Category: MLB

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees were technically off Sunday, but the players who wanted to get their work in ahead of Game 2 of the ALDS went to their spring training home instead of the field where they will play Monday night.

Tropicana Field certainly plays differently from just about anywhere else, but the Yankees felt they would get better use out of their facility at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, so they had their pitchers throw there in addition to some position players working out.

“You’ve got a full facility, our training stuff, modalities, things like that, plenty of fields to get whatever space you need,” manager Aaron Boone said on a video call Sunday. “We’ve got Trajekt for guys who want to get on that. And staying in Tampa, it’s a quick, easier back and forth.”

The Trajekt — a specialized pitching machine that spits out exact pitches of big leaguers down to the spin, shape and velocity, with a video of their delivery on the front — is not available to visiting teams in MLB stadiums.

But playing here, the Yankees got the perk of having the Trajekt at their disposal, hoping it will serve them better in facing Rays right-hander Freddy Peralta in Game 2 on Monday than it did against Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 on Saturday.

Aaron Judge was part of the group working out at Steinbrenner Field on Sunday, continuing his buildup after a right calf strain in hopes of making the ALCS roster if the Yankees qualify.

“He was off from running [Saturday], so I know he’s running again today,” Boone said. “I think we’ll get some live [batting practice] in. So just another workday, trying to stack another good day and, obviously, continue to heal up.”

The Yankees were still debating the pitching order for Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in Games 3 and 4. Rodón threw a 60-pitch, four-inning live batting practice Thursday at Yankee Stadium, with a decision to come on whether to have him throw a between-starts bullpen session or make him available out of the bullpen for Games 2 or 3.

“We’re kind of working through that and won’t necessarily reveal how we go there the rest of the way, too,” Boone said.

Boone was not buying into the idea that he should have gotten Giancarlo Stanton an at-bat once the two wild-card games got out of hand, so that when he pinch-hit in the ninth inning of Saturday’s Game 1 it would not have been his first at-bat in five-plus months.

“It’s not summer ball,” Boone said. “Big G is ready to go. … There’s no courtesy at-bats this time of year.”

The curtain hasn’t closed on the White Sox yet this season, but it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2027 season-to-be-or-not-to-be. Entering next year with a payroll in the bottom third among all MLB teams and with a sizable pool of Triple-A talent to pull from, Chicago enters arbitration negotiations in an advantageous position. Of the six players who are eligible for arbitration, the Sox should keep three.

Miguel Vargas
Buying our Vargas’ next three years of arbitration would be the most strategic move from a financial and roster-management perspective. Coming off a breakout campaign where cracked the 30-home run threshold, more than doubled his WAR from last year, and took 101 free passes to first, Vargas is a player the Sox should focus on extending. At the plate and hot corner, he’s an integral to the success of the White Sox.

Even with three infield prospects among the Top 10, including new golden boy Roch Cholowsky, Vargas’ position on the field shouldn’t swing this decision. Vargas has played past his projected $5.4 million 2027 arbitration estimate, and tripling it to buy out his contract for the rest of the decade is a reasonable expectation for a team looking to squeeze every playoff game out of this young lineup. Going to arbitration over a guy who makes everyone in the lineup better and has been the heartbeat of the team for most of the season would be an egregious mistake.

Brenton Doyle
An August pickup at the trade deadline and the second-best glove in the outfield, Doyle’s projected $3.66 million arbitration is a fair price for his value. His perfect fielding percentage and the occasional pop in his bat outweigh his general inconsistency at the plate, and having a Gold Glove outfielder to pair with Tristan Peters when games come down to the wire will pay dividends, especially with Will Venable’s far-from-orthodox pitching philosophy.

Doyle may not be a starter, but the Sox need a veteran on the field to provide an extra line of defense and add stability to the young and streaky lineup. While Doyle doesn’t command a long-term deal, his presence isn’t taken for granted.

Huascar Brazobán
Brazobán hasn’t blown anyone’s socks off in Chicago, but cutting him loose would leave talent on the table. After bringing him onto the team in August, Brazobán’s performance dropped from the 2.56 ERA and 1.006 WHIP marks he set with the Mets earlier in the year. He knows how to miss bats, but when he came to the South Side he began to experience control issues. His 4.40 ERA and 1.395 WHIP after being traded may be a result of switching leagues, but it could also just be the typical volatility that comes with relievers. Either way, the Sox know he can pitch better, it’s just a matter of whether they can unlock that side of him.

Paying an estimated $1.6 million for a chance to bring out the best in Brazobán is worth the price of admission. Starting him out on the 40-man next spring also puts pressure on Brazobán to bring his A-game when he knows that several talented pitchers in Charlotte are chomping at the bit to snatch his spot. Competition and pressure will be the best way to see if Brazobán can exceed expectations.

Meeting these three players’ arb estimates and avoiding the ungainly process of a hearing still leaves three eligible players out in the cold. Catcher Joey Bart is in his final year of team control and will command an estimate $2.9 million; the White Sox undoubtedly prefer Jake Rogers as a veteran hand, especially because he will be less expensive. Reliever Chris Murphy, expected to earn just $900,000 in 2027, will be a game-time decision. And Jordan Leasure, rehabbing from TJS, expects only $1 million in arbitration but chances are the White Sox will not offer him seven figures.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — Through three postseason games, what looked to be a weak link for the Yankees has not been.

For the first four months of the season and right up until Aug. 3, the Yankees were expected to upgrade a bullpen that looked as if it needed help, and then they didn’t. In a stunner, GM Brian Cashman subtracted rather than added, putting his faith in the incumbents and mostly internal options.

Many of those options did not work out. Clarke Schmidt pitched in one game before returning to the injured list. Fernando Cruz is on the 60-day IL. Luis Gil’s stuff did not play up. They brought in Michael Fulmer, who did not pitch himself onto the playoff roster, and John Schreiber, who did not pitch himself into playoff leverage.

And yet through these first three games — two wins over the Red Sox and a loss to the Rays — the Yankees bullpen has allowed one run on two hits and three walks in 8 ²/₃ innings.

David Bednar and Paul Blackburn have remained untouchable. Brent Headrick’s stuff may have taken a step back, but he has still been effective in limited time. Will Warren was helpful against Boston.

And perhaps the most encouraging takeaway from Saturday’s 1-0 loss was Ryan Weathers looking strong in a nine-pitch sixth inning that featured three groundouts to first base.

“Really good to see Weathers come in there and just throw strikes, induce weak contact, have a clean, efficient, short inning,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday of Weathers, who missed six weeks with a flexor strain and returned as a reliever rather than a starter. “Again, I think he can be massive for us in the postseason.”

After the loss, Weathers said he felt normal, healthy and strong enough that he believed he would be available Monday on one day of rest.

The Yankees could use him not just because he had emerged as the season wore on — posting a 1.29 ERA in his final six starts before the injury — but because Boone has shown less faith in an overworked Headrick. The team’s top lefty all season has only recorded two playoff outs, the second of which came Saturday.

After Blackburn (1 ²/₃ scoreless innings) walked Junior Caminero with two outs in the eighth, Headrick entered to face Liam Hicks and walked him.

With a fastball that averaged 92.6 mph — and had averaged 94.1 mph during the regular season — Headrick induced a hard-hit groundout from Chandler Simpson to escape.

“Pitching absolutely did their job really, really well,” said Boone, who watched the lineup become the biggest problem instead.”

Jackson Chourio delivered a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to an improbable 4-3 win on Sunday, Oct. 4 and a 2-0 lead over the San Diego Padres in the NLDS.

Chourio’s single to center field with the bases loaded brought in Joey Ortiz with the winning run against Padres closer Mason Miller, who had walked three batters in the inning.

“I’m not sure what it is,” Chourio told Fox Sports after the game. “I just think these moments were made for me. I think it gives me extra adrenaline, and that’s what gets me through it.”

JACKSON CHOURIO IS THE WALK-OFF HERO IN GAME 2! pic.twitter.com/mZVRRVd4Xv

— MLB (@MLB) October 4, 2026

The 22-year-old outfielder also delivered for the Brewers in Game 1 Saturday, tying the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning.

The National League Division Series now moves to San Diego for two games, beginning Tuesday, Oct. 6.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WATCH: Jackson Chourio plates game-winner as Brewers walk off Padres

I have to say that the discussion on our article about whether or not to keep manager Torey Lovullo and GM Mike Hazen, might be one of the SnakePit’s finest hours. It’s obviously a contentious subject, but the comments were full of considered, well-expressed comments in all four corners of the discussion. Well done, folks. You don’t have to stray very far on the Internet to find cases where conversation on the topic was not as civil. It’s very much appreciated. Here’s how the voting eventually broke down.

Put another way, we can add up the categories and figure out how many people wanted to keep each man. So that’s what we’ll do, because they do deserve separate consideration.

Torey Lovullo: 75% keep

Ask, and ye shall receive. For, lo: the three-quarters who voted to retain Lovullo’s services received an early off-season present with the announcement on Thursday that Torey had accepted a contract extension for the next two seasons, taking him through the end of 2027. This makes sense on a number of levels. It lines his contract up with that of Hazen, which is really what you want. If the team decides to move on from Hazen after 2027, it’s likely the new GM would want his own manager, aligned appropriately, and this will allow Lovullo to leave/be let go without being fired. I think he deserves that respect, given the decent way he has behaved throughout his tenure.

It also allows for continuity over what promises to be a fraught negotiation between owners and players over the new CBA, with the likelihood of a lockout at the end of December. A shortened “spring” – quotes used advisedly – would present a tough ramp-up for a new manager, unfamiliar with the players except on the broadest level. This way, we have a manager (and, as important in some areas, coaches) who already has an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. That should help the Diamondbacks be ready to go, out of the gate, whenever the season starts. With next year potentially more of a sprint than the usual marathon, that could be important.

Here’s a selection of comments from the post:

• LeftFieldCorNWer – “Given all the crippling injuries this year, coming in 10 games over Mt. 500 and staying in the hunt for a wild card slot in the toughest division in the league until the final weekend is a huge success.”
• piratedan7 – “There’s something to be said about the fact that TL is at the top of the speculation list for EVERY other job that is either open or speculated to be open.”
• C.Wesley Baier – “I think the real problem with Hazen and Lovullo is they have made decisions based on emotions rather than facts and logic. They took the wrong lessons from falling a** backwards into a world series run, and resigning Gurriel, Kelly, and Gallen wasn’t it.”
• Azdbcksfn1 – “I would rather lose with them playing Wally, Lawlar, Troy, Fernandez, and young guys getting experience than losing with Smith and Vargas. It would have been such valuable experience for them.”
• daybaseball – “Without Torey the wheels would have completely come off in 2026 from injuries and lack of timely hitting. Instead he had them playing nearly their best baseball of the season in the last week… It is near miraculous that they finished 10 games over .500 under those circumstances.”
• SnekBehindEnemyLines – “They went 28-21 in one-run games and actually won more games than their run differential suggested they should. At some point the guys on the field have to perform.”
• Johnneu – “The handling of the Marte saga was awful, again, and coddling him hurt the team. That sent a very poor message to the rest of the team. They played well without him in the lineup and I suspect they will not miss him next year.”
• WestCoastBaseball – “Being in the hunt until the 7th inning of game 162 with the under performance of key players, as well as, injuries and drama is a tremendous accomplishment… Torey masterfully maneuvered the pieces as well as any manager could.”
• JustRonM – “I don’t agree with the kid gloves handling of Marte and his subsequent torpedoing of team momentum the past three seasons, but overall we’d be hard pressed to get anyone better. The players like him, they play hard for him, and he’s a genuinely good human being.”
• GuruB – “Torey is one of the best managers in baseball, not all managers connect to his teams the way he does (go through a wall for him) Is he perfect? Absolutely Not. Right now, I am not sure there isn’t anyone better, that is available and in the DBacks Price Range.”
• Smurf1000 – “Torey is a phenomenal manager and a great leader. His best year as manager was probably this year, when he took a partially injured pitching staff, and a team with star players underperforming, and he managed to find ways to win, and finished 10 games over .500.”

Mike Hazen: 57% keep

The enthusiasm for Hazen was notably less, though still a majority. In particular, twenty-three percent of voters decided they wanted to retain Lovullo, but get a new GM. I think that’s fair. When it comes time to do our ratings for the year, I suspect Hazen’s grade will be considerably lower than Lovullo’s. This year, we saw mistakes like the signing of Zac Gallen, near-complete abdication of the first-base position, and lack of significant moves to strengthen the team (in particular, the starting rotation) at the trade deadline. Given the small margin by which the D-backs again missed the playoffs, the importance of these failures was certainly amplified.

However, we need to be fair, and give him credit for the things that worked. We’ll be going into more details about his best and worst moves tomorrow. But things like the Cardinals paying more money than the D-backs, for Nolan Arenado to hit thirty home-runs for Arizona, definitely fall into the former category. I suspect people understand that market size be damned, the Diamondbacks are still a small revenue franchise, and that trying to compete with the Dodgers and their multiple competitive advantages is never going to be easy. But there is clear room for improvement in the way the D-backs operate, especially in their development of pitching prospects.

As with Torey, here are some comments from the original post:

• Jeremy C. Young – “You can blame Hazen for signing the wrong pitchers, but honestly I loved most of those moves at the time he made them… At this point he might be a change of scenery candidate. If he won’t shake up the team, maybe he needs to be with a fresh team.”
• BTBaseball – “Mike has built a solid franchise over these 10 years… They have not found the formula Milwaukee and Tampa and to some extent Cleveland have found but they’re competitive. Keep Hazen – keep building.”
• DBackNation – “Losing guys like a Drew Hedman to the Cubs are the types of errors a true leader can’t afford to make… Having future core members of your executive leadership leave to go to a rival – that is where Hazen falls short.”
• doconnor – “With our budget and how juiced our division is, you can’t ask for more than being competitive. If your mindset is “WS or bust” then you’re going to have a bad time. You probably shouldn’t even watch baseball.“
• AZNailgal520 – “Every year he’s told that “payroll is being lowered” and it truly must be maddening to shop under those constraints! But Hazen smiles and never complains (outwardly) and plucks some very affordable diamonds in the rough, year after year. I think he’s a bit under appreciated.“
• SnekBehindEnemyLines – “Hazen has put together a pretty good core and made some really good moves along the way. I’d rather see them keep building on it and give some of the changes they’re making with pitching development a chance to work.”
• Preston Salisbury – “Hazen’s biggest issue has not been the big league roster. It’s in player development. Every player development success story happened primarily before Josh Barfield left for Chicago. The White Sox–notably–are in the postseason.”
• Prof – “I do not think that Hazen has earned more time. His consistent inability to identify good pitching –yes, Bumgarner, Montgomery, and colleagues e.g., we spent $40 mil this year on Gallen and Kelly! — and build effective bullpens is now legendary.”
• Kram Isterpf – “He’s made some good moves and some bad moves. What GM hasnt? Given the financial constraints, I think he’s done OK (not as well as Torey), but chances of finding better replacements for either seem pretty close to zero to me.”

It’s game 2 between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday night in LA. Blake Snell gets the start for the billionaires Dodgers while the Braves have announced LHP Ray Kerr as their starter. First pitch scheduled for 7pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Fox/FS1.

The Milwaukee Brewers are one win away from a return trip to the NCLS.

And for the second consecutive game, Jackson Chourio played the role of hero.

In Game 1, Chourio hit a two-run home run to tie the game early, opening the door for a solo shot off the bat of William Contreras for the eventual 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Saturday night. But Sunday in Game 2, Chourio and the Brewers walked it off for the win, against one of the best closers in all of baseball.

San Diego took a 3-2 lead to the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Padres called on closer Mason Miller to try to shut the door over a two-inning stint, and even the series before a return trip to the West Coast. Miller worked a perfect eighth inning, with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out, pushing the game to the ninth inning.

But that is when Miller got himself into a bit of trouble. After opening the inning with a groundout, Miller walked Christian Yelich and then walked Sal Frelick. A flyout for the second out of the inning pushed the Brewers to their final out, but that is when Miller walked catcher Gary Sánchez to load the bases.

And bring Chourio to the plate.

The Milwaukee outfielder fell down in the count 1-2, and after a foul he held off on a slider low and outside of the zone to even the count to 2-2. That’s when he jumped on the fifth fastball of the at-bat — all of which topped 100 miles per hour on the radar gun — lacing a 101-mph fastball up the middle for the game-winning hit:

The single up the middle brought both Yelich and Frelick to the plate, and sparked bedlam on the field and in the stands as the Brewers emptied the dugout and the bullpen to celebrate with the hero of the moment.

The series shifts to San Diego for Game 3, with the Brewers needing one more win to clinch a spot in the NLCS. Game 3 is set for Tuesday, October 6 at 9:30 p.m. Eastern.

We’re only hours away from first pitch of Game 2 of the NLDS and the Atlanta Braves will once again have another large hill to climb if they’re planning on getting a split in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.

We now know when Chris Sale’s next start will be: It’ll be Game 3 instead of Game 2, as Walt Weiss explained in the pregame press conference that he wasn’t comfortable with throwing Sale for a full start without him being 100 percent.

“We had a conversation this morning. Look, at the end of the day, we want full-strength Chris Sale,” stated Weiss. “I know him at 80 percent is really good, but that’s what it came down to. We’ve given him extra rest all year, and it’s served him very well. It allowed him to do what he did the other night, I think all the extra rest he’d gotten. He’d be on normal rest from his last start, but he had the outing in between. Not sure you’re getting the best version of him pitching today. We’re certain he will pitch in Game 3.”

Obviously, the next question from the media on hand at the press conference became whether or not Weiss regretted going to Sale while the Braves were in complete control of the winner-take-all Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies. Unsurprisingly, Weiss stuck with his guns in that regard and expressed no regrets about the decision and the ramifications it had for the NLDS.

“We needed to win that series, and that was our best chance to do it. So I have zero regrets about pitching Chris Sale in that last game,” confirmed Weiss. “For a number of reasons, we needed to win that series. I brought him in to face Harper, I believe, in the eighth. My thinking was I needed to keep him in the game because, if it happened to go sideways — and we played the Phillies a ton obviously. They’re very dangerous, especially when the lineup turns over. We saw the day before. So if it starts to go sideways and Sale is now out of the game, we’re in a tough situation. So he was going to stay in and finish that game, and I’m glad he did.”

Needless to say, there’s a bit of pressure on the Braves now to find a way to get the job done against Dodgers starter Blake Snell and the rest of the deep and talented Los Angeles pitching staff so that they can get to Chris Sale’s start with home field advantage in Atlanta instead of having their backs against the wall in another elimination game.

The pressure is evident but the team itself is trying their best to not let it affect their preparation. Ronald Acuña Jr. spoke with the media as well and he has complete faith in himself and his teammates to get the job done during Game 2. “I believe in my teammates, in the bullpen too. They do a really good job during all the season, so let’s see what happens today,” stated Acuña when he was asked about doing what it took to get a split in Los Angeles. “I would say I believe in my teammates. I think today they’ll do a really good job.”

“I love it when I face the pitchers that are superstars,” answered Acuña when he was asked about the challenge of going up against such talented pitchers that the Dodgers are liable to roll out on any given night. “Every time I go to the plate to compete, we’re trying to win, so I’m doing my best. As you know, these pitches, they’re [throwing] nasty ball[s]. We need to compete, every single pitch. So let’s see what happens.”

While he’s not in the lineup for tonight’s game, Ha-Seong Kim echoed a similar sentiment to Acuña and that leads me to believe that the clubhouse itself is remaining calm and steady heading into Game 2. “The clubhouse vibe is really good,” said Kim when he was asked about the vibes. “I think we as a group are pretty confident that we can win today and head back to Atlanta with a split here. So we’re going to make that happen.”

When Kim was also asked about whether or not he’s enjoying the moment or feeling the pressure, he chose to go in a different path. “It’s not really a matter of enjoying or feeling the pressure. It’s about just being out there and performing and producing,” answered Kim.

All eyes will be on Ray Kerr when it comes to potentially pulling off a repeat performance of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, which is when Kerr performed and produced at a high level in order to help get the Braves to this point. While it’s definitely a tall order for Kerr to do it against a better lineup in Los Angeles, Walt Weiss and the Braves are still confident that he can pull it off.

“I’m going into the game thinking that could be the scenario. 47 pitches, two days off,” said Weiss when he was asked about the plan for Kerr. “Again, if he’s rolling, that will dictate what I do. But I go in thinking he may not go as far as he did the last time, but he could. I’m just going to watch and see what happens.”

That’s all we can do as fans, really. Hopefully Weiss will be able to push the buttons in similar fashion to Game 3 of the Wild Card Series and that things work out. Even if they don’t, it’ll also be on the players to perform to their best in order to lift up their teammates and everybody in the dugout as well. It’s tough task for the Braves heading into this contest but hopefully they’ll be able to do what it takes to make sure that this thing is all tied up heading back to Cobb County.

Dave Roberts said earlier this season that the Dodgers could bar certain players from using ABS challenges if they didn’t exercise sound judgment.

For Andy Pages, that moment has arrived.

In Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, Pages made the ill-advised decision to challenge a two-strike pitch in his first at-bat that was confirmed as an obvious strike.

That left the Dodgers with just one more challenge the rest of the game — a costly mistake that marked Pages’ latest failure with MLB’s newly instituted ABS system this year.

“We talked a lot this year about Andy’s success rate or lack thereof [with ABS],” Roberts said, after Pages lost a team-high 14 challenges this year and had a 44% success rate that ranked fifth worst among the club’s hitters (minimum five challenges).

“I didn’t revisit it before Game 1 yesterday, so that’s my fault,” Roberts added. “I did have a conversation today. So, yeah, we’ve managed that one going forward.”

Does that mean the Dodgers have told Pages not to use challenges now?

“Yes,” Roberts answered flatly.

Utilizing the ABS system, of course, was one of the few things Pages didn’t do well this year.

In the regular season, he earned a first career All-Star selection while batting .274 with 23 home runs, 85 RBIs and an .811 OPS.

He also cemented himself as one of the top center fielders in the sport, providing enough all-around production to lead all Dodgers position players with 4.5 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs (even in just 134 games played).

However, October was always going to pose a test for the burgeoning 25-year-old, and not just because he only recently returned from a fractured hand that sidelined him for much of September.

In last year’s playoffs, Pages endured a nearly historic postseason slump. He went 4-for-51 in 16 games. He struck out 11 times without hitting a home run. And though he had a couple highlight moments — hitting the chopper that led to Orion Kerkering’s NLDS-clinching error against the Phillies and trucking teammate Kiké Hernández for his iconic catch against the Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series — he had nonetheless lost his spot in the starting lineup by the end of the team’s World Series run.

How he would respond this fall loomed as a question all year.

That’s why Saturday’s ABS challenge was so alarming, serving as one of several signs to Roberts that Pages was “trying to do too much” during his 0-for-4, three-strikeout Game 1 performance.

“I just want to see him kind of slow down a little bit,” Roberts said. “Because, again, he came into this postseason really good.”

Moving forward, he will have at least one less dynamic to worry about.

For now, he’s been given the red light on ABS challenges.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Was it real, or just a Chad Tracy-assisted mirage?

Were the 18 runs on 26 hits the Yankees exploded for in their wild-card series proof they could survive postseason games without Aaron Judge, or just the result of feasting on a Red Sox bullpen after Tracy pulled his starter early in both games?

The Yankees’ performance against Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 of the ALDS suggested the latter, though the Rays ace shoving against them is nothing new. They must quickly prove it was Rasmussen’s hex rather than their bats disappearing against terrific starting pitching to win three of the next four games and keep their season alive.

“It’s a tall order, but we’re built for it,” Ben Rice said after Saturday’s 1-0 loss in which the Yankees mustered just one hit and instantly saw it erased on Austin Wells’ baserunning blunder.

The best news for the Yankees on Monday is that Freddy Peralta will be on the mound and not Rasmussen, who looms for a potential Game 4. But Peralta has been sharp in his own right after the Mets traded him to the Rays, pitching to a 2.26 ERA in his last nine starts of the regular season.

While the Yankees will answer by sending their ace, Cam Schlittler, to the mound, they will need their bats to come alive for that to matter.

So on Sunday, an off-day with no official workout, some of them went to their spring training home at George M. Steinbrenner Field to hit off the Trajekt machine and get other work in to prepare for Peralta, who has faced the Yankees just twice in his career.

“Some of our guys have experience against him, so hopefully that serves us well,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday on a video call. “But we’ve got to go out and obviously put some pressure on them and hopefully support Cam in a good way.”

That has proven more difficult against starting pitchers this season and into the playoffs.

During the regular season, the Yankees hit just .223 (which ranked 30th in the majors) with a .699 OPS (26th) and 358 runs scored (26th) against starting pitchers. They were much more productive against relievers, batting .250 (seventh) with a .748 OPS (sixth) and 381 runs scored (seventh).

That has carried over into the small sample size of the postseason. Before Tracy pulled Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray early, the Yankees scored a combined three runs in 9 ¹/₃ innings against them — then did their damage against the Red Sox bullpen — before Rasmussen completely shut them down in Game 1 of the ALDS.

“You just got to come out here and work hard the next day and keep it going,” Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “I think we had a lot of competitive at-bats. I think they had a lot of great plays on the field. I think a lot of guys squared up a couple balls. They played great [Saturday] and [we] lost by one.”

As far as moves that Boone could make to jump-start the offense, there may not be much. Against righties Gray and Rasmussen, he has used the same lineup featuring all eight of his left-handed hitters, with George Lombard Jr. (who had two of the best-hit balls off Rasmussen) in the middle. Peralta is another right-hander that Boone said the Yankees view as neutral against righties and lefties.

The right-handed-hitting Paul Goldschmidt has had success against Peralta from their days together in the NL Central, batting 9-for-35 (.257) with an .887 OPS against him. But it is doubtful that would be enough to replace one of the Yankees’ best left-handed hitters, Luis García Jr., in the lineup.

Ryan McMahon, meanwhile, is 1-for-14 in his career against Peralta. Would the Yankees dare start Anthony Volpe (2-for-4, home run) at third base for him in Game 2?

Those are the questions Boone was left to ponder Sunday, staring down a 1-0 deficit in the series and needing his team to hit to its capabilities Monday to avoid going home for Game 3 with its season on the brink.

“We know they’re a tough opponent, and they’re going to land some blows,” Gerrit Cole said. “You got to take blows in the postseason and you got to dish them out too.”

For the second consecutive playoff game, Michael King flirted with a no-hitter and while he ultimately couldn't preserve it, San Diego Padres outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. made sure the possibility remained in play.

By the bottom of the fourth inning of NL Division Series Game 2, the Milwaukee Brewers had zero hits, no base runners and a perfect game certainly creeped into the ralm of possibility. And then, Jackson Chourio took a 82 mph sweeper out to right field where Tatis came flying in from the outfield to make an acrobatic, sliding grab to preserve a hit ending in a flyout.

King eventually lost his bid for perfection an inning later, though he still held a 2-1 lead. That was similar to his outing in Game 1 of the wild-card series, where he carried a no-hitter through 6 1/3 innings against the Chicago Cubs, eventually settling for seven shutout innings in the Padres' 3-0 victory.

After returning to the Braves roster for the NLDS round against the Dodgers but sitting out Game 1, Lane Thomas will be back in action for Game 2 of the series Sunday night at 8 p.m. (FS1) in Los Angeles.

Thomas had been sidelined since Sept. 7 with a strained left intercostal muscle, leaving Atlanta without half of its typical left field platoon. He’ll hit ninth and play in left for his first game back.

Also of note for Sunday’s lineup, Sean Murphy is not catching but is still in the lineup as the DH, hitting seventh, after homering Saturday. Ozzie Albies, who has homered in each of the last two games, is batting cleanup behind Drake Baldwin, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson. Mauricio Dubón moves back to shortstop in place of Ha-Seong Kim and will hit sixth.

The Dodgers are running back a nearly identical lineup to the one they used in Saturday’s Game 1. The only change, either in batting order or the players in the lineup, is plugging in Miguel Rojas at third base and in the eight hole for Max Muncy, who homered yesterday to make it a 5-1 game in the sixth at that time.

Members of the Braves’ NLDS roster are a combined 19-for-96 lifetime (.198) against Dodgers starter Blake Snell. Ozzie Albies (4-for-12, .333) and Sean Murphy (3-for-8, .375) are the only two hitters with averages above .286 against Snell, although Ronald Acuña Jr., Mauricio Dubón and Murphy have all homered off of him. Matt Olson is 4-for-18 (.222) with a pair of doubles and a team-high five RBIs against Snell despite being at a left-on-left disadvantage.

Overall, the Braves have struck out 34 times and walked 14 against Sale.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Dodgers have minimal experience against Braves opener Ray Kerr. Los Angeles’ active players are a combined 1-for-10 against him in five relief appearances from when he was with the San Diego Padres in 2022-23. Mookie Betts has the only hit but it was a three-run double. Los Angeles’ hitters have also worked more walks (two) against Kerr than strikeouts (one).

That doesn’t mean much in the scheme of things, however, as Kerr threw 47 pitches Thursday and could available for as little as one inning of work. The more telling trends as far as Sunday’s game is concerned are how the pitchers who could replace Kerr have fared against the Dodgers. Los Angeles’ hitters are a combined 8-for-35 (.229) against right-hander Grant Holmes with two homers and five RBIs, and have never faced Braves rookie right-hander JR Ritchie, another candidate to eat some bulk innings in Game 2.

Whether Chris Sale was going to get the ball or not was the big point of contention before this Game 2, but with Atlanta opting for another left-hander, Ray Kerr, the Dodgers’ lineup is mostly unchanged from the Game 1 victory. The only difference is Miguel Rojas filling in for Max Muncy, and even that one comes with minimal disruption in the order as Rojas takes the same spot batting eighth, only in front of Tommy Edman.

Kerr is unlikely to go deep into the game, having pitched 3.1 innings in his appearance in the previous round against the Phillies. Either way, Muncy, who homered in yesterday’s win, figures to play a role in this game at some point, easily being the Dodgers’ biggest threat off the bench versus right-handed relievers.

One of the better players for the Dodgers in the regular season, Andy Pages’ defensive value alone makes his presence worthwhile. Coming off a worrisome showing in this series opener, though, not only for the results—0 for 4 with three strikeouts—but also for just how overmatched he looked in those at-bats, the Dodgers’ starting center fielder has something to prove in this second game.

Meanwhile, Mookie Betts remains in the leadoff spot with Shohei Ohtani batting second. Betts didn’t score or drive in a run in Game 1, but he carried on his top form to end the regular season by reaching base twice in four plate appearances. The balance of this look against left-handed pitching is looking better and better.

Led by Pages’ three strikeouts, the Dodgers as a team were punched out nine times in Game 1. Kerr might not be a big strikeout pitcher, but Atlanta is likely to use their top relievers in this one, increasing the challenge for Dodger bats.

Three summers ago, George Lombard Jr. was a high school shortstop in Miami. Now he's 21, playing shortstop in October and part of the reason the New York Yankees still believe they can get past the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays won Game 1 of the American League division series 1-0 on Saturday. Drew Rasmussen struck out 10 and held the Yankees to one hit, the fewest in their 447 postseason games. Teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-five series go on to win it about 73% of the time.

Monday night at Tropicana Field, the Yankees hand Game 2 to another one of their own picks. Cam Schlittler, a seventh-rounder out of Northeaster in 2022, led the AL with a 1.95 ERA. He went 14-6 and struck out 239 in 193⅔ innings. Only Spud Chandler in 1943 and Ron Guidry in 1978 posted a lower ERA for the Yankees as qualified starters.

Aaron Judge hasn't played since Sept. 16 because of a right calf strain. Without him, the Yankees have been winning with homegrown players. Ben Rice was a 12th-rounder out of Dartmouth in 2021. Spencer Jones went 25th overall out of Vanderbilt in 2022, the same draft as Schlittler. Lombard went 26th overall out of Gulliver Prep in 2023.

If the Braves are to come back against the Dodgers in this week’s National League Division Series, they will almost certainly need a dominant start from staff ace Chris Sale.

It won’t be coming in Game 2 on Sunday.

Instead, the Braves announced that they would be rolling with a second straight bullpen game for the second game of the best-of-five series, listing left-hander Ray Kerr as their opener coming off a 5-3 loss at Dodger Stadium in Saturday afternoon’s opener.

The decision was hardly unexpected.

Sale threw 95 pitches in a 6 ⅓-inning start in Game 1 of the wild-card series last Tuesday, then — in what has become a controversial move since — came out of the bullpen two days later for the final four outs of a winner-take-all Game 3, throwing 21 more pitches even though the Braves had a somewhat comfortable four-run lead against the Phillies. 

“At the end of the day, we want full-strength Chris Sale,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “Not sure you’re getting the best version of him pitching today.”

Entering the NLDS, the Braves had at least left the door open to Sale turning around and pitching again on Sunday — in what would have marked a third appearance within a six-day span for the 37-year-old former Cy Young Award winner.

In the end, however, they elected to give him a couple extra days of rest ahead of Game 3 on Tuesday, hoping their bullpen can keep them from falling into a two-games-to-none deficit before they get there.

“The deciding factor is always going to be how Chris is feeling,” Weiss said before Game 1. “To me, it’s not that big a deal when he pitches. He’s going to pitch in this series. Dodgers can’t win it in two. So he’s going to pitch. It really doesn’t matter when.”

While that might be true, delaying Sale until Game 3 does come with a potentially severe cost — and not only because he pitched a complete-game shutout against the Dodgers the last time he faced the Dodgers back in August.

If he started Game 2, he could have been ready for a potential Game 5 start on a normal four days of rest. Now, he will get just two days off if the Braves can force the series to go the distance, likely leaving him available for only a couple innings out of the bullpen if they get there.

Despite that, Weiss said he had “zero regrets” about riding Sale as hard as he did in the wild card round.

“We needed to win that series,” he said. “And that was our best chance to do it.”

In the meantime, the Braves will ask a lot out of their relief corps, as well, after its own heavy workload to begin the postseason.

Kerr, their Game 2 starter, threw 47 pitches in a 3 ⅓ inning outing at the start of Thursday’s Game 3 against the Phillies. He could be followed by bulk man Grant Holmes, who also pitched two innings on Thursday. Meanwhile, their highest-leverage arms — including closer Raisel Iglesias, left-hander Dylan Lee and hard-throwing set-up men Robert Suarez and Didier Fuentes — might also be called into action at least 2-3 times each over the rest of this series, after all pitching big innings of their own in the wild-card round.

“Certainly where their pitching is at, they’re going to have to rely on a lot of guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Robers said. “Which we’re prepared for.”

Indeed, that dynamic should work to the Dodgers’ benefit.

Their veteran lineup has made a habit of adjusting to opposing relievers the more they’ve seen them in recent postseasons (just ask Jeff Hoffman).

They also already held the pitching advantage in this series thanks to their star-studded rotation; which will have Blake Snell going in Sunday’s Game 2, Yoshinobu Yamamoto facing off with Sale in Game 3 and Tyler Glasnow lined up after that for Game 4.

If there were to be a Game 5, the Dodgers could start Tarik Skubal (who spun six dominant innings in Game 1) and bring Snell and Yamamoto out of the bullpen behind him.

All those factors made it tempting for the Braves to start Sale as soon as possible.

Alas, they are rolling the dice on their bullpen — both on Sunday and the rest of the series — and hoping to get the best version of their ace when the series returns to Atlanta.