaker hanging from the roof at the Astrodome — about 117 feet up and 329 feet from home plate. The ball dropped into shallow center field, and under the ground rules it was in play, so Schmidt only got a single despite estimates suggesting it would have traveled over 500 feet. In the words of Schmidt himself, “That damn speaker cost me a homer.”

On May 4, 1984, Dave Kingman of the Oakland Athletics hit a fly ball that rose towards the roof, then disappeared and never came down. The ball had gone through a seven-inch-wide drainage hole in the roof. Umpires Jim Evans and Ted Hendry conferred and realized there was no ground rule for this situation. Evans made a judgment call and awarded Kingman a ground-rule double, partly based on precedent: he had made a similar call in Seattle’s Kingdome when a fly ball got stuck in a speaker. A’s manager Steve Boros backed the call, saying that Evans used common sense.

The Tropicana Incidents

Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, has perhaps the most famous roof in baseball. The “Trop,” as it’s known to Rays fans, has four catwalk rings, lettered A (highest, innermost) through D (lowest, outermost). Because the dome tilts toward the outfield, the catwalks hang lower out there.

Under the current rules, the A Ring and the fair portion of the B Ring are in play, so a ball can drop for a hit or be caught for an out. The C and D Rings are out of play, and hitting either between the foul poles is a home run. Those rules are only in place because of a number of weird roof-related incidents that led to rule changes; for the sake of brevity, I won’t cover all of them, but here are the ones most similar to the France fly ball.

On May 26, 2008, Rays slugger Carlos Peña hit a pop fly to center that Josh Hamilton probably would have caught, but it hit the B Ring and stayed there. Peña was mistakenly given a home run before the umpires conferred and changed it to a ground-rule double.

On August 5, 2010, with the game tied 6–6 and two outs in the top of the ninth, Jason Kubel of the Twins hit a sky-high infield pop-up that would have ended the inning. Instead, it hit the A Ring and fell safely on the infield, letting the Twins score the go-ahead run in an 8–6 win. MLB then made A and B Ring hits automatic dead balls, but that change lasted only for the 2010 postseason.

In June 2018, the Yankees’ Clint Frazier hit a ninth-inning fly ball in a 6–6 game that bounced off a speaker on the B Ring and was caught by Adeiny Hechavarría. Some argued it would have been a go-ahead homer; the Rays went on to win in extras on a walk-off.

This season, on May 2, the Giants’ Heliot Ramos hit what looked like a two-run homer, but it came down in Cedric Mullins’ glove. The Giants challenged, believing it had hit a catwalk, but crew chief Vic Carapazza said no camera angle could prove it, so the call stood. Two members of the Giants (pitching director Frank Anderson and Brewers legend Adrian Houser) were ejected for continuing to argue.

Would France’s fly ball have been a homer?

No, probably not. You can’t say definitively one way or another (because, well, the ball did in fact hit the roof), but Statcast data strongly supports the conclusion that France’s ball would have fallen short of the left field fence.

France hit that ball 105.3 mph at a 49-degree launch angle, which — per Statcast — would have been a homer in only one park: Daikin Park in Houston. There were 27 fly balls this season at 105 mph and 49 degrees, and none were home runs. Batters hit .038 this season on balls with a 49-degree launch angle.

The most convincing point: only 10 over-the-fence homers in the Statcast era have had a launch angle that high, and there has never, ever been a home run recorded at American Family Field with a launch angle above 46 degrees. Ironically, the ball clearing the fence would have been rarer than the ball hitting the roof. The most likely scenario would have been a deep fly-out, which is exactly what ended up happening.

So, should we ban roofs in baseball?

Every baseball stadium has its quirks. Fenway Park’s “Green Monster” wall in left field is extremely close and extremely tall, meaning that line drives that would go out at, say, American Family Field turn into doubles (and sometimes singles). Wrigley Field’s outfield walls are made of ivy-covered brick. Daikin Park used to have a “fun and quirky” hill in center field.

A roof is just another quirk, except unlike a hill in center field, it actually serves a purpose. Cold-weather cities like Milwaukee, Seattle, and Toronto deal with freezing temperatures and weather concerns in April and sometimes late September. Hot-weather cities like Houston, Phoenix, Miami, and Tampa face the opposite: brutal summer heat, humidity, and frequent afternoon thunderstorms. 

Eevery park has its own ground rules, and both teams go over them with the umpires before every game. A ball hitting the roof once every ten years doesn’t offset the positives of being able to play baseball when Mother Nature would deem it impossible.

In short, baseball is weird.

Nearing 34 years of age, Blake Snell has spoken about his belief in solidifying a Hall of Fame case by building up his legacy in postseason action—evidently, that desire played a role in him signing with the Dodgers, a team that doesn’t necessarily need him to get to this position but might benefit greatly from his impact in the most crucial games in October baseball.

Although the journey was different, the outcome is similar in a second season with the Dodgers marked by missed time during the regular year and full availability in the playoffs. In fact, heading into today’s game against the Braves, roughly one out of every four innings covered by Snell in a Dodger uniform has come in the playoffs, 24,64 percent to be exact.

Struggles in last season’s World Series aside, Snell was outstanding for the better part of the 2025 playoffs. And he is one win away with the Dodgers from tying the number of postseason victories (4) in his career prior to joining Los Angeles. Standing in his way is an Atlanta team that was just bullied by another left-handed star pitcher, with their backs against the wall, trying to avoid an 0-2 deficit.

With just one day off after three straight games and trailing for the better part of Game 1, the Braves logically opted to save their top relievers in this series opener. Regardless of the specifics of Atlanta’s plans for Game 2, the Dodgers will be facing a superior level of pitching, which inevitably increases the pressure on Snell’s performance.

NLDS Game 2 info

• Teams: No. 2 seed Dodgers vs. No. 3 seed Braves
• Series: Los Angeles leads, 1-0
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 5:03 p.m.
• TV: FS1 (Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal)
• National radio: ESPN Radio (Dave O’Brien, Jessica Mendoza)
• Local English radio: AM 570 (Charley Steiner, Rick Monday)
• Local Spanish radio: KTNQ 1020 AM (José Mota, Luis Cruz)

I’ll confess that I don’t know what the plan is for the San Francisco Giants. It was a lot easier when the nerdy front office telegraphed its statistical interests and preferred player profiles, but these 97-game losers are sort of inscrutable. High contact hitters? Sure. Sinker-slider pitchers with strikeouts and velocity secondary? Okay. Winning? Optional. It leaves me feeling a little uncertain about which way the team will go with most of its roster decisions and even how they might decide with their arbitration eligible players.

On Friday night, MLB Trade Rumors posted their annual salary arbitration projection article, which uses Matt Swartz’s formula and has come pretty close to nailing the final figure year in and year out. Last year was a little bit different for we spectators and the formula’s relevance concerning our favorite team. The San Francisco Giants had three arbitration-eligible players, with two (Patrick Bailey & Ryan Walker) just missing the eligibility cutoff.

• JT Brubaker (5.162) — $2.1MM | ACTUAL: $1.82MM
• Andrew Knizner (5.090) — $2MM | ACTUAL: designated for assignment
• Joey Lucchesi (5.047) — $2MM | ACTUAL: designated for assignment

Of course, both non-tendered players wound up back with the organization at some point in 2026 — Luccehsi in a Spring Training deal he opted out of when the Giants picked up Ryan Borucki and Knizner in a major league deal back in August to give depth to a depleted catcher corps. Supremely low stakes and low performance all around (these three players combined for +0.7 fWAR in 2025 and -0.4 in 2026), but it’s worth pointing out that being a Major League Baseball player isn’t easy. Fewer than 1,000 dudes a year are good enough to play it.

These arbitration eligible players amount to cases for the team to contemplate as they approach the offseason. They can always sign these players to a contract before anything becomes fraught. That’s where the MLB Trade Rumors formula provides insight. This is the general range if not exact dollar amount teams an player alike are starting with; arbitration-based salaries are based on recent MLB history, but also need. Sure, the team might need player X, but not at cost Y. Sometimes, cost Y is a virtual given, but player X might not be quite worth it — and that’s when you see non-tenders. A non-tender is a team giving up their exclusive “rights” to or “control” of a player, but it doesn’t mean team and player can’t negotiate anymore. And, of course, in addition to non-tendering or winding up in an adversarial arbitration hearing, a team and player can simply agree to a contract.

I mention that because the commentariat seems to think that will happen with one of the Giants’ potential arbitration cases. So, let’s get into these cases, ending each one with my own judgment about what the Giants should do. I used to describe these as “predictions” because I felt a little more confident about what the team’s goals were or what sort of player profiles interest them, but as I mentioned above, I have no idea what’s going on with the team day to day. They do need to improve, though.

Camilo Doval

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $6.6 million

Yeah, let’s just get the big fish out of the way. The Giants put in a waiver claim at season’s end after the Pirates tried to save a few bucks once it was clear their Wild Card aspirations were toast — okay, and “the Pirates decided that 19 innings with 14 walks allowed was enough to cut bait” — and he wound up being the Orange and Black’s best healthy reliever on the final day of the season.

My poor eyes did wind up popping out of my skull a little as I took a look at his end of the season Statcast. First, I’ll backup your skepticism with his Statcast charting from 2023-2026. Clear decline:

On the other hand, take a look at how his pitch arsenal compares to the rest of the sport:

For velocity:

#13 in sinker (98.2 mph)
#1 in cutter (98.8 mph)
#33 in slider (89.0 mph)
#2 in changeup (94.5 mph) — only threw this pitch 25 times

For spin:

#7 in sinker (2,530 rpm)
#29 in cutter (2,561 rpm)
#30 in slider (2,691 rpm)
#103 in changeup (1,807 rpm) — only threw this pitch 25 times

For xwOBA:

#40 in sinker (.330), +2 RV
#68 in cutter (.358), -4 RV
#28 in slider (.232), -1 RV
XX in changeup (.055) +1 RV — only threw this pitch 25 times

When you look at where he lands on these lists, he’s basically a perfectly average or slightly above average pitcher. The pitch characteristics in the broadest possible sense (velocity and spin) still put him among the elite relievers in the sport, but we know from experience and even from this data that he’s not that. But the temptation ought to be there to see if it’s still possible to coach up control to go with the stuff.

And then there’s another stat to throw in here. Run Value is a stat that is a straightforward scoring of a pitch (ball, strike, home run) without the outcome weighing on it (a ball that’s ball four, a strike that’s strike three, a home run that drives in 3 runs). But Statcast has now added Leveraged Run Value:

Leveraged run value weights the impact of a play based on the base/out situation — in a higher-leverage situation, the positive or negative run value resulting from a pitch will be greater. Hitters and pitchers who have better “clutch” performances might have higher total run values using the leveraged version. This leaderboard also includes how much extra run value a player gains or loses from his performance in different leveraged situations.

That’s very valuable for a reliever. Context-neutral, Doval is below average, with his pitching amounting to a -2 in Run Value (2o1st out of 300); and, unsurprisingly, Doval is far from elite even by the Leveraged Run Value measure, but at +2, he’s 89 out of 300 — above average, suddenly. Not tremendously so, but about as effective as Seranthony Dominguez was this year, and he signed a 2-year $20 million before the start of the season and wound up exactly replacement level (0.0 fWAR). Doval was about the same this year: 0.1 fWAR across 3 teams, his same value in 2024 over a full season for the Giants (he was +0.6 last year for the Giants & Yankees).

Tender or non-tender? TENDER.

At the time of the acquisition, and because of MLB Trade Rumors’ tremendous track record in projecting arbitration salaries, most people (myself included) following the transaction closely — not just the storyline of his return, but that he was in good health and still throwing 98+ and had another year of team control — took this part of the MLBTR article as fact when formulating their opinion about what the Giants might do with him now that he was back in the fold:

Doval is making $6.1MM this season and can be retained for next season via arbitration. He won’t be able to get a huge raise based on this year’s 4.30 earned run average, but should be able to get into the $7-8MM range.

Now they’re projecting something distinctly different and in the much more reasonable in terms of the Giants tendering him a contract. Now, the team could still tender him, fail to come to an agreement, file a number with the arbitration panel and lose that case in which they could pay more, but then they could pull a J.D. Davis on him. On the other hand, why not keep him, or come to some sort of deal that’s in the $6.5 million range with some incentives for games finished, provided he can win back the closer job he had in his previous stint? This is about the going rate for a reliever of his type.

Rowan Wick

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $800,000

Tender or non-tender? TENDER, but… the Giants already hold an option for 2027. He was signed before 2026 with full knowledge that he would spend the entire 2026 rehabbing. He hasn’t pitched in MLB since 2022, spent all of 2023 in the minors, but in 2024 & 2025 pitched in Japan where he had ERAs of 3.09 and 1.32 ERA.

According to the big injury update we received last Tuesday, is in Arizona throwing two side sessions per week and is expected to transition to live BPs in October. He turns 34 in November.

I’m sure his inclusion on this list is only a technicality. The Giants haven’t officially announced that they’ve exercised his option and, therefore, his MLB service clock (4.114) would trigger a sort for arbitration eligible players without a contract already for 2027. But, it’s more correct to say that the team has 8 arbitration-eligible players… or fewer, if these next couple of cases don’t actually land on the right side of the cutoff.

José Buttó

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $800,000

My reservations about José Buttó stem entirely from his lack of an option. His 3.83 FIP from (2023-2025) is slightly more encouraging, but the 4.43 xFIP isn’t. A blood clot is a scary injury to come back from and there could simply be a numbers game the Giants can’t make work.

From a human being perspective, tendering him a contract allows him to continue his rehab with the team until the lockout hits. On the other hand, it’s hard to know just who the Giants have. He was truly dominant in 2024 and the 2025 results are approaching the polar opposite. 2026 was an injury year. Does the cycle reset and he returns to a sub-.200 batting average against guy?

Tender or non-tender? NON-TENDER.

Sinkers are still the coin of the realm (+331 Run Value, league-wide, compared to -31 for four-seamers), but Butto’s 94-96 version is easily duplicated with players the Giants already have on hand and the roster spot might be more important going to a more experienced or talented veteran or simply paying a little bit less to get more upside. If this year hadn’t been such a catastrophe in the bullpen, then I might’ve said he was an easy tender. Now, I think the team needs to cool it on their practice of holding spots for guys returning from injuries.

Now, last year, I ran into a problem where I didn’t factor in the Super Two cutoff (how early players could be eligible for arbitration), but as I’ll note below, it would seem that this case and the next one do meet the criteria for arbitration in 2027.

Randy Rodríguez

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $800,000

As with José Buttó, Rodríguez appears to be just past the cutoff point for arbitration eligibility. From this August post on MLB Trade Rumors:

[…] players automatically qualify for arbitration when they have at least three years of service time and don’t already have a guaranteed contract. For players who finish a season between two and three years, the top 22% of players in terms of service time also qualify, as long as they spent at least 86 days of the most recent season on the active roster or injured list. The cutoff will vary slightly from year to year, depending on the details of the players in the 2-3 window. Looking at previous years, the recent cutoffs have been as low as 2.115 and as high as 2.146:

2025: 2.140
2024: 2.132
2023: 2.118
2022: 2.128
2021: 2.116
2020: 2.125
2019: 2.115
2018: 2.134
2017: 2.123
2016: 2.131
2015: 2.130
2014: 2.133
2013: 2.122
2012: 2.140
2011: 2.146

Rodriguez is at 2.148, which would seem to just surpass the cutoff, based on history (Butto is 2.168). It’s immaterial to his case, of course, as the Giants will tender him a contract and sign him to a deal.

Tender or non-tender? TENDER. The only thing that might be interesting to see is if they sign him to a multi-year deal or include some incentives in this next one. On the other hand, he is the closer in waiting who’ll be 27 in 2027. His agent could simply ask for something more in line with those figures. The arbitration panels aren’t a total free-for-all — he could only be compared to players who’d previously been in his situation: a 27-year old right-handed relievers in his first year of arbitration. They also tend to emphasize counting stats, and with only 4 major league saves under his belt, it’s probably not a compelling case. Still, his talent is sort of undeniable and so the Giants might not actually have as much leverage in this situation. But they have to make sure they don’t accidentally set a new precedent for future arbitration hearings or agents. Maybe they don’t throw $1-$1.5 million his way, but don’t be surprised if they wind up signing him for a number greater than $800,000… unless MLB Trade Rumors projected the cutoff incorrectly again and this is another Patrick Bailey/Ryan Walker situation where he (and Butto) aren’t actually arbitration eligible.

Okay… have I sufficiently C’d my A? Moving on…

Casey Schmitt

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $2.5 million

Tender or non-tender? TENDER. I didn’t want to waste any time on this one. Obviously, the Giants will hold on to Schmitt. Will they sign him for greater than the projected $2.5 million is the only question. He certainly has a case with being a potential multi-positional player; but, at the same time, this is probably a fair deal for a guy who might struggle to replicate the great season he just had. A .780+ OPS with a ~.300 OBP is tough to sustain over a full season.

Andrew Knizner

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $1 million

He has put up some traditional backup catcher numbers in the parts of two seasons he’s played for the Giants. A .620 OPS in 168 PA across 62 games is definitionally “backup” but also “fungible.”

Tender or non-tender? NON-TENDER. There’s not too much separation between a million bucks and the league minimum, but every $10,000 counts and non-tendering doesn’t foreclose the possibility of his return (again), but the Giants have a lot of catching options at this point and if they’re really wanting to spend a little money, there are likely to be better options on the open market.

Jason Foley

MLB Trade Rumors Projection:$2.3 million

The Giants signed him in the offseason to a 1-year $2 million contract. According to MLB Trade Rumors’ previous projection, that was under the $3.15 million he would’ve made in arbitration, and so you can see why teams make these strategic non-tenders. Foley missed 2025 recovering from surgery and the Tigers decided to reallocate that money for other purposes (losing the AL Central and trading away Tarik Skubal, I guess). The Giants came in and offered him a number below that projection and now he’s projected for a number that’s still less. The Giants could easily re-sign him for another $2.5 million, but let’s consider Foley’s case in full:

A 4.15 ERA in 26 IP with a 4.22 FIP and 1.50 WHIP. Prior to joining the Giants, he had a career 2.3 BB/9 and 6.8 K/9. Those were 3.8 and 5.2 with the Giants. Now, it was his first year back from injury, and as Zack Minasian has pointed out, it’s the second year when the real pitcher reasserts himself. Is Foley’s peak that of a late inning reliever who can help out in high leverage?

If they keep Doval, then it’s Doval, Rodriguez, Dylan Smith (?), and Jason Foley as quasi-late inning reliever guys. All of them (Rodriguez included) seem best-suited for the 7th inning at best. As four arms in an 8-arm bullpen, though? That could work. Leaves two spots for a pair of left-handed relievers and two spots for late inning guys (an 8th inning guy and a closer). But does that configuration make sense? No space for a long reliever (unless it’s one of the lefties) or, say, Trent Harris, whose velocity gets more strikeouts and will cost substantially less.

At the same time, didn’t the Giants sign him in order to re-sign him? He suppressed home runs and got a lot of groundballs — exactly what they were looking for from him.

Tender or non-tender? NON-TENDER. The Giants aren’t going to blow up their payroll to win 10 more games in another meaningless season and so I think trying to save money where they can could simply mean non-tendering one of the relievers in a relief corps that didn’t bring much joy this season. It gives them some flexibility, too. Doval and Rodriguez are power arm additions to the 2027 bullpen and so Foley is at least a different look that could be effective, but the Giants had the fewest strikeouts in MLB in High Leverage situations (6.13 K/9), the second-most walks (5.12 BB/9), and the fifth-worst ERA in those situations (11.04).

Sam Hentges

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $2 million

Hentges had a very interesting year in that his relative success (0.5 fWAR, 10.1 K/9, 0 HR allowed, 3.19 ERA / 3.24 FIP in 45 G) came from some very limited leverage (1.02 average leverage at start of appearance; 36.2 IP). But he walked 25 batters in those 36.2 innings and he had a severe reverse platoon split:

vs. LHH — .328/.434/.358
vs. RHH — .173/.311/.240

He was also a tremendous jerk. But that might be a feature rather than a bug. We don’t know yet what the Justice Department’s pursuit of justice against the Giants will be, but it’s entirely possible that Hentges could file a Civil Rights claim against the team for non-tendering him.

Tender or non-tender? TENDER. It would be surprising if the Giants non-tendered a bible thumper who had a superficially good year and figures to get better in his second year removed from injury. I personally don’t believe the team should hold space for acknowledged bigots, but I have to accept that they do. And so, if bigots are on the menu, then this is one to keep in the fold.

Ryan Walker

MLB Trade Rumors Projection: $1.6 million

This would be a strategic non-tender under most circumstances:

2023: 61.1 IP, 3.23 ERA / 3.68 FIP, +0.7 fWAR
2024: 80.0 IP, 1.91 ERA / 2.52 FIP, +1.7 fWAR
2025: 61.1 IP, 4.11 ERA / 3.30 FIP, +0.6 fWAR
2026: 32.2 IP, 7.16 ERA / 5.52 FIP, -0.5 fWAR

He’ll be 31 in 2027 with a pair of options. He still throws 95 with his sinker, but that slider spin rate dipped to 2,499 rpm this season. In 2025, those averaged 96 and 2,696, respectively, so that’s a meaningful slip. Another team could probably work to fix his mechanics, or maybe the Giants have a plan to do that. His time in the minors didn’t seem to help with that this year, and with a planned lockout, the Giants aren’t going to have much time to work with him in the offseason.

But, yeah, the Feds.

The Giants are under a microscope in one particular instance. Ryan Walker might be simply uncuttable.

Tender or non-tender? NON-TENDER. Still, he was tremendously bad. Can’t he just get a job in the administration or in right wing media as a victim of Woke? Or… with the Rays on a minor league deal and return to his 2024 form?

So, this is around $13 million in commitments, which would put them around $157 million in salary ($160 million for the current CBT). But who do you think the Giants will keep — or should keep?

In the top of the ninth inning of the Milwaukee Brewers' NL division series opener, fate intervened during a fly ball off the bat of San Diego Padres first baseman Ty France.

His high drive to left field shockingly struck part of the roof at American Family Field and dropped straight down into the glove of the Brewers' Jackson Chourio.

A possible go-ahead two-run homer went down as a routine fly out in the scorebook.

For many Brewers fans, it wasn't a wire or a part of the infrastructure that saved the game – it was the spirit of beloved late broadcaster Bob Uecker.

"I'm telling you, Ueck reached up there and knocked that ball down like a basketball center rejecting a ball, you know what I mean?" Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "I think Ueck was involved."

More: Brewers pay tribute to franchise icon Bob Uecker in touching ceremony

The Yankees are not facing elimination in Game 2 on Monday, but Derek Jeter warned the team cannot look at it that way.

“It’s a must-win [game],” Jeter boldly asserted during Fox Sports’ postgame coverage after the Yankees’ 1-0 loss in Game 1 of the ALDS to the Rays Saturday night.

The Yanks were shut down by Rays ace Drew Rasmussen, who tossed eight shutout innings, struck out 10 batters and allowed just one hit, a double to catcher Austin Wells, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

With likely American League Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler slated to start Game 2, the Yankees legend said the club must capitalize on the matchup.

“That’s the approach you have to have,” Jeter added. “You have Schlittler on the mound — you must win that game.

“Tampa has been the best team in the American League all year, they are tough to beat, especially in that stadium. You cannot go down 0-2, I don’t care if you’re back to New York or not, and expect to win three [in a row].”

After dominating the Red Sox across two games of the Wild Card series, the Yankees’ offense could not muster much in Game 1.

Gerrit Cole allowed only a solo home run to Jonathan Aranda across five solid frames, which was not enough on a night where the offense was lifeless — and later compounded by Wells’ baserunning blunder.

“That Wellsie mistake, is that the reason they lost? Probably not,” Alex Rodriguez said during the postgame show.

“But when you look at the first six months, it’s a dress rehearsal for October…If you’re not accountable April through September, these mistakes are not a surprise.”

The Yankees are set to face former Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta, who was acquired by the Rays at the trade deadline in Game 2.

There is probably no one in baseball history more decorated than Frankie Crosetti. Across his years as a player and then as a coach, he was part of 17 World Series championship teams, all of which were as a Yankee. While he wasn’t a bad player — 27.8 career fWAR — he was hardly ever the star of the championship teams he played on, nor was he the manager of the teams he coached on. However, he was quite clearly helpful to have around in several capacities.

On this, “Crow’s” 116th birthday, let’s look back at the life and times of the serial winner.

Frank Peter Joseph “Frankie” Crosetti
Born: October 4, 1910 (San Francisco, CA)
Died: February 11, 2002 (Stockton, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1932-48

Crosetti was born in San Francisco, the son of an Italian immigrant father and a mother whose parents were immigrants themselves. He would end up being one of a couple Italian-American Yankees from the Bay Area, as future teammates Joe DiMaggio and Tony Lazzeri were San Francisco-born children of immigrants themselves.

As a child, Crosetti learned baseball with his brother, using a whittled down board as a bat and the end of a corncob as a ball. He never much loved school and eventually dropped out when he was 16. He started playing semi-pro baseball out on the west coast and soon caught the attention of the Pacific Coast League’s San Francisco Seals. While the Seals appreciated his talent, they thought he was a bit too small and began sending deliveries of milk to his house every morning. He soon packed on 10 pounds and began playing for the Seals in 1928.

Over the next couple seasons, Crosetti became a very good player in San Francisco. In 1930, he hit .334 with 27 home runs, while also being regarded as a very good fielding shortstop. That caught the eye of Yankees’ scout Bill Essick, who was credited with signing DiMaggio, Lefty Gomez, and others for the team. Essick convinced the Yankees to sign Crosetti.

Even after the signing, Crosetti spent 1931 with the Seals, but reported to the Yankees for 1932. Early in the season, manager Joe McCarthy stuck with the veteran Lyn Lary at short with Crosetti at third, but by midseason Crosetti was starting at short and would hold onto that spot for much of the next decade.

The Yankees won the 1932 World Series, but Crosetti got his career off to a bit of a slow start in that season and over the next two, as the Yankees fell back to the pack in the standings. Ahead of the 1935 season, Crosetti worked with the University of California track coach and came into the season bigger, faster, and stronger than he ever had been. While he played well the following year, Crosetti went down with an injury during the season, requiring surgery on his knee.

Crosetti was seemingly running out of chances going into 1936, but he managed to keep hold of his spot in spring training. In the regular season, he then turned in probably the best year of his career. In addition to his always reliable defense, he hit .288/.387/.437 with a career-high 15 home runs. He was named an All-Star for the first of two times in his career. With that, plus Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, and a rookie DiMaggio, the Yankees returned to the World Series, winning the AL pennant and then beating the Giants in six games for Crosetti’s second championship.

Crosetti would never match those offensive exploits again, but he remained a reliable part of the Yankees’ roster for years to come. Besides his defense, he also became known as the most vocal Yankee in the field, with his “Crow” nickname being more than just a play on his last name. In addition to ‘36, he was part of the Yankees four-peat from 1936-39. In 1938, he would’ve had an argument for World Series MVP had it existed, as he OPSed 1.056 in the series, made a couple crucial defensive plays, and hit an eighth inning home run in Game 2 that gave the Yankees the lead for good as they eventually swept the Cubs.

As the calendar turned into the 1940s, Crosetti would start to lose some playing time, as a young shortstop named Phil Rizzuto arrived on the scene. He did get his spot back for a little bit while Rizzuto was serving in the military during World War II, but was never a regular again after that. The Yankees kept him around as a bench player and then a player-coach as the mid to late 40s came along. He would add three more championships to his collection as part of the Yankees 1941, ‘43, and ‘47 teams.

Crosetti gave up playing after 1948 and became a full-time coach, holding a role with the Yankees through 1968. He became the team’s third base coach and won another nine World Series titles over there. He was valued not only for helping younger players along, but also because he never held any ambitions to manage himself. He turned down managerial opportunities from other teams and kept with the Yankees through several managers.

After 1968, the Yankees were mired in what would become arguably the worst period in franchise history. Crosetti resigned from the team desiring to spend more time with his family on the west coast. He joined the Seattle Pilots coaching staff in their one year of existence, and then spent two seasons as a coach for the Twins. He left the MLB ranks after 1971, settling back down in California. He still stayed in the game though, and even did some high school coaching. Crosetti remained in California until he passed away at age 91 in 2002.

There have been many Yankees who have been better players than Crosetti, but based on the way baseball works nowadays, I don’t think anyone will ever become more decorated than Crosetti.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

LOS ANGELES — On a day in 100-degree heat, the second-highest temperature ever for a postseason game at Dodger Stadium, Tarik Skubal reared back and fired a 101.1-mph fastball to Austin Riley in the second inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

“ I think I was just trying to match the temperature out there,” Skubal joked after the game. “It was a hot one.”

Skubal threw three pitches at least 100 mph in the 2026 regular season, topping out at 100.4 mph on April 1 in his second start of the season while still with the Detroit Tigers. In 2025 Skubal threw 31 pitches in triple digits, including five 101 mph or higher, topping out at 102.6 mph. That was over 31 starts, but in the 2025 postseason Skubal packed 22 pitches in triple digits into just three starts.

That was just one of 94 pitches thrown by Skubal on Saturday, and the only one in triple digits, though he had four others between 99.6-99.8 mph, which could be reasonably rounded to 100. Skubal for the game averaged 98.1 mph on his 12 four-seam fastballs and 97.6 mph on his 15 two-seamers, up from his regular season averages of 96.8 mph and 96.7 mph, respectively.

“I think the juices flow a little bit different in postseason games,” Skubal said. “So when I reach back a little bit in postseason stuff, there’s some good counts to kind of let it go in the second inning. … I think environment and adrenaline and the juices flowing kind of always help.”

Skubal, who went to high school in Arizona and currently lives in the state, the heat was something he’s used to. He said as a kid he played a Little League game once in Lake Havasu in 127-degree heat. Skubal stayed hydrated on Saturday and got into a groove, retiring 15 straight batters after a leadoff single to open the game, before allowing a solo home run and two walks in the sixth inning for his only run allowed. The left-hander struck out seven in six innings, lowering his career postseason ERA to 1.97 in seven starts.

Skubal was so focused on pitching, he wasn’t even thinking about the temperature.

“I didn’t really think it was that hot out there until I got done and I walked back in the dugout. I asked — I forget who was sitting, I think it was Snell. I was like, ‘Has it been this hot all game?’ He was like, ‘Yeah,’” Skubal said. “Wow, it’s amazing what your brain can do in certain circumstances and moments. It’s amazing what you can control and kind of eliminate.”

Skubal’s performance helped eliminate one of the three wins the Dodgers need to advance, with Blake Snell waiting to pitch in Game 2 and then Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday in Atlanta for Game 3.

“To have Blake going tomorrow to follow up with what Tarik did today and knowing that you got Yama in the holster for Game 3, we’re in a good spot,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It all starts with winning Game 1.”

Good morning, folks…

Evan Grant, Time Cowlishaw and Kevin Sherrington make their predictions for the four LDS series that kicked off yesterday.

Ty France’s potential go-ahead homer for the Padres in Milwaukee hit a roof cable and ended up being caught by Jackson Chourio for an out. Sam Miller noted, as an aside, that the Padres’ #2 hitter in NLDS game one was a player who was released in August…by the Padres.

That player? Former Texas Ranger Dustin Harris.

David Laurila has his Sunday Notes column up at Fangraphs.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Cardinals fans and fans across the country.

Happy Sunday morning one and all.

This one is going to be even more interesting after this is over, because Tuesday when we do this one again, I am very interested to see where people are.

Going into the Arizona Cardinals matchup with the New York Giants they are 2.5-point favorites according to our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook, the first time this season they are favored, so will that play into things if they somehow do not win this game?

Let’s take a look at how you all voted this week in our Reacts polls.

The Cardinals and their fans are going the wrong direction in terms of confidence in the direction of the franchise, but wins are the only thing that will get fans on board.

Meanwhile, the reason they are so concerned is because of the Arizona Cardinals defense.

It is interesting how most people, specifically the hardcore fans, saw this defense as the issue all along, so are you more discouraged than you expected to be with the defense?

I am interested to hear your reasoning before they kickoff in a couple of hours.

The Phillies have been eliminated from the playoffs. I didn’t expect anyone to be happy about that, but it certainly seemed like some fans had a bit of a “I told you so” skip in their step about their failings. Even if you dislike the president of baseball operations, hoping that his moves fail is bizarre behavior. (I assure you that calling Dave Dombrowski “Dumbrowski” is extremely clever, but you don’t have to constantly remind us of how clever you are by doing it every time you talk about him.)

Obviously, the team wasn’t good enough this season, and that ultimately falls on Dombrowski’s head. But it feels like people are a little off on why they’re angry with him. The biggest criticism I’ve seen is that they took a team that failed the previous four seasons and “ran it back.”

They mostly did run it back, but that’s because they are largely locked into their core. Really, most people didn’t actually want to break up the core. Instead, they wanted to turn over much of the supporting cast like J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, and others.

The problem is, replacing over half the lineup and revamping almost the entire bullpen in one year isn’t really feasible. I suppose it is feasible, but the problem is that the presumption is that you’d replace those players with better players, and that’s the tricky part.

Free agency was largely a wasteland this past offseason. For example, nobody besides Realmuto’s agent liked the team giving him a third year, but he certainly looked like the best option at catcher heading into 2026. Don’t think I don’t remember the “Sign Victor Caritini and platoon him with Rafael Marchan” talk.

I know some people wish the team had signed Pete Alonso and moved Bryce Harper to right field. But after seeing Harper play right field the past two months, does anyone – including Harper – want that to be the norm over the next five years? And there’s also a strong possibility that Alonso’s five-year contract ages poorly.

The same issue existed with Luis Arraez. Arraez did have a good year defensively, but he also showed us why a multiple-time batting champion was readily available in free agency.

Next, take a look at the outfielders who were available in free agency, and you see it wasn’t a pretty picture. The big-ticket guys were Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, and it seems like both of them were heart set on going to the Dodgers and Yankees respectively. You could make the case that the Phillies should have made a press to sign Bellinger instead of re-signing Kyle Schwarber and maintain some positional flexibility. But does that swap change much in the big picture?

Aside from that, the available players largely consisted of veterans like Austin Hays, Harrison Bader, and Rob Refsnyder.

Perhaps the Phillies could have been clever with trades, but they were sorely lacking in viable trade chips. Both of their top prospects – Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller – had some red flags attached, and they were already counting on both Painter and Justin Crawford to fill spots on the major league roster.

That brings us to the real problem: The farm system is not providing them with nearly enough. It would have been nice to plug in a home-grown player into one of the outfield spots and have him be a positive contributor, but instead, we got Crawford. (I know Crawford has his defenders, and this merits a separate article. But ask yourself this question: What is Crawford good at?)

Andrew McFarlane was a great addition to the bullpen, but the Phillies needed far more than just him from the farm. What we got was Gabriel Rincones, Jr., Alan Rangel, and Felix Reyes.

When Dombrowski was hired, he had two missions: Get the major league team back into the playoffs and rebuild the farm system that was a disjointed mess before his arrival. He succeeded on the first part, but it sure doesn’t look like he accomplished the second. And unless he can make progress on that front soon, his successor may soon be hired with the same directives.

We had some fun games yesterday. The vile Yankees were shut out by the slightly less (?) vile Rays. The vile Dodgers staved off a comeback attempt by vile Atlanta. And not especially vile Milwaukee and Chicago won fairly close games against also not especially vile San Diego and Cleveland. In the Rays game, we got the curious spectacle of a no-hitter-bid-ending double where the batter made the third out stretching for a triple, meaning Drew Rasmussen left the game without having had a hit on base.

Today we only have the NL games. The Padres and Brewers go at 4:00pm ET, and the Barves and Dodgers are slated for 8:00. Michael King (12-10, 3.21) will take on Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47) in the early game. Blake Snell (4-1, 1.90) will go for LA in the nightcap, while Atlanta hasn’t announced a starter yet.

Josh Hart was going through it on Saturday night.

The Knicks star, hoping his Yankees can repeat what he and his teammates did a few months ago, shared his roller-coaster of emotions during the Bombers’ 1-0 ALDS Game 1 loss to the Rays in which they recorded just one hit.

Hart was excited at the start, writing “Let’s go Yanks!” on X along with “Let’s get it 4-5,” referring to starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

With Rays ace Drew Rasmussen mowing the Yankees down early, Hart tried to remain positive.

“Alright let’s put some hits together!” Hart wrote.

As the innings wore on, Hart appeared to be getting nervous that the Yankees would be on the wrong end of history.

“Please don’t get no hit,” he wrote.

And he said what every Yankees fan must’ve said when catcher Austin Wells finally broke up Rasmussen’s no-hitter with two outs in the eighth, only to get easily thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple, ignoring third base coach Luis Rojas’ signal to stop at second.

“WHY ARE YOU GOING FOR THIRD??” Hart wrote in his final thought shared about the game.

Wells said after the game that he didn’t see Rojas’ signal until after he had passed second base, and he “was already committed” to trying to get to third.

“You have to take risks. But in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong,” Wells said.

The Yankees, who swept the Red Sox in the best-of-three wild-card round, will try to bounce back in Game 2 on Monday, when their soon-to-be Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler takes the mound.

Their Aaron Judge-less lineup will have to get more than one measly hit, though, to get back to The Bronx with a split.

Hart, meanwhile, is in the middle of training camp as the Knicks prepare to defend their first NBA championship in 53 years.

Choosing how much to take from a single game in the postseason is a challenge. Tarik Skubal did what you expect from baseball’s most talented pitcher. The Dodgers out-homered the Braves three to two with the superior offense. Kyle Tucker hopefully started his redemption tour with a homer in his first playoff affair for the Dodgers. And the Game 1 win came on a scorching-hot day in Los Angeles.

Traditionally, what might be described as a commanding win comes in a blowout result or with a team overcoming glaring obstacles. For this specific matchup, the Dodgers might have managed to secure one over the Braves without any of that, simply by materializing well-established facts regarding these two clubs.

Through the middle of the sixth inning, the Dodgers led by just one run after Sean Murphy delivered Atlanta’s first and only blow to Tarik Skubal with a solo shot. The Braves generated some action in that inning, but Skubal stranded a pair and helped the Dodgers maintain the lead. With all of their offense in the first half of this game coming from Teoscar Hernández’s two-run shot, punishing a mistake-breaking ball in the fourth, the Dodgers’ hitters were playing down to their competition.

The game had gotten shorter, and it was still close, but the moment it became dangerously close with Murphy’s homer and the subsequent trouble Skubal ran into, the Dodgers turned on the jets—giving themselves the cushion to eventually survive a ninth inning scare. Instead of a shutdown inning, the Braves saw the game slip from their hands, allowing a pair of homers in the bottom of the sixth.

The Braves made it close against Tanner Scott in the ninth with a two-run bomb by Ozzie Albies. Even then, it’s not as if Scott were the recipient of unwavering trust from Dave Roberts, a reflection of this bullpen’s depth. In fact, he didn’t even wait and see if Scott could finish the game without allowing the tying run to get an at-bat, bringing in Evan Phillips for the final out. Under normal circumstances, an elite closer has a little more faith than getting pulled because of a single bad pitch, but then again, it’s not a one-off occurrence.

With the scoreline showing 5-3, the prevailing sentiment is that Atlanta played as well as it could have against a dialed-in Skubal apart from one shaky inning, and it still wasn’t enough. While Mookie Betts reached base a couple of times, it was Hernández and the bottom of the order getting it done for Los Angeles. It’s the bottom of the order, but that’s only because someone has to be there, because we’re talking about the likes of Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy. It feels redundant at this point, but the depth to be able to reasonably hit Muncy — the franchise leader in postseason home runs — in the eighth spot is absolutely unparalleled.

Contrasting the depth of the two clubs, Murphy’s home run was the only hit recorded by a batter in the lower half of the Braves lineup. Scott’s troubles in the ninth will be a sticking point, but Skubal’s sixth-inning woes allowed for other bullpen names to come in and prove themselves in this setting. For this one, it was Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia contributing key outs, but for the next one, it could very well be Edgardo Henríquez and Kris Bubic, both of whom warmed up but didn’t enter this game—evidently trusted in high-leverage spots.

Today represents the first minor league recap of the Arizona Fall League, as the league got underway yesterday. The Braves action got underway with Briggs McKenzie returning from injury to make the start.

Salt River Rafters 9, Glendale Desert Dogs 4

• Briggs McKenzie, SP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K
• Logan Samuels, RP: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Owen Hackman, RP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
• Tyler LaPorte, RP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Boxscore

Briggs McKenzie made his first appearance since June 25th and got off to a strong start, though his command was a bit scattered the entire time. In the first inning he got two strikeouts swinging with his fastball and changeup, and also a weak infield ground ball. In his second inning he got another strikeout and weak ground out, but allowed a run via two walks and two singles, though was taken out of the game as his pitch count for the inning approached 30. He did return for the start of the third inning, getting a pair of fly outs and a hit by pitch before leaving the game. In total he threw 49 pitches with 31 being for strikes.

Briggs was relieved by Logan Samuels, who allowed an unearned run on three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Tanner Bauman came in and allowed five runs (three earned) over a third of an inning. Owen Hackman pitched an inning and two thirds, allowing a hit and a walk. Tyler LaPorte went an inning and a third, allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.